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Sunday October 9, 2022 Romans Week 70 Romans 14:8-14 “Love Limits Liberty”

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Sunday – October 9, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – October 9, 2022

Romans 14:16
“Do not allow what you consider good to be spoken of as evil.”

In Romans 14 the apostle Paul is dealing with matters of Christian conscience and personal convictions, especially as they relate to the relationships of the strong and the weak. He does not praise the overly sensitive conscience of the weak, nor does he condemn it. He accepts Christians where they are in their pilgrimage of faith and pleads with us to do the same.

I have often said the favorite indoor sport of Christians is trying to change each other. But Paul says we should not endeavor to change one another to suit our preferences, but instead we should change our conduct so as not to offend the weaker brother. Paul is particularly gracious and gentle in his instructions concerning the weak brethren in Romans 14, and it is because there was no heresy here, only a difference of understanding in the matter of Christian convictions and Christian liberties. Although Paul deals decisively with moral sin and doctrinal deviation in the New Testament, he pleads for understanding and love when it comes also to immaturity in the matter of Christian liberties.

The story has often been told of the culprits who entered a department store at night and stole nothing—they simply switched the price tags. Refrigerators sold for $9.95 while candy bars were $500. I think someone broke into the church and switched the labels on the strong and the weak. I had always been taught that the strong Christian was the one who knew he couldn’t. He couldn’t smoke, drink, dance or go to movies. And she couldn’t wear lipstick or make-up. The strong Christian is “… someone who lives in mortal terror that someone, somewhere, is enjoying himself.” The weak Christian was the one who spoke of liberty.

If this has been your understanding of the ‘strong’ and the ‘weak,’ then you had better take a closer look at this chapter. The weak brother thinks it is wrong to eat meat, and so he eats only vegetables. The strong knows there is nothing intrinsically sinful about meat-eating. The weak (we would assume) regards some days as more sacred, while the strong regards every day alike. We should expect Christians to differ. Or, to put it differently, Christian unity is not uniformity. unanimity. Paul says that true Christian unity is derived from unanimity on the fundamentals and loving acceptance where non-essentials are concerned. It is my personal conviction that there has been far too much division among Christians on matters that are not fundamental to the Christian faith. It was the apostle Paul himself, a man of great convictions, who wrote: “Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you” (Philippians 3:15). How often we have confused “contend for the faith” (Jude 3) with contending with the faithful.

Sunday October 2, 2022 Romans Week 69 Romans 13:15- “”

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Sunday – October 2, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – October 2, 2022

Romans 14:1
“Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”

We all have our convictions. Sometimes others may wonder about them, and sometimes our convictions may be detrimental to others. Personal convictions are very important to the apostle Paul. Three chapters are devoted to this subject in 1 Corinthians (chapters 8-10) and nearly two chapters to this same subject in Romans (14:1-15:13). Although the term “conviction” is found only in Romans 14:22, the expression “personal convictions” best describes the areas of difference among Christians which threaten the unity of the church.

In Romans and 1 Corinthians, convictions are beliefs which govern our behavior. Paul urges us to be “fully convinced in his own mind” (14:5) concerning our convictions. Convictions here are not as much a decision concerning what is true as a decision about what we should or should not do. Paul never would have said such a thing if he had been talking about the clear moral commands or essential doctrines of Scripture. Can you imagine him saying, “Some say that we are justified by grace through faith alone, whereas others say that we must add our good works; each person must be fully convinced in his own mind”? Convictions, therefore, are conclusions we reach when there are no hard and fast answers, no moral absolutes. Almost always, these convictions are inferential—the extension of certain beliefs we hold to be true and pertinent to a given circumstance or choice.

