Romans 5:6-11
Is there anyone that you would willingly give your life for if the need ever arose? We would hope that such a time would never come, but if the circumstances came about, many people would be willing to sacrifice their life for their spouse, their children, or some very dear and close friend. How about giving your life for the most upstanding person in your neighborhood, the tireless doctor, the self-sacrificing teacher, the elderly and godly person who cares so much for their neighbors? Not too many of us would be willing, no matter how good these people are. Now picture one more scene - picture the worst possible, most vile criminal who is being led out to be executed. A crowd has gathered, and then the most upstanding, good, and godly person in the city steps forward and volunteers to take the place of the criminal, to be executed in their place! We might think that would never happen. As we read today’s passage from the Book of Romans, we see that it did happen, and we were that condemned criminal.
Who would ever be willing to die for some dirty, rotten sinner? We can’t imagine any person doing that, yet that is what the Son of God did for us (vs. 6). We are condemned sinners, having broken God’s holy laws, and the punishment is eternal separation from God. We are reprobates and spiritually dead, and can do nothing to help ourselves. There is nothing we can do to save ourselves. We are weak and helpless, just like the criminal condemned to death.
As unregenerate sinners we are unlovable, and no one would willingly take our place. However, God’s love for us is not based on how lovable we are, but is based on His character. God’s supreme act of love came when we were at our most unlovely. Jesus stepped forward from the throne room of heaven and said that He loved us so much that He would willingly take our place, and pay the ultimate price for our sins and redemption (vs. 8).
God sent Jesus to die for us, not because we were good enough, but because He loved us. He loved us even before we turned to Him. God didn’t wait for us to apologize or recognize Him. He loved us so completely that He sent Jesus to die for us while we were still sinners. None of us deserve God’s care and protection, but thankfully deserving isn’t the basis for His love. God’s nature is love, which He demonstrated through Jesus’ death, while we were still sinners. Jesus did not die merely for our benefit. He died in our place. He didn’t die only for the “good” people, He died for everyone, including the worst of sinners.
Do you ever feel like nobody could possibly care about you or love you? Maybe you feel like you are so unimportant and without any value. God didn’t choose to love us because we are lovely. He loved us, and then we became lovely to Him. Our value comes from His inherent value. We are so important to God, so loved and valuable to Him, that He gave the best that He had, His Son Jesus Christ, for us.
By taking our place and dying for us, Jesus not only spared us from an eternity in hell, His death also brought reconciliation between us and God (vs 11). One might expect that a condemned criminal who was released from prison would be estranged from society, from other people, especially the ones he had most hurt. Yet through Jesus and His death, He brought about a reconciliation between us and God. There is no longer any enmity between us and the Lord. We are no longer enemies with God.
Do you know that Jesus died for you? Have you realized that your sins make you God’s enemy, and the penalty is His eternal wrath? Jesus paid that penalty, your penalty, with His own Blood on the cross. If you accept that, and call upon Him to be your personal Savior, then you will be reconciled to God, and have His joy, both now and in eternity. Don’t wait another day to be reconciled to God!
Psalm 100
Imagine that you were privileged to be granted an audience to meet with one of the most highest ranking people in the world, perhaps the Queen, or someone else at that exclusive level. First you probably would plan what you would wear, spending some time to make sure you had just the right outfit, and your hair was done just right. Equally important is making sure that you conduct yourself correctly, acting in an appropriate way. No cracking silly jokes or making obtuse comments. Though most of us will never have that opportunity, as believers we have an even more glorious invitation, and that is to come into the heavenly royal courts of the mighty God of the universe. Our psalm reading for this week, Psalm 100, is just such an invitation. In addition to being an invitation for us, the psalm also gives us instructions of how we should present ourselves before the Lord.
The first instruction our psalm gives us for how we should present ourselves before the Lord is that we should give a shout of gladness to the Lord (vs. 1). Many of us have seen parades given in honor of a hero or a winning sports team, either in person or on TV. Everyone is shouting out their praise with joy, with no restraint. This is how the Lord wants us to be when we come before Him, joyfully shouting His praise.
