New Testament

I still have the thoughts of Romans 11 floating in my head. How we can’t understand how his mind works, but we can give him glory.  

So when I read these first couple of verses of Romans 12, I can’t help but wonder, are our bodies a way to give glory to God?

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our bodies… our spiritual worship.
Our bodies… transformed by the renewing of our minds.

How do we get there?
First off… we can’t go anywhere without the mercies of God.   We just can’t.  Without his mercy given to us, we can’t even come to him, to seek him, to seek after the salvation that he offers to us freely. 
Then we are to present OUR bodies.  Not someone’s, but our very own bodies.  That needs to be our focus at this time.   We are then to present our bodies to God as a living sacrifice.  

I need to think about what the means.  My body, a living sacrifice.  A sacrifice isn’t your own, you know?  A sacrifice is something given for a higher purpose. Like people will sacrifice food in order to lose weight… that being a higher purpose then staying at a weight that’s not healthy.   So if our bodies are meant to be a living sacrifice to God, then what are we giving up?  What am I giving up?

Giving up the world… do you see it.. it says in verse two.. DO NOT BE CONFORMED to this world. 

Our sacrifice is to chose to be transformed by the renewal of your minds.

but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may
discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect.
Renew your mind by.. testing!  Go figure that one eh?  Testing to understand, to discern, to know what the will of God is.  To understand what is good, acceptable and perfect. 

That’s the kicker eh?  To figure out what God considers to be good, acceptable and perfect. 

If we do that then… we can proceed to offer our bodies as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to God.  It all ties together.   That’s our aim here… to be acceptable to God, holy, acceptable, pleasing to God.   Because “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.”    So letting ourselves be transformed by the renewing of our minds, letting our bodies become that living sacrifice to him… it’s the best we can do eh?

Today we are reading from Romans 11:25-35.

Did you know that sometimes it is helpful to read a passage in another translation to help you understand it.

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. (esv)
25 I
want you to understand this secret truth, brothers and sisters. This
truth will help you understand that you don’t know everything. The truth
is this: Part of Israel has been made stubborn, but that will change
when enough non-Jewish people have come to God.  (erv)
 25 For
I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is
happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (kjv)
 I might just be slow tonight in my thinking, but when I first read this passage my mind went totally blank.  Flipping through different passages made me think more clearly…not that I’m sure I have it all eh?   There is a mystery that’s not so easily understood. 

Israel has become partially hardened to the Lord.  Now remember, GOD is the one who allows that hardening of hearts.  But the fact is this, Israel is partially hardened, blinded to the truth of who God is.  This partial hardening will lost “until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”.   What this fulness of the Gentiles is I’m not sure, Haldane’s commentary says it is when Gentiles really come to understand who Christ is. (or words to that effect…I think).

Why do we need to know this?
So we don’t become proud or conceited thinking too much of ourselves or thinking we know it all cause we most certainly don’t.  God has allowed this to be, for a season, not forever.
 
 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

What say you?

Today we are learning from Romans 10:5-21

5 For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them.
Moses followed the old testament standard, follow the law, live as a righteous man. 

6 But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) 7 “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
There it is.. the crux of the gospel.   That confession, that belief, God raised Christ from the dead.  Belief in that = salvation.    Righteousness of faith doesn’t question about the need to ascend to heaven or descend to hell.  It simply believes that God did what was necessary. 

10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
No hesitations, no corrections, no “you are good enough, you aren’t”.   It is simply.. do you believe?  Have you confessed?  That’s it.  You meet those parameters and you will be saved.   How simple is that eh?  Believe it.. not with your head.. believe it in your heart.   Be justified.  Be saved.  Know that in your belief you will not be put to shame. All are equal in their salvation. All receive God’s riches freely. Call upon God’s name… be saved.  

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
18 But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have, for

Today we are looking at Romans 9:1-29.   I can’t say I’ll get through the whole section as it’s a whole 29 verses.  Let’s see how we do eh?

