Romans Chapter 14 cont'd
For we ourselves aren't the central focus of our lives or our deaths, loving and worshiping the Lord is. So if we're alive, Jesus is our reference point. And if we die, we’ll be face to face with our reference point! We are owned and wanted by him, "dead or alive!" It was for this very goal that Christ died and rose again, that he might rightfully exercise his claim of lordship over both the dead and the living.
Comments:
In the midst of his essay in chapter 14 on surmounting unrighteous judgmentalism in our lives, the apostle holds out a vital key for our success. If he continues to wait to return, you and I are going to die! And...our deaths aren't that far away. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus challenged us to judge with a righteous judgment and avoid the unrighteous sort. The excellent Bible teacher, Beth Moore, has recently said, "Perspective is everything." (I'm sure many others have said it before her.) Periodically contemplating our swiftly approaching death is one of the spiritual disciplines held out to us through the centuries by the Doctors of the Church.
Our consciousness of how we will soon be face to face with Jesus is an excellent way to maintain the proper perspective on earthly life and relationships and to guard us from petty and unrighteous judgments. We seriously don't have time or energy to waste on self-justification, jealousy, envy or on being cantankerous, cranky and contentious. Each one of us will give an account to God (and very soon at that!) regarding how much of his life and love we learned to allow into our hearts and be expressed through our thoughts, words and deeds. May Christ grant us great mercy and wisdom in this focused journey into his light and into his arms. Any and all deception we suffered with and held will peel off of us when he looks into our eyes. May we seek to gaze into his eyes, even now, and shed as many of those lies as we possibly can, by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, before that Day.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Saturday, January 23, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 94
Romans Chapter 14 cont'd
One believer regards one day as more sacred than another. Another believer views each day as equally sacred. Things like this should be seen as a matter of personal conscience that allows for individual liberty. The one who celebrates a certain day as special, does so as an expression of love for the Lord. The one who equally celebrates every day also does so as an expression of love for the Lord. Just like the one who eats freely worships the Lord in his eating, and the one who abstains from meat worships the Lord by not eating. Can't you see that the truly important issues are not the externals, but the motives of the heart- love and worship.
Comments:
It is so natural for us to pick out external-oriented preferences in life and make them the measures by which we evaluate our own spirituality and the spirituality of others. (Consider things like preferences in clothing, fashion, food, beverages, hair styles, music, forms of praying, family traditions, spending money, entertainment, sports, language idioms, "secondary" doctrines, ways of "doing church" and the like.) This very human habit is rooted in our desire to look and be "right" and externals are easy targets for us to use to "prove" our rightness to ourselves and the people whose opinions matter to us. (Someone said that "being right" is the booby prize of life!) Yet, when we read through the gospels, we are confronted again and again with how Jesus lived, ministered and worked to undermine this kind of self-righteousness...and...we love him for it! He heroically sees beyond the externals of race, religious (or non-religious) background, cultural prejudices, social standings, religious titles, economic states and man-made traditions and looks upon the "heart" of both matters and people.
Now there are obviously sinful "external" ways of living and relating that can be clearly identified and properly condemned. The NT has several contrasting lists of the kinds of attitudes and behaviors that are of the flesh or of the Spirit. (Galatians 5 comes to mind.) But the problem arises when we add to the list our own culturally/personally derived "taboos", "do's and don'ts" and "biases" and place these matters into the "essential" category. We must make room in our church cultures, without it being viewed as divisive, for fellow believers to have and hold ongoing and differing preferences and convictions regarding non-essentials. Beyond this, we must actually fight for their freedom to choose differently than we would. (When we apply this same principle to people who haven't yet come to faith in Christ, we often find ourselves tempted to "write people off" who have transgressed a true ethical essential without offering them a chance at receiving God's mercy in Christ. Maybe they've "blown it" over and over again, but their hearts could truly be crying out for freedom and they would jump at the chance of receiving forgiveness and repent for their wicked ways.)
Romans 14 is an apostolic appeal to us to live in and proclaim the freedom and liberty that Christ has modeled and purchased for us with his blood. He has come to free us to live in God's love and allow the "present-tense" love and personal leadership of the Holy Spirit to help us transcend fleshly hatred, prejudice and self-justification so that we can reach out to people who are either "coming from a different place" than we are on non-essential matters or to people who need to be touched by the good news of Jesus. May the Father help us to rise up from our insecurities and fear-based judgments to love others with his compelling, joy-filled, attractive and liberating love through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
One believer regards one day as more sacred than another. Another believer views each day as equally sacred. Things like this should be seen as a matter of personal conscience that allows for individual liberty. The one who celebrates a certain day as special, does so as an expression of love for the Lord. The one who equally celebrates every day also does so as an expression of love for the Lord. Just like the one who eats freely worships the Lord in his eating, and the one who abstains from meat worships the Lord by not eating. Can't you see that the truly important issues are not the externals, but the motives of the heart- love and worship.
