Tag: christianity

Free to Live a New Life (Romans 7:1-6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

You shouldn’t have any trouble understanding this, friends, for you know all the ins and outs of the law—how it works and how its power touches only the living. For instance, a wife is legally tied to her husband while he lives, but if he dies, she’s free. If she lives with another man while her husband is living, she’s obviously an adulteress. But if he dies, she is quite free to marry another man in good conscience, with no one’s disapproval.

So, my friends, this is something like what has taken place with you. When Christ died he took that entire rule-dominated way of life down with him and left it in the tomb, leaving you free to “marry” a resurrection life and bear “offspring” of faith for God. For as long as we lived that old way of life, doing whatever we felt we could get away with, sin was calling most of the shots as the old law code hemmed us in. And this made us all the more rebellious. In the end, all we had to show for it was miscarriages and stillbirths. But now that we’re no longer shackled to that domineering mate of sin, and out from under all those oppressive regulations and fine print, we’re free to live a new life in the freedom of God. (The Message)

The goal of salvation is to be delivered from oppressive bondage so that we are free to live a true and beautiful life – a holy life, set apart for good.

Romans chapters 6-8 are the Apostle Paul’s pointed discussion of how we become holy in a real and practical way. The theological word we typically use for this is “sanctification,” which means “to become holy,” and “set apart” for God. To be delivered from sin, death, and hell through the person and work of Jesus Christ is not the end of the story; it is just the beginning.

Becoming holy and good in our everyday lives boils down to this: identity and belonging.

One of the healthiest ways of looking at the entirety of the Bible’s message is that we belong to God. Our identities are thoroughly wrapped around Jesus. The process of realizing this, and coming to grips with it, is how we grow as people in holiness and righteousness.

Because of Christ’s finished work on the cross, we have been delivered from the realm of sin. Our change in status from condemned to accepted provides us the awareness to make daily affirmations of faith and live a new life.

Yet, the sinful nature (flesh) or the old person is still there. Although it is now toothless, our past can, and may often, exert a powerful influence on us. Even though there is a medium-rare T-bone steak on the table for us to enjoy, there are times we go back to the old bologna sandwich with stale white bread.

We no longer need to fall short of our true humanity. That’s because we belong to God. We are adopted into God’s family, having been orphaned by sin’s cruel influence.

However, just because we have been saved from the power of sin, sin itself is not extinct. We still must deal with it. We are alive to God and need to take up this great spiritual reality and live into it, for the force of sin still exerts a powerful influence in the world.

We deal with sin’s continued presence (the world, the flesh, and the devil) through embracing God’s grace versus trying to overcome it with the law.

Paul used an illustration from marriage to expand our understanding of grafting grace into our daily lives. By law, a married woman is bound to her husband (keeping in mind this sense of belonging was the predominant view of marriage in the Apostle’s day). But if the husband dies, the wife is released from the legal marriage. If she were to give herself to another man while her husband is still alive and they are married, then she becomes an adulteress. However, if she is a widow, then marries again, she is not an adulteress.

Paul applies this understanding to our relationship with the law. Death has separated us from the law. We died with Christ. Therefore, we have been set free from the law and have become alive to grace. As believers in Jesus, God’s grace and love changed our lives:

  • We now “belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead.” (Romans 7:4)
  • “When Christ’s body hung upon the cross, when God spared not his own Son but gave him up for us all.” (Romans 8:32)
  • “Christ took on himself for us all the curse of the law which inflicted all of us.” (Galatians 3:13)
  • We died to the law. God’s grace has made the death of Jesus the death of all from the realm of sin. (2 Corinthians 5:14)

As a married man, let me use Paul’s illustration to get down to the gist of his teaching. Yes, I am legally married and belong to my wife. I made vows to my wife on our wedding day which bind me legally to do what I said I would do. Yet, if I fulfill those vows in a strictly legalistic manner, I can vouch for my wife that this would not qualify as an acceptable situation for her. You see, my wife (and, me, too!) are freely bound to one another in love and grace. I care for my wife because I love her deeply, and not because it is my legal duty to do so.

