It has been a long time since I’ve written here. Mostly for good reasons. Productive reasons. Been busy with good things that give me joy. Some I’ve already shared. Others I’ll share soon, and others I hope to share later. It’s been so long since I’ve been here that I couldn’t remember my logon.
I came here because I’ve been twisted by long-brewing perfect storms of tragedies that have befallen three friends in the deaths of their young adult kids in unrelated, unimaginable circumstances. In two of those, a daughter and a son each went missing (again, unrelated to each other, in states far from each other). In the third, a dear daughter and herself a young mother, passed away following a necessary procedure.
Everything is just heavy right now.
Please pray for these people whose burdens are so overwhelming.
This world is harsh.
But there is good.
There is grace.
Mercy
Healing even.
I’ve a story about that to share.
Someday soon.
But today, if you’ll just think of my friends, please ask God to be near them
It’s 2020. I’m 47 years old. I remember when I was a child, the year 2000 seemed like a Science Fictionally distant impossibility, trying to imagine what it would be like to be an adult in an age with teleports, personal butler robots, and the skies filled with flying cars that have revolutionized travel. Now, today is twenty years beyond that once-faraway date, and things are not anything like I’d imagine they’d be.
No teleports. Siri and Alexa are the closest I can get to a personal butler robot, and both my feet are still planted on terra firma for all my localized travel. Yet, I doubt my 1984 self would believe me if my 2020 self reported that today I’d carry in my front pocket a computer just a bit larger than an index card, and on it, I could:
and I haven’t even mentioned the wristwatch…
watch virtually any movie , TV show, or live media I’d ever want at any time I wanted
have a real-time video conversation with someone virtually anywhere in the world
have access to virtually any of history’s information within a few taps on a screen
play a multitude of games with virtually anyone on any other part of the globe
catalog all my life’s events in photos, videos, and text and coordinate it with the catalog of other people’s, in real-time
do so much more, if I can just keep from accidentally dropping it in the toilet when I’m clumsily flushing.
New accomplishments and advances make it easy to be so amazed at where we are and where we’re going that we take for granted from where we’ve come. I can remember when my phone number was just 4 digits and our phone was a shared “party line” with the neighbors down the road. Today, everyone in my family has their own 10-digit number, even when we’re all in the same room together. Moreover, we’ve taken detailed pictures of the solar system, explored Mars, and discovered the sequence of DNA. Admittedly that’s a pretty liberal use of “we” here, but you get my point.
It happens on the grand, global scale and it happens on the small family and individual scales, too. There’s this little sentence tucked away in the first few sentences of the Bible’s story of Ruth that cause me to appreciate this tendency to lose the tree for the forest (don’t worry, this blog entry isn’t a Bible study):
1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem,Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years,5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.
Ruth 1:1-5, NIV
I bolded it so you wouldn’t miss it. It’s such a throw-away detail, but perhaps because its 2020 and the turn of a new decade, it seems to carry more weight than just a heavier font might indicate. This story opens with a scant flyover introduction to this Jewish man and his family who moved to a foreign land because of a drought. Within 3 sentences, 2 marriages, 3 deaths and 10 years pass. I understand that it’s a summary supplied to bring the reader current. It also strikes me just how much life ends up getting lived in a span of 10 years. Life that often gets proverbially packed into the hyphen between the two dates listed. I suppose if you were to ask Naomi, she may not be so summarily flippant about those 10 years. In that decade:
She as a younger woman moved her family in desperation to a strange land with unknown customs, simply to survive. Surely that was no easy re-lo.
She saw her boys become men, moving out of childhood into adulthood.
She experienced the death of her husband, leaving her in this foreign community without her closest companion.
She welcomed two new Gentile women into her family, daily navigating the new relationships where cultures, faiths, traditions, and beliefs all collided.
She shepherded these two young daughters-by-marriage through their own grief of loving their spouses, even amidst dealing with her own sense of loss over the death of her sons.
While the overlay isn’t exact to the calendar decade, this new decade will conclude my 40s decade and oversee most of my 50s. In our (Kelli & mine) 40s, we’ve seen our kids become adults, our home begin its transition from a hub of constant activity to a nest empty of its hatchlings. While we’ve enjoyed the stability of our ministries and our clear sense that God has placed us here, we’ve also been challenged by the distance from loved ones. In this decade past, we’ve walked through and (by God’s grace) overcome a cancer diagnosis. We’ve lived 3,652 days (and counting) of living during that decade…days marked by all the same things that uniquely distinguish all of our days: love, joy, accomplishment, success, renewal, victory, but also sadness, setback, failure, disappointment, discouragement, and loss.
I’m grayer than I was, but not as gray as I’m going to be. Hopefully, I’m wiser than I was, but not as wise as I will be in the future. I so look forward to my own kids’ marriages. I look forward to their welcoming children into their families. I look forward to continuing to be useful in the things that God is doing all around me. I look forward to meeting new people, making new friends, facing new challenges, learning new lessons, and growing in new ways (that at times will certainly be painful). To be sure, the fullness of having lived the life that is now behind me causes me to reflect; but mostly, I look forward.
If you were to ask one hundred random people what freedom means, most of them will tell you something that looks like, sounds like, or maybe even feels like freedom, but really isn’t.
