No More Sin

Readings:
Ezra 5
Romans 6:1-4

Focus:
Romans 6:1-2a: "What are we to say, then? Shall we persist in sin, so that there may be all the more grace? Certainly not!"

Paul has just been arguing that because of Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection, we no longer need obey the law in order to gain salvation. Instead, we only need to accept what Jesus has done for us, give our lives to God, and receive God's free grace.

The next logical question that might be asked is that, if our sin causes God to respond with grace, then should we sin more in order to receive more grace?

Paul has an answer to this: definitely not! Once we have turned our lives over to God, we have become identified with Christ. We are symbolically buried with him, and, just as he is raised from the dead, we also start a new life. In this new life, we do not commit sin on purpose. Instead, we flee from it as much as we are able.

And indeed, the more we know him, the less we want to sin. It does not make us happy any more.

I know someone who is a recovering alcoholic. Before she gave up drinking, she thought life would be boring without it. Then she starting going to AA, and became sober. Now she realizes how much better life is. She just didn't know, when she was drinking, how great, how much better, drink-free life was! So it is with sin. We think it's fun, but we just don't know how much more fun, how much happier, sin-avoiding life is.

Grace Results in a Verdict of Acquittal

Readings:
Ezra 4
Romans 5:12-21

Focus:
Romans 5:16: "And again,the gift of God is not to be compared in its effect with that one man's sin; for the judicial action, following on the one offence, resulted in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following on so many misdeeds, resulted in a verdict of acquittal."

Paul's thesis in this passage is that through the sin of one man, Adam, death entered the human race, and all humankind was condemned, and doomed inevitably to sin. But through the sacrifice of one man, Jesus, God gave a free gift of grace to the human race, and every member of humankind that accepts this gift is liberated from condemnation, and welcomed to eternal life with God.

And although in each case the action comes through one man, there is no proportion between them. The single sin of Adam allowed sin to enter the world and condemned humankind to the effects of a broken creation. But after multitudes of sins had been and would be committed, God offered free grace through Jesus Christ to any who would accept it. Although sin was multiplied, God responded not with more condemnation, but instead with grace and forgiveness; he responded with acquittal.

As it says in verse 21, the result for those who accept this grace is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Christ Died for Us While We Were Still Sinners

Readings:
Ezra 3
Romans 5:6-11

Focus:
Romans 5:8: "But Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that is God's proof of his love towards us."

It's an amazing thing. Paul says that we would hardly be willing to die for a good person, which is true: who would honestly want to give their life for someone else, even a good person? Yet Christ gave his life for us even though we were sinners. Even though every one of us had done (or was going to do) bad things, Christ, who is God, died for us. That's an astoundingly great love.

And Paul goes on to say, in verse 10, "for if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, now that we have been reconciled, shall we be saved by his life!"

In other words, once we have recognized and acknowledged what Christ has done for us, then, considering what a great love God has shown for us by sending his Son, who is himself, to die for us while we were still sinners, then we can have no doubt that not only does this show God's love, but it saves us, too. There is no question about it. God loves us and saves us. Case closed.

God's Love Has Flooded Our Hearts

Readings:
Ezra 2
Romans 5:1-5

Focus:
Romans 5:5b: "Through the Holy Spirit he has given us, God's love has flooded our hearts."

I love the way this is worded in my translation: God's love has flooded our hearts. Other translations say it has been poured into our hearts. When we turn to God, just for doing that, we don't merely get a nice sprinkling of love. We get a deluge!

It makes me think of a hymn that is appropriate as we approach Good Friday, the commemoration of Jesus's death on the cross, as well as Easter (the tune can be heard here):

"What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul?
What wondrous love is this, O my soul?
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul?"

I like the last verse, too:

"And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing on.
And when from death I’m free, I’ll sing and joyful be;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on, I’ll sing on;
And through eternity, I’ll sing on."

Singing on in response to the flood of love.


Words: At­trib­ut­ed to Al­ex­an­der Means. Music: From The South­ern Har­mo­ny and Mu­sic­al Com­pan­ion, by Will­iam Walk­er (New York: Hast­ings House, 1835)

Our Faith Too

Readings:
Ezra 1
Romans 4:9-25

Focus:
Romans 4:23-24: "The words 'counted to him' were meant to apply not only to Abraham but to us; our faith too is to be 'counted', the faith in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."

Workers earn their wage by performing work, but people who put their faith in Jesus Christ have that faith "counted" as righteousness and receive salvation as a free gift. Paul has been discussing this in the book of Romans.

And now, in these verses quoted above, it gets personal! Paul says that it applies to us! That's exciting to me. What he writes goes from a theological discussion to a direct personal application. It's written directly for you, and for me.