The Christian life was neither designed nor meant to serve as a bare legal contract or covenant between us and God. God forbid such a thought! Jesus died to clear us from all the legality stuff so that we could freely love and serve God with joyful abundance and gratitude.

I am follower of Jesus because I love him deeply. What impels and motivates me is God’s grace. The law is there and has its place. However, it is not the law that causes me to be a Christian; it is the love of Christ which saved me from myself and compels me to live like Jesus.

May the God of peace make you pure, belonging only to him. May your whole self—spirit, soul, and body—be kept safe and blameless when our Lord Jesus Christ comes. The one who chose you will do that for you. You can trust him. Amen.

Both Body and Soul (1 John 4:1-6)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Dear friends, don’t believe everyone who claims to have the Spirit of God. Test them all to find out if they really do come from God. Many false prophets have already gone out into the world, and you can know which ones come from God. His Spirit says that Jesus Christ had a truly human body. But when someone doesn’t say this about Jesus, you know this person has a spirit that doesn’t come from God and is the enemy of Christ. You knew this enemy was coming into the world and now is already here.

Children, you belong to God, and you have defeated these enemies. God’s Spirit is in you and is more powerful than the one who is in the world. These enemies belong to this world, and the world listens to them, because they speak its language. We belong to God, and everyone who knows God will listen to us. But the people who don’t know God won’t listen to us. This is how we can tell the Spirit that speaks the truth from the one that tells lies. (Contemporary English Version)

Sometimes, it’s not what in someone says, but in what they don’t say.

The Apostle John gave some spiritually sage advice to a group of his disciples. They were being influenced by people who claimed Christian faith yet were not the real deal. Lots of people make claims, but the real muster of a Christian is in embracing an embodied spirituality that truly meets the holistic needs of others.

For John, affirming Christ’s deity, while denying Christ’s humanity, is unacceptable; he had no room for the Platonic Greek dualism of body and spirit. 

Jesus was a real man with a very real body. To deny this was to deny the faith. Ethereal musings about the insignificance of the body were flatly rejected by John. The apostle was concerned that the supreme Christian ethic of love be practiced through attention to both body and soul. 

Words are important; they’re also insufficient. Actual demonstrations of love are needed, as well. To downgrade or deny a bodily Jesus is to pay little attention to the real bodily needs of people. Christianity is a religion of both body and soul; it’s not a Greek philosophy of life.

I will be the first guy to insist on some deep theological reflection on the great spiritual, cultural, and social issues of our day. Yet, if our theology does not lead to tangible acts of love based on that reflection, then we have not yet been called God’s friend. 

Correct doctrine – embracing body and soul – leads to loving actions of faith. Ideally, we glorify God with both speech and service, physically and spiritually. Words and actions, heart and hands, must work together for an authentic Christian ministry.

The Word became a human being and lived here with us. (John 1:14)

The early church councils condemned the denigration of Christ’s full humanity for good reason. Not only did Jesus have a real flesh and body experience while on this earth, but Jesus also healed actual bodies and performed real physical miracles.

Jesus Christ met both the spiritual needs of forgiveness and reconciliation, and the needs of the body. What’s more, Jesus had no ranking system, as if the spiritual needs were the real commitments whereas tangible needs were just a means to the end of meeting intangible obligations.

The Gospel involves both body and soul; they are equally significant. To exalt one above the other is, frankly, heresy. So, let’s put this in more practical terms: Love is more than an expression of good feelings and goodwill toward others; love has skin on, using both physical actions and words formed from our vocal chords to bring goodness to others.

Jesus has always maintained the connection between spiritual and physical needs; it’s us who separate them. It’s the spiritual charlatan, and the huckster preacher, who speak out of one side of their mouth about spiritual salvation with no bodily human help or uplift.

Those who are against Jesus, the spirit of the antichrist, talk a good line but when push comes to shove, they have no intention of paying attention to both body and soul.

