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Archive for the ‘New Testament’ Category

Romans 12: My reasonable service

Posted in Bible, New Testament, Romans, tagged , , , on May 3, 2012|

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Romans 12:1

My reasonable service?  Why would presenting my body a living sacrifice be my reasonable service to God?

The answer lies in my status:  I am a bond servant.

  • I was bought with a price.  I belong to someone.  He redeemed me from my bondage.
  • I chose to stay even after I was set free.  By my solemn vow, I have promised to obey and serve my Master forever.
  • It is reasonable for a servant to serve her master.  That is what servants do.
  • It is reasonable to do what one is created to do.

The great irony is that even though I was only a bond servant, the Master calls me His daughter, and He has given me an inheritance, something only a child receives.  Indeed, I have been made a child of God.  I call Him Abba  (translated:  “Papa”)

The miracle of grace is that while all He expects from me is my reasonable service, He has made me a co-heir with Christ.

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When negative thoughts persist . . .

Posted in 2 Corinthians, Bible, New Testament, Relationship with God, Walking with God, tagged , , , , , on April 25, 2012|

Ever have someone wrong you, and you forgave them but negative thoughts persist?    I have found myself with such thoughts more than once.  So what’s a body to do?

Choosing the right weapons

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ  2 Corinthians 10:3-5

The battle will wage regardless of the weapons we choose to take up to fight.  Although no one can escape the  battle, the good news is two-fold:

  • The battle is won.  Jesus said, “It is finished.”
  • The weapons are “in God.”  This means that I do not have to think about finding my own weapons or using ineffective weaponry to fight my foes.

What are the weapons that I can use?

  • The Whole Armor of God
  • The Belt of Truth 
  • The Breastplate of Righteousness 
  • The Gospel of Truth
  • The Shield of Faith
  • The Helmet of Salvation
  • The Sword of the Spirit
  • Prayer                                                          –Ephesians 6:13-18

These weapons will help us to bring those thoughts, those persistent thoughts, into captivity to the obedience of Christ.  We will look in more detail at what this means and how this might be applied to our lives more specifically in the next post.

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Easter – What are we really celebrating?

Posted in Bible, Easter, New Testament, tagged , , , on April 4, 2012|

In preparation for Easter, consider what those who know acknowledge the God who hung on the cross and rose from the dead are celebrating:

Sacrificial death – re-established relationship with God (God’s righteous standard was satisfied)

  • Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.
  • Leviticus 17:11 The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
  • Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Payment for Sin

  • Isaiah 53:12 He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

Victory over Death

  • Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  • 1 Peter 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,

The Righteousness and Justice of God towards Men

  • Romans 3:21-26 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness

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To Save a Thief

Posted in Bible, Crucifixion, Easter, New Testament, tagged , , , , on April 2, 2012|

Luke 23 recounts the story of Jesus hung on the cross between the two criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.

Then one of the criminals who was hanged blasphemed Him, saying, “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us.”

But the other, answering, rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

And Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.”  Luke 23:39-43

The thief’s relationship with God changed while he hung on the cross.  The thief hanging on the other side never changed his position.  We can only assume he will spend eternity separated from God in unspeakable torment and darkness.

One of the first fruits of Jesus’ crucifixion was the salvation of the one thief, a clear picture of God’s heart for the lost.  He is never too busy with His “agenda” to save one lost soul.  Even as He went to lay down His life to save all of humanity, He took time to save one wretched criminal even as his life was ebbing away.

Hallelujah!  What a Savior!

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Easter – Why Crucifixion?

Posted in Bible, Crucifixion, Easter, New Testament, tagged , , , , on March 30, 2012|

Why did Jesus need to be hung on a wooden cross?

Crucifixion was a Roman convention, not something provided for by Jewish law.  As a matter of fact, the Bible teaches “cursed is anyone who hangs on a tree.”  Deut. 21:23.  So why would the Jewish Messiah, the anointed one of God, be crucified on a wooden cross?