It's not just some dry old text. It's for us. When we--you and I--put our faith in the God who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, it is counted as righteousness; we can be with God forever.

Counted as Righteous

Readings:
II Chronicles 36
Romans 4:1-8

Focus:
Romans 4:5: "But if someone without any work to his credit simply puts his faith in him who acquits the wrongdoer, then his faith is indeed 'counted as righteousness'."

In these verses Paul first quotes an earlier part of Scripture where it says that Abraham's faith was "counted" as righteousness. He points out that if someone earns a wage, the wage isn't "counted" as something that the worker gets--the worker actually earned it.

By contrast, Abraham is "counted" as being righteous, instead of really being righteous, because of his faith.

That is how we get our righteousness--our salvation. It is "counted" as ours because we put our faith in God, in Christ. We don't earn it. We aren't actually righteous (we know ourselves!) But God counts us as righteous when we put our faith in him, and he sees us as righteous so that he can have us with him where only perfection is allowed.

It's a mystery how it works--but I'm glad for it.

No Room for Pride

Readings:
II Chronicles 35
Romans 3:27-31

Focus:
Romans 3:27: "What room then is left for human pride? It is excluded. And on what principle? The keeping of the law would not exclude it, but faith does."

Paul has been making the case that no one is saved by keeping the law, by doing good and/or righteous things. No one is able to do this. Instead, people are only saved by having faith in Jesus Christ.

Because of this, there is no possibility that anyone could be proud of having gained their salvation by good deeds. No one earns God's favor. No one deserves it. It is all freely given when we put our faith in him, and so there is no room for pride.

We are all equal before God, and pride has no place in us.

Justified by God's Free Grace Alone

Readings:
II Chronicles 34
Romans 3:21-26

Focus:
Romans 3:24: "All are justified by God's free grace alone, through his act of liberation in the person of Christ Jesus."

The great message of the book of Romans is that we are justified--made to be as if we were just, or righteous, or perfectly good--not by what we do, but by God's grace. God's grace is a free gift to us of salvation--salvation to live with meaning and purpose, and to live eternally with him.

This gift of grace comes to us through our acknowledgement of what he has done for us in Jesus Christ. As verse 22 says, "it (righteousness) is effective through faith in Christ for all who have such faith--all, without distinction."

It's an amazing gift, because none of us deserve it. As verse 23 says, "all alike have sinned." But, without distinction, no matter who we are or what we have done, God offers us this free grace, and he does it by becoming human and dying for us. That's how much God loves us. And all we have to do is acknowledge it and turn our lives over to him. Not a bad deal at all. I'll take it!

Keeping the Law Is Not Sufficient

Readings:
II Chronicles 33
Romans 3:7-20

Focus:
Romans 3:20: "For no human being can be justified in the sight of God by keeping the law: law brings only the consciousness of sin."

Paul is building the case that trying to keep the law is insufficient for salvation, because it is not possible to do it perfectly. By law he means the whole moral and ritual law as found in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament.) Perhaps if one tried very hard, one might succeed in observing the ritual law perfectly, but it is beyond anyone's power to succeed in observing the moral law perfectly.

For example, among the succession of kings that we have been reading about in II Chronicles, some have been terribly bad, and some have been good, but even the good ones have had failings.

And we ourselves may be good people, but we are unable to be perfect. When we really think about it, we are aware of our shortcomings, even little things like irritability. As Romans 3:20 says, law brings the consciousness of sin.

There is no way to be saved if we are trying to do it by being good. We can't do it.

Thanks to God that he has provided Jesus! The book of Romans will tell more about that.

God Is Just

Readings:
II Chronicles 32
Romans 3:1-6

Focus:
Romans 3:6b: "If God were unjust, how could he judge the world?"

An objection that people sometimes make to Christianity is that God doesn't always seem to treat people the same. Why, they wonder, are some people living in abundance and blessing, and other barely scratching out their lives? Yet both love him equally. And why do good people suffer and die while bad people prosper? God doesn't seem fair, people say. So, those people say, maybe Christianity is wrong.

Yet we only know of the concept of justice because God has built it into us. God himself is the definition of justice.

Somehow, beyond our ability always to understand it, God is being fair. Perhaps beyond the time we are able to know about it, justice will be done for the people that we now see suffering. Perhaps the ins and outs of justice are too complex for us even to grasp them.

But one thing that we can know is that God is just. God is fair. We wouldn't even know that there was such a thing as justice if God hadn't made us such that we wanted it.

Bringing Our Contribution into the House of God

Readings:
II Chronicles 31
Romans 2:17-29

Focus:
II Chronicles 31:10b: "From the time when the people began to bring their contribution into the house of the Lord, they have had enough to eat, enough and to spare; indeed, the Lord has so greatly blessed them that they have this great store left over."