People regularly show a total incomprehension of freedom by their perpetual abuse of it.
They settle for all sorts settling for a myriad of experiences and states-of-being that are freedom-ish, but in and of themselves are not genuine freedom. They define freedom with things like:
Being able to do whatever you want.
Being able to be whoever you want.
Not being obligated to anyone else.
Being able believe whatever you want.
Wave the flag, catch the baseball and pass the apple pie. Call in Toby Keith and Lee Greenwood, the fireworks are about to start.
Contrary to popular opinion, freedom isn’t being unfettered from responsibility. It isn’t release from consequence or accountability. It isn’t entitlement, license, or absolution. It’s not unchecked, unregulated thoughts, attitudes, or actions.
Ask the alcoholic who needs an “eye opener” to get the day going, a lunch-time cocktail to make it to quitting time, and who can’t go home until he’s had a few drinks “to take the edge off” if he’s free.
Ask the porn addict who daily has to clear his internet history to hide his habit from his wife and children and is terrified of anyone using his computer, his tablet, or his phone if he’s free.
Ask the shopaholic whose paycheck is gone before she gets it because she’s paying 30% interest on credit cards that are maxed out if she’s free.
Ask the gossip who nobody trusts and nobody opens up to, because she takes friends’ vulnerability and uses it to her own advantage if she’s free.
Ask the guy who’s working 80-hour weeks to pay for a home, cars, toys, and vacations he can’t afford if he’s free.
Ask the over-eater who can’t drive by the drive-thru line without stopping for a snack and a Super Sized drink if she’s free.
Ask the person who lies so much he can’t speak the truth and is so self-deceived he actually believes the lies he’s saying if he’s free.
Ask the person who explodes with anger at every conflict, lives in bitterness and blames everyone else for every problem she has if she is free.
Ask the church that is so mired in debt that it can’t pursue God’s mission if it is free.
Ask the church that is so focused on being hip, cool, and relevant that it can’t ever speak on moral issues and has lost its voice for crucial messages if it is free.
sometimes, what looks like flavored pretzels or boho jewelry are actually chains that bind
What’s sad is that if you were actually to ask them if they are free…most of them will not only affirm they are free, but will pound their chests in pride about it.
Indeed, if there is anything that has mastered the ability to deceive the “duck test,” it’s the lambskin-wearing wolf of slavery draped in the faux fur-lined cloak of freedom.
No one ever experiences freedom until and unless he has been unshackled from that which holds them in bondage. Only then may he be free to chase this most noble pursuit. However if the now-free person chooses to instead pursue a different quarry, he unfortunately will capture only another oppressor, another enslaver.
To understand freedom, you must understand why you have been created. If you believe that you were created to enjoy the sensuous pleasures of life, that is what you will pursue. Subsequently, you will be enslaved by that those things that you think make you free, imprisoning you in sensuous torture. If you believe you were created to fulfill the consuming appetite of vanity, then you will be shackled poolside, wasting away your life gazing in Narcissisine puddles that appear much deeper than they actually be. As a humbled man once said, “I gave my heart to know knowledge and madness and folly. I now perceive that I was grasping at the wind.”
Freedom is described by but not defined by what you have been freed from; rather, freedom is defined by what you have been freed for. You have been created for the purpose of loving the one who loved you first. If (and when) If you pursue your loving Creator, only then can you be free. If you chase any other purpose in life, then no matter how free you may feel, you are really living under bondage.
Freedom is the ability to pursue without restraint who God created you to be.
Here’s the fun…and funky…part of being set free by loving your Creator. You experience and express this freedom by being…you gotta be kidding me…in bondage to Him. The only way to experience true freedom is by doing what the Creator has called you to do, exactly as He called you to do it, for as long as He called you to do it.
And nothing else.
Quite a simple paradox. Compounding the simplicity of it all is that you do not earn God’s love by what you do (for this is the mark of a slave). Instead, you are empowered, enabled, equipped to do God’s will because of His love (which, by nature, is a distinction of freedom’s empowerment). You do not “do” because of who you hope to be, you “do” because of who He promised that you already are. “Doing” is the expression of your freedom. By refusing to “do” as freedom’s manifestation, you demonstrate only an ongoing bondage of self-incarceration. (I had to re-read that a couple of times to make sure I understood it. And I wrote it. So read it as many times as necessary to get it, too.)
Do not fear the prospect of being a slave to God. After all, the yoke of the God is light. Much lighter, in fact, than the one from which you have previously been freed.
Your joy is complete only when you are free to accomplish that for which you are created. You are only free when you are worshipping God with every breath, every thought, every step, every deed of your life.
You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.
In my previous post, I explained my belief in the Bible’s claim of a global flood that nearly eradicated humans from the face of the earth. The Bible reports that God preserved a remnant of eight people to repopulate the earth. Significantly, it also states that God gave the rainbow as an evidence that he would never again flood the earth as a form of judgment upon its inhabitants.
Skeptics scoff at this, explaining the rational process for the presence of rainbows. I don’t disagree with these explanations. However, I would suggest that the logical, scientific explanation for rainbows does nothing to discredit the faith belief in what that particular rainbow represented (and what all subsequent rainbows have the ability to remind us). The explanation of a rainbows existence and the rationale for why rainbows exist are at least partially exclusive. But I digress.
