Category Archives: Romans

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God’s BFF

A Description Worth Aspiring To

UNSHAKEABLE: Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept on hoping, believing in God’s promises that one day he would be the father of many nations, even when his only son, through whom his lineage would continue, was about to die. In other words, Abraham didn’t let his circumstances dominate his life; he allowed God’s promises to dictate his life. Abraham believed that if Isaac was going to die on the altar, God would raise him to life. That was his hope. By faith, belief, and hope in the One who resurrects, Abraham became God’s friend. And by the same, you can, too.

God’s BFF

Unshakeable Living // Romans 4:17

God’s promise of eternal life is received through the same kind of faith demonstrated by Abraham, who believed in the God who resurrects the dead and creates new things out of nothing.

I don’t know if you have done much thinking about Abraham, but what a true hero of the faith! Here’s a guy who was saved by faith even before there was a Bible or the Law or Christ’s death and resurrection or a community of faith. God appeared to Abraham one day — we are not even sure if he’d had any previous interaction with God or if this was simply an out-of-the-blue encounter — and Abraham said, “Okay, God — I’m on board. What’s next?”

Abraham then went on a life-long journey with God in which he became known as a friend of God — a pretty enviable designation, I would say — the genetic father of God’s people, the Jews, and the spiritual father of all who believe. (James 2:23, Romans 4:16-17)

Obviously, Abraham was a very special man, and the Bible holds him up as an example to emulate for believers like you and me. We all ought to be Abraham-like in the spiritual dimension of our lives.

But is that even possible? Is there even the smallest chance that I can develop that same Abraham-like relationship with God? Can I attain a walk with God that will be an Abraham-like example to others? And if it’s possible, then how?

Well, it is possible! Paul goes on to say, “God will accept us in the same way he accepted Abraham — when we believe the promises of God who brought back Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God, filling us with God’s goodness..” (Romans 4:24, TLB)

How can we attain friendship with God? I can sum up the “how” in two words: Faith and hope—technically, that’s three words, but work with me!

First, you’ve got to make resurrection the foundation of your faith.

That’s what Abraham did! Romans 4:17 says, “Abraham believed in the God who brings back the dead to life.” Abraham was a little ahead of his time — like a few thousand years — but he believed in the God of the resurrection. What Paul is referring to here is the story of God’s call to Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac on the altar (you can read the story in Genesis 22) and Abraham’s willingness to actually go through with it. Why would Abraham be willing to do such a thing? Because he had faith in the God of the resurrection — the God who could, and would, raise Isaac back to life again.

The truth is, to have that kind of Abraham-like faith, we have to have that same Abraham-like trust in the God of the resurrection. If you don’t have a foundational and resolute belief in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, and his promise to resurrect you from the dead, your faith will not develop to Abraham-like proportions, and in fact, it will be meaningless. Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15:14, “If Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.”

In other words, if we have no faith in the God of the resurrection, then I am wasting my energy writing this devotional…and you’re wasting your time reading it…and you’ll never come close to living an Abraham-like life of faith. You will have a shakeable faith! But the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead proves that God is who he said he is and will fulfill what he has promised to do. And the faith you place in the God who resurrects the dead will empower you to live the kind of God-honoring faith that Abraham lived.

Second, you must claim resurrection as the basis of your hope.

That, too, is what Abraham did. Romans 4:18 tells us that “even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept on hoping, believing in God’s promises that one day he would be the father of many nations” when his only son, through whom his lineage would continue, was about to die. In other words, Abraham didn’t let his circumstances dominate his life; he allowed God’s promises to dictate his life. Abraham believed that if Isaac was going to die on the altar, God would raise him to life. That was his hope.

I don’t know if you’ve ever thought about this, but the exercise of that kind of hope is arguably the most powerful discipline you can engage as a believer. Count Bismarck said, “Without the hope of [Christian resurrection], this life is not worth the effort of getting dressed in the morning.” He was right! Christian hope is that important and that powerful.

Karl Marx proclaimed that religious hope is the opiate of the people. But Hebrews 6:19 says, “We have this hope as an anchor of the soul, firm and secure.” And Paul writes in Romans 5:5 that this “hope does not disappoint us!”

Do you practice hope? I am not talking about the breezy kind of optimism that Mary Martin sang about in South Pacific when she crooned, “I’m stuck like a dope with a thing called hope.” I am talking about the exercise of hope that declares that you are choosing to believe in God’s promises, not just in spite of the evidence, but in scorn of the consequences. We’ve been called to practice that kind of hope.

