What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? (Romans 6:15-16)
Funny, I was thinking about this idea when I woke up this morning, I did not know I would be studying this passage. I was remembering the time on ANZAC day a few years ago when I was put in charge of a banner party for one of the RAAF Squadrons, being a Cadet Under-Officer in the Australian Air Force Cadets. I remembered how while we were marshalling, a younger than middle-aged civilian, he had some connection to the squadron whose banner we would be carrying and was standing behind us, telling the Cadet Warrant Officer under my command that the way we had been told to march past the shrine was incorrect and dishonouring to the fallen and we should do it his way instead.
The elderly veterans did not say anything and soon he was telling his ideas to all my cadets and I was standing listening to him as well. I weighed what he was saying in my mind. I had no way to know whether what he was saying was right and true or not. I knew I was responsible for the banner and banner party and I wanted to do right by the veterans to honour them properly. I also knew I needed to make a decision quickly and stick to it, to show any weakness would be to surrender entirely to the will of this charismatic man who seemed to have some connection to the squadron and therefore more right to decide on this matter.
But I knew that if we did something different from everyone else, it would be very obvious and would make the parade look silly. I had been drilled to obey orders except for an extremely good reason, and this was not clear enough to disobey over. I quickly decided. I told the man he could bring his complaint to the parade marshals, but we would follow the instructions we had been given unless given different instructions by out commanders.
The Cadet Warrant Officer and cadets looked unsure, the former asked if perhaps I should go and ask the parade marshals about it. If I had shown weakness at this point I don't know what would have happened. But I said the man could go and ask them, we would obey our orders and that was an order. They still looked a little unhappy, the man was very convincing, but they were drilled in instant and instinctive obedience to orders and they did not question me.
The man began to now focus on cajoling me, and when that didn't work he quickly switched to trying to destroy my credibility. He questioned my right to be in charge, my competence, my character and when I stopped paying attention he started trying to undermine me to everyone else. One of the veterans tried to reason with him and he went a bit more quiet. From then on he muttered snide remarks about me loud enough for me to hear.
It was quite troubling, the remarks continued as we marched in the parade right until we got the point where he had the disagreement with the marching orders. We had been told to simply follow the people in front of us, and that was my intention, he had told us to turn at another point. But everyone was turning at that point, so all his lobbying was pointless, it turned out we were always going to do what he had been pushing for, we just didn't know it.
I never heard from him again, but to me it illustrates this about obedience. When things are difficult we depend on some particular thing to guide us. I depended on following my orders and my desire for unity in the parade and it worked out well for me. God wants us in life's decisions to depend on his commandments. I was the servant of my senior officers, I would do whatever they told me to do on the parade, because they gave me my position and my right to be there. But when a man who is not my master tells me to do something I can disregard it. If I had obeyed the man I would have showed that I did not consider my senior officers to be my masters, but rather my own ideas.
Obedience to God, especially when I don't understand why, is the ultimate sign of loyalty to Jesus Christ.
Sunday, 31 August 2014
Saturday, 30 August 2014
Romans 6:12-14 // Resist Sin
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14)
Do not allow yourself to be a slave to sin, which would drive you to sin. Also do not let any part of your body do something that will lead you into sin but rather obey God and do things that will lead you to a restored relationship with him. The reason we can do the above is that we can be free from addiction to sin by the grace of Jesus, which we trust in to save us; rather than the law, which we trust to tell us why we need saving but we are not saved by.
Sin comes in many forms. If you feel guilty about it, don't do it. Don't do things that you know will weaken your resistance to sin. Do things that you know will strengthen your resistance to sin. Do not allow one sin to cost you your life. Jesus can give you the will and the strength to do all this, just ask him.
Do not allow yourself to be a slave to sin, which would drive you to sin. Also do not let any part of your body do something that will lead you into sin but rather obey God and do things that will lead you to a restored relationship with him. The reason we can do the above is that we can be free from addiction to sin by the grace of Jesus, which we trust in to save us; rather than the law, which we trust to tell us why we need saving but we are not saved by.
Sin comes in many forms. If you feel guilty about it, don't do it. Don't do things that you know will weaken your resistance to sin. Do things that you know will strengthen your resistance to sin. Do not allow one sin to cost you your life. Jesus can give you the will and the strength to do all this, just ask him.
