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Category: Romans (Page 4 of 28)

God + Shared Pain = Glory

September 20, 2024 / / 0 Comments

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness. 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. 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… Those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” ~Romans 8:26-30

All of creation is groaning. We ourselves are groaning. And God’s Holy Spirit, seeing all this, watching all this, experiencing all this with his creation and with his people–now the Spirit’s groaning with groans that words cannot express. God’s Holy Spirit lives and works in that shared pain.

“He who searches our hearts” is God. He knows what’s inside our hearts. And I know God comes across things in our hearts we’d like to keep hidden. But God is looking for the sound of his Spirit’s groaning. When we are sharing the world’s pain, when we’ve decided to embrace the world’s pain and sit with it and live with it and groan with it, we realize we don’t have any answers. We don’t know what to do. We don’t even know what to pray for! And that’s where God’s Spirit comes in very obviously. God the Creator, our Father, is always in constant communion with his Spirit who lives in the hearts of his people. God totally understands what his Spirit inside us is saying, even when we don’t. Our God hears and answers the prayers of our heart, even when they don’t feel like prayers, even when it just feels like heartache or hopelessness or inadequacy. When the pains and the groanings of the world weigh heavy on your heart, you become one with the loving and groaning and redeeming working relationship and conversation between the Father and the Holy Spirit.

It’s a mystery, for sure–I don’t understand it. But the Bible says God works through that for glory. For our glory. And ultimately for his.

The present pains and sufferings are not even worth comparing with that coming glory (Romans 8:18). Paul can’t find the words, he can’t describe the difference between where we are right now and the glory that’s coming. Everything he might say falls short. He doesn’t even try.

God has called us and justified us and will glorify us (Romans 8:30).

We know that in all things–even in the sharing of so much pain–maybe especially in the sharing of pain–we know that in all things, God works for our good! For ultimate glory! (Romans 8:28)

We share in the sufferings in order to share in God’s glory (Romans 8:17).

The devil means all of this mess for evil; God our Father is working through it for good. By the life, death, resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the power of his Holy Spirit, it’s going to be good. As Christians, we don’t shake our heads and wring our hands and say look what’s happening to the world. We open our eyes and lift our hands and say look who came into the world!

All of God’s plans for the restoration of the world, all of God’s promises for glory for us and for all creation–all of what God is bringing about for our good–it’s all “Yes” in Christ Jesus. It’s not sometimes “Yes” and sometimes “No.” In him, in Christ Jesus, it is always “Yes!”

“No matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ. And so through him, the ‘Amen’ is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” ~2 Corinthians 1:20-21

Sin’s dominion over us and over this world is being broken. Our bondage to corruption and decay is coming to an end. And the Church speaks the ‘Amen.’ We say it! ‘Amen!’ We believe it! ‘Amen!’ And we live it! ‘Amen!’

The Holy Spirit guarantees the glory that’s coming because of Jesus. When the politicians say ‘No,’ God says ‘Yes’ in Christ. When the culture says ‘No,’ God says ‘Yes’ in Christ. When your friends say, ‘No,’ when the peer pressure says ‘No,’ when your family says ‘No,’ when your favorite network or website or app says ‘No,’ when your gut says ‘No,’ when all the experts say ‘No,’ our God says ‘Yes’ in Christ every time! Every time! All the time! Yes, yes, yes in our risen and coming Lord Jesus!

Hey, we’ve got a vaccine for COVID and measles and polio. We’ve got flu shots. Pneumonia shots and shingles vaccines. But not for the sin that has plunged God’s world into so much. There’s no shot, there’s no pill, there’s no medicine for this pain that has us and all creation groaning. The only prescription for the pain is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is the only cure.

