Dietrich Bonhoeffer spent the end of his life in a Nazi concentration camp. The teachings of the gospel and the Nazi indoctrination were contrary to one another. For this reason, Hitler sought ferociously to weed the gospel out of Germany – the gospel, not church or religion for there was still much of both remaining.
On his last day, he preached – right there in the concentration camp. It makes me wonder what text I would choose if I knew I was preaching my last. Bonhoeffer’s was 1 Peter 1:3:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Christ from the dead….”
What a powerful image! While He preached, a British RAF pilot stood in the doorway, keeping the Nazi officers who would escort Bonhoeffer to his death at bay. He preached and glorified the Savior whom he would see with his own eyes moments later. As he was submitting himself to the Nazi soldiers, he uttered the above mentioned quote: “This is the end – for me the beginning.”
That is so powerful and inspirational. But we need to look past Bonhoeffer to the God how inspired him to live in such a way – to die in such a way. One does not submit to death with joy unless he has hope. And the hope found in the Word of God changes lives still today.
We have a Savior who – though He was crucified and died – is alive! And because of that fact, our hope is living. Religion will not do that for a person. Ancient texts do not do that for us. Only a resurrected King can accomplish that, and He is worthy of our trust, love, and worship!
This Sunday, we will be focusing on the hope that comes from only Jesus! We will start by looking at Jesus as our Rescuer and Savior. We will look at Him being the promised Messiah. We will look at the His rich mercy was poured out for us on the cross. And we will celebrate the hope that is found in Him!
So, if you are struggling, downhearted, or just otherwise not-put-together, you will not be put to shame if you follow after Jesus. He will give you hope and rest in Him!
These verses were on my heart as the worship set came together this week:
Isaiah 61:1 – The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound….
Psalm 34:4 – I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears.
Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
1 Peter 1:3 (see above)
Here are our songs:
Rescuer – What a claim to begin our worship: “He’s our Rescuer!” While the song goes through various things we’ve been rescued, or saved, from – sin, shame, doubt, fear, religion, we all know exactly what sin is in our life and how much we need a Savior/Rescuer. It is from that knowledge we can cry out, “Oh, how sweet the sound; oh, how grace abounds!”
Jesus Messiah – I love, love, love how this song begins by singing Scripture straight out of the Bible. Worship through singing is a powerful thing. It is absolutely necessary because it is commanded in Scripture. But no lyric of Scripture can be as powerful as actual quotes from the Word – because the Word is special and has unique power! We get to lay out the gospel from the Word and point out that Jesus is the Christ – the Messiah – the promised One who came 2,000 years ago and is coming again!
At the Cross (Love Ran Red) – The cross is such a powerful image for the believer. We look at it and know that it belonged to us. We think on Christ’s sacrifice and know He bore our sin. Jesus humbled Himself to bear it, and we should surrender ourselves and submit to Him in faith. In Him “sin and shame are powerless”. Mercy and grace flow freely. And, since He rose from the dead, the peace that is promised is eternal because He defeated death, Hell, and the grave!
Living Hope – This song gets me fired up. The image of a great chasm – I’m talking Grand Canyon-ish – between us and God is not difficult to see or imagine. But our great “God and Savior Jesus Christ” is our “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13). He bridged the gap and made a Way for us! We can cry out, “Hallelujah! Praise the One who set me free!” Amen!
On July 4th, the United States of America will be 244 years old. Over those nearly two and a half centuries, this country has been through quite a lot, yet, in the general lifetime of the other countries like her, she is still fairly young and new to the world’s stage. If one wanted, it would be easy to track her development just like a child through to adolescence.
The United States was conceived from an idea: freedom. The people who would form that idea left the home they had always known and struck out to make a new beginning. When they found themselves on the shores of North America, that beginning was found to be more difficult than they had imagined as they had to live under the tyrannical rule of King George. They found their newfound freedom to be stifled by their lack of representation in the government that ruled them from across the ocean and were beaten down by unfair laws meant to take advantage of them rather than to help or build up. The same longing that brought them to this continent left them dissatisfied with their leadership and gave them a desire to strike out on their own – to overthrow the bonds of the government that ruled over them and seek to be independent, to be free.
When the idea of freedom was to give birth, the United States had quite the difficult delivery. In order to gain their freedom – liberty from the tyrant – there had to be revolution. And revolution would mean war and the battlefield would be their home. Yet they knew that liberty was an ideal worth having, and, since it was worth having, it was worth fighting for – even dying for if it meant that future generations could have what they hoped for. From 1773-1783 (and again in 1812), fighting is just what they did. And, thusly, the United States was born.
America’s journey to adolescence has not been easy, and some may argue that she has not quite grown up yet. Her people have squabbled among themselves for the majority of this country’s lifetime. The Civil War was won, lost, and has wounds that are still not healed. Reconstruction following the war never fully took place, and the scars are evident every day. Yet there is still something special and unique about this country.
The idea of freedom is still attractive. It is still more rare in the world than many would believe. People try time and time again to gain citizenship here. People cram into tight spaces in the holds of ships, they scramble across her borders under the cover of darkness, and they float in from closer countries on ramshackle, homemade rafts – all to have what is promised here through the ideals that are still sought after today. The inscription on the Statue of Liberty says it all:
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Thousands and thousands of immigrants have come through that particular harbor at Ellis Island, giving credence to those words and opportunity for a better future in this young nation.
This country has been heralded as a land of opportunity. It has allowed and seen many people realize their dreams and aspirations and given them the freedom to pursue them. In fact, the very pursuit of such aspirations has become known as the American dream.
One cannot help but realize that the freedom, acceptance, and hospitality realized in the American dream comes from the founding fathers who are still towering figures and examples of fulfilled opportunity and pursued destiny. In fact, the founding fathers injected this country with their beliefs and aspirations. Many tout that because of this the United States is a Christian nation. While this has not been the case, the Christian doctrine that many of the founding fathers believed is evident in the aspirations that this country set out to provide for her citizens – again and namely freedom.
This idea of freedom is one of the reasons that I am quite proud to be an American. I could have been born anywhere in the world, yet God allowed me to be born here. For that I am thankful. There is no place I would rather live. And, yet, I have aspirations and hopes for this country as she continues to grow and change. Those aspirations and hopes are based upon the same beliefs and doctrines that those founding fathers imbued into the foundations of our country. So, as Independence Day draws near, I have had two images weighing on my mind that have affected the way I view this country and how I fit in as one of her citizens. The first is a story relayed to me over a decade ago by a missionary to Jordan. The second is a monument.
