Zombies!

Read Romans 6.1-14

So I've been busy this weekend, which is why posts haven't happened for 4 days. But oh well. Now we get into Romans 6, which rocks.

Paul begins by asking a rhetorical question, meaning one he doesn't expect an answer for. And it is in response to what he was written in chapter 5 about how we have peace with God because of Jesus. We are justified, righteous, and live, all because of Christ, and the grace that we have received outweighs all the sin in our lives.

So Paul asks, in light of this grace, shall we sin that grace may increase?

ABSOLUTELY NOT

This is the strongest way Paul can say no. We have died to sin he says. So how can we live in it when we died in it? It's like drowning. You died in the water, you're not coming back to life. How can you live in it then? You can't because you're dead to it. Why? Because we have been baptized into Jesus (we can argue about baptism later), and therefore were baptized into his death as well, his death which defeated sin. And because we died with Jesus to sin, we also were buried with him, and were raised from the dead (spiritually, we'll get into physically later). This then means we once were alive, then died in our sin, then raised again by the power of God. We are the walking dead! We are zombies! And because we are zombies, we are new creations, transformed from our old self into a new, better self, by God.

As to the physical aspect of the resurrection then, we see a lot of talk in this passage about resurrection. All that I will say about this issue has scripture support, and I make no claims on when the bodily resurrection will happen or what that means. Some claim that our old bodies will be resurrected, some say that perfect forms of our bodies will, some say it happens right after death, others that it will happen on Judgement day. I won't get into that because it doesn't matter. All that matters is that we were promised a physical resurrection, and that it only comes from God, and it will be like that of Christ.

But in our resurrection, like Jesus', we shall walk in a newness of life, because we have been united with him in a death like his. Death like his, for me, means a death of obedience. We heard the call of God, we knew that we were to die to follow his call, and we did. There's more to it, but right now that's what I think I need to focus on. I don't want to right a book on this stuff yet. But because we've had a death like his, we therefore will have a resurrection like his. Our old, sin-filled self was nailed to the cross with Jesus so that the sinful body could die, be brought to nothing, become non-existent, so that we will no longer be slaves to sin. 

"The one who has died has been set free from sin" (Rom. 6.7). If you pass on, and go to be with God, you are no longer tempted by sin. If you have spiritually died to sin and come alive in God, then in the same way sin no longer has a hold on you. You may still struggle with it, you may still fall into it from time to time, but by the grace of God you are no longer bound to it, no longer a slave to it. You have a reason to wrestle with sin instead of just accepting it. Just like a zombie it will take a lot more to kill you.

And because we have died to sin, died with Christ, we also believe that we live with him. His resurrection was so powerful that he will never die again (true meaning of resurrection) and therefore death doesn't have power over him. I had a girlfriend at one time who had 2 big fears: Feet and death. Her fear of death was because the unknown behind it. I tried to tell her the gospel and of the resurrection and life after death that Jesus gives, but it's hard to witness when you're not truly saved and doing whatever you want anyways. But death holds dominion over her, especially in the sense of fear. When you truly fear something your mind is always on it and you do all you can to avoid it. I hate spiders, I am horrible afraid of them. They're on my mind a lot and I do all I can to avoid them. But death is something we can't avoid, it comes for us all. But there is life in Jesus, and he lives his life for God, his life is connected to God, who lasts forever. In the same way we are to live to God, having our life last forever just as God does.

So do not let sin reign in your life, don't give into the mortal passions of sex drugs and rock 'n roll alcohol and whatever else you do just to feel good. Present yourself as one who is saved, not as one who is still in sin. Be a living sacrifice, dying daily to sin, and coming alive in God, presenting yourself to him as one who has been saved, been brought back to life. Since you are no longer under the law but under grace, sin shall no longer rule over you, instead God will, which is the meaning of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Death and Life

So I got productive yesterday and posted two blogs, and I'm still posting one today. Be excited at my work for yinz.

Read Romans 5.12-21.

Everything was great after the 6th day of creation. It was even better after the 7th when God created rest. But weeks, months, maybe even years later things got broke. Sin entered into the world, and spiritually death ran rampant throughout the earth, and we've been in a decline ever since.

We see in this passage that Paul talks about this very issue.

Sin came into the world through one man, death came through sin, and death spread to all men, because now all sin. See the circle? And sin was there even fore the Law, because sin is what goes against God's will, and God's will has always been there. But before there was Law, a set list of things to do and not do, sin can't be counted against those who sin because they don't know the Law.

I've been living in PA for a while now, and I know in some ways their traffic laws are different then they are in Ohio. So if I get pulled over for breaking a PA law that's different than Ohio's, and I didn't know it existed, am I able to receive a ticket for it? Personally I say yes, because if I move here I should take the time to look up how things are different than in Ohio. But would a cop let me off with a warning? Well I hope, I don't have money for a ticket and I don't know the law. In the same way, Paul writes that if someone doesn't know the law, or if the law isn't even in existence yet, they their sins against the law can't be counted against them.

