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The 260 Journey
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A life-changing experience through the New Testament one chapter at a time.
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It’s Amazing What Happens When We Work Together
Jul 900:04:37Tap to summarizeDay 136 Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 3 In an old Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demanded that her brother, Linus, change television channels, and then threatened him with her fist if he didn’t. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asked Linus. “These five fingers,” said Lucy. “Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold.” “What channel do you want?” sighed Linus. Turning away, he looked at his fingers and said, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?” Just as Lucy’s fingers working together to form a fist can get Linus to change a channel, the body of Christ working together can get a soul bound for hell to heaven. In today’s chapter, the apostle Paul speaks to the power of teamwork. When Herman Edwards was coaching the NFL Kansas City Chiefs, in regard to teamwork, he insightfully challenged the Chiefs: “The players that play on this football team will play for the name on the side of the helmet and not the name on the back of the jersey.” The name we play for is God. And here is what we are to remember as we work together: When one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. (1 Corinthians 3:4-9) Paul and Apollos were the names on the backs of the jerseys. Let me give you five words that come to mind especially when I read verse 8: “He who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” 1. Teamwork. Each member surrenders a high profile. For those who have an ego, this is difficult. We all fight this. Don’t believe it? When you see a group photo, who do you look for first? Yourself! When one member is determined to stand out, then the whole team loses. What causes disunity in the church? A bruised ego. In order for a team to be a team, its members must each be willing to have a low profile. Teamwork means we surrender. We surrender identity, surrender independence, surrender inflexibility, surrender indifference, surrender inequality, surrender self-interest. 2. Talent. Planting and watering are metaphors that refer to a specific gift of ministry people have. The point is that none of us has them all and when you add up everything all of us are doing together, our jobs equal one work. 3. Test. This is the willingness to become one, to go unnoticed and unrecognized. If Paul had said, “I have planted and God gave the increase,” there would be room for self-importance. How humbling it is that God uses more than one person in a person’s conversion! There is not one of us who owes their conversion and growth to just one person. The test is the willingness to let Jesus be wonderful. 4. Time. What does “each will receive his own reward” mean? This refers to the future. This may disappoint you. We all want to be paid now. It says, “will receive,” which is future tense. If we keep a low profile now, we get high pay then. Do you only get involved in church activities that are working? Or something that gets immediate results and is high on the radar? Then you want your reward now. 5. Treasure. There is a prize at the end of this. And it’s worth it. What Paul is talking about here are people. Lives being transformed. When the body of Christ works together, amazing things can happen. When one waters and one plants, a miracle takes place—the miracle of changed lives. That’s what happens when we work together: lives are changed, and God is glorified. Keith Green, one of my favorite Christian artists from the 1970s and 80s wrote a song called “Oh Lord, You’re Beautiful.” In it, he sings, “When I’m doing well, help me to never seek a crown, for my reward is giving glory to You.” That’s the end of working together. When we are doing well, our reward is giving glory to our beautiful Lord.
