Condemnation is not anything we want to experience.   The word conveys judgment and we’re on the wrong end of it.  We’d rather be found not guilty, but the truth is that each of us is guilty before God.  We’re guilty so long as we’re standing there as our own defense team with our life’s works as Exhibits A-Z.

Paul has just finished his great exposition of why the law—while good—was insufficient to save us and why sin is too much for humans to conquer on our own.  If this is where redemption history ended, we’d all be hell-bound.  We’d all face condemnation—and rightly so—because we aren’t able to save ourselves.

Here’s the dilemma that God faced: all humans bear God’s Image, and yet do all sorts of things with it that make for human sin.  For God to condemn sin would mean condemning His Image stamped on every human being, consigning it to hell.

What was God’s solution?  Jesus.

For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering.   And so he condemned sin in sinful man,  in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:3-4, NIV)

Because of our inherited sin nature, we cannot keep the law no matter how good it is at circumscribing holiness.  We are the limiting factor.

So God sent His Perfect Image (His Son Jesus).  Jesus is not a created being and therefore He is not just an Image bearer, but the perfect one.  Jesus lived a perfect life, always doing what God would do with His Image. Jesus did this as the fullness of God, yet in human likeness.

As an unlimited being, Jesus (the Son of God) carried (as the Son of Man) the sin of all mankind to the Cross.  God resolved the dilemma by fully condemning sin, punishing it with ubiquity (because Jesus is uniquely unlimited and lived perfectly).

2 Corinthians 5: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. … 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Jesus became sin to be punished because He had none of His own.  He was our sin offering as our passage for today  (Romans 8:1-11) says.

It really is remarkable (although, I suppose not surprising) how perfect His resolution to the dilemma was. 

• God punished sin (demonstrating His perfect justice).
• God brought us back into relationship with Him (demonstrating His mercy).
• God showed us what His Image looks like (demonstrating His holiness, wisdom, and compassion).
• God acted in every way loving toward us, His Image bearers (demonstrating His love).

Justice Served.  Love Triumphs.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Denying the power of Christ’s deity

* * *

For further study:

1. Romans 8:1-11 contains a number of blessings for the Christian.  See how many you can identify.
2. In what ways do we limit Christ and treat Him as a mere man?
3. Could Jesus have paid it all and been a sin offering if He was not also God?  Think about all the ramifications of Jesus’ being fully God.

“I’m facing an uphill battle,” I said. He replied, “All battles are uphill. Downhill, it’s called a slide, a cake-walk, inevitable, or gravity.”

He was a WWII vet and I think he knew what he was talking about. It’s also a good picture of what today’s Scriptures (Romans 7:13-25) are saying.

I personally find today’s Scriptures among the most encouraging passages in the whole Bible. For those of us who fight perfectionism at every turn and who desire to live impeccable lives, we hate the inevitable slide or gravity pulling us down from our desire to do what is right. Paul knew what it was like and had that same “Aaargh!” sentiment that many of us feel when we fall short of our desires. It’s a relief that I’m not alone in my struggle to fight the uphill battle and the frustration at failures that come with it.

If I died with Christ and am born again to live a life of holiness, then why is it so hard?  There’s a war going on until we go home to Jesus or He returns to us. The warring factions, ironically, are both me!

On the spiritual side, this is the person I want to be, and the opposing side is sinful person I am by nature. Like gravity, the sinful nature constantly pulls me downhill. It’s easy to slip, to slide, to take the cake-walk rather than the hard road. Unchecked, I inevitably careen toward chaos.

For Paul, as a Jew, as for us today, the uphill battle to live a righteous life still leads to defeat. Yes, it’s hard work to fight the uphill battle. And for those of us who try and fail again and again, it could be cause for despair. This would remain the case if Act 1 of redemption history (the giving of the law) was all we had; if the sacred space was simply cordoned off as No Trespassing so that we were prevented from accessing it.

Romans 7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God– through Jesus Christ our Lord!

