Romans 12
Reasonable serviceverses 1-2
I beseech you therefore – brethren – by the mercies of God
that you present your bodies a living sacrifice
holy – acceptable unto God
which is your reasonable service
And be not conformed to this world
BUT be you transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good – acceptable
perfect will of God
Sober thinkingverse 3
For I say – through the grace given to me
to every man that is among you
not to think of himself more highly
than he ought to think
BUT to think soberly
according as God has dealt to every man
the measure of faith
Comparing human body to body of churchverses 4-5
FOR as we have many members in one body
and all members have not the same office
so we – being many – are one body in Christ
and every one members one of another
Specific gifts given to churchverses 6-8
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us
whether prophecy
let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith
or ministry – let us wait on our ministering
or he that teaches – on teaching
or he that exhorting – on exhortation
he that gives – let him do it with simplicity
he that rules – with diligence
he that shows mercy with cheerfulness
General gifts given to churchverses 9-18
Let love be without dissimulation – abhor that which is evil
cleave to that which is good
Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love
in honor preferring one another
not slothful in business
fervent in spirit
serving the Lord
rejoicing in hope – patient in tribulation
continuing instant in prayer
distributing to the necessity of saints – given to hospitality
Bless them which persecute you – bless and curse not
rejoice with them that do rejoice – and weep with them that weep
be of the same mind one toward another
Mind not high things – but condescend to men of low estate
be not wise in your own conceits
recompense to no man evil for evil
provide things honest in the sight of all men
If it be possible – as much as lies in you – live peaceably with all men
Relationship to those outside the churchverses 19-21
Dearly beloved – avenge not yourselves
BUT rather give place unto wrath
for it is written
Vengeance is MINE – I will repay
says the Lord
THEREFORE IF then enemy hunger – feed him
IF he thirst – give him drink
FOR in so doing you shall heap coals of fire
on his head
BE not overcome of evil – BUT overcome evil with good
COMMENTARY:
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (3050 “reasonable” [logikos] means pertaining to reason or logic, true to real nature, thoughtful, pertaining to being genuine, or rational)
DEVOTION: When we enter into the family of God it is because HE has given us unmerited favor. We should appreciate this unmerited favor and present our bodies to the LORD for genuine service to HIM with no strings attached.
It has been stated that because we are “living” sacrifices that we try to get off the altar of service very often. We want to have complete control of our life or at least sections of our life. We want to give God the portions we don’t want to have control over but keep those we do. That is not giving HIM our complete bodies.
The only acceptable sacrifice is a complete sacrifice. Partial sacrifices don’t’ work. It doesn’t please the LORD and it doesn’t please us. No one wins. The only one to win is supposed to be the LORD. It goes against our nature but that is the bottom line.
Paul wants the Christians in Rome to give themselves as complete sacrifices to the LORD because it is the only acceptable way to give ourselves to HIM.
After all we owe HIM our place in heaven and our blessings on earth. We owe HIM because of the sacrifice of HIS Son Jesus on the cross for our sins. It is rational to give HIM our life.
CONCLUSION: Paul is begging the Christians in Rome to understand what they owe the LORD. He is doing the same to us. Are we responding properly?
: 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. ((342 “renewing” [anakainosis] means renovation, renewal, complete change for the better)
DEVOTION: We are constantly being bombarded with advertising on television, movies, billboards, radio and through the mail to buy things that we have to have to be popular. The schools across our country and many others are telling us that God is not important in our lives. All we need is a good education and we can do whatever we want in this world. Our banks are trying to give us charge cards to make our lives easier. The problem is that a majority of us are spending more than we are earning and it causes health problems. There has to be a better way.
The Bible tells us that there is a better way. We are not to fit in with the world’s way of thinking. We are to rethink our needs and wants. We are to change our mind through the power of the Holy Spirit. With a changed mind we can completely changeover our life into what will fit in with the way God wants us to live.
We need to count on Christ to give us good direction in our lives. It is to take time to be with HIM in the Word and in our prayer time. Sometimes it even means taking time to stop eating and spend more time with HIM. The world wants us to be too busy for time with Christ. Christ wants us to come apart for a while and spend time with HIM and HE will lead us concerning what to do and say. HE has promised to meet all our needs. HE has not promised to meet all our wants.