Romans 8:18-28 are about the prescription. This is God’s plan, this is his purpose, to redeem us and shower us with the heavenly glory of his Son and our undying hope in his plan. It’s a divine plan that provides fully for your eternal future. A loving and gracious plan that leads to ultimate glory for all God’s children. And Paul wants us to come away from this passage, not with a bunch of theological questions, but with an increased assurance and confidence that the God who began a good work in us will indeed bring it to completion on the day of Christ Jesus. That’s the promise. That’s the hope.

Everything you do and say, everything people do to you or say about you, every experience you will ever have, it’s all lovingly used by our God for our good. You don’t always understand. You don’t always enjoy it. But we know our groanings are not in vain. They serve an eternal purpose that’s being worked out by the Creator of Heaven and Earth who groans right along with us to make it happen.

We do see sin and the sorry state of our world, but we also see our God’s redeeming love and power. So life for us is not a dreary waiting for some inevitable end to the death and decay, it’s an eager anticipation of the liberation, it’s an exciting hope and joy for the restoration and re-creation that’s already here and is still coming. It’s not a weary defeated kind of waiting. It’s a pulsing, active, vivid expectation and hope.

Hey, the pain and the groaning is real. But so is the glory! We’re not finished yet! God’s not done! He has a plan for you and for the whole world and it is glorious! He has established his risen Son on his eternal throne and the whole world that’s been plunged into pain by the ravages of our sin is being redeemed. The renovation is coming. The new heavens and new earth is coming. This is our Father’s world and he will do whatever he sees fit. And he sees fit to appoint it and us to groaning right now and glory forever.

Peace,

Allan

Share the Pain

September 19, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We’re looking at the middle part of Romans 8 as it answers three fundamental questions for us today: Where are we? What are we called to do? How is it going to go? Yesterday, we noted that the world is in pain. The world is groaning in frustration over the curse of sin and death. Today, I suggest that all Christians are called to share that pain. As children of God and followers of his Son Jesus, we are called to share the world’s pain.

“We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies.” ~Romans 8:23

We are called to share the world’s pain. To join the world’s pain. To bear the world’s pain. Not to ignore it, not to isolate ourselves from it, not to look the other way and pretend it’s not happening. The Church is called to share the world’s pain. We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly.

Wait. Why us?

Because we know. We know things are not the way they are supposed to be. Because we have the firstfruits. We have seen glimpses of the eternal glory. We’ve tasted the way things are supposed to be. We’ve experienced a little bit of what God is doing.

As a church, when we come together to worship, we get a sense of what’s coming. We join that great throng of heavenly witnesses around the throne of God, we’re united together with all the saints–past, present, and future. There’s another scene, there’s another city, there’s another reality beyond our time and space. And sometimes we see it. Sometimes we feel it, if only for a moment.

When we come together around the table and share the communion meal, we are one with God in Christ and we are one with one another. Perfect fellowship. Perfect unity. Perfect forgiveness and acceptance and love and peace. And it’s not ordinary. It’s Christian.

We don’t groan despite having the firstfruits; we groan because we have them. Because we’ve seen it. We know the glory that’s coming. Baby blessings and baptisms. Mission trip sendoffs. Harvest parties and fistbumps. 4 Midland. Small groups. We see and hear and touch and taste God’s healing and cleansing, his joy and unity and forgiveness, his life-changing power and reconciliation and compassion and love. We all experience up close and personal these firstfruits of the Spirit. And it’s not what you find in the ways of this broken world. It’s uniquely Gospel.

To accomplish what’s coming for us, our Lord Jesus had to get out of his comfort zone and put on our pain. That’s the Gospel truth. Christ Jesus left his home in glory, he sacrificed his position and his power, he gave up his rights and his status, and he joined us in our pain. He came to where we are and he put on our flesh and blood, he suffered in the dirt with us. The Bible says he became familiar with our sufferings. He carried our burdens. He became our sin for us, to rescue us from the corruption and decay.