Transcribe →Let’s Be Real
Jul 800:05:37Tap to summarizeDay 135 Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 2 A friend of mine was just voted in as the new president of a Bible school in the Midwest. When I think of that school, I think of one of the most embarrassing things I did to appear impressive: I lied as I preached to them. I was supposed to speak to students who wanted to start a church, and because we’d just started ours in a very difficult spot in Detroit, they wanted me to talk about it. I not only wanted to speak about it, I wanted to be impressive. I rounded up the numbers—not so bad that they would be suspect, but enough that I would look awesome. As I was speaking, God told me, You just lied. Repent. I mentally responded, Absolutely. When I get back to the hotel. But God said that I needed to fess up right there. I can only anoint truth, He said. When you embellish, then your story no longer has Me in it. God cannot be part of anything that is not truthful. I went through all of this just so I could look impressive. How inauthentic I was being! One of the most amazing stories about authenticity is about former first lady Betty Ford. While her husband, Gerald, was president, she admitted that she was addicted to prescription drugs and that she was an alcoholic. That took a lot of courage to be that transparent—especially being the first lady of the United States. But as a result of her honesty, she got help and then was able to start helping many other people through her Betty Ford Center. All because she said no to be inauthentic. I like this anonymous seventeenth-century nun’s prayer: "Lord, thou knowest me better than I know myself that I am growing older and will some day be old. Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking I must say something on every subject and on every occasion. Release me from craving to straighten out everybody’s affairs. Make me thoughtful but not moody; helpful but not bossy. With my vast store of wisdom it seems a pity not to use it all, but Thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end. Keep my mind free from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point. Seal my lips on my aches and pains. They are increasing and love of rehearsing them is becoming sweeter as the years go by. I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of others’ pains, but help me to endure them with patience. I dare not ask for improved memory, but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be mistaken. Keep me reasonably sweet; I do not want to be a saint—some of them are so hard to live with—but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil. Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places and talents in unexpected people. And give me, O Lord, the grace to tell them so. Amen." No one lived a better Christian life than the apostle Paul. He was authentic. He was real. I love Paul’s honesty to the Corinthians. He was not trying to impress them. He was redirecting them to the One they should be impressed with: You’ll remember, friends, that when I first came to you to let you in on God’s master stroke, I didn’t try to impress you with polished speeches and the latest philosophy. I deliberately kept it plain and simple: first Jesus and who he is; then Jesus and what he did—Jesus crucified. I was unsure of how to go about this, and felt totally inadequate—I was scared to death, if you want the truth of it—and so nothing I said could have impressed you or anyone else. But the Message came through anyway. God’s Spirit and God’s power did it, which made it clear that your life of faith is a response to God’s power, not to some fancy mental or emotional footwork by me or anyone else. (1 Corinthians 2:1-5, MSG) Paul was saying, “I was telling you the truth about me so you would fall in love not with your pastor but with your Savior.” Make sure they are impressed with the Savior not the one talking about the Savior. As A. J. Gossip is attributed as saying, “You can’t come across clever and have Jesus wonderful at the same time.” Sobering words from a nineteenth-century preacher for those who teach God’s Word. The humility of Paul is mind-boggling. Listen to what he says in these three verses: “I am the least of the apostles.” (1 Corinthians 15:9; written AD 54) “I am the very least of all the saints.” (Ephesians 3:8; written AD 62) “I am the foremost of sinners.” (1 Timothy 1:15; written AD 63) He moves from apostles to saints to sinners. And the only time he is the top of the list is for the sinner’s part. Paul gets more and more honest about himself as he gets older. We pretend more as adults. Paul went the opposite way. A. W. Tozer put it this way; “A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself.” When you come vulnerable, you take away people’s ammunition against you. They are not saying anything about you that you haven’t already said about yourself.
Transcribe →It’s All About Who Owns It
