Today’s reading is Acts 9:1-10:48.

“And he said to them, ‘You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean’” (Acts 10:28).

I should not call any person common of unclean. It doesn’t matter if they are black or white, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, employee or employer, upper or lower class, southern or northern, Democrat or Republican, whatever or whatever else.

It doesn’t matter if their hair is painted green, if their pants are hanging low, if they have tattooes or nose rings. It doesn’t matter what they have done. They may have been idolaters, coveters, adulterers, or homosexuals.

Peter’s statement is not saying the person is holy. They need to be in Christ for that. The point is I must not believe that somehow I’m so good and someone else so bad that he can defile me by simply being near me. The point is I must not look down on anyone as if they cannot be saved by the blood of Jesus. I must not look down on anyone as if they need to be saved more than I do. I must not look down on anyone as if they are so bad I must not share the freeing message of Jesus with them.

I am so glad Peter learned this lesson, since I am a Gentile and not Jewish. I would be upset if anyone viewed me as common or unclean. I must not do the same for others.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Romans 9:1-10:21.

Once again, the reading of scripture throws my own personal concepts on their head. I so want to prove I’m good enough by figuring out how to dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s. I want to know the ins and outs of every potential rule God has established in this new covenant law and show that I can keep them all. I want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant, you out of all my disciples kept my laws.” But Romans 9:30-33 gives me pause.

What shall we say, then? That gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is a righteousness that is by faith; but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, as it is written, “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

The Jews seemed to have the advantage. To them belonged “the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises” (Romans 9:4). When Jesus came on the scene, they should have been on top of things, ready to surrender their lives to Him. Instead, they killed Him. Paul says of them in Romans 10:1-4, that they have a zeal for God but they are ignorant. They are ignorant of the righteousness of God and therefore are trying to establish their own righteousness by keeping the law. 

Here is what concerns me about me. Am I doing the same thing at times? Instead of allowing the New Covenant to be a system of faith in Christ by which I gain righteousness through His strength as I believe Him and turn my life over to Him, am I turning it into another system of law. Am I pursuing righteousness by pursuing a law that I think will lead to righteousness? Didn’t the Jews prove that wouldn’t work under the Old Covenant? Doesn’t trying to simply keep a law always end for me in learning that I don’t succeed in reaching that law? Instead of pursuing it by faith, I’m pursuing it by works. I’m sure that I’m saved because of the things I have gotten right and done properly instead of my faith in Jesus.

Am I ignorant of God’s righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus? Have I stumbled at the stone of stumbling, all the while thinking I’m relying on that cornerstone? 

I am certain that this doesn’t mean I get to live how I want. I’m certain this doesn’t mean that serving Christ means giving mental assent to Him and then just sincerely doing whatever feels right to me. I’m certain that if I truly surrender to Christ, I’ll follow the pattern He has established. I’m simply afraid that I get it backwards most of the time. I want to prove I’m good enough by keeping the New Law instead of admitting that I will never attain righteousness by keeping any law and can only have righteousness by increasingly casting myself onto Jesus, believing in Him and living by faith in Him (Galatians 2:20).

I’m concerned that perhaps I too am ignorant of the righteousness of God and therefore am seeking to establish my own righteousness most of the time. I have to remind myself today that won’t work. I can’t establish my own righteousness. Today, instead of seeking God’s law so I can establish my own righteousness, I want to seek Christ, draw near to Him and simply do what He has said to me. Through that means I will attain the righteousness of God. I know it seems counterintuitive, but I’m certain that will work even when my own strength and works would fail.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

P.S. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Acts 1:1-2:47.

I love to read Peter’s words in Acts 2:39: “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

I don’t think Peter fully understood what the Spirit was saying through him here. It would be 10 to 15 years before Peter would actually get who the “far off” really were. Even on this first day, the Spirit was revealing that Christianity was not just for Jews. I’m sure that initial audience heard this statement as saying the promise was for the Jews who had traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost and for those who had stayed in their far off homes.

However, in Ephesians 2:11-13 explains that those who are “far off” actually refers to the Gentiles. They were “far off” not because they were geographically separated but because they were spiritually separated from God.

Peter was saying the promises were for the Jews who were listening to him then, for the descendants of the Jews listening to him then, and for the Gentiles. 

The reason I love this so much is because I am a Gentile. The promise of salvation through the Holy Spirit is for me. I can be saved even though I wasn’t raised under Moses’ law. I can be saved even though I don’t live by that law. I can be saved because Jesus died for me just as He did for everyone else.

Therefore, just like the Jews who heard the message Peter preached on that day, I can be baptized for the remission of my sins and be added to Christ’s body. So can you.

***Question: What provides comfort to you about your relationship with God through Jesus?

Keep the faith and keep reading?

ELC

Today’s reading is Galatians 1:1-2:21.

I’m so glad Peter is in the Bible. I mean, I know there are plenty of other people in the Bible whose warts are uncovered. But Peter’s are all over the place. Yet, he still has a place in God’s kingdom. Even after becoming an apostle, he really blew it over this issue with the Gentiles and Jews. Even after he had been the one who first brought the Gospel to the Gentiles, had convinced the Jews in Jerusalem it was alright, and been vocal in the Acts 15 argument in favor of the Gentiles, he fell to temptation and had to be rebuked.

Maybe there is still hope for me.

