Videos to answer big questions

Loads of people have had a go at answering some of the biggest questions we ask and all I'm doing here is compiling some of the best videos I've seen.  I hope it helps!

Why does God allow suffering?

Taking Jesus seriously

This week I did some assemblies about how Jesus made fun of people who took themselves too seriously and didn't take him seriously enough.

We looked at three jokes Jesus told about these people (not to be cruel but to help them and others realise how silly they were).

1. Jesus said they were like the 'whitewashed tombs' (Matthew 23:27).  They worked so hard on their outward appearance and reputation but they were dead inside!

2. Jesus said they were like 'blind guides' (Matthew 15:14) - leading people but with no idea what God really wants.

3. Jesus said they were incredibly self-righteous and judgmental like a guy with a plank in his eye who has a go at someone with a speck in theirs (Matthew 7:3).

Jesus came to help dead people come alive, to help blind people see the truth about God and to take our sin away so we can see clearly.  The religious people missed it because they took themselves too seriously!

Do you take yourself too seriously?

Do you take Jesus seriously enough?

The Trinity

As I mentioned in my last post, someone recently asked me to blog about what the Bible says about the Trinity and I said I would.  Finally, I'm getting round to it!  I won't be explaining where the doctrine first came from because there's lots of useful info about that on Wikipedia.  I also won't be explaining why I believe the Bible is true.  That's a different question for another time.  My main aim here is to give a basic idea of what the doctrine of the Trinity is and show some of what the Bible actually says that relates to it. 

The word 'Trinity' doesn't appear in the Bible but it's a doctrine that pulls together two big things that the Bible repeatedly and clearly says about God.  You can hit the links and see for yourself...

1. The Bible says that God is one (Deuteronomy 6:4, Mark 12:29) and that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 4:35, 32:39, Psalm 86:10, Isaiah 43:10, 45:5, 1 Timothy 1:17, 2:5). 

2. The Bible also clearly teaches that the Father is God (John 6:27, 1 Corinthians 8:6), that Jesus is God (John 1:1 and v14, John 8:58, 10:33, 20:28, Romans 9:5, Titus 2:13, 1 John 5:20) and that the Holy Spirit is God (2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Acts 5:3-4). 

So the Trinity doctrine summarises these clear teachings of the Bible by saying that God is three in one (tri-unity - from which we get the word 'trinity').  God is Father, Son and Spirit and each of these is fully God and yet they are not three gods but one God. 

Personally, I'm overwhelmingly glad that God is the perfect family.  He didn't create because he was lonely but because he already enjoyed perfect loving relationship within himself (1 John 4:8) and wanted us to be part of it (John 17:20-23).

The trinity

This week someone asked me if I would blog about the trinity and what the Bible says about God being 3 in 1.  Having done a brief search, I realise that I really haven't got into it properly in any of my blogs so far and so I promise I will get to it soon but for now, here's a fantastic simple summary of the Bible's teaching about the trinity from that brilliant series of DVDs called 'What's in the Bible?'

Romans 15:1-13 - Loving the family

Paul continues the theme of family...  People who trust and follow Jesus are brothers and sisters and should be increasingly like Jesus in the way they love each other and put each other first...

Romans 15:1-13

Paul wants Christians to learn to be less selfish and more selfless.  Less like their old sinful selves and more like the people God made them to be - more like Jesus.

This means Christians should be increasingly patient with each others' weaknesses and failures.  Jesus has made them family and a loving family is one that helps people in it to grow.  This happens when each member of the family is thinking about what the others need before they think about their own needs.  They give more than they take.  They serve others instead of expecting others to serve them.  In this way, Christians are copying Jesus, who despite being God(!), put the needs of others first, gave more than he took and served others instead of expecting others to serve him.

Paul says the Bible teaches endurance and provides encouragement.  The God who wrote it gave endurance and encouragement to Jesus and offers it to those who trust and follow Jesus so that they might worship and please him as Jesus did.  This means they don't love each other in their own strength but they trust God to give them himself and everything they need through his word (the Bible) to love each other well.

If Christians could endure and encourage one another more, there would be more unity.  This is Paul's main point.  One of the signs that someone is really trusting and following Jesus is that they endure and encourage other Christians regardless of their background or where they come from because God's plan from the beginning has been to have a family of all kinds of people from all nations.

Christians have often struggled to love each other and today, if we're Christians, we probably have times when we struggle to commit ourselves to our local church with all its weaknesses, failures and frustrations.  What can we do?  We can pray for the same thing Paul does.  Paul prays for Christians to keep trusting Jesus and that God would give them the joy, the peace and the hope they need in order to love one another like he loves them. Jesus was willing to go through brutal torture and death for the sake of his people.  How much is the average Christian willing to endure before they give up on their spiritual family?  As a Christian, I need to pray Paul's prayer for myself so that God would give me the strength to be humble and keep loving my church family rather than complain or walk away.

Romans blog

Romans 14 - Family is family

Some people think all Christians do is reject people from other faiths, argue about women bishops and hate gays.  It's embarrassing that some Christians do these things.  It's annoying that these are the stories that get a high profile in the media.  And it's just plain wrong (not to mention ironic) when anyone is prejudiced against Christians because of the way some Christians are prejudiced against others.  Christians who argue a lot have a lot to answer for. 

People who trust and follow Jesus fall out about all kinds of stuff but they shouldn't.  Ever.   

Romans 14

Paul is talking in this chapter about Christians falling out over 'disputable matters' (v1).  He's talking about silly arguments between people who trust and follow Jesus about what foods are ok to eat or whether or not one day is more special than the others.  These are not matters of right and wrong.  It's the motive that counts.  Christians are allowed to eat whatever food they want to because Jesus declared all foods 'clean' (Mark 7:18-19), so Christians are free to avoid certain foods or eat them all, so long as they do all of it for Jesus, that's fine.  Likewise, Christians are to keep the sabbath command by resting one day a week (Exodus 20:8-11) but it's primarily about having a sabbath heart that is at rest with Jesus every day of our lives (Hebrews 4:10).

Paul clearly has an opinion about these 'disputable matters'.  He knows all foods are ok to eat and he knows that one day is not more important than the others but more importantly, he knows that Jesus makes his followers family.  Jesus' family should not argue, fall out or separate over anything.  Some Christians I know have left churches because they disagree about who gets to lead, some have left because they find certain people difficult to get on with, some have left because they think the guitars are too loud and still others have left because they think the guitars aren't loud enough!  These are all rubbish reasons to leave a local church.  Christians that leave over these issues are giving up on part of their family.

Paul says servants of Jesus should be united because they have the same master (v4).  He says those who live for Jesus should be united because Jesus died to give them life in him (v7-9).  He urges Christians everywhere to work hard to be united because Jesus has already united them (v19).  How dare any Christian reject other Christians when God accepts all of them (v3)?!  If we're trusting and following Jesus then he has made us family.  And if we're going to be hanging out together in heaven with Jesus forever, then we might as well start practicing now!

