An Open Door...

Friday, September 30, 2011 - Romans 6:1 - 14

I sometimes get lost in all the contrasts Paul uses as he makes his arguments. Do you?

What helps me is to pull out and list the parts he wants me to be and do/or not do. Here’s some of the list from today’s scriptures: We do not go on sinning. We have died to sin. We may live a new life. We are no longer slaves to sin.

Then, Paul exhorts/encourages his readers directly as he changes the pronouns from ‘we’ to ‘you’: Count yourself alive to God in Christ Jesus. Do not let sin reign in your body. Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life. Offer every part of yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness. You are under grace.

Paul is giving good news. We have power over sin. Jesus’ death freed us from the power of sin which we used to experience. We still live in our human body and can struggle to live in our freedom from the power of sin. But, we can choose to do good and not sin. We are new people in Jesus. “We have a choice whether to allow the body to become an instrument…of unrighteousness or an instrument in service to God.” (Witherington, p. 163).

Today, may we be instruments in service to God…

Thursday, September 29, 2001 – Romans 5:12 – 21

Grace is greater than sin.

In Adam is the shared story of beginnings for both Jewish Christians and Gentile/Greek Christians. Adam’s actions had consequences for all other humans…all sin.

In Christ is the shared story of grace for both Jewish Christians and Gentile/Greek Christians. Christ’s actions had consequences for all other humans…all are offered grace.

Paul’s emphasis is on the abundance of grace. Christ’s gift of forgiveness and a grace-filled life far exceeds the effect of Adam’s sin falling upon all of us. Life, grace and a restored relationship with God are ours in abundance through Jesus…YEA!

P.S. Ben Witherington in his commentary, page 144, notes this: “Incidentally, Paul nowhere blames Eve for original sin here/in this passage. ;-)

Wednesday, September 28, 2011 - Romans 5:1: - 11

Today’s passage was our text for Sunday worship and the text for Monday’s blog. I’ve given us a lot of information about these eleven verses.

What I, simply, appreciate most from these verses is the reassurance they give of God’s love for us and our renewed relationship with God. Most of the time I live in that place where I have peace with God…where I know I am loved…where I know I stand in grace through Jesus. On the days when I don’t particularly like myself, I still know God loves me…I still know I stand forgiven in God’s grace through Jesus.

Words fail me to express how deeply indebted and grateful I am to God for those loving mercies.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 - Romans 4:1 - 25

The ‘Romans’ in Paul’s letter to the Romans are a mixed group of Jewish Christians and Gentile/Greek Christians.

If you were a Jewish Christian, you thought you were superior to the Gentile/Greek Christians because you were part of Israel, God’s chosen people who were given circumcision and the Law of Moses. Belief in Jesus was belief in the long-awaited Messiah.

If you were a Gentile/Greek Christian, you thought you were superior to the Jewish Christians because you didn’t need circumcision and the Law of Moses to be made right with God. You had faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior and didn’t need the Jewish stuff.

In this chapter, Paul pulls the rug of superiority out from under both groups. God made promises to Abraham, and Abraham trusted God to make good on those promises. By using the trust/faith Abraham had in God, Paul makes the argument that Abraham is the father of all who have faith…Jew and Gentile/Greek.

This strikes a blow to the Jewish Christians who might think that through circumcision and lineage they are children of Abraham. Paul says they are children of Abraham because they have the faith and trust of Abraham.

It also strikes a blow to the Gentile/Greek Christians who do not see a need to learn anything from their Jewish Christian counterparts. They don’t need circumcision or the law to be right with God through faith in Jesus. Paul pulls them up short, reminding them that in Abraham they have a model of faith and trust in God. Abraham is their forefather in faith.

Therefore, as this chapter closes, the Jewish Christians and the Gentile/Greek Christians have three things in common: they all have sinned, all of them are made right with God through faith in Jesus and both have Abraham as their father and model in having faith in the God’s promises.

Monday, September 26, 2011 - "After Thoughts & Other Thoughts" on Sunday, September 25, 2011: “Peace with God” – Romans 5:1 - 11

In this passage, Paul writes about glorying in their sufferings, “because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

When Paul writes of suffering in this passage, he is not writing about life’s difficulties. He is talking about suffering because of being a follower of Jesus. Suffering for the faith produces Christian character.

A few years before, during the reign of Claudius as Emperor, many of the Jews and Jewish Christians had been tossed out of Rome. When Claudius died, they were able to return if they wanted. The whims of an Emperor could result in suffering because of who you were. Paul writes during the first years of Nero’s reign as Emperor. At this point, Nero has been OK as an emperor. Yet, in just a few years that will change and Christians will suffer at his hand.