But it’s good to know that we have someone who has rescued us from this body of death: Jesus. He fought the uphill battle and won the decisive victory over sin and death. For those of us who try, but fail time and again, Jesus reassures us that–for Jew and Gentile—He died once for all of us. We can know that our fighting the uphill battle is worth it, and He offers forgiveness for the times we fail. That’s good news indeed!

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Despair at surrendering to our sinful selves

* * *

For further study:

1. To what extent was it even more frustrating for the Jews who had been given the Law?

2. Do you ever picture yourself as walking around in a body of death? How might it change your view of the condition of humanity and the promise of eternal life?

3. How does the picture of slavery to sin and slavery to God’s law leave the Jew with a “Catch-22” (they have been given the Law, but cannot keep it)? What is the way out for Jews and Gentiles alike? Give thanks to God that Jesus rescues us from impossible, uphill battles.

If you’ve ever been to a theme park, you’ve likely encountered rides marked with a sign that reads, “You must be this tall to ride.” 

I always wondered about that.  Let’s say someone was very tall for their age…or very short.  It’d be a disqualifier that you couldn’t do anything about.  One could hope that with age, we will grow in height.

But what if the sign was so tall that no one could reach it no matter how old they were or how tall they got?

That’s a picture of what today’s passage (Romans 7:1-13) is saying about the Mosaic Law.

The law is an impossibly high standard.  No matter how long we have been alive or how long we have been Christians or Jews, we will never be able to live up to that high standard.  We’re not up to the level needed to ride.  So we stand there looking at the sign and are acutely aware of being too small, falling too short.

What might be some of the reactions to the requirements?

• Cry because you couldn’t ride?
• Become angry at the requirement being impossible to attain?
• Feel frustration that no matter how hard you worked, it wasn’t good enough?
• Would you pass judgment on the ride, the standard, or the whole theme park as being worthless?
• Would you experience denial, insisting you are tall enough?
• Or maybe would it release your inner schemer: I’ll find a way around it?

I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.  So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. (Romans 7: 10-12)

Considering the ride at the theme park, the sign is there as a positive to permit me to ride, but instead it is negative in that it points out that I am deficient and unable.  If the sign wasn’t there, I wouldn’t know I couldn’t ride until boarding time when I’d be passed over for not measuring up because the standard is the standard.  Likewise, the law is there to show me what it takes to live with holiness, and what do I see?  My deficiency and inability to live with holiness.  It’s not the law’s fault.  It’s the way things are.

I am deficient not because there was a sign pointing it out, but the sign clearly shows the impossibly high standard that I am unable on my own to satisfy.  For the Jews of Paul’s day, they wanted to believe that they received the law as a positive to give them a ticket to heaven.  But the law stood as a reminder that they could never measure up.  It is an Impossibly High Standard.

 * * *

Give it up for Lent: Striving for the impossible and resisting God’s solution

* * *

For further study:

1. What is your reaction to the impossibly high standard of the law?
2. Consider Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Unlike the theme park where the sign prevents you from riding, what did Jesus do to allow us to experience eternal life?
3. Read Colossians 2:13-15.  What did Jesus do with the impossibly high standard?
4. If we died with Christ, how is our relationship to the law like Paul’s example from marriage in Romans 7:1-3?

Have you ever resigned from one job and taken another?  If so, you will understand today’s analogy.

Let’s say the new job offered you better pay, a nicer boss, and greater job security, would you even consider going back to work for the bad boss who stressed you out, threatened to fire you all the time—all for a job in which you were constantly abused?  Even after you started your new job, if your old bad boss called you on the phone and threatened to make your life miserable if you didn’t come back, would you leave the good job and go back to the bad one?

This is the argument that the Apostle Paul is making in today’s passage (Romans 6:12-23).

He says you previously had a bad job.  Your boss was Satan.  Your cubicle was a filthy, foul place.  Your job description included sinning, doing all kinds of bad things to yourself and others, and at the end of the end of your work week, you had a paycheck that was nothing but death.   Your coworkers were the Grim Reaper, Satan’s henchmen, and probably a few evil clowns.  Clowns can be creepy.