By faith, belief, and hope in the One who resurrects, Abraham became God’s friend. And by the same, you can, too.

Get Rooted: Memorize James 2:23, “And the scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,’ and he was called God’s friend.”

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Why Does God Justify The Ungodly?

Since There Is None Righteous, God Must Make Us Righteous

UNSHAKEABLE: Abraham, by his example of faith, became the “father of us all.” That means as our spiritual father, he set the tone and established the pattern for our faith by his response to God’s grace. If we were to analyze and summarize Father Abraham’s life, we would find that ruthless trust in God’s sovereign love was the chief authentication or outworking of his faith. More than anything else, he offered God his trust, and there was no work of righteousness more pleasing and honoring to God than that. Trust became Abraham’s “work,’ if we can call it that, or his response of righteousness.

Why Does God Justify The Ungodly - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 4:4-5

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

Take note of that phrase: “who justifies the ungodly.” That is a rather startling statement, wouldn’t you say? It seems contrary to what Scripture teaches about the wicked, yet here we find that God justifies the ungodly because there are no godly for him to justify. That is why God put our wickedness on Christ so he could put Christ’s righteousness in us, and by that he would have some who are righteous.

So, as we have seen so far in Romans, and we will see again, salvation is by God’s grace through faith alone, and not by our works of righteousness. But the question then arises about what place our works of righteousness have in the salvation equation. Where do they fit in the scheme of things if righteousness is what we are, and not what we do?

As I understand it, verse 11 deals with this quite clearly: “Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” In other words, Paul is explaining that Abraham’s works were simply the proof, the authentication, and the natural outflow of his belief in God. Abraham believed, so he obeyed.

Now at this point, I have a feeling you might be saying, “Okay, I get it. We’re justified by faith and not by works — and Abraham’s case illustrates that. I get that works flow out of our righteousness. But what does all of this mean to me right now?”

Going to verse 11 again, we find that Abraham, by his example of faith, became the “father of us all.” That means as our spiritual father, he set the tone and established the pattern for our faith by his response to God’s grace. If we were to analyze and summarize Father Abraham’s life, we would find that ruthless trust in God’s sovereign love was the chief authentication or outworking of his faith.

When God said to Abraham, “Leave your home and go to the land I’ll show you,” Abraham said, “OK God, I’ll trust you on this.”

When God said to this childless ninety-year-old man, “I’ll make you the father of many nations,” Abram said, “OK God, I’ll trust you on this — call me Abraham, the father of many nations.”

When God said to Abraham, “Take your son and sacrifice him on the alter to me,” Abraham gulped and said, “OK God, I’ll trust you on this.”

More than anything else, Abraham offered God his trust, and there was no work of righteousness more pleasing and honoring to God as that. Trust became Abraham’s “work,’ if we can call it that, or his response of righteousness.

Brennan Manning writes, “The splendor of a human heart which trusts that it is loved gives God more pleasure than the Westminster Cathedral, the Sistine Chapel, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers, the sight of ten thousand butterflies in flight, or the scent of a million orchids in bloom. Trust is our gift back to God, and he finds it so enchanting that Jesus died for love of it.”

Our childlike surrender in trust is the defining response of our lives to God’s gift of righteousness. Our uncompromising trust in the love and goodness and wisdom of God is the work, if you will, that best proves our faith and most pleases God. To be convinced of God’s reliability is the essence of ruthless trust.

I wonder if you’re convinced of that!

Get Rooted: What gift can you give to a God who created everything, so he already has everything? There is one thing that God didn’t — can’t — create: your trust. Like Abraham, you must express trust in God even when there is little to no evidence that a good outcome is guaranteed. When you offer that kind of response to God, you have given him ruthless trust. The question for you is, does God have your ruthless trust in EVERYTHING? If not, go before God and surrender every area of your life to him.

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FreeCreditReport.God

Alien Righteousness — Thank God For it!

