Sermons From My Heart

One memorable day the Lord Jesus was confronted by a group of highly indignant religious leaders who interrupted Him as He was teaching in the temple. Thrusting an embarrassed woman into the center of the group, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”

It was apparent that they had scant regard for the feelings of the woman and even less for the Lord. Deeply offended by her attitude to sexual morality, they were also incensed by their perception that the Lord’s approach to the Law was considerably more liberal than theirs. Ever since He had healed a paralytic on the Sabbath, an act which they considered a blatant contravention of the Law’s prohibition of work on the day of rest, they had been most anxious to expose Him as a law-breaker. Numerous other incidents had added fuel to the flames of their hostility, and they had brought the woman to Him before the crowds in an effort to force a showdown. If, as they suspected, He would decline to endorse the stoning of the adulteress, they felt they would have conclusive proof of His disdain for the sacred Law.

From the Lord’s point of view, however, the matter of the woman’s well-being had to be considered along with the integrity of the Law. To Him the woman’s sin was a horrendous thing, her contravention of the divine law of grave importance, but He would not allow her to become a pawn in a religious-political power play or a meaningless nonentity in a cold impersonal struggle to prove a point. The terror in her eyes, the uncontrolled shaking of her body, the tremors in her voice spoke deeply to His heart, for she was more than a cipher—she was a person. Her sin was manifest and could not be disregarded, but her need was equally obvious and must not be ignored. The dilemma He was facing was that He had an obligation to honor the Law and a commitment to uphold it, but at the same time He was deeply drawn to the sinner and was intent on redeeming her. But in the eyes of His adversaries if He took steps to redeem the woman He would desecrate the Law, while His own convictions insisted that if He followed through on the letter of the Law He would be denied the opportunity to redeem her shattered life.

This incident in the life of the Lord illustrates in a specific sense the dilemma that confronts the Father on a divine scale. As we have seen, there is no question about human sin and guilt and equally no doubt about divine judgment and condemnation, but there is also unequivocal evidence of the Father’s love for sinners and His clear commitment to their redemption.

Man has earned the condemnation of a righteous God. Paul’s statement that “now we know” signals the beginning of a new section of his letter-and a new day in the world of faith: before Jesus Christ, the Jews were self-righteous and the Gentiles were unrighteous. As was stated in Acts 13:39, “Now the righteousness of God is revealed…through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”

It was Paul’s conviction that in our lives, we make such mistakes that there is no way that we can buy our way out. We can’t wiggle our way out of it, as we so often try to do. We hurt others by our sins of commission, of what we have done wrong to hurt others. The way that we have hurt people and our family. We cannot pay God back for all the sins of our lives. For all that we have done wrong. For all that we have not done right. And so when you and I come to stand before the judgment day before God, we are going to say, “O Lord God, please have mercy.”  And God, in that situation, pays the penalty for your sins. He takes the punishment. His son, Jesus, dies on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins with his blood. That is what the death of Christ is all about. That is what the atonement of Christ is all about.

No one is outside the scope of God’s righteousness; there is also no distinction among those who are saved-or among those who are lost; all fall short. The harlot, the murderer, and the liar are short of it; but so are we. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and we are on the top of a mountain, but we are as little able to touch the stars as they are.

This righteousness is unique: 1) God is its source 2) it fulfills both the penalty and precept of God’s law. Christ’s death as a substitute pays the penalty exacted on those who failed to keep God’s law, and His perfect obedience to every requirement of God’s law fulfills God’s demand for comprehensive righteousness and 3) because God’s righteousness is eternal the one who receives it from Him enjoys it forever.

The relationship between justice (that which is right) and righteousness (being and doing right) is clear, and from this basic understanding we can move to a position where we see justification as a divine declaration that before God we are “right.” When this declaration of justification is made by God He is revealed as “the justifier.” For God to be “just” and “the justifier,” He must be in a position to declare righteous those who have clearly broken His law and at the same time in a position to maintain His own integrity and preserve His own righteousness.

The term “justified” comes from the Greek word for “righteous” and means “to declare righteous.” This verdict includes pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer’s account, which provides for the positive righteousness man needs to be accepted by God. God declares a sinner righteous solely on the basis of the merits of Christ’s righteousness. God imputed a believer’s sin to Christ’s account in His sacrificial death, and He imputes Christ’s perfect obedience to God’s law to Christians The sinner receives this gift of God’s grace by faith. Crucial to the significance of Christ’s sacrifice, this word carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction—in this case Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died

Grace is one of God’s expressions of love for us. It is the gift unsought, unmerited, unlimited that overrules whatever a person has done, no matter the depth of their sin or the darkness of their heart. Because many years passed during which God continued to atone “temporarily” by covering over sin, it might have appeared that God did not take sin seriously. The cross of Christ removed all doubt. The cross is the public declaration that God is righteous in the way He has handled human sin. It is no longer merely covered but removed.

Divine righteousness excludes all boasting. It eliminates human pride, prejudice, and presumption. Throughout human history, man has shown himself remarkably adept at adopting goals, lofty or otherwise, whether it be the goal of survival, personal freedom, world peace, or making a million before age thirty-five. However noble man’s goals have been, they all pale beside the God-given goal, which is to reflect something of the glory of God in life and after life “to glorify Him forever.” Having failed totally to achieve this goal, man’s greatest need is to find a remedy before God for the responsibility and guilt of his failure and also to discover the means whereby the goal might become realistic in terms of human capability.

In theory, at least, there are two options open to the person who wishes to be reconciled to God. Either he can set about living a life that will be so pleasing to God that he will be rewarded by reconciliation, or he may decide that is hopeless and trust God to give him a chance, although he neither earned it nor deserved it. Theologically speaking, the first option is called “justification by works” and comes in many and varied forms.

This leaves only one option, and the big question is, “What are the chances that God will grant justification to people who have not earned it and do not deserve it?” The answer comes loud and clear, that God has made His righteousness available “apart from the law” and that He has carefully shown this to be the case in His long dealings with His people through the law and the prophets.

“Grace” and its related words such as graceful and gracious all have warm positive connotations. That which is graceful, whether it be an athlete on the playing field, a bride walking down the aisle, or an eagle lighting on an eyrie, evokes admiration and appreciation. Gracious people tend to shine serenely in the midst of uncouth behavior; they silence the unrestrained and invest mediocrity with a degree of significance, and people are grateful. So it is with the graceful, gracious act of God in tempering justice with mercy, mixing holy wrath with divine restraint and blending condemnation with forgiveness.

In New Testament times the infamous slave market was a common sight. Hapless individuals were callously displayed before potential buyers who would examine them and, if satisfied that they had a bargain, would purchase the slave by paying a ransom price. Fortunately, those days are long gone, but, sadly, we are living in days where similarly reprehensible tactics are employed for a variety of ends. We are all too familiar with hijackings, kidnappings, and hostage-taking, which so often are resolved only when innocent people pay exorbitant ransoms to release equally innocent captives. The word “redemption” in the Greek is apolutrosis, which means “to deliver by paying the ransom.” Paul sees the human race which he describes as being “under sin” in a situation not unlike that of a slave or hostage held against his will under bondage and incapable of delivering himself. But Christ is portrayed as the One who, coming into the place of our bondage and observing our hostage status, freely offered to deliver us by paying the ransom Himself.

Behind the decision of God to provide the means of redemption for man through Christ lies a deep, beautiful facet of the character of God. It is because He is a God of grace that there is a gospel to proclaim and a Savior to extol. Far from tiring of His tiresome children, the Father chooses to deal graciously with them. While perfectly free to leave His errant creation to self-destruct, the Creator decides to offer forgiveness and reconciliation with no strings attached.

Knowing he would be accused of antinomianism (being against the law) for arguing that a man was justified apart from keeping the law, Paul introduced here the defense he later developed in chapters 6 and 7. Salvation by grace through faith does not denigrate the law, but underscores its true importance: 1) by providing a payment for the penalty of death, which the law required for failing to keep it; 2) by fulfilling the law’s original purpose, which is to serve as a tutor to show mankind’s utter inability to obey God’s righteous demands and to drive people to Christ and 3) by giving believers the capacity to obey it.

The entrance to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem is surprisingly low and decidedly inconvenient. There used to be a large entrance but the nobility rode into the church on their horses. The authorities decided that church was no place for horseback heroics and that a low entrance that brought everyone down to the same level was far more appropriate. Only those who will, by faith, accept justification from the hand of a just God who made it all possible will enjoy its eternal benefits. Receiving something you could never earn and do not deserve is grounds for humility, not arrogance. Gratitude, not boasting, is the language of the redeemed.

(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Romans 3 verses 21-31 Righteousness, the Law and God’s Grace)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, p. 1548)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982, pp. 85-94)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. The Rev. Edward Markquart, “The Penalty is too Great for me to Pay.” Retrieved from www.sermonsfromseattle.com

As humans, we have a built-in desire to disobey God. We got it from our parents and they got it from their parents, and we all inherited this desire from Adam. This is why sins don’t make us sinners. We sin because we are sinners!

