A Life of Law-Keeping is Enslaving

December 13, 2023 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹³For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. ¹⁴For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, ²¹envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. – Galatians 5:13-21 ESV

In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20 ESV). And yet, Paul went on to say, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 ESV). Grace was not a license to sin. The freedom it provided from the Mosaic Law was not a ticket to live as one pleased. Grace freed people from having to keep the law in an attempt to earn favor with God. The law held men captive to their sin, in bondage to their own weakness, and incapable of doing anything about it. But the salvation offered in Christ set men free. It was William Barclay who wrote, “…the Christian is not the man who has become free to sin, but the man, who, by the grace of God, has become free not to sin.”

That is why Paul warned his readers to not use their new-found freedom in Christ as an opportunity for the flesh. They were free from having to keep the law, but not free from having to live in keeping with God’s expectation of holiness. At one point in His ministry, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment of God was, and He responded:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” – Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

Paul used these very words of Jesus to admonish his readers. Loving God meant living according to His holy will. Loving others required loving them selflessly and sacrificially, which is why Paul said, “…through love serve one another” (Galatians 5:13 ESV).

In his letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul provided an entire chapter on the subject of love. In it, he wrote:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, ‘Jump,’ and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing. If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love. – 1 Corinthians 13:1-7 MSG

Look at Paul’s list: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties. Each of these “works of the flesh” reveals a disdain for God and a complete disregard for others.

The moral, ceremonial, and civil sections of the Mosaic Law were designed to regulate the lives of the people of Israel regarding their relationship with God and with one another. But as Jesus said, all of the commandments could be summed up by two simple commands: Love God and love others.

Loving God required a sold-out allegiance to Him as the one true God. The Israelites were forbidden from giving their affections to any other god. Jesus’ admonition to love others required concrete and observable actions. To love another person meant that you could not become jealous of them, get angry with them, lust after them, or take advantage of them. These kinds of actions were antithetical to love.

Notice that Paul’s list has more to do with our relationships with one another than our relationship with God. There is a reason for this. The apostle John wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20 ESV). The greatest expression of our love for God is to be found in our love for those whom He has made. When we love others, we are actually displaying our love for God. Living selflessly and sacrificially exemplifies the very character of God. When our lives are marked by self-control and a focus on the needs of others, we reflect His divine nature and its influence over our lives. But Paul makes it clear that these divinely influenced behaviors are only possible when we live according to the power of God’s indwelling Spirit.

So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. – Galatians 5:16 NLT

Paul points out that a Spirit-led life stands diametrically opposed to a flesh-filled life.

…the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. – Galatians 5:17 NLT

In the life of a believer, a battle is always raging between the flesh and the Spirit.

These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. – Galatians 5:17 NLT

Salvation does not eliminate a believer’s sin nature; it provides him with a way to reject its influence over his life. Paul reminded the members of the Colossian church that they had been “raised to new life with Christ” so they were to set their sights “on the realities of heaven” (Colossians 3:1 NLT). At the same time, they were to allow the Holy Spirit to remove all those behaviors that were associated with their old sinful natures.

…put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming. You used to do these things when your life was still part of this world. But now is the time to get rid of anger, rage, malicious behavior, slander, and dirty language. Don’t lie to each other, for you have stripped off your old sinful nature and all its wicked deeds. Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him. – Colossians 3:5-10 NLT

Paul wanted the Colossians and the Galatians to understand that a life continually characterized by the works of the flesh was a life devoid of the Spirit of God. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have received God’s indwelling and empowering Spirit and, as a result, they are no longer slaves to sin and incapable of living righteous lives. They have been filled with the Holy Spirit and have the power to love God and love others. That’s why Paul told the Romans, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all)” (Romans 8:9 NLT).

The presence of the Spirit within us does not guarantee that we will live sin-free lives, but it does mean that we don’t have to live sin-dominated lives. Living according to our own sinful flesh will always produce bad fruit. But living according to the Spirit of God produces good fruit that pleases God and blesses others. We have been freed from the penalty and power of sin. Because of Christ’s death on the cross and His Spirit’s presence within us, we are free to say no to sin.

The grace of God has made a sin-less life possible. We are not completely free from sin but we are no longer slaves to its wishes and whims. According to Paul, salvation has broken the chains by which sin once held us captive.

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. – Romans 6:6-7 NLT

Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. – Romans 6:14 NLT

Paul’s whole point is that a return to law-keeping is a return to enslavement. The law could not empower anyone to say no to sin; it could only reveal the presence of sin in their lives. The law could only expose and condemn sin but it couldn’t provide a way to resist its influence. That’s why Paul pointed out how his pre-conversion life was marked by a love-hate relationship with the law.

…it was the law that showed me my sin. I would never have known that coveting is wrong if the law had not said, “You must not covet.” But sin used this command to arouse all kinds of covetous desires within me! If there were no law, sin would not have that power. – Romans 7:7-8 NLT

Paul didn’t want the Galatians to exchange the grace of God for a life of enslavement to the law and a losing battle with sin. He had long ago discovered that “the law’s commands, which were supposed to bring life, brought spiritual death instead” (Romans 7:10 NLT), and he wanted to keep the Galatians from experiencing the futility of a life ruled by law-keeping instead of grace.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Sufficiency of the Gospel

December 8, 2023 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

⁸Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. ⁹But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? ¹⁰You observe days and months and seasons and years! ¹¹I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. – Galatians 4:8-11 ESV

There is a common belief, even among evangelical Christians, that all people are seeking after God. But the Bible seems to paint a distinctively different picture of mankind. Ever since the fall, humanity has been on a trajectory away from God, not toward Him. Rather than seeking after God, humanity has been pursuing anything and everything but Him. They have been on a relentless quest to replace the one true God with substitutes of their own making.

In the garden before the fall, Adam and Eve knew God intimately and personally. They had a daily and uninterrupted relationship with Him. But after the fall, they found themselves cast out of His presence, and the further mankind got from Eden, the more distant their recollection of God became. Paul paints a vivid picture of this fading knowledge of God in his letter to the Romans:

For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. – Romans 1:21-23 ESV

As Paul writes in his letter to the Roman believers, God’s character and divine attributes were made visible through His creation.

…his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. – Romans 1:20 ESV

But as time passed, men began to lose their perception of God and their ability to recognize His attributes in the world He had made. They lost their knowledge of God and began to create gods of their own. They worshiped the creation rather than the creator. They even worshiped other men, including themselves.

