Monday, Oct. 1

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Romans 10:1-4

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

While pursuing my seminary study I was required to spend a couple of semesters in what was called “C.P.E.” – or Clinical Pastoral Education.  So several days each week I served as a chaplain in a large suburban hospital. There were six or seven students in my group and we were led by the head chaplain, who was an ordained minister of a different denomination. In fact, being Baptist, I was the only evangelical in the group, the others being from “mainline” denominations.

We met once a week for a brief devotional time, and took turns preparing and delivering the devotional thought for the day. When my turn came, I decided to try to emphasize the idea that although we were all in preparation for ministry, we were still vulnerable to all kinds of sin and needed to be reminded often that we were still in need of the power of the gospel in our hearts and lives.

I took the liberty of sharing a quote from one of my favorite writers, Frederich Buechner, who wrote:

“From time to time I find a kind of heroism momentarily possible – a seeing, doing, telling of Christly truth – but most of the time I am indistinguishable from the rest of the herd that jostles and snuffles at the great trough of life. Part time novelist, Christian, pig. That is who I am.” (From “The Alphabet of Grace”)

When I was finished, I was astonished to find that the response of the group was not thoughtful reflection on the miracle of God’s grace, but anger bordering on rage!

“How dare you!?” one up-to-that-point-sweet lady seethed, “How dare you insinuate that I am a sinner! I’ve given my life to caring for others!” Most of the others, including the head chaplain, responded in very similar fashion.

Now, I’m pretty sure that the reference to “pig” didn’t help much, but I remember being surprised by how offended these religious people were to even the suggestion that they might be, in fact, sinners.

In these verses from Romans 10, Paul is referring to a similarly religious group of people – people who assumed that they could establish their own righteousness through their religious efforts.

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.

He’s talking, of course, about the Israelites – but he could be talking about anyone from any religious or cultural background who is relying on religious activity or good deeds to make them righteous before a holy God.

The people in my C.P.E. group were religious people; they were, in many ways, “zealous for God,” and they were good people. But their denial of their own sinfulness gave away their approach to righteousness. They didn’t need God’s righteousness because they had already achieved their own.

Tim Keller has written:

“Any effort to take away the idea of Christ’s substitutionary atonement and replace it with moralism (i.e., being moral, working for others, imitating Jesus) robs the gospel of its power to change us from the inside out.” (essay, “The Meaning of the Gospel”)

“We must learn how to repent of the sin under all our other sins and under all our righteousness – the sin of seeking to be our own Savior and Lord.” (Book: “The Prodigal God”)

This, again, is why the gospel is so revolutionary.

Pastor Brian Coffey

Friday, Sept. 28

Friday

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But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.   - Romans 3:21-24

The great british preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones once said that if he could have only one passage from the Bible, it would be these few verses from Romans 3!  New testament scholar F.F. Bruce says that this portion of Romans 3 may be the most important paragraph ever written.  But we cannot grasp why these verses are some amazing unless we first understand the meaning of a word that Paul uses repeatedly in his writings - it is the word righteousness.

Understanding what is meant by the word “righteousness” is critical to understanding the writings of Paul.  He uses this word over 70 times in his letters (most of them in the book of Romans).  We don’t hear this word very often in everyday conversation. Some of us may imagine a sandy haired surfer telling his friends how “righteous” the waves were, or a skater telling his friend that his trick in the half-pipe was totally righteous.  But in Biblical terms, the word “righteous” is not an adjective used to describe how great something is.  

To be righteous literally means “to be right with”.  It means to be in a right relationship with someone (God).  An imperfect example would be when two guys have an argument over some issue and then after they have resolved the issue, one guy says to the other, “Hey, are we good now?”  And the other replies, “Yeah man, we’re all good.”  (maybe they even hug it out)  The point is that they have been “made right” in their relationship again.  

The Bible says that when it comes to our relationship with God, none of us is righteous...that is we are not right with God because of our sin (and we can’t just hug it out).  

Romans 3:10 - As it is written:  There is no one righteous, not even one

When we talk the gospel, we tend to focus on God’s love and mercy, and this is certainly at the core of the Gospel.  But Paul is mainly concerned here to talk about God’s righteousness and our sin, or lack of righteousness.  He mentions “righteousness” in verses 20, 21, and 22, plus “justice” or “justified” in 24, 25 and 26.  In Greek, all of these words come from the same word root.  God’s righteousness refers to His absolute holiness or separateness from all sin and all that is wrong.  But in this context, Paul is especially referring to how sinners may be justified or declared righteous in God’s sight.  