Romans blog

Romans 13:8-14 - Loving and living for Jesus

I remember sitting next to one of my youth leaders at a Christian festival one Summer in a seminar about the OT laws.  The speaker asked us, "So why do you think God gave the Israelites the ten commandments?"  My youth leader put his hand up and answered, "For their enjoyment."  People weren't sure if he was joking or not and there was a moment of strange awkwardness before the speaker moved on to less surprising answers but I think my friend was right - When God gives his people laws or commands, it's because he loves them and wants them to enjoy him and be like him.  Our best reason for keeping God laws is because we love him back, enjoy a relationship with him and want to be like him.

Romans 13:8-14

Paul says love is the fulfillment of the law because God's commands are about loving him and loving one another.  Interestingly, Jesus claimed he came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17).  This means he kept all of God's commandments and lived a perfect life of love to his Father and to others.  Those who trust and follow Jesus are empowered by God the Holy Spirit to do the same.  Not to earn God's love but because in Jesus, they have already received it and want to share it with others.

Paul then commends living for Jesus by comparing this world to the night and heaven to the day.  Crime happens in the cover of night and in the darkness, people do evil and selfish things but when daylight comes, it's harder to hide.  This is the picture Paul uses to urge Christians to get busy loving and living for Jesus now because they don't know how much longer we have before Jesus returns.  It's not about being caught doing the wrong things - Jesus sees everything anyway!  It's about making the most of the opportunity while it's still here to show and to share the love of Jesus and to see as many people as possible trust and follow him and receive his love and forgiveness before it's too late.

Christians don't live this way in their own strength.  Paul uses the language of being clothed with Christ to illustrate how this life is possible.  Christians are those who have trusted Jesus, received the Holy Spirit of Jesus and are not only graciously forgiven but graciously empowered to live a new life as lights in a dark world (John 8:12).

Romans blog

Romans 13:1-7 - Christians and governments

How should Christians think about and react to those in authority?

Romans 13:1-7

Some Christians I've met are very pessimistic about the future and will occasionally say things like, "It's only going to get harder and harder to be a Christian in this country."  They'll mention schools that don't let Christians in to do assemblies and they use examples of people who have been in the news like the nurse who wasn't allowed to wear her cross necklace.  They'll call it persecution.  I think they're wrong.

For one thing, the schools I've come across who aren't keen on having Christians in are the same ones who've had to put up with rubbish ones going in and saying things like, "Don't bother revising - Just trust God!" or imposing their beliefs rather than proposing them.  And the nurse in question was given decent offers of compromise like wearing her cross as a pin rather than on a necklace to avoid snagging it while she did her job.  The point is - sometimes Christians wind people up unnecessarily.  This is not persecution.

And for another thing, persecution in this country (and it does happen), isn't anything like as bad as it is elsewhere in the world where Christians are regularly attacked, imprisoned, tortured and killed (www.persecution.tv).

Paul wants Christians to obey the law and respect those in authority.  God is the one who has allowed people to come into those positions after all, so we don't have to fight them all the time.  Are they all good leaders?  No.  Are any of them good leaders all the time?  No.  But God has allowed them to lead and wants Christians to respect their position of authority as much as they can. 

There's nothing wrong with seeking to influence those in positions of power but it's possible to do this respectfully as well as strongly.  Tearfund's IF campaign is a great example.

If people in authority ever instruct those of us who trust and follow Jesus to sin, then we should strongly resist them (like in Daniel 3:16-18).  And if they want to prevent us from doing something Jesus has commanded us to do, then we go ahead and do it anyway (like in Acts 4:18-20).  If there's a clear clash between any human authority and the authority of Jesus, we should submit to the highest authority.  But Paul's main idea here is that Christians should make every effort to live under human authority well.  This means they should pay their taxes, obey the law and respect positions of leadership, even if they don't like the people leading.

So will it get harder for Christians to trust and follow Jesus in our cultures today?  I don't know.  Quite possibly.  But it shouldn't be because Christians are annoying, rude or petty.  We can do better than that!

Romans blog

Romans 12 - What is true and proper worship?

Too many Christians like or leave their particular church because they're looking for "good worship" and what they really mean is "a good band".  The bands probably aren't that good anyway (don't get me started) but that's not even the point.  What if more Christians got stuck into churches because they were looking for how they could serve?  What if they were in it for others and not for themselves?  What if they stopped consuming church and started really serving each other and loving people outside the church too?  Then, even if the best the band could do was ropy covers of boring indy worship songs, the worship would still be amazing!  That's what!

Romans 12

Paul says true and proper worship is to live and do everything for Jesus.  This means songs and bands are part of it but only part of it.  The songs bit means nothing if the life isn't happening.  Paul wants Christians to worship their guts out by living for Jesus instead of letting culture decide what they do.  In our day, this means we should fight hard to avoid getting sucked into the greedy consumer mentality that asks 'What am I getting out of this?' and start asking, 'What can I give?'  And even now, some Christians reading this will still think I'm talking exclusively about the singing in church.  I'm not!  It's our whole lives!  This is Paul's point.  Christians worship by living for Jesus!

Worship includes how Christians serve other Christians.  It starts with humility and Paul seems to suggest that the more faith you have, the more humble you should be because you have a clearer view of who Jesus is, who you are and who your family is too.  Jesus has given gifts and abilities to every Christian to serve one another in love and this means getting on with it and serving the best we can in his strength.  It also means helping each other fight off sin and temptation wherever it is still dragging people into trouble.  This means Christians should welcome loving challenges from one another about their choices because they're wanting to constantly learn and grow and be more like Jesus.  Paul says if Christians love each other they'll 'hate what is evil and cling to what is good' (v9).  So if they say they love each other but don't do this, then they don't really love each other.   

Worship also includes how Christians are to love everyone, including people who don't yet trust and follow Jesus.  This means standing out by the distinctive way in which we do good to those who are against us (v14), party hard when someone has good news (v15), crash hard with those who are crushed (v15) and get on with all sorts of people (v16-18).  When Christians retaliate and bicker, avoid celebrations, ignore or frustrate people in tough times or clash and argue, they're not really loving people very well and they're not worshiping Jesus very well either.  If the good news about Jesus is true, then Christians shouldn't just believe it, they should also be good news to others.  If we're looking for 'true and proper worship', this is part of it.

Remember the end of chapter 11 where Paul's words of worship burst out of him?  This stuff about a life of worship is his very next thought!  If you're a Christian, is it yours?  If you're not, how are your Christian mates doing at worshiping Jesus?

Romans blog

Romans 11 - What about Israel?

Paul continues to think about the Israelites and tries to explain why some of them trust and follow Jesus and others don't, even though all of them share a history of being a nation that belonged to God. Paul says it's not about nationality or human works - it's about Jesus and God's grace. 