When I was a young girl, my grandmother told me that if I tithed (gave 10% of my money to the church), I would never be sorry. I took her seriously and started to do this, and I found that she was right. I have been tithing ever since, and I have never been sorry.

I do not agree with the so-called "prosperity gospel" that teaches that if people obey God, they will become rich and prosperous. I do not find evidence for this in the Bible as a whole. But I do find throughout the Bible evidence that when we give generously to God, he never lets us lack anything that we need.

I have never lacked anything that I truly needed. I have also never been worried about my financial security. I have given to God, and he has taken care of me. That is the way it should be, I believe. It is a very good way to live.

Turning Back to God

Readings:
II Chronicles 30
Romans 2:1-16

Focus:
II Chronicles 30:9b: "The Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and he will not turn away from you if you turn back to him."
Romans 2:4: "Or do you despise his wealth of kindness and tolerance and patience, failing to see that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?"

When King Hezekiah of Judah comes into power, he restores the worship of God that had been neglected in Jerusalem, and he plans a great celebration of the Passover. For that purpose, he sends an invitation throughout both the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel, inviting everyone to come to Jerusalem.

In many, perhaps most, of the places his messengers go, they are treated with scorn and ridicule. How like today, when the message of Christianity is less and less welcome in most parts of the world! Yet Hezekiah tells all that no matter how far people have turned away from God, God will take them back. God is that gracious and compassionate. He will take any of us, if we turn to him.

God's goal is then for us to have changed lives. When we turn to him, we will repent of our wrongdoing, and work to live differently. This is good for us, good for everyone that we know, good for the planet. I can't think of anything I'd rather do.

Our Own Way of Thinking

Readings:
II Chronicles 29
Romans 1:18-32

Focus:
Romans 1:28: "Thus, because they have not seen fit to acknowledge God, he has given them up to their own depraved way of thinking, and this leads them to break all rules of conduct."

One objection that people often raise to Christianity is that they feel that it is mean of God to punish people (as they think). Why, they ask, should God be vengeful?

What people often do not consider, however, is that God is really just letting people have the consequences of what they have chosen to do. God created the universe. He created nature. He created us. He created everything to work in a certain way. When we decide to ignore God and do things our own way, things don't always work the way they're supposed to work, because we're not doing things the way they were created to work. It's as if we had a new product and ignored the instructions, and used it in a way that was likely to make it break.

So when we do things our own way, quite often bad consequences happen. It's just the natural result of using ourselves and others in ways that we were not made to be used. It's our fault if things go wrong. God isn't waiting to get us; we "get" ourselves.

It's much better to follow the instructions--the Bible.

Justified by Faith

Readings:
II Chronicles 28
Romans 1:1-17

Focus:
Romans 1:17b: "Whoever is justified through faith shall gain life."

This statement is the heart of the gospel. The book of Romans sets out the gospel most clearly in all the Bible, and already in the first chapter Paul states it in just a few words.

People are not saved--do not gain eternal life with God--by doing anything. It is not by following rules, or through good deeds, or by being good people, that they are saved. It is by faith and faith only.

When we realize that we need God, when we are sorry for what we have done wrong, when we want to turn away from doing wrong and try not to do wrong any more, when we ask for forgiveness and put our faith in God, then we are saved.

This is what it means to be "justified". When we put our faith in God and he forgives us, he substitutes Jesus's sinless state for our sinful condition. He considers us as if we were just (righteous), and makes it possible for us to be with him eternally.

It's the best deal ever.

Serving God

Readings:
II Chronicles 27
Acts 28:16-31

Focus:
Acts 28:30: "He stayed there two full years at his own expense, with a welcome for all who came to him."

The Bible doesn't tell us how Paul died. The last we hear of him in the Bible is that he was in Rome under a sort of house arrest. Tradition has it, however, that he was eventually beheaded.

While he is under arrest in Rome, however, he does not spend his time lamenting his condition, or working full time on his own case. Instead, he welcomes all who come, and, as the next verse says, openly teaches about Jesus. He doesn't concentrate on himself; he concentrates on God.

Paul's goal in life was not to have the best life he could have for himself. His goal was to serve God as best he could, and to help others know about God, regardless of the effect on himself. That's an amazing goal, and one that I have a hard time making my own. It is something I know I ought to do.

Pride That Leads to Our Undoing

Readings:
II Chronicles 26
Acts 28:1-15

Focus:
II Chronicles 26:16a: "But when he grew powerful his pride became great and led to his own undoing."

When King Uzziah of Judah became powerful, he dared to do himself actions that were reserved only for the Aaronite priests. This was displeasing to God. Uzziah had become such a great king that he thought that he could do anything he wanted to do, and so he did what he wanted. But it did not lead to happiness for him.