The main issue that we all must face is how to be right with a righteous God.  This is the critical question and the reason why these verses are some amazing.

I think the two greatest words in this passage are the first two; “but now”.  Paul has just spent 2 and a half chapters hammering home the point that we are all sinful law-breakers and guilty in God’s sight, ”but now”...God has made it possible for us to be made right with Him!  “A righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known”!

To be right with God by our good deeds would be like lining up at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and trying to jump across to the North Rim. An Olympic long jumper might get 25- 30 feet from the edge before he went down. I’d get maybe 8-10 feet before I would go down, you might get a little father, but no one could leap the ten miles to the other side. It’s impossible!

The great news of the Gospel is that although we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, by His free gift of grace, He declares righteous all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. This is what it means to be right with God.  If you have put your trust in Christ alone to carry you across the chasm between you and God, you know that there is a huge “but now” in your life!

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, Sept. 27

Thursday

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Now 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.  Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.   - Romans 3:19-20

Have you ever noticed how prone you are to excuse yourself and blame others?  

This especially comes out when I’m driving. The driver who whizzed past me is a maniac. The granny in front of me holding up traffic by her slow driving is a road hazard. But me? Hey, I drive just right!

The guy who spends less than I do is a tightwad. The guy who spends more is irresponsible. But me? I’m a careful manager of what the Lord gives me.

We may chuckle at these examples, but if we go through life justifying ourselves and blaming others, the day will come when we won’t be laughing.  We’ll be standing before God, all of our excuses will evaporate, our mouths will be closed, and we will hear the Sovereign Judge pronounce, “Guilty as charged!”  At that point, it will be too late to plead for mercy.

Paul is like a prosecuting attorney, summing up his case. He’s still aiming at the self-righteous Jews.  In Romans 3:9, he sums up his case, “for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” Then, to cinch his case with the Jews, he cites from their own Scriptures to prove that there is none righteous, not even one (3:10).

But he’s not quite done. Paul realizes that religious, “good” sinners are very difficult to convince of their sin. He knows that they still may be thinking, “The passages you just quoted, Paul, refer only to wicked Jews or to the Gentiles. But I’m a good, law- keeping Jew. Those verses don’t describe me!”

So Paul shows (“we know” appeals to something that is common knowledge, which even the religious Jews would agree with) that the Law speaks to all who are under it. Yes, God’s Law condemns the Gentiles, too, so that “the whole world may become accountable to God.” But the Law speaks to those who are “in the Law” (literal translation), namely, to the Jews. He is showing that their own Law, in which they boasted, condemns them. They will not be justified by the Law unless they have kept it perfectly, which no one has. We can’t expect to be justified by a law that we have only kept occasionally and have broken often. That is his closing argument before resting his case.

Most people seem to think that if you try to do your best, even if you fail thousands of times, God will let you off on judgment day.  He will reward your effort, not penalize your failures.  But James 2:10 points out, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.” We don’t like to admit this, but if you think about it, it’s true. If a man stole your credit card and used it to buy thousands of dollars of worth of stuff, he is guilty of stealing.  What would you think if, when he came to trial, he argued, “But judge, I didn’t commit adultery with his wife”?  “I didn’t steal his car or burn down his house.  I didn’t molest his children.  And, besides, I try to live by the Golden Rule. I do the best that I can.”  All of that is irrelevant to the main issue: “Did you steal his credit card and use it to buy thousands of dollars worth of stuff?”  If so, he is guilty in spite of all the other bad things he didn’t do and in spite of all the good things that he may be doing.  He’s a law-breaker.

Paul is showing us that this is our condition apart from Christ.  We are all “law-breakers” and we are all guilty.  If nobody can keep God’s law and we are all guilty for breaking it, you might be wondering, what is the point?  Why did God give us the law?  Paul tells us; “through the law we become conscious of sin.”  This means that we wake up to our true condition, we see our desperate need for God’s mercy and grace.