Comments:
It is so natural for us to pick out external-oriented preferences in life and make them the measures by which we evaluate our own spirituality and the spirituality of others. (Consider things like preferences in clothing, fashion, food, beverages, hair styles, music, forms of praying, family traditions, spending money, entertainment, sports, language idioms, "secondary" doctrines, ways of "doing church" and the like.) This very human habit is rooted in our desire to look and be "right" and externals are easy targets for us to use to "prove" our rightness to ourselves and the people whose opinions matter to us. (Someone said that "being right" is the booby prize of life!) Yet, when we read through the gospels, we are confronted again and again with how Jesus lived, ministered and worked to undermine this kind of self-righteousness...and...we love him for it! He heroically sees beyond the externals of race, religious (or non-religious) background, cultural prejudices, social standings, religious titles, economic states and man-made traditions and looks upon the "heart" of both matters and people.
Now there are obviously sinful "external" ways of living and relating that can be clearly identified and properly condemned. The NT has several contrasting lists of the kinds of attitudes and behaviors that are of the flesh or of the Spirit. (Galatians 5 comes to mind.) But the problem arises when we add to the list our own culturally/personally derived "taboos", "do's and don'ts" and "biases" and place these matters into the "essential" category. We must make room in our church cultures, without it being viewed as divisive, for fellow believers to have and hold ongoing and differing preferences and convictions regarding non-essentials. Beyond this, we must actually fight for their freedom to choose differently than we would. (When we apply this same principle to people who haven't yet come to faith in Christ, we often find ourselves tempted to "write people off" who have transgressed a true ethical essential without offering them a chance at receiving God's mercy in Christ. Maybe they've "blown it" over and over again, but their hearts could truly be crying out for freedom and they would jump at the chance of receiving forgiveness and repent for their wicked ways.)
Romans 14 is an apostolic appeal to us to live in and proclaim the freedom and liberty that Christ has modeled and purchased for us with his blood. He has come to free us to live in God's love and allow the "present-tense" love and personal leadership of the Holy Spirit to help us transcend fleshly hatred, prejudice and self-justification so that we can reach out to people who are either "coming from a different place" than we are on non-essential matters or to people who need to be touched by the good news of Jesus. May the Father help us to rise up from our insecurities and fear-based judgments to love others with his compelling, joy-filled, attractive and liberating love through Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen!
Saturday, January 16, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 93
Romans Chapter 14
Don't refuse to recognize or fellowship with believers who disagree with you over non-essential matters- even if they're unenlightened about the truth. One believer has a clear conscience about eating anything. Another, who may be hypersensitive, is a vegetarian. The one who eats freely shouldn't get down on the one who doesn't, and the one who doesn't shouldn't get down on the one who does. God has accepted them both. Who are we to condemn another's servant? Before his own master he will stand or fall. And stand he will, for God himself is holding up his own!
Let's take another issue. One believer regards one day as more sacred than another. Another believer views each day as equally sacred. Things like this should be seen as a matter of personal conscience that allows for individual liberty. The one who celebrates a certain day as special, does so as an expression of love for the Lord. The one who equally celebrates every day also does so as an expression of love for the Lord. Just like the one who eats freely worships the Lord in his eating, and the one who abstains from meat worships the Lord by not eating. Can't you see that the truly important issues are not the externals, but the motives of the heart- love and worship.
Comments:
It has become common for Jesus-followers to claim that they are "spiritual" but not "religious". I personally like the distinction and I think that the folks around us can relate to the statement too. Well...Romans 14 is the chapter that can provide the theological basis for this important contrast. It has always been one of my favorites to ponder and teach. A well-known maxim captures the heart of Paul in Romans 14--"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas." In English we say: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." (There is no actual proof that Augustine said this.)
Of course, drawing the line between the theological essentials and non-essentials is a delicate and sweet science. Jesus chided the religious leaders of his day for "straining out gnats, while swallowing camels"...surely one of his better jokes. You'd think that we'd normally be able to distinguish camels issues from gnat issues, but we do get easily confused perspectives when our personal preferences and cultural/religious "golden calves" are potentially on the chopping block...our styles of dressing, eating, recreating, socializing; how we specifically "do church" and our strong convictions regarding secondary doctrines and temporal politics...just to name a few. It seems that Jesus is inferring that in order for us to avoid (while mysteriously maintaining our dignity in the eyes of many people) the discomforting act of consuming our mode of transportation, we are going to have to get used to the bitter taste and brief choking sensation of ingesting some little bugs along our way in life with Jesus as our leader.
