Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Romans 12:9-10

  

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter sixteen Living in View of God's Mercy, which covers Romans 12:1-16.  Building on my post yesterday, where I focused on Romans v12:3-8, this morning I review the v12:9-16 and the associated commentary. While the sub-heading of the text (ESV) refers to these verses as "Marks of the True Christian," the commentary indicates that irregardless of the subheading the implication and intent of these verses is for Christians to outwardly demonstrate lives that oppose conformity to worldly behavior - we are to be "counter-cultural."  Our renewed mind (v12:2) transforms our thinking and actions, enabling us to live this worldly-opposed life and God works through us, causing our obedience.  While we see a number of commands, including how we are to love and treat our "enemies" or those who persecute or treat us harshly, the over-riding command is to love others as God loves us (see John 13:34) - given all believers where at one point enemies of God (see Romans 5:10).  My commentary stresses that such love leads to action - empathy and compassion towards others (see 1 John 3:16-18).  We must also hate evil as God does. We must also live with zeal - not apathy!

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, what an amazing God You are that even while we were still enemies of God, You loved us and offered salvation for those who believe - what an amazing gift of grace!  Thank You Jesus.  Yet I am not deserving.  I have gossip, worry, harsh words, anger, etc. in my life.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Romans 12

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Romans 12:3

 

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter sixteen Living in View of God's Mercy, which covers Romans 12:1-16.  My focus today is Romans 12:3-16, which my commentary refers to under the heading Offer Yourself to Your Church.  As my post yesterday indicates, Romans 12 includes extensive "imperatives" in light of the "mercies" and grace Paul describes previously to Romans 12. These imperatives include:

• Do not think of yourself highly; do not be haughty or be wise in your own sight; think of yourself with sober judgement - clearly and with an eye towards how we are all sinful and in needed of God's correction and molding; be humble and associate with those in need (v12:3,16)
• Give of our time generously to the church and others based on our and others' gifting (v12:4-8); see also 1 Corinthians 12
  
• Love others and hold fast to what is good - just as God does, hate sin and evil (v12:9)
• Support and encourage one another (v12:10, 15)
• Be joyful/cheerful and full of zeal (v12:11)
  
• Be patient in our trials (v12:12)
• Pray (v12:12)
• Provide and give to ministries in your church; offer up possessions (home, etc.) as hospitality (v12:13)
• Bless those who persecute you; be harmonious (v12:16)

For this morning, my focus is on these imperatives as an appropriate response to God's grace and mercy.  My commentary states and emphasizes how this morning's text urges us to live together and in unity in the church, depending on each other to fulfill the church's mission and strengthening the church. We are to see the imperatives here is not exhaustive as the commentary refers to the imperatives here as "teaching and serving gifts" whereas elsewhere in scripture there is focus on verbal and non verbal gifts. Teaching gifts are emphasized to be seen as practical, spiritual and for exhortation (i.e. "comforting, encouraging, pleading"). Bottom line, gifts are to be used for the good of the church and its mission. 

Given the substance and degree of material worthy of review from today's commentary - I end my time today pausing after a review of the commentary that looks at 12:3-8 and will pick up tomorrow with the commentary looking at 12:9-16. 

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You for the Church and for providing brothers and sisters in Christ with whom I can serve and grow in relationship in Christ and experience greater fullness of life. What a tremendous blessing.  I am not deserving of how You knit together the church and how it blesses me. My sins are great and they continue.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 

 

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter sixteen Living in View of God's Mercy, which covers Romans 12:1-16.  My focus today is Romans 12:1-2, which my commentary refers to under the heading Offer Yourself to God. On the heels of Paul's closing marks in Romans 11, where Paul marvels at the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, as well as His judgements and ways, Paul then pushes us to - therefore (v12:1) - be a living sacrifice - to serve and love God out of an outpouring of gratitude for what He has done for us and continues to do for us as He provide for all of our needs - physical, emotional, and spiritual.   We are also cautioned to avoid conformity to the world, but instead to seek Him and how nearness to God can help us avoid this by directing our thoughts and desires to be more in line with Him. 