But now, look!  You resigned from that job. 

You’re never going back.  Good for you! 

Your new boss is God.  Your office is clean. Your job description is to serve Him; do good stuff; and obey His wise instructions.  He cares about you and your welfare.  It’s Friday and you and all your coworkers get paid for the random and planned acts of kindness that God paved the way for you to do.

 Your paycheck? Wow! Righteousness and holiness!

But then in your envelope, you see it: God gave you a wonderful bonus that you didn’t (and couldn’t) earn.  It’s eternal life and it starts right now and continues forever.   

So would you really take the gift of God’s presence and favor and trade it for being Satan’s whipping boy all over again? (I didn’t think so).  You might hear Satan calling like the telemarketer from Hell trying to sell you on his brand of relationship saying, “Come back, I’ll make you a deal.”  But you can say like the Dave Edmunds song,

“You better get back to your use-to-be
‘Cause your kind of love ain’t good for me
I hear you knockin’
But you can’t come in
I hear you knockin’
Go back where you’ve been

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Looking back, longing for the sinful days to return

* * *

For further study:

1. How is it that you resign from the bad job of sinning?
2. What does God’s job application process entail?  Is this job something you deserve or earn?
3. Read James 4:1-10.  What does this say about how to get rid of the old boss?

If there was a “Wanted” poster for Christians, it’d read, “Wanted: Dead and Alive.” 

How is that possible?–you ask–to be both dead and alive?”

“Because of Jesus” would be my reply.  For the Christian, it is possible to be simultaneously dead and alive.

What are we dead to?  Because of Jesus, we are dead to the old body of sin and our slavery to it.

What are we alive to?  Because of Jesus, we are alive to experience life as it was meant to be lived: free from sin and free to worship God.

That’s what today’s passage (Romans 6:1-11) is all about.  It’s a life-and-death matter, wrapped up in the idea of baptism.  Why baptism?  It is an outward physical sign of washing with water to indicate the inward spiritual change of being cleansed from sin.

The Dead and Alive argument goes: if we are dead to the things of this world, we aren’t under the thumb of sin anymore.  How could we be?  What can dead people do?  Jesus died for our sins and when we believe Him, it’s like we died along with Him.

But because He is alive, we’re also alive again!  It’s like we’ve been given a whole new life—free from needing to obey what jeopardized us in our former way of living.  We obey Christ and have new life because that’s what He gives us.  His Holy Spirit indwells us as new creations!  Perhaps now might be a good time to insert the words Born Again, although some argue that there’s never a good time for those words—they’re far too polarizing to ever be spoken.

If I died to the old master of sin, and I am alive to serve the new Master, Jesus Christ, why is sin still a struggle?  It’s part of the already-not-yet of being already born again in a world that has not yet been renewed.

Let’s face it: Born Again Christians don’t fit in.  Christians are Wanted men and women who are wanted by God to be following Christ, crucified with Him and born again by Him.  We’re wanted but also waiting for the new creation fit for those Born Again, Christians who are Wanted: Dead and Alive.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Being ashamed of being Born Again; Contentment with dead priorities

* * *

For further study, read John 3:1-21.

1. What does Jesus say here about being dead physically and alive spiritually? 
2. If there’s a sin issue you struggle with, how might considering it dead help you to let go of it? 
3. How might considering yourself to have died to the things of this world by being crucified with Christ help you to live as a person who is born again?
4. What do you think is at the root of the words born again being turned into a pejorative term?

In the movie, Baby Mama, Tina Fey’s character, Kate Holbrook, is investigating surrogacy with Chaffee Bicknell,

Chaffee Bicknell: Our surrogacy fee is $100,000.  

Kate Holbrook: It costs more to have someone born than to have someone killed!  

Chaffee Bicknell: It takes longer.

Interesting, isn’t it, that a throwaway humor line can carry such truth?

