Thoughts on Romans - Day 41

                                             Romans 14:17-23
 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, ¹⁸ because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and receives human approval.
¹⁹ Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. ²⁰ Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. ²¹ It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall.
²² So whatever you believe about these things keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves. ²³ But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin

              This is my 3rd blog on Romans 14 which is the chapter where Paul deals with debatable areas in the Christian walk. We have experienced many episodes of this coming to the forefront throughout my and my wife's Christian walk. We went to a church when we first moved to Tennessee for 15 years. There were many unique nuances in this church but one of the areas that it seemed everyone except us was on board with was homeschooling. We felt just as strongly that the way to make an impact in our schools and community was not to withdraw but rather get totally involved with the schools. Because of this we often felt judged and left out. Our kids enjoyed such things as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which according to homeschoolers was filled with Eastern Religion. Our kids enjoyed Harry Potter which the group avoided like the plague. We loved trick - or - treating and dressing up which of course made the Druids happy and Satan squeal with delight. Because of all these freedoms we experienced, often our kids were left out because they might say Cowabunga, dude, and lead the other kids into Eastern Meditation. What eventually happened was that our kids were instructed not to talk about TMNT in other kid's presence and stop calling our conversion van the "party van". When kids came over they were to hide their Harry Potter books and we no longer celebrated Halloween. Eventually our kids ended up going to another church's youth group because they fit in with those kids better.

             So how does Romans 14 address these controversial areas? First of all Paul said earlier in the chapter to stop judging each other. We aren't into a who can be holier competition, we are in this together. God is the One we answer to and if He has led us to be in the public school and you to homeschool, we should see ourselves as a team attacking the kingdom of darkness from two different fronts. Next Paul said not to put stumbling blocks in other people's way. We needed to quit flaunting our freedom in the faces of these other believers because it was making their child raising difficult. Halloween became a casualty due to Romans 14 but it was one of those things we could live without. Turtles and Harry were watched and read in the privacy of our own homes. Eventually, if your life seems to be consumed with avoiding things rather than living in freedom, however, you may rightly ask yourself, "do I really belong here?" and without hard feelings find another group of believers who have more similar philosophies on living the Christian life.

       Lastly, in this passage, Paul gives one more word of advice. He basically says that we should study the scriptures to make sure this behavior or activity that we are participating in, truly is one of these personal freedom areas. It is possible that we are butting up against other Christians because we are behaving in a sinful manner, while thinking that it is condoned. Take a ridiculous example - you might be smoking marijuana and justify it by saying, "God created plants and said they were good" or "All things are given to us for our enjoyment" or "All things are permissible..." and this is beneficial because it treats my anxiety, etc. Meanwhile you are neglecting the verses saying we need to obey the government which to date says it is illegal. Here is a less clear example regarding the violation of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Let's say that you want to buy a summer lake house up north. You have the money. You tithe and give offerings well above the tithe. There is nothing in the Bible against owning 2 homes and you tell yourself that it is a good investment. However, the Holy Spirit is telling you this is a waste of kingdom resources just like owning a yacht or an expensive car. Yet you tell yourself, "Abraham, David, Solomon were some of the richest men on Earth and owned extravagantly.  So you buy the house with a guilty conscience. What's wrong with that? James 4:17 says
      " If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."
  In this sense I would think Paul is also saying,
  " Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves"
   Meanwhile, your fellow Christians should not be judging you by saying "you should be storing up your treasures in Heaven" or "Didn't Jesus say sell all you have and give it to the poor and then follow Me". Rather they should be saying, "When can we come over?"

 Lord, help me to listen to Your Holy Spirit and not approve of personal actions that you aren't approving. Give me a sensitive heart and eager obedience. Amen 

Thoughts on Romans - Day 40

                                           Romans 14:13b-16
 Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in the way of a brother or sister. ¹⁴ I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. ¹⁵ If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died. ¹⁶ Therefore do not let what you know is good be spoken of as evil.

        Paul continues in Romans 14 to talk about how we as Christians who form one body and belong to each other, are to handle areas of behavior which are debatable in their legitimacy in the Christian walk. One brother or sister might be avoiding a certain behavior like reading Harry Potter because they think that it is celebrating witchcraft. Meanwhile you and your kids are waiting in line for the midnight release of the next volume and have no convictions opposed to it. How do we deal with this disagreement and keep peace. Last blog I talked about removing judgement from the equation. Today Paul talks about not putting stumbling blocks in people's lives. What does he mean by that?

