In View of God's Mercy - Oct 2, 2011

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SERMON:

Since the end of June we’ve been using our sermon time on Sunday morning to examine the book of Romans. Romans was a letter written by the apostle Paul in the first century AD. He wrote this letter to his fellow Christians who lived and worshipped in the city of Rome.

To this point we’ve worked our way through eleven chapters. The main point in these eleven chapters has been pretty simple. The central message has been sin and grace.

Paul has talked about how each and every one of us is born into this world with a big problem. We’re sinners. Our words, thoughts and actions are not what God wants them to be. We lie, steal, cheat, lust, covet, judge others unfairly, make excuses for our own bad behavior, and generally make a horrific mess of our lives when judged by God’s standards.

What we deserve for all this sin is punishment, death and eternal separation from God in hell. But in Romans, Paul reminds his friends that because of Jesus, we will not get what we deserve.

The eternal Son of God became human for us. He lived a brilliant perfectly sinless life in our place. He voluntarily suffered our hell on the cross. He died so that we will never have to experience the wrath of God over our sins. God then raised Him from the dead to show the whole world that the sacrifice for our sins was accepted in full. Because Jesus now lives, we can know that our sins have been completely forgiven. All who trust in Jesus, and what He did on the cross, are declared “not guilty” by the eternal God. Like it says in Romans 6:23…

“…the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23 NIV).

God didn’t have to do this. We’ve chosen to sin. It’s on us. The Father didn’t have to send His one and only Son into the world. The Son didn’t have to go. The Holy Spirit didn’t have to search us out and tell us about it. But God had mercy. He did all this so that sinners like you and me have forgiveness, peace and eternal life through our connection to Jesus.

Today we read from Romans 12. There Paul tells his friends in Christ what comes AFTER God’s mercy.

Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)

1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
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In view of God’s mercy. That’s where Paul starts. He’s going to talk about how a follower of Christ should live, but in order to have a Christian life, first you have to have a Christian.

So, when does a person become a Christian? Some say it happens with a special inner feeling. Others say that it comes with a giving-yourself-to-Jesus. But Paul, and the rest of the Bible, say that it comes at the point of faith. When a sinner hears the Good News about Jesus dying in their place, and believes it to be true – that person becomes a Christian.

It doesn’t come after a person has cleaned up a certain amount of their life. It doesn’t come after a person has changed enough of their sinful habits. During Jesus’ ministry, the religious elite of Jerusalem made a big deal about the fact Jesus actually hung out with sinners. With prostitutes and tax collectors. Jesus responded by saying…“

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:17 NIV).

When Jesus suffered on the cross, He did all the work for us. That’s mercy. We couldn’t save ourselves, so God did it for us. That’s the mercy Paul is talking about in our text today..
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Let me read that first verse again…

“1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1 NIV).

Paul says that after God’s mercy has come to us, we should offer God an on-going life of joyful and thanksgiving. That’s what it means to offer a “living sacrifice”.
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There are two ways a person can offer their life to someone else. One is the one-time, solitary, self-less act. Throwing yourself on a grenade. Jumping in front of someone to take a bullet. Pushing someone out of the way of a speeding car.

The second way of giving your life for someone is through daily, on-going acts of love, service, care and forgiveness. This is the type of relationship that God has always wanted with human beings. An on-going relationship of total devotion, communication, love and worship.
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In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said the following…

“…if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering” (Matthew 5:23-24).

God loves it when we come here to this place to this place of worship. But this isn’t the only place He lives. And this isn’t the only place He wants us to worship Him. He wants us to be praying to Him constantly. He wants us to constantly be depending on Him. Asking Him for help. Thanking Him for the good things we experience. Putting His words into practice in our daily interactions with each other. He wants us to worship Him full time, not just on Sunday and in this building.

Paul calls this kind of life, a “living sacrifice” kind of life. Where everything is lived to God. In Colossians Paul says it like this…

“…whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (Colossians 3:17 NIV).

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Now, living a Christian life doesn’t all just happen. We have to learn it. Our old habits have to be broken. Our sinful nature denied. That takes time. In verse 2 of our text, Paul says…

“2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2 NIV).

When I was in high school, a friend of mine gave me a mixed tape of some of his favorite music. I still remember listening to that tape before going to sleep one night. The song was by R. Kelly. The chorus went, “I don’t see nothin’ wrong with a little bump and grind”.

I remember being shocked. This song wasn’t okay. It was about getting all sexual on the dance floor, and there being nothing wrong with that. But I didn’t stop listening to the tape. And before long, that lyric didn’t seem so bad. And I started listening to all kinds of music that carried messages that were simply dead wrong.

The world conditions us to accept things as “okay” that really aren’t. With every commercial, every new comedy, every blockbuster movie, every new hit song, the world is molding us. Impressing its morals, or lack of morals onto us.

Paul says, don’t let this happen. Don’t let the world shape and form you. You belong to God now. Instead of being poked and prodded, bent and formed to what the world accepts, we want instead to be transformed from the inside out. This happens through hearing what the Word of God says. When we are in contact with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit who lives in that Word begins to restructure our hearts.

When our hearts begin to change, then our thoughts, words and actions will begin to follow.
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We see examples of this good transformation happening in the Bible.

In the Old Testament Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He eventually found himself serving as a slave in the house of a man named Potiphar. Potiphar’s wife approached Joseph to have an affair with him. But because Joseph’s heart was restructured by God’s word his response was to say, “How could I do such a wicked thing, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9 NIV).

In the New Testament, Stephen was stoned to death for telling a crowd of people the truth about Jesus. But before he died, he said a few last words. He didn’t curse the people that were stoning him even though what they were doing was murder. No, Stephen’s last words were a prayer for his murderers. He said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60 NIV).

When hearts are changed by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, actions follow.

After God’s mercy comes a “living sacrifice” kind of life. Let’s embrace that kind of life. After God’s mercy comes true worship. Worship from the heart, in every-day life. After God’s mercy comes change.
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Let’s read some more of our text from Romans. In verses 3-8 Paul goes on to talk about what else follows God’s mercy.

Romans 12:3-8 (NIV)

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
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In the verses before this section, Paul focused on the individual change that is to happen to the Christ follower. Here, he talks about how Christians are not independent entities. We are joined together in Christ. Paul even calls us the “body of Christ’.

The comparison is brilliant, and easy to grasp. We’re each very different from each other. We could easily begin to rank each other. She’s better than me, I’m better than him, etc. But Paul says, Beware of this kind of attitude. Christ Jesus calls us to humility. To recognize that our fellow Christians aren’t more or less than we are. In Christ we are on the same level: we are forgiven sinners. We aren’t more or less than each other, we are just different. And our differences are there for a reason.

Paul says that because we belong to Christ, we now also belong to our fellow Christians. We are part of a system just like the parts in the human body.
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The Bible was written by many different people over hundreds of years. But the Holy Spirit was the author who gave them the exact words He wanted them to write. The technical term for this is “verbal inspiration”. When we think about this, we maybe think of a guy who goes into a trance and then just writes what the Spirit wants him to. But it wasn’t like this.

