Tag Romans

Jesus Overcomes Tribalism

Todd R 2 Comments

The Bible is a book for all people, in all times and places, and its lessons hold eternal value.  Yet the Bible was also written in particular times and places and knowledge of those contexts is sometimes assumed rather than explained.  For instance, in the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, we read the phrase, in parenthesis: “(For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)”. We also read that Jesus and His disciples “had to pass through Samaria.”  Hate is a difficult thing to measure or quantify, but the story assumes we know something about how intense the Jews’ hate for Samaritans was.

According to Warren Wiersbe, “So intense was [the Jews’] dislike of the Samaritans that some of the Pharisees prayed that no Samaritan would be raised in the resurrection!”[1]  This hate was so strong that many Orthodox Jews would travel much longer routes around Samaria to avoid setting foot in it.  They thought the dirt itself would contaminate them.  Why all this hate?

One reason for this hate was genetic.  Anyone who reads the Old Testament knows there are many extensive genealogies.  To the Jew, it was very important to know which of the original 12 tribes you descended from and that your ancestors had not intermarried with people of other religions.  But Samaritans genealogies were not pure enough for them.  Much of Samaria was populated with the descendants of poorer Jews left behind by the Assyrians, many of whom had intermarried with foreigners the Assyrians planted there.  So, Jews in Judah looked down on Samaritans because of their mixed genealogy.  The Samaritans were considered “half-breeds.”

Another reason was religious.  When the Samaritan woman said “Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship” in John 4:20, she was referring to an alternative Judaism.  Among other differences, the Samaritans had a center of worship on Mount Gerizim, with its own temple.  They even re-wrote parts of the Pentateuch to justify this.[2]  To Israel, Jerusalem was the only center of worship.  Sacrifices to Yahweh were only to be offered there, and every male was supposed to make a pilgrimage there three times every year.  There was to be no rival temple, and therefore the Samaritans (in the Jewish mind) had cut themselves off from the true worship of Yahweh and should be shunned.

John has to write that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria” because doing that was unusual, especially for a Jewish rabbi like Jesus.  But then Jesus went there, simply being in Samaria was a strong statement that Jesus didn’t care for the hateful tribalism.  But not only did He go there, He interacted with its people, at a time when “Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.”  Jesus was and would continue to break down these barriers.  In the four gospels, Jesus preached to the Jews first, then to the “half-breed” Samaritans, then to full Gentiles, and the apostles followed the same pattern in Acts.  This sequence progressively illustrated that the gospel is for all tribes of people.

What does this mean for us today?  Hate like what the Jews felt for Samaritans is rampant and if Jesus could overcome that hate, He can overcome any hate.  Any reasons we have for hating, or even disliking people just because of what group or tribe they belong to aren’t good enough reasons. 

But tribal rivalries are everywhere we look: national and regional, political and economic, cultural and ethnic, musical and athletic, and every other dimension we can imagine.  But no tribal loyalty is more important than the obligation to love God and love our neighbor, no matter who they are.

The apostle Paul wrote in Romans 3:38-39 –

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Not only does this describe the love God has for us in Jesus, but it also describes the love we should have for others.  Nothing should get in the way, including any religious, racial or other differences.

Jesus overcomes tribalism, and so should His people.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Alive (John 1-12) (1986).  P.65.
[2] Edersheim, Alfred.  The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (1886).  P. 274-5.

All Fall Short

Todd R Leave a comment

I’m writing a series about the verses I’ve quoted the most on this blog, and I see some of these verses as foundational to Christianity.  For example, another post in the series was about John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”)  Today’s post (#5 of the series) covers Romans 3:23, another verse that states a basic truth central to Christianity:

“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

This is so important because without knowing we are sinners, we have no reason to accept Jesus.  It makes John 3:16 and other verses matter more to the hearer.  This is why Romans 3:23 is the first verse in the “Romans Road.”  For those not familiar, the Romans Road[1] is an easy to memorize summary of the Christian gospel using verses from the book of Romans.  It gives a quick outline describing the need for salvation and the way to salvation using these verses:

Romans 3:23 – “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”
Romans 6:23(a) – “The wages of sin is death”
Romans 6:23(b) – “The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”
Romans 10:9 – “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved”

In the times I’ve quoted Romans 3:23, it has often reinforced the logic of the Romans Road, particularly its first step.  What does it mean that “all have sinned”?

