Matthew 1: Christ Our King

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What do we know about kingship? We may have some familiarity with it but as Americans it is not something that really affects our lives. We have read about it in books and seen it in movies, but we have not lived under a king’s rule. To us they are merely stories of long ago. Or are they?

Matthew begins his Gospel by laying out Christ's genealogy as a king. Christ is a king in the line of David. He has come to save and to rule over his people but also to bring peace to the world. If Christ is a king than what does that mean for those who follow him?

It requires undivided devotion and faithfulness to him. To follow a king requires one to solely follow and serve him. You cannot faithfully serve two masters. If we do not serve Jesus Christ in such a way that he is not truly our king. We too often forget that if we are to follow Christ than we cannot just do whatever our heart desires but most work according to God’s desire. The amazing thing is that Jesus not only requires our allegiance he also provides us the strength and grace to live it out. His saving work gives us the ability to serve him faithfully. We can love him because he first loved us. So let us then serve our king faithfully and wholly.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Luke 2: God's Promise

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God’s promises are often fulfilled in ways we do not expect. For some of us that means we are disappointed but for some of us we experience great joy. The nation of Israel expected a specific type of savior and messiah—one that would deliver them from the hand of Rome. But what they received was a savior who saved them from the tyranny of sin and death but not the hand of Rome. When Christ came some accepted him and experienced great joy while other rejected him and suffer greatly for it. 

God promised that Simeon, a devout and righteous man, would see Jesus Christ before he died. When Christ came, Simeon prophesied that many would rise or fall and that Jesus would reveal what is in the hearts of many (v. 34-35). Jesus’ life and ministry polarized ancient Israel so that many rejected Christ while others accepted God’s promised savior. Jesus shows what was in their hearts by how they responded to him. 

Just as Jesus was then and he still is today a polarizing figure. We react to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in many different ways. We can praise and worship Jesus as our King and live it with passion and joy. We can reject it and claim “total” control over our own life or at least that is what we believe. We can also accept it but only as an intellectual belief (commonly seen in the phrase, “I believe in God”), while our lives never reflect a true and lasting change. How we respond to the Gospel Christ reveals our heart. 

Jesus is a light to us (v. 32) as our guide and our king, and he is what God promised to Israel. He was not what they expected and many stumbled because of it. Let us not make the same mistake that those who stumbled did. We can trust and follow Jesus Christ our Lord with passion and joy, for it is what God requires of us. Let us not reject God’s promise. 

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 5: Christ Versus Sin

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Does sin ever seem overwhelming to you?

In Romans 5 Paul goes to great lengths to convince us that sin has been beaten through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. From the very first verse, “through justification we have peace with God”, Paul communicates that on an individual level Jesus has removed all barriers with God.

Ever feel that you are making too many mistakes to really have Christ’s love? Verse 8 says while we were sinners, sin defined us and was our identity, is the time when Christ died for us. And as verse ten says, if his death accomplished peace between God and us then Jesus’ risen life will accomplish even more peace and salvation in our lives.

What about the sin all around us? God restores individuals but what about this deep cycle of hurt and hatred in the world that seems to continue year after year. Paul says over and over that through one normal man sin entered the world. Through one man restoration also entered the world. Sin might have had the head start but restoration was started and is being carried out by God. I think to say that sin is the underdog in this war is an understatement.

There is hope for peace, life, salvation, godliness, and restoration for the individual and for the world. It all came through one man who died while we were still sinners thus demonstrating his great love. Take so time to think about this great hope that we have through Jesus!

Posted by Danny

John 1:1-34: The Medium is the Message

Marshall McLuhan was a 20th century scholar famous for coining the phrase, “The medium is the message.”

It’s a great line, and oh so true. Take heavy metal music, for example. Does it really matter what the lyrics are? The medium is the message. Or diamonds, which some of you might be lucky enough to receive this Christmas. There’s no need for words to explain them (that’s why men buy them!); the medium is the message.

Or consider Jesus. He is the eternal Word. He is the Creator. He is Light. He is Life. He is full of grace and truth. He is the bearer of the Holy Spirit.

And he’s as human, as approachable, as touchable and knowable as you and me! He’s God in the flesh!

The medium is the message.

I’m not trying to diminish our need for Jesus’ teachings or miracles, or his death and resurrection—of course we need these. But just the mere presence of Jesus in the flesh, “pitching his tent among us” as John 1:14 metaphorically states, almost says enough. It says God will go to all lengths to reach us. That God will condescend to all depths to reveal himself to us. That God will stop at nothing to save us.

John the Baptist saw the significance of Jesus’ mere presence. Before Christ did much of anything ministry-wise, John was already saying, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” The medium is the message. Just the fact that Jesus is here is a harbinger of wonderful things to come!

Posted by Greg

Hebrews 1: God speaks

Hebrews 1: He has spoken by his son

When the USA planned its initial invasion into Iraq, they wanted to communicate “shock and awe” so that the people of Iraq and the surrounding region would recognize the superior power of the American military force and the grave consequences for opposing it. When God invaded this world, there was very little “shock and awe,” barely even a shout. His invasion was closer to a whisper than it was a shout.

The only shock and awe in the story of Jesus birth came with the announcement by angels. Yet, even that seemed to go relatively unnoticed as their messages were delivered to relative nobodies. Hebrews 1 says an awful lot about angels and so does the Christmas story since Gabriel and the hosts of angels play such an involved role in the story. But Hebrews 1 isn’t about angels, just like Christmas isn’t about angels, shopping, trees, or even family. Christmas is about Jesus—and his whisper- like invasion.

Whisper is the right term for this when looking at Christmas through the eyes of Hebrews 1. That is because though a whisper is very soft and gentle, a whisper is still a spoken word. Hebrews 1 describes Jesus as the ultimate spoken word. Before Jesus came, people would read the Old Testament to understand what God is like. Now that Jesus has come, he himself has revealed to us “the exact representation of God’s being.” If we want to know what God is like, we can now look at Jesus. If we want to know what God has to say, we can listen to Jesus. If we want to know what God likes, we can look at what Jesus likes. This word came to us with no profundity, but more like a whisper—that you might miss if you are not listening.

Listen to that whisper today on Christmas eve and tomorrow. This whisper is the radiance of God’s glory and God’s word spoken to us. As you celebrate Christmas, would you look at the manger and see the gentle whisper of God for you that can be a word to you wherever you are and whatever you face. Bask in the radiance of God’s glory that is revealed in that manger for you.

Coming in the New Year:
It can be tempting to think that since Jesus came, the Old Testament isn’t as helpful to us as we seek to grow in our relationship with God. Actually, now that Jesus is here as the exact representation of God, we can look at the Old Testament in light of who he is and understand it more fully than those who read it before Jesus’ arrival. So, starting in January, we will begin a series called The Gospel in the History of Israel. We will begin with the book of Judges and we will spend January and February working through Judges-Ruth-1 and 2 Samuel.

Malachi 4: Our Hope

Have you ever had high hopes which were on the verge of being fulfilled… then disaster comes? We have experienced this in our sports, where our sports team seems unstoppable only to fumble away its victory. We have experienced this in our jobs, where we worked for that great promotion, only to be laid off. We have experienced this in relationships, where we thought everything would soon be perfect only to face bitter betrayal. Israel’s return from exile was like this, where the Temple was rebuilt and God’s glory would again fill the land. But instead great blessing, disillusionment quickly set in. To these disheartened people the prophet Malachi speaks.

Into this discouragement, Malachi declares that God loves his people (1:2), that He is Israel’s father, creator and master (1:6, 2:10), that He is the God of justice (2:17), who does not change (3:6), and is honest (3:13). Most importantly Malachi presents a vision of the future of the day where God will come to judge the wicked (4:1) and heal those who fear him (4:2). But before this day God will send his prophet Elijah to bring the people to repentance.

God has proven himself to be faithful to his word. This Elijah has come. The Gospels describe him as John the Baptist and he prepared the way for Christ to come and to save his disheartened people. We may experience all types of discouragement and heartbreaks, but Christ will never leave nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5) and God will cause all things to work for our good (Romans 8:28). Let us then walk freely and in our hope in Jesus Christ that brings us life and strength.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Zechariah 9:9-17: The King’s Day

What does it mean to live far away from home? Of course you know where home is but you cannot go back. In fact someone else lives there now. This is what the exile was for Israel. They knew where home was but their enemies lived there. However the story does not end there. God brought his people back to their land. They had been restored! But as good as the homecoming was the return from exile in Babylon pointed to a greater restoration that Israel would never imagine.

The prophet Zechariah pointed to a greater and final day where the king comes to rule and to bring peace to the nations, not just to Israel (v. 10). On that day all of God’s enemies are destroyed (v. 14-15); and the Lord will save his people who sparkle as jewels (v. 16). On that day God will restore twice as much (v. 12) because he has compassion on his people (10:6).

That day came when Christ was born and when shepherds, angels (Luke 2:8-20) and Magi (Matthew 2:1-12) visited him. But the full inauguration has not taken place. That day of fullness is still coming, when God will dwell with us and wipe every tear from our eyes. When we will no longer live in exile as strangers and foreigners but finally home. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will pass away (Revelation 21:3-4). It will be a good and awesome day. For us Christmas touches on that day and we can have hope for today because we know that that day is coming. So let us be truly merry and as the Magi truly worship our king (Matthew 2:2, 11).