Scripture is brutally honest about the sinful condition of humanity. Nobody is righteous, and no one fully reflects the image and glory of God. Paul elaborates in Romans 3:12-16 that humanity has become absolutely worthless, deceitful, poisonous, cursing, bitter, barbaric and brutal. Only through God’s law do we become aware of the reality of sin’s presence in our lives, and our inability to fulfill all the righteous requirements of the law. Paul writes, in Romans 3:19-20, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin”.

There is always a danger that when we try to make a point we emphasize one aspect of the truth at the expense of another. Politicians are good examples of this art form, especially in election years! Paul was sensitive to this possibility as shown by his question in Romans 3:1. He argued that the special status of the Jews, the law God gave them as His unique word and the rite of the covenant all had deep significance in spite of the fact that the Jews misread these signs.

God blessed the Jews by making them the custodians of His special revelation, a privilege that had been given to no other nation. Has any gift been as overlooked by humankind and taken for granted by the church as much as the availability of the Scriptures? The religious Jews had been entrusted with the truth but refused to be changed by it. Paul anticipated their accusation that he said God had abandoned them, that they are no longer his chosen, privileged people.

Privilege, to be rightly handled, must be correctly perceived. For example, the British showed so much affection for Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother that they took most people by surprise. Many commentators pointed to the Queen Mother’s attitude toward her position. She saw her privileged position as a platform for service. Her commitment could be measured by the fact that she had not missed a single engagement through illness for many years. Religious people must always wrestle with the possibility they might misunderstand or misapply their privileges, either by disregarding the importance of the privilege or by exaggerating their own importance.

To answer the Jews, Paul used the words of King David. When David committed adultery and had Uriah murdered, God sent the prophet Nathan to confront him. When Nathan accused David of being guilty of sin, David knew it was God speaking through the prophet. Rather than deny the sin and make it seem as though God was a liar, David confessed.  David said he had done wrong in God’s sight-that is, he agreed with God. David wrote in Psalm 51:4, “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.” Paul wanted the Jews to know God is faithful both when He rewards people and when He judges them.

Paul expected the Jews’ retort: because their unfaithfulness highlighted and magnified God’s faithfulness, they shouldn’t be judged. People can be creative when rationalizing what is clearly a sin. The Jews should have learned from the words of Genesis 18:25: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” God is just and will exercise justice even when it means judging His chosen people. He does not need Israel to sin to display His righteousness. It is dependent on nothing outside Himself.

The phrase “Let us do evil that good may come” is called Antinomianism, which means those who are released by grace may reject the law. But the end does not justify the means when the means are sinful, evil, or unrighteous. Paul’s brutal exposure of Jewish or religious sin, which followed his equally straightforward treatment of pagan sin, was to show the guilt of humanity before God and introduce them to the only answer to human guilt-the gospel of Christ.

In Romans 3:9-18, Paul asks if there are really any material differences between Jews and Gentiles. The answer he gave was “no.” Both groups are under sin. The awful togetherness of the human race that takes precedence over every other similarity or dissimilarity is that before God we are all exposed in our sinfulness.

God’s righteousness is the central theme of the Letter to the Romans. God’s righteousness has to do with His always being in the right and therefore always doing what is right because He is the only criteria for righteousness. Righteousness is found only in God’s character, and all other standards of righteousness must be determined with reference to Him. Not even one person can earn righteous standing in God’s eyes. All humanity-Jew and Gentile alike-is incapable of doing what is right on its own.

It is against this definition of righteousness that the charge “there is none righteous” in Romans 3:10 is made and can be justified. Paul did not make up this charge. It is not a product of his disenchantment with the human race. He supported his position with quotations from Psalms and Isaiah. They destroy any hope people might have apart from God. The charge is as old as God’s dealings with mankind, and man’s resentment and resistance to the charge are just as old.

It is a mistake to call any non-Christian “a seeker.” It is not within the character of the natural man (one who is not regenerate) to seek after God. But the Holy Spirit’s omnipotence means that no work of His may be thwarted, so those He stirs to seek, He will save.

Some people who opposed Paul claimed that his teaching on grace was the same as saying, “I’m saved anyway, so I might as well sin. God’s grace will take care of it.” Paul condemned this distortion of grace. When people turn aside to go their own way instead of repenting, they go further astray in the process. Every aspect of man has been twisted and corrupted by the original sin of Adam and Eve. People are corrupt and corrupting. Romans 3:18 summarizes the corruption by affirming that fallen people have no fear of God, and so live contrary to His character and will.

In human depravity, people use limbs and organs to harm others and express rebellion against God by death, destruction and division. The extent of the depravity is such that even though it can’t understand God of itself, it can still recognize its own shortcomings and may even be capable of identifying them as spiritual. Man does not have a natural inclination to go looking to God to fill the void. In the same way that a car with a twisted axle will have wheels out of alignment giving it a tendency to go offline, so man with his sin-filled mind and will has a natural tendency to move from the path of God’s choosing. The human race has a tendency to evil and a bias to disobedience. Paul says that without exception there is no human being who has produced a life characterized by undeviating commitment to righteousness and unadulterated goodness.

Paul uses the human voice to illustrate human sinfulness. Romans 3:13 states that “the throat is an open tomb.” If we stop and think for a moment, we will realize that the obscenity and vulgarity that is seen in society today allows those who hear it to see that Paul’s statement is painfully true. For example, the asp, or Egyptian cobra, has a small sac of deadly poison in its mouth which can have a devastating effect on its victim. Paul’s use of the phrase “the poison of asps is under their lips” in Romans 3:13 describes the destructive capabilities of words spoken from a sinful heart. James 3:8 states similar sentiments: “But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.”

When a person’s mouth is full of coarse language, it shows the lengths a person will go to remove from his path all obstacles that threaten the advancement of his own designs and the selfish development of his or her personality. The word “curse” in New Testament times was not so much a swear word as we would think of it. It meant the use of words which of themselves held the power to cause the effect of their sin.

Sin is responsible not only for the presence of evil forces but also the absence of the forces of good. Man can’t grasp the real meaning of peace. He doesn’t know where it can be found. The result is confusion in his efforts to find peace and live in the good of it.

Everyone is without excuse before God, under accusation with no possibility of defense, condemned because of both open, rebellious and private, secret sins. They are guilty because of what they do, say, and are. People can only act within the confines of their character, and without the regeneration of the Spirit, it is not possible for them to live without sin.

The dying thief on the cross could not believe that his crucified partner in crime was still blaspheming God even on the threshold of death. In Luke 23:40 the dying thief states, “Do you not fear God, since we are under the same condemnation?” He was on the cross because he had never feared God! To fear God and keep that fear before the eyes means to respect God for who He is and to constantly keep that knowledge of Him before us in all activities of life. Failure to keep the majesty, grace, and judgment of God in minds can lead us into all kinds of wrong objectives and false viewpoints.

(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Romans 3 verses 1-20 The Sinful Nature of Mankind)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1546-1548)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982, pp. 71-84)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Lucado, M: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010; pp. 1558-1560)
6. Dr. Jack Graham, “Rebelling Against God.” Retrieved from jgraham@powerpoint.org
7. “He Gave Us His Righteousness.” Retrieved from ltcommunications@livingtruth.ca

As a result of the tragedies that had befallen their nation, the Jews had been dispersed from their homeland in every direction. Thus, wherever Rome and Greece ruled supreme, Jews lived, too. Industrious, proud, and different, they had stubbornly refused to be assimilated into the cultural patterns dictated by Rome and Greece. They were respected without being appreciated because of their fierce rejection of the cultural norms of their day. They preserved their distinction by differences in dress, diet and behaviour which neither the might of Rome nor the scorn of Greece could erase. Despite the evidence of grandeur, they were not moved by the accomplishments of other people. They were convinced that they were the chosen people and all others were heathens. They did not like the ornate temples and their associations with pagan worship. The Jews worshipped the one true God who was far removed from these excesses. They were not impressed by the secular Roman empire because they looked forward to the day when the Messiah would establish the real kingdom that would restore the people of Israel to their rightful place among the nations.

The Jews had a sense of pride stemming from these privileges, and these privileges produced an attitude of superiority which, while understandable, had led to the Gentiles becoming antagonistic toward God and the Jews becoming unrealistic in their self-evaluation. Seeing the hypocrisy in the legalistic yet evil ways of the Jews, the Gentiles reviled God and His Word. The superior view that the Jews had of themselves, especially the Pharisees, often led to a false sense of their own importance. They professed to be more than they were. They overlooked the glaring inadequacies of their own performance and lived in self-induced blindness to their own inconsistencies.

It is not surprising, therefore, that Paul made a scathing denunciation of Gentile society. He learned this attitude from his mother, and it was refined at the feet of Gamaliel. What is surprising is the attitude he had toward his own people-the Jews. He said that the Gentiles suppressed the truth in unrighteousness-the truth available to them by observation and interpretation of the world around them. On the other hand, the Jews had a much fuller knowledge of God available to them, which they recognized and in which they took considerable pride. They failed to apply this knowledge to their lives, and that was their sin.

