Bible Messages from the Kimberly Church of Christ

Romans 6 continues Paul's discussion on the subject of salvation by grace, apart from works of the law. And as he concludes chapter 5, we see a picture of one who has been redeemed from sin through the sacrifice of Jesus, being freed from sin and its penalty.

But Chapter 6 then goes on to answer the question: if it's true that my sin highlights God's righteousness, and that forgiveness of my sin shows God's grace, then shouldn't I sin more, so that God can be even MORE glorified in forgiving me?

Paul's answer in chapter 6 makes it clear that to even entertain this idea is to lack understanding of some basic principles about God, about sin, about forgiveness, and about why we even obeyed the gospel to begin with! But does this attitude that Paul corrects here reflect itself in the "Christian culture" today?

A lot of people in the religious world today tend to use language that seems to reflect a desire to identify not as the redeemed sinner who is freed, but as the broken sinner who still needs to be healed. And while it's true that we all sin, and that we all need mercy, Paul's description of a life under grace doesn't include the concept of being "broken." We come to Jesus so that he can redeem us, and through his sacrifice, he does that. 

Paul says that as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have been united with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection. The old man has been crucified, and sin no longer holds control over our lives. And Paul argues: why would you go back and live the way you used to live, knowing you've been freed from the sin that condemned you? Why would you want to continue in the sin from which you have been cleansed?

The language of "brokenness" implies that I am not functional, that I am not fit for service to God. And yet we see the opposite picture in chapter 6 - that because we have been redeemed, because we are now cleansed and freed, we are to present ourselves as servants of righteousness. God doesn't use broken things in his service, any more than he allowed tarnished instruments in his temple or blemished sacrifices on his altar. But through his grace, he cleanses us, invites us into fellowship with him through Jesus, and gives us work in his kingdom.

So why do so many Christians insist on being identified as "broken?" Why have we been conditioned to see ourselves in a constant state of needing to be redeemed - the one, and not the 99 who are already in the fold? Is it because we don't want to give up the sin in our lives, so we constantly find ourselves in the position of asking God to forgive us of a sin we do not intend to leave behind? Or maybe we've been so conditioned to look down on the "religious," associating them with the hypocrites of the gospel accounts, and convinced ourselves that God prefers to deal with when we're mired in sin instead of when we're striving to be righteous?

Paul's answer in Romans 6 is unequivocal:  "For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification."

In a chapter beginning with the statement "Judge not," Jesus proceeds to explain to us that not only do we have to make judgments in our lives, but that there are choices that can be objectively defined as right and wrong. And he emphasizes that as disciples of Christ, we need to live our lives with the mindset that we will also be judged based on the lives we've led.

Jesus isn't teaching salvation by works - he makes it clear that we cannot earn salvation. But he also sets an expectation for our lives, our actions, our hearts, and states clearly that in the last day, we'll be judged based on whether we have lived our lives with that standard in mind. And as he says in closing the lesson that the truly wise person doesn't just read Jesus' instructions and look at them as interesting or insightful or worthy of consideration, but one who implements his commands into his life and follows them as best he can. Because wrong choices in this life bear eternal consequences.

Matthew 7 begins with the most quoted verse in the Bible: "Judge not, that you be not judged." And while this passage is frequently misused and taken ultra-literally (ironically by people who rarely agree with taking the Bible literally in other passages), the entire chapter outlines the process by which disciples of Christ are called to judge - not in terms of condemning, but in making value judgments on what is good versus what is evil. What is holy versus what is common. What is spiritual versus what is spiritual. And our ability to make those judgments matters!

But at the same time, Jesus makes a strong point that Christians have to judge with "clear vision" in all of these contexts, whether it's assisting a brother in sin, evaluating our own lives in view of Jesus' call to "be holy," discerning whether we're on the right path in our lives to serve God, or evaluating the things people are telling us about God and what God wants from us. All of these call for the same powers of discernment that we use every day when we make decisions about the best way to go about our daily lives.

In the Garden of Eden, we see the story of man's rejection of God's grace play out as God creates the world and then places man in an idyllic setting, giving him dominion over all creation, supplying his every need with the assigned task of tending the garden in which he lived. Together, Adam and Eve enjoyed a fellowship with God unequalled in history. And yet because of their sin, they were cast out of the garden, and since then man has struggled to regain that relationship with God.

The Bible continually uses images from the garden to remind us of what we lost - not in a futile sense in which we long for what we cannot have, but as an invitation that through Christ, we can have that close fellowship with God again, unstained by sin, with God once again dwelling with us, freed from the debt of sin.

With the amount of mythology surrounding the story of Mary, it's easy to overlook the lessons actually contained in scripture in regard to Jesus' birth. And while Mary's role in the scheme of redemption may be much more limited in the Bible than it is in some of the teachings that have arisen over the centuries, her model of a godly servant is of great value for us to study and emulate.

We see in Mary three characteristics that are vital to serving God the way a disciple is called to serve. 