A Tale of a Patriot Missionary
A Jordanian native heard the gospel preached and gave his life to Jesus Christ. Once he had done this, his entire life changed. He was born again sought to tell others about his new life in Christ. So, he began to share with his neighbors about what had happened in his life. Only 6% of Jordan’s population is Christian, compared to 92% Sunni Muslim[i]. While he was passionate about his message, he was cautious. He was cautious because he remembered what it was like to have not heard the gospel. He was also cautious because the gospel stands at odds with the status quo and encountering Jesus through the gospel changes lives. We will call him Sam for the sake of the story.
One of his neighbors was angry at his message. Rather than lash out right then and there, this neighbor went to the authorities. Rooting out this perceived missionary cell was high on the priorities of the local authorities, but they wanted to proceed carefully. They decided to partner with the neighbor and set up a sting operation. All the neighbor had to do was allow Sam to be caught sharing explicitly Christian doctrine and they would be able to swoop in to arrest him.
When it came time for the sting operation, they met in the neighbor’s garage under the cover of night. The neighbor drew Sam in with a few questions to get the conversation started. Once Sam began to lay out how Jesus saves, the neighbor was overwhelmed by anger. He lost all logic and was so irate that he grabbed a nearby screwdriver and stabbed Sam several times.
The police had to abort the sting and rush in to rescue Sam from the neighbor. Rather than arresting Sam, they had to send for emergency services and arrest the neighbor instead. They could have just counted the entire operation as a loss , but they decided to double down and interrogate Sam themselves. Even though he was wounded, they figured that they could still bait him into incriminating himself with the gospel. Yet, rather than directly asking what they wanted to know, they asked him, “Sam, why do you hate Jordan?”
Sam’s response is why this story has been on my mind this week. Rather than defend himself or try to come up with an excuse to get out from under the authorities, he simply responded: “Why do I hate Jordan? Everything I do is because I love Jordan. I want my people to experience what I have.”
This makes me think of my own relationship to this country. I can spout out plenty of history on the United States – good and bad. I can cite various quotes from the founding fathers to civil rights advocates that show how there is hope for the United States. I am passionate about any number of political issues that I genuinely believe to be important for the trajectory of this country. Yet I lack the patriotism – the ardent love of one’s country – that Sam had. Sam, like our founding fathers, was willing to impact his country with his beliefs. Because Sam loved Jordan, he tried to introduce as many Jordanians as he could to Jesus through the gospel. He did this because he knew that their encountering Jesus would be vastly more effective than any political rhetoric or argument.
A Picture of a Roadside Monument
If I had not been thinking about Sam’s story, I likely would not have given much thought to the second image that has been weighing on my mind. My family and I recently went on a trip that took us east across highway 82. It had been quite some time since I had been through there, and I had not realized that a cross had been built outside of Eupora, MS. As we drove past, I happened to notice it – likely because of the recent construction of a cross in my home town. It took me several days to finally be able to articulate what popped into my heart and mind when I saw that monument. When it finally began to come together in my mind, I contacted a friend of mine, Jenni Kilburn-Oswalt, who is the talented photographer who provided us with the picture here to help make my point.
What finally and profoundly struck me was how much bigger the cross is than the flag. Now, I realize that this is not necessarily a conscious effort of symbolism. But the idea that struck me here is the view of one’s country that must be had to see change take place. It is the same view that Sam had of his own country. His love of his country was such that led him to believe that the only good and lasting change that could take place would be for people to come to know Christ. Rather than try to be a political change agent, Sam introduced people to Christ. His view of the cross was simply bigger.
While he loved his country, he was unable to continue with the same old status quo. You see, the moment that one comes to faith in Christ, he or she ends up with dual citizenship between heaven and their native country. Paul explains it better in Philippians 3:20-21: “But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” That heavenly citizenship affects our earthly citizenship.
As stated earlier, I have much love and respect for my earthly country. I also understand the issues that this country faces. But I am one man, and I do not have a platform that would allow for national change. Were I to have such a platform, I lack the appropriate capabilities to affect the changes needed. But I can do what Sam did: I can share Christ where I am planted. And this is what I know I should be doing because I love my country. Christ, through the preaching of His gospel, is the only means that will affect change.
The image of the cross and the flag stirred this up in me. If I get sidetracked by pursuing many earthly solutions that are outside my control, I will accomplish little to nothing. I am not saying that one person cannot affect change. I am saying that I realize how this one person is intended to do so. My voice will be much more valuable to the United States if it is spent sharing Christ and proclaiming His Kingdom. My role as one of God’s ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:18-21) will further his kingdom more than trying to form my country into the way that I feel it should look, act, and progress. In doing so, my view of Jesus has to be bigger than my view of the government and this country.
Trust, Freedom, and Wrapping This Up
There is hope for the United States. For all of the ills that have befallen her, much change and progress has been made and, Lord willing, more will continue. The founding fathers were not the only movers and shakers in our history. In fact, the 244 years of America have seen people rise up time and time again to show that there is something to these ideals of liberty and freedom. Yet we live in a time period where people believe that typing into a box on social media and sharing the latest fear-inducing meme, video, or article will wake America up and affect change. We see people on both sides of the partisan aisle cry out that their guy (or gal) is the hope for America and that the other guy (or gal) is the emissary of destruction. I think we can look to Psalm 20:7 for guidance here:
“Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.”
To paraphrase: some trust in elephants and some in donkeys, but we trust in Jesus.
Thankfully, we have freedom here. We have freedom to disagree. We have freedom to group up. We have freedom to voice our opinions. And we have freedom to worship whichever god we choose. It is in this freedom where the proverbial rubber meets the road. Are we going to trust in God and be his ambassador, or are we going to trust in the government? Are we going to hold on to a heritage of the United States of yesteryear, or are we going to show patriotism like Sam and share the gospel with our neighbors because we love them and our country?
Think back to the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. As powerful an image as it is, it is just a plaque on a statue. Jesus had a call that is similar and vastly more effective. In Matthew 11:28-30, Jesus says,
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
One can come to America and, maybe, find all that the inscription promises. But if one comes to faith in Christ, one finds Life. And what is liberty and freedom without life? So, we need to be about pointing to Christ and watching him change lives. It’s time to be his ambassadors in this land that we love.
Ultimately, time will tell. But, if you will indulge me, I have a suggestion on how to proceed from here. Whatever concerns you have about this country, take it to God in prayer. Whatever aspects of this country that you believe are great, praise the Lord for them. But if you claim to love this country and love Christ, the greatest and most affective actions that can be taken will be to invest the gospel into your neighborhood, community, town, county, state, and country.
13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Philippians 2:3-5 —
3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus….
