grantataberfoyle

Jesus is Lord

The confession that Jesus Christ is Lord is perhaps the central truth that unites all Christians. And it’s the confession that lifts us from lostness to reconciliation with God.[i]

Clearly, we need to know what this means, and enjoy the truth of it and let others know that this is the path to life.

In his Pentecost sermon, Peter tells us that God has made Jesus Lord. He now sits beside God and is wholly in charge of God’s affairs. His enemies will become like a mere stool for resting his feet.[ii]

When Peter says this, all the opposition to Jesus being Leader and Saviour, and his being Israel’s Christ, have amounted to nothing. Jesus is alive. He’s leading, and saving and fulfilling God’s promises. And he’s Lord as well.

We all need to acknowledge the reality of this. The danger of not doing so is great. Our world is crooked. If we don’t let this Lord straighten us out, we will be shamed when God exposes what our life really is.[iii]

In fact, many of those who are the first to hear this announcement, repent of their unbelief and ungodliness.

Christ hasn’t been made Lord simply because he deserves it. He’s been made Lord so he can rescue us. If we confess that Jesus is Lord, and believe God has raised him from the dead, we will be saved.[iv]

And so, ‘Lord’ becomes one of the favourite ways in which the early church addresses this Jesus Christ who reigns. And they are glad to acknowledge themselves as his servants or bonded slaves.[v]

‘Other lords’ have been in control of us.[vi] But not anymore.[vii]

Clearly, the work of this Lord Jesus is wide and deep, but here are four words that may help us know and grow in walking with the Lord.

Authority

Our Lord Jesus has been given authority over us as his people, over God’s kingdom, and over everything.

In this world, it’s seems hard for us to accept that anyone has absolute power because authorities on earth tend to be so self-interested.[viii] But the authority of Jesus is gracious. And its purpose is to set us free from all that has stopped us knowing God and fulfilling our calling.

The great lie of Satan, that God is mean and that we should look after ourselves is here demonstrated to be false. God is good—not tardy.

We can now recognise the authority of our Lord for what it is. Love. Powerful love. Jesus has blazed a trail through every obstacle to our trusting and obeying God. And we know it! Like Paul, and like Peter, we’ve discovered that the Lord is kind.[ix]

So, our life now is for pleasing the Lord. It’s for doing his will. It’s for revealing what happens when we trust him.

Deity

The disciples of Jesus have been calling him ‘Lord’ for three years while he is with them. And their appreciation of how great he is, grows.

But during this time, he does and says things appropriate only to God—like forgive sins[x], expect honour equal to that given to the Father[xi], calls God his Father and says that the Father and he are one.[xii] He uses passages of Old Testament that apply to God and uses them of himself.[xiii] He insists on this publicly. And he’s crucified because of it.

If a human being claims to be God, they are either insane, or evil, or real. And it’s impossible to attribute the first two of these to the Jesus of the Gospels. We need to reckon with what he says.

But now, the resurrection awakens the disciples to more of what ‘Lord’ really means. He has sent his Holy Spirit to them—as he had promised. They are brought to life in a way they had never experienced before. These are things that God does.

Paul tells us about being awakened to know these things.[xiv] He is encountered by Jesus. He calls him ‘Lord’—but he doesn’t know who this ‘Lord’ is. Then he hears that it’s the Jesus he’s persecuting. And the strong-minded Paul asks for directions!

Paul wants us to know that the same Lord who confronted him now confronts us. We become blinded by the god of this world. He doesn’t want us to see ‘the glory of Christ, who is the image of God’.[xv]

But the preaching of the gospel is nothing less than the coming of Christ to us who hear. And when we receive his word, the Creator God, who first made light to shine, shines in our hearts with the knowledge of his glory. And the ‘face’ we see in this way is the face of Jesus Christ.

It’s true! The Jesus who has lived among us—humbly, kindly, sympathetically, strongly—is the face of God. All of God is present in his body.[xvi] And God has blessed us in this way with his presence because he is reconciling the world to himself!

So now, we know what our God is like—exactly. We know what he does and what he wants for us.

Recognising God in any shape or form is not something sinners like doing. So, when we confess that Jesus is Lord, it’s because the Holy Spirit has given us a new life.[xvii]

This is not a confession to make lightly. As Paul later says, ‘Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness’: he was manifested in the flesh…’.[xviii]

Belonging

The apostles quite often talk about Jesus as ‘our Lord’ or ‘my Lord’.[xix] They don’t mean that they own him. Rather, they are owned by him[xx]. He pays a high price to have us as his own.

Because of this bond, the whole Christian community is held together.[xxi] And we are kept from trying to be little lords of others by knowing that each believer belongs to the Lord and not to us.[xxii] Our place is to walk humbly before the world’s one Lord.

There are similarities between saying ‘Jesus is our Lord’ and saying ‘the Lord is my Shepherd’. The shepherding of Israel’s covenant Lord is now being done by Jesus.[xxiii]

How can we navigate all that happens in this life apart from the truth that our Lord knows us, leads us and talks to us? How can we expect to live well without being led by him in paths of righteousness? How can we be secure in dark valleys unless we know he is with us?

Rather, because we now know ‘the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord’, we are persuaded that nothing will be able to separate us from this.[xxiv]

Battling

Not long after the apostles announce that Jesus is Lord, hostility erupts in Jerusalem. But they regard it a privilege to suffer for him.[xxv] Paul says he doesn’t reckon his safety of great importance, so long as he can finish the job given to him by the Lord Jesus.[xxvi]

Peter tells us to honour Christ the Lord as holy, always being ready to share with others the reason for the hope we have—even if we suffer for it.[xxvii]

The promise in David’ psalm concerning Jesus sitting at God’s right hand, continues by saying, ‘Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power’.[xxviii]

When we see Jesus reigning, and know him as God, and are embraced by his loving, we will gladly join the many who want to share in the battle, and to have a share in his victory.

There is a day coming when every person born on this earth will acknowledge that Jesus is Lord. Believers will do so with worship and gladness. But none will be able to deny that it is true.[xxix]

[i] Rom. 10:9

[ii] Acts 2:32-35

[iii] Acts 2:40

[iv] Rom. 10:9-11

[v] Acts 4:29

[vi] Isa. 26:13

[vii] Col. 2:13-15

[viii] Luke 22:24-30

[ix] 1 Pet. 2:3

[x] Mark 2:5-7

[xi] John 5:23

[xii] John 5:18; 10:30-33. This clarified in v. 38.

[xiii] For example John 8:58, effectively quoting Isa. 43:10.

[xiv] Acts 22:6-11

[xv] 2 Cor. 4:4-6

[xvi] Col. 1:19-20

[xvii] 1 Cor. 12:3

[xviii] 1 Tim. 3:16; also Col. 2:2-3

[xix] In fact, just less than one in five references to Jesus as Lord are preceded by ‘our’. For example, see Acts 15:26; 20:21; Rom. 1:4; 4:24; 5:1; 6:23; 7:25; 8:39; 15:6, 30; 16:20, 24.