Romans 11

Paul knows full well that many of his Jewish readers will be struggling with the idea that they must trust and follow Jesus.  They would have struggled because they thought they were fine as they were.  They knew the Old Testament Scriptures and the story of God's promises to their ancient father Abraham about him becoming a great nation chosen by God.  They thought it was all about being in Abraham's family but they were wrong.  It was always about being in God's family through trusting and following him.  And since God himself showed up in the person of Jesus, it's about trusting and following Jesus.

So did God just change his mind and dump a load of Israelites from his promise?  Not at all.  They got to be part of Abraham's family - part of the nation of Israel but they never automatically made it into God's family because of these promises.  To be in God's family meant trusting and following God.  Paul's already made this clear when he described how Abraham was made right with God by believing God (Romans 4).  Likewise, some Israelites had soft hearts, trusted and followed God and he was merciful and forgave them.  At the same time, other Israelites had hard hearts and didn't trust or follow God and so he wasn't merciful to them and didn't forgive them.

Paul says that it's not just about human will.  God's will is involved too.  God chose some Israelites to trust and follow him and be in his family, whilst hardening the hearts of others who didn't trust or follow him.  Did he force anyone either way?  No.  Did he take away their own decision?  No.  Was human will in harmony with God's will?  Absolutely.  It's hard to understand but no human choice goes beyond what God has chosen.  God is God.  He gets to choose who and how many undeserving people he will be save (Romans 9:15).

So Paul says there are some Israelites who will trust and follow Jesus and the reason they will do this is because of God's grace.  Nothing to do with human effort, works, religion or heritage.

Paul says he hopes that God will use Gentile (non-Jewish) Christians to help Israelites realise what they're missing and turn from their sin and trust and follow Jesus, but he warns them too.  They should not be proud or think they're better than the Israelites in any way.  It's not about nationality.  No-one gets into God's family except through coming humbly to Jesus and receiving grace from God.  Paul uses the example of a vine to describe how anyone from any nation can be 'grafted in' or adopted into God's family through trusting and following Jesus.  Paul wants there to be no division based on heritage, nationality or anything else other than Jesus.  It's Jesus that makes people part of God's family.  It's all about him.  No-one should be proud.  Everyone should be humble.

Paul wonders in amazement at God's plans.  Will large numbers of people come to know Jesus because of the witness and example of unlikely Christians?  Absolutely!  God is in the business of rescuing all sorts of people from sin and sometimes a person stuck in religion or pride will and trust and follow Jesus because they see him rescuing and restoring drug addicts, prostitutes and killers.  It happens!

Paul has spent 11 chapters explaining and unpacking the good news of Jesus and now he's bursting with worship to God and at the end of this chapter, he lets it fly...

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
    How unsearchable his judgments,
    and his paths beyond tracing out!
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
    Or who has been his counsellor?’
‘Who has ever given to God,
    that God should repay them?’
For from him and through him and for him are all things.
    To him be the glory for ever! Amen. 

Romans blog

Romans 10 - Close but so far away

Paul continues to describe the sad state of so many of his Israelite friends who refuse to come to Jesus.  And yet, he hasn't judged them or given up on them.

Romans 10

Paul longs to see his non-Christian friends trust and follow Jesus and know God personally, especially his fellow Israelites, but it seems like these guys are the least likely because of their attitude and approach to God.  They're relying so much on their own goodness that they miss the goodness of God.  Like so many today, they trust in their own ways and their own efforts thinking there's nothing better.  They're wrong.  There is Jesus.

Jesus is closer than these people might think.  If they stopped trying so hard to climb up and find God, they might realise that God has come down and his Spirit today is inviting them to be right with God by believing Jesus and to be rescued from sin by asking him for forgiveness.

Paul is on a mission that every Christian should be on.  He lives to tell people about Jesus and to send others to tell people about Jesus so everyone can hear, understand, believe and benefit from this good news from God.

Paul knows that some people will not believe.  The Israelites had a massive historical advantage when it came to knowing God and they were the first to hear about Jesus but many were stubborn and hard-hearted and rejected him.  Since that time and still today, the good news has been going out to everyone else.  It's for everybody!  If people tell us they don't want to know about Jesus, we can't force them to change their mind.  We love them and we don't give up friendship with them but we also keep looking for people who want to hear, understand and believe the good news about Jesus so they too can be rescued from sin and made right with God.

Romans blog

Romans 9 - God's choice and ours

Just as Paul is getting excited about how good the good news of Jesus is, he also has deep pain for the lost, especially those from his own nation - Israel.  How can they not trust and follow Jesus after all God has done for them in their history?  Paul tries to answer this question by exploring God's perspective on it all.  It's a tough part of the Bible and not easy to understand but we should try.  Getting a glimpse of God's perspective on people should help us with our perspective on God...

Romans 9

Throughout the Old Testament, since Genesis 12, God had been working especially with the nation of Israel.  They were meant to be a blessing to the whole world too.  Paul lists all the huge blessings and clues God gave the Israelites that Jesus was coming.  God made them part of his family, turned up personally to be with them, gave them his laws of love, provided a temporary way to be forgiven and made promises about a saviour who would come from their own nation one day.

Paul grapples with why it is that these people don't see the truth about Jesus.  The first answer he has is that it's not about genetics.  Just because a person is born into an Israelite family, doesn't automatically mean they will trust and follow Jesus and be in his family.  It's not about the family you were born into but about being born again into God's family through Jesus (John 3:3). 

Paul's saying clearly that the Israelites are a mixed bag.  Not all of them belonged to God.  Not all of them trusted and followed God.  Not all of them were chosen by God to be in his family.  Paul quotes the prophet Malachi who put it most starkly - 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated'.  Even within the same human family, God choses who he will work with and include in his family.

Is Paul saying Jacob was better than Esau?  Not at all.  Both were sinful and we see some of the huge mistakes each of them made in Genesis.  They were just the same as everyone else - Neither of them deserved anything good from God but God in his mercy chose to bring Jacob into his family.

Is he saying that Jacob and Esau had no choice in the matter?  No.  Paul uses the example of Pharaoh.  Genesis tells us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart (Exodus 9:12) but it also tells us that Pharaoh hardened his heart (Exodus 8:32).  Both were true at the same time.  Jacob and Esau both made their choices too.  Esau never trusted and followed God but Jacob (although he took a while to realise it) did.  God's choice doesn't negate our choices.  His will doesn't cancel out ours.  They are both realities that Paul wants us to be aware of, even if we can't understand fully how they go together.

Paul then grapples with why God chooses certain people and not others but he's speculating rather than claiming to fully understand God's reasons.  This is shown by his repeated question, 'What if...?' (v22 and v23).  His best idea is that God patiently allowed and used some people's sinful lives to help his people realise their need of him.  Paul puts it forward as a strong theory based on what the Bible records.  His point is not that we try to fully understand God's thoughts.  That would be impossible.  What he's trying to do is show us that God rules over all our choices and being in God's family is not dependent on our own human effort but on God's mercy to us.

