A Journey Through Romans

Romans 8:31-38

"I heard about a frustrated mother whose two sons where driving her crazy. She had tried everything to keep them in line, when one day she had an over-the-fence discussion with a neighbour. "I took my son to our priest," reported her friend, "and he got him straightened out for good."

Because she had exhausted all of her options and didn’t have a better idea, she followed her neighbour’s advice and took her two sons to the local parish priest. The younger boy was left in the waiting room and the older boy was ushered into the solemn presence of the robe-clad clergyman.

Without so much as introducing himself, the priest stared into the eyes of the frightened boy and began his interrogation with this question: "Where is God?"

The boy was speechless. The priest spoke again, "Where is God?" The young lad looked away, searching the room as if the answer might be found in the religious items that filled the office. He still did not answer. A little louder and with more emphasis, the priest asked for a third time, "Where is God?"

This time, the boy leaped to his feet and ran out of the office. When he came to the waiting room, he grabbed his brother by the hand and pulled him out the door. "Let’s get out of here," he said, "They’ve lost God and they’re trying to pin it on us." 

Sometimes we seem to place things or people or situations in the way of God’s love.

KARL BARTH was a German theologian who dominated the theology of the 20th century. In 1962, 6 years before his death, he made his only visit to the United States. One night he lectured at a seminary in Virginia and after the lecture he met with students in the coffee shop for some informal dialogue. Someone asked him if there was any way he could summarise his vast theological findings. A student asked, “What in your judgment is the essence of the Christian faith?” Barth paused for a moment. No doubt the others waited for some profound insights from this theological giant. They got their pens and paper out and were poised. Then Barth answered, “Yes, I can summarise in a few words my understanding of the Christian faith. Let me put it this way: “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know, for the Bible Tells Me So.”

I wonder, can we realise today that nothing can separate us from the love of God found in Jesus.

Prayer

Thank You, Father, that nothing at all can ever separate me from Your amazing love and eternal grace, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord. Sometimes, I imagine things that will separate me from You, and yet Your Word clearly tells me that there is nothing at all that can remove me from my position in Christ Jesus. Help me to accept this truth in my heart today, and never more doubt Your love for me. In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.

A Journey Through Romans

Romans 7:21-24 “I do not understand my own actions. I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Romans

This is Paul at his most frank, but veering on the depressed. He is surely writing about libido, the law in his members which is at war with the law of his mind. Though Paul did not face a world of advertisers and media stirring up the law in his members, he was still upset by the tug of the flesh.

It reminds me of this story. A man entered a bar, bought a glass of beer and then immediately threw it into the bartender’s face. Quickly grabbing a napkin, he helped the bartender dry his face while he apologised with great remorse. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I have this compulsion to do this. I fight it, but I don’t know what to do about it.” “You had better do something about your problem,” the bartender replied. “You can be sure I’ll remember you and will never serve you another drink until you get help.”

It was months before the man faced the bartender again. When he asked for a beer, the bartender refused. Then the man explained that he had been seeing a psychiatrist and that his problem was solved. Convinced it was now okay to serve him, the bartender poured him a drink. The man took the glass and splashed the beer into the barkeeper’s astonished face. “I thought you were cured,” the shocked bartender screamed. “I am,” said the man. “I still do it, but I don’t feel guilty about it anymore.” Well, maybe he missed the point of God’s healing grace.

Have you ever heard of the interrobang? The interrobang, is an unconventional punctuation mark used in various written languages and intended to combine the functions of the question mark, or interrogative point, and the exclamation mark, or exclamation point, known in the jargon of printers and programmers as a "bang". For many of us, this is a symbol of faith’s seesaw and may well illustrate Paul’s dilemma 

Lord, I know that feeling of conflict, but please do not rescue me just yet from this body of death. It is what I am; it keeps me humble. Amen

A Journey Through Romans

We boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us."

Romans 5:2b-5

Here are two sentences to think about, as we try to link them with our own experience. Suffering is not something to boast about. If we am healthy, we try to avoid suffering. Yet Paul is right: suffering can steel us, produce endurance and character. As for the last phrase, there are times when we feel ourselves a channel of God's love: it is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, and through us to other people.