        I knew of a youth pastor in our town that was fired for taking some High School youth to Hooters after taking them to a Christian concert. Let's unpack that decision based on this passage. Going to a restraunt like this is one of those areas that Paul has been discussing in this passage. There is no passage "Thou shalt not go to Hooters, but thou canst get curbside service." Paul would say that nothing is unclean in and of itself. Therefore, if a Christian wanted to go there and have wings and a beer or two and be served by scantily clad women, it wouldn't be a sin. So what is the problem here? The problem is the whole issue of stumbling blocks which are obstacles that are placed by ourselves in the paths of other believers which cause them in their personal walk with Christ to trip up. We should be thinking not of ourselves and what we are free to do on our path but rather how can I help my brother or sister, who I belong to, to succeed in their spiritual life.

        Even though alcohol isn't a sin, getting drunk is. I might have no problem stopping at one drink but some brother or sister whom I have now by my example given the go ahead to drink may have an addictive personality and I have caused them to sin. I may have no problem with lust or pornography but by bringing someone with me, I may have lit their fires of passion that God didn't want lit. I, by my freedom have caused them to stumble. In these days of social media, you don't have to take someone along with you, you can just post your freedom on Facebook and destroy people. For example, if I go on a cruise and my wife takes a picture of me pulling the handle of a slot machine, I may cause someone to start gambling and ruin their life. Paul would say, if you are going to participate in a controversial activity, don't advertise it - do it in secret. Do it out of town. If you are unable to discreetly do this activity, then give it up. It is so much better to give up an activity or a freedom for the sake of another brother or sister, than to do this activity even if you love doing it. In the scope of living millions and millions of years, denying ourselves for a relative 5 seconds is no sweat.

      Lord, help me to be sensitive to the things I am doing that are causing my brothers and sisters to stumble. Increase my love for them that I am more concerned about their growth than my freedom. Help me to live in the light of eternity so I don't feel like giving up something in this life is that big of a deal as compared to eternity. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 39

                          Romans 14:1-13a
Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. ² One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. ³ The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them. ⁴ Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To their own master, servants stand or fall. And they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
⁵ One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. ⁶ Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord. Whoever eats meat does so to the Lord, for they give thanks to God; and whoever abstains does so to the Lord and gives thanks to God. ⁷ For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. ⁸ If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. ⁹ For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.
¹⁰ You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat. ¹¹ It is written:

“‘As surely as I live,’ says the Lord,
‘every knee will bow before me;
    every tongue will acknowledge God.’”

¹² So then, each of us will give an account of ourselves to God.

¹³ Therefore let us stop passing judgment on one another.

       There are a lot of debatable areas of Christian behavior out there - behaviors that some Christians are perfectly OK with and other Christians aren't. To name a few I give you drinking alcohol, smoking, sports on Sundays, worshipping on days other than Sundays, celebrating Halloween, Santa Claus, and the Easter Bunny, home schooling, eating pork, being a democrat, birth control, the lottery, and many more. When you approach these things from the scripture, either stand , for or against, can be defended because the Bible doesn't speak clearly on these areas. There is probably more to be learned later in this passage on what to do in regards to these areas but I will focus on the one thing this first half emphasizes. Don't judge!

      I often think of my 2 oldest boys in regards to this. We had one of those plastic rimmed basketball hoops on a stand in the basement. My 9 year old and 7 year old sons would dunk on this 4 foot basket and of course it would be a competition between them and I would have to score the dunks. I was the judge. The oldest would go and I would score him 10. He would be so happy until the youngest one would go and he would get a 10 also. Then I would hear complaining because all the factors that he considered that a good dunk should have, were not met in the younger one. My answer to him was always the same -"You aren't the judge, I am. You agreed to me being the judge so you have to accept my scores. I use a different criteria to judge than you do."

       When we become children of God, we agree to Him being our judge. The first thing we need to realize from the above illustration is that we are not in a competition with our brothers and sisters - we are actually cheering them on and wishing for the highest possible "score" to be given to them, even more favor than was granted to us if that were possible. That is what love is. Secondly, we must realize that God uses different criteria that he is judging everyone by. In other words, God may want someone to homeschool and someone else not to. He may want someone to avoid alcohol because He knows the dangers for them and another person it is perfectly Ok . We are not to think of them as lesser Christians, nor us as superior to them in any way.

      Lord, this is hard for me having grown up in a very legalistic church. Help me to grow in these areas and not categorize Christians into boxes of what they do and don't do. Help me see all my brothers and sisters as equal and equally loved by our Father. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 38

                                   Romans 13:8-10
 Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for 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. 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.


