waiting & hoping

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Romans 8:23-25

Many good things in life require a degree of patient hope. We wait for them. It might be that long line at the DMV to get that first of teenage dreams, the driver's license. It might be the young man waiting downstairs for that special young lady to be ready for a first date. It might be the entire endless month of December, when as children we wait, knowing that Christmas morning with all its promises is coming. Good things are worth waiting for in life.

And Paul's point for Christians is that the real outcome of our salvation is known by waiting through life for that final big finish. Until the day when we are with Jesus face to face, we will groan in these bodies, waiting eagerly for the joy that is ours forever. It is in this hope that we are saved. We are saved to live beyond ourselves. And we must wait for that day.

Critics of Christianity accuse us of just living for a heavenly delusion. But that is not what we are doing. In fact, it is much bigger than the traditional picture. It is not about a white robe, wings in the clouds, strumming a harp. It is about real life with Christ, free from the ravages of sin and entropy on a mortal body. It is about true life... a passionate way of living free from all that restrains me and weighs me down. It is a hope that right now I do not see fully, yet experience in rapturous glimpses. Still in patient faith I know it is coming as surely as the Christmas presents under the tree let me know that the joy of Christmas morning is worth waiting for, no matter the cost in personal patience.

So the encouragement for the Christian is to be a person of hope. This is not a "cross your fingers" and "wish real hard" kind of thing. It is a patient belief in what God has promised. And every time I attend the funeral service of a Christian, I know what that hope is about, for that person is no longer done with waiting. They know God's true gift of eternal life in His Son. They live in hope, for hope, and eventually wildly beyond all idea of what to expect, and so will I. Wait for it... Wait for it...


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

inner conflict

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.
Romans 7:18-19

What I know about my real inner self comes from Paul's descriptions about the inner battle to do right. I am not naturally equipped to do what is right. I am born a depraved sinner and very quickly depravity will assert itself in me. There is nothing good dwelling within me. Because of this natural bent toward sin, I am incapable of pleasing a holy God. There is no way I can do it on my own.

But as a Christian, I have the desire to do right. And even those who are drawn to Christ will find themselves drawn by the guilt of sin and the overwhelming holiness of God to want to be right. The problem is that depravity makes us totally incapable of carrying out what the mind may truly desire. Our best efforts while depraved are still marred horribly by sin. We lack the ability to be holy outside of any action on God's part in our behalf. That is what Paul is saying here. He personally could not do anything truly good because he was born a helplessly rotten sinner.

Reality check: Sinners will do sin, even if they want to do something good. That is the final conclusion on the matter. Sin is at work in sinners. We live in it, we die because of it. We swim in an ocean of iniquity every day, sometimes without even realizing the pollution we are constantly at home with!

The result is that we often have to wrestle with an inner conflict. Now Paul has said all of this to lead to a marvelous solution yet to be unfolded in chapter eight of Romans. But for now, the reality is that sinners need Someone greater than themselves to rescue them. And Jesus has the solution for this inner conflict. Thank God, it does not depend upon me!


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

death and life as daily metaphors

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:11-14

This is a personally significant area of the Book of Romans. Paul has argued in Romans six that the death of Christ has brought about a positional change for the believer. Our old sinful self was crucified with Christ so that we no longer are enslaved by sin (Romans 6:6). The result of this is that the physical death of our bodies is no longer something to be feared for its eternal consequence. Death is no longer the problem it once was (Romans 6:8-9) because we will live with Christ after the death of our bodies. In the final sense, death loses because of Jesus.

But then there is this significant continuance of our lives until that time when we are with Christ. There is a daily effort on our part to deal with the residual effects of our fallen natures... the part that is personally still here until we enter eternity. The Christian must daily make some considerate effort to fight this. We must consider ourselves daily with the final outcome: dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Paul says we can choose to let sin reign or we can choose to let Christ reign. It is that simple. If we choose sin, we will obey personal sinful passions to our detriment. And I know what lurks in my heart when I do not focus on my Lord. It ain't pretty! I have to fight it daily by surrendering to the Lordship of Christ. Sometimes I don't do so, and sin leaves a damaging mark on my life or my relationships. Paul taught that the believer must regularly present the very limbs of his body as God's instruments. That conscious effort helps keep sin from having dominion over the day.

Lord,
Take these hands and feet today. Use them for Your service. Take this tongue and speak in and through it. Take this mind and fill it with Your thoughts.

"Take these hands and let them move, at the impulse of Your love"
"Take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee"
"Take these lips and let them be, filled with messages from Thee"
"Take my heart, my God, I pour, at my feet its treasure store"
"Take my will and make it Thine, it shall be no longer mine"
Amen.



- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

the purity & simplicity of justification by faith

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 5:1

The truth of this verse, if it was the only fact I ever knew from God, would be enough to keep me trusting Christ in this life and for eternity. This powerful concept is what kept Christians passionate in their pursuit of Christ at the threat of death. It led Paul to take this message to every place that God led him. It is how in one century Christianity went from being the message of a dozen Palestinian Jews to a passionate religion that caused the most powerful government in the world at the time to feel threatened.

And when the organized church went stagnant and heretical and worldly in her focus, it is the doctrine of this verse that fueled men like Luther, Calvin, Knox and Zwingli to preach once again a pure gospel. As reformation fires burned, the liberating gospel of justification by faith melted away the bonds of legalism, heresy, false authority, and money-hungry religion. Justification by faith is a doctrine with a fascinating history. And I believe there is more that God will write in and with it.