When someone we love suffers, we suffer with that person, and we would not have it otherwise, because the suffering and the love are one, just as it is with God's love for us.

A. Parnell Bailey visited an orange grove where an irrigation pump had broken down. The season was unusually dry and some of the trees were beginning to die for lack of water. The man giving the tour then took Bailey to his own orchard where irrigation was used sparingly. "These trees could go without rain for another 2 weeks," he said. "You see, when they were young, I frequently kept water from them. This hardship caused them to send their roots deeper into the soil in search of moisture. Now mine are the deepest-rooted trees in the area. While others are being scorched by the sun, these are finding moisture at a greater depth."

Is there some truth then in the phrase, "No pain. No gain?"

A Prayer

Lord, may we respond by faith to what we hear,

and use our mouths to share who you are.

May we tell of your good deeds and love,

and inspire faith in those around us.

Help us to have compassion for those in need,

and respond in love with acts of generosity

Amen

A Journey Through Romans

Romans 4 focuses on the faith of Abraham. Genesis 15:6 says clearly that Abraham believed God and that faith—his trusting belief in God—was counted to Abraham as righteousness. Abraham was not justified by works. God wasn't paying him back for something. Abraham's was justified as God's gift to him. In the same way, David speaks of those whose sins the Lord does not count against them as being blessed by God. They do not earn forgiveness. God gives it (Romans 4:1–8).

God essentially promised Abraham and his offspring "the world," in a sense. Can that promise be claimed by keeping the law? Paul says no. For one thing, the promise was given centuries before the law existed. If law-keeping was required for the promise, then Abraham's most immediate descendants would have been left out! Second, nobody can keep the law. This is a point Paul was careful to make very clearly in chapter 3. If receiving the promise depends on keeping the law, the promise is useless and so is faith. No, God's promises to Abraham's offspring will be received by faith (Romans 4:13–19). 

Abraham's faith in one specific promise is then held up as a model for us. God told Abraham he would have a natural-born son with his wife, Sarah and become the father of many nations. Abraham believed that and continued to believe it even as the years passed without a child. He remained faithful, even as he approached 100 years old, and Sarah approached 90. In fact, Paul insists, Abraham's faith grew stronger, not weaker, over time. That is why God counted his faith as righteousness. The same can happen for all of us now. Those who believe in the God who give us Jesus to show us the way of forgiveness by His death and then raised Him back to are declared righteous, as well (Romans 4:20–25).

A Prayer

Gracious God, though we have done nothing to earn them, you pour out the gifts of grace and mercy upon us. When we stumble over our lack of trust, you set us back on our feet, to follow you into the kingdom. You speak your peace, Breath of Holiness, and it is enough. Amen

A Journey through Romans

Read Romans Chapter 3 

In his letter to the Romans, Paul sets out the most exhaustive essay on salvation and covers every question or query that might be raised by both unbelieving skeptics and maturing believers alike.

Whether Jew or gentile, male or female, young or old, rich or poor, most people delight to think of themselves as worthy in the sight of God and of greater merit than other people. Most consider themselves deserving of heaven and a little more principled.. and a little more virtuous than the rest of humanity.

But Paul outlines God's condemnation of the intent of man's heart. He details in sober terms the inner thoughts of our minds and he records in stark language what God thinks of our actions, our attitudes, our words:- as it is written, there is none righteous, no - not even one.

Yet in short, faith must never ever be viewed as a ticket that has earned us a right to salvation. Salvation is simply God's gracious, unmerited, glorious, free gift to all who simply trust in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Salvation is a gift of God's grace alone - through faith alone in our Saviour Jesus Christ our Lord.

Charles Wesley puts it this way:-

Long my imprisoned spirit lay

Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;

Thine eye diffused a quickening ray,

I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;

My chains fell off, my heart was free,

I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

No condemnation now I dread;

Jesus, and all in Him, is mine!

Alive in Him, my living Head,

And clothed in righteousness Divine,

Bold I approach the eternal throne,

And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we stand amazed at the saving grace that has been extended to guilty sinners, for there is none righteous in Your sight and yet You have offered the free gift of salvation to all who simply trust in the name of the only begotten Son of God - to Whom be all honour and glory for ever and ever, AMEN.

