Romans Chapter 10 cont'd
But how will they be able to call on him if they don't know what to believe? And how will they know what to believe if they don't first hear the good news? How can anyone hear the good news without hearing it through a preacher? And how can anyone preach the good news without being commissioned by God to do so? But he has commissioned people to preach it, as the scripture says, "How beautiful are the messengers who bring to others the good news of peace and the joyful report of God's good gifts for people!" But not everyone who has heard it has welcomed the good news. As Isaiah laments, "Who has believed our report?"
So then, faith happens in response to truly hearing the word of God. So I ask you, has God's word really gone forth? Yes it has! As the psalmist points out, "all creation resonates with God's message to all the peoples of the earth."
Comments:
This section of Romans 10 reminds me of a book written by the brilliant historian/theologian and Anglican bishop, N. T. Wright, called Simply Christian. God is using him in a wonderful way to engage our postmodern and postChrisitan culture with the essence of true faith. He is generous, wise, engaging and compelling. The well-known author of vampire lore, Anne Rice, came back to faith in Jesus by reading his books. I even saw him recently on The Colbert Report...it was really hilarious. He is sneaking into all kinds of venues...major universities included.
In the first section of this book, the kind and erudite bishop posits that there are four basic universal longings of the human heart that anyone can identify with: relational connection, beauty, justice and spirituality. He compares these longings to an "echo" of a voice that is reverberating throughout history and creation. In the second section of the book, he presents Jesus as the original "voice" that created the echo and then, in his incarnation, puts a face to the voice. Jesus then personally bears and takes away the guilt and shame of all humanity...only to rise again to impart new life to the earth. The third section of the book is all about the people of God who have been ushered into the reality of the new creation inaugurated by Jesus...and their journey to reflect his love, beauty, justice and reality to God's broken, but beloved world.
The witness of creation testifies of its Designer through a gracious general divine revelation that the content of the gospel of Jesus more fully and specifically reveals, explains and confirms. These two witnesses are ordained by God and necessary in order for the whole world to come to know the love of God and return to him in loving friendship. There is a story told about the great American lady, Helen Keller, who was born deaf, blind and dumb and thereby totally cut off from communications with everyone and all that was around her. When she finally learned to communicate through the extreme and patient efforts of Annie Sullivan, her teacher...and she first heard about Jesus Christ...she said this: "I already know him, I just didn't know his name. Thank you for telling me his name."
What an honor it is to tell the people of the world (both the people God brings our way and also sends us to) about the love of God in Jesus. Let's unashamedly tell of his love, beauty, justice and nearness.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 66
Romans Chapter 10 cont'd
But the righteousness based on believing God has a different dynamic according to the scripture, "You don't need to ascend into heaven." (Neither can you make the Messiah come down from heaven.) "You don't need to descend into the grave." (Neither can you raise Messiah from the dead.) Only God could do such things. But what does it say? "God's salvation which we preach to you is within your reach- it's very near. It's in your mouth and in your heart." He has already accomplished it for you, just believe it!
If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus as your Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be forgiven and declared righteous by God. For it is by believing in our hearts and verbally affirming our faith in Jesus, that we receive God's free gift of salvation. Remember, the scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed." God is loving and generous and he is the Lord of all ethnic groups. He will respond to the penitent cry of absolutely anyone who will call on the name of Jesus Christ and save them from their sins.
Comments:
So...this is the golden nugget of the gospel of Jesus. An old righteousness (eternally old!)...God's righteousness...has now come near and become astoundingly accessible to all people groups and each individual person within them...because he has brought it to us in Person. It's the only "righteousness" that will do...ours is like filthy rags...until he clothes us with his...until his becomes personally ours by trusting Jesus from our deep heart.
