Rm14

There is a big difference between being "judgmental" towards other's preferences and being tolerant toward sin! This chapter is about "doubtful issues" (preferences) not right and wrong!

Some people live their lives to condemn anything people choose to do that is NOT what they would choose to do. They love to "judge" others for their life choices which are neither right or wrong. We all know these people. We have all been them at times.

Jesus was gracious to all people. He was not condemning of sinners, but He definitely wasn't "tolerant" toward sin! To be "like" Jesus would be to express love to all sinners and to take a bold stand against sin.

Rm13

"Submit to governing authorities, for there is NO authority except from God" v. 1

This is probably the most difficult principle to embrace in the whole bible! It's easy to submit when authority is godly. It's hard when authority is godless! But Paul jumps all human authority and goes directly to God. To disobey authority is to disobey God. We live to please God. God is pleased when we joyfully submit to authority.

This is not just a difficult chapter, it is a difficult reality. We resist and rebel against authority. God desires to grow our character and do His work as we submit to authority! It begins with our parents and extends to teachers, coaches, bosses and government. If a child doesn't learn to obey his parents (mostly a parent's job), he or she will struggle in every area of life.

We are always under authority. How we respond to it is a great window into our relationship with God.

Rm12

The clear command from this chapter is, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds." Change our thinking, change our living! Don't live as though we are the most important person alive. Use our lives to serve God not ourselves.

My kids often will say, "Everyone is doing it". To them the fact that the majority are doing something is a good reason why they should be allowed to do it as well! The fact is, if everyone is doing something the opposite is most likely true. God does not call us to be the same as everyone in the world, He calls us to be radically different.

But what does He mean by different? Examine this chapter closely. What does it say? In a nutshell Paul uses a powerful word picture to summarize his idea; Living Sacrifice. His desire is for us to live to "please God". His heart is that we die to our selfish desires and choose to live for Christ. God wants our entire lives to be offerings of worship to Him.

This is a challenge. Be different today. Almost no one is doing it. 

Rm11

"You stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid." These are troubling words in this chapter. Let's stop and think about them a bit. What is Paul saying? Is he saying that we could actually lose our salvation? Is He saying that God is capricious with HIs authority and election? I don't think so.

One of the greatest struggles in the first century church was race. God's chosen people, the Jews, were especially prejudice towards every non-Jew (Gentiles). Jews could not envision salvation for any Gentile who did not become a Jew. Their self-righteous arrogance kept them from seeing that salvation was for "all peoples".

In the same way, these new "Gentile" believers could become blinded by their arrogance and neglect the gracious gift of salvation. Faith, not race will determine salvation. God's choice, not man's choice seals salvation. Understanding salvation should produce humility and gratitude, not arrogance and elitism.

Rm10

In the midst of Paul's most difficult teaching on God's sovereignty, we find this beautiful verse! "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."

Evangelism is not the desperate attempts of man to save people, but rather the obedient work of believers who know that God is saving people! We engage with the great commission precisely because we know that Jesus died for the sins of the world and He wants people to be saved.

Paul said, "This is the message of faith that we proclaim." Are we "proclaiming" it? Are we telling others about Jesus? Are we investing in the things that truly matter?

Rm9

God's foreknowledge of all things does not negate His justice! It highlights both His mercy and compassion!

For centuries scholars have struggled with this chapter. Their struggle is not with God's sovereignty, but rather with man's inability to choose a future different than the one God has already "chosen". We cry "foul" on God! We want to explain God in human terms. We want to reduce God to human characteristics.

If God were not sovereign, He would cease to be God. If He were not God, He could not save. If He cannot save, we are not able to be saved. To argue away God's sovereignty is to argue against our salvation. We cannot save ourselves.

God's election is the most beautiful picture of both His mercy and compassion! Rejoice in salvation today. Our salvation is rooted in God's choice not ours. This is what makes salvation sure.

Rm8

When the bible says that "nothing can separate us from the love of God" it means NOTHING can separate us from the love of God! Our salvation is rooted and sealed by God! All His works are permanent and rooted in His activity NOT ours. 

When we begin to believe that our relationship with God is somehow rooted in our activity, we begin to treat God as though He is human. He is not. His relationship with us is HIS choosing. His choices are eternally permanent. What He does, He does for good. God is not fickle or capricious. His love for us has been poured out through Jesus.