        I was able to make someone almost pass out in the OR the other day. It was awesome. While we were doing a cesarean section with one of the OB nurses assisting me, (this is out of their comfort zone anyway) I started telling her all the things she shouldn't do; "Don't hyperventilate", "Don't think about the smell", "Don't keep your legs locked", "Don't breathe through your mouth", "Don't get overly hot", etc. Pretty soon she was white as Liv on iZombie and had to leave the room and go lay down. A second assistant came in to replace her and I started working on her but the case was almost over by then. What's the point - that I'm a jerk? Maybe, ha, but my point today is when you focus on all the things not to do in life, in our faith, it paralyzes you. In medicine, I have operated with doctors who were so scared of making a mistake or cutting the wrong thing, that they turned a 30 minute case into a 3 hour case exposing the patient to a whole new set of morbidity. I have seen doctors so afraid of missing something that they order $10k dollars of unnecessary tests because they are focused on what not to do. We all know people so afraid of germs, bugs, allergies, viruses, lice, terrorism, flying, etc. that effectively they become social hermits. Like the previous examples, they are focused on things to avoid - like the law - and are bound.

        In this passage, Paul tells us that the law crippled us in this way. Not only that but the Pharisees added to the law to put guardrails around the 613 laws or so to make a whole extra book of "don'ts". Christ came to bring freedom. Back in the garden, back when things were perfect there was one rule - don't eat from the one tree. Why so few? I once heard Andy Stanley preach on this and he said,"because God is not into rules, He is into freedom". What is our one rule now? Love. Jesus also said this when quizzed about the Law as to what the greatest commandment was. Jesus replied, "Love God and Love your neighbor as yourself. All the laws are summed up in this." Who needs 613+ laws? If I love God I will seek to please Him and not sin. I am free to love God and do whatever I want to do, knowing that whatever I want to do is all about making Him happy. That being said, we must know what the Bible says about what makes God happy. That's why Paul goes on to list a few things that don't make God happy such as debauchery, carousing, sexual immorality, dissension and jealousy to name a few. You can't assume to know what pleases God without the truth of scripture. Scripture determines what loving truly is.

           If I love my neighbor, I am free to serve him, to consider her more important than myself. I won't say wrong things about them, gossip about them, cheat them, hate them, steal from them, try to undermine their marriage, wish I had what they had, etc. I don't have to go through the day saying "I better not do this, I better not do that..." but rather what can I do today to make Jesus happy? What can I do to make God say to the accuser of the brethren, "That's my boy!" What can I do to make my neighbors feel loved or better about themselves or make their lives easier?

      Is your Christian life filled with trudgery? Do you feel like you are carrying a hundred pound Bible on your shoulders. Are you filled with guilt or fear that you are going to mess up? You are living under law. God doesn't want that for you. Accept His grace. Accept His freedom. Come on, live a little!

       Lord, I'm so glad that I am living in the light and freedom, and acceptance of Your love. Man, this life is great!  Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 37

                                       Romans 13:1-7
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. ⁷ 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.


          2016 is our election year in America. We, throughout the year, will be under the authority of a president who claimed to be a Christian in 2008 when he was trying to get elected...

You've talked about your experience walking down the aisle at Trinity United Church of Christ, and kneeling beneath the cross, having your sins redeemed, and submitting to God's will. Would you describe that as a conversion? Do you consider yourself born again?

I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful. I didn't 'fall out in church' as they say, but there was a very strong awakening in me of the importance of these issues in my life. I didn't want to walk alone on this journey. Accepting Jesus Christ in my life has been a powerful guide for my conduct and my values and my ideals.( 2008 Christianity Today )

 

... yet throughout his tenure has shown few signs of standing on the side of or with Bible believing Christians. One of the most obvious examples was in the case of Hobby Lobby, a large company with stores throughout the US owned and founded by Bible believing Christians. They are self insured - they offer their own health insurance to all their employees. I have often thought that if I would have put the $70k I pay for my office's employee's health insurance into a fund, 30 years later there would be $2.1 million in there to pay off claims and I wouldn't have wasted all that money. That is what Hobby Lobby does. Unlike most companies who try to avoid paying insurance, a Christian company should lead the way in benefits to their employees and they were. The problem arose when Obama mandated that all prescription plans needed to offer birth control. Now Christians believe what the Bible says that sex and procreation are reserved for marriage. The problem was giving birth control to unmarried employees. Hobby Lobby decided (and I am speaking for them so this is speculative but I know I am faced with this dilemma daily in my office) we can't tell non-Christians how to act. Birth control has multiple other medical benefits so we will pay for this and people are responsible for their own behavior. That should have satisfied the government, right? No. Obama also insisted that they offer birth control that would be post conception; in other words if we believe life begins at conception as the Bible teaches, there are some contraceptives that are abortifacents. They have no other function than that. Hobby Lobby decided that they couldn't supply medicine that would destroy life and they refused. Obama fined them, I think $50k a day for every day they refused until the court decided by the narrowest of margins to reverse Obama's decision. BTW with the death of a conservative judge and replacement of a liberal judge which Obama is bound and determined to do before he gets out, this case would have been lost. Do these behaviors by our president sound like a Christian or someone who is even sensitive to what people who live by the Bible deem as matters of conscience? Absolutely not. Yet what we have coming down the pike is probably similar to worse.