It simply isn't about our power, goodness, talent, greatness, accomplishments, sensitivity, social status, wealth, religious background, race or gender. True salvation for the human being is totally tied to the Father sending his Son, Jesus, into this world. Jesus showed us the Father's nature and will in his earthly life and ministry. Jesus bore the guilt and shame of the sins of all humanity and died on the cross. The Father raised Jesus from death to life on the third day by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our essential spiritual transformation...even these many years later...is activated very simply: God did this for us in Jesus...we believe it...we openly confess it to God himself and any who might hear our voice...and the miracle occurs...God's own righteousness...God's very eternal life...is infused into our souls by the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
My dear friends...whatever heights of spiritual life you have scaled or aspire to mount...please never forget or neglect this Rock from which true spiritual life is hewn. Come back to him again and again and again...come daily...come hourly...come moment by moment by breathing out subterranean prayers as you take on the tasks, endure the trials and drink in the simple joys of life...and lean into the Righteous One who is the very source of your life.
But the righteousness based on believing God has a different dynamic according to the scripture, "You don't need to ascend into heaven." (Neither can you make the Messiah come down from heaven.) "You don't need to descend into the grave." (Neither can you raise Messiah from the dead.) Only God could do such things. But what does it say? "God's salvation which we preach to you is within your reach- it's very near. It's in your mouth and in your heart." He has already accomplished it for you, just believe it!
If you will confess with your mouth, Jesus as your Lord, believing in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be forgiven and declared righteous by God. For it is by believing in our hearts and verbally affirming our faith in Jesus, that we receive God's free gift of salvation. Remember, the scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed." God is loving and generous and he is the Lord of all ethnic groups. He will respond to the penitent cry of absolutely anyone who will call on the name of Jesus Christ and save them from their sins.
Comments:
So...this is the golden nugget of the gospel of Jesus. An old righteousness (eternally old!)...God's righteousness...has now come near and become astoundingly accessible to all people groups and each individual person within them...because he has brought it to us in Person. It's the only "righteousness" that will do...ours is like filthy rags...until he clothes us with his...until his becomes personally ours by trusting Jesus from our deep heart.
It simply isn't about our power, goodness, talent, greatness, accomplishments, sensitivity, social status, wealth, religious background, race or gender. True salvation for the human being is totally tied to the Father sending his Son, Jesus, into this world. Jesus showed us the Father's nature and will in his earthly life and ministry. Jesus bore the guilt and shame of the sins of all humanity and died on the cross. The Father raised Jesus from death to life on the third day by the power of the Holy Spirit. Our essential spiritual transformation...even these many years later...is activated very simply: God did this for us in Jesus...we believe it...we openly confess it to God himself and any who might hear our voice...and the miracle occurs...God's own righteousness...God's very eternal life...is infused into our souls by the same power that raised Christ from the dead.
My dear friends...whatever heights of spiritual life you have scaled or aspire to mount...please never forget or neglect this Rock from which true spiritual life is hewn. Come back to him again and again and again...come daily...come hourly...come moment by moment by breathing out subterranean prayers as you take on the tasks, endure the trials and drink in the simple joys of life...and lean into the Righteous One who is the very source of your life.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 65
Romans Chapter 10
Dear brothers and sisters, I long with all my heart and pray to God for the Jews to come to faith in Jesus. I have to give them credit, they have a zeal for God, but they are unenlightened. Since they are ignorant of God's righteousness and are trying to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to receive the truth about the righteousness of God. This good news of Christ puts a final end to people ever thinking that they have to earn God's righteousness by their efforts.
Long ago Moses described the dynamics of the kind of righteousness that is earned, "The person who tries to earn righteousness must be totally consistent." But the righteousness based on believing God has a different dynamic according to the scripture, "You don't need to ascend into heaven." (Neither can you make the Messiah come down from heaven.) "You don't need to descend into the grave." (Neither can you raise Messiah from the dead.) Only God could do such things. But what does it say? "God's salvation which we preach to you is within your reach- it's very near. It's in your mouth and in your heart." He has already accomplished it for you, just believe it!
Comments:
Self-justification is, and has always been, a powerful force in human nature...and it shows itself in many forms. It is rooted in our attempts to avoid the thoughts, emotions and consequences of both guilt and shame. These too are powerful forces in human life...and our attempts to handle them impel us to all sorts of strange gyrations.