So if there was sin before the Law, what does that do for the results of sin? Well death still reigned from Adam on because while there was no Law, there was still God's will, which is to have good relations with him and those around us. Just because we Fell does not mean that the commands that God gave Adam and Eve were made invalid. We were still to subdue the earth and take care of it, that just got harder because of the curse. an we were still to obey God, and we see that means giving him our best as seen in Cain and Abel's sacrifices to him, and that we're supposed to have good relations with those around us, as seen in the punishment of Cain for killing his brother. Because of these things that God wanted us to do, there was still sin in the world. And sin, death has reigned in the lives of men from Adam to Moses.

Something interesting here that's kind of off topic, but really interesting, at the end of 14 we see, "...of Adam, who was a type of the one to come." What does this mean? #icanteven (am I doing this white girl thing right?). Here's what I see in this partial sentence. Looking at the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3, we see that if ends with "Adam, the son of God." Adam was the first human ever, and being which can be called the son of God. Well Paul says that Adam was a type of the one to come. The one to come I think we can all agree on that this means Jesus. And who is Jesus? The true son of God, the son that God begat, not made, but begat. C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity talks about the word "begat" (most of you will recognize it in the form of "begotten" think John 3.16 KJV), and of it he says that begetting something is making something of the same as the maker of the thing begat. We have a child who has no physical or mental issues that the parents also don't have, they begat that child. So God had created Adam, and Adam can be defined as a son of God, and the one who is to come is a type of a son of God. More accurately, Adam is the type of a son of God, and Jesus is the true son of God, God's only begotten son. That's really all for that...but for me that was interesting and I thought I'd share that with you.

Paul then talks about "the free gift." Well what free gift is he talking about? All we've talked about in this passage thus far is death because of sin. Well looking at the passage before, which is relevant because 1, it's in the same chapter, and 2, it's the same book, so therefore it applies to this, we can assume that this "free gift" can be peace with God, his grace, our justification by the grace of God. So this free gift, this peace, is not like how it worked with the trespass.

One trespass, one sin led to the death of all people, and for many they never repent and this leads to a permanent death. But many more shall be saved by God's grace, his free gift. And this grace came through one man for all, just as death came through one man and effected all. But again, the gift and the trespass are not the same. One sin, one trespass leads to condemnation, leads to a guilty judgment against us. But the free gift will justify us no matter the number of trespasses. This again leads us to the true meaning of grace. One trespass leads to death. Grace outweighs all trespasses. Think about how great that is and what that really means.

One trespass leads to death for all. And one act of righteousness leads to justification for all. But it is not our act of righteousness, because our righteousness does not come from us, as we'll see later, but instead it comes from Jesus. It is Jesus' act of righteousness that leads to justification for all.

Over all this entire passage is about how through Adam death came to all, but through Jesus life came for all.

So I encourage you to die to sin, and come alive in Christ. Which we will be looking at even more tomorrow.

Cool Kids

So this is a song that's highly popular now and I actually enjoy it a lot. It's ironic that today of all days is when it gets stuck in my head and I listen to it about 50 times.



I was always kind of that socially awkward kid growing up. I never really fit in, did my own thing, acted like I didn't care, but honestly I did. There was a lot that went on that made me act out to gain attention, and when that didn't work anywhere I think that's when I really became an introvert, apathetic, and pessimistic.



This really started to happen around 6th and 7th grade, and just increased through middle and high school. But I remember 6th grade I was talking to a kid in my class who was popular, cool, good at everything he did, and I asked him, after stuttering for about 15 minutes, "How do I become cool like you?" We were pretty good friends, actually were in some of the same grades in elementary school. But the next year he went to a different middle school then I did, and come high school we were two completely different people. But we still talked and hung out at lunch and whatever like some kids might do.



During that those years I watched has he spiraled down into tobacco use at the age of 15, dipping in class constantly, constantly drinking, and eventually I saw him get into selling heroin, and eventually using. During our senior year I watched this guy that I knew since I was about 7 lose weight from his addiction, skipping school, forgetting the things that he once loved and cherished.



Today I saw online that he got picked up for breaking and entering, I saw his mug shot and didn't recognize him at all.



Two thoughts came racing through my mind: What if I followed him, what if our friendship didn't really end when we went to different middle schools?



I noticed with that first question was about me, and my future. Would I be strung out on drugs, breaking into houses to try and pay for my next high along with him?



Then the second question came up: What if I could have done something to prevent this fall of this incredibly smart and talented kid? What if I acted like the Christian I claimed to be and played on Sundays? What if instead of following my own, shorter, less drastic fall I was light and salt in this persons life?



These are tough questions to answer. Where would I be if I stayed friends with him? What could I have done to prevent this?