But Paul reminds the Galatians that they have had their knowledge of God restored. Yet this restoration was not of their own doing. It was not something they had achieved on their own and it was not as a result of their own searching or seeking after God. He emphasizes the fact that they have come to be known by God. It was God who sought them out and not the other way around. God had chosen to know them and have a relationship with them. He had determined to make Himself known to them through His Son.

As the apostle John put it, “No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us” (1 John 1:18 NLT). As a result of placing their faith in Jesus Christ, they had come to know God for the very first time. Up until that point, they had been “enslaved to those that by nature are not gods” (Galatians 4:8 ESV). They had been worshiping false gods. Limited by their spiritual understanding, they were stuck worshiping the “weak and worthless elementary principles of the world” (Galatians 4:9 ESV). Their brand of spirituality was of this world and not of heaven. While thinking they were seeking and coming to know God, they were actually moving away from Him.

But God chose to seek them out. He called them to Himself and opened their eyes so that they could see the truth found in His Son’s death, burial, and resurrection. For the first time, they were able to see the depth of their own sin, the hopelessness of their condition, and their need for a Savior. Rather than attempting to earn their way into God’s good graces, they relied on the grace of God as expressed in the finished work of Christ. But Paul was concerned that these very same people, who had discovered the secret of justification by faith in Christ alone, were allowing themselves to become enslaved again. They were listening to the false teachers who were preaching justification by works. Suddenly, grace was not enough. The death and resurrection of Christ was insufficient. More was required. They had become convinced that circumcision was the missing ingredient to their completed salvation experience. Paul completely disagreed.

Some were trying to convince the Gentile converts in Galatia that they were not fully saved unless they became circumcised and began to keep all the Jewish rituals, feasts, and festivals. That is what Paul means when he refers to observing days, months, seasons, and years. These outsiders were convincing the Gentile believers that their salvation was incomplete and insufficient. There was more to be done. But this teaching ran counter to the gospel message that Paul had shared with them. These Judaizers were casting doubt on the all-sufficient work of Christ on the cross. For Paul, this false teaching was a form of legalism and it was deadly. He would not tolerate it or allow it to take root among the churches in Galatia. Earlier in his letter, Paul stated his amazement at how quickly and easily the believers there had turned their backs on the message of justification by faith alone.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. – Galatians 1:6-7 ESV

There was no other gospel, and there were no other requirements for justification with God to be achieved. Jesus had done it all. The salvation offered by God was not based on human effort, but on faith in Christ alone. The good deeds of men had never made God accessible or known. Acts of self-righteousness had never earned anyone favor with God. As the prophet Isaiah put it, “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6 NLT).

The righteousness God requires is only available through faith in Christ. As Paul told the Romans, “I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also the Gentile. This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, ‘It is through faith that a righteous person has life’” (Romans 1:16-17 NLT).

Men don’t seek after God. They may have a vague concept of a being greater than themselves, but they end up creating a slightly improved version of themselves – a human-like entity with superhuman powers who exists to meet their needs and improve their earthly existence. They create their own warped version of a god who is ultimately lifeless and powerless. The futility of false gods is highlighted throughout the Scriptures, illustrating in glaring detail the idiocy of idolatry.

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
    the work of human hands.
They have mouths, but do not speak;
    they have eyes, but do not see;
they have ears, but do not hear,
    nor is there any breath in their mouths.
Those who make them become like them,
    so do all who trust in them. – Psalm 135:15-18 ESV

The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!” – Isaiah 44:12-17 ESV

These man-made gods have no power. They are the figments of men’s fertile imagination and the works of their hands, and they cannot seek after men. They must be carried everywhere they go. They have no tongues, so they cannot speak. But Paul paints a very different picture of Yahweh. The God of the Galatians seeks after them. He calls out to them. He willingly desires to extend His favor to sinful men and women and He does so through the gift of grace made available through His Son. No one can His favor.

When it comes to man’s justification before God, self-effort is self-delusional. That is why Paul told the believers in Philippi: “I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith” (Philippians 3:9 NLT).

The Galatians had been set free from their slavery to self-righteousness. Prior to coming to faith in Christ, they had been trying to earn a right standing with their false gods by performing acts of righteousness designed to keep their deity happy. But God had graciously extended His favor by having His servants declare the good news of Jesus Christ. He sent Paul and others with the message of reconciliation. The one true God declared the one and only way for the Galatians to discover freedom from sin and the hope of eternal life.

…all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. – 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 NLT

For Paul, there was no going back. The gospel was enough. The death of Jesus had been fully sufficient and had satisfied the just demands of a righteous God. Nothing else was necessary. No works of men were needed. Circumcision was not required. No addendum to the gospel was missing. The Galatians were known and loved by God because Jesus had made them right with God.

A Radical Change in Relationships

May 17, 2022 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

⁵Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, ⁶not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, ⁷rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, ⁸knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. ⁹Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. – Ephesians 6:5-9 ESV

Paul continues to discuss the practical implications of walking as children of light, in love and in submission to one another. But in doing so, he brings up a relationship that is particularly difficult for 21st-Century believers to understand. He has already addressed the relationship between believing husbands and their wives, and he has covered God’s will concerning children and their parents. But now he takes on the the rather awkward topic of slaves and their masters. But in keeping with the rest of his letter, he is still focusing his attention on believers. So, in this case he is addressing slaves who have come to faith in Christ but still find themselves in the same hopeless position they had been in before their conversion.

Based on this passage, there are those who have accused Paul of being a proponent of the institution of slavery, because he refuses to speak out against it. But Paul, like Jesus Himself, was not out to revolutionize the civil or cultural institutions of his day. Nor was he out to bring about social upheaval. He was interested in redeeming the lives of all those who made up the the variegated fabric of society. So, while it’s true that Paul did not condemn the socially accepted practice of slavery in his day, it doesn’t mean he was in favor of it. In fact, in his letter to Philemon, he makes an appeal to his brother in Christ regarding one of his slaves, a man called Onesimus. Evidently, Onesimus had run away from Philemon and had somehow ended up meeting Paul in Rome. Under the apostle’s influence, Onesimus became a follower of Christ.

He ended up ministering to Paul while he was under house arrest. Eventually, Paul encouraged Onesimus to do the right thing and return to his master. Slavery was legal in Paul’s day and Onesimus was obligated to return to Philemon or face severe punishment. But Paul sent his letter to Philemon explaining the change that had taken place in the life of Onesimus and to ask Philemon to see his former slave as a brother in Christ.

