Today’s reading is Romans 9:1-10:21.

“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” (Romans 9:30-31).

Does that passage really say that? does it really say that the ones who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness and the ones who did pursue righteousness did not attain it? That is exactly what it says. How many times have I stumbled over this very stone?

But here it is, plain for all to see. As long as I’m trying to pursue a law to lead to righteousness, I’ll fall short. I won’t succeed in reaching the law. In fact, I’ve already botched the law. However, if I quit my personal pursuit of my own righteousness, filled with struggling and white-knuckling my way through each day, but instead pursue faith in Jesus, then I’ll actually get the righteousness I’m so hungry for. That doesn’t seem quite right in my mind, but perhaps that is why God has told me to trust Him instead of leaning on my own understanding.

Today, then, I’ll focus on building my faith in Jesus. If I pursue that faith, then I’ll attain the righteousness I want.

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 Matthew 5:1-6:34.

It is tough narrowing down something to write about on today’s reading. After all, I’ve written an entire book on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. But there is one statement that almost always stands out to me as I read this sermon.

Matthew 5:6 says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

That verse simply surprises me. Of course, there are the obvious things not mentioned here. It doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for money, wealth, health, fame, power, influence, pleasure, a good time, happiness…” It says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”

However, there are some even more surprising omissions from this verse. Notice that it doesn’t say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for mercy, forgiveness, grace, heaven.” That surprises me because those are usually the things I hunger for. However, that is not who Jesus claims is really blessed.

What is the real motivation for my action? Is my hunger simply to receive God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness? At times it is. Sadly, when my hunger is to receive God’s grace, mercy, and forgiveness, I’m still satisfied with living in my sins. After all, it is my sin that increases God’s mercy and grace. Having sin is not such a bad thing when my motivation is just to receive God’s grace. I can even turn it into this great spiritual thing of “Look at how much I love God because of how much I have to be forgiven” (cf. Luke 7:47). Of course, I know this motivation doesn’t work because Paul said it didn’t in Romans 6:1-2.

Is my real motivation just trying to get to heaven? Sometimes it is. Sadly, when that is my motivation, I usually have a checklist mentality trying to earn something.

Consider the following self-conversation I might go through when my motivation is just trying to get to heaven. “Alright, what have I got to do today so I can go to heaven? Read my Bible; check. Prayed; check. Gone to church; check. Served someone; wait a minute, how much serving do I really have to do? I served someone a few weeks ago, surely that is enough to go to heaven; check. Have I done anything that will keep me out of heaven? Committed adultery; Nope. Committed murder; Nope. Stolen; Nope. Lusted; oops. Guess I better get my prayer of confession out of the way so that one won’t be on my record. Dear God, forgive me for sinning today. Prayer of confession; check. Alright I’m good. Now I can go on with the rest of my life doing what I really want to do.”

Do you see how that probably isn’t the best possible approach to serving God? 

However, what if my motivation were really that I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness? My mourning is not because I’m going to hell, but is because I’m not righteous. I’ve fallen short of God’s glory. Now there’s some real poverty of spirit. My meekness is not merely enough to scrape by so that I can slide into heaven’s gates just before they come crashing closed. No, it is about surrendering to God because I know His way will make me righteous. When I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I’m not interested in checklists or earning anything. I’m not interested in minimum requirements of holiness or maximum allowances for temptation and sin. I’m not trying to figure out how far down a path of immorality I can go before I’m no longer allowed to go to heaven. When I’m hungering and thirsting for righteousness, I’m interested in one thing. 

What does God want me to do next?

That’s it. That’s my only concern. I don’t get bogged down in arguments about have-tos, requirements, proof. I just want to know what is God’s next right thing for me. I won’t ask, “Haven’t I already done enough of that?” I’ll just do whatever is the right thing to do. 

When that is my motivation, so many of the modern religious arguments get flushed down the drain. Suddenly, I no longer have to argue about whether God’s way is the right way. I just do it because I know it is. I know His way will make me righteous.

Finally, when hungering and thirsting for righteousness is my motivation, I no longer compartmentalize my life. With the other motivations, I do. I try to figure out what I have to do to get forgiveness, when that is done, I move on to other things. I try to figure out what I have to do to go to heaven, when I’m done I can move on with the rest of my life. When my hunger is righteousness, it doesn’t end. Even after following God for weeks in His righteousness, I’m still hungry for that and so I’m still asking, “What is the next right thing?”

I have to ask myself, “What am I really hungry for?”

***Question: How do you increase your hunger and thirst for righteousness?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Ephesians 1:1-2:22.

Ephesians 1:3-14 gives me all kinds of hope. Sadly, many people misinterpret it and provide themselves with false hope. Others misinterpret it and have absolutely no hope, just fear. 

