Category Archives: Romans

Posted on

Romans 9: When God Doesn’t Make Sense

Read Romans 9:14-33

 

When God Doesn’t Make Sense

The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
~Romans 9:33

Digging Deeper: Have there been times in your life when God hasn’t made sense?  It happens to me all the time.  Early and often, his purpose seems shaky, his logic flawed, his plan muddled, his goodness questionable—frankly, God just make sense.

Guess what?  He doesn’t have to.  He is God and we are not!

In truth, most of the time when we call God into question, the problem is with our understanding.  Our vision is clouded by ignorance, or pain, or self-preservation, or selfishness, or some other limiting defect brought about by the sin-altered genetics we carry around.  But once in a while, we have a very clear picture of what God is up to and we just don’t like it.  It seems unfair, inconsistent with a loving God, and incongruent with his good promises, a la Romans 9:14-18!

In response to that universal complaint, Paul offers some sage advice that you and I would do well to embrace.  It would save us a great deal of angst in trying to figure out what will never be figured out: The mystery of God’s ways (See Romans 11:33-36, “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”). Paul’s advice comes in the form of a question:

“But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him
who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have
the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for
noble purposes and some for common use?”
(Romans 9:20-21)

What is Paul saying?  That God is God and you are not!  If God wants to make one lump of clay into a “vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans” (The Message rendering of verse 21), who is the clay to argue with the Potter?  God has his reasons, and he doesn’t have to explain himself.  Even if he did, we probably wouldn’t have the capacity to understand. And if we did, God’s explanation most likely wouldn’t salve our uneasiness with his ways—which, just so you know, primarily arises out of our ongoing wrestling match with trying to settle the issue of godship in our lives.

The bottom line is that God has a purpose in everything he does—things we agree with and things we don’t; things we understand and things we don’t; things we like and things we don’t:

“I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you
and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
(Romans 9:17)

So if that is the inexorable purpose of God, then here’s what I am going with: Trusting God.  And what’s the promise to those of us who will take that approach, even when—especially when—God doesn’t make sense?

“The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
(Romans 9:33)

Yes—God is God and I am not!  I’m okay with that.

“God is too kind to ever be cruel, too wise to make a mistake,
and too deep to always explain Himself.”
~Anonymous

Posted on

Romans 9: Big “C” Christianity

Read Romans 9:1-29

Big “C” Christianity

Christ is over all, the eternally blessed God.
~Romans 9:5

Digging Deeper… On a fairly regular basis, surveys are released to the public  revealing the current state of spirituality of American “christians.”  No—“christian” is not a typo.  I have used the lower case “c” deliberately.

A recent survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, revealed that 57 percent of evangelical church attenders said they believe many religions can lead to eternal life.  The article went on to suggest that this can either be taken as a positive sign of growing religious tolerance, or disturbing evidence that Americans dismiss or don’t know fundamental teachings of their own faiths.”

I would suggest the latter.  In America, our national documents guarantee us the right of religious freedom, to believe what we want—but our national rights don’t guarantee that what we believe will be spiritually right.

People who claim Christianity as their faith have the right to believe that there are many ways to salvation and eternal life, but at least they ought to be intellectually honest enough to admit that their opinion is neither what the Bible teaches nor even what Jesus claimed about himself.  It is not even close.

A lot of people may say they follow Jesus Christ, but they are not truly following the way Jesus called them to follow:  “If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily.” (Matthew 16:24) Likewise, he said, “if you love me, you will do what I say.” (John 14:15) Furthermore, he made the astounding claim in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Sounds pretty intolerant, exclusive and narrow-minded, wouldn’t you say!  Clearly, from Jesus’ own teaching and from the teaching of Scripture, only those who have fully surrendered their lives to his Lordship are truly Christians.

A great majority of those who say they follow Jesus are simply self-deceived or misled—or both.  Their “christianity” is perhaps a cultural one and not a spiritual Christianity.  Some believe themselves to be “christian” by virtue of being born in America, or having been raised by parents who took them to a Christian church twice a year—Christmas and Easter.  But going to church or being born to a Christian family or growing up in a “christian” culture doesn’t make you a Christian any more than stepping onto a golf course makes you Tiger Woods.

A great majority of this 57% might even be sincere.  But sincerity is not an indicator of truth.  There are a lot a sincere people in the world, but they are sincerely wrong.

Being a Christian means to recognize that Jesus himself claimed to be God.  Not just a god, or one of God’s offspring; not just a good moral teacher or an influential spiritual director.  No, Jesus is, was, and forevermore shall be God.  In fact, that’s what got him crucified—his claim to Godship.  We are called to recognize, accept and surrender to him as God.

That’s what it means to be Christian big “C”!