In Romans 3:19, Paul says that we will all be held accountable to God and that we will have nothing to say in our own defense, “so that every mouth may be silenced”.  “Lord, I’ve tried to be a good person; I’ve done my best to keep the Golden Rule,” won’t cut it. “Lord, I’m a guilty sinner, but I put my trust in Your Son Jesus who died to pay my penalty,” is the only answer that will be accepted. Make sure that your trust is in Christ alone!

Jeff Frazier

Thursday, Sept. 26

Wednesday

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As it is written:  “There is no one righteous, not even one;  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  - Romans 3:10-12

I have to be honest that there was a time when I read this passage and it felt to me like a bit of an exaggeration. I mean seriously, how can he say that nobody does good?  I see people doing good deeds all of the time, don’t you?.  How can Paul claim that nobody seeks God?  I have talked with many people who genuinely want to understand who God is.

So I will admit confess that I have wondered if Paul wasn’t just overstating things in order to make his point (after all, as a preacher I have been known to use a rhetorical flourish from time to time myself).  

But as I have delved deeper into this passage, I have come to see that Paul is not exaggerating at all, he is making a very profound point about the nature of the human heart.  First of all, Paul is actually quoting from the Old Testament book of Psalms in this passage.

The fool says in his heart,  “There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.  The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.  - Psalm 14:1-3

God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.  - Psalm 53:2-3

So, at the very least we can say that if Paul was exaggerating, then so was King David who wrote these Psalms.  The point here is that this idea is not new, it did not originate with Paul.  Paul is not saying that nobody ever does a good deed or has a divine thought (of course they do), he is saying that even in our best efforts to do good and to seek God, we are still sinful.

Isaiah 64:6 - All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. 

Isaiah 53:6 - We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way

We tend to look at individual actions and evaluate them as good or bad based on the external results they produce. The Bible, repeatedly, asks a different question. It not only asks “What did you do?” but “Why did you do it?” It asks the question of motivation. From a biblical perspective, the motivation for an action is as important, or even more important, than the action itself.  No one wants others motivations towards them to be impure. 

Consider a few examples: What wife would enjoy her husband coming home with flowers, giving them to her, and saying, “Darling, I’m doing this because it’s my duty” – or, “I’m doing this because I feel guilty and I want to appease my conscience.”  What poor person would appreciate someone who is better off serving him/her and then saying, “I’m doing this so that I can feel better about myself” –  or, “I’m doing this to win points with God.”  In other words, the motivations behind and beneath our actions matter. They matter immensely!

So, when Paul says that nobody does good, he is saying that none of us do good purely out of love selflessness, we all have at least a little impurity in our motives.  When paul says that no one seeks God, he is saying that nobody seeks God purely for love of God alone, we all seek God for what we think God will give us.

One of the easiest ways to discover that you are utterly, and irreparably trapped in sin, is to analyze the motivations of the heart.  To begin to ask yourself, “Did I do that because I loved that person or because I love myself?” “Did I do that because I love God or because I want something from God in return; i.e. blessing, forgiveness, comfort, joy, etc.?”

Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, Sept. 25

Tuesday

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What 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.  - Romans 3:9

You may not have noticed it when you first read it, but this single verse contains an astonishingly radical truth.  In order to grasp just how radical it is, you have to understand who the “we” is that Paul is referring to when he says “Are we any better?”  Paul is asking the question if Jews are any better off than Gentiles when it comes to their standing before God?  His answer is the radical part - he says “Not at all!”  This would not be the answer that a devout Jew would expect.  

The entire Jewish ethos was built around being God’s chosen and blessed people; unique and distinct from other nations and peoples of the world.  Jewish Rabbis even referred to gentiles as “dogs” and viewed them as unclean.  It was almost unimaginable for Paul to say that Jews are not spiritually bette off than unclean and unbelieving Gentiles!  

In fact, verse 9 seems to make Paul contradict what he said in verses 1-2, that the Jews have many advantages over the Gentiles. 

What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?Much in every way!  - Romans 3:1-2

But he is considering two different issues. In verse 1 he is saying that there are many spiritual advantages to being born a Jew, if the Jew will take them. But in verse 9 he is coming back to what he argued in 2:17-29, that the Jews are just as much under sin and in need of God’s salvation as the Gentiles are.

