Devotions

the stumbling stone

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 9:25-33

²⁵ As he also says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’ and I will call her who was unloved, ‘My beloved.'”[1] ²⁶ “And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.'”[2] ²⁷ And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved,[3] ²⁸ because the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.”²⁹ Just as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord of armies had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”³⁰ What shall we say then?–that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness got it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith,³¹ but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not get it.³² Why not? Because they pursued it not by having faith but (as if it were possible) by doing works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,³³ just as it is written, “See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who puts faith in him will not be put to shame.”[4]

the stumbling stone

Paul uses several proof texts to show that the temporary rejection of Christ by unbelieving Israel is God’s idea. He purposefully laid a stone in Zion that would be rejected, but which would eventually be discovered to be perfect for the foundation itself.

Many Jews today are rediscovering the Messiah that their ancestors had rejected. I know some of them. They express with joy the reality of Christ that they have found. They have put their faith in Christ, and will not be put to shame.

LORD, thank you for the Messiah, the stumbling stone, perfect as the foundation of your eternity.

[1] Hosea 2:23.

[2] Hosea 1:9.

[3] Isaiah 10:20.

[4] Psalm 118:22.

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enduring with much patience

Posted on January 3, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 9:17-24

¹⁷ For the scripture says to Pharaoh: ” I have raised you up for this exact purpose, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”[1] ¹⁸ So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.¹⁹ You might say to me then, “Why does he still find fault, because who has ever resisted his will?”²⁰ But who indeed are you–a mere human being–to talk back to God? Does what is carved say to the carver, “Why have you made me like this?”²¹ Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use?²² Imagine God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, enduring with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction?²³ And imagine him wanting to make known the wealth of his glory upon the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory–²⁴ even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?

enduring with much patience

Paul’s reference to Pharaoh and the creations talking back to their creator illustrate the question of reprobation. God’s attitude toward the reprobate is this: he endures them with much patience. They have chosen to live without him, and he has allowed them to do so (for a time). His purpose for doing this is to make known the wealth of his glory upon the objects of his mercy. So, God is manifesting his love to both the saved and the lost. The saved feel his love by being rescued. The lost feel his live by being allowed to live – for a time – even if that life is in rebellion against their creator.

LORD, thank you for loving the world, and saving some of us from it by your mercy.

[1] Exodus 9:16.

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sovereign mercy

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 9:9-16

⁹ Because this is what the promise declared: “About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.”¹⁰ Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac–¹¹ even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling)–¹² it was told her, “The older will serve the younger,”¹³ just as it says in scripture: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[1] ¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!¹⁵ For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[2] ¹⁶ So then, it does not depend on what a human wants or tries, but on God who shows mercy.

sovereign mercy

Paul presented proof texts for the sovereign grace of God in choosing some but not all. It is notable that those text do not present God as an arbitrary tyrant, but as a giver of mercy and compassion. God looks upon a dying world and sovereignly chooses to save some from among the many. The choice is his.

LORD, thank you for not waiting until we wanted to be saved, or tried to be saved. You came to us in our sinful rebellion and you mercifully plucked us out. To you be the glory.

[1] Malachi 1:2.

[2] Exodus 33:19.

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my countrymen – cut off from Christ!

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 9:1-8

¹ I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), because my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit–² I have great regret and unceasing anguish in my heart.³ Because I wish that I myself would be accursed–cut off from Christ–for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen,⁴ who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.⁵ To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen.⁶ It is not like the word of God has failed. Because not all those who are descended from Israel are really Israel,⁷ nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; instead “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.”[1] ⁸ This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; instead, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

my countrymen – cut off from Christ!

Paul turns from rejoicing over the saved Jews and Gentiles to somberly reflecting on those of his countrymen who have not put their faith in Christ. These are his fellow Jews, but they have not known the grace of the Damascus road. They have all the eight benefits of being raised a descendant of Abraham:

1. God’s choice to adopt the nation as his sons.

2. God’s revelation of himself in glory in the temple.

3. God’s covenants with Abraham, Moses, and David.

4. God’s revelation of himself in the written law.

5. God’s interaction with his people in the temple worship.

6. God’s promises fulfilled through time.

7. God’s patriarchs who lead by example.

8. God’s Christ, finally come into the world.

But with all these benefits, they still lacked the saving faith in the 8^th, that made the other seven valid. They were cut off from Christ. That made all the difference.

