Tag: God's kingdom

People of various ages and backgrounds warmly greeting and hugging each other at a community fellowship event

Digging in Deeper: Philippians 4:21-23

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“Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me send you greetings. All the saints send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Another book down today. If you have been journeying with me on here for very long, we have now covered Mark, Amos, Exodus, Romans, and now, Philippians. Just 61 more to go and we will have worked our way through the whole set. Here at the end of Philippians, we find Paul’s final greetings as is typical of his letters. And, as is often the case, there’s more here than it first appears. Paul was right that all of Scripture—even the parts we don’t expect—is breathed out by God and useful for making us more like Him. Let’s talk about what’s going on here at the end and how God’s people are present even where we least expect them to be.

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Digging in Deeper: Romans 15:30-33

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“Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf. Pray that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, that my ministry to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, and that, by God’s will, I may come to you with joy and be refreshed together with you. May the God of peace be with all of you. Amen.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Jesus’ brother, James wrote in his letter that part of the reason we don’t receive from God all that we could is that we don’t pray for it. We don’t ask for it. The fact is that our prayers are usually small. We ask for people we know to get well or have an easier time dealing with one physical issue or another. And that’s about it. Those aren’t bad prayers, but they aren’t necessarily kingdom-advancing prayers. Paul here is asking for prayer from the believers in Rome. Let’s talk about why he places so much emphasis on this, the kinds of things he is asking them to pray for, and what this all might mean for us.

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Morning Musing: Romans 15:14-16

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“My brothers and sisters, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest of the gospel of God. God’s purpose is that the Gentiles may be an acceptable offering, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Humility is one of the fundamental virtues necessary for growth and development in the Christian life. Embracing the Gospel begins from a place of humility—we must humbly accept that God is God and we are not. Along the way, though, ever more humility is required both to learn and to teach others. We see both sides of this humility in what Paul says next as he begins to turn much more personal as he is winding down this great letter.

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Morning Musing: Romans 8:23

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“Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As a pastor, I’ve done a lot of funerals. Now, by virtue of pastoring churches with a number of young families that aren’t mostly gray-haired, aging congregations, I haven’t done as many as some guys who have been in ministry as long as I have, but I’ve done my fair share. There is a kind of groaning that comes with age. Some of it is, of course, physical and audible. But a bigger part is existential. We know we are slowly dying (or perhaps quickly dying depending on circumstances), and we long for relief from it. Not the relief of death, but something entirely more substantial than that. We long for restoration. Well, this is part of the Gospel’s good news. Let’s explore it some today.

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Morning Musing: Exodus 29:15-21

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“Take one ram, and Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the ram’s head. You are to slaughter the ram, take its blood, and splatter it on all sides of the altar. Cut the ram into pieces. Wash its entrails and legs, and place them with its head and its pieces on the altar. Then burn the whole ram on the altar; it is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. You are to take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on the ram’s head. Slaughter the ram, take some of its blood, and put it on Aaron’s right earlobe, on his sons’ right earlobes, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Splatter the remaining blood on all sides of the altar. Take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle them on Aaron and his garments, as well as on his sons and their garments. So he and his garments will be holy, as well as his sons and their garments.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Not many people experience the kind of dedication to something that allows for incredible things to happen. It takes a lot to reach that point. Whenever someone does reach this point, the results are pretty consistently extraordinary. How do you reach such a place of total dedication? It starts with a decision. At that point, there’s usually a ceremony of some sort. It could be formal. It could be very informal. But from there, the rest is just follow through. This next set of sacrifices we see are all about dedication. Let’s explore what’s happening here.

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