Paul writes about the suffering for the sake of Christian faith to help the Roman Christians stand strong and faithful. Their Christian character will be strengthened and developed through suffering. They are to rest and trust in God to see them through the difficult days that will come in the years ahead…Paul has already lived through many of those kinds of days!

I can’t say that I have ever suffered for Christ, for his sake…have you? If you have, take heart and find strength in Paul’s words.

Friday, September 23, 2011 - Romans 3:21 - 31

Today, Paul seems pretty clear…not too confusing…

There is no difference between the Jew and Gentile when it comes to sin and being set right with God. Both, Jew and Gentile sin and fall short of the glory of God. Both, Jew and Gentile are set right with God, freely, by God’s grace through redemption that came by Jesus.

God is God of the Jews and the Gentiles…God is the God of all…YEA!! Everyone is in the same boat. All sin and all can be set right with God by grace, through faith in Jesus. (Such good news! Time for a ‘happy dance’!)

Have a blessed weekend filled with grace and faith…see you back here on Monday…

Thursday, September 20, 2011 - Romans 3:9 - 20

Paul is a sly guy…and the slyness shows up today.

In yesterday’s reading, Paul said that the advantage the Jewish Christians have over the Gentile/Greek Christians is that the words of God were entrusted to them.

In today’s reading, Paul uses a series of scriptures from the Psalms, Ecclesiastes and Isaiah to prove his point that all are under the power of sin. He gets the Jewish Christians to agree, through the use of diatribal argument, that the scriptures are what make them special as Jews. Then, he uses those very scriptures to point out the failures and sins of the both the Jewish Christians and Gentile/Greek Christians. The very words of God entrusted to the Jews become the witness proving that everyone is under the power of sin…sly-guy-move!

The law is there to help them become aware of their sin. The law is a teacher. But, no one is able to keep the law. No one is righteous in God’s sight by trying to follow the law.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 - Romans 3:1 - 8

Ok…today’s passage is a challenge…but let’s dive in…

The passage is in a dialogical and diatribal form…which means that Paul is arguing as a teacher might to make a teaching point (the diatribal part) with an imaginary partner/student (the dialogue part). Paul speaks after the first question in order to address the question. He then starts asking the questions, moving the thought along and making the imaginary partner/student answer the questions.

Though Paul has put the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians on pretty equal footing in their relationship with God, the advantage the Jews do have is the gift of the Scriptures from God. In them, the Jews learned of God’s righteousness, their sin and need for forgiveness and grace. Some thought Paul’s emphasis on God’s grace being given in amounts to cover our sin meant that the more we sinned the more grace was given. Therefore, we could go and sin more so more grace would be given. Paul says that is not what he meant. He meant that our sin results in a just judgment from God. Later in Romans, he writes of Christ’s life, death and resurrection resulting in forgiveness,grace and our inner tranformation.

For those who would like to follow the conversation in today’s passage, S. K. Stowers in his book, A Reading of Romans (p. 165,) divides these verses into this conversation:

Imaginary Partner/Student: 1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?

Paul: 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?

Imaginary Partner/Student: 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you/God may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” Psalm 51:4.

Paul: 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)

Imaginary Partner/Student: 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?

Paul: 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 – Romans 2:17 - 29

We continue where we left off on Friday with Paul clarifying what it is to be right with God.

On Friday, we read about those who passed judgment on others while doing the same things. Today, we read about those who have high opinions about themselves in relation to God and the law. Yet, we learn they are preaching/teaching one thing and living another.

Paul is speaking to the Jewish Christians at this point. The law and circumcision are marks of being God’s people, Israel. Paul tells them that being Jewish and having the law and circumcision do not make them automatically right with God. God looks for those, whether Jew or Greek/Gentile, whose circumcision is inward and of the heart by the Spirit of God.

Faithfulness is not about outward conformity to law and rites of circumcision. Faithfulness is about aligning one’s life and living with one’s belief from the inside out.

Monday, September 19, 2011 - "After Thoughts & Other Thoughts" on Sunday, September 18, 2011: “Clearly Seen” – Romans 1:18 – 23

So…what did you notice about creation that gives witness to God’s presence in our world? When we left worship this morning, I encouraged us to pay attention to the creation when we left…what did you see?

In the afternoon, I was out at the yearly Golf Tournament taking pictures of our church members and those from First United Methodist Church. The afternoon was sunny and pleasant. We were on the open valley floor with the mountains on our east…beautiful! I was taking pictures and standing in the sun which became rather warm. Sometimes I would step into the shade of a tree and feel the significant temperature change.

Tonight, verses from Psalm 121 come to my mind, “The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” To envision the cool, sheltering shade from the tree being representative of ‘the shade at God’s right hand that keeps me from harm’ is my experience of God’s presence being ‘clearly seen’ and evident in the creation.