Romans Chapter 16 cont'd
I urge you to take note of and avoid those people who cause divisions and offenses by embracing or promoting doctrines that are contrary to the ones you have learned. These kinds of people are not concerned with serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but with filling their unsatisfied desires. They employ good-sounding words and manipulative monologues that deceive the hearts of the undiscerning.
The testimony of your faithfulness to God has been reported throughout the whole world and I am glad that you've been honored like this. Just make sure that you preserve your spirit of innocence- be "streetwise" in good, but not in evil! And soon, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!
Comments:
Romans is such a positive and powerful oriented letter and it would be nice to not have to address the issue of difficult people or the devil. But that wouldn't really do justice to the reality of living out the gospel in the community of faith. The truth is that when believers put our hearts together and commit to function as the body of Christ in our cultures, we will be assaulted by hellish forces that are pitted against our progress and fruitfulness. Believers and the leaders of their bands must be forewarned and equipped to deal well with both the evil spirits and the deceived people who will seek to infiltrate and disrupt our communities. And we must do this without being un-Christlike...in a way that embodies his compassion and respect for people and his great heart of hope and redemption.
Sadly, the seminaries have rarely taught their ministers-in-training the art of dealing with deceived people and the demonic realm. Ironically, most church leaders have a very rude awakening that one of the main slices of their jobs ends up being the need to address the hardships, setbacks and sufferings associated with spiritual warfare and inter-personal conflicts in the lives and relationships of their members.
Early on in my pastoral ministry I internalized an important passage that helped me to face and navigate in the waters of spiritual warfare and relational conflict:
"Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." 2 Tim 2: 23-25
Through the many years this passage helped to brace me for the challenges that I would face in pastoring God's people and to create a Christ-centered culture around my own soul (and, by extention, the whole community) that empowered me to gracefully handle the presence of unstable people...their false beliefs/destructive actions...and the manipulative spiritual enemy working beyond and through them. The key to honoring Christ and accessing the Holy Spirit's power in these difficult and oftentimes, tragic, situations is to begin with finding a "way of being" that remains poised under the pressures they create. If we can invoke and remain in the Holy Spirit's presence then the best practical steps to take will emerge and present themselves.
In my early years of ministry, I found myself "tightening up" in ways that were counter-productive to solving or, at least, containing these kinds of problems. My own zeal, energy and personal power became dominant and interfered with the display of the Lord's wisdom and power in the matter. Over time, I learned how to reign in my fleshly reactions and follow the Spirit's leadings. When we do this, the outcome is not always positive (as we can see from the above passage via the word "perhaps"), but we do provide people with the best opportunity possible for a deliverance from evil and a sweet resolution.
More to come....
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 123
Romans Chapter 16 cont'd
I urge you to take note of and avoid those people who cause divisions and offenses by embracing or promoting doctrines that are contrary to the ones you have learned. These kinds of people are not concerned with serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but with filling their unsatisfied desires. They employ good-sounding words and manipulative monologues that deceive the hearts of the undiscerning.
The testimony of your faithfulness to God has been reported throughout the whole world and I am glad that you've been honored like this. Just make sure that you preserve your spirit of innocence- be "streetwise" in good, but not in evil! And soon, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!
Comments:
We are nearing the end of this extensive and intensive world-changing letter and seems to me as if Paul keeps thinking of final words to say and blessings to offer and, as a result, we end up with several benedictory closings in this final chapter. He is like a proud father who boasts in the well-being and well-doing of his children...though he had never had the opportunity to visit the believers in Rome in person. It was a great victory for the believers throughout the world to have a faithful and vibrant congregation of Christ-followers in the capital city.
It would be so wonderful if church communities never had to deal with negative influences or deceptive and destructive people in their midst. Sadly, it has never been and will never be in this age. The Church is planted in the earth in the midst of a spiritual battle zone and God's ancient enemy, given that he cannot overthrow God himself, is always at work to assault and tear down the people of God...and God's beloved creation...on every possible front. Satan does this primarily, on the visible level, by using both witting and unwitting people...as ambassadors of error, disruption and deception.