Greetings, readers! How is your spiritual wellness check going? I have heard from several that this journey through Romans 12 has been quite challenging. It has for me, as well.
I think these characteristics of the church are supposed to be convicting. They seem unattainable – or at least too hard for someone like me to live out in my life. But these characteristics are not meant to be attained or achieved by the likes of us. They are only to be accomplished by Christ living in us (Galatians 2:20)!
So far, the Word has shown us what it is like to love and live in faith out in the world. Now, we are to look again to our minds and hearts to see the attitudes that should motivate us in walking with Christ.
The Philippians 2 passage gives us a little bit of context. I will not go into too much detail there as I hope to write on Philippians 2 at a later date, but what we see in verses 3-5 – not being selfishly ambitious, counting others “more significant than [ourselves], looking to the interests of those around us – is a picture of the mind of Christ.
The concept of putting others is a bit foreign for most of us. We live in a day and age that is often described as being a dog-eat-dog world and running at a cut-throat pace. But Jesus wants more for His bride – His body. Notice I said “more for” not “more from” or “more out of”. This is important when looking at today’s characteristics because they are not so much actions that can be learned and practiced as they are motivations that have to be cultivated and engrained. Let’s walk through these verses to see what the Lord would have for us here.
Verse 13 says, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.” It is in our nature to look at verses such as this and fight against what they teach. Rather than get sidetracked by counter-arguments, let us look at it in the context of the whole chapter of Romans 12.
Think back to a few weeks ago when we looked at Romans 12:3-8 and the Church being Christ’s body. The body of Christ (the Church) is not a man-made organization. Its members are not to be thought of as individuals making up a corporation but rather to be parts of the body (i.e., losing an arm would be dismembered). So, when Paul talks about contributing to needs and showing hospitality, it is like saying take care of your arm for the sake of the rest of the body.
For centuries doctors could not fight against infection and knew, for them, it was better to sever the arm or leg than to allow gangrene or infection to set in and kill the entire body. It is the same principle here. If one of the members of our church is suffering or has a need that God has provided us the means to meet or take care of, we need to do it. It really is simple, and it flows out of love. Rather that cut that member out of fellowship for being in need, we reach out in love and meet the needs out of the overflow of God’s blessings to us.
Verse 14 cuts me right to the core. “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” I struggle with this. When I was a kid, I was made fun of and bullied pretty heavily. My parents told me that I used to pray at night to be big like my Uncle Mike so that people would treat me differently. God answered that prayer quite specifically: when my Uncle Mike passed away, we were the same height, wore the same size clothing down to the shoes, and were within fifteen pounds of one another. I was finally big enough to make people leave me alone – or so I thought. All that happened was my heart changed and anger and bitterness had a bigger space to fill inside me.
The significance of this characteristic is that it changes the way we look at those who mistreat us. Those we are to be blessing are those who persecute us. They are lost people who are treating us poorly because of the gospel – which they need! By blessing them, we give opportunity for the Lord to work in their lives and their hearts be impacted by the gospel! Now, I do not mean the Southern “Bless your heart!” here (that’s more than likely meant as a politely worded curse). I believe that asking God to save those who are persecuting us 1) protects our hearts from bitterness, 2) gives us a Christ-like mindset, and 3) will see your enemy become a brother or sister if they get saved.
Verses 15-16a say, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another.” The first thing I see here is that we often misunderstand what it means to “live in harmony”. Paul is not telling the Church to just go along and get along. Harmony is much more complex. Think about a group of people singing in harmony. Every single syllable makes a specific chord. If you take one voice away, the chord changes. If one voice decides to sing a completely different song while the others are singing together, you get discord.
Essentially, our collective harmony is built around doing life together. The Christian life is not meant to be walked alone. The kidneys – while an important part of the body – cannot carry out all bodily functions. And part of our living in harmony and contributing to each of the needs of the saints is sharing in life together.
When a brother or sister is joyful over something in their life, are you joyful with them or do you resent and covet? When a member is sorrowful over something bad that happened in their life, are you crying with them or silently ecstatic that they got what you think they deserve? I can think of few sounds that are as beautiful to me as a church singing together. We must make sure our lives are singing the same song, as well.
Our last characteristic this week is found in verses 16b: “Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.” The word “haughty” here could be translated “arrogant” and “lowly” could be translated “downhearted”. Basically, we get the picture of one person whose worldly status has caused him/her to be swelled up with arrogance, while the other person’s lack of status causes them to be looked down upon. This should never be the case in the Church. This is backed up by James 2:1-7, verse 1 of which says, “My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.”
The gathering of the Church together should be a place where people from all walks of life should fit because of the shared faith, hope, and redemption found in salvation by Christ alone. The gospel does not discriminate. Anyone who repents and believes upon the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Anyone – rich, poor, skinny, fat, and every shade of skin on the planet.
This may seem odd, but I have never fully felt at home in church until about a year and a half ago. If you know me, you know I am weird – at the very least quirky, probably more than a little eccentric. I like stuff that many others do not: books, science fiction, comic books, etc. It has always been hard for me to fit in. Then, God allowed me to come to Christ Community Church. The slogan on the church sign is “everyone is welcome”, and, once inside, it holds true. Even the persecution gets it right; one gentlemen – quite aggravated after worshiping there one Sunday – said, “This is a church of misfits.” Amen, indeed!
While Christ Community is not perfect, it gives us a good picture of the Body of Christ. Everyone Christ has ever saved has was a sinner who needed saving. He does not save because of status; He saves lost sinners! The variety of differences are for His glory and much to be celebrated. Revelation 7:9 describes a multitude in heaven as being “from every nation, …all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” – a bunch of misfits, and all loved and adopted by God!
Knowing where the Church is headed and remembering from the depths of sin Christ brought us lead us to much love, care, and thoughtfulness in our daily lives. My prayer for you today is that you could view the world around you – especially your church family – the way Christ does. May it drive you to love and care for those around you and see people’s lives changed by the gospel! “Never be wise in your own sight” (v. 16). Let us not seek our own wisdom but His and follow after Him, and seeing the change only He can bring to our lives and communities!
If I were to ask you what the most well-known Bible verse is, you would probably say John 3:16. It has been seen on signs in sports arenas and even shown up on the paint on faces of ball players in the games. It has been featured on countless t-shirts and yard signs. But is it written on your heart?
Let’s look at this verse with fresh eyes today:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Or, perhaps, more familiarly:
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
This is gospel truth. It’s also one of the easiest things for the Church to take for granted. At Jesus Saves Bro last Thursday, Big John recounted talking to some youth who – even though they had been “churched” – did not know how to be saved. He said that we need to be reminded about what the mainthing is supposed to be. Our main thing is Jesus and telling people how to receive Him.