For perhaps he was for this reason separated from you for a while, that you would have him back forever, no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord. – Philemon 1:15-16 NLT

This is exactly the kind of context Paul is addressing in his letter to the Ephesians. Slavery was a socially-accepted and legally-sanctioned part of the culture of the day. And yet Paul was calling those slaves and masters who had come to faith in Christ to radically change their perspective regarding their relationship and the institution that determined dictated it. The interesting thing is that slaves, who were viewed as property and sub-human in many ways, were coming to faith in Christ. Not only that, they were becoming members of the local churches. It was not uncommon for a 1st-Century church to have slaves and their masters as part of its congregation. And within the context of the church, there was a unity and equality that was unheard of anywhere else in the culture of that day.

This is why Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia: “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26-28 NLT).

In the context of the body of Christ, everyone was on an equal footing. But while coming to faith in Christ had set Onesimus free from sin, it had not freed him from slavery. In fact, Paul wrote to the Corinthians and told them, “Yes, each of you should remain as you were when God called you. Are you a slave? Don’t let that worry you—but if you get a chance to be free, take it. And remember, if you were a slave when the Lord called you, you are now free in the Lord. And if you were free when the Lord called you, you are now a slave of Christ” (1 Corinthians 7:20-22 NLT).

Paul’s primary concern was the behavior of believers. He was focused on their walk – the daily living out of their faith within the context of their existing social relationships. This is reflected in what he wrote to the church in Ephesus.

Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. – Ephesians 6:5 NLT

We see once again, that their motivation was to be Christ-centered, as if they were serving Christ. Jesus had became a slave on their behalf, even dying in their place so that they might be freed from slavery to sin. Now He was calling them to serve their earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Rather than forced subservience, Paul was calling them to willing submission. Paul gives them some very specific instruction about how their faith should manifest itself in their relationship with their masters.

Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. – Ephesians 6:6-7 NLT

Notice that Paul encourages them to do the will of God with all their heart. What would the will of God be in their particular situation? To walk as children of light. To walk in love. To walk in a manner worthy of their calling. Yes, even within their context as slaves because, in reality, they were slaves of Christ. Their earthly situation was temporary. So, they could work with enthusiasm, performing their earthly responsibilities as if they were doing it for the Lord, knowing that “the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free” (Ephesians 6:8 NLT).

But Paul is not done. He also addresses those individuals in the churches in Ephesus who happened to be masters. He tells them, “Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites” (Ephesians 6:9 NLT).

Their faith in Christ was to have a relationship-altering impact on their lives. Their slaves were now their brothers. And everything they did was to be done as to the Lord. This was a game-changing, life-altering moment in the lives of these individuals. Can you imagine what kinds of renewing of the mind and shifting of their paradigm was taking place as they wrestled with their new-found faith in Christ and its impact on the social construct in which they found themselves? This particular relationship between slaves and masters would put the daily application of faith in Christ to the test like no other.

Jesus did not come to revolutionize the structures of society, but He came to dramatically transform the lives of the people who make up that society. He did not come to radically alter institutions, but to redeem individuals. Political change or legal sanctions do nothing to remedy the condition of the heart. Overthrowing the evil social structures of a society through rebellion or civil disobedience may bring about external change, but it will never fix the problem of sin. Believers living as children of light in the midst of darkness, loving unconditionally, submitting to one another willingly, and obeying Christ joyfully are the true change-agents in the world.

As modern-day Christians, we find Paul’s discussion of slavery to be distasteful and outdated. After all, we live in a nation that outlawed slavery a long time ago. But in Paul’s day it was alive and well. And becoming a believer did not set slaves free from slavery. It didn’t change their circumstances, but it did radically alter the way they were to live their lives. Because of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, slaves were expected to do their jobs differently. They were expected to relate to their masters differently. They were to obey with “deep respect and fear.” And they were to do it as they would serve Christ. Their subservience was now to become willing submission, performed for the Lord, not for their earthly masters. Their work ethic was to be motivated by their love for the Lord. They were still slaves, but they were slaves who had been changed by Christ and had a new capacity to love – even within the context of their slavery. And those masters who happened to be believers, were to treat their slaves with dignity and respect, knowing that they would one day be held accountable by God for their actions.

Paul makes a significant statement regarding God’s view of slaves and masters. He says, “remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites” (Ephesians 6:9 NLT). God doesn’t see as man sees. While He has ordained there to be order, structure, and degrees of authority in the world, He sees all men as equals. He views husbands and wives as equals. He regards parents and children as equals. And He sees slaves and masters in the same way. The key issue is how His Spirit can radically change each of the individuals in those relationships and give them a new capacity to interact and interrelate so that He is honored.

Spirit-filled, Spirit-controlled believers bring a whole new meaning to their earthly relationships. They view their roles and responsibilities differently. They see their positions as opportunities to serve others and honor God. They do their work as unto the Lord. They serve others as they would serve Christ. They submit to others as they would submit to Him. They love as He would love. They obey as if He were the one giving the command. Living under the influence of the Spirit is a life-changing, relationship-altering experience.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

But God…

May 4, 2022 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ²in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:1-10 ESV

Paul put a strong emphasis on the future but he never forgot the past. When addressing believers, he strived to stress the eternal significance of their redemption. He wanted them to understand that their faith in Christ had both immediate and long-term implications. They could enjoy the present benefits of a restored relationship with God, as revealed by the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit.
But the Spirit was also intended as a sign or proof of their inheritance to come (Ephesians 1:13-14).

But Paul knew that, in order for believers to truly appreciate the present and future blessings of God, they must constantly recall their former condition as enemies of God. There was a time when all followers of Christ stood on the other side of the door of grace. As Paul will remind the Ephesians believers in the very next section of his letter, “In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope” (Ephesians 2:12 NLT). This is the very same message he gave to the believers in Galatia.

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. – Galatians 4:8 ESV

Paul understood the power of recall. He knew that an accurate memory of the past was essential if the Ephesians were going to cultivate an appreciation for all that God had accomplished on their behalf. Looking back could provide a much-needed reminder of just how gracious God had been. Their salvation had been undeserved. They had been enemies of God, living in open rebellion to His will and ways. And Paul pulls no punches in describing the desperate state of their former condition.

Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. – Ephesians 2:1-2 NLT

Paul believed that having a healthy and honest view of the past was essential for understanding the glorious nature of God’s gift of salvation. Jesus had not come to redeem the righteous. He had not sacrificed His life on behalf of the good and the godly, but for those who were sin-enslaved and recognized their need for a Savior. On one occasion, when the Pharisees ridiculed Jesus for associating with notorious sinners, He responded, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners” (Mark 2:17 NLT).

Paul’s mention of the devil was intended to stress the former enslavement of the Ephesian believers. Before coming to faith in Christ, they had not been free to do as they pleased. They had been the slaves to Satan himself, “the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God” (Ephesians 2:2 NLT). In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul described the sinister role of Satan in sobering terms.

Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message about the glory of Christ, who is the exact likeness of God. – 2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT

And Paul’s obsession with Satan’s enslavement of the lost was well-founded. It was based on the message he had received from Jesus at the time of his conversion on the road to Damascus. He shared the details of this encounter in his trial before King Agrippa.

“And the Lord replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting. Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’” – Acts 26:15-18 NLT

Paul’s commission from Jesus had been to help set captives free. His entire ministry had been to bring good news, to open the eyes of the blind, and to set the captives free. And Paul knew that, in doing so, he was simply continuing the ministry of Jesus Himself. When Jesus appeared at the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth, He had read a passage from the scroll of Isaiah the prophet.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
   and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.” – Luke 4:18-19 NLT

And when He had finished, Jesus had sat down and calmly but boldly declared, “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” (Luke 4:21 NLT). Now, Paul was carrying on the mission that Jesus had begun. He had been tasked with the job of setting captives free and, somewhat ironically, his efforts had earned him imprisonment in Rome. Yet, he continued to use his pen to proclaim the glorious nature of the freedom made possible through faith in Christ. And he reminded the Ephesians that every believer, including himself, had at one time been a slave to Satan and an enemy of God, “following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else” (Ephesians 2:3 NLT).

But God…

Those two simple words form one of the most powerful and impactful sentences in the entire Bible. Paul reveled in the idea of God’s undeserved, yet undeniable intervention in mankind’s desperate condition.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) – Ephesians 2:4-5 NLT

Mercy, love, grace. Those three words form the foundation of Paul’s thinking on this matter. God showered sinful, enslaved humanity mercy (undeserved kindness). He poured out His unselfish, sacrificial love on those who deserved His justice and wrath. And it was all a display of His unmerited favor (grace) and lovingkindness.

Paul wanted the Ephesians to understand that their salvation had been totally undeserved. They had done nothing worthy of God’s love, mercy, and grace. Their transformation from enemies of God to sons and daughters of God had been the work of God alone. And Paul is unapologetic in his defense of God’s sovereign role in the salvation of sinful humanity.

God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. – Ephesians 2:8 NLT

This point is essential to Paul’s argument, which is why he repeats it three separate times.

It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! – vs 5

So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us… – vs 7

God saved you by his grace when you believed. – vs 8

For Paul, one of the greatest sins a believer can commit is to attempt to rob God of glory by taking credit for something He alone has done. That is why he places so much emphasis on salvation being a gift and not a reward. It is not earned or merited. It is not a form of payment for services rendered.

Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. – Ephesians 2:9 NLT

And yet, believers find it so easy to take credit for something over which they had no control. Their only role was to receive that which was freely given. Their blinded eyes were opened by God. The chains that once bound them were broken by God. The sins that once condemned them were forgiven by God. Their remarkable transformation had been the work of a loving, gracious, and merciful God.

You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. – Colossians 2:13-14 NLT

And there had been a divine purpose behind this radical reformation of their lives. The gift of salvation was not to be wasted or squandered. Their new identity as God’s chosen people was not to be taken lightly or treated flippantly. God had an objective in mind. His redemptive plan was not arbitrary or pointless. And Paul reminds the Ephesians that they were literal works of art, God’s “workmanship” (poieme). They were like priceless masterpieces, created by the hand of the Creator-God, and intended to bring Him glory. And the greatest way God’s people can bring Him glory is by doing what He redeemed them to do.

He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. – Ephesians 2:9 NLT

No longer slaves to sin, the Ephesians were free to do the will of God. With their eyes opened, they could clearly see. With their chains broken, they could freely serve. With their former sins forgiven, they could gratefully obey. They were new creations designed to live new lives in the power of the Spirit of God. And God had important work for them to do.

No Condemnation

June 7, 2019June 7, 2019 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. ⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. ⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. – Romans 8:1-11 ESV

No condemnation. Let those two words sink in.

Don’t allow yourself to blow past them by treating them with that brand of apathy that so often accompanies over-familiarity. Many of us have read this passage so many times that it no longer carries any meaning for us. But if you keep in mind all that Paul has said in the first seven chapters of his letter to the Romans, the words, “no condemnation” should carry much greater significance for us.

Paul opened his letter with the sobering words: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18 ESV). The truth they suppressed was God’s revelation of Himself through creation. People had no excuse for refusing to acknowledge God because He had made Himself visible and knowable through all that He had made. But mankind chose to ignore God. And Paul states that “since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28 ESV). And Paul provides a less-than-flattering list of the things they did that “ought not to be done.” It includes every kind of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness, slander, insolence, pride, disobedience, foolishness, faithlessness, and gossiping. And in chapter two, Paul drops the bombshell that “the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things” (Romans 2:2 ESV). And just so there’s no question as to what Paul means by judgment, he states, “There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:9 ESV).

So, who does evil? According to Paul, everyone. There is no one who will escape God’s judgment because all stand before God as guilty.

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” – Romans 3:10-12 ESV

No one will escape God’s judgment, because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV). And just so we understand what that judgment entails, Paul tells us: “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23 ESV).

Now, look at those two words again: No condemnation.

Those who are in Christ Jesus are no longer under God’s righteous and just condemnation. Which means that His judgment of guilt, which brings with it a mandatory penalty of death, has been lifted. We stand before God, the judge of the universe, as those who are no longer condemned because of our sin. But why? Is it because we got our proverbial act together? Has God removed our guilty sentence because we have somehow reversed our behavior and made ourselves more acceptable in His sight? Of course not.

Paul’s whole point is that we stand uncondemned because we are in Christ. At one point, we stood before God as His enemies, but “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10 ESV). We were made right with God, not because of anything we did to earn or deserve it, but because of what Jesus did on our behalf.