Friday, 29 August 2014
Path of Wisdom
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
This is in the context of a command to love peace and harmony, to not envy each other. So I need to try to understand it in that context. So what does it mean by wisdom from above?
I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee… (Daniel 2:23)
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. (Exodus 28:3)
The wisdom God gives is the ability to know what I need to do now. Wisdom from God is not general knowledge, but the ability to identify what knowledge is needed. We all have values, some are tactical, some are strategic. Tactical values govern the way we believe things should be done, strategic values govern what things we believe should be done. Wisdom is having a good set of strategic values.
The wise student knows what he needs to learn properly and what can be crammed just before the exam because he will never use them again. The wise man realises that nothing in this short life has any significance if he has a possibility of gaining a higher and greater life for eternity, and so true wisdom leads a man to salvation. (2 Tim 3:15) But the wisdom of the world is foolishness because it causes people to value the things of this short life more highly than eternity to their eternal regret. (Col 2:8)
Because God knows everything and always knows the best thing to do, we could also roughly define ultimate wisdom as "thinking about things like God does".
To continue on the verse. When it says first pure, what does that mean? Does it mean "at the beginning" or "above all else"? There doesn't seem to be anything in other translations that points to either over the other. I think it is a chronological reference, because it is contrasted with the other virtues, and it doesn't seem apparent to me why purity would be so much higher here that it rates a special mention but not especially elsewhere in scripture.
So I'll run with the chronological interpretation and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
More could be said about the other things, but you get the idea...
This is in the context of a command to love peace and harmony, to not envy each other. So I need to try to understand it in that context. So what does it mean by wisdom from above?
I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God of my fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee… (Daniel 2:23)
And thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. (Exodus 28:3)
The wisdom God gives is the ability to know what I need to do now. Wisdom from God is not general knowledge, but the ability to identify what knowledge is needed. We all have values, some are tactical, some are strategic. Tactical values govern the way we believe things should be done, strategic values govern what things we believe should be done. Wisdom is having a good set of strategic values.
The wise student knows what he needs to learn properly and what can be crammed just before the exam because he will never use them again. The wise man realises that nothing in this short life has any significance if he has a possibility of gaining a higher and greater life for eternity, and so true wisdom leads a man to salvation. (2 Tim 3:15) But the wisdom of the world is foolishness because it causes people to value the things of this short life more highly than eternity to their eternal regret. (Col 2:8)
Because God knows everything and always knows the best thing to do, we could also roughly define ultimate wisdom as "thinking about things like God does".
To continue on the verse. When it says first pure, what does that mean? Does it mean "at the beginning" or "above all else"? There doesn't seem to be anything in other translations that points to either over the other. I think it is a chronological reference, because it is contrasted with the other virtues, and it doesn't seem apparent to me why purity would be so much higher here that it rates a special mention but not especially elsewhere in scripture.
So I'll run with the chronological interpretation and you can correct me if I'm wrong.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. (James 3:17)
God's wisdom does not lead us to argue with each other or want what other people have. The first result of knowing what I need to do to be saved is that I begin to get sin out of my life. Eventually this will mean that I begin to live up to a higher moral standard than those around me and I will be condemned as a legalist and a fanatic, and when people accuse me of this I will suddenly sympathise with legalists and fanatics and to a greater or lesser extent I will become one myself. But if I continue to let Jesus work on my life I will not stop there.
I will become more relaxed as I stop feeling so guilty and start realising that God cares more about my heart than legal details. So I will become peaceable. I won't argue with people any more. I won't get upset when I am accused of being legalistic or fanatical and people will stop accusing me of it. I will start to get on with everyone, even though most people will bitterly oppose me at every turn. I will be peaceable.
I will realise that pretty much everyone is seriously deficient in loving attention and I will realise that with the love Christ has given me for his children I will do them more good listening and smiling and agreeing where I possibly can than by giving them every argument and evidence imaginable where they are wrong. I will be gentle.
More could be said about the other things, but you get the idea...