We need to be reminded of these things so that we can tell others!
God loved people enough to send His Son to die in their place. He didn’t send Him to die for good people – there aren’t any (Romans 3:10, 23). No, He sent Him to die in the place of sinners because of love (Romans 5:8). This “world” and “people” are not hypothetical – they are us. That’s right: you and me and the people we see every day. We are sinners, and the “wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Because or our sin, we deserve that death – we’ve earned it. But here’s where the good news comes in: “the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”.
How can we receive such a gift? What makes us worthy? First, the Bible makes it clear that there is nothing that makes us worthy of the gift. But that’s how gifts work. Gifts are not based on the worth of the recipient; they are based on the love of the giver. Second, John 3:16 tells us how to receive the gift: “…whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life”. All you have to do to receive the gift is to believe in the giver and confess Him as Lord.
Romans 10:9 says,
“…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Believe upon Him, pray to Him and seek Him out and He shall be found. Romans 10:13 gives us confidence in this:
“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
That’s good news! And that’s exactly what we’re singing about this Sunday! You can see all the verses that were on my heart as the worship set came together in the commentary above.
Here are our songs:
God So Loved – I am beyond excited for this song! We have been working on it for a little over a month now, and I think it is going to be great for us to sing these words to the Lord. For one thing, the chorus is pretty much John 3:16! It is a good thing for us to look at and remember that Jesus saved us, how He saved us, and why He saved us. This song covers all that. I cannot wait to hear us pour our hearts out to God singing, “Bring all your failures, bring your addictions, come lay them down at the foot of the cross. Jesus is waiting there with open arms.” That kind of penitent heart is a good place to start a worship service!
Goodness of God – This is the second time for us to sing this song. It is such a good reminder that, even though we come to Christ from a position of sin, He always is good and saves us out of His goodness and love. This echoes David in Psalm 23: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” Yes, for those who trust in Christ it surely does!
In Christ Alone – This song is such a great reminder that everything we have – all our hope, forgiveness, redemption – is in Christ Jesus alone. We are saved by grace through faith in Him alone, and this keeps us from boasting (Ephesians 2:4-9). Our only boast should be in him (Galatians 6:14). May we lift our voices together and make much of Jesus!
Way Maker – This song has quickly become a favorite, and I believe it is because it answers the great fear and baggage that we bring with us. I’ll never forget the first time I heard it. My mother-in-law had just got her terminal diagnosis, and it was largely devoid of any hope. We were in the car, trying to hold ourselves together – me for Candi and Candi for the kiddos – when the bridge: “Even when we don’t see it, You’re working / Even when we don’t feel it, You’re working / You never stop, You never stop working.” Our Savior is bigger than our troubles, and He has already made and is making a Way for us!
(invitation) Almost Home – This song brings all of this together. We look at our before in disappointment, fear, and regret. And we are reminded that this is not all that there is. Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a place for them (and us). No matter what is going on in the world around us – whether in pandemic, politics, protest, or personal – we are born again to a “living hope” (1 Peter 1:3), and we get to leave this place and be with Him! Come, Lord Jesus!
11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
Ephesians 4:17-24 —
17 Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. 19 They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20But that is not the way you learned Christ! – 21assuming that you have heard about Him and were taught in Him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
Greetings, readers! Walking through Romans 12 has been an eye-opener for me, and it continues to challenge me the farther we walk through it.
We are continuing today in the characteristics of Christ’s Church found in Romans 12:9-21, and I want to remind you of the way we framed these characteristics in last week’s devotion: a wellness check with the Great Physician.
It is rare for me to submit to a doctor’s visit, and this means that those visits nearly always show me things that I need to get back on track when I leave that office.
My prayer for you is that these characteristics create an opportunity for you to sit down with Jesus and talk about your life and your walk with Him. I pray that God works on you through reading this like He did on me in writing it.
Before we dive into today’s characteristics, I want you to check out the Ephesians 4 passage above for context.
First, if we are saved, there needs to be a distinct difference in our lives in that we “no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds” (Ephesians 4:17). In our lostness – spiritual death – our thinking was futile or worthless, our understanding was darkened by ignorance, and that produced a “hardness of heart” (4:18). So, when Christ saves us, we need Him to give us a new heart (Ezekiel 36:26) and transform/renew our minds (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:23).
Second, we see that the battlefield for change in our lives is inside us. We see that we need: 1) to look back at how we learned about Christ to return to that way of thinking, and 2) to see that we are to continue taking off the old self by putting on the new self in Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit inside of us will not abide with our former way of life! He has a plan for us that begins on the inside with the Life and overflows into our everyday lives!
How we think affects how we live. Faith is – at its most basic – in the mind and heart. And that is where our actions begin. Let this impact our understanding of our service of the Lord in today’s characteristics.
Look back at verse 11: “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in [the Spirit], serve the Lord.” The first two take place in one’s heart and mind to produce the third. Let me translate it a bit differently and put it in our everyday language: Do not be lazy (but instead be eager) in your beliefs/convictions, be bubbling over with the Holy Spirit, and let those things lead you as a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
Zeal here is our passions, beliefs, and convictions. We all have things that inspire that in our lives. The things we believe and feel strongly about often go to the core of who we are. Yet, since we still live in our sinful flesh in a fallen world, it is easy to fall back into futile thinking. My pastor, John Goldwater, describes this as our minds getting hijacked. Just like someone who would forcibly and violently take control of something, we allow our former way of thinking to grab the reins of our minds. “But that is not the way you learned Christ (Ephesians 4:20)!” We must guard our minds and hearts! The only way to keep from being hijacked is to guard our minds and hearts with the Word of God (Psalm 119:9).
Our beliefs – our zeal – should be inspired by our time in God’s Word and in prayer. Yet this is the area that I believe most Christians are “slothful”. We have opportunity for intimacy with God in His Word like never before in history, but we allow more distractions from that pursuit than ever before. Our spiritual lives are like our gym memberships – they look good on paper but do not work if we do not show up and exercise. We have to get up off of the couch and have God’s Word run through us daily so that we are zealous for the right things.
Next, is to be “fervent in spirit”. This word “fervent” literally means to bubble or boil over. This is the word to describe what happens when something is cooking on the stove and the heat makes the liquid literally boil up over the edge and out of the pot. The Holy Spirit is convicting you – firing you up – through the reading of God’s Word (if you are not in God’s Word, that is why you have no fire), and that belief should be boiling over into your life. You will not be able to contain it! What is inside of you will ultimately be what comes out, or at least that is what Jesus told the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34: “You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance (overflow) of the heart the mouth speaks.” If we are loving and pursuing the Lord, it will be abundantly evident in what we talk about or post to social media (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).