Still, though it is tempting to use unholy means of dealing with these kinds of people and their influences, believers must rise above evil and overcome it with good. The Church has been compared to a mighty rescue ship in the ocean waters where people are drowning from shipwrecks in the sea. Many are saved by the efforts of the ship's crew. The ship is "in the sea"...by design...but if "the sea gets in the ship", then the ship will ironically and tragically lose its purpose for being and fail in its mission. The Church is called to navigate within the broken and sinful cultures of the world, but it must be on guard to not allow sinful cultures to invade and run unchecked within it. How can we do this without becoming overly defensive, unloving, self-righteous, negative, controlling and fearful?
The New Testament offers us a godly "polity"...a way of governing the community of faith...that equips us to deal effectively with troublesome people and influences in a way we can live out the challenge of Michah 6:8--to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Believers need to be forearmed for the inevitability of dealing with these kinds of situations and people so that we are not left to our own reactive devices when such events crop up.
More to come....
I urge you to take note of and avoid those people who cause divisions and offenses by embracing or promoting doctrines that are contrary to the ones you have learned. These kinds of people are not concerned with serving the Lord Jesus Christ, but with filling their unsatisfied desires. They employ good-sounding words and manipulative monologues that deceive the hearts of the undiscerning.
The testimony of your faithfulness to God has been reported throughout the whole world and I am glad that you've been honored like this. Just make sure that you preserve your spirit of innocence- be "streetwise" in good, but not in evil! And soon, the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!
Comments:
We are nearing the end of this extensive and intensive world-changing letter and seems to me as if Paul keeps thinking of final words to say and blessings to offer and, as a result, we end up with several benedictory closings in this final chapter. He is like a proud father who boasts in the well-being and well-doing of his children...though he had never had the opportunity to visit the believers in Rome in person. It was a great victory for the believers throughout the world to have a faithful and vibrant congregation of Christ-followers in the capital city.
It would be so wonderful if church communities never had to deal with negative influences or deceptive and destructive people in their midst. Sadly, it has never been and will never be in this age. The Church is planted in the earth in the midst of a spiritual battle zone and God's ancient enemy, given that he cannot overthrow God himself, is always at work to assault and tear down the people of God...and God's beloved creation...on every possible front. Satan does this primarily, on the visible level, by using both witting and unwitting people...as ambassadors of error, disruption and deception.
Still, though it is tempting to use unholy means of dealing with these kinds of people and their influences, believers must rise above evil and overcome it with good. The Church has been compared to a mighty rescue ship in the ocean waters where people are drowning from shipwrecks in the sea. Many are saved by the efforts of the ship's crew. The ship is "in the sea"...by design...but if "the sea gets in the ship", then the ship will ironically and tragically lose its purpose for being and fail in its mission. The Church is called to navigate within the broken and sinful cultures of the world, but it must be on guard to not allow sinful cultures to invade and run unchecked within it. How can we do this without becoming overly defensive, unloving, self-righteous, negative, controlling and fearful?
The New Testament offers us a godly "polity"...a way of governing the community of faith...that equips us to deal effectively with troublesome people and influences in a way we can live out the challenge of Michah 6:8--to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Believers need to be forearmed for the inevitability of dealing with these kinds of situations and people so that we are not left to our own reactive devices when such events crop up.
More to come....
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 122
Romans Chapter 16 cont'd
Give my love to all of these people: Amplias, my dear friend in the Lord; Urbane, who has helped us in Christ; Stachys my beloved friend; Apelles, whose loyalty to Christ has been proved; the whole household of Aristobulus; Herodion, my relative; the household of Narcissus, who are all believers; Tryphena and Tryphosa, who are Christ's workers; Persis, who has worked hard for the Lord; Rufus, who is chosen by God, and his mother, who is like a mother to me also; Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and all the believers with them; Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas and all the believers with them.
Greet each other with a holy embrace. The churches of Christ send their greetings to you.
Comments:
The affection we feel for and express to our fellow believers can be infectious...a holy virus. I refer to fellowship or "koininia" (Gk) as an "ordinary miracle" of the Christian experience...a literal exchange of the very life of Christ between one person and another. The reality of this quality of loving and healthy relating among the followers of Jesus is maybe the most powerful witness to the genuineness of our faith in the hearts and minds of folks who have yet to come to worship Jesus.