Some misinterpret this passage claiming the predestination mentioned means God has chosen before time who would be saved and they will be saved no matter what. Of course, the only people I’ve ever met that believe this all believe they are part of that chosen elect few. How convenient. I think this provides some false hope. That is not what the text is saying.

However, others, in order to combat the above false hope have almost sucked all the hope out of the passage completely. They hone in on words like “holy and blameless” and act as if we have accomplished that through our own perfect obedience then we don’t actually have the hope. We are striving for that holiness and blamelessness and if we reach it, we’ll be adopted and saved, but we just can’t really be sure if we’ve done enough to reach that. What hope is there in that? We all know ourselves too well to deceive ourselves into thinking we’ve really attained true holiness and blamelessness by our own righteous deeds.

So what is the truth that lies in between these two extremes of false hope and no hope?

The text does not say God has predestined who will be in Christ. Rather, it says He has predestined those who are in Christ to be holy and blameless. Before the world began, He chose those who are in Christ to be adopted as sons, to be to the praise of His glorious grace, to have forgiveness and redemption. 

Do you see what this means? The passage does not say if we are holy and blameless then we get to be in Christ. It says if we are in Christ, then God makes us holy and blameless. No doubt, this does not mean that I get to have a moment of mental assent, now I’m in Christ and what I do doesn’t matter. Of course not. When we truly hope in Christ and believe in Him, then our lives change. But the point is, I don’t have to fret my days away wondering if I’m being holy and blameless enough to get into Christ in the end. Rather, I can get into Christ and have confidence that God has predestined that I will be holy and blameless. As Romans 8:29 says, those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to the image of Jesus. Maybe today I’m still struggling, but I can have confidence that as long as I stay in Christ, God will work in my life to conform me to Jesus. It is a path of progress not perfection, but we are not working alone. God has placed His stamp on us to grow us to the image of Christ. 

What is the take away? Instead of spending today worrying if I’m good enough, I’m just going to abandon myself to Jesus and let Him have His way with me, conforming me to His image.

***Question: Why do you think we so readily try to establish our own righteousness instead of relying on the righteousness of God? (This ties in with our previous readings in Galatians 3 and Romans 10)

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Romans 9:1-10:21.

Paul was concerned about his brethren according to the flesh, the Jews. His heart’s desire and prayer for them was that they be saved. However, they were going about it all wrong. Romans 10:2-4 says, “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

What was the problem here? The problem was not that they didn’t know the Law well enough. They knew it very well. The problem was not that they didn’t know the New Testament pattern well enough. That was still being revealed and nobody knew it very well. The problem was they didn’t know Jesus. They didn’t know God’s plan to save us through Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Therefore, they were consistently trying to establish their own righteousness by keeping the law.

As I was reading this today, I realized I’ve made a consistent misuse of this text. I hope I can explain this clearly or I’m going to be in real trouble.

In the past, I’ve come to this text to say, “See, we have to know the New Testament pattern. Lots of religious people today have a zeal but it isn’t according to knowledge. They sing wrong. They take the Lord’s Supper wrong. They organize their congregations wrong. They have creed books, councils, corporations, institutions. They need to serve God according to the knowledge of His true pattern.” While I believe churches and Christians need to follow the New Testament pattern (perhaps that will be covered as we talk about some other passages) it strikes me that is not at all what Paul is talking about here.

Paul was not talking about worship methods. He was not talking about congregational organization. He was not talking about doing everything according to the New Testament pattern at all (not in the sense that I have meant it). The problem with this common interpretation is I think we actually end up doing exactly what Paul was condemning. What was the Jews problem? Instead of knowing and relying on Jesus, they were relying on their own attempts to be righteous enough. Sadly, I think my earlier interpretation of this passage caused me to do the exact same thing they were doing. That interpretation said, “If I want to be good enough to be saved, I have to figure out the exact pattern and accomplish that myself. I’m going to be saved because I righteously work to do everything exactly like God patterned.” When that is my interpretation, what am I doing? I’m seeking to establish my own righteousness. That is the very thing Paul is saying we can’t do.

Certainly, when I’m living by faith in Jesus, I’ll follow His pattern. But I’ve been getting it backwards. I’ve had the idea that I have to be good enough by following Jesus’ pattern to be saved by Jesus. Paul is saying that when I place my faith in Jesus and not in myself, I’ll do what He says and the patterns will take care of themselves.

Here is the main point. I cannot establish my own righteousness. I couldn’t do it under the Old Law. I can’t do it under the New Law. If all I am doing is just exchanging laws, but still trying to establish my own righteousness, I’m going to fail. I need to recognize no matter how hard I try to hold to patterns, whether as an individual or within the congregation, I’m going to fail. In those attempts, I’m not really submitting to God’s righteousness. Instead of just trying harder to establish my righteousness, I need to work on my faith in Jesus. As that increases, I will increasingly do what He wants me to and, through Him, I’ll be righteous.