In the insightful book by the Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace, the team of authors identify four "boxes" in which we tend to place ourselves rather than squarely facing our weaknesses or failings...the "I'm-Better-Than" box; the "I'm-Worse-Than" (ironic) box; the "I-Deserve" box and the "I-Must-Be-Seen-As" box. Climbing into (or just living within) these boxes for fear of having our failures exposed, is all about us saving our sense of pride by erecting a defensive shell to wrongly protect our fragile egos. (I personally prefer a box fort with two connecting rooms!) Oh the wars...personal ones all the way to international ones...that have been waged throughout history because of these forces.
The gospel of Jesus provides us with a simple way off of this dizzying merry-go-round of living a life of self-justification that saps so much of our energy. Here is the reality. We aren't intrinsically better or worse than anyone. We don't actually "deserve" anything except..and I say this with tears in my heart...God's judgment. And finally, only God sees us for who we really are...and that's what truly matters...because we can't ultimately control how other people may perceive us and how they do won't matter in the end.
The horrific "price" we pay for this...and I say this with my tongue clearly in my cheek...is to humble ourselves like children, agree with God and simply trust in Jesus Christ--who he is and what he has done. The miracle of God's love and peace and joy then comes upon us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Dear brothers and sisters, I long with all my heart and pray to God for the Jews to come to faith in Jesus. I have to give them credit, they have a zeal for God, but they are unenlightened. Since they are ignorant of God's righteousness and are trying to establish their own, they have not submitted themselves to receive the truth about the righteousness of God. This good news of Christ puts a final end to people ever thinking that they have to earn God's righteousness by their efforts.
Long ago Moses described the dynamics of the kind of righteousness that is earned, "The person who tries to earn righteousness must be totally consistent." But the righteousness based on believing God has a different dynamic according to the scripture, "You don't need to ascend into heaven." (Neither can you make the Messiah come down from heaven.) "You don't need to descend into the grave." (Neither can you raise Messiah from the dead.) Only God could do such things. But what does it say? "God's salvation which we preach to you is within your reach- it's very near. It's in your mouth and in your heart." He has already accomplished it for you, just believe it!
Comments:
Self-justification is, and has always been, a powerful force in human nature...and it shows itself in many forms. It is rooted in our attempts to avoid the thoughts, emotions and consequences of both guilt and shame. These too are powerful forces in human life...and our attempts to handle them impel us to all sorts of strange gyrations.
In the insightful book by the Arbinger Institute, The Anatomy of Peace, the team of authors identify four "boxes" in which we tend to place ourselves rather than squarely facing our weaknesses or failings...the "I'm-Better-Than" box; the "I'm-Worse-Than" (ironic) box; the "I-Deserve" box and the "I-Must-Be-Seen-As" box. Climbing into (or just living within) these boxes for fear of having our failures exposed, is all about us saving our sense of pride by erecting a defensive shell to wrongly protect our fragile egos. (I personally prefer a box fort with two connecting rooms!) Oh the wars...personal ones all the way to international ones...that have been waged throughout history because of these forces.
The gospel of Jesus provides us with a simple way off of this dizzying merry-go-round of living a life of self-justification that saps so much of our energy. Here is the reality. We aren't intrinsically better or worse than anyone. We don't actually "deserve" anything except..and I say this with tears in my heart...God's judgment. And finally, only God sees us for who we really are...and that's what truly matters...because we can't ultimately control how other people may perceive us and how they do won't matter in the end.
The horrific "price" we pay for this...and I say this with my tongue clearly in my cheek...is to humble ourselves like children, agree with God and simply trust in Jesus Christ--who he is and what he has done. The miracle of God's love and peace and joy then comes upon us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 64
Romans Chapter 9 cont'd
God spoke through Hosea the prophet, "I will transform rejected and unlovely people and make them my accepted and loved ones, so that where I used to say to them, 'You are not my people', now I will say to those very same ones, 'You are the children of the living God'." Isaiah also prophesied about Israel, "Although the numbers of Jews are as many as the grains of sand in the sea, only a remnant of them will truly be saved. For the Lord will fulfill his prophetic declarations concerning both his righteous judgments and his salvation in the earth, and he will do it swiftly at the appointed time." Isaiah prophetically said of this remnant: "Unless the Lord who rules creation preserves a faithful remnant of Jews, our whole nation will be swept away in judgment like Sodom and Gomorrah were."