• Mary sees her value not in her own strength and wisdom, but in the grace bestowed to her by God and the service He has called her to perform.
• Mary understands that her role in the story is not one to be exalted, but rather one that is intended to point others to Jesus.
• Mary is willing to give back what God has given her in His service, even if it means suffering and loss along the way.

Mary's service is one that every Christian ought to model as we strive to please God, emptying ourselves of pride, allowing God to fill us with His work and Spirit, and allow God to use us as a vessel of righteousness and blessing for those around us.

No Bible story has changed over the centuries more than the story of Mary and Jesus' birth. It serves as a reminder that we often focus on the wrong things when God delivers His plan to us - and in this case, we see an example of a relatively simple, straight-forward account changing dramatically due to layers and layers of theological developments that have resulted in the concept of "Mary, Mother of God," who was conceived herself without sin, taken directly to heaven without having seen death, and now living as a mediator along with Jesus as something of a "queen mother."

The Biblical account itself is fairly straightforward, as Pope John Paul II acknowledged in 1995 when he wrote extensively about the theology behind Mary's story, stating that the scriptures themselves say nothing about Mary having a role in mankind's redemption, living a sinless life, or ascending directly to heaven, but that those ideas evolved over centuries of theological study.

It's a reminder for us that the emphasis from the apostles in the first century was not on the idea of elaborating on revealed truth, but instead on remaining faithful to the teaching as it was originally delivered. We see repeated emphasis on trusting the revealed word, which itself explains fully the "mystery of the gospel."

As we talk about the birth of Christ and its importance, one of the questions that comes up more and more frequently surrounds the miraculous aspects of Jesus' birth. Is it necessary to accept that Jesus was born of a virgin? Did the original Christians actually believe this or did the idea develop over time? Did Matthew and Luke write their accounts as a result of how they personally interpreted past prophecies, or were they instructed and inspired by the Holy Spirit?

One of the vital takeaways of Jesus' birth story is that the true power of this event does not come from the story of a child being born in a small town with humble surroundings. It comes from the purpose for that child coming into the world - what he would accomplish and why he was sent to begin with. 

If we take away the miraculous aspect of the account, we take away Jesus' ability to perform his primary mission - to redeem us from sin. The perfect sacrifice of atonement comes not simply from Jesus' humanity, but his ability to live perfectly according to the law, to provide a pure and undefiled sacrifice.

How much do we value the need for redemption? Do we see sin as something truly corrupting, worthy of death, needing to be cleansed? Often our willingness to relegate Jesus to "just another human teacher" is linked with our idea that we don't need to be reconciled to God after all. But Jesus' coming as the son of God not only underscores that need, but reminds us of what God was willing to do in order to restore us into His grace.

Anyone who has ever watched a Charlie Brown Christmas can probably recite the KJV translation of Luke 2:8-14  by heart. But in that familiarity, t’s easy to overlook the significance of what we’re reading here.  Because when we see Luke describe the details of Jesus’ birth, they are clearly not just extraordinary, they are unique in all human history.

Never before or since do we find ordinary men, not prophets but shepherds,  witnessing the heavenly host of angels glorifying God in this brief glimpse of the heavenly kingdom. An event of that significance clearly has much to teach us, even if we don't celebrate the Christmas holiday as a commemoration of Jesus' birth. The birth itself has meaning and significance to our faith.

In this lesson, we're talking about Jesus' birth from the standpoint of its establishment of Jesus as not just a king, but THE king, the promised anointed one of God.

One of the elements of prayer Jesus introduces in his model prayer of Matthew 6 is the idea of asking God to "lead us not into temptation." That can be a tricky statement, partly because it opens itself to a number of possible meanings, some of which might imply that sometimes God DOES lead us into temptation.

It helps as we look at principles from other parts of scriptures (i.e. God does not tempt man and is not tempted with evil, James 1:13) with the word usage in this passage. In this case, the word translated "temptation" in most Bible versions is more typically translated "trial" or "test" in other passages. And it appears that Jesus is talking not about God's role in introducing evil influences into our life, but rather God's role in protecting us providentially from trials and difficulties which might endanger our spiritual health.

In this lesson, we talk about what how God uses trials to strengthen us, and how He promises to be with us through all of them. However, we find our own responsibility in reflecting this requests in our lives: we ask God not to lead us into situations which might try our faith, but are we willing to make that request of ourselves?

In last week's episode, we talked about seeing God as our Father in Heaven, and that recognition ought to lead into Jesus' next statement in his model prayer of Matthew 6: "Hallowed be your name." The phrase simply means "may your name be regarded as holy," and the concept is that as a father is due honor because of his status as father, God is due honor because not only is He our father, but our creator, our redeemer, and the source of all of our blessings. And as such, He deserves to be treated with reverence, fear, and with love. It means a willing assent to God's will, a desire to be an instrument of that will on the earth, and a hope that all people will recognize the righteousness and grace in God that we see.