Today’s lesson comes from Romans 5:12-21 and contrasts the legacy of Adam (sin and death) with the work of Christ (righteousness and life). Giving ourselves a legacy of death cost little compared to the immeasurably high cost of giving us life again.

In Genesis 6:5-7, we read this sad statement:

The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth– men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air– for I am grieved that I have made them.”

Adam’s legacy reflected wickedness–amplified with each generation–as we carried not only the pollutant of Adam’s sin in our nature, but we also added to it by rebellious acts of our own.  Every inclination…only evil…all the time—that, my friends, is what Adam accomplished with his human work of rebellion.

Even a flood couldn’t wash our nature clean.  But it did buy humanity some time.

Paul offers this contrast between Adam and Jesus Christ: 

“Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.  Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.” (Romans 5:16-19, NIV)

In one foolish moment in the Garden of Eden, death arrived and it has infected every human being ever since.  But in one glorious moment on the Cross, death was conquered and Jesus’ death provided a cure for human sin that brings believers to eternal life.  Death could limit mortal life, cutting it short.  But Jesus showed us that while it costs more and it takes longer to give someone eternal life, this gift of His righteousness far surpasses the death and stain of Adam’s sin.  Bringing life to God’s people Costs More, Takes Longer, but it Lasts Forever.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Short-term thinking about eternity

* * *

For futher study:

1.  Have you ever thought that you might have done things differently than Adam and Eve?  How does the eternal work of Christ display God’s love far more than any individual, day-by-day decision that Adam and Eve could have made?
2. In The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, he writes “‘Return, ye children of men’ (Psalm 90:3) was the word spoken at the Fall by which God decreed the death of every man, and no added word has He needed to speak.  The sad procession of mankind across the face of the earth from birth to the grave is proof that His original word was enough.”  If God isn’t real and if Adam didn’t sin, resulting in his death, how do we explain how this earth is populated by things that are in the process of dying?
3. God promised He would never again flood the earth (Genesis 9:11).  Jesus was never “Plan B.”  Why did God destroy the earth once by a flood if Jesus was coming?  Read Matthew 24:38-44.  How does it set a pattern for faith?

I think I should have given up Oldies music for Lent or maybe home improvements.  I’ve been listening to Oldies while painting walls and recalling days past. As I heard the song by David Gates (of Bread fame) entitled “Everything I Own,” I was thinking how appropriate it would be for today’s devotional.  When it was released in 1972 it was thought by many average listeners to be a romantic love song when in fact it was written as a tribute to his father.

David Gates’ father was a music teacher and influenced his son toward a love of music.  During his junior year of college, David told his father that he wanted to move to California–just for the summer–to pursue a songwriting and performing career.  His mother and father were deeply disappointed that David would not be finishing his education but his father selflessly said,

Take two years and give it a shot. If it doesn’t work out, you can still finish college.”

Toward the end of that two years his father passed away, never having seen the full success that his son would achieve.  So much was left unsaid between father and son when he died.  That is the back story behind these lyrics to “Everything I Own”:

“Is there someone you know

You’re loving them so

But taking them all for granted?

You may lose them one day.

Someone takes them away

And they’ll never hear the words you have to say.

I would give anything I own.

Give up my life and my heart, my home.

I would give everything I own just to have you back again. “

Consider this: David Gates could not be with his father if he actually gave up his life, even if it is a beautiful sentiment.  Moreover, David and his father were not relationally estranged, just separated by time and distance.  The song communicates the strong bond of the father-child relationship and the love infusing it.

Our bond with God the Father is strong and infused with love, too.  But Scripture is clear that we are estranged from our Father in heaven…because of sin.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8, NIV)

Jesus, God’s One and Only Son, gave up His life so that we could be reunited with our Father in heaven.  He gave up everything just to have us back again.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Estrangement from God the Father

* * *

For further study: read all of Romans 5:6-11, John 3:11-18

1. Why could Jesus die and yet be with the Father but David Gates couldn’t die and bring his father back?
2. Read Genesis 3:17-24.  What caused our estrangement from our Father in heaven?  What does our estrangement look like?  Whose fault is it?
3. How has Jesus’ death provided the only remedy our estrangement?