 

        So how do Paul's writings in Romans 13 make sense? He says we shouldn't rebel against these authorities because we will bring judgment on ourselves. He says rulers hold no terror for those who do right only for those who do wrong. Do what is right and you will be commended. The one in authority is put there by God for your good. Submit to authorities.

 

         Wait a second - Daniel wasn't commended for doing what was right, he was thrown into a den of lions. Nebuchudnezzer threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednigo into a fiery furnace for their good? Jesus didn't do wrong yet he was subjected to the terror of the cross by the Roman government. And in my modern day illustration Hobby Lobby did what was right and the government stood against them. What are we to make of Paul's writings?

       Here is how I make sense of it. First of all, if there was no government we would have chaos. Generalized evil would not be restrained. Picture every post - apocolyptic movie/TV show you have ever seen - Book of Eli, Walking Dead, Waterworld, The Postman, Mad Max, etc. Taxes are a good thing, too, to pay for all the public services we need to survive. Government, no matter how evil is probably better than no government at all because of the evil in the hearts of every man. Secondly, in my modern day example, in the long run the government did rule for the good of Hobby Lobby. The result - as seen in Romans 8:28, God is more interested in our growth than our comfort. I am sure the owners rejoiced, gave praise to the Lord, their faith was strengthened and they all grew a deeper relationship with God through this trial. What Obama meant for evil, God meant for good. Thirdly, I am drawn to these 2 passages:

Jesus said,"do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. ⁵ But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell." Luke 12:4,5
When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. 1Pet. 2:23

There is no terror to us when we do what is right because we know God is in control and we are on His side. What can men do to us - kill us, imprison us, send us to the cross, feed us to lions, throw us in a fiery furnace? The government should not cause us terror because the worst they could do is send us to eternal glory with God in Heaven. Lastly, when we do what is right in God's eyes and it goes against what the government says, we aren't rebelling against the government technically because we submit to whatever reprecussions that the government is going to dish out due to this behavior.

Lord, thank you for our government. Help them to stand up for Biblical principles, but if not, help me to boldly stand up for You and not be afraid of whatever comes my way. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 36

                                              Romans 12:17-21
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.


        I had a weird dream the other night. Karen and I were sitting at some kind of show that bus loads of retired people go to which starts with a buffet and ends with someone singing a patriotic song. We were sitting side by side in movie seats and there was a guy sitting next to Karen who was drunk and kept trying to hit on her. I leaned over and told him to stop, she is married and belongs to me. Pretty soon he put his arm around her. She quickly removed it and we got up to change seats or leave. (hopefully leave) As we walked away he called me a wimp for walking away and not defending my wife's honor. It is at this point I woke up. Weird dream, huh. Where are Joseph and Daniel when you need them? What should I have done? Should I have told him to come outside and we will settle it? Should I have made a witty comeback like, "I know you are". Should I just have ignored him and walked away? I related this dream to Karen and asked what I should have done - what would she want me to do in that situation. Her responses was, "that's a stupid dream". A lot of help that was! I have had real life situations growing up in my teen years with real life bullies who if I had stood up to and fought with them I would have gotten trounced but I would have had some degree of integrity for standing up against evil and not walking away.

        It is interesting that almost every Christian you talk to would tell their kids to stand up to bullies. They want their young boys to grow up to be "men". I just don't see that in the Bible. It flies completely in the face of this passage or Jesus' teachings. I'm not saying that we shouldn't stand up for someone else getting picked on but are we really to fight back when we are personally picked on? I grew up in a strong Bible church and even memorized these verses. I have to believe that I was trying to honor God with not retaliating although truly it could have been fear - I don't know. I remember my hero who was a Christian and star tackle on the High School football team relating that someone was trying to pick a fight with him and he said "I could tear you apart but because I am a Christian I won't fight you." That is much more pride salvaging and noble than to say, "You would probably tear me apart but because I'm a Christian, I won't fight you."

       Why do we retaliate - generally because our pride has been affronted. If it is in public especially, all the people that witness it think that you are a coward. We worry about what would people think of us. It puts that person, in the world's eyes above us in a pecking order. As a side note, there is a pecking order in life - it is understood yet not clearly stated and is under the surface. A direct confrontation brings this pecking order to the surface. Therefore the question is, can you, can I, in lieu of grace, knowing that we have been adopted into God's family, we are sons of God, we have eternal life, God couldn't love us anymore or less, we have a family of brothers and sisters in Christ who love us unconditionally - can you or I ignore the affronts to our dignity or pride sent to us by Satan and those who are blindly under his control and rest in our grace? Can we pray for those people and do kind things to them instead, even though observers would think that those kind things are extortion payments or bribes to leave us alone? Do we feel sorry for these people who have never experienced God's grace or do we wish evil on them? Do we trust God enough to let him deal with our enemies and stand up for us? Do we have a close enough relationship with Him that we know, no matter what people think of us, God loves us and is weeping over the situation? Have you allowed the situation to drive you to God and grow that relationship?