[xx] 1 Cor. 6:19-20

[xxi] 1 Cor. 1:2; Eph. 4:3-6

[xxii] Rom. 14:4-9

[xxiii] John 10:10-15 with Psalm 23

[xxiv] Rom. 8:39

[xxv] Acts 5:41

[xxvi] Acts 20:24

[xxvii] 1 Pet. 3:15

[xxviii] Psa. 110:3

[xxix] Phil. 2:10-11

Jesus—Son of God

It’s good for us that we know the names and titles given to Jesus. They help us to know him, rely on him and worship him.

As we’ve seen, those who believe in Jesus know him as Leader and Saviour, they cherish him as the Christ who fulfills all God’s promises, and they honour him as their Lord. When the apostles speak of Jesus, they usually include one or more of these titles.

But Jesus is also the Son of God. As a title, it doesn’t appear in the New Testament as often as those above, but it’s always used in significant ways. We could say that calling Jesus ‘Son of God’ takes us to the heart of who he is.

But first, it’s helpful to know that this way of talking about Jesus has a history. Adam has been referred to as God’s son.[i] Then, God calls Israel his son.[ii] And the Messiah God promises to send is also identified as God’s son[iii].

So, when Jesus comes among us as the Son of God, he is all that an Adam should be—a true human being. He is all that God’s people should be—living by the word of God.[iv] And he accomplishes all that God has promised his Messiah will do.

But for Jesus, ‘Son of God’ is not just a title. It’s a relationship. It’s who he is.[v] God and Jesus are Father and Son—from eternity and to eternity. He doesn’t become God’s Son when he steps into our history.

As we would expect, it’s Jesus who tells us most about this.[vi]

When he’s only twelve, he expects his parents to find him in the house of his Father—God.[vii] This is natural for him. Mary must remember the story of his birth. She knows that her husband isn’t the father. An angel has told her that her child will be ‘holy, the Son of the Most High’, or, ‘the Son of God’.[viii]

When Jesus is baptized, God speaks to him audibly. ‘You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased’.[ix] This identifies Jesus as the coming King of Psalm 2. But Jesus hears his Father acknowledge him, warmly and publicly.

All of the known prayers of Jesus (except one he prays from his cross) are addressed to God as his Father. For example, he rejoices when his disciples report on their preaching tour.[x] And he explains that no-one really knows who he is—except his Father. That’s intimacy. And, apart from him, no-one knows his Father either—unless the Son chooses to reveal him to them.

Jesus calling God his Father is very surprising to those who hear him. No-one else is doing that. In fact, the Jews find it offensive. He’s claiming to be equal with God.[xi]

John writes his whole Gospel to show that ‘Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God’.[xii] And he begins his book with with an explanation of what ‘Son’ means.[xiii]

He is the Word of God—that is, God speaking and acting and revealing himself. He is God. All creation comes into being through him. He is the life and light that we all need.

And now, this Son of God has become flesh. He’s a human being.

None of us have seen God. But this Son of God is side by side with his Father God—intimately! And he’s revealing God. It’s through him that we know that the God of all the earth is Father, and Son. And later, that he’s Spirit too. God is a community of persons.

Jesus demonstrates what Son of God means by the way he lives, and so becomes a light shining into our dark places.

For example, he doesn’t need the approval of others. He doesn’t depend on the protection of the state. He is free to place others before himself—even in the most extreme of situations. He does this because he lives and loves in the certainty of his Father’s love.

All of us, by nature, have suspicions about God, want to avoid him and even get rid of him. Our lives become confined to what we can see and do. But God sends his Son among us to set the record straight. He’s a perfect representation of his Father[xiv]—full of grace and truth.

All that we’ve looked at here is a sample of what God wants to show us. We’ll spend our whole life discovering who this Son of God is—and all of eternity too.

And now, among the various ways that Jesus is spoken of as Son of God, here are two that stand out.

First, God’s Son has come to be an offering for sin

When Jesus talks to Nicodemus, he likens himself to the image of a snake on a pole that Moses erected. People could look at this and be healed of their snake bites.[xv] It’s a vivid story. And Jesus says he also will be lifted up on a pole so people will have a place to look and be saved.[xvi]

John explains this to us. Jesus is the Father’s only and beloved Son. But God so loves the world that he sends this Son for us, so that we will not perish.[xvii]

The Son of God is not just on our planet to give us advice. We’re lost. We’re rebels. We’re dead. We need a rebirth![xviii]

Then, moving on to the teaching of the apostles, Paul, on several occasions, links Jesus being Son of God with him being the offering for our sin.

We are reconciled to God by the death of his Son.[xix] God sends his own Son among us, sinless, but wholly vulnerable to the ravages of what sin can do to him—and does do to him.[xx]

God condemns sin—all of it, while his Son is bearing those sins. And we who trust him are washed clean![xxi]

So, Paul now chooses to live by faith in the Son of God who loves us and gives himself up for us.[xxii]

Very wonderfully, God’s Son has broken into our selfish world to show us what God is really like. And to show us what life is really about. Being Son of God is all about him being full of grace and truth.[xxiii] It’s about turning enemies into friends.

Second, the Son of God creates a fellowship with God that we can share

Like parents who encompass their children in the love they have for each other, God’s Son comes to tell us what life in the divine family is like.

Jesus describes this union as being in each other. It’s love language and deeply personal. Being ‘in’ another person is being focused on them rather than being focused on ourselves.[xxiv]

Jesus has been teaching and demonstrating this life for us. He’s the way, the truth and the life of his Father. In other words, he’s wanting us to recognise the Father in the way he goes about being the Son.[xxv] And he’s wanting us to come into the fellowship in which he lives.

A little later, Jesus tells us that the Spirit and he and the Father will come and reside in the apostles who have come to love him and obey him.[xxvi] And he includes us all when he says, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him’.[xxvii]

The truth of our sharing in the relationship of Father and Son needs to work its way through all of the duties and relationships we have. Jesus is insistent that we love one another. In the hours before his arrest and trial, he mentions it nine times.[xxviii]

So, being a Christian is a life of fellowship with God’s Son.[xxix] And God’s sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts so that we can say ‘Father’[xxx]—with the same intimacy Jesus would have used in Aramaic (abba).

Clearly, we need to grow and mature in this new life we share with the Son of God. We are members of God’s family—his church, and by coming to know the Son of God fully, we grow up to maturity, together.[xxxi]

If God doesn’t tell us what it means to be human beings, we’re left with theories and chance. It’s a bleak landscape. We can divert ourselves for a while, but in the end, it’s all for nothing.