The assertion that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin grows even more astounding when you consider who is making it.  Before he became the Apostle Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus.  Saul was a highly educated and devout Jew, he was a zealot and a Pharisee. (by the way, the word Pharisee means “set apart” or “separate”)

 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city. Under Gamaliel I was thoroughly trained in the law of our fathers and was just as zealous for God as any of you are today.  - Acts 22:3

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.   - Philippians 3:4-6

Clearly something radical must have happened to Saul of Tarsus, the zealous Pharisee who persecuted Christians in the name of God, in order to transform him into the Apostle Paul who can can say that there is no difference between us all in the eyes of a holy God!  I’ll tell you what has happened, the Gospel of Jesus Christ has brought about a radical transformation in his heart and in his life!  

You see, there were three great social, cultural and religious dividing lines in Paul’s day.  The first was the line between men and women.  The second was the line between slaves and free people.  The third, and most significant was the line between Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews).  

But the the Gospel blows apart these kinds of lines and distinctions...There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. - Galatians 3:28 

We may not have the same dividing lines as those of the first century, but make no mistake, we have them.  What are the great dividing lines between people in our culture today?  Rich and Poor, Black and White, Conservative and Liberal...

In his book, The Gulag Archipelago, Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn writes, 

“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.” 

One of the ways that you know the Gospel has transformed your heart, is that you no longer view the world in “us & them” terms.  Is this true of your heart?  Can you see that the biggest problem you face is not  with “them”, or “out there”, but it is in you, in the sinfulness of your own heart and your desperate need for God’s grace?

Jeff Frazier

Monday, Sept. 24

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Monday

The late preacher Harry Ironside once asked a man after a gospel meeting, “Are you saved, sir?”
“No, I really can’t say I am, but I would like to be.”
“Why would you? Do you realize you are a lost sinner?”
“Oh, of course, we’re all sinners.”
“Ah!”, said Ironside, “But that often means little or nothing. Are you a sinner yourself?”
“Well, I suppose I am, but I’m not what you could call a bad sinner. I am, I think, rather a good one. I always try to do the best I know.”

Ironside went on to tell the man that there was little use in showing him the way of salvation. Good sinners are like honest liars and upright thieves: they are far from ready to admit that they are vile, hell-deserving sinners who need God’s grace to be saved (Illustrations of Bible Truth, H. A. Ironside).

This little story illustrates the attitude most people (even most Christians) have toward sin, in particular their own sinfulness.  It is one thing to say that “nobody is perfect” or that “we are all sinners”, but it is another thing entirely to say “I am a hopeless sinner in need of God’s grace.”  This idea sounds and feels good to us because it allows us to maintain our fundamental goodness while still giving lip service to our flaws and failures.  Most people view themselves as “good” sinners. They would say, “I know I’m not perfect. I’ve got my share of faults. But I’m not a murderer or terrorist or child molester. I’m a decent person. So, yes, I’m a sinner, but I’m a good sinner.” The problem is that this is not at all the picture that the Bible paints for the basic human condition.

What 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.  As it is written:  “There is no one righteous, not even one;  there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”  “Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.”  “The poison of vipers is on their lips.”  “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  - Romans 3:9-18

Paul is laying the foundation for the universal nature of sin, he says “Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin”.  A Gentile was anybody who wasn’t a Jew, so the phrase “Jews and Gentiles” is another way of saying, the whole world!  The whole world is under sin!  Paul says there is no one righteous, not even one.  He goes on to describe our sinful condition in verses 13-18...

“Their tongues practice deceit.  The poison poison of vipers is on their lips.  Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”  - This is the sin we speak

“Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know.” - This is the sin we do

“there is no fear of God before their eyes.” - This is the sin we think

But some may think, “Now wait a minute!  I’ve got my faults, but I’m not nearly as bad as this description!  I’ve bent the truth at times, but these verses do not describe my speech.  And I’ve never murdered anyone as verse 15 alleges.”

But Paul isn’t saying that every sinner does all of these sins all the time. Rather, he is saying that the seeds, or the roots for all of these sins are planted deeply in every fallen human heart. Through His common grace, God prevents sinners from being as terrible as they would be if He didn’t restrain them.  When Paul says (3:9) that all are “under sin,” he means that everyone is under the guilt of sin. This is not to say that everyone feels guilty. A mob hit man may become so callous and hardened that he no longer feels the slightest twinge of guilt after shooting a man in the face.  Afterwards, he goes to dinner with his friends and jokes about the look of horror on the victim’s face just before he blew him away.  But although he doesn’t feel guilty, he is truly guilty of murder in God’s sight. To be “under sin” means that we are truly guilty of violating God’s holy law. We will be condemned when we stand before Him for judgment, unless our sins are atoned for through Christ’s blood.