We have a choice about how to react to this.  We really do!

Do we get angry, raise our fists to God and blame him for our own selfish choices - sinful choices we know we have willingly made and enjoyed?

Or do we get humble and ask God for mercy through Jesus because we know it's our only hope of being right with him and having peace?

For those of us who have already made the second choice, we get grateful.  Grateful that God has had mercy on us.  Not because we are good but because Jesus is good and we have received mercy, forgiveness, purpose, peace, life, hope, strength and infinitely more than we could ever earn.  And maybe like Paul, we also get pain from thinking about people we know and love who don't yet know and love Jesus, despite all the huge blessings and clues they've had so far and we keep praying for them.

Romans blog

Romans 8:31-39 - As bad as it gets

I still remember a daughter of a friend of ours when she was younger, getting really upset in the middle of watching Finding Nemo on DVD.  She came running into the kitchen where me and her dad were, crying because Nemo was lost.  Dad told her it was ok and gently reminded her of the name of the film (and that she'd watched it several times before)!  For those who trust and follow Jesus, this world is as bad as it gets...

Romans 8:31-39

If Jesus has died in our place for our sin, if the Holy Spirit has moved into our lives as Christians, if our perfect future with Jesus is guaranteed - then what do we have to worry about?  Nothing.  Not really.  Any suffering we go through in this life is like a plot twist in a story that we know ends well.  It doesn't mean we don't suffer or that suffering doesn't hurt us.  Christians aren't immune from suffering and struggle in this world.  What it does mean is that we don't go through it alone (Jesus is always with us), we don't have to be beaten (Jesus is living in us) and we don't go through it forever (this world is temporary).

If God is for us, then we are unstoppable.  No-one can reverse what God has said about us and if we're in Christ, God declares us innocent and has nothing but love for us.  If we're trusting and following Jesus, he has made us part of God's forever family and nothing can change that.  The worst this world can do to us is kill us but all that does is send us home sooner.  For us as Christians, what doesn't kill us makes us stronger and whatever does kill us makes us stronger still!  Knowing Jesus means we can't lose.

Trusting and following Jesus means that nothing can separate us from God's love.  Ever. 

Romans blog 

Romans 8:18-30 - In the end

Again Paul packs a lot into a few short sentences.  This time it's about the sure hope Christians have about life beyond this world in the end...

Romans 8:18-30

Paul knows that God has something incredible in store for his people for eternity.  This world is not as good as it gets.  We were made for something more.  And for those who trust and follow Jesus and are in God's family, the end is so good that it makes everything (and I really do mean everything) worthwhile.  As Relient K sang - 'The end will justify the things it took to get us there'.

Paul reminds us that it's not just us who are broken and longing for something better.  Creation is too.  Our world is beautiful but broken.  It doesn't always work the way it should and in some places it's actually killing us.  This is not how it should be and it's not how it will be in the end.  This doesn't mean we give up on this place as we wait for the new one.  Quite the opposite.  Because God will make all things new (Revelation 21:1-5), we see his intentions for this place and we should fight as hard as we can to look after it well because it's not ours.

Me and Chrissi are adopting two little girls this year.  There's a definite plan to place them with us over the next 6 months.  We love them now.  We're parents now.  It's just that our kids aren't home yet.  It's like this for God's people.  They're already in God's family but they're not home yet.  This is what Paul means when he talks about Christians being adopted (Romans 8:15) but not yet adopted (Romans 8:23).  They're in God's family because they trust and follow Jesus but they're not home yet and they wait patiently for the day when they will see Jesus face-to-face and all sin and suffering will be gone forever.

In the meantime, Paul tells us that one of the things God the Holy Spirit does for Christians is to help them talk to God in prayer.  The longing is so deep and sometimes the suffering is so hard that we often don't know how to express it to God in the right words but God knows everything already and he just wants to help us talk to him and bring ourselves, our struggles and our longings to him.  If we trust and follow Jesus, then we're God's kids.  He doesn't care about polished religious prayers.  He just wants us to talk to him honestly and depend on him in everything.

Why do people bother to have kids?  It's expensive, heartbreaking, painful, worrying and hard work.  Much easier not to have kids!  Why do people put themselves through it?  I think the best reason is because they love each other so much that they want to share that love with a bigger family and the pain and heartache is all worth it if their kids love them back and enjoy being part of it.  It's the same with God.  Paul reminds us that God has only ever had good plans.  He knows the end from the beginning and he wouldn't have started out unless it was going to end well and be worth everything in between.  It's hard for us to imagine just how good God is and how good his plans are for those who love him.  The pain and destruction and suffering that exist in our world today is the result of God offering people the freedom to choose whether or not to love him back.  God decided it was worth all this suffering - and his own too - on the cross, in order that he might have a massive family of people who know him, love him and enjoy him forever.

Romans blog

Romans 8:1-17 - Two ways to live

Romans 8 is a chapter packed with good news.  Paul continues to describe the difference it makes when a person trusts and follow him.

Romans 8:1-17

'No condemnation.'  This is a massive load taken away.  No more feelings of guilt.  No more sense of desperate longing.  No more striving to please anyone.  And no more thinking we're good enough, only to find out we're not.  If we're trusting and following Jesus, our peace no longer depends on ourselves, how we feel, what we do or on the approval of others.  We have peace with God and he says we're completely and permanently forgiven because of Jesus.  We can't be right with God by obeying his law because we can't obey his law but Jesus can and he did it on our behalf and represented us on the cross when he became sin so that we might become right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21).  He offers us the best swap.  Ever.

Paul says there are two ways to live: 'by the flesh' or 'by the Spirit'.

Life by the flesh means...
- We're lost (condemned) because we're sinful and can't keep God's law (v3)
- We do whatever we want but that's all we can do (v5)
- Our thinking is broken and our mind 'is death' (v6)
- We're hostile to God and resistant to him (v7)
- It's impossible for us to please God (v8)
- We will die (v12)

Life by the Spirit means...
- God himself has set us free from sin and death (v2)
- God's righteous requirements are met in us because of Jesus (v4)
- We have a new, deeper desire to please God and not ourselves (v5)
- Our thinking is increasingly informed and led by God and not by sin (v6)
- God himself lives in us, showing that we are his (v9)
- We have freedom to live life to the full because of Jesus (v10, 13)
- We have a certain promise of life forever because of Jesus (v11)
- We are God's children, adopted into his family (v14-15)
- We are reminded of this certainty and we know it deep down (v16)
- We are due to receive everything good that God wants to share with his family forever (v17)

Paul has already used the example of slavery to describe Christians as those who are slaves to the one who loves them the most (Romans 6:15-23).  Now Paul shows us how this illustration falls down...  Slaves live in fear.  Christians don't.  Those who trust and follow Jesus are 'sons', not slaves.  God welcomes us home and we have peace because we are part of the family.