We are to enter His presence with singing (vs. 2). Maybe you feel that you cannot sing well. However, our Scripture doesn’t say to sing only if you have a trained voice. It tells us to come before His presence with singing. We are to sing praises to the Lord for being our Creator and Shepherd (vs. 3), for His goodness, His mercy, and His truth (vs. 5).
We are to come to God in worship, with thanksgiving in our hearts (vs. 4). Praising Him is the first step towards entering the presence of God. We need to be doing that every moment of every day. If we want to see God’s glory, thanksgiving is the door that will lead us into His throne room. Our psalmist tells us that to pass through the gates into God’s kingdom, we must have thanksgiving in our hearts. To enter into the royal courts of the Heavenly King, we must come with praise. God is worthy of our worship. Come into His presence with joy. Don’t just go through the motions. He should be praised and trusted by believers because He is holy, good, and perfect.
God is our Creator, and the Creator of all we have. He made all, and provides us with what we need. For that we can sing and praise Him. God is also our Shepherd, and we are His sheep. He is our Father, and we are His children if we have accepted Jesus as our Savior. Believers are part of God’s family, His sons and daughters. They belong, body and soul, to the one true God and Savior. We can “know” and be assured of this truth (vs. 3). Yahweh is the one and only true God.
God is the source and perfect example of all goodness (vs. 5). He is absolutely perfect and holy. He is the standard of all righteousness. All God does is just and right. He cannot change. He is good, even when we are not. Every breath comes from God. He watches over and provides for all of our needs. Because of this, we should cultivate a grateful heart. One of the signs of the last days will be ingratitude (II Timothy 3:1-5). Are we grateful to Him for answering our prayers? The Lord is all-knowing and all-powerful. We should be praising Him for being faithful and trustworthy. God’s children need to recognize that His Name is higher than any other name. As our psalm tells us, we need to give thanks and bless His Name. God is the ultimate expression of love itself.
This short psalm is often used in many churches as a call to worship. It has also been used as the inspiration for many hymns. As we read through this song in our Bible, let us remember that the gates into God’s presence are still open, inviting us to come and worship.
Genesis 25:29-34
Did you ever, perhaps as a child, make a trade and end up feeling cheated? You traded something nice of yours, and ended up getting something that you found out later was a piece of junk. We still do that today, especially with our spiritual life. Today, as we look into this passage from the Book of Genesis, we will see someone who traded one of the most important things in his life to satisfy a momentary passing physical desire.
Esau and Jacob were twin brothers, but the two couldn’t have been more different in personality and interests if they had tried. Esau was the oldest of the two, and was a real rugged man, loving the outdoors and hunting. Jacob, on the other hand, was just the opposite. He stayed around the house more, and had more quieter interests. As the eldest, Esau would inherit the birthright. In Jewish culture, the birthright was given to the eldest son, and entitled the eldest to a double portion of the family’s inheritance. The eldest son with the birthright would become the family’s leader, the patriarch, who was also the family’s spiritual leader.
As our passage begins, Esau had been out hunting all day, and came back home exhausted and very hungry. In the meantime Jacob had been cooking some food, a pot of red lentil stew. Jacob was probably a good cook, and the smell of his food filled the air. Esau, tired and hungry, asked for a bowl. Though they were brothers, there was no love between the two, and Jacob wasn’t going to give his food away for nothing, so he asked for the birthright. Unbelievably, Esau said yes, as he felt the birthright was of no value if he died right then of hunger!
Who would exchange their birthright for a bowl of food? Esau was not truly on the verge of death! Obviously he thought nothing of what his inheritance truly meant. He was godless, as he considered filling his stomach more important than the spiritual promises of God to the family through his grandfather Abraham. Esau had complete disregard for the spiritual blessings that would have come his way. He traded the lasting benefits of his birthright for the immediate pleasure of food. Esau acted on impulse without considering the long-range consequences. Immediate pleasure often loses sight of the future.
A wise person evaluates choices by looking ahead to see what negative consequences could follow a course of action. The principle of sowing and reaping cannot be reversed (Galatians 6:7-8). We need to carefully consider what we are “planting” in our life. Are we planting a life based on worldly pleasures and satisfying the flesh, or are we planting to benefit our spiritual life? The harvest will come, and we will reap what we have sown, and more than we have sown. Esau learned this the hard way, with devastating results.