How does one make sense of suffering?

I have a few planks in my theological platform.  One is the Image of God.  One is His sovereignty.  One of them is the perfect sacrifice of the perfect God-Man, Jesus Christ.  One is my hopeless condition as a sinner.  One is the absolute truth of God’s Word.   And one is the biblical art of Suffering Gracefully.

These few planks don’t make a floor, but I’ll pause my listing here to talk about Suffering Gracefully.

Oh, I haven’t suffered like those in the persecuted church, but I’ve experienced enough times of grief and sadness that I’ve probably been catapulted to the top of some people’s “Boy, I’m glad I’m not her” list. 

Today’s Scriptures read:

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. NIV Romans 5:1-5

There is a double-sided blessing of faith in Christ.  On one side, we have peace with God because of Jesus.  On the other, hope from God’s pouring out His love.

I am fond of analogies, as you can probably tell.  Today’s analogy comes from spelunking:  stalactites and stalagmites.

Spelunking is cave exploration and stalactites “grow” down from the ceiling and stalagmites form beneath them.  Sometimes they grow together to form a column as minerals present in the water get deposited before, during, and after the water drips.

This is a picture of Suffering Gracefully.

God so loved the world that He gave us Jesus who suffered and died for us.  By faith, it’s like the sufferings of Christ drip down from heaven and give us peace with God, but then the sufferings in our lives, handled with grace and by faith, cause us to accumulate hope until we become more and more Christlike in suffering.  Suffering allows the love of God to drip down and pile up.  As we continue in faith, the formation becomes visible to others.

Just as the stalagmite doesn’t grow up from the ground, but is the result of an outpouring from above, my growth depends on the outpouring of love from God in heaven.  In Christ, the love of God will be visible as a strong column of love, hope and comfort that testifies to a long drip of God’s grace that blesses me by faith.

    “For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.”      (2Corinthians 1:5 NIV)

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Letting suffering interfere with seeing God’s grace 

* * *

For further study:

1. Read Romans 8:24-27.  Why is the unseen nature of hope frustrating to us as we try to persevere?
2. Romans 12:12 states ,”Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”  How does patience in affliction contribute to the slow drip formation of suffering gracefully?
3. Read Colossians 1:24 in the Message paraphrase (and you can search other versions too).  How can suffering encourage ourselves and others?  Do you know anyone who has a visible column of faith, hope and love piled up from the outpouring of God’s love and comfort? Consider telling them what an encouragement they have been to you.

Vader: No, I am your father!

 Luke: No! No! That’s not true. That’s impossible!

Iconic dialogue from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, it is often quoted as “Luke, I am your father!” because the plot’s twist was so meme-able, not to mention memorable.  Even so, it fails to capture the suspense we encountered when the sequel film was released (1980),  as we endured three long years–griping about its ending and waiting for Return of the Jedi (1983) to find out whether it was a Darth Vader trick or true fatherhood, fictionally speaking.

Today’s passage Romans 4:16-25 is kind of like that…it’s all about Abraham’s fatherhood and the role of fatherhood in Abraham’s faith being credited as righteousness.

In a surprising plot twist, Paul argues that Abraham was not only the father of the chosen people, the father of the promised seed (Isaac), but also the father of all those who would receive the promise in the same way Abraham did: by faith! 

For the Jewish people today, Abraham is their father—the great patriarch of the Jewish people—but also their father in terms of faith, if they believe God like Abraham did.

Romans 4:16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring—not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham.

For any Jewish people who felt that salvation was their inheritance alone—their right because of their Jewish heritage—Paul pulls together his closing argument on the case for grace.

Grace isn’t earned. 

Grace resides not in heritage, club, or church membership. 

Grace cannot be bought or extorted. 

Grace is a gift.