Our gut knows that feeling we cannot quite shake when we are around someone. It has real meaning. The spirit within us is greater than the spirit of the world. Just because we may not be able to respond very well to another, or give clear voice to what is inside us, does not necessarily mean that the other person is okay or right.

A proper Christian response to others incorporates head, heart, and gut. The interaction and alignment of all our faculties is needed. If we draw upon our entire selves, both body and soul, we will overcome the spirit of the antichrist through loving words and actions toward those who need it most.

The Antichrist wants us to get caught up in putting all our focus fighting theological battles and debating philosophical ideas – while our neighbor next door is dying of cancer; our co-worker is experiencing covert racism; and, our friend is stuck in poverty.

Since Jesus is fully human, that fact alone ought to impel us toward meeting the needs of the body – without wondering if it is the spiritual thing to do, or not. You already know this to be true. So, don’t let some esoteric preacher or teacher tell you otherwise.

Almighty God, Creator and Preserver of all humanity, I humbly ask: Make your ways known to everyone, and your saving health to all nations. May your church everywhere be guided and governed by your good spirit, so that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life.

Caring God, in your parental goodness, lift up those who are afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or spirit. Comfort them and meet their every need, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a good outcome of all their afflictions. This we ask for the sake Jesus Christ your Son, our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit reign forever. Amen.

Freedom from Sin (Romans 6:12-23)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (New International Version)

The word “sin” is mentioned 10 times in these 12 verses of Scripture. It’s an important word, and so, we need to understand something of it. Discerning the concept of sin in the Bible is crucial to our spiritual growth and development as believers in Jesus. A better grasp of sin’s nature and power will help us to better understand and appreciate God’s grace and how to live the Christian life.

Sin Is Everywhere

We see the evidence of living in a broken world every day. Disaster, disease, and death are realities we all must deal with. The presence and power of sin is everywhere – in our hearts, our world, our institutions, and our families. It’s on television, the internet, social media, and moves in-and-out of smartphones. If it takes one to know one, we are all experts on being sinners.

Definitions of Sin

From the Bible’s vantage, sin is things we do (1 John 3:4) as well as things we leave undone (James 4:17). Sin is both actively breaking of God’s commands, and passively avoiding them. 

Christians throughout the ages have generally understood that the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and Christ’s law of love (Luke 10:27) constitute a brief summary of God’s holy and moral instruction for humanity.  These laws are based in the character of God as a holy and loving Being.

Sin, then, may be defined as anything in a person, group of people, an institution or a system, which does not express, or is contrary to, the basic character of God. In short, sin is a pervasive force which exists everywhere, defined in the following acrostics:

Sinful actionsSinful thoughtsSinful inaction
StressStupidSpiritual
InducedInwardInsidious
NarcissismNoodlingNarcolepsy

Sin Is Contrary to God’s Character      

All sin, whether active or passive, is self-centered and lacks self-awareness. Sin exists wherever a person, group, or organization thinks more about itself than of God and God’s love and justice. Sinful attitudes bring consequences such as:

  • Obsession with lust (1 John 8:34; Galatians 5:16) Lust is the stance of having to possess something, instead of appreciating it without ownership.
  • Broken relationships (Romans 3:23; Galatians 5:17) Wanting something without any concern for it’s cost leaves a trail of broken relationships with God and others.
  • Bondage to Satan (1 Timothy 3:6-7; 2 Timothy 2:26) Obtaining the object of our lust brings slavery, not freedom
  • Spiritual death (Romans 6:23; 8:6) Death is separation from God and estrangement from others
  • Hardening of the heart (Hebrews 3:13) A hard heart happens by stubbornly holding on to what we want, irrespective of what God wants
  • Deception (1 Corinthians 3:18; James 1:22, 26) To be deceived is to believe that other people, even God, are the problem whenever things go sideways

This may all sound like a total Debbie-Downer. Actually, it’s total depravity. Being depraved does not mean we are never capable of doing good; it means that sin has profoundly touched everything in our lives, without exception.