Christian convictions are necessary because of the grace of God. Opposed to the principle of grace is that of works or legalism. Legalism has a rule for every occasion. In the time of our Lord, Judaism had distorted the Old Testament Law so that the Law became nothing but an intricate system of rules. No decisions had to be made about what was right or wrong; for virtually any situation, there was a rule. Grace is different. Righteousness is not a matter of external rules nor even of external compliance to them. Grace starts with the heart and then motivates men to obey God. Grace gives men choices to make out of a desire to please God.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we are to be in the building business—not in the demolition business. Judging others and demanding the right to exercise our liberty, regardless of its affect on others, tears others down. In the same way, judging our brother in the matter of his personal convictions is wrong. It condemns the one God has justified and refuses to receive the one God has accepted. It sows the seeds doubts around the survival and sanctification of a brother whose ultimate standing has been accomplished and assured by God. May each of us give serious thought to our convictions. May we each be fully convinced in our own minds. And may the practice or setting aside of our Christian liberties be done as to the Lord.

 

Sunday September 25, 2022 Romans Week 68 Romans 13:8-14 “Love and the Last Days”

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Sunday – September 25, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – September 25, 2022

Romans 13:11-12
And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.

Imagine how you would feel if you were told that you had only a few months to live. You might try to cram a lifetime into those last days. You might travel to places you have always wanted to see. You might do things for which you had never found the time before. It would not be difficult to understand why you would want to spend your last days indulging yourself.

In Romans 13:8-14, Paul proposes a radically different response to a similar type of deadline—one every Christian must face. He reminds the Christian that his time is limited because the day of the Lord’s return is daily drawing nearer. In the light of this reality, he calls on us to deny ourselves and to live for God. Not to indulge himself, but to give himself sacrificially in serving others to seek for their good. We have been oversleeping. The night has passed. The new day is dawning—the day of our Lord’s return. We must get about doing those things which remain to be done.

Paul is looking at time from two perspectives. In the first place, he is looking at that time which has elapsed between our initial salvation and the present. The time which has passed should have produced growth and maturity and greater sensitivity to both good and evil. In the Book of Hebrews, the Hebrew saints had been saved for some time. But instead of growth and progress in their faith, the reverse seems to have been true, and for this the writer rebukes his readers. In the same way, these Roman saints have been saved for some time now and should be growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. But they still seem to be “sleepy Christians,” not fully awake and alert.

Time is also viewed in a second way. Because too much unprofitable time has passed by, the time they have remaining is slowly eroding away. Paul is saying is that the time left between the day of their initial salvation and the day of their final salvation is diminishing. And for us too, there is less time to serve the Lord now than there was when we were first saved. Not only the Roman saints, but we ourselves must hasten to demonstrate love. Paul spurs us on to love and good deeds (Heb 10:24). Our focus is not only to be upon others, but upon God, His grace, our salvation, and the rapidly approaching day of His return. This will mean glory for us and rewards for faithfulness. Let us not waste this time, but rather serve God faithfully and so be found faithful when He returns.

Sunday September 18, 2022 Romans Week 67 Romans 13:1-7 “God Government and You”

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Sunday – September 18, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – September 18, 2022

Romans 13:1-2a
“Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God…”

Over the years I have found Christians are little different than non-Christians in their attitudes and responses toward authority. Compliance is given, but cooperation is not always guaranteed. Christians comply with the law, slowing down as we pass the police car with its radar speed detection equipment, but as soon as we are sure it is safe, we drive normally—and illegally. In Romans 13:1-7, Paul deals directly with the Christian’s attitude and conduct with respect to civil government authority.

The church is involved today in the same struggle Paul addresses with the Church at Rome. In the earlier days of our nation, our government was founded on many Christian convictions. If our early government founders and officials were not Christians, at least their beliefs and values were compatible with Christian doctrines and practices. However, over the years, our culture and our government has strayed farther and farther from Christianity. Christians and their values are quickly becoming a minority view according to a Pew Research Center study released this week. Consequently, we should expect the government will increasingly regulate, hinder, and even oppose Christian activity.