Despite the phenomenon of rainbows, we – almost predictably – experience flooding. Sometimes on a widespread scale. While the list of floods in the last fifty years is impressive, it’s interesting to note that there is no record of any second global flood. (Note: while many efforts have been made to discredit the account of the original flood, much historic, geological, and anthropological evidence supports the biblical claim.)
God never promised that there would never be another flood. He promised that he would never use flooding waters as an expression of global judgment. Some people want to suggest that God brings hurricanes, earthquakes and their subsequent floods as judgment upon a nation or its people for its pagan beliefs.
While, I’m not qualified to declare unconditionally and authoritatively that this is or is not an expression of God’s judgment, I personally don’t believe that natural disasters are are a picture of God’s wrath. If it is, the United States should be in a collective state of woe for the impending judgment awaiting it (as a self-identified nation “under God”). Rather, I go back to previous statements (made in prior posts) that we now live in a broken world with a significantly larger quantity of water cycling through its closed system. Consequently, catastrophic floods are a periodic and unfortunate phenomenon.
My hope, then, is to draw attention back to Jesus’ declaration that all people turn to God before the next storm hits. Whether it is literal or figurative, and whether you face it alone or with your community, I invite you to turn to God and call upon him for rescue.
In my previous post, I mentioned that I believe there were two events that radically altered the earth’s environment. The first event was the original rebellion of man against God. That rebellion changed the earth from its utopian origins to its dystopian present, replete with destructive storms.
This first event was the precursor to the second event. After the first event, humanity moved forward in its “new normal.” A family became a clan, the clans divided and claimed new territory. Populations grew and generations passed.
Every person and every generation existed in the “new normal.” Each person’s death recalled the original rebellion. As the population expanded and generations passed, the story was changed or forgotten. As time passed, people grew more distant from God.
The Bible reports that after ten generations, God determined to judge the world’s population for its rebellion (and the details of his judgment can fill an entirely different post). He chose a global flood of waters as his means of judgment.
Giving 100 years of warning, he set aside one lone family to escape the judgment. The patriarch of this family, Noah, began to build a boat (as God commanded) to withstand and endure the judgment. He did so in a world that possibly, had never seen rain fall from the sky. Who knows what people thought of Noah or even said to him over that 100 years of ark-building. That no other people were allowed to join him on the boat allows for the fair assumption that they likely reasoned that the world could never exist differently than how they had experienced it. Then the time arrived.
On the 17th day of the second month of Noah’s 600th year, waters fell from the sky an a way unprecedented in world history.
It would be inadequate to think only that it rained. Instead, imagine a drenching rain where you’ve sought refuge under a tarp, tent, or canopy. You see the canopy sag as it becomes water-logged. At first, a few beads of water soak through, dripping overhead. Then, suddenly, without warning, the canopy rips with a load tear and you are blanketed by a sheet of water that literally knocks you off your feet.
This is what the Bible says happened, except on a global scale. The Bible says that in the creation, God had blanketed the earth with a canopy of water. At this time of judgment, God released this canopy and its waters plummeted upon the earth. The volume of water overwhelming the earth is unimaginable, even in light of our modern-day comparative calamities.
Compounding the disaster, the Bible says that God caused the waters under the earth to spring forth. These were no bubbling brooks of natural springs. Its appropriate to think of violent earthquakes, oceanic volcanoes, and tumult that results in landscapes like Colorado’s Flatirons mountains. This was happening on a global scale. Oceans of waters from above. Geysers of waters from the ground.
Chaos.
With each new violent storm, we see a new library of videos of violent winds pushing walls of water, sweeping parking lots of cars into and then through buildings. Homes, offices, and stores instantly are deconstructed as the unrelenting force of the waves pushes against and ultimately over them. Stories are shared of a man being found on a roof six miles out in the ocean, or of a dolphin rescued one mile inland.
In light of this modern evidence, I have no problem reconciling why I will find an unbalanced boulder atop a mountain in the middle of the rockies, or sea life fossils in the middle of the continental land mass. In this, I see evidence of God using nature as a means of both judgment and new beginnings.
Philemon Overview – Philemon was a leader of the church in Colossae (spelled Colosse in Immerse). Philemon had a former slave named Onesimus who had run away, but was now returning as a deliveryman of Paul’s letters. Paul sent this letter as a guide/encouragement for their impending face-to-face meeting.
Paul also intends for this letter to be read by the church that is meeting in Philemon’s house.
Paul commends Philemon for his faith, for his love of God, and his generosity.
He asks a favor of Philemon (mentioning that he could demand it, because what he’s asking is the right thing to do). He asks Philemon to show kindness to Onesimus.
He reminds Philemon that Onesimus is no longer a slave to him, but that he is now a beloved brother.
understated point: we offer more to one anotheras kin in Christ than we do in any earthly relational dynamic.
Colossians overview – Colossae was a Roman province of Asia (modern day Turkey). Religious heterodoxy was prevalent and continually evolving. Paul emphasized the preeminence of Jesus and the consequential expressions of loving relationality.
Paul commends their faith, that a good report has become their reputation.