The Holy Spirit used the different abilities of each writer. He used their vocabulary, their style, their grammar, their phrases and ways of speaking. Each writer was like a different kind of pen in the hand of the Spirit. Isaiah was an educated and skilled writer. The words he wrote were lofty, exquisite poetry in the Hebrew language. Amos was as common shepherd from a little city called Tekoa. He wrote what the Spirit wanted, but in his own way. Each man wrote what the Spirit wanted written, using a skill set and a character that was his own.

The Holy Spirit does the same thing with the church today. We each have our own skill set and our own personality. Sure the Holy Spirit is molding and changing us from within, but He also uses the people that we are to build each other up in faith.
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In verse 6 Paul says…

“6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully” (Romans 12:6-8 NIV).

Which gift is yours? Which gift did the Holy Spirit give you to use for the benefit of others? Don’t even start to think that you don’t have a gift, or that your gift isn’t all that special. The HOLY SPIRIT gave it to you! He doesn’t give gifts that need to be returned! Whatever you’ve been given, it’s for a needed purpose in our fellowship.

We need to start seeing our individual gifts, whatever they might be, as coming from the Holy Spirit. That’s a big deal. Let’s use these gifts with PRIDE. Obviously I don’t mean SINFUL pride. What I’m talking about is saying, Hey, this is an area where I have some talent or skill. This comes from the Holy Spirit. So, I’m going to USE this gift!

If your gift is a simple one, than use it in quantity.

If your gift is more complex, than use it with attention to detail and quality.

If your gift is something like showing mercy, a gift that will remind people of God’s mercy in Christ, than surround that gift with a cheerful attitude. That way people will know that your gift isn’t given because you have to, but because you want to.
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There are plenty of things that we shouldn’t take pride in. But using the gifts that the Holy Spirit has given us one of them. We should take humble pride in being the body of Christ. We should take humble pride in using our own gifts to build that body up.
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Our Lord Jesus has given us free forgiveness. Let’s rejoice in that, truly take it to heart, and share it.

The Spirit of God has given us gifts to use in serving our fellow Christians. Let’s use those gifts in a way that brings God glory and praise. Like Paul wrote in Ephesians…

“…I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” (Ephesians 4:1 NIV).

I’d like to close our meditation today with prayer.

Prayer: Father in heaven, you have shown us your mercy and love by sending Jesus to be our great Savior. Help us to never believe anyone who says we have to earn your love. You have given it to us in Christ, and you testify to that truth throughout the Bible. As we see your mercy in Christ, help us to live lives worthy of the grace we’ve been given. Help us to be transformed by Your Word, never molded to this world’s standards. When we stumble in our service to fellow Christians and to You, continually remind us of the forgiveness we have in Jesus. Help us to identify our own gifts, given by your Holy Spirit. Help us to use them with joy, with energy, and with pride that points the glory to You. Amen.

So Far Beyond Us - Sep 25, 2011

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SERMON:

Romans 11:33-36 (NIV)

“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.
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We live on Earth. One dirty little rock among nine others circling the sun. Earth seems pretty big to us from our little vantage point. But, when you compare Earth’s size to the size of our solar system, it begins to looks small.

For example, if you shrunk the solar system so that Earth was the size of a tennis ball, that would mean that the sun is still half a mile away.

But go further than that. Our solar system is part of the Milky Way galaxy. The Milky Way galaxy is a collection of around 300 billion stars. If the Milky Way galaxy were shrunk down to the size of the United States east of the Mississippi, our whole solar system would only be the size of a quarter. Yep, plunk a quarter into the eastern states, and that’s our solar system in the Milky Way galaxy.

Now, there are billions of galaxies in the visible universe. I say visible, because we can only see so much of the universe before the eyesight of our strongest telescopes fails. What is beyond the range of our strongest telescopes? Does the universe extend forever, or does it come to an end? WE have no idea.

I say all this because I want us to get a bit of a hold on how large God’s creation is, so that we can see, in part, how HUGE God is. He is not only the being who created our vast universe; He is the being who fills it all and more. He is bigger than the edges of existence.
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God’s creation is amazing even if you just describe it in terms of size. But there is so much more when it comes to living creatures.

When a butterfly hatches, it doesn’t go to flight school. It knows how to fly right out of the chrysalis. How does it know how to do something that took man forever to figure out?

A callus is formed on human hand because the body senses that right there the skin is being worn off too quickly. So, the body dials up the skin production in that spot. You know how the body knows where and how much to dial up the skin production? Neither does anyone else. It’s still a mystery. If the body were to dial up skin production just a tad too much we’d have clunky unfeeling hands. Too little, and our skin would wear all the way through to the muscle.

A human baby needs around nine months to grow so that he or she can begin living outside the mother. When the time is right for birth, the body produces a chemical called oxytocin, and labor begins. How does the body know when the time is right? Nobody knows.
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Whether you look out, or in, the universe is huge and complex. And the God who made this structured universe is still active in it.

Right now there are about seven billion human beings living on earth. And the Bible says the following about all these people.

“24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being…’” (Acts 17:24-28 NIV).

You are where you are because God wants you to reach out for Him, and come to know who He is and what He’s done for you. That’s how big God is. That’s how much God cares for you.

When we begin to study the creation, we realize how big it is. And this gives us some inkling of how big God is.

In our reading for today, Paul points out how HUGE God is so that we will stop trying to define Him with our own limited minds. We all do this. We picture God from our tiny vantage point. We think we’ve go parts of Him figured out from the things He’s made. And while it’s true that you can learn some things about God from what He has made, the fact remains that man can only come to know the heart of God through His Word, the Bible.

If we keep our thoughts about God grounded on the foundation of the Bible, then we won’t go wrong in trying to form some picture of what He’s like.
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Look again at the beginning of our reading. Verses 33-34. There Paul says…

“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34 NIV).

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Imagine that. A human being trying to tell God what to do. A creature trying to tell the Creator, Here, let’s have a little conversation, I think you need some direction.

As ridiculous as that sounds, it’s exactly what a man named Job once tried to do. Job was a rich man. He had a big family. He was healthy. And then, Job lost it all. His possessions, gone. His children, dead. His body, stricken with disease.

He was a follower of the true God, but Job still felt slighted. He appealed to God for a meeting. He wanted to talk things over.

At the end of the book of Job, the LORD finally granted him that meeting. In Job 38 it says…

“38:1 Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
or who laid its cornerstone—
7 while the morning stars sang together
and all the angels shouted for joy?
8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
here is where your proud waves halt’?
12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
and their upraised arm is broken.
16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
Tell me, if you know all this” (Job 38:1-18 NIV).

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Job thought he knew better than God. He forgot that he was the creature, God the Creator, and not the other way around. Instead doubting God’s ways, Job would have done much better just to listen to what God says in His Word.

That’s the lesson we have to learn also. He’s the thunderstorm, we’re the desert flower. He’s the powerhouse, we’re the light bulb. He’s the surging ocean, we’re the grain of sand. He’s the universe, we’re the tiny planet.

When we humbly see our place under God, He graciously reveals His Himself to us. In 1 Corinthians 2 it says…

“ “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God” (1 Corinthians 2:9-12 NKJV).