Jul 700:05:16Tap to summarizeDay 134 Today’s Reading: 1 Corinthians 1 Sotheby’s in New York City had an Auction some years ago and sold some of the belongings of iconic people. Winston Churchill’s desk, C. S. Lewis’s pipe, and one sheet of Johan Sebastian Bach’s music all auctioned that day. Here are three items and their final auction prices that caught my attention. Napoleon’s toothbrush sold for $21,000. Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s fake pearl necklace went for $215,000. John F. Kennedy’s wood golf clubs sold at $772,500. These items are not worth that price on their own. Think about it. A used toothbrush, wooden golf clubs, and fake pearls. They have no intrinsic value. So, what makes these items valuable? And why did they sell for so much money? Who they belonged to. Since they belonged to someone important, famous, or significant, their price skyrocketed. In today’s reading, the apostle Paul reminds us of our value. Listen to this verse: “In everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge” (1 Corinthians 1:5). Two words from this verse are important: everything and enriched. First, Jesus touches all areas of our lives. Paul says God has an effect on everything. Nothing is left out and nothing is off limits to God. So, when Jesus comes in, every area gets affected. Religion asks for a day a week, while a relationship with Jesus wants every day. Why every day? Because He wants everything. Second, enriched is a money word, a financial word. It means to add value to something and make it pricey. God added value to your life. The day you became a Christian, your value skyrocketed because He started improving every area of your life. He started cleaning up the mind, the heart, the speech, the priorities—as Paul said, “In everything.” But what really makes you valuable is not that you are different, it’s Who you belong to. You belong to God. That’s better than JFK, Jackie O, and Napoleon. These owners were a president, a first lady, and an army general. But your Owner is the Maker of the universe. And since you belong to Him, your value has skyrocketed. Which means at auction, your worth is off the charts. And all of this from being in Him. In Him is such an important phrase. And it is considered one of Paul’s most incredible and most quoted phrases in describing a Christian. Donald Coggan, the Archbishop of Canterbury, drew attention to the 164 occurrences of “in Christ” in Paul’s writing. Listen to his defining of this phrase: It is a strange phrase. We can scarcely find a parallel use to it in ordinary life. If, let us say, an intimate friend of Churchill who had spent many years with him and then had given a decade to the writing of his life were talking to us about that great man, he might sum up his relationship to him in a wide variety of ways. He might say that he feared him or admired him or revered him or even loved him. But he never would say, “I am a man in Churchill.” It would never occur to him to use that phrase. But Paul was above everything else, “a man in Christ.” The part that I love about in him in verse 5 is that because Paul is in Christ, his speech changed, all speech. If Christianity is a heart thing, then it is a speech thing. When you read 1 Corinthians, Paul can’t stop talking about Jesus. Just look at the first nine verses. I will help you by emphasizing a few words so you can see a pattern. Paul, called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother, to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given you in Christ Jesus, that in everything you were enriched in Him, in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony concerning Christ was confirmed in you, so that you are not lacking in any gift, awaiting eagerly the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will also confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 1:1-10, emphasis added) Jesus is in nine out of ten of the first verses. I think Paul’s speech has been affected by Jesus. He can’t stop talking about Him. That’s what happens when Jesus is in the heart, He changes your conversation.
Transcribe →Turn The MIC Back On—Saying Amen Twice
Jul 600:05:17Tap to summarizeDay 133 Today’s Reading: Romans 16 Occasionally on Sundays after I’d finished the sermon, we’d completed the last song, and I’d said the final amen, I’d realize I forgot to announce something to the congregation. I’d have to tell our sound technician to turn the mic back on so I could tell the people what I forgot. I’m in good company. Even Paul forgot something in Romans and had to essentially tell the sound technician to turn his mic back on. Today’s reading of our final chapter in Romans is one of Paul’s most overlooked and undervalued. They are words spoken after the microphone is turned off. Look with me at Romans 15:33. It seems like a great ending prayer for this amazing Epistle. Paul usually ends his Epistles with short doxologies. Here he writes, “Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.” “Amen” means it’s over, time to go, time to eat. Then Paul stops everyone and says, “Wait, wait, wait! I forgot something. Turn the mic back on. I missed a huge announcement!” And then in one of the most amazing chapters that doesn’t get its props, Paul goes on for the next twenty-seven verses before he gives his second amen. Here’s the second doxology, the second closing: “To the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 16:27). Between those two amens Paul mentions thirty-three names! Go back through today’s reading and count them all. He starts with “our sister Phoebe who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea” (verse 1) and spends twenty-four verses listing people who he wants to recognize. Thirty-three names of people who helped him in ministry. Thirty-three names who made Paul’s ministry possible. He’s recognizing them with a “there’s no way we do what we do without these people.” One of the greatest coaches of any sports franchise or university has to be John Wooden of UCLA. He coached his teams to ten national championships in twelve years. He had an 800-winning percentage. He is an icon. In A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring, he wrote "When one of my players scored, he knew he was supposed to point to the teammate who had passed him the ball or made the block that allowed that basket to happen. It wasn’t about deflecting praise, but about sharing it with everyone who was working hard as a part of