I hope a good number of people in high school are reading this, because I went through exactly what you're going through. I wanted to be like the cool kids, I wanted to fit in. Yet I saw that if I did, I could be in a horrible place. While I was in high school I looked at my fellow class mates and remember how much I was bullied and made fun of for just being me. That along with a plethora of other problems led me to dark places. And I wanted to be like those kids? What was wrong with me?



You want to be like them? What's wrong with you? You may sit there and say "Oh they aren't that bad" but in all societies the stronger prey on the weak, the different, and those who are strong and go against them. I'm happy for where I am today, because I go against cultural norms. I go with God. He is my path. I no longer want to be like others because I find meaning in being me. I am who I am by the grace of God, and I accept that.



So I pose this question to you: Who are you? A new creation in Christ? Or a mold that society tells you to be?



If you don't know you better figure it out before you end up with all the other molds that are unhappy in their lives, sprinting towards alcohol and drug abuse, just waiting to turn into the next divorce statistic working a dead end job.



Don't wish to be like the cool kids. Pray to be like Christ.

What does "Peace" Mean?

Read Romans 5.1-11

So as I've mentioned before, I took a class on Romans a while back and for the final assignment I had to write a research paper. I chose this passage as my text. I thought about just throwing that paper on here, but it's 14 pages long. I'm not that mean. But this is a great passage, one of my favorites. So let's get into it.

The very first verse we see that we have peace with God through Jesus. A lot of people that I talk to think of that word "peace" as relaxing, chill, pacific, clam. While all of these may be true, the true intention behind the word is like that of peace after a war. In sin we were at war with God, but through Jesus we are no longer in open rebellion, we are at peace.

Not only do we have peace with God through Jesus, but through faith in him we also stand in God's grace as well. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Grace if preached properly sounds like heresy. Though one trespass, one sin condemns us, by being at peace with God and by standing in his grace, our sin is forgotten before we even finish doing it (we'll get more into this later). And because we stand in the amazing grace we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. In chapter 8 we see that God's glory is our inheritance, and that we are heirs of it because of Jesus.

What does it mean to rejoice in the hope of the glory of God though? Well looking at verses 3-5 helps us understand it even more. But overall this phrase means that we have faith that we shall receive the glory of God, and in the following verses we see that because we hope we receive. That is because not only do we rejoice in hope, but we also rejoice in suffering because suffering leads to endurance of hard times, and endurance leads to the building of character, and character produces hope. And this hope doesn't disappoint us, it doesn't put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into us through the Holy Spirit which was given to us.

Now if we connect a few things, we see that in the Old Testament, when God was on Mt. Sinai, and in the Tabernacle, and when he passed in front of Moses, and in the Most Holy Place, it was always referred to as his glory entering into that particular place. This is still understood as God entering that particular location. Now we see in the New Testament that we are the Tabernacle, the Temple, the dwelling place of God. We know that the Holy Spirit is God, and we see here that it is poured out into us because of God's love and our hope. So connecting all of this we can see that our hope gives us the Holy Spirit, God himself, God's glory. Because of this, our hope is not disappointed.

What is even more amazing about God's love which was poured out for us, and because of his dedication to having peace with us, while we were still weak in the flesh, at the absolutely perfect time he sent his son to die for us, the ungodly. Now someone may die for a righteous person, and for a good person someone might die for them. But an ungodly person? No one would die for them. But God, in showing his great love, died for us in the form of his son while we were still sinners. While we were still in open rebellion against him, he died for us.

And because of this we are justified by his blood. And because of being justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from his wrath? While we were still enemies, we were reconciled by the death of Jesus. And because we were reconciled we are also saved.

What Paul is getting at here is this: We stood before a firing squad condemned to death. They had us dead to rights. God took aim, he fired at us which was just of him to do. Yet after he fired that bullet to kill us, he jumped in front of it to take it for us, because of his great love.

And because of this we are able to have peace with God, be reconciled to him, and stand in his grace. So we rejoice in God and his works, which is only possible for us to do through Jesus, because through him we have been reconciled with God.

An Example All Will Know

Read Romans 4

First off, for some reason I can't type right today, so please excuse any typos that may, and probably will, come along.

Now, the title today is not for you, it is for those Paul was writing to. He just spent, according to us, three chapters telling the Church in Rome that no one is righteous, especially the Jews who were looking down on the Gentiles for not first being Jews before they became Christians. Now you may be thinking, "Oh Acts 15 and the Council of Jerusalem! They should know!" Except the church in Rome was most likely not started by that time.

There is massive parallel here as well to our culture today, I'm speaking of mostly American culture.