The ultimate truth that God reveals to mankind is this: We were created perfect, but we rebelled against God by sin. In His love, God sent a Savior to bring us back to His side. Jesus suffered and died so that all our sins stand forgiven before God. And through the Good News of sins forgiven through Jesus, God reveals to us what no human mind could ever have conceived. God loves us, and has forgiven our sins through His Son’s suffering and death.
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I said earlier that Job thought he knew better than God. Or at the very least Job felt that God owed him some sort of an explanation for the bad things that had happened in his life. Job felt a sense of entitlement. But in verse 35 Paul says…

“35 ‘Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?’
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen” (Romans 11:35-36 NIV).

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I heard a joke once, that went like this. A scientist approached God Almighty and said, “God we have figured out how to create life, so we don’t need you anymore.” God said, “Oh really? Well, let’s see you make life.” The scientist bend down to pick up a handful of dust, but God interrupted, “Oh no, get your own dirt”.

We should have no sense of entitlement when it comes to God. For there is no good thing that we have that we did not receive from Him. He made all things. He gives all good gifts. All things are connected to Him and serve to bring Him glory in one way or another. In Romans 1 it says…

“…since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20 NIV).

I think the most interesting word in that verse is “divine”. What does “divine” mean? How can you explain or define that word? “Divine” is the quality of “being God”. Only God is “divine”. He is the apex of all that is. He is not just the highest thing created, He is the One “thing” that is NOT created. He is God. It’s hard to define the word “divine” because it’s at the top of the pyramid. There aren’t things around “divine” to help explain it, only things below it that can’t reach it.

God is the source. God is the giver. God is the hub in the wheel of existence that makes it all be.
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I know we can’t understand everything about God. But by the grace of God we can understand what He reveals to us.

Once of my favorite illustrations about man’s limits comes from a book by C.S. Lewis. It’s a fictional story whose main character is a man named “Ransom”. In one scene, Ransom is talking to an angel of God. He asks the angel some question, and in response the angel says something like, “Ransom, I’d love to tell you the answer to your question, but there is no place in your mind where it will fit.”

We can’t comprehend the greatness of God. But through the Bible we can know the most important things about Him and what He’s done for sinners like us. God fits these teachings into our minds through the Holy Spirit who lives in His Word.

We are sinners who don’t deserve God’s tender care. But because of Jesus, we have it. Through Jesus, the sinless, almighty Creator has made us His own people. His own sinners made saints. We were the darkness, but His light has shined on us in the middle of this universe. As we feel His forgiveness and love through the message of Christ, let’s make sure that the light that reflects back to Him is the light of praise and worship.

I’d like to end our mediation today by reading one last passage. Proverbs 3:5...

“5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV).

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To the LORD be the glory, forever. Amen.

And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Righteous in Christ Alone - Sept 18, 2011

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SERMON:

For the past four Sundays our sermon readings have taken us into the eighth chapter of Romans. There the apostle Paul talks about the suffering that followers of Christ must endure in this life, before they finally get to experience the bliss of living with God in heaven.

Toward the end of chapter eight Paul ramps up his encouragement to his fellow Christians and lists off reason after reason for us to keep on trusting in God, no matter what sufferings come in this life. He says…

God’s on our side, who can oppose Him?

God didn’t spare His own Son in saving us, so we know He’ll give us everything good!

Nobody can overturn God’s verdict of “sins forgiven”. God is the ultimate judge, and in Christ our verdict is “not guilty”.

God’s own Son who suffered to take our sins away stands at the Father’s side speaking up for us.

Paul concludes by saying that he’s convinced that as long as we keep on trusting in Jesus ABSOLUTELY NOTHING can separate us from the love of God.

The Bible tells us that we are sinners who deserve nothing but punishment from the Holy God who created us. But because of Jesus, our sins have been paid for. All who trust in Jesus stand sinless in God’s sight. In Jesus we don’t just have a good head-start on getting to heaven, we have heaven itself. Through faith in Christ’s cross, our passport reads “Citizen of Heaven”.

It’s this complete security in Christ that moves Paul to write the words we meditate on today. We read the beginning verses of Romans chapter nine and ten…

Romans 9:1-5, 10:1-4 (NIV)

9:1I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
10:1 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. 3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. 4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
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Paul is on a high at the end of chapter eight. He’s thinking about the sure salvation that is HIS because of Jesus. He’s already laid this secure salvation before his Roman readers as the foundation for their comfort in suffering. But then his mind turns to think of those who don’t have this basis for comfort. His heart turns to think of his nation, the Jews. And he expresses his sincere sorrow that most of the Jewish nation has rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and by doing that they have rejected their only hope.

When you sit down to Thanksgiving dinner, do you think of all the people who only have a cup of rice and a handful of dirty water? In the winter, when you curl up in a warm bed with a solid roof over your head, do you sometimes think of those who are sleeping outside, with only the shirt on their back to keep them warm?

This is what Paul thinks of as he rides the high crest of the wave of comfort that is salvation through Christ. He thinks of those who don’t have what he has. He thinks of those who don’t have Christ.

Some of the Jews followed Paul from city to city trying to stamp out this “new” religion. But Paul harbors no ill will toward them. His heart is filled with compassion. He knows that he too is a sinner who doesn’t deserve the gift of God’s free forgiveness in Christ Jesus.

Here. Meditate on these passages from Scripture. Jesus says…

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24 NIV).

In Ephesians it says…

“7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins…” (Ephesians 1:7 NIV).

In Romans it says…

“…Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame” (Romans 10:11 NIV).

“…sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14 NIV).

When contemplate certainty of forgiveness that we have in Jesus, it moves us to compassion for those who don’t know this security. It makes us want to share this security with others.

This is why we need to keep on coming together on Sunday morning, and on other days we set aside for worship. The more we see that we are truly, freely, absolutely forgiven through what Jesus did for us, the more we will gain the courage and the wisdom to share this message with adults and children around us.

It’s when the Gospel becomes some bland fact that we know in the back of our minds that we sit back and let mission opportunities slip through our fingers. It’s when we get caught up in the daily grind or the daily busyness or daily distractions, that we begin to lose perspective, lose sight of where we sit because of Jesus’ cross. Above the law. Above condemnation. Above our well deserved guilt. Free and victorious.

Paul brings us back to reality with his word of sorrow. We are children of God through Christ. But there are many who do not know this peace. And WE can give it to them through the simple Gospel of Jesus’ cross.
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Paul really feels for the Jews because they are his own people. And he knows their history. In our reading Paul points out how much interaction the people of Israel have had with the true God. He says in verse four…

“…Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen” (Romans 8:4-5 NIV).

The Jewish people descended from Abraham. Back in the day when Abraham was still called “Abram”, God came along and said, Abram, leave your family ties here and travel west. Eventually you’ll reach a land that I’m going to give you and your descendants. Eventually, I’ll bless the whole world through you.

So, Abram trusted in this covenant that God made with him. And he went west, not KNOWING what would come, but TRUSTING that God was true.
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Then came Isaac, and Jacob. Then came the twelve tribes of Israel. And when the descendants of Israel had become a huge nation enslaved by Egypt, God took them to be His own people. In Exodus 6 God tells Moses…

“…say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God” (Exodus 6:6-7 NIV).

And for no other reason than God’s undeserved love, Israel became God’s chosen nation. They were adopted as His people.
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Then came the Ten Commandments, and all the other laws through which God showed Israel what kind of a God He was. A loving God who would reveal the way of blessing to them.