All of that should result in service of the Lord instead of service to self or someone else. This has really worked me over and caused me to look at who I serve – God, man, or myself.
For our next characteristic, let us look back at verse 12: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” I feel that this characteristic flows out of the service of God from verse 11. Let me translate this for you: Be glad you have hope in Christ, have faith in Him through your troubles/sufferings/persecutions, endure through prayer.
Praise God that we have a hope and a future in Christ. If He has saved us, that means that we have trusted Him alone by grace through faith and have been made alive in Him (Ephesians 2:4-8). The hope we have in Christ is worth rejoicing over because it will “not put us to shame” because He has already won the victory (Romans 5:1-5)!
Hope in Him will sustain us through any suffering. That’s good news because there is suffering ahead. Paul lays this out clearly in 2 Timothy 3:12: “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted….” Jesus suffered and was persecuted, and we will endure the same because of Him (John 15:20). Following Jesus has a cost, and Jesus Himself warned us to count it and consider it when deciding to follow Him (Luke 14:25-33). But, hear me out, it is worth whatever suffering. He is worth it all.
So, how do we rejoice in our hope in Him during the sufferings we will have to endure? How can we feel close to Him during times where we will feel so far apart? We need to “be constant in prayer”. You cannot feel close to God if you are not close to Him. There are countless stories of people being martyred for their faith (Foxes Book of Martyrs, DC Talk’s Jesus Freaks books, etc.) that show people in times darker than I hope you have to endure who were closer to Jesus in their suffering than we are in our pews.
Think about Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael. They were ripped from their homes. They were castrated. Their godly names were taken away and given names of idols. They were slaves. The powers-that-be tried to hijack their minds. And literally everyone around them was hijacked – every, single, other person they knew. What protected them? What made them different? All throughout Daniel 1-6, they are shown to be praying – it was their custom. They were constant in prayer on the random Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays when nothing was going on. They talked with the Lord everyday because they had a relationship with Him. Their everyday faith was already in place when the extraordinary days happened.
Hear me on this: if your faith is not necessary to get through a random, mundane Monday, it will not stand when persecution comes. So, how can we prepare? What diet and exercise regimen do we need for spiritual health? It is simple:
Spend time in God’s Word daily
Spend time talking to Him daily; if you do not know how, Jesus teaches you in Matthew 6:5-15.
Let the beliefs and convictions you find in reading the Word and praying lead you to serve Him.
This week’s devotion has weighed heavily on me and convicted me. I pray that God will grant me repentance in these areas and for you to have the same as well.
9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 —
1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all that I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Greetings, readers! Thank you again for reading, and I hope that it is building you up and helping you to grow in Jesus! If you have been reading with us, you know that we have been walking through Romans 12 and looking at the bride of Christ – the Church – and what it means to be the Church.
Romans 12:1-2 show us what it means to genuinely worship Jesus as living sacrifices. There we see the stark reminder that we need to be transformed from the inside out – specifically our minds – and seek to not conform to the world but to Christ.
Then, Romans 12:3-8 expanded on the idea of being “transformed by the renewal of our minds” by showing us how we should think about ourselves and the rest of the body of Christ. We should remember to not think too highly of ourselves. And we should remember that the body of Christ is made up of more than just us. The Church is God’s bride and getting to belong to that body is a special thing.
The rest of chapter twelve looks at what some people like to call the “marks of the true Christian”, but I want to frame it differently in your mind. I want you to think of the rest of Romans 12 (this will take us a few weeks) as your yearly wellness checkup with your doctor; except, in this case, you are meeting with the Great Physician for a spiritual diagnosis.
The first characteristics we will look at have to do with love, and I think the 1 Corinthians 13 passage listed at the beginning gives us the best opportunity to understand the scope of what is expected of us.
No act of service or ministry or faith is enough if it is performed without love. You can be the best preacher in the world and still be the least effective if your ministry does not come from love. You would be just as effective banging trashcan lids together.
The same thing goes for all of the characteristics of the Church (which is why these are listed first). Without love, the Church amounts to nothing and will gain nothing. Think about the reputation that your local church has in its community. Is it known for the love its members show one another? Is it known for showing its community the love of Christ? It’s very likely that – if it is not known for love – it’s not known at all. And without love, the melody of its church bells will be grating to the ears and turn people away.
This is not meant to be an accusation against the character of the Church. These characteristics are meant to instruct the Church on what is expected of it. They are meant to remind us of whose we are. They show us how to “not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2) and to show/teach us how to live so that when the world around us – our communities and neighborhoods – watches, they see Christ and not our failures and faults. This is our opportunity to repent and change the way that we live. So, let’s dive on into the first characteristic: “Let love be genuine” (v. 9a).
The word for “genuine” here is literally the opposite of hypocrite in the original language. It could basically read “let love be without hypocrisy” or “let love not be fake”. This begins in our own hearts and cannot fall on anyone else. It is also easier said than done.
Genuine love stems from the love Christ has for us and how He showed us that love. He loved us when we were unlovable. He brought us in when we were far off.
1 John 3:16 puts this in perspective: “By this we know love, that He laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.” In fact, keep going throughout the rest of chapters three and four of 1 John, and you see John back up Paul in saying that love is the first characteristic that shows people have been born again. But the world has had much more effect on us than we would care to admit.
The world around us is full of fake, hypocritical love. The word “love” is tossed about so freely that it is often wasted. It is sometimes used to wound or take advantage of someone or a situation. But that is not the intention here. The word translated “love” here is the word agape which describes the unconditional, never ending, always and forever love of God. Again, it points back to the way that God loves us and uses it as a benchmark for us to learn how to love other people.
Does this mean that if we are messing up here that we are not saved? Not necessarily. What it does mean for us is that we have a love that is continually shown to us that should inspire us to love others. Paul describes that love in 1 Timothy 1:5: “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” That is the beginning of genuine love – our hearts changed by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
The next characteristic builds on the first. “Abhor what is evil; hold fast what is good” (v. 9b). This characteristic has two parts. The word “abhor” means “to hate”. It sounds odd to talk about hate in a Bible conversation – especially one about love, but we cannot follow Christ and the world at the same time. Those are two totally different directions. Amos 5:15 adds some context: “Hate evil, and love good, and establish justice in the gate…”. If you want to follow after Christ, it means that there are some things that are going to have to stop in your life – that is called repentance!