Missing the Mark
In the New Testament, the word “sin” is often a translation of the Greek “hamartia,” which means “to miss the mark.”[2]  I’ve written that Paul in Romans 3:23 “is not saying everybody failed to follow a list of dos and don’ts, but that we have not fully lived the life God intended us to live.”  Sometimes we make a list of what we think are sins and think if we’ve followed the list, we haven’t sinned.  However, a better definition of sin tells us that “all have sinned.”  If the goal is for each person to attain “the glory of God,” none of us have achieved the goal.  We all need Jesus.

“There is Only One Who is Good”[3]
When someone came to Jesus (Matthew 19:16) and said ““Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” part of Jesus’ response was “There is only one who is good.”  He says this because “all have sinned,” except Jesus, who is sinless.  Regardless, often people are obsessed with grouping people into “good” and “bad.”  I’ve written about “religious categories like Catholic versus Protestant, political categories like Republican versus Democrat, or Marxist categories like “oppressed” versus “oppressor.””  We assign people to these groups, then we like our side and hate the other.  Therefore, one of my favorite quotes is by Solzhenitsyn, who said:

“The line separating good and evil passes, not through states, not between political parties either, but right through all human hearts.”

In each person there is good and evil.  There is no way to separate groups of people into a group of good people and a group of bad people, because every person in every group is both.  If we only put more stock in Romans 3:23, which declares: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” we could avoid an awful lot of unnecessary hate and conflict.

God Loves Us Anyway
Now here comes the good news: “Most of the Bible is the story of the failures of people who can’t follow the will of God, but that God loves and accepts them anyway.”  Studying the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, it becomes obvious that God’s people aren’t “good’ people, but it also becomes obvious that God loves them anyway.  Therefore, Romans 3:23 cultivates in us a spirit of humility and gratefulness.  We know because of Romans 3:23 that any blessing from God is an act of grace because only Jesus lived a life of full obedience.  In Deuteronomy when Moses reviewed the blessings and curses that Israel would experience based on their ability to obey God, God knew that every single Israelite would fall short of deserving blessing.  Every single Israelite would sin.  However, because of God’s mercy and grace, we don’t get the judgement we deserve, but we do get the blessing we don’t deserve.  Therefore, we must be thankful for God’s grace, but also we must be aware that it is not at all earned by what we’ve done.

So, while Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” is an important verse, Romans 3:24, right after it says, “and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” and that’s just as important.

[1] This site has some more helpful detail on the Romans Road: https://www.christianity.com/wiki/salvation/what-is-the-romans-road-to-salvation.html
[2] Greek Strong’s Dictionary
[3] Matthew 19:17

Who Do We Serve?

Todd R 3 Comments

Some people think they aren’t serving anyone, but this is never true.  We are all at least serving our own desires.  We may also desire to serve our employers, our spouses, our friends, our country, our ambitions, and many other masters, in addition to ourselves.  Someone or something is determining what we do.  Nobody is without a master.

The apostle Paul was clear in the Bible who his master was.  In the first verse of 3 of the epistles he wrote – Romans, Philippians, and Titus – Paul opens by calling himself a “servant” of God and of Jesus.  Given his status as a Roman citizen and his heritage and accomplishments as a Jew[1], it may have been hard for Paul to see himself as a servant, but he knew there was no other kind of person, or Christian.  We’re all servants.

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

We are not saved by being servants, we are saved by God’s grace and mercy, but when we are saved, we take on a new identity.  In Paul’s case, he writes in Romans and Titus that he was “called to be an apostle”[2] and that he was “an apostle of Jesus Christ.”[3]  Paul knew that he served only one Master, and that Master determined his priorities and required him to turn from other masters.  Likewise, unless we first acknowledge that we are servants, we will not answer our call to be set apart for God’s purpose in us.