Also, to be “under sin” means that outside of Christ, we are under the power of sin. It dominates our lives so that we obey its lusts. Paul refers to this as being slaves of sin (Rom. 6:6, 16-22).  Again, this does not mean that unbelievers are as wicked as they possibly could be. Nor does it mean that they are incapable of being kind or doing good deeds. Rather, in God’s sight and by His perfect standard, even their good deeds are as filthy rags (Isa. 64:6).

But if you can read this description of human nature and think, “Thank God I’m not like that,” then God has not opened your eyes to the true condition of your heart.  As Jesus pointed out in Matthew 5, if you have ever been angry with another person, in God’s sight you are a murderer. If you’ve ever lusted, you’re an adulterer.  By nature, your heart is “under sin.”

It may not be popular, but there is very good reason for all of this negative talk about sin.  You see, If we don’t understand how bad the disease is, we won’t seek the cure, whether for ourselves or to share with those who outwardly seem to be “good” or “decent” folks.

“Good” sinners, especially religious ones, are usually the most difficult to reach with the gospel. But Paul, like Jesus before him, talked this way to the most religious people he knew. Paul knew that if we trust in our religiosity and good works, we will not be able to see our need to trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord!

Jeff Frazier

Friday, September 21

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Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

As we all know by now this is an election year. On November 6 we will elect our next president; who will be either the incumbent candidate or his challenger. Between now and then we will be inundated with TV ad campaigns, mailings and phone messages from both candidates claiming that their vision, their platform, their party gives our nation, and gives us as individuals and families the best hope for a peaceful and prosperous future.

It’s safe to say that the candidate who is able to convince us that his version of hope is the truest, the most possible, and the best for our personal needs will win the election. 

This is so because what we are all really looking for is not jobs, or financial security, or lower taxes; what we are longing for is hope!

The Apostle Paul was not running for office. He wasn’t trying to become the Emperor of Rome. But he did talk about hope.

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Notice a couple of things about Paul’s version of hope; gospel hope.

First, notice that Paul anchors hope in both the glory of God and the love of God. 

Second, notice that between these two anchor points of hope there is suffering.

Third, notice that Paul says this is a hope that does not disappoint. 

Think about all the different versions of hope we will hear about in the next couple of months:

• Hope for the economy
• Hope for more jobs
• Hope for peace in the world
• Hope for better education for our children
• Hope for a cleaner planet

…and on and on. All these “hopes” are good – but none of them is certain. All of them have great potential to disappoint us; and when we become disappointed enough we will elect another president.

Not so with the hope of the gospel. The hope of the gospel is certain because it is anchored in the eternal; the glory of God and the love of God.

When Paul speaks of the “glory of God” he is thinking, in part, about heaven, eternity in the presence of Christ himself. His hope in heaven is certain no matter what suffering or hardship may befall him in his earthly life. In 2 Corinthians Paul writes:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

And when Paul speaks of the love of God poured out into our hearts, he is thinking of a love greater than we can imagine.

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:17-19

This is why Paul can talk about a “hope that does not disappoint!” Because his hope is not anchored in temporary things – like politics or a great job or even good health - but on the eternal realities of God’s glory and love.

We all have hopes; you have hopes, I have hopes, it is the very nature of human beings to hope. The only question is where do we invest our deepest hope? 

Is your hope invested in that which is temporary and bound to disappoint? Or have you invested your hope in that which is eternal; the hope that is the gospel?

Pastor Brian Coffey

Thursday, September 20

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Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;  perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

A number of years ago I received a call at home on a Wednesday night. The caller identified himself as a volunteer in one mid-week children’s ministry and said there was a very disturbed man at the church (the East Campus was all FBCG had in those days) who was frightening the children and even some of the adult staff. He asked if I could come and help. Since Pastor Jeff was not yet at FBCG (he is my first choice when it comes to dealing with “disturbed individuals”!), I said I’d be there as soon as I could.