This is tough, but I think Paul explains it well in 1 Thessalonians 5:21-22 when he says, “test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” Basically, if you are spending time in God’s Word and following what it says, especially regarding loving Him and people, it will be very clear what is right and wrong – good and evil. Love what He loves, and hate what He hates. This needs to happen in your own life before you should ever hope to step into that role in someone else’s life!
We have one more characteristic to look at today that will bind all of the rest of this together. “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (v. 10).
The most surefire way that I know of to love others is to put them before yourself. Love is affection and care for someone else. And, as often as the word love is wasted and misused, it is very clear to know when you are loved by someone or not. Remember here that these characteristics describe what the Church should be. And the love that we have been looking at today is definitely different than the world around us. The world around us is filled with hate and despair. This is a dog-eat-dog world where nearly everyone’s mantra is to take care of themselves first. But it should not be so in Christ’s Church.
Our churches should be known for our people taking care of each other. Look at the first church in Acts 2:42-47. They were devoted to the study of the Bible and praying in such a way that it changed their life (Acts 2:42). The Holy Spirit was moving powerfully in their time together (Acts 2:43). None of their people were in need because they loved and took care of each other (Acts 2:44-45). And they longed to both come together and worship the Lord (Acts 2:46) and take that love and the Word of God into their communities (Acts 2:47). And the result was people came to know Christ.
I hope today’s devotion stirred something up in you. I know it has in me. As I study and write these devotions, I find that these areas are what I need to work on in myself. Better yet, they are the areas where Christ is continually molding and shaping me. I do not want to be a clanging cymbal. In fact, I genuinely want people to come away from being around me and feeling the love of Christ. I wish that I could say that is always the case, but I know that it is not. So, what do I do? Do I give up? Absolutely not!
I have to remind myself every day that Jesus Christ left His throne to come to earth and die on the cross for my sin. I have to remember that it was my debt He paid. And I get to remember that death could not hold Him and my sin no longer defines me. A love like that has an effect on a fellow.
So, remember that I love you. And I am praying that God provide you an opportunity to feel His love and share it with someone today.
There has been a verse on my mind this week – Nahum 1:7:
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows those who take refuge in Him.
That verse is comforting.
First, it is comforting because it reminds us of the goodness of God. He is good whether times are good or not. He is good whether we feel it or not. He is righteous and holy and something completely different than everything we have to offer.
Second, it is comforting because – when everything is not good with us – He is still God. He is a stronghold, or a fortress. We can turn to Him in our times of deepest need. His care and love are unparalleled.
And, finally, it is comforting because, while He is God and is our fortress, He is personally involved with His children. He knows us. I do not mean that He knows who we are or that we are casual acquaintances. He knows those who take refuge in Him. He knows those who put their trust, faith, and belief in Him alone.
And that’s good news because we need to be known. It’s good news because – no matter what is going on in your life – we have have someone to turn to who can handle whatever it is. We have the privilege of getting to seek out the Most High and Him respond knowingly with love and care for us.
These verses were on my heart this week as the worship set came together:
Nahum 1:7 – see above
Psalm 95:1-7a – Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise! For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountain are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
Colossians 2:13-14 – And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross.
And that’s what we’re singing about this week! Our great God is good and cares for us. He has made a way for us and wants us to trust in Him. He has paid the price for us and wants us to lay our burdens at His feet and trust in Him as our refuge and our salvation!
Here are our songs:
Famous One – We have the privilege to gather together and sing to the Almighty God of the universe! Don’t take it for granted! He is the Lord! He is the Most High! He has revealed Himself to us. This song is a good reminder of how big and awesome God is and how blessed we are to get to worship Him.
Forever Reign – This song continues reminding us who God is. He is good. He is love. He is light. He is hope. He is peace. He is truth. He is joy. And He is Life. He is all that, yet He still stoops to be with us. I love the chorus: “I’m running to your arms – the riches of your love will always be enough”. It reminds me of the prodigal son and the Father embracing. That’s the love our King has for us!
Jesus Paid It All (O Praise the One) – I love this hymn! “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.” Amen. Were we to live and serve Him for a thousand lifetimes, we would not have time and ability to adequately show our gratitude. With our voices, hearts, and lives, we will “praise the One who paid our debt and raised this life up from the dead”!
Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) – This is a dangerous song. It is dangerous because it is a prayer that will utterly change our lives should God answer it. We are singing it because this is what we should want: to live a life following after Christ wherever He leads us. We get sidetracked when talking about walking on water by looking at Peter. We focus on Him falling in when He took His eyes off of Jesus. Let us not forget that the water was firm under Jesus’ feet. The wind and waves still know His voice. May we listen to it as well!
Oh My Soul – In many ways, this song reflects Psalm 42 where the psalmist asks his soul why it is cast down within him. It also reflects the call of Christ to lay our burdens on Him. This is our invitation song, giving the opportunity for people to reach out to Jesus for whatever they need. He can lift us up. He can heal us. He can relive our fears. We are not alone; He is with us.
3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
Greetings, readers! I am excited to continue working our way through Romans 12 and what it means to be the Church. I hope this finds you well, and I want you to know that I am praying for you.
Last week, we began looking at the nature of the Church in Romans 12:1-2 – focusing on the fact that the Bible tells us that it is made up of saved people and not wood or stone. We also looked how Christ has called us to voluntarily offer ourselves to Him as Lord in worship to Him. Today, just as Paul built on that in Romans 12:3-8, I pray that we grow and build on our understanding.
Churches, especially here in the South, are all over the place. We have multiple denominations. And, unfortunately, there are so many reputations – good, bad, and ugly – that go along with all of that. For this reason alone, a refresher on what God intends for His Church is necessary. Hopefully, this will at least spark a little bit of revival for you, and, if necessary, an appropriate amount of repentance.
Paul starts this paragraph by giving believers a stark reminder (with “grace”): do not think more “highly [of yourself] than [you] ought to think, but to think with sober judgment” (v. 3) If that did not hit you like a freight train, you need to read it another two or three times. This hits me like a sledgehammer and is a serious reminder of where Christ found His Church!
He did not find a group of lovely, clean, hard-working church folks who would make lovely additions to the nice brick country club on the corner. Romans 5:6 tells us, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly”, and, before we try to rationalize “weak” and “ungodly”, look at 5:8: “…but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Everyone one in church from the oldest member to the most revered and respected, and especially the pastor and deacons, have a past as a lost sinner. Every single part of Christ’s Church was formerly dead in their sin (Ephesians 2:1), and, had it not been for God saving them – making them alive (Ephesians 2:4-5) – by His grace, they would be just like the lost world around them.