UNSHAKEABLE: Here’s the mind-blowing thing about your salvation: even the faith it took to believe in Christ’s work of imputing his righteousness to our account was not based on your worthiness. It was a free gift from God. If the faith it took to believe was your own, that would be a meritorious work — but righteousness with God just doesn’t work that way. God’s act of declaring Abraham (as well as you and all other believing sinners) righteous is entirely apart from any kind of human effort; otherwise, God would owe us our wages. Our believing, then, rather than being something with which we impress God into saving us, is simply the conduit through which alien righteousness flows to us, and thus credits us with Christ’s righteousness and produces our right standing with God.

FreeCreditReport.God

Unshakeable Living // Romans 4:3

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

I have a confession. As an undergrad student, whenever I would come to a page in a textbook that carried an illustration or a table as an inset, I would skip it. Rather than allowing the example to reinforce the point in the written material, I would just flip past it and hurry on to more important extracurricular activities that awaited me. But that’s a whole “nuther” story!

Similarly, you might be tempted to skim past Romans 4 since the whole chapter is pretty much an illustrative inset to the case the Apostle Paul has been making so far: that we are justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Jewish law. And now, to drive his point home, he presents the example of Abraham. But don’t skip over this, because within Abraham’s example, you will find a core principle of what it means and what it takes to be in right standing with God.

Eight times in this chapter alone, Paul uses the word “credited” to deliver a theological knockout punch. The New King James Version uses the alternative terms “accounted” and “imputed” nine times. This is a big deal to Paul — as it is to our faith. This is ground zero to salvation. Here is what theologian R.C. Sproul says about it:

Imputation is more than central; it’s essential to the New Testament gospel. Friends, I beg you never to negotiate the concept of the imputed righteousness of Christ. That’s the article upon which we stand and fall because without His righteousness all we have to offer God is filthy rags…

Sproul goes on to say what Paul is declaring is that “the righteousness by which we are justified is an alien righteousness — a foreign righteousness.” In other words, our right standing with God was, is, and always shall be only possible through a righteousness outside of ourselves — what is referred to as “alien righteousness.” Our righteousness before God is only possible because God credited Christ’s righteousness to us. Says Sproul, “the only righteousness that will justify us is the righteousness of Christ. We are naked and helpless without the cloak of His righteousness covering us.”

Paul took the word “credited” or “imputed” (in the Greek language, it is (“logidzomahee”) from the legal or financial world of his day. The term meant to credit to the account of another; in this case, to take from the account of one and legally credit it to the account of another. Once it was in the other’s account, it was legally his. In this case, righteousness became Abraham’s by faith; in your case, right standing with God becomes yours by faith.

And here’s the mind-blowing part of this: even the faith it took for you to believe in Christ’s work of imputation was not your own. That, too, was a free gift from God (Eph 2:8-9). You see, if the faith it took to believe was your own, that as well would be a meritorious work — but righteousness with God just doesn’t work that way. (Rom 4:2,5) God’s act of declaring Abraham (as well as you and all other believing sinners) righteous is completely apart from any kind of human effort; otherwise, God would owe us our wages. (Rom 4:4) Our believing, then, rather than being something with which we impress God into saving us, is simply the conduit through which this alien righteousness flows to us, and thus credits us with Christ’s righteousness and produces our right standing with God.

I know that is a mouthful, but I want to challenge you to check it out here in Romans 4 — our FreeCreditReport.God, if you will. Study it, meditate on it, absorb it, and glory in it since this is the core of what it means and what it takes to be right and righteous with God.

Get Rooted: Memorize Romans 4:16, “Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all.” Then read Romans 4 in several different versions. I would recommend the version you normally use, plus The Message and The New Living Translation.

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Just As If I’d Never Sinned

Jesus Paid a Debt He Did Not Owe — I Owe A Debt I cannot Pay

UNSHAKEABLE: The Good News revealed in the New Testament is that through faith in Jesus Christ’s person and his work on the cross, sinners can now stand before the holy and righteous God justified — just as if they had never sinned. Now don’t miss the beauty of this! Our justification happened only by what Jesus did on the cross. There he paid the penalty that you legally owed as one who had transgressed God’s law. But not only were you pardoned from receiving the just punishment reserved for all lawbreakers, your guilt was removed as well. So not only were you set free, you were totally cleansed — your sin record was expunged. You now stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

Just As If I’d Never Sinned - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:24

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

As a young man, I heard a simple preacher offer this definition of justification: It is just as if I’d never sinned! When you study what the Apostle Paul meant by the word, it turns out that is a pretty good explanation for a highly complex theology construct.