What do you think?

***Question: What are some examples of modern Christians striving to establish their own righteousness?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is Romans 5:1-6:23.

Romans 6:17-19 says, “But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.”Romans 6:22 says, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.”

Freedom and slavery. We have both one way or another. If we submit ourselves to sin, we are free from God, His law, and His righteousness. However, we are slaves to sin. We may think we will only go so far, but it won’t happen that way. Sin will take over. It will take control. We cannot control sin. It will control us. However, if we would through Jesus Christ be free from sin’s control, we must submit ourselves as slaves to obey God’s righteousness.

Sadly, it seems that some folks today have the idea that being free in Christ means being free to do what we want. Not so. Being free in Christ means being set free from the power of sin, but we can only be set free from the power of sin when we are willing to completely surrender our lives to God. He gets to call the shots. We do not. Here is the great benefit. Just as committing sin leads to more sin, obeying God from the heart will lead to more obedience and through that to sanctification.

Please, do not miss the subtle paradigm shift we need to have here. For most of my life, I’ve had the idea that I needed to get my life under control. That is not what Paul says. Paul says I need to quit trying to control my life and instead hand the control over to God. What that means to me is instead of me trying to have all the strength to do what I think is right. I need to just do what God says. When I submit to God, He will fill me with strength to grow even more in what He says. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” 

Many of us want complete freedom. Paul points out that it just doesn’t exist. We will be enslaved to something. The question is will we be enslaved to sin? Or will we be enslaved to God? The former may seem like a greater freedom because I seem to get to do whatever I want. But it leads to death. In time you will recognize that you have actually lost control and sin is taking you where you didn’t want to go. The latter may seem like real slavery because someone else is clearly calling the shots and even reining us in from where we initially wanted to do. However, in the long run, this path leads to life and takes us where we all ultimately want to go.

***Question: Why do you want to choose slavery to God over freedom to sin?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

Today’s reading is John 21:1-25; I John 1:1-10.

I John 1:6, 8 provides an interesting balance. It’s a balance we Christians today need to remember. In my experience it’s very easy for us to fall off one side or the other of this middle path.

In I John 1:6, John says, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” Then I John 1:8 says, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

On the one side of this middle path is the danger of acting like we are so righteous and sinless. With the exception of one nutball I talked to on a radio program I used to do, I don’t think I’ve ever met or talked to anyone who would consciously claim they didn’t sin. However, I’ve seen us Christians subconsciously act that way. I’ve seen Christians talk down their noses about someone who has sinned, perhaps someone mentioned on the news, perhaps someone at work, perhaps someone in their family, or perhaps some struggling brother or sister in the church. Often these Christians will offer a throwaway statement that says, “Oh, I know I’m not perfect,” but all the while their conversation says, “But at least I’m not like them.” John wants us to remember that we are all sinners. We have no right to look down on anyone no matter how great we think their sins are. If we act like we are above them, we are liars and the truth is not in us. By the way, while I have no doubt John is saying “the truth” in reference to the information that is true, I can’t help but recognize up in I John 1:2, his reference to Jesus was “the life.” Jesus said He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” If the truth is not in us, we are not just saying true information is not in us, we are saying Jesus is not in us.

On the other side of this middle path is acting like since everyone sins, walking in sin is no big deal. We can’t claim to have fellowship with Jesus while simply continuing in our sins. I don’t believe John is talking about the struggle with sin that we have while we grow in Christ adding virtue and self-control and growing within them (II Peter 1:5-8). In my mind, the concept of walking in sin is that continual devotion to sin. Once again, I doubt many of us would admit to being continually devoted to sin. Yet, I’ve seen Christians, I’ve been the Christian, who claims to simply be a struggling grower who really wasn’t doing anything to overcome a sin. It is easy for us to tacitly just let sin have control and repeatedly excuse it because, “Nobody’s perfect.”

The important thing is God recognizes both sides of this. Jesus died because “nobody’s perfect.” However, His death is not a license to sin for those who want to walk the path with Jesus. Let’s walk on the middle path with Him, neither puffing ourselves up as if we are the righteous ones in the midst of the rabble or excusing ourselves for our own sins.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

Today’s reading is Romans 9:1-10:21.

In Romans 9:30-32, Paul talked about the Gentiles who had faith and therefore attained righteousness even though they didn’t have the Law. Many of the Jews, however, did not attain righteousness because they were pursuing it through their own works instead of faith. This seems counterintuitive. Those who pursued righteousness didn’t get it because they didn’t have faith. Those who didn’t pursue righteousness, but pursued faith received righteousness. 