This picture really shows first how many who are outside of Christianity see us, and second, correctly depicts many Christians in American culture today. I heard this story about a preacher that went into a church on his first Sunday, never meeting the congregation before. He comes in dressed as a homeless person and is ridiculed, looked down upon, spoken poorly about, and asked to leave by the people in the congregation. Only 3 out of the large congregation greet him. The service starts and he sits in the back, and  finally an elder comes up and introduces the new preacher. He walks up front, unshaven, dirty, and in rags and simply quotes Matthew 25.31-46, the Sheep and the Goats passage. 

That is the same problem that the Church in Rome was having. There were those who thought they were "holier than thou" and tried to lord over the Gentiles, believing in their own righteousness, and Paul sends them this letter saying, "No. You're not righteous." Then we see in chapter 4 Paul shows them an example that no one can be righteous on their own. He uses an example all the Jews will know, because he is the father of them all. He uses Abraham. Let's look at what this chapter would look like to us instead.

So you think that you're righteous on your own? Look at your heroes of the faith. Billy Graham, Louie Giglio, Francis Chan, Judah Smith, Mark Driscoll, Max Lucado, the list can go on and on. All of them are sinners, all of them struggle with something. Look at Mark Discoll now, having to step down from his position because of anger and control issues.  Everyone on the above list have sins that they struggle with, it just hasn't come to light in the public, but I'm sure those who they ask to keep the accountable know what they are. They can't be righteous on their own because they're human just like you and me. 

They are not justified by what they do, because if they could the could boast before God. But no one can boast before God because of our sin. But instead, they are counted as righteous because of their faith in God and in his work. If you work for your job, you expect to get paid, that's how the world turns. In Romans 6 we see that sin is paid for in death, and we see in Romans 5 that only one sin is enough to condemn us no matter how much good we do. So naturally we deserve the wages for which we work, which is death. That would not be considered a gift, but instead what we are due, what we earned. But if we don't work for ourselves, and instead believe that we can be justified by the work of God, then our faith in counted as righteousness, just like our heroes. 

And because we can be justified by faith, and have our sins forgiven, we are blessed. Now for our heroes who are also blessed in this way, did it come before or after they did something worthy? Well if the blessing came after then it could be said that they earned their righteousness, but if it was before then their righteousness was a gift. Their works are but a seal, a sign of their salvation. In the same way we follow in the foot steps of those who mentor and teach us, following in faith, upholding the law by faith, working because of our faith. Not to earn righteousness, we already have it because of our faith, but to show our righteousness, to show we are sanctified (holy/set apart).

In the following passage, and finishing up the chapter, Paul begins to get even more theological. 

God had promised Abraham that he would have a massive family and be a blessing to the world. This came before the Law was ever given, and Abraham took it by faith that God would give him what he promised, and that faith was counted to him as righteousness, and the promise was fulfilled. It is by the grace of God, given through faith, that the promise can be given to his offspring, which also includes us, being those who share the faith with Abraham in God. 

Something that's really cool here is what Paul writes: That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring, including the one who shares the faith of Abraham in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

That's a bit chopped up, but man is that powerful. Turn to Ezekiel 37 and read that. Look at Romans 6 and see how we are alive in Christ. God brings life to the dead, including us who were dead in our sins! This is because of our faith in his works, and we are now a part of the promise given to Abraham, making us a part of the New Israel. Not only that but we are new creations as well, being something that had never existed before and God has made us exist because of his love for us! How freaking awesome is that?!

Yet our faith, our hope is not easy, Paul writes that Abraham had hope against hope. Faith doesn't make sense to those who are perishing. I talk with atheists pretty regularly and all they do is try to poke holes in my faith and my theology, "Oh well if you say God does this then this must be true as well." No, God's infinite and a lot of times doesn't make sense to us. So we hope against hope. We no longer hope in ourselves, something we know. Instead we hope in something that so many try to dissuade us from, and put our lives into someone else's hands. And because of this, times will get hard, we will be tested. Yet he gives us the strength by giving us himself to work through us to withstand the hard times to get to his promise of the resurrection, which is given to us by Jesus the Christ, our Lord and King, who himself was raised from the dead so that we might be justified as well.

Well if they're not, and they're not...is anyone Righteous?

Read Romans 3

The answer to the title question is a simple one.

No.

From verse 1 of chapter 3 we can see that the Jews believe that they had an advantage over the Gentiles in having righteousness, but Paul turns that around on them and says "No you don't." They were entrusted with a message from God, yet many were unfaithful to God. Now does that make God completely drop us? No, that's the opposite of grace. I'm pretty sure I've said this in my blog before and I'll say it again, grace, if preached properly, sounds like heresy. And this is exactly the case here in the first few verses of chapter 3.

Now I don't really hold stock to once saved always saved, but I do hold stock in God's faithfulness.
2 Timothy 2.13 Paul writes that if we are faithless, God remains faithful. That's exactly what he writes here in verses 3 and 4, if we are faithless God is still faithful to us. This, for me, does not mean once saved always saved, but it instead gives a full look into what grace looks like. Even when we mess up, even when we decide to try and take things into our own hands and lose faith in God, he still remains faithful to us. Though we forsake him he does not forsake us. Instead he lets us try it our way, and we see that we can't save ourselves or properly run our own life. We fall, we get hurt, life gets tough and we can't handle it, but he's still there with us, remaining faithful despite our arrogance and pride. He remains faithful.