We all share the common human predicament of pain. Of groaning. So, like our Lord Jesus, we intentionally seek out that pain in others. Where is that pain? You look for it. And you don’t have to look hard–we’re all surrounded by it. And we join the pain. We embrace the pain. We live in it. We share it. We stand for and with those who are in pain. We speak up for and with those who are suffering. The Church is called to share the world’s pain. Who else is going to? And if we don’t do it right now, when will we?

Some of you, I know, the pain is too far away. The problems are just on TV. You’ve never been shot by a police officer. You’ve never been discriminated against at work or school or had opportunities taken from you because of your skin color or your accent or where your parents were born. And maybe you don’t know anybody who has. It’s not something you think about or talk about unless it’s on TV.

For some of you, the pain is very close and very real. You do know someone. You’ve experienced it yourself. You think about it and talk about it all the time.

And, yeah, there’s no doubt, you’re all over the map in your own church. You have lots of different viewpoints and opinions, you probably don’t all agree on what should be done and what ought to work and the steps that need to be taken. You’re not all going to be on the same page.

But here’s what the Bible tells us. The world is in pain. The whole world is broken and suffering because of sin. It’s groaning. And, like our Lord Jesus, his Church is called to share that pain.

And you might say, well, I don’t know anything about racism. I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know anything about homelessness or sexual identity. I can’t relate to people wrapped up in CPS cases or losing their jobs. I’ve never been to a prison. I’ve never even been in a hospital.

Well, you do know how to love people. You do know how to sacrifice and serve people. You know how to just sit with people, to just be present with people in their pain. To just listen. If it were your daughter, you’d do it.

I’ve seen you. I’ve seen you move heaven and earth, I’ve seen you sacrifice and suffer for the sake of being with your son or daughter. I’ve seen you struggle to build bridges, I’ve seen you lay aside your rights and your feelings to reconcile relationships with people you love. I’ve seen you work so hard and give up so much to heal and restore what’s broken in your own families. To just sit and be present and listen. Yes, you do know how to love people and share pain.

The world is in pain right now. That’s where we are. The Church shares the world’s pain. That’s what you and I are called to do.

Tomorrow, how is the sharing of this global pain going to work out?

Peace,

Allan

The World is in Pain

September 18, 2024 / / 0 Comments

We began this thread yesterday by posing three questions about our situation as followers of Jesus in this day and place in which we live: Where are we, what should we do, and how is it going to turn out? I suggest that Romans 8:18-28 contains the answers to all three questions.

Romans is a letter the apostle Paul wrote from Corinth to the Christians in the city of Rome. Most scholars hold that Romans was written in AD 57, give or take a year, near the end of Paul’s third missionary journey. Evidence within the Scriptures tells us that the church in the Roman Empire’s capital city was more Gentile than Jew. And there were conflicts. There were cultural and racial divisions within this church and there was dissension along theological and church practice lines. One of Paul’s purposes in writing this letter is to reconcile the arguing factions. He wants to bring about unity in belief and purpose. Our unity with Christ and in Christ, he says, needs to stem from the Gospel truth that all people and things are being brought together in Jesus Christ. This union with Christ and in Christ should characterize all of God’s people today and forever.

With that as our backdrop, let me suggest that the answer to our first question, “Where are we?” is made clear in Romans 8:18, but is implied throughout the passage.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us…”

“The creation was subjected to frustration… the creation will be liberated from its bondage to decay  and brought into the glorious freedom…”

“The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

The world is in pain. That’s where we are. That’s what’s happening. The whole world is in pain. Creation is groaning out of frustration. The rocks and trees and animals and birds and rivers and people–it’s all subjected to frustration. All of creation is a slave to decay. The whole world is in bondage to corruption. And it’s groaning. Right up to the present time. Right now.

And it’s groaning because of sin. Everything got messed up when we decided we know better than God. We know what’s best for us better than the one who made us. So when the one man Adam went against the will of the Creator, all of creation was infected with his sin. Everything that exists now is somehow corrupted by sin. Everything we know is distorted, it’s twisted, it’s unable to realize or achieve its God-ordained purpose.