I can't count the thousands of times that I have experienced a keen awareness of how Christ has been present and "passing between" another believer/other believers and myself as we have shared our dreams, our hopes, our fears, our failures, our food, our adventures, our victories, our songs, our love, our sufferings, our joys, our prayers, the word of God, the Lord's supper and/or the many other things of life. What a wonderful challenge it is to us all to see to it that in all our relating and working with each other in the networks of our faith communities that we ensure that we are putting our whole hearts into maintaining this quality of shared life in Jesus and not allow the weeds of dissension, unresolved conflict, jealousy, resentment, offense, competition and the like to grow up and pollute our relational gardens.
Give my love to all of these people: Amplias, my dear friend in the Lord; Urbane, who has helped us in Christ; Stachys my beloved friend; Apelles, whose loyalty to Christ has been proved; the whole household of Aristobulus; Herodion, my relative; the household of Narcissus, who are all believers; Tryphena and Tryphosa, who are Christ's workers; Persis, who has worked hard for the Lord; Rufus, who is chosen by God, and his mother, who is like a mother to me also; Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermas, Patrobas, Hermes, and all the believers with them; Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas and all the believers with them.
Greet each other with a holy embrace. The churches of Christ send their greetings to you.
Comments:
The affection we feel for and express to our fellow believers can be infectious...a holy virus. I refer to fellowship or "koininia" (Gk) as an "ordinary miracle" of the Christian experience...a literal exchange of the very life of Christ between one person and another. The reality of this quality of loving and healthy relating among the followers of Jesus is maybe the most powerful witness to the genuineness of our faith in the hearts and minds of folks who have yet to come to worship Jesus.
I can't count the thousands of times that I have experienced a keen awareness of how Christ has been present and "passing between" another believer/other believers and myself as we have shared our dreams, our hopes, our fears, our failures, our food, our adventures, our victories, our songs, our love, our sufferings, our joys, our prayers, the word of God, the Lord's supper and/or the many other things of life. What a wonderful challenge it is to us all to see to it that in all our relating and working with each other in the networks of our faith communities that we ensure that we are putting our whole hearts into maintaining this quality of shared life in Jesus and not allow the weeds of dissension, unresolved conflict, jealousy, resentment, offense, competition and the like to grow up and pollute our relational gardens.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 121
The Romance of Romans Chapter 16
I highly recommend Phoebe to you. She is a servant of the church in Cenchrea. Receive her freely as a servant of the Lord and show her your hospitality. Assist her in her mission to you, whatever it may be, for she has helped many, including me. Give my love to Priscilla and Aquila who have assisted me in Christ Jesus. They have laid their lives on the line for me, and not only am I grateful, so are all the churches of the Gentiles. Also greet the church that gathers in their home. Say hello to my dear Epaenetus, who was the first believer in Christ in Achaia. Greet Mary, who worked hard for our sakes. Honor Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and, onetime, fellow prisoners. They were in Christ before me and they have a great reputation among all the divinely appointed ambassadors of the Church at large.
Comments:
It seems that a lot of folks have an image of Paul that he was caustic and impersonal in his style of relating to others. This is probably because he didn't live in the "fear of man" and his letters often reflect the boldness within him to confront erroneous teachings and the people behind them. However, if we dig a bit deeper into the narratives and letters we discover that the apostle was very warm and deeply connected to other people. This chapter in particular reveals how he took the time and spent the energy to encourage, affirm, remember and express gratitude to other people who had touched his heart.
Moreover, because Paul highlights some wise and basic "differences in divine design" of females and males in some of his writings, there are many folks throughout the centuries that have concluded that Paul is down on women and specifically down on women assuming leadership roles within the Church and/or churches of Jesus Christ. There is much ongoing debate surrounding this issue among Scripture-believing teachers and movements and all of the points that need to be considered are far beyond this scope of my purposes here.
However, I think it is sufficient to say that it is vital to examine the narrative sections of the gospels and epistles to help provide a context for interpreting and applying the didactic portions of the epistles when it comes to such a vital issue as and...serious danger of...potentially putting artificial, inconsistent, hypocritical and misguided limits on so many believers...a criticism I am indeed leveling against many in the fundamentalist traditions. (I would guess that there are more women in the earth who truly follow Jesus than there are men.) Here is my challenge: Those who would put limits on women filling leadership functions in the Body of Christ need to make room in their practical theology for heroic leading women like Phoebe, Priscilla and Junia...not to mention other Biblical characters and the hundreds of ladies like them, who have risked all and sacrificed so much throughout the whole history of the Church and in our own generation, to promote and live out the message Jesus Christ in this world.