Paul uses the verb “justified” and words derived from its root, thirty times in Romans alone. Obviously, this is an important theme with Paul and the critical core of our Christian faith. Along with “gospel” and “faith” (see Romans 1), this is our theology. The “good news” revealed in the New Testament is that through “faith” in Jesus Christ’s person and his work on the cross, sinners can now stand before the holy and righteous God “justified” — just as if they had never sinned.

Now don’t miss the beauty of this! Our justification, which was a legal concept, by the way, happened only by what Jesus did on the cross. There he paid the penalty that you legally owed as one who had transgressed God’s law. But not only were you pardoned from receiving the just punishment reserved for all lawbreakers, your guilt was removed as well. So not only were you set free, but you were also totally cleansed — your sin record was expunged. You now stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

Now how can that be? Well, part of the justification package included that not only were you pardoned from punishment and declared not guilty, but you were also literally infused with Christ’s very own righteousness — “everything Jesus” was imputed, literally and spiritually, to you. But that’s not all! As beautiful as that is, it is even more stunningly beautiful that to be imputed with Christ’s righteousness meant Jesus had to have both your sins and your sin nature imputed to him on the cross — “he became sin on your behalf so that you could become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

All of that was legally necessary for you to be made right with God. You owed a legal debt that you could not pay to the Judge of all creation. He loved you so much that he sent his one and only Son — perfectly sinless — to pay the full legal price for your redemption by becoming sin and taking the punishment into his own being as he hung on the cross and shed his blood.

And you receive this free gift of God’s grace by faith (saving trust) alone — not by your own works of righteousness or inherent merit. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! You stand before God just as if you had never sinned.

I don’t know about you, but the only response I have to such amazing and undeserved love is to offer the rest of my life as one unending thanksgiving offering to God.

Get Rooted: Today, write a thank you note to God for his free gift of your eternal justification. Keep it in your Bible in Romans 3 as a reminder of the debt of gratitude you owe.

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Christianity Made Simple

Even A Caveman Can Get It

UNSHAKEABLE: Christianity, as opposed to religion, is simple — so simple even a caveman can get it. God made sure of that. Romans 3 provides authentic Christianity in a nutshell: Religion is complex; Christianity is simple. Religion is about what you have to do to be made right with your god; Christianity is about what God has done to make you righteous. Religion requires you to sacrifice to appease your god; Christianity required God to sacrifice his Son to appease himself. In religion, you pay; in Christianity, Jesus paid it all. Religious faith is about works; Christian faith is about belief. Religion leads to death; Christianity leads to life. Now I’m not all that bright — on par with a caveman — but I think I’ll take Christianity! How about you?

Even A Caveman Can Get It - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:23-24

Everyone has sinned and is far away from God’s saving presence. But by the free gift of God’s grace all are put right with him through Christ Jesus, who sets them free.

A lot of people are overwhelmed by the complexity of religion. They are intimidated by it, they don’t get it, they don’t want to talk about it—and even if they do want to talk about it, they just can’t wrap their brain around it enough to be able to string enough cogent thoughts together to carry on a stimulating conversation.

But that is absolutely not true about true Christianity. I know, “true Christianity” is a redundancy—but I want to distinguish authentic faith from the messed up stuff that some misguided folk have turned our faith into.

Christianity is simple — so simple even a caveman can get it. God made sure of that. Romans 3 provides it in a nutshell. Here the Apostle Paul, master theologian, who sometimes is not all that easy to grasp, probably foresaw the need for a “Christianity for Dummies” (he was thinking of me!), so he simply, clearly, and briefly spelled out the real condition of humankind, God’s offer of salvation, the essence of faith, and the core beliefs of Christianity in this chapter.

I would highly recommend, as a reaffirmation of your faith and as a great refresher for evangelism, that you go back and re-read Romans 3 in a modern translation, like The Message” or The New Living Translation. You’ll be amazed at the profound simplicity of our Christian faith.

Or I can give you the CliffNotes version:

1. The truth about you and me — Romans 3:9-12

Basically, all of us, whether insiders (Jews who have the Law) or outsiders (Gentiles who live as a law unto themselves), start out in identical conditions, which is to say that we all start out as sinners. Scripture leaves no doubt about it: There’s nobody living right, not even one, nobody who knows the score, nobody alert for God. They’ve all taken the wrong turn; they’ve all wandered down blind alleys. No one’s living right; I can’t find a single one.