Paul desires for them to have a complete knowledge of God’s will that gives to them spiritual wisdom and understanding. Having this, they will be able to live honorable, spiritually productive lives that please the Lord.
Even more important to Paul is that while this maturing happens, the people of Colossae will grow relationally with God, getting to know him better.
This hope of Paul is effectual, too, evidenced in his expression that the Colossians will be strengthened with God’s power to give them the resources necessary to endure with patience all that will come before them in the context of the challenges that they will face as faithful followers of Jesus.
With this patience, Paul prays for them to be filled with joy that, regardless of circumstance or adversity, overflows because of their being rooted in Jesus who has reduced them. It is no small thing that Jesus purchased our freedom and forgives our sins.
Paul then extols who Jesus is (to this community who has been given erroneous teachings on him, because of their spiritually eclectic culture):
Jesus (alone, exclusively) is the visible image of the invisible God.
He is eternal.
He pre-existed before creation
He is sovereign over all creation
He is the creator (because he part of the triune God).
He created everything in the heavens and on the earth
He made everything that we can see and cannot see (macrocosmic to microcosmic, from physical to spiritual)
He made all kingdoms, rulers, and authorities (human, ideological and spiritual)
Everything he created, he created for his own purpose
He holds all of creation together – Not only did he create everything, but he sustains and maintains all things (including you)
Jesus is the head of the church
The church is his body
He is pre-eminent in all things
He is the full embodiment of God.
Through Jesus, God recoiled everything to himself.
Jesus brought peace to everything in heaven and earth by his spilt blood through crucifixion.
understated point: this includes you, who were once far away from God. You were his enemy, but now you have been reconciled to God through Jesus. Now you stand before Godwithout a single fault. So stand firm in this truth and don’t drift away from it.
Paul is compelled by God to communicate this life-changing message.
It has been kept secret for centuries, but has been revealed to God’s people.
This is the secret: Christ lives in you, which gives you the assurance of sharing in Christ’s glory!
This is why Paul so passionately preaches Jesus to everyone wherever he goes.
He wants to present every person to God, perfect in their relationship with Jesus.
To accomplish this, he depends wholly on Christ’s power working in him.
He wants the Colossians to be firmly established in the truth of who Jesus is and who they are in Jesus, and who the broader community of true faith is because of (and through) Jesus.
Paul exhorts the Colossians to continue in Jesus, just as they first trusted in him. He desires that they grow deep roots of faith.
He warns against their being misled by “empty philosophies” and “high-sounding nonsense that comes from human thinking and the spiritual powers of the world, rather than from Christ.”
When people come to faith in Christ, he excises our spiritual nature, and we identify with Jesus in his death, burial, and resurrection.
Having been spiritually vivified by Jesus, you are no longer subject to the powers of earthly spiritual authorities.
Therefore, you don’t have to be shamed by anyone for your disagreement with their ceremonies, rituals, or commemorative dates. Nor should you let anyone condemn you for not participating in pious self-denials or unbiblical practices like the worship of angels.
These extra or non-biblical practices don’t help in your own spiritual development.
bad theology is trash
You, though, because you have raised to new life in Jesus, can affix your sights on Jesus.
Think about the things of heaven, not about the things of earth.
Put to death the sinful things lurking within you.
Instead, put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator Jesus and be more like him.
With this mindset, you can realize it doesn’t matter where you came from, or how you might be categorized by your current situation or circumstances.
understated point: Jesus Christ is all who matters and he lives in everyone who puts their faith in him.
Because God chose you to be part of the holy people that he loves, your life should be characterized by:
tenderhearted mercy
kindness
humility
gentleness
patience
forgiveness
love – above all, because love binds us together in perfect harmony.
peace – the peace that comes from Christ alone should rule in your heart.
gratitude – be thankful!
the message of Christ – in all its richness, let it fill your life.
teaching and counseling others with the wisdom that God alone gives.
praise
bottom line – whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father.
some contextual examples of how this plays out:
wives – these instructions are realized in the practice of relational submission with husbands.
husbands – these instructions are realized in the love and gentle treatment with wives.
Children – these instructions are realized in the determination to obey parents.
Dads – these instructions are realized in the encouraging, positive parenting of children (“do not aggravate” them)
Slaves – these instructions are realized in the determination to obey masters in all things, by being hard-working and consistent, with the mindset that they are ultimately working for the Lord and not a person.
Overview – Dated AD 56. Paul writes this letter to arrive before he does, to a mixed audience of Jewish and Gentile believers. First part (11 chapters) is comprehensive doctrinal teaching, including the salvific history of God through Israel being extended to all people. The second part of the letter (last 5 chapters) is the practical application of these theological riches.
Paul is writing this letter because God chose him to be an apostle to preach the good news that God has for the world. This good news is the person of Jesus – Jesus is God’s son, a fact that is proven by his resurrection from death by the power of God’s Holy Spirit.
He is Jesus Christ our Lord – Jesus is the Christ (the Greek word for the Hebrew concept of Messiah, the God-anointed and -appointed Savior who would rescue people). As Christ, he is the Lord over all people (boss, king, sovereign, ruler…pick your synonym).