         Lord, I do want to stand up for myself and retaliate and get revenge when people wrong me. Help me to find my worth in You and see these people through Your eyes. You aren't willing that any should perish. Help me to love my enemies like Jesus did who came to this Earth and was bullied yet didn't retaliate. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 35

                                                         Romans 12:9-16
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. ¹¹ 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.
¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another.

           All this talk about grace - unmerited favor. Paul had to already address one abuse of it in Chapter 6 - doesn't grace give you an excuse to sin? I have had this discussion with an Armenian friend of mine (they believe you can lose your salvation). She says, "You Baptists teach once saved always saved. No wonder your youth are out partying, getting drunk, getting pregnant, and having abortions. They just figure that they can repent, claim 1John 1:9, and go on their merry way forgiven and free to do it again." I would respond, "You charismatics just go do the same things only as long as you don't die while doing it, you can go to the next youth convention and have a thousand salvations because it is all these kids getting re-saved after losing their salvation by living in sin." We all have our loopholes that we try to use in order to sin. I addressed this when we looked at Chapter 6 so I won't go into detail on this grace abuse other than to say, here in Romans 12 Paul tells us to hate what is evil and cling to what is good. If we really meant it when we repented of our sins when we got saved, that means at the start of our following Christ, we hated sin and recognized it was so bad that the Son of God had to die on the cross for it. We need to remember that. We need to preach the gospel to ourselves every day. How can we dabble in sin if we truly are saved. We should hate it, recognizing that the flesh is inside us still wanting it. That is why not only do we have to remind ourselves how bad it is everyday but we need to actively cling to the right things. Make plans to go the right paths and put guardrails in your life to avoid the wrong paths. It takes a made up mind to daily avoid sin and do what is right.

          The other grace abuse mentioned here is laziness. When I got accepted to medical school, I no longer studied in college. Why? Because I was "in". When we get saved, we are "in". God's grace is given and applied to us, we are given the Holy Spirit, we are adopted into God's family and just as in the case of my children, no matter what they do, I can't love them any more or less. Therefore, why work? Why be zealous? Paul gives 3 reasons in this passage. First he says "serving the Lord". When we become Christians, 2Cor. 5:15 says we are no longer living for ourselves but God. If we got saved just to get "in" it shows a relative misunderstanding of salvation. We are saved to restore a love relationship with our creator which had been destroyed by sin. When we get saved we should be zealous to serve because we love God. In a marriage relationship I should be zealous to serve my wife not because "happy wife happy life" (the ultimate self centered quote)but because I love her and love to see the joy on her face when I do something for her.

       Secondly Paul says "joyful in hope". "Hope" in the Bible isn't used in the same way it is in English, "I hope so". In the Bible it means "confident assurance", and usually pertains to our secure future no matter what happens to us down here. We should be zealous because we realize that this is not our home. We are aliens here and only have a short time to make a difference for all eternity. We need to be storing up treasures in Heaven rather than on earth. Laziness or a lack of zeal shows that we really are living for the kingdom of earth rather than the kingdom of Heaven and we have to question when we got saved did we really just say, "please take me to Heaven after I get all that the earth has to offer."

        Lastly this passage mentions "one another". Whenever the Bible mentions "one another" it refers to our relationship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We had already seen in previous verses that once we are saved we belong to each other. We should love each other. Even if I don't want to go serve in a work project, or an evangelistic project, or a mercy project that the church is doing, or immediately what my small group who I have more of an intimate relationship with, is doing, I should do it because I love my brothers and sisters in Christ who are going to be there. I should treasure the opportunity to spend time with them even if I can't use a hammer or saw or am tone deaf. Just to be with them should be incentive enough. If that isn't enough incentive, just to let them know they are loved and supported. If someone asks the class to come with them and pass out flyers in a neighborhood and no one comes, that person thinks, "no one cares for me". We can't as brothers and sisters be that way!

           Lord, I don't want to be lazy in your service. Restore my zeal for the right reasons. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 34

                                    Romans 12:6-8

⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.


