Journey into the Heart of Darkness

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.~ Romans 21-23


Yesterday we looked at how the exchange of the truth of God for a lie manifests itself in sinful behaviour.

I dealt a little with sexual immorality yesterday, but, as I say, it is just one among many symptoms of an abandonment of God.

If we look at what follows, all spilling out from this initial bottle-cap of a verse (21), it is a descent into depravity.

"They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity"

By the end we have an idolatrous society that rejects God and 'natural relations', and all the social and personal fall out that entails, which Paul asserts as 'the due penalty' for their actions. And the list doesn't stop there.

"They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, ³⁰ slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; ³¹ they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy"

Paul isn't just making it up. The societal norms around the various cultures contained within, and not excluding, the Roman Empire are quite staggering, toe curling, even. Just read the issues he has to address in Corinth which include incestuous marriages between mothers and sons.

Paul identifies that all of this sinfulness springs from this abandonment of God,

And God abandons them, in turn, to their lusts.

We often see the judgement of God as being something directed at sin, but sometimes God's judgement is to give us over to sin.

But it gets even worse. (light one this morning!).

"they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them."

Bad enough to sin, right? But to hold it up as good, as something to be endorsed and actively encouraged? Corrupting others, even children by inducting them into the same mentality?
Jesus says for those, it would be better that a large millstone be hung around their neck and they be drowned in the depths of the sea (told you it got dark).

Does he say that as a retribution against those corruptors? No. He says it would be better for them if this was to happen to them, than for what will happen to them if they partake in such practices.

And all the while they are behaving in this God-hating way, they are lauding themselves as wise, but no, Paul says, they are fools.
And listen, when did they become fools? When they, in spite of their suppressed knowledge of Him, refused to glorify Him, or thank Him.

Then, Paul says;

"Their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" 

Like I said in the title; Heart of Darkness. 

I am not going to try to put a positive spin on this, this morning. I am not going to sign out, like I usually do, either. Instead I am going to leave you with the purest antidote to darkness that I know, contained in scripture. Just read these words from the opening passage of  John's gospel and let it stir your heart and minister light into every dark corner.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. ⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome^[a] it.⁶ There was a man sent from God whose name was John. ⁷ He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. ⁸ He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
⁹ The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. ¹⁰ He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. ¹¹ He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. ¹² Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— ¹³ children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

God bless you.

Praise Where Praise is Due

  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, ~ Romans 1:22(a)

If you are following along with me in your bible, you will see that this verse is embedded in a larger section dealing with a whole bunch of sinful behaviours and attitudes, including Idolatry and sexual depravity. It doesn't make for comfortable reading. But I think, in a way, this segment of verse 22 is the key to understanding the whole passage.

Let me take the issue of homosexuality, for an example.

In our modern understanding (and lets not pretend it is actually modern, because these things have been present on the planet as long as we have) people's sexual preferences are deemed to be a highly personal thing, beyond question (as long as they fall into societies skewed view of morality) and an inalienable right.

As a compassionate human being, let me lay my Christianity aside for a moment, I have much sympathy with this view. After all I was raised in this culture and it appeals to my sense of fairness. And woe betide you if you question it.

And from a non believers stand point it makes perfect sense. It is really hard to persuade someone without an understanding of God to think any differently on the issue.

We make it all about the individual.

'How can you deny me?'
'What about my rights?'

For me personally, my thinking radically changed on this issue when I came to understand that it is not about fairness to the individual, but about obedience to God. It is about recognition of God and his rightful place of authority in my life.

I do not believe in theocracy. I am more of a libertarian. I don't personally want to force other peoples to live by my beliefs. To me the Kingdom is 'opt in'.


We submit to God as we glorify him and acknowledge his rightful place.

It is not about people's freedom but rather about God's holiness.

I, for example, accept that there are restrictions on my sexual 'freedom'. I am not homosexual, but that doesn't mean I am not attracted to forms of behaviour that do not glorify God. However, as a divorced man, that means I am effectively celibate.

