Probably the most common complaint leveled at the church is that of hypocrisy. While that has always been the case, it nevertheless is something the Bible takes very seriously. Jesus reserved his harshest remarks for those who misrepresented God through religious hypocrisy. The word that is used in the Greek for hypocrisy means “play-acting”. Like an actor on a stage, a poser, playing a role of religious piety instead of allowing God to do the difficult and painful work of reshaping the inner-person.

That’s going to be the topic Paul deals with as we continue our study in the book of Romans. We’ll be reading chapter 2:17-29.

In V17-23 Paul describes how the mission and purpose of the people of Israel was described in various places in the Old Testament. This is who they saw themselves to be. Still, Paul levels some serious questions at them. He makes the statement in v23 “You’re so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it.” The difference is vital. Have you ever seen food that looked really good on the outside, only to find it’s just a plastic display? Why is hypocrisy so serious that the warning is repeated so often in the Bible about it?

V24 drives home the imperative of this warning. How might people outside our faith blaspheme God because of hypocrisy?

In V29 Paul plainly declares that outward conformity to a code of conduct means nothing to God. What, instead, is God’s intent with our lives? How can we take steps to keep our focus on the only source of real change?

Hope to see you Sunday!

Newsweek Magazine . 14 August 2006. Excerpt from interview with Billy Graham ~ A unifying theme of Graham’s new thinking now is humility. He is sure and certain of his faith in Jesus as the way to salvation, but when asked whether he believes heaven will be closed to good Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or secular people, Graham says: “Those are decisions only the Lord will make. It would be foolish for me to speculate on who will be there and who won’t … I don’t want to speculate about all that. I believe the love of God is absolute. He said he gave his son for the whole world, and I think he loves everybody regardless of what label they have.”

You would think, when a man of Graham’s pedigree made a statement like that, people would lean forward and listen more closely. “This is something to think about…a perspective to contemplate and pray about.” That was, however, not the response.

If you were in the church at that time, you heard the howls of the defenders of the faith. He was labeled a heretic, a universalist and a false teacher. That response prompted my cartoon, posted above. We have curiously morphed from being people of the Good News to doctrinal police and moralists who think they impress God by what they condemn. I suppose the church has done this a lot throughout our long history. It’s something Paul addresses all the way back at the beginning of the church.

This Sunday we’ll be reading Romans 2:1-16 as we continue our study in that book.

When you read Paul’s warnings, what overall theme emerges to you? Do you think Paul is trying to say there is no right or wrong? What would you consider the best defense against adopting a moralist approach to our Christian faith?

This Sunday we’ll be continuing in our study of the book of Romans – a Story to Live From. We’ll be reading v18-32 of the first chapter.

Last week we finished up with Paul describing how God intends to make things right through Jesus Christ. The last half of the chapter is Paul backing up to explain how things have gone wrong. It’s a two part story, which will continue on through chapter 3 where the wonderful conclusion is described. But, before we get to the good ending, we have to navigate Paul’s description of this broken world

Let me warn you, this will not be the most comfortable section of Scripture to read. It’s going to require a lot of maturity on our parts, and a willingness to consider Paul’s words from several different angles. Join me in praying that God’s grace will guide us in exploring this passage – that we will find ways to be faithful to God’s word and be loving towards all people.

 

“I wish I’d never heard of Christianity” my 15 year old daughter said one day.

“What? Why?” came my shocked response.

“Because then I wouldn’t know that I was breaking all the rules.”

Her answer stunned me. I had been a pastor for only a few years, but I saw myself as the great champion of grace. I was the “grace guy”, I spent most of my teaching time talking about how God’s grace saves us through faith, apart from works. How had my daughter come to the conclusion that Christianity was about keeping the rules?

I’ve come to realize that there is a learning curve to this message. For my daughter, living under my roof and therefore required to function within the scope of my convictions, her perception of Christianity was linked to my house rules. I did my best to explain the distinction, but it would be years before she caught my drift. That is the strange dichotomy that exists between salvation by grace through faith alone and the good works God created us for. The church has had an uneasy history of trying to manage that dance, often falling to one extreme or the other like a drunkard walking home.

For the Apostle Paul, it always came down to faith – but that faith was placed in something transformational.

We’re going to be reading Romans 1:8-17 as we continue our study in that book this Sunday.

The word “faith” is used several times in that section of Scripture. It’s important to understand the greater impact of that word. It is  pisitis in the Greek – and is translated a variety of ways. Trust, believe, faith, faithfulness. It is more than just an intellectual assent to a proposition, it means a truth embraced and then lived by.