There is nothing more "guaranteed" in this life than the permanence of God's love for those He has saved. Eternity is secure. Don't let doubt and condemnation (struggles we all have) become the things that rob our joy and keep us from living for Christ.

Rm7

How much influence should the law and sin have on our daily activity? Paul's answer, "The same as a widowed spouse!" The Spirit and righteousness has come and eliminated the former relationship we had with sin and flesh.

Yet…we are still alive to sin and tempted by our flesh. Paul says, "For in my inner self, I joyfully agree with God's law. But I see a different law in the parts of my body, waging war…" To live the christian life is not a "walk in the park", but rather, a daily war against two real and living desires.

To live for God and what truly matters is a choice that we will have to make every day! It is a choice that will be unnatural to us until we escape this life and are able to literally be with Jesus.

Choose to live for Christ today.

Rm6

What runs our lives? Is it pursuing God and His desires or is it pursuing our own selfish desires? There really are only two paths. Either we are pursuing God and His righteousness or SIN. Selfish pursuits are sinful pursuits.

The "old way of life" (which is actually death) is defined by self and sin. The "new way of life" (which is real life) is defined by God and righteousness. What is clear in this text is that the gospel changes everything! The primary thing it changes is WHO is the leader in our lives.

Will we continue to be slaves to our own desires and pursue what we want? Or will we choose to follow Jesus and refuse to give in to ourselves and sin? These are two very different paths. We cannot unite the two. There is no such thing as pursuing Jesus for selfish reasons.

Rm5

Because of Christ, we have been given an "all access" pass to God! What once would have been a pouring out of God's wrath, has now become the overflow of His grace and mercy!

There is no better news. This is the gospel. What we could not do, Jesus did. What we could have never done, Jesus did for us. Though we were at one time far from God, we can now draw near to Him. Without fear. Without Judgement. Without guilt. Without condemnation.

Are we grateful for the cross today. "While we were sinners, Christ died for us." Wow. Ponder this thought today.

Rm4

Abraham was "declared" righteous because of his faith. Prior to God's declaration, he was totally unrighteous. His "works" did not justify him, it was "God's work", by faith.

No work or amount of works could ever have justified Abraham. And no work or amount of works can ever justify us. Anyone and everyone who is "made righteous", is made righteous by God. Salvation is an act of God's mercy, made possible through His grace. Our faith, not works, is the connector between God's gift and our salvation.

I am so grateful for God's grace that has brought about our salvation. 

Rm3

We are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." There is no better news than this. Period.

What we have done (sin), is enough to destroy any possibility of a relationship with God. What Jesus did, (died for our sin), is enough to bring us into relationship with Him. Jesus did what we could have never done, so that we could have what He has always had…relationship with God!

How does it get any better than that? I am so grateful that my sin has been paid for by Jesus! I don't have to die because of what I have done that is deserving of death. I don't have to suffer the consequences that I deserve. I get hope. I get life. I get heaven.

Thank you Jesus!!!!

Rm2

The greatest distraction to the gospel is often those who claim to know it! Are people drawn to know Jesus because we claim to know Him? If not, we maybe should reevaluate our "knowledge".

Romans 2 challenges our lives and motives. Are we "practicing" what we preach? Do we say one thing and yet do another? Are we quick to judge those who believe different than us, but actually have never convinced anyone to believe what we believe? Do people want to know Jesus because we know Jesus?

Paul was not unclear. We will all stand before God someday. Our words on that day will mean nothing. Our hearts will be examined and our lives will give testimony to the reality of our hearts. 

Rm1

What were the sins of these "depraved people"? They did not "glorify God as God or show gratitude" and they "did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God." So God gave them over to their own desires…more sin!

Sin is the natural result of not seeking after God. It is unnatural for any human to follow hard after Jesus. It is easy to deny Him, serve self and follow after sinful and shameful ways. The big sins listed in this chapter are not same sex immoralities, but rather failing to worship and serve the One true God. Sin is the natural result of a lack of worship!!

We tend to rank sins. The worst sins are those "we don't do". Yet Romans 1 makes it clear, the worst sin that sits at the beginning of all of these sins is, failure to worship God and give Him glory and gratitude.

Will we worship God today with our lives? Will His word and His ways be a priority to us? If not, we are no better than those who engage in what we would consider the "worst of sins", because we are sinning in the "worst possible way!"

