Q: Why did Paul write the epistle to the Romans?
A: Romans 1:5 to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of His Name among all the nations
May our aim today be the same.
to bring about Obedience
of Faith
for the Sake
of His Name
among All the Nations
If any question remained of this being the primary intent of this epistle, the final words of it reiterate the matter clearly.
Romans 16:25-27
Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
the Preaching of Jesus Christ
made known to All Nations
to bring about the Obedience
of Faith
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
day no. 14,933: spitfire
Jeremiah 20:9
If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
There are times where I become discouraged either by feedback I receive after preaching or from feeling internal dissatisfaction with my talent when compared to my taste in preaching. In those moments, I am tempted to give up, quit, admit defeat, or assume that this is my sign that I am not cut out for this kind of thing.
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
But I can never really put it entirely away. I cannot kill it. It resurrects. I cannot ignore it. It screams violently from within. I cannot quench it. It burns inside my bones.
1 Corinthians 9:16
For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
I feel compelled to preach, to study, to learn, to share, to understand, to be understood, to dig deep and aim high. I feel it all and never do I feel a greater sense of God's pleasure than when I am preparing a sermon, agonizing over the precise language, and delivering the fruit of my labors on a Sunday morning at church or Thursday evening at Salt. I love the hard work of preaching. I would not make it easier if I could. Part of the reward is how hard it is to achieve and it is good and godly work.
Jeremiah 20:11
But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior
If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
There are times where I become discouraged either by feedback I receive after preaching or from feeling internal dissatisfaction with my talent when compared to my taste in preaching. In those moments, I am tempted to give up, quit, admit defeat, or assume that this is my sign that I am not cut out for this kind of thing.
Proverbs 6:27
Can a man carry fire next to his chest and his clothes not be burned?
But I can never really put it entirely away. I cannot kill it. It resurrects. I cannot ignore it. It screams violently from within. I cannot quench it. It burns inside my bones.
1 Corinthians 9:16
For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
I feel compelled to preach, to study, to learn, to share, to understand, to be understood, to dig deep and aim high. I feel it all and never do I feel a greater sense of God's pleasure than when I am preparing a sermon, agonizing over the precise language, and delivering the fruit of my labors on a Sunday morning at church or Thursday evening at Salt. I love the hard work of preaching. I would not make it easier if I could. Part of the reward is how hard it is to achieve and it is good and godly work.
Jeremiah 20:11
But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
day no. 14,932: inability limits obligation
Doug Wilson recently pointed out that the Pelagian impulse is to cry, "inability limits obligation."
In other words, if I had no choice in the matter, I can't be held accountable for my actions. I can only be held accountable for things over which I had free choice. You can't sentence me or judge me guilty for impulses over which I had no say.
I want to do sinful things, but I didn't choose to want to do sinful things. I never remember making a conscious decision to be a sinner, I just wanted to sin and saw sin as attractive. It was always the case. I have no responsibility, therefore, for the way I feel. And if I cannot be held responsible for how I feel, then why should I prohibited from acting upon my feelings? If the feelings can't be counted as wrong, then how can the actions that flow from those feelings be any less wrong?
This sounds right in way... right? But only in a way. And that being a way in which we have all been trained and led astray. We collectively, impulsively see the unfairness of it and relate to the plea-bargainer's reply, "How can I be fined for regulations I had no ability to obey? How can I rightly be held accountable for feelings I didn't ask to feel?"
But this is where the divergence between Augustinian Christianity and Pelagian Christiahhhh....ehhhhh.....errrrrr....nity is most obvious.
Scripture has already pronounced that we are born in Adam. We have a genetic marker that compels us to follow his example and sin. We are sinful because we are sinners, not the other way around. We are not counted sinful because of our sins, we can count our sins so easily because we are sinners and are so good at what we do, you can count on it.
We are commanded by God to die to ourselves. We are commanded to go against our impulses. We are not given vague impulses as excuses for disobeying clear commands. We know what we are to do and how we are commanded to feel about our feelings. You can appeal to thine own self staying true, but it will not hold up in God's court. He has gone on record as to what He requires and what He condemns. If you find yourself, by nature, feeling attracted to things He has declared abominations or feeling repulsed by things He has declared attractive, the problem lies in you and your obligation in response to them is to forsake your feelings and follow Christ.
Because we are all born into Adam, each one of us must die to ourselves on some points and go against our natural inclinations if we are to follow Jesus. No one follows Jesus and feels warm fuzzies about His commands without being regenerated from our old nature into a new nature provided by God.
In other words, if I had no choice in the matter, I can't be held accountable for my actions. I can only be held accountable for things over which I had free choice. You can't sentence me or judge me guilty for impulses over which I had no say.
I want to do sinful things, but I didn't choose to want to do sinful things. I never remember making a conscious decision to be a sinner, I just wanted to sin and saw sin as attractive. It was always the case. I have no responsibility, therefore, for the way I feel. And if I cannot be held responsible for how I feel, then why should I prohibited from acting upon my feelings? If the feelings can't be counted as wrong, then how can the actions that flow from those feelings be any less wrong?
This sounds right in way... right? But only in a way. And that being a way in which we have all been trained and led astray. We collectively, impulsively see the unfairness of it and relate to the plea-bargainer's reply, "How can I be fined for regulations I had no ability to obey? How can I rightly be held accountable for feelings I didn't ask to feel?"
But this is where the divergence between Augustinian Christianity and Pelagian Christiahhhh....ehhhhh.....errrrrr....nity is most obvious.
Scripture has already pronounced that we are born in Adam. We have a genetic marker that compels us to follow his example and sin. We are sinful because we are sinners, not the other way around. We are not counted sinful because of our sins, we can count our sins so easily because we are sinners and are so good at what we do, you can count on it.
We are commanded by God to die to ourselves. We are commanded to go against our impulses. We are not given vague impulses as excuses for disobeying clear commands. We know what we are to do and how we are commanded to feel about our feelings. You can appeal to thine own self staying true, but it will not hold up in God's court. He has gone on record as to what He requires and what He condemns. If you find yourself, by nature, feeling attracted to things He has declared abominations or feeling repulsed by things He has declared attractive, the problem lies in you and your obligation in response to them is to forsake your feelings and follow Christ.
Because we are all born into Adam, each one of us must die to ourselves on some points and go against our natural inclinations if we are to follow Jesus. No one follows Jesus and feels warm fuzzies about His commands without being regenerated from our old nature into a new nature provided by God.
Monday, September 9, 2019
day no. 14,931: do not let your brain sit the bench
1 Peter 1:13
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The command Peter gives here is literally to gird up the loins of your mind. The image he is calling to mind is that of a man getting to work, who first lifts up his tunic as to keep it from dragging or getting tangled up. You pull it up and wrap it around your privates in order to keep it from dragging on the ground or getting caught on your legs and to keep your privates in place as you run.
In other words, get your mental nut cup on and prepare to do some mental exercise.
But Peter here applies this same language to what we ought to do regarding our minds. Pick up those loose ends, do not let them dangle. If you're going to get to work, you're going to need to be free from encumbrance. Which means we have to get to work and clean up loose ends in our thinking so that we can be tight and ready for action, not caught up or tangled up on the sidelines.
Do not let your brain sit the bench.
1 Peter 4:1
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
The command Peter gives here is literally to gird up the loins of your mind. The image he is calling to mind is that of a man getting to work, who first lifts up his tunic as to keep it from dragging or getting tangled up. You pull it up and wrap it around your privates in order to keep it from dragging on the ground or getting caught on your legs and to keep your privates in place as you run.
In other words, get your mental nut cup on and prepare to do some mental exercise.
But Peter here applies this same language to what we ought to do regarding our minds. Pick up those loose ends, do not let them dangle. If you're going to get to work, you're going to need to be free from encumbrance. Which means we have to get to work and clean up loose ends in our thinking so that we can be tight and ready for action, not caught up or tangled up on the sidelines.
Do not let your brain sit the bench.
1 Peter 4:1
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking
Sunday, September 8, 2019
day no. 14,930: on your marks, get set... Trinity!
