Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 3

  And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh.

             It's interesting at the hospital, that throughout the corridors there are mounted on the ceilings closed circuit cameras. Those cameras are all wired to or sent wirelessly to a central security room somewhere in the hospital where I would imagine that some security guard is watching you. Now I'm not sure how much trouble one can get into in the halls of the hospital, but if they were watching over the years, they could have seen me slip and fall on wet flooring multiple times and most recently walk into a wall playing Pokemon Go. The cameras would catch my life's bloopers, but they wouldn't catch my sins. Why? Because I know they're there and watching me.

           Last blog I looked at the motivation behind truly loving people is to love God more than anything. To be accepted and loved by God should tear down the idols in our life that keep us from pure love for others. This passage tells us that if there is part of us that is still gratifying and living for self, and there always is, picture those divine ceiling cameras.

        My least favorite Christmas song is probably "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" because it replaces the eyes of Heaven on you with Santa Claus' eyes seeing if you are sleeping, awake, being bad or being good. I have over 40 inflatables in my yard, no HOA rules, and none include Santa. I'm not opposed to Santa - well maybe I am. He takes away the focus from Jesus and is even given divine attributes. Other people can celebrate and promote him, like Kirk Cameron (my hero), but I won't.

       I'm reminded of a story told by Francis Chan. He and his wife took their godly grandmother to a Broadway play and at intermission she asked to go home because if Jesus came back, she didn't want Him to find her at the theater. While this might be a tad over-sensitive, maybe not, we have to ask ourselves, if the eyes of Heaven are on us and Jesus may come back at any moment (it's 2000 years closer than when Paul wrote), shouldn't that affect our behavior? If Santa Claus sees your actions 24/7, how much more God? Live right!

Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 2

... whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law. Rom. 13:8-10

             "Do not covet" is the 10th commandment because it's the "etc." commandment. Paul talks about it in Chapter 7 and Jesus discusses it in the Sermon on the Mount. Paul as a Pharisee was a strict "law obeyor", but when he read "Thou shall not covet" it tore at him from the inside. All the other laws are somewhat doable like don't murder, don't steal, don't commit adultery, but don't covet gets at your heart. How do you stop wanting what others have?

       We addressed it a bit when we talked about the difficulty of rejoicing with those who rejoice and mourning with those who mourn, that it's hard to truly rejoice when you're coveting that they were blessed and mourn when you're kind of glad when they are brought down to your level as you are coveting their success. How do we truly love like Paul says here in Romans 13 when our self-centered hearts are prone to covet?

     When I think about the other commands, I would guess the other non-doable one is "don't worship idols". We are to worship God and nothing else. How easy it is to take a good thing like family, security, pleasure, possessions and make it the ultimate thing. Jesus said the two greatest commands are to love God first and then love your neighbor. Maybe the secret to obeying the second, which Paul is discussing in these verses, is to obey the first. If we truly love God and demonstrate that by making Him the ultimate thing rather than idols, we probably wouldn't have anything to covet and address the heart issue that makes it so hard to love.

     If we truly love God with all of our heart soul mind and strength, then we are free to love our neighbor as we should. Are you coveting something your neighbor has? Why? Is there an idol in your life that needs to be exposed? Let's let these 3 things be idol "diagnosticators"; coveting, problems rejoicing with, and problems mourning with.

Thoughts From Romans 13 - Part 1

  Give to everyone what you owe them: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.8 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Rom.13:7,8

         These are the go-to verses people use for debt free living. I will agree, it's good to pay cash for everything if you can. I just heard that if you buy a $450,000 house on a 30-year mortgage at 6.75% interest rate, over the 30 years you will have paid 1 million dollars to own that house. No wonder first time age of ownership of houses has skyrocketed from 29 years old to 45 years old. Trump is now proposing a 50-year mortgage which would change the previous bank payment from $550k to $1 million. If nothing else, that is bad stewardship of the money God has entrusted you to manage. If Marty on Ozark did this, he would lose his eyes. Fortunately, God is merciful to us dummies, but he might start giving His resources to better stewards to manage.

        Is this passage really forbidding taking out loans, though. The word outstanding in "let no debt remain outstanding", to me seems to say, if you have taken out a loan, don't miss your monthly payments. If you are renting, the landlord deserves his monthly checks. If you have workers, they deserve their wages on time. This is part of Christian integrity. It's part of being responsible, trust-worthy people that reflect well on Christ and don't allow people to say, "If that's a Christian, I don't want to be one."