The world makes our want list. To think properly we need to keep our need list before the LORD. With Christ in our life there is a complete change for the better. Part of the change is to use our gift from the Holy Spirit in the service of the local church. Part of the change is described in the rest of this chapter. One characteristic of the change is to open our homes to those who are less fortunate than we are. HE wants to put joy in our life even during times of suffering. Amazing!!!
CHALLENGE: There needs to be a rewiring of our thinking through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Ask HIM each morning for HIS instructions for the day.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt with every man the measure of faith. (4993 “soberly” [sophroneo] means be sober minded, to be in one’s right mind, to exercise self control, to curb one’s passions, to have sound judgment, or to be reasonable)
DEVOTION: Paul warns believers of something that can happen to them as they continue to serve the LORD. The first two verses encourage us to serve the LORD. They tell us that this is a privilege that we should not take for granted.
One of the things that change as we start serving the LORD is that there is a tendency to look around at other believers. We can get a very high opinion of ourselves as we serve the LORD. We can see that we are doing more than others. We can see even that we are doing more than those who are being paid to serve the LORD. We develop a pride in ourselves that begins to affect our service to the LORD. It happens to many in the service of the LORD. They tend to get bitter. They tend to complain about others. They are headed in the wrong direction. That is why Paul warns us to be careful. We can fall into this trap.
God is the one who is supposed to judge others. We are not held responsible for others failing the LORD. We can bring it to the attention of those responsible in the church or we can if someone is sinning bring that to the attention of the congregation after the elders of the church have investigated the issue.
God wants us to look honestly at our service to HIM. We know if we are genuine in our service or bragging about doing more than we really are for HIM. We are not to brag. We are to serve with gladness. This brings glory to God.
Some people are more gifted than we are and that should be an occasion to rejoice in their gift. Those in higher positions in churches will be judged according to their position by the LORD at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
CHALLENGE: If they don’t use the gift they have been given by the LORD – HE will handle it!!
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place to wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is MINE, I will repay, says the Lord. (1556 “avenge”[ekdikeo] means to vindicate one’s right, to protect, to take revenge for a perceived wrong, vindicate, grant, to exact vengeance for, to do justice to or punish)
DEVOTION: Getting even with someone who has hurt us is a normal human response to those who hurt us. We want to hurt back. We shouldn’t let others take advantage of us. We should show people that we have courage and the ability to fight back when attacked either physically or verbally. We don’t want to be a doormat.
All this makes sense to those who are outside of Christ. We are called to not avenge ourselves. We are not to be overcome by anger. We are to turn those who hurt us over to the LORD to let HIM handle it in HIS time.
That is the command. Obedience is another thing. It is not easy to obey this command. It seems like we are allowing those who lie about us or hurt us in other ways to have the upper hand. They don’t have the upper hand – God does. HE knows how to handle things better than we do. If we try to defend ourselves sometimes it makes us look guilty instead of innocent. That gives our enemies more ammunition to put us down.
Walking away is never easy but if we are innocent it will not matter what people think of us. It is what God thinks of us that is most important. We should pray that person or those persons into the hand of God for HIM to deal with as HE sees fit.
However, there are times when we are falsely accused that the Holy Spirit gives us the words to say to defend ourselves against some enemies.
CHALLENGE: It is hard to understand which circumstance is which, but the LORD will give us discernment as to when to walk away and give it to HIM and when to speak up. Listen to HIM!!
DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
Instant in prayerverse 12
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
For it is writtenverse 19
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
God verses 1-3
Mercies of Godverse 1
Will of Godverse 2
Good
Acceptable
Perfect
God deals measure of faith to each belieververse 3
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
Christverse 5
Christ makes church one bodyverse 5
Lordverses 11, 19
Vengenance is MINEverse 19
I will repayverse 19
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Conformed to this worldverse 2
Think highly of selfverse 3
Love with dissimulationverse 9
Evilverses 9, 17, 21
Slothfulverse 11
Curseverse 14
Mind high thingsverse 16
Conceitsverse 16
Avenging selfverse 19
Wrathverse 19
Vengeanceverse 19
Overcome with Evilverse 21
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Brethrenverse 1
Present your bodiesverse 1
Living sacrifice
Acceptable to God
Reasonable service
Not conformed to this worldverse 2
Transformedverse 2
Renewing of mindverse 2
Will of God (good, acceptable, perfect)verse 2
Graceverses 3, 6
Not think more highly than he oughtverse 3
Think soberlyverse 3
Faithverses 3, 6
Gifts differlyverse 6
Simplicityverse 8
Showing mercyverse 8
Cheerfulnessverse 8
Love without dissimulationverse 9
Hate evilverse 9
Cleave to goodverses 9, 21
Kindly affectionedverse 10
Brotherly loveverse 10
Preferring one anotherverse 10
Not slothfulverse 11
Fervent in spiritverse 11
Servingverse 11
Rejoiceverses 12, 15
Patientverse 12
Continue instantly in prayerverse 12
Saintsverse 13
Given to hospitalityverse 13
Bless them that persecuteverse 14
Weep with those who weepverse 15
Same mindverse 16
Recompense no manverse 17
Honestverse 17
Avenge not yourselvesverse 19
Feed enemyverse 20
Give enemy drinkverse 20
Be NOT overcome with evilverse 21
Overcome evil with goodverse 21
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
Church (New Testament people of God)
Brethrenverse 1
Reasonable serviceverse 1
Membersverse 4
Officeverse 4
One body in Christverse 5
Giftsverse 6
Prophecyverse 6
Ministryverse 7
Teachersverse 7
Exhortersverse 8
Rulersverse 8
Showing mercyverse 8
Distributing to necessity of saintsverse 13
Saintsverse 13
Curse notverse 14
Live peaceably with all menverse 18
Last Things (Future Events)
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QUOTES regarding passage
12:19–21. Referring again to the negative (cf. v. 17a) Paul then exhorted his readers not to take revenge after they are misused. Instead they should leave room for God’s wrath (lit., “for the wrath”), because God has promised to avenge His people: It is Mine to avenge, I will repay (Deut. 32:35; cf. Heb. 10:30). David’s refusal to kill Saul on two occasions when it seemed that God had delivered Saul into David’s hands is a classic biblical example of this principle. In light of God’s promise to execute vengeance, a Christian should therefore feed his enemy and quench his thirst—in short, respond to his evil with Christian love. Heaping burning coals on his head, along with the first part of Romans 12:20, is a quotation from Proverbs 25:21–22. The coals on the head may refer to a ritual in Egypt in which a person showed his repentance by carrying a pan of burning charcoal on his head. Helping rather than cursing an enemy may cause him to be ashamed and penitent. As Paul summarized, Do not be overcome by evil, giving in to the temptation to retaliate, but overcome evil with good (cf. Matt. 5:44, “love your enemies”). Again positive and negative commands are put together (cf. Rom. 12:9, 11, 16–20). (Witmer, J. A. (1985). Romans. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 490). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books)
In vv. 19–21, Paul refers to Prov. 25:21–22 and Deut. 32:35. (See also Heb 10:30.) The principle stated here is that the believer has turned himself over to the Lord (12:1–2), and therefore the Lord must take care of him and help fight his battles. We need spiritual wisdom (James 1:5) when it comes to dealing with the enemies of the cross, lest we be a bad testimony on the one hand, or cheapen the Gospel on the other. Paul used the Roman law on three occasions to protect himself and the testimony of the Gospel (see Acts 16:35–40; 22:24–29; 25:10–12), yet he was willing to become all things to all men that he might win some to Christ. If we practice Rom. 12:1–2 daily, we can be sure He will direct us in obeying the rest of the chapter. (Wiersbe, W. W. (1992). Wiersbe’s expository outlines on the New Testament (p. 402). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books)
12:20, 21 Freed from vengeance, believers can give themselves to mercy, even toward their enemies. By acts of kindness, the believers will heap coals of fire on the head of their enemies, perhaps bringing shame and repentance to them. It is possible for an enemy to become a friend. This is the phenomenal power of God’s love that believers are connected to through Christ. (Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 1449). Nashville: T. Nelson Publishers)
This last precept, ‘Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good,’ is cast into a form which covers not only relations to enemies, but all contact with evil of every kind. It involves many great thoughts which can here be only touched. It implies that in all our lives we have to fight evil, and that it conquers, and we are beaten When we are led to do it. It is only conquered by being transformed into good. We overcome our foes when we win them to be lovers. We overcome our temptations to doing wrong when we make them occasions for developing virtues; we overcome the evil of sorrow when we use it to bring us nearer to God; we overcome the men around us when we are not seduced by their example to evil, but attract them to goodness by ours.