We are often tempted to put God to one side, and to choose something else. So often we exchange God’s promises of something much better for cheap, short-lived pleasures. Is there anything of real and eternal value that we are willing to trade for something of lesser worth? Do we pursue wealth and career at the expense of family? Are there other activities we want to spend time pursuing that takes time away from God and His Word? Our wrong decisions can rob us of God’s blessings.
It is also important not to make quick, spur of the moment decisions, especially in critical matters. That can lead to making very unwise decisions. It’s important not to exaggerate our condition, either. Esau was not starving to death. He never considered the consequences of his actions. Esau reacted to the need of the moment, without realizing what he was giving up to meet that need.
Are we willing to trade something of eternal value for something of no more worth than a bowl of stew? Don’t sacrifice your future for momentary pleasure!
Matthew 9:9-13
Is there anyone in your community who is looked down upon by most of the people? Perhaps they have cheated a number of people, or hurt their wife and children, or done any number of things that make them an outcast. Maybe they held a job that people scorned. Would they feel welcomed in your church or neighborhood Bible study? In today’s Scripture reading we will read of a man that many of the “good” people in town would have scorned, and his calling by Jesus.
In the time of Jesus, there was one group of people who were scorned and hated more than any other, and those were the tax collectors. Good and righteous people looked down on prostitutes, but one could ignore them, walking haughtily by. No one liked the Roman soldiers either. They were the foreign oppressors. However the tax collectors were the most despised people in society. They were Jewish people, their own countrymen, who were hired by the occupying Roman government to collect taxes for Rome. For that they were considered to be traitors. The tax collectors often would extort more money than was due for taxes, and would pocket what extra they could get. Thus they were often thieves, in addition to being traitors.
No good, religious Jew would have anything to do with tax collectors. Yet as we read in our passage, Jesus specifically called a man named Matthew, a tax collector, to be one of His chosen disciples (vs. 9). In addition to doing that, He shocked and scandalized the Pharisees by going to their homes and eating with them (vs. 10-11). Jesus often did this, and the Pharisees lost no time in pointing out this breach of approved conduct. They said that if He was truly a religious man and teacher, He would never associate with such sinners.
The Pharisees were more concerned with their own appearance of holiness than with helping people. They would rather criticize than encourage. They wanted to look respectable rather than help a sinner come to God. God loves everyone, including the sinful and hurting, and He wants them all to come to Him. The Pharisees focused on outward rituals, neglecting the inward, eternal, and moral teachings of God’s Word (vs. 13). They were harsh, judgmental, self-righteous, and scornful of others.
When someone is self-righteous, thinking they are morally superior, feeling they never sin, and that they are always right, they are not in a position to get saved. We have to first acknowledge that we are sinners and cannot save ourselves. The Pharisees thought they were well, religiously pure and whole. Sinners know they are not. Salvation can’t come to someone who is self-righteous until they admit that before God they are a sinner.
God’s message can change any life. Jesus found and changed the life of Matthew. In gratitude and thankfulness, he wanted to share Jesus’ message with his other friends, most of whom would have been fellow tax collectors and sinners. Matthew invited Jesus to dinner, for Him to share God’s love with his friends, and for them to come to salvation just as he had.
When Matthew left his tax collector job, there was no turning back. This was a very lucrative career that he was giving up. He would never be able to get that job back. Many of the disciples who were fishermen could always return to that if they so chose to, but no so with Matthew. He gave up all to follow Jesus.
Do we follow God with a similar abandon? Do we similarly obey and leave all behind, or do we cling to our things? We need to let go of those things that would keep us from following Christ. We also need to let go of any self-righteousness we may harbor in our hearts and welcome everyone who has turned to Jesus, no matter what their background may have been, into God’s family as our brothers and sisters.
Romans 4:13-18
What do you trust in to get you through life? If we took a poll, we would find that many people would say their family or their friends. Some might say, especially if they had various health concerns, that they place a lot of trust in their doctors or the medical field. Some people trust in their investments and bank savings. Many trust in their religious faith. In our Scripture passage today, we see how important it is to be trusting in the right thing. Putting trust in the wrong thing can bring bad results.
