Regarded as Sheep to Be Slaughtered

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39 ESV)

I took business classes in college my second time around, beginning at age 52, and so I took classes in marketing, law, accounting, and spreadsheets, and in how to begin your own business, etc. Well, in the class where we had to learn how to start our own business we heard these words repeated over again: “Location, location, location.” For if we did not pick well the right location it could mean that our business would not make it. It would suffer the consequences of our wrong decision-making process.

Well, this is what came to mind as I was reading this passage of Scripture this evening, for if we do not read these Scriptures in their proper context, and if we do not look to see who these words were written to, then we can come away from reading this and end up making the wrong decision about what it means, and we may then misapply it to our lives, and then suffer the consequences of our wrong decision-making process. So what I want to say here is: “Context, context, context!” 

So, who are these words addressed to? They were written to the saints of God in Rome whose faith was being proclaimed in all the world (Romans 1:1-17). But some of these words were also addressed to the ungodly and to the hypocritically religious (see Romans 1:18-32 and Romans 2:1-5). But when we get to Romans 8, who is the audience? It appears to be a mixed audience, for there are both promises to the faithful in Christ Jesus and warnings given to the fleshly and to the worldly who cannot please God.

But what is the context? It is definitely a context of both promises and warnings, and each promise and each warning has its own conditions. For example, we read that those who live according to the flesh, and whose minds are set on the flesh, will die without Christ. And those who live according to the Spirit and whose minds are set on the Spirit will live. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

So the ones being given the promises of God are not those who are still walking according to the flesh, but they are those who are walking according to the Spirit, by the grace of God. For it is all who are being led by the Spirit of God who are the children of God. And this means that we are following our Lord in obedience to his ways, which is why we are suffering for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of the gospel. So this select passage for this evening is written to those who are walking according to the Spirit.

Thus, when this says that we will not be separated from the love of Christ/God, it is speaking to those of us who are walking not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (verse 4). It is speaking to all of us who have our minds set on the Spirit, and who are living according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh (verses 5-8). And it is speaking to us who, by the Spirit, are actively putting to death the misdeeds of our flesh and who are being led by the Spirit of God in obedience to God (verses 12-14). 

We are the ones who can’t be separated from the love of Christ by tribulation, distress, famine, or persecution. For it is we who follow Jesus with our lives who are the persecuted, who are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered, because we are following our Lord in obedience, and because we are refuting the lies of the enemy, and because we are sharing with the people of this world the truth of the gospel that Jesus taught and that his New Testament apostles taught.

And so we are conquerors over all these things by the grace of Christ and in the power and strength and wisdom of God. But we are only conquerors via our walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands. For if we are still walking in deliberate and habitual sin we are not conquering sin but we are yielding to it, and so by our sinful behaviors we are separating ourselves from the love of God. So we cannot walk in sin and claim these promises for ourselves, although many are doing exactly that.

So, just know that we have to read these promises of God in their full context so that we don’t end up claiming promises that are not intended for us. For the promises of God are not for those who merely give lip service to the Lord, but they are for those who are walking in obedience to God in holy living and in moral purity and uprightness and honesty and faithfulness to our Lord. And then we can be assured that the promises are for us and that we can depend on them as long as we keep obeying our Lord, in practice.

Trust Him 

An Original Work / August 15, 2012

Based off Psalm 27:14

Wait for the Lord; be of courage;

Be strong and take heart today.

Do not fear when foes attack you.

Trust in God always.

He will rescue you in times 

Of trouble and distress,

He’ll comfort you in all ways 

As you trust Him with your life today.

Trust in Him always.

God is with you; He’ll not leave you.

You can always count on Him.

He will fulfill all He promised

Before you began.

His word teaches you 

All that you need for this life.

Let Him lead you. Open your heart;

Let his truth envelope you today.

Listen and obey.

Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.

Repent of your sins today.

Make Him your Lord and your master;

Trust Him and obey.

Follow Him where’er He leads you

In His service; be His witness,

Telling others about Jesus’

Price that He did pay

For your sins always.

https://vimeo.com/115369887