But Jesus says, ‘If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’[xxxii] Human life without the Son of God becomes ridiculous. We’re walking in the dark. Worse than that! We’re being led around—unwittingly—by Satan!

The truth of Jesus being the Son of God is not an idea to implement. It’s a power to submit to. God has raised Jesus from the dead to proclaim to everyone that this is his Son. And when we trust this wonderful and mighty Son of God, we are transferred from the tyranny of darkness to the kingdom of the Son he loves.[xxxiii]

Clearly, we need to turn away from making up an identity of our own. The Son of God has come to our planet. By the announcement of his truth, he comes to us. He gives us understanding so that we may know him. And live in him.[xxxiv] This is the reality for which we are all made. And it is the privilege to which we are called.[xxxv]

[i] Gen. 5:1 with 5:3. Also, the acknowledgement of Jesus as God’s Son is followed by a genealogy that finishes with Adam as son of God (Luke 3:22-28).

[ii] Exod. 4:22-23; Jer. 31:9

[iii] Psa. 2:7

[iv] Notice the way that Jesus ‘relives’ Israel’s journey in the wilderness, and quotes the commands given to Israel at that time in his own time of testing (Matt. 4:1-11).

[v] Some believe that Jesus having a ‘Father’ is a metaphorical way of speaking. Sons, they say, are born, and Jesus could not be God if he was born. But reasoning from our experience doesn’t work. God is not like us. We are like him. So, God has a Son—eternally. We reflect that and have children—in time.

[vi] Over 200 verses in our Gospels mention the Father and the Son, over half of them in John’s Gospel.

[vii] Luke 3:49

[viii] Luke 1:31-35

[ix] John 3:22

[x] Luke 10:21-22

[xi] John 5:18

[xii] John 20:31

[xiii] John 1:1-18

[xiv] Also Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:2-3

[xv] Num. 21:5-9

[xvi] John 3:13-15

[xvii] John 3:14-18; also 1 John 4:10

[xviii] John 3:5-8

[xix] Rom. 5:10

[xx] Rom. 8:3

[xxi] 1 John 1:7; 2:2

[xxii] Gal. 2:20

[xxiii] John 1:14

[xxiv] John 14:16-26

[xxv] John 14:6-9

[xxvi] John 14:17

[xxvii] John 14:23

[xxviii] John 14-16

[xxix] 1 Cor. 1:9

[xxx] Gal. 4:6

[xxxi] Eph. 4:13

[xxxii] John 8:31-38

[xxxiii] Col. 1:14

[xxxiv] 1 John 5:20

[xxxv] 1 Cor. 1:9

A top-down view of Christmas (and some thoughts about the new year)

This is a personal greeting to all of you who connect with ‘Simply True’ as articles appear.

May our Lord and Father bless you during this Christmas season!

God is full of surprises. So, I hope you may find it to be so. And, of course, many of his blessings are received through what he reveals to us in his word.

To help us see what Christmas looks like from above, I’ve included a poem below. Feel free to share it with others if you’d like to.

But first, here’s a comment on where we’ve been, and an anticipation of the next series.

Interest in the articles on creation has been broad and sustained. Obviously, I’ve been pleased to have your company! But it’s been especially pleasing to share with you our Creator’s delight in his works and his confidence about its future. These things are vital for our joy and our witness in the world.

In the new year, I’ll begin a series on the authority Jesus exercises as Lord. Peter says ‘God has exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour’.[i]

How much we need him to lead us, and to save us! It’s an authority that begins from the bottom, not the top. It makes something new, and doesn’t just recycle old stuff. Jesus leads us to repentance, and to forgiveness. And it’s what we need in a world that’s lost its way.

I hope you can join me again. You can register if you like (scroll down a bit on the home page). This means a copy of the article will land in your inbox whenever a post is available—usually every two or three weeks

And here’s the poem (based on Luke 2:8-14).

[i] Acts 5:31

__________________

It’s a busy, noisy night

For shepherds.

An angel disturbs their quiet and says

The world’s Saviour has just been born.

And then,

A mighty choir of them, excited to see such things,

Start singing about how good God is.

All this to waken them, and us,

To know God cares about our world—and acts.

These angels may not know

All that yet must be

Or how God will create

Joy in a world that’s sad,

But when they see this Child—

God’s Son in flesh,

They know this world’s Lord,

This Child’s Father,

Will make it happen.

‘Peace on earth!’

Angels see it coming in this birth.

And shepherds hear it first,

And see him first,

Just simple folks, to show

It’s not a thing we can deserve.

This joy will be for

All on whom

God makes his favour rest.

Grant Thorpe, Christmas 2014

It only takes a word

Christians have the privilege of believing that our world is created by God. Our Christian Bible begins with an account of him creating everything we know as our universe. It begins, ‘In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.’

This faith is now popularly discounted as a superstition. But in doing so, we’ve left ourselves without answers to many questions. We seem to be here simply to exist. There’s no common expectation, purpose or future. All these, we are told, we must make for ourselves. And, of course, we can’t agree on what they should be.

To our modern ears, this ancient creation story sounds quaint. That’s not surprising given it’s over 3000 years old! Naturally, it’s not a scientific treatise, or a construction manual. Its first readers weren’t preoccupied with ‘how’ questions like we are. But it does tell us things we need to know. Even things we are even hungry to know. Things that science doesn’t address.

It’s arranged as a week of days—not to tell us how long it takes God to get things done. A week doesn’t exist until he makes it! And, as we shall see later, the pattern of a week is more about demonstrating the orderliness of what God does. It also reveals a pattern of work and rest that is appropriate in a world God creates and cares for.

One of the things that stands out in this account of creation is that every day begins with God speaking. This is how he works.

A second thing that recurs is that each of his ‘busy’ days ends by noting that his work is good—a fitting part of all that he is making. And, in particular, when he makes us in his own image and appoints us as his curators, he calls it very good. We are an essential part of his creation, necessary to the functioning of everything else.

We need to know that we’re living in this God-spoken and God shaped environment. And we need this affirmation—this sense of rightness and the appropriateness of our own place in it—in order to live in it well.

So, this little series of articles is about God’s good world and what makes it so. And, in this first article, the first good thing is that our world and the universe around us is brought into being by God speaking—effectively, telling something to happen.

If God creates by speaking, that means that there’s a person behind all that we know as our universe—not nothingness. There’s a reason for things being as they are—not chance. And there’s communication, a desire for relationship.

This latter point becomes clear when we see how God speaks on each of these days. On six days, he says, let this or that happen, and it happens. But when he creates us, he confers with himself—’Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’ And then he speaks to us. He tells us to fill the earth, and look after it. And he tells us what to use for food.

He could have left us to work things out for ourselves. And in fact, he does leave plenty for us to discover and to make. It starts with taxonomy—the study of naming, describing and classifying organisms. It’s not finished until we’ve inhabited the whole earth and made it a place that befits what its Creator began.