      The one debt he says that has no 15, 30, 50- year end is the debt we owe others to love them. We owe people love. God gave us an unbelievable amount of love by sending His son Jesus to die for us and He is telling us that we are to do likewise. We owe a debt of love to God and He expects us to pay it back by loving others and it's such a huge amount that it will take our whole lives to give it back.

       We as humans are owed very little. We don't deserve health care, education, retirement, life liberty the pursuit of happiness - the only thing I believe we deserve is judgement for our sins. But God, rich in mercy, sent Jesus to take what we are owed. Now, we owe it to others to serve them. For example, as a doctor, if someone comes in thinking "I deserve medical care" they will be demanding unthankful and usually unsatisfied. This is also seen in the midst of the government shutdown as people aren't receiving their food stamps. One eighth of Americans feel they are owed these and are angry they aren't getting them. As a Christian doctor, I owe people health care, it comes from me. If people think they don't deserve it but I out of love am giving it to them, what a difference in attitude that makes. If people would think that they aren't owed food stamps but we as Christians owe the poor food and we feed them, what a change in attitude!

       Let's dedicate our lives to meeting the needs of others and sometimes to do that we should have less debt to free up more of God's resources to redirect.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 7

 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. 19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. 3 For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and you will be commended. 4 For the one in authority is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for rulers do not bear the sword for no reason. They are God’s servants, agents of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. 6 This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.  Rom. 12:17- 13:6

          As a Tennessee Vols fan, over the years there have been a handful of games that have been decided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Just when you thought you were going to get the ball back because you stopped them on third down, your defender pushes, punches, makes a hit out of bounds and it's game over. The coach and the fans don't care that the ref didn't see the first hit or that he was trying to stick his finger in your eye, all that matters is you retaliated, got caught, and cost us the game. Paul says, this is what happens when you return evil for evil. No matter how justified you might think you are, you are the one that always looks bad.

         There are people that are allowed to meet out justice, which can look evil, but those are people who God has granted authority to - like police, the King, even Church leaders who might excommunicate. God, who judges the Earth is the ultimate dealer of dire consequences. That's why people accuse Him of being evil and not merciful because He is the separator of the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, the fish in the nets. God is just and always right. He sees the first blow, so we don't have to give the second blow. He doesn't miss anything.

        You should be glad God is a judge. Because of that, we don't have to go through life defending our honor but love and forgive people like Jesus did. Otherwise, you go through life like Donald Trump getting even with everyone who has come up against him, hating his enemies rather than forgiving them like Charlie Kirk's wife. Which one do you want to be like? As much as I have appreciated how Trump has stood for the unborn, brought rationality to the gender issues, stood for suffering Christians in Nigeria, been a friend to the Jews, tried to bring peace to warring nations, his personal rhetoric has brought division to our nation worse than I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. You might say, "But isn't he the authority you just mentioned?" and you would be somewhat right. He does deserve deference because of his position, and he does "wield the sword".

           Here's the problem as I see it. Have you ever seen a team take on the personality of the coach? It happens all the time. The USA has a "coach", an authority figure over us who belittles people he doesn't like, dismissing them, degrading them, making up derogatory nicknames so our country does the same thing. If anyone disagrees with him, he marginalizes them and calls them stupid, and the left and the right do that to each other. Authorities still need to live lives under the authority of God and His rules for personal conduct, but Trump acts like he is the ultimate authority, and this is where he fails and he is failing us.

        Lest we pick on him and deflect the message God is giving to us, may we not be accused of hateful, vengeful, angry, plotting behavior, but rather be accused of love, forgiveness, meekness, humility, being good citizens submitting to those placed in authority above us. Let God defend you against injustices, and there will be many. He will, maybe not in this life but for sure in the life to come.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 6

 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.  Rom. 12:15,16

          It's pretty easy to mourn with those who mourn. A bad diagnosis, a death in the family, a layoff at work, a divorce, the 1st Baptist prayer request list goes on and on (although a divorce may be an unspoken request) We wouldn't want any of that to happen to us or our loved ones, so we can easily mourn at best and sympathize or empathize at least. Sending cards, praying for, setting up food chains for or even just texting prayer hand emojis or phone calls saying, "I'm praying for you" or "how can I help?", are legitimate gestures to those mourning. The only fake morning that we might struggle with are when we dislike or are envious of a person and we somewhat gloat and think to ourselves, "I warned them that might happen and they wouldn't listen" or "they got what they deserve" or some kind of vindication of you or your way of managing life is shown to be superior.

