Sunday, April 16, 2017, 6:38 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “Broken and Contrite.” Speak, Lord, your
words to my heart. I read Romans 1:1-17
(NASB).
Obedience of Faith (vv. 1-7)
Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle,
set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His
prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a
descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God
with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of
holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and
apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for
His name’s sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ; to all who
are beloved of God in Rome, called as saints: Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
We, who are believers in
Jesus Christ, are called of God as saints. So, what does it mean to be a saint?
It means we are set apart from (different, unlike) the world of sin because we
are being conformed to the image of Christ. It means “likeness of nature with the
Lord” because “different from the world” (biblehub.com). We are sanctified (made
holy, purified) by God’s grace through God-given faith in Jesus Christ. We are
not like the world. We are not conformed to the patterns (ways) of this sinful
world, but we are transformed of the Spirit of God in the renewing of our
minds. Not only are we set apart from the world, but we are set apart to
God and to his service. We are called to the obedience of faith in Christ
Jesus, our Lord and Savior.
Yet, this is not what is
being taught in many of our churches here in America. The vast majority of the
church here apparently is preaching a gospel of salvation different from the one
Jesus and his NT apostles taught. These masqueraders of truth are telling
people only half the truth, which is a lie, because many of them willfully
leave out the other half.
Yet, many are telling the
people that Jesus died on a cross for our sins, and that he was resurrected
from the dead, and that he ascended to heaven, and that he sent his Holy Spirit
to indwell the lives of his followers. And, they are teaching them that it is
by grace we are saved, through faith – and this not from ourselves, it is the
gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast (Eph. 2:8-9). This is
obviously true, but they leave out the next verse which says “For we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).
So, they only tell them the
half about Jesus dying for us, but they don’t tell them the half of what it
means to truly believe in Jesus Christ to be Savior and Lord (owner-master) of
our lives. They tell them that he died that we might be free from eternal
damnation and have the hope of heaven when we leave this earth, but they don’t
tell them that Jesus died that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. They
reduce faith to something of human origin, but the kind of faith which saves us
is God-given. Since it is given to us by God, it is conformed to God’s holiness
and righteousness. This God-given faith means that we are divinely persuaded by
God as to his perfect will for our lives. If we are persuaded, then we submit
ourselves to the cross of Christ, to our Lord, to the obedience of faith, to
his holiness, and we surrender our all to Jesus. He is now our Lord and we are
his bond-slaves.
Encourage One Another (vv. 8-15)
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you
all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world. For
God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the gospel of His Son, is my
witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you, always in my prayers
making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in
coming to you. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift
to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together
with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to
you (and have been prevented so far) so that I may obtain some fruit among you
also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles. I am under obligation both to
Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. So, for my part,
I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
So, how about us? If our
faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole world, what do you suppose people
would be saying about us? How would they describe our faith? And I am including
myself here, because I am still growing in faith. We all should be. As well, if
we are to encourage one another, each of us by the other’s faith, what would
that look like, as well? And, do we do this? If so, what words would we be
saying to each other to encourage each other by our own faith? Do we even have
a concept of what that might look like? And, is this something we have ever
experienced?
From my own experience, I
would have to say that up until maybe 1986 I had people in my life who did this
with me, and me with them regularly. Since then it has been hit and miss to
find people who even have a desire to do this, or who even have some idea of what
this entails, except for maybe some people on the internet, or occasionally
with some people in person. And, I miss this kind of Christian fellowship which
I experienced in years gone by. I find, often, that Christians today are
uncomfortable talking about spiritual things unless it is in an organized
gathering of the church where they are talking about what the Bible teaches on
a particular subject. There are people who do talk about the Lord as part of
their daily conversation, but it doesn’t seem to be many who do, at least not
where I live or have lived.
So, why is this? Why do
Christians have no problem talking about everything but the Lord? Why do we get
this idea that “religious” conversations are to be in the setting of church
gatherings, but not part of our everyday lives? Or, that we should keep the
topics of conversation light and fluffy, so as not to offend anyone? Why are we
afraid of what people will think of us? Why is it ok to talk about TV, movies,
Facebook, sports, hobbies, and the like, but not talk with each other about our
personal walks of faith in Christ in order to encourage one another to also
walk in holiness? Has the church gotten so worldly that they have lost sight of
what it means to be a follower of Christ?
I’m Not Ashamed
(vv. 16-17)
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the
power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also
to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
We should not be ashamed to
talk with one another about Jesus Christ, his gospel, and our faith in him.
This should be as natural to us as anything else we do, and even more so. And,
we should not feel uncomfortable when others attempt to share their faith in
Jesus with us, to encourage us in our walks of faith. Back in the day, my
friends and I would call each other on the phone and we would share with each
other something from our devotions from that day, or something God had laid on
our hearts, or something we felt God was leading us to share with them
specifically, like a song or a scripture. I still do this with other believers,
but I don’t find that many people are receptive to it, or that they are responsive
to it, even though scripture says we are to do this, and we need to do this
with each other.
We should also not be ashamed
to talk with unbelievers or with people we don’t know about Jesus Christ, or
even with friends and family members. Time is short, and there are many people
who need to believe in Jesus. So, we need the courage of the Holy Spirit, and
the wisdom of God, and we need to follow the example of Jesus Christ in his
daily walk, and we need to share Jesus with those who don’t know him, and we
need to share our faith with one another, because we need to be encouraged and
strengthened in our faith, especially in the times in which we now live. May
God direct us in this.
Broken and Contrite / An Original Work / May 13, 2012
I come before You, Lord, my
Savior,
With humble heart and crushed
in spirit.
I bow before You, I implore
You,
Heal my broken heart, I pray.
Love You, Jesus, Lord, my
master,
You are the King of my heart.
Lord, purify my heart within
me;
Sanctify me, whole within.
Oh, Lord, I long to obey
fully
The words You’ve spoken
through Your Spirit.
I pray You give me grace and
mercy,
Strength and wisdom to obey.
Father God, my heart’s
desire,
Won’t You set my heart on
fire?
Lord, cleanse my heart of all
that hinders
My walk with You, now I pray.
Oh, Jesus, Savior, full of
mercy,
My heart cries out for
understanding.
I want to follow You in all
ways,
Never straying from Your
truth.
Holy Spirit, come in power,
Fill me with Your love today.
Lord, mold and make me;
Your hands formed me;
Live Your life through me, I
pray.
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