But it’s reasonable to suppose that if our world is made by God speaking, it will also run properly when its curators are listening to God speaking. That’s certainly what God expects because he keeps on speaking. But much of the human race doesn’t listen.

We all know that the world hasn’t remained as the idyllic place this story portrays (or in the second story about creation in the next chapter). And the Bible spells this out for us in the chapters that follow this creation story.

Things get twisted—quickly. The first couple God creates decide to trust their own judgement on something God has said about eating from a particular tree. To their dismay, they find they now have a different view of everything and things begin to go wrong.

There’s a murderer in this first family. That’s Cain. There’s anger and grasping by those who reject the idea of God being in charge of his world. It focusses on Lamech. And then, there’s violence so vicious and corrupt, and widespread, that God floods the earth. And then, he begins again —with one family who respond to his kindness. That’s Noah.

And after this drastic intervention, mankind still wants to be in charge of what is essentially God’s territory. A regime seeks to unite all peoples against the idea of spreading out across the earth as God’s curators. They build an edifice to establish themselves as self-reliant. That’s the tower of Babel.

However, despite this series of tragedies, God remains in charge. He confuses the language of the tower builders so they can’t understand each other. They become frustrated, and then, do what God told them to do at the beginning—spread through the whole earth.

We’ve only looked at eleven chapters of the Bible! But God is showing that he never gives up on his world being good! He never stops speaking. His charter is still in place. It will work out according to his plan. And he cares for it—for us.

The same thing goes on all the time. If we think the world is just stuff for us to use and enjoy, and if we think we can run it all without listening to its Maker, things go wrong. God lets it go wrong. It’s not meant to work without him!

But God goes on speaking. And now, he speaks to us through his own Son—Jesus Christ. The Gospel of John begins by telling us that the Word became flesh.[i] Everything we’ve read about God speaking our world into existence was through Jesus Christ. There’s nothing made that wasn’t made through him.[ii] We could say that God’s Son is God’s way of speaking.

But now, this Word of God comes to begin a new work of creation. The human race has had a terminal disease. We haven’t been able to hear our Creator’s word. We need a restart.

As God’s Word, Jesus lives in this world. He does this in the way we were all meant to live—listening to our Father God. But then, Jesus takes upon himself the disfunction of humanity, and the accountability for it that we should bear. And he dies the death we deserve. And when God raises him to life again, the Word made flesh speaks to us again and says, ‘Peace be with you’.[iii]

We’ve needed to be reconciled with the God we left out of our lives. And this is what he does. He enlivens our very being with the knowledge of God. We can hear God speaking again.

This astonishingly good news is what God is saying to us all. And it is this word that will create something that wasn’t there before—a reborn creature who loves their Creator.

This is what keeps Christians going, and what gives the church its message. The God who said, ‘let light shine out of darkness’ when the world was being made, now shines in our hearts.[iv] We begin to know our Creator. That’s very personal. And very powerful. Through this, we come to recognise this world as God’s gift. And we love to be about his project.

Next time, I’d like us to see more of what makes God’s world good.

[i] John 1:14

[ii] John 1:3

[iii] John 20:19

[iv] 2 Cor. 4:6

A place for everything

We’re looking at what the Bible says about God creating the world. He’s made it by speaking, and he calls it good. I’m hoping that in ‘hearing’ this God who speaks, will come to share the confidence he has in what he has made.

The work of God’s creating is described as a week of days. He’s not going to give us a world that is formless, empty and dark. He gives his work structure. And it’s this formation that is described as the work of the first three days.

Effectively, God creates light, and air and land. He’s making a habitat with reliable patterns and structures. This world is going to be our home—God’s gift to us. It’s his loving action. It will reveal much of who he is, and will be theatre in which we will share his project. He hasn’t handed us something that’s messy.

Without this reliability of the natural world, science and technology would be impossible. If the world was chaotic, we’d all soon be insane! But God looks at this ordering and calls it good—three times. I’m hoping we’ll all come to the same conclusion!

First, God says, ‘Let there be light’.

This is a significant place to start. He hasn’t told us about a sun or moon. Some ancient cultures worshipped them. Here, they’re a matter to be dealt with on day four. For the moment, God wants to tell us about light.

God doesn’t consign us to darkness but sets us up with alternating day and night. This is going to be necessary for everything that will follow.

Life can’t exist without light. Nothing would grow for example. And of course, our routines will now be measured by night following day. If you like, time has begun. And because we can see, we will be able to discover, appreciate and work with things around us. And we’ll be able to verify ideas with facts. We’ll be able to live openly and with integrity—with our eyes wide open! So, light is important!

But the Bible talks about light in more ways than just photons. For example, if we look at this world and only see stuff, we’re not seeing it properly. God himself is shining—in what he has made. The heavens are talking to us about his glory.[i] And he himself is light—wholly good and powerful and pure.[ii]

When our world seems dark, this is the enlightenment we need—not our attempts to reshape what God has made but the enjoyment of him in what he has made. And, of course, enjoyment of who he is and what he has promised. No wonder later writers talk about God being ‘my light and my salvation’.[iii]

If we forget this light, things start going wrong. For example, we try to live within our own dreams rather than in the light of how things really are. We start saying there’s no such thing as truth. We ignore what is actually happening because we are more interested in our ideas than in reality. We stoke up other ‘fires’ to give us light, and make trouble for ourselves and everyone around us.[iv]

But God never stops giving us light! And finally, he sends his Son into our darkness to be ‘the light of the world’.[v] He loves us and wants us to walk in his light![vi] Without this Light behind all light, we can be deceived and miss seeing what we should see.

At the end of our Bible, in the new world that God will make for our home, there won’t be a sun. God himself will be all the light we need.[vii]

So, light is what gets things into action—at the beginnings of our world, and now, and forever.

And then, there’s day two. God says, ‘Let there be an expanse’—a sky above us separating waters above from waters below. We could say there’s an atmosphere—or air.

Think of the amount of time we spend thinking about our oceans and clouds and what’s happening in the air between them. It’s called climate science. We’re realizing what a finely balanced system we’re living in.

Would it make any difference if we believed our environment is carefully crafted by our Maker—with just the right conditions for life to thrive?

Arguably, we’d wouldn’t make such demands on our environment if we knew we had to answer to someone for how we were treating it. And we wouldn’t be so competitive for resources if we knew the one who made it was looking after us.

And we’d have more hope too, and be more realistic about the proposals we put forward to fix problems, if we believed that the same God who arranged things for our flourishing is still interested in our survival.

And finally, on day three, God gathers waters together and lets dry land appear. So now there’s land as well as ocean. And God commands the earth to sprout vegetation. We have a home, and food to eat.