        Those are rare cases where we can't mourn and indicate people that we need to learn to love and need to work better at living in harmony with. Paul uses "one another" which means that most of these people that we have hidden dislike for are in the church. As I invent circumstances I would not mourn over in my head, I would concur that most are believers that I have friction with. Unbelievers don't really bother me that much because they are behaving according to their center and don't know better. Also, I know that they will be judged someday and I wouldn't want to be in their shoes. I know I need to do better with believers. Lord help me!

       The other command is to rejoice with those who rejoice. This can be tougher because of our love of self. Someone gets an award. Yay! (Why didn't I get recognized?) Someone's child got engaged or pregnant! Yay! (why is mine struggling with singleness or infertility?) Someone got a huge promotion. Yay! (why did I get passed over again?) Paul says "don't be conceited" or don't think you are better than or more important than someone else. You aren't! Remember, you are just a cog in a wheel that is rolling the Kingdom of God bus. A fellow worker for the kingdom. If one of your fellow cogs gets polished, we should just be happy for them. As fellow servants, it's not like they became a master, they are just a servant who got a new cloak or extra dessert. We have a wrong view of the body which leads to jealousy. We have a wrong view of self which leads to a lack of true rejoicing.

        May God work on our hearts to not think of ourselves more highly than we ought and begin to forgive people who have hurt our inflated ego so that we can truly mourn and rejoice with one another.

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 5

  Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.  Rom.12:11-13

           Are you on fire for Jesus? Have there been times in your life where all you could think about was the Lord? My guess is that most of us have experienced that in our lives either on a mission trip or going on a youth retreat or maybe right around the time of your salvation. Unfortunately, the passion or zeal wanes over time. Why is that?

         I think it's a little like love. You meet a person of the opposite sex, you have a memorable date with them, and you can't wait until you see them again. You start talking to them on the phone for hours, even fall asleep at night talking. When you are around your friends you show them his or her pictures and you are present, but your mind is elsewhere. You get married eventually and you start having kids, taking care of a house, working a job to pay the bills and when you see the love of your life it almost has become a joint partnership in fighting life together. The passion is gone or at least on a "back burner" waiting for a vacation with just the two of you. Isn't this what happens with our passion for Jesus? So many things take up our time and life that our relationship with Jesus gets put on hold waiting for a revival conference or retreat to reignite it.

        Paul gives some hints in this passage on how to keep the flame going and it could be summarized with these two words - prayer and fellowship, or if you want to make it one theme - pray with fellow believers. I would have to say that when I was going my strongest in the Lord, I met with guys before work and prayed with them. We would spend a good half hour on our knees before the day started and pray and the next day before prayer, we would share the "God things" that we saw as a result of our prayers the previous day.

        What, not a 7-step plan to keep your flame burning for the Lord? Nope, just one. Find a fellow believer and meet with them for prayer every day, if you can. It works!

Thoughts From Romans 12 - Part 4

  Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Rom. 12:9,10

        When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He replied a two-part answer, to love God and love your neighbor, but if we want a "bullet point" it would be to love. Paul delves into this command briefly in verses 9 and 10. First of all Paul says, "love must be sincere." In other words, no hypocritical or faked love. This season, 49, of Survivor has a lot of that. Teammates will say how much they love the person, are on their side, want to make it to the end with them but as soon as they are away from them, they confess to the camera their disdain for the person and how they can't wait to vote them out. Drawing an inference, what would be the motivation for insincere love? We are insincere because the relationship is benefitting us, so we stoke it for our gain.

        Paul says true love isn't for our gain but the other person's benefit. Therefore, we are devoted to them which implies some sacrifice and commitment on our part. It also suggests that we don't give up on them when they disappoint us but rather are in it with them through thick and thin. It also honors them above ourselves so we are more concerned about their flourishing than our own. If you can find friends like that in life, you are blessed because most people's love is insincere.

       The first part of Jesus' great commandments, I am dealing with second. It is to Love God. Paul addresses this in verses 9 when he says, "Hate what is evil and cling to what is good." Jesus said, "If you love me, you will obey my commandments." As Paul has said time and again in Romans, our love for God WILL manifest itself in our behavior. Jesus said, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." We must hate the mindset and system of this world, and cling tightly to the teachings of the Bible even if they go against every longing of our sinful self and every championing by those who don't know Christ. This is true love for Christ not insincere, fake love which so many so-called "Christians" have.

      How is your love life? Do you have real love for God demonstrated by your obedience? Do you have real love for others demonstrated by selflessness? These are marks of true believers.