 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

Paul says a hard thing here.  One that I had to read twice to make sure I understood.  He would rather he be cut off from Christ if only his brothers, the other Israelites, could come to know the Lord God.  Can you imagine?  They have it all, according to the flesh, all the history of being God’s people.   All the law, the worship, the promises.. all theirs. All according the flesh that is.  But he longs, so much, so much that he’d give up his own salvation if they would be more than that.  If they would only become spiritual children of God.    

Why is this hard?
Seriously … I don’t know that I want people to be saved so much that I would be willing to put my own salvation up for grabs.   Do you?  Would you?   Do you have that deep set desire within you that all may come to truly know the Lord God?

THAT is the heart of a true evangelist, the true seeker after God’s own heart, do so want others to know the blessings of being a spiritual child of God.
    
6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, 7 and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
Hear this distinction that Paul gives.  The Israelites are children of the flesh. They are, they are part of God’s physically chosen people.  That’s fact.   But here God wants more, he wants his children to be SPIRITUAL CHILDREN.   Children of the promise, Children who have that hope within them of a better future, Christ’s return, eternal rewards, salvation from sin.  THAT’S who God’s true children.   

  9 For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, 11 though
they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order
that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but
because of him who calls— 12 she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Do you remember that promise the God made to Abraham..about Sarah having a baby and how Abraham needed to believe that promise?  And then Rebekah needing to believe and understand that the older child would serve the younger even when it didn’t make sense?   How of the two boys Jacob and Esau God chose to love the one and hate the other.
 
14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! 15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 16 So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.
Do you not see Paul’s point?  As much as he would give up his salvation if it would turn the Israelite’s into true children of God it’s NOT in Paul’s hands to do so.  It’s all on God.  It’s ALL on God.  Think on that.

I look at my boy and how I see his faith developing, and my prayer is that he will serve God as an adult.  I don’t want to the pain that some many believing parents have in their children not following the Lord God.   But it’s not on me.   Do you see it, that.. it’s not on you.   As long as I am, as long as you are, serving the Lord faithfully, it’s ALL on God.  It’s his choice to whom he shows mercy and compassion to.  His choice who becomes a true spiritual child.

  17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For
this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in
you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” 18 So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
God will harden the hearts of some, and others he won’t.  It’s a hard thing though.  To know that God will harden the hearts of some.  It is.  To know that nothing I can do will change what God has determined in that regard.

19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 
So Paul puts it in a practical manner. If a potter molds a piece of clay to be a pipe, and another piece of clay to be a bowl, and other to be a toilet…. is that not the potter’s choice?  It’s his clay and his molding.  So it is with God.  He molds us.  Who are we to complain?  He brought us into being in the first place.  So if he wants me to be a quiet, housewife with bad feet and questioning spirit….why should I be jealous of others?  I’ve no right to be. I NEED to trust my master’s, my builder’s judgement.
 
 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— 24 even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? 25 As indeed he says in Hosea,

I keep reading vs 22-29 and I can’t make my thoughts come out clearly.  It’s all jumbled together in my head. So bear with me here for a bit and if I’m misunderstanding, let me know okay?   So we have God.  Our creator, designer, builder, molder.  This is a God who we’ve seen angry, who we’ve seen exercise his power and show his wrath.  We’ve seen.  Earth swallowing people whole. others dropping down dead etc.   Don’t provoke him.

But suppose this very God wants to make known the riches of his glory and his method for doing so is to choose weak vessels..  And so he chooses people not only the Jews, but also from the Gentiles.  Suppose that’s why he says to come “you are my people” and to others “you are not my people”.    Suppose that eh?

That I am one of his weak vessels and that somehow through me .. God’s glory will be seen.  Oh.. for some reason that thought makes me weep.  (sorry)… God..showcasing his glory through me?   Could it really be?   

I don’t know if I see that.
Do you see it in yourself?   God showcasing his glory in you?
If so how.   What do you think people see when they look at you.  Can they see God at work?  I hope they can when they look at me… but I often don’t really think so.

Hmm…

So .. what say you?   If you want to study Romans with me, here is the rest of the series.