Along with the Law which showed the Israelites what His will was, God also gave them a Temple in which to worship Him. And when that Temple was dedicated, His own visible glory descended and filled it. At the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, we read…

“10 When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. 11 And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple” (1 Kings 8:10-11 NIV).

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Along the way, God blessed the Israelites with all sorts of famous leaders. Abraham. Isaac. Jacob. Moses. King David.

Eventually, the very Savior of the world was born from the nation of Israel. The Savior through whom the whole world would be blessed, was born to a Jewish girl named Mary. This was God’s own Son. The One who God had promised would crush the power of the Serpent, and restore sinners to God once and for all.
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All of this history Paul knows and summarizes as he thinks about the Jewish people. How they have been blessed by God.

The glory of the Israelite people has ever been God’s interaction with them. But it seems to Paul that this glory will end in tragedy, for when the promised Messiah finally arrived, the Jews crucified Him. After all God’s prophecies, and all His steadfast love, most of them rejected the Savior, and held stubbornly to their own self-righteousness. A righteousness that is really none at all.
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There is a warning here for us. Outward association with God’s things does not connect us to God. Even outward association with God’s Word does not connect us to God. Even knowledge of God’s Savior does not connect us to God. Only inward faith, TRUST in Jesus as the sin-cleanser, connects us to God and salvation.

There is a tendency in human beings to hold onto outward things as our hope.

The ancient Israelites once walked into a battle carrying the Ark of Covenant. God hadn’t told them to do this. They carried it because they figured it was an amulet. A charmed box that would guarantee their victory. But God hadn’t told them to do it, so they were defeated soundly in battle and many lost their lives.

In Jesus’ day, the Jews thought that the fact that they were descended from Abraham would get them points with God. But John the Baptist tore this superstition to rags. In Matthew we read…“

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Matthew 3:7-9 NIV).

After Jesus had ascended back into heaven, there were people who tried to cast out demons by using His Name, even though they were not His true followers.

Acts 19 says…

“13 Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” 14 Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. 15 One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” 16 Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” (Acts 19:13-16 NIV).

Jesus Himself said…

“21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matthew 7:21-23 NIV).

Outward association with God’s things does not connect us to God. Only trust in Christ as our Savior from sin does that.
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In the book of Romans, Paul’s main theme is that we are righteous in Christ alone.

To grow God’s church outwardly, we have to start with Christ and what He did to save us from sin.

To grow inwardly in our connection to God, we have to start with Christ and what He did to save us from sin.

We have to start with Christ.

And when we start with Christ, we find miraculously that we have reached the end also. In Christ we have the beginning of our salvation, and the end.

Like Paul says…

“4 Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 NIV).

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If you fire up your internet browser and type in “the rest is just the details” you’ll get a parade of things that people love.

Golf is life, the rest is just the details.
Football is life, the rest is just the details.
Horses are life, the rest is just the details.
Surfing is life, the rest is just the details.
Sewing is life, the rest is just the details.
Education is life, the rest is just the details.

If the apostle Paul had a Facebook account, he’d have this as his daily status, “Christ is life. The rest is just the details”.
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Let’s make that our motto in every area of our lives. If we’re talking mission work, lets start with Christ, the rest is just the details. If we’re talking about our inner faith, lets start with Christ, the rest is just the details.

May the Holy Spirit enable us all to see where we stand through faith in Jesus. As forgiven children of God. And may the clear perception of all that this means for us in this life and in eternity, move us to compassion for those who don’t have this motto. And may the clear perception of all that we have in Christ move us to grow in knowledge of our great God, to His glory, and our eternal security. Amen.

More Than Conquerors in Christ - Sep 11, 2011

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SERMON:

For the past three Sundays our sermon readings have come from the eighth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians.

These Christians were living in the city of Rome, the capital of the world at the time. At that time, Christianity was a new thing to the world, and it was not well received. As a result, Christians experienced persecution.

The religious Jews viewed Christianity as a perversion of the true Jewish religion. And so they fought against Paul and company. They stirred up crowds in cities and had Christians arrested, beaten, imprisoned and killed.

Sometimes the persecution of Christians originated from Rome itself. During times of persecution by the state, followers of Christ were given the option of either forsaking their faith and worshipping images of Caesar, or dying the most horrible deaths. Men and women of all ages were stoned, burned, crucified and thrown to wild animals in the arena. One Roman emperor even raised pitch soaked Christians on posts and set them on fire to light his night parties.

When persecution was not so openly physical and deadly, it was still present. Because Christians often met in private for the Lord’s Supper, they were accused of cannibalism or infanticide. Natural disasters were seen by pagans as the wrath of the old gods for letting this new and “false” religion to exist.
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With this history in mind, it isn’t surprising that Paul would spend a whole chapter of his letter to the Romans on the subject of suffering. He comforts his fellow Christians by telling them to look to the future, and the promised renewal of all things when Christ returns. All the Christian’s sufferings will come to an end on that day.

Paul points them to the present also, reminding them that the same Holy Spirit who brought them to trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins is still with them. And the Holy Spirit is constantly adding His own perfect prayers to their imperfect ones.

Paul points them to the past also. Revealing to his fellow Christians that even before God created the world, he had already chosen them to come to faith and to receive forgiveness, eternal life in heavenly glory.
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In our reading for today, Paul brings his words of comfort to a crescendo. He says that those who trust in Christ are not just future victors; they are more than conquerors NOW in every persecution, suffering and pain.

Paul presents this culmination of encouragement by describing two scenes: the courtroom of God, and the battlefield of earth. His point is the same in both images: through the love of God in Christ Jesus, WE WIN.
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First, we hear Paul’s description of God’s courtroom.

Romans 8:31–34 (ESV)

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
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When I take the school kids out for recess, we usually play a game called “steal the pin”. This game requires two teams, so the kids line up and captains pick teams. Now, since our school is kindergarten through eighth grade, each team is bound to have a smattering of ages and abilities.

Sometimes the teams are unevenly weighted. One captain picks all the older kids, or the best ball throwers, or the fastest runners. And when that happens, there’s both rejoicing and grumbling.

Now, imagine what would happen if we had some guest players one recess. Say, the NFL quarterback Michael Vick, or the current fastest man alive, Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt. The rejoicing and the grumbling would be a little louder than usual when teams were finally picked.

That’s the image Paul presents to his fellow Christians in Rome. But it isn’t just some star athlete on some recess team. Paul says GOD is on our side. And if God is on our side, we CAN’T lose!
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Paul charges on in verse 32…

“32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32 ESV).

Let me tell you a quick story. The other day I was carrying my daughter Carmen down the back stairs of our deck. They’re kinda high stairs, and my heel slipped off one of the steps. Instinctively I threw Carmen into the yard in order to save myself from injury.

Okay, not really.

What I did was clutch her as tightly as possible, allowing my own body to absorb the impact of our fall. What else would a father do?

Now look at God’s record. He took the hit for us. To take our sins away, the Son of God became human, suffered through life while never sinning, died a horrific and excruciating death, including being left alone on the cross to suffer the full weight of hell in our place.

And then there’s God the Father. He stood aside and LET His Son do this for us. Can you imagine the agony of the Father as the Son He had known and cherished from eternity was staked to a cross, mocked, spit on and murdered? And yet because this was the price that HAD to be paid for our sins, He didn’t step in for His Son.