2. The bad news — Romans 3:20

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are [we’ll never attain God’s favor in this life now or in the life to come by being good enough].

3. The good news—Romans 3:21-22

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him [without our futile effort to be good enough for God]. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

4. Say What? — Romans 3:23-24

Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living up to the standards God demands of us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ dying on the cross to pay for our sins.

5. How cool is Christianity — Romans 3:25

God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world [you and me] to clear that world [you and me] of sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

That’s it! That’s the Good News—and that news really is good! So, to summarize:

  • Religion is complex; Christianity is simple
  • Religion is about what you have to do; Christianity is about what God has done
  • Religion requires you to sacrifice to appease your god; Christianity required God to sacrifice his Son to appease himself
  • In religion, you pay; in Christianity, Jesus paid it all
  • Religious faith is about works; Christian faith is about belief
  • Religion leads to death; Christianity leads to life

Need I say more?

Now I’m not all that bright — on par with a caveman — but I think I’ll take Christianity! How about you?

Get Rooted: In one brief paragraph, write out your description of Christianity. Do it in simple terms so that even a caveman can get it. Who knows, you may run into one today!

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We’re All In The Same Sin Boat

But Thanks Be To God!

UNSHAKEABLE: We, the entire human race, past and present, have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with himself. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless. You see, one word changes that tragic equation, interrupts the inexorable plunge, and trumps our sin: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him.” (Rom 3:21) Hallelujah!

We’re All In The Same Sin Boat - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 3:9-10

Well then, should we conclude that we Jews are better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous — not even one.”

The problem with the whole human race — Jew and Gentile, religionist and pagan, you and me — is that we are all horribly infected with sin. Not hopelessly, mind you. I’ll come back to that in a moment.

Though it is not too popular to talk about sin these days — particularly personal sin — nonetheless, sin remains what is wrong with humanity. We are all in that same sin boat, headed for an eternal maelstrom of deserved destruction. At the core, sin has separated us from our loving and righteous Creator. He made us for himself — for a loving, intimate, unfettered moment-by-moment relationship between the Creator and the highest of his creation, mankind; a relationship where we would not only literally live in his presence, but we would truly know his person and personally experience his Divine power as our very own.

But we blew it! The father and mother of our race, Adam and Eve, deliberately chose to walk away from the deal of a lifetime in order to be like God, to be equal with God, to be their own god. And in that sad moment, the genetic code of humanity was horribly corrupted by sin. Not hopelessly. I’ll get to that in a moment.

Moreover, as a race, we willfully and inexorably plunged forward down that same road the proto couple chose, insisting on being like God, being equal to God, being our own god. And compounding our tragedy, we don’t seem to get it: “No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God.” (Rom 1:11) Even worse, we do get it, and we still knowingly insist on doing our own thing:

All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Rom 3:12)

They have no fear of God at all. (Rom 1:18)

And it gets worse, according to verses 13-18: “Their talk is foul (v. 13) … their tongues are filled with lies…venom drips from their lips (v. 13) … their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness (v. 14) …they rush to commit murder (v. 15) …destruction and misery always follow them (v. 16) … they don’t know where to find peace (v. 17) … they have no fear of God at all” (v. 18).

But enough of the bad news — we’ve already dealt with that in Romans 1-2. Let’s just cut to the chase of what results from our insistence in going it alone without God, which Paul sums up in Romans 3:16-17:

Ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.

Yes, “they” is “we” and we have been horribly infected with sin. Our genetic code is horribly corrupted with willful disobedience to the God who created us for intimacy with him. Horribly infected! Horribly corrupted! Yet all is not hopeless.

One word changes that tragic equation, trumps our sin, and interrupts the inexorable plunge into a Christless eternity: “But…” Paul pens one word that delivers the death blow to sin, splits the wide road to destruction with an off-ramp to redemption, and throws a life-saver to a sinking human race so we can get out of the proverbial boat we’re all in: “But…”

Though it is not in our reading for today, take a look at the first word of the next section; venture a sneak peek at these grand verses, Romans 3:21-22, along with their cousin verses in Romans 3:23-26, and let your heart be lifted by the unstoppable power of our gospel. Take a moment to read these amazing verses in the horrible context of the first twenty verses of this chapter, and just let the deep, deep love of the Father who lavished it upon sinners like you and me wash over your being:

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law … We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

Yes, the condition of humanity is horrible, “but” thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, it is not hopeless!