Sin Is Not the Last Word

Paradoxically, experiencing true joy and comfort comes through knowing how great our sin is. We live above sin by being set free from it by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. To be redeemed from sin, a provision is needed. In Christianity, sin has been dealt with once and for all through the person and work of Jesus. Christ is our representative, taking our place and delivering us from sin (Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 2:5-6; Colossians 2:9-15; Hebrews 2:17-18; 1 John 2:1).

Jesus Christ is our ultimate substitute (Romans 5:8)…

Which resulted in our redemption (Galatians 5:13)…

Leading to a satisfaction of all justice (Romans 3:25)…

Bringing reconciliation with God (Romans 5:10)… 

And putting sin to death, making us complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10).      

Although sin destroys everything it touches and leaves terrible consequences in its wake, sin does not have the last word: grace does.

Words for Sin

There are 33 different words for “sin” in the original Greek language of the New Testament. Only one of them is used in the verses from Romans: ἁμαρτία (“HA-mar-tee-ah”) literally means “to miss the mark,” or to “fall short.” (Romans 5:12-21; 1 John 1:8-10; 2 Corinthians 5:21)

The concept of missing the mark gets to the heart of why persons, groups, institutions, and systems fall short of God’s standard. We fail to see who we truly are and what God has truly done for us in Christ. And so, sin deceives us into believing that our needs can be met outside of God.

Metaphors for Sin

  • Obstacle. Sin obstructs a truly good and beautiful life. It’s like a blockade that prevents us from entering the kingdom of God; or like large hurdles we have to jump to move forward. Sin is like a bear on our back which slows us down to a crawl.

Let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. (Hebrews 12:1, GNT)

  • Addiction. The word “sin” is an attempt to meet a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. Sin is an energy which we become fixated on in order to meet our needs for love and acceptance. If unchecked, the sinful method for meeting the need becomes the need itself.

We are tempted by our own desires that drag us off and trap us. Our desires make us sin, and when sin is finished with us, it leaves us dead. (James 1:14-15, CEV)

“Seek what you are seeking – but don’t seek it where you are seeking it!”

St. Augustine
  • Marketing scam. Sin is misleading. It’s a scam or a branding which looks good but the product is all wrong. Sin is a deception, and it leads us to deceive others in order to make ourselves look better than we really are.

When you give to the poor, don’t blow a loud horn. That’s what show-offs do in the synagogues and on the street corners because they are always looking for praise. I can assure you that they already have their reward. (Matthew 6:2, CEV)

Overcoming Sin

Victory over sin and the dark force of this world comes through faith. Believe that you have been set free from sin.

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. (1 John 5:4-5, NIV)

We need our ultimate faith to rest in God, and not in anyone or anything else. The Scripture says:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
    and do not rely on your own insight.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
    and he will make straight your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, NRSV)

Eternal God, in whom we live and move and have our being, whose face is hidden from us by our sins, and whose mercy we forget in the blindness of our hearts: cleanse us from all our offenses, and deliver us from proud thoughts and vain desires, that with reverent and humble hearts we may draw near to you, confessing our faults, confiding in your grace, and finding in you our refuge and strength; through Jesus Christ your Son. Amen.

A Person’s a Person, No Matter How Small (Luke 17:1-4)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

Jesus said to his disciples:

There will always be something that causes people to sin. But anyone who causes them to sin is in for trouble. A person who causes even one of my little followers to sin would be better off thrown into the ocean with a heavy stone tied around their neck. So be careful what you do.

Correct any followers of mine who sin, and forgive the ones who say they are sorry. Even if one of them mistreats you seven times in one day and says, “I am sorry,” you should still forgive that person. (Contemporary English Version)

In the children’s book by Dr. Seuss, Horton Hears a Who! Horton the elephant famously said, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” All the people around Horton were completely unconcerned for the residents of Who Ville living on a clover.