Since he is God, therefore, he has every right to rule over our lives as Lord.  We are to obey what he says, do what he commands, serve his purposes through our lives, extend his renown throughout the world, and love him with our whole hearts.

That’s what it means to be Christian—big “C”!

And he is to receive praise from our lips and from our lives.  Everything we think, say and do is to bring glory and honor to him.  Our whole existence, our everyday, walking around lives, are to be an offering of praise that brings eternal glory to Jesus Christ.

That’s what it means to be Christian—big “C”!

That’s the kind of Christian I want to be!

“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can
be too great for me to make for Him.”
~C.T. Studd

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Re-read Romans 9:1-33
  • Memorize Romans 9:33, “As it is written: ‘See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
  • For Your Consideration: Ponder the difference between “Big C” and “Small c” Christianity—and honestly evaluate your own faith? Obviously, God desires us to be fully on board with our Christian faith. In reality, maybe you are not 100% there.  On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being “fully devoted to God,” rate yourself in the following areas—and then ask yourself how you can take strategic growth steps toward full devotion:
  1. My Moral Life
  2. My Relationships
  3. My Finances
  4. My Service to God
  5. My Personal and Daily Relationship with Jesus Christ
Posted on

Romans 8: Inseparable!

Read Romans 8:31-39

Inseparable!

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? … For I am
convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,
neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither
height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from the love of
God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~Romans 8:35,38-39

Digging Deeper: Thank God for Romans 8.  It is chock full of encouraging theology that reminds us of the great and unstoppable effort God exerted to redeem us from sin, remake us into the image of Jesus, and ready us to fit into His eternal purposes. From among many other reasons, this is so encouraging because often, on the surface of things, it seems as if precisely the opposite of redeeming, remaking and readying us for glory both in this life and especially in the next is the farthest thing from what is actually happening.

You see, we live in a dual reality.  While the work of God mentioned above is inexorably marching toward a glorious conclusion, we are still trapped in the sinful flesh, living in the sin-infested world, under the assault of the king of sin, Satan.  And often our sense of reality is that sin—our sin, the world’s sin, the unrelenting pressure of the sin-maker—is dragging us in the opposite direction of our redemption.

But the greater reality is that while that may seem to be true, God is at work in you, working out His eternal purposes.  And here is the good news: His work is unstoppable!  Moreover, while you are living in that dual reality between the awful pull of sin and the unstoppable work of redemption, you are inseparable from the stubborn, persistent, irrevocable love of God.

Did you catch that twice in these verses Paul reminds us of this glorious truth—that between you and God’s love the only thing that stands is the word “inseparable”?  What is it that can separate you from God’s ever-abiding, redeeming, providing, sustaining love?  Nothing!

Within the category of “nothing” is a pretty exhaustive list of things that cannot come between you and God’s love: Trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, the sword; not even death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation.  I think that pretty much covers it, don’t you?

Yes, not even your sin—past, present and future—can come between you and God’s love. Christ Jesus made sure of that on the cross.

Inseparable!

“God loves each and every one of us as if there were only one of us.”
~St. Augustine

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Re-read Romans 8:1-39
  • Memorize Romans 8:32, “Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all—won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?”
  • Meditate on how this verse is to be understood in light of your sinful past (Romans 8:1), your moral weaknesses (Romans 8:5-13), your spiritual identity (Romans 8:14-17), your circumstances, past and present (Romans 8:28), and Satan’s attempts to separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).
Posted on

Romans 8: What More Could He Do?

Read Romans 8:32

What More Could He Do?

Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all—
won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
~Romans 8:32

Digging Deeper: The great thinker C.S. Lewis made a profound observation:

“There is no neutral ground in the universe: every square inch, every
split second is claimed by God and counterclaimed by Satan.”

From what I understand of God’s Word, Lewis was right. And the grand prize in this cosmic conflict is you! The battle is most fiercely waged on the field of your trust in the goodness and sovereignty of God. And whoever lays claim to your confidence will command your emotions, capture your thoughts, color your behavior, and very likely, control your destiny—in this life, for sure, and very possibly, in the next.

One of the most potent weapons Satan unleashes in the fight is to get you to doubt God’s love and sufficiency. If Satan can get you to question God’s commitment to you, to go wobbly on your steadfast belief in God’s care for you and waver in your belief in God’s competence to perfect everything that concerns you, you will live in something far less than the abundance that God desires for you. (John 10:10)

But why would you ever doubt God’s care and competence? How could you ever doubt His unconditional, immeasurable love for you? How could you be anything less than confident in His power to perfect His flawless plan in your life, no matter what your circumstances might be at the moment? What more could He do to prove to you that He’s got you covered?

If God didn’t spare His very own Son from death; if He allowed Jesus to hang for six torturous hours on the cross, receiving the wrath that was rightly meant for you, what more could He do to demonstrate beyond any shadow of doubt His all sufficient grace and more than enough provision for you? I would submit to you that nothing will convince you if that doesn’t!