So here's the great ironic mystery of history. The Gentiles, who were not seeking salvation from the God of Israel, stumbled upon it by simply believing in the Messiah Jesus. But the Jews, who have worked so hard to earn salvation have stumbled over God's salvation plan, and have therefore failed to find it. Why is this so? Because the Jews have gotten caught in the trap of self-righteousness and their pride has blinded them from simple faith in God which is the basis of salvation. As God prophesied through scripture, "Behold, I have strategically placed my Messiah as a rock in the path of the Jewish people which scandalizes and offends all who are religiously or ethnically proud. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."
Comments:
Paul uses three examples to OT prophecy (and there are others like them) to reinforce one of his main points in Romans...the Jewish scriptures themselves point to the fact that God would one day fling open the doors of his salvation far and wide to call all the nations to receive the Messiah and enter in to the covenant relationship that he has always had with his people through Abraham. Jesus and his apostles made it clear time and again the this decisive hour in the Big God-Story of human history had now arrived and all people, Jews and gentiles, were equally invited to turn around spiritually put their personal faith in Jesus the Christ. God had personally come to earth, in Jesus, to put things right...to show forth his mercy and display his justice.
All the first Jesus followers were Jews and they clearly viewed themselves as the firstfruits of the believing "remnant" prophesied about by the ancient Jewish prophets. The fact that the majority of the first century Jews did not embrace Jesus as the promised Messiah did not dissuade them in the least from this conviction. Rather, they humbly viewed the tragic unbelief of their fellow Jews (and the subsequent joyful reception of Jesus by many gentiles and their inclusion in the now fulfilled Abrahamic covenant) as a further confirmation of the prophetic warnings issued by their own prophets..."the rock that the 'builders' rejected, had indeed become the chief cornerstone" as Isaiah had foretold. Thousands of first century Jews did follow Jesus (and thousands more have come to faith in our generation alone), and so instead of thinking that God was untrue to his promises to save "Israel", there is a way of looking at and reframing this history to realize that God was, in fact, more than faithful and true to his promises.
A further irony has been created so many hundreds of years later. The people involved in "Christendom", have been and are now, perched on a similar spiritual precipice as were the Jews of the first century. The church world has been populated by many people who have experienced certain rituals and rites of initiation and embraced certain social conventions by being born into a "christian" culture. But these things alone have never been the essential basis of entering and enjoying covenant with the living God. There must also be, beneath all this, a genuine personal and heart-felt conversion to Christ that provides an individual person with a miraculous spiritual birth and a new heart for the Spirit's home, that longs and chooses to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of one's whole life.
Religious self-righteousness and spiritual pride can creep and settle in over generations (or even within a few years!) to effectively cut people off from an interactive relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit...people who are placing their spiritual security in the outward forms of faith, rather than in the heart of the matter. This kind of religious-ness is undoubtedly the kind of thing that Jesus, if nothing else, came to overturn.
God spoke through Hosea the prophet, "I will transform rejected and unlovely people and make them my accepted and loved ones, so that where I used to say to them, 'You are not my people', now I will say to those very same ones, 'You are the children of the living God'." Isaiah also prophesied about Israel, "Although the numbers of Jews are as many as the grains of sand in the sea, only a remnant of them will truly be saved. For the Lord will fulfill his prophetic declarations concerning both his righteous judgments and his salvation in the earth, and he will do it swiftly at the appointed time." Isaiah prophetically said of this remnant: "Unless the Lord who rules creation preserves a faithful remnant of Jews, our whole nation will be swept away in judgment like Sodom and Gomorrah were."
So here's the great ironic mystery of history. The Gentiles, who were not seeking salvation from the God of Israel, stumbled upon it by simply believing in the Messiah Jesus. But the Jews, who have worked so hard to earn salvation have stumbled over God's salvation plan, and have therefore failed to find it. Why is this so? Because the Jews have gotten caught in the trap of self-righteousness and their pride has blinded them from simple faith in God which is the basis of salvation. As God prophesied through scripture, "Behold, I have strategically placed my Messiah as a rock in the path of the Jewish people which scandalizes and offends all who are religiously or ethnically proud. But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed."