This is a point Paul raises with some idol worshipping people he meets in Asia Minor. They are thoroughly superstitious, but Paul teaches them about God, their Creator. They should ‘turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that it in them.…he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness’.[viii]

All this sounds rosy! But we’re very conscious these days of land mass in proportion to our seas. Island and coastal dwellers wonder how secure their land is. Is all this because we are abusing our planet? And can we provide food enough for our population?

It’s helpful to recall that there was an earlier time when this planet’s inhabitants were ruining the world—sufficiently for God to decide to start again with Noah.

The natural world virtually went into reverse. Water surged up from subterranean depths. Rain poured down for weeks. The dry land disappeared. The separation of land from ocean broke down.[ix] But Noah and his family were spared.

When this flood was over, God made a promise to Noah that we all need to know. Here it is. ‘While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.[x]

This is not a promise that nothing will go wrong. But it is a promise that should prevent us from panicking and give confidence to our intentions.

In fact, God is constantly renewing what he has made.[xi] If this wasn’t happening, everything would cease to exist. We’ve certainly been entrusted with a lot. But this world was not our idea, it’s not sustained because we are competent, and its outcome has never been left in our hands.

God will maintain this creation until it’s time for a final judgement. There is a day when we will have to answer for how we’ve lived in his world.[xii]

So, can we call our world a good place? Well, it all depends on who we are listening to. We’ll return later to see how God populates what he has made, and what authorities he places over his creation

[i] Psa. 19:1-6

[ii] 1 John 1:5

[iii] Psa. 27:1

[iv] Isa. 50:11

[v] John 8:12; 9:5

[vi] Psa. 89:15; Isa. 2:5; 1 John 1:7

[vii] Rev. 22:5

[viii] Acts 14:11-18

[ix] Gen. 7:11-12. God created order not chaos (Isa. 45:18), but judgements seem like formlessness (Ex. 10:21; Jer. 4:23).

[x] Gen. 8:22

[xi] Psa. 104:24-30

[xii] 2 Pet. 3:4-13

There’s someone in charge

The first chapter of our Bible is telling us about God creating the world we know, and about what makes it good. He’s established light, and the spaces in which creatures of all kinds will be able to flourish.

And now, God populates these spaces with sun and moon, fish and birds and then animals and ourselves. And all this, he also calls good. And we who enjoy his creation can agree. It’s a wonderful world.

But in doing this, a new element is introduced. There is the need for something or someone to be in charge. And when he appoints his authorities, he calls it good or very good.

It’s counter cultural in the West these days to call authority a good thing. We prize liberty, and cherish the freedom to be and do anything we want. And leadership is often demonized as no more than a grasp for power.

This, of course, is far from the whole story because we still expect our leaders to use their authority to meet our expectations and to keep us prosperous and safe.

So, it’s very helpful to see what God has in mind—not just in the creation story but in the way his purpose is fulfilled as the story proceeds.

The first authorities mentioned are the sun and moon. One rules the day and the other the night.[i]

The authority of the sun is fairly obvious. It determines our night and day and enables life of many kinds. And the more we discover, the more we know that our existence is dependent on the many roles it plays. In other words, it’s in charge of a lot of what happens on earth.

It may sound strange to call it an authority—given that it’s just doing what it always does. But here are three ways the Bible talks about the sun being in charge—not just over the natural world, but over ourselves.

One of Israel’s psalms celebrates the journey of the sun across the sky.[ii] It rises like a strong man engaging his day with joy. It crosses from East to West, encompasses everything with its light and heat, missing nothing. It speaks to us about the God who put it there—telling us about his glory. Without saying a word, it addresses the globe every day and teaches us to worship. How great God is!

Then, in quite a different way, when difficult days come and our security is threatened, God calls us to consider the sun he appointed to rule the day.[iii] Did it rise this-morning? It’s God’s witness that he is still looking after his creation and is faithful to his promises.

And third, Jesus tells us to notice that the sun shines on everyone—good and bad alike.[iv] God is not discriminating with his creational favours. The sun he’s created to rule the day teaches us to imitate our Father God by loving and praying for friends and foes alike.

In these and other ways, the sun still rules.

The second authority appointed is ourselves—not just certain leaders but all of us. And it’s only when God creates us and gives us our task that he says his creation is very good.

Again, this is somewhat counter-cultural at present. We are aware of how much damage we can create by the control we exercise over the natural world. We are fascinated by pristine areas untouched by humans and consider them the preferable parts of our planet.

God disagrees. He wants our world to be populated and cared for by us. This is a vital step in his plan.

The key to understanding this role lies in how God makes us. In some way, we are like himself—not in the sense that we can create a world or guarantee its outcomes. But we can share his thinking and his goals. And we can help to bring them about.

Effectively, God is creating us to be his sons and daughters. This is suggested when our writer describes Adam as also having a son ‘like himself’.[v] We could say that the whole creation is going to be a family affair.

So, what are we given to do? We need to subdue and rule the animal world. These creatures are not made to be like God as we have been. They are ruled by instinct. And, with no choice in the matter, they remain true to what they have been created to be. And we are responsible for them.

But unlike the animal kingdom, we can listen to God. We can know what he wants. We know we are significant, and accountable for how we live—accountable to God. We can love. We can pray. We can praise our Maker. And we can hope.

But the scope of our authority is not just over the animals. As the Bible story opens up, it’s clear that our authority extends to the whole created world—vegetation is mentioned,[vi] and then basically, everything.

God himself observes that, left to ourselves, there will be nothing we can’t do. He has a very high view of what we can accomplish.[vii]

A later writer ponders this. What kind of a creature are we, to have such a remarkable role? We’re like kings, crowned with glory and honour. We’re little less than God![viii] This doesn’t make the writer proud. It humbles him.

Some time ago, I was talking with a group of young teenagers and explained that they were approaching adulthood and that this involved being responsible for themselves and things around them and making the necessary decisions associated with this. I asked them how they felt about this. One honest young fellow said, ‘Scary!’

Perhaps so! But we need to know that we have responsibilities. And, that God holds us responsible for what we do.

Being created male and female is also part of being like God.[ix] The distinction between a man and a woman is important. The differences and the collaboration between the two are all part of us being like God, and important for us in being able to care for his world. Good authority begins with good relating.

Having authority in this world includes being responsible for the means we have discovered to help us with our work—our science, technology, social management and much more.

For example, the idea that AI might take us over is something we should rule out categorically. God has placed us here to be in charge, not to be mastered by what we make. That’s what God calls idolatry. We’re in charge. What we make is something we’re responsible for.

And we’re responsible to share with God in making this world a home for everyone. We’re not designed to be just looking after ourselves. We’re here, like God, to care for others.