My commentary describes how Romans 12 moves from the "indicatives (the grammar of certainty and actuality)" of the gospel to the "imperatives (the grammar of commands)." We are to "rejoice in the glorious indicatives of the gospel!  The facts of the gospel have caused us to soar in worship throughout Romans, and now they give the proper basis for practical obedience.  God's grace should not make us lazy or passive but passionate and devoted to God, and this passion is 'rooted in faith and energized by the power of the Holy Spirit.' We are to see how Romans 12:1 echoes words expressed by Paul in Romans 6:13 and 6:19. The commentary describes how Paul highlights 'living sacrifice' as a form of dedication - the use of the word "sacrifice" along with "temple," and "priesthood," is used "without the actual physical apparatus associated with them...sacrifice is metaphorically applied to Christian service."  We are encouraged not only to offer our bodies to God (v12:1), but also our mind (v12:2).  We must avoid how worldly influences lead to a "polluted mind...[and] life." If we are able to orient our bodies and minds to God through scripture, worship, prayer, service, etc. then "we will be able to recognize and appreciate what honors God, and we can then set ourselves to obey his will."

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - what an awesome God You are that You offer the Holy Spirit to advocate for me and to assist me...with all things.  Thank You Jesus for the Holy Spirit and for how You never leave or forsake me and how You have molded me...it has not always been easy but that is not what You promise.  I am blessed by all that You have done and what You continue to do.  Yet I am not deserving.  My sin of worry, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve, You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

Romans 11

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” Romans 11:33-34

 

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter fifteen From Theology to Doxology, which covers Romans 11.  My focus today is Romans 11:33-36, which my commentary refers to under the heading God Deserves the Glory Forever. As Paul questions the mystery of the grafting in of the natural branches initially cutoff from the root (Jesus), Paul realizes that while he does not understand everything about how God works, he does know that God is good and his ways, although not always known, are good and perfect - worthy of glory and worship. My commentary points out that Paul, just as he has done through Romans, references the Old Testament - first in v11:34 (Isaiah 40:13) then in v11:35 (Job 41:11). We are reminded that God is self-sufficient, that nothing can thwart God's plans, and that we should never question God's judgements and ways - again they are perfect: "He acts in his own wisdom and is obligate to no one."  The commentary indicates that Paul seeks to warn Roman Christians to avoid such questioning of God. 

 

Comment and discuss this post here.

 

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - You are an awesome God who loves me and who is full of grace and mercy and Your ways are perfect!  Thank You Jesus!  Yet I am not deserving of the grace and mercy You pour out for me.  I have questioned Your ways and judgement...and I have other sins of worry, anger, etc. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to accept You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Romans 11

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Romans 11:32

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter fifteen From Theology to Doxology, which covers Romans 11.  My focus today is a second look at Romans 11:11-32, with a review of the commentary text under the heading God Will Continue Working Out His Saving Purposes in the Future. The commentary starts with describing how Paul moves from v11:1 where he asks if Israel's "rejection was total" and where in v11:11-32 he examines whether Israel's rejection was "final."  Paul argues that their rejection is not total nor is it final.  We are to see how Paul uses "positive jealousy" in v11:14; he uses a reference from Deuteronomy 32:21 to describe "not a sinful jealousy" or "as a curse" (as it was intended in Deuteronomy), "but here it becomes a means of drawing Israel back to God.  Gospel jealousy can provoke an 'I want in on the riches of Christ!' mentality."  Paul also wants the Gentiles to see how inclusion of the Jews will bring greater gain to Gentile believers - expansion of the kingdom!  My commentary longs on the point of gospel jealousy and urges us to live our faith in such a way to spur such positive jealousy in others - it uses as an example how Paul and Silas singing in the jail (and subsequent earthquake) spurred their jailer to ask "[s]irs, what must I do to be saved?" (Acts 16:30). In v11:17-24, the commentary describes Paul's use of the olive tree and how the natural branches (ethnic Israel) were initially cut off due to unbelief then the "wild" branches (Gentiles) were grafted into the root (Jesus).  We are encouraged to see Paul's stern warning to the Gentiles to remain humble and not be smug towards unbelieving Jews - instead they should be heart-broken and fear God since their own faith was not due to anything they did but due to God's grace.  Just as Israel many times throughout its history suffered punishment from God, so too can the Gentiles should it stray from God - persevering faith.  Paul then moves to v11:24-32 where he expresses hope for the Jews that they be grafted back in to the root - the commentary expresses great mystery around how and when this grafting back in will occur.