And although it is not always easy, joyfully I accept this to be right.

Why?

Because I acknowledge and love God. It is a joy to follow and serve as he asks me to.

And this is the key. I picked the issue of homosexuality because it is one of the subjects referred to in the text and also one of those issues where my culture is at odds with my faith. And therefore easy to demonstrate. It is one among many issues, and not the most important.

So this has been an example from the negative. Paul is demonstrating what happens when we 'exchange the truth of God for a lie'. But we can look at this way more positively than that.

Let's just say, for a moment, that we don't exchange God's truth for a lie. Let's say that we do know God, Glorify God and Give thanks to God.

What would that look like?

All the descriptions of Sinful behaviour in the passage followed from this abandonment of God in his rightful place and God said, 'Okay. have it your own way then'. But good behaviours flow from a place of submission.

The world thinks of submission as slavery, but we know it is freedom.

Paul says in Galatians that the mind controlled by the sinful nature is death but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and health and peace.

And if we glorify God we are doing what we are created to do. A sense of wholeness, peace, shalom comes from our peace with God. Our lives begin to reflect something of his life and his glory.
And it is joy unspeakable and full of glory.

And of course we give him thanks, as Paul later says, in all things. He is the giver of all good gifts.

Heavenly Father, the father of heavenly lights, we love you and honour you. We accept your truth.
Today we acknowledge you as our Sovereign Lord and Loving Father. Give us the grace and the mind-set today to acknowledge you and glorify you in all we do and to do it with joy and thankfulness,

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,

This day,

And all days,

Amen.

The Visible Invisible

 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, ¹⁹ since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.~ Romans 1:18-20

So we see that in the gospel the righteousness of God is being revealed. (17).

And now we are told the wrath of God is being revealed. 

Those two things are not unrelated.

God is righteous in all his ways. He is the standard by which righteousness itself is defined.  There is no righteousness apart from Him.

And a God who turns a blind eye to sin is no righteous God.

Think of a system that allows people like Stalin or Hitler to walk away from their deeds with no consequence.  Would that be righteous?

Instinctively we say 'no'.

But then justice must work at every level.

I don't entirely agree with the concept that there are no 'big sins or little sins'.

But on one level all sin is the same,  in this; that it separates us from God.

And without redemption that means eternal separation.

And all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.

All of us.

What strikes me here is Paul's argument that humanity has suppressed the truth.

It's like;

'You're in denial'

'No I'm not!'

Paul says elsewhere that 'the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelievers'.

So that is a double whammy. 

We suppress the truth,  because we can't face it.
And Satan keeps us in our deception with every trick available.

What really staggers me is that he says God's invisible qualities are clearly seen.
Being understood,  the NKJV has it, by the things that are made.

Now I will not ever argue from a merely scientific basis,  and not without reason (being thoroughly unscientific) but this needs to be said. 

It is not evolution theory that is the enemy of the gospel.  There are ways of understanding and interpreting creation that are compatible with a working understanding of God.

But the Devil is in the detail.

The chief aim of Satan in using man's own 'wisdom against him is to separate the concept of the creator from his creation.

Without God there is no accountability.  There is nothing higher than mankind itself. 

That my friends is how Satan likes it.

Scripture says we innately understand something of the eternal majesty through his creation.

But we suppress that knowledge.

Because,  like Adam and Eve in the Garden,  we are ashamed and afraid of God.

But we needn't be,  if we only understand him.

This wrath accentuates his love.

Listen to what Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones has to say;

You and I must realise that; that before we see the love of God in the cross we must see His wrath. The two things go together and you cannot separate them.  It is only as you have some conception of the depth of His wrath that will understand the depth of His love.  It was God Himself who found the way whereby His own wrath could express itself against sin, and yet the sinner be not destroyed but rather justified,  because His own Son had borne the punishment.

