Category: Romans (Page 14 of 28)

Faithfulness

September 12, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

This week we’ve been considering together Act Three of the Story of God: Covenant – The Promised Kingdom. Instead of trying to write about and discuss Genesis 12 through Malachi 4, I’ve tried to identify four things I believe God is doing with the covenant he made to Abraham in Genesis 12 and in the ways he works with and through the covenant in the rest of the Old Testament. God is showing us four things, he’s communicating these four things to us. My suggestion is to identify these four things in every Old Testament story you read. Look for these things. It’ll help you better understand what God is doing when he makes and keeps his promises.

We’ve looked at Revelation, Presence, and Partnership. Today, let’s consider God’s Faithfulness.

We can know for certain a couple of things by reading the Old Testament and by just experiencing life. We know for sure that Satan has not lost interest in people since his big win in the Garden of Eden in Act One. He keeps coming at us. We also know that our God never, ever, stops in his love and care for the people and the world he created. The devil keeps trying and God keeps saving. We know this. Throughout Act Three, we see Israel chasing after pagan idols and God forever restoring them to their right ways. We Israel rebel against God, we see wickedness in Israel’s priests and kings, we see sin. And we see God relentlessly bringing them back. Our God will not be stopped.

In the covenant, God says, “I will bless you if you live right” and “I will take care of you if you obey my commands.” If not, well, then God makes other arrangements to bless his people. He finds other ways to save them.

“I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.” ~Ezekiel 36:25-28

If your heart is hard, I’ll give you a new one. If your mind is corrupted, I’ll create in you a new one. Over and over again in Act Three, God proves that he will do whatever it takes to live with his people and be their God. Whatever it takes. Because it’s his covenant. His promise. His Word. And he won’t let it be broken.

He gives Noah the rainbow covenant and Noah immediately gets drunk and exposes himself. Yet God’s promise goes on. He gives Israel the Sinai covenant and the people immediately build a golden calf. Yet God’s covenant remains intact. He gives David the royal covenant the king after God’s own heart immediately grabs his neighbor’s wife and breaks half the ten commandments in one weekend. Yet God’s promise remains. God keeps finding other ways. He keeps making other arrangements. His covenant will never be broken.

Your job is to believe it. Believe it. Abraham believed and God credited it to him as righteousness. If you believe God’s Word, if you trust him that he’s going to save you and that he will not be stopped in fulfilling his promises to you and to the whole world, he’ll consider that as faith. And he’ll give you credit. He’ll apply a righteousness to you, a holiness, that you don’t have and you can never receive any other way.

“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 all… He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed — the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.

Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations… He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.” ~Romans 4:16-21

If God has promised you life: life in Christ, life in the Spirit of God, a life of bearing Kingdom fruit — if he’s promised you life in his body, the Church — and if he’s ratified those promises by the blood of his own Son, Jesus the Christ, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, do you believe it?

Peace,

Allan

Separation from God

September 2, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

We’re all guilty. We’ve all lived Act Two of the Story of God, personally and corporately. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. We’ve all taken huge bites out of that apple.

“There is no one righteous, not even one;
there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.” ~Romans 3:10-12

So, how bad can it be? Well, immediately after committing that first sin, we see Adam and Eve avoiding God. They’re actually hiding from God. They’re afraid of their good and loving Creator. They make excuses. They blame each other. They blame God. Nobody confesses. They don’t admit anything. Because the relationships have been busted. The trust, the communion, is broken. And the consequences are dire. And immediate.

Because of the sin, there is now going to be constant struggle between the snake and the humans. Always strife. Always conflict. Always treachery and hate. Because of the sin, the man and woman are no longer equal partners. Their community has been wrecked. The woman now wants to control the man, the man now wants to dominate the woman. Always strife. Always conflict. No peace. Very little trust. And the ground isn’t friendly anymore. Nothing’s going to be easy anymore. The earth is now fighting back against the humans. No more cooperation. All of life is now a struggle to survive. And they won’t. They’re going to die. You sin, you die.

The worst part is that the people are thrown out of the garden. They are driven away from the presence of God.

“The Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden… After he drove them out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” ~Genesis 3:23-24

The overwhelming result of sin is not the loss of the garden, it’s the loss of God. The humans are no longer in his face-to-face presence. That’s the tragedy. Throughout the whole rest of the Old Testament, you never hear the people dream of regaining the Garden of Eden. They don’t long for those comforts and luxuries. They talk about regaining access to God’s presence. They dream about and prophesy about and wonder about once again being allowed into the presence of God.

