1. I should have begun last week with a little more explanation of spiritual gifts and not just jumped into the particular gifts Paul discusses in Romans 12. So let me do that now and then we will look at the remaining four gifts in this passage: encouragement, giving, leadership, and mercy. First, the spiritual gifts are given for the sole purpose of building up the Body of Christ. They are not given for the purpose of growing an individual. “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” I Corinthians 12:7. “It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be…

Paul is the master of the word “therefore” and here is an example of that. In Chapter 11 he concludes his argument that God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable and that all of Israel will be saved due to God’s love for and covenant with the patriarchs. That ends with a beautiful doxology about the unsearchable and inexplicable wisdom and knowledge of God. “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.” “Therefore, do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but…

I want to begin in the middle of the text this morning. Sometimes we wonder why all this theology and doctrine is important. Can’t we just skip to the life application parts? Why not make things simple and not complicated? Isn’t it enough to be saved and then live a decent life? Romans 10:9 says “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Or, in Acts 16:30­-31 we…

1.  There are two levels to this passage. One, the very particular way in which Paul was addressing the Christians in Rome and, second, its application for us this morning. The original context is important. It is part of the preceding passage where Paul says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” In accordance with God’s will. That is important…

This is the time of year when thousands of people are making predictions about the next year. Investment advisors, futurists, books about the future and innumerable articles will be written about what to expect in 2016. There is something about the future that draws us in. We want to imagine we can know what is going to happen in the next 12 months. We are fascinated about all the possible changes, disruptions and novelties that will fill our minds and attention. But, sadly, except for those who are interested in the fulfillment of prophecies and the end of the world, there are very few Christians, myself included, who meditate on…

1.  In Romans 7, Paul is addressing two sets of believers. He is speaking to Gentiles who have made their own moral law the standard for being good and accepted by God. But, he is also addressing Jewish believers who have been under pressure to stay inside the Law. It is difficult for us to understand because I am not sure there is a similar situation for us. When they gave up The Law they were giving up much more than a set of rules and regulations. They were handing over their whole identity and becoming outcasts and people without a country. They were traitors to everything they knew. Dietrich…

1.  Last week we talked about our moving permanently as refugees from one kingdom to another. “There is only one requirement and that is accepting the free gift of Christ and we are instantly, completely and irrevocably new citizens of the kingdom of life. We have given up our old identity, handed over our passport and begun a new life. There is no such thing as dual citizenship. There is no such thing as deportation. There is no such thing as extradition because God has no treaty with Death. There is no way in the world to give up our citizenship or to return to that land from which we…

“The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” The response of some to that seems odd, doesn’t it? “Well, if grace is God’s response to sin then sin must have the power to inspire grace. More sin ­ more grace. There must be something actually good about sin if it means God extends more than enough grace to cover sin. Something good comes out of it after all.” We talked about the thief who argued…

Last time we looked at what it means to have peace with God. It is not the same as the peace of God. Without the first we cannot have the second. Peace with God comes on God’s initiative. There is nothing we can do to earn it or discover it. We cannot find our way to God. He reveals Himself to us in Christ and it is only through Christ that we have peace with God. Everything else is our imagination or our longing for that peace. That is where we left Paul in Chapter 5: “For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the…

Sometimes we have to go back to the original documents to discover the roots of who we are and what we believe. It’s surprising now and then to find out how far we have strayed from the original definition and intentions. I went through a period when I could not read enough history about the founders of our country and realized how little I knew about the original ideas behind America and what it means to be called an American. In the same way, we need to go back periodically to the founders and original documents of our identity as Christians to discover what was in their minds as they…