But it is easy to forget where you have come from when you feel like you have arrived and have some status. ***Buckle up here, if you are sensitive, because it is going to be a bumpy ride for a little ways.*** I wish I could point this out without pointing fingers at myself, but I have been guilty of this more times than I would ever care to admit. So many times, “church folks” look down at the lost and are so critical of their actions and ways. They/we point them out. They/we remark on how it is evident they are headed to Hell and understand why they are on their way. Let me tell you what makes the difference: putting our pointing fingers and gossip up, remembering that we deserve death and Hell for our own sin, and stopping to tell those we see that there is a Way out of death and sin, and His name is Jesus. That is what happens when we think on ourselves with “sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned”: we remember that Jesus is the only Way for us to have any righteousness at all and not be left in our sin.
But there is good news, even in this. If Jesus can save us, we should have no doubts that He can save anyone. I promise you there is none reading this who is more self-righteous than I was during my twenties. I burned hot in anger in those years. And I burned myself out, too. Do you know what made the difference? I will tell you that time spent in God’s Word, prayer, and a repentant heart leads to healing and more grace than I deserve. David writes in Psalm 51:16-17:
“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
That “broken and contrite heart” is an invitation for the healing salve of God’s grace to do it’s work in our lives. When that happens, we see ourselves as we should, and we look to the broken and lost world around us with eyes that lead to sharing the gospel from the overflow of our hearts.
Alright, now that is said and done. Let us move on to calmer waters. Let us talk about the Body of Christ.
It is hard to understand the idea of church membership in the present age. We hear the phrase “member of a church”, and we automatically shift our understanding to being counted on a roll or having bought into a membership – like a country club or the Burger King Kid’s Club. But that is not what God had in mind when He laid this out in His Word. When He says through Paul in verse 4 that we are the “many members” of “one body”, He is giving us the image that we are all part of one organism – the Church – not an organization like many see the local churches. We are arms, legs, hands, feet, knees, and elbows.
The Body of Christ is to be carrying out His work in the world around us, wherever He has planted us. We should look at the communities surrounding our church buildings and homes as mission fields where we are being sent out. You see, that is exactly what they are and exactly why God has put you where He has – to be His hands and feet and carry out His plan for you (Ephesians 2:10) where He has you.
You may be thinking that you have nothing to offer. You may feel like you are not equipped or prepared to talk to people around you about Jesus. You may think that you are not gifted in those areas. Let me reassure you: every member has a function, and God equips those members to perform that function.
Now, having said that, everyone is not called to perform the same function. That is one reason why I am glad that we are in Romans 12 (for more on the body of Christ and spiritual gifts, check out 1 Corinthians 12 or Ephesians 4), because it does not get into the usual list of giftings that people think of when performing a “function” in the body of Christ. In fact, let us do away with the idea that someone must be a pastor, preacher, evangelist, missionary, Sunday school teacher, or worship leader to have a calling or a “function” in their local church. But God has a plan for all of us.
Romans 12:6-8 looks at various categories of service: prophecy (preaching the Word), service (taking care of any number of things), teaching (helping people understand the Word), exhorting (discipling other believers), leading (from whole churches to various smaller parts), and acts of mercy (acts of generosity). This list is not exhaustive, but, instead, it serves as a guide to get us thinking about how we can serve the Lord where He has planted us.
And that is what I want you to do: think about gifts that God has given you in your life and prayerfully look for opportunities to serve. Maybe you are not gifted to stand in front of the room and talk to the whole congregation; that is good because if everyone preached we would never get to lunch! Maybe you are not gifted to ____. But you do have a gift. Everyone does not perform the same function. But everyone does have a function.
I want to close by looking again at what we have talked about here today. Please note that my harsher tone in the section earlier was as much directed toward myself as it was to anyone else. I have a great love for Christ’s church, and I am passionate about sharing His Word with anyone who will listen. Sometimes that passion translates better than others.
I know that there is redemption to be found in Christ. I am more thankful for it than I could ever put into words. And I want you to find that as well. If you have reservations about finding a local church to be a part of, feel free to reach out to me. I would love to meet with you and pray with you, hearts and Bibles open, seeking the will of the Lord. If you feel that you have no gifting, I would love to sit down with you and help you seek the Lord to show what He has for you.
All in all, know that you are loved by God and that He has a plan for you. With that going for you, what can stand against you?
As I sit here typing this out today, I am excited about Sunday. Aren’t you?
Sunday is not a regular day for followers of Christ. Every Sunday is Easter for us, reminding us how Jesus rose from the dead so many years ago. And, since He is risen, He has had a standing appointment with His people for generations. We should be as excited every week as we are on Easter Sunday. Jesus is alive. He is risen, just as He said.
Covid-19 has not changed this, but, rather than letting my words stir you up, let God’s Word speak for itself. Check out Isaiah 25:8:
“He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.”
While this was a future event for Isaiah, it is reality for us! That’s right: death has been swallowed up, defeated by Christ on the cross and in His empty tomb! That’s good news! He has paid the price for us and freed us from sin and the grave and given us His Life!
But that’s not all. Isaiah’s prophecy has future promises for us. It points to the future we see in Revelation 21:3-4:
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.'”
And that’s what we’re singing about this week. We are rejoicing in the victory that Christ has already won! We are recognizing the shackles and chains that come from sin and celebrating the God who breaks chains and brings freedom! Praise God that there is power in His Name and that He has made a Way for lost sinners – dead in their trespasses and sins – are made alive and receive eternal life by grace through faith in Him. Amen!
These verses were on my heart this week as the worship set came together:
Psalm 107:1-2, 14-15 — Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom He has redeemed from trouble…. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. Let them thank the Lord for His steadfast love, for His wondrous works to the children of man!”
Acts 4:12 — And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Psalm 145:9 — The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made.
Here are our songs:
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1%3A4-5&version=ESV“Chain Breaker” — This song gets me pumped up because it reminds me of what Jesus has done in my life. Without Him, I am left in the shackles of my sin and failure. With Him, I am free! This basically starts our worship off with an invitation: “If you need freedom, or saving, He’s a prison-shaking Savior. If you’ve got chains, He’s a chain breaker.” And that’s Who we’re pointing to throughout the worship set.
“Goodness of God” — This is a new song for us, and tomorrow will be the first time we sing it in worship at CCC. This song serves as a constant reminder of why God is good and His being worthy of our worship. Read the verses below to see why we’re singing it. But check out the lyrics to the bridge based on Psalm 23 and Luke 9: “Your goodness is running after, it’s running after me. With my life laid down, I surrender now; I give you everything.” This is an appropriate response to God pursuing us!