1 Peter 1:1-2
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Peter wastes no time identifying the Trinitarian nature of our salvation. We have been elected to a eternal life and daily living by faith in faithfulness in accordance with the wisdom of the Father, the comfort and compulsion of the Spirit and the sacrifice of the Son.
ACCORDING
The entire redemptive narrative is authored by the Author of all things, God, the Father
IN
The entire ongoing process of being made perfect is attended to by the work and presence of the God, the Holy Spirit.
FOR
The entire aim of redemption is obeying our great God and Savior, the Son.
...
FOREKNOWLEDGE
God, who cannot be overcome, compelled, indebted, bullied, manipulated or overpowered, decided what He would do and ensured it would happen.
SANCTIFICATION
God, who holds everything together by the Word of His power, who cannot be extricated from anything, is actively at work in setting His people apart in actuality. He superintends the process of us becoming what we've already been declared.
OBEDIENCE
God, who is Ruler of all is owed absolute allegiance. God did not organize the entire presentation and then forget to put on the final touches.
Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, 2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood:
May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Peter wastes no time identifying the Trinitarian nature of our salvation. We have been elected to a eternal life and daily living by faith in faithfulness in accordance with the wisdom of the Father, the comfort and compulsion of the Spirit and the sacrifice of the Son.
ACCORDING
The entire redemptive narrative is authored by the Author of all things, God, the Father
IN
The entire ongoing process of being made perfect is attended to by the work and presence of the God, the Holy Spirit.
FOR
The entire aim of redemption is obeying our great God and Savior, the Son.
...
FOREKNOWLEDGE
God, who cannot be overcome, compelled, indebted, bullied, manipulated or overpowered, decided what He would do and ensured it would happen.
SANCTIFICATION
God, who holds everything together by the Word of His power, who cannot be extricated from anything, is actively at work in setting His people apart in actuality. He superintends the process of us becoming what we've already been declared.
OBEDIENCE
God, who is Ruler of all is owed absolute allegiance. God did not organize the entire presentation and then forget to put on the final touches.
Saturday, September 7, 2019
day no. 14,929: rulers must rule by the rules of the Ruler
2 Samuel 23:1-3
Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me,
He that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God.
A ruler is a measuring stick. It is organized according to standards and is then itself a standardized way of evaluating other things by measuring them.
A ruler of people is also a measuring stick. He has standards by which he is evaluated and must himself subscribe. He must abide by the rules of the Ruler of all peoples in order to rule his assigned people rightly.
But no earthly authority is absolute. It is only authoritative inasmuch as it has been given its authority by the Authority.
In order to lead men, you must lead justly, which means by the standards and measures assigned by God, the Ruler of all rulers and the Establisher of all rules.
All rulers will one day be measured by the Ruler for how well they ruled.
Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me,
He that ruleth over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God.
A ruler is a measuring stick. It is organized according to standards and is then itself a standardized way of evaluating other things by measuring them.
A ruler of people is also a measuring stick. He has standards by which he is evaluated and must himself subscribe. He must abide by the rules of the Ruler of all peoples in order to rule his assigned people rightly.
But no earthly authority is absolute. It is only authoritative inasmuch as it has been given its authority by the Authority.
In order to lead men, you must lead justly, which means by the standards and measures assigned by God, the Ruler of all rulers and the Establisher of all rules.
All rulers will one day be measured by the Ruler for how well they ruled.
Friday, September 6, 2019
day no. 14,928: to because or not to because
Acts 28:3-6
When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. 4 When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.” 5 He, however, shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. 6 They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But when they had waited a long time and saw no misfortune come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.
Imagine the scene:
"So a snake bit him? He must be a murderer condemned by God to die."
"He diidn't die? What? He's alive and well. Never mind, he must be God."
There are those whose loyalty is only one misfortune away from evaporating and those whose opposition is only one miracle away from repenting. These are those in whom no stock should be placed. They will applaud you one day and jeer you the next. Their support cannot be assumed and their praise should not assure you in the least. They like what they like as long as they like and don't like what they don't as long as they don't. They will elect you today and impeach you tomorrow. They will promote you this moment and plot to take you down the next.
Do not place your stability in the hands of fickle men.
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