I highly recommend Phoebe to you. She is a servant of the church in Cenchrea. Receive her freely as a servant of the Lord and show her your hospitality. Assist her in her mission to you, whatever it may be, for she has helped many, including me. Give my love to Priscilla and Aquila who have assisted me in Christ Jesus. They have laid their lives on the line for me, and not only am I grateful, so are all the churches of the Gentiles. Also greet the church that gathers in their home. Say hello to my dear Epaenetus, who was the first believer in Christ in Achaia. Greet Mary, who worked hard for our sakes. Honor Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and, onetime, fellow prisoners. They were in Christ before me and they have a great reputation among all the divinely appointed ambassadors of the Church at large.
Comments:
It seems that a lot of folks have an image of Paul that he was caustic and impersonal in his style of relating to others. This is probably because he didn't live in the "fear of man" and his letters often reflect the boldness within him to confront erroneous teachings and the people behind them. However, if we dig a bit deeper into the narratives and letters we discover that the apostle was very warm and deeply connected to other people. This chapter in particular reveals how he took the time and spent the energy to encourage, affirm, remember and express gratitude to other people who had touched his heart.
Moreover, because Paul highlights some wise and basic "differences in divine design" of females and males in some of his writings, there are many folks throughout the centuries that have concluded that Paul is down on women and specifically down on women assuming leadership roles within the Church and/or churches of Jesus Christ. There is much ongoing debate surrounding this issue among Scripture-believing teachers and movements and all of the points that need to be considered are far beyond this scope of my purposes here.
However, I think it is sufficient to say that it is vital to examine the narrative sections of the gospels and epistles to help provide a context for interpreting and applying the didactic portions of the epistles when it comes to such a vital issue as and...serious danger of...potentially putting artificial, inconsistent, hypocritical and misguided limits on so many believers...a criticism I am indeed leveling against many in the fundamentalist traditions. (I would guess that there are more women in the earth who truly follow Jesus than there are men.) Here is my challenge: Those who would put limits on women filling leadership functions in the Body of Christ need to make room in their practical theology for heroic leading women like Phoebe, Priscilla and Junia...not to mention other Biblical characters and the hundreds of ladies like them, who have risked all and sacrificed so much throughout the whole history of the Church and in our own generation, to promote and live out the message Jesus Christ in this world.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 120
Romans Chapter 15 cont'd
Finally, I appeal to you dear friends, for Christ's sake and because of the love we share in the Spirit, that you partner with me and one another in prayer to God on my behalf. Ask God to deliver me from the unbelievers in Judea and that the believers there will be pleased with the offering I am bringing to them. And that he will send me to you with joy so that you may be refreshed. So may the God of peace be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!
Comments:
Prayer...it's a strange and mysterious thing from a certain angle. An all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere-present Creator-God commands us to tell him things that he already knows and has will to shape. Yet, he draws our attention in Scripture to examples of human beings, just like us, who have influenced him...to do or not do...specific things throughout history. They evoked a response from God that he would not have initiated without their offering heart-felt words to him. Though he dwells in a high and holy eternal realm, he seems to desire a genuine interactive relationship with us in "real-time". To me this communicates to us a amazing message of some aspects of God's nature...that, in spite of his penultimate self-sufficiency, he is also humble and relationally vulnerable. This is hard for us to imagine and believe and probably a couple of the main sub-conscious reasons most of us don't find it easy or natural to pray. After all, "There are so many things to do and God will do what he will do without my assistance." Right? Apparently, this is not the real picture.
From another angle, prayer makes complete sense because every genuine relationship is sustained by a mutual exchange of communication of heart and word. The Scriptures teach us that God desires to have a friendship with us human beings...despite our weaknesses...he "wants us". Moreover, he "wants to be wanted" by us. God has the longing passionate heart of a Father and/or a Lover. The heart-felt words we sing and pray to him from our innermost guts move him...they move his heart and his heart moves him to act in response to our longings, needs and wants. He longs to hear, like any lover does, the oft-repeated "I love you's" that comes from the beloved. He wants us to tell him the things about him that we have come to understand about how awesome he is...things about him that have stunned and overwhelmed us...his beauty, justice, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, miracle power, infinitude, holiness and the like.