“Your Great Name” — Acts 4:12 tells us “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”. This song walks through many of the ways this plays out. He takes our sin and fear. He guards us and redeems us. He is our Savior, Defender, Redeemer, and He is worthy. And His Name – the Name of Jesus – is to be lifted high because He is God and worthy of worship!
“Resurrecting” — The cross is important. It represents Jesus taking our sin and His sacrificial death for us. And, while this song emphasizes it as well, the symbol for Christianity is the empty tomb! As I said earlier, every Sunday is Easter, and “Resurrecting” reminds us of that! Jesus rose in victory, and the same power that rose Jesus from the grave lives in us! Though we were once “dead in the trespasses and sins in which we once walked”, we are “made…alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:1, 5)!
“Just As I Am (I Come Broken)” — This is a newer take on the classic hymn. This hymn has been used in churches for many years; in fact, it was written in 1834. The inspiration for the original poem is John 6:37 where Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” This song serves as a reminder that “all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). Some time back, this chorus was added. It encompasses the testimony of all believers, and is a good reminder of why we need a Savior.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Peter 2:4-5 —
4 As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Greetings, readers! It is Thursday again, and I am excited to be writing to you. I am especially excited to be writing to you about the Word of God.
I have been praying over where to go next in these devotions, and I find my heart and mind focused on the Church and what it means to be a part of it. That led me to Romans 12 where we will be camping out over today and upcoming weeks.
The Church – notice the capital “C”, referring to all believers everywhere (the Bride of Christ) – is a very special organism. You read that correctly, I said “organism” not “organization”. You see an organism is a grouping of parts that come together as a whole life[1]. The Church is made up of all saved people – no matter their nationality or denomination – coming together because of the Life – Jesus (John 14:6). John, in Revelation, gives us a picture of what we will all be like together in heaven as “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9). That is a bit different than what we associate in our minds with the word “church”.
We often think of a building or a specific gathering time of people in or around that building (Sundays from 11 to better-hope-he-stops-preaching-at-12). The Covid-19, #safeathome, lockdown has turned that understanding of church on its ears. But the Church has not stopped being the church – whether or not it has or has not physically met together. That is where Romans 12 comes into play.
Romans 12 is a special chapter because it bridges the gap between the theology in chapters 1-11 and the application that follows in the remaining chapters, hence that’s what the “therefore” is there for in verse 1. Hear me clearly on this: theology – the study of God (in Scripture) is very, very important. But that study of God must result in application and obedience. I love the way that the New American Commentary on Romans puts it: “Theology in isolation promotes barren intellectualism. [Activity/application] apart from theological base is impotent to achieve its goals.” The Church needs both theology and application in its activity or else we will stay in the safety of our pews or comfortably padded seating and never impact the world with the Word of God.
Verse 1 sees Paul’s appeal to the Church to “present [their] bodies as living sacrifice[s]”. Any reading in the Old Testament is sure to cross paths with the sacrificial system. This is necessary for our understanding of what God through Paul is asking of us. While he is not asking us to lay our bodies on an altar; he is calling for “living” sacrifices. The fact that it is “living” shows that it is voluntary. God wants us to willingly give our lives to Him – every day that we live.
This imagery is uncomfortable, but it should not be. The Bible is clear that in order to be saved one must confess aloud that Jesus is Lord. Our problem often lies in the fact that we want to share lordship with Him, giving Him the parts we want Him to have and retaining control over the areas we want. That is not how lordship works. If He has bought us, we are His (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He could demand what He wants of us. But rather than treating us as His slaves, He wants us to want to give ourselves to Him.
The best example I can think of is a little personal, but here it goes. The first decade of my marriage was made up of Candice working hard every day at work and then doing the vast majority of the work at home. I would work hard at work, stay late at work, and keep my mind on work all the live-long day.
Candice deserved my service; after all, I am supposed to be willing to give my life for her (Ephesians 5:25). I would – sad to say, seldomly – offer up my help (after she had likely asked repeatedly). But the area I hated the most was the dishes. She informed me one day that I should want to wash the dishes. I was dumbfounded – really, I was just dumb! Unfortunately, it took me a decade to realize that I love her more than work and genuinely wanted to do things for her – not because she needed help or any such foolishness – because of my love for her.
God offered up His life for us in Christ and redeemed us – saved us. We should want to live our life for Him. Living our life for Him becomes less of an act of service than a response of love with love. Serving Him should not be a chore. Sooner or later, we have to realize how blessed we are to get to serve Him and spend time with Him. That realization is a game changer!
More than that, He wants us to be different from the world around us. He commands us to not be “conformed to this world”. He wants His Church – His Bride to be different than the lost world around it. 1 John 2:15a says, “Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Jesus does not want His Bride to have more than one object of its affection. He will NOT share His affection and adoration.
Instead of being like the world, He calls for us to be “transformed by the renewal of [our minds]”. So many things come after our attention. Now, more than ever before in the history of the world, we are bombarded with more information and advertising than we can appropriately handle. We need our minds set on Christ (Colossians 3:1-3)! There is nothing inherently wrong with work or phones or hobbies, but, if it takes attention away from our spouse, we should know it needs to be taken away to save the relationship. What is there in your life that is trying – and likely succeeding – in taking your attention off of Christ? It’s time to redeem the relationship with Christ!
Having an appropriate focus on Christ, offering ourselves daily to Him (Romans 12:1; Luke 9:23) in an act of worship, and taking our mind off of the world and putting it on Him helps us know His will for us. How can we know that? Is He going to speak audibly? Will I have a vision? While God can certainly do any of that as He pleases, I think Rick Warren put it best: “God’s will is found in God’s Word. Stop looking for a sign, and start looking for a verse.” There is no better way to put your mind on Christ and seek His will apart from His Word.
The 1 Peter passage puts this all into context for us. Christ is saving people, and they are the “living stones” of His “spiritual house”. His Church is made up of people who are living out Romans 12:1-2 every day. They do not need buildings, although they are nice. They do not need priests to speak to God on their behalf. God has given us everything we need to follow Him. At some point, we just have to do it.
Hopefully, it will not take you as long as it has for me to get the picture. But I am sure that many of our spiritual houses are not up to code. Some of our bricks are half-baked with lacking devotion to God and too many distractions. Repentance is hard and it might be a bit of an embarrassment to have to start again. Hear me out: it is worth it all!
My prayer for you today is that you can experience transformation from the renewal of your mind. And I think Colossians 3:1-3 describes that process best:
“If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
May it be so in your life. Get your mind on Christ and be His Church.
[1] This is a combination of various definitions from Google and Merriam-Webster online.
Just Keith Harris 