       When we choose to receive God's grace and receive His salvation freely offered through the cross we receive the Holy Spirit inside us who makes our spirit come alive and transforms us from the inside out. Not only does He transform our character (fruit) but he gives us some or a supernatural ability to benefit the body of Christ, our new brothers and sisters in the Lord. Everyone according to this verse gets one. How exciting. It's like Christmas - for my wife. Or Mother's Day. Or her Birthday. She always seems to get gifts that benefit the rest of us. However in my defense she has been giving me vacations for Christmas lately which tends to benefit her too.

      There are a few principles you can see in this passage on gifts. First of all, the implication is that if they are given to us to benefit others, then we must be with others. When I talk with "Christians" who don't belong or go to Church and ask why they aren't they normally give a slew of justifications, Rather than argue with them, I usually tell them that some Church is missing a leg. They look at me puzzled but I explain that Church isn't just about them. They have been given a gift to benefit the body and some body is suffering and incomplete because they aren't there. They never have a comeback for that one because people don't see Church in terms of giving but rather getting. This is why I have problems with people who drive an hour to go to the "perfect" Church on Sunday. Unless their gift is giving money, they would be unable to serve that body all week long. They better give very generously!

      Next, did you see the word "grace" associated with gifts? The unmerited favor of God has given us these. We didn't earn them. God thinks that I am uniquely fitted for certain gifts. Therefore I can't complain about the gift He has given me because I didn't even deserve a gift. I can't envy other people because they are totally unresponsible for their gift, it was given to them too. Also, there is no hierarchy of gifts. We tend to specially honor those who have the leadership gifts whereas those who are cleaning the church or visiting shut-ins go basically unnoticed and unrecognized. This shouldn't be the case. Also, our human nature, wanting to be recognized might try to get in positions of leadership which we are ungifted for and people will suffer. (ever sit in a boring Sunday School class? - don't answer that)

       Lastly, we are to use these gifts wholeheartedly. Realizing that you have these gifts, refine them. Go to conferences, read books, ask for advice, use them and make them the best they can be. If someone is wanting to take you in another direction at Church that you aren't gifted in, tell them - "That really isn't my gifted area." I have floundered in the deacon ministry many years because I am embarrassed to say that as a Doctor I really don't have the gift of mercy. Nor do I have the gift of administration or service, and all 3 of these are pretty important if you are a Deacon. That isn't to say as a Christian that I shouldn't strive to and be increasing in my ability to serve and show mercy but it isn't in my "wheelhouse". I have agreed to being a Deacon in the past in hopes that it would grow me in these necessary areas in my Christian walk but I end up doing a bad job and it takes time away, I feel, from using my other gifts. Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Thoughts on Romans - Day 33

                                             Romans 12:2-5
 ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.


     What is the pattern of the world that Paul is telling us not to follow or be pressured into fitting into? First of all it has to be living for ourselves. The world's philosophy is that we need to pursue our happiness- do whatever feels good as long as it isn't illegal (and if it is, try to get it legalized) and as long as it doesn't hurt anyone. Paul says that people of faith think of themselves with sober judgement. In other words remember who made you, who owns you, who determines when you live and die and determines where you spend eternity, and has your best interests at heart. Our minds definitely need to be renewed on this point because all of us from birth are living to satisfy ourselves.

     Not only do we need to realize that we live for God and not for ourselves, but secondly we live as an equal with the body of Christ. Our goal isn't to advance to a position of authority where others serve us but rather to live in harmony and symbiosis and equality. Our parents don't push us in school in order to be one of many - we want to be the best. I've been watching a show on TV recently called Limitless where Brian takes a pill called NZT and he can suddenly use his whole brain for thinking. He becomes the smartest person on the planet - except of course for the other guy who has the pill, senator Mora who has systematically eliminated all pockets of NZT use so that he is the only one using NZT. Why has he done this? What is the use in being brilliant if everyone else is brilliant? Who was Superman on the planet Krypton - just a normal guy. Nobody celebrates that in our "pattern of this world". No one wants to be equal. In God's plan we are. That takes faith. That takes a transformed mind.

       Lord, You know I struggle with this. I am so self-centered rather than You centered. I desire to be the best and love recognition and honor rather than seeking to be an unnoticed cog in the wheel. Please transform my mind. Please increase my faith. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 32

                 Romans 11:33-12:1

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
³⁴ “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counselor?”
³⁵ “Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?”
³⁶ For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship


       Christians did not make up the God of the Bible - He made us up! That is why when we look at topics in chapters 9-11 such as election, foreknowledge, wrath, salvation, grafting, removing, etc., we see that His ways are beyond tracing out. I like to go to Back to the Future 2 when I think about His paths. Marty goes back in time and brings back a sports almanac which chronicles every sporting event result. It gets stolen by Biff who then goes on to become a tyrant kingpin by winning every gambling bet he makes and becoming rich. Doc explains to Marty about alternate realities or time continuums created by altering decisions made in time.