This goes back to the curse in Genesis 3. The groans and pains of childbirth, the hard work and frustration and sweat, women and men struggling against each other for power and control and the man always winning. This is the result of sin. And when sin entered the picture, so did death. Now, everything decays. Nothing is permanent. Everything dies. Everything you know, everything you experience, even all the really good things–all of it is subject to corruption and decay. Relationships, work, our bodies, our marriages, the people and things we love–it’s all contaminated by sin and death. Right up to the present time. This is what’s happening now. This is where we are.

Racism. The discrimination and injustice against minority peoples that part of our fallen nature and built right into the systems and structures of society. Poverty. Selfishness. Greed. Lust. Power. Control. War. Disease. Dictators. Thirty-nine kinds of sexual sin. The sins of our society and our own individual sins separate us from God, they divide us from each other, and they devour our bodies and souls.

So people are hurting. Suffering. People are dying. People are crying out in pain. That’s where we are today. The world is in pain.

What is the Church called to do? How are Christians supposed to respond? We’ll cover that in this space tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

Where, What, and How?

September 17, 2024 / / 0 Comments

There’s a passage in the middle of Romans 8 that tells us where we are, what we are called to do, and how things are going to turn out. This feels very important to me. These eleven verses tell us what’s happening right now, where we are, what’s going on around us; what we’re called to do about it and with it and through it; and what’s going to happen because of it, where all this is heading, how it shakes out in the end.

Today, you might not know any of these things for sure. You may be confused or unsettled about all three of these things.

Where Are We?
Man, you tell me! Vaccine-preventable diseases are on a disturbing rise. The number of polio and measles cases makes it feel like we’re living in 1924. We keep hearing about this inevitable economic depression that’s going to feel like the 1930s. The racial violence and injustice and protests feel like the 1960s. And the extreme reactions to all of it–the judging and labeling and the division and hate–feels like we’re headed for a Civil War like the 1860s. We’re so divided in this country that Republicans would rather side with Russia than with Democrats and Democrats would rather side with Hamas than Republicans. And the lies from the people in charge and the willingness, and even eagerness, to believe all the lies, makes it feel like we’re in a George Orwell novel or a Mad Max movie. It feels like chaos, like everybody’s lost their ever-lovin’ minds.

What Are We Supposed To Do?
I have no idea! Should I post on Facebook or Instagram? Or re-tweet something? Are you kidding me? You’re taking your life into your own hands if you try to do or say anything at all! Whatever I do won’t be enough, it won’t be woke, or it will be woke, or it’ll be misunderstood or taken out of context. I don’t need that! Well, we’ve got to vote for the right guy and the right party. Really? Somebody once said that if voting could change anything, they’d make it illegal. Yes, somebody needs to do something, but I don’t know who and I don’t know what.

How Is This Going to Play Out?
Nobody knows! The experts change their minds every seven minutes. Nobody can agree on anything. There’s no conversation. No compromise. It feels like nothing is grounded in fact or truth or science or history anymore–it’s all made up. It’s all gut. It’s all emotional. So there’s no predicting any of it.

We need a word from God. We desperately need the truth of God’s Word to tell us where we are, what we’re called to do, and how it’s going to work out. We need that clarity and confidence.

I suggest Romans 8:18-28.

I’m going to write about this here for the next three days, using words from the very middle of this most important chapter that sits right at the center of the most theologically profound book in the Bible. And I will suggest we use these holy words inspired by the Spirit of God as our lens. We look through this to make our decisions, we use this to guide our choices and to guard our emotions and inform the way we feel. This is the base–the way we think and talk, the things we do, the ways we act–all of it needs to be grounded in this. I feel deeply convicted that these are God’s Words to his children today regarding where we are, what we’re called to do, and how it’s going to go.

Please read these eleven verses. Then check back tomorrow.

