Romans 6
After presenting his offering to the Lord, Cain was angry over the Lord’s disapproval (Genesis 3:3-5). In His interactions with Cain, the Lord provided four things that we often experience in our lives as well: Opportunity, Warnings, Punishment, and Grace.
Exodus 32:1-6 – And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him. And Aaron said unto them, Break off the golden earrings, which are in the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters, and bring them unto me. And all the people brake off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them unto Aaron. And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the Lord. And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.
Leaders are responsible for the conduct of those under their responsibility. They are to enforce and emulate established standards and conduct. When followers violate such standards (or even desire to), leaders must be willing to quickly correct, discipline, and re-enforce the standards to ensure those under their care continue to comply. Doing this will silence any widespread violations of standards and ensure everyone conducts themselves properly.
1. Followers will test your boundaries. Followers will test the establish standard out of their own desire to live by their own rules. Some will rebel for no reason other than not wanting to follow standards. Others will do what they want when the leader is not watching.
When fighting the good fight of faith, you’ll experience adversaries such as the flesh, Satan, and your lust. It seems that no matter how many times you resist their tempting calls, they continue to attack. Like a boomerang, they return with tempting thoughts, gestures, or situations again and again. Now, if you’re not careful, you’ll fall for their subtle calls to give in. However, in Christ Jesus, there is victory because HE is the great overcomer (Hebrews 12:1-4).
1. Being tempted does not mean you sinned. Your response to temptation determines whether you will give birth to sin or to continue living righteously before God. Jesus lived without sin and was tempted by Satan (see Matthew 4:1-11). He overcame using the Word of God.
Why do I always have to go through trials and temptation? I don’t want to continue facing the same things over and over and over AND OVER again! I just want to be free.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like the Apostle Paul when he said that when he wants to do right, sin is right there (Romans 7:21)? OR the things you want to do you don’t do, but the things you don’t want to do, THAT you find yourself doing (Romans 7:15)? Many of us can relate to Paul’s statements of temptation and sin, but we often stop there without going any further. We continue to live in a cycle that goes from temptation-sin-repentance-temptation-sin-repentance and it never seems to stop. We want to get off the merry-go-round, but it doesn’t seem like we ever can. Why do I have to go through this? Why can’t God just take it away because He knows I want to serve Him. If I didn’t have this ‘sin’ issue, I could just run for Him.
May 9, 2009
Being Born Again
John 3:1-7 – There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
As Nicodemus conversed with Jesus, He explains that a man cannot see the kingdom of God unless is he born again. Though Nicodemus considered the physical aspect of being born again (enter the second time into his mother’s womb), Jesus had another meaning altogether…
July 28, 2008
God’s Moral Purity vs. His Love
This journal entry was originally submitted as a college course assignment.
How can God, who is moral pure (and exercises justice/judgment) also be loving? There seems to be some ‘tension’ between His moral purity and love…
At first glance, it can seem there is tension between God’s moral purity and His love. But when researching the issue further, we would discover a different outcome. When God spoke to Adam and explained the consequences of eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17), He gave one of His first ‘commandments’ on how Adam and Eve were to live. He established a baseline for His moral purity as disobedience to His instruction would bring death (and eternal separation). When Adam disobeyed God and brought death (and sin) to mankind, God drew a line of where His moral purity began (and ended).
Throughout the Scriptures, we gain additional insight to the boundaries of God’s moral purity and the frame of our own before Him. We discover the things He hates (Proverbs 6:16-19) and learn who can stand within His holy place (Psalm 24:3-5). We also learn how righteousness and justice are the habitation of His throne, while mercy, loving-kindness, and truth goes before His face (Psalm 89:14).
How can this be? Even as our iniquities have separated us from Him – like the Israelites (Isaiah 59:2), we experience His mercy, loving-kindness, and truth. We deserve the penalty of death brought through the disobedience of Adam, yet God’s love made a way for us to live in eternal fellowship once again (Romans 6:23).
As a loving parent, God established His moral standard, yet His love abounded. His standard of moral purity has not diminished. The penalty of sin hasn’t changed. The penalty remains for those that choose not place their belief and faith in His Son, Jesus. But it was God who loved us so much that He sent His only Son (John 3:16). It was God who looked upon His creation and provided a way for the penalty to be paid – through His Son.
Throughout the Biblical record, the greatest message is God’s love for the world. In spite of our continued wickedness and sin, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). In the midst of our ‘best’ actions which seem as filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6), God’s love abounded.
To those that say there is tension, I would respectfully disagree. There is only tension for those that choose not to believe and accept God’s ability to provide appropriation for our sinful acts. Jesus is the bridge from His moral purity and the extension of His love toward mankind. God’s moral purity and love are capsulated in Jesus Christ. God sent His only Son to be born and die for people that deserved to die. That is a pure and awesome love…how can we fathom its depth and breath?
With the constant call of temptation around every corner, we can often feel helpless and a captive to its alluring call. Many times we want to get far away from temptation as possible, but then there are times when we don’t want to say ‘no.’ We make the choice to give into temptation and give birth to sin – repeating a constant cycle that wears us down, places us in harm’s way, and pulls us outside of God’s perfect will.
Just as we make the decision to give into sin, we can make the decision to say ‘no’ to sin. Please understand that there’s not enough strength in the world for you to say ‘no’ on your own, but through Christ, His grace and power will make up the difference in your weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)…but it all begins with a choice. We must want to change!
When you ask most believers today about grace, they would refer to it as undeserving favor from God. One of the greatest elements of God’s grace is His undeserving favor toward mankind, and within the biblical text, there are other instances of grace as well.
1. Undeserving Favor. Though Adam sinned and brought death and sin into the generations of man, God loved us so much that He gave His only Son as a sacrifice for our sins (Romans 5:12-15; John 3:16). He did this so that the eternal separation that was made between God and man would be restored – for those that placed their belief in His Son.
Titus 3:4-7 – But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
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