I am so glad that the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to understand this love. And the deception is deep. It still attempts to call me back.  But it calls to me from the wrong side of the Red Sea and I could not cross that sea to return to Egypt if I wanted to. 

This day, 

Or any day, 

Amen. 

From First to Last

A righteousness that is by faith from first to last~ Romans 1:17

 I have been perplexing recently over Jesus' statement in Matthew 5:48 'Be perfect therefore as your heavenly father is perfect'.

What could that possibly mean? How can I ever be perfect? What the heck kind of instruction is that?

It's not that I ever expect to be perfect, and I know instinctively that he isn't saying that I must literally be perfect. I know I am saved by grace, made acceptable through Jesus, but what does it actually mean? That is what bothers me about it.

I have become convinced over the years that one of the main purposes of Jesus' teachings on the mount is to raise the bar beyond reach. For example, 'you have heard it said, do not kill, but I tell you that anyone who hates his brother in his heart is guilty of murder'!

Categorically I must state that I am not dismissing the aspirational aspects of the sermon on the mount. I believe we must pray for our enemies, love those who hate us, turn the other cheek. But some of those things are not always practical or possible.

I am not a pacifist. At least, not entirely. I am glad we stood up to Hitler, for example. Evil should be opposed. But I would say that the scriptural remit here, is for me not to take personal revenge.

But then take Jesus instruction that we must give to all who ask? Give and do not hold back.

I am wealthy in the wider context of the world. I have been told I am among the top 5% of the richest peoples on earth merely by being in the UK.

But there are weeks when I have not had money for food or for transport andhave had to find some solution to that.

Why tell you this? Well because it makes no practical sense for me to give to anyone who asks. Would it be okay, for example, for me not to feed my children because some charlatan saw that I had no ability to refuse whatever was asked of me.

It is unlikely, but the teaching gives rise to this kind of scenario.

But the aspiration of the command to generosity, and , for sure, at times, reckless giving, stands firm.

But Jesus puts these things there for a reason.

I believe the clue as to why is in his words in Matthew 5:20

For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

There are two reasons he says this. The first is, of course, that the Pharisees have an external righteousness only. And Jesus would have us know that the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Justice and compassion must exceed legal morality.

But that is not to say that legal morality is not important. Don't forget that God's law is perfect.

Perfect.

Jesus came not just to show us a better and less legalistic way. He came to do legal business. In essence the second reason he speaks of the greater righteousness in the sermon on the mount,  is to show us that we cannot possibly meet the standard ourselves,  even if we could keep the law.  (We may not kill,  but we have felt hatred).  So he came to justify us in the eyes of the law.  He says that he did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfil it. To meet all it's legal obligations. To perfect it.

And his actions mean that his righteousness is imputed (Transferred, counted and accredited) to us who believe.

Justified means that it is just as if I had never sinned. It also means 'it is just as if I have always obeyed'.

Jesus righteousness is accredited to you.

You stand before Almighty God as righteous as Jesus himself.

Now that is grace.

That is perfection.

And it is this perfection that Jesus refers to that will get us into the kingdom,

So yes, legalistic righteousness is extremely important.

And here is my point, to lend weight to today's text; this righteousness is by faith.

It could never be achieved by your own efforts,

NEVER.

Were you to pour your heart and soul into every action to do your best from the second you were conscious to the moment you closed your eyes in death, though you 'gave all you had to the poor and surrender your body to the flames'. You would still be a sinner. You would have been born in sin, and have died in sin, from first to last.

The only way this perfection comes is when you lay hold of the sacrifice of the Son of God, by faith.

You cannot earn or keep this by human effort. But by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this, not from yourself. It is a gift of God.

There is no way round it. This righteousness is by faith, from first to last.

