Saturday Romans 9:6-13

Paul continues to explain the condition of the Jews.

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Paul says that God did not fail the Jews. He makes an interesting statement, “Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.” He is making the distinction between biology and spiritual. Everyone who is a physical descendant of the Jews is not a spiritual child of God. He has explained in previous chapters that adoption by God comes from faith.

Paul then begins a discussion of a topic that has been a stumbling block for many ever since Paul said this. The topic is election. Some use the term predestination. Paul begins his discussion of election by going back to Abraham.

God called Abraham to follow Him. He promised to Abraham that He would give Abraham many descendants and that those descendants would be the people of God. God promised that the descendants would be through Abraham’s wife Sarah. Abraham actually had two sons. He had Ishmael by Hagar and Isaac by Sarah. God chose Isaac as the one to carry the promise, not Ishmael. Isaac had twin sons by his wife Rebekah, Esau and Jacob. God had told Rebekah before the boys were born that the older would serve the younger. God chose Jacob, the younger, to carry the promise of God’s people.

Paul quotes Malachi 1:1-2 about loving Jacob and hating Esau. We often get upset over the use of the word “hate.” This is a poetic comparison. Remember Jesus told the crowd following Him that they had to hate their parents in order to follow Him. He was making a poetic comparison. He was not saying to literally hate your parents. He was saying that your devotion to Him should be extreme.

God chose Jacob not Esau. This chose was based on anything the twins had done. It was based on God. It was God’s choice. Paul explains in Romans 9:11 that this choice was to show God’s purpose in election.

Paul will continue with his discussion on election, so we will continue tomorrow. But the issue is: Did God chose us or did we chose God? Another way of labeling the argument is Man’s freewill versus God’s sovereignty.

This is a topic that has tension in it. You have to get comfortable with the tension. The Bible clearly teaches election. God chose who would be saved. Yet the Bible also clearly teaches man’s free will. We freely chose to accept or reject Christ. There is a real offer of salvation to all. The key to becoming comfortable with the tension is humility before God.

I have to honestly ask, “Am I willing to accept God’s word, even if I can not understand part of it?”

Friday Romans 9:1-5

Paul laments for his fellow Jews.

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Paul has just explained at the end of chapter 8 that nothing can separate us from God. For those who follow Christ, it is God Himself that maintains the relationship. We have confidence in our position with Christ because it is based on God’s promise.

So what about the Jews? Didn’t they have promises from God? What happened to them? Is God breaking His promises to the Jews? Did God get tired of the Jews and now He has cast them aside?

Paul proclaims his care for his fellow Jews. He says that he would give up his own salvation if it would save the Jewish people. As Paul has already said, salvation comes by faith, not birthright. People are saved by faith in Christ, but salvation by faith has always been the case. The Law of Moses showed sin and the need for grace.

God has not broken His promise with the Jews. He has fulfilled His promise in Christ. Jesus was a Jew and all of His initial followers were Jews. He came to the Jewish people. Some believed but most of them rejected Him. Those who believed received the promise.

Paul laments of the tragedy of the Jews. They had the history with God. They had the prophets and the Law. They had the temple. They had experienced the love and provision of God. If anyone could believe in Christ, it should be them.

I have a similar lament with many in our churches. They have grown up with the word of God. They have heard the testimonies of people around them who have experienced the hand of God. Yet many in the churches around the world are not really believers in Christ. They know church, but they don’t know God. They know how to act in church, but they don’t know how to follow Christ. They love the church but don’t really love God. If anybody should know God, these people should, but their hearts are hard.

It is no particular church or denomination. It is all over. And the real tragedy is that is came from the success of the church. Several years ago, all respectable people went to church. A friend recently told me that when he was growing up in Alabama, “Everybody was either a Baptist, or a Methodist, or a drunk.” Church was normal for normal people. While that can be good, there is a down side. Attendance and participation in church replaced faith in Christ. Membership in church replaced citizenship in the Kingdom of God. Consequently, churches became filled with people who had inherited church membership from their families rather than experienced adoption as children of God.

