Tag: Being right with God

Morning Musing: Romans 10:4

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“For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes…” (CSB – Read the chapter)

It’s hard to know what something is unless you know what it’s for. But if you get what it is for wrong, you’ll get what it is wrong too. Perhaps the best illustration of this comes from Scuttle the seagull in Disney’s The Little Mermaid. When Ariel brings him a fork, he identifies it as a “dinglehopper,” used by humans for doing their hair. Among followers of Jesus there is an occasionally robust debate about the purpose of the Law of Moses in light of Christ and His ministry. Paul gives us an important clue here. Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 28:36-38

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“You are to make a pure gold medallion and engrave it, like the engraving of a seal: Holy to the Lord. Fasten it to a cord of blue yarn so it can be placed on the turban; the medallion is to be on the front of the turban. It will be on Aaron’s forehead so that Aaron may bear the guilt connected with the holy offerings that the Israelites consecrate as all their holy gifts. It is always to be on his forehead, so that they may find acceptance with the Lord.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Hats have played a more important role in human cultures than we often consider. Used to be, hats were considered an essential part of a person’s wardrobe. And, the hat you wore said a great deal about who you were and the status you held in society. Still today, many professions have specific kinds of hats associated with them. It should come as exactly no surprise, then, that one of the pieces of the garments for the Israelite priests is a hat. Very little time is spent on the hat itself, though, in favor of its significance. Let’s explore the priestly turban and why the Gospel is so good.

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Digging in Deeper: Exodus 28:31-35

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“You are to make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue yarn. There should be an opening at its top in the center of it. Around the opening, there should be a woven collar with an opening like that of body armor so that it does not tear. Make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn on its lower hem and all around it. Put gold bells between them all the way around, so that gold bells and pomegranates alternate around the lower hem of the robe. The robe will be worn by Aaron whenever he ministers, and its sound will be heard when he enters the sanctuary before the Lord and when he exists, so that he does not die.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

We often speak of God as holy, but through the lens of Jesus, we also tend to think of Him as friendly. I don’t mean that to say God isn’t interested in a personal relationship with us – He most emphatically is – but to attempt to describe the very familiar way we tend to think about HIm. Again, we’re fine with holy. We like holy. But we also like familiar. If we’re not careful, though, we can get so familiar that in spite of regularly reminding ourselves of it, we forget about His holiness and just what that means. This is not a good thing. The next part of the priestly garments described here – the robe – reminds us some of why that is.

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Digging in Deeper: Matthew 6:1

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“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. Otherwise, you have no reward with your Father in heaven.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

For the last several weeks, I have been working through the Gospel of Matthew with our Wednesday night Bible study group. It has been an absolute delight taking our time examining the story of Jesus as told by the converted tax collector. In particular, for the last few weeks we have been wading through the Sermon on the Mount. In the second part of Jesus’ most famous sermon, He talks about giving, praying, and fasting. And if you’re not paying close attention, it seems like those three things are really the focus of His comments. But they aren’t. Instead, Jesus is using those three things to talk about something that afflicts all of us. As we wrapped up our look at this section this past Wednesday night, I spent some time unpacking His larger (and more significant) point here. This morning, I’d like to share with you some thoughts on what Jesus had to say about self-righteousness.

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