If that’s what the Father is willing to give for us, He’ll give anything He’s got to make sure we reach heaven in the end.
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Paul surges forward to more comfort for the suffering Christian in verse 33…

“33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:33 ESV).

To this point I’ve been using some non-courtroom images to illustrate Paul’s points. But here Paul delves into the courtroom to show his fellow Christians just how secure our salvation really is.

God is the one who ultimately makes the call in His courtroom. He says guilty or innocent. He’s the judge. As Paul says, it is God who justifies. In the Bible, God says that all who trust in what Jesus did on the cross, are forgiven. No other authority can over-rule His verdict.

Paul even uses that phrase “God’s elect”, to again remind his fellow Christians that we have been chosen by God to be cleansed of our sins through Christ Jesus. He chose us in Christ in eternity, and He pronounces us sinless because of what Christ did in time. The gavel pounds in the eternal courtroom of God, and we are released. None can overturn His decision.
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And to add one more detail to this scene of courtroom comfort, Paul mentions someone standing beside the Father. Verse 34...

“34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.” (Romans 8:34 ESV).

There Jesus stands at the right hand of the Father. Paul says, Remember who this is! Jesus is the one who gave His LIFE on the cross, feeling the punishment for each and every one of our sins, IN OUR PLACE. If there’s ever been a witness capable of testifying to the fact that our sentence has been served, it’s Him!

And not only that, Paul says, Remember that He was raised from the dead by the Father. In this way, God put His stamp of approval on the payment Jesus made in our place. If anyone in this courtroom would dare question whether Jesus’ payment was enough to cover all our sins, the Father Himself would weigh in saying, If Jesus’ sacrifice WASN’T enough, then why would I have raised Him from the dead?
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It’s at this point that Paul shifts from the image of a courtroom, to the image of a battlefield. This is the battlefield of earth where Paul and his fellow Christians are suffering now.

With all these previous things in mind, Paul says, Answer this question for me…

Romans 8:35–39 (ESV)

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Paul doesn’t hide from the reality of suffering here. He also doesn’t play it down as if it isn’t so bad. He just puts it in the proper context. The context of Christ’s work of salvation.

All the hard practices, all the injuries, all the sweat and blood that precedes a Super Bowl win are overshadowed by that victory. All the sore muscles, the sick mornings and the painful contractions are overshadowed by the birth of a child.

In the same way, all the sufferings of a Christian in life are overshadowed by the love of Christ which will one day bring that Christian into paradise.
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Without Christ, sufferings are a huge source of confusion. A person who doesn’t know the true God looks at suffering and comes to all sorts of false conclusions.

Suffering means a good God doesn’t exist. False. The Bible says suffering exists because Adam and Eve’s sin brought pain and death into the world.

Suffering means God isn’t strong enough to protect me. False. God works in mysterious ways in a world infected with sin. He uses even the evil things that happen to serve His good and perfect plan.

Suffering means God is angry with me over some sin I’ve done. False. Suffering means this is not the world God intended it to be. Suffering here is a warning of what eternity apart from God would be like.
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Paul’s outlook on life and suffering is defined by forgiveness through Christ. He sees past all these false conclusions because the Holy Spirit has shown Him the big picture, the ultimate salvation that will be His on the Last Day because of all that Jesus did for Him.

With salvation through Christ as the centerpiece of His worldview, Paul can tell his fellow Christians…

“…in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37 ESV).

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This is an intriguing statement. More than conquerors? How can that be? How can you be more than the victor?

Think about it like this. In Science, people try to find truth. The scientific method tries to prove something to be true by making a hypothesis, a guess at how something works, and then testing that hypothesis in a systematic way in order to see if it is true or false.

On the way to treating any disease, numerous possible solutions are proposed and tested. Some of these solutions end up being worthless. Others end up helping in some way. But in one sense, no failed hypothesis is ever really a failure because it teaches the scientist SOMETHING. Each failed experiment is a step along the way to a cure. Or a breakthrough in understanding.

The Bible tells us that Jesus died for our sins. Through simple trust in what He did for us, our sins stand forgiven. We have a home in heaven waiting for us. The victory over all the forces of pain and suffering and evil is already ours in Christ.

Viewed in that light, no defeat suffered by the Christian can really be considered a defeat. We can “lose” over and over, but all those losses are really wins because victory is already ours in Christ. Each victory or defeat on the battlefield of earth brings us one step closer to the return of Christ, and to final glory at God’s side.

This is why Paul can say in all our sufferings we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

No no pain inflicted upon us this side of heaven can destroy the love that God has for us in Christ Jesus our Lord. To put it more simply, if our own sins weren’t able to keep us from God, because God in love took them away through Christ’s cross, what in the world could possibly separate us from God’s love? Certainly not suffering.

The important thing is to keep on putting all our hope for salvation in Him, and in Him alone. All these comforting words from Paul only apply to sinners like us because of what Jesus did for us.
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Throughout our study of Romans I’ve been referencing the fact that the apostle Paul wrote this letter. Well, eventually, he didn’t have to write letters to Rome. He was arrested and brought there in chains. This was the second time he was brought to Rome for trial, and this time he wasn’t acquitted. Somewhere around the year 67-68 AD, Paul was convicted of crimes against the state and beheaded.

I would leave you with this final thought. As the blade passed through Paul’s spinal column, and as he passed from this world, HE was the conqueror because he was in CHRIST.

May God enable us also to live through our sufferings as more than conquerors, just like Paul did, and to pass through the finish-line-tape of death to eternal life and victory in Christ Jesus. Our Lord. Amen.

Predestined for a Purpose - Sep 4, 2011

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SERMON:

This summer we’ve been working our way through the book of Romans. For the past few Sunday’s we’ve been in Romans chapter 8. In this chapter Paul talks about suffering, and how followers of Christ have comfort in their suffering.

Just like a friend might comfort you during a hard time, Paul notes multiple reasons for Christians to keep trusting in God even when days are hard.

First Paul points to the future. The Bible tells us that one day the universe will be renewed. It will be restored as a place where sin, pain and evil no longer exist. Our bodies will also be restored. No longer infected with sin. No longer able to experience pain, sadness, aging and so on (Romans 8:18-25).

Then Paul moves on to another comfort. We don’t just have hope for the future. Right now the Holy Spirit is with us, and is adding His perfect prayers to our stumbling, bumbling incomplete ones. No matter what we’re going through, we know that the Holy Spirit is praying perfect prayers for us (Romans 8:26-27).

In our reading for today, Paul offers yet another reason for Christians to lift up their heads while suffering. Way back before anything was created, God the Father looked forward in time and chose us to be His own people, to be saved from our sins (Romans 8:28-30).

We were Chosen from Eternity, by God the Father, to be Glorified with His Son.
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Romans 8:28–30 (ESV)

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
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It’s nice to have someone watching out for you, especially when you’re a little kid at the pool.

Just a few weeks ago, my three year old daughter Carmen started swimming lessons at the Lynnwood pool. We were a little late, but we rushed her in and she joined the rest of the little squids in the shallow end of the pool.

Now, it’s shallow, but Carmen is only a few feet tall. The swim teacher recognized right away that Carmen wasn’t tall enough to reach the bottom.