Posted By Aaron Miner

Isaiah 40--Comfort my people

“I told you so!”

Nobody likes to hear that phrase. Yet, we have heard it and we have said it. Why does know one like to hear it? The reason is, that it simply adds insult to injury. If somebody is using that phrase, it is because we have done something that we regret and are currently feeling the hurt. Then the insult comes.

That is not how God responds to his people. In our advent series, we are looking at Isaiah 40 as a standalone. However, if we had been reading it we would know that chapters 1-39 were warnings to Israel and the surrounding nations of impending judgment. Isaiah 40—66 are addressed to the people of Israel who have experienced that judgment. The words aren’t “I told you so,” but rather, “comfort my people, comfort my people.”

Isaiah the prophet was sent to bring words to comfort the people of Israel and point them to the compassion of their God. Yet, Isaiah as the prophet only foreshadowed Jesus, the greater prophet and priest, who would not just bring words, but would be the very word—God himself. H e would be the ultimate comfort for God’s people.

“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16

When we pray to Jesus, we can know that he understands our pain and our experience—because he too experienced the loss, grief and temptations we do. Because we have the same Holy Spirit that dwelled in Jesus, that Holy Spirit will enable us to commune with Christ and will fill us with the same power, hope and courage that Jesus was filled with. That same Holy Spirit will comfort us, not tell us “I told you so."

Isaiah 11: Good Tidings

Christmas is about good news or good tidings; where we hope for something better, something greater than we can experience now. For Israel, Isaiah 11 was part of that good news. Since Jesse’s son, David, left the throne the nation repeatedly failed to live up to their covenantal obligations to Yahweh, who brought them out of Egypt and who made them a great nation. Their hard hearts and stubbornness eventually alienated them from God bringing them hardship and exile from the Promised Land.

But Isaiah promises that the roots of Jesse that bore David were not completely done. The restoration of Israel in Isaiah 11 was a part of the hope the nation of Israel had during their exile. This passage is full of amazing promises. From the roots of Jesse, life would come again with extraordinary fruit! I can image verse twelve building hope in their hearts. “And (He) will assemble the banished ones of Israel, and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” Now they have judgment and exile but restoration is coming.

I think the part that challenges me the most is verse 3 and 4. “And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He will judge the poor. And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth.” Finally, someone who will see people as they truly are has power, wisdom, and fear of the Lord. This was Israel’s hope for salvation as a nation but little did they realize this also is the source of salvation for the entire earth. Someone was coming who could see clearly and restore this chaotic world and our chaotic hearts. Jesus Christ inaugurates this hope in us, that God has not abandoned us but will restore our lives and our hope. This is the voice that cried out from the manager and that the Star of David testified to. Good tidings indeed.

Posted by Danny

Isaiah 9:1-7--God's Kingdom

When we read about Jesus’ life we can sometimes wonder how people missed the coming of Christ. Perhaps they were looking for a king as they envisioned a king, but Christ had a different vision for his kingdom. The book of Isaiah was written about 700 years before the birth of Christ, and in chapter 9 Isaiah talks about the coming of Christ. He talks about the lifting of despair and the joy that Galilee will experience when Christ is born.

I wonder how often we fall into the same trap of not recognizing Christ’s kingdom. We live in a fallen world so we see and experience the pain in that and long for Christ’s return. In simply waiting for Christ to return and put things back in order do we miss that he has already come. Just like 2000 years ago are we looking for a kingdom yet to come only to miss what Christ has already done? The kingdom is already here, at least in part. Faith, hope and love are all attributes of the kingdom that we have now. Look at what verses 2-7 say about what has changed with the birth of Christ. We do not just longingly wait for the second coming to experience the kingdom; we get to experience the kingdom now.

Enjoy your family and time away from work, but be sure to take some time to ponder the celebration of Christ’s birth and what that brings us today. Let’s celebrate the kingdom that Christ has brought with his first coming. He is coming again and we can rest in that knowledge, but like our brothers from 2000 years ago let’s not lose sight of what he has already done when he came in the form of a baby and laid in a manger.

Posted by Jim

Isaiah 7:14--God's Mercy

One of the most beautiful things about biblical prophecy is how it can speak to two situations at once. There is always an immediate situation addressed by the prophet. But often there is a deeper, longer-range significance to his or her words buried beneath the surface.

Isaiah 7 describes such a situation. The immediate circumstance is a growing threat to the southern kingdom (Judah) by an alliance of the northern kingdom (Ephraim or Israel) and Aram (Syria).

Ahaz is king of Judah, and he’s scared. Verse 2 says he and the people were shaken like trees in the wind. But the impending defeat they dread is an illusion. God has other plans. He definitively states, “It will not happen.”

Ahaz doesn’t believe it. In order to deal with this threat (we learn elsewhere in the Bible) Ahaz plans to strike up an alliance with Assyria. This is always a bad idea for God’s people. God takes personal offense when his people seek solutions in human power rather than in him.

So Isaiah tries to save the situation: “Ask for a sign,” he says. “God wants to give you a sign of his power and plans on your behalf.” Ahaz refuses.

So God gives a sign anyway. He says, “A virgin will have a child named Immanuel, and before he’s even old enough to be held accountable for his own moral choices, Israel and Aram will be no more.” That’s the good news; but there’s more: “Those two nations will be destroyed by Assyria, which will park on your doorstep bringing greater fear than you feel now!”

In other words, Isaiah 7:14 was originally a prophecy of judgment. God was coming to judge his unbelieving people.

But there’s a deeper significance, which of course has to do with Christmas. One day 700 years into the future, when God’s people were already overrun by a greater power (Rome) and were already living in darkness and dread, the virgin would give birth to the True Immanuel, Jesus. And then he would come not to judge but to save.

Because God’s mercy triumphs over judgment.
Because God’s perfect love casts out fear.
Because God’s ultimate purpose is not to condemn but justify.

Merry Christmas!

Posted by Greg

Isaiah 7:14--A Sign for you

What battle will you fight today? We all have battles to fight every day. It could be managing the complexities of an entire family’s holiday schedule and holiday task list. It may be a conflict with a co-worker. It may be an increasingly complex to-do list. We all will fight a battle today. How will we fight that battle?

Ahaz as king was charged to protect Jerusalem. He was successful in that (Isa 7:1) but when a greater alliance formed against him, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Ahaz had a battle before him that he would need to fight. Ahaz needed a sign from God to remind him that God would fight the battle for him. It is hard to know why he didn’t want the sign (the pious, “I don’t want to put the Lord to the test” didn’t fly with Isaiah 12-13). It seems that he would rather close his eyes and think that he was on his own rather than look for the sign and trust that God would fight the battle for him. That was unfortunate for him, for Isaiah’s prophecy to him was, “if you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.” (9)

God is generous in making himself known. If we will look for him in life and in scripture, he will gladly reveal himself. I think the reason we don’t want to look to him is because, we are like Ahaz. We would rather not see and have to respond to what we see. We would rather work with the smallness of our own life than to have look to God in his greatness and respond in faith to Him.

Yet, if we would only see this sign for what it is. It is the sign of Immanuel. It is the sign that means, “God is with us.” If God is with us, we can trust that he will not ask us to do something we are unable to do. He will not ask us to resist something that will overpower us. If he is with us, his skin is in our game. He will ride with us in our success and he will be with us in our failures. That is the beauty of Christmas. Jesus was born in humility to show us that in our humility, he is with us. Our brokenness will never be too broken for him. Our humility will never be too humble for him. If he could emerge from a feeding trough to become the resurrected Son of Man seated in heaven; than because he is with us, he can take us from our brokenness and humility into whatever battle we face today and enable us to stand firm in our faith.

Psalm 122--A Journey

Do you have a favorite journey? Is there a car ride that brings back memories—like an annual drive to a family member’s home to celebrate Christmas?

Psalm 122 is about a journey. This is a psalm about how the Jews would journey three times a year to Jerusalem for a feast. They rejoiced because they were going to the Temple, the place where God dwelled. And that made it worth all of that effort. And since the Temple was special, so was its city because it was the city of the Temple. The presence of God at the Temple not only made the Temple special, but made the city around it important. So, the psalm calls the people of God to pray for Jerusalem and to seek its peace.

Christmas is all about a journey also. However Christmas is not about travelers journeying to the place of God. Rather, Christmas is the story about God leaving his place in heaven and coming to where we dwell. The presence of the Temple represented God’s intention to be near his people in their world. The arrival of Jesus superseded the old Temple in order to house the presence of God so that God may be close to all people throughout the entire world. Now that Jesus has come, each person who follows Jesus is now a Temple that houses the presence of Jesus’ own Holy Spirit. Not only that, but together, the disciples of Jesus become a Temple (Eph 2:19-22) where together they reveal God and express his praises.

Now we are the ones who reflect God, just as the Temple did in the Old Testament. We have the opportunity to bring joy to the people in our community. Just as the Temple made Jerusalem important, our presence in our community is important to God. Just as it was right for those first pilgrims to seek the peace of Jerusalem, so it is also right for us, in the spirit of Christmas, to seek the peace and welfare of our community.