It must be obvious that we don’t do a very good job of being human—that is, of taking God’s project forward to its goal. In fact, one prophet says the earth groans under its inhabitants.[x] Or, as Paul says, we’ve ‘fallen short of the glory of God’. We’ve sinned.[xi]

The only way to be truly human, and to fulfil our calling, is to be hearing what God says, and to be receiving his blessing. If we only live by what we can see, our authority loses its usefulness. We actually become obedient to other lords.

But God doesn’t have a plan B if the first one fails. From the beginning, he purposed to send us his Son—as a human being. The Bible is the story of him preparing for this, of it happening, and of its results.

So, Jesus, God’s Son, is presented to us as the one proper human being. Reading a Gospel account of his life shows what this looks like. He’s God’s image—totally[xii]. And he’s in charge.

Jesus doesn’t waste his time complaining that things are not what they should be, or urging us to lift our game. He tells us to trust in him. He’s going to fix what really needs fixing. Us! He’s come—effectively—to be us. To die for us—because that’s what needs to happen to us. He needs to get rid of our sins and all that hinders us from being real.[xiii] And he needs to be raised from the dead for us. This is so we can start again—in him. It’s that serious.

Now, we are told that God has created everything through this Son.[xiv] This is significant because we can now see that he’s come to recreate us.[xv] We are remade so we can really live and operate as God’s image.

This is how God enables us, his creation, to truly exercise authority—without the egotism that otherwise gets in the way. It’s not our cleverness or virtue that saves the world. Everything is held together by Jesus Christ.[xvi]

Now, we can live truly as God’s image in his world. Never perfectly, never apart from Christ, but working as partners with God in his project.

And, our faithful Creator looks at this proper Man and what he has done, and at all those who trust in him and what they do, and he says, it’s very good!

And it has a future, which we will look at next time.

[i] Gen. 1:16

[ii] Psa. 19:1-6

[iii] Jer. 31:35-36

[iv] Matt. 5:43-48

[v] Gen. 5:1-3. Adam in made in the likeness of God, and then, Adam has a son in his likeness.

[vi] Gen. 9:2-3

[vii] Gen. 11:6

[viii] Psa. 8:5-9

[ix] Gen. 1:27-28; 2:19-22

[x] Isa. 24:4; Rom. 1:28-32

[xi] Rom. 3:23

[xii] Heb. 1:3

[xiii] Heb. 1:3

[xiv] John 1:3; Col. 1:15-17; Heb. 1:1-3

[xv] 2 Cor. 5:17

[xvi] Eph 1:22; 1 Cor. 15:27

Our Creator is at rest, so we can be too

We’ve come to the end of God’s week of creation—the seventh day.[i] God has finished all that he’s wanted to make. This may sound like a dull day because nothing happens.

But this is far from the case. Everything has been leading to this day. And God’s project has a goal. This will become clear as we look at the four new factors that have not been present on the other days.

First, God rests. This is made emphatic with repetitions. He’s finished ‘all the work that he has done’. His work doesn’t need any corrections or additions. He can really rest.

We all know the agitation that festers when we’re not content with our work. This is not God’s problem. And he certainly doesn’t need a day off like we do. Rather, he’s resting with delight in all he has made.

Second, unlike all the other days, there’s no statement announcing an end to this day.

This is not a detail to overlook. The whole narrative is well thought out and carefully worded. We’re still in the seventh day!

In other words, for the duration of our human history, God rests in the rightness and adequacy of his creation. He’s not inactive of course because the Bible is full of other things he does. In fact, he’s busy making sure we can share this kind of rest with him.

This thought is confirmed by the way the word ‘rest’ is used as the Bible story proceeds.

Noah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for ‘rest’.[ii] His parents know the ground they plough has been cursed, and they long for rest from their painful toil.

Later on, God promises to deliver his people from slavery in Egypt, to give them a land where they can rest.[iii] Slavery, wandering and warring will be behind them and they will be free to enjoy a flourishing land.

And God pitches his tent among their tents, and eventually a temple among their houses, and he calls it his resting place,[iv] the place where Israel can meet with him and share in his rest.

Israel comes to their promised land but their rest doesn’t endure because they cease believing in their God.[v] So he appoints another day for this rest.[vi]

And it’s Jesus Christ who brings us this rest. Remember his promise? ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’[vii] Jesus is reintroducing us to the structure and atmosphere of peace established when the world was made.

This is followed up by the writer of Hebrews. He says God’s rest is still waiting for us. Finally, this will be the world to come, but he’s telling us about something we can start to enjoy now—by trusting in Christ.[viii]

It’s defined as resting from our works like God did from his. Clearly, we are meant to be busy and working usefully, but we’re not meant to be doing things that only God can do. In context, this must include trying to be our own High Priest and reconciling ourselves to God. Restfulness starts with trusting Jesus to do this.[ix]

One of Israel’s Psalms tells us it’s God who really gets things done, and that it’s useless being anxious because God can supply our needs even while we’re sleeping.[x] Jesus says the same.[xi] Fretting is forgetting that we live in God’s world, and that it’s his rest day.

All this is good news, but our desire to flow with the world, or to take the credit for our accomplishments, gets in the road. We need to put some effort into enjoying this rest![xii]

Third, the day is blessed.

A blessing is not just wishing us well. God has blessed fish and birds so they can breed. And he has blessed us so we can have families, and, so we can properly exercise authority in the world.

So, when God blesses this last day, we know that the time we spend in this world is going to be fruitful. Again, the Bible is full of encouragement to trust in the sureness of God’s blessing rather than to press our own agendas and frustrations.[xiii]

But how does this blessing relate to the curse that God has put on our ground? Clearly, our work is harder now. And there are constant difficulties and tragedies. We all feel them. It’s easy to look at what is not working out in this world and conclude that the curse is all there is. Not true! God is ready with blessing for those who seek him. And it’s by looking for his blessing that we are enabled to live and even to overcome some of the difficulties we face.

This is what happens when we trust in Christ. Being turned away from our sins is a blessing![xiv] None of us can live truly with a load of guilt hanging around our necks. And receiving what Christ has brought to us—being holy and blameless before God for example—is a blessing.[xv] Our humanity is restored. We know and love God. We love doing his will.

It’s then we know that we are still living in the long day that God has blessed.

And fourth, the seventh day is declared holy. It’s dedicated to God. All our history is for him.

It couldn’t be otherwise of course. He put it together, knows how it works and graciously maintains it and moves it on to its goal.

But we need time to keep this reality clear in our thinking. The pattern of God resting on his seventh day is included in the ten commandments—and in greater detail than any other command.

It’s important for us human beings to stop, like God, and to know that it is by his sovereignty that we have what we have, that it is by his blessing that we achieve what we achieve, and that the future is in his hands and not in ours.

And we need to know that God can keep his world running without us! We can rest from our labour periodically and know that God will sustain his creation.