In addition, God has always looked for willing human partners to work with and through as visible agents of his grace and truth to others who are estranged from him and who are striving to survive in a sin-burdened creation. We live in a battle zone of a noble war against evil. Our conversation with him relates not only to our worship of him, but to the co-mission we are on with him in this fallen world. It is absolutely essential to have an open line whereby many words are exchanged between us in the midst of this dramatic and sometimes, dangerous, adventure. For our own sanity, safety and success, we need to continually tell him what is on our hearts and what we need. He will regularly "draw near" to us on the mission and carry both us and our hearts if we will honor him by remembering that we are neither self-sufficient nor self-reliant. Prayer is a natural and essential outcome of such consciousness.
If we will repent from wrongly taking our lives, relationships and destinies into our own hands and make worship and mission our preoccupations, then we will see marvelous provisions appear from our conversations with the Trinity:
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions...Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." James 4:2-3; 7-8
Finally, I appeal to you dear friends, for Christ's sake and because of the love we share in the Spirit, that you partner with me and one another in prayer to God on my behalf. Ask God to deliver me from the unbelievers in Judea and that the believers there will be pleased with the offering I am bringing to them. And that he will send me to you with joy so that you may be refreshed. So may the God of peace be with you. Yes, Lord, let it be!
Comments:
Prayer...it's a strange and mysterious thing from a certain angle. An all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere-present Creator-God commands us to tell him things that he already knows and has will to shape. Yet, he draws our attention in Scripture to examples of human beings, just like us, who have influenced him...to do or not do...specific things throughout history. They evoked a response from God that he would not have initiated without their offering heart-felt words to him. Though he dwells in a high and holy eternal realm, he seems to desire a genuine interactive relationship with us in "real-time". To me this communicates to us a amazing message of some aspects of God's nature...that, in spite of his penultimate self-sufficiency, he is also humble and relationally vulnerable. This is hard for us to imagine and believe and probably a couple of the main sub-conscious reasons most of us don't find it easy or natural to pray. After all, "There are so many things to do and God will do what he will do without my assistance." Right? Apparently, this is not the real picture.
From another angle, prayer makes complete sense because every genuine relationship is sustained by a mutual exchange of communication of heart and word. The Scriptures teach us that God desires to have a friendship with us human beings...despite our weaknesses...he "wants us". Moreover, he "wants to be wanted" by us. God has the longing passionate heart of a Father and/or a Lover. The heart-felt words we sing and pray to him from our innermost guts move him...they move his heart and his heart moves him to act in response to our longings, needs and wants. He longs to hear, like any lover does, the oft-repeated "I love you's" that comes from the beloved. He wants us to tell him the things about him that we have come to understand about how awesome he is...things about him that have stunned and overwhelmed us...his beauty, justice, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, miracle power, infinitude, holiness and the like.
In addition, God has always looked for willing human partners to work with and through as visible agents of his grace and truth to others who are estranged from him and who are striving to survive in a sin-burdened creation. We live in a battle zone of a noble war against evil. Our conversation with him relates not only to our worship of him, but to the co-mission we are on with him in this fallen world. It is absolutely essential to have an open line whereby many words are exchanged between us in the midst of this dramatic and sometimes, dangerous, adventure. For our own sanity, safety and success, we need to continually tell him what is on our hearts and what we need. He will regularly "draw near" to us on the mission and carry both us and our hearts if we will honor him by remembering that we are neither self-sufficient nor self-reliant. Prayer is a natural and essential outcome of such consciousness.
If we will repent from wrongly taking our lives, relationships and destinies into our own hands and make worship and mission our preoccupations, then we will see marvelous provisions appear from our conversations with the Trinity:
"You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions...Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you." James 4:2-3; 7-8
Friday, August 13, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 119
Romans Chapter 15 cont'd
But first I have to go to Jerusalem to bring a gift to the believers there. God moved upon the hearts of the believers in Macedonia and Achaia to take a collection for the poor believers there. They were very pleased to do this because they realized that they are indebted to the Jewish believers for the spiritual heritage that they have shared with the Gentiles and they feel an obligation to serve them in a material way as a token of their gratitude. After I deliver this "spiritual fruit basket" to them, I will come by to see you on my way to Spain. And I am confident that I will come to you overflowing with the fullness of the blessing contained in the good news of Christ.