In the law, God revealed great details of His own nature, His expectations for human behaviour, and the basic requirements for a healthy society. That meant that the Jews were second to none in their ability to know God and His will. They were equipped to evaluate things in terms of God’s estimation and compare things in the light of His absolute standards. These capabilities were available to them and not to other people.

To avoid the possibility that the seriousness of his statements might be hidden in a sea of generalities, Paul pointed out four particulars from the law given to Moses. Paul spoke of honouring God and hating idols, stealing, and committing adultery. The orthodoxy of Jewish teachings on these subjects was not in question, but the practical obedience to the teaching by some of the Jewish teachers was very much open to question.

Knowing God’s will is not the same as discerning a specific decision or path. To know His will refers to a revelation in Scripture that is agreeable to Him, what He requires us to do, what he commands, what He prohibits, what He approved and what He rewards. The Jews inherited this treasure trove of truth through their covenant relationship with God, yet they were blind to the promises being fulfilled before their very eyes. Because they possessed the law, the Jews were confident that they were spiritually superior teachers; guides to blind pagans, light, wise in God’s ways, and able to teach the immature (probably a reference to Gentile converts to Judaism). The Jews were to be spiritual guides to the nations, but Jesus  told them that they themselves were blind. He called them blind guides in Matthew 23:24 and blind leaders of the blind in Matthew 15:14.

The Jews did not realize that they needed to become like children themselves to learn what was important to teach the spiritually immature. The word “form” means “a basic outline or sketch.” The law was true, but only a symbolic image of knowledge and truth with little or no substance. A flagrant inconsistency existed between the Jews’ profession and their practice. The Jews were privileged to possess the law, all of God’s revelation in the Old Testament. The Jews had the truth; the problem was what they did or didn’t do with it. The Jews were confident they were right with God because they practiced the rituals or liturgies of their faith. Using the Old Testament, Paul showed them that rituals were no longer sufficient to commend one to God.

God instituted the rite of circumcision as a sign of His covenant with Abraham and his descendants, the Jews. Romans 4:11 affirms that Abraham’s circumcision was also a real sign of the righteousness he acquired by faith in God’s promises. The essence of the covenant with the Jews was “I will be their God,” and from the perspective of the Jews, the proper response was to submit to circumcision as a sign and seal of their acceptance of God’s mastery over their lives and their expectation that He would be as good as His word.

Paul used the ritual of circumcision to demonstrate the truth that only Jesus Christ can save us. Paul wrote, “In [Christ] all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.” Paul was convinced that the sign lost its significance to many of his fellow Jews and the rite was completely devoid of reality. Paul mentioned that if the circumcised could be lumped in with the uncircumcised because of the lack of reality in their relationship to God, those outside the Jewish fold, the uncircumcised, could rightfully be regarded as members of the covenant if they had a valid heart commitment to God.

The idea that the rite of circumcision does not make a man a Jew is not new. It is as old as the law and the prophets. Deuteronomy 10:16 and Jeremiah 4:4 tell us to “circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer.” In the New Testament, the idea of inward circumcision illustrates the reality of the Christian experience. Colossians 2: 11 states that “in Him (Christ) you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”

In God’s covenant with Abraham, every male baby in a Jewish home was to be circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, and every male who joined a Jewish family was also to be circumcised. Circumcision was the sign of identifying with the Jewish people and the covenant God made with Abraham.

But the external act of circumcision has never made a person right with God–that’s an interior issue. Paul said in Romans 2:28–29, “He is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter.” Paul was saying, “Being Jewish does not mean you’re in a right relationship with God.” The Jew could claim that he belonged to God because of having been circumcised, but that was only true if the Jew kept the law. However, if the Jew broke the law, in the eyes of God it was as though that man had never been circumcised. 

The way we’re saved is not by being physically related to Abraham but by being spiritually related to Abraham. There is only one way to be saved, and it’s through faith in Christ. That’s what Jesus said, and He was a Jew. Being a physical descendant of Abraham is not enough; being externally circumcised is not enough. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me”

There are many people today who, like the Jews of Paul’s day, have an excess of religion that borders on superstition. They gladly engage in rituals and avidly adhere to church rules and regulations regarding signs and symbols without resting in the One to whom the rite points or committing themselves to the One whom the sign signifies.

Rituals and regulations are powerless to save us. Only Jesus Christ can set us free from the power and consequences of sin. Outward ceremonial acts only have value if they are indicative of a dynamic, personally transformative, scriptural, spiritual experience. People today tend to count such things as church membership, baptismal records, and denominational affiliation as proof of their Christianity, but outward signs have meaning only if one is committed to Christ.

Unbelievers are watching both us and our conduct. God wants what they see to attract them into His kingdom, but when we disobey God and act foolishly, the opposite often happens. People who mock the clear teaching of God’s Word cancel everything a ritual stands for, but a person whose heart is right with God, yet has never practiced a ritual, is fulfilling that ritual’s purpose.

(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Romans 2 verses 17-29 Knowing God’s WIll Versus Doing God’s Will)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1546)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 64-71)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F., Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Dr. Robert Jeffress, “Circumcision of the Heart.” Retrieved from drrobertjeffress@ptv.org

In Romans 2:1-16 Paul is “speaking” to an imaginary Jewish scholar who appreciated the indictment against the Gentiles in Romans 1. Religious moralists are indignant at and critical of other people’s shortcomings and indulgent of their own, but judging others is evidence that they themselves might be judged. God’s judgment is a fact of human existence that must be reckoned with if people want to escape the realm of fantasy and live in the real world. The assumption that “God would never condemn anybody” is so common today that Paul’s approach to the subject of divine judgment is largely rejected. Those who reject the concept rarely consider the alternative.

Like a boy who makes a measuring stick his own height, declares it to be equal to six feet, and then announces that he, too, is six feet tall, people fail when they invent a standard they apply only to themselves. God’s righteous standard of integrity and truth is the only standard for judgment. When people measure their own Christ-likeness against others, they use the wrong standard.

Any man can observe external actions and maybe even rightly evaluate the inner motives, but only God can be relied upon rightly to judge the innermost being of both the uninhibited pagan and the disciplined moralist hidden behind a mask of fake piety. We must remember that God’s standards are much higher than human standards. When people hypocritically and selfishly seek their own justification, the results are wrath (the consistent, purposeful response of God to unrighteousness), indignation (anger that rushes along vehemently), tribulation (extreme pressure) and anguish (a narrow place, confinement and construction).

God judges Jews and Gentiles alike-impartially and righteously-on the basis of their levels of understanding.

The Gentiles who never had the chance to know God’s moral law will be judged on their disobedience to their limited knowledge. The Jews and many Gentiles who had access to God’s moral law will be accountable for their greater knowledge. Humans have a warning system that is activated when they choose to ignore or disobey God’s law. Paul urges believers not to violate their own consciences or cause others to do so because repeatedly ignoring the conscience’s warnings desensitizes it and eventually silences it.

There is a story of a man who came to a minister and said, “Pastor, you just don’t have it any more.  When I first heard you preach, I trembled with fear, but now you speak and it doesn’t bother me in the least.”   The difference:  a seared conscience which no longer speaks.

People often think that they are exempt from God’s judgment because they have not taken part in the immoral excesses listed in Romans 1. They are tragically mistaken. They have more knowledge than immoral people, and thus greater accountability. In the condemnation of others they have excused and overlooked their own sins. Self-righteousness exists because of two deadly mistakes:

1. Minimizing God’s moral standards, usually by emphasizing externals.
2. Underestimating the depth of one’s own sinfulness.

While no one seriously thinks he or she can escape detection by God or resist arrest when death comes to get him or her, and while no one would expect to be able to hire lawyers who could find loopholes in God’s laws or even get him or her off on a technicality, people still think they can escape God’s wrath. The religious Jews of Paul’s day thought that there was one rule for them and a different rule for the Gentiles. Paul announced the painful truth that all people-Jew and Greek-can expect the judgment of God. No one will escape God’s wrath.

It’s time we stop thinking primarily about others and begin to think about and examine ourselves. Even we who are saved may be guilty of hypocrisy. It is foolish to say, “Faults in others I can see, but praise the Lord, there are none in me.” We tend to want to measure ourselves by other people. We want to play the comparison game. The problem is that God measures us by the perfect standard: Himself.

The word hypocrite means play actor. In past times, actors would put on disguises. If they were supposed to be happy, rather than merely acting happy, they would put on a happy face, a disguise. If they were to be sad, they’d put on a sad face. If they were to be fierce, they’d put on a fierce face. They wore masks. Jesus essentially said, “In the religious world, there are some who are hypocrites—they are actors who are wearing disguises,” but Paul said “the judgment of God is according to truth.” God is going to pull off the mask; there will be no disguise. The standard will not be profession, pretension, or performance. Truth is the standard.