I think that Jesus also had in mind that gnats and camels tend to hang out around each other! And so what's the spiritual moral of the story? If we're going to actually travel anywhere in our spiritual journey, we've got an unavoidable "dietary choice" to make. Is it going to be "camels" or "gnats"? Bad religion ironically snarfs camels while upholding its image of precision and yet getting us nowhere. Genuine spirituality chooses to choke down some bothersome "gnats" for the sake of riding, instead of eating, the "camels" that Christ provides us for his ongoing mission.
Lord Jesus, give me the grace to know the difference between these two animals and make the needed sacrifices of my preferences to actually make some progress in "loving well" our Father in heaven and...other people.
Don't refuse to recognize or fellowship with believers who disagree with you over non-essential matters- even if they're unenlightened about the truth. One believer has a clear conscience about eating anything. Another, who may be hypersensitive, is a vegetarian. The one who eats freely shouldn't get down on the one who doesn't, and the one who doesn't shouldn't get down on the one who does. God has accepted them both. Who are we to condemn another's servant? Before his own master he will stand or fall. And stand he will, for God himself is holding up his own!
Let's take another issue. One believer regards one day as more sacred than another. Another believer views each day as equally sacred. Things like this should be seen as a matter of personal conscience that allows for individual liberty. The one who celebrates a certain day as special, does so as an expression of love for the Lord. The one who equally celebrates every day also does so as an expression of love for the Lord. Just like the one who eats freely worships the Lord in his eating, and the one who abstains from meat worships the Lord by not eating. Can't you see that the truly important issues are not the externals, but the motives of the heart- love and worship.
Comments:
It has become common for Jesus-followers to claim that they are "spiritual" but not "religious". I personally like the distinction and I think that the folks around us can relate to the statement too. Well...Romans 14 is the chapter that can provide the theological basis for this important contrast. It has always been one of my favorites to ponder and teach. A well-known maxim captures the heart of Paul in Romans 14--"In necessariis unitas, in non-necessariis (or, dubiis) libertas, in utrisque (or, omnibus) caritas." In English we say: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity." (There is no actual proof that Augustine said this.)
Of course, drawing the line between the theological essentials and non-essentials is a delicate and sweet science. Jesus chided the religious leaders of his day for "straining out gnats, while swallowing camels"...surely one of his better jokes. You'd think that we'd normally be able to distinguish camels issues from gnat issues, but we do get easily confused perspectives when our personal preferences and cultural/religious "golden calves" are potentially on the chopping block...our styles of dressing, eating, recreating, socializing; how we specifically "do church" and our strong convictions regarding secondary doctrines and temporal politics...just to name a few. It seems that Jesus is inferring that in order for us to avoid (while mysteriously maintaining our dignity in the eyes of many people) the discomforting act of consuming our mode of transportation, we are going to have to get used to the bitter taste and brief choking sensation of ingesting some little bugs along our way in life with Jesus as our leader.
I think that Jesus also had in mind that gnats and camels tend to hang out around each other! And so what's the spiritual moral of the story? If we're going to actually travel anywhere in our spiritual journey, we've got an unavoidable "dietary choice" to make. Is it going to be "camels" or "gnats"? Bad religion ironically snarfs camels while upholding its image of precision and yet getting us nowhere. Genuine spirituality chooses to choke down some bothersome "gnats" for the sake of riding, instead of eating, the "camels" that Christ provides us for his ongoing mission.
Lord Jesus, give me the grace to know the difference between these two animals and make the needed sacrifices of my preferences to actually make some progress in "loving well" our Father in heaven and...other people.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 92
Romans Chapter 13 cont'd
Since we all know that precious time is ticking away, we need to rise up from our spiritual slumber- the end of the age has never been closer! The sun rose some time ago leaving the night far behind. So let us cast off our old sinful "night life"- outrageous behavior, drunkenness, lustfulness, infidelity, contentiousness and envying. Rather, let us put on the shining armor of the daylight- honesty, integrity, sincerity and transparency. Constantly welcome the Lord Jesus Christ to live in you and through you and don't be on the lookout for any loopholes for the expression of your selfish desires.
Comments:
Paul was the New Testament "theologian of the new creation". The reality of the historic bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ changed the essential dynamics of the heavens, the earth and their inter-relations. The new creation was powerfully and forever inaugurated via the first coming of Jesus even though its consummation awaits his return. In light of this, Paul and the other NT writers constantly call followers of the Christ to live with a consciousness of the realism of the kingdom of God that is both mysteriously and practically unfolding all about us in the midst of earthly cultures in which, assuredly, not everything goes well and nothing goes perfectly.