Each year that goes by, we should keep asking ourselves if we are truly connected to Jesus Christ. We can have all the trappings, but still lose out if we are not truly connected to him by faith. When we are sure of that faith, it will be our heart’s desire to pass it on.

LORD, may we know the joy of knowing Christ, and bringing our countrymen to faith in Christ.

[1] Genesis 21:12.

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already glorified

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 8:31-39

³¹ What then should we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?³² Without a doubt, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all these things?³³ Who will bring any charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies.³⁴ Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.³⁵ Who will disconnect us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?³⁶ As it says in scripture, “For your sake we meet death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”³⁷ No, even with all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us!³⁸ Because I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to disconnect us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

already glorified

From God’s standpoint, we are already in eternity with him. He foreknew everything about us – not just the fact that we would say yes to the gospel. He foreknew our eternal lives in his permanent kingdom. For him, our future is our present. So our confidence is not that we will endure and overcome our present sufferings. Our confidence is that for God we already have. He has already glorified us.

So, what if we are persecuted for our faith? It can happen, but it will make no eternal difference. What if we undergo trouble and distress, go hungry or naked? No eternal difference. God already sees us, not as we are now, but as we will be. Our hope and destiny is set. Nothing we experience in this life is going to change it.

LORD, thank you that nothing can disconnect us from you, or from our destiny which you already know.

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present sufferings, future destiny

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 8:18-30

¹⁸ Because I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us.¹⁹ Because the creation impatiently waits for the sons of God to be revealed.²⁰ Because the creation was subjected to uselessness—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope²¹ that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decomposition into the glorious freedom of God’s children.²² Because we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now.²³ Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.²⁴ Because we were saved in hope. Now hope that is already realized is not hope, because who hopes for what he already knows?²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not already realize, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not even know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will.²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,²⁹ because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

present sufferings, future destiny

As we saw yesterday, Paul set up this chapter by asking that all important question: “who will rescue me from this body of death?[1] In chapter 8, he lays out the mechanics of the rescue that is now presently going on in the life of every true Christian. This section focuses on the things that Christians must endure in this life in spite of the fact that the rescue is going on. Paul explains this fact bb comparing our sufferings with what the whole created universe is experiencing. The whole universe is presently in a state of bondage to decomposition. It is coming apart. This reality reminds us all that things are not right, and that they must be put right. We should not be surprised that – in such a universe – God’s children suffer.

But we suffer in hope of a future destiny. The fact that God has begun the rescue by sending his Son to die in our place, giving us justification and adopting us as his children, inspires us to endure the present unpleasantness

LORD, thank you for you amazing grace, which has rescued us for eternity. Thank you that nothing we face today can ever change that.

[1] 7:24.

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justification, mortification, adoption

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 8:1-17

8:1 Consequently, there is no condemnation now given to the ones who are in Christ Jesus.² Because the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has exempted you from the law of sin and death.³ Because God achieved what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and in relation to sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,⁴ so that the righteous requirement of the law may be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.⁵ Because those who live according to the flesh have their point of view shaped by the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit have their point of view shaped by the things of the Spirit.⁶ Because the point of view of the flesh is death, but the point of view of the Spirit is life and peace,⁷ because the point of view of the flesh is hostile to God, because it does not submit to the law of God, nor is it able to do so.⁸ Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.⁹ You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit from Christ, this person does not belong to him.¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is your life because of righteousness.¹¹ In addition, if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive through his Spirit who lives in you.¹² So then, brothers and sisters, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh¹³ (for if you live according to the flesh, you will die), but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.¹⁴ Because all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.¹⁵ Because you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.”¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.¹⁷ And if children, then heirs (heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)–if we really suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.

justification, mortification, adoption

Paul set up this chapter by asking that all important question: “who will rescue me from this body of death?[1] In chapter 8, he lays out the mechanics of the rescue that is now presently going on in the life of every true Christian. This section focuses on three realities that shape our lives as a result of our being rescued by God.

justification. God has stepped in and declared us righteous on the basis of Christ’s atoning death on the cross. He came in what looked like sinful flesh (it was true flesh, but sinless). He came for the purpose of dealing once and for all with sin.
mortification. Because of the finished work of the cross, believers can now do what they were unable to do for themselves. We can now put to death the deeds of the body that had kept us enslaved to sin.
adoption. The reason we can now do this is the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives, who has made us adopted children of our heavenly Father. Our new standing with the Father gives us the inheritance we will share with Christ – a totally new life.