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Romans 6:8-11 // Right Thinking
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. 10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:8-11)
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Often, a slave has no way of being released except by dying. So it is symbolically with our slavery to sin. Our baptism has the effect of working as a death to our slavery to sin, but by faith we believe that it is not the end of life, we live on in slavery to Jesus, who alone should be our master.
When Jesus was raised from the dead it was not like most restorations from death. Lazarus was dead four days, so his resurrection was not really the same as resuscitation, there was some miracle there. Yet Lazarus is now dead again. But when Jesus rose from the grave he had a new body that could do amazing things and he could even travel to and from God's universal HQ. Eventually Jesus left Earth in a dramatic fashion and did not return, promising that he would return in the same way he left. So until you see a man floating down from the sky don't believe it is Jesus. But anyway, Jesus' resurrection was special. It was not only witnessed, but permanent. Jesus is still alive out there today.
Jesus died for our sins and lives to plead on our behalf (like a defence lawyer). Apparently in Jewish society at the time, the defence lawyer was also the judge, only the prosecutor was a different person. Jesus is both judge and defender. We are safe in the judgment if we are under his protection.
It can be helpful to think of yourself as dead to sin, you are dead as far as sin is concerned. You do not need to succumb to any temptation. Also, you are alive to God, you are living for Christ, you are still alive so you can still do something for God.
The way you think really matters. Make a point of consciously thinking according to faith. Instead of thinking "I just can't overcome this sin" think "Jesus Christ overcame this sin and he has given me all his power to do the same".
And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. (Matthew 8:13)
Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)
Often, a slave has no way of being released except by dying. So it is symbolically with our slavery to sin. Our baptism has the effect of working as a death to our slavery to sin, but by faith we believe that it is not the end of life, we live on in slavery to Jesus, who alone should be our master.
When Jesus was raised from the dead it was not like most restorations from death. Lazarus was dead four days, so his resurrection was not really the same as resuscitation, there was some miracle there. Yet Lazarus is now dead again. But when Jesus rose from the grave he had a new body that could do amazing things and he could even travel to and from God's universal HQ. Eventually Jesus left Earth in a dramatic fashion and did not return, promising that he would return in the same way he left. So until you see a man floating down from the sky don't believe it is Jesus. But anyway, Jesus' resurrection was special. It was not only witnessed, but permanent. Jesus is still alive out there today.
Jesus died for our sins and lives to plead on our behalf (like a defence lawyer). Apparently in Jewish society at the time, the defence lawyer was also the judge, only the prosecutor was a different person. Jesus is both judge and defender. We are safe in the judgment if we are under his protection.
It can be helpful to think of yourself as dead to sin, you are dead as far as sin is concerned. You do not need to succumb to any temptation. Also, you are alive to God, you are living for Christ, you are still alive so you can still do something for God.
The way you think really matters. Make a point of consciously thinking according to faith. Instead of thinking "I just can't overcome this sin" think "Jesus Christ overcame this sin and he has given me all his power to do the same".
And Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way; and as thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed in the selfsame hour. (Matthew 8:13)
Sunday, 24 August 2014
These Things Must Come to Pass
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. (Revelation 7:3)
The time of great trouble is not to happen until God's servants have been sealed. That makes being sealed something for us to be looking for now.
The time of great trouble is not to happen until God's servants have been sealed. That makes being sealed something for us to be looking for now.
Saturday, 23 August 2014
Romans 6:5-7 // Freedom from Sin (?)
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead is freed from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)
Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. (Isaiah 60:21)
This seems to be a bit of a repetition or reiteration of the previous verses, but there is more to see. So we have already established that by being baptised we symbolically died with Christ on the cross so when we were raised out of the water it symbolised the new life that Christ has given us.
Isaiah 60:21 refers to the people of God as something God has planted. I think the reference in Romans is to being buried, the same way a plant is buried when it is planted, but I think this parallel is still worth noting. So Jesus was planted and I was planted with him. Jesus sprang to life and I sprang to life with him.
Sometimes people talk about our sinful body being destroyed and replaced with a sinless body when Jesus returns. But here the Bible teaches that at the point of conversion our body is, in some profound way, destroyed and so from the point of conversion we are no longer slaves to sin.