the team." Today many athletes thump their chests while the team has to follow them around as they carry on without giving any recognition to anyone who helped them get there. When was the last time you saw a defensive end sack a quarterback and then turn around and point to every defensive lineman who made the hole so he can get in? Never! He stands in the middle of the field as if it were his talent alone that gave him that moment and forgot to point to all the players who made it happen for him. Wooden said his dad taught him, “There is nothing you know that you haven’t learned from someone else. . . . He . . . was reminding us to always be thankful for each lesson an individual offers, wittingly or unwittingly, because those lessons become a kind of borrowed experience.” I found this short course in human relations from an unknown, but very wise, author: The six most important words: I admit I made a mistake The five most important words: You did a good job The four most important words: What do you think? The three most important words: I love you The two most important words: Thank you The one most important word: We The least important word: I After Ronald Reagan became the fortieth president, he put a plaque on his desk to remind him of an important piece of wisdom: “There is no limit to how far a person may go as long as he doesn’t care who gets the credit.” Romans 16 is best known for its pointing fingers instead of thumping chests. No doubt behind every one of these names there is a hidden story. Time wouldn’t allow us to trace their individual stories. Whatever their stories may have been, those people influenced and helped Paul in his work, and Paul knew it. That’s why he turned the mic back on and gave well-deserved shout outs to otherwise-would-be-considered no names. Paul portrayed a good model, which even Albert Einstein followed: “A hundred times a day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received.” Here’s a challenge for you today. Thank someone for their investment and help in your life. Thank a parent, a pastor, a professor, or a friend. Send them a text, an email, or call and thank them. Listen to Coach Wooden and don’t come down the court thumping your chest. Remember that a bunch of other people helped you to be where you are today. Paul had at least thirty-three of them. I had a lot more than thirty-three. How many do you have?
Transcribe →Why The 929 is Legit
Jul 300:03:43Tap to summarizeDay 132 Today’s Reading: Romans 15 In today’s reading the apostle Paul is about to tell us how legit the Old Testament is. We are going to be given a reason why we should think larger than 260. The New Testament has 260 chapters that we are reading through together. But we don’t have to stop there! The Bible has 929 other chapters that also have purpose. As Paul tells us, “Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope” (Romans 15:4, NIV). The “everything was written in the past” is defined as the Old Testament narrative—the Old Testament stories. The 929 chapters beyond the 260. But Paul is saying these are not “just” stories. These are “our stories.” Paul is telling us to take notice of people’s stories in those 929 chapters. There is wisdom and instruction in them for our lives. Since we know not every story in those chapters end with “they lived happily ever after,” we need them as reminders and warnings not to let their stories become our stories. Always remember, we don’t have to experience something to gain wisdom and understanding. That saying, “Experience is the best teacher”? That isn’t completely true. I don’t need to get on drugs or get a DUI to know that those things are bad for me. Instead evaluated experience is the best teacher. And many times our best evaluating comes by observing and learning about what others have gone through. Paul is telling us that the stories in the Old Testament are not just stories to read, they are stories to heed. The Old Testament gives us what others experienced and asks us to evaluate and to receive from them wisdom for personal growth and instruction and to avoid failures and even train wrecks. Christian author, the late R. C. Sproul got to the real problem of why we don’t make those stories our stories: Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God’s Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. We can find stories for every circumstance we may face. There are Old Testament stories of adultery and immorality, of losing a child, a wife, a friend. There is the story of going bankrupt. There are stories of betrayal, false accusations, and getting through them. There are stories of standing strong against temptation and saying no to sexual immorality, as well as stories of those who gave into sexual temptation and the consequences that followed. We find stories of how to be an amazing witness in a very difficult, ungodly environment. We get to see people’s decisions from beginning to end. All there so we can learn. Paul is saying that we need to read the 929, that they are there for us to take note of, to learn from, to value. You have a bad neighbor situation? There is help in the Old Testament for how to handle that. Proverbs 16:7 says, “When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” How do you fix the bad-neighbor situation? Please God now and make it His responsibility. Some people say, “I just wait to hear the voice of God speak to me.” He did speak to you—in the Scriptures. If you have not been faithful with what is clear, why would He continue to speak? You’re doing well by taking the 260 journey, but remember also the 929. Each time you read an Old Testament story, say to yourself, “These are stories for me. The 929 is legit.”
