Category: Weekly

“For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you…”
Rom 12:3

As we’ve been considering Romans 12 over the last few weeks, the Lord has impressed upon my heart the abilities we have as a result of His indwelling Spirit.  From the very beginning of the chapter until the end, we are urged to live in a manner that is “holy, acceptable to God.” (Rom 12:1) This type of life was simply impossible without salvation.  It is a life in absolute contradiction to the old nature, but this life is a reality now for those that are in Christ.  I can now, “through the grace given to me,” live in a way that reflects my Savior, but it is still no easy task.  It is a constant battle.  Meditate on the passage below before you face the world each day.  Strive to live in obedience to it.  This instruction is not out of reach!  It is part of the “all things” that we can do through Christ who strengthens us. (Ph 4:13) We need to be reminded daily that we can overcome “because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world!” (1 Jn 4:4)

Jamie

Rom 12:9-17
⁹ Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; ¹¹ not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; ¹² rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; ¹³ distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.    ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.    ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.

“…so we, being many, are one body in Christ…”
Rom 12:5

There is such an amazing diversity in the body of Christ!  We are many yet one.  As our Lord described the kingdom of heaven in Mt 13:47, he said it was like a dragnet that was “cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind”.  Do you know how many species of fish there are in the ocean?  Scientists say there are about 15,000 known species, but because so much of the ocean is unexplored, they estimate it’s probably 20,000 or more!  That’s quite a variety!  The Lord compares that variety to His church, the diverse group of people caught by the Gospel net!

The children of God come in every color, shape, and size.  One brother the other day was relating to me how he was snagged by that net in the fourth grade.  I know another man who was saved a couple of years ago in his 50’s!  You may be a young, seemingly innocent, Samuel, living among the priests in the temple and hearing the voice of the Lord, or you might be old like king Manasseh, more wicked than all your predecessors and living in captivity when God quickens your heart!.  Whether an Ethiopian eunuch, growing up outside of the law and the customs of God’s people, or a Pharisee of Pharisees, so heavily steeped in religion you don’t need a Savior, God is still able!  He saves out of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation! (Rev 5:9)

We have all of that great diversity within the church, but God simply sees them all as “good” in Mt 13:48.  We need to see one another that way, my brethren, and appreciate the role of each member of the body!  In both passages that focus on this diversity–in Rom 12 where are text is from and then also in 1 Cor 12–we are reminded to not exalt ourselves and to love and appreciate one another. (See Rom 12:3, 9-10; 1 Cor 12:4, 20-21, 25-26) In fact, right after the diversity chapter in 1 Cor 12, we have an entire chapter on love!

Why would God organize His word that way?  Since we do come from different tribes, we’ve got different customs, characteristics, mannerisms, etc., and we’re going to be tempted to divide the body by getting into our own little like-minded groups based on our backgrounds.  Christians, don’t sweat the small stuff!  I hate to see Christians measure other Christians by their non-biblical customs.  Don’t do it!  God’s formed each member in His spiritual body for His glory and for the good of the entire church.  It is because we are different that we are so effective!  Just because He’s made you more like a lung that’s focused on air, don’t try to convince that brother who functions more like the heart to do the same.  What happens when air gets in the heart?  It’s lethal!

We are diverse, but we must be united as one.  What a miracle God has performed in putting us together!  Thank God for one another, brethren, and “walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with [that literally means “putting up with”!] one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph 4:1-3)

Jamie

“…for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest…”
Joshua 3:15

This past Thanksgiving, we visited my in-laws who live on the Georgia coast near Jekyll Island.  A salt-water river runs in front of their house giving them easy access to the ocean.  When you look out their front door, you see the tall grass of the marsh, with the river behind it, and then more marshland that seems to go on forever.  Thanksgiving morning, however, I saw a different sight.  The marshes were barely visible!  Instead of a river, it looked like a lake, with the top of a few of the tall grasses poking up through the surface.

As I looked at the overflowing river, I couldn’t help but think of the appearance of the Jordan when Joshua and Israel stood on its banks prior to entering the land of Canaan.  My pastor had recently preached from that very text, so it was fresh on my mind (there are some great messages from the Joshua study at http://www.truthtapes.com).  I thought about how the Lord so often works in our lives.  Of all the times for the children of Israel to arrive at the Promised Land, it was during the season that the Jordan overflowed!  They had children, livestock, and carts that had to get across, and, humanly speaking, it was the worst time to forge that river.  Why did they show up at that time?  Because it was exactly the time God had determined!  You see, God doesn’t put us in places that are difficult.  God places us in situations that are impossible!

Why does God work that way?  It’s for our own good, children, that no flesh should glory in His presence! (1 Co 1:29) Gideon and his 32,000 were outnumbered by their enemies, but God told him to send some men home.  What?  The odds are already against us!  Why?  God said, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’” (Jdg 7:2) See, the situation needed to not simply be hard but impossible!  It’s at those times God does His greatest work, and when He works, there’s no doubt Who is responsible!  He gets all the glory!!!

