Something Wonderful I Found In Romans

 Something Wonderful I Found In Romans

Whoever has read through the Bible once has only read through the Bible once. When we are in relationship with Jesus and attentive to the Spirit, the Bible becomes a living thing. Every time you open it, it will speak to where you are in life. It always remains the same but what it addresses in you is where you are today. When you approach it as a living word it will astound you every single time.

I always look for direction from the Spirit when I begin again to read the Bible through, from cover to cover. I want him to tell me what I should be paying attention to. One year he had me look at how the Bible is a slow revealing of who Yahweh is and what his relationship is with us. As I moved through the Bible I witnessed how he slowly revealed himself until Jesus showed us his heart and we realized him as Father. He went from Creator, in Genesis, to Father, in the gospels.

Another year he had me look for the importance of relationships, Father with us, us with Father and then us with each other. I can never look at the Bible the same way again after seeing it in this light. We have failed in relationships ever since Eve. It is the single greatest failure that has disgusted and moved Father to action. All of humanity has suffered because of this ongoing failure, right up to this present day. 

I find that Paul’s letter to the church in Rome has one of the greatest explanations of the cause of and the solution to broken relationships. Paul starts off by explaining the condition of humanity outside of Jesus. It is ugly and disastrous and is the natural state of all human beings. No matter how much we try to fix ourselves we can’t. We can see the problem, even name the problem, but we can’t fix the problem because we are incomplete. We were designed for life with Father and without him we just can’t function properly.

Paul names the problem : selfishness. Every single hurtful thing we ever do to each other is found in this foundation of selfishness. Every act of rebellion toward Father is fruit from this selfish nature. And there is nothing we can do to change it. No matter how hard we try to free ourselves from it, it will just suck us back in. The only path of freedom is found in Jesus. But there is a problem here too.

Too often we want to treat it as a “one and done” kind of event when we give ourselves to Jesus, but do you remember what Jesus said we had to do to follow him? Not accept him but to follow him. “Deny yourself”, or better understood as “say no to yourself”. Jesus was addressing our selfish nature. It is a process to grow into the maturity of Jesus. It is a day by day process where the Spirit helps us develop the habit of saying no to ourselves and yes to him.

Paul does describe what proper relationship with each other looks like but he also stated that the only proper way to do this is to die to ourselves and to live in the Spirit. Too often we go with the flow of our human nature. We act on impulse. We do what comes natural and it gets us in a lot of trouble. To live in and by the Spirit takes an attitude of purposeful living. It requires a relationship with Spirit, where we spend all day having conversation with him. It is where he guides us in living according to Father’s heart and not our selfish desires. Without his input, guidance and power we will do what our selfish nature dictates. We cannot succeed in this life without the Spirit of God empowering us to say no to ourselves.

Today it is possible for us to live in relationship with each other in the way Father created us to. Paul summed it up with a single word when he wrote to the church in Corinth : love. It is not about perfectionism but it is about love empowered by grace where we give each other the freedom to live with repentance and forgiveness in our living together. Because I have chosen to live according to Father’s heart it means I have chosen to love you. So when you offend me, and you will, I say no to my right to be offended, lean into the Spirit, and forgive you empowered by grace. Amazing isn’t it? And this same grace empowers me to admit when I am wrong or have done wrong.

So, if we find ourselves being offended by those who we are bound with in the Spirit, we know we are getting it wrong. If we find ourselves trying to make excuses for our offenses instead of confessing them, we know we are getting it wrong. It is so easy to know when we are wrong but is our relationship with Jesus real enough for us to say no to ourselves and choose the Royal Law? The Kingdom is about relationships and only he can empower us to get it right.

Dare To Be A Daniel

I think we need to follow James' advice and spend more time asking Yahweh for wisdom because it appears we don't have enough. We are an incredibly blessed people having great knowledge of Father through our King, Jesus the Christ. We have been given the keys to unlock great riches in the Word. We have blessings such as salvation, righteousness, holiness poured out on us. We have been given power through the Holy Spirit in us to operate in great spiritual gifts so we can serve Jesus with power. We are rich beyond our understanding and have great joy and peace. Yet, we either don't know how to use any of it or we refuse.

Yesterday we considered how Yahweh equips us for whatever he calls us to do and we used Daniel as an example. We read:

To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. (Daniel 1:17)

This is great to read and is encouraging for us but it would have been useless for everyone if Daniel and his friends failed to operate in it. It's great to be blessed in this way but we have to use the blessings. Right away Daniel and his friends were put to work using these tools. The king wanted someone to not just interpret his dream but to actually know what the dream was without being told. He wanted a word of knowledge. Because no one could do it he was going to kill all the wise men. But Daniel used his tools:

Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon. (Daniel 2:14)

That was the tool of wisdom but Daniel followed this up with the tool Yahweh had given specifically to him:

Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions, that they might seek mercies from the God of heaven concerning this secret, so that Daniel and his companions might not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision.  (v. 17-19)

Daniel trusted Yahweh and used the tools/gifts he had been given and it resulted in a huge impact in this foreign kingdom. It revealed Yahweh to Nebuchadnrezzar:

Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret. (v. 47)

And it paid off pretty good for Daniel and his friends as well with the king placing Daniel as the ruler of the province of Babylon allowing Daniel to appoint his friends to high positions as well. Now they were in a place to protect the people of Israel.

