http://bible.com/events/37680806

Romans 8:1-4

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set youfree from the law of sin and death.  ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.^[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 

Romans 8:1-2 (week 1 review) 

• Paul is facing the battle between pleasing self and pleasing God
• Ultimately Paul cannot win this battle on his own, but because of Christ we have been set free and we are no longer condemned 

Romans: 3-4 (week 2 review) 

• The law alone could not save us.  We couldn’t be good enough, moral enough, or religious enough to save ourselves. 
• We understand the failure of the law, but also the success of Christ. 

Romans 8:5-8

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

• There is a person whose mind is focused on flesh (on self)
  • I ultimately pursue what I want 
  • I take what I want when I want
  • Whatever makes me feel good 
• There is a life whose mind is focused on the spirit 
  • In step with what God desires 
  • In step with how God leads and directs 
• While there is nothing wrong with hard work and determination, our flesh alone has never had the power to transform us. The flesh cannot do what the Spirit alone can.  

• This section of Romans 8:1-8 is the “so what” section.
• (Part 1) IF there is now no condemnation for those in Christ……so what? 
• (Part 2) IF Jesus freed you, doing what the law couldn’t do……so what?
  • What do you do about that today?
    • The answer to that question is found in your mind
      • What you think about
      • Your response to your emotions
      • What compels you, what role you allow the Holy Spirit to play in driving you

Romans 12:1-2

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed  by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Bottom Line:

The change God wants to make in you starts in your mind

What would it look like to take an inventory of your mind….

• What do you spend your time looking at or listening to?
• What do you read and study?
• How do you manage your thought and feeling life? (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
• How do you respond to hardship or suffering?
• How would others describe you? (Faithful? Patient? Joyful?) (Galatians 5:22-23)

The Hope of Holiness is that holiness is not something we do, but something God does in us.  We believe it is a focus on our outward actions, cleaning up the outside. But God wants to transform us from the inside out. 

Other Texts for Reflection:

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

Galatians 5:22-23

http://bible.com/events/32982985

Hope of Holiness Part 2

We’re spending three weeks on the Romans 1-8 Text

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Today, we focus on verses 2 through 4

2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

We are introduced to a couplet – two “laws”

> “The law of sin and death.” The Law of Moses. The Jewish Law. The Ten Commandments. The 613 rules, regulations and practices in the Old Testament – The Rule Book.

> “The law of the Spirit who gives life.” A gift of freedom THROUGH CHRIS JESUS

But, why does Paul make this distinction? Isn’t it obvious?

Do you know this “gospel of the rule followers” is alive and well today.
> Doing is what leads to SAVING

> You don’t need Jesus, you just need morals

> Do what’s right and Heaven is yours.

As you listen, think about the times when you judge yourself, and believe God determines your merit by your works.

What does it look like when you think you can or should earn your way into God’s acceptance?

Reading Romans 7 and 8 together paints a picture of the two “laws” at work.

In Romans 7 “the law” and its synonyms are mentioned 31 times and the Spirit only once. But in Romans 8 The Spirit is referred to 19 times by name.

(verse 3 & 4) 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin (katakrinō He sentenced sin to death)  in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
> The state of sin and death is not because of the law. It is because of US.
> People wouldn’t obey. From what felt like our very first moments on earth in that garden. And once that was evident, the Law couldn’t save us.

“The law is the light that reveals how dirty the room is, not the broom that sweeps it clean. ” 

 But: What we couldn’t do. JESUS DID.
That is the HOPE OF HOLINESS

But why? Ever thought about why it was like this?
> Why Adam and Eve only had to obey one rule and they were offered paradise? Yet they couldn’t even obey that simple command?
> Why through hundreds and hundreds of pages of the Old Testament we read about people promising great things. And then turning their backs on God?
> Why our lives have proven over and over again that we don’t have it in us?

Perhaps one reason is so that we will never forget Him.

That we will always remember, moment by moment, the breadth and depth of what Jesus did for us.

So we would ALWAYS remember Him.

Do you remember?
 

Supplemental Texts

Read Romans 7 and 8 back to back in one sitting, thinking about “the law of sin and death” as over against “the law of the Spirit who gives life.”

Romans 7:7
7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. 

Matthew 5:17
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 

Philippians 2:8

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!

Romans 1-8 The Message Paraphrase

The Solution Is Life on God’s Terms
8 1-2 With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death. 3-4 God went for the jugular when he sent his own Son. He didn’t deal with the problem as something remote and unimportant. In his Son, Jesus, he personally took on the human condition, entered the disordered mess of struggling humanity in order to set it right once and for all. The law code, weakened as it always was by fractured human nature, could never have done that. The law always ended up being used as a Band-Aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn’t deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our own efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. 5-8 Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God’s action in them find that God’s Spirit is in them—living and breathing God! Obsession with self in these matters is a dead end; attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life. Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored.

http://bible.com/events/30235655

Purpose of this series…

Take one passage of Scripture – Romans 8:1-8 – and linger on it, digging deeply to gather its full intent so that God through His word, by the power of the Spirit, might transform us in every way

Romans 8:1-8

8 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, ² because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. ³ For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 7:22-25

²² For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; ²³ but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. ²⁴ What a wretched (miserable) man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 

²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Romans 8:1

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

That’s the essence of Christianity, the message of God to the world.