No problem. While the taller kids practiced blowing bubbles by the side of the pool, the littler ones had a platform to stand on in the pool so they could do the same.

It didn’t take long before Carmen needed rescuing. While the teacher was helping other kids, she started inching closer to the edge of the platform.

“Carmen, keep blowing bubbles AND stay on the platform”, the teacher said as Carmen got closer to the edge.

Testing her boundaries, Carmen stubbornly, and sneakily crept close and closer to the edge until – sploosh! She went under.

Calmly, the teacher reached out and pulled my sputtering little blonde up out of the “deep” and back onto the platform.

Later my wife said that Carmen was never really in danger. My wife said that she had seen both the teacher and the patrolling life guard mark Carmen as soon as she was standing on the platform. They knew what she was up to, even before she did.

I’ll say it again. It’s nice to have someone watching out for you.
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In our reading for today, the apostle Paul wants his fellow Christians to know that even before the world was created, God the Father was already watching out for us. Verse 29 says…

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:29 ESV).

This isn’t the only place in the bible that the teaching of Predestination is found. Perhaps the most well known verses on this subject are found in Ephesian 1, verse 3. There Paul tells his fellow Christians…

“3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Ephesians 1:3–10 NIV).

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When we hear that God chose some to be saved, the first thought we might think is, well, that means that God chose the rest to be damned. But that’s not very nice. In fact that’s downright evil. If God made some people just to put them in hell, that would make Him evil. But that’s not what the Bible says. In fact, the Bible clearly tells us that God wants, “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4 NKJV).

But, that truth bumps up against something else we know about God. We know that He is all-powerful. So, our human logic says, “If God is all-powerful, and He wants all people to be saved, how come the Bible says some will go to hell?”

Now, it’s likely that the solution for this mystery is bound up in the fact that God created human beings with free-will, not as robots who cannot stray from the program loaded into their minds.

But, even though we can say the solution is somehow connected to free-will, we still can’t identify a solution to this logical problem.

Of course, religious teachers throughout the ages have TRIED to reason this conundrum out. Some dispose of free-will and say that God chose some to be saved, and some to be damned, and there’s nothing you can do about it. But that’s not biblical. This kind of thinking makes God into a monster.

Others say salvation is either chosen or rejected by sinful man. In other words, WE decide to be saved or damned. But this also is not biblical. The Bible says that the Holy Spirit creates faith, not man. We don’t CHOOSE to believe, the Spirit convinces us that Jesus is our Savior through the Word of God.

The Bible teaches that God gets full credit for saving sinners, while the sinful person gets all the blame for being damned. This is not logical to our human minds, but all the same, it is what the Bible teaches, and what Christians believe.
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Now, I’ve taken the time to elaborate on predestination because I think it’s important that we understand what God says and what He does not. But Paul doesn’t elaborate on all this right here in Romans 8 because his point here is to comfort his fellow Christians who are suffering. And that’s what the teaching of predestination is for. God lets us in on the mind boggling teaching of predestination so that we will be comforted by His concern and plan for us. A plan which is older than dirt. A plan whose origin stretches back into the eternal mind of God.

Look again at our reading. Verse 28…

“28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified”(Romans 8:28–30 ESV).

Paul’s point is that in eternity, God chose us, and in time He reached out to take hold of us through the Good News of sins forgiven through Jesus. Christians, if God is really this involved in our lives, than we should be confident that EVERYTHING that happens in life will be used by God for our benefit. Whether it’s something good or bad.
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My brother Seth is a teacher. He once told me that some of the best lessons, he learned from the worst teachers. He learned what NOT to do.

Or think of the person who loses their job (BAD), only to find better work (GOOD). Maybe not higher paying work, but work that is more fulfilling, or better in some other way.

God uses the good and the bad events in the lives of Christians to benefit them. This should move us to trust God no matter what happens. Like it says in Eccelsiastes…

“14 When times are good, be happy;
but when times are bad, consider this:
God has made the one
as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14 NIV).

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Paul doesn’t just tell us that we have been chosen by the Father to be saved. He adds more detail. He says we’ve been predestined to be called through the Gospel of Christ and molded to resemble Jesus.

Verse 29 says…

“29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29 ESV).

Earlier in Romans, Paul talked about how through faith in Jesus, we become children of God. And as children of God we have the inheritance of heaven to look forward to. Here in verse 29 Paul tells us that there’s more to being children of God than receiving a heavenly inheritance. As children of God we are also called to receive the family resemblance.

Just as members of families resemble each other in their outward appearance, the members of God’s faith-family resemble each other. They take on the look of Jesus, God’s Son.

Paul says that this is part of God’s purpose in predestining us. He wants us to look like Jesus, not like the children of the world.
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Not long ago there were all sorts of bracelets, bumper stickers and t-shirts springing up that asked the question, “What would Jesus do?” And that’s good question for Christians to ask themselves. First we ask, “What DID Jesus do?” And the answer is, He lived, suffered and died so that all my sins stand forgiven before God the Father. But after that, we ask “How should I live as a forgiven sinner?” And the answer is - do what Jesus would do.

Paul once wrote a letter to a young pastor named Timothy. And in that letter Paul instructed him…

“11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called…” (1 Timothy 6:11-12a NIV).

Fighting the good fight of faith. Talking hold of the eternal life to which we were called. This means not clicking on the soft-porn offered on the side of your web-browser. This means trusting God instead of money. This means seeking to help our grumpy and difficult neighbors. This means patiently correcting our children when their behavior is bad. In all these ways and in so many other we are taking hold of the eternal life that we have been given through faith in Christ. In all these ways we are living the NEW life God always had planned for us. That life starts NOW, not in heaven.
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Really living as God’s children is part of Paul’s message here. But again, the main point is to comfort Christians in their suffering.

Look once more at verse 30. Paul directs his fellow Christians to see the overarching plan of God.

“…those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28–30 ESV).

Paul could have simply said, “those God predestined he also called, justified and glorified”. But He doesn’t say it that way. He spreads it all out to remind us that this domino effect is what God always had in mind. He set these dominos up in eternity with the purpose that each stage would follow the last. Paul’s point – God’s will for you will happen.

Like God says in Isaiah 55…

“10 As the rain and the snow
come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11-12 NIV).

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See the power of God in your life. In the future He will watch over you in heaven. Now, His Holy Spirit watches over you in life. And in the past, before the world began, God was already watching over you, and planning the events that would lead you to trust in Jesus for forgiveness. Planning the events that would lead you into His family forever.

No matter what may come, it must serve God’s purpose. Let this bring you comfort, even in pain and sorrow. Let this remind you to do what it says in Psalm 46, verse 10…

“Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10 NIV).

Amen.

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SERMON:

This summer we’ve been working through the book of Romans. Today we take up our second look at chapter 8.

Last Sunday, we looked at Romans 8:14-25. There the apostle Paul said that even though we are Children of God through faith in Jesus, we will still suffer in this life before we reach heaven.

It’s not that we have to suffer in order to EARN our salvation, Jesus already did that for us. He completely won our forgiveness of sins and gave it to us free of charge. It’s just that after we come to faith in Christ, we’re still living in a sin-broken world. This is a place where evil rules and pain lives, and if God still has things for us to do here before he takes us home, we’re going to feel some pain.