No command is given by Jesus or the apostles about a rest day but when the resurrected Jesus meets his disciples on two successive Sundays,[xvi] the apostles know everything is different. A new creation has begun and they choose to use this day for worship, for fellowship and teaching.[xvii]

We’ve come to the end of this brief series on creation. And, from God’s point of view, he only finished making it yesterday!

We who trust in Jesus Christ have every reason to look forward to a new heavens and earth because we have the life of the new age already coursing in our souls.[xviii] And, as he has been raised, so shall we be. And the whole earth will be renewed—with no curse.

Creation will come to its goal. And on that day, we will be one with Christ as he hands this completed project back to the Father from whom it came.[xix]

So, God’s creation project is right on track.

[i] Gen. 2:1-3

[ii] Gen. 5:28-29

[iii] Exod. 33:12-17; Deut. 3:20; Josh. 23:1

[iv] Psa. 132:7f, 13f

[v] Psa. 95:6-11

[vi] Heb. 4:6-7

[vii] Matt. 11:28

[viii] Heb. 4:1-13

[ix] Sinclair Ferguson has some helpful comments on this at <ligonier.org/learn/articles/sabbath-rest>.

[x] Psa. 127

[xi] Matt. 6:25-34

[xii] Heb. 4:11

[xiii] Psa. 37 or 85 are good examples of this expectation. I may do a series on this later.

[xiv] Acts 3:26

[xv] Eph. 1:3

[xvi] John 20:1, 19, 26; 1 Cor. 16:2; Rev. 1:10

[xvii] Acts 20:7

[xviii] 2 Cor. 5:17

[xix] 1 Cor. 15:28

We need to be reassured

Some time back, I wrote several pieces about the beatitudes that Jesus pronounced—‘Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ and so on. I called the series ‘God’s kingdom people’.

I said the word ‘blessed’ could be better rendered ‘congratulated’.

This has been misleading. In today’s language, it suggests achievement for which we can take credit and so receive congratulations. That’s not what Jesus is talking about. He’s describing people to whom God is giving the kingdom, and so, whose lives reflect God’s glory rather than their own.

Those who are looking to Jesus for their life know what it means to be poor in spirit, to mourn for their sins, to be meek in relationships and hungry for righteousness—and so on through each of the beatitudes. These attitudes may not seem to be rewarding but Jesus is saying otherwise. Such people are ‘blessed’.

The word Jesus uses carries a note of reassurance with regard to what we have become. And this is important.

One of the reasons this is so is because the world commends and congratulates what it approves, especially things we’ve done our own way—things that show our independence of God.[i] And it also condemns and berates what is seen to depend on an unseen hand of God.

So, we need this encouragement from Jesus as he commends to us the way of living in his kingdom. He shows us how to value and to savour these different attitudes and behaviours.

We could say Jesus speaks to us in the way parents may speak to their small children, giving them encouragement for the small steps they take as they try to be like adults. And we all know how helpful it is—we may even call it a blessing—when someone commends who we are or what we have done. As a psychologist would say, they are reinforcing desirable behaviour.

You may find it helpful, as I have, to know how the Bible uses this word ‘blessing’. In fact, there are two words that our New Testament translates with ‘blessing’.

The one we are more familiar with is the blessing God sends to us through the gospel and through our Lord Jesus Christ. We are blessed (Greek eulogetos) with every spiritual blessing in Christ.[ii] This blessing, just like the blessing given to Adam when created, is a free act of God and without regard to anything we have done.

The second is the word Jesus uses when he teaches the beatitudes (Greek makarios). It is always spoken from one person to another and, mostly, with regard to what a person is or has done.[iii] In later teaching, Jesus uses the word to reassure those who see what he is saying or who remain faithful disciples. And the apostles use the word in the same way.[iv]

Old Testament vocabulary also has two words that are commonly translated as blessing.

God blesses (Heb. barak) humanity at creation. So, we enter into life enabled to be fruitful and multiply. This blessing is given without regard to anything we have done.

But God also blesses (Heb. ashre), those who trust the Lord, or obey him, or are generous to the poor.[v]

A Hebrew dictionary says the first of these words is a benediction, the latter more of a congratulation.[vi] Or, as I’m suggesting, we should see it as a reassurance or affirmation.

So, the blessing being announced in the beatitudes is a commendation of a new way of life brought about by the power of Christ’s reign—his kingdom. If you like, it is more about God’s success than ours. He’s assuring us that the outcome of our new life will be good. We are privileged now—because of what we are, and because of what we will receive later.[vii]

We should be deeply encouraged by this word from Christ. Our choice has been right. The outcome of our life will be good. We are on the right road.

And we should also be discouraged from seeking approval and congratulations from the world, or from ourselves. Human beings can’t guarantee any result or give assurance that all will be well. Only the unseen hand of Christ’s reign can do that.

[i] Rom. 1:28

[ii] Eph. 1:3. See also Luke 24:50-51; Acts 3:26

[iii]The word ‘makarios’ is ‘blessedness from an ideal point of view in the judgement of others’ and translates the Hebrew ‘ashre’ (Carson on Matthew, p.131).

[iv] See Matt. 11:6; 13:16; 16:17; 24:46; John 20:29; Rom. 14:22; Jam. 1:12, 25. Eugene Peterson in his The Message variously renders the word as blessed (especially by Jesus), lucky, far happier, fortunate, better off, whetting our appetite, mighty fortunate, find delight and affirmation. One can understand the translation blessed because it is always God who is responsible for the good outcome. It is never an inevitable outcome of what we do, as though we could control our own destiny by our actions.

[v] Psa. 1:1; 2:12; 41:1

[vi] Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, 1/80. For example Psa. 2:12.

[vii] The beatitudes ‘present this as the best way of life not only in its intrinsic goodness but in its results … The emphasis is not so much on time, present of future, as on the certainty that discipleship will not be in vain’ (R. T. France on Matthew, p. 109).

Life is all about God and his Son (Rom. 1:1-17)

I’d like to spend some time thinking with you about the book of Romans. In my Bible, this occupies 21 pages. It started out as a letter written to a group of Christians in Rome, but they have gone on to have a profound effect on people ever since.

I plan to simply highlight the main points from each major section of the letter. Getting an overview like this can help with a more detailed read later on. So, here’s an appetizer, and I trust, an encouragement to know and be changed by the gospel it explains.

Understandably, Paul begins by introducing himself to the Church in Rome, and explaining his desire to visit them[i]. But this simple beginning tells us why we need to know this whole letter well. He is eager that the church has a real gospel—with God and his Son as the main actors.

When we consider churches, we may be thinking about their numbers, their age group, their music or their influence. Not Paul. He wants churches to love God and listen to him. He wants Christ and his gospel to be centre-stage.

God has broken into the comfortable arrangements we make for ourselves. He has things to tell us that we would never imagine and certainly couldn’t perform, but things that we desperately need.