2 ways to live

Romans blog

Romans 7:7-25 - God's law and our sinful nature

Sin is a word that is commonly misunderstood today.  Too often it's reserved only for really serious things like murder, rape or genocide.  But in the Bible we see that sin includes everything we think, say and do that falls short of God's standards (sins of commission).  It is also everything good that we fail to think, say and do (sins of omission).  And sin isn't just these symptoms but it is also the sickness we all have that leads to these things.  We are sinners by nature as well as by choice.  Are human beings capable of good?  Absolutely.  But there is something seriously wrong with all of us.  We are meant to be better than we are.

Romans 7:7-25

Remember, Paul's first readers included a lot of Jews who thought they were made right with God by observing the law.  The problem was they had a lot of pride and like a lot of people today, they thought they were good enough for God and that God owed them somehow.  Paul's trying to get them to see that they still have a sin problem and he wants to show them that God's only solution for it is Jesus, who died in their place for their sin so they could have forgiveness, friendship with God, life to the full and life forever.  Paul's not slagging off the law though.  Jewish readers would have been concerned about this.  Paul says the law is still good but its purpose was to highlight sin and the need for mercy and grace from God though Jesus.

We might be tempted to think that we're good and maybe compared to some other people we are.  But God's law shows us that compared to him, no-one is good. Not really.  Paul describes how we can't stop sinning.  We can't even meet our own standards, let alone God's.  We try to be better but we can only get so far.  The sin sickness is always right there with us and our consciences (if we're still listening to them) remind us of our guilt when the symptoms come out.  And when some people don't feel guilty any more it's either because they've been forgiven by Jesus or because they've ignored their God-given conscience for so long that they can't hear it anymore. 

A young girl once said conscience was like a triangle inside us and when we do things wrong, it spins round and the corners make us hurt.  She said the more we ignore it and keep doing wrong, the corners start to wear off and in the end it becomes a circle and doing wrong things doesn't hurt us like it should.  Consciences can be broken so that people are blind to the sin problem and they feel good enough just as they are.  They don't know how good God is, how much he loves them or what he has in store for them.

Christians aren't good people.  Christians are those who know they're bad and need forgiveness from God.  They are those who still struggle with sin but now they are forgiven, made right with God and are slowly changing to be more like Jesus through the power of God the Holy Spirit who lives in them.  And when they do something good and right, it's not out of guilt, to try and earn God's favour or love but it's out of freedom because they already have it.

We're not fine as we are.  And we can't save ourselves.  We need Jesus for that.

Romans blog

What do we know about the gospels?

Richard Dawkins says, 'The Bible is... a chaotically cobbled-together anthology of disjointed documents, composed, revised, translated, distorted and 'improved' by hundreds of anonymous authors, editors and copyists, unknown to us and mostly unknown to each other.'

Is he right?

The historical reliability of the gospels about Jesus in the Bible can be tested.  You can read more about this here.  But what else do we know?

1. We know when the gospels were written and most scholars (Christian or not) agree they were all written well within living memory of Jesus himself.  This means the first readers would have included eye-witnesses and people who knew Jesus personally – his family including Mary his mum would have read it – his friends including the disciples would have read it – the religious leaders who wanted him dead would have read it – the Roman authorities who authorised the crucifixion would have read it – and the soldiers who carried it out would have read it too. If the gospel writers were telling lies, these people would have known it and the writings would never have been taken seriously by anyone.

2. We know how the first disciples died.  They had nothing to gain from making up or believing lies about Jesus.  In fact most of them were tortured and killed for believing them and non-biblical sources also confirm it.

- Andrew was crucified.
- Peter was crucified upside-down.
- Mark (who wrote Mark’s gospel) was dragged through the streets and then beheaded.
- Luke (who wrote Luke’s gospel) was hanged.
- James was beheaded.
- Matthew was killed with a battle-axe. 
- St Jerome records they tried to boil John in oil and then banished him to a remote island. 
- Bartholomew was flayed alive and then crucified. 
- James the brother of Jesus was crucified, stoned and then beaten to death with a club! 

Not many would be prepared to die for something they knew to be a lie without spilling the truth and these guys would have known the truth about Jesus.  They literally staked their lives on it.

3. We know that Jesus is the unique fulfillment of hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament, written hundreds of years before he was born.  These include specific details such as:

- He would be born in the town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Luke 2:4-7)
- He would be from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10, Luke 3:33)
- He would ride a donkey into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9, Mark 11:7-11)
- He would be betrayed by a close friend for 30 pieces of silver and the money would be used for something called ‘Potter’. (Psalm 41:9, Zechariah 11:12-12, Mark 14:10, Luke 22:47-48, Matthew 26:14-15, 27:3, 5:7)
- His hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:15-16, Zechariah 12:9-10, John 19:33-35, 20:25-27)
- People would play games for his clothes as he died (Psalm 22:18, Matthew 27:35, John 19:23-24)
- His side would be pierced but none of his bones broken (Psalm 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, Exodus 12:3, 5-6, Isaiah 53:7, John 19:33-36)

The mathematical probability of one man ever fulfilling all these prophecies is ridiculously low.  You might find people who were born in Bethlehem and died on a cross but add to this the other specific details and the odds go way down!  The only reasonable explanation is that God knew the future, told people what would happen and then did it!

4. We know plenty of what the Bible says about Jesus is also corroborated by non-biblical sources.  For example Jewish historian Flavius Josephus and Roman historian Carius Cornelius Tacitus, both of which are well known and accepted by historians.
          
Josephus, in the book ‘Jewish Antiquities’ wrote: 
“At that time lived Jesus, a wise man, if he may be called a man; for he performed many wonderful works. He was a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure… And when Pilate, at the instigation of the chief men among us, had condemned him to the cross, they who before had conceived an affection for him did not cease to adhere to him. For on the third day he appeared to them alive again, the divine prophets having foretold these and many other wonderful things concerning him. And the sect of the Christians, so called from him, subsists at this time.”
(Antiquities, Book 18, Chapter 3, Section 1).

Tacitus, in writing about accusations that Nero burned the city of Rome and blamed it on Christians, said the following: “They had their denomination from Christus (Christ, dm.), who in the reign of Tibertius was put to death as a criminal by the procurator Pontius Pilate.” (Tacitus, Annals).

These non-Christian writers verify the historical existence of Jesus and a lot of detail about the events of his life including his miracles, teaching and death by crucifixion at the order of Pontius Pilate.

5. We know that Jesus has left a legacy throughout history. Legal systems have been built on the teaching of Jesus, attesting to the validity of the deep truths he spoke. Many of the gospel stories have been retold for over 2000 years, not just in words but in people’s lives. The healing, transformation and hope that Jesus brought when he walked on the earth is still testified to now as people show the difference he has made in their lives. These are not just ancient stories; Jesus is still doing what he did 2000 years ago for people today.