What does it mean there is now no condemnation?
Who gets to enjoy this gift? 
 

Bottom Line: 

Freedom from condemnation is a fact not merely a feeling for those in Christ.

http://bible.com/events/29051199

Burning Questions, Part 3: Do All Roads Lead to God?

Today’s question: Do all roads lead to God?

Why this questions?

-Our world is increasingly influenced by pluralism, the idea that there is truth in all religions and there is not a religion/faith that is the sole and exclusive source of truth

-Our world is increasingly influenced by moralism, the idea that faith doesn’t matter as long as you live a moral life

-We live in a world that loves choices, but the claims of Christ are exclusive

-it is imperative that we understand what the Bible says to each of us as we seek to understand the answer to this question and how we are to respond

John 14:1-7

Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me. 2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

I AM THE WAY

-The Old Testament spoke often of “the way” – Deuteronomy 5, Isaiah 30, Psalm 27

-Jesus does not tell us about the way, but instead declares that he is the way

I AM THE TRUTH

-The Psalmist speaks of “the truth” – Psalm 86, Psalm 119

-Many teachers could claim “I have taught you the truth” but only Jesus could claim “I am the truth”

I AM THE LIFE

-What all people want in the end is not truth in and of itself, but truth that leads to life

-Life with Jesus and through Jesus is a life worth living

Acts 4:11-12

11 Jesus is “‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Some may ask:

-“How can you believe in a God who is so narrow minded?”

-“How can you believe in a God that only would provide one way?”

Perhaps the question should be

-“Why has God even provided one way at all?”

-“Why has provided any way to redeem such a broken and lost world?”

If Jesus is the only way to God, then it begs the question: “now what?”

What do you do with the exclusive call of Christ and its implications?

Bottom Line:

Knowing the way changes you. Showing the way changes the world.

Other Texts for Study/Reflection:

Exodus 20:1-3

And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.

Matthew 7:13-14

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

http://bible.com/events/27825252Notes:

Burning Questions, Part 2: Are All Marriages Created Equal?

Why this question?  

• There is increased emphasis in our culture on acceptance of the practice of homosexuality.

• It has become a kind of primary litmus test of “tolerance.”

• Some churches have followed this trend and accepted the practice.

•Many churches have been divided, even split over this issue

•It is imperative for us to understand what the Bible says to this polarizing issue and just as important, how we must respond

Genesis 1:27 

“So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

Genesis 2:18 & 24

“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”…

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

1. God created male and female, and each were uniquely in His image 
2. God created sexual intimacy 
3. God created one man to be with one woman 

We read throughout Scripture some clear instructions that the practice of homosexuality is a sin (Leviticus 18:22, Romans 1:26-27) 

Matthew 19:4-6

4 “Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’5 and said, 

‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 

6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

-To be clear, Jesus isn’t asked to address the issue of homosexuality specifically 

-But in speaking to the issue of marriage, it is important to note that he points us back to Genesis 2

-It should matter to us that “marriage” as described by Jesus is between a man and a woman 

-Jesus did look past the moral laws of the Old Testament

-There is no biblical concept of same-sex relationships or same-sex marriages

No, all marriages are not created equal. God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman. 

The challenge is as our culture has ELEVATED its emphasis on the acceptance of homosexual behavior, some Christians have ELEVATED homosexuality as the sin above all others. 

Luke 15:1-2

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

–As believers in Christ, how are we to respond? We begin by taking our cue from Christ. 

-In response to this accusation, Jesus tells three of the most powerful stories about the value of the one 

-To Jesus, each one matters. Each one has value.  No one is discarded. 

-When we consider, not just Jesus’ words, but Jesus’ actions, it is clear that he always leads with love 

-When encountering the Roman centurion, Jesus doesn’t create a thick wall of moral conditions for him to leap over 

-When encouraging Matthew, the tax collector, Jesus doesn’t say “first you need to know where we stand on your sin”  

-People were drawn to Jesus, not because their behaviors were affirmed, but because their humanity was affirmed 

Bottom line: 

Let me answer this burning question with a question of my own: Whom have you disqualified from God’s Love?

Other Possible Texts:

Romans 1:26-27

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

Jude 1:5-7

5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord[c] at one time delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling—these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Luke 15:1-31 

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins[a] and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” 

11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”