A pure gospel is preached by Paul in the Book of Romans. It is one reason why I find myself drawn to it. In my younger days, I found myself slightly intimidated by the deep doctrines of Romans. But today, I see their purity, their beauty, and even in their depths I find a simplicity that is frankly lacking in much of the contemporary church. I find most pastors and leaders caught up in methodology. The contemporary church is most interested in one leader aping another leader's ideas, particularly if it is packaged and marketed well! And the older I get, the more drawn I am to just wanting to be a simple preacher of the gospel... someone who is a man of one message and one method: justification by faith resulting in peace with God through Jesus Christ.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

faith: defined by experience

No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
Romans 4:20-21

I love how Paul defines faith in the life of Abraham in this vital chapter of the book of Romans. Paul's point is that Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, was justified before God centuries before the Mosaic Law was in effect. And the basis for his right standing before God was his remarkable faith in what God had promised. It was in that faith that God counted him righteous. Paul concludes the point by insisting that God still operates with faith that way today. We are "counted" righteous in Christ through our faith in Jesus and His saving work on the cross (Romans 4:22-25).

Abraham's faith was shown in the life of a desert nomad. He wandered a land of promise, a wealthy homeless man, trusting in a God Who called him to abandon a comfortable life in a prosperous city. God promised him an heir. And for decades Abraham lingered on in that promise. It was not until he and Sarah were both so physically aged that conception was impossible that God honored the promise. It was clear faith was in operation, literally born out of experience!

My faith is refined and to a degree defined by my experience with God. In that sense it is very personal, individually known by me alone. Where I have had to trust Christ is not always where you or another person may be called to trust Christ. I am saved by faith in the gospel, but my faith is proven in a walk with God that is personal and unique. There are many shared experiences within the church with other believers... but even then they are most valuable as we share personal experience with one another. I am glad that God did not enroll us by Christ into a spiritual factory that produced identical Christian puppets. Instead, God delights in our individuality. He redeems us in Christ as the unique persons we all were created by God to be. And like Abraham, our faith is lived out in personal circumstances distinct to each of us, yet linked powerfully to one God Who loves us all.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

the gospel is my only hope

...the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus...
Romans 3:22-24

There is only one solution for the problem of sin. It is not to be found in a just human government or any form of racial, social, personal, or gender equality. It is not going to be found through legal means. It is not going to be dealt with by education or science. There is no pill or psychological therapy that can eliminate our sinful tendencies. The only hope for us is the gospel of Jesus Christ.

In Jesus, by putting my faith and trust in His sacrifice for my sin, I receive a righteous standing before God. It matters not what good I might think I might do. I am part of a vast group of sinful conspirators from my very birth. Paul has already elaborated on the universal aspect of sin as the defining human condition for everyone on the planet (see Romans 3:9-18). I cannot save myself. No human can do so. Only Jesus saves us.

Nobody gets a pass on needing the saving work of Christ. As Paul said, "there is no distinction". Every person, Jew or Gentile, has fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is endemic to being human. But thankfully the story does not stop there. Jesus came to make the difference for all this.

Paul goes on to explain that through faith in Christ, that condition can be turned around. We can be justified by His grace freely. Salvation is offered to us as God's free gift when we turn from sin, confess ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness from a holy God, and receive by faith the salvation only Jesus offers us, committing ourselves to His Lordship and worshipping His as God and Savior. We are then declared righteous, like a judge dismissing the charges against us, and are redeemed from the slavish and hellish consequences of being under judgment as a sinner. That is really, really, really good news. It is the solution for all that is wrong in the world.

That sounds trite. It is not. Our spiritual need is our deepest one. Yes, access to healthcare, clean water, adequate nutrition, shelter, etc are all important needs, particularly in the most impoverished parts of the world. But they do not overshadow the gospel. Christians ought to be preaching the gospel WHILE caring for those other needs. We should never think that those needs alone are what doing the work of the gospel is all about. To fall into the trap of materialistic thinking as children of God is deceptive, disobedient, and ultimately disrespectful of the Savior Who came first and foremost to give His life a ransom for many.


- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13

mankind's moral insufficiency

Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
Romans 2:1

Paul's warning in this passage is one against self-based moral judgment. Only God can truly stand in judgment over sin because He alone is holy. When human beings pass judgment on other human beings it is is just one sinner sinfully discriminating against another sinner. We need an outside standard.

And what Paul meant by practicing "the very same things" is absolutely clear in the context. It is spelled out in an excruciating list of sins in the last part of Romans chapter one:

"And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them."

The one who tries to pass judgment on sin while living outside of the clear standards that God has revealed in God's Word is just a wicked person evaluating another wicked person's wickedness. Men have insufficient moral gauges by which to evaluate holiness. We condemn ourselves when we judge others.

The only standard for holiness is God. Even in a civil society with a solid representative republic and democratically elected officials, sin will reign! People cannot collectively create a perfect standard of right and wrong. We need God's input for that to stand a chance of being true. That is why the Judeo-Christian basis for law and government should not be tossed out by postmodern deconstructionists of culture. It served a purpose of at least being a solid basis from which to build something. When it is replaced by the vote of the masses or the legal musings of educated sinners in the political, legal, or judicial systems, we are ignoring the warning Paul gave us all of our inability to judge right from wrong outside of God's holy standards.



- Prepare your minds for action.
1 Peter 1:13