If in fact God honors free will and free choices in mankind, yet is working all of history past and history present to accomplish His will in the future, God must know not only history but also the alternate histories or time continuums of all decisions and how to move them towards His purposes. What a mind! I have heard God's plans described as a cruise ship going from New York to London. Its destination is London and it will get there. However, on the ship, people can do whatever they want to, make any decisions they want but that doesn't change the course of the ship. God has His purpose and plan for the future and He will make it happen despite everything mankind does without violating their free will and choice.

      Therefore, who are we to counsel God or tell Him what He is doing or His plan is wrong or doesn't make sense? Peter tried that once. Job tried it. Satan tried that three times. They were all soundly rebuked. The skeptics and intelligentsia mock God and reject Him just because His ways don't make sense to them. Isn't it possible that if there is a God that He might be a little smarter than us?? When we don't understand everything in the Bible maybe it is because God is a little above us?!

       We hear a lot about special interest groups influencing our government or politicians with huge monetary contributions. This is so important of an issue that it threatens to change our whole political climate with non politicians garnering great success just on the basis of self funding. Paul says that God is "self funding". No special interest group can influence Him. In fact we can't give a huge lump sum to a charity and thus think God is going to grant us favor. Why not? Because He gave us that money in the first place. We are just returning His money. Should we be praised for repaying the money we owe? Of course not.

       We do God and frankly us a huge disservice when we put God in a box or make Him human, manageable, or understandable. He is way too big for that! Worship God in all His magnificence, splendor, Glory, greatness and bow before the one who made you because someday you will be bowing. How much better and appropriate to do it now! We didn't make up God, He made us up. I for one am glad He did and I will give Him the honor He deserves in addition to my life which He gave me not to do with as I see fit but as He sees fit. I submit to His lead because He made me and He knows better than I do the good plans He has for my life.

       Lord, forgive me for getting upset with You when Your ways don't make sense to this puny mind of mine. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 31

                                              Romans 11:22-32
Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. ²³ And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
²⁵ I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, ²⁶ and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written:

“The deliverer will come from Zion;
    he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them
    when I take away their sins.”

²⁸ As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹ for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹ so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³² For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.


         Grace and mercy. We love those words. This is what I have been studying as I teach through Romans. These words are essential to salvation; "By grace we are saved through faith". Every religion in the world teaches salvation through works except Christianity. Christianity alone says you can't be good enough; Jesus was and is righteous for us. That is grace - getting what we don't deserve and mercy - not getting what we do deserve. So grace and mercy deal with salvation yet we find that the grace and kindness of the Lord deals with our daily living. It is so great to know that God loves me as His son even when I mess up royally. What freedom to know that I am not under the judging eye of God as I go through life because I've already been judged and found not guilty. I don't have to appease God because He is appeased. I live to please an audience of One who loves me so much He sent His only Son to die for me. He will never disown me.

        So there are 2 dangers I see. One is like the people Paul is writing to in Romans 6 have already stated this one and been refuted by Paul - "If God's grace forgives our sins, lets just keep on sinning". We won't backtrack to deal with that one. Paul handles it well! The second one is more insidious. It sneaks up on us and although we don't want to admit it, if we think about it, this grace trap has snared us. It says this to us, "If God is already pleased with you and You can't do anything to make Him love you more, why are you doing so much for Him...just relax." The first grace trap is sinning and the second trap is laziness. As an experiment I taught today in Sunday School that we don't have to perform for God's favor and we had a neighborhood visitation this afternoon to pass out flyers for an egg hunt. One family showed up. Now if we were Mormons or Jehovah Witnesses who believe you have to earn your salvation, we would have had the whole 144,000. Or if we were Muslims who believe the only sure way to Heaven is Jihad... well I won't even go there.

       What is to keep us from being lazy or for that matter - sinning? Is this where the sternness of the Lord comes in? Sternness is even implied in the word mercy - not getting what we deserve, which implies some will get that. Most, in fact. My father was stern but loving. I knew he loved me but I knew he didn't love laziness. Therefore, when his eye was on me, I had to look busy - even on Saturdays. It wasn't to get him to love me more or become his son - I already had that, it was to keep him from yelling at me or not being pleased by my behavior. I guess we could call this reverence - we don't fall into the lazy trap out of reverence for the Lord. His sternness, knowing that His eye is always on us and He doesn't approve of laziness keeps us working not for Him but in Him. In His strength, doing the activities that His Holy Spirit is prompting us to do we serve Him to make Him proud, to lift His name high out of reverence for Him.

   Lord, it is easy for me to sit back and chill knowing that I am Your son and nothing I could do would make You love me more or less. Help me not to fall into that trap. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 30

                                          Romans 11:11-21
Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. ¹² But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
¹³ I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry ¹⁴ in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
¹⁷ If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, ¹⁸ do not consider yourself to be superior to those other branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” ²⁰ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.



