From: "Phil Rembleski" <PHIl@rescuechurchofchrist.org>
To: "1111RESCUEMEMBERS"
Sent: Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 5:27 AM
Subject: 8-25-21 THOUGHTS
4-25-21 THOUGHTS
The burden of the first three chapters of Romans is to conclude all under sin. Romans 3:23 from the NASB “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Paul is transitioning his audience from the Law to FAITH! Romans 4 is the great chapter of GOD’S DOING AND FAITH! I have used the Message Bible below. Please read it from a good word for word translation also. As in verse 31, we need to “shift our focus from what we do, to WHAT GOD DOES”! We see that FAITH IS PRIMARY! This is powerful reading.
Rom 3:21-31 But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. 22 The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. 23 Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, 24 God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ. 25 God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. 26 This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness. 27 So where does that leave our proud Jewish insider claims and counterclaims? Canceled? Yes, canceled. What we’ve learned is this: God does not respond to what we do; we respond to what God does. 28 We’ve finally figured it out. Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade. 29 And where does that leave our proud Jewish claim of having a corner on God? Also canceled. God is the God of outsider non-Jews as well as insider Jews. 30 How could it be otherwise since there is only one God? God sets right all who welcome his action and enter into it, both those who follow our religious system and those who have never heard of our religion. 31 But by shifting our focus from what we do to what God does, don’t we cancel out all our careful keeping of the rules and ways God commanded? Not at all. What happens, in fact, is that by putting that entire way of life in its proper place, we confirm it.
Rom 4:1-2 So how do we fit what we know of Abraham, our first father in the faith, into this new way of looking at things? 2 If Abraham, by what he did for God, got God to approve him, he could certainly have taken credit for it. But the story we’re given is a God-story, not an Abraham-story.
My Prayer:
O God, help us to crucify self that we might focus on what you do and have done. Set our minds on things above that we may walk in the Spirit and in the light. Open our mouths to tell the story of your saving son. In the name of Jesus Amen