  • To Fulfill Prophecy – The Psalmist speaks of crucifixion in Psalm 22, a psalm which clearly speaks of Jesus, “for dogs have surrounded Me; The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet.” Other scriptures in Psalm 34:20, Zechariah 12:10, and Isaiah 53 all foretell of the trial and crucifixion of Jesus.
  • To Illustrate the Suffering that Sin Brings – Jesus suffered on the cross.  We know this because in Matthew and Mark’s gospels, they record Jesus’ last words as “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”  These words speak of great torment and suffering, of the soul searching in vain for God.  And so it will be with the sinner who fails to appropriate the blood shed at Calvary to his or her own sin.  If you fail to accept the sacrifice of Jesus as sufficient and apply it to your life through repentance and confession of Him as Lord and Savior, you have an ongoing sin problem.  How will you, in your sin, approach a Holy God?  No promise of heaven is given to those not covered by the blood of Jesus, only a promise of eternal separation from God.  Eternal life is a certainty.  The only uncertainty is where it will be spent.
  • Because Blood Alone Makes Atonement for the Soul – The most important reason for the crucifixion was the shedding of the blood.  According to Leviticus 17:11, “the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul.” Walk with me down the Romans road:  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23 “There is none righteous, no, not one.”  Rom. 3:10  “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23   Add to that the statement from Leviticus, “the blood . . . makes atonement for the soul.” There is only one conclusion to be reached;  there had to be a sacrifice, a blood sacrifice.  Someone had to die that I might live . . . that you might live.  Who would be the sacrificial offering (the propitiation) for my sin?  for your sin?  Who could meet the perfection standard outlined in God’s law?  Who would be without blemish, without sin?  Whose blood would be able to wash me . . . to wash you white as snow?  Only Jesus!  Crucifixion was necessary because our sin separated us from God, and God desired to be in fellowship with us.   God so loved the world . . .  God so loved me . . . God so loved you . . . blood had to be shed.  Unless you lived a sinless life and met the law of God in every point, you also need Jesus to have died on the cross, to have shed His precious blood.  Jesus was crucified, suffered, and bled because of me . . . because of you.

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  1 John 4:10

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Easter – Why on a cross?

Posted in Bible, Crucifixion, Easter, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament, tagged , , , , on March 29, 2012| 1 Comment »

Ever wonder why the image of the cross figures so predominantly in the New Testament.  It’s more than the obvious – Jesus died on a cross.

Mark 5:34 records Jesus speaking, “Whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  When Jesus made this statement, he hadn’t gone to the cross yet.

John Stott says “becoming a Christian involves a change so radical that no imagery can do it justice except death and resurrection – dying to the old life of self-centeredness and rising to new life of holiness and love.”

In Galatians 5:24, Paul writes “those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh of its passions and desires.”

In Romans 6:6, he says,  “our old man was crucified with Him.”  He repeats the imagery of the cross and death on the cross to speak of living a life of self-denial – death to self.

Often people think that their “cross” is the trial or persecution they are undergoing.  The trials are not the cross.  The trials function to strengthen one to carry his or her cross.  The cross is the life of self-denial, the laying down of one’s own life for the furtherance of the gospel.

As a Christian, I am best described as “dead man walking” since I must carry the instrument of my own execution, the cross.  I must die, so He might live through me.  By this great miracle, others will see Him and His glory and be drawn to Him.  Thus, the gospel is spread.

Father, make me to be dead to self and alive to Your Spirit.  May Easter remind me of how that fully-surrendered life appears.

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Easter – Why Betrayal?

Posted in Bible, Easter, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament, tagged , on March 28, 2012|

Why did Jesus have to be betrayed by one of those closest to him as well as those in religious authority?

1.  It was the fulfillment of scripture.

  • Psalm 41:9 “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.”  See also John 13:18 confirming fulfillment of the prophecy.

2.  It was necessary so we could know that God understands and can sympathize with our situations, the betrayals we suffer at the hands of those closest to us and those in authority over us.

  • Hebrews 4:15 “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

We have all been betrayed.  Our inclination is to seek revenge or punishment for our betrayer.  But Jesus was betrayed, and He did not defend Himself.  Rather, He lived out the sovereign will of His Father, trusting that the Father would change the circumstances if He willed.  Jesus understood that the will of the Father (God), is the primary focus for the Son (and for us as children of God).

