Falling Short and Being Redeemed
There are far too many verses in scripture that we know and understand when we hear them, but we do not get the full context. Romans 3:23 is one of them for me. It tells us that we all fall short of the glory of God. This verse has been used to further one's personal agenda outside of Christ. It has been used to say we all sin (which is true) but it does not tell the rest of the story. It's like saying we all fail and that's it. End of story. It can also be comforting to know that we all fail and that you are not alone when you sin as we all sin. But what about after that?
We have to understand the context that Paul was telling fellow Jews that they were not better than others. This is in line with what Christ taught to Pharisees who were hypocrites and thought they were better than others. Righteousness does not come from obeying God's laws (such as the ten commandments). Righteousness comes from doing God's will out of loving obedience. As I have stated before, in relationships (like dating and marriage) we don't keep ourselves from cheating simply because it is not the right thing to do. Look at the essence of why it wouldn't be right. We don't cheat because of love. We love the other person. We are honoring the other person and our relationship and ourselves. But, ultimately, we should not cheat because we would be sinning against God. Righteousness is through love of God which is outside the law (ten commandments).
But how do you get redeemed to God after sinning. That redemption comes from Jesus. If you accept Jesus, the redemption comes. His blood was shed so that we don;t have to be a human sacrifice for our sins. Sin causes death in at least 2 ways: spiritual and physical. Spiritually i am separated by God when I am outside His will. Physically when I sin I could die like if I were to do drugs or something like that. So, if you sin like I do on a daily basis, you are 1) not alone and 2) redeemed to God through accepting Christ as your Lord and Savior knowing that he died for your sins.
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Paul's Journey with the Holy Spirit
We have seen all that Paul has gone through from being imprisoned and chased from one town to another avoiding death. As we see here in Acts 18:4 he was still preaching the word. I love that even though he would have every human reason to give up, he didn't. He feared for his life. It was not a made up "people are after me" though as people were truly after him Paul has been a man of perseverance and persistence in the Holy Spirit. he wasn't always there, but once he started following Christ you saw a big change in his behaviors and his life.
In verses 5-6, he was testifying that Jesus was the messiah but when the Jews opposed and reviled him, he did not sit there and keep arguing and get madder and madder. He did what he was supposed to do. He let them know that they are responsible for themselves now and he left and went to the Gentiles. God told Paul in verses 9-10 (in a vision) to go on speaking and to not be afraid because God was with him. Paul did just that for a year and 6 months.
In Acts 18:18-23, we see that Paul worked hard at strengthening the disciples that he came in contact with and still preaching the word of Jesus from land to land as he traveled whether it be Ephesus, Caesarea, Antioch, Galatia and Phrygia. Paul had left Ephesus and left 2 that he traveled with there in Ephesus, Priscilla and Aquila. While they stayed behind, they met Apollos who also preached the word accurately. Priscilla and Aquila (husband and wife), took Apollos aside and taught him how to preach the word more accurately. And with that he continued to spread the word that Jesus was the Christ, even in public against the Jews (Pharisees).
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Righteous Judgement
Many people say "don't judge" or "judge not lest thee be judged." They take a Bible verse and misinterpret it by not reading the whole context of the verse, the section of the chapter or the Bible as a whole. The words they quote are from Jesus, but how it is often understood is different than how it is used.
Jesus saw that many judged based on appearance and not on what was the below the surface truth. Have you ever seen a homeless person and thought that they must have done that to themselves? People jump to conclusions and think the person must be a drunk or drug addict. They don't know that there are people with mental issues that have been left to fend for themselves. God knows the context for all of our situations. Just because you see someone at one moment it does not mean that the person is that person overall. We don't need condemnation for our mess ups, we need compassion. Christ was full of compassion whether you were blind (John 9:1-7), and adulterer (John 8:1-11) or a tax collector who was known for taxing too much (Luke 19:1-10).