Hopefully, if you are in any way doubting God right now—about your past, your future, your sins, your hurts, your circumstances, your finances, your relationships, your place in God’s kingdom—this will be a little reminder to reject doubt and recommit yourself at the very core of what you believe to this inalterable truth: God loves you and has an incredible plan for your life! Period.

“Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!”
~Andrew Murray

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Re-read Romans 8
  • Memorize Romans 8:32, “Since God did not spare even His own Son but gave Him up for us all—won’t God, who gave us Christ, also give us everything else?
  • Meditate on how this verse is to be understood in light of your sinful past (Romans 8:1), your moral weaknesses (Romans 8:5-13), your spiritual identity (Romans 8:14-17), your circumstances, past and present (Romans 8:28), and Satan’s attempts to separate you from God’s love (Romans 8:38-39).
  • Take a moment to worship God as you watch this video that reminds you how how deep the Father’s love for you really is.

Posted on

Romans 8: Bottom Line—We Win!

Read Romans 8:28-39

 

Bottom Line: We Win!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who
love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
~Romans 8:28

Digging Deeper: Romans 8 has to be one of the most uplifting chapters in the entire Bible. And this section, Romans 8:28-39, is the summit of encouragement.  I hope you will read all twelve of the section’s verses today—and perhaps every day for the rest of the week.

I’m not sure what I would do without the theology of Romans 8:28—that God causes everything that happens to me, both good and bad, to work to my good and His glory. How disheartening—even depressing—life would be if we were nothing more than the helpless victims of the circumstances life flings our way.  But no, God causes good to come to me through my circumstances!

Now please understand, Paul isn’t saying that God causes all things, but that He causes all things that occur in my life to work as instruments of His purpose for me.  God sovereignly orchestrates every single event in my life to my benefit both in this world and in the one to come. On the one hand, leverages my successes, accomplishments and blessings for good, and on the other hand, He turns suffering, sickness, and yes, even my sin for good as well.

But keep in mind that He gets to define what is beneficial and good for me.  After all, He is God and I am not.  And what He has defined as good for me is found in the very next verse, Romans 8:29,

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed
to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brothers.

For the time being, put aside your questions about predestination and focus on the word “conform.” The word in the Greek text is the same from which we get our word, “morph,” or “metamorphosis.”  What is the good that all things are being divinely leveraged in your life?  Simple, yet profoundly this: That you are being chiseled by circumstances and events and interactions each and every day into the very likeness of Jesus Christ.   And that is the highest good possible, my friend, because that’s the one thing that lasts for both time and eternity.

That is God’s great and unstoppable purpose for you.  He is committed to that as much as He is committed to anything in this universe.  So therefore, “if God is for you, who can be against you?” (Romans 8:31)  If God was willing for His Son to die such a horrible death on the cross just to morph you into that which was worthy of eternal life, what else could prove both the depth of His indescribable love and the irresistibility of His divine purpose for you? (Romans 8:32)  Is there anything in all of creation that can stop God’s love or thwart God’s purpose in remaking you into the image and likeness of Jesus?  Nothing…nada…zero…zilch…zip! (Romans 8:33-39)

The fact is, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37)  How is that? God is using “all these things” as his divine chisel to morph you into an uncanny likeness of His Son.  What’s the bottom line: We win!  And I mean, really win in the only way that counts—which is looking, thinking, acting and being just like Jesus!

You are a winner!  Go with it!
 

“There is nothing that is more dangerous to your own salvation,
more unworthy of God and more harmful to your own happiness,
than that you should be content to remain as you are.”
~Francois Fenelon

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Read Romans 8:1-39
  • Memorize Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
  • Memorize Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Posted on

Romans 8: Guess Who’s Praying For You

Read Romans 8:18-27

Guess Who’s Praying For You

We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in
accordance with God’s will.
~Romans 8:26-27

Digging Deeper: Need some encouraging news today?  How about this:  You’ve got quite a team praying for you!

Paul says the Holy Spirit is actively engaged, even at this very moment, interceding within you and through you, taking your case before the throne of the Heavenly Father and praying the Father’s perfect will for your life. God, who knows all things, knows exactly what you’re up against in this world, which from a human perspective, looks pretty overwhelming much of the time (just read the context of this verse, Romans 8:17-27 and you’ll see what I mean). But God knows his plans for you (a perfect plan by the way, according to Jeremiah 29:11), and both Father and Spirit are in a continual dialogue, strategizing how to turn the circumstances of your life, both good and bad, into that which will bring the greatest glory to Him and produce the greatest good in you.