Romans 7:1-6 - Dying to be free

Paul continues to explain to his Jewish readers why it's ok for them to follow Jesus and not feel like they're cheating on God who gave them the law.  Like many people today, they find it hard to give up the idea that life is all about working hard at being good...

Romans 7:1-6  

Many of Paul's Jewish readers would have felt like following Jesus was like trading in their old God for a new one.  Paul explains that it's actually the same God but a new deal.  The old deal was the law but this was only meant to show them just how much they fail God and need his mercy and forgiveness.  It was pointing all along to Jesus who would live the life they couldn't live and die in their place for their sin so they could be forgiven.  This is the new deal.  Following Jesus isn't cheating on God's law because God through Jesus had released them from trying to please him by obeying the law.  They weren't sure about following Jesus because their identity was so wrapped up in working hard at being good.

Many people today miss the point of life in exactly the same way.  Their identity is wrapped up in working hard at being good and they think this is the way to achieve their full potential.  If they're doing well, it leads them to pride.  If they're not, it leads them to despair.  Either way, because they're so focused on earning their way in their own strength, they miss what every human being really needs: a rescuer who can bring them mercy and forgiveness from God.

Paul says his readers need to die so they might belong to another (v4).  They needed to give up the futility of trying to be good enough in their own strength and to see that it's all pointing them in the direction of Jesus, who lived the life they could not live and died in their place for their sin so they could be forgiven and free.  People today need to do the same thing.

Romans blog

Romans 6:15-23 - Free to serve

Most people think that freedom is doing whatever you want.  Most people are wrong.  People who do whatever they want are the least free of all according to Paul.  Everyone serves something or someone.  No-one has no master.  Real freedom is about serving the best master...

Romans 6:15-23

I love my job!  After a restful Easter break, I'm back to it and loving pretty much every minute.  My job is essentially to hang out with young people as much as possible, being as helpful as possible.  And I love it.  Yesterday was one of those days where almost every five minutes there was an encouragement about the importance and effectiveness of what I was doing.  And it's not because I'm unique in the way I serve or that I'm better than everyone else but it's because God is a unique master and he is better than everyone else!  It's a real privilege and joy to serve Jesus and Paul says that this is what true freedom is.

The people are wondering if it's ok to do whatever they want because they're forgiven by Jesus and don't need to worry about God's anger or punishment of sin.  But Paul says it would be a self-destructive and self-enslaving idea.  Why would anyone continue doing the things that were killing them and those around them before they were rescued by Jesus?  Forgiven destructive behaviour is still destructive behaviour and it's bad for us and those around us.  What's more, Christians have a new master - Jesus and they have an alternative to the self-destructive sin that everyone else is stuck in.  Christians have God the Holy Spirit living in them and the opportunity to choose to serve Jesus instead of sin at every moment of every day.  The possibility of living a free life is more there than it ever was but it's not a freedom that is enjoyed by serving ourselves.  That's still slavery.  It's a freedom that is best enjoyed by serving Jesus - the best, most loving, most powerful master there is.  Serving ourselves and sin leads to mess, destruction and death but serving Jesus leads to healing, wholeness and life.  Why would we go back and serve our old master that was killing us?  It would make no sense at all.

The trap we might fall into here is thinking that serving Jesus is what saves a person and makes then right with God but that's not what Paul is saying.  Paul has already made it very clear that our only hope of being made right with God is to trust and follow Jesus who died in our place for our sin.  The point he's making is about what you do next and his strong and clear advice is to wholeheartedly give yourself to serving and sharing Jesus.

The other trap we might fall into is thinking that being 'slaves to God' is a bad thing because slavery is bad.  Slavery has been made bad because of people's sin but Paul is using an example from the everyday life of his first readers.  He's asking them to imagine what it would be like if they were slaves to the most powerful, most loving master - Jesus.  That kind of 'slavery' isn't like any other slavery people experience in this world.  Living for Jesus is true freedom because we're free to serve the one who loves us most.  

Questions...
1. Are you trusting and following Jesus yet?  If not, what are you serving and what's it leading to?
2. If you are trusting and following Jesus, how are you serving and sharing him?  How's it going?

Romans blog

Romans 6:1-14 - Sin, grace and baptism

If sin is fun and grace is free then why stop sinning?  Paul says that's a ridiculous thing to ask for anyone who really knows Jesus...

Romans 6:1-14

Paul is saying that a Christian is someone who has died.  The death of Jesus now also represents the death of their old sinful self with all its selfish priorities and desires.  The Christian is someone who realises the seriousness of sin and sees that it leads to death.  They also enjoy the incredible forgiveness and freedom that God's grace through Jesus brings.  For someone like this, who realises the seriousness of sin and experiences the joy of grace, the idea of wanting to continue in sin is absolutely ridiculous.

For the Christian, they also have the Holy Spirit - God himself living in them and this means they have the power to make the right decisions and to live for Jesus.  Before, they were slaves to sin and helpless to stop but now, they have God himself and all his power at work in them to change them day-by-day to be more like Jesus (v6-7).

Paul describes some of the symbolism that's involved in believer's baptism.  When Christians go under the water and come up again, they're identifying themselves with the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  The water is just water but it's packed with meaning for the person being baptised.  It's a sign that they have crucified their old selves (Galatians 5:24) and it's a sign that just as Jesus came back to life, they too live a new life - not one centered on themselves anymore but on Jesus instead.  Living 'with him' (v8) is something that starts now as well as continuing forever in heaven.

Paul's advice for Christians is to count themselves dead to sin, dead to its leadership and mastery and instead to live full lives for Jesus, led by by him.  The forgiveness and freedom that Jesus brings to Christians is not what's in question here, only the extent to which Christians make the most of that freedom to live large lives for Jesus rather than small selfish lives for themselves.

Questions...
1. Are you dead to sin and alive to Jesus yet?  If not, what do you make of the idea here that you're a 'slave' to sin?  How long could you go without thinking, saying or doing something selfish?
2. If you are dead to sin and alive to Jesus, have you been baptised?  If not - what are you waiting for?  If so, how is your life and your choices showing people what Jesus has done for you (like your baptism did)?

Romans blog

Romans 5:12-21 - Two men

Paul has been explaining how the death of Jesus has made people right with God.  This leads him to reflect back to how the problem of sin got started and to draw some links between what Adam did and what Jesus has done...

Romans 5:12-21

Christians differ as to how to properly understand the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis.  Some say it's literally true and that Adam and Eve are our first parents.  Others say it's figuratively true and Adam and Eve represent the human race.  Either way, the main points of Genesis are clear and what Paul says here about Adam's story still stands, whether it's literally true or figuratively true.

Paul talks about two men.