The apostles teach us that responding to the Holy Spirit in the context of our daily lives, our vocations and our inter-personal relationships provides a substantial "prophetic" witness to people all about us that there is a "time coming" in which all things will be properly reintegrated (with all goodness vindicated and evil divinely judged/banished) through Jesus Christ. Our lives and loving communities of faith are to manifest that the process is significantly underway. The Dawn is already here, since Christ's resurrection and ascension...and so...High Noon (the resurrection of all others--living or dead) is sure to follow. The climactic moment of "God's Big God-Story" arrived ahead of the expected schedule, changed the fabric of everything added a shocking twist to the plot line and yet...has hardly been noticed by the "powers that be". (Yet again, and don't you find it odd, that the whole world seems to pause at Christmas Eve and ponder, with bated breath, its repressed hope that God himself humbly came to earth as a human being so long ago in Bethlehem.)
The practical apostolic advice on "how to then live here and now" simply follows: believers are not called to live as sleazy denizens and dealers of the spiritually/morally bankrupt "night" of previous ages, but as powerfully equipped citizens and agents of the spiritually/morally vibrant "day" of the new creation. Christ is risen and is expressing his resurrection life in and through those who have courageously chosen follow him.
Since we all know that precious time is ticking away, we need to rise up from our spiritual slumber- the end of the age has never been closer! The sun rose some time ago leaving the night far behind. So let us cast off our old sinful "night life"- outrageous behavior, drunkenness, lustfulness, infidelity, contentiousness and envying. Rather, let us put on the shining armor of the daylight- honesty, integrity, sincerity and transparency. Constantly welcome the Lord Jesus Christ to live in you and through you and don't be on the lookout for any loopholes for the expression of your selfish desires.
Comments:
Paul was the New Testament "theologian of the new creation". The reality of the historic bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ changed the essential dynamics of the heavens, the earth and their inter-relations. The new creation was powerfully and forever inaugurated via the first coming of Jesus even though its consummation awaits his return. In light of this, Paul and the other NT writers constantly call followers of the Christ to live with a consciousness of the realism of the kingdom of God that is both mysteriously and practically unfolding all about us in the midst of earthly cultures in which, assuredly, not everything goes well and nothing goes perfectly.
The apostles teach us that responding to the Holy Spirit in the context of our daily lives, our vocations and our inter-personal relationships provides a substantial "prophetic" witness to people all about us that there is a "time coming" in which all things will be properly reintegrated (with all goodness vindicated and evil divinely judged/banished) through Jesus Christ. Our lives and loving communities of faith are to manifest that the process is significantly underway. The Dawn is already here, since Christ's resurrection and ascension...and so...High Noon (the resurrection of all others--living or dead) is sure to follow. The climactic moment of "God's Big God-Story" arrived ahead of the expected schedule, changed the fabric of everything added a shocking twist to the plot line and yet...has hardly been noticed by the "powers that be". (Yet again, and don't you find it odd, that the whole world seems to pause at Christmas Eve and ponder, with bated breath, its repressed hope that God himself humbly came to earth as a human being so long ago in Bethlehem.)
The practical apostolic advice on "how to then live here and now" simply follows: believers are not called to live as sleazy denizens and dealers of the spiritually/morally bankrupt "night" of previous ages, but as powerfully equipped citizens and agents of the spiritually/morally vibrant "day" of the new creation. Christ is risen and is expressing his resurrection life in and through those who have courageously chosen follow him.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 91
Romans Chapter 13 cont'd
If you learn to love, you will fulfill the essence and intent of God's moral law. Whatever specific commandment of God's you can name- "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not murder", "You shall not steal", "You shall not give false testimony", "You shall not covet", or any of the others; they all are rooted in the concept of- "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It is impossible for genuine love to perpetrate an injustice toward others. That's why it fulfills God’s moral law.
Comments:
Maybe a good way of summarizing the difference that Jesus has made in the world is to notice the above contrast. The Law of Moses often focused on "shall not" and the New Covenant focuses on "shall". And...the "shall" becomes more than a commandment. It takes on the form and power of a promise. In Christ and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we "shall" love...both God and people from our renewed hearts out to very concrete and practical specifics that then, as a naturally/supernatural by-product, keep us from sinning. This is why life in Jesus takes us far beyond a life of "sin-management".
Jn 1:17--For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Happy New Year to all our friends!
If you learn to love, you will fulfill the essence and intent of God's moral law. Whatever specific commandment of God's you can name- "You shall not commit adultery", "You shall not murder", "You shall not steal", "You shall not give false testimony", "You shall not covet", or any of the others; they all are rooted in the concept of- "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." It is impossible for genuine love to perpetrate an injustice toward others. That's why it fulfills God’s moral law.
Comments:
Maybe a good way of summarizing the difference that Jesus has made in the world is to notice the above contrast. The Law of Moses often focused on "shall not" and the New Covenant focuses on "shall". And...the "shall" becomes more than a commandment. It takes on the form and power of a promise. In Christ and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we "shall" love...both God and people from our renewed hearts out to very concrete and practical specifics that then, as a naturally/supernatural by-product, keep us from sinning. This is why life in Jesus takes us far beyond a life of "sin-management".
Jn 1:17--For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Happy New Year to all our friends!
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