The best part of God’s plan, Paul says, is that through those very circumstances God is working to conform you to the image of the Son, Jesus Christ our Lord:

“We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”

But that’s not all.  Not only are Father and Spirit in a constant conversation about you, the Son is in on the discussion as well.  Paul writes in Romans 8:34, “Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”  Hebrews 7:24-25 tells us that “Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”

Did you catch that? Jesus’ job description now that he is the resurrected Lord is to be your personal high priest. That means he stands night and day before the Father representing your case. And he intends not just to help you get through whatever you are going through, his mission is to save you completely!  Of course, you are already saved if you have placed faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior—that part of your salvation is complete. What Jesus is also doing is bringing to bear all of heaven’s resources to enable your salvation to be practical and powerful in your moment-by-moment life right here and right now!

Furthermore, The Triune God is willing and able to then bring both your positional salvation (when you received Christ) and your practical salvation (your daily walk with Christ) to the finish line in glorious fashion (Philippians 1:6, Jude 24) in the next life.  In other words, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are actively engaged on your behalf at this very moment, and they won’t stop until they see that the Father’s perfect plan is fully worked out in you, for you and through you both in time and for eternity.

That’s quite a prayer team you got, isn’t it?  And I’ll bet you hadn’t even realized that.  So dwell on that a little bit, and you’ll walk through this day with a lot more confidence and purpose, knowing that the eternal God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—has invaded your gritty reality with the best of heaven.

“Beware in your prayers, above everything else, of limiting God, not only by unbelief, but by fancying that you know what He can do. Expect unexpected things, above all that we ask or think. Each time, before you Intercede, be quiet first, and worship God in His glory. Think of what He can do, and how He delights to hear the prayers of His redeemed people. Think of your place and privilege in Christ, and expect great things!”
~Andrew Murray

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Read Romans 8:1-39
  • Memorize Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
  • Memorize Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Posted on

Romans 8: Royal Family Kids

Read Romans 8:12-17

Royal Family Kids

“Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
~Romans 8:14

Digging Deeper: “You are a princess—now walk like one!” So goes the story of the queen, whispering to her daughter as the young lady is about to make a public appearance.

In essence, that’s what the Apostle Paul is saying to you and me: You are a prince…a  princess—a kid in the royal family of God—now walk like one!  We have been adopted (spiritually, a legal reality—Ephesians 2:5, and internally, a sense of identity, intimacy and security produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit—Romans 8:15-16). We are in the family of God—no if’s, and’s or but’s about it.  By Christ’s redeeming work, we who were once far from God have been brought near to God and firmly, fully and forever implanted in his family. (Ephesians 2:13-14)

You are a prince…a princess, now walk like one!  Get this: You and I are now heirs of all the same promises God made to the children of Israel. We are not second-class citizens to the Jewish nation—we have been given a ticket that has a first class seating assignment!  And to seal the deal, God even sent his Holy Spirit to dwell within us (Ephesians 1:13-14) to guarantee our spot for both time and eternity.

That sense of family is what the presence of the Holy Spirit causes in you; that’s what his indwelling work produces in the deepest parts of your being: An expectant reaching out to God as your very own Father.  I love how the Messages renders Romans 8:15-17,

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance!

That is not just something you naturally do. It’s not how you normally think. It is not a usual human instinct to act that way.  However, once the Spirit gets a hold of you, you begin to live with a sense of royal family. You can’t help it when he is there reminding you of your true identity and your eternal destiny.

So now that you’ve been reminded of your new and true identity, walk like the prince or princess you are. Act like the royal family kid that you really are.  That’s why Paul begins this section by reminding us of the obligation we now have:  “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it.” (Romans 8:12)  Rather, we are to say no to the old family identity (the sinful nature—Romans 8:13) and yield to the moment-by-moment leading of the Holy Spirit who dwells within. (Romans 8:14)

You are a princess…a prince, now walk like one!  Yield to the Spirit—it proves you are a royal child of God.  Be led by the Spirit—it is what God’s true children do.  How?  Look for the Spirit’s direction in your circumstances.  Submit to the Spirit’s sanctifying work in your daily life (Galatians 5:16,17,25). And primarily, saturate yourself in God’s Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to illumine your spirit with Divine truth and empower your will to obey it. (Ephesians 5:17-19, Philippians 2:12-13).

You are fully and forever in God’s royal family—now walk like it!

“Whom God legally saves, He experientially saves; whom He justifies, them He also sanctifies. Where the righteousness of Christ is imputed to an individual, a principle of holiness is imparted to him; the former can only be ascertained by the latter. It is impossible to obtain a Scriptural knowledge that the merits of Christ’s finished work are reckoned to my account, except by proving that the efficacy of the Holy Spirit’s work is evident in my soul.”
~Arthur W. Pink

This Week’s Assignment:

  • Read Romans 8:1-39
  • Memorize Romans 8:1-2, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”
  • Memorize Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”