Get Rooted: Here is a three-part assignment that will help you to get rooted in the amazing mercy and grace of God: Memorize Romans 3:10 and 3:23-24: “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one’ … for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Meditate on the contrasting horror of universal sin and the hope of eternal redemption that Paul speaks of here in Romans 3. Write out a prayer of gratitude to God for the undeserved righteousness that was imputed to you through Christ’s work on the cross. If you are open to it, post your prayer as a comment on this devotional.

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The Center and the Circumference

Christianity Happens From the Inside Out

UNSHAKEABLE: It is easy to fall into the very same sin of Jews, presuming their ritualistic observances and religious activities got them in and kept them in good standing with God. But there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth. Let me illustrate it this way: Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a Happy Meal. You see, neither outward appearances nor practices of piety are good and accurate indicators of authentic faith. True faith is internal—it is a matter of the heart. That’s what God looks at: the heart—your heart.

The Center And The Circumference - Ray Noah

Unshakeable Living // Romans 2:25-29

Circumcision, the surgical ritual that marks you as a Jew, is great if you live in accord with God’s law. But if you don’t, it’s worse than not being circumcised. The reverse is also true: The uncircumcised who keep God’s ways are as good as the circumcised—in fact, better. Better to keep God’s law uncircumcised than break it circumcised. Don’t you see: It’s not the cut of a knife that makes a Jew. You become a Jew by who you are. It’s the mark of God on your heart, not of a knife on your skin, that makes a Jew. And recognition comes from God, not legalistic critics.

The covenant of circumcision was a highly important outward sign that was to distinguish the Israelites as God’s very own people. The covenant was first given to Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14 and later reaffirmed in dramatic albeit peculiar fashion to Moses in Exodus 4:24-26. Ritual circumcision was required of every Israelite male child, and it was an important physical reminder of the greater theological reality that the cutting away and cleansing from sin was necessary to a right relationship with God.

Unfortunately, over time, the Jews became prideful in their practice of the physical act of circumcision without the practice of the more important inward act of spiritual circumcision. In effect, the circumcised but disobedient Jew’s standing before God was no different than that of the uncircumcised heathen. In fact, the Apostle Paul, in a bit of news that must have been infuriating to the circumcised Jew, said that the uncircumcised but obedient Gentile was as good as circumcised in the eyes of God. (Rom 2:26)

I suppose at this point you may be wondering what Jewish males and ritual circumcision have to do with you. Simply this: It is easy to fall into the very same sin of Jews, presuming their ritualistic observances and religious activities got them in and kept them in good standing with God. But there couldn’t be anything farther from the truth.

Let me illustrate it this way: Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than going to McDonalds makes you a Big Mac. You see, neither outward appearances nor practices of piety are good and accurate indicators of authentic faith. True faith is internal—it is a matter of the heart.

That’s what God looks at: the heart—your heart. Now that is not to say Christians shouldn’t look and act a certain way. They should—just like the Israelites were expected to look and act a certain way. Our faith should be observable. It should be especially true that having been with Jesus will make a noticeable difference to those watching us. (See Acts 4:13) Having experienced the grace and mercy of salvation ought to catalyze change in the way we interact with the world and experience life. The very way we look, talk, relate, work, play, and engage in our moment-by-moment existence should have the “fragrance of Christ” all over it.

But at the end of the day, the fragrance of our Savior is only possible if we are thoroughly saturated with Jesus. Jesus needs to get from the outside of our lives to the inside. Or perhaps more correctly, Jesus needs to start on the inside and work his way to the outside—which, by the way, is what takes place as a result of the more important spiritual circumcision of the heart. (Rom 2:29)

Most importantly, at the core of who we are, we ought to always retain the Lord Jesus Christ. In truth, Jesus must be both the center and the circumference of our lives.

So here is the $64,000 question: Is he?

Get Rooted: Make a list of the internal qualities that you believe should make a Christian an authentic Christ-follower. Now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, write out a plan to increase these qualities one by one this week. For instance, if you want to grow in gratitude, write a list and pray it back to God. Or share it with a friend. If you want to grow in kindness, write a to-do list with a date accomplish box of the things you want to do for people to show them kindness. Whatever inner quality of Christlikeness you want to develop, make a practical action plan to exercise that quality this week.