We now enjoy “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 ESV). His death paid the penalty for our sin. He gave His life in our place, presenting Himself as the sacrificial substitute who took away the sins of the world. And His death was necessary because “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22 ESV).

His death on our behalf has provided release from condemnation, complete forgiveness of sin, reconciliation with God, and the promise of eternal life instead of eternal judgment.

But what does this have to do with sanctification? Everything. Notice how Paul links our release from condemnation to our freedom from the law of sin and death. That word “freedom” is vitally important to understanding what it means to stand as uncondemned before God. Our release from condemnation was not temporary or limited to a point in time. We weren’t released for a moment and then left to live under the threat of future condemnation. And yet, that is how many of us view the Christian life. We live under the constant fear of falling back under God’s condemnation based on what we do or don’t do. In other words, we see our behavior as the determiner of our status before God. And in doing so, we display a flawed understanding of what it means to stand uncondemned before God.

But look closely at what Paul says:

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he [God] condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. – Romans 8:3-4 ESV

Back in chapter three, Paul told us the sobering news that “by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20 ESV). No one can be made right with God through adherence to the law. Why? Because the law was designed to make man aware of God’s holy requirements. It told us what God expected, but had no power to assist us in living up to those expectations. Like a speed limit sign on the side of the road, the law displayed God’s expectations and condemned our violation of them. It couldn’t make us obey, but it could expose us when we failed to do so.

But Paul says there is a new law at work in our lives. He describes it as “the law of the Spirit of life.” When we hear the word, “law,” we tend to think in terms of restrictions and binding requirements that keep us from doing what we want to do. But the Greek word Paul uses is nómos, and it has a much broader and more pleasant meaning behind it. According to Strong’s Concordance, it is derived from the Greek word “νέμω némō (to parcel out, especially food or grazing to animals). The law was intended to be prescriptive, not restrictive. The Mosaic law had benefits. It gave directions for life and provided God’s prescribed way for living in unbroken fellowship with Him. In the 23rd Psalm, David describes this prescriptive nature of God’s law. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:1-3 ESV). Through the law, God guided, directed, and protected His people. But the law was weakened by man’s flesh or sin nature. Man couldn’t follow willingly or obediently.

So when Paul speaks of “the law of the Spirit of life,” he is telling us that God has provided us with a new way to live in fellowship with Him. “For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4 ESV). The key is the last phrase in these verses. We are to walk according to the Spirit, not the flesh. We are to live our lives in obedience to and dependence upon the Spirit of God. He is the nómos or prescribed way to live in fellowship with and obedience to God. And Paul provides us with a vivid contrast of the choice that lies before us each and every day as God’s children. “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God” (Romans 8:5-8 NLT).

Our sinful nature is alive and active. But we are no longer slaves to it. We have been set free from its control. We now have the Spirit of God also living within us, providing us with direction for living a God-honoring life and the power to accomplish it. But we must choose to live under His control and not our own. We must submit to His leadership. We must desire what He desires and long for those things that He has determined as best for us. But in his letter to the Galatian believers, Paul reminds us of the constant battle going on within us. “The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other…” (Galatians 5:17 NLT). If we try to please God through our flesh, we will fail. But if we live our lives in dependence upon the Spirit of God, His prescribed means of living a godly life, we will experience life, peace, joy, contentment, and the transformation of our lives into the likeness of Christ. And no threat of condemnation.

Become As I Am.

February 24, 2018March 13, 2018 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

¹⁹“Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, ²⁰but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. ²¹For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. ²²To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: ²³that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.”

²⁴And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I am speaking true and rational words. ²⁶For the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” ²⁹And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day might become such as I am—except for these chains.”

³⁰Then the king rose, and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. ³¹And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, “This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³²And Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.” – Acts 26:19-32 ESV

caesarea-map

The governor and the king sat in rapt silence, as Paul continued to make his defense. But whether they realized it or not, Paul was on the offensive, with a single goal in mind: To share the truth regarding the resurrection of Jesus Christ with the two powerful men sitting before him. Up until this point, the resurrection had been the central theme of Paul’s entire talk. In fact, he claimed to have seen Jesus alive, having received a “heavenly vision” directly from Jesus Himself. And all that Paul had done since the day he received that vision, had been in obedience to the command of Jesus, the risen, living Messiah. Jesus had provided Paul with an explanation for His appearance to him and a description of his assignment.

¹⁶“I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, ¹⁷delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you ¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.” – Acts 26:16-18 ESV

And Paul claimed to have been obedient to the task given to Him by Jesus. It was the very fact that Paul had done what Jesus had told him to do that he had been arrested and beaten by the Jews. “For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me” (Acts 26:21 ESV). Paul knew full well that the reason for his ill treatment by the Jews had nothing to do with him violating the Mosaic law by bringing Gentiles into the forbidden areas of the temple grounds. That had been a ruse. Their real issue with Paul was the message he had been preaching about Jesus being the Messiah, and the fact that he had been preaching it to Gentiles. Paul’s work had struck a nerve with the Jews because it had struck a chord among the people. Both Jews and Gentiles were coming to faith in Christ. But the real stumbling point for the Jewish leadership was that Paul had been propagating the idea that the Jewish rite of circumcision and adherence to the laws of Moses were not necessary for Gentiles to be made right with God. So, in the end, it was Paul’s message regarding the resurrection and the means of attaining righteousness that was at the root of his problem with the Jews.

Paul had an astute awareness of God’s sovereign power and constant presence in his life. In spite of the fact that the Jews had tried to kill him, he knew that it had been God who had rescued him, keeping him alive because there was a greater purpose for him to accomplish. “To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great” (Acts 26:22 ESV). God had protected and preserved him because He had unfinished business for him. And here he was, standing in front of Festus and Agrippa, sharing that “the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:23 ESV). What an incredible opportunity. Even Paul, in his wildest dreams, could not have imagined or envisioned that he would one day stand before a Roman governor and a king, sharing the message of Christ’s resurrection and the hope of salvation that it made possible.

But to Festus, it all sounded like the ravings of a lunatic. He suddenly interrupted Paul and shouted, “Paul, you are insane. Too much study has made you crazy!” (Acts 26:24 NLT). This had not been the first time Paul had heard a Gentile refer to the gospel as crazy talk. He would later write to the church in Corinth, describing the typical response he encountered from both Jews and Gentiles.