When I arrived I found a very agitated man who looked to be in his mid 40’s or so. He was pacing back and forth in the lobby, wringing his hands and mumbling to himself. I asked him to come back into my office with me and, surprisingly, he complied.

Then over the course of the next hour and a half or so I discovered that this man was experiencing some kind of post-traumatic-stress disorder, and that it was evidently related to experiences he had many years earlier in Viet Nam. He began to talk about the horrors he had witnessed and to allude to some horrible things he had done while there. 

I knew I was not trained or equipped to deal effectively with his psychiatric condition – but I also sensed a deep spiritual need as well. So I tried to comfort him by saying, “Whatever you experienced or did all those years ago, God can forgive you.”

He just shook his head sadly and said, “You don’t know the things I did, man, you don’t know.”

All I could say was, “No, I don’t. I have no idea what you did or what you feel today. But I do know that God knows, and God can forgive, and God can bring peace.”

Paul writes:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.

Notice first the kind of peace Paul is talking about. He is talking about “peace with God”; not “peace with the past,” or “peace in our relationships,” or “peace about our career trajectory.” 

But what is “peace with God?” It seems that Paul explains this peace in two ways. 

First he says, “since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God.” To be “justified” means to be declared not guilty, or to be declared righteous. This tells me that we have peace with God when we know that we are no longer charged with or guilty of sin. Peace with God, therefore, is being declared righteous.

Secondly, Paul says that we can know this peace “through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”

In other words, we experience peace with God when, by faith in what Christ has done, we stand in grace.

Yes, the things that I did in the past really happened. Yes, the things that Viet Nam vet did during the war really happened. We all have sinned against God and against others; all of us.

But through faith in Christ we are justified, made righteous again, declared “not guilty” on the basis of his sacrifice for our sin. Just as our sin is real; so the cross of Christ is real. However great our failure and sin may be, the grace of Christ is greater.

So, we don’t run from God; we don’t run from our past; we don’t run from our sin and failures; we stand in his grace.  

I picture it like this: I am standing, arms outstretched and face tilted up, as the sweet waterfall of his grace cascades over me, washing every trace of sin, pain and brokenness from my being. All I do is stand and allow grace to flow. 

This is peace; this is the gospel. 

Pastor Brian Coffey

Wednesday, September 19

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Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

From somewhere in my growing up years I still remember a TV commercial for some kind of soap where the tag line was, “It’s 99 and 44/100 % pure!”

Do you remember that one? I think it was for Ivory brand soap.

I remember thinking even then, “How can something be only 99 and 44/100 % pure? Doesn’t “pure” mean 100% pure?”

It seems to me even today that while 99 and 44/100 % pure is pretty good – it’s not totally pure!

I think about that commercial sometimes when I hear the way some people talk about God and salvation.

“Well, I just try to be the best person I can be... that’s all God can expect right?”

“I’m a pretty good person, I mean, I haven’t killed anybody or anything.”

“I’ve done way more good than bad in my life – that’s got to count for something!”

In other words, “I’m 99 44/100 % good – that’s good enough.”

Paul writes:

For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Three times Paul uses the word “righteous,” or “righteousness.” What does this word mean?

We’ll get to that in a moment; but before we talk about “the righteousness of God” we must talk about the holiness of God.

The holiness of God is the absolute purity of God. To say God is holy is to say he is “set apart” from all else in creation and in our experience by his absolute goodness, perfection, authority and power.  God is 100% pure; God is holy.

And therein lies the human problem because we are not holy! We are sinful, imperfect and flawed creatures. And, by definition therefore, we cannot make ourselves holy enough to approach a holy God!

Now we can talk about the righteousness of God!

Throughout the Bible the “righteousness of God” is understood as God’s holiness and love in action. That is, God’s righteousness is his authority and desire to make that which is wrong right again. So God’s righteousness is both that which delivers the one wronged and judges the one who does wrong. 

Another way to say it might be: since God is holy, it is his nature, therefore, to act in righteous ways.

So where does that leave us, who are not holy, and probably not even 99 44/100% pure? If God is righteous, will we not be judged?

This is where the gospel comes into play. 

We are not holy; we are sinful, and therefore must be made right again.

We cannot make ourselves holy and so righteousness must be imparted to us as a gift.

We receive this gift of righteousness through faith in Christ. 