There are people who, lacking privilege, rise above the lack of privilege. Paul speaks of the Gentiles who were never given the privilege of having God’s Law, but who had such sensitivity to what they knew of God that their consciences were keen and alert and in touch with reality. God’s judgment has no place for favouritism or exceptions. It is based strictly on the response of the individual to the knowledge of truth that has been made available. In other words, the more privilege a person has, the more responsibility he or she holds.

Moralists have advantages in God’s goodness. His goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering give them opportunity to repent. Salvation is a work of God from start to finish. Even our repentance demonstrates the Spirit of God at work in people’s hearts. People repent because of the goodness of God, not because of the goodness of their hearts. God’s delay in exercising judgment shows His saving character so people might come to Him and receive salvation that is spiritual and eternal. To reject God’s offer of forgiveness and cling to one’s own sin is to earn more of God’s wrath and a more severe judgment.

Some people have misunderstood the absence of a full demonstration of God’s judgment. They see it as either evidence that God does not judge or that the judgment is not severe and can be disregarded. Paul insists that the true reason for the delay in the dawn of the day of wrath is God’s goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering.

When humans realize that God is tolerating sin a little longer out of kindness and not weakness and is withholding His holy judgment on sin out of determination, not irresolution, mankind is supposed to be grateful and demonstrate the gratitude in turning from sin. Unfortunately this is not the case. Man hates the kindness and uses the freedom for more sin. Instead of a warm, generous response to the gracious goodness and generosity of God, man has shown hardness and an unrepentant heart, from which more sin has flourished.

Paul explains how the judgment of God is related to the deeds of man in Romans 2:1-6. He teaches that a man will be judged on his works and that his works are related to his motivations. This is seen by some people as a contradiction to the message of the rest of Paul’s Letter to the Romans, namely, that man is justified by faith, not works. This contradiction is more apparent than real.

There are those who place their own desires before the commands of God. They regard their own pleasure as more important than the needs of others. Their lives are sad stories of one evil deed after another. These deeds are evil because they are contrary to God’s law. They are evil because they elevate the people to the central place in the universe that belongs to God. They are evil in that they despise and ignore the people God created and loves. They are evil in that they are contrary to human well-being and destructive of God’s handiwork. They are evil because they reject truth and embrace unrighteousness.

Some people have the idea that if they’re not having any problems, they’re right with God. If they’re healthy, if their bank account is up, if they have no problems, evidently God loves them, and everything is fine. They don’t need to repent—look at all those blessings. The blessings of God don’t mean you’re right with God. God gives you blessings to bring you to Him. It doesn’t mean you don’t need repentance. The goodness of God leads to repentance.

As a matter of fact, the goodness of God only makes your judgment more severe if you deny your dependence on Him. If you’re being blessed now, let me beg you to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Don’t get the idea that God’s goodness is an invitation to sin more, because the greater the blessings, the greater the judgment. And I want to remind you that Sodom and Gomorrah were at an all-time high when the fire and brimstone fell. The Bible says one of the marks of Sodom was that the people not only committed abominations but also had fullness of bread and idleness. In other words, there was so much prosperity that people didn’t even have to work. But the goodness of God did not lead them to repentance.

Paul includes two very important details of the final judgment. First, it will be a judgment of the secrets of men. External deeds are seen in their true light only when the secret motivations are known. Conversely, the hidden secrets of men often become visible through their actions, particularly in unguarded moments or pressure situations. Deeds done in secret will be judged in the light of the Day of Judgment.

Second, the Day of Judgment will be “in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to his gospel.”  Anyone who has a picture of Christ which does not include Him as Judge of the earth is operating under a serious misunderstanding of the true identity of Jesus. Jesus as Judge is a strange concept to many people. This should not be strange because Jesus repeatedly announced His own Judgeship during the days of His ministry. It is foolish to pretend before God or try to get anything past Him.

(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Romans 2 verses 1-16 Don’t Judge Others, Because You Will Be Judged)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1545-1546)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 55-63)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Adrian Rogers, “Are You Living in Hypocrisy?” Retrieved from devotions@lwf.org
6. Adrian Rogers, “God’s Goodness Leads Us to Repentance.” Retrieved from devotions@lwf.org
7. Dr. Harold Sala, “Is the Bible Relevant Today?” Retrieved from info@guidelines.org

The righteousness of God is the theme of Paul’s letter to the Romans. The fact that God is always in the right is both a challenge and a comfort. Mankind must realize that the rightness of human action is determined not by the moral standards of society but by the unchanging revelation of an eternal God. The closer mankind gets to the righteousness of God, the more uncomfortable he becomes about his own unrighteousness. The gospel realizes this and shows mankind how to become righteous before God.

People who have not heard about Christ will not be judged for rejecting Him, but the charges against them for rejecting the revelation given them through their conscience and creation will stand. God reveals himself in creation. Psalm 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork.” No one can miss the evidence of God’s creative sovereignty.

Anyone can freely reject God despite the testimony of creation and conscience, and apart from the work of the Spirit regenerating hearts, many do. People reject God in seven ways: through irreligion, ingratitude, intellectualism, ignorance, idolatry, immorality, and inversion. God puts in everyone’s heart an inner witness to a source of right and wrong, a greater power to whom they are accountable.

In the context of Romans 1:22, the word “fool” means someone who has heard the truth about God and deliberately rejected it. How can a loving God give people up to the evils they choose? He gives them up only after an adequate revelation of His being. He does not cause anyone’s demise; the natural law of consequences does. He cannot abide in the presence of sin, which is why He abandoned His own Son at Calvary as Christ bore the sins of the world.

Idolatry is a downward spiral. People know God but fail to glorify Him. They change the truth of God into a lie and reject any knowledge of Him. Then people worship whatever they want. Paul’s doxology reminds readers that dishonorable acts do not detract from the Creator, who is blessed forever.

With words that can be characterized by character, conduct, conversation, concepts, and companionship, Paul describes the shameful human behaviour that causes God to give people over to their sinfulness. Rejecting God and His standards ultimately leads to inverting and reversing His created order. There is no clearer New Testament reference to the sin of homosexual conduct than Romans 1:26-27. Yet no sin or consequence lies beyond God’s grace and forgiveness.

God’s wrath is not the same as human anger. It does not contain uncontrolled passion, unreasonable outbursts, or self-vindication that are part of human anger. God’s wrath is a right response to the unholy, a just reaction to the unjust, a pure rejection of the impure. It would be wrong for God not to express His wrath at much of what goes on in our world.

Paul argues that mankind has suppressed the truth that is uncomfortably clear. There is a chilling severity about the bad news of God’s revelation of Himself that was so callously rejected by man, that God’s righteous anger at such behaviour has been revealed and that, try as he may to avoid the situation, man does not have any excuse. Man has always felt that he is the centre of everything and everything revolves around him. To be told otherwise presents man with a problem. Man doesn’t want to know that God, not mankind, is the centre of everything.

Even the most primitive man has the knowledge of God available to him. That should lead to an attitude of glorifying and thanking God. Humanity would ideally be so sensitive to all that it is learning of God that it would make the change from knowledge to response. Unfortunately the reality is that man chooses not to respond adequately and accounts for his actions by stressing his inadequate knowledge in contrast to God’s assertion that the problem is inadequate response. This has led to a void that can’t stay empty. Into this void has poured all manner of evil.

God expresses His wrath not by sending fire and brimstone, but by doing something more subtle and more appalling. He gave man the absolute right to choose his own course of action and then gave him the perfect freedom to live with the consequences. They will see that not having a knowledge of God destroys lives.

Man has totally reversed the divine order by making God in his own image after his own likeness and then, to add insult to injury, has stooped to the point of making God in the image of the lower levels of creation. God clearly states in Exodus 20:3-5 that man shall not have any other gods before Him, but God’s people have been more influenced by the evil of their neighbours than by God’s commands.

The first creature that people substitute God for is themselves. All idolatry comes down to people worshipping themselves. They want to be in control. If they can make a god in their image and call their own shots, they are happy. They put themselves in the place of God.

Those who reject what they know of God divorce themselves from truth and reality. A person out of touch with the reality of God is out of touch with reality, including the truth about humanity. To be out of touch with the meaning of humanity means a crisis of identity which is demonstrated in many ways, including confusion about sexuality.

Many people today profess their faith in Jesus but cling to certain things or hopes as though these things are the true objects of their devotion. These things can be money, alcohol, drugs, sex, wild parties, and so on. These are what many Christians look to or aspire to as most important in their lives. We want Jesus and the forgiveness and eternal life He offers, but we do not look to Him as the source of peace and joy, except in the most abstract way. The happiness we seek comes from our stuff and our circumstances.

Paul is troubled by both the absence of repentance and the presence of celebration. Instead of being overwhelmed with a sense of failure and responsibility, a carnival air of casual enjoyment prevails in society. Instead of acting as guardians of each other’s souls, people encourage each other’s destruction. Where mourning might be expected, rejoicing is seen. Instead of wholesome disapproval of sin, there is a wholesale approval of unrighteousness.