So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it’s all nonsense. – 1 Corinthians 1:23 NLT

Festus knew little about the Jews and their religion. And all Paul’s talk about a crucified rabbi miraculously coming back to life sounded like crazy talk to him – much as it does to many today. On the other side of conversion, the message of the cross always sounds ridiculous. Paul put it this way, “The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18 NLT). In other words, it is only after coming to faith in Christ that one can truly understand the remarkable truth of the cross and Christ’s death on it. The description of Jesus dying on the cross for the sins of mankind sounds farfetched and difficult to comprehend. It comes across as little more than some kind of religious fantasy story. But for those who have come to faith in Christ, the cross becomes the hope on which their salvation hangs and their eternal life depends. Again, Paul expressed this sentiment to the church in Corinth.

²⁴But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. – 1 Corinthians 1:24-25 NLT

Festus thought Paul had lost his mind. But Paul insisted that his words were truth, not the crazy thoughts of a madman. And at this point, Paul turned his attention to King Agrippa, appealing to his knowledge of the Jewish people and their ways. Paul somehow knew that Agrippa was aware of all that had happened concerning Jesus. He also knew that Agrippa was the great-grandson of Herod the Great, the man who had been king when Jesus had been born. He was the one who had tried to eliminate the potential threat of Jesus, who the magi had described to him as the newborn king of the Jews. Herod the Great had ordered the executions of all baby boys under two living in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Agrippa had a family heritage that was directly linked to Jesus, the Messiah. And Agrippa, as the official who had jurisdiction over the temple and held the authority to appoint the Jewish high priest, knew the ways of the Jews. He was familiar enough with Jewish history and their beliefs to know that what Paul was saying was based on truth, not fantasy. And Paul boldly asked the king, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe” (Acts 26:27 ESV). What is Paul doing here? Is he claiming that Agrippa was a God-fearer and believed in the Hebrew Scriptures. That’s unlikely. But Paul was putting Agrippa on the spot. He was creating a dilemma for the king, by forcing him to state whether he believed what the Jewish prophets wrote or not. Because of his close connection with the Jewish people as their king, his oversight of the temple and his ties to the high priest, Agrippa had to be very careful how he answered Paul’s question. If he replied that he did not believe what the prophets had written concerning the Messiah, he would risk offending the Jews. So, he chose not to answer the question at all, replying instead, “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” (Acts 26:28 NLT). He avoided the question by asserting that Paul had been trying to convert him. And Paul didn’t deny it.

“Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.” – Acts 26:29 NLT

It would have been Paul’s greatest wish to see Agrippa, Festus and every other person in the room that day come to faith in Christ. He wanted them to become as he was. Paul was chained, but a free man. They were free from chains, but imprisoned by their sin and under the curse of death because of their rebellion against God. Paul’s desire was that they might discover the joy of forgiveness for sin and freedom from the penalty of death found in Jesus Christ and made possible by His death and resurrection. But there would be no one saved that day. And Paul would remain a prisoner of the Roman government. In fact, Agrippa replied that, had not Paul made his appeal to go to Caesar, he could have gone free, because he had done nothing worthy of death or imprisonment. So, Paul was destined to go to Rome. His fate was sealed. But it was all part of God’s perfect plan for his life and His overarching plan for the redemption of mankind.

Free To NOT Sin.

July 14, 2016 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.– Galatians 5:13-21 ESV

Freedom from the law results in license. That was one of the accusations the party of the circumcision leveled against Paul and his message of grace and freedom from the law. They most likely used Paul’s own teaching as evidence against him. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20 ESV). And yet, Paul went on to say, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Romans 6:1-2 ESV). Grace was not a license to sin. The freedom it provided from the Mosaic law was not a ticket to live as one pleased. It freed people from having to keep the law in order to earn favor with God. The law held men captive to their sin, in bondage to their own weakness and incapable of doing anything about it. But the salvation offered in Christ set men free. It was William Barclay who wrote, “the Christian is not the man who has become free to sin, but the man, who, by the grace of God, has become free not to sin.”

That is why Paul warned his readers to not use their new-found freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. They were free from having to keep the law, but not free from having to live in keeping with God’s expectation of holiness. At one point in His ministry, Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment of God was. He responded:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets. – Matthew 22:37-40 ESV

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul provided an entire chapter on the subject of love. In it he wrote:

But this kind of love is only possible through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Without His help and our complete reliance upon His power, we will tend to live in the weakness of our own sinful flesh. We will become selfish and self-centered. We will tend to gratify the desires of our old nature, which Paul describes with painful accuracy. These fleshly desires are the exact opposite of what the Spirit wants to produce in us. They are counter to the will of God and reflect a love for self more than a love for Him. They most certainly don’t model a love for others. Look at Paul’s list: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, and wild parties. Each of these “works of the flesh” reveal a disdain for God and a disdain for those around us.

The moral, ceremonial and civil sections of the Mosaic law were designed to regulate the lives of the people of Israel regarding their relationships with God and with one another. But as Jesus said, all of the commandments could be summed up by two simple commands: Love God and love others. Loving God meant not loving other gods. Loving others meant not becoming jealous of them, getting angry with them, lusting after them, or taking advantage of them. Notice that his list has more to do with our relationships with one another than our relationship with God. There is a reason for this. The apostle John wrote, “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20 ESV). The greatest expression of our love for God is to be found in our love for those whom He has made. When we love one another, we are loving God. When we live selflessly and sacrificially, we are exemplifying the very character of God. When our lives are marked by self-control and a focus on the needs of others, we reflect the nature of God. But all of these things are only possible when we live according to the power of God’s indwelling Spirit.

A life continually characterized by the works of the flesh is a life devoid of the Spirit of God. Those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ have received the Spirit of God. They are no longer slaves to sin, incapable of living righteous lives. They have been given the Holy Spirit and have the power to love God and love others. That’s why Paul told the Romans, “But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all)” (Romans 8:9 NLT). The presence of the Spirit within us does not guarantee that we will live sin-free lives, but it does mean that we don’t have to live sin-dominated lives. Living according to our own sinful flesh will always produce bad fruit. But living according to the Spirit of God produces good fruit that pleases God and blesses others. We have been freed from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin. Because of Christ’s death on the cross and His Spirit’s presence within us, we are free to not sin.

Empowered By the Spirit.

September 13, 2015 / kdmiller55 / Leave a comment

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” – Matthew 3:16-17 ESV

As Jesus prepared to begin His earthly ministry, He inaugurated it with His own baptism. This was evidently a private affair with only Jesus and His cousin, John the Baptist present. John knew Jesus well, probably having grown up with Him, but he had not known that Jesus was to be the Messiah. It was he who said of Jesus, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’ I did not recognize him, but I came baptizing with water so that he could be revealed to Israel.” (John 1:29-31 NET).