Through Christ, God had appointed people (including Paul) to spread this message of who Jesus is and what God is doing for people (in saving them), which will cause people to believe in Jesus, and bring glory to (a positive report) to his name.
The audience of this letter is all who live in Rome and have been called to be his own people (the Christians in the region).
Dear Romans…
Paul loves the Roman Christians, prays for them, longs to visit them. He wants to encourage them, and to be encouraged by them.
Paul felt a spiritual burden to all people, regardless of their spiritual heritage (or lack thereof)
This burden catalyzed an eagerness in him to share the Gospel of Jesus with all people.
He was completely unashamed of the Gospel because its existence and efficacy were the demonstration of the power of God – to save anyone who believes in Jesus.This salvation is accomplished exclusively and totally by faith – faith which brings life those who believe.
But this message is communicated in the context of the real world:
This world filled with people who experience God’s anger instead of God’s favor.These people receive his anger because they, by their wicked deeds, suppress God’s truth.God’s truth is both knowable and known because God has made the truth about himself known to all of his creation from the beginning of time, from the evidence of creation itself.
The totality of God’s creation demonstrates/evidences/manifests God’s invisible attributes; namely, his eternal power and divine nature. So nobody has an excuse for not believing in God (or functioning in life without faith in him)Despite knowing that God is real, these people determined not to worship him or even give thanks to him. Instead, they created their own false gods, created by their own imaginations. The result of this foolishness was that these very same people became confused and limited by their own wayward thinking. When they spoke about these false gods and errant beliefs, they thought themselves to be pretty awesome, but showed themselves to be utter fools.
St. Ron – The Patron Saint of Bloviation
Not only were they saying foolish things, they worshipped (showed reverence, devotion, and spiritual hope) the things that God created rather than God himself, which they made idols out of as a way to direct this worship.
God further judged this idolatrous worship, by giving them over to the desires that controlled them (See Ps. 81:12).
The consequence of this judgment against them was excessive indulgence in these activities with one another.
These actions demonstrated that they exchanged the truth of God for lies of their own creations.
In doing this, they demonstrated that they were worshipping created things rather than the creator.
Because, in their foolish thinking, they thought it foolish to worship God, he showed his judgment against them by giving them over to the license they created for themselves.
Lives of unbelievers became characterized by every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malice, and gossip.
They hate God, back stab one another, and are insolent, proud and boastful. They are rebellious and are creative only in finding new ways to do wrong. They are stubborn-minded, promise-breaking, heartless and unmerciful.
They do all this, knowing that doing it deserves punishment. Worse still, they encourage this behavior among others.
sin leading to judgment leading to sin leading to judgment…
Yet, Paul warns the audience not to break their arm patting themselves on the back, because…”you are just as bad and have no excuse!”
It isn’t enough just to say these things are bad and do the very same things yourself.
God is kindly revealing truth to lead you out of these sins that God has judged and will ultimately judge.
But refusal to stop doing evil is storing up impending judgment, on the day when God judges all deeds done by all people.
Good deeds will be rewarded by those who seek the good things that God offers (through Jesus).
But for those who live for themselves, they can expect God’s anger and wrath because they refused to obey the truth and lived wickedly.
God will give his judgment and justice fairly and impartially (both good and bad).
The people who had the law (the Jews) are accountable because they had the law.
The people who didn’t have the law (the Gentiles) are still accountable because their lives demonstrate that God’s law was “written on their hearts” because their consciences either affirmed them for doing right (by the law) or condemned them (by their offenses against the law).
Regardless, there is a day of judgment coming for all people, when God will openly judge the things that were assumed to be secret (or unknown)
Religious heritage offers no deliverance from this judgment.
Everyone is under the power of sin.
no one is righteous.
not one.
no one is wise.
no one (on their own) seeks God.
All have turned away
all are useless (on their own)
No one does good.
not a single one.
nope, not even one.
Consequently, people (without God) did horrible things and didn’t fear God in anyway whatsoever.
The purpose of the law isn’t to give an attainable standard that even one person could meet.
It was to show that nobody would have an excuse.The entire world is guilty before God.
Clear back in the time of Moses, God showed his plan to make people righteous apart from the law, through trusting in Jesus.
This way was available to all people, everywhere.This way is available exclusively through faith, apart from any work a person could do.
Only when we have faith do we fulfill the law.Abraham exemplifies this truth – his faith (not his deeds) was credited to him as righteousness.Wages are what people earn for their work. Wages are not a gift, they are earned. Righteousness is a gift, not something earned (wages).Abrahams’ circumcision was not a deed that earned his righteousness; rather it was an expression of the gift of righteousness that God had already given him before he could do anything to earn it.
His example offers inclusion to non-religious people who trust in Jesus, apart from religious rituals or ceremonies.His example offers inclusion to the religiously observant people, but only if their faith is like that of Abraham’s.God’s promise to Abraham (and his descendants) is based on faith, not on works.
understated points: these promises are reliable because they are given by the God raises the dead and creates things out of nothing. We believe in God and we trust his promises.Abraham trusted God, even when there was no hope. He and Sarah were too old to become parents, yet God kept his promise to them.
They kept trusting, even when it made no sense. And God blessed their obedience (their faith trust in his promise).That same faith is what’s necessary to believe in Jesus, who died to forgive our sins and who was resurrected and will return again.