Posted by Marc

Genesis 22: God Provides

Christmas has become a lot of different things to different people. It is a time to spend with family, time to give to others, and it is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. It is a time when individuals are kind to each other, except if you are around a mall or a shopping center. Unfortunately, for many people this is also a difficult and depressing time. The sorrows of this world hit them in very real ways during the holiday season. So what do we have to offer those around us who view Christmas in such diverse ways?

Genesis 22 is a great place to start thinking about what the Christmas means. God promised an old and aging Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son. God did provide that heir and Sarah gave birth to Isaac. However, God is now asking Abraham to kill Isaac. On their journey up the mount Isaac asks one question, “Where is the lamb for the burn offering?” Abraham simply answers, “God will himself provide the lamb for the burnt offering.” God does provide the lamb and Isaac is spared, but the story does stop on that mountain. It points to another Father and Son relationship.

Though Isaac was Abraham’s promised son, Jesus is the ultimate promised Son through whom God blesses all the nations. Jesus is the sacrificed lamb who God provided to reconcile all things back to himself. It is in Jesus that we have hope for today and for tomorrow. Genesis 22 is then prophetic of Christ’s death on the cross—that God provided himself as the sacrifice. The Christmas story cannot be view without this end. Without Easter, Christmas is meaningless.

Christmas is more than family, gifts, kindness and love. It is about God providing. In Bethlehem he began the greatest act of love—of giving himself to die for us. This is our hope, this is why we celebrate, and this is what we have to offer.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 16--Good Gossip

When you realize that you are saved by grace and that there is nothing you can do add to the love, affection and approval that you have in Christ before God—you have a remarkable ability to see the virtue in others. Hebrews 3:13 teaches us to, “encourage one another daily…so that we will not be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” That is a command and the stakes are high because how horribly sin can deceive.

Paul is an example of one who understands the gospel so clearly that he can look around him and see people and the various ways each of them bring value and contribution to the Kingdom of God. Not only that, but he unashamedly promotes others publicly knowing that there is no scarcity of virtue, righteousness and approval for those who know the gospel. We fail in our ability to build others up because we are afraid that if we build them up, we may be putting them above ourselves--making our way to the bottom.

True encouragement is an overflow of something that you have. I am not talking about the needy kinds of encouragement that fishes for compliments in return. True encouragement comes from the heart that has been dislodged from self-reflection, and is now able to look at people through the eyes of God. This heart then uses its words to build others up to their face and behind their back—thereby creating good gossip.

Are you better at finding faults in others than in finding in them value? Is that the way God looks at you? Why don’t you try practicing the reality of the gospel in your life by creating some good gossip about the people around you.

PS—Go to the Bible For Everyday website and fill out our one question survey.
PSS--Look for the Advent Reading Series starting tomorrow.

Posted by Marc

Romans 15: True Unity

What immediately comes to mind when you hear the word tolerance? You may be indifferent, but more likely than not you fall into a spectrum between crusading for it and crusading against it. Regardless of our initial reactions, if we take an honest look at the contemporary idea of tolerance, then we can see that it actually raises a few good questions. How do we treat our neighbor? How do we treat each other?

Foundational to loving our neighbor is having a servant’s heart. Our focus should be for the benefit of others not ourselves (v. 1-2). Christ’s life and death gives us our greatest example of true servant love. Even more, Christ’s love for us and for other empowers us to love as he loves. We can talk about behavior modification changing our hidden biases but that ultimately leaves us powerless to true heart-felt change. My suspicion is that those who attempt being tolerant that way only really change who they are tolerant towards. As Christians we should examine ourselves to see how we love our neighbors who are different from us.

Secondly, we are to accept one another as Christ as accepted us (v. 7). The church should be a place of acceptance and love. For those we like and love to be around this is easy and energizing, but for those to whom extra grace is required, extra grace is required. How we love those we do not like or who annoy us is the measuring stick by which we truly accept one another. Sometimes loving another includes confronting sin in them (Matthew 18:15-20, James 5:20), but admonition only works if it is done with a history of true godly love and acceptance towards them. This is true unity and we can live in it only as we trust in God who fills us with joy and peace leading to an overflowing hope (v. 13). This is what the world longs for in tolerance but is always just out of reach.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 14: Christian Liberty

“It would be a great place to live if it wasn’t for the people.” Many places have been given that title—great place but terrible people. But the truth of the matter is living with people makes life difficult. The church is no different since one of the top five reasons people leave the ministry is because of interpersonal conflict. So how do we think about working through this issue?

The foundation of working through any issue would be to seek to love them as Christ loves them. 1 Corinthians 13 is a great help in thinking about the root of the problem. Is it envy, impatience, rudeness, pride, anger, or selfishness? But many times it is a matter of conscience and religious conviction. Each party feels justified and accurate resulting in a great impasse (v. 5). So how do we proceed from here?

Paul solves this situation through submission to God and to one another. If we in our liberty “eat meat sacrificed to idols,” or our cultural disputable matters (v. 1) such as going to the movies, dancing or style of worship, and knowingly distress another believer we not loving them (v. 15). We are to never destroy the faith of our brothers and sisters in Christ because of our liberty (v. 15), but on the other hand we also should not allow what we consider good to be spoken of as evil (v. 16). Walking this delicate balance takes great care and we must make every effort to live such a way because this leads to peace and mutual edification (v. 19).

We are to avoid both legalism and licentiousness for this is mark of maturity and is pleasing to God. Living with others is not easy but loving each other in spite of our differences and maybe even because of them sets us apart from the world.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 13--Authority Song

“I fight authority; authority always wins
Well I fight authority; authority always wins
Well, I have been doing it since I was a young kid and I come out grinning
Well, I fight authority; authority is always winning…”

You may remember this John Cougar Mellencamp song from the 1984. If not, you can check out the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po47SNloMBg

It is a funny song that we can all resonate with. Somewhere in each of us is something that wants to do our own thing and resist authority. Paul gives us the good news that the law and the authorities are gifts to us from God because they restrain evil—both Evil from others and the evil within. That might not seem too special, but travel to a third world where the authorities can be thoroughly corrupt and compromised and you will see that good authority is a gift from God.

So we are to pay our debt to the authorities for they provide a service under God. We should not allow any debt to roll up to anyone except for one. That is the continuing debt of love.

We all owe a debt of love that we will never be able to pay back. Jesus in his love and grace has credited our account with infinite “cash flow” of love, truth, affection and approval. His command is not that we “pay him back,” but that we “pay him forward” in the way we love others—and therefore truly fulfill the law.

So Christians live under a greater authority and that is the authority of love. It is good when that authority wins.

Posted by Marc

Romans 12--Applying the first eleven chapters

Paul has laid out the truth our faith is founded on. Through the book of Romans to this point he has given us doctrine of our faith. He tells us in chapter 3:23 that we are all sinners and therefore under the penalty of sin. In Romans 5:6-8 Paul shares the gift of salvation which comes through Jesus. In Romans 7:14-17 we see the struggle of living in the fallen world, but we also know God supplies us power for righteous living. We also see that God is sovereign and has a plan. Paul carefully reveals this doctrine to his readers and lays the ground work for our faith. Then he transitions his whole train of thought with a simple, “and so…”

Pause for a moment to think about what your response to the first 11 chapters to Romans really is?

Paul is telling us our only response can be one of a living sacrifice. I must know who God made me to be and to use my gifts for honoring God. When it comes to these things, we all know how to talk a good game abou them. However, maybe we simply need to fall on our faces and repent. Do we love people? Really? How often do we fail to even see people or allow ourselves to become frustrated? Do we pray for people who don’t like us? Do we celebrate with those that are celebrating a win that we long for? Do we cry with a neighbor who is in pain? Am I a good neighbor and friend to those that need a friend?

I know how easy it is to become frustrated with a neighbor or to turn a blind eye to someone in pain. I also know that the doctrine of Romans 1-11 demands a different response. It requires a heart response of “living sacrifice”. Corinthians 13:13 says “Three things will last forever- faith hope and love-and the greatest of these is love”. Do we copy the behaviors of this world or do we live a life of love?

Romans 11--Hope

Are there people whom you long to see come to faith? This passage is about hope. Paul was speaking about the concern he has for his people the Israelites. When he was writing this passage, the progress of the gospel had flourished among the Gentiles but had halted among the Jews. So, some were saying that God had rejected the Jews in favor of the Gentiles.

It certainly seemed that there was a genuine hardness among the Jews. They had had Jesus among them and all the law and the prophets to testify to him, but they still refuse. Even still, Paul was hopeful for a great awakening among Israel.

When you look at our world, do you grow discouraged and think that no one would respond to the gospel in faith? I believe that Paul carried great hope for his people and we should carry the same hope for our people. Paul can think of his own story when he was an enemy of God. Yet, God still won him over. We too can think of how God has had mercy on us and that can give us hope.

Even more than his own story, Paul looks to the character and wisdom of God. The great mercy of God gives us hope that he can and will show compassion towards people who make themselves his enemy. This hope is the crescendo of the book of Romans. All eleven chapters drive to this point where Paul essentially expresses his faith that God’s judgment and mercy is glorious beyond all of our searching and thought. It leads him to worship and the worship leads him back to ministry. That’s what hope can do.

Posted by Marc

Romans 10: True Spirituality

Many people stumble over the Gospel not because it is too hard, but because it is so profoundly simple.