As we read through this opening section, notice how God is the main actor in all that is happening.

It’s God’s gospel, or good news, that we need[ii]. He’s sent his Son to establish it[iii]. It’s his grace and peace we are needing[iv]. It’s him we need to thank[v], and his will we need to be doing[vi]. And especially, it’s God’s power that is going to change things[vii], and him that gets things right—in fact, gets us right[viii].

And then, God presents us with his Son. He’s put him in charge of everything[ix]. Everything God has said and done before has been leading to this. And he’s raised his Son from the terrible death we inflicted on him.

Through this powerful Son, people like Paul have received grace! He’s now happy to be the slave of Jesus—ready to carry out his every wish. And he’s been commissioned to take the message of this amazing kindness to the ends of the earth. God is on a mission to have people belonging to Jesus and to share in all he has accomplished.

Is this what your church is about—God’s good news, and the Son who makes it all work? Is this what we are about?

Saying ‘Yes’ to these questions is not a likely or natural answer. It happens because we’ve been called by God to belong to Jesus Christ[x]. We are hungry for God and for what he can do. And we know our life must be full of Christ to be in the flow of God’s grace and peace. That’s why knowing what is in this letter is important.

There’s no politics here! No wishful thinking. No doubt. Just God, his Son, and Paul, the man he has chosen to receive and to proclaim God’s grace.

But now, what about his desire to go to Rome?[xi] Or, we could ask, what about the expectation that this man may have something to say to ourselves, or to our church? Can we trust him? Should we believe him?

Here’s what he offers to encourage the Romans to receive his letter, and later, himself.

He knows about them already and he’s grateful for their witness in the Roman capital. He prays for them constantly. He wants to come because he knows he can help. He’s been commissioned by Jesus himself to do just this. He expects they will encourage him as he encourages them.

Notice how different this is from the unconverted Paul—or Saul of Tarsus as he was known. He had obtained letters from leaders in Jerusalem to travel to Syria and arrest Christians there and bring them back for trial. He was angry, ambitious and uncaring.

All that has changed. God is in his rightful place in Paul’s life. This has made him humble, warm and obedient. He’s believable. I hope you find him the same!

And lastly, Paul tells us his central message—or rather, God’s message.

It’s not just an attempt to be kind and helpful. It’s powerful, and saves us from perishing. How can this be so?

It’s because God is ready to pronounce as righteous anyone who trusts his good news about Jesus.

This changes everything. When we know God accepts us, the need to be special, or good, or right, or approved, fades away. We don’t have to parade our virtues or accomplishments. We can simply serve others. This is God’s power being let loose among us. I’m hoping you will join me in looking at this part of our Bible again. And I’m hoping our hearts will be set singing!

[i] Rom. 1:1-15

[ii] v. 1

[iii] v. 3

[iv] v. 7

[v] v. 8

[vi] v. 10

[vii] v. 16

[viii] v. 17

[ix] v. 3-5

[x] v. 6

[xi] Rom. 1:8-15

God is letting us know we matter to him (Rom. 1:18-32)

In this brief look at Romans, we’ve already seen Paul’s delight in and focus on God’s good news. God is showing us his righteousness. And he’s revealing it by declaring that those who trust him are also right—in his eyes. Given our constant desire to be ‘right’, it’s hard to imagine any news that could be better—but more about this later.

In the mean-time, there’s something else to say. Paul doesn’t forget his theme. He returns to it, in almost identical words, as soon as he can[i]. But he knows that we need to discover something else first.

Another revelation is happening at the same time. It’s God’s wrath. Our Creator is not content to let us go our own way. He’s not happy with us. And he wants us to know that we matter to him.

Now it may seem to be contradictory for God to reveal that he has a gift for us, but at the same time, to reveal that we are in trouble. But then, it makes perfect sense. You can’t give anyone something they don’t want. And they won’t want it if they think they already have it. And they may be offended if you offer them what they think they have.

So, if it’s good that God is revealing his righteousness, it’s also good that he is revealing his wrath. We need to know what we need.

Paul talks about Gentiles first—people who haven’t grown up knowing about God’s revelations in the Bible. Then he speaks to Jews who, for ages, have had the benefit of hearing what God has to say.

So, to the first group—to the world in general, here’s what Paul says[ii].

First, God is always revealing himself—to everyone. This is not offered as a proof. It’s a personal communication.

Everything we can see, including ourselves, is evidence—a never ending supply of it—that God is real and present and engaged. So, if we say he isn’t real, it’s because we’re choosing not to know him.

Second, those who reject God must elevate something else to take his place. We can’t exist without someone or something to look up to. So, we worship what is made, or something we make—anything but God himself. And something we can attempt to control.

Third, because we are disconnected from what is real, our thinking and affections become—over time—pointless and dark. God gives us up to the results of our choices [iii].

Paul lists a number of things that would have been clearly visible in the first century Roman world. He mentions impurity, passion and sexual license. Community life is rife with everything that makes it hard to live together—envy, deceit, malice, slander and boasting, for example.

Here’s where we need to read what Paul says carefully. What is provoking God to wrath is not, first of all, what people are doing but what they are believing. They’re living as though he doesn’t exist. Their behaviour is a consequence. It’s what God has given them up to—to awaken them to where their choice leads.

They think they have dismissed God, but what they are doing is happening because God has given them over to their own choices.

And of course, what Paul says about the first century world is happening in our communities as well. The evidence for God is abundant. And so is the evidence of what happens when we dismiss him as irrelevant.

Disbelief in the true God is a majority position in much or our world. So is the idea that we should be free to follow our own passions. And so is the belief that prosperity and happiness follow when we remove restraints.

But the generations that are abandoning faith in God in our communities are not growing richer, stronger or happier. And if we can see that this is happening, we are watching God revealing his wrath.

And, interestingly, if we choose to live without God, we have to congratulate each other for choosing our own life-style. Everyone has an inbuilt need to be acknowledged as right. So, because we don’t know the righteousness of God, we have to create an approval of our own. Only this can explain the constant stream of ‘virtue signaling’ that we are hearing.

We’ve come to the end of this first section. But next, there’s a section, three times as long, to show that we are all in the same predicament. Paul talks to those who believe in God.

For Paul’s first century world, this is Jews. For us, it is ourselves who go to churches, read Bibles and say prayers. I hope you stay with this! Paul will show that God’s wrath, rather than being ‘revealed’, is being ‘stored up’[iv].

If we don’t understand ourselves or our predicament, we may not understand the message God wants us to understand—that real righteousness always comes to us as a gift.

I hope you are encouraged by all this. God is not content to stand by and see what happens. He’s revealing himself—to everybody.

[i] Rom. 1:17; 3:21

[ii] Rom. 1:18-32

[iii] Vv. 24, 26, 28

[iv] Rom. 2:5