The same faith that makes a person righteous is the faith that brings a person into peace with God.
Having confidence that a person is at peace with God makes it possible to live amidst daily adversity and to look forward to the future fulfillment of God’s promises.
Facing adversity offers opportunities to develop endurance.Endurance matures strength of character.Strength of character instills confidence in the expectant hope for the future.This hope will not be disappointed.The presence of the Holy Spirit is evidence of God’s love for us.We are utterly helpless without Jesus because of our sins.Jesus met us in our pit of helplessness and saved us.
This is remarkable because most people won’t die for someone else, even for a really good person.Rarely, someone might be willing to sacrifice their own life for someone who is extraordinarily good.
understated point: God’s love is shown in this most profound way: when you were at your worst (as a sinner), Jesus did the most by dying on the cross for your sins.
Christ’s sacrifice made us right with God.
This saves us from condemnation.
This restores relationship with God.
Through Jesus, we are friends of God.
total coincidence that a Stallone movie is on while I’m writing this.
The sin problem, unpacked and addressed:
Sin entered the world through the sin of the first person, Adam.
That sin brought death, so death spread to everyone; so, everyone sinned.
Sin was in the world even before the law was given.
So even though the sin was not imputed on people because the law hadn’t been given, the evidence that sin was in the world was demonstrated in the fact that all people died (the consequence of sin).
So the sin wasn’t merely the violation of Mosaic law, it was the rebellion against God that spread from Adam to all people.
Adam, though, serves as a symbol of sorts who points to Jesus.
Just as how sin spread from him singularly to all people is symbolic how salvation spreads to all who believe from the singular source of Jesus.
Adam’s sin brought death to many (because all earn it through our own sins)
Jesus’ gift is far greater because it is God’s grace extended, giving forgiveness to all who receive him.
Adam’s sin led to condemnation.
Jesus’ gift leads to righteousness.
The law’s role in this is to show humanity its sin problem.
As sin becomes more prevalent, God’s grace is more glorious.
God’s grace doesn’t give license to keep sinning, or to sin more abundantly.
Instead, Christians who identify with Jesus is baptism must remember that they identify with him in his death. Baptism is a picture of being buried with Christ, and it is a picture of being resurrected with Christ, too.
Because of this, we are no longer slaves to sin.
Dying with Christ set us free from the power of sin.
We are now alive in Christ.
lil Jon gets it.
If you’re alive in Christ, don’t be a slave to sin.
Don’t give in to sinful desires.
Instead, give yourself fully to God – mind, body and soul.
understated point: live under the freedom of God’s grace.
(The next extended passage reiterates and restates this in the context of slavery and freedom…I’m jumping ahead)
The law is good because it reveals sin. The good law “inflames” the sinful nature of man, and makes known the sinful, fallenness afflicting every person.
Sin uses what is good (the Law) to bring about death. It uses God’s own commands for evil.
Paul understands that the problem isn’t with the law because the law is good.
Rather, the problem is with Paul (or, more accurately, with each and every one of us).
On our own, we are slaves to sin.
We don’t really understand ourselves.
We want to do the right thing, but we don’t.
We don’t want to do the wrong thing, but we do.
Conviction over these dilemmas demonstrates that the law exists and that it is intrinsically good.
This contradictory behavior is the sin present in us, doing these wrong deeds.
Paul says it succinctly: I know that nothing good lives within me; that is, in my sinful nature.
Loving God’s law isn’t enough.
The power of sin enslaves all and overcomes even the best intentions.
Paul’s great lament: who will free me from this body of death?
Explains the human condition, Yoda does.
Thankfully, Paul’s message doesn’t end with this lament.
“Thank God!” Paul proclaims, “the answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord!”
The body is a slave to sin, but the mind (redeemed in Jesus) is a slave to Christ.
There is no condemnation for anyone who belongs to Jesus.
By belonging to Jesus, the life giving power of the Holy Spirit frees the person from the death-bringing enslavement to sin.
God did what the law couldn’t do – bring life to the person sentenced to death by sin.
Jesus’ death on the cross fully satisfied God’s wrath against sin.
So now we no longer follow the sinful nature, but the life giving Spirit of God.
Live then, according to the Spirit.
Being dominated by the flesh brings death,
Submitting to the Spirit brings life.
You are no longer any obligation to your sin nature.
Through the power of the Spirit of God, you have freedom from and victory over the lure of sin.
understated points: through the power of the Spirit, you put to death the deeds of the flesh. Those who are led by theSpirit of God are God’s children.
God adopted his children.
As his children, we are also his heirs.
iAs his heirs, we will share in his glory.
Until then, we will also share in his suffering.
the present suffering pales in comparison to the awaiting glory.
This current time is marked by a weakness that struggles in the tension of the present suffering expectantly awaiting the future glory.
Thankfully, the Holy Spirit helps us in our present weakness.
For example He helps us in our prayer communication with the Father.
He tells us what to pray, using words we can’t really hear or even discern.
IN fact, the Holy Spirit prays for us,
The Father knows exactly what the Spirit is praying for us, because the Spirit always prays in perfect harmony with the Father’s will for us.