We are not called to be apostles, but as servants, we are called to be something, in service to Him. This does not mean we all need to go into full-time ministry, but it does mean that we need to bring God’s priorities to love Him and to love our neighbor into our daily lives and activities.  Into our homes, our workplaces, our neighborhoods, our churches, and anywhere else we go.  It means we let Jesus decide our priorities and how we treat the people around us.

Paul wrote in Romans that “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”[4]  So, faith that leads to salvation includes the acknowledgement that Jesus is Lord and therefore that Christians are His servants.

Today, someone will be your master.  Choose wisely and ask Jesus how you can serve Him today.

“We can do no great things, only small things with great love.” – Mother Teresa
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado

[1] Philippians 3:4-6
[2] Romans 1:1
[3] Titus 1:1
[4] Romans 10:9

“The Way to Death”

Todd R Leave a comment

Is everything a matter of life and death?  In Deuteronomy 30:19, Moses said to the people of Israel about God’s law: “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live.”  This idea of things being a choice between life and death also shows up in wisdom literature, like the Proverbs, and elsewhere.  Paul wrote in Romans 5:12, “as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.”  These verses don’t mean that every time you sin lightning will come down from heaven and strike you dead.  They also don’t mean that whether you choose to have corn or peas with dinner is a life-or-death decision.  But they do mean that, absent God’s grace, the necessary, inevitable consequence of sin is death.

Paul also wrote, in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Because of this gift, our bad choices and bad intentions don’t have to lead to eternal death, but we still make bad choices, and the verse(s) I’m going to highlight today is(are) a good reminder that we get tricked into bad choices.

In response to a reader suggestion, I’m writing a series about the verses I’ve quoted the most on this blog.  Today’s post is #4 of the series, covering the verse(s) quoted the 4th least out of the 10 most quoted:

“There is a way that seems right to a man,
            but its end is the way to death.” – Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25

Yes, Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 say exactly the same thing, as if the point being made was so important that it needed repeating.  This Proverb tells us that we make bad choices because they seem right.  Here I’ve used this verse a few times and in a few different ways, which I’m listing below:

Sometimes what “seems right” is physically bad for us
In one post, I explained the famous “Marlboro Man” advertising campaign begun in 1954, where a cigarette with a red filter designed for women was changed overnight into a cigarette for “manly” men, who usually had a cowboy hat and a horse.  I wrote “To make Philip Morris money, the ads declared that smoking was not a “way to death,” but that it was “right to a man” to be like the Marlboro Man.”  However, smoking can literally kill you.  Not a very spiritual point, but still true!

What’s right is not always what we’ve always done
I’ve also written about the dual Proverb that what “seems right” might be keeping us stuck in a rut and not progressing in life or in holiness.  Rather than do what’s actually right, “It’s easier to do what others have done before, or to continue what you’ve already done before, especially if repeated for a long period of time.”  While what’s comfortable may be the easy thing to do, 1 Peter 1:14-16 says (quoting Leviticus 11:44), “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.””  Since none of us are holy yet, getting there requires change, and therefore staying where we are can be “the way to death.”

Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash

What’s right is not always what’s popular
In most (maybe all) cultures there are popular assumptions and ideas that just go unchallenged.  Anyone who speaks against them suffers some kind of consequence, from being shunned to even being killed in some places.  I wrote a list of quotes called “Popular Orthodoxy” about this, which included today’s Proverbs.  Popularity and peer pressure can be powerful things, giving us constant signals about what “seems right to a man”, but I’ve also written that “Sometimes wisdom flashes a red light while others are flashing green.”

What’s right is not always what we think is in our own best interest
For this one, I used an extreme example, where Herod ordered the killing of every child under 2 that lived where Jesus was born.  He didn’t want any rivals to his rule, and he didn’t want a populist uprising, so as I wrote: “Herod saw [the killings] as in his own best interest, and in the interest of Rome, but this is one of many examples of “a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.””  As I said this was an extreme example, but if you study economics, you usually learn that it assumes that people are “rational,” meaning they act in their best interest.  So, the economic theory of what “seems right to a man” is self-interest.

However, the Bible teaches us that what’s best for us is to defer our judgement of what’s best to God.  Too often we’re wrong, and Proverbs 1:7 declares:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
            fools despise wisdom and instruction.”

