Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Ephesians 6:4

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“Fathers, don’t stir up anger in your children, but bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I’ve long been a numbers guy. Numbers just stick in my head. Random numbers. And they don’t go away. Sometimes it’s pretty handy like at my former church, before I was really using a cell phone all that much, when I had almost half the phone numbers of the members memorized. Because I’m a numbers guy, I love looking at data. It doesn’t matter too much what the data is, but sociological research data is some of my favorite to digest, especially when it’s on a topic I care about and from a research outfit whose methodology I trust. I’ve had the chance recently to review some research from the Barna organization into the world of people who are spiritually curious. Let me highlight a couple of things I’ve noticed along the way.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 5:3-5

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“And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The Gospel isn’t just one thing. It is many things, and all of them are good. It’s the sort of thing where the more you explore it and the deeper you understand it, the more you come to find is there; the more you come to find just how comprehensive it truly is. Paul here has started unpacking the benefits of the Gospel. He started with peace, went to grace and glory, and now he takes us into territory it doesn’t seem like the Gospel should touch. Let’s talk about what the Gospel has to say about our hard times.

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Digging in Deeper: 1 Corinthians 1:22-25

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“For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles. Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

There’s a great Proverb in the collection of wisdom bearing that name that goes like this: “Even a fool is considered wise when he is silent.” The point is that what comes out of our mouths (digitally or verbally) is going to be used by others to assess our intelligence and character. As followers of Jesus who have been called to share our faith, though, talking is sort of part of the gig. In bearing witness to the Gospel, we wind up saying a lot of things that make us sound pretty dumb to the culture around us. Let’s talk about why it’s so worth it to share anyway.

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Digging in Deeper: Matthew 16:24

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“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

If someone promised you that you could have everything in your life suited exactly to your desires, would you be interested in what they had to say? Not only that, but they promised that if your desires changed, the state of your situation would change with them. You wouldn’t have to go anywhere you didn’t want to go or do anything you didn’t want to do. I don’t know about you, but that strikes me as likely to be a pretty tempting offer. Well, there is a voice in our world today that makes this kind of an offer to us. This past Wednesday night at Bible study as we were starting to explore Peter’s confession of Jesus as Messiah we chased a rabbit trail for a few minutes that found us talking about this very offer and how it squares with a life spent in pursuit of Jesus. Let’s talk for a few minutes today about convenience and following Jesus.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 4:1-5

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“What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found? If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

For all of human history before Jesus, and in every religious movement other than the one bearing His name since, salvation in whatever form it has been imagined has been understood to be the result of things we have done. When we do the right things, we gain the prize of life. We receive the reward of our efforts. What God offers in Christ, however, is radically different from this. And better. As Paul continues in his presentation of the Gospel, he now sets his sights on unpacking how salvation works and why, in spite of what we might have imagined, it has actually always worked the same way.

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