But in our reading from last Sunday Paul also pointed out that we have comfort in our suffering. And this comfort comes from the hope of renewal.

In the Bible God promises that the universe itself will one day be restored to its former glory. And not only that, God promises that our own bodies will be restored, renewed, recreated as they were intended to be: Sinless, perfect and eternal. In the middle of suffering, this sure hope of renewal can lift our heads and our spirits.

But, sometimes our faith wavers, and our hope dims. The shadows of our problems seem to tower above what we know to be true in Christ.

So, Paul moves on in Romans 8, to explain that we have more than hope for the future to help us through our sufferings. We also have the Holy Spirit working on our behalf, right now.

Romans 8:26-27 (ESV)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
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You ever “draw a blank”? Not know what to say? Forget someone’s name? Momentarily find yourself unable to recall the name of some very familiar place? Am I revealing to much about myself?

How often does this happen in our own prayers?

Maybe you’re like me. You move through your day coming across things to put on your prayer list. But your prayer list isn’t a piece of paper you keep in your pocket. It’s just a list in your head. So, when you settle in for the night and turn your thoughts to God and to prayer, all the sudden things that should be on your mental prayer list go missing.

Or maybe you start trying to think out a solution to those problems instead of praying them to God.

Or maybe you actually do remember the thing you wanted to pray about, but when crunch times comes you can’t find the words. You really don’t know what to ask God to do.

There are many ways that Paul’s words come true in our prayer life. When the time comes, “we do not know what to pray for as we ought” (verse 26).
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Here’s where the Holy Spirit steps in. Paul says that the “Spirit himself intercedes for us” (verse 26).

I think Paul says these words for a number of reasons. One is to simply call us back to prayer. To remind us to really use the gift of being able to text God our concerns.

But more than that, Paul wants to show us that in the middle of our sufferings, whatever they might be, the Holy Spirit is there. He loves us deeply, and so He does something for us. He prays for us when we fail to lift up the words which will bring God’s swift answer.

Paul wants his fellow Christians to be comforted in their sufferings because we know the Holy Spirit is helping us in ways we can’t even understand.
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In verse 6 Paul says that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. The idea behind this word “intercede” is something like this. Imagine the Holy Spirit leaning over a figure stooped in prayer, whispering things to God the Father.

Paul says that the Holy Spirit intercedes with “groanings too deep for words” (verse 26).

Paul wants us to marvel at the ability of the Holy Spirit to communicate for us. The Holy Spirit talks to God for Christ followers on a level that we aren’t even capable of.

It’s like best friends who know each other so well that communication doesn’t even need words. All it takes is a look, or a sigh, or a subtle shift in body language – and they know. They know what their friend is saying, even though no word is spoken.

Paul wants us both to admire the ability of the Holy Spirit to communicate for us, and He also wants his fellow Christians to find comfort in this. We never suffer in silence. The deepest needs and desires of the Christian sufferer are being communicated to the Father by the Holy Spirit who lives in us by faith in Christ.

When we stumble over our words in prayer to God, maybe we need to just step back and remember the Holy Spirit. Maybe we need to just say, “I don’t know God. But the Holy Spirit does. Listen to Him. Forget my rambling and my stutter filled prayers. Just listen to the Spirit for me.”
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Look at verse 27 again. There Paul says…

“27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:27 ESV)

.Sometimes the thing that hinders our prayers, is the fact that we don’t have God’s will in mind. In the book of James, James rebukes his fellow Christians by saying…

“…You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures” (James 4:2-3 NIV).

When our prayers don’t match up with God’s will, He’s a good Father. He doesn’t give us what we ask. Let me say that again, when our prayers don’t match up with God’s GOOD and PERFECT will, He’s a good Father. He doesn’t give us what we ask. He holds out and gives us what is BEST for us.
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Sometimes we even think we’re asking for the right thing. The thing that matches up with God’s will, but even though it seems so right to us, it’s not what God has in mind.

In Second Corinthians, the apostle Paul wrote…

“…in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10 NIV).

Paul had some kind of physical problem. He called it his “thorn in the flesh”. He considered it to be Satan’s doing, and therefore, he pleaded with God to take it away.

But God’s response was, you’re praying for the wrong thing. I’m not going to take this away because it’s going to keep you humble. Instead, you ought to learn to lean more on ME, and less on your SELF. That’s when you’re strongest.

I think God wants us to learn to pray about things from every angle. When suffering comes, maybe we ought to pray for that suffering to be taken away. Or, maybe we ought to pray for the strength to bear up under the pain. Maybe we should ask to bear our pain gracefully that others may see that our faith does not diminish when things don’t go exactly to plan. Maybe we ought to pray that God would make us learn from our situation. Maybe we ought to pray that God would give us compassion for others in the same situation.

The point is, in the middle of suffering, we get tunnel vision. We think – ONE SOLUTION, take it away, when there are many more angles to aim our prayers. We need to learn to pray down these other angles. In doing so we may stumble over God’s true purpose in a given situation.
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Paul wants us to learn how to pray better. How to see things from a greater perspective. He wants us to grow better at seeing things from God’s perspective. But more than that, Paul wants us to be comforted by the Holy Spirit’s perfect connection with the Father’s will.

When often fail to see God’s purpose in painful situations. But the Holy Spirit ALWAYS sees what God the Father is up to. The Holy Spirit and the Father are on the same page. They are in perfect sync.
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The main point of this section of Romans is this, we fail in prayer, but we have an amazing communicator on our side who prays for us asking exactly what we need.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you suffer, find comfort in this – the Holy Spirit is praying for YOU. And what He prays is the perfect prayer for you.
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I once had an art class in which we did some pottery. I made a little beer stein as a gift for my dad. It was an ugly little mug that had Snoopy on it, but it was for dad.

Well, at the end of class one day, before the mug had been fired in the kiln, I dropped it. The dry and fragile clay shattered into what seemed like a million pieces. In disgust I threw the pieces in the junk-clay bucket by the sink. I couldn’t put the pieces back together. It was a lost cause.

But the next day, the mug was sitting at my spot. My art teacher, Mr. Pronzinski, had painstakingly puzzled the pieces back together, wetting each one and rejoining them with care.

That’s what the Holy Spirit does with our prayers. Sometimes we’re missing pieces. Sometimes we don’t have the skill to arrange the words. Sometimes we wander off dejected and sad on some prayer path far from God’s will.

But God the Spirit puts those pieces back together for us, and sends them off to the Father. And so often we don’t even realize it.
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Put this on your prayer list tonight. Thank the Holy Spirit for loving you that much. For being patience enough to speak up for sinners like us. For knowing the Father’s will perfectly, and patiently teaching us how to pray in step with Him. Amen.

And the Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds, in Christ Jesus.

Not Worth Comparing - Aug 21, 2011

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SERMON:

At the end of June we started studying the book of Romans during our sermon time. For the past few Sundays we’ve taken a break from that, and considered some other things. Today, we’re going to dive back into the book of Romans.

Now, Romans was written by the apostle Paul, but inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is God’s Word. And therefore, it really is like a river. Some of it is easy enough for children to splash through, while other parts are deep enough that even the wisest theologians can’t touch the bottom.