Comments:
When Paul was first converted to Christ, the apostles in Jerusalem were suspicious of him and his motivations. Along the way, he had his tensions with those leaders from Jerusalem as they were all seeking to understand what God actually required of the gentiles who were turning to faith in Jesus. They were very unlike the Jewish believers in their cultural backgrounds and there was some religious pressure on them to conform to various cultural preferences of the Jewish believers that were not essential to obeying the gospel and to pleasing God via genuine spirituality in Christ.
However, it is very interesting to note that as they hammered out their different strategic thrusts in ministry they heartily agreed on one thing from the very start:
And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Gal 2:6-10
Paul remembered his commitment to his brothers in Jerusalem and, ironically, when they found themselves many years later suffering from a poverty primarily due to a drought, Paul inspired the gentile believers across his mission fields to give generously, in a material way, to these very people.
May we also open our hearts to Christ to be eager...in light of the many things we are eager for...to help those in need...so help us God.
But first I have to go to Jerusalem to bring a gift to the believers there. God moved upon the hearts of the believers in Macedonia and Achaia to take a collection for the poor believers there. They were very pleased to do this because they realized that they are indebted to the Jewish believers for the spiritual heritage that they have shared with the Gentiles and they feel an obligation to serve them in a material way as a token of their gratitude. After I deliver this "spiritual fruit basket" to them, I will come by to see you on my way to Spain. And I am confident that I will come to you overflowing with the fullness of the blessing contained in the good news of Christ.
Comments:
When Paul was first converted to Christ, the apostles in Jerusalem were suspicious of him and his motivations. Along the way, he had his tensions with those leaders from Jerusalem as they were all seeking to understand what God actually required of the gentiles who were turning to faith in Jesus. They were very unlike the Jewish believers in their cultural backgrounds and there was some religious pressure on them to conform to various cultural preferences of the Jewish believers that were not essential to obeying the gospel and to pleasing God via genuine spirituality in Christ.
However, it is very interesting to note that as they hammered out their different strategic thrusts in ministry they heartily agreed on one thing from the very start:
And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Gal 2:6-10
Paul remembered his commitment to his brothers in Jerusalem and, ironically, when they found themselves many years later suffering from a poverty primarily due to a drought, Paul inspired the gentile believers across his mission fields to give generously, in a material way, to these very people.
May we also open our hearts to Christ to be eager...in light of the many things we are eager for...to help those in need...so help us God.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 118
Romans Chapter 15 cont'd
I am not making an empty or presumptuous boast concerning my service for God. I would not dare to talk about things the Lord has not done through me to help the Gentiles passionately obey God in word and deed. But I will testify concerning what he has done through me. I have fully preached the good news of Jesus from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum in the power of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders confirming its reality. I have sought to be a pioneer and preach the good news in areas where Christ has never been proclaimed so that I wouldn't build the churches on another divine ambassador’s foundation. I have taken this scripture personally, "Those shall see to whom he was not spoken of, and those who have not heard will understand." This very mission is what has thus far kept me from coming to you in Rome. But now the season has changed for me and since I have wanted to come and see you for many years, I will visit when I am on my way to Spain. I hope the Lord will permit me to do this and enjoy your company for a while.
Comments:
Paul was a wonderful and rare combination of a theorist and a practitioner when it came to the worship of and service to God. His life experiences and his sacrificial lifestyle gave him the kind of intrinsic authority needed to speak/write to others a challenging and life-altering theological message with such vigor. Additionally, Paul had witnessed many miracles as a divine endorsement that confirmed the graceful and penetrating truths he was commissioned to proclaim. Of course, the greatest miracle he witnessed was how the simple news of Jesus combined with a childlike response of trust in the human heart radically overturned ingrained sin patterns and unleashed the love of God and neighbor like a torrent into the souls of the once-unbelieving "outsiders" of his day. The power of God is embedded in the gospel of Christ and when it is delivered with spiritual authority, it transforms people's lives for good.
I too have seen some miracles of healing, guidance, answered prayers and permanently transformed lives throughout my years of ministry beginning in 1973. I have been blessed to know many others who can say the same and more. God still endorses the simple gospel of Jesus with signs and wonders...especially on the front lines of sharing Christ's love with those who have no clue who he is or what he's done. I am always thrilled with the accounts of God's miraculous activity in our day.