Evil is only thus transformed by the positive exercise of goodness on our part. We have seen this in regard to enemies in the preceding remarks. In regard to other forms of evil, it is often better not to fight them directly, but to occupy the mind and heart with positive truth and goodness, and the will and hands with active service. A rusty knife will not be cleaned so effectually by much scouring as by strenuous use. Our lives are to be moulded after the great example of Him, who at almost the last moment of His earthly course said, ‘Be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.’ Jesus seeks to conquer evil in us all, and counts that He has conquered it when He has changed it into love. (MacLaren, A. (2009). Expositions of Holy Scripture: Romans (pp. 303–304). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
Ver. 21. Be not overcome of evil, &c.] Neither of the evil one, Satan, who is very busy to stir up the corruption of nature to an hatred of enemies, and to seek revenge; but give no place nor heed unto him, resist him, and he’ll flee from you; put on the whole armour of God, whereby you may defend yourselves, that he cannot touch you: nor of the evil of sin that dwells in you; for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage; nor of the evil of the man that has done you an injury, as you will be, if you return evil for evil, or take any steps and measures to avenge yourselves; for then not you, but he that has done you the wrong, will be the conqueror: but overcome evil with good; overcome the evil man, and the evil he has done you, by doing good to him, by feeding him when hungry, by giving him drink when thirsty, by clothing him when naked, and by doing other offices of kindness and humanity to him; which is most likely to win upon him, and of an enemy to make him your friend: and if not, however it will shew that you are conquerors, yea, more than conquerors, through the grace and strength of him that has loved you, over Satan, over the corruptions of your own hearts, and over the malice and wickedness of your enemies. (Gill, J. (1809). An Exposition of the New Testament (Vol. 2, p. 551). London: Mathews and Leigh)Prayer
FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
We have heard of a race-boat made so narrow and so easy to overset that the oarsmen had to part their hair in the middle before they took their seats in it, so as to keep it in trim. Even so there are some churches, some little churches, in which the pastor needs to walk very circumspectly, so as not to put more weight on one side than the other. It is a very great mistake to suppose that it takes more grace and skill to manage a large church than a small one. Far otherwise. Christopher Columbus had far more trouble with his three little galleys than Horatio Nelson had with his ships of the line. But the discovery of America was something grander than the victory of the Nile or Trafalgar. A man who can be pastor of a small church, and do his work well, has skill enough for any employment under heaven. Any land-lubber can haul away at a rope’s end, especially if there be a crowd to haul with him; but it is only the “able-bodied seaman” who is able to stand at the wheel, or furl the main-royals in a gale. The largest man is needed for the smallest place. And God can raise up just the kind of men that are needed, men of faith and of the Holy Spirit. If the weak churches would pray to God more earnestly, he would send that kind of men as pastors. All the gifts needed by any church are in the hand of Christ, and can be had for the asking.— Examiner and Chronicle. (Charles Spurgeon 1882)
Because Christ extended His grace to us, we are warned not to have a haughty opinion of ourselves. It is important that we have the right evaluation of ourselves, recognizing that we all have different functions within the body of Christ. And we are not in competition; we are member of one another, just as the various parts of the human body do their individual tasks for the good of the whole body.
Since we have all received spiritual gifts according to the grace given to us, we are called to exercise our gifts in agreement with the faith. In other words, we should be building up one another. (July 24, Living The New Testament by Paul Enns)
The Christian is not a good man. He is a vile wretch who has been saved by the grace of God. (Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones)
OUR FELLOWSHIP IN HIS SUFFERINGS
That I may know…the fellowship of his sufferings. Philippians 3:10
I would now like to emphasize our fellowship in Christ’s sufferings, and our fellowship even in His death. Paul says in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” What great thoughts! We must work them out, think them out, and pray them out.