When Paul speaks of submission to government, he does so in the context of service which is the main theme of Romans 12:1–13:7. We are challenged by Paul in 12:1-2 to present our bodies to God as living sacrifices, which is our reasonable service of worship. Paul then speaks of our sacrificial service in terms of the church, the body of Christ, and of the exercise of our spiritual gifts (12:3-8). In verses 9-21 Paul writes of our service in the context of love, whether we are serving our fellow-believers or our enemy. Subordination to civil government is discussed in Romans 13:1-7, only to find Paul returning to the theme of walking in love in verses 8 and following.

Daniel illustrates the truth of Romans 13:1-7 and exposes the folly of our fleshly efforts to affect change in government. Daniel was a young political hostage, with no credentials or political clout to impress his Babylonian captors. Daniel was but a single man, living in a godless society and in a heathen culture. And yet Daniel had tremendous political influence on several kings and administrations over a long period of time. What was it that made Daniel the E. F. Hutten of his day? What made kings listen when he spoke? I believe the answer is that Daniel subordinated himself to the heathen, human government of Babylon as God’s divinely ordained institution.

Daniel was a man who was respected and sought by the political leaders of his day. Why? I believe it was because Daniel was practicing what Paul later preached. Daniel was serving God by his subordination to civil government. As he sought to serve God with a clear conscience, he refused to do only that which was disobedient to God and defiling to his conscience. As he served God, he eagerly cooperated and supported the governmental system under which God had placed him. Down through history, men like Daniel have had a profound impact on kings and government officials—even though they served God and even though they were in the minority. May God grant that we will present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices, as we subordinate ourselves to others and to the government He has ordained.

Sunday September 11, 2022 Romans Week 66 Romans 12:14-21 “Transformed Attitudes Pt 2”

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Sunday – September 11, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – September 11, 2022

Romans 12:17-19
“Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. if possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.”

Even in the church, the vigilante spirit is alive and well. Christians sometimes attempt to sanctify their anger calling it righteous indignation, but we too are tempted to retaliate against those who mistreat us. Piously, we may pretend to resist evil supposing that God is on our side as we seek to “even the score” by causing hurt or harm to those who have mistreated us. Yet, Scripture calls for much more of us, requiring death to the flesh and the subordination of our personal interests to those of others.

Paul’s teaching in Romans is not new, the same essential truths were taught in the Old Testament as Paul cites from the Book of Proverbs. The teaching of our Lord Jesus calls for the same attitudes and actions (Matthew 5:38-48) along with the teaching of the other apostles (1 Peter 3:8-12; James 3). But as clear, consistent, and emphatic as the teaching of our text may be, it is not popular because it runs contrary to the inclinations of our flesh. We are tempted to try to find a way to excuse ourselves from simple obedience of the Word of God. We must be on guard against this temptation and let His Spirit to guide our interpretation and implementation as we seek to present our bodies to God as living sacrifices and as we love and serve Him through loving service to others.

You may wonder, what should I do if I’ve already blown it? Maybe you didn’t stop to think about how you should respond and so you exploded in anger at a difficult neighbor or family member. You pretty much ruined your testimony. Now what? The answer is, humble yourself, go to the person you wronged, and ask forgiveness. Don’t try to use your apology to witness to them, because they will think you’re just apologizing so that you can give them the religious pitch. Just ask forgiveness and leave it with them to ask about your faith.

Romans 12 calls upon the Christian to live in an entirely different way. We are to offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices. To do so, we must be transformed from what we were and not be conformed to the world. This is done by the renewing of our minds. Our thinking ceases to be in merely human terms but conforms to God’s thoughts. We must realize that to live as Christians, we must first think as Christians. This kind of thinking comes only through the Word of God, illuminated by the Spirit of God. Our text highlights the contrast between God’s thoughts and man’s. Let us be conformed to His thoughts. Let us obey Him by loving our enemies, seeking their benefit and, ultimately, seeking their salvation.