They were uninterested because the Who’s were invisible to them. Dr. Seuss chose to make Horton an elephant, a large creature able to hear with big ears and be attentive to the small.

Bigness and a large heart comes from becoming small and noticing little ones.

“Little ones” are people no one sees or notices. But Jesus sees them. They matter to him. And so they ought to matter to us, too. People need to be seen and heard by us – because they are visible to Jesus, and heard by him.

Christ often mingled with little people – children, women who had no rights, social misfits like lepers, the chronically ill, religious outsiders, tax collectors, and prostitutes. Our world is filled with similar people – angry adolescents, unwanted babies, forgotten old people, the mentally ill, moral failures, immigrants and refugees, and, if we have eyes to see and big ears to hear, lots of underprivileged people who reside on the dark underbelly of society.

They are around us, even if they are invisible to us.

Jesus envisioned a community that sees, honors, and protects little people. Truth be told, we are all little people before God, and the Lord notices us. So, we are to have enough humility to see the little people around us.

The way to become great in the kingdom of God is to descend, not ascend, into greatness. The chief enemy of any community is a desire to be prominent, to be the Big Cheese – it’s called “pride” and it will separate us from God if we hold onto it. Which is why we must do all we can to radically cut it out of our lives.

We are to welcome people – not because they are great, wise, rich, powerful, good-looking, and look like you and me. Rather, we are to welcome others because they are noticed by Jesus. Like Horton the elephant, Christ the Lord hears the cry from the place of smallness and is determined to do something about it.

The proud person who seeks prominence is always looking for greener pastures and impressing others. The proud connect with people who will help advance them up the ladder of success. Through that process of advancement, the proud do not care who they step on along the way.

Christians, however, are to give the small, insignificant people of society the time of day, treat them as important, and advocate for their needs. 

The Apostle Peter learned the hard way about paying attention to those different from himself. He experientially learned the saying, “love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:9) This means that basic love for another prevents them from committing the sins they would have if they were unloved.

If we do not love, it would be better for us to be killed in a tragic millstone death. Jesus does not want people acting like leeches, just sucking the life out of others to get what they want.

So, what do we do about it? How shall we then live?

A person’s a person no matter how small. We need humility, to lower our sights and our bodies to see little people. We can truly see a two-year-old toddler whenever we lower ourselves to view them as equal and important. The way to see another requires slowing down, observing, and stooping or sitting to look them in the eye and give them the dignity of attention they deserve.

The danger of reading a post like this is the thought that all this stuff is really for someone else. After all, I don’t want to hurt anyone or see anybody deprived, right? Yet, the fact remains that we do no one any good when we neglect getting on the floor.

When we assume blessing for ourselves without the intent of giving it to others, we have come under the judgment of Christ. Perhaps we fear forgiveness – either accepting an apology from another or offering one to someone we have wronged. Out of sight, out of mind, is the approach of the one who causes others to stumble and make them fall.

Christ’s admonition is to watch ourselves, to be vigilant of both overt and covert sins against the unseen and forgotten amongst us. The pyramid below concerning racism is just one example of many other forms of causing others to stumble and fall:

Even though I write this warning, dear friends, I am confident of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation, deliverance, and liberation for all persons.God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped others and continue to help them.

Continue to show this same diligence so that what you hope for may be fully realized; and, imitate those who through faith and patience are doing good work. May the Lord be with you.

For those deprived of their human needs and their human rights: Just God, may they may be given the dignity by others which you confer on all his people.

For all who are forgotten and unseen, especially the poor, the sick, and the aged: All-seeing God, may you move us to love them as the image of Christ.

For all who are lonely or afraid, for teenagers on the street, the elderly in nursing homes, prisoners with no one to visit them, and all whom the world has forgotten: Lord Christ, may you lead us to them.

For those who suffer mental illness or disorder: Attentive God, may we cherish the gifts you have given them, and in their lives hear the voice of your love.

For each human life: Creator God, may we value every person as you do.
We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.