Thank You, God, for leaving Peter as an example.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Some Pre-post Encouragement

Before we get to today’s post, I just want to offer encouragement. If you don’t want any encouragement, then just skip to the post at the heading below. We’ve been at this reading plan for just over five weeks. We’ve read two books. If you’re like me, it’s easy to drop out about now. Life is happening. We keep meaning to get to our Bible reading, but for some reason we just haven’t made it. Listen, I know for me it’s easy. I get to sit in an office all day, all by myself and do nothing but study the Bible. For you, it’s a bit tougher. 

Even though it’s easier for me, I still have a hard time keeping up with it. That’s why I put this book together in the first place. What would always happen to me is I would get a plan going and then miss a day. That meant I had to catch up the next day. Well, then there was more and I didn’t have time to catch up. So I put it off another day. Each day the backlog piled up until it finally seemed insurmountable and I felt like I had failed once again at keeping up with Bible reading. Why bother?

Don’t let that happen to you. This isn’t a race to make sure you read the whole New Testament. This is just a plan to provide you with something to read today. We’re starting a new book in today’s post–Romans. If you got behind in Luke and Acts, don’t drop out thinking you have to catch up. Instead, just pick it back up today in Romans.

Finally, I just want to say thank you for dropping in here and reading. I hope it’s helpful. I invite you to let us know what you’re getting out of the readings.

Thanks. And now for today’s post.

Both Jews and Gentiles Need Jesus

Today’s reading is Romans 1:1-2:29.

Romans 2:17-29 is easily misunderstood. I know for years as I read the passage, I thought Paul was telling the Jews they were a bunch of hypocrites who needed to buck up and start keeping the law God had given them. They boasted in the Law, but they didn’t actually keep it. 

That was not Paul’s point. Paul was not encouraging the Jews to keep the Old Law. He was pointing out they couldn’t keep the Old Law. He was not accusing every Jew of being a hypocrite about stealing, adultery or idolatry. He was pointing out that while they taught the Law, every single one of them had violated it–without exception. Since they’d broken the Law, in what could they boast? Their circumcision didn’t help them any. Woohoo, they had kept one precept of the Law! How many others could be found that they had broken?

Paul was driving home that those who had been brought up under the Law, were actually no different from those who were without the Law. They were sinners. They could not boast in their Law because they hadn’t kept it.

Of course, our reading today doesn’t get to the main point. Paul will get to that later in this letter. But we know what it is. Both Jew and Gentile need Jesus. The Gentiles need Jesus because despite the clear evidence in the world around us, we have turned to worship the creature rather than the Creator. The Jews need Jesus because despite having the Law and the oracles of God, they couldn’t keep the Law.

Paul will sum it up in Romans 3:23. All have sinned. Then he’ll drive it home in Romans 3:26 we can all be justified by faith in Jesus.

Are you a Gentile? Are you a Jew? Your ancestry doesn’t matter. You need a Savior to cleanse you of your iniquities and set you free from your sins.

Keep the faith and keep reading.

ELC

P.S. What did you get out of today’s reading?

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:18, 21-24, ESV). 

I don’t know about you, but I sometimes get discouraged as I walk through the local bookstore and hit the religious or philosophy section only to notice the academics who ridicule and berate anything to do with Jesus Christ and Christianity. Sometimes, I get caught in the trap of thinking I need to become as academic as they are and then try to fight them with their own sword. (Certainly, there are some very scholarly and academic Christians who fight these battles and I’m glad for them, I’m not disparaging them at all.)

However, this passage reminds me that the answers of persuasion will not be found in the halls of academia, philosophy or worldly wisdom. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for studying everything and seeing the whole picture. I’m not talking about putting my head in the sand and ignoring proven facts out there. I’m simply pointing out that Paul says if I move the battle ground into the halls of academia and philosophy of man’s wisdom, I can’t win the battle here. No matter what I say, those who don’t want to believe in Jesus won’t. No matter what I say, those who don’t want to believe the Bible is from God won’t. If I disparage some academic argument, they will only find another. 

Further, I do not have to feel foolish just because some academic thinks he is better and smarter than I am. No doubt, there are more people smarter than I am than I can count. God hasn’t asked me to be the smartest person in the world. He has simply asked me to trust Him that His way is right and, therefore, follow His way. In the end, wisdom will be vindicated by her children. 

Here is the problem, the Jews look for a sign and the Greeks look for wisdom. Though this was in a different age, I have met both of these kinds of people. I’ve met the guy who said if God really wanted him to do something, God would have to give him some kind of sign, like a bolt of lightening from heaven. I’ve met the guy who says the whole Bible and Jesus thing just doesn’t make sense to him. We preach Christ crucified. The one seeking a sign, merely sees this as a stumbling block. The early Jews just couldn’t get their minds around a crucified Messiah. The early Greeks just couldn’t make sense out of God who sacrificed Himself for His people. Modern men looking for signs don’t think a crucifixion and resurrection is enough. They want God to personally attend to them and give them a personal sign. Modern men with earthly wisdom, can hardly get their minds around a real God, let alone one who sacrifices Himself for us. 

What I have to do is simply keep sharing my faith. Instead of being discouraged by those who are so wise in the world they can’t seem to accept the wisdom of God, I need to simply pass on God’s wisdom. It will not return to God void. I don’t have to be embarrassed or discouraged. I know the wisdom of God will eventually be vindicated.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC