God Has Set Things Right

This is a continuation on a weekly study on the book of Romans. This time I’m going to go over Romans 3:21-31. My other Romans posts are here:

• We’re all in the same sinking boat.
• Romans Chapter 3 1-8
• Romans Chapter 2

This post is part of a larger group of fellow bloggers that are also posting their views on the same scripture.  If you would like to join in please do you can start any week you would like and be part of the group.  I would love to have you.  Go to Vagabondrunn to get the details and to see the other posts.

I’m going to use the Message translation this week.  Let’s get started.

21-24But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.

The mention of we here is talking about both Jews and Non-Jews.  We were not able to live righteous lives by merely following God’s law so God helped us out.  He put us in right standing with himself.  He gave us a pure gift.  He sent his son Jesus Christ to clean up our mess and restore us to the way God always wanted us to be.

25-26God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.

God sacrificed his son to pay for the sins of the world for old testament times to present.  He did this in the public for everyone to see.  Having faith in the blood of Jesus allows us to live in God’s rightness.

27-28So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counter-claims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

This is saying that God is saving us by faith alone and not by the law.  We aren’t able to uphold enough laws for God to respond to us.  We have to accept what he has done for us to be saved.

29-30And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion.

There is one God for all who accept what he has done for us.

31But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.

Faith in what God has done for us does not cancel out the law it confirms the law and we uphold the law based on our faith in God.

Redneck

It has been a fun filled extended weekend of good hot work.  I with many others helped out to put in a new playground at our Church.

Along with the equipment there was a huge pile of mulch that had to be spread out also.

After doing this kind of work for two days I have now got my redneck on for the year!  I love it.

Go here to check out many more photographs:  Cornerstone’s Flickr Photo Stream

Most of these pictures were taken by my good buddy over at The Damascus Blog

Blog Neglect

Yes I have negelected my blog this week.  I have been pretty busy gearing up for a big promotion release tomorrow at work.  There is going to be a massive flood of users all at once logging into our web portal to check their scores to see if they got promoted or not.  A co-worker of mine and myself have been tunning the systems and planning for the sudden surge of users tomorrow morning at 8 am.  It is going to be so much fun.  This will be our first promotion release on our new WebSphere servers.  The good news is after tomorrow morning it’s over.

We’re all in the same sinking boat.

Go to Vagabondrun’s blog to get all of the details and join in.

Have you ever sat at church and thought to yourself that person over there really gets this and they follow all of the rules.  How could I ever reach the level they’re at?  On the other hand have you ever looked down on someone and thought man they are a bad sinner.  I don’t sin that much or I would never do that.  Well I have had all of these thoughts before and I am sorry.  Reading the below passage puts these thoughts into perspective for me.  I want to just kick myself and say hey “There is no one righteous not even one.”  I can’t do enough good stuff to be right with God.  Neither can the person two rows away either.

The sins that I do God see’s as vile and detestable.  He compares our throats to an open grave.  Rotting flesh has to be one of the most vile things ever.  There are also some other references to the mouth much like James.  The words that come out of our mouth is compared to poison.

To follow God’s law is not enough to be declared righteous.  The laws are there so we are conscious of our sins.  We can not save ourselves by following all of the rules.  All men except Jesus Christ have come up short of being perfect.  God’s law is also there to show us how to please him.

This is all stuff I have heard before but this time while reading Romans 3 for this post it has sunk in a little deeper than it ever has before.  I’m not the best writer so my thoughts and sentences are choppy but there is no denying the scripture below.  It’s all that really needs to be said.  Read the scripture and decide for yourself.

Romans 3:9-20 (New International Version)

No One is Righteous

9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
“There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13“Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”
14“Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

15“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16ruin and misery mark their ways,
17and the way of peace they do not know.”
18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

Tags: God, Jesus, righteous, Romans, sin

Father’s Love

The other day I was driving down the road and I heard a song that I haven’t heard in a long time.  It’s a song that I loved at the time because I was a father.  This was before I became a christian and knew anything about how big God’s love is.  I have heard this song hundreds of times before but this time while driving down the road it had a whole new meaning to me.  I started to cry like a baby,  well not really but I felt a deep wave of emotion come over me and I got a little choked up when I heard this verse.

Last night I dreamed I’d died and stood outside those pearly gates
When suddenly I realized there must be some mistake
If they know half the things I’ve done, they’ll never let me in
Then somewhere from the other side, I heard these words again

let me tell you a secret about a father’s love
A secret that my daddy said was just between us
He said daddies don’t just love their children every now and then
It’s a love without end, amen
It’s a love without end, amen

“Love Without End, Amen” by George Strait

Amen!

Momma I’m Coming Home

I take off bright and early in the morning to pickup the kids from summer camp. I hope they want to come home. I imagine after being in an action packed fun filled environment like camp.  Coming home is a little lack luster. The kid’s probably don’t realize how excited I am to see them again. I’m going to give them the biggest hug when I see them. Then after we get back to the house I have a list of chores that need to get done. HaHa just kidding. The house has been pretty clean since they have been gone so there isn’t much for them to do except unpack.

First Impressions Team

The First Impression Team (FIT) at Cornerstone has a new blog make over. I like the layout and it finally has some new posts. Looks great Jack! All of these wonderful people have a servants heart and I’m not saying that because I’m on there. The people I serve with are the best. Thank you all for your hearts. Come join us some time it’s a lot of fun. It looks like work but it never really is.

Go here to see the new FIT blog.