Is your Jordan overflowing right now?  Does the situation seem to be going from bad to worse?  Take heart, dear Christian!  If God is for you, who can be against you? (Rom 8:31) The overflowing Jordan is nothing to Him!  The children of Israel walked through that riverbed on dry ground!!! (Jos 3:17) Be comforted by the Lord’s promises.  He will always keep His word!

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the LORD your God, The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Is 43:1-3)

There’s a small bird that lives in the marshes of South Georgia that the locals call a marsh hen.  We enjoyed a pretty good meal of fried marsh hen one of the nights we visited with the in-laws.  These birds stay so deeply embedded in the marsh that it’s impossible to get to them except at one time–when the tide is so high that the river overflows!  For those that trust in the Lord, the overflowing river is nothing more than a tool to bring forth the blessing God has in store!

Jamie

And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
      A stumbling block and a recompense to them.”
Rom 11:9

The apostle quotes David’s statement in Ps 69:22 and relates it to the stumbling of Israel at the coming of the Messiah for whom they had been waiting.  What does it mean when it says their table became a snare and a trap?  Heb 9:1-2 gives us some insight:

Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary.  For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary…

The reference to the table takes our minds back to the old covenant, the law.  By the time Christ arrived on the scene, the Jews had settled into a religion that had lost sight of what all of those old ordinances had represented.  The law was never a way to be accepted by God.  The law was a mirror that pointed out all our flaws and our need for something more! (Rom 3:20) The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin, but it pointed to the blood of the One that could! (Heb 10:4)

You see, the religion the Lord had established had been changed into something else.  In Gal 1:13-14, Paul referred to the Jews’ present-day religion as Judaism (translated “the Jews’ religion” in the KJV).  It was now known as a national religion instead of a God-centered one.  It had become a religion just like all the other religions of the world– one based on man’s way of thinking, that suited human nature.  They had convinced themselves they could make God happy by their works. (Rom 11:6-7) Their table–a general term to sum up all of their feasts, holy days, and religious rituals–had become a snare to them.  It should have all pointed them to Christ.  Jesus said in Jn 5:39: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”  The Old Testament law was all about Christ!  To miss Him in it was to miss the point!

The Lord makes a powerful statement in Mt 23:38 to an Israelite nation that He would have gathered under His protective wings, but who refused Him.  “See! Your house is left to you desolate”!  What a bombshell the Lord dropped!  Their temple was no longer valid!  Their worship was of no value!  They were still sacrificing animals while rejecting the final Sacrifice that those animals were intended to reveal!  They were so attached to their tradition that they missed the One who is “the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Rom 10:4)

So, have we learned from their mistake, America?  Do we realize that our religion without Christ is simply a snare and a trap?  Just because we slap Christ’s name on it doesn’t mean it’s Christianity!  The Ephesian church had plenty of works and labor, but God wasn’t pleased with it at all because they had left their first love. (Rev 2:2-4) I pray we will get back to where the focus must always be–Christ and Christ alone! (1 Cor 2:2) To miss Him is to miss it all!

Jamie

But Isaiah is very bold and says:
   ” I was found by those who did not seek Me;
      I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.”
But to Israel he says:
    ” All day long I have stretched out My hands
       To a disobedient and contrary people.”
Rom 10:20-21

In our text above, the apostle reminds us of the plan of God to preach the gospel to the Gentile nations as revealed by the prophet Isaiah.  The truth declared in the prophet’s statement is one that should humble us before our merciful God.  We weren’t looking for Him; He manifested Himself to us!  His next statement to the nation of Israel further reveals the heart of all mankind toward his Maker.  Even with outstretched arms, God was rejected by a people to whom He had shown great mercy.  The thought is reminiscent of one we’ve previously considered in Rom 3:11 and which is a recurring theme in the letter to the Romans: “There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.”

If God had left us to ourselves, everyone of us would have perished!  In Ez 16:1-7, the Lord compares Israel to an abandoned baby, but I hope we don’t fail to see the further picture of every soul that the Lord delivers.  We were all helpless before the Lord found us.  We were abandoned and left to die, completely unable to save ourselves.  We couldn’t seek God!  We didn’t even know how to seek much less Who to seek!  The thing that made the difference in our lives was that God found us!  Listen to v. 6-7: “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’  I made you thrive…”  God made us thrive, Christian!  Praise His merciful name!

Never forget the pit that God dug you out of. (Is 51:1)  Don’t forget what you were before the Lord got a hold of you!  The only way you can humble yourself and minister to others in the way that the Lord requires is if you see yourself as being no better than every person you encounter.  You can love your neighbor as yourself if you remember from where you came.  You can bless those who curse you if you recall that you cursed God (if not with your lips, then at least with your life) before He saved you.  The only way you can love the Lord to the degree that He deserves is if you realize just how bad you were when He set His love upon you and forgave you! (Lk 7:47) We were helplessly dead in trespasses and sins, walking according to the course of this world, and giving ourselves fully to the lusts of our flesh according to Eph 2:1-3.  We weren’t looking for Him, so what hope do we have by the time we get to v. 4.  None, of ourselves!  I sure am glad that v. 4  begins with the glorious words, “But God”!  God did what we could not!  Thank you Lord Jesus!!!

Jamie