At times Romans is a heavy book, and it takes concentration to gather in and understand all that the Holy Spirit would teach us through it.
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One of the easiest teachings that comes up over and over in the first seven chapters of Romans is the teaching of “justification by faith”. Now, that sounds technical, but it’s easy to understand. Justification by faith simply means that sinners get to heaven through a simple trust in Jesus. That’s the only way. Sinners are forgiven because Jesus is the Son of God. He died in our place. Even the worst of sinners who trust in Him for forgiveness, are stamped “SINLESS” by God.

Paul talks about “justification by faith” in Romans 3, verse 20…

“…righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:22-24 NIV).

Jesus died for your sins. Through faith in Him, God considers you a saint. Sinless and perfect. Forgiven in full. If this were the only thing you remembered from Romans, Paul would be happy.
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Another teaching that comes out in the first seven chapters of Romans is the teaching that there is an inner war going on inside all followers of Christ.

We all know that you can’t change what’s in a bottle by simple putting a different label on it. When a sinner comes to faith in Jesus, God labels that person sinless. But sins still happen in that person’s life.

But God doesn’t JUST label us sinless when we come to faith, God ALSO gives His Holy Spirit into us to reform us. To teach us how to live God’s way. To lead us to confess our sins and receive forgiveness. To lead us to forgive others when they sin against us.

But the Holy Spirit has an enemy who also lives within us. Our old sinful nature. The old us wants to destroy our faith in Jesus. So he leads us to sin. To things that the Spirit of God doesn’t want us to do. Things that are damaging to us, and to our faith.

Paul talks about this inner war in Romans 6, verse 11…

“…Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:21-25a NIV).

This inner war isn’t going to end until heaven. But because of Jesus, we don’t have to be slaves to sin now. We have been forgiven, and the Holy Spirit lives within our hearts to lead us.
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Enough review. The text for our mediation this morning comes from Romans 8. In this chapter Paul talks about the suffering that followers of Christ will have to endure before we reach heaven.

Romans 8:14-25 (NIV)

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
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We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. We believe that because He suffered and died in our place, our sins have been forgiven. The Holy Spirit has convinced our hearts of this through the Bible, and through Christians who have brought this message to us personally.

Paul says that if this is true, if the Spirit of God has brought us to faith and is still with us, then we’re “Children of God” and heirs of God. Instead of hell and shame, our inheritance is Heaven and glory. Through faith in Christ, we have become Children of God.
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But then Paul starts talking about our “present sufferings”. Becoming a Child of God doesn’t mean that God is going to suddenly whisk us up into heaven. Very few Christians have had the joy of being taken to heaven shortly after coming to faith.

So why? Why does God leave the ones that He loves in this broken, painful, frustrating and exhausting world? Why does God leave His Children here?

Because He has more things for us to do here. Because there are young one to raise so that they know Christ. So that they are productive Christians, bringing glory to God and sinners to peace. There are friends to make and friends to support in hard times. There are fellow Christians to correct and encourage. There are a million different answers to that question, “Why does God leave His Children in this world”. I guess the simplest is that He has more things for us to do here.
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There will be pain in our lives. There will be suffering. Paul knew it. On one of the journeys Paul took to preach the Good News of Sins forgiven through Jesus, he ended up getting seriously injured. Paul’s enemies stirred up a crowd in the city of Iconium and got the people to stone Paul to death. Well, they thought He was dead anyway and then dragged him out of the city and left him.

But Paul wasn’t dead. He got up and moved on. Shortly after, in another city, Paul told a small group of Christians to remain strong and hold onto the faith because…

“…We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God…” (Acts 14:22b NIV).

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As we go through these hardships, Paul wants us to be encouraged. That’s why he reminds us that the race is already won. We aren’t going through hardships in order to earn heaven, Jesus has already earned and given us forgiveness, peace with God and heaven as our final inheritance. That work is already done.

Paul says, look to the future you have in Christ for encouragement when you’re feeling weighed down and worn out. Look at Paul’s words in verse 18…

“18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NIV).

Note that Paul doesn’t say, “Come on you wimps, I’ve suffered ten times what you have.” He doesn’t encourage us to get through our suffering by beating ourselves up for what we’re feeling. Instead He says, get your head up! Look at what’s coming. The glory that we’re going to experience in the presence of God is so much greater than anything we could suffer in this life, that it’s not even worth comparing.

In heaven we’re not going to sit around comparing scars and swapping stories about the terrible suffering we had to go through. The amazing glory of being with God, in a renewed body that doesn’t feel pain is going overshadow our past sufferings like Mount Rainier compared to a mole hill.
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Paul gives us a glimpse of the glory He’s talking about in verse 19…

“19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21 NIV).

When we look around us, we see a world that is full of things God didn’t want in His Creation. God didn’t plan earthquakes and tidal waves that destroy cities, villages and kill thousands. God didn’t design animals to eat their own young, or predators who stalk the weak as their food source? But when Adam and Eve sinned, God let sin bleed right into the fabric of our universe.

God did this for two reasons. One, so that all humans would would know that this world is not it. This world is not what it should be. There is something wrong with this world, and that thing is sin. This is not our final home.

The second reason that God cursed the physical universe after Adam and Eve sinned, is what Paul talks about here. So that in the end, when the Children of God are revealed and renewed, the renewal of the universe will make that day all the more glorious. The broken universe is breathtaking now. Imagine what it will be when it all flows in harmony together, without the effects of sin and pain and death.

God talks about renewing the universe in other places in the Bible also. In Isaiah 11 it says…

6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:6-9 NIV).

And in Revelation 21 it says…

“1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” m for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ u or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life” (Revelation 21:1-6 NIV).

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When we look forward to heaven, it’s natural to groan under the weight of our present pains. It’s natural to long for the time when we won’t just read about glory, but when we will see it with our own eyes. Look at verse 22…

“22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently” (Romans 8:22-25 NIV).

Groaning is okay. There’s a difference between groaning and grumbling. When we imagine what living with God will be like and we groan inwardly, we’re expressing our deep longing to be with God, and free from our present sufferings. And that’s just fine. It reminds us that this world isn’t all there is. And we shouldn’t live our lives like this world is all there is. Because of Christ, we have a future glory which outshines everything we now know.

I don’t know what you’re struggling through right now. Maybe it’s not much. Maybe it’s huge and heavy. Whatever it is, don’t hold it yourself. Let Jesus hold it up by praying it into His hands.

Our present sufferings may seem everlasting, but they’re not. They are temporary. God has made us His own Children through Christ. And He will bring us home at last. To a universe, renewed in glory. To our own bodies, renewed in glory. To a renewed and sinless self. To living face to face with God. To freedom from a broken and dying world. To final adoption into God’s House.
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To close our meditation today I’m going to read two verses. One spoken by Paul, and one written by him. Dear Christians, Children of God through faith in our Savior, let these verses stick with you in hard times.

“…We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God…” (Acts 14:22b NIV).

“18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NIV).

All praise and honor and glory be to Jesus, who makes the future of sinners like us, a future full of joy and glory.

Amen.

The Peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Give Your Soul a Vacation - Aug 14, 2011

This Sunday’s Sermon was written by Pastor Michael M. Eichstadt and provided through “Ministry by Mail”. To read it online go to “Ministry by Mail” by clicking here.

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In Service to Christ,
-Pastor Caleb Schaller