This “fear” doesn’t mean we are afraid of God, but that we feel a reverent awe toward Him.  This fear leads to wisdom and leads us to choose the way that is right to God, not what “seems right” to us.  Only the omniscient God has the perspective needed to know what’s right.  Psalm 25:12 says:

“Who is the man who fears the LORD?
            Him will he instruct in the way that he should choose.”

As Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25 tell us, we are easily misled to believe there is a better path than the one God chooses for us.  It’s so important that Proverbs tells us this twice, and I agree, which is why it/they make my list of most-quoted verses.

Limited Boasting

Todd R 2 Comments

I took a strategy class years ago in business school, but about the only thing I remember the professor saying is (paraphrasing): “Strategy includes not only doing our best at what we do but also deciding what not to do.”  There were a couple of points to this.  One, it’s important to not get distracted in order to do the things that need to be done.  Second, and more importantly, it’s essential to be deliberate and intentional about what we should not be doing.  We should know what things ours are to deal with and which things aren’t.  Not that we can always avoid things, but strategy involves knowing what those things are.

The apostles Paul and Peter understood this principle.  In Romans 11:13, Paul referred to himself as “an apostle to the Gentiles.”  Of course, he often preached in the Jewish synagogues of the towns he visited, but he knew his emphasis should be on getting the Gospel to the Gentiles.[1]  On the other hand, the focus of Peter’s ministry was the Jews.  When he wrote 1 Peter, he addressed it to the “Dispersion,”[2] referring mainly to Jews living outside of Palestine, but he also knew Gentiles would benefit from it.

It is this division of labor that Paul refers to in 2 Corinthians 10:13 – “But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

Paul did not boast in his own work but freely boasted of the work of God through him.  He wasn’t being arrogant, but giving God the glory for anything he succeeded in.  But even so, Paul knew his boasting had to be limited to work that was specifically his to do, in this case taking the gospel to Gentiles in Corinth.

If Peter and Paul had limits, each of us do as well.  God understands this better than anyone, since he is the one working through us and also defining those limits, or our “area of influence.”  Warren Wiersbe, commenting on the verse, wrote: “God is not going to measure us on the basis of the gifts and opportunities that He gave to Charles Spurgeon or Billy Sunday. He will measure my work by what He assigned to me.”[3]

It’s a shame in our culture that we have phrases like “silence is complicity,” as if every problem is every person’s problem to solve, and as if speaking out about problems is as good as actually doing something about them.  It’s also a shame that over-emphasis on other people’s problems can easily, and often, keep us from dealing with things right in front of us.  But how do we know what to deal with and not deal with?  Our social media feeds are not the answer.

Knowing our “area of influence”, in my experience, requires constant cultivation of our relationship with God.  Bible study, prayer, meditation, fellowship.  When I’ve made those investments, it’s been amazing how what God says to me has application to specific life situations.  Maybe when I read about patience, I find myself in a situation where it’s hard to be patient.  Maybe I read about holiness, and it makes me confront some sin or bad habit in my life.  Maybe I read about forgiveness and think of someone I may be ignoring or holding a grudge against.  Maybe I learn about a new way to express my spiritual gifts or find a new person to share them with.  Maybe I read about caring for widows and orphans and I learn about a single mother who needs help.

Not all tasks are ours to do, but it’s important to note that we are accountable for the tasks God has for us.  “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10).  While he doesn’t call one person and ask them to do everything, He does call many and gives them their roles.

But the point of this post is that we can’t do everything.  Many situations require prayer that God will provide someone to help.  Someone to bring Christ into that situation.  Sometimes I’ve come across the solution later or found someone else who is in a position to help, but still, I’m not accountable to God for being perfect, for helping everyone I come across.

If we’re paying attention to the “area of influence” in front of us instead of every possible problem in the world, God can do great things through each of us.  But if we don’t intentionally decide to strategically leave some problems alone, we may find ourselves aimless and spinning our wheels.

May God give us all direction.

“But we will not boast beyond limits, but will boast only with regard to the area of influence God assigned to us, to reach even to you.”

[1] See also 1 Timothy 2:7
[2] 1 Peter 1:1
[3] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Encouraged (2 Corinthians) (1994).  P. 136.