Sunday August 28, 2022 Romans Week 65 Romans 12:14-21 “Transformed Attitudes Pt 1”

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Sunday – August 28, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – August 28, 2022

Romans 12:14-17
Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

What do persecution, sympathy and humility have in common? Most of us in America have not experienced anything comparable to the persecution that our brothers and sisters in other countries are facing. In many other countries, numerous Christians have been imprisoned, killed or forced to leave their homes and flee for their lives. Neither is it easy to weep with those who weep, yet the mercies of God call us to sympathize with others in both their joys and their sorrows. Not thinking more highly of ourselves, humility, is a theme that comes up again and again in the Scriptures simply because it is such a difficult mindset to maintain.

So are these just random thoughts that Paul throws out without any connection with each other to fill space? As Paul would say, “May it never be!” (Romans 6:1). There are some essential connecting factors. For one thing, each of these commands reflects transformed attitudes. Back in 12:2, Paul said, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Paul is showing what this transformed, renewed mind looks like. It blesses enemies who have persecuted them, it sympathizes with others in their joys and sorrows and it demonstrates genuine humility.

Another connection between these three seemingly disjointed verses is they all are rooted in selflessness or self-denial. We can only bless our persecutors and not curse them if we are more concerned about their eternal welfare than we are about our suffering. We can only rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep if our focus is off ourselves and on their situation. We can only be of the same mind with one another and not be haughty or wise in our own estimation if our eyes are on the Lord and others, not on ourselves. Selflessness is the thread that ties all three verses together.

How transformed are your attitudes? Are you blessing those who have wronged you? Are you sympathizing with others in their joys and sorrows? Are you practicing humility through true Christian unity, through being quick to take on lowly jobs or to befriend people of no earthly status, and through not being impressed with your own wisdom? If you need to grow in any of these, go often to the foot of the cross, where Christ humbled Himself for your sake. There you will find the grace and mercy you need to grow.

Sunday August 21, 2022 Romans Week 64 Romans 12:13-19 “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”

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Sunday – August 21, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – August 21, 2022

Romans 12:9-10
“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”

“Love” is one of the most common, yet misused and misunderstood words in the English language. On in any media, “love” is synonymous with “romance” and seldom used without a sexual connotation. Commercials tempt the audience to pay for a call for a “love connection,” where companions can be matched or where romantic secrets are told. And yet even Christians have a very fuzzy grasp of the meaning of love. The meaning seems to be, “I love the warm, fuzzy way you treat me and make me feel so good.” Yet, no mention is made of God Himself, or of who He is.

Love is a subject of vital importance, not only because of our fuzzy ideas about what love really is, but because love is a matter of the highest priority. The question society tries to frame love by has become, “Is it loving?” rather than, “Is it right?” If it is “loving,” it is presumed to be right. Not so with Paul’s understanding of love. Biblical love cannot be separated from biblical righteousness. Christian love is drawn toward “right” and repulsed by “wrong.” It is attracted to and adheres to that which is “good,” abhorring and withdrawing from “evil.”

Christian love is something like a battery. There must be two poles for current to flow- a positive terminal and a negative terminal. In biblical thinking, love is more than a choice, it is a decision. It is a decision to choose one thing and to reject another. Jacob could not “love” both Leah and Rachel; he had to “love” one and to “hate” the other. So too we cannot serve two masters, for we will inevitably “love” one and “hate” the other. Our love as Christians must be both a response to God’s love and a reflection of His love.

There are Christians today who urge us to emphasize God’s love, and I agree this we should do. But if we are to proclaim God’s love, we must distinguish between good and evil. The love of God is that love which clings to the good and abhors the evil. The love of God cannot and does not overlook sin nor the judgment which it deserves and requires. If we would speak more of God’s love, we must speak more of good and of evil. Rebuke and discipline are not a violation of love but a manifestation of it. Love acts in accordance with righteousness.

Sunday August 14, 2022 Romans Week 63 Romans 12:3-8 Pt 2 “Humility and Spiritual Gifts”

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Sunday – August 14, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – August 14, 2022

Romans 12:4-6
“For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly…”

While he was president of Princeton Seminary, Dr. John Mackay was heard to say, “Commitment without reflection is fanaticism in action. But reflection without commitment is the paralysis of all action.”  These two extremes have always threatened the ongoing ministry of the church of Jesus Christ. There are those who are content to learn doctrine but sense no urgency to put what they know into practice. On the other hand, there are the pragmatists who want to know only what seems to work but  are too busy to reflect upon the principles which underlie their activity.