3.  It is clear evidence of the “religious’ heart of man apart from God.

The betrayal of Jesus by his own people, by the “religious” of his day, is a warning to us of what can happen when we allow our religion to become more important than our faith in and relationship with the Savior.  Jesus warned the religious leaders, but they were unmoved.  They had no heart for God.

Jesus was betrayed because that is our relationship with God apart from Christ.  We are betrayers.  We can’t keep the law.   We can’t put the will of the Father before our own desires.  He had to show us how.  He had to make a way for us.  Betrayal was the first part.

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Romans 12: How shall I present my body?

Posted in Bible, Bible Study, New Testament, Romans, tagged , , , , on February 17, 2012|

Romans 12:1&2
1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
 
How shall I present my body? . . .  As a living sacrifice
▸ Dead works are not sufficient
▸ Most sacrifices are dead before they are placed on the altar.  In this case, I must be alive, but my “self” or “self-focus” must be dead – totally yielded to Christ
▸ I must put myself on the altar knowing that I am submitting to the fire’s refinement.

If you can survive the imagery (burning flesh on the fire doesn’t really sound inviting), it begs the question, “how can I ever hope to present my body as a living sacrifice?”

The answer is found, in part, in 2 Corinthians 5:21.  “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”  We are able to become righteous . . . an acceptable sacrifice by the shed blood of Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, slain once for all.

I find more insight in Galatians 2:20 which reminds me that “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  This sacrificial life will be by faith in the One who already proved his love, His sacrifice.

Finally, I am told in Colossians 2:6-7, “As you have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him,  rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.  The key to my being a living sacrifice is to walk in Christ, in His Word.  To be rooted in and built up in the experiential knowledge of Christ.  Then shall I be able to live this sacrificial life.

Philippians 3:8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ!

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Romans 12: Presenting your body

Posted in Bible, Bible Study, New Testament, Romans, tagged , , on February 15, 2012|

Romans 12, verses 1 and 2 are familiar and yet shrouded, within my grasp but elusive.

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

OBSERVATIONS:

Present your bodies . . .

∙ This is a command, something I  “must do” rather than merely “should do”
∙ Something is required of me
∙ The implication of the command is that my body is under my control, subject to my will
∙ This involves the discipline of self-control, a fruit of the Spirit in my life (Galatians 2:22-23)

We are not in this alone.  In Ephesians 2:8-10, Paul assures us, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.   The things God would like me to do are not without meaning or import . . . they are my purpose, my destiny . . . God’s best plan for me.

When I feel I cannot obey this command, Jesus is my example.  I am told by the writer of  Hebrews, to lay “aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and . . . run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

 

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Me, a priest?

Posted in Bible, Bible Study, Church, New Testament, Old Testament, tagged , , , , , on January 12, 2012|

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.   1 Peter 2:9

high priest

Peter, for all his awkwardness during the earthly ministry of Jesus, definitely pulled things together when he wrote his epistles.  This verse in his first epistle is just marvelous.  The whole section in 1 Peter 2 is worth an in-depth study.  The mention of us (the church) being a priesthood is especially interesting given its very “Jewish”  flavor.

Of course, there is nothing new under the sun and Peter lifted this imagery, probably very intentionally, from Exodus  19:5-6 where Moses is given this to tell the children of Israel by God:

 ‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

A couple of quick observations:

  • Priests in the Old Testament had privileges that no other member of the society Israel, namely they were the only ones with access to God and the only ones allowed to make sacrifices to God
  • The limited access to God of the Old Testament was represented by the separations in the Tabernacle (Gate, Court, Holy Place, Most Holy Place) and later the temple.  The veil represented the separation between God and man.  Only the High Priest could go past the veil into the Most Holy Place and then only once a year to make atonement for the people
  • When Jesus died on the cross, the veil was torn and the separation between God and man was removed
  • We have access to God by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross
Peter reminds us from whence we have come:  who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.  1 Peter 2:10  It is good news!

As a final thought, let us consider our purpose as this “chosen generation,”  “this royal priesthood,” and “this holy nation.”  For Peter does tell us the why:  “that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.”  1 Peter 2:9

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