      I highlighted the word unbelief because I've always been intrigued by this word. It draws me to that passage in Hebrews 3 where the Israelites ,despite applying the blood on the doorposts, being baptized into Moses through the Red Sea, being delivered from the land of sin, had God appear to them multiple times and symbolically ate and drank from Christ , still failed to make it to the Promised land. Why? Because of unbelief. This is so relevant to us especially in the Bible Belt where kids say the prayer at an early age, grow up in Church, see the workings of the Holy Spirit all around them yet never attain either the life of fullness that God has for them or Heaven in the end. Why? Unbelief. What exactly is this?

       The word in Greek is apistia which appears 12 times in the NT. It is defined as unfaithfulness or uncertainty or lack of confidence in Christ's power or God's promises. It appears where the people in Jesus' home town knew Him growing up so didn't believe He was anything special. Jesus could do nothing there because of unbelief. It appears when Jesus and 3 disciples were coming down the mount of Transfiguration and the demon possessed boy could not receive deliverance because of both unbelief on the dad's side and the disciples' side. I think the opposite of it as seen in Romans 4, which we already went through, gives us the best insight.

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”¹⁹ Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. ²⁰ Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, ²¹ being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

         This passage says "against all hope". In other words, he saw that he was up against something non-humanly possible to handle so he believed that God would do the impossible because He promised. He didn't weaken, he didn't waver but was fully persuaded and gave glory to God for what He hadn't accomplished yet because in his mind it was a "done deal". The opposite is true of the Israelites. They were promised Canaan so much so that it was called "The Promised Land". However when they saw it was insurmountable in their own strength because of "giants in the land" and impenetrable walled cities, and a river at flood levels to cross, etc. they did weaken, they did waver, they weren't fully persuaded and unlike Joshua and Caleb who were giving God glory for the upcoming victory, they cursed Moses and wanted to kill him. Thus their bodies lay strewn across the wilderness. They never entered the promised land.

       Practically speaking, what happens today in the Bible Belt must be the same thing. It must be unbelief. The church has become our culture. We have incorporated Christ into our lifestyle of the American dream and living as if this planet is all there is. Therefore Christ isn't our all. We don't live for Him, for His glory, standing on His promises but rather our prayers are for selling our house, getting a new job, health, and travelling mercies and unspoken requests. Well, there is the problem - what is the solution? Everyone is good at pointing out the problem, maybe Paul will give us a solution in the upcoming chapters.

        Lord, help me to be fully persuaded that You are my life and You want to do great things through me. Help me not to get sucked into the life down here but live for You and eternity walking in the footsteps of faith. Amen

Thoughts on Romans - Day 29

                                               Romans 11:1-10
I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³ “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”? ⁴ And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. ⁶ And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
⁷ What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, ⁸ as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
    eyes that could not see
    and ears that could not hear,
to this very day.”

⁹ And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
    a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,
    and their backs be bent forever."


                I tend to get discouraged in sharing the gospel thinking, "what's the use?" "No one gets it". It is easy to do in the Bible belt where everyone has been "vaccinated" to Christianity. They get "saved" around here at an early age at VBS, or revivals, or church camps, etc. Even the Gideons are allowed in the schools to pass out Bibles. At a young age, kids receive, like a vaccine, an inactive form of Christ quite often so that when the real thing comes along that affects the whole body, they fight it off. That's why, almost every time I witness to a single mom or a single girl wanting birth control , they tell me they are already saved and aren't convicted in the least about their behavior. I'm sure Paul had similar thoughts with the Jews. Here is God's chosen nation, the "saved" people, the "Old Testament Belt", and they just don't get it.

            Here is how Paul kept from being discouraged. He told himself, "there is a remnant - look for them". God always has a remnant otherwise His plans would be thwarted. Seth was a remnant. Noah was a remnant. Shem was a remnant. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, etc were remnants although pretty much on their own. Elijah felt alone and discouraged, like "what's the use?", but God knew of 7000 others who would join him. Paul would go to cities and they would all reject him but there would be a Lydia, or a Dorcas, or an Aquilla and Priscilla that would believe.

          Today, as I go about my life, like the sower and seed parable, I just need to keep casting the seed, the Word of God, and not worry about wasting it. Some will hit good soil. I just need to daily pray for faithfulness and that God will bring some remnant in my path and "un-blind" their hearts to the Good news of Jesus Christ.

           Lord, You are not into results or numbers but into obedience and faithfulness resulting from what is most important to You, a love relationship with me. Help me to love You so much and love people so much that I share with them not because I have to but because I want for them what I have found that is the greatest thing in life - You! Amen