November 10, 2010
November 4, 2010
Revealing Glory
I'm in the process of studying through the book of Romans verse by verse. It has been long and tedious to this point, but so very rewarding. I have a feeling many of my future posts will come out of this study because this is where God has been teaching and molding me. This morning I was reminded of the remarkable hope we have in our salvation.
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19
This was the verse that I studied (I told you it was verse by verse), but it cannot be separated from the context of the whole chapter. The theme of this section in Romans 8 is glory. Even though the word itself is only mentioned three times, there is no doubt it is Paul's focus.
The part of this verse that was most significant for me was the last phrase, the revealing of the sons of God. Those of us that are sons and daughters of God have not yet been revealed as who we really are! We have already become sons of God (v. 14-17) if we have accepted the gift of salvation that comes through Christ (6:23), but there is a dichotomy here: now-not-yet. We have been redeemed and adopted as sons of God now, but we still live with suffering and persecution in this world. When do we truly live like children of a King?
The key word here is revealing. We are children of God. We are redeemed. We are co-heirs with Christ, but we are not yet revealed. We have a status that is somewhat hidden on earth. We are not promised health and wealth and everything to work perfectly for us, but one day it will. Then we will take our place in His kingdom, not because of what we have earned but through what He has given to us. Oh glorious day!
For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Romans 8:19
This was the verse that I studied (I told you it was verse by verse), but it cannot be separated from the context of the whole chapter. The theme of this section in Romans 8 is glory. Even though the word itself is only mentioned three times, there is no doubt it is Paul's focus.
The part of this verse that was most significant for me was the last phrase, the revealing of the sons of God. Those of us that are sons and daughters of God have not yet been revealed as who we really are! We have already become sons of God (v. 14-17) if we have accepted the gift of salvation that comes through Christ (6:23), but there is a dichotomy here: now-not-yet. We have been redeemed and adopted as sons of God now, but we still live with suffering and persecution in this world. When do we truly live like children of a King?
The key word here is revealing. We are children of God. We are redeemed. We are co-heirs with Christ, but we are not yet revealed. We have a status that is somewhat hidden on earth. We are not promised health and wealth and everything to work perfectly for us, but one day it will. Then we will take our place in His kingdom, not because of what we have earned but through what He has given to us. Oh glorious day!
November 1, 2010
What God Wants From You
In certain areas of my life I like to be organized, and I've realized that a blog is one of those areas. I have a few ideas of categories I will try and tackle every week (this may be a case of new blogger ambition), and one of those is "Sermon Reflections." This will be great for me to process and apply some of what I learned, and hopefully a good read too. So even though I'll be picking up in the middle of the sermon series, I figured this week was a good time to start.
The church I attend and work at, The Summit Church, is led by the teaching pastor J. D. Greear. The sermon series he is presently preaching through is called "Search for a King" and is about the life of David. However, this series is so new that he hasn't even arrived at David's life yet! That doesn't mean the messages aren't just as powerful and convicting, and this week's sermon was no exception.
As much as I want to provide some background and set the stage here, I'm going to restrain myself because I'm trying to keep this post short and readable. If you want the full story of Saul and how he became king to begin with, it's found in the Old Testament book 1 Samuel. This particular sermon covers chapter 15, and you can listen to the whole thing here.
One of the repeated themes of this sermon is that we all get caught in our mistakes and sins, but it's what we do next that makes the difference. In this story, Saul did a variety of things from blame-shifting to attempting to justify his disobedience: the very things that I do in my own life. It's alarming to think of the amount of times I have tried to defend my sins before God in order to make them okay. In my mind, I can make complete disobedience become partial obedience and in some cases full obedience. Mental battles that include phrases like "but this isn't hurting anyone," "my situation is different," and "I'm still kind of obeying" are all favorites of mine to negate sins. That is exactly the kind of self-deception that caused Saul to be rejected by God as king.
Self-deception is a bad disease that can creep in and cause you to totally lose sight of what is most important to God: an obedient heart. He doesn't want excuses and justifications. He doesn't want deals and make-ups. He wants obedience.
The church I attend and work at, The Summit Church, is led by the teaching pastor J. D. Greear. The sermon series he is presently preaching through is called "Search for a King" and is about the life of David. However, this series is so new that he hasn't even arrived at David's life yet! That doesn't mean the messages aren't just as powerful and convicting, and this week's sermon was no exception.
As much as I want to provide some background and set the stage here, I'm going to restrain myself because I'm trying to keep this post short and readable. If you want the full story of Saul and how he became king to begin with, it's found in the Old Testament book 1 Samuel. This particular sermon covers chapter 15, and you can listen to the whole thing here.
One of the repeated themes of this sermon is that we all get caught in our mistakes and sins, but it's what we do next that makes the difference. In this story, Saul did a variety of things from blame-shifting to attempting to justify his disobedience: the very things that I do in my own life. It's alarming to think of the amount of times I have tried to defend my sins before God in order to make them okay. In my mind, I can make complete disobedience become partial obedience and in some cases full obedience. Mental battles that include phrases like "but this isn't hurting anyone," "my situation is different," and "I'm still kind of obeying" are all favorites of mine to negate sins. That is exactly the kind of self-deception that caused Saul to be rejected by God as king.
Self-deception is a bad disease that can creep in and cause you to totally lose sight of what is most important to God: an obedient heart. He doesn't want excuses and justifications. He doesn't want deals and make-ups. He wants obedience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)