It is unmerited favor.  It comes by faith in the promise God made to Abraham and his offspring to send a Deliverer–the Seed promised all the way back in Genesis–a Redeemer, a Messiah!

Grace invites all to hear the Gospel, to respond by faith in God and in His Promised Messiah.  Whether Jewish or Gentile believers, Abraham is our father.

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Trust in heritage and Unbelief

* * *

For futher study, read also Galatians 3:14-28. 

1. How is Paul saying the same thing in today’s passage as in Galatians?
2. Going back to the concept of rights and privileges,  how does family heritage create the perception of exclusivity and keep us from seeing the need to share this grace with others?
3. If you’re Jewish, how do you feel about Gentiles claiming Abraham as their father, too?  If you’re a Gentile, how will you respond to the privilege of sharing the Messiah with others?
4. Read John 8:25-47.  Jesus takes this idea of fatherhood and faith to a shocking step farther.  How would you describe the listener reactions to the truth as Jesus presents it?

     Humans sin.     Do animals?

(I’ll wait while you react.)

* * *

Yes, you’re right: theologians do think about strange things.

How many angels dance on the head of a pin?

If a tree falls in the woods and there’s no one there to hear it, does it make any sound?

What happened to people who died before Jesus came?

Romans 4:1-15 sheds light on two of the four questions although not directly.  This passage reads like one big riddle which explains why many people blip right over it and miss out on seeing Paul’s brilliance.

Let’s face it: Paul was a really smart guy and he’s Building a Case for Grace.  If we jump over this section, we lose something valuable.  So go ahead and read Romans 4:1-15.  I’ll wait.

There ought to be two verses that pop out at you:

• verse 3 “What does the Scripture say?   ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’” (People who died before Jesus came either believed God or they didn’t.  Faith was credited as righteousness and unbelief wasn’t).
• verse 15: “[B]ecause law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.” (Animals can’t really sin because there was no law they broke in the Garden of Eden, unlike Adam and Eve who transgressed God’s law/command.)  Animals–indeed all created things–were made subject to the same broken world we’ve received as punishment (see Romans 8:19-21).  So while animals may do awful things to each other because of a broken world, they don’t have the Image of God or the law, and therefore don’t sin.

I argued earlier that the Mosaic Law served as a Sacred Space Maintainer (Lent 9-2013).  So whether the person was the patriarch Abraham or Abraham Lincoln, Paul is Building a Case for Grace–for grace that fills this Sacred Space.  No special rights are owed to any of us, no matter how famous we are or what contributions we’ve made to religion or culture.

This righteousness, Paul says (translated into words I can understand), cannot be earned like a wage, received through a bribe, come as a perk of paying membership dues, or fall into the vending slot after you put enough coins in.  All those things depend on us.

Paul is Building a Case for Grace, unmerited favor.  Righteousness–right relationship with God–is a gift.  It’s a gift of grace by our God who loved us enough to bless our faith.  While we cannot depend on ourselves, we must depend on the One who sent His only Son to pay for sins–our sins!  (He didn’t commit any of His own).  We receive His righteousness and that’s grace!

* * *

Give it up for Lent: Thinking it all depends on you

* * *

For further study:  Re-read today’s passage and identify the concepts of wages, bribes, perks of membership and a vending machine idea. 

Questions:

1. Circumcision isn’t most people’s favorite topic.  Read here to find out why it was important to the Jewish people (see also Leviticus 12:3).  How did this sign set the Jews apart from others in the Ancient Near East?
2. How might a sign demonstrating their role as the chosen people become an exclusive club membership ritual?  It is easy to take what is a sign of something and turn it into the saving event.  Church attendance, spiritual disciplines like prayer, baptism, Bible study–how might we fall prey to the same error of substituting what we can do for what God did?
3. Why does Paul go through such description of Abraham and circumcision?  We’ll explore this a bit more down the road, but think about why Abraham’s not being circumcised and living well before the Mosaic Law was ever given makes a difference in the case Paul is building for grace.