As to how this is grace and sounding like heresy, what Paul is truly saying is that we're going to sin. We're going to screw up, we're going to turn our backs on God. But his grace in our lives says, "It's fine. I'm still here. I'm still faithful to you. Though you cheat on me I won't cheat on you."

Verse 5 then speaks about our unrighteousness and God's righteousness. If our unrighteousness shows God's righteousness, or we're the bad example God is the only good example, would it then be unrighteous of God to punish us for being a bad example? No! Would it be unrighteous for a parent to punish their child for doing something wrong? Is it wrong to imprison a convicted murderer? Is it wrong for me to spray my cat when he climbs a lamp shade? No! (Though nowadays the parents issue is being disputed which is why people probably have such a big problem with God and his judgement thinking that he's just as evil as we are.)

But because we are unrighteous God's righteousness is indeed shown. By our lies God's truth is made known. He makes good come out of bad situations. I got screwed over by a church which was a bad situation because of hypocrisy and lies, yet if that didn't happen I wouldn't have been able to meet the people I have back at home, nor come into the new ministry that God has called me to. I wouldn't be placed in a position where my faith is tested and my relationship grows. Out of a bad situation comes a good one and God's glory is shared.

Paul then poses an interesting question in verse 8: Why don't we sin more so that good can happen? He poses a similar question in chapter 6 which we'll look at later. Then right after that he shows that he was being ridiculed by those in the Church with saying heresy, or preaching true grace. Yes, he says, it does sound wrong, it does sound like I'm saying that there's no point to stop sinning, because one we have grace and two by our unrighteousness God's righteousness is shown. But, as he has said before and will say again, this does not mean that we should continue in sin.

So then are the Jews better off because they hold to the Law? Nope, Chuck Testa

(Sorry I think in memes. If you don't know what that means just look up Chuck Testa on Youtube Or Follow this link and enjoy!)

Paul writes that he's already established that both Jew and Gentile (or Christian and non-Christian in our case) are condemned and under sin. He then, with his vast knowledge of the OT from being a Pharisee shows with scripture that the Jews would know that they are indeed under sin.

Then in verses 19 and 20 Paul makes things a bit confusing, which he will increase even more in chapter 7 which will be so much fun! But what he writes is that the Law applies to those who are under it to have them act accordingly and so they will be held accountable to God. But the Jews believed that by following the Law they were saving themselves, but that's not what the Law was for. Much like the Sermon on the Mount the Law was there to instruct them how to live as though they were saved, not to justify them by their actions. This is because that by being under the Law you then come into sin.

This here is confusing. God gave us the Law and by doing so we sin? So we sin because of what God gave us? Well we're under sin either way, it's just by having the Law that we recognize sin and (should) understand that without God's grace in our lives we stand condemned. And because we are condemned and under sin we cannot be justified or righteous by our own works. We're hanging from a cliff and lack the strength to climb ourselves up to safety.

As for the righteousness of God, it is completed even without the Law because, having been the distributor of the Law he then is righteous even without it. And we (unrighteous humans) receive his righteousness as our own by having faith in Jesus.

Verses 23 and 24 blow be away: For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Boom.

All of us have sinned! All of us fall short of deserving God's glory daily. Yet we are justified despite our shortcomings because of HIS grace which is a free gift made available to us because of the redemption that can only be found in Jesus! And he is God's grace for us, given to us as a gift to truly show God's righteousness, because only because of Jesus God is able to pass over our previous sins.

This is some great stuff. God knows that we're condemned in our sin and completely unrighteous. Yet he sends his son down out of his own grace and righteousness and because of/in response to our unrighteousness so that we can receive his grace in full, take on his righteousness as our own, be justified despite our sin, and have all our sins forgotten and passed over all by having faith in his son. So much to gain with such little effort. All because God did all the work for us.

So what then, as unrighteous people by our own actions, and only righteous by God's actions and his gifts, do we have to boast about? Nothing but the works of God. God is the God of all, he is the King and Lord of all despite our admitting it or not. But those who do admit it receive his free gifts and claim him as their own King and Savior. And because of our faith in him as our King and Savior, we then uphold the Law, not for our own righteousness, but because of his righteousness that he has given to us.

To God be the glory now and forever. Amen.

Romans 2 continued

Again, sorry for the long wait.

Read Romans 2.12-29

Today we're going to finish up Romans 2. The past 3 posts have been and introduction into Romans along with the power of the gospel, proof that all Gentiles are sinners, and proof that all Jews are also sinners. That pretty much covers everyone. Now today, Paul finishes his thoughts on how Jews are sinners as well.