LORD, thank you for the amazing rescue that is now going on inside of us. Help us to put to death the last vestiges of the sinful body, so that we might live in the full reality of that rescue.

[1] 7:24.

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Who will rescue me?

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 7:14-25

¹⁴ For we know that the law is spiritual–but I am unspiritual, sold into slavery to sin.¹⁵ Because I don’t understand what I am doing. For I do not do what I want–instead, I do what I hate.¹⁶ But if I do what I don’t want, I still agree that the law is good.¹⁷ But now it is no longer me doing it, but sin that lives in me.¹⁸ Because I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. Because I want to do the right thing, but I cannot do it.¹⁹ Because I do not do the right thing I want, but I do the very wrong thing I do not want!²⁰ Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer me doing it but sin that lives in me.²¹ So, I discover the law that when I want to do the right thing, wrong is present with me.²² Because I enjoy the law of God in my inner being.²³ But I see a different law in my body parts waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that is in my body parts.²⁴ Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?²⁵ Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Who will rescue me?

Oh, Christian, please do not rush past this chapter, as if Paul is only casually referring to problems he had, but which are long past. If that is you, and you can honestly say you once had a problem with your body of death, but you are now free because you walk in the Holy Spirit – great. If you say you now live in Romans 8 – great. But not me. I often live in the struggle of Romans 7.

What consoles me is not that I have overcome evil in my personal life, but that one of the greatest Christians who ever lived also struggled as I do. His mind wanted to serve the law of God, but his body parts – his heart and brain and eyes and mouth and loins and stomach — they failed to cooperate. He felt miserable a lot.

But he asked the right question. He asked “Who will rescue me from this body of death?” His answer was not found in that law he wanted to obey. It was in the Christ he put his faith in. Without that relationship with Christ, he would never have found any victory. He could not have walked in the Holy Spirit without first putting his faith in Christ.

LORD, rescue us. We will not trust in our own attempts to do good things in your name. We depend upon you to deliver us from our own unholy desires.

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the purpose of the commandment

Posted on December 27, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 7:7-13

⁷ So, what should we say to this? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through its exposure in the law. Because I surely would not have known what it means to greedily seek after something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”[1]⁸ But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead.⁹ And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment sin became alive¹⁰ and I died. So I discovered that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death!¹¹ Because sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died.¹² So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.¹³ Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Absolutely not! But sin, so that it would be shown to be sin, produced death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.

the purpose of the commandment

The commandment – that is, any particular commandment in the law – had a purpose. That purpose was not to bring people into a relationship with God but to show them their need for that relationship. The law is very good at that.

Unfortunately, there are many people who try to use the written code of the law as a means to become righteous so that God will accept them. Paul had tried that. It did not work for him. In fact, the mote zealous he became for the law, the less righteous he got. The holy law produced un-holiness in him.

The problem was that sin was already inside him, so he could not approach the holy law without defiling and corrupting it for sinful purposes. His personal negative outweighed the positive effects of the law.

Now, Paul approaches some believers in Rome, and warns them not to go looking to the law to be their means of righteousness. The only effective means of righteousness is faith in Christ.

LORD, keep our minds on our relationship with Christ, not on trying to fix ourselves.

[1] Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21.

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released – not on probation

Posted on December 26, 2014 by Jefferson Vann

Romans 7:1-6

¹ Or do you not know, brothers (because I am speaking to ones who know the law), that the law is lord over a man as long as he lives?² For example, a married woman is obligated by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.³ So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is still alive, she will be denounced as an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and when she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.⁴ So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.⁵ Because when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death.⁶ But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

released – not on probation

The analogy Paul uses to describe Christians’ relationship to the written code is very descriptive. He compares it to a woman whose husband dies. Once her husband dies she is no longer married to him. She, being a widow, is free to either remain single or to marry someone else. The obligations to her former partner are over.

Some of the Roman Jewish Christians had difficulty with this concept. They thought of their faith in Christ as a kind of probation, and expected that being a Christian would finally help them overcome their own inner struggle with sin. They reasoned that once they got this faith thing sorted out they would find it easy to walk in obedience to the law, and thus win God’s favor.

Paul said, nah. He told them they were going about this faith thing with the wrong goal in mind. Sin cannot be conquered through the law. It can only be conquered through death to the law and total faith in Christ. So, you need to think of yourself as not on probation, by remarried to Christ. Now, the goal is not going back to the written code, but pleasing your new spouse.

LORD, help us to get our minds around our faith in the only Redeemer, and live to please him.

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