`A Journey Through Romans

Read Romans 2:12-29

In verse 28 Paul redefines what it even means to be a Jew and to be circumcised. He insists it's not about being born Jewish or even being physically circumcised. True Jewishness, Paul will insist in the following verse, is about the state of a person's heart before God. Specifically, Paul's words here involve Judaism and are directed to people of Israel. However, the broader point is meant to apply to everyone. Religious sacraments, labels, and other forms of good works are not what save us. We must be perfect in order to avoid judgment; since nobody can be perfect, grace becomes our only hope of redemption.

Romans 2:12–29 describes two groups of people, with an emphasis on how their sin relates to their knowledge of God's written Law for the nation of Israel. Here, ''Gentiles'' are those who sin apart from the law, while ''Jews'' are those who sin under the law. Paul shows how, in both cases, God will judge people based on whether they kept the law and were circumcised in their hearts. Even Gentiles who follow the law out of sincerity would be regarded by God as truly Jewish. Meanwhile, God will discount the Jewishness and circumcision of someone under the law who breaks the law and does not have a sincere heart. Paul will show in the following chapter that, in truth, no one can keep the law.

Prejudice is ungodly. It is a divisive stain fuelled by the powers of hell. To view people based on their ethnicity, their skin colour, their tribe, their language, their culture, their education, or their status is to remain trapped in the sin-dominated world that Satan inflicted on us after the fall. Jesus came to tear down the walls that separate people from each other and to bring us together, through the Holy Spirit, into one new body — his body, the church — where he animates and empowers us through the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:11-22). So our identity is not determined by our skin colour but by the presence of God's Spirit. We are the cleansed and claimed people of God — spiritually "circumcised" — by the Holy Spirit.

Today's Prayer

Father, we confess that we have allowed petty differences, racial prejudices, tribal conflicts, and regional rivalries to inflict wounds on the body of Christ. We ask — I ask personally — that your Holy Spirit work in each of our hearts to tear down these barriers and help us welcome and cherish each other based on our allegiance to Jesus as Lord and on the presence of your Spirit within us. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen.

A Journey Through Romans

Read Romans 2:1-11

How good a judge are you of others.  The truth is our judgement is always impaired alway biased and all to often full of errors. It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “God's truth judges created things out of love, and Satan's truth judges them out of envy and hatred.”

In truth, our judgements are always weighted by things that favour our own viewpoint.  Do you remember the saying of Jesus where he questioned, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and fail to notice the plank in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me get the speck out of your eye’, when there is a plank in your own? You fraud! Take the plank out of your own eye first, and then you can see clearly enough to remove your brother’s speck of dust.” Matthew 7:3-5 (J B Phillips)

Paul in this passage insists that there is no favouritism with God. He insists that in God’s economy there in not most favoured nation clause. But in God’s economy there are two side to the his currency of love, Justice and Mercy. I love the saying of Fred Beuchner “Justice is the grammar of things.  Mercy is the poetry of things.”

God’s justice and mercy are seemingly incompatible. After all, justice involves the dispensing of deserved punishment for wrongdoing, and mercy is all about pardon and compassion for an offender. However, these two attributes of God do in fact form a unity within God’s character.

Charles Wesley expresses the mercy of God in this hymn.

Depth of mercy! Can there be

mercy still reserved for me?

Can my God His wrath forbear?

Me, the chief of sinners, spare?

I have long withstood His grace:

long provoked Him to His face;

would not hearken to His calls;

grieved Him by a thousand falls.

I my Master have denied,

I afresh have crucified,

oft profaned His hallowed name,

put Him to an open shame.

There for me the Saviour stands,

shows His wounds and spreads His hands:

God is love! I know, I feel;

Jesus weeps, but loves me still!

Now incline me to repent! 

Let me now my fall lament! 

Now my foul revolt deplore! 

Weep, believe, and sin no more. 

Prayer

God of love,
You see all the suffering, 

injustice, and misery in this world.
Have pity on what You have created. 

In Your mercy look upon the poor, 

the oppressed, the destitute,
and all who are heavy-laden.
Fill our hearts with deep compassion 

for those who suffer,
and hasten the coming of
Your kingdom of justice and truth. Amen

~Eugène Bersier (1831–1889)