Verse 12 is Paul telling us that if someone has sinned against the Law without knowing the Law then they will die without the Law as well. But those who sin against the Law while knowing the Law then they will be judged. What he's basically writing is that if we sin and don't know the Law then we can't be judged by it.

I've been in Pittsburgh for a while now, and some traffic laws in PA are different than those in Ohio. How? I don't know. But I wonder if I get pulled over for breaking a strictly PA law without knowing that law even exists would I still get a ticket? Of course the poor guy in me says, "No I shouldn't get a ticket" but wouldn't the officer say, "Well you knew you were moving here, you've been here for 4 months now, you should have taken the time to learn these laws. You had a responsibility to."

Let's tie these two together then. If people who don't know the Law and can die without being judged for breaking it, shouldn't we just keep it to ourselves? No, we have an obligation, a responsibility to spread the Gospel to all the world. We were commanded to by Jesus. In Revelation 10.9 we see the little scroll given to John and he is told to eat it. Keep it in his stomach, his body, it's bitter. Keep it in his mouth, on his tongue and lips and it's sweet. This is the Gospel. We keep it in us and it becomes bitter and nasty, but if we are always worshiping God and having his glorious works on our lips and in our mouth it's sweet, and great.  So we have an obligation to share the Gospel, and it will actually benefit us if we do so.

Verse 13 Paul writes that just by hearing the Law will not make us righteous, but it is the doers that are justified. Later we will see how that works out, but what Paul is not saying is that we can justify ourselves. It doesn't work like that.

There is an idea floating around that God reveals himself to all, and that there is a moral code in all of us that cannot be explained by anything other than being made in the image of God. If you can explain the moral code that all people have strictly by science, I would love to hear it. But Paul writes about this very issue, that the Gentiles knew some of the Law, because it's just a part of being human, and they were a law to themselves. It was not complete, and they had no one to hold them accountable or to properly interpret the Law for them. But when Jesus gave the Sermon on the Mount he gave the proper interpretation to the Law, and we were able to understand it. And through the message of the Gospel then the Gentiles will be able to understand the Law. And the Jews have a responsibility to share the Gospel with them to keep them from condemnation.

17 to 23 is a wake up call for both Jews and us today. They claim to know the law and boast in God. We do this as well. "I know Jesus! I'm saved! As a matter of fact I'm better than you sinners down there. You shouldn't be doing the things you're doing. Sinners." We preach against adultery, theft, lying, idolatry, and yet we do these very things ourselves. And in verse 24 we can hear Paul's hand slap the Romans Jews right in the face, and we feel the sting ourselves.

The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.

Slap.

One of the biggest complaints about Christians from non-Christians is that we are hypocrites which means we do what we tell others not to do. And because of it people see no appeal in the Kingdom or in God and his name is blasphemed because of us. We have no integrity anymore in this culture. I'm not saying all Christians are bad, but if you claim to follow Christ and all you do is complain about life, or all you do is party, or cuss, or sleep around, and your actions never match up with what you say and you act like anything but a Christian then you're only dirtying the name of Christ and at which point I beg you to lose the title of which we all are unworthy of but that you constantly and without any true thought slander with your actions. 

IF YOU CLAIM TO BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST THEN ACTUALLY BE A FOLLOWER OF CHRIST.

Else the name of God is blasphemed among the unsaved because of you.

I've spoken a lot about actions just now, but Paul here speaks against actions. The Jews believed that their actions, their following the Law would save them. It doesn't. It never has and never will. It is only faith that God has done all the work that will save us. But in response to that we should live that we've been saved. Not revel in sin. Not be depressed because we're still sinners. Not live as the world lives with all its worries and woes. 

Instead we are to live in the light of God, understand how blessed we are. And this should come out in our actions. If you are truly saved, and you really know what that means then you couldn't help but dance from joy and shout it from the roof tops. 

Because we have been circumcised. the useless, the unhealthy has been but away from our hearts by the Spirit and we have life in Christ and are new creations.

This is Romans 2. The Jews are just as bad as the Gentiles. They boast in the Law but miss the point behind it, so much so that those outside of the Law blaspheme the name of God because of them. They boast in their actions, in their circumcision, but miss God's actions and the circumcision from him.

God's "Chosen"

Sorry for the long wait. When I wrote this it was offline on my tablet, then I got busy with school and never grabbed it to publish. But we're back now!

Read Romans 2

So yesterday I wrote about how Gentiles are indeed not righteous. They knew God, but turned their back on him for pieces of wood and stone. Today, in Romans 2, we see something similar about the Jews, God's chosen people.

You can see the Jews in the church sitting there nodding as the first chapter is read. "Yes you Gentiles are nothing but filthy sinners!" This is a major problem that was in the church in Rome, that the Jews, who were kicked out of the city and then were allowed back in, and they began bashing and hating on the Gentiles in the church. But then we flip to chapter 2 and see Paul turn to the Jews to let them have it.