Paul put it another way in Colossians 1:24: “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church.” I do not pretend to understand that fully, but I do know that there is no higher statement of the doctrine of the union of the believer with His Lord. The apostle interprets his own sufferings in the flesh and in the body as, in a sense, filling up what remains of the sufferings and the afflictions of Christ Himself. Paul is bearing that in his own flesh. The result of the mystical union is that he enters into this mystical fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. There were people living in the Middle Ages of whom it is said that they so meditated upon and contemplated their Lord and all that He had done for them that some of them even developed in their physical hands the imprint of nails, the stigmata. It is not impossible. Such things do happen.
But all I am concerned to emphasize is that the more deeply we realize the truth about this union between us and our Lord, the more we shall know something of the fellowship of His sufferings. In this world He was “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” (Isaiah53:3). That was because of the sin of the world. And because He saw the enmity of the human heart against His Father, it hurt Him, it grieved Him, and He suffered. There is no more delicate test of our relationship to Him and our union with Him than the extent to which you and I know something of His suffering.
A Thought to Ponder: The result of the mystical union is mystical fellowship with the sufferings of Christ.
(From God the Holy Spirit, pp. 115-116, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
Genesis 41
Joseph rises to power.
INSIGHT
God does the work of God, and man does the work of man. The work of man is faithfulness to what God has called him; the work of God is results. If we reverse the two, we can drive ourselves to an early grave. If we keep them in line, we can labor with freedom.
We need not get puffed up with pride when things go well, nor need we get distressed when things go poorly. To Pharaoh’s question, Joseph answered, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (Genesis 41:16). Our job is faithfulness; God’s job is results. (Quiet Walk)
God’s Work of Providence
“Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.” (Psalm 65:9)
The 65th Psalm speaks especially of God’s great work of “providence” as supplementing His primeval work of creation. The latter was completed in the six days of the creation week (Genesis 2:1-3). The work of providence, however, still goes on, perpetually reminding us of God’s care for His creatures. “He left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness” (Acts 14:17).
God’s providential concern, however, extends not only to men and women. “He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle” (Psalm 104:14). “So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts. . . . These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season” (vv. 25, 27). “Behold the fowls of the air: . . . your heavenly Father feedeth them” (Matthew 6:26).
Note that He is not their heavenly Father, He is your heavenly Father—yet He feeds them! He is merely their maker and provider; yet a single sparrow “shall not fall on the ground without your Father” (Matthew 10:29).
He even provides for the inanimate creation, “upholding all things by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). The omnipotent God of creation is thus the ever-sustaining and ever-caring God of providence.
Still, some choose not to believe, even though “that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen . . . so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19-20). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
Don’t think that all this glorious talk about dying to sin and living to God means there is no struggle anymore or that sin will never show up in the believer’s life. The Christian life still entails obedience. It still involves a fight.
(p. 105, The Hole In Our Holiness by Kevin DeYoung)
Genesis 42
Joseph’s brothers go to Egypt.
INSIGHT
This puzzling chapter becomes more enlightening when we suggest that Joseph was testing his brothers to discover if they would treat Benjamin differently than they had treated him. The issue was whether or not they could be trusted to bring Joseph’s beloved brother to him without harm. While Joseph’s heart cried out for reconciliation with his family, he was being cautious for Benjamin’s sake. Joseph was wise as a serpent but harmless as a dove (Matthew 10:16).We should be the same. (Quiet Walk)
TEMPORARY CONVERSION
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that…is offended.
Matthew 13:20-21
Our Lord, because of the danger of a “temporary something” happening, was constantly dealing with this and seemed to be repelling people. Indeed, they charged Him with making discipleship impossible. Take that great sixth chapter of John where the people were running after Him and hanging onto His words because of the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, and our Lord seemed to be trying deliberately to repel them.
Take also the parable in Matthew 13—the Parable of the Sower—and our Lord’s own exposition of it. Notice particularly verses 20-21: “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that hears the word, and anon with joy receives it; yet hath he not root in himself, but endures for a while: for when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, by and by he is offended.” But notice what our Lord says about this same man: he “anon with joy receives it [the Word].” That is what I mean by temporary conversion. He seems to have received the Word, he is full of joy, but he has no root in him, and that is why he ends up with nothing at all. Now that is our Lord’s own teaching; there is the possibility of this very joyful “conversion,” and yet there is nothing there in a vital, living sense, and it proves temporary.