The first man is Adam.  In Genesis we read that God made people good and gave them freedom to choose to love him back in obedience or to go their own way and rebel.  They went against God and this brought consequences for all humankind from that point on: guilt and shame, work became toil, pain, struggle and ultimately death and separation from God (Genesis 3).  Humankind was (and still is) in rebellion against God, sinning by nature and by choice.

The second man is Jesus.  Paul says the implications of the gift of Jesus' death on the cross are far greater than the consequences of Adam. In other words - God's solution for sin is plenty big enough to deal with the problem of sin.  The first man brought sin and death but the second man brings grace and life.  The first man brought judgment and condemnation but the second man brings justification and righteousness.  The single act of the first man's rebellion against God that started all this mess is undone by the single act of the second man's obedience to God on the cross.

Paul reminds us that the purpose of the law given to the Israelites through Moses was to show sin up more so we could know just how bad we are and how far we've fallen from God's standards.  But it also goes to show just how gracious God is when he came to die in our place for our sin so we could be brought back from death to life.

Questions...
1. What are the main points of Genesis chapters 1-3, whether you take it literally or not?
2. How good is God?  How bad are we?  How does the law help us?
3. Are you following the first man or the second?  What does Paul say the consequences are for you?

Romans blog

2 together

2 together is a relationship mentoring resource I wrote for couples who don't want to wait for a marriage prep course to teach them everything they should know already! The course includes Bible passages so you can consider what God says but you don't have to be a Christian to benefit from it.

The 10 chapters cover...
Relationship with God
Hopes and expectations
Love and its languages
Agreeing helpful boundaries
Time for friendship
Honesty and trust
Forgiveness and resolving conflict
Families and their impact
Friendships and community
Moving on

Read and fill out a chapter individually, meet together to talk about your answers and then each meet with a mentor to talk about how it's going. 2 together will help you build in the foundations you need to make a strong relationship that lasts.

You can ask me for a free copy of the pdf and print your own or if you want to order the book, it'll cost you £5.19 (including postage) and is available here.

Romans 5:1-11 - Three big words

Having explained the bad news about sin and the good news about Jesus and having dealt with some of the religious hang ups some people might have had about all this, Paul continues to describe just how good the good news of Jesus really is for those who trust him...

Romans 5:1-11

At this point, it's worth understanding three big words that will help us navigate our way through a lot of what Paul says in the New Testament...

1. 'Justification' means Christians have been saved from the punishment of sin.  This is a one-time event that happens the moment a person starts trusting and following Jesus.

2. 'Sanctification' means Christians are being saved from the practice of sin.  This is a lifelong process that starts when a person trusts and follows Jesus.

3. 'Glorification' means Christians will be saved from the presence of sin.  This happens at the moment a person who trusts and follows Jesus dies in this world and goes to be with Jesus forever in heaven.

So when Paul talks about being justified through faith, he means that everyone who has put their faith in Jesus has been saved from the punishment of sin.  It's done.  We ask for forgiveness and because of Jesus, God says yes.  It's as simple and as amazing as that!  We don't have anything to boast about except for the incredible love and grace and forgiveness of God through Jesus.

This means that even though Christians still suffer the same things others face in this world, they have a hope that others don't.  Christians know they have forgiveness and peace with God that starts now and outlasts this world and everything it can do to them.  This means Christians can face the worst this world can throw at them and still have peace.  They're not left with nothing.  Not only that but Paul says they can even benefit from suffering because they develop perseverance and character through it.  This doesn't mean suffering is good (sin is still sin) but it means that God is an expert at bringing good out of evil and he does this when Christians suffer.  Suffering is still bad and sanctification is tough but God is still good and Christians still have the same certain hope they did when they first trusted Jesus.  They even have God himself living in them by his Holy Spirit so they go through nothing alone.

Very rarely will someone choose to die for others and even though it sometimes happens, Paul says Jesus' death for us is completely unique.  Jesus didn't die for us because we are good but because we are bad and he is so good that he wants to save us anyway.  Jesus on the cross is God's ultimate sign of his love for us.  Forgiveness is a free gift for us but it cost God everything.

Anyone who trusts and follows Jesus is justified - saved from the punishment for sin, made right with God.  This means God's anger and judgement on their sin goes on Jesus instead of them so they go free.  God has nothing but love for the person whose sin is not on them any more.  They were God's enemies but through faith in Jesus they are now friends with God.

Paul then does a bit of logic that goes like this... If God loved us so much when we were still his enemies that he died for us in our place, then those who have put their faith in him can absolutely expect only the very best in the end now that they are his friends!  To use our three big words... Paul's saying that for Christians, justification is theirs and though sanctification is gruelling, glorification is certain!

Romans blog

Romans 4 - Believing God

So far Paul's explained the bad news that no-one's good enough for God and the good news that people can be made right with God only by putting their faith in Jesus.  But he knows that his Jewish readers are going to find this hard to accept because they think they're sorted already and the same is true of many people today...  "How dare you say I'm not good enough and I have to be a Christian!"  It's an understandable objection and many of Paul's Jewish readers would have also added, "But we're from Abraham's family and he didn't have faith in Jesus so why can't we just carry on as Jews?"  In the same way, many people today think they're just fine as they are.  In this chapter, Paul explains that Abraham was made right with God in same way that people are made right with God today - by believing him!

Romans 4

So how were people made right with God before Jesus came along?  Abraham is a hero to the Jews but he didn't even know Jesus.  If Abraham was right with God, it must have been because he was really really good!  Paul says no.  Abraham was no better than the rest of us compared to God (and anyone who reads Genesis 12 onwards will see just how flawed and normal he really was).  Not even Abraham could say he was good enough for God or that God owed him anything.

Paul says that Abraham was made right with God as a free gift of God's grace.  As he's explained already, it's not about self-righteousness that relies on our works but 'gift-righteousness' that relies on God's work for us.  The faith that Abraham needed in order to believe God, is the same kind of faith people need today to believe God.  It's just that God has said and done a lot more since Abraham, most importantly through Jesus himself...

Hebrews 1:1-2 says... In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.

So Paul's not flogging the Jews a snazzy new heretical religious fad that will come and go.  It's the same faith and it's the same God.  It was never about good works that earn God's favour.  Paul says being right with God is a 'blessing', which means it's a gracious gift and not something that anyone can ever earn, not even the Jewish hero Abraham.

Many Jews had missed the point.  Some would have argued that it was all about circumcision but Paul says that's just a sign that Abraham had been blessed by God already.  It was a sign that Abraham belonged to God because of God's grace, not because of anything Abraham did.  To the Jews that thought they were God's just because of their heritage or religious practices, Paul says, 'You're wrong!'  Belonging to God and being made right with him (justification) has always been and will always be about believing what he says and critically, now that Jesus has come, this includes trusting and following him.