Paul says that the Israelites stumble for this very reason. They were chosen by God to enter into a covenant with him. God would be their God, and they would be his people. Israel would walk with God by faith. They would love him and follow him. And, when they failed, they would believe in God’s grace and receive it by making a sin offering.

But somehow this simple arrangement got twisted into a religion of entitlement and performance. On the one hand, Israel felt entitled to God’s blessing—they were children of Abraham, after all, so they deserved their special status. On the other hand, they felt burdened by the laws God gave, and developed elaborate strategies for performing them all.

Paul feels for them. Israel is so zealous for God, but so far from understanding His heart.

True spirituality isn’t an extreme quest for personal perfection. It’s not about somehow ascending to heaven or plumbing the depths of the ocean to prove your worth. It’s far simpler than that. Just listen to the word of Christ. Just believe. Just set your affections on Jesus.

Jesus once was asked, “What must we do to perform the works God requires?” He answered, “The works of God are this: To believe in the one He sent.”

If you insist on performing for God, you’ll never enter his good graces. But if you let Jesus perform for you—if you accept his life, death, and resurrection as obedience for you—you’ll delight God forever.

Posted by Greg

Romans 9--A Stumbling Block

It was a very short scene in the movie Titanic. As the ship was sinking and there was absolute chaos on board the ship—screaming, arguing, strange breaking ship noises—the director would flip to a distant aerial shot that would view the boat from high in the sky at night. From that perspective, the viewer would see that the ship was clearly alone, but also the noise was silenced and the ship and all aboard seemed quite shrunken.

As we come to this passage, Paul steps back from the chaos of day to day spirituality and describes the plan of God from the 30,000 foot view. The perspective he offers is a direct assault on our western and modern view of life. He speaks of the sovereignty of God in salvation. He describes how salvation is the work of God in what is known as election. This is quite difficult for us to swallow because it seems to violate the laws of justice. We derive a justice perspective because, quite frankly, we are consumed with the challenges of keeping a ship from sinking and do the best with what we have. However, if we would understand Romans 9 we will need to set aside our justice perspective and look to God for His mercy perspective.
“It does not, therefore, depend on man’s effort or desire, but upon God’s mercy.” Romans 9:16

When God created Adam and Eve, he empowered them as image bearers to rule and fill the earth. This commission was not removed at the fall. However, the fall did produce a momentum that shaped life on earth. As the humanity expanded, it became clear early on how no one desired God. If God’s story was simply about justice, he would have simply released us like an astronaut beyond gravity, and allowed our momentum to perpetually drift us away from his presence, purpose and goodness.

The story of God’s mercy is in contrast quite different from a story driven by justice. Instead of allowing all people to simply drift off with its desires bent on hell itself (the absence of God), God would choose a people through whom he would bring redemption to the world. This people would be Israel with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as the patriarchs. Along the way though, the descendants of the Patriarchs wanted to turn the story into a story of justice. They wanted to claim their salvation based upon their performance.

This performance mentality hardened their hearts so that when The Descendant arrived, they rejected him because they didn’t want his salvation that came from mercy. They would need to put their faith in the descendant, Jesus Christ. But his mercy became a stumbling stone that made them stumble. That mercy demanded their humility and for them to acknowledge that their works couldn’t make up for the drift and distance that their sin had created between them and God.

If this is new for you, you probably have many questions about this. This blog might be a helpful forum for you to discuss them. Remember, the words of one of the church fathers, we should desire “faith seeking reasons, not reasons seeking faith.” If this isn’t new for you, allow yourself to be amazed at the majestic plan of God.

Romans 8: The Good Life

What does American society lift up as the good life? Of course that would depend on whom you ask. It would be different if you watched MTV, CNN or Fox News. The good life is not making money because you never have enough and are always afraid of losing what you do have. It is not having fame or prestige because that only lasts about fifteen minutes. It is not adventure or sports because the thrill only lasts during the journey not after. So what is the good life?

We are set free from the bondage of sin and death for a specific purpose, to live according to the Spirit. The good life is living according to Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is life and peace (v. 6). So how do we live this way?

The first step is to set your mind on what the Spirit desires not on what our flesh desires (v. 5). We have an obligation to live this way (v. 12). We must desire love, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness rather than anger, rage, malice, slander and filthy language (Col 3:8, 12-14). We have assurance that in all things God works for the good of those who love him (v. 28). Therefore, even through the sufferings and difficulties we may face, we live the good life. Can wealth, fame, adventure or anything else make such a boast? Let us then seek the things of God and thus live in peace and true joy.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 7: A New Allegiance

Let’s be honest. We all know personally what Paul is experiencing here. We all have known the good we should do and haven’t done it. We all have known what we should resist and we gave in. The guilt we feel in the face of these things is a sign that we are healthy enough to still know right from wrong. It is completely illogical and foolish. But sin can have such a hold over people that it seems to do things against their own will.

Even Paul knew what that was like, before he met Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9, Rom 7:14) he could not stop doing the evil he hated (Rom 7:19). Paul found out that his Judaism was unable to empower him to do the good that he desired. Within him, an insidious and powerful law imprisoned him. Though he delighted in the law of God, he was powerless to live it.

We all know and understand that dilemma, knowing what to do and cannot do it. It is not freedom but bondage, and it is extremely destructive. Few good things come out of that state. But hope do we have?

Paul places his hope solely and definitively in Jesus Christ our Lord who alone can free us from the bonds of the law of sin. But this requires complete surrender to Christ as our Lord and there lies the rub and the difficulty. To be free I must become a slave to Christ. There are only two options a slave to sin or a slave to Christ. A change of allegiance to Christ set us free therefore we are free and empowered to do the good we desire to do.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Romans 6--New Reign, New Environment

In Boston, they don’t know what a hoagie is!?!? Anyone who has travelled there has experienced the accent, slang and even the characteristics that are uniquely Bostonian. Environment does a lot to shape our behavior. I know that if I stayed there it would not be long before I was speaking and acting like a local. Our environment creates a unique kind of pressure on us that shapes us even when we don’t realize it.

What does Romans teach us about environment? Flashing back to chapter five we read that because of our faith, Christ brought us to a place of undeserved privilege. Yet we are told that we will experience problems and trials. Now we move into chapter six and find that we are no longer under the law since Christ paid our debt through his death and resurrection. Yet, we still confront sinful desires and constant temptations. We continue to live in this tension of two worlds. Christ’s coming and resurrection has brought his kingdom to Earth, but only in part. We do live in the reality of his love and faith and hope. But, we also still live in this broken, sinful world. We are strangers in a foreign world where sin and Satan attack. There is duality to this place we temporarily live. Just like Boston has an environment that can shape us, the Kingdom has its own environment that will shape us if we will allow it to.

Paul shows us in chapter six that while there is tension between these two environments, we have moved from the realm of sin and death and the reign of the first Adam to the realm of peace, hope and love—the reign of the second Adam. Though we are free under the grace-filled reign of Christ, we still can choose to re-enslave ourselves under the principles of the former regime. In Christ, our workplace and community is a mission field and garden that we can develop for the glory of God. Or, we can allow the cut throat corporate environment to re-enslave us to the principles of the reign of sin and death? Are we experiencing the freedom to love people or are we enslaved to the busyness of this world? Do we enslave ourselves to our own desires or do we embrace the freedom which God has called us? We live in the constant tension of two worlds. We can practice this freedom with every decision we make and develop lives of holiness as strangers in a foreign place. As we embrace this new heavenly environment, its characteristics will soon create the kind of pressure upon us that will shape us for eternal life.

Posted by Jim

Romans 5--The reign of Adam II

The Hatfield’s and McCoy’s eventually didn’t know why they had hated each other. The hate had been handed down from generation to generation. If there ever had been a day when the two families were friends, the distance that time created and the hate handed down had made that day a simply fantasy or illusion. Paul introduces similar imagery here when he discusses the first and second Adam’s (also in 1 Corinthians 15).

Paul is explaining to us that Adam is like a representative head of state. At one time, Adam and God were allies. Yet, Adam rebelled against God and brought himself and all his descendents into a state of rebellion against God and his way in this world. As the first Adam’s descendants, we are born as enemies to God and into a rebellion against His purposes in this world. The effects of this are similar to DNA that transfers from one generation to the next. This Cosmic rebellion that we are born into is not only external in that we begin as enemies of God, but it is also internal. We are born as sinners. Sin is the disease that binds us as enemies together under our head of state, Adam I.

Yet, we do not have to continue under the first Adam’s leadership. Jesus comes as Adam II, Son of God just like Adam I (Lu 3:38). Supernaturally, through a miraculous birth, Adam II is not infected by the disease of Adam I. He resists all of the temptations of Satan that Adam I could not (Lu 4:1-13). But he dies an undeserved death as if he had been an enemy of God, crushed by the disease and rebellion of Adam I. Because he was ultimately innocent, the Holy Spirit resurrected Him and now counts His death to be the payment for all of the treasonous acts of his followers

Now, all of us who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ follow a New Adam. He is our head of state and we share in His innocence and righteousness. Not only that, by the Holy Spirit (who provided the miraculous conception to bring Jesus into the world) we receive a new DNA that is inherently bothered by sin. We have a new desire to resist sin and begin conforming ourselves to the New Adam, our new leader who is not just God’s ally, but God’s son. Now, sin and death no longer reign over us because we are not under their government. We are under Jesus’ government where grace, righteousness and eternal life reign. This gives us power over sin that tempts. This gives us hope in the face of death and disease. This gives us confidence the forces of sin and death in our life will be defeated.