When I work for a man I must do what he says, but I can choose to leave and never come back. When a slave works for a man he does similar things but he can never choose to quit, he is a slave. When a slave is freed he may choose to continue working for his old master. When Jesus frees us from slavery to sin, we continue to work for Satan because that is what we are used to doing, but we do not need to do this. As the physically dead man is beyond the reach of temptation or retribution, the converted follower of Christ is beyond the reach of any temptation too strong for him to bear and is also saved from divine punishment.
If you are saved you are not a slave, you can choose to stop serving sin. When I was a child I was a slave to my temper. I would sometimes lose it and could be quite scary, but even when I didn't lose it I simmered with anger, I was quick to resent things. When I confessed it to Christ and asked him to change me, he changed me literally over night. But since then there have been times that I have gone back to this, not as a slave, but a willing participant. The work that the Holy Spirit has been doing in me has been to remove the desire to be angry and aggressive, this has taken a lot of time.
Freedom from the slavery to sin, freedom to choose right and shun (stay away from) wrong is mine and yours the moment we give all to Jesus. To no longer have the taste for sin takes longer, perhaps a lifetime.
Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified. (Isaiah 60:21)
This seems to be a bit of a repetition or reiteration of the previous verses, but there is more to see. So we have already established that by being baptised we symbolically died with Christ on the cross so when we were raised out of the water it symbolised the new life that Christ has given us.
Isaiah 60:21 refers to the people of God as something God has planted. I think the reference in Romans is to being buried, the same way a plant is buried when it is planted, but I think this parallel is still worth noting. So Jesus was planted and I was planted with him. Jesus sprang to life and I sprang to life with him.
Sometimes people talk about our sinful body being destroyed and replaced with a sinless body when Jesus returns. But here the Bible teaches that at the point of conversion our body is, in some profound way, destroyed and so from the point of conversion we are no longer slaves to sin.
When I work for a man I must do what he says, but I can choose to leave and never come back. When a slave works for a man he does similar things but he can never choose to quit, he is a slave. When a slave is freed he may choose to continue working for his old master. When Jesus frees us from slavery to sin, we continue to work for Satan because that is what we are used to doing, but we do not need to do this. As the physically dead man is beyond the reach of temptation or retribution, the converted follower of Christ is beyond the reach of any temptation too strong for him to bear and is also saved from divine punishment.
If you are saved you are not a slave, you can choose to stop serving sin. When I was a child I was a slave to my temper. I would sometimes lose it and could be quite scary, but even when I didn't lose it I simmered with anger, I was quick to resent things. When I confessed it to Christ and asked him to change me, he changed me literally over night. But since then there have been times that I have gone back to this, not as a slave, but a willing participant. The work that the Holy Spirit has been doing in me has been to remove the desire to be angry and aggressive, this has taken a lot of time.
Freedom from the slavery to sin, freedom to choose right and shun (stay away from) wrong is mine and yours the moment we give all to Jesus. To no longer have the taste for sin takes longer, perhaps a lifetime.
Thursday, 21 August 2014
Advantageous Altruism
Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. (Matthew 7:12)
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. (Luke 23:35)
There is an idea in the Bible that like Jesus I should serve and save others even at the cost of my own life. Jesus knows that by trying to save others I will be saved in the process.
I don't need to stop wanting to be saved, but I need to turn my attention from what I need to do to be saved to how I can save others even at my own cost.
When Jesus was on the cross he could have expected someone to save him, after all, he had done so much for so many. I suppose in our lives we will face the same betrayal where nobody stands up for us though we stood for them. But Jesus could have saved himself, but didn't because by suffering he saved us. What a man.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. (Mark 8:35)
And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God. (Luke 23:35)
There is an idea in the Bible that like Jesus I should serve and save others even at the cost of my own life. Jesus knows that by trying to save others I will be saved in the process.
I don't need to stop wanting to be saved, but I need to turn my attention from what I need to do to be saved to how I can save others even at my own cost.
When Jesus was on the cross he could have expected someone to save him, after all, he had done so much for so many. I suppose in our lives we will face the same betrayal where nobody stands up for us though we stood for them. But Jesus could have saved himself, but didn't because by suffering he saved us. What a man.
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