How many people today miss the point and think that what really matters to God is head coverings or facing east or circumcision or beards or sideburns or kneeling?  How many Christians miss the point and think that God loves them because they pray or go to church or read the Bible or sing worship songs?  Some of these things may be helpful but none of these things can make us right with God.  Only God can do that and he's done it for everyone who trusts and follows Jesus who died in our place for our sin and came back to life.  It's about believing God and it always has been.  This is what faith is all about.

Romans blog

Romans 3:21-31 - Made right through faith!

Ok, so I know the book of Romans has been heavy stuff so far and perhaps a bit of a slog for some but it's about to get really good!  Paul has been explaining the human problem thoroughly so that he can also explain the good news even more thoroughly and he packs a lot into a few sentences!  He's been explaining how no-one can be good enough for God by simply obeying God's law because everyone fails and needs forgiveness and rescue.  The good news is, God wants to forgive and rescue people through Jesus...

Romans 3:21-31

'But now', Paul says.  He's changing tack.  The bad news is already explained and now he's getting to the good bit!  Jesus!  He explains that God's righteousness (how good God is) has been revealed to humans not only through the Old Testament law that people were trying (and failing) to keep but also now through Jesus and he says the law was pointing to Jesus all along.

If people want to have the righteousness of God and be good enough for God, trying to keep God's commands should only go to show that we can't have it that way.  Paul says the only way people can be good enough for God and have this righteousness is by receiving it as a gift by having faith in Jesus.  Faith in Jesus means a lot of things that Paul will explain in this letter but for now he simply says it's about believing Jesus.

Paul reminds us that we're all in the same boat when it comes to being good enough for God.  We're not!  No matter how far we fall short, the point is we all fall short of God's goodness because we have all deliberately made selfish choices in our thoughts, words and actions.  But the good news here is that it's people like this that Jesus wants to freely and graciously forgive and rescue and give his righteousness to so they're good enough for him.  People like us!  Not self-righteousness that relies on our work but gift-righteousness that relies on Jesus' work. 

'Redemption' is a powerful word that means 'buying back' and that's what Jesus was doing on the cross.  Paul says Jesus was a 'sacrifice of atonement' and this means Jesus was our substitute, dying in our place for our sin.  He was taking the punishment for the sin of the world on himself.  I always think of Jim Carrey in The Mask where he swallows the bomb that's about to kill the girl and it goes off inside him but he just takes it and burps fire afterwards!  Of course, what Jesus did is a million times more profound than that but I like the image!  Jesus takes it for us because he can and because he loves us and wants to rescue us!

The 'shedding of blood' is a big deal too.  Paul says this is part of it.  Hebrews 9:22 says 'In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.'  The Jews and anyone who knew the Old Testament law would have known that God says sin is serious and requires death as a penalty.  This is what the blood is about.  It's a sign of death for sin.  Paul says Jesus' blood is a sign for us that he died for us and faith in Jesus means trusting that his death paid the price for our sin so we could have forgiveness from God.

Paul says Jesus' death also shows God's justice because if sin is serious and deserves death as a penalty then God had been gracious for ages!  Loads of people over the years had been allowed to live selfishly and not suffer justice immediately.  God had been graciously delaying punishment so that he could show people himself and his plan to forgive them and make them right again.  Paul is saying that when Jesus died, he really was dying for the unpunished sin of everyone that had lived so far and also for everyone who would live afterwards.  He took all of it so that anyone who puts their faith in Jesus (by believing him and trusting in his death) could have forgiveness and be made good enough for God by the righteousness of Jesus.  God is absolutely just and his justice fell on Jesus so that we might be justified (made right) with him by faith in Jesus.  This was God's plan all along!

Paul then mentions the law again because he knows his Jewish readers care about it and might think he's rubbishing it by saying Jesus can make us right with God and the law can't.  He's not saying the law's rubbish.  He's saying it's important because its purpose was to highlight people's sin and failure and to point them to Jesus who would die for sin.  He also explains that God loves everyone, not just the Jews.  Only the Jews got the law and it was a partial picture of God's bigger plan but Jesus died for everyone so that people from all nations and cultural backgrounds could bring their sin to Jesus to be forgiven and be made right with God.  This is what the law (and everything in the Old Testament) was pointing to.  It's all about Jesus.

Some HUGE ideas in this passage but maybe some of these simple questions will help us think about what our response ought to be...
  • What do you think about Jesus?  What is your opinion based on?
  • Have you put your faith in Jesus (believing him and trusting in his death for you)? If not, what do you need to find out about Jesus so you can be sure about him?
  • Are you already sure about Jesus and trusting and following him?  If so, do something today to celebrate God's grace and forgiveness and do something to help someone who doesn't know it yet!
Romans blog

Romans 3:1-20 - There are no good people!

Having just implied that circumcision and religious tradition are not what it's all about, we might expect Paul to say there's nothing special or good about being Jewish but in this section he says just the opposite.  He also further explains what it means that God is good and people are bad...

Romans 3:1-20

So if it's not about religious practices, does that mean following them has no value?  Paul says 'no' but he's specifically referring to the Jews (the Israelites of the Old Testament) who had the privilege of being shown so much by God (the 10 commandments, the rest of the law, the sacrificial system, the prophets telling of a saviour who would come).  If anyone had a chance to realise they couldn't save themselves and that God was their only hope, surely it was them!  They had way more information to go on than everyone else.  This is why Paul says there is value in being Jewish.

Paul's main point is that there are no good people.  It's all relative.  If you compare yourself to a serial killer, you could say you're good but anyone who compares themselves with God has to realise they come up short - a long way short.  Compared to God's goodness there are no good people.  We might do some good things but this in no way helps us measure up to God.  He's the only one who is truly and totally good.  We are not.  And Paul lumps the Jews in with the rest of humanity because he knows they need a saviour just as much as the rest of us.

Some people in Paul's day were arguing foolishly that if their sin shows how good God is by contrast, that God is unjust for holding it against them.  'But God, we were only trying to make you look good!', is not a valid excuse and is a blatant lie anyway.  When we're selfish, it's because we're thinking of ourselves, not God.

Paul uses strong words to describe just how far humans have fallen from God's goodness.  He's not saying no human being ever does anything good at all - it's just that when they do, it's like a drop in the ocean because the prevailing choices we make show that we generally put ourselves first instead of God.

The Jews had God's law but Paul says this isn't what makes them right.  In fact, this just shows even more clearly how wrong they are and how much they needed rescuing.  They should know this better than anyone else if they're paying attention.  The law highlights how good God really is and how bad people really are.

Paul has been going to great lengths to describe just how bad the bad news really is.  God is good but people are bad... really bad!  If we can begin to appreciate the reality of our position before a perfect God, we'll be much more likely to understand the good news of Jesus that Paul is about to explain.  Paul's letter so far (if we've properly understood it) should be like a dark storm cloud hanging over us but he's about to tell us his main message, which is good news!

Romans blog