Tag: Faith

Digging in Deeper: Romans 2:2-4

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“Now we know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is based on the truth. Do you think — anyone of you who judges those who do such things yet do the same — that you will escape God’s judgment? Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Self-righteousness is not a good look. What exactly is self-righteousness, though? Oxford says it is having an unfounded certainty of one’s moral superiority. Essentially, it’s the feeling that you are better than the people around you. Of course, you don’t feel that, but I’ll bet you know a bunch of other folks who seem to as far as you are concerned. In somewhat more robust theological terms, self-righteousness is the mindset that you have made yourself right with God. If our culture generally condemns the Oxford sort of self-righteousness, it ranges from being more ambivalent to openly encouraging of this second sort. Paul doesn’t agree. Let’s talk about why.

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Digging in Deeper: John 17:3

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“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent — Jesus Christ.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

The Scriptures are like a gem mine of endless supply. The more you plumb, the more you find. And sometimes, the discoveries you make will surprise you. They will come at times you least expect. They will turn up in places you thought for sure you had completely exhausted because you had mined there so many times. None of this should be surprising in the least. It is, after all, God’s word. The writer of Hebrews identifies it as living and active. God’s Spirit is present in it, and He is the source of all wisdom. Where and how He chooses to reveal it is up to Him. I was reminded of this again last night while reading a new old book. Allow me to share what I am learning.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 1:16-17

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“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the ironic secrets of good writing is that it takes longer to write shorter pieces than it does longer ones. It’s easy to dump a bunch of words out on a page. Pairing those down to the point that you have just the right words takes longer. The same goes with explaining a large and complicated idea. Boiling things down to few words that are clear and compelling takes work. With that in mind, these two verses from Paul must have taken a lot of work. This is one of the clearest, most direct statements of the Gospel ever written. Let’s talk about it.

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A Relational Pathway

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Last week, we started a brief conversation about doubt. Today, we’re going to finish it. Last week we established the fact that the source of our doubts matters. It matters whether they come from a place of faith or a place of skepticism. But knowing where our doubts come from isn’t the same as knowing what doubt is in the first place. In this second part of our journey, we are going to clarify that, and with the direction of the teachings of Jesus, talk about how to get from doubt to faith. Read on to find out how.

A Relational Pathway

Several years ago, I went through a season in which I did a fair amount of woodworking. Now, I’ve long enjoyed woodworking ever since I took a woodworking class in junior high. I don’t know that it’s the woodworking itself so much as doing projects that have very clear instructions and which I can follow carefully to reproduce the results of the model. I enjoy it for the same reason I enjoy making the metal models that are all over my office. The difference between building metal models and woodworking, though, is that anybody can build those models. Woodworking is a developed skill. Having the right tools, but not knowing how to use them well will result in a lot of really bad woodworking. 

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Digging in Deeper: Acts 2:46-47

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“Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When the church exploded into existence and as it began to spread across the Roman Empire thanks to the faithful, devoted work of the apostle Paul, it was something new. Entirely new. There wasn’t anything else in the world quite like it. Because of that, it was often attractive to people who were wealthy and influential. It was a novelty, and people who fancy themselves as sitting at the top of the social ladder are often drawn to new things so they can say they were the first to see and experience them. Some two thousand years later, Christianity wasn’t new anymore. It was old. Very old. It was passe. The wealthy and influential didn’t care much anymore. And this was separate and apart from all of the criticism it was receiving for both imagined and real faults on the part of the church. But in the last couple of years, something interesting has begun to happen. Let’s talk about it for a few minutes today.

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