Transcribe →Bad News, Good News
Jun 2400:04:21Tap to summarizeDay 125 Today’s Reading: Romans 8 Has anybody ever said to you, “I have good news and I have bad news, which do you want to hear first?” I always say, “The bad news first.” I want to finish on a high note. So that’s what we’re going to do today as we open Romans 8. Bad news and then good news: In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. (Romans 8:26) Here’s the bad news, Paul tells us: we don’t know how to pray. The greatest Christian on the planet admits he does not know how to pray right. That’s why he said, “we.” He included himself. Those whom you think are amazing at prayer, all those intercessors . . . they don’t know how to pray. None of us do. Not your pastor, professor, church mother, or older Christian. There is good news: we have help in the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us.” How does He do that? Let’s jump over to Ephesians 3:20: “To Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us.” God takes our ask and makes it better and bigger than we can ever articulate in prayer. What a relief! We don’t have to be eloquent. We just have to ask and God will take that request, groan, or plea and make it bigger than what we just uttered. Paul is saying to us, "Say something, say anything, and God will get it right for you, because He goes beyond our ask." He takes our ask and goes further. God takes what we say and puts power to it. That takes the pressure off of you and me. We can be saved for ten minutes and still be powerful at prayer. Because it isn’t you, and it isn’t me. It’s God. Hymnwriter William Cowper’s words are true: “Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees.” Why? Indeed, we don’t know how to pray. It’s also true that we have the best help to pray. With that understanding, Brennan Manning’s words are an important truth for us to remember: “The only way to fail in prayer is to not show up.” God is committed to taking my simple, silly prayer words and adding power to them. The power depends on whose hands in which it rests. I read a poem by an unknown author that fits our purposes here perfectly. I’ve changed up a few bits to make it more contemporary. A basketball in my hands is worth about $19. A basketball in Keven Durant’s hands is worth about $75 million. It depends on whose hands it’s in. A baseball in my hands is worth about $6. A baseball in Mike Trout’s or Aaron Judge’s hands is worth $19 million. It depends on whose hands it’s in. A tennis racket is useless in my hands. A tennis racket in Serena Williams’s hands is a French Open or Wimbledon Championship. It depends on whose hands it’s in. A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal. A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea. It depends on whose hands it’s in. A slingshot in my hands is a kid’s toy. A slingshot in David’s hand is a mighty weapon. It depends on whose hands it’s in. Two fish and five loaves of bread in my hands are a couple of fish sandwiches. Two fish and five loaves of bread in God’s hands will feed thousands. It depends on whose hands it’s in. Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse. Nails in Jesus Christ’s hands will produce salvation for the entire world. It depends on whose hands it’s in. Your prayer is in good hands; it’s in God’s hands. The bad news is not that bad because the good news is really good.
Transcribe →The Infection in All of Us
Jun 2300:06:05Tap to summarizeDay 124 Today’s Reading: Romans 7 The Nuremberg war-crime trials were trials of some of the most wicked men who ever lived. They were responsible for the deaths of six million Jews during the Holocaust. One of those men was Adolf Eichmann, who killed millions of people in concentration camps during World War II. Holocaust survivor Yehiel Dinur witnessed Eichmann’s trial. He entered the courtroom and stared at Eichmann behind a bullet-proof glass. The courtroom was hushed as victims confronted their butcher. Dinur began to sob and collapsed onto the floor. Many assumed he was overcome by anger or bitterness. However, Dinur later explained to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes that he had been overtaken by a horrific realization: “I was afraid about myself,” he said. “I saw that I am capable to do this I am . . . exactly like [Eichmann].” Wallace concluded the segment with these thoughts: “How was it possible for a man to act as Eichmann acted? “Was he a monster? A madman? Or was he perhaps something even more terrifying: was he normal?” He closed by telling his viewers that “Eichman is in all of us.” In a moment of chilling clarity, Yehiel Dinur saw beneath the skin. We are not morally neutral. We’ve often heard the question, “Why do good people do bad things?” The more appropriate question is, “Why do bad people do good things?” As Augustine said: “My sin was all the more incurable because I did not think myself a sinner.” This idea is what Romans 7 is all about—the infection called sin that’s in all of us. Paul makes it personal, by starting with himself (see verses 9, 11, 13-14, and 17). He reminds us that the great apostle is a great sinner. Sin is the potential evil in all of us. No one has sinned in such a way that others