But this is not just theology. This is real and this comes from real love. As your head aligns to the ideas of being a part of Jesus’ new government, let your heart warmed to the reality of God’s love demonstrated for us in this: While we were still sinners (powerless and ungodly v.6), Christ died for us.” (5:8).

Posted by Marc

Romans 4--What is Justification?

It was a hot, August day in Istanbul Turkey. I was leading a short-term missions team on a project there. I was fed up by my high-maintenance, low stamina, quick to grumble team. I was so frustrated. My roommate, a seminary professor took me out to the only place in Istanbul (that I knew of) that made real American coffee at the time. He said to me words that I will never forget. “Do you know what is wrong with these people? (thankfully he did not give me time to answer) They don’t understand the difference between their justification and their sanctification.”

At that point, that wasn’t just their problem. It was mine also. I didn’t know the difference and it was my spiritual life. Do you? Do you understand the how God has given you the gift of both justification and sanctification and how they differ?

This is a large degree what Paul is getting at in this chapter and the next few chapters of Romans. Simply speaking, our justification and sanctification are both gifts that we receive through our union with Christ. Our union with Christ is another way of saying we are “in Christ” or have a relationship with Him. This is how justification and sanctification differ: Our justification is our legal declaration that we are innocent (of transgression) and righteous (having displayed full obedience) before God. At the cross, Jesus identifies with us and takes our guilt and unrighteousness. His death is the due penalty for sin. Not only that, but also we take his legal status of being fully innocent and fully righteous. In a sense, we trade our legal status. This justification is the grounds of our acceptance before God. That is why we can pray in Jesus’ name—not in our righteousness, but in his name by which we can stand before God (Heb 4:18)

Sanctification is spoken of in two ways through scripture. First, it speaks of a definite state where we are set apart and made holy to God—similar to the way the Temple or a Priest would have been (Hebrews 10:10). Secondly, scripture teaches us about progressive sanctification. This is our day to day Spiritual growth (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

When we mix up the two, we equate our acceptance before God based upon our progress in sanctification. This makes our sin hang heavy upon us for we cannot feel or experience the wonder of forgiveness. It makes us unwilling to enter into the presence of God. We assume our entrance ticket to his presence is based upon our performance rather than Christ’s performance.

This chapter shows us that grace has always come first--ever since Abraham. He was credited with righteousness before he ever fulfilled any law. Yet, from a well of acceptance, wonder and grace, Abraham not only submitted himself and his sons to circumcision (Paul uses as representative of the law), but displayed the faith that would trust God with everything that is dear to him (Gen 22). Abraham was justified by faith and then fulfilled the law later. If we base our relationship with God based upon how well we perform, we misunderstand Christian faith, and set aside the grace of God in the death of Christ (Galatians 2:21)

Now, let me ask you this: Does this make any sense?

Posted by Marc

Romans 3: Excuses

If you’re a sport’s fan—and maybe even if you’re not—you’ve heard the news about Plaxico Burress. The star receiver for the New York Giants carried a concealed weapon into a nightclub then accidentally shot himself in the leg. He didn’t have a permit to carry the weapon, so he was in clear violation of the law.

So, caught dead to rights, what does Plax do? Does he do what all parents teach their kids to do: Tell the truth, admit your wrongdoing, and face the consequences? Not exactly.

He tries to check into a hospital under the name, “Harris Smith.” He claims that the gun went off while he was eating at Applebee’s. He turns himself into police but enters a plea of “not guilty.” Classic evasiveness. We all do it. We know the truth but find it impossible to face. Instead, we scratch and claw to justify ourselves, all evidence to the contrary.

This instinct lies behind the teaching of Romans 3. It’s a tough passage, but the gist of it is this: Jews and Gentiles alike are sinners before a holy God, and it does no good to protest this fact. Nevertheless, some will. Jews will say, “Well, what good is it to be Jews if our Judaism doesn’t save us?” Or they’ll say, “If we’re unfaithful and God condemns us for it, then He’s unfaithful too—because He promised to keep us as His chosen people!” Or they’ll say, “If our sin shows, by way of contrast, how holy God is, then how can He judge us? We’re fulfilling our purpose! We’re glorifying God by sinning!”

It’s all childish and ridiculous excuse-making. The Scriptures are clear: Everyone is a sinner, so everyone should hold his tongue and stand accountable before God. But not just so they can hear their sentence, but so that they can receive His grace!

In one of the most important paragraphs in the entire Bible, Paul explains how Jesus Christ shed his blood to atone for our sins. This allows God to justify us—to clear us of all charges—and to do so justly. Our acquittal is not a miscarriage of justice. It’s the fulfillment of it, for Jesus absorbs the death sentence on our behalf. As a result, we no longer have to justify ourselves, either by perfect obedience or persuasive excuse-making. We just place our faith in Jesus and walk free.

Posted by Greg

Romans 2: The Good News of God's Justice

Let’s orient ourselves to this part of Romans. From 1:18-3:20 Paul develops the theme of righteousness and through that theme demonstrates that all people have sinned and have disqualified themselves from God’s favor. Admitting our failure doesn’t come easy and there are various ways around it so Paul takes a few different tacks. First, he addresses the godless in 1:18-1:32 and shows them how what they consider natural and healthy is quite unnatural because sin has distorted their own understanding far from God’s intent for their life. In this chapter, he will address the “Gentile moralist” and the “righteous Jew.”

Paul’s call to each party is this: If you believe that you are accepted before God based upon your ability to fulfill the requirements of the law (whatever law that might be), then you better obey the entire thing. Not only should you obey the entire thing without any flaw, but you must do so in such a way that you obey the Spirit of that law. So obey everything fully, without any flaw, joyfully. This is the standard for righteousness and perfection. If God bent on this, where could the line be drawn? Righteousness would no longer be righteous and perfection would be reduced to “pretty good.”

Grace does not shrink the standard. It upholds the standard. Religion is a temptation to all who would seek God. Religion is wrong in this way because it reduces Godliness to external things that people can look at in order to make a judgment and find approval. What happens is that we lose our ability to relate to God for his approval and shrink our life to a bunch of duties, exercises, and meetings that make us feel like we are related right to God. Jumping through hoops like quiet times and church attendance to prove ourselves is an insult to the one who knows our thoughts, our passions and our motives. In our religiosity we become the same as the ungodly. Both of us are avoiding God as Savior; the ungodly in their unrighteous deeds and we in our righteous deeds. When we do this, we reveal our shrunken view of a holy, righteous and perfect God.

The good news that this passage alludes to is that God’s kindness leads us to something called repentance. Understanding God’s justice is good news; First, because it releases us from having to avenge. Secondly, it is good news because we can know that there is a standard for goodness, morality and purity. Upon these things, beauty, hope and love are built. Third, it breaks us from the false hope of finding our own righteousness through our deeds. It flings us to our only hope—an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Posted by Marc

Romans 1: The Great Deception

Few things destroy as easily as deceit. A relationship based on deceit is not a relationship. It destroys all trust, all love and all hope. Proverbs 15:4 says, “A deceitful tongue crushes the spirit.” It destroys and consumes everyone involved. But what happens in self-deceit? The photographer Diane Arbus said, “Nothing is easier than self-deceit. For what each man wishes, that he also believes to be true.” That sounds eerily similar to Romans 1.

All men know God because God has made it known to them. God has been clearly seen since the creation of the world (v. 18-20). But this does not seem very close to reality. So is it true? The philosopher Nietzsche did not think so and boasted that, “God is dead.” Time magazine in 1966 did not think so in fact they claimed that “the basic premise of faith—the existence of a personal God, who created the world and sustains it with his love—is now subject to profound attack.” Some in the article even claim, “Personally, I’ve never been confronted with the question of God.” So who is right: Paul or Nietzsche?

Paul states that men suppress or hold back the truth by the means of their wickedness. It is our desire to rebel against God that drives us to damn up the river of evidence that God has revealed to us about himself. All humanity is self-deceived by our desire to live as our own masters. This comes so easily to us that we have no idea we are even doing it. That is why Paul says we are without excuse we know the truth but suppress it. This is our great rebellion—our great self-deception.

But God in his great mercy has given us grace through our Lord Jesus Christ (v. 5-6). He has renewed our minds while we were living in our self-deception. Now we belong to him and he is our only comfort in life and in death. We live in a time of great deception in fact history has always been that way. People will always deceive themselves because it is easy for them to do so. But it is in these times that God calls his church to be light to the truth of his grace.

Posted by Aaron Miner

Colossians 4: Final Words

What would the apostle Paul write to his Church in Kennett Square? I would imagine that he would give some great praise. I would equally imagine that he would speak a few tough words as well. How would he end the letter? What last charge and encouragement would he say? I imagine it would have many similarities to his letters to the Colossians and to the Philippians.

“My beloved brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, continue in your work towards the poor and needy. You honor the Lord greatly in your service toward them. Continue to be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Continue to love your neighbor as your self.