It is not quite clear when John came to fully comprehend the unique status of his cousin, but when Jesus came to him at the Jordan River asking to be baptized, John expressed his reluctance, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (Matthew 3:14 ESV). Yet Jesus persuaded John to do as He had asked, saying, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15 ESV). The righteousness to which Jesus referred had nothing to do with Him receiving righteousness or being made righteous. He was simply stating that His baptism was in full keeping with the will of God. It would be an expression of obedience to God, as Jesus willingly submitted Himself to the will of God. And at the same time, it would validate the ministry of John the Baptist.

John did as Jesus asked. “And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him” (Matthew 3:16 ESV). Jesus’ obedience to His Father’s will was immediately followed by the anointing presence of the Holy Spirit and the confirming words of God, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17 ESV). This event does not indicate that Jesus had somehow been lacking the Holy Spirit up until that moment. Matthew has already told us that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. The angel Gabriel had told Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called ‘holy – the Son of God’” (Luke 1:35 ESV). So Jesus was not receiving the Holy Spirit for the first time, but the Spirit’s arrival in the form of a visible dove was a confirmation of His public ministry. What He was about to do would be done in the power of God, and with the full authority and backing of God. Jesus would confirm this when He read from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah in the synagogue of His hometown of Nazareth. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19 ESV).

God’s Spirit gave Jesus the power and authority to proclaim God’s message of good news. Time and time again, the Pharisees would question where Jesus got the authority to do the things He did. They wanted to know who had given Him the right to say the things He said. It was God. The Father had placed His Spirit upon Jesus, providing Him with the right, the power, and the divine authority to proclaim God’s message of good news. And we have that same right, privilege and authority. As followers of Jesus Christ, we have received the same Holy Spirit. Like the disciples at Pentecost, we have received fire from on high. We have been anointed with the Spirit of God so that we might fulfill the will of God. We didn’t receive the Holy Spirit so that we might enjoy happy, whole and trouble-free lives. We have been given a power and authority from God so that we might do exactly what Jesus did: Proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and offer liberty to all who are oppressed. It is our God-given, Spirit-empowered responsibility to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. We live in a unique time in history. We live in the dispensation of grace, when God is offering forgiveness of sins to any and all who will accept it. Jesus’ death on the cross and His Spirit-empowered resurrection to new life has made it possible for men and women to experience the grace of God in the form of the total forgiveness of their sin debt and the undeserved gift of Christ’s righteousness. But that gift would never have been made possible had Jesus not done what He had been commissioned and empowered to do. His obedience made possible man’s salvation. Throughout His life He willingly submitted Himself to the Spirit’s leading. Paul tells us, “he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Colossians 2:8 ESV). All in order to fulfill the will of God in the power of God. And we must do the same. We must rely on God’s indwelling, empowering Spirit to give us the strength we need to fulfill the job we have been given to do. Each of us should be willing to say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, liberty to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and liberty for the oppressed.”

Exodus 3-4, Matthew 27

February 6, 2014 / kdmiller55 / 1 Comment

The Deliverance of God.

Exodus 3-4, Matthew 27

Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey…” – Exodus 3:7-8 ESV

Slavery, abuse, hopelessness, powerlessness. Sound familiar? It should if you are a believer in Christ. The state of the people of Israel living in the land of Egypt was similar to that of every individual prior to their salvation experience. Living in slavery to sin and under the control of the enemy, they were helpless and hopeless to do anything about their condition. But God saw the plight of man and provided a deliverer. He recognized their hopeless condition and determined to do something about it. God did what man could not do. He provided a way of escape and a means of deliverance that was beyond the realm of human imagination, and not bound by the limits of human power.

What does this passage reveal about God?

God is in the delivery business. He delivered Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees. He delivered Jacob back from Paddan-aram where he had fled to escape the anger of his brother, Esau. He delivered Joseph from the confines of the prison and placed him in the palace. He delivered Jacob and his family from the famine and relocated them into the land of Egypt. He delivered Moses from living as a fugitive in Midian to becoming the divinely-appointed leader who would deliver the people of Israel from the oppressive conditions in Egypt, and lead them to the land God had promised to Abraham generations earlier. God delivers because man can’t. Without God’s call, Abraham would have remained right where he was. Without God’s assurances and blessing, Jacob would never have risked a reunion with his brother. Without God’s supernatural, providential leading, Joseph would have never ended up a slave in Egypt, let alone that nation’s second-most-powerful leader. Without God’s intervention, Moses would have remained content to live out his days as a shepherd of sheep, rather than a shepherd of the people of God. And without God’s clearly articulated plan of salvation, the people of Israel would have found themselves living as slaves in a foreign land rather than free men enjoying the blessings of the Promised Land.

Ultimately, the story of Exodus is simply a picture of a much greater story of redemption and freedom. It foreshadows a much more important and long-lasting deliverance to come – the one we find recorded in the gospel of Matthew. Here we have the story of yet another shepherd who came to provide release and rest for the sheep of God. But this shepherd happened to be the very Son of God. He was delivered up so that we might be delivered out of our slavery to sin and death. He died so that we might have life. He made our freedom possible by paying the ransom required. The writer of Hebrews tells us, “For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time” (1 Timothy 2:5-6 NLT). Jesus described Himself by saying, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11 ESV). He willingly sacrificed His life in order to deliver us from slavery to sin and provide us with a freedom that includes the rights and privileges of sons and daughters of God Himself. “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1 ESV). God has provided deliverance through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has provided freedom from sin and death. He has provided a restored relationship with Himself. And He will one day deliver us into His very presence where we will enjoy freedom from sin and the pleasure of His company forever.

What does this passage reveal about man?

Man needs a deliverer, and human beings – apart from God’s help – always make lousy deliverers. If left to our own devices, we have a tendency to screw up even the basic freedoms we enjoy. The Jews of Jesus day, while living under the heavy hand of Rome, still viewed themselves as free men. They refused to acknowledge the Roman government or submit to their authority over their lives. And while they still longed for a deliver, they had become content with their lot in life and grown complacent about the reality of their circumstances. Like the proverbial frog in the boiling pot of water, they were oblivious to the danger of their predicament and refused to see God’s hand-picked solution to their problem. The Messiah was standing right in front of them and all they could say was, “Let him be crucified!” (Matthew 27:23 ESV). And ever since, countless men and women have continued to refuse God’s chosen deliverer and perfect plan of salvation.