You have NO excuse people. You judge them for their sin which only brings judgment upon you! You condemn yourselves! And you knew that judgment brings condemnation, yet you still did it, doing the very same sin that you have condemned! Do you really think you can escape judgment just because you are God's "chosen?" Do you think God is just going to give you his forgiveness with you not repenting of your sin? Or did you just not know? You too are deserving of God's wrath.

That's just the first five verses. Paul threw down on these guys. He isn't happy with them. But in these verses we see something that answers a question that I've had for a long time: What comes first in the Christian life and salvation? Grace or faith?

Some say that grace is given to us in full and by that grace we have faith that the grace is there.
Others say that there is no grace before faith, but by faith we receive grace in full.

I'm in the middle, and verse 4 is why. "God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance." God has shown grace to us, just enough so that we know that it's there in full and enough to have faith and to be led to repentance. And because of that faith that the grace in full is available, we take that step, being action of our faith, and repent. What this comes down to then is

Grace-->Faith-->Action-->Grace

Now this is not saying that we save ourselves, that is the point of the first three chapters, we are not righteous, because if we were then we wouldn't need Jesus. But it's like we're hanging from a cliff, and Jesus tosses down the rope. We can either think we can climb up the cliff and save ourselves, but we can't because we're not strong enough, or we can grab onto the rope, hoping that the person on the other end will pull us to safety. But it takes action to prove our faith that grace is there to be had.

Make sense? Good!

Verses 6-11 then is more of this. Paul is writing to the Jews about reaping what you sow, and warns them in verse 8 especially, "but for those who are self seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury." Looking after #1 is what our culture is always telling us to do, that's self seeking, that's not obeying the truth that God is number one, that's thinking that you are doing everything right. That's wrong. To all that do this, they will reap what they sow, there will be distress for them, they will drink but never be satisfied.

But for those of us who listen and obey the truth, and keep our eyes on the only one that matters there will be glory and honor. Both to Jews, and also to Gentiles, because God shows no favoritism.

Again, keep in mind while looking at this that, from the text, we can see that Jews are looking down on the Greeks in the church because they are not descendants of Abraham. Tomorrow we'll finish up chapter 2. GET PUMPED!

God As...

Read Romans 1.18-32

Last year during my final semester at KCU the section I was in went through Romans for devos that semester. They met at about 10 on Tuesdays, during the fall, when Sons of Anarchy, my soap opera as many call it, was on. There aren't many shows I watch religiously, but that is one of them. So needless to say I missed quite a few devos. I know. I'm a sinner.

But I tell that to tell this: The first week we did our dorm devos we went through Romans 1. We read it, and just dove in. A friend of mine, who I didn't know at the time because he was new, said, "I'll just jump in here. I really love how it all says that 'For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness for men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.' I think it's awesome how God just shows his wrath to the wicked, the sinners, ungodly and he punishes them in his wrath."

Now being on a Christian campus, you can expect some differences in theology, as you can anywhere else. But this one pushed some people over the edge and a riot was almost had against this guy. "God isn't wrathful like that! He's loving and gives everyone a chance! He saves his judgement until the end, no while they're here!" We then came to the fantastic difference between free will and predestination. Anger, shouting, slandering, hating, all the typical things you find in a major argument between Christians over something they believe is cut and dry.

Now me being the oldest and wisest there, I quietly cut in and get everyone to listen. The first thing I say is this:

You view God how you choose to see him.

What I meant was this. My buddy chose to view God as a wrathful, angry God who punishes the wicked. Yeah. That's sound theology, we find that in scripture. I choose to see a loving God who waits to unleash his wrath to give all a chance because we we'll see throughout Romans, salvation is for all. Over all, I lean towards free will, I learn towards a loving God above all else. I recognize that there will be consequences for those who have not sought refuge in the only one in whom there is refuge. But that's how I view God. That's my theology. As long as your theology is sound in scripture without taking something out of context I'm alright with it. I may not agree with it, but that doesn't matter. What does matter is that we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and the Son of God, and that he was nailed to a cross, dying for our sake, taking on our sin, and that he rose again 3 days later. As long as we can agree on that I'm not entirely worried about our differences.

So, all of that is for the italicized sentence above: You view God how you choose to see him. So looking at the second half of Romans 1, we'll see a different view of God which may or may not be your own view of him.

In the second half of Romans 1 we see a lot of information about God.

• He hates ungodliness
• He hates the truth being suppressed
• What can be known about God has been made plain to all because he has shown it to them
• His power and divine nature has been seen since the creation of the world

It needs to be noted that this particular chapter of Romans is Paul writing about Gentiles, pagans, anyone who isn't Jewish, which we will see later that that particular group makes up a big chunk, if not the majority of the church in Rome.