We can be encouraged in this because God works all things together for His good in the lives of his children, who are the people that he has called according to his purposes.
And God knew all his people (his children) in advance, and chose them to be made into the likeness of his Son,
Having chosen them, he called them to follow Jesus.
Having called them, he gave them righteousness.
Having given them righteousness, he gave them glory.
understated point: These actions of God are completed acts. God’s children experience them in the course of life, and will experience receiving God’s glory in the judgment.
If all this is true (and it is), what can be said?
Since God is for us, it doesn’t matter if anyone tries to oppose us.
God didn’t spare his Son from the evil of this world, so we can’t realistically expect to be spared, either.
It doesn’t matter, though, because we have God’s righteousness. And nobody in the world can condemn us because we already have received GOd’s approval.
Jesus actively advocates for us before God, overcoming any attempts to condemn us before God.
nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.
Neither death nor life
angels nor demons
today’s fears nor tomorrow’s worries,
not the powers of hell
no spiritual or earthly powers,
nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God in Jesus.
Paul addresses the congregation on the topic of marriage, because they were apparently confused about whether or not it was sinful to be married. H assured them it was not sinful for virgins to marry.
He was clear that he was not commanding them one way or another (since he had not received a clear command from the Lord to do so), so he was only offering advice that they could follow or decline.
He acknowledged that married couples would face challenge. Scholars don’t have agreement on what this means…could be normal timeless challenges facing all couples, could be Corinth-specific challenges, or it the challenges could be related to the expectation of Christ’s impending return.
Because of these problems, he wasn’t recommending marriage, but he wasn’t forbidding it.
His priority for Christians is that they will prioritize serving the Lord. If marriage is a distraction to this priority, singleness is preferred. However, if singleness is a distraction to the priority of Jesus, marriage is preferable.
Those who are married should not divorce (using this priority as the rationale to do so).
Next, he addresses the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols.
the first points made on the subject are bigger than the subject itself:
While knowledge is important, it is love that strengthens the church.
anyone who claims to know everything, actually knows very little.
the person who loves God is someone who God recognizes.
the teachings on eating idol-sacrificed food, then, are to be understood within this love/knowledge paradigm.
idols are not really gods.
There is only one God.
But…not all believers (?) know this. Some translations say “all people,” while others make the reference to believers or Christians. Regardless the obligation to the mature of knowledgeable Christian who knows that idols are not gods, is not governed by knowledge but by love.
A believer doesn’t lose anything (of spiritual value) by eating this food, but nor do they gain anything by abstaining from it as a matter of conscience or principle.
The new guiding principle isn’t a believer’s liberty (though it certainly exists). the guiding principle for a believerselfless consideration for others.
The believer must be determined to not cause any person with a more delicate conscience to stumble.
Applying this principle to this context means abstaining from meat (even though a believer is free to eat this type of meat), if doing so means causing a person who thinks its wrong to do this (and, in so doing, sinning).
Paul comments about his own God-given authority, mentioning how his own self-supported ministry should not be understood as the prescription for a church’s relationship with their spiritual leaders.
He told the church it was right to support the spiritual leaders.
His own determination to serve independently was accomplished in response the Lord’s compulsion upon him to do it this way.
In this regard, Paul saw himself as a servant to all people. And he was governed by the principle of selfless consideration for others.
To people who were under the Law (Jewish people), he conducted himself as someone who was still under the law.
To people who were not under the Law (Gentile people), he conducted himself as someone who was no longer under the law.
This others-centeredness made it possible for him to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel.
He compared this discipline to two athletic endeavors:
training to win a running race.
training as a boxer.
He was in it to win it (“It” being “seeing people trust Jesus.”)
When Rocky Is Paul, and the side of beef is others’ unbelief
To make his next points, Paul reminds the Corinthian Jewish believers of their ancestors who were united in their following of Moses, and illustrating that their common behavior was a baptism of sorts. He points out that their sharing in the water from the rock was a picture of Jesus.
From this, he reminds them of Israel’s waywardness (idolatry, pagan revelry, grumbling, etc.) This judgment against Israel was given as an example to believers now (and “now now,” too).As such, we must not put Christ to the test, the way the ancestors tested God.We must not succumb to temptation.
Deliverance from temptation is possible. The temptation will never be greater than what you can bear.God will always provide a way out of the temptation.Therefore, we must flee the worship of idols (an offense of our spiritual ancestors)He gives instruction to abstain from knowingly eating food sacrificed to idols, on the principle that it is food really offered to demons and to stay away from this evil. He acknowledges that this is permissible, but counters that it is still not advisable, because it isn’t beneficial. He reiterates the understated point: Don’t be concerned about your own good, but for the goodof others.
The application of this is explained contextually with advice that if you are offered food, go ahead and eat it, but if the matter of conscience is raised, then abstain. bottom line: whatever youdo, do it for the glory of God.Paul offers himself as the example in this, and tells them (and us), “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
Paul moves on to matters of order.
This commentary will be brief on on these matters, as they address an internal conflict of the Corinthian church and reflect the cultural practices of the time. A thorough commentary is offered here, via The Gospel Coalition.
My focus here isn’t on the custom; rather, on the clear teaching that God is characterized by order. As such, worship directed to him should likewise be orderly. Disorderly or chaotic worship is indicative of misdirected, ineffectual worship.