Sadly, as in Jesus' day, people can become preoccupied with a desire to see the spectacular and miss the heart of why divine miracles happen. This eccentricity has led many people into fanaticism and being deceived by the false and counterfeit works of religious charlatans. In all of our longing prayers for God's genuine power to be displayed, it is so vital to remember that "signs" point to something beyond themselves and "wonders" occur to inspire us to wonder "Who is like God?" Miracles (unusual acts of God's power) happen to remind us that Providence (the usual acts of God's power) sustains all things. I see this truth reflected in Paul's words to the Greek philosophers in Athens in Acts 17:24-31 :
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 hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
May we be in that number who have repented (a changing of the mind) and are prepared for a day of justice (that will not be deterred or escaped) because we have personally agreed with and truly accepted God's message of great grace to the entire world through Jesus Christ the Lord.
I am not making an empty or presumptuous boast concerning my service for God. I would not dare to talk about things the Lord has not done through me to help the Gentiles passionately obey God in word and deed. But I will testify concerning what he has done through me. I have fully preached the good news of Jesus from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum in the power of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders confirming its reality. I have sought to be a pioneer and preach the good news in areas where Christ has never been proclaimed so that I wouldn't build the churches on another divine ambassador’s foundation. I have taken this scripture personally, "Those shall see to whom he was not spoken of, and those who have not heard will understand." This very mission is what has thus far kept me from coming to you in Rome. But now the season has changed for me and since I have wanted to come and see you for many years, I will visit when I am on my way to Spain. I hope the Lord will permit me to do this and enjoy your company for a while.
Comments:
Paul was a wonderful and rare combination of a theorist and a practitioner when it came to the worship of and service to God. His life experiences and his sacrificial lifestyle gave him the kind of intrinsic authority needed to speak/write to others a challenging and life-altering theological message with such vigor. Additionally, Paul had witnessed many miracles as a divine endorsement that confirmed the graceful and penetrating truths he was commissioned to proclaim. Of course, the greatest miracle he witnessed was how the simple news of Jesus combined with a childlike response of trust in the human heart radically overturned ingrained sin patterns and unleashed the love of God and neighbor like a torrent into the souls of the once-unbelieving "outsiders" of his day. The power of God is embedded in the gospel of Christ and when it is delivered with spiritual authority, it transforms people's lives for good.
I too have seen some miracles of healing, guidance, answered prayers and permanently transformed lives throughout my years of ministry beginning in 1973. I have been blessed to know many others who can say the same and more. God still endorses the simple gospel of Jesus with signs and wonders...especially on the front lines of sharing Christ's love with those who have no clue who he is or what he's done. I am always thrilled with the accounts of God's miraculous activity in our day.
Sadly, as in Jesus' day, people can become preoccupied with a desire to see the spectacular and miss the heart of why divine miracles happen. This eccentricity has led many people into fanaticism and being deceived by the false and counterfeit works of religious charlatans. In all of our longing prayers for God's genuine power to be displayed, it is so vital to remember that "signs" point to something beyond themselves and "wonders" occur to inspire us to wonder "Who is like God?" Miracles (unusual acts of God's power) happen to remind us that Providence (the usual acts of God's power) sustains all things. I see this truth reflected in Paul's words to the Greek philosophers in Athens in Acts 17:24-31 :
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 hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'
29"Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man's design and skill. 30In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
May we be in that number who have repented (a changing of the mind) and are prepared for a day of justice (that will not be deterred or escaped) because we have personally agreed with and truly accepted God's message of great grace to the entire world through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
The Romance of Romans-Part 117
Romans Chapter 15 cont'd
But in light of the special calling God has placed upon me, I have had the boldness to write to you this rather heavy letter. He has called me to be a servant of Jesus Christ by serving his good news. I'm like a priest offering up an acceptable sacrifice that has been consecrated by the Holy Spirit. But it's not animals that I offer, but rather, the whole Gentile world!
Comments:
Priesthood is a concept to which the evangelical wing of the Church does not generally have an emotional connection. In this, we have lost a major living truth that is all throughout the writings of the apostles of Christ. The main point of the Book of Hebrews is that we have, in Jesus, such a high priest who is interceding for us in the Father's presence in the highest heavens. (cf. Heb 8:1f.) Believers are qualified, through the regeneration of the Spirit, to function as a part of a many-membered royal priesthood in this world. I believe that the consciousness of our priesthood is a primary identity issue for us that is meant to inform and animate all of our worship and work.