That being the case, in v8, Paul says the Roman’s faith was talked about all over the world. What would have been on display that would cause people to notice their faith? How has your faith in Christ made a noticeable difference?

In V11, Paul wants to encourage their faith and have his own faith encouraged by them. What do you think that would look like? How can we apply that to our life in community with the church?

The most famous verses of this passage are v16-17, where Paul makes a grand statement concerning his boldness in representing the gospel. We’ll go into this in more depth on Sunday – but notice how Paul says that the Good News is the power of God for salvation. Not a message about that power. How do you understand his meaning? In what way can you imagine the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection being God’s present power? What does Paul say it takes to unleash that power in our lives?

This is a story to live from. It is God’s transformational power at work in this world. I get why Paul is so stoked about it! See you Sunday!

This Sunday we’ll begin a new study in the book of Romans. I taught through this book 17 years ago, but I’m not sure I agree with that guy, so I’m re-imagining our approach to this magnum opus from Paul. The letter to the Roman church is considered one of the most important books of the New Testament. It certainly has the most robust and dense theological arguments of any of Paul’s writings.

It’s impossible to overstate the impact that this single letter has had on the history and ongoing formation of the Christian church. Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Barth and a host of other important thinkers of the Christian faith all point to this letter as having the greatest impact on their spiritual worldview. The writing of Romans is an amazing example of an intellectual mind from the ancient world.

There is little dispute that Apostle Paul was the author of the letter – written sometime between 55-57 AD. We’ll discuss the reasons he may have written this letter on Sunday, as well as looking at how the letter unfolds and the best way of approaching it for study. Traditionally, this book has been seen as a series of systematic theological arguments on a variety of subjects. I have been persuaded (HT: N.T. Wright, Katherine Grieb) that Romans has a narrative substructure which lays out the story of God’s righteousness, revealed for us in Jesus.

So…we’re going to be keeping story in view as we journey through this epic letter. The Story, that is.

We’ll be starting with an introduction, but then we’ll read Paul’s greeting: chapter 1:1-7. We’ll be using the NLT for presenting the text.

From what we understand, Paul hadn’t yet been to the church in Rome, so he is introducing himself. The letter begins like most ancient letters do – the author identifying himself and stating his position in life, then identifying his intended recipient. Paul elaborates on this formula quite a bit though. V2-6 expand the greeting into a summary of the gospel. Here’s what’s interesting: V2-6 are all modifiers of the original subject, Paul. Paul is still in the process of introducing and describing himself in V2-6.

What does that tell us about Paul and his connection to the gospel? On personal reflection, what stories do you feel have shaped your life so far? If you were to introduce yourself to people who didn’t know you, what stories would you tell that would best indicate who you are as a person?

Based on what Paul writes in his greeting, what sort of person do you understand him to be? As you consider what characterizes Paul, what aspects of him do you admire. What parts, if any, of his person put you off?

I cannot properly express how stoked I am to begin this study! What’s yer story, morning glory?

 

Gandalf’s charge in the second of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is probably one of my favorite moments in all of those movies. Admittedly, those movies are suffering over time (nobody should be allowed to make movies that are that long) – but that moment always sticks out for me. It, of course, reminds me a lot of what we’ll be reading about this Sunday as we continue our study in the book of Revelation, reading chapters 19:11-20:15.

We will be reading about Jesus’ Parousia – Jesus’ second coming. Still – we’ll have a lot of dense imagery to get through, so be warned.

As you read the description of the One riding the white horse – who do you believe He is? Why do you believe his clothes are stained red with blood before any battle takes place.

When we read this opening account, we see two armies lined up for a classical battle scene – but by the time we get to v20, prisoners are rounded up and the vultures are already at work. Why do you think there is no battle described here? What do you think the symbolism of the sword from Jesus’ mouth taking down the armies of the earth may mean?

Chapter 20 is a doozy. It is here, within 6 verses that we have a great controversial subject which has divided the church for ages. The Millennial Kingdom – the 1,000 year reign of Christ. We will be discussing the various views about how this should be interpreted – and I’ll do my best to explain these ideas as simply as possible (we’ll try to avoid this).

No matter how one interprets the details of chapter 20, one thing comes across loudly and clearly. All of human and spiritual creation will be accountable to someone. Who is the Someone identified as? We are told (symbolically) in a courtroom scene that ledgers of deeds will be examined to determine a person’s fate. However, there is one book (singular) which seems to set deeds aside. What book is that? Read Revelation 13:8 – what does the name of that book imply about how we get our names in it?

It will be a sobering, yet hopeful talk we have on Sunday. Hope to see you there!