Mt28

The local church is the context for making disciples. To not believe this is to believe that the first disciples didn't understand the great commission!

Clearly, Jesus commanded His disciples to "Go and make disciples." We call this command the Great Commission. We would not know Jesus today if they had not fulfilled that command. But never forget the context in which the disciples believed disciples should be made. Context is critical, if not essential! The context for disciple-making is the local church.

To "make disciples" outside of the local church is like raising children outside of a family! We all know and believe that healthy children are born and raised inside the context of a God-honoring family. It is God's intentional design. The same is true for His spiritual family! Spiritual children are to be raised within the context of God's people…the local church.

To not place a high value on church is to totally misunderstand the Great Commission.

Mt27

"Crucify Him! His blood be on us and our children!" - the mob

As Jesus was about to shed His blood for the sins of the world, the mob shouted to take responsibility for His death! Their words were true… Jesus' blood was about to be shed because of them! But they had no idea that this "shedding of blood" would not condemn them before God, but would ultimately cleans all who would believe.

The mobs sins were already enough for their condemnation. It only takes one. This horrible murder wasn't their worst sin. It became their saving grace! Peter would later proclaim, "This Jesus, whom you crucified is the savior of the world." Many would later repent and believe.

In fact, "His blood was on them." Not for condemnation, but rather for salvation. Wow.

Mt26

Can you imagine being with Jesus the first time He instituted the Lord's supper? He said, "This is My blood that establishes the covenant; it is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins." What must have been going on it the hearts and minds of the disciples?

They had no way of knowing what was about to happen! This had to be one of the oddest things they had ever heard come from the lips of Jesus. What did He mean? What was He talking about? What have we done to follow a teacher who would say such things?

Now imagine what it would have been like to celebrate "the Lord's supper" for the first time in Acts! NOW they knew! Now they can remember all that Jesus did for them! I bet they rarely shared communion without tears. Tears of sorry and of joy.

What is communion like for us? What affections does it stir in our hearts? What memories does it generate? Christ died for us. This fact should STILL be effecting His disciples today.

Mt25

"Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of Mine, you did it for Me." -Jesus

The point of the parable of the sheep and the goats is that our faith looks like something! Jesus is not teaching that "good works" will get us to heaven, but He is teaching that faith produces good works! What separates the sheep and the goats? What they did! What motivated their action? Their desire to please the Master.

Activity that is motivated by personal gain is activity that will profit nothing. Actions motivated by faith will be rewarded. Jesus preaches a faith that works, not a faith of works or a works based faith! Subtle differences but very critical to gospel understanding.

Mt24

"Who is a faithful and sensible slave, whom the master has put in charge of his household? That slave whose master finds him working when he comes. Be ready." - Jesus

Jesus is coming again and every indicator in scripture would say His coming will be soon! If christians in the first century were to live as though Jesus would return in their lifetimes, how much more should we live "ready" over 2000 years later? Personally, I don't want to be surprised when Jesus returns. I want to be working and ready.

One doesn't have to extend their vision too far into this world to know that the times are ripe for Christ's return. And one doesn't have to extend vision too far to know that most believers (at least in our country) will be shocked and unprepared! Be ready.

Mt23

Jesus said to the religious elite of His day, "How can you escape the condemnation of hell?" He also told the crowd, "Do what they say, but don't do what they do."

What was the problem? In a nutshell Jesus said they "did not practice what they taught". They said one thing and did another! They defined hypocrisy. Their teachings were burdensome and condemning. Their lives were full of judgement and criticism.

But what about us? Are we the same on the inside as we are on the outside? Are we quick to admit fault and ask for forgiveness? Do we tell our children, "do what I say, not what I do" or "follow me as I follow Christ"? Do we live a duplicitous life? I hope not. I pray not.

Live one life today. Jesus said, "the greatest among you is the servant of all."

Mt22

We are talking about our country and potential leaders more than ever these days, but are we praying for our country and its leaders? Jesus wants christians to be prayerful people. He wants us to set the pace for loving Him and loving each other. Government won't change a human heart. Only God can do that.

"Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's, and to God what is God's". We tend to want the most from our government while always contributing the absolute minimum required by law! We treat God the same way. We want Him to serve us while we desire to do the absolute minimum for Him.

Our problem is not poor leadership in government. Our problem is poor leadership among God's people. God help us to pray that He will reign in our hearts and that we will love others as He does.