couldn’t also sin. We are all infected by this devastating disease. Listen to how Paul speaks of this disease: I’m a mystery to myself, for I want to do what is right, but end up doing what my moral instincts condemn. And if my behavior is not in line with my desire, my conscience still confirms the excellence of the law. And now I realize that it is no longer my true self doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin in my humanity. For I know that nothing good lives within the flesh of my fallen humanity. The longings to do what is right are within me, but willpower is not enough to accomplish it. My lofty desires to do what is good are dashed when I do the things I want to avoid. So if my behavior contradicts my desires to do good, I must conclude that it’s not my true identity doing it, but the unwelcome intruder of sin hindering me from being who I really am. (Romans 7:15-20, TPT) Listen to verse 18 again: “I know that nothing good lives within.” This is a powerful statement. Why? If Paul reached this conclusion, we all must reach this conclusion. Have you reached that conclusion about yourself? Have you ever, without hesitation or reservation, put yourself before God and said, “I do here and now solemnly believe and attest and vow and declare that in me no good thing dwells”? This hesitation is what holds people back from being born again. They still hold on to the idea that we are all essentially good people. Think about it. Why would God have to send His Son Jesus to die the awful death on the cross if you and I are more or less good and our goodness is what will get us to heaven? If that idea is true, then God is guilty of the worst case of child abuse in human history. It’s illogical. Someone once said, “God formed man, sin deformed him, education informs him, religion may reform him, but only Jesus Christ can transform him.” The transformation starts with the acknowledgment that “no good thing dwells within me.” Sin deceives us by making us think that we are good and that our goodness impresses God. Let me tell you what “religion” is. It’s humans exhausting themselves to impress God enough that He will invite them to His house in heaven to live forever. It’s the belief that we can influence God. Watchman Nee tells a story of watching a man drown while an expert swimmer who had all the ability to save him watched from the dock without moving. When it looked as though the man was going down for the last time, the swimmer jumped in to save the man. The swimmer explained his motive to Nee, saying that going any earlier would have drowned them both. “A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself," he said. When we give up, then God takes over. He is waiting until we are at the end of our strength and we realize we cannot defeat the sin inside of us by sheer willpower. "I" is all over Romans 7 until Paul lets out a final cry in the penultimate verse: “What an agonizing situation I am in! So who has the power to rescue this miserable man from the unwelcome intruder of sin and death?” (verse 24, TPT). And then no more "I"s. The rescuer jumps in the water to save the drowning man who’s going under. Paul closes out the chapter by showing us who can rescue us: “The answer, thank God, is that Jesus Christ can and does” (verse 25, MSG).
Transcribe →There’s a New King on the Throne
Jun 2200:04:53Tap to summarizeDay 123 Today’s Reading: Romans 6 There is probably not a better chapter in the New Testament that deals with the relationship between Christians and sin than Romans 6. That relationship is—there is no relationship. You have victory because sin is no longer in charge. There’s a new King on the throne of your heart. C. H. Spurgeon was right when he said, “Sin murdered Christ; will you be a friend to it? Sin pierced the heart of the Incarnate God; can you love it?” We can’t be a friend to sin. We have a new friend and our new friend is now our King: Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Romans 6:12-14) “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body” (verse 12). The word "reign" is a word for a king or royal who is in charge of a nation and has the throne. Paul is saying that when you get saved, sin is dethroned from the throne of your heart. Now King Jesus sits as the sole authority and He has no rivals. There may be fighters, but no rivals. There may be a coup here and there, but no one ultimately defeats this new King. Sin may be present and sin may fight, but sin will never again be king of your heart. Just because sin fights doesn’t mean it is in charge. Always remember that! Our sin leaves us in a knot, and we need God’s help to unties it. That’s what happens at salvation. He unravels sin and gives us new life. He undoes the knot of sin. Yet humanity tries to redefine the very thing for which Christ died and set us free. • Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination. • Man calls it a blunder; God calls it blindness. • Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease. • Man calls it a chance; God calls it a choice. • Man calls it an error; God calls it an enmity. • Man calls it a fascination; God calls it a fatality. • Man calls it an infirmity; God calls it iniquity. • Man calls it a luxury; God calls it leprosy. • Man calls it liberty; God calls it lawlessness. • Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy. • Man calls it a mistake; God calls it madness. • Man calls it a weakness; God calls it willfulness. Paul goes on to say in verse 13: “Do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.” This verse is important for our understanding of the new King in our hearts. Paul tells us three important things: 1. We surrender to a person. We do not surrender to an idea, a denomination, a church, Protestantism, or Catholicism. The Bible says, “present yourselves to God.” No church can fight off sin like King Jesus. 