The Bookend of Romans

The book of Romans begins and ends with the same thought process. I picked this up when I was in Romania and it has impacted my life in so many ways. Here are the observations and how it has affected my life. Get your Bible and notice the similarities.

1.       Romans 1:2 and Romans 16: 25-26 = thankfulness. The Gospel was not clear in the Old Covenant. We see a picture under the Old Covenant but not the reality. It becomes clear when Jesus died on the cross, rose from the grave, and the Holy Spirit given at Pentecost.  I am thankful to see the fulfillment, only by God’s grace.

2.       Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:26 = missions. The Gospel will be taken to all nations. This is the mission of the church. Every year I evaluate my life in light of this truth. I ask myself, “How did I do this year in making disciples of all nations?”

3.       Romans 1: 5 and Romans 16:26 = obedience of faith. True faith or the true effects of the Gospel in a person’s life or real belief or what Jesus accomplished on the cross for all who believe is…. Obedience of faith. True believers will have a changed life. This hits the easy believism that is so prevalent in the church culture between the eyes. A changed life is not optional, it is a work of and evidence of the Holy Spirit.  

4.       Romans 1:5 and Romans 16:27 = God always gets the Glory. The goal of missions is to bring glory to God. When someone comes to Christ, our God is worshiped. His name is gloried. His name is made famous. Not ours. 

God as my Father

The writing of J.I. Packer has influenced my life tremendously.  One statement made by J.I.  Packer has stuck with me for fifteen years. I can’t remember it verbatim but it went something like this… To truly grasp Christianity is to call God, Father. Wow!

To call God, Father, was a foreign concept to the nation of Israel. Yes, comparisons of God as father are found in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 32:6), but the Jews as a whole did not call God, Father. The first time Jesus calls God Father is Matthew 6:9, when teaches His disciples to pray. The religious leaders were furious that Jesus would refer to God as Father. It got Him killed.

This is a New Covenant concept! God is redeeming His people for Himself. God is Father and believers are His children (brothers and sisters). Everyone cannot make that claim. All people are created in God’s image but not all are God’s children in this way. For example:

Romans 8:14-17

English Standard Version (ESV)

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons^[a] of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

And…

Galatians 4:6-7

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

John goes even further in 1 John 3:1-10. Believe me; what John says is not politically correct.

Here is how the doctrine of God as my Father has impacted my life:

1.       Assurance. No one had to teach me assurance of salvation. After I came to Christ, I knew my life was different. I understood, in some way, that I was at peace with God. God is my Father. Before coming to Christ, I could not say that. I believe that is the point of Romans 8:14-17.

2.       Access to God (Ephesians 2:18). Through Jesus, I can go to God any time I choose to. I don’t have to go through a priest or “clean myself up” before I pray or read my Bible. I have free access to God. He is my Father. Just as my kids have access to me, I have access to my Father.

3.       Every Christian is my brother or sister. The question I have to ask myself is, “How do I treat my brother or sister – whom Jesus died for”. I am sad to say that Christians often don’t get along. Christian’s slanders, backstab, talk about, and pick on other Christians who are not a part of their “camp”. It should not be that way. How we treat brothers and sisters is very, very important.

4.       Humility. We attribute NOTHING to our salvation. Just as I did not choose my earthly father, I did not choose my Heavenly Father. I am adopted into His family, I did not adopt Him. Even the faith to believe is a gift given to me by my Father.

5.       Obedience. It is my desire to bring God glory through my actions, thoughts, and motives (1 Thessalonians 4:1 and 1 John 5:3). I still sin, and will sin. However, my desire is obedience.

6.       Discipline. The author of Hebrews asked a question, “For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?” (Hebrews 12:7). I expect to go through discipline. It is my response to discipline that matters. Do I complain or give thanks?

Sunday Worship

As believers, our theology of worship is important. I use the word theology because what we believe about worship is what we live out. For example, do you say “I am going to a worship service!” or “We have a worship band that rocks it out!” or “I have an awesome worship leader at my church!” If you say that (and yes I am guilty) then you are identifying worship as an event held in a building or lead by a single individual. That is an Old Covenant view of worship. Music is part of worship, but not the whole. Music is no more important than preaching, serving, going to Target, purity in dating relationships and what is looked at on the computer. Worship is not 10:00-12:00 in a building on a certain day of the week.  

That is the point of John 4:24. When the Samaritan women encountered Jesus, she made a statement. John 4:19 reads, “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” (ESV). In response Jesus makes a radical statement, “Women, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him” (ESV).