Comments:
Paul uses three examples to OT prophecy (and there are others like them) to reinforce one of his main points in Romans...the Jewish scriptures themselves point to the fact that God would one day fling open the doors of his salvation far and wide to call all the nations to receive the Messiah and enter in to the covenant relationship that he has always had with his people through Abraham. Jesus and his apostles made it clear time and again the this decisive hour in the Big God-Story of human history had now arrived and all people, Jews and gentiles, were equally invited to turn around spiritually put their personal faith in Jesus the Christ. God had personally come to earth, in Jesus, to put things right...to show forth his mercy and display his justice.
All the first Jesus followers were Jews and they clearly viewed themselves as the firstfruits of the believing "remnant" prophesied about by the ancient Jewish prophets. The fact that the majority of the first century Jews did not embrace Jesus as the promised Messiah did not dissuade them in the least from this conviction. Rather, they humbly viewed the tragic unbelief of their fellow Jews (and the subsequent joyful reception of Jesus by many gentiles and their inclusion in the now fulfilled Abrahamic covenant) as a further confirmation of the prophetic warnings issued by their own prophets..."the rock that the 'builders' rejected, had indeed become the chief cornerstone" as Isaiah had foretold. Thousands of first century Jews did follow Jesus (and thousands more have come to faith in our generation alone), and so instead of thinking that God was untrue to his promises to save "Israel", there is a way of looking at and reframing this history to realize that God was, in fact, more than faithful and true to his promises.
A further irony has been created so many hundreds of years later. The people involved in "Christendom", have been and are now, perched on a similar spiritual precipice as were the Jews of the first century. The church world has been populated by many people who have experienced certain rituals and rites of initiation and embraced certain social conventions by being born into a "christian" culture. But these things alone have never been the essential basis of entering and enjoying covenant with the living God. There must also be, beneath all this, a genuine personal and heart-felt conversion to Christ that provides an individual person with a miraculous spiritual birth and a new heart for the Spirit's home, that longs and chooses to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Master of one's whole life.
Religious self-righteousness and spiritual pride can creep and settle in over generations (or even within a few years!) to effectively cut people off from an interactive relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit...people who are placing their spiritual security in the outward forms of faith, rather than in the heart of the matter. This kind of religious-ness is undoubtedly the kind of thing that Jesus, if nothing else, came to overturn.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
The Romance of Romans-Part 63
Romans Chapter 9 cont'd
We're dealing with the all-knowing, all-powerful, and infinite Creator of all things here! How could we, or why should we, expect to fully comprehend his infinite mysteries with our finite minds? Doesn't he have the right to withhold some secrets from us to keep us humble and worshipful? A world full of morally fallen people is bad enough, what if we all possessed omniscience too?! As part of his "job description" as God, can't he do with mankind what he thinks best for the universe?
But here are just a couple of little thoughts that help put the matter in perspective! Just maybe God's patience with rebellious and sinful humans who provoke him to anger needs to be noted, since he has always had the justifiable reasons and power to totally wipe us out at any time. Just maybe God's rich and undeserved mercy and his wisdom in choosing some people, from among both Jews and Gentiles, to receive his salvation needs to be gratefully acknowledged, rather than our always throwing up to him our impotent philosophical arguments about why he shouldn’t be the way he is or do the things he does.
Comments:
It is good for our souls to contemplate and ponder (and it is also good for our minds to be blown away!) the bigness and greatness of God. It is good for us to wrestle and struggle with the concept of God's choice being the only sure foundation for the salvation of humanity...and for our salvation. As I look back on my God-story...it is very plain to me that he took the initiative toward me and helped me to open my heart to Jesus Christ. I am convinced that I chose him, because he first chose me. How about you? No one comes to him without the divine drawing influence of the Holy Spirit upon our broken hearts. This truth of God's gospel of grace is truly a humbling one for us to receive. But our pride needs to be broken anyway...right? It is good and right that we cannot take credit for saving ourselves, though we are involved interactively with the Trinity in the process. Because we are, we sometimes are tempted to think that we had more to do with the spiritual initiation of it all than we actually did.