2. We surrender for a purpose. Paul said, “as instruments” not as ornaments. The purpose in our surrender, it leads to something—righteousness. What are the instruments? The members of our bodies. We surrender our minds, our hands, our creativity, our eyes—all to the King. 3. We surrender at a price. Don’t miss the part that says “as those alive from the dead.” There is something costly here. Jesus paid the price for our resurrection. As Ravi Zacharias said: “Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.” We were dead and King Jesus gave us new life. Something sin never did. Listen to what R. C. Sproul reminds us about sin: “I have committed many sins in my life. Not one of my sins has ever made me happy.” Our new King brings joy to us and tells us sin is not in charge anymore. The Message translation captures the concept of sin being rendered powerless when Jesus comes into our lives particularly well: You must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don’t give it the time of day. Don’t even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and fulltime—remember, you’ve been raised from the dead!—into God’s way of doing things. Sin can’t tell you how to live. After all, you’re not living under that old tyranny any longer. You’re living in the freedom of God. (Romans 6:12-14) Wow! Sin doesn’t get a vote and sin can’t tell us how to live. There’s a new King on the throne.
Transcribe →A Praise That Doesn’t Happen in Church
Jun 1900:03:50Tap to summarizeDay 122 Today’s Reading: Romans 5 In today’s reading, we land on Romans 5 and see a different kind of praise. Praise that I don’t think is done in the church. It’s a new kind of praise for your repertoire. God gives us to much to praise. In Romans 5:1-2, Paul reminds us of the greatest thing to thank God for: “Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2). The Message takes the last phase, "exult in hope of the glory of God," and paraphrases it: “standing tall and shouting our praise.” We praise God that we have peace with God through Jesus. That last part is really important: “through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Not through our promises or our good deeds, but through what Jesus has done on the cross. We don’t get anything from God unless it is through Jesus Christ. In June 2006, Warren Buffett, the world’s second-richest man at the time, announced that he would donate 85 percent of his forty-four-billion-dollar fortune to five charitable foundations. Commenting on this extreme level of generosity, Buffett said: “There is more than one way to get to heaven, but this is a great way.” Sorry, Warren, that just isn’t true. You may know a lot about investments, but you don’t know much about heaven. Religion says, "If I change, God will love me." The gospel says, "God’s love changes people." This is a blessing worthy of praising God. But it isn’t this praise that I struggle with. My problem is with the second praise: Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God. And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope. (Romans 5:1-4) Or as The Message says, “We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us.” Are you kidding me? Exult in our tribulations? I can praise Him for grace and peace—but not for tribulations. How can I exalt when things are falling apart? How can I worship when I’m crying on the inside? How can I dance when I am hurting? What I have learned is that praise has nothing to do with music. Songs may help, but we don’t need them to praise God. Praise goes deeper than a melody line. When we praise God in trials, it means we know something beyond the music. We see a little further than the present. What do we see? That something is on the other side of our painful situations, for “tribulation brings about . . .” something that could not come from music. Paul says that proven character is on the other side. Perseverance is on the other side. Hope is on the other side. That means the music in our church doesn’t have to be that good to praise Him. We can praise God for the other side of our painful tribulation. Romans 5:1-2 praise happens every Sunday. It’s the Romans 5:3-4 praise at which I need to get better. Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “There are two times to praise the Lord: when you feel like it, and when you don’t.” Essentially, when we praise we are saying what David said in Psalm 34:1: “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Let’s add Romans 5:3-4 praise to our repertoire this Sunday—and every day. Even in our tribulations, we can exult God.
