[NOTE: For those who are continuing the 1-year Bible reading plan we started on April 1, 2018, just go to the end of this entry and you will find the Day 324-Romans 1-3; Matthew 11 summary!]
Deuteronomy 7 offers us an explanation for why God chose the Israelites and what they needed to do to remain God’s holy people. God chose them simply because He loved them and had promised their ancestors He would form them into a great nation. They were not a great nation in and of themselves. The requisite for their continuing to receive God’s love and blessing as they entered the Promised Land was they would destroy the pagan people of the land, along with their idols. God knew if the Israelites intermingled with the pagans, they would adopt the pagan ways of those people. This happened eventually, because the Israelites failed to put God first, and to obey His instructions. The promises God made included material blessing, physical health, and a close relationship with Him. Who would not want all that? Yet, the Israelites soon traded all that for immediate moments of fun with groups of pagans. We could condemn them if it weren’t for our own propensity to turn away from the amazing promises of God, for our own “15-minute decisions.” Thank God that He is so much more faithful than we are!
In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the Israelites again of the blessings God will offer them as they obey Him. He also tells them they will lose everything if they disobey. This constant challenge to remember the blessing and avoid the curse of God has been before us as God’s people from the beginning. The choice seems so clear and obvious, yet the fallen, sinful natures within us move us away from the clear choice of blessing, and toward the curse. We can never work our way into God’s blessing. We can never be “good enough” to gain God’s blessing. We have God’s blessing, because we are His people, when we trust Jesus as Lord, just as the Israelites had God’s blessing as they entered the Promised Land. The only thing left to do is to step into that blessing and live it in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In Deuteronomy 9, Moses reminded the Israelites they were about to enter a land where the inhabitants were more numerous and stronger than they. The only path to victory was to accept God’s gracious leadership and let Him provide it! Moses reminded the Israelites of how they had failed to do that in the wilderness by creating and worshiping the golden calf. This was a time to remember their sinful past, learn from it, and rely totally on God. How much each of us needs that reminder in our lives each day!
John 17 is often known as “The High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus. That’s because in it Jesus prays for God to protect His followers, and not only the disciples who were with Him at the moment, but all who would one day belong to Him, because of their efforts. That includes us! Jesus’ prayer is we will all be one as He and the heavenly Father are one. That is an amazing prayer, especially if you have ever been part of a group of Jesus’ followers before. What I mean by that is we have a tendency not to be “one” when we’re together. We find all kinds of reasons to divide and break unity with one another. The reasons can be as substantial as matters of theology, and as insignificant as the color of the worship center carpet. Over the years, as the lead pastor of New Life Christian Ministries, I have said many times in a new members’ class, “One of the most important reasons New Life has continued to grow is we have never divided, and the reason we haven’t divided is because we have unity in our mission.” While the statement might seem a bit simplistic, the truth is most churches never get larger, because the people divide among themselves, and never grow. They’re too busy arguing over insignificant matters. As my good friend, Pastor John Nuzzo puts it, “If people aren’t fighting over something important, they just fight.” We don’t have uniformity or even unanimity at New Life, but we do have unity on the important matters. We don’t argue over the small stuff, and if someone wants to argue over that, they eventually find it’s a non-starter at New Life. We have had people leave, because we believe the Bible is true and not just metaphorically true, but literally true. That’s okay. Even when we believe the Bible is true, we can disagree over certain matters, but we can’t disagree over whether there is a God, who has a Son named Jesus, who lived a perfect life, died on the cross to pay the penalty for sin, and to redeem us. We can’t disagree that He rose again from the dead, returned to heaven, and sent His Spirit to empower us to live together in unity until He returns. In John 17, Jesus prayed for that kind of unity, and we believe only as the Holy Spirit works among us, and as we live out the written word in the power of the Holy Spirit will that unity continue to be a reality among us. Let’s all pray, as Jesus did, that we will all be one to His glory and praise!
Day 324-Romans 1-3; Matthew 11
Today, we open the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. Biblical scholars consider this letter the most developed presentation of Paul’s theology. He had not been to the church in Rome when he wrote the letter, so he was both introducing himself to the people there and presenting a more systematic demonstration of what Jesus’ followers must believe than in any of his other letters. Much of the Protestant reformation, and its theology came from the study of Romans. In particular, Romans 3:23-24, which we will consider briefly today, helped the reformers to understand we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ, and that alone, apart from our works is the means to salvation.
In Romans 1, Paul introduced himself to the Romans, and sets forth his boldness in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ as the power of God for the salvation of the Jews first, and then the Gentiles. In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul establishes the sinfulness of all humanity. In chapter 1, Paul demonstrates how the world as a whole has turned against God. He offers a detailed explanation of how we all have an innate knowledge of God, but because we rejected it, God permitted us to follow that rejection to its ugly conclusion.
In Romans 2, Paul reminded those of Jewish background, it was not only the pagan Gentiles who were irretrievably fallen. They, too, had rejected God’s will and purpose in their lives. Paul pointed out how the Jews often condemned the Gentiles, but their lives were demonstrations of their rejection of God as well. Paul points out that being a “Jew” is not a matter of outward expression, but of an inward change of the heart.
In Romans 3, Paul establishes God’s faithfulness in the midst of our unfaithfulness. He concludes with this powerful statement: 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-24 (NIV) God’s righteousness is available to all through Jesus! This is the amazingly good news that follows the incredibly bad news. The bad news is we are all condemned by our own sin and deserve to be separated from God forever. The good news is Jesus came to satisfy God’s wrath for our sin by dying on the cross to redeem us. Paul unfolds these two powerful truths throughout Romans, but the foundation has been laid for us here: without Jesus we are lost, but thank God Jesus came to find us!
As we return to Matthew 11, we find the disciples of John the Baptist coming to Jesus to ask whether He was the one to come, that is the Messiah, or should they look for someone else. John had been imprisoned by King Herod, and as he sat there considering what he heard of Jesus’ ministry, Jesus didn’t sound like the conquering Messiah, nearly every Jew awaited. John wondered if he had been wrong about Jesus. Jesus responded with an answer directly from the prophecy of Isaiah. It would have assured John that Jesus was, indeed the Messiah, but not the kind he awaited. Jesus affirmed John’s greatness before the people but reminded them John was the last of the “old guard.” The kingdom people who came after Jesus, all those who would be born again and demonstrate the power of God’s Kingdom would be greater. After Jesus’ affirmation of John he denounced the cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. He lived and ministered among the people there and they rejected Him. Jesus pointed out that some of the condemned cities of the past would have repented if they had seen what these people saw, so their judgment would be greater. The chapter closes with Jesus praising His Heavenly Father for revealing Him to those who weren’t of much standing in the world. He also called any who were weary and burdened down to come to Him to find rest. He promised a light “yoke” for those who served Him.