And the amazing thing about God's imputed righteousness is that, when you understand this grace, it starts to not only be imputed but also imparted, by the Holy Spirit, and we are changed from one degree of glory to another.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful for the gift of faith, that saves us and we are even more grateful for Jesus. Thank you for saving faith, from the first day we believed,

To this day,
And for all days,
.
Amen

Mutually Encouraged

 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.~ Rom 1:11-12


The more astute of you will notice that I have gone back a few verses. I had originally moved very quickly past this, making passing reference to it only. But tonight (I am writing this what will be, or rather will have been, yesterday night) when I returned to the passage, this caught my eye.


I remember an utter sense of dismay that gripped me on one occasion, when I found out that someone I was working with was also a Christian. My dismay was not at his faith, but at what occurred when I attempted to connect with him.

I was very excited to know that this chap was a Christian. It did not, back then in more youthful days, really occur to me to think about how well I knew him or whether he even liked me.

'Oh, you're a Christian!' I said, with great enthusiasm, 'So am I!'
His reaction rather underwhelmed (much as mine may have overwhelmed him).

'SO?!'
And he walked away from me without another word.
And, if I am honest, although I was personally slighted (which passed quickly enough) I was also grieved in my spirit.

It just felt wrong.

It still feels wrong when Christians fail to take encouragement from one-another.


The reason, or at least one of the reasons, that this jumped out at me was because I have just returned from my Church Life-Group, and tonight we were studying the conversion of St Paul and the impact that it had made on him and on the world. And it came into our conversation that not everyone has this 'Damascus road' experience.

I was reminded of a book I read once where the conversions of St Augustine and C.S. Lewis were compared. One (Augustine) had a dramatic about-face and powerful encounter with God and the other (Lewis) wrote of being on a bus journey to Whipsnade Zoo and saying (Paraphrased) that he could not say when the exact moment was but all he knew is that when he had begun the journey he knew he wasn't a Christian and that by the time he arrived, he was.

Inspired by the differences of experience we decided to share our conversion stories.

Some of those stories I had heard before, some in slightly different detail, and other not at all, but as we shared I became encouraged  to see the thread. That all our stories were different and yet they were all containing the same element. That of encounter with Jesus and his love.

And I found their faith (as well as God's mercy) to be inspiring and encouraging.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians;

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

This is the motto of our lifegroup, so it seemed especially appropriate to share it here.

Those stories that we tell each other do encourage and spur one another on to good works.

And it is not just those immediately around us that we can draw inspiration from. Hebrews 11 is there for just such a reason, so that we may read of others who had similar faith, and so we may draw strength and encouragement from their experience and imitate their patience and faith. The great cloud of witnesses , as the writer refers to them, cheer us on to the finish line, to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, to fix our eyes on jesus and throw off everything that hinders. And this communion of the saints, both old and new is part of what sustains us. We are one body. We give greater honour to our weaker parts.

You can be a Christian without going to church, but why would you want to do that, when such an encouragement awaits?

And the young man I spoke to. The one who said 'So!' and walked away from me. Why did he do that?

I have a few conclusions.

Perhaps he was only a nominal Christian and did not have any real experience of Jesus.

Or perhaps he was socially awkward. (And God knows I didn't really know about boundaries then!). Perhaps he feared being forced into an intimacy and vulnerability with someone he did yet know or trust?

And that is a shame. With hindsight it may be very understandable,  but it is still a shame. It is often fear that causes us to miss out on love and friendship.

But with vulnerability comes the really fertile soil of the kingdom.

And that is what we did tonight, as we exposed a little more of ourselves than usual, in revealing our personal stories to each other, and as a result we saw more of God's grace and understood one another just a little better than before.

Can I encourage you today, surround yourself with saints, in all wisdom be vulnerable and share your ongoing story with those around you so that they may encounter God a little in what he is doing with you, and take courage yourselves from the example of good believers, both from scripture and testimonial books, and from your nearest and dearest.

We can see God in each other, and it really is quite breath-taking.

God bless and encourage you,

This day,
And all days,

Amen

Righteousness Revealed

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”~ Romans 1:17

It's strange to think that in all that precedes 'the gospel' (in as much as the gospel must be explicit regarding Christ)  the Righteousness of God is not revealed.
Not in the creation account,  nor in the narratives of Judges,  Kings and the exiles.  Not in the prophets or the wisdom or the psalms.