God reveals His wrath in two ways:

1. Indirectly, through the natural consequences of violating His universal moral law.
2. Directly, through His personal intervention from the punishment given to Adam and Eve to the worldwide flood, from the fire and brimstone that leveled Sodom to the Babylonian captivity.

God holds men responsible for their refusal to acknowledge what He has shown them of Himself in creation.

The Bible states in several different passages that man’s chief aim is to glorify God. To glorify Him is to honour Him, to acknowledge His attributes, and to praise Him for His perfections. It is to recognize His glory and praise Him for it. Failing to glorify Him is man’s greatest affront to the Creator. People need to hear the truth of God’s Word. It is this truth that will set us free according to Jesus.

The darkened heart is like a spooky basement at the bottom of stairs that get darker with each step downward. The first step is ingratitude, where we enjoy God’s gifts but fail to thank Him, like the nine lepers who failed to thank Jesus when He healed them. The next step is deception that leads us to ignore the light of God and His truth. The next step is the darkest one of all-idolatry. It is here where we enter the world of unbelief, worshipping whatever we think will give us some light.

The Gospel is a powerful message, but as long as we feel ashamed of the Gospel, as long as we cower in fear instead of speaking boldly, as long as we live like those in darkness, we will never make an impact for God-and we will never fulfill Jesus’ Great Commission to go into the world and preach the Good News of salvation to a world that desperately needs to hear it.

(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Romans 1 verses 18-32 Man’s Unrighteousness Versus God’s Righteousness)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1543-1545)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 36-51)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. T.M. Moore, “Wrong Belief, Right Belief.” Retrieved form no-reply@ailbe.org
6. Dr. Ed Young, “The Spooky Basement.” Retrieved from ministry@willingwalk.org
7. Dr. Ed Young, “Beachball Truth.” Retrieved from ministry@winningwalk.org
8. Greg Laurie, “In Our Own Image.” Retrieved from greglaurie@harventdirect.org
9. Michael Yousef, Ph.D., “Transforming Power.” Retrieved from web@ltw.org

Men of achievement are usually men of special attitudes. They achieved what they did because they believed deeply in what they were doing and thought uniquely about the lives they were living. Paul was such a man. Without him, the message of the risen Christ would likely have found its place among the little known legends of the Middle East.

While Romans contains the good news of salvation and sanctification based on the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, Paul begins with the bad news: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Only by agreeing with the bad news does the good news become life and light to the lost.

Romans is a book of practical exhortation. The good news of Jesus Christ is more than facts to be believed. It is also a life to be lived-a life of righteousness befitting those who have been justified freely by God’s grace-through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

Letters of everlasting value flowed from the mind and pen of Paul. They have been the basis for preaching and teaching in the Christian Church throughout the centuries. Where the letters of Paul have been taught, cultures have changed. Where churches have taught the Christian lifestyle as explained by Paul, they have left an imprint on society. Our lives have been touched by both Paul and the Son of God.

The three expressions of the gospel are found in Romans:

1. “The gospel of God” indicates its source
2. “The gospel of Christ” indicates its subject
3. “My gospel” indicates its servant, Paul

The word “bondservant” is one of two words used for slaves. It describes the lowest class of slaves, whose strength, time, and commitment belonged to another-in Paul’s case, The Lord Jesus. His relationship is equivalent to the “servant of the Lord” relationship experienced by Moses in Deuteronomy 24:5, Joshua in Joshua 24:9 and David in Psalms 18 and 36. Apprenticeship was not a product of Paul’s own ambition but of God’s grace operating through him. Paul does not view himself as a great theologian or prophet but as God’s servant. Are we bondservants of Jesus Christ? As Christians we are to submit to Christ and to each other.

Paul says that humanity failed so miserably that God sent His Son to live on planet earth, and that as the result of His death, God puts to our account the righteousness of Christ so that the sin which separated us from God is removed and God accepts us-forgiven, cleansed, and transformed into men and women whose lives have been changed by the gospel.

Paul’s message had been promised before through God’s prophets. The gospel is deeply rooted in the Old Testament, summarized by a well-known maxim: “The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is by the New revealed.” This means the Old Testament points to Christ.

Paul stated in Romans 1:4 that Christ was declared to be the Son of God, and the word “declared” meant not only that a declaration was made about His deity but that certain things happened which clearly established His deity. His position as Son of God was established with power according to the Spirit of holiness and by the resurrection from the dead. It was in the resurrection from the dead that both the power and the Spirit were seen to greatest effect in His experience. Man had done his worst and taken Christ into death on a cross and a tomb, but God intervened and did His best.

Believers are to see each other in a new way-as a new creation-because they identify with Christ. Paul developed this idea in Romans. While death decisively ends life according to the flesh (mortality), the power of the resurrection generates new life. This resurrection power also generates a new way of holy living now. Believers have died and risen with Christ so that they might be transformed in their daily habits. The Holy Spirit that raised Jesus lives in believers to replicate the life of the risen Christ in and through them. Obedience to the faith does not imply that salvation results from our deeds but that it flows as a result of the faith that saves. People do not obey to be saved; they obey because they have been saved.

Had Christ not been of the human lineage or seed of David, He could not have been the Messiah. To recognize anything less than His complete deity and complete humanity would discount Him as the Son of God and as potential Redeemer. There could be no gospel without the singular person of Jesus Christ possessing these two complete natures.

The word “called” means those who have heard the call of Christ, obeyed, and been saved. This applies to all believers. Paul, like them, was “called of Jesus Christ”, but the people were called to be saints. They shared a common calling, acknowledged a common Lord, and knew something of the privilege of being set apart for a special task or set apart to be a special people. God calls us to salvation, sanctification, and service.

The word “beloved” is reserved for those in Christ and appears five times in Romans. The word “saint” means “one set apart.” People are saints because of God’s love and call, not exemplary behaviour. Paul greets the church at Rome with the cause (grace) and effect (peace) of life in Christ. In the worldly environment of Rome, believers were to stand in God’s grace and peace. Grace gives us the desire and the power to obey God, not the right and safety to disobey.

Paul expressed a desire that grace and peace should be the experience of his readers. When he used these terms he invested the traditional with spiritual content because he really wanted his readers to experience God’s grace through the exercise of the spiritual gifts in the fellowship. The exercise of these gifts was to take place with the objective that they would be established or strengthened,

Paul’s prayers are intense-“God is my witness;” intimate-“serve” usually refers to some sort of religious service, including worship; incessant-“without ceasing…..always” and intercessory-“make mention of you.”

Paul’s prayers of thanksgiving and intercession are bound up in each other in a number of Paul’s letters. The praise for what had been accomplished often led to petition that more would be done, while sometimes the deep longings for blessing expressed in intercession were of necessity mixed with glad outbursts of praise for blessing received.

While the word “gift” is the same Greek word as in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, here it is used in the general sense of “blessing”, probably referring to Paul’s preaching. The Romans’ faith was famous but not firm; it needed to be established.

In Romans 1:14, Paul reveals the secret behind his passion: he considers himself under obligation to preach the gospel to people of all races and ethnicities, cultured or crude, intellectual or ignorant. Like Paul, those who know the truth in Christ are debtors to everyone who does not.

The word “gospel” is the translation of two Greek words that together mean “message” and “well” or “good.”  It is a “good message” for whoever believes, calls, and thirsts. Paul felt that God revealed the gospel to him not so much for his own benefit as for the benefit of the Gentiles. Paul was indebted to God for His grace and to people because his ministry meant that he was never free to feel that his work was done.

Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. The message was one of the power of God for salvation. In his travels Paul saw God’s power at work through the gospel. It made every conceivable type of person safe and sound. The message of the gospel is powerful because God has anointed that simple message with his power to change lives. When a person trusts in what God has done for them through Jesus Christ, God enters into their lives and they are never the same.

The word “righteousness” appears in various forms more than 50 times in Romans. Paul learned this great truth-“the just shall live by faith”-from Habakkuk 2:4. Salvation only works by faith, which is itself a gift from God. Rightly understood, the truths in Romans can revive right thinking and result in right living.

God is not bound by what is possible for us. He has all power and is able to work in whatever way is needed to accomplish His purpose. The seas can part, the sun can stand still, the barren can have children and the overwhelming enemies can be defeated.

(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Romans 1 verses 1-17 The Power of the Good News)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1542)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp 20-35)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. Elizabeth Shively, “Commentary on Romans 1:1-7.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
5. Charles Stanely, “Called by God.” Retrieved from no-reply@intouch.org
6. Dr. Harold Sala, “Does Faith Have Power?” Retrieved from info@guidelines.org
7. Dr. Paul Chappell, “The Power of the Gospel.” Retrieved from daily@dailyintheword.org

Many of you are at least familiar with dysfunctional families if you don’t know one personally. Genesis 25:19-34 is a story of one dysfunctional family-the story of Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob and Esau. The genealogy of Isaac is the focus of the narrative, so the story follows the lives of Isaac and Rebekah’s two sons, Esau and Jacob. This is the family of promise-a promise that was not fulfilled. Isaac loved Rebekah very much, but she was barren. Isaac prayed to God for a child, and Rebecca conceived.