Peace,

Allan

Put On Your Simla

February 5, 2024 / / 0 Comments

When Boaz starts taking an interest in Ruth, the meddling mother-in-law hatches a brilliant plan. She recognizes the reality of their conditions and she moves to seize the opportunity in front of them. Naomi instructs her widowed daughter-in-law to “wash and perfume yourself, and put on your simla” (Ruth 3:3). My NIV translates the Hebrew word simla as “…put on your best clothes.” But the word simla just means a regular robe. Your normal everyday clothes. Simla is just a generic robe by both men and women. It’s not a special dress. It’s not a special anything. And that’s the point.

Remember, Ruth is a recent widow. Her husband died like four or five months ago. And Ruth has probably been wearing special grieving clothes. She’d been wearing something that designated her as a grieving widow and Naomi’s telling her to change into an outfit that would send a different message.

The exact same wording is used in 2 Samuel 12 when David is grieving over the illness of his newborn son. For seven days, David was in a state of mourning, fasting, and praying for his son. When the child died, the Bible says David got up, washed, put on his lotions, and his simla, his normal everyday attire (2 Samuel 12:20). He’s signaling that his grieving is over now. I’m back to business.

That’s what Ruth is doing here. She’s changing into another set of clothes that say she’s available for marriage. She’s not grieving anymore. She’s not focusing on what she’s lost. She’s moving forward. She’s prepared and ready to seize the opportunity in front of her.

As children of God and followers of Jesus, we need to put on the right clothes that signal to the whole world that we are ready and prepared to seize the opportunities around us.

“As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” ~Colossians 3:12-14

The people around you are seeking what’s really important. They’re searching for something trustworthy and true. The people you’re running into every day are disappointed, disillusioned, and divided. But they’re open to something different. They want something or someone that’s real and solid and dependable. They want an answer to everything that’s gone wrong, they’re looking for a solution to everything that’s broken. That way, that truth, that life is our Lord Jesus Christ and the time is right now to make him known to a desperate world.

Clothe yourselves with Christ!

Your life, your words, your actions, your attitude can be living proof to everyone around you that good overcomes evil. You can show people by how you behave that love is greater than hate, that unity is more fun than division, that forgiveness always beats revenge, and that peace is far more effective than violence.

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” ~1 Peter 2:9

Not just the things you engage in and the ways you act, but also the things you refuse to associate with and the things you say “no” to are a powerful witness to the only One who can truly fix what’s wrong.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God.” ~1 Peter 2:12

Peter didn’t come up with that. He’s quoting our Lord from the opening lines of his Sermon on the Mount.

“Let your light shine before all people that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” ~Matthew 5:16

Think about it. What if you and I remained calm when the other people around us are anxious and frantic and demanding? Everything is turned up so loud right now. What would it mean to others if you were quiet and calm?

What if you and I spoke with humility and grace? Instead of saying things and forwarding things and reposting things that insult and disparage whole groups of other people so the people like me know exactly where I stand, what if we only said thing that were encouraging to others and the only thing that came out of our mouths was intended to build those other people up? I believe that kind of language would really stick out as special.

What if you and I tried to love everybody? What if you and I were known for how kind and graciously we treated others, even when we disagree? Especially when we disagree! I really think that would get noticed. And what if we committed to that right now instead of later?

“[All the commandments] are summed up in this one rule: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ …Do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here… Clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ!” ~Romans 13:11-14

Put on the clothes that signal to the world you take very seriously your vows to the Lord. Wear the simla that communicates a deep commitment to the ways and means of our King.

Peace,

Allan

Normal Discipleship

April 20, 2023 / / 3 Comments

You’ve seen NFL quarterbacks doing that on the field during a game. What are they doing?

The quarterback has a tiny little receiver (there’s a Wes Welker joke right here, but I’m letting it go) in his helmet so the offensive coordinator up in the pressbox can talk to him. The quarterback is trying to block out all the noise from the crowd in the stadium so he can hear the only voice he really needs to hear. He’s trying to block out the distractions so he can hear his coach who has a broader view of the field and a bigger picture understanding of what’s happening in the game. He needs to hear the voice from above, the voice of the one who wrote the playbook and developed the game plan, the voice he most needs to hear.