But I plead with you to remain spotless from the world. The runaway culture of consumerism threatens to pull you from me and to trust in things not in me. Guard your heart and mind from these dangerous influences of media, advertising and peer pressure. Life is more than work, things and fame. Rather whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Finally, I rejoice greatly in the Lord for your concern for the church and for the needy and how your share in their trouble. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen”

Posted by Aaron Miner

Colossians 3: The Vision for the Christian Life

For most of us, our capacity to sing is fit for lonely places and showers. Our voices sound particularly sweet when we sing quietly and we are the only ones hearing it. However, If somehow magically gave one of us the natural talent of a world class singer, it wouldn’t necessarily be the ticket to stardom. See, we may have the talent by nature, yet our habits of practicing solely in the shower and mistreating our voices would remain. This gives us insight into the Paul sees the Christian life. I hope you are getting a sense of the vision that Paul has regarding the Christian life This chapter gives possibly the clearest picture.

Each person has been created with beauty, nobility, power and glory inherent in their nature. Yet, all men and women are born into a kingdom that was broken in the fall and ruled by rulers and principalities of darkness. This Kingdom has its own values and practices. The DNA of this kingdom is handed down from Adam and Eve and the practices are learned throughout life.

Jesus’ resurrection is the decisive blow of the Kingdom of light versus the kingdom of darkness. Now, the Holy Spirit unites Christians to the power, victory and new life of the resurrection. We are given a new nature that is not bound to sin but longs for righteousness. Like the one with the natural ability to sing, we now have the(super) natural ability live righteously.
This chapter shows us how we do it. We starve the old man (flesh, old life, etc) and we feed the new man. We break our practices that belonged to our earthly nature and we put on practices that belong to our new nature. Like the singer who really could sing with the kind of practice, we too can truly live if we take the opportunity to learn to live the new life.

What stood out as you read Colossians 3? It is a good habit to pick out one imperative to consider today and to apply in your life. Remember though. Apply it NOT to earn your approval but as ones who have been raised with Christ and as ones who ARE God’s chosen, dearly loved people.

Colossians 2: Deception versus Truth

Thanksgiving dinner is on the table with all the fixings. The turkey with its golden brown skin and tender meat is ready to be carved. The mashed potatoes are whipped into a creamy perfection and the cranberry sauce is the kind with whole berries just as it should be. Everything is perfect until the host explains that there is just a touch of arsenic in the gravy, but to go ahead and enjoy. Since it is mostly gravy everything should be fine. In the same way deception is often found in small doses mixed into what was once truth.

This is the same message we get from the world and spiritual powers of the world, as well as the warning we read in Colossians 2. Just like the arsenic makes all the gravy poisonous, so does a little deception makes truth a lie. There are examples of this all around us.

1. God made us in his image and yet we pervert the beauty of God’s creation. We simply need to look at Hollywood or magazine covers to see this deception.
2. God calls us to be good stewards and we pervert that truth by hoarding wealth on Earth.
3. God calls us to work hard. So we set out to live an example at work only to come home and find a neglected family.

Segments of truth are taken and perverted or simply stacked out of balance so that truth is no longer truth but deception.

What traditions or worldly teachings have perverted truth and caused you to fall off course? Are you consumed with thoughts of your 401k rather than the truth of Jehovah Jira? It is easy to see how we could fall prey to such deception. What a privilege it is that we get to celebrate this Thanksgiving knowing the God of absolute truth. The truth is our savior being fully God and fully man, died to pay our debt to sin and rose from the grave to reign forever. That is the absolute truth we can hold in knowing Christ as our savior.

Colossians 1: A Reminder

As Paul starts his letter to the Colossians two things strike me.

1) his love for these people
2) his love for the God’s gospel

In fact I would say that he shows his love to the Colossians through the gospel. It seems strange to me that Paul commends them that the gospel is bearing fruit among them in the opening verses since he retells the gospel to them in verses 15-23 . Normally when I tell someone “good job” I don’t also take the time to explain to them again how the job works. Instead I assume that they’ve mastered the basics and challenge them with something tougher. Paul takes the time to explain how the gospel works. He moves on to other tough issues in Colossians but it’s awesome that he starts with the basics again. He lays the groundwork lest anything become distorted over time in the Colossians’ minds.

I think I should do this more often. I should remind myself of the groundwork. I need to remind myself of the firm foundation God went to extreme ends to build for me. When times are good I often find myself forgetting how desperate my situation was without Christ. When times are tough I often find myself focusing on how to fix my situation. What happens when I keep in focus that Jesus is the image of the invisible God who reconciled me to present me holy in God’s sight? …amazing things like peace, boldness, joy, and compassion.

Posted by Danny Hess

Philippians 4: True Joy

How do you feel about all the holiday cheer we’re starting to hear? Does it put you in the Christmas spirit; or does it sound a little flat this year?

For many people, happiness is entirely circumstantial. When times are good, they feel good. When times are bad, they feel bad. But the Gospel offers a different kind of happiness. It’s called joy. Joy transcends circumstances because it is founded on the reality of a relationship with Christ—a relationship that is unshakable and enduring.

Philippians 4 shows us at least four ways to keep our joy even when circumstances conspire to take it away.

First, be agreeable in the midst of conflict. Euodia and Syntyche were two important women in Philippi who clashed. Paul calls them to be like-minded and agreeable because the Lord is near. He is in each of them, and in their fellowship, and that’s cause enough to come together.

Second, be prayerful in the face of problems. Turn your anxiety into piety. The fact that God hears and draws near when we pray will settle your heart, maintain your peace of mind, and preserve your joy.

Third, be virtuous in a world of wickedness. Verses 8-9 address our “thought-style,” which should be pure and noble. While degraded living is built on degraded thinking, a positive and joyful life consists largely in keeping these virtues in the center of your imagination.

Fourth, be content in changing circumstances. The assertion that “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is not a mantra for the ambitious, but a reality for the anxious. When times are tough; when we face scarcity and adversity, it’s tempting to despair. But Paul reminds us that we live in Christ, and Christ lives in us, and therefore we can endure all things through Him. And we can do it with joy! After all, if Christ could endure the cross “for the joy set before him,” we can endure whatever comes our way in the same spirit.

Posted by Greg

Philippians 3: Natural in friendship

Friendships and relationships generally begin with a merit-like approach. ‘I like this person because I think we can relate. They are impressive in such and such ways… I would generally benefit from being around that person.’ And so, early on in a friendship we tend to want to make sure we are presenting ourselves as reasonable candidates for friendship. That doesn’t mean that honesty isn’t a part of that process, in fact, it is essential for the growth of the friendship. Yet, it is difficult to not consider the merits that you bring to a relationship as it progresses through its early stages. This really is inevitable in day to day friendships where self-revelation is a process. This is where relationship with God is different—revealing ourselves to God isn’t necessary.

Paul had every reason to think that he had merits that made him a worthy friend of God. His Jewish resume as described in vv 4-6 would be difficult to compete with. We too may have merits that might make us think that we are worthy of a relationship with God—volunteer at church, generous giver, extra-ordinary suffering in life, we read the Bible for Everyday faithfully (editor’s note: that makes you worthy of my friendship at least J). Paul looks at these merits and recognizes that to hold these things up to God is insulting. Our achievements are laughable compared to his standards and to cling to them is a mockery of his grace. Friendship that is driven by this kind of merit is more entourage than it is relationship.

When Paul is able to release the clutch he has on proving himself in the relationship (a righteousness of his own v. 9), he is able to appreciate the genuine affection and approval that Christ offers Him. And, Paul is able to stop his need to posture before God and can genuinely take interests in the interests of Christ. Now his concern is to know Christ, experience his power and share in his sufferings. This is the natural course of a friendship.

Friendship however is a limiting motif to understand a relationship with Christ. Jesus is also a Captain that goes ahead of us and models a life for us to follow. So Paul describes to us that this life of honest friendship, and sold out posture-less commitment requires training and straining into a new pattern of life (13-14, 17). Yet, even as we seek to attain that new pattern of life, the power and credit still come from the one who will transform our lowly bodies into his new glorious body(21).

Posted by Marc

Philippians 2: A Journey Together

If we are a part of this grand epic of what God is doing in the world through his beloved Church than what is our job? How do we walk this path?

Paul writes to the Philippians to be like minded, have the same love, and be one in spirit and purpose (v. 2). In addition, they are to do nothing out of selfish ambition, to be humble and to look out of the interests of others (v. 3-4). But let’s be honest, this is not easy or natural. And it can appear eerily similar to being simply self-help. Go and do, you’ll be okay. But that doesn’t work at best it only masks the problems. So what hope do we have?

Our hope in living out the Christian journey is found in verse 1. Paul asks four rhetorical questions. These four questions are interconnected and form a whole thought which forms the basis on which we are actually able to live out what Paul desires us too.

1. If we receive any encouragement, comfort or hope from our deep personal relationship-union with Christ then we can live this way.
2. If Christ’s love toward us gives us comfort and solace then we are able to love others with that same love because his love moves us to action.
3. If you have the Holy Spirit then you are tied to other believers in a fellowship of believers by means of the Holy Spirit.
4. If you have experienced the affection and compassion of Christ then we have tasted a piece of the final victory.

These realities enable us to walk in unity, humility and love. Paul urges us to do these things because we already are these things. We just need to train ourselves to walk in them. Our motivation is God’s love for us. The characters in epics struggled and fought because they loved something or someone. Nobody sacrifices something dear and precious out of selfishness. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). So let us journey together on this grand epic in love and grace.