Paul speaks in 1 Timothy 1:19-20 of “holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck.” Now that is very serious teaching. He says the same thing in 2 Timothy 2. There is such a thing as temporary conversion, temporary believers, but they are not true believers. That is why it is so vital that we should know the biblical teaching as to what conversion really is.
A THOUGHT TO PONDER: There is the possibility of a joyful conversion proving to be temporary. (From God the Holy Spirit, pp. 119-120, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
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Joy Is Better than Fun
“Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jeremiah 15:16)
People today seem always to be looking for fun or entertainment. “Fun” is never mentioned in the Bible, so it is evidently not considered to be a very significant part of the Christian life. The word “entertain” is used to speak of hospitality, and such activities as “play” and “reveling” only receive condemnation. (Playing is appropriate for children and animals, of course.)
Christians, however, have something far better than worldly fun—they have heavenly joy! This is the unique privilege of the redeemed, and there are many channels through which this joy can be experienced.
First of all, Christian joy comes through the Word. As even Jeremiah (“the weeping prophet!”) could say: “Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,” as in our text. Then we rejoice in God’s great salvation: “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation” (Isaiah 61:10).
There is great joy also in the privilege of prayer and having our prayers answered: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full” (John 16:24). Christian service and witnessing are a source of tremendous joy when their fruits are finally seen. “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:5-6).
And there is much, much more! “Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4). After all, we know personally the very Creator of all that is good, “in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8). (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)
In his book “When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi,” David Maraniss tells a story about how the legendary coach opened the Green Bay Packers’ 1961 summer training camp. The year before, the favored Packers had surrendered a fourth-quarter lead to the Philadelphia Eagles to lose the championship, but rather than focus in on what had gone wrong then, Lombardi took his team back to the basics. “‘Gentlemen,’ Lombardi said, holding a pigskin in his right hand, ‘this is a football.'”
I was reminded of this Lombardi story recently after a discussion at one of our regional Colson Fellow gatherings. The conversation was trying to get at the root of why younger Americans are increasingly attracted to socialism. One of the Colson Fellows, a member of the millennial generation, offered two reasons I found particularly insightful.
First, the church has largely avoided a whole host of controversial issues, fearful of telling people what to think, but in the process failing to help them think through them at all. The vacuum has been filled by many other voices, including from media and education, telling them what to think.
Second, the historical memory of millennials doesn’t reach back to the Cold War and the existential struggle against Communism. They came of age just before 2008 and the Great Recession. In their earliest economic and political memories, the bad guy was what was then called capitalism.
Add to those two realities that the emerging generation was never taught history or civics or economics, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that socialism has re-emerged as a live option for younger Americans.
Our best response to this, for all of the issues that lie at the intersection of faith and public life, will have to be Lombardi-like. When it comes to politics, to what it means to be a citizen shaped by Christian faith, to those issues that matter most right now, it’s time to go back to the basics.
This will include reflecting on what God intended for human governance, what we can and should expect from those who lead us, and what the limits of government should be. We’ll need to relearn the pitfalls of what Jacque Ellul called “the political illusion,” the belief that all problems are political and therefore require only political solutions.
Today, the political illusion is seen most clearly in those who think elected officials are either the sole source of our best hope or the sole source of our imminent doom. Ellul wrote about the political illusion more than fifty years ago. I can only imagine what he might make of our politics today in which people on both sides of the political spectrum, including Christians, treat political leaders with near-messianic deference.
At the same time, political realities matter. Elections have consequences. The stakes in November’s election seem higher than ever, and everywhere we turn, we’re being told to pin all our hopes and fears on its outcome.
So, what is a Christian to do? Is there only one legitimate Christian view on all issues? What does the Bible say about the Christian’s role in politics? What is Christian citizenship? To which ideas must we remain faithful no matter what? Does God prefer one candidate over another, and how do we know?
(Break Point by Colson Center for Christian Worldview)
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