In the garden, Adam and Eve were not just stewards over the earth that God gave them to share in with him, but they were "sacred stewards"...priests of the original creation...and the garden in Eden was the "holy of holies" within the cosmos. There is "temple language" surrounding their callings and duties to God and creation in the Genesis account. This sacred stewardship was restored to humanity through the life and ministry of Jesus to those who would identify with him through simple faith. Only now, it is taken to unprecedented heights in God's economy because we are royal priests of both creation and the new creation that was inaugurated by the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the Father's right hand.
In this passage, Paul views himself as a priest who, through the agency of embodying and spreading the great news of Jesus, is envisaging the gathering up of the whole gentile world in his apostolic arms and offering their "redeemed by Christ through grace and faith" lives to the Father as a sweet smelling sacrifice...they are the reward of the sufferings of Jesus his Son. The Father promised to give the nations to Jesus the firstborn (of both "creation" and "from the dead"...see Col 1:15,18) as his inheritance in Psalm 2.
We also are called to view our entire lives and labors in this world as a sacred offering to the glorious Trinity...in our occupation of handling the created order and in our preoccupation of sharing the news of Christ with our fellow human beings whom he so dearly loves and died to save. The duty of royal priests can be summarized by saying: we gratefully receive what God has put into our charge, we add our love, labor and human creativity to those divine gifts, we offer back to God what we have cultivated for his honor and then we trust him to sanctify and crown...with salvific grace and power...what he, in response, gives back again into our hearts and hands for the good of all creation and its creatures. As one wise Orthodox priest noted, "In the Lord's supper, we don't offer to God wheat and grapes, but bread and wine." It is these elements that he graces with new life and healing power.
But in light of the special calling God has placed upon me, I have had the boldness to write to you this rather heavy letter. He has called me to be a servant of Jesus Christ by serving his good news. I'm like a priest offering up an acceptable sacrifice that has been consecrated by the Holy Spirit. But it's not animals that I offer, but rather, the whole Gentile world!
Comments:
Priesthood is a concept to which the evangelical wing of the Church does not generally have an emotional connection. In this, we have lost a major living truth that is all throughout the writings of the apostles of Christ. The main point of the Book of Hebrews is that we have, in Jesus, such a high priest who is interceding for us in the Father's presence in the highest heavens. (cf. Heb 8:1f.) Believers are qualified, through the regeneration of the Spirit, to function as a part of a many-membered royal priesthood in this world. I believe that the consciousness of our priesthood is a primary identity issue for us that is meant to inform and animate all of our worship and work.
In the garden, Adam and Eve were not just stewards over the earth that God gave them to share in with him, but they were "sacred stewards"...priests of the original creation...and the garden in Eden was the "holy of holies" within the cosmos. There is "temple language" surrounding their callings and duties to God and creation in the Genesis account. This sacred stewardship was restored to humanity through the life and ministry of Jesus to those who would identify with him through simple faith. Only now, it is taken to unprecedented heights in God's economy because we are royal priests of both creation and the new creation that was inaugurated by the resurrection and ascension of Jesus to the Father's right hand.
In this passage, Paul views himself as a priest who, through the agency of embodying and spreading the great news of Jesus, is envisaging the gathering up of the whole gentile world in his apostolic arms and offering their "redeemed by Christ through grace and faith" lives to the Father as a sweet smelling sacrifice...they are the reward of the sufferings of Jesus his Son. The Father promised to give the nations to Jesus the firstborn (of both "creation" and "from the dead"...see Col 1:15,18) as his inheritance in Psalm 2.
We also are called to view our entire lives and labors in this world as a sacred offering to the glorious Trinity...in our occupation of handling the created order and in our preoccupation of sharing the news of Christ with our fellow human beings whom he so dearly loves and died to save. The duty of royal priests can be summarized by saying: we gratefully receive what God has put into our charge, we add our love, labor and human creativity to those divine gifts, we offer back to God what we have cultivated for his honor and then we trust him to sanctify and crown...with salvific grace and power...what he, in response, gives back again into our hearts and hands for the good of all creation and its creatures. As one wise Orthodox priest noted, "In the Lord's supper, we don't offer to God wheat and grapes, but bread and wine." It is these elements that he graces with new life and healing power.
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