How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?

God’s plan didn’t make a whole lot of sense to Moses. He even argued with God about it, coming up with all kinds of excuses why it wouldn’t work. But God’s plan didn’t need Moses’ approval. Moses didn’t have to like it or agree with it. He simply had to obey it and trust that God knew what He was doing. That God would choose Moses as His designated deliverer made was as ridiculous to Moses as it would prove to be to the people of Israel. That God could make one of the most powerful men on the face of the earth to willingly set free his substantial, non-paid workforce was a lot for anyone to swallow. None of this was logical. Because it was supernatural. It was going to be a God-thing. The ways of God rarely make sense to us as human beings. Reason has to take a back seat at times when God is at work. Common sense rarely fares well when attempting to explain the uncommon and inexplicable activities of God. That God’s plan for Jesus included His death made no sense to Peter. That a suffering Savior was just as important to God’s plan of redemption as a conquering Christ was difficult for the disciples to comprehend. But God always delivers on His terms, not ours. His salvation is of divine origin, not earthly. The words on the sign that hung above Jesus’ head on the cross, while meant to note His crime, were actually a statement of fact. “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37 ESV). That is exactly who Jesus was and still is. He was their deliver and He was also their sin substitute, taking on the punishment they deserved and offering them a means by which they might enjoy freedom from sin, a right relationship with God, and an eternity in His presence. The freedom Moses provided for the people of Israel would prove to be short lived. It would only be a matter of generations before they found themselves in slavery again, living in a distant land and serving a foreign people. But the freedom Christ offers is of a permanent nature. “So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free” (John 8:36 NLT).

Father, You have provided a means by which I can enjoy freedom from sin and the condemnation of death. It is hard to explain, difficult to understand, but completely free for the taking. Thank You for sending Your Son as my deliverer. Thank You for setting me free and transforming me from a slave to Your son. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Romans 7:14-25

September 25, 2013 / kdmiller55 / 2 Comments

The Solution to Sin.

Romans 7:14-25

Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 7:24-25 NLT

I have always taken comfort from this passage. Here is Paul, the great apostle and a veritable icon of spiritual virtue and Christian integrity, wrestling with the very same issues that plague me as a believer. Even as a great man of God and powerful spokesperson for the cause of Christ, Paul still struggled with the effects of sin in his life. Like me, Paul still had a sin nature. There was that part of him that was still susceptible to falling back into slavery to sin – even though he had been set free by Christ. Remember what he wrote in chapter six? “Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living” (Romans 6:16 NLT). It’s a simple matter of choice. You can choose to obey God or you can choose to obey sin. And it results in a daily struggle for most of us. Paul said, “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate” (Romans 7:15 NLT). In other words, in his heart he desires to do the right thing, but his sin nature leads him to do just the opposite. The problem with Paul is the same one that we face. He had an active sin nature. “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature” (Romans 7:18 NLT).

Paul describes in simple, yet stark, terms, the all-too-common theme of my life. “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t” (Romans 7:18-19 NLT) The important thing to remember in reading these verses is that Paul is pointing out our inability to conquer the presence of indwelling sin through self effort. We may desire to do what is right with all our heart, but our flesh is inherently sinful and incapable of living up to the righteous standards of God. Which Paul describes as a principle of life that manifests in the following way in each of our lives. “…that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong” (Romans 7:21 NLT). It is as if there are two persons living in the same body. One wants to do the will of God, while the other seeks to resist that will and pursue a life of sin. It reminds me of the image of the demon and the angel, sitting on opposite shoulders of an individual – alternately whispering into the poor person’s ears, providing contradictory counsel about what to do in a given situation. Paul describes it as “another power within me that is at war with my mind” (Romans 7:23 NLT). The result for Paul was misery, which caused him to call out for deliverance from this daily, ongoing battle with sin in his life.

Paul knew that he had been set free from slavery to sin by the death of Jesus on the cross. He knew he was a new creature and a new creation. But he also knew, from experience, that he still had a formidable sin nature that waged ongoing war with his new nature. As long as we live on this earth and in these bodies, we will do battle with sin. Jesus’ death did not eradicate sin. He simply ended its strangle hold on our lives. We no longer have to live as unwilling slaves to its influence, obeying its every command and fulfilling its every wish. We have been set free. But sin still remains. And if we try to conquer sin on our own, we will always fail. If we attempt to rely on our own strength, we will always come up short and unsuccessful. Which is why Paul exclaims, “Thank God! The answer is Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25 NLT). Jesus is the answer for not only our salvation, but our ongoing sanctification. It is He who gave us victory over sin and death, providing us with a way to made right with God. And He continues to do it throughout our lifetimes. He gives me the strength to say no to sin. He has provided me with the Holy Spirit, as a powerful ally in my daily struggle with sin. I need to recognize that it is Jesus who saved me, but who continues to save me from the effects of sin on my life. He alone can deliver me from a life dominated by sin and death. The presence of sin in and around me, should drive me to a greater and greater dependence on Christ and His Spirit within me. I should know from experience that my flesh is weak and incapable of winning the battle alone. But I have Christ on my side and the Holy Spirit within me. I have a resource that provides me with the capacity to do what my heart desires. Paul goes on to describe this capacity as “the power of the life-giving Spirit” who has “freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 8:2 NLT). Jesus has provided us with eternal life. The Spirit provides us with the ability to live righteously in our daily lives – here and now. Thank God!

Father, there is a daily battle going on in my life that I far too often fail, because I am attempting to do it all on my own. Continue to show me my daily need for Your Son’s saving power. He didn’t just save me and then leave me on my own, but He gave me His Spirit. I just need to learn to rely more and more on the Spirit’s power and less and less on my own. As I grow increasingly aware of my sin nature, drive me to Your Son and Your Spirit’s indwelling presence in my life. I have the power to live the life You’ve called me to live, and it comes from You, not me. Amen.

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Devotionary

The Bible Made Accessible and Applicable

freedom from sin

A Life of Law-Keeping is Enslaving

The Sufficiency of the Gospel

A Radical Change in Relationships

But God…

No Condemnation

Become As I Am.

Free To NOT Sin.

Empowered By the Spirit.

Exodus 3-4, Matthew 27

Romans 7:14-25