We have traded trust and obedience to a gracious and friendly God and the intimacy of living in his presence for chaotic misery and isolating independence. It’s a horrible transaction.

Peace,

Allan

Very Good

August 28, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

We’ve spent this week looking at the inspiring beauty of Act One of the Story of God, the Pattern of the Kingdom the Creator establishes: God and mankind living in perfect harmony together, ruling and reigning together over a perfectly wonderful heavens and earth. Act One is good. It is “very good.” It’s an eternal blueprint for everything God is doing.

Now, today we don’t live in Act One. It’s long past. But what Act One tells us has important meaning for all people right now. In the beginning God created. That doesn’t just mean back there and back then. The Story says not only that God was Creator but that God is Creator! God’s creative activity is not limited to the distant past. It’s not like a long time ago God did everything he planned to do and then retreated from the scene to let the world run by itself.

Romans 4 tells us that even now, today, our God gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist. 2 Corinthians 5 declares that right now, today, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus our Lord. When we confess that God is the Creator, we are saying that God is continuously making new beginnings, opening up new possibilities, initiating new events. God is our Creator. And he is doing new things in our lives.

The psalmist did not say, “God created Adam and Eve a long time ago and we’re all descended from them.” He said, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Read that again. You’ve heard it dozens of times. Read it again.

“You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

We know the facts of life. We know where babies come from. But we also know that the process of procreation and gestation and giving birth don’t tell us the whole truth about where we came from, who we are, and where we’re going. We believe that God the Creator stands at the beginning of every single human life and goes with us on every single step of our own ways.

Your life might be formless and empty. Chaos. Darkness. Void. It can be obvious darkness and chaos like addiction or abuse or violence or disease. Or it could be a chaos underneath the surface, a chaos of the heart that’s hidden from almost everybody.

Jeremiah 31 says, “The Lord will create a new thing!” Our God, the Creator of “very good” things, can speak light and life into that darkness and void. He made you in his image. He made you “very good.” And his desire to live in a righteous relationship with you means he came here in Christ Jesus to make it happen. He’s committed to it. Your story, whatever it looks like to this point, is being written by a powerful and loving Creator who is devoted to your “very good.”

“Be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create!” ~Isaiah 65:18

Peace,

Allan

One More Year

July 29, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit, fine! If not, then cut it down.” ~Luke 13:8-9

There is a time limit. The Master is not calling for the indefinite existence of a bad tree. It’s got one more year. The health of the vineyard is too important, the Master’s expectation for fruit is too strong to leave in place an unproductive, non-responsive tree taking up good ground. It’s got one more year. One more season. One more chance. And then, if it doesn’t respond to the patience and care of the Master? Then, cut it down.

There’s an urgency in this parable that we shouldn’t miss. The tree is going to be held accountable. And it’s only got a short time left to respond to the farmer’s patience. Something’s got to change. The coming judgment is real.

“We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” ~2 Corinthians 5:10

The holiness and righteousness of God demands justice and judgment. Romans says we will all stand before God’s judgment; every knee will bow and every tongue will confess; each of us will give an account of our lives to God. There is a judgment coming. God is going to judge the world. And it’s one of the best kept secrets in the Bible.

We don’t talk about it. Judgment sounds harsh or cruel. The idea of God’s divine judgment clashes with what works in our culture — even our church culture. We barely acknowledge it anymore. The only time we speak about God’s judgment is when we’re making fun of people who talk about God’s judgment. We don’t preach God’s judgment. I don’t. Not very much.

But this parable…

This tree’s got one year. That’s it. And then it’s over.

There’s a story about Satan meeting with his demons in hell, working on their strategies against us humans. The first demon said, “I’ll go tell people there’s no heaven.” The second demon said, “I’ll tell people there’s no hell.” The third demon said, “I’ll tell people there’s no hurry.” Satan said, “Yes! That’s the plan!”

No hurry? That tree’s got one year. That’s it. If it bears fruit next year, fine. If not, then cut it down.

There’s an urgency in Jesus’ story. But we don’t feel that urgency. We appreciate the manure of God’s great patience and his merciful restraint. But we don’t even think about that coming judgment. In this country, in this century, as our sense of self grows larger and larger and our sense of God becomes smaller and smaller, we fear God so little we don’t understand the seriousness of our sin. And we sense the seriousness of our sin so little, we very seldom fear God. That’s a bad place to be.

“Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.” ~Romans 2:5-6

He gave the tree one more year. One more season. If it bears fruit, fine. If not, cut it down.

There’s an urgency here. It’s later than we think. One of the elders at the Legacy church, Kent Robinson, says every single day, “It’s later now than it’s ever been before!” He’s right. And the time to act is right now, during this season of God’s patience, during this time when God is holding back the ax and spreading the manure of his grace and forgiveness. Now is the time to respond, not tomorrow. Now is the time of God’s favor. Now is the day of salvation. God’s mercy is being extended now. The opportunity for a fruitful life is now.

I don’t know how much time we’ve got. I don’t know. Apparently, even Jesus isn’t sure. But that day’s coming for each of us. That tree’s got one more year. You might have longer. Maybe.

Peace,

Allan

Dung It!

July 28, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.” ~Luke 13:8-9

The Greek phrase for what the farmer wants to do to the tree is literally “Dung it.” Most English Bible translations say “Fertilize it.” A couple of them, including the Revised Standard Version, use “manure.” But the old King James and American Standard Versions go with the literal “Dung it.” It’s a weird little line in a short little parable. But the solution to the barren fig tree is to give it more time and spread around a little manure (No, that doesn’t mean preach to the tree).

Manure is not a word, especially back then, that anybody would use in a religious illustration or religious teaching. It’s just not polite. It’s gross. In fact, this is the only place in the entire New Testament this word is used. Why do you think Jesus said “manure?” He could have said, “Let me bring in some better soil” or “Let me water the tree” or “let me prune some branches.” Why did he say, “Let me dung the tree?”

Well, there’s nothing glamorous about manure. It’s not exciting. It’s messy. Smelly. And it takes time. It’s not a quick fix. Digging around the tree, mixing in the manure, caring for the tree, nurturing the tree, paying careful attention to the tree — that takes patience. And great restraint. It’s going to take a while to see if it makes any difference.

Normally we want immediate results. So chopping down the tree seems like the best thing to do. We clear the ground out and get ready for a new tree. A new start. A new beginning. We love new beginnings: new efficient programs, new shiny buildings, new attractive members, new exciting projects, new fulfilling jobs, new shock-and-awe wars. But spreading manure has none of that exhilaration. It’s not dramatic. It doesn’t get anybody’s admiring attention. Manure is a slow solution. And it sounds a lot like our Lord, huh? Jesus is very much about the small, the slow, the unglamorous: yeast and salt and seeds. And manure.

This is how our God deals with people. Patience and restraint. Slow. I don’t care what 2 Peter says, God is slow. He’s not in a hurry. Scripture tells us over and over again we need to wait on God. And Scripture also tells us that God spends a lot of his time waiting on us.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as Allan understands slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance… Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation.” ~2 Peter 3:9, 15

The holy God of Heaven and Earth holds off on his judgment, he delays his punishment, he refrains from putting the ax to the root because he loves us. He gives us time. And while he gives us this time, he nurtures us and takes great care of us. He carefully digs around us and blesses us with love and mercy and forgiveness. God keeps coming to us, keeps sparing us, keeps giving us opportunities and unlimited chances to respond. He never gives up on us. He keeps forgiving.

For me not to respond to that grace, for me to go through my life every day and not make changes, not start bearing Kingdom fruit for his glory — I’m without excuse.

“Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?” ~Romans 2:4

If God dealt with us strictly by his holy justice, we wouldn’t stand a chance. But he doesn’t. He is patient with us. He gives us time and second chances and third and fourth and fifth and sixth chances to repent. That’s patience. Grace. The Master’s been digging around you for years. He’s been reaching out to you and taking loving care of you for a long time. You’ve responded, right?

Peace,

Allan

Protected by Christ

May 2, 2015 / Allan / 0 Comments

“Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? 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.” ~Romans 8:33-34

Jesus is right now interceding for you. He is speaking up for you. He did not return to heaven to retire. He is there today speaking to the Father on your behalf. He is representing you, defending you, working for you. And he’s never lost a case.

“He is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” ~Hebrews 7:25

The One who speaks for us has already been there. He’s already taken all the tests and passed them with flying colors. He’s aced all the exams and he has all the answers. You will never face anything in your life that our Lord hasn’t already faced and conquered. And he speaks for you today. He protects you.

Peace,

Allan

Category: Romans (Page 14 of 28)

Faithfulness

Separation from God

Very Good

One More Year

Dung It!

Protected by Christ

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