Romans Chapter 15
Those who have more personal strength must use it to lift up those who are weaker, and not exploit it to their own advantage. Let each of us seek out ways to bless others and build them up. Even the most powerful man of all, Jesus Christ, didn't use his power to create for himself a pain-free and pleasure-filled earthly life. As scripture says, "I have personally identified with and embraced the rejection they have shown you O God." All the scriptures have been written to impart knowledge, patience and comfort to us so that we can live in hope- a confident expectation of a glorious future.
Comments:
I can't think of another value of the spiritual life that runs more contrary to fallen human flesh than what Paul states above. "Survival of the fittest" is one of the primary mantras of secular humanism. We witness the exploitation of the weak by the strong in our cultures every day. It, long ago, became the way of the world.
On the other hand, when we consider the natural affection that parents often exhibit toward their children, we do get a glimpse into the kind of sacrificial love that the apostle holds out to us as a way of Christ that is meant to apply to the heart of all our relations with others. Parents often heroically offer their strengths to their children without thinking of getting anything out of them. Along the way in my studies about the kingdom of God, I have come to believe that is is actually more "native" to human life than I once thought. Sin is actually a "foreign invasion" into human existence...there is something more original than sin in God's beautiful creation.
When Jesus came on the scene to reveal the kingdom of God, he was making a way for us to get back to the Garden...and then beyond it! The echoes of the goodness of our Father's original intentions for humanity resonate within our deepest heart. In the beginning, the Son was the voice of God that initiated these echoes and now today pours substance back into them. When we come to Christ we are actually "coming home".
In whatever way God has blessed us with "strengths" (abilities, opportunities, resources, experience, relational connections, etc.), we are called to walk in them with a consciousness that they are a gift from him, that he has bestowed them upon us so we can love others better and that we will ultimately answer to him for how we have stewarded them.
Father, what do I have at my disposal today and how can I use it to benefit another who might otherwise not have access to it? Continually keep me from "the boastful pride of life" that sees my strengths as "mine" alone. For Christ's sake. Amen.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Sunday, April 18, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 100
Romans Chapter 14 cont'd
Place working for and preserving unity with fellow believers and building up one another at the top of your list of life's values. Let the freedom to express your liberty in Christ in non-essentials come somewhere down the list! Don't destroy the work of God for the sake of something as boring as meat-eating. Truly, all things are pure, but not all truths are equally important. And besides, if someone believes that eating meat is wrong, it's wrong for him to eat it. It is honorable to forego any liberty, like eating meat or drinking wine, if it somehow pressures a fellow believer to violate her/his conscience.
Do you have a strong faith that can handle such liberties? Great! Enjoy them before God. Just don't project onto others the same expectation. We will be happy if we aren't self-condemned for the liberties we allow ourselves. But if you have doubts about the legitimacy of any behavior, like eating meat, and you do it anyway, your joy will evaporate because you aren't living by faith. And whatever cannot be done in faith is, by definition, sinful.
Comments:
In these last two paragraphs of Romans 14, Paul summarizes the main point of the passage on the, sometimes, delicate ethical balance between living in both liberty and brotherly love. The way of Christ is the way of the heart. God, and his word, always penetrate to the heart of matters and never content to view human life and its choices on the superficial plane. Love is to be our motive and goal and, in that context, God makes a lot of room for individual liberty based in the guidance of personal conviction and conscience.
Our faith can never be boiled down to a static set of "rules for living" because of God's deeper commitment to bring us into a personal and dynamic interactive relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in real time. In one situation or time frame, love may look like one thing and in the next situation or season, it may look like the opposite: taking action or being patient; speaking up or being silent; showing mercy or applying justice; confronting or forbearing; working hard or simply trusting God to work; remaining peaceful or expressing righteous anger; resisting a trial or accepting it; expecting a miracle or leaving the matter to providence...often the way of Christ's love implies a wise blending of both.
No written code could cover all the possibilities of what "love looks like", nor could we memorize them and apply them perfectly if we had such a thing. The Scriptures tell us stories of God's love, the failures of human wisdom and foolishness and prescribe ethical boundaries...and it is vital for us to read and re-read the texts. However, the Trinity will work within us to bring these things to mind in timely ways and give us special wisdom in our hours of need for it.
Place working for and preserving unity with fellow believers and building up one another at the top of your list of life's values. Let the freedom to express your liberty in Christ in non-essentials come somewhere down the list! Don't destroy the work of God for the sake of something as boring as meat-eating. Truly, all things are pure, but not all truths are equally important. And besides, if someone believes that eating meat is wrong, it's wrong for him to eat it. It is honorable to forego any liberty, like eating meat or drinking wine, if it somehow pressures a fellow believer to violate her/his conscience.
Do you have a strong faith that can handle such liberties? Great! Enjoy them before God. Just don't project onto others the same expectation. We will be happy if we aren't self-condemned for the liberties we allow ourselves. But if you have doubts about the legitimacy of any behavior, like eating meat, and you do it anyway, your joy will evaporate because you aren't living by faith. And whatever cannot be done in faith is, by definition, sinful.