Jesus was known to also respond accordingly when God's house was disrespected (Matthew 21:12-13) or religious leaders were misleading people (Matthew 23). We cannot judge on appearance and what we think unless it is in line with what God wants from us. We are not judging on personality and fashion sense and character. We don't know why people do what they do. Maybe they weren't raised well? Maybe they were abused? Do you really want to condemn an adult who may have been abused? We don't know motives. We don't have the full picture. I make mistakes and bad decisions just like you do. We can love each other through our sin and help one another with mercy and compassion, or we can condemn and keep reminding people of what they have done wrong. I don't need all of my sins brought up over and over again just like you don't.
It is okay to evaluate and confront a sinful brother/sister in Christ. That takes a judgment. It is a judgment call. We must use proper judgment when seeing who are the false teachers and false messiahs. We must use right judgment in order to serve God and encourage others, lovingly.
To hear a sermon on righteous judgment click here for John MacArthur
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A House of Trade
How often in the bible to do you see Jesus getting angry? The Pharisees tried to back him into corners, but never could. He was scoffed at and mocked. The ONLY time we ever read of Jesus's anger in the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) at the church toward those who turned the temple into a "den of thieves" or a house of trade as in John 2:16. That incident alone should be an example of righteous anger (breaking God's commandments) versus human anger over things like misunderstandings.
Jesus was not mad that the temple was selling a book or a Biblical aid or something. Jesus was upset that the focus was completely turned away from God. People who visited the temple during the Passover had to pay a temple tax (like paying to go to church) and money changers served as the one who could convert Roman coins into "acceptable" currency for the temple offerings and the temple tax.
This is not the same as a tithe or offering. Even in today's times, if I use a foreign bill or coin as an offering or tithe, there shouldn't be anyone there who is working at the church as a foreign cash exchange. That business should be done at the appropriate time and place like at a bank, not during the time of worship to God. When we go to church, we are going to worship God. He is the focus, not the person we find attractive, not the person you want to rub elbows with for political or personal gain. God's word and teaching is the focus.
References- Got Questions and Study Light- Dave Guzik (Section B:1a-d)
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Humility and Salvation Parables
Jesus told many parables. He used these parables to drive home points that people needed to understand about humility and salvation and serving the poor. He brought up these points to also show us to be used by God for God's purposes.
The scene is set knowing that Jesus is set to eat at the house of the ruler of the Pharisees on a Sabbath. He healed a man with dropsy (fluid accumulation in body tissues) and knowing he was being watch asks the lawyers and Pharisees if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath. We know Jesus was far more focused on fulfilling God's purposes and being in God's will than trying to meet man's expectations and interpretations of God. Jesus asked them if their son or ox they owned fell into a well on the Sabbath, would they let them drown or try to save them? No one had an answer. Jesus is exposing their hypocrisy of how they would rationalize their own law breaking but hide it while condemning others who break laws.
Jesus then uses the parable of the Wedding Feast (Luke 14:7-11) to explain how many are concerned with giving only if they are to get back. In a Wedding Feast, people are likely to sit at places of honor and feel ashamed when asked to move to lower places. Jesus said that people should sit in the lowest place so that the host has the chance to move you to a higher place of honor. That way you will not be humbled in front of others, but be exalted by someone else rather than yourself. He is saying there is nothing wrong with being honored, but if you are honoring yourself then that can lead to being humbled and embarrassed.
The Great Banquet parable found in Luke 14:12-24. It has a couple of different pieces to it. In verses 7-14, Jesus explains that when we have feasts, we should not invite those that can and may feel obligated to repay us. We should invite those that cannot repay us like the poor, crippled, lame and blind. Jesus says we will be repaid at the resurrection of the just ("we will never be the loser
when we give after the pattern of Gods generosity."- Dave Guzik).
There is a second part that breaks down Jesus's role in salvation. He compares God to a man who hosts a great feast and sends a servant (Jesus) to get people (all people on earth) to attend. People give excuses as to why they cannot attend the feast such as tending to a field, examining their property and being just being married. His point is that people will give any possible reason as to why they will not follow him (the servant) back to the man's (God's) feast (salvation or Heaven). God sent Jesus to get us to sit with Him in Heaven. It is up to us to follow Jesus to that feast.
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