In 2 Corinthians, Paul writes:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Corinthians 5:21

This is the great “gospel transaction.” The gospel says that Jesus took my “impurities”; my sin, onto himself and put them to death on the cross, and, in exchange, he gives me his own righteousness by faith.

I don’t know if I’ve ever known a human being who is 99 44/100% pure; I know I’m not even close to being that pure. But the good news is that my purity is not what makes me righteous before God; Jesus does that! 

And, because he does that for me, I want to live righteously for him. This is the good news of the gospel!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Tuesday, September 18

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Romans 1:16-17

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Years ago I came across the story of a Christian business man who decided to take his Bible with him on a business trip. He was hoping to use some down time on the trip to keep up with his Men’s Bible Study group. But on the plane flight he found himself sitting next to the company CEO – his boss. When he opened his briefcase his Bible was sitting on top of his laptop – and his boss noticed. He said something like, “You brought your Bible on a business trip?”

Embarrassed, the man said, “Ahh, my wife must have put it in there again…she’s always doing stuff like that.”

His boss said, “Oh, that’s too bad, because I’ve been dealing with some things in my  personal life and I need to ask someone some questions about the Bible.”

Paul writes:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel…

Why would he say this?

Many have pointed out that there’s a big difference between being “shamed” and being “ashamed” – one comes from the outside – the other comes from the inside. 

Why was the businessman in the story ashamed to have his boss see the Bible in his briefcase? Maybe he was afraid that his boss would think it was strange or foolish. Maybe he was afraid his boss would laugh at him or think less of him. That fear and embarrassment comes from the inside.

I can remember, as a freshman in college, being afraid that my new friends would discover too quickly that I was a Christian and that they might make fun of me because of my faith. That fear came from insecurity and from immaturity in my faith.

I think Paul may have understood some of those feelings.

Can you imagine the conversation between Paul and his old Pharisee friends after he met Jesus on the road to Damascus?

“So, Paul, uh, tell us again why you aren’t arresting followers of Jesus anymore?”

“Like I’ve already told you, because Jesus appeared to me in a bright light from heaven. He’s alive! And I believe he is the Christ who came to save us from our sins.”

“So… you think Jesus, who was crucified by Pontius Pilate a while back, is alive?”

“I know he is.”

“And you think that because he is alive, we should all somehow believe that he can forgive our sins and we don’t have to sacrifice sheep anymore.”

“Yup.”

“Saul, uh, Paul I mean, you have completely lost your mind!”

Now we don’t know whether conversations like that ever really happened – but Paul had to have been aware that his faith in a resurrected and living Lord Jesus Christ sounded like complete fantasy and foolishness to the people he once called his friends.

But still he says, “I am not ashamed…”

Why?

The simple answer is because Paul knew Jesus. Paul had experienced the power of the gospel to save him from sin and give him peace with God, and therefore was unashamed. 

A couple of years ago 33 miners in Chile were rescued after being trapped underground for over two months. It was an incredible story that captured the world’s attention and prayers. Do you think those miners have ever been ashamed of being rescued? 

Of course not! They are not ashamed, they are overjoyed and grateful! They were as good as dead – and they were rescued to new life! 

We live in a culture that generally regards the claims of the gospel as “quaint” or “hopelessly out of touch.” To claim that Christ is risen and lives today can draw cynicism and even laughter from many. But remember, that if you have put your faith in the saving power of Jesus Christ, you may, at times be shamed by others, but you need never be ashamed. 

Pastor Brian Coffey

Monday, September 17

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Romans 1:16
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 

You can make an argument that the most powerful force on earth is electricity. I read the other day that one single lightning strike during a storm contains enough energy to power 10 million homes for a month. That’s a lot of power.

Or you could reasonably argue that the most powerful force on earth is a hurricane. Some scientists estimate that an average hurricane releases energy equal to 200 times the world’s daily output of electricity. That’s also a lot power!

But what about a tsunami? Geophysicists estimated that the tsunami that hit Japan last year was up to 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. That’s almost unimaginable power!

Or, you could look for a completely different kind of power. Take greed for instance. Some would say the human craving for “more” drives everything from national economies to international war.

Or, love. Is there anything as powerful as the love of a mother for child? Is there anything a father would not do to protect his children?

When we talk about the power of love in our human experience, we begin to approach the power of the gospel.

In Romans 1, Paul writes:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. 