This story should be treated with reverence because it shows that God is aware of, and concerned about, and involved in, the very existence of those yet unborn. The children were struggling with each other before they were born, and this was a preview of the way they would behave toward each other throughout their lives. Jacob’s name, which described his holding of his twin’s foot at birth, while it was related to the idea of God being at our heels as a guard, came to mean someone who had a tendency to supplant, to trip, or to cheat-which he did later in this passage.

The divine word to Rebekah that the older shall serve the younger not only explained the unusual movements she felt in her womb but also foretold a reversal of patriarchal custom. Esau, the firstborn, would have expected to receive both the birthright and the blessing and have the younger serving him. The word “Jacob” means “he who grasps.” His name also foreshadows the discord that these brothers would bring to the family.

God told Rebekah that the severe jostling in her womb was a precursor of the future antagonism between the two nations represented by her two sons. The two sons were very different. Esau was a rugged man and a headstrong hunter who preferred the outdoors. Jacob was a plain man who preferred the comforts of home. Esau was preferred by his father Isaac because Isaac loved the game Esau brought home. Jacob was preferred by his mother, who helped him to trick his father into giving him a blessing. These were the ingredients for conflict and heartache.

As the oldest son, Esau received the family birthright. The birthright included several privileges:

1. Recognition as the oldest son
2. A double portion of the inheritance upon the father’s death
3. Regard as the leader of the family.

After a long day of hunting, Esau arrived home tired and starving. He asked for some of the stew that Jacob was cooking, and when Jacob offered to trade some for Esau’s birthright, Esau gave it up without a second thought. The birthright could be given away or sold, but the older son would lose the latter two aspects of the birthright. Esau’s choice showed how little he valued these spiritual blessings.

How often in life are we the same as Esau? How often do we have a gnawing sense that we have a hole in our lives that needs to be filled? How often do we long to fill that hole with any number of things and experiences both good and bad? No matter how much money we make or what kinds of pursuits we chase after, that hunger for more still eats away at us. Like Esau giving up his birthright for some bread and stew, we sometimes exchange true joy for a temporary thrill, a blessed future for immediate fulfillment. We carelessly toss aside our imperishable spiritual birthright for a consumable, fleeting fantasy.

Esau showed his true colours early in life. He continued to live the way he had started.  He was considered “profane” because he considered filling his empty stomach more important than the spiritual promises of God to Abraham. Jacob, who had more than his fair share of faults, showed in later years a willingness to learn and a readiness to change. The Esaus of our modern world tread a selfish and self-indulgent path to destruction, while the rocky roads of the Jacobs of this world do at least climb higher, leading on to better things. Jacob took advantage of his brother’s physical weakness. He went on to trick his father and took from his brother again. His mother was so afraid for his life that she sent him away to live with his uncle Laban. After many years, and after he humbled himself before God, God eventually reunited him with his brother Esau, who welcomed Jacob with open arms.

Isaac and Rebekah knew God had chosen Jacob to continue the line of God’s promise that had begun with Abraham, continued through Isaac, and would culminate in the birth of the Messiah. In spite of this knowledge, they didn’t train Jacob for his role or to teach him to wait on God’s perfect timing. They didn’t tell Jacob and Esau that God had different plans for each of them-plans they should seek, obey, and rejoice over. Instead of training their children to know and trust God’s revelation, God’s will, and God’s plans, Isaac and Rebekah followed their own emotions-their own feelings and preferences. Thus, Isaac loved Esau, and Rebekah loved Jacob.

Jacob was transformed, and it was necessary. Those who bear God’s name must show a moral and ethical kinship to Him. The object of the divine electing love must learn to be conformed to righteousness. The transformation of character is the work of God’s grace in the lives of His people.

God gives us freedom to choose. God does not make us receptive nor rejects us when we aren’t receptive. Like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we often are not receptive to God’s love. To them and us, God recklessly keeps coming, sowing His Word in us. Gradually we become more receptive. We become more loving. We are blessed and slowly become a blessing for the whole world.

God sides with the powerless, the weak, the younger brother, the barren woman. God sides with Israel, which is represented by Jacob. The people of Israel were a tiny, powerless people who lived in the midst of much stronger nations, including the nation of Edom (which was represented by Esau). This reality became even more evident in the runup to the exile with superpowers who were able to crush a people like Israel without blinking.

This story is a story of redemption. God does things through the lives of the strangest and most awkward of people. We don’t have to be perfect and have everything figured out and in flawless order before God can visit us and bless us. God blessed Isaac and carried out His plans for human redemption through one of the twin boys-Jacob. Jacob became the father of the nation of Israel. Through four women-the sisters Rachel and Leah, and their slaves Bilhah and Zilpah-Jacob fathered twelve sons who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel-from whom would come the Christ.

(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Genesis 25 verses 19-34 God’s Plans for Humanity)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 37-38)
2. Briscoe, D.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 1: Genesis (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1987, pp. 206-209)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Juliana Classens, “Commentary on Genesis 25:19-24.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
6. Daniel Clendenin, “Divine Redemption in Our Human Families: Lessons from Jacob and Esau.” Retrieved from www.journeywithjesus.net
7. Laura Bailey, “Cheering Instead of Competing.” Retrieved from ww.crosswalk.com/devotionals/crosswalk-devo/
8. Br. Luke Ditewig, “Wild Love.” Retrieved from www.ssje.org/author/br-luke-ditewig/
9. Michael Youssef, Ph.D., “Greater Than Our Bad Parenting.” Retrieved from web@ltw.org

At first glance, the three stories we heard in Matthew 9:9-13,18-26 don’t have much in common. We have a tax collector, a woman with a bleeding disorder, and a man with a sick daughter. What could they possibly have in common? If we look deeper, we find that they are all sinners, or sick people.

Tax collectors and sinners are linked together twice in Matthew 9:9-13. Both groups were ostracized from pious Jewish society-the tax collectors for political and ethical reasons, and the sinners for religious and cultural reasons. Jesus broke down all such prejudices and divisions, reaching out to each person with mercy and love.

Tax collectors were among the most hated people in this society. Rome was a foreign empire taxing them into oblivion. Tax collectors were traitors, unprincipled Jews who worked for Rome and pocketed the profits for personal gain. Many were very wealthy and had their identity tied to money. The money they collected was often partly extorted for personal gain and partly a tax for Rome. This made tax collectors both thieves and traitors to the Jewish nation.

Matthew lived in Capernaum and was a tax collector for the Roman government, so the Jews regarded him as a traitor and crook. Jesus’ calling of Matthew to be one of His disciples shows that Jesus came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus crossed the moral and social barriers of His time. He welcomes outsiders, just like He welcomed Matthew, Jairus and the woman. His love is not based on their previous occupation, moral life, or social standing.

Jesus calling Matthew to be a disciple places the authority of Christ over occupation. We have one vocation as followers of Jesus and that is to be disciples. This vocation supplies the directive for choice of occupation as well as for the character of our work in an acceptable occupation. Jesus showed love and acceptance by His willingness to sit down with sinners and associate with them. This is friendship evangelism, for we cannot win sinners to the Lord if we keep ourselves from them.

Using the analogy of physical health to represent spiritual health, Jesus told the Pharisees-who thought they were well-that He came to call the sick, or those who realized their sinfulness. Because the tax collectors and “sinners” realized their need for a Saviour, Jesus was able to save them.

The Pharisees, on the other hand, thought they were righteous because of their adherence to manmade laws, when in fact God had already judged their sacrifices as worthless because they did not show mercy to others. They were sick, but they did not realize that they were sick. They did not want to be healed. The Pharisees focused on the outward, ritual, and ceremonial aspects of God’s law-to the neglect of its inward, eternal, and moral precepts. In doing so, they became harsh, judgmental, and self-righteously scornful of others. Matthew, on the other hand, realized that he was sick and showed it by accepting Jesus’ call to follow Him. Matthew left behind everything, including his job.

Legalism is a slippery slope that many of us can fall into. One of the flaws of humanity is the sinful lean towards self-reliance. Many of us have been trained from childhood to “pull up our bootstraps,” “go big or go home,” and determine that we can do anything we put our minds to. While these famous sayings encourage us onward with resilience when faced with hard times, they can also lead us down the road of becoming a self-made man or woman.

Jesus called himself a physician. He was in the midst of those in need of healing. For sinners, healing comes in repentance, a turning from that which is evil and harmful, and a turning towards that which is good, true, and restorative. It may well be that, in the presence of Jesus, listening to this rabbi, these sinners and tax collectors are taking a step towards health. As is always the case, healing has a social dimension. Living in sin, profiting from oppression, they live in a world where each is ranked according to their wealth and influence, their ability to profit in a society which is sick with injustice. Should they hear and follow Jesus, they will also find healing in a community which treats them with the currency of mercy and kindness.