No doubt, there is a sense of imputed righteousness in this. They received the remission of their sins and, therefore, justification because God gave that to them. However, reading this on the heals of Romans 7-8, we know this is also talking about righteous living. Their sins were forgiven and they were set free to live righteously. This did not mean they were simply forgiven and called righteous even though they continued pursuing all their sins. Again, we get back to that counterintuitive point. Those who sought desperately to have righteousness by the Law, didn’t get it because they had no faith. Those who did not pursue righteousness but pursued faith received righteousness and lived righteously as well.

I’m not fully sure how all that works. However, I keep reading in Romans 10 and I learn that the word of faith doesn’t ask how am I going to get into heaven to bring the Christ down to me. Nor does it ask how am I going to go down into the abyss to raise Jesus up. Rather, it says I have the word already because Christ has done the work. I must simply confess that Jesus is the Christ and has done the work. Believing in Him, I know I will not be put to shame. However, this believing leads to something. It leads to calling on the name of the Lord. But what on earth does that mean? From the Old Testament we see our forefathers of faith calling on the Lord as their protector, their savior, their strength, their power, their source. They acknowledged God in everything. I can’t help but think of the numerous altars littering the trail of the patriarchs as they called on the Lord in their faith. Calling on the Lord is not about a moment of becoming saved (though there is application there as well). Calling on the Lord is about a life of leaning on God. It is about letting God be my strength. It is about letting Him be my hope, my trust, my rock, my redeemer, my fortress, my strong and mighty tower (by the way, I admit my view of this today is being colored by some immense study I’ve been doing in the Psalms).

Where can I get this kind of faith that will let me totally surrender to God? Romans 10:17 says I can get it from Christ’s Word. I don’t get it from Chicken Soup for the Soul. Oprah Winfrey and Doctor Phil can’t give it to me. The Dali Lama won’t help. Only the word of Christ can give this to me. I have to be in the Word. That is why what we are doing in this group is so important. We need to be in the Word, not because we’re Christians and the checklist rule for being good enough means reading our Bibles every day. No. We need to be in the Word because if we don’t stay in the Word, we won’t have faith. If we don’t have faith, we won’t call on the Lord. If we don’t call on the Lord, we won’t have righteousness. If we don’t have righteousness, we’ll die in our sins.

Then Paul carries it further. When I’m in the Word, I’ll have faith. When I have faith, I obey (cf. Romans 10:16). Now that’s interesting. Many folks look at the previous passages that say we don’t gain righteousness by pursuing the Law and claim obedience isn’t part of having Christ’s righteousness. They teach doctrines of justification and salvation by faith only. However, this passage points out we don’t have faith if we’re not obeying. Look at the verse again closely. Paul claims not everyone has obeyed. What’s his proof? The scripture says not everyone believes. Did you see it? This statement of proof demonstrates that those who really believe obey. If they don’t obey, then they can’t claim to have the saving faith. Despite claims that Paul and James contradict each other (see James 2:14-26), they actually agree completely.

Therefore, it is true I have to obey. But, let’s not get to this verse and lose sight of what the entire reading has told us. If I simply jump to working on obedience, I’m no better than those who were pursuing their own righteousness without faith. If I just jump to obedience, I’m merely trying to rely on my own strength to adhere to a set of rules. In the end, I won’t do it; I’ll fail. First, I have to work on my faith. I have to work on believing in Father, Son and Spirit. Then I work on believing Father, Son and Spirit. There is only one way to do that–get into the Word. As that faith grows, my surrender grows in calling on the Lord. As that grows, my obedience comes naturally.  Only when I start at the right place, in God’s word, drinking it in, gaining faith from it, learning to surrender, will I actually have righteousness. 

Yes, it seems counterintuitive. If I pursue righteousness by simply trying to obey all the laws, I’ll fail. On the other hand, if I pursue faith, the righteousness will come.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

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

According to II Peter 2:8, Lot “was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard” when he lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. I recognize a case can be made about Lot “pitching his tent toward Sodom.” I know he made some really bad decisions and we need to learn from those. But I can’t help but notice that at least the lawless deeds he witnessed tormented his soul.

Sometimes I fear for me and other Christians. So often I hear Christians laughing and reminiscing about movies they have seen that were filled with foul language, sexual immorality and even nudity. I certainly don’t know exactly when the line is crossed on movies and I’m not about to try to set up a list of those that are allowed and those that aren’t. 

This verse is simply a reminder to me that lawless deeds should torment my soul, not entertain me. I’m not exactly sure that I should spend much time berating Lot for pitching his tents toward Sodom if I’m pitching my $8 bucks to pay for entertainment that could have been filmed in Sodom.

I just have to remind myself of this again and again because I love movies. If I’m not careful, I catch myself getting more and more free with the ones I allow. I need to take a lesson from Lot on this one.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. At the risk of violating my own point above, I thought I would share this great little video from a preacher trying to comment on a similar point. I hope you enjoy it.