There are many Christians today who are up to their necks in activity and ministry, but who unfortunately have little idea what it’s all about. There are others who would encourage us to get away from cold and sterile doctrine and saturate ourselves with experience. As we approach spiritual gifting, we see that Paul avoids both these extremes. He avoids the extreme of reflection without commitment by challenging every Christian to a life of service. He avoids the danger of activity without reflection by instructing us that the Christian experience is the outgrowth of a transformed mind, a thought-process molded not by the world, but by the Word of God.

These two great dangers are at the heart of the exercise of spiritual gifts. The first is in not devoting ourselves to doing that which we are gifted to do. The second is exercising our gifts in a way inconsistent with the grace of God, the very grace that is to motivate and be manifested by them. We must be challenged to devote ourselves to the function for which God has gifted us and to the ministry He has called us. And we are to do so in a manner pleasing to Him and consistent with the task in the overall plan and purpose of God.

Paul’s words raise an important question I call to your attention, for it require an answer which only you can give. I urge you not to leave this text without arriving at an answer for yourself. Paul is speaking to believers about the spiritual gifts God has bestowed upon each of those who have become His children, by faith. First and foremost, have you received God’s gift of eternal life? Have you been born again? If not, then the subject of spiritual gifts is but an academic exercise, a purely hypothetical question. If so, then you have received, along with the gift of eternal life, a special enablement to serve God through His body, the church. Do so, to the glory of God.

Sunday August 7, 2022 Romans Week 62 Romans 12:3-8 “Straight Thinking on Spiritual Gifts”

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Sunday – August 7, 2022

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Word On Worship – Sunday – August 7, 2022

Romans 12:3-4
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.

The subject of spiritual gifts is relevant and vitally important to Christians today. Some evangelical Christians believe and teach that spiritual gifts are no longer applicable, that spiritual gifts were given for the church in its infancy. If this is so, how can spiritual gifts now be extinct when the Book of Romans clearly teaches they are necessary for the functioning of the church? While some may differ as to whether all the gifts are necessary in this age, it is very difficult to understand how none of the gifts are needed.

If I understand Paul’s teaching correctly, spiritual gifts are needed as long as we are living on this earth as members of the body of Christ. Spiritual gifts are those endowments of power which enable us to carry out the vital functions of our body life in Christ as members of His body. These endowments are a supernatural enablement so that supernatural results are produced. It is only when our Lord returns, when the church is taken up into glory and fully perfected, that the need for spiritual gifts will cease. Paul’s teaching assumes that teaching about spiritual gifts is both basic and fundamental to Christian living. Peter likewise looked at the exercise of spiritual gifts as a crucial matter. We should take spiritual gifts no less seriously than did the apostles.

But why does Paul tell us that we are to think “so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith”? There are several reasons. First, we live and walk by faith. Faith is essential in our service and in the exercise of our spiritual gifts, just as it is in every other aspect of our lives. Second, the results of our ministry may not be evident or apparent to us, or even to others. The results of the ministry of spiritual gifts are spiritual. They may not be revealed until eternity. We must act on the basis of faith, even though the results are not visible to us. The results of our ministry may be unseen, and faith deals with the unseen.

Because the exercise of a spiritual gift may be unseen, faith is required. Most often the ministry of spiritual gifts is described in terms of the function of the human body. In the human body some members are visible and prominent such as the hands and the eyes. But there are other unseen members like the heart and lungs, which while being unseen are essential to maintain the body. These unseen members are the “vital” organs. Likewise, the vital members of the body of Christ may very well be unseen. Each member of the body of Christ plays a part in the work of the body, as a whole. This the Christian believes by faith and demonstrates to the glory of God.