Surveys show that as many as one third of the members of protestant churches in America are really unbelievers.

We must make sure that we keep Christ central to our lives. Spiritual disciplines are useful in that they keep us close to God.

Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Thursday Romans 8:31-39

Our promise is heaven.

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“What shall we say in response to this?” Response to what? To the concept that the Holy Spirit is within us helping us to follow God. That God is molding us to be like Christ.

“If God is for us, who can be against us.” Satan may be against us. The world may be against us. The demons may be against us. The corruption of life with sickness and pain may be against us. But God is for us, so all of those others don’t matter.

We are being molded to be like Christ and we see what happened with Him. He served God faithfully then was taken to heaven to be with the Father. We have the same promise.

Christ is now in heaven pleading our case with the Father. Satan accuses us, but the Holy Spirit prays for us and God the Son pleads our case to God the Father. Our promise is eternity with God in heaven.

But for now, we are in the world. Paul quotes Psalm 44:22, “For your sake, we are being slaughtered like sheep.” The Psalmist was crying out to God. We are being slaughtered for you! where are you? Paul says that we still face physical opposition and may face death, but we can do that because we can stand on the promises of God.

None of those things that oppose us can separate us from God, because it is God who holds us to Himself. We do not maintain our salvation with God based on what we do. God saved us by grace and nothing can undo that salvation.

Even in the face of opposition, we are more than conquerors. What are we conquering? We are overcoming the opposition to follow Christ. The world wants to trip us up. But, we can follow God because it is God who empowers us to follow Him, so we conquer the opposition.

This makes me think of spiritual warfare. The purpose of spiritual warfare is to distract us and dissuade of from following God. We defeat spiritual warfare by following God.

Wednesday Romans 8:18-30

God is working in our lives to conform us to the image of Christ.

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Paul contrasted life in the flesh to life in the Spirit. The solution to the temptations of the flesh is walking close to the Spirit. Because of our faith in Christ, we are heirs with Christ. Part of our inheritance is suffering. Just as Christ suffered, we are likely to face suffering.

But Paul says that the suffering that we face here on earth is nothing compared to what awaits us in heaven. I can go through anything now, because I know what is in store for me. Paul expands his image of anticipation to all of creation. Everything is awaiting the renewal that God has promised.

We, in our corruptness, await the fullness of renewal in heaven. The corrupt universe awaits the fullness of renewal in the new heaven and new earth. We don’t really know what it will be like, but we know that we can depend on God’s promise.

It is the Holy Spirit that guides us to follow God even in our present state. We can not even pray properly, but the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. That is pretty amazing. God the Holy Spirit prays to God the Father on our behalf. It is like Jesus praying for us in John 17.

Verse 28 is a passage that gives us great hope, yet sometimes is hard to accept. Paul says that God will cause everything to work to the good for those who follow Him. Even the bad things that happen to us work for good. Even the sufferings that we endure work for good. What does Paul mean by good? He doesn’t mean wealthy or healthy or comfortable. He means spiritual growth. God uses all things to help us to grow in our relationship with Him. He amplifies this in the next verse. God is working to conform us to the image of Christ.

In other words, God is all about making disciples out of us. He will use anything and everything for our discipleship. The Holy Spirit will lead us and circumstances will mould us. But, God is at work conforming us to be like Christ.

Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Tuesday Romans 8:12-17

Through the Holy Spirit, we can call God “Abba” (daddy).

Click here for an online Bible. Romans 8:12-17

We are in a struggle between the flesh and the spirit. When we come to Christ, we are under the spirit, but there is still a struggle. Before, we had no choice. We were slaves to sin. Now, we are no longer under the control of sin. We are supposed to be under the control of the Spirit. Paul says that under the control of the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body.

The way to crucify the old self is obey the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we follow Him, the desires of the sinful self are not met. They are put to death.