Posted by Aaron

Philippians 1: An Epic of Love

How would you define an epic? Have you ever been a part of one or know of someone who was? When most people think of epics stories, they think of stories like the Odyssey, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars or Harry Potter. Epics by nature are larger than life, grand struggles between good and evil. We yearn to be a part of something greater than ourselves, something larger than life, but we only really get a glimpse of them in literature or movies. Or do we?

Paul begins to write to his beloved Philippians with this great prayer pouring out his heart to them (v. 3-11). Out of this love, Paul wants to encourage them that the suffering he is facing is for the benefit of the gospel and for them and for the church (v. 12, 18-20). His love for the Philippians and for the church compels him to struggle for the gospel. For Paul this is the epic of the gospel, which God has been fighting since the Fall in Genesis chapter 3. But Paul doesn’t stop there. He calls the Philippians to live a life worthy of the gospel of Christ so that they would stand firm against the all opposition (v. 27). It has been granted to us to receive not just salvation but also to receive our sufferings for Christ’s sake. We too are called into this grand epic of the gospel of Christ.

Towards the end of the movie The Two Towers, Frodo, one of the main characters of the story, tells his friend Sam, that he can’t go on. Sam responds, “Do you remember the tales that really mattered; full of darkness and danger; where you didn’t want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end the darkness passes, the new day comes and when the sun shines it shines even clearer…”

This is a picture of our struggle in this grand epic of the gospel of Christ. The powers against God’s people seem far too great and far too strong. The world appears so hopeless when we see those we love in rebellion against God. Our lives are marked at times with great trial and suffering. This is our part of the epic. But Christ defeated these powers, victory has been won and we must never give up. Paul’s love drove him to fight for the church as Christ’s love for us drove him to the cross. We too can love, persevere and fight for the church because Christ loves us, fought for us and is faithful to us.

Posted by Aaron

Ephesians 6--Ready for Battle

There is a clear pattern for me when it comes to this passage. When I am close to the front lines of the battle for God’s Kingdom, the truths of this passage in vv 10-20 make so much sense. When I am making decisions that will dent the Kingdom of darkness, I feel the effects if I am not prepared for battle. However, when I am not near the battle lines, I feel the cultural distance of this passage.

Let’s face it. “Armor of God” doesn’t fit with our western sentiments. It makes a ton of sense outside of the west where people see things much more through spiritual lenses. However we wear lenses in our glasses that were developed out of enlightenment thinking and modern philosophy. Our lenses are shaped by philosophical forces from the 17th century that suggests that the only things we can know for certain are the things that we can see and touch and that they are the only true forces within reality. Kant, Hume and other philosophers didn’t deny a spiritual world, but basically paved a cement ceiling between this world and any other—and so effectively turned the attention of our thinking towards measurement and evaluation based upon naturalistic and tangible realities. Products of their thought are Marxism, liberal theology that discounts God’s ability to speak through scripture, as well as feelings-based Christianity.

In contrast to that, we are to arm ourselves everyday against the devil’s schemes against us. We are to take our stand and recognize that our spiritual lives are a struggle against the Kingdom of Darkness in the heavenly realms. On one hand, this can be encouraging to us, for if we find a certain struggle in our faith, it may mean that we are living our lives in such a way that it is bringing upon the opposition of God’s mortal enemy. In a sense, the struggle (the right ones) may indicate to us that we are right where we are supposed to be. This passage reminds us that as we follow Christ, we will be opposed as he was opposed. This helps teach us to wage that battle as Christ did.

On the other hand, if our spiritual lives present no struggle at all, we should ask if our lives are presenting any threat to the Kingdom of Darkness. Could it be that the devil’s scheme in the materialistic lie of modern philosophy has already had such a corralling impact on you that he has you where he wants you—safely distant from the battle lines? If you do not believe in him, he has no need to draw out any other schemes against you and risk alerting you to himself and his opposition to you. Or

A final note--You are not called to win in the battle against Satan. This passage calls you to simply stand firm in your faith when the day of evil comes. The battle has already been won by Jesus in his resurrection (1 Cor. 15:54-57). We can make our stand in confidence that “the God of peace will soon crush Satan under our feet.” (Ro 16:20).

Or to quote an Irish poet, “And the battle has just begun, to claim the victory Jesus won.”

Ephesians 5: God My Father

I drive with my wrist and the funny thing is I never realized it until someone pointed it out to me one day. I drive with my wrist because my father drives with his wrist and I am my father’s son. Similarly, I often miss the ramifications of being God’s child. How many children turn out to be so much like their parents just by the nature of the relationship? I see much of my own father in me whom I tried so hard to please as a child growing up. I took on much of his character simply by spending time with him and trying to please him. Is this true of our relationship with God? Do we spend enough intimate time with God that we start to naturally become like him?

Paul then calls us to live a life of love just as Christ did. This changes my perspective to action. This is not about just my relationship with God, but it affects the way I treat others. Christ gave his life so that God would receive honor and glory. I don’t know if any of us will be called to lay our life down in a single moment like Christ did, but I know I am called to lay down my life every day. What does that look like in our daily routine? Is my life a pleasing aroma to God?

Paul takes the rest of the chapter to lay out some instruction on how to live our lives so that we are a pleasing aroma to God, but it starts with us being child-like imitators. I could never say it any better than how Eugene Peterson says it in The Message.

“Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.”

Only by spending intimate time with God can I imitate God, and “Love like that”.

Posted By Jim

Ephesians 4: New Creation

What a challenging chapter! I’d challenge you to reread the first three verses and the end of the chapter starting at verse 25. These verses remind me of 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The first three verses are the new that’s coming: patience, gentleness, humility, etc. The last verses speak of throwing away the old: malice, falsehood, bitterness, etc.

It’s not a job for the immature that is for sure. Verses 14-16 look at the fact that we need not be infants any longer in our faith. If we want to be no longer blown around we need to build ourselves up in love. This means putting off that old self and continually putting on the new self. Can you image how much better life would be when patience reigns over bitterness and gentleness over malice?

Guess what? It’s not just our quality of life that is at sake here either. Verses 10-13 & 16 remind us that the whole body of Christ is in this. We work together and use our gifts. We build each other up in love. As Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I’m encouraged that you are reading blog and spending time in God’s word. As we continually spend time with God we will naturally be transformed more into God’s likeness.

Posted by Danny

Ephesians 3: Our Significance

So, how does it feel to be part of the most important organization in the history of the world? Are you feeling good today?

You have plenty of reasons to. After all, you’re part of the church.

You’re not a member of the World Champion Phillies. You’re not on the faculty of Harvard. You’re not the principle violinist of the New York Philharmonic. You’re not an oil sheik with OPEC.

You’re significance is far greater. Your stage is far larger. Your stock is far more valuable. You’re part of the church.

Ephesians 3 tells us that the mystery of God’s eternal plan has been revealed in the church. That is, that Jews and Gentiles alike are the objects of God’s love, and have together become shareholders in all the promises of God. So God’s incredible salvation is now on display, and we are that display! The church is God’s showcase, his “wisdom exhibit,” showing the whole universe just how smart a savior he is.

That fact drives Paul to prayer. He just wants you to know who you are in Christ. He wants you to feel the power of God’s Spirit within you; to be rooted deeply in God’s love; to somehow grasp the ungraspable and be filled with the immeasurable. He wants you full of God, pulsating with confidence and radiating glory.

So meditate deeply on God’s love today. Then his showcase will shine. Then his display will dazzle.

Posted by Greg

Ephesians 2: Grasp this

“I pray that you may have power to grasp…” (3:16)

This chapter hold out almost every aspect of the believer’s experience of meeting God through Jesus Christ by faith in the gospel. Paul will pray in the next chapter that the believer’s have power to grasp all these dimensions of Christ’s love. The truths are as follows:

· We were dead in our trespasses and sins. We had submitted ourselves to the kingdom of this world, were submitting ourselves to its rules in thought and in deed; and were therefore enemies of God and objects of his wrath.

· Jesus himself takes the wrath instead of us (1:7) God who was rich in mercy made us, who have faith in Jesus, alive. We bring nothing to the table. If we did, we could boast.

· God has given us a new heavenly identity and a new heavenly destiny (5-7). This changes everything.

· Out of our new heavenly identity and on our way to our heavenly destiny, God has already prepared good works for us to do (10). We are his workmanship. He has made us to be a new creation that would do his work in remaking this world.

· The blood of Christ is the effective end of any hostility that can be held between any races. If Jesus can die and show grace to reunite enemies to his father, there is a solution for every racial problem. In that day, it was the divide between Jews and Gentiles (11-18).

· All people can now pray to the father—a royal priesthood- through the Spirit (18).

· Believers are throughout the world being made into a new living temple stretching to every culture in every place through every time in order to demonstrate a living body of people who would bring the rightful praise to God the Father and Jesus the Christ. Each person who is united to Christ by faith is a piece of the wall of this temple that stretches throughout the world and is united and held together by the very Spirit of God. This temple can never be defiled because is cleansed by the once and for all blood of Jesus Christ and kept holy by the Holy Spirit who dwells there (19-22).