I will be honest with you: I have received certain gifts that I have often avoided using. I am afraid of them because I am afraid of operating in my flesh instead of the Spirit. It is a trust issue that I have to work through because I have been given those gifts as tools, not to profit myself, but for the purposes of the Kingdom. Many of us are like this, failing to use the tools we have been given for the purpose and mission of Jesus. Some people ignore their gifts, others are timid and others misuse them for their own personal gain.

We have no excuse for the current state of affairs in the Body and in our personal lives. Jesus has made sure that we are equipped with everything we need to be his witnesses, to minister to a suffering world, to demonstrate his love with power and conviction. It is we who choose to fail; who choose to hide; who choose to seek for ourselves. We need to find our courage again; to rise up in the anointing of the Spirit and use the tools we have been given for the mission of our King.

As a little lad in Sunday School, I remember singing "Dare to be a Daniel" which was a great little children's chorus promoting the need to stand in our testimony concerning Jesus, no matter the cost. But we fail to grasp that there was more to Daniel than just taking a stand. There was also the willingness to be the man Yahweh needed at that time to represent him to the king. There was the willingness to operate in the gifts Yahweh had given him for the task. The interpretation of dreams is no small thing. Because of his reliance on Yahweh, his willingness to operate in the Spirit and the great amounts of time he devoted in prayer, he was also available to receive a ton of prophecy. Yet, we are greater than Daniel simply because we have made a decision for Jesus. We are better equipped. We have been called to a greater work. We are possessed by the Spirit. So I do ask, will you dare to be a Daniel in the full context of our relationship with Jesus? Will you do more than stand? Will you also work in obedience according to the will of Father with the tools that have been provided?

God Does Not Need Us To Prop Him Up

We've got to stop propping God up and let him protect his own reputation. We are doing him a great disservice by thinking we have to defend him or do anything for him unless we have been assigned the task and are relying on his strength. Is he without power or intellect? As he said to others, do we think his arm is too short?

Do you remember the account of David's first attempt to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem? There is mention in it that God's throne sat between the two angels on the cover of the Ark. This was a very important symbolic thing between God and the nation he had raised up to represent him. It was holy because it belonged to God.

In 1 Chronicles 13 we read that the oxen had stumbled so Uzzah, who was walking beside it, reached out his hand to prevent the Ark from tipping. You would think this was an act of kindness, love, dedication, a natural thing to do. But God killed Uzzah for doing this. There were two problems with Uzzah's actions.

First, he was not a Levite. God was very specific in his instructions concerning the care of the Ark. The responsibility had been given to the Levites and even they were not permitted to touch it. They were given very long poles that went through loops on the Ark. Remember this thing was extremely important and holy; it bore the name of God. (1 Chronicles 13:6) David did wrong in not asking the Lord how he wanted it done. He consulted his military leaders and all of Israel but he did not consult God.

Second, Uzzah gave a bad testimony about the greatness of God. If God could not look after the Ark, protecting it and providing for it, what did that say for God's ability to protect and care for his nation or his governance over all of creation? In that one simple act Uzzah tried to rob God of all the glory due him. God does not need defenders. He does not need anyone to look after him or protect him. He does need our sacrifices and is not dependent on our worship. He is self-sufficient. He has designed the Body of Christ and put a structure in place. He has assigned each person a place with responsibility and he has empowered each to do what needs to be done. But it is his choice. It is by his power.

Praise Jesus for this age of grace in which we live or there would be a lot more Uzzah's being buried. We are terribly guilty of robbing God of his glory. We weaken our testimony about his greatness all the time. Every time we defend him. Every time we try to argue his existence.  Every time we try to be something for which we have not been called. Every time we take on a responsibility that is not ours because it doesn't appear anyone else is around to do it. This isn't our place. We must let God be God, without definition, explanation or defense. God can explain himself. God can defend himself. God will reveal himself. God can provide for himself. God raises up and tears down. We call him Lord for a reason. It is our place to testify and worship because of what he is doing. For us "doers" that is harder than it sounds.

Two chapters over in 1 Chronicles we find David's second attempt to bring in the Ark, but this time he has either read or received instructions on how to do it. This time the Levites knew that it was God who was in charge any they were simply to follow his instructions. Instead of trying to do it on their own, they understood their place, and they were grateful. They made sacrifices to God for doing it through them instead of having the attitude they were doing it for God:

God gave the Levites the strength they needed to carry the chest, and so they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams. (1 Chronicles 15:26)     

Maybe that is too subtle a difference to understand but it is a major difference. We do not use our strength to assist God because he is too weak to do it on his own. Instead, God gives us the strength to complete what he has given us to do. Uzzah was not the chosen instrument and his actions gave a poor testimony as to God's greatness. The Levites were the chosen instrument and God gave them the ability to do it, for which he received the glory; a proper testimony from the instruments of God.

This is why it is vital that we understand who God is, who we are in him and what responsibility has been assigned to us. We have been assigned a place in the Body to serve Jesus. It doesn't matter if we think we are capable or not. God will provide and it will only add to our testimony of his greatness. And please, let God be God. Serve according to his will and take only the actions he has instructed you today. He is holy and all who belong to him are holy.