In Mark’s and Luke’s version of the healing of Jairus’ daughter, Jairus says that his daughter is dying. In Matthew 9:18-23, Jairus says she has died, and this is reinforced when, upon arriving at Jairus’ home, a group of flute players had already started the wake for this little girl. The mourners who mocked Jesus for saying that she was merely sleeping were soon silenced as Jesus raised the little girl up to full health. Because Jesus looked beyond what people could see to what God sees, the people ridiculed Him. Faith often looks ridiculous to those who don’t have it. God does what no one else can. Jesus has power over disease and death.

Jairus fell at Jesus’ feet and begged him to heal his daughter. To fall at someone’s feet and to beg him is a sign that you desperately need what that person has to offer. At this point in Jesus’ life, the leaders of the synagogues were not deeply hostile to Jesus. Rather than being hostile to Jesus, Jairus was desperate for the healing power that lived in Jesus, just like the woman with the hemorrhage was desperate for that same healing power.

The woman’s severe hemorrhage made her ceremoniously unclean according to Leviticus 15:25-27. She came as one person in need, resolved that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ cloak, she would be healed. This act of faith was noticed by Jesus, and He said to the woman, “Be of good cheer, daughter, your faith has made you well.” Jesus’ declaration that her faith had made her well and his subsequent reference to her as “daughter” indicate this was a healing that included salvation.

Her faith seems to have been a superstitious faith but that didn’t stop Jesus from healing her. Very often, our faith does not measure up to the church’s definition of a high quality of faith. This woman’s faith was not complex, theologically sophisticated, or religiously stylish. Her faith was simple, and seemingly superstitious, but that was okay with Jesus. She approached Jesus, shaking with fear, fell down before Him and told it all. She told Him the whole truth about what she had done. That is what God wants from us. God wants us to tell Him the whole truth about ourselves and our need for healing.

Jesus reaches across the Israelites’ purity codes. Jesus does not disobey the Old Testament Law, but he does touch ritual impurity. Jesus does not initiate contact with either the woman or Jairus. He practices the art of following.

Jesus became the Great Physician and Healer because He healed both sick bodies and sick souls/emotions/minds. Jesus came to heal those who were sick physically and sick emotionally/spiritually/mentally. Jesus did not invite people who thought they were religious but people who knew their need of God. God wants to heal the hearts and souls of the sick. He wants genuine devotion to Him that results in beneficial action toward others. Religious activity means nothing without devotion to God and a real concern for others.

The woman and Jairus came before Jesus because they had nowhere else to go, no other options. Jesus responded with compassion and met them where they were. He was quick to extend His healing power to them. He restored what seemed to be lost. He did not leave them untouched in their desperation and pain but answered their faithful reach with wholeness. Faith is not about clarity or certainty, but about simply reaching out to Christ who is merciful and full of grace. As we witness Jairus and the woman reaching out in faith, we are invited to trust that even at the end of our options, Jesus is still at work.

These stories present a vision of a God whose power is found in love and healing, not in control or determinism. God is not the source of the woman’s or child’s illness. Illness is not a result of God’s moral or metaphysical will. God is not out to get us. He is out to heal us. He wants us to have abundant life, and seeks wholeness of body, mind, spirit, relationships and politics. The goal of these stories is not to help us look back with amazement, but forward with faith. The God who spoke still speaks. The God who forgave still forgives. The God who came still comes. He comes into our world. He comes to do what we can’t. He comes to move the stones we can’t move.

Let us pray. Compassionate God, we come before you today as our most authentic, vulnerable selves, with heavy burdens on our hearts. Maybe some of us have run out of options and we have nothing left to lose. Give us the courage to reach out in faith to you, trusting that you meet us there in our pain and despair. AMEN

(An audio version of this post can be found by clicking this link: Matthew 9 verses 9-13,18-26 Jesus, the Healer and Caller.)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah. David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; pp. 1296-1297)
2. Augsburger, M.S., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 24: Matthew (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; p.18)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F. Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010; pp. 1308-1311)
6. Greg Carey, “Commentary on Matthew 9:9-13,18-26.” Retrieved from www.workingpreacher.org
7. The Rev. Edward Markquart, “Gospel Analysis, Matthew, the Tax Collector.” Retrieved from www.sermonsfromseattle.com
8. Megan Conner, “Breaking Free from a Works-Based Faith.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com
9. Bobby Schuller, “Jesus Has Pity.” Retrieved from www.hourofpower.org
10. Ron Moore, “Fresh Start: Making a Break.” Retrieved from info@ronmoore.org

Ephesians 3:14-21 might be the most glorious prayer in the New Testament other than the prayers of the Lord. Paul addresses all three members of the Trinity in his request for inner strength. Inner strength is absolutely necessary to spiritual survival because the outer strength of humans is so fragile.

When Jews prayed, they normally stood upright with hands raised, but Paul’s bowed posture here tells us that this is no ordinary prayer; it is the prayer of someone kneeling, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Even now, kneeling before someone is considered a way to acknowledge that he or she is greater. Whether people kneel physically or only in their hearts, they should come to the throne of grace with a spirit of submission and humility.

Paul prays for at least four things: an inward power, an inward presence, an inward perception, and an inward provision. His first petition is “that He would grant you….to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man.” Paul sees human nature as composed of two elements:

1. The flesh, which is an encompassing term, not merely for the body, but for all the impulses and activities of our earthly lives, and
2. The inner man, or “mind”, where the true personality resides. It is the inner self that may be continually renewed and strengthened.

Spiritual power is a mark of every Christian who submits to God’s Word and Spirit. It is available to everyone who studies the Word, understands it, and lives by it. The inner, spiritual person should grow stronger through the Holy Spirit, who will energize, revitalize, and empower the obedient, committed Christian.

Paul’s second petition is that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. The word dwell means more than merely to live in a place; it means to settle down, move in, take up residence, and be at home. God makes His home in the hearts of His people, and the Holy Spirit fills them with His presence. His people begin to understand the length, width, depth, and breadth of His love. The main point of Paul’s theology is that a person may be “in Christ” and thus live in the Spirit and in the power of the living Lord who lives in us. When He lives in us, we get a new orientation for life.

Paul’s third petition is that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to understand with all the saints what is the length, width, depth and height of God’s love. Paul uses four dimensions to describe the immensity of God’s love. Its breadth reminds us that His arms reach around the globe. On the cross, Jesus’ arms were stretched out for the whole world. Its length reminds us that His love extends from eternity past to eternity future. It existed before the foundation of the world and will exist after this world’s end. Its depth reminds us that His love addresses the deepest needs of the human heart. God loves sinners no matter who they are, what they have done, or where they have been. Its height reaches to the very throne of God. Out of love Jesus came down from heaven and lifts up to His level anyone who chooses to believe, because no one can climb up to His.

Paul’s final petition is that we may be filled with the fullness of God. Why is it that we barely, if at all, get beyond the passion and death of Jesus? Why do we refuse to move on to Resurrection and Pentecost? Christians are promised fire, not a feeble flicker; light, blazing, not dim-like that of a city set upon a hill; joy, not momentary happiness, abiding joy which flows from the satisfaction of our hungering and thirsting for God; radiant excitement like that of a man finding a treasure hidden in the field.

Christ will grow in us until He has to come out, just like He grew in Mary until He had to come out. He will come out in our speech, in our actions, and in our decisions. Every place we live will be a Bethlehem, and every day we live will be like Christmas. We, like Mary, will deliver Christ into the world. God in us! Have we sounded the depth of this promise?

This prayer of praise divides the first half of Ephesians-which outlines the role of the church in the world-from the second half, where Paul outlines how church members should live. Paul has declared the mystery-the glory of God, fully revealed in Jesus, to be appropriated by the whole church, and to be lived out in the life of every believer so that the whole cosmos may be brought into the harmonious orbit of Christ’s love.

(An audio version of this message can be found by clicking this link: Ephesians 3 verses 14-21 Inner Strength and Spiritual Power)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013, p. 1643)
2. Dunnam, M.D., & Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 31: Galatians/Ephesians/Philippians/Colossians/Philemon (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.; 1982; pp. 182-189)
3. MacArthur, J.F., Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
4. Lucado, M.: The Lucado Life Lessons Study Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson; 2010; pp. 1636-1637)

Owen looked up from his fishing tackle box and saw his friend Caleb coming up the driveway. They were going fishing that afternoon.

“Hi, Caleb,” Owen said. “Just checking to make sure all the lures and hooks are in order. I already checked my rod and dug up a bunch of worms. Mom fixed lunch for us, so let’s go!”

Owen’s thoroughness in preparing paid off. He almost always came home with a string of fish, and that day was no exception. But when Owen entered the house, his mom noticed he was unusually quiet. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

“Well, when Caleb and I were eating the lunch you sent with us, he asked me why I always bow my head and close my eyes for a few seconds before I eat,” replied Owen. “I told him I was praying, and he asked why.”