However, if we attempt to intellectually over-analyze the philosophical implications surrounding God's sovereignty, there is a terrible irony that can kick into gear. We can move from awe, humility, wonder and childlike receptivity to a place of spiritual paralysis. We imagine that we cannot take any initiative (that will matter) toward God by our choices. We can very easily gravitate toward spiritual passivity and wrongly sacrifice the dignity of the gift of will and choice that our Father has given us. When spiritual life is boiled down to the practical level (which needs to be done at the proper times), we must come around to highlight, to ourselves and others, the vital importance of choosing Christ and choosing to walk in the Spirit and choosing to say "no" to the dominion of our lower passions and choosing to love God and others and...etc.
It is in the choosing of the right...the choosing of the light...that we will be most often and passionately convinced that the Spirit of God has been invisibly, subtly and humbly helping us on the front end of such choices that led us (and continues to lead us) out of darkness. This is the clear implication of what Jesus said to Nicodemus at the end of their famous interchange in John 3:21..."But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly (i.e. usually afterward) that what he has done has been done through God."
We're dealing with the all-knowing, all-powerful, and infinite Creator of all things here! How could we, or why should we, expect to fully comprehend his infinite mysteries with our finite minds? Doesn't he have the right to withhold some secrets from us to keep us humble and worshipful? A world full of morally fallen people is bad enough, what if we all possessed omniscience too?! As part of his "job description" as God, can't he do with mankind what he thinks best for the universe?
But here are just a couple of little thoughts that help put the matter in perspective! Just maybe God's patience with rebellious and sinful humans who provoke him to anger needs to be noted, since he has always had the justifiable reasons and power to totally wipe us out at any time. Just maybe God's rich and undeserved mercy and his wisdom in choosing some people, from among both Jews and Gentiles, to receive his salvation needs to be gratefully acknowledged, rather than our always throwing up to him our impotent philosophical arguments about why he shouldn’t be the way he is or do the things he does.
Comments:
It is good for our souls to contemplate and ponder (and it is also good for our minds to be blown away!) the bigness and greatness of God. It is good for us to wrestle and struggle with the concept of God's choice being the only sure foundation for the salvation of humanity...and for our salvation. As I look back on my God-story...it is very plain to me that he took the initiative toward me and helped me to open my heart to Jesus Christ. I am convinced that I chose him, because he first chose me. How about you? No one comes to him without the divine drawing influence of the Holy Spirit upon our broken hearts. This truth of God's gospel of grace is truly a humbling one for us to receive. But our pride needs to be broken anyway...right? It is good and right that we cannot take credit for saving ourselves, though we are involved interactively with the Trinity in the process. Because we are, we sometimes are tempted to think that we had more to do with the spiritual initiation of it all than we actually did.
However, if we attempt to intellectually over-analyze the philosophical implications surrounding God's sovereignty, there is a terrible irony that can kick into gear. We can move from awe, humility, wonder and childlike receptivity to a place of spiritual paralysis. We imagine that we cannot take any initiative (that will matter) toward God by our choices. We can very easily gravitate toward spiritual passivity and wrongly sacrifice the dignity of the gift of will and choice that our Father has given us. When spiritual life is boiled down to the practical level (which needs to be done at the proper times), we must come around to highlight, to ourselves and others, the vital importance of choosing Christ and choosing to walk in the Spirit and choosing to say "no" to the dominion of our lower passions and choosing to love God and others and...etc.
It is in the choosing of the right...the choosing of the light...that we will be most often and passionately convinced that the Spirit of God has been invisibly, subtly and humbly helping us on the front end of such choices that led us (and continues to lead us) out of darkness. This is the clear implication of what Jesus said to Nicodemus at the end of their famous interchange in John 3:21..."But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly (i.e. usually afterward) that what he has done has been done through God."
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