We know that the center of the gospel is Christ crucified. The gospel claim is that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures. But the gospel is also the fullest expression of the love of God.

John says it like this:

For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son … John 3:16

In the passage we look at today from Romans, Paul is saying that the gospel is not only the love of God expressed through Christ, but also the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.”

When we use the words “salvation” or “saved” we are assuming that we are both “saved from” something and “saved for” something.

Let me use a rather obvious illustration. Let’s say I’m at the beach and am being swept out to sea in a strong undertow. A lifeguard jumps in the surf and drags me to safety. You could accurately say that I was “saved.” I was saved from drowning in the ocean and saved for the rest of my life.

Now let’s try to imagine what was in Paul’s mind as he wrote these words. We know that before he was Paul the Apostle, Paul was Saul of Tarsus who took delight in persecuting followers of Jesus (see Acts 9:1-2). Saul was an arrogant, hateful, prideful and violent man. So when he says “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” he would have been thinking that he had been saved from a life of sin, hatred and violence, and ultimately from the judgment of God himself. He would have been thinking he was saved for a life as an apostle – that is, one set apart for the purpose of bringing God’s good news, the gospel, to the world.

Now, back to our discussion of power. A tsunami might be powerful enough to wreak destruction on an island or a coastal city; a lightning strike might set a building on fire; but what kind of power turns a rage-filled and murderous bully into an apostle of God’s great good news?

Paul answers that question for us by saying, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation…” Only the gospel has the power to turn Saul of Tarsus in to Paul the Apostle.

So, have you experienced the power of the gospel? Do you know what Christ has saved you from? Do you live with the awareness of what he has saved you for? Ask God to allow a “gospel tsunami” to flow through your heart!

Pastor Brian Coffey

Friday, September 14

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Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Last week I went to a watch a high school football game and was surprised by the gospel. I was standing outside a fence, just a few feet from the cheerleaders and players while watching the end of the sophomore game and waiting for the varsity game to begin. 

The cheerleaders were buzzing around with excitement – arranging their stuff, fixing their hair and generally being “cheerleaderish.” Suddenly, one of them looked up and said, “Hi Tommy!” I knew she wasn’t talking to me so I glanced to my right and saw a high-school aged boy who I figured had to be “Tommy.” 

I noticed right away that he might be mentally handicapped – just by how he spoke and moved – and I was right. But the cute cheerleader was unfazed – and, in fact, didn’t seem to notice. She said, “Tommy, you want to come over here and hang out with us before the game starts?” Tommy responded with what I can only describe as a squeal of excitement. He put his finger to his chest as if to say, “Me?!” The cheerleader nodded, “Yeah, come on over!” 

Tommy began to jump up and down and clap his hands in unabashed joy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human being look so happy. And I’m sure I haven’t seen an act of such kindness at a high school football game! Someone helped him find the gate in the fence and he hurried through squealing and laughing all the way. 

Even though I didn’t know anything about that cheerleader or anything about Tommy, I was surprised to feel tears come to my eyes. When I tried to tell the story later – it happened again. Then it dawned on me – what I had see was a little slice of the gospel.

Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul uses two little words that are very easy to miss in this passage. We tend to focus on the big words, and rightly so; words like “apostleship,” “God our Father,” and even, “Lord Jesus Christ.” But the two words I am talking about are “you also.”

Paul is writing this letter to gentiles, that is, non-Jewish people living in or around Rome. These are people who would have been strangers to the God of the Hebrews; people who had been steeped in pagan traditions of capricious and cruel gods who not only did not love them but punished them with glee.

In a sense, Paul is writing to people like Tommy; people who were outside the fence, unacceptable to and unloved by their gods. To them Paul writes,

And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

In Ephesians Paul says it this way:

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.  Ephesians 2:13

Do you hear it?

“You, also!” 

You, who have always felt far from God. You, who have always assumed that your sin and failures somehow disqualified you from the love of God. You, who have tried so hard to do good and be good but fear that you have not done enough. You, also, are called to belong to Jesus Christ!

We are all like Tommy standing outside that fence longing to be loved, longing to be invited to come in. Jesus is God’s invitation. The gospel is the good news that we are all invited to belong to Christ; we are all invited to share his grace and peace. 

All we need to do is accept the invitation.

Pastor Brian Coffey