In the New Covenant era, we worship God in spirit and truth. Worship in spirit means our worship is not bound to a building, time, day or lead by a single individual. All believers worship -24/7. That is 1 Corinthians 10:31 lived out. Believers worship wherever they go. Buildings are not holy, God is. Buildings are not God’s house, Christians are. Believers can and do worship God on airplanes, driving in crazy traffic, in the grocery store, on the basketball court, in caves in Iran, and in house’s in Turkey.

In our evangelical culture we have a bad habit of using Old Covenant language incorrectly. I think we should (including myself) change the way we speak to bring honor to our Lord. It matters. Church is not a building, worship is not from 10:00 – 12:00, and everybody worships something all the time. 

Christ-ian Worship

Here is an interesting article that will help believes think through if your local church gathering is making much of Christ.  Enjoy....

 http://www.crosstocrown.org/?p=5453

More on youth/college ministry....

Here are some noteworthy quotes from chapter two of Alvin Reid's book As You Go.

"The Gospel doesn't create Pharisees; we do" pg. 45

"The Gospel shows us how to do the very thing we are created to do: worship. But teaching worship as something done mostly in a service guided by particular forms loses the wonder of worship in our preferences and creates divisions, not unity." pg 45

"Life is worship." pg. 56 

"You see, our fundamental problem is our view of God. We are too easily tempted to think of God first from our perspective. In so doing we shrink God to our level. As a result we tend to make the Bible more about us than about God." pg. 51

"We were orphans who have been adopted by God (see Romans 8:15). Never get over what God has done in Christ!" pg. 54 

 "The challenge confronting student ministry is a challenge of theology, not ability." pg. 58

"She goes on to note how most students in our churches today cannot articulate clearly the fundamentals of our faith. While we obsess with lengthy series on dating or other topics, have we failed to give them a foundation in the glorious Gospel story?" pg. 59

"In the modern era, God's people have at various times lost their way by virtue of theological shallowness on the one hand or liberalism on the other.." pg. 61

 

 

 

 

 

Back row Baptist confronted

I love to sit on the back row. My family, unless we get to church late, always sits on the back row.  However, in our church culture there is another type of “back row Baptist.” Except, these people often sit in the back, middle, or front of the church. I define back row Baptist as those people who come to church on Sunday morning, sit and watch, then leave. Never speaking to anyone (except the.. Hey! Doing good are you?) and never getting involved in the lives of people. In essence they are hiding. Is this a Biblical way to approach church? A better question to ask would be “Is God glorified with the actions of this person.” I say no.

The author of Hebrews points us to the how and why we should meet together as the local church family. Biblically, what does it mean to be involved in a local church? Is it… come here a cool, edgy sermon with a bunch of one-liners or come listen to “awesome” music that I can’t sing to? I hope you will see that when it comes to the local church, interaction is crucial. Here is my breakdown of Hebrews 10:24

²⁴ And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.25.

Let us consider how to stir up one another to….

  Love -Matthew 22:34-40 – What is Biblical love?

Part of the reason we are to be involved in the local church is to live out what we claim to believe! It is easy to love people who agree with you, look like you, and praise you.  But the Bible calls us again and again to forgive those who hurt us, to put others above ourselves, and to be at peace with those in local body. The question must be asked, do people change churches to avoid conflict instead of forgiving the person they have conflict with? Or do people change churches when they don’t get their way, so in protest they leave the church?   They may be taking the coward’s way out instead of living out what Paul writes about in Colossians 3:12-15, “bearing with one another, forgiving each other…put on love…let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.” Colossians 3:12-17, 1 Corinthian 13, Philippians 2:1-17

     

Good works

Each family has different members that add various dynamics to the family. The same is true of the local church family. This is the point of Spiritual gifts. Every Christian has a spiritual gift to be used in the local church. However, we must remember that in God’s Sovereignty, He has already planned the works you will do so we can’t take credit for the good work or the spiritual gift. He gets the Glory! Romans 12:4-8, 1 Corinthians 12 -14 and Ephesians 2:10.

  Don’t neglect to meet together

NO WHERE in the Bible does it say we should not be involved in the local church. In What is a Healthy Church Mark Dever writes, “If you call yourself a Christian but you are not a member of the church you regularly attend, I worry you might be going to hell.” Mark Dever, p. 21. That is a pretty strong statement.

  Encourage one another

Everyone goes through hard times in life. Part of the role of the church body is to encourage each other to continue living for our Lord when trials or hard times come our way. 1 Peter 1: 6-9

In light of this…

How should believers act towards others in the local body?

What can you personally do to be more involved in the lives of the local body you attend?

What is the goal of believers (or what is your goal) for being involved in the local church?

How can you use your time to serve your local church family better