There is a lot in these three verses. We obviously see God's hatred for ungodliness. That's easy to get. But we also see that What can be known about god has already been main plain to Gentiles. His invisible attributes are seen by all. This is called "general revelation." This is the idea that all have seen and recognized that there is a higher power. Some close their minds to it and say that these invisible qualities of God can be explained by science. While we may have explained some things by science, there is still much much more that cannot be explained. Don't ask me what because I'm horrible at science. 

God reveals himself to us all, in one way or another. I wrote a while back about how we all come to God in different places, be it a basement, a heater in a house, on a hill in the rain, or a chair in a campus house, somewhere in our lives God reveals himself to us. Something unexplainable happens and we just know that it had to be God. And what I mean by unexplainable is the thing happens, we recognize God's hand, and we just can't put into words what happened. Not that we can't explain how it happened, God did it, but we can't explain what happened.

They passed on God, the infinite and immortal God, for carved images of beasts and man, things they understand that truly hold not power at all. Because of this is why God gave them up. He gave them up to their own lusts and sin, allowing them to dishonor their own bodies. The traded the truth of God for lies from their own minds which they attributed to stone and wood.

In verses 26-27 we see that yes, homosexuality is a sin. I'll say it and won't pull any punches. Homosexuality is not natural, it is not what God intended. It is a distortion of what God has given us, much like gluttony. It is worshiping something other than God. And God despises this. But as the text says, he gave them up to their own sin, and they are receiving their due penalty for their sin. It should be noted, I do not condone gay marriage, but neither do I condemn it. This is not a Christian nation, I do not think that what I believe should have laws made about it. If I am free to practice my religion, I feel two men should be able to practice what they wish. But, if there are Christians trying to justify their own homosexuality, it can't be done. If you're a pagan, act like a pagan. If you're a Christian, act like a Christian. If you struggle, that's fine, we all struggle with something. But don't try to justify your sin because they you are nothing more than a person trying to be both. Homosexuality is a sin. And like all sin it's a choice. We love you, and we want to help you, but if you try to justify your sin as I once did you only mar the name of Jesus. So you need to make a choice. Yourself, or Christ. There is no middle ground.

But moving on from that, we see in verse 28 again that God just gave them up. He let pagans act like pagans. They didn't acknowledge him, he so let them go. This does not mean that God gives up on us. That needs to be very clear. GOD DOES NOT GIVE UP ON US. He stays stationary, and let's us walk away. If I decided today that I no longer wanted to be a part of the Church, no longer wanted anything to do with God, and I walked away, he would remain where he is, waiting for me to come back. Hoping for me to come back. He would let me go to live in sin, and be filled with all that we see in verses 29-31. But that doesn't mean that he wouldn't still want me. That doesn't mean that if I truly repented he wouldn't forgive me. Of course this is how I view God and this is what I see in scripture, others may say something else. But this is how I see it.

Verses 29-31 gives us a big list of things not to do, or mindsets not to have, or things to avoid. However you want to look at it, these things deserve death (32). They are:

• unrighteousness
• evil
• covetousness
• malice
• envy
• murder
• strife
• deceit
• maliciousness
• gossips
• slanderers
• haters of God
• insolent
• haughty
• boastful
• inventors of evil
• disobedient to parents
• foolish
• faithless
• heartless
• ruthless

I want you to look at this list. See if there is anything in here that you fall under. Do you gossip? Boast in yourself? Do you disobey your parents? Do you cause unnecessary conflict? Do you covet? Do you envy? Do you bash others? What is it that you do that you deserve death for?

In Romans 1 we see that no, Gentiles are not righteous by a long shot. Tomorrow in chapter 2 we will see that the Jews also are not righteous at all, which will completely blow their mind.

As promised, I will define righteousness. It will be brief, but it will be good. Looking above at the list we see a lot of bad characteristics to have. All of these fall under being unrighteous, or going against what God wants us to do. So if that is the opposite of righteous, then righteous must be doing what God does want us to do. And what does God want us to do? Glorify his name. Worship him only. Not sin. Have you ever sinned? Have you ever put something before God? Maybe a couple extra minutes of sleep so you don't get to spend time in the morning with God. Maybe you set aside your religion to do something to make you happy. "But God wants us to be happy so I should get to do what I want to be happy right?" That is trying to justify your sin. It doesn't work like that. We only, truly find joy in life in Christ (1 Peter 1.8-9; Romans 5.2). Joy is in the Lord, not ourselves. We are not complete. Christ is. When we come into him we come into completion and we find all we need. That is joy. And in Christ we also take on his righteousness. The only one who ever did all that we are commanded to do is the only one who is truly righteous, and when we are in him, we take on his righteousness as our own.

So righteousness is not something we can achieve ourselves, only Christ has. Only Christ has done right by God, because he himself is God. No one can be righteous by their own accord, which is why we need Christ and God's grace.