This is something that we have to watch out for ourselves. Often if we have successes, or do things well, we are proud of ourselves, and if it happens for a while, we start to think pretty well of ourselves. Then we think that we can do what we like, and then we actually do it.

But often we forget to check whether what we like to do is what God wants us to do, and when we don't do what God wants us to do, or when we do what God does not want us to do, it does not lead to happiness for us.

Achievements and success need to be recognized as reasons to be grateful to God, but not as reasons for pride that leads us to act as if we do not need God.

God Can Give Us Much More

Readings:
II Chronicles 25
Acts 27:27-44

Focus:
II Chronicles 25:9: "Amaziah said to the man of God, 'What am I to do about the hundred talents which I have spent on the Israelite army?' The man answered, 'It is in the Lord's power to give you much more than that.'"

King Amaziah of Judah has hired mercenary soldiers from the kingdom of Israel to help him in his fight against the Edomites. A prophet warns him, however, that since the kingdom of Israel has forsaken God, God will not give Amaziah success when he uses those mercenaries.

Amaziah wants to obey the prophet, but he's worried about the money he has already spent on the mercenaries. But the prophet tells him that God can make him receive even more than that, if only he will obey. So Amaziah does obey, and has great success.

Often we get started doing something the wrong way, and then we realize that in order to do something God's way, we need to change the way we're doing it. But we've already committed resources to what we're doing. We're worried about changing course, because we can't afford to lose the time or money that we've already committed.

But when we obey God, if it is his will, then it is in his power to give us much more than we've already spent. Whether he gives us abundance, or just enough, either way, when we obey him, we will never lack the things that we really need. We can have that confidence. I have found it true throughout my life.

Forsaking God

Readings:
II Chronicles 24
Acts 27:9-26

Focus:
II Chronicles 24:24: "Although the Arameans had invaded with a small force, the Lord delivered a very great army into their power, because the people had forsaken the Lord the God of their forefathers; and Joash suffered just punishment."

As long as Jehoiada the priest is alive, King Joash of Judah remains faithful to God, but after Jehoiada dies, Joash drifts away, and leads the people astray into worship of other gods.

After this happens, a small foreign army invades and wreaks a great defeat upon Judah. God no longer protects them against other countries, because they are no longer loyal to him. When Judah turns away from God, God lets them suffer the consequences.

God is more interested in our devotion to him than he is in showing his power. God could have continued to show how great the God of Judah was, and he could have continued to give Judah military victory every time. But instead, he wanted the hearts of the people of Judah. When their hearts turned away, and he let them feel the consequences of their decision, it might be that they would realize their need of God.

God deals with us in the same way. He does not force us to love him and give ourselves to him. When we choose him, we have his love and hope for the future. But if we turn from him, he lets us take the consequences of that decision. We have only ourselves to thank for that.

Singing and Rejoicing

Readings:
II Chronicles 23
Acts 27:1-8

Focus:
II Chronicles 23:18b: "...with the singing and rejoicing as handed down from David."

The kingdom of Judah has for several years been in the hands of a usurper, Athaliah, but finally the priest Jehoiada is able to set the rightful king, Joash, on the throne. When he does so, he restores the worship in the temple as it had been handed down from earlier times. This includes singing and rejoicing.

I love the thought that rejoicing (and singing!) is one of the things that is prescribed for the worship of God. It is fundamental that the people of God should have an attitude of joy towards him. To belong to God is to rejoice.

Even when circumstances are not good for us, if we know God and have committed our lives to him, we know that God will ultimately have good in store for us. At the end of everything is hope for us. That is worth rejoicing about. It is good that David handed down a tradition of singing and rejoicing, for that is the right thing to do.

If Paul Had Not Appealed to Caesar

Readings:
II Chronicles 22
Acts 26:24-32

Focus:
Acts 26:32b: "The fellow could have been discharged, if he had not appealed to the emperor."

After Paul has set forth his case before King Agrippa and the procurator Festus, Agrippa and Festus talk it over and agree that he has done nothing worthy of being detained. They concur that they could have let Paul go--except that he has already appealed to the Roman emperor, and therefore he must be sent to Rome for a trial there.

My first reaction is to think, "Oh, how frustrating! If only Paul had not appealed to Caesar! Then he could have been released, and he would not have had to remain imprisoned. He would have been free to undertake more apostolic missions."

But when I think about it more carefully, I realize that this may well have been God's will. It is possible that God had a purpose for Paul to fulfill in Rome, and this was the way for God to get Paul there.

Sometimes when things work out this way for us, when we feel that circumstances may have gotten all messed up, we might stop and think about whether or not God might have wanted it to work out that way.

And even if the seeming mess was not God's will--even if it really is a mess--God can work with it to make it into something good. That's always great to know.