Comments:
In these last two paragraphs of Romans 14, Paul summarizes the main point of the passage on the, sometimes, delicate ethical balance between living in both liberty and brotherly love. The way of Christ is the way of the heart. God, and his word, always penetrate to the heart of matters and never content to view human life and its choices on the superficial plane. Love is to be our motive and goal and, in that context, God makes a lot of room for individual liberty based in the guidance of personal conviction and conscience.
Our faith can never be boiled down to a static set of "rules for living" because of God's deeper commitment to bring us into a personal and dynamic interactive relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in real time. In one situation or time frame, love may look like one thing and in the next situation or season, it may look like the opposite: taking action or being patient; speaking up or being silent; showing mercy or applying justice; confronting or forbearing; working hard or simply trusting God to work; remaining peaceful or expressing righteous anger; resisting a trial or accepting it; expecting a miracle or leaving the matter to providence...often the way of Christ's love implies a wise blending of both.
No written code could cover all the possibilities of what "love looks like", nor could we memorize them and apply them perfectly if we had such a thing. The Scriptures tell us stories of God's love, the failures of human wisdom and foolishness and prescribe ethical boundaries...and it is vital for us to read and re-read the texts. However, the Trinity will work within us to bring these things to mind in timely ways and give us special wisdom in our hours of need for it.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 99
Romans Chapter 14 cont'd
For the Kingdom of God cannot be reduced to personal and cultural preferences like habits of eating and drinking, but it is defined by the transcendent realities of righteousness, peace and joy which are inseparably linked to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you will embrace these values in your service for Christ, you will have favor with and affirmation from both God and others.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Comments:
"For the kingdom of God...is in the Holy Spirit." One of the most profound theological truths in all the New Testament is embedded here in this very practical section of Romans. The Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God are inseparably linked. The kingdom of God is the "natural habitat" of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the animating life-force of the Christ's kingdom. Where the Holy Spirit is working, the atmospheric conditions of kingdom of God are present and operative. Jesus said, "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matt 12:28
It is often said that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The same can be said about the kingdom of God...it is not about visible things like the many earthly kingdoms of this world, but it is centered in knowing...having an interactive friendship and partnership with...the Spirit of God. In the midst of this fallen creation, through Christ and the Holy Spirit...here and now...we have direct access to the powers and dynamics of the eternal and invisible kingdom of heaven. By relating to the Holy Spirit we have access to genuine and fundamental "righteousness, peace and joy"...three qualities of life that the children of this age grope and grasp for in various convoluted ways, but never truly find...until they turn to Jesus.
From the fountainhead of experiencing this divine-kind of righteousness, peace and joy...many other streams of spiritual life and power naturally flow out...love, hope, faith, prayer, healing, reconciliation, justice, deliverance from evil, spiritual gifts, creative work and arts, purpose, mission and destiny...to name just a few. We should pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit each night and day and then simply live in an attitude of open trust and shameless reliance, knowing that the Father and the Son will delight in answering such a bold request.
For the Kingdom of God cannot be reduced to personal and cultural preferences like habits of eating and drinking, but it is defined by the transcendent realities of righteousness, peace and joy which are inseparably linked to the person and ministry of the Holy Spirit. If you will embrace these values in your service for Christ, you will have favor with and affirmation from both God and others.
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.
Comments:
"For the kingdom of God...is in the Holy Spirit." One of the most profound theological truths in all the New Testament is embedded here in this very practical section of Romans. The Holy Spirit and the kingdom of God are inseparably linked. The kingdom of God is the "natural habitat" of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the animating life-force of the Christ's kingdom. Where the Holy Spirit is working, the atmospheric conditions of kingdom of God are present and operative. Jesus said, "But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you." Matt 12:28
It is often said that Christianity is not a religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The same can be said about the kingdom of God...it is not about visible things like the many earthly kingdoms of this world, but it is centered in knowing...having an interactive friendship and partnership with...the Spirit of God. In the midst of this fallen creation, through Christ and the Holy Spirit...here and now...we have direct access to the powers and dynamics of the eternal and invisible kingdom of heaven. By relating to the Holy Spirit we have access to genuine and fundamental "righteousness, peace and joy"...three qualities of life that the children of this age grope and grasp for in various convoluted ways, but never truly find...until they turn to Jesus.
From the fountainhead of experiencing this divine-kind of righteousness, peace and joy...many other streams of spiritual life and power naturally flow out...love, hope, faith, prayer, healing, reconciliation, justice, deliverance from evil, spiritual gifts, creative work and arts, purpose, mission and destiny...to name just a few. We should pray to be filled with the Holy Spirit each night and day and then simply live in an attitude of open trust and shameless reliance, knowing that the Father and the Son will delight in answering such a bold request.
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