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Heavenly Father - You are indeed a God full of grace and mercy and I too can be counted among Jews grafted back into the Root so enjoy the nutrients of the Tree of Life - Jesus Christ!  Thank You Jesus for saving me.  I am not deserving of such mercy and grace - my sin of worry, anger, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

Romans 11

For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Romans 11:32

This afternoon, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter fifteen From Theology to Doxology, which covers Romans 11.  My focus today is Romans 11:11-32, which my commentary refers to under the heading God Will Continue Working Out His Saving Purposes in the Future.  In these verses, Paul moves from examining the question of whether God's Word failed or not (it did not!), to what WAS the purpose of saving only a Jewish remnant. Paul states that Jewish rejection of Jesus or unbelief led to the Gospel going to the Gentiles, leading to jealousy on the part of the Jews (v11:11).  He goes on to state that if Jewish unbelief or "rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead" (v11:15). He warns the Gentiles not to be arrogant or proud to the Jews (v11:18, 20, 25), but instead to "fear" (v11:20) and scripture elsewhere seeks for believers to be a light. Paul quotes Isaiah 59:20 to show how it was God's design and plan all long to save only a Jewish remnant initially, then to save the Gentiles but for the Jews to always be "grafted" back in again should they "not continue in their unbelief" (v11:23).  

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who is full of mercy and compassion on me - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of such mercy.  My sin of worry and other sins continues. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your messages for me today and every day.

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

Romans 11

So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace. Romans 11:5-6

  

This morning, I continued my study of Romans.  Using my commentary - Exalting Jesus in Romans (eBook) - I started chapter fifteen From Theology to Doxology, which covers Romans 11.  My focus today is Romans 11:1-10, which my commentary refers to under the heading God Has a People, Chosen by Grace. Here, Paul continues to build his case that God's Word and promises have not failed.  In v11:1-10, Paul looks more closely at God's Word and Promises from the Old Testament and he reminds us that God never promises to save all the Jews, only a remnant.  Of course Paul is one of them and he shares his credentials in v11:1.  Paul then references scripture from 1 Kings 19:10, 14, and 18 where Elijah shares his frustration with God regarding Israel's hardened hearts and how they are seeking to kill Elijah (v11:4).  Paul uses God's response to Elijah (1 Kings 19:18) where God indicates that He will punish Israel but save a remnant of seven thousand.  Paul then writes how those saved are elected by God by grace alone and not "on the basis of works" (v11:6). In v11:7, Paul summarizes Israel's failure to "obtain what it was seeking," writing that "[t]he elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened."  Paul uses Isaiah 29:10 and Psalm 69:22-23 to illustrate how this was all part of God's design and plan.  

My commentary encourages us to look at Romans 11 broadly and see three themes:

1. Zeal for evangelism - as Paul seeks to save as many of his fellow Jews as possible
2. Call for unity - Paul writes to both Jews and Gentiles with the hope that both see each as part of the same church and both called by God and both children of God
   
3. Call for worship - Paul writes that our response to God's immense and unlimited mercy should be ceaseless worship

Specifically in v11:1-10, my commentary describes how Paul provides three "proofs" of how God has not rejected Israel in its entirety: (1) Paul himself (v1b); (2) God's saving of seven thousand who "had not bowed down to Baal--even though the majority of Israel had indeed rebelled against Yahweh;" (3) application of God's saving grace through election via v11:5 "[s]o too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace."  The commentary sums it up very well by stating: "[m]any worry that the choosing of some and not all would be unjust, but this idea overlooks the fact that election is gracious.  No one deserves to be elected, and thus the election of any is a merciful gift of God that cannot be claimed as a democratic right (quoting Schreiner)."  We are encouraged to be motivated to be faithful....it may seem lonely, uncool, etc. but God is at work!

Comment and discuss this post here.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who loves me and who is so full of grace and compassion for me - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of Your grace and mercy - not at all!  My sin of worry, gossip, etc. continues.  Please forgive me Jesus.  Help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind.  Help me love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.