Verse 14 is pretty blunt. “All of those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons.” Those who have faith in Christ are led by the Holy Spirit. Conversely, those who are not led by the Holy Spirit are not children of God. The mark of a true believer is being led by the Holy Spirit. It is not a question of having done a religious thing or prayed a specific prayer. A person who is a follower of Christ is led by the Holy Spirit.

This is not to say that a follower is Christ never sins. Paul said that he struggled. But a follower of Christ is in a process of sanctification. That is, being conformed to the image of Christ – being made godly.

As children of God, the Holy Spirit testifies of our relationship with God. We are also heirs of God along with Christ. We inherit eternal life. We also inherit the family business. That business is the ministry of reconciliation of people with God (2 Corinthians 5:18). Part of the family business is the opposition of the powers of the world. Just as Jesus was opposed, we will be opposed. The opposition is spiritual in nature (Ephesians 6:12).

So, what is the way ahead? Sanctification. How do we do it? Paul told us in 1 Timothy 4:7, “Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” Spiritual disciplines are something that we can do to put ourselves in places for God to work in our lives. This helps us to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and to continue to put to death the sinful self.

Monday Romans 8:1-11

We are to be led by the Holy Spirit.

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So far, Paul has made the case that all people are sinners. They are separated from God because of sin. This sin comes naturally from our biological father Adam. It doesn’t matter what your religious label is, you are still a sinner. In fact, if you have been exposed to the truth of God through some kind of religious background, then you are even more guilty because you know more specifically the ways of God than somebody who has had no exposure to God’s teaching.

Paul has said that following rules or following a religious system will not make you right with God. Only grace through faith in Christ can reconcile you with God.

God’s Law is good and holy because it shows our sin. Faith frees us from sin but we still struggle with sin since by nature we are sinners.

Now, Paul contrasts our biological nature with our spiritual nature. We may struggle with sin, but we are no longer under the condemnation of sinners. There is no condemnation for those who have faith in Christ. Notice how Paul compares the flesh and the spirit. The flesh is our natural selves. The flesh is associated with being a descendant of Adam. It involves sin and judgment. The result is death. The sin of the flesh required a physical death as punishment which Jesus took on our behalf.

The spirit is associated with life and peace. The peace that he speaks of is peace with God. The spirit allows us to follow God and please God. Those who follow Christ have the Spirit of God within them. The Spirit guides them.

We are adopted by God and no longer under the condemnation of sin, yet we still struggle with sin. So what is the solution? We are to submit to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How do we do that? The key is submission. We don’t like to submit and the biggest problem in most Christians’ lives is that they resist submitting to God.

We are told to do a lot of submitting. We are to submit to the authority of the government. We are to submit to each other. We are to submit to the church and to the church leaders. We don’t like that. We want to be independent. We want to be in control. We even resist submitting to God. “I know God says, but ….” What we are really saying is, “I know God says, but since I refuse to submit to His authority in my life, I will …”

Our struggle with sin will be won through our submission to the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

Sunday Romans 7:13-25

We still struggle with sin.

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The Law is good in that it shows sin. Paul says that the Law shows the exceeding sinfulness of sin. We are in the world and often use the world’s standards to determine sin. We gauge sin as comparisons to other people. I may not be perfect, but I am not as bad as another person. We should make judgments based on God’s standards. He gives us His standards in the Law. The New Testament amplifies His standards. We recognize sinful behavior as we look to God’s perfect word.

Paul said that when we come to Christ, we die to sin. Rather than slaves to sin, we become slaves to righteousness. So why do we still struggle with sin? We are still fallen corrupt people. When we come to Christ, there is a change. Our allegiance changes, but we still are fallen humans. We still struggle with sin.

There is a constant struggle. Notice that Paul compares the mind with the body. He says that his mind is on Christ, but his body sins. He is just using figurative language. His point is that there is a struggle within us. However, we need to fix our minds on Christ. The battle begins in the mind.

We can follow Paul’s example. He says that in his mind he is a slave to God’s instructions. In the next chapter, he will challenge us to follow the leading of the Spirit.