Oh, for strength to grasp that…
Posted by Marc

Ephesians 1: Our Spiritual Blessings

What does the Christian life look like? It is often presented as two extremes: continual fight, struggle and submission, or a bountiful utopia of blessing and joy. Which one is correct? Or can they both touch on important aspects of the Christian life. We must remember that the God gives us great blessings because he loves to, but he also gives us discipline, sufferings and work to do.

Galatians, which dealt with a specific controversy in the church, has a very different tone than Ephesians. Paul begins Galatians rebuking them, but he starts Ephesians off discussing the spiritual blessing that we have in Christ. So what are some of these blessings? The first blessing is an often debated topic in verses 4-5, lest we get sidetracked on theological issues, let’s summarize it as that salvation is of God so that we Christians are no longer our own but belong to our savior Jesus Christ. Secondly, our sins are forgiven according to the wealth of his grace which he lavishes upon us (v. 7-8). Thirdly, we have an inheritance of which the Holy Spirit is the guarantee until we acquire it in its fullness when Christ returns (v. 11-14). These blessings center around our relationship with God in Christ and that Christ himself is our greatest blessing.

So what is the middle ground between the struggle and the blessings? We have a hope founded on the riches of our inheritance in Christ (v. 18) and the greatness of God’s power (v. 19). The power gives us the ability to live for Christ and suffer with him while also giving us joy and strength during the good times. This hope however is an installment of the ultimate fulfillment that we receive when Christ returns. We have then a future hope but also hope for the present.

Posted by Aaron

Galatians 6: Community and Brotherhood

The movie Castaway brings up an interesting question: What would do if you were stuck by yourself on a deserted island? Could you survive without anyone else? For some it might be heaven, for at least a little while. However, Genesis 1-3 puts humanity solely in the category of needing community; both within a family structure but also with a larger societal structure. Why do immigrants seek out other immigrants from their homeland? They need the support from the community to survive.

When God created humanity, he made us for the purpose of being in relation to him—the vertical—but also horizontally in relation to other people. In Galatians 6, Paul touches on proper horizontal relationships when he exhorts the Galatians to live in such a way that they restore those captive to sin (v. 1) and bear each other’s burdens (v. 2). Paul breaks down the idea of boasting—setting themselves up as a means of comparison to boast about (v. 3-4). Constantly comparing yourself to your neighbor does not build community but often leads only to jealousy and bitterness. Instead, Christians are to live their lives in such a way that sows the grace and love of Christ to others and thus reap eternal life (v. 8-9). Let us then do good to everyone—especially those in the church (v. 10). Living in community comes with obligations and rewards. God calls us to love each other, but somehow in our families and in our churches this becomes incredibly difficult. So how do we live this way?

Our first step is to have a deep, personal relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ. We cannot mistake receiving the benefits of being in a church and being involved in church as a replacement for loving and trusting in Christ personally. Out of this vertical relationship all other relationships flow. As we are conformed to Christ’s image our relationships with others begin to change and we become more gracious, patient and loving. Secondly, we must practice gracious corporate living. The grace we receive from Christ is the grace we must give. Only in community are we truly living the Christian life—there are no Christian hermits or lone rangers. Our interactions with other Christians give us encouragement and strength to face our burdens that we face. As we help carry the burdens of those around us God begins to change us and we conformed into Christ’s image.

Posted By Aaron

Galatians 5: All the Freedom in the World

What would you do if, with one spell, you were freed of all of your obligations and were completely free, bound to no one or no thing? It is an intriguing concept that, no doubt, has been the theme of a few sci-fi novels (I don’t read them, so this is just my ignorant impression). Do you remember what happened to the Israelites when they were given their freedom from Pharaoh? They wanted to go back. There is security in bondage—even if it is abusive at least there is security in it.

Jesus freed us from the abuse of the sinful nature. Paul is particularly concerned with sinful bondage to religious ceremony and tradition. Religion becomes sinful when it becomes a mechanism that replaces works for the approval we can only find in God. In short, religion becomes sinful when it is used as a means to avoid God.

Religion is the easy way of having the security of bondage AND the affirmation that comes from faith. But Paul says you can’t have both. God gave the Israelites a new vision when he led them out of bondage in Egypt. Go take the promised land! But they didn’t have the courage to enter into the new life that God had promised (Num 13-14). Similarly, Jesus has given us a new vision and direction by which we may indulge our freedom—love. We are to take our freedom and use it to serve one another in love.

Jesus was fully free and he bound himself to us allowing our sinful nature to drag him to the cross and to the grave. The Spirit liberated him from that grave and seated him in heaven for eternal life. Paul speaks of the fruit of this Spirit. The Spirit that we have is the Spirit that binds us to Jesus in his freedom. Because we are bound to Him, we can walk in his freedom and enjoy love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control and gentleness.

Galatians 4: Know God

In Galatians 4 Paul is frustrated with the Galatians falling back into their old way of life. What is it about the old way that pulled the Galatians back to past practices? We read in Proverbs 26:11 “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” The past had a gravitational pull on the Galatians that moved them away from Abba and back to their past ways. I suspect that they simply returned to what they knew. They returned to their traditions and rituals.

What is it that we know from our old lives that has a gravitational pull on us? Some of us may come from a very legalistic background that causes us to be judgmental. Some may face daily battles with addictions. Others may have trust and relational struggles due to broken relationships. These issues we know as a result of a fallen world have a gravitational pull on us.
I believe the main fix to this battle is to know God. Know God better than our past practices.

Find out who God is and know that he is everlasting, unchanging and more powerful than any gravitational pull from our old lives. Even from today’s reading we know that God is Abba or Father. We know he loves us enough to send his only Son and we are his heirs. Secondly, live in community, share your struggles and celebrate your wins with trusted brothers and sisters in Christ. James 5:16 says “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results.”

Posted by Jim

Galatians 3: By Works or By Grace?

Do you feel like a Son of God or a Worker of God? Paul lays out a rather extensive criticism of the Galatians’ current mindset. Apparently they had started living out Old Testament traditions again. I imagine that would be easy to do. Paul targets the heart of the matter right at the beginning of the chapter. The Galatians were using these traditions as good works to win God’s favor.

Many of us are far enough from Old Testament tradition to avoid the specific trap the Galatians fell into. Anyone get the urge to slaughter a lamb to appease God’s wrath towards your family’s sin this morning? I thought not. However, we still fall prey to that same mentality. I constantly battle with making sure when I send time with God that I’m actually spending it with God and not just doing things out of a sense of duty.

I had not been married too long before I discovered the difference between developing a relationship with my wife and spending time around her. Reading a book next to my wife does very little for our marriage. Speaking about what happened in our day and how that affects us does great things for our relationship. My wife needs me to spend time engaged with her, not just around her.

Are you spending time around God doing religious things or spending time with him? Are you acting like a worker or a son? Are you trying to become good enough before you come to God? Read verse 21 again. Life does not come through living out the law. Instead, Paul says that we are God’s children (v. 26). Let’s live like it. Our salvation comes from being God’s children not from our traditions or performances.

Posted by Danny

Galatians 2: Goliath vs Goliath

The two biggest leaders within the early church were Peter and Paul. They came head to head on the issue of the gospel. This is the once and for all Super Bowl of Theology. Paul speaks of it plainly as if it were the simplest thing to do. In a sense it was. Paul was clear on the gospel in his own mind, and the thought of the gospel being perverted disturbed him more than a conflict with Peter would; so it really was natural and plain for him to confront Peter directly on the gospel.

This reveals two important truths that empower us when we are in conflict.

1. The real issue in this situation was whether Peter was “walking in line with the truth of the gospel” (v. 14). Our growing clarity in what “walking in line with the truth of the gospel” means will give us a growing sense of morale direction. Also, our growing commitment to “walk in line with the truth of the gospel” will give us the moral footing to make a stand when it counts.

2. Paul had nothing to lose in his conflict with Peter. He had already lost his life (20). To make a stand with the possibility of defeat wasn’t such a big deal. He had already lost and had been taken up into Christ’s win. So he can plainly and with great abandon risk all for the gospel.

Posted by Marc

Galatians 1: The Gospel in the letters of Paul

We are beginning a series called The Gospel in the Letters of Paul. This chapter couldn’t kick this one off more drama. Paul wishes the eternal experience of hell upon the person who would pervert the gospel—including himself. Paul couldn’t use language that was any stronger. Paul basically said, even if someone like Peter came and preached another gospel, bring on hell.

The truth of the gospel was that important. Paul gives us a small, though complete enough explanation of what his gospel is in verse three and four, “…the Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of God, the Father.”

This is the gospel in its kernel form. The truth of Jesus’ voluntary atonement for our sins has implications beyond the imaginations of all theologians. It is this kernel that Paul defends because if it is lost, the church is lost. The truth of the gospel is more important than any person. It is the lifeblood of the church.

Over the next six weeks, we will have the opportunity to learn more about this gospel. Our series will run six weeks as we read Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians before returning to finish this series with Romans. Let me encourage you to ask questions of your reading such as: What is the gospel in Paul’s words? What difference does it make in a life? How do good works fit in? What should a believer’s experience of grace be? How does the Holy Spirit work in the life of a believer?

As you find your answers to these questions, I encourage you to chime in through our comments on the blog and allow others to benefit from your learning.
Posted by Marc