God may have shown himself to Moses,  but even Moses did not see the full righteousness of God revealed.

That privilege was reserved for us who would hear about Christ Jesus.

Wow.

And more specifically,  in his death and resurrection.

We often see righteousness and mercy as being at odds with eachother.

But at the cross they meet in perfect synchronicity.

You see,  righteousness that only ends in out judgement,  is not true righteousness.

For God is righteous and he is merciful.  And his mercy never compromises his righteousness.  And his righteousness is never aside from his mercy.

His righteousness is merciful.

His mercy is righteous.

In his righteousness he showed us mercy at the cross. And in the person of Jesus both wrath and compassion have their fulfilment,  at his expense.

In Jesus,  full righteousness is revealed.  Not merely the wrath of Sodom and Gamorrah.  Not only the mercy of the Ark.  But the full righteousness of Almighty God.

Tomorrow we will look a little more at wrath.  For God's holy wrath against sin is the only context for our redemption.

But today we want to just wonder at God revealed to us.  In his Holiness,  in his mercy,  in his love; in Jesus.

Lord we thank you, for your righteousness,  seen in the mercy you showed to us in Christ.

We are in grateful awe,  and ever will be,

This day,
And all days,

Amen

Them That Believe

 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: (Rom 1:16)

There is in essence here, the thrust of the whole epistle.

Paul writes to lay down his Gospel to the Roman believers, and in doing so leaves the most comprehensive exposition of the doctrines of faith contained in the whole of scripture. And that Gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.

You can take from this that we are saved by Faith. But to say faith alone is what saves us would be a mistake. It is not a matter of belief that saves us. I could believe that a particularly large cardboard box would help me float across the Atlantic ocean and fulfil my life long dream to see America, but my belief would be misplaced and ill founded.

No. It is the object of the belief that truly saves.

If I believed that a cruise ship might fulfil the role of the aforementioned cardboard box, my faith would be more likely to be correct in it's assertions.

(But of course a cruise ship may not make it.)

In terms of salvation, the object of our faith is sound to the uttermost. It is the Gospel that saves, if again, as is fast becoming the theme, we see that God is the Gospel. For it is God that saves us. Not merely our belief.

Faith is some sort of unique blend of belief and trust.

That cruise ship is all very well. I believe it will go to America, and so it will. But unless I get on it, it will go without me.

And so believing in itself is not enough. James astutely points out that even the demons believe.

Faith is belief in action. It is what connects us to the object of our belief.

faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

No. Faith buys a ticket and gets on the boat. And now the boat has the ability to perform the task that you believed it could do. We believe in it. And now we have put our belief into action by trusting it to do what it is supposed to. We have exercised a saving Faith.

And this, as we will see later, is in itself a gift from God.


And the wonderful thing about this is that it is the meeting point for Calvinists and Arminians alike.

We all agree that those who are saved must believe.

And as Jesus himself says;

For God so loved the world that he sent his one and only son, that whosoever believes in him might have eternal life. (Jn 3:16)

I love the nuance of that word whosoever.

On that word lays all the argument of the Calvinist and the Arminian. But it is known to God in full.

WHOEVER believes on his name will be saved,

Praise God.

There is hope for the world.

To as many as believed on his name he gave them the power to become children of God.

And this is what happens when this saving faith appears in our lives. Jesus said You must be born again. And this is what happens at the point of faith in the gospel. The power of God to save is released in our lives.


And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit~ Eph 1:13

This morning (or whatever part of the day you read this in), let your faith give you reason for great hope and comfort. God has saved you. God IS saving you and his great power for salvation, an unstoppable force once it is unleashed, is at work in your life, and it works together in all things for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purposes;

And that means you.

And it wont quit saving you,

This day,

And all days,

Amen.