Where we place our trust, or in whom, is important. Faith in something worthless or unreliable does us no good. If we are trusting in investments, as we all have seen, the financial markets can come crashing down, and the investments become worthless. Most doctors are fine, but often they reach the point where there is nothing more they can do for you. Friends and family can turn their back on you, and faith in a false god or belief will leave you with nothing. Many well-meaning people, seeking to follow God, are putting their faith and trust in various religious rituals, rules, and regulations to get them to heaven. Is that a good place for our trust? Let’s see what the Book of Romans from the Bible has to say.
Paul begins by talking of the great Old Testament Patriarch Abraham. As we read throughout the Book of Genesis, Abraham had great faith and trust in God. Scripture says that he believed in God, trusted in Him, and it was counted to him for righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Abraham’s righteousness didn’t come because he did anything. It wasn’t because of the ritual of circumcision that the Jewish people held so important, as that came some years later. It wasn’t because Abraham kept the Old Testament Law. That came through Moses, several centuries later. It was because Abraham believed and had faith that God counted him righteous (vs. 13).
Salvation does not come through keeping of the Old Testament Law, or in any set of religious regulations (vs. 13-15). God’s promise to Abraham was given 430 years before the Old Testament Law was given to Moses. Our faith must be placed in Jesus Christ, not in any religious activity or ritual that we follow. God called Abraham righteous, not because he followed the Jewish ritual of circumcision, not because he kept the Law of Moses. God called Abraham righteous because he believed and had faith in Him.
Who are the spiritual descendants of Abraham? Those who believe, or those who practice works and rituals to get them to heaven? Only those who through faith have accepted Jesus as Savior are the spiritual descendants of Abraham, whether they are of Jewish descent or Gentile (vs. 16). Abraham pleased God through his faith alone, not through any religious rituals. We are saved by faith alone, plus nothing. Not faith plus good works, or faith plus a ritual. We are saved only through faith in Jesus Christ, trusting Him to forgive all of our sins.
God promised Abraham that the entire world would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:3). This promise would be fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Biologically Abraham was the ancestor of the Jewish people. Spiritually, though, he became the father of all who put their trust in Jesus, whether Jewish or Gentile. Before, Gentiles were considered by Jews as outcast, spiritually dead, having no claim to God. But in verse 17 we read that God brings life to those dead, and calls into existence things that weren’t. He made spiritual life available to all, making those who were once thought as nothing into His children.
God calls into being things that were not. He speaks, and things that didn’t exist suddenly do. God, through His Word, speaks into existence His will for our life. What God says changes things, and causes things to happen. He is the one who has power to determine our destiny. We need to line up our will with God’s will. When we do, He empowers us to accomplish what He wills for our lives.
Psalm 50:7-15
Over the years one complaint that many people have against the church, and the reason they give for not wanting to attend, has been that too many of the people who go to church are hypocrites. The people who attend will gather and sing all the songs, put their money in the offering, sit there piously and say the prayers and responses, but none of it really means anything to them. When they leave the church, they are no different in their behavior than anyone else. God’s Word, the Bible, has something to say about hypocrites, as well. In our psalm for this week, a portion of Psalm 50, we can get an idea of what the Lord thinks.
Our passage opens with God speaking, testifying against His people (vs. 7). He wants them to listen up to what He has to say against them. First, He does not fault them for being negligent in offering their appropriate sacrifices on the days and at the times they are supposed to (vs. 8). They are very good at being sure to follow that religious ordinance. The people were very good at adhering to the letter of the law. They brought their offerings and sacrifices, they kept their holy days, they tithed everything they had. The people ate the correct foods, even using the correct plates, and wore the correct clothes made out of the correct materials. The people were careful to avoid being around the “wrong people”. Outwardly they seemed fine, but where was their heart in relation to God?
Jesus spoke directly about this when He pointed out that the Pharisees were meticulous in keeping every tiny item of the law, yet their hearts were far from God, and true worship of Him (Mark 7:1-13; Matthew 23:23-26). How about us today? Do we participate in religious activities, give our tithes and offerings, and attend church services out of habit or conformity, rather than out of heartfelt love and obedience? God wants righteousness from His people, not just empty rituals.