Continuing on the topic of order requires addressing the matter of unity. God is unified with himself. So, too, must we be unified. Apparently there was disunity regarding the commemoration of the Lord’s Supper.
Paul recounts the history that establishes the importance of the Lord’s Supper. He admonishes the Corinthians to examine themselves before participating in the Lord’s Supper and to approach the table with a clean account before the Lord.
He instructs the church to wait for the congregation to participate in it together.
Still under the topic of order is a proper understanding of Spiritual Gifts. He explains that these gifts are bestowed by the Holy Spirit, and are not of human origin.
He clarifies that everyone who believes receives at least one spiritual gift.
The purpose of the gift is to help one another (not for personal benefit or gain).
There are many different gifts given to the church.
God alone gives and distributes the gifts.
He compares the peoples’ spiritual giftedness to a human body to illustrate the principles of unity, coordination, and interdependence.
He exhorts people to desire the gifts that will be most beneficial to others.
understated point: spiritual giftedness reinforces that you exist as a follower of Jesus for the purpose of serving others.
Whether or not the gray stuff is delicious, we do, in fact, live to serve.
This discourse on order is paused, for a reenforcing and even transformational, discourse on “a way of life that is best for all.”
He says that knowledge without love makes a person like a noisy gong or clanging symbol.
A person who can teach God’s truth authoritatively, or possessed great wisdom, or possessed unsurpassed knowledge, but didn’t have love, was useless.
Even a person who was excessively sacrificial, if dispossessed of love, would gain nothing for all their sacrifice.
Paul describes love’s attributes:
love is patient and kind
love isn’t boastful or jealous or proud or rude
love doesn’t demand its own way
love isn’t irritable, and it doesn’t keep records of wrong
love doesn’t rejoice in injustice, but rejoices when truth wins out
love never gives up, never loses hope
love endures through everything
Paul explains the preeminence of love.
Spiritual giftedness will eventually become obsolete.
Love, though, will continue forever.
The current expressions of spiritual giftedness are incomplete, but when the end comes (the time of perfection), these incomplete things will be useless.
Eventually, the incomplete things we only partially understand know will become complete and we will understand them fully. When that happens, only three things remain…faith, hope, and love. And love is the greatest of these three things.
This translation says these three things last forever. Most translations render this phrase as “remain” or “abide,” connoting a different idea than what is communicated by the NLT. I’m more comfortable with the other translations, because I’m of the mind that my hope will be fulfilled and my faith will one day be realized. If so, these two will come to an end. But love will remain. understated point: Love is the apex, transcendent experience (and expression of relationship).
With the exhortation from Paul to pursue love as the highest goal, he encourages believers to desire special spiritual gifts, particularly the gift of prophecy (or to speak forth truth for the edification of other believers).
attention is returned to the “sticky wicket” of the spiritual gift of tongues, mentioning that prophecy is a better gift because it benefits more people than does the gift of tongues.
Paul offers some descriptive guidelines for the orderly presentation/expression of tongues in the life of a congregation.
tongues or languages must be understandable, or else the indistinguishable words will be useless.
Every language of the world has meaning, but if it is unknown or unknowable, it is useless. Because of this, Paul entreats you to pursue the gifts that will most benefit others.
Paul reasons through this thread arriving at the same conclusion repeatedly: simple, straightforward, known articulation of God’s truth is always best.
Paul summarizes points on orderly worship, emphasizing that orderliness affirms God’s involvement amongst the congregation, both internally and externally (as affirmation and witness).
Has this ever happened to your worship?
Paul reiterates the Gospel, encouraging the audience to stand firm in the truth of what Jesus accomplished. He explained that he is who he is by God’s appointment, Jesus’ Lordship, and the Spirit’s empowerment.
He then reaffirms the resurrection of Jesus, refuting the false claims of those striving to deny the historicity of the event.
In this, he explains the resurrection as an essential doctrine of the Christian faith.
The resurrection of Jesus overcomes the curse that came to humanity through the first man, Adam.
The resurrection of Jesus affirms the promised return of Jesus. He can only return (and will return) because he was resurrected in the first place.
There is a strange, singular reference to “baptism for the dead.” It isn’t affirmed or criticized. It is merely acknowledged that some practice that is commonly known is practiced at the time. Paul’s point isn’t whether it is right or wrong or good or bad, but that if there were no resurrection of Jesus, then there would be no justification whatsoever for the practice.
Moreover, even the overall efforts of Paul would be foolhardy without the resurrection.
Paul moves on to addressing the question of “how” bodily resurrection will happen.
He uses the comparison of a seed in the ground giving way to the growth of a plant.
The physical. body will give way to a spiritual body.
With all this, Paul encourages the congregation to do all they can for the Lord, because this is always productive and useful.
Bert, reading Immerse, realizes for whom he labors…
Paul closes with a quick instruction on how to support the offering for the church in Jerusalem, and then with closing remarks, with final exhortations:
Be on guard
Stand firm in the faith
Be courageous and strong
Do everything with love
Submit to spiritual leaders with devotion and appreciation.
In parting, he casually mentions “If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.” (grace and love to you in Jesus)
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