Transcribe →Step in Steps
Jun 1800:05:57Tap to summarizeDay 121 Today’s Reading: Romans 4 Romans 4 is just as much a faith chapter as is Hebrews 11, which gets called the hall of faith. Romans 4 gives us a ground level look of the steps of faith of the father of faith, Abraham. Paul shows us a specific situation Abraham had to walk out in faith and how he did it. And then Paul encourages us to “follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham” (verse 12). Let me take you to the dead of winter in the Midwest. Overnight a foot of snow has fallen, and today, you have to trudge through that snow as you walk to the train or bus. In that much snow, you don’t step in fresh snow, you step in steps—the footprints of people who went before you. They left a track that makes it a bit easier for you to negotiate the terrain. The easiest way to walk then is to put your feet where feet have been. Step in their steps and it makes the journey easier. So let’s look for those steps that Abraham already laid for us, and step in his steps. Let’s first refresh our memories about the story that underlies Abraham’s steps of faith. God promised Abraham and Sarah, his wife, a baby. The problem: he was one hundred years old and she was ninety. I’m not a doctor, but I think this is a problem . . . unless you have an even bigger God involved in the situation. And Abraham did. What steps did Abraham leave for us to walk in? First, faith doesn’t ignore the raw and discouraging facts that are staring us in the face. Real faith is able to look at what really exists. This is the kind of faith Abraham had: “Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb” (Romans 4:19). Abraham contemplated. That means he looked at the facts carefully and with great deliberation, looking at every possibility, leaving nothing out. Here is what Abraham knew to be the facts: In regards to himself, at one hundred years old, his body was as good as dead. Regarding his wife, Sarah, at ninety years old, her womb was dead. Smith Wigglesworth once said, “I am not moved by what I see. I am moved only by what I believe.” Faith looks at the situation and faces it. And Abraham’s situation looked impossible. Second, faith finds good footing in God’s Word. I have a Bible that puts in capital letters any Old Testament passage quoted in the New Testament. In verses 17 and 18, that happens twice. It is Abraham going back to what God told him. The two times the capital letters are used are God speaking to Abraham: (As it is written, “A father of many natIons I have made you”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, even God, who gives life to the dead and calls into being that which does not exist. In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” As it was written about Abraham, “A father of many nations I have made you.” That is future. But in the present, he was father of no one. You can be honest about what the situation looks like. But you then must find yourself speaking more about what God says to your situation in the Word of God. Staying close to God’s Word will help you speak into future instead of complaining about your present circumstances. Fill your mouth with what He promised, His Word. Finally, the God you believe in will determine your faith level. There is a biblical phrase used many times about Abraham: “Abraham believed God.” It is used all over the Bible—from Genesis to Romans, Galatians to James. But what makes the phrase valid is that there is another phrase associated with Abraham in the Bible just like this one. It’s in 2 Chronicles, Isaiah, and James. And I think it has something to do with the first phrase. The second phrase determined his faith level. It is friend of God. Friend of God makes belief in God easy. Abraham could say, “Regardless of what circumstances I am facing, my Friend is with me.” The God Abraham believed in was his Friend. He trusted his Friend. That’s why when you connect Abraham’s raw circumstances with his faith in his Friend, you get these verses that The Passion Translation makes come alive: In spite of being nearly one hundred years old when the promise of having a son was made, his faith was so strong that it could not be undermined by the fact that he and Sarah were incapable of conceiving a child. He never stopped believing God’s promise, for he was made strong in his faith to father a child. And because he was mighty in faith and convinced that God had all the power needed to fulfill his promises, Abraham glorified God! (Romans 4:19-20, TPT) Edna Butterfield tells one of my favorite stories of what faith is. Her husband, Ron, works with teenage children who have severe learning disabilities. And Ron started looking at his students’ capabilities rather than their limitations, so he got them to play chess, restore furniture, and repair electrical appliances. Most important, he taught them to believe in themselves. Young Bobby was one of those boys. And he soon proved how well he had learned that last lesson of belief. One day he brought in a broken toaster to repair. He carried the toaster tucked under one arm and a half-loaf of bread under the other. That’s faith. The broken toaster of Romans 4—that’s the age of Abraham and Sarah. The loaf of bread of Romans 4—that’s painting the baby’s room blue, because it’s going to be a boy, and they will name that little loaf of bread . . . Isaac.
Transcribe →