“And what did you tell him?” asked Mom.

“I told him I was thanking God for our food. Then Caleb asked me about God and church and all sorts of things, and I didn’t know what to say! I never thought about how to explain why we go to church or how I know God loves me. I just know, that’s all!” Owen was obviously feeling frustrated.

“I see.” Mom was thoughtful. “Do you know what it means to be a fisher of people?” she asked.

“Sure,” Owen answered. “It means bringing others to Jesus. We talked about that in Sunday school.”

“Before you go fishing for fish, you always check your rod and tackle and, in general, prepare carefully,” said Mom. “We need to prepare to fish for people too.”

“How do I do that?” Owen asked.

“Well, let’s talk about the things Caleb asked you,” said Mom. “Thinking through them will help you figure out how to explain God’s love for us and why Jesus died on the cross for our sins.”

“Okay,” said Owen. “Should we look up Bible verses about it too?”

“Yes, we should. Becoming familiar with God’s Word is part of preparing to be a fisher of people. So let’s prepare, and then when the chance comes, you’ll be ready with an answer for Caleb–or for anyone else who asks.”

How should Christians act when they are falsely accused, unfairly persecuted, or are asked questions about God or their faith? First Peter 3:13-22 outlines six ways to act:

1. Consider ourselves blessed.
2. Be unafraid
3. Worship Christ as Lord
4. Be ready to give an answer for our hope.
5. Maintain a good conscience
6. Continue in good conduct

Peter wrote to warn Christians in every generation and in every culture that we are going to be ridiculed for our beliefs about Christ, the Son of God, and we are going to be ridiculed for our behaviours. Inevitably people will laugh at us behind our backs (if not to our faces), quietly ridiculing us because we hold Jesus Christ as our Lord and follow His ways. We are never to be combative in sharing the Truth. We are to be bold and unwavering in speaking the Truth, but we should do so in meekness and respect.

Why do we put our faith in God and His Word? We probably have good reasons for believing in God. Some of us came to faith intellectually, others through family tradition, and some through life-changing experiences with the Holy Spirit. Regardless of the reason, the same thing could happen to someone else if they got to know Christ.

Christians have an incredible contribution to make to the society in which they live by breaking the cycle of people returning evil for evil. As we begin to do good, most people will return that good by doing good. Peter insists that the believer must understand what he or she believes and why one is a Christian, and then be able to articulate one’s beliefs humbly, thoughtfully, reasonably, and biblically. A peaceable life, matched with a powerful message, can bring conviction and repentance. The person who loves, befriends, genuinely cares, does life with another, and shares with others about the hope of Jesus is a fragrant aroma to a world in need.

When I was in the Scouting Movement in the 1970s, I learned that the Scouts motto was “Be prepared.” Peter offers a similar motto to his readers. Our personal testimony is one of the most powerful and compelling tools God has given us in reaching nonbelievers with the Gospel. Here are five suggestions to prepare our testimony:

1. We want to be listened to, so be interesting. No one, no matter how gracious, enjoys being bored.
2. We want to be understood, so be logical. We should think of our salvation in three phases and build our testimony accordingly.
   1. Before we were born again-the loneliness, lack of peace, absence of love, unrest, and fears
   1. The decision that changes your life
   1. The change, the difference Christ has made since we have received Christ.
3. We want the moment of our new birth to be clear, so be specific
4. We want our testimony to be used, so be practical. Be human and honest as we talk.
5. We want our testimony to produce results, so be warm and genuine. A smile breaks down more barriers than cold, hard facts. Be friendly and sincere,

We will sometimes suffer for doing good just as Jesus did. He told us that it would be so. In John 15:20, Christ said “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” Christians cannot confidently be ready to give a defense unless they have immersed themselves in God’s Word. They should know their faith and practice well enough to be able to point others to Jesus with their answers.

There is the kind of suffering which comes into the life of the Christian simply because we have done evil by missing the mark or disobeying God. Peter warns against this kind of suffering when he writes in 1 Peter 4:15, “But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.” This kind of suffering is simply the logical consequence of sin. It is a good example of the way cause and effect works in our lives. If God’s people live according to His Word, they will not suffer as evildoers but for their good conduct. People may slander a Christian, but revilers should never be proven right in their accusations.

Peter encourages us to share the blessings of God with others. The “good life” is never to be kept for ourselves; it is to be shared with others. Peter suggests three steps we should follow in sharing the good life:

1. Sanctify the Lord God in our hearts. The Christian faith makes no sense nor does Christian lifestyle ever work until and unless we “set apart” our lives to allow Jesus Christ to be Lord. To be holy is to be different. It is to be like the Lord who is the personification of holiness.
2. Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you. In writing to a suffering church and its hurting people, Peter speaks about the life of hope. Outwardly, those people had little reason to rejoice or to have hope. But because of Christ living in them, they were displaying hope in their lives even when outward circumstances seemed very hopeless. No wonder people would ask them, “Why are you so filled with hope?” By spending time with Him in prayer and in Scripture daily, we are strengthening our own faith and confidence in our relationship with Him and are able to communicate more effectively the hope that we have in Jesus.
3. Share it with meekness and fear and a good conscience. As we share the good life with others, we must do so with the spirit of Christ-with gentleness, respect and a clear conscience. Peter recognizes that it is vitally important for a Chrisitan to have a clear conscience if he or she is to be used by God effectively in sharing the good life with others. The Christian does not have the option of living a “double life or a “secret life.” Responding to others in gentleness and respect and a clear conscience has some wonderful benefits for everyone who is involved.

Suffering for doing good seems to be much more of a challenge in most of our lives than suffering for doing evil. By our very human nature we seem to be surprised by it, and we tend to resist it in every possible way. Peter tells us not to be surprised by it, and in these verses he reveals that we should not resist it but instead we should enjoy the benefits of suffering for doing good. It is better to suffer for doing good, “if it is the will of God.” God is not the source of evil or suffering, but He allows suffering to come into our lives even as He allowed it to come into the life of His dear Son, Jesus Christ, and into the life of His servant Job. Peter summarizes the gospel message in four phases. Christ suffered, was put to death, and was raised from the dead for us, that He might bring us to God.

One minister wrote that his simple explanation of why he was a Christian is this: “The best way to live is to love as Christ loves. There is no better way to live your life here on earth than to love as Jesus Christ taught us to love. That’s just the way it is. And we discover that the love of Christ is not only for this life but for eternal life. From the Bible, we know the ‘steadfast love of God lives forever.” In other words, when I die, I don’t simply die but continue in the love of God forever. Yes, that is what Christ means for me. Love for this life. Eternal love for the next life.”

We have two choices when we feel pressured to be quiet about our faith. We can worry, or we can worship. That means we either panic or pray, We either focus on the problem and the pressure or we focus on God. We do not have to be afraid of or troubled by people who oppose us. Instead, we are to honour Jesus as our Lord, as our first-above-all. From that position of strength, with our feet firmly planted in the truth, we are to tell people exactly why we have an incredible hope in Him.

(An audio version of this message can be found at 1 Peter 3 verses 13-22 Be Prepared)

Bibliography

1. Jeremiah, David: The Jeremiah Study Bible: New King James Version (Brentwood, TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1789)
2. Cedar, P.A.. & Ogilvie, LJ.: The Preacher’s Commentary Series, Vol. 34: James/1&2 Peter/Jude (Nashville, TN: Worthy Publishing; 1984; pp. 162-170)
3. Stanley, C.F.: The Charles F. Stanley Life Principles Bible: New King James Version (Nashville, TN: Nelson Bibles; 2005)
4. MacArthur, J.F., Jr.: The MacArthur Study Bible: New American Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers; 2006)
5. The Rev. Edward Markquart, “Easter Ridiculed.” Retrieved from www.sermonsfromseattle.com
6. Emma Danzey, “The Reason for Hope.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com/devotionals
7. Bobby Schuller, “Keep Doing What is Good.” Retrieved from www.hourofpower.org
8. Berni Dymet, “The Golden Rule of Communication.” Retrieved from nerni@christianityworks.com
9. Aaron D’Anthony Brown, “Sharing the Gospel.” Retrieved from www.crosswalk.com/devotionals/cr9osswalk-devo/
10. Rick Warren, “You Can Worry r You Can Worship.” Retrieved from connect@newsletter.purposedriven.com
11. Pastor Allen Jackson, “With Gentleness & Respect.” Retrieved from email@allenjackson.com
12. Charles R. Swindoll, “Your Testimony, Part Two.” Retrieved from info@insightforliving.ca
13. Pastor David McGee, “Be Ready to Share.” Retrieved from theword@aboutthebridge.com
14. Doug Bratt, “1 Peter 3:13-22 Commentary.” Retrieved from https://cepreaching.org/authors/doug-bratt/
15. “A Good Fisherman.” Retrieved from info@keysforkids.org