You’re never going to move in your discipleship unless you know that our God is dynamic and personal and active in his communicating with you. You’ve got to intentionally listen for his voice and it’s got to be more than just the Bible.

Now, hold on. Before you get all tuned up, let me explain.

The Bible is the voice of God. I believe that with all my heart. I believe and I preach and teach and live by my belief in the inspiration and authority of the Bible as the Word of God. The Bible is the voice of God. But the voice of God is not limited to the Bible.

What about Christians who never owned a Bible? What about the tens of millions of Christians over the past two-thousand years who have never even seen a Bible? Can they not have a relationship with God? Why does God’s Holy Spirit live inside us if everything we need is in the Bible? Being guided directly and personally by God’s Spirit within us is normal for a disciple of Christ.

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

The book of Acts is OUR book and finding a pattern in Scripture is OUR thing. And in Acts, it’s normal for Christians to get God’s Word both from Scripture and outside of Scripture.

In Acts 8, an angel of the Lord speaks to Philip and tells him to  take the Gaza Road. The Spirit, it says, tells Philip to jump in the chariot.

In Acts 9, the Lord calls to Ananias in a vision. Ananias answers, “Yes, Lord.” He knows who’s talking to him. The Lord told Ananias to find Saul, another guy he’s been talking to in a vision.

In Acts 10, an angel of God speaks to Cornelius. This non-Christian answers, “What is it, Lord?” He knows what’s happening. The angel tells him to find Peter. Later on, Peter is being addressed by the voice. Twice, it says, the voice speaks to Peter. And Peter acknowledges it as the voice of the Lord.

In Acts 16, the Holy Spirit tells Paul and his companions not to preach in Asia. The Spirit of Jesus, it says, would not allow them to go to Bithynia. During the night in Troas, Paul has a vision of the guy in Macedonia which caused them to leave immediately, “concluding that God had called  us to preach the Gospel to them” (Acts 16:10).

The way Luke gives it to us in Acts, it’s normal. He doesn’t write, “By the way, this was really weird.” It reads like the standard operating procedure for followers of Jesus to be led by the voice of God. So is the book of Acts a collection of exceptions or a collection of examples? Is hearing the voice of God no longer relevant for life in Christ, or is it the way life in Christ is supposed to be?

I was raised in and by the Pleasant Grove Church of Christ in Dallas, a medium-sized and very conservative congregation of God’s people. But we articulated these very things in our worship together every Sunday. We would pray for the preacher to have a ready recollection. We would ask God to bring us back at the next appointed time. We would pray for the Lord to guide, guard, and direct us (for the longest time, I thought that was one long word, like a theological word in Greek, like guidguardandirectus). It was normal for us to pray for God’s daily direction.

We would sing it, too. Guide me, O thou great Jehovah. He leadeth me, O blessed thought! Break, thou, the bread of life; beyond the sacred page. He walks with me and he talks with me. My God and I, we walk and talk as good friends should and do. We would pray it and we would sing it, but we would never preach it or teach it – that two-way communication with God is normal.

There are several reasons you might not be hearing God. One might be that you don’t expect to. If you’re not expecting to hear God’s voice, then you’re not listening for it. Maybe people told you that you can’t hear God or that God doesn’t talk anymore. Maybe no one ever taught you how to hear God. Or maybe you don’t want to hear God. Maybe you prefer a silent God. A non-talking God is a lot easier to deal with. If you hear the voice of the Lord, it might change your agenda, it might blow up your whole life.

In John 5, Jesus tells the religious experts, you diligently study the Scriptures, but you’ve never heard the Father’s voice. It’s possible to be an expert in the Bible and be lousy about hearing God.

How will Jesus know his disciples? They hear my voice, he says.

Peace,

Allan

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