As a matter of fact, God doesn’t even want our mere rituals, if that’s all it is to us, something we go through without any real thought or devotion (vs. 9-13). Unlike the pagan deities, God does not need anything from us. He created everything, and all of creation belongs to Him. God doesn’t get hungry and need to eat, or else He will get faint or light-headed. He doesn’t need us to feed Him or to clothe Him. God doesn’t get tired and need to rest. He also doesn’t need to listen to us recite a bunch of empty words to Him. How often do we recite the same prayers every day or every week at church, sing the same songs, yet our mind is a million miles away, thinking about a dozen other thoughts?
God judges people who treat Him lightly. He finds no pleasure in superficially religious people who bring their sacrifices, but are only going through the motions. They do not honor Him with true praise or thanksgiving. That is what God really wants - genuine thanksgiving and trust.
This portion of Psalm 50 is a warning to avoid hypocrisy and legalism before God. True worship does not consist in mere sacrifices of animals. Nor does it consist in merely keeping church attendance and following the rituals of your particular denomination. True worship is the sacrifice of thanksgiving and faithfulness (vs. 14-15). That is the sacrifice that always pleases God. When we bring that to the Lord, He promises to help and to strengthen us.
Hosea 5:15-6:6
This week’s Old Testament reading from the Lectionary of the Book of Common Prayer, comes from the prophet Hosea. Hosea lived during the 8th century BC, and his ministry was primarily to the Northern Kingdom. His home life was not a happy one, as his wife Gomer was repeatedly unfaithful to him. The Lord spoke through Hosea’s messages, using his wife’s adulteries as a picture to show the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel to God, with their repeated worship of the false gods of the neighboring countries. Let’s take a look at this portion of Scripture from the prophet Hosea, and see what we can learn for our lives today.
Throughout Scripture the Lord compares a believer’s relationship to Him as like a marriage, and He wants His people to be faithful to Him. Worshipping other gods instead of Yahweh, or even in addition to Him is spiritual adultery, and is strongly condemned. God wants us to be faithful to Him. It hurts Him to see us wander away. However, when we do, God will discipline us. He doesn’t enjoy afflicting us (vs. 15). When we don’t pay attention to His Word, God allows afflictions in order to get our attention, and try to direct us back to Him. Afflictions may be the only warning we will pay attention to.
As chapter 6 of the Book of Hosea opens, the prophet is speaking the words of the people of Israel (vs. 1-3). They talk of returning to the Lord. However, for most of the people, this does not represent genuine repentance. They did not truly turn from their idols, nor repent of their sin and honestly change. They were only interested in Yahweh for the material blessings. How many people could this be said of today? How many people make a profession of faith in God, only with the hopes that He will then send them riches. This is the basis of many of the preachers of the “prosperity gospel”.
In verses 4-6 the prophet Hosea now speaks as the voice of God. God knew that for most of the people, their worship of Him was just lip service and meaningless sacrifices. Their worship was not true and heartfelt, or with genuine repentance. The people’s profession of faith and loyalty to God, like the mist and dew, evaporated easily, and had no substance (vs. 4). They had the outward appearance of faith, but they were not truly committed. These people would soon turn back to their wicked ways. Their faithfulness and loyalty to Yahweh was fleeting and superficial. God does not like half-hearted commitment (Revelation 3:15-16). He wants our whole heart.
Just as in the days of the prophets, God continues to send His messengers, but it is often to no avail. As the Lord states in verse 6, He does not want our half-hearted religious rituals. We aren’t impressing God with any special religious activities that we go through, if our hearts aren’t right with Him. Our religious activity is only helpful if the people performing them carry them out with an attitude of love and obedience to God. Otherwise, these rituals are an empty mockery to Him. God wants our hearts to be filled with love and be on fire for Him.
Reading through the whole book of Hosea, we see how heartbroken he was over his unfaithful wife, Gomer. We see how many times he sought her out in love, to bring her back to himself and their children. Even when Gomer had gotten herself into a real mess, and was going to be sold as a slave, Hosea went and paid the price to redeem her back, despite the laughter of those who saw all this. In a similar way God is heartbroken over His faithless people. Let us return to the Lord in true love and faithfulness. As another of the prophets of old tell us, let us seek the Lord while He may be found, and forsake our wicked ways (Isaiah 55:6-7).
