Spirit Led Living

Rom 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” I love the way Peterson’s paraphrase in The Message renders this passage: “Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud.” Don’t you hate having that sense of impending doom?   That awful feeling when you’re just waiting for the other shoe to drop?   I know that I do.   I’ll get myself all worked up and when I go to bed my brain won’t shut off entertaining and rehearsing worst case scenarios. By all rights that is how it would be for us if not for Christ.   We deserve the very worst. We should stand before the judge with a plea of guilty ready to receive sentencing; the facts of our life condemning us at every turn. Then the Judge bangs the gavel and says much to our surprise, “Not guilty, for reason of my Son”.   The black clouds part and a city of gold beckons us to enter.   “Welcome, good and faithful servant, mighty child

Rom 7:22-23   "For in my inner being I delight in God's law;   but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members." Ah, the daily dilemma of all of us caught in the here and the not yet of the kingdom of God.   While my spirit has been reborn and is no longer a slave to sin, my flesh still wages war against me. I delight in God's law because I know that it is good and right and just.   I endeavor to write it on my heart and burn it into my mind.   I want to serve Him and please Him not only for who He is but also for what He has done for me. My desires are slowly changing allegiance. Ps 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart ." As I delight myself in Him and get closer to Him I start to discover the things that give Him pleasure.   As one in love I want to learn as much as I can about my lover in order to

Rom 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." "The word translated here "wages" opsoonia properly denotes what is purchased to be eaten with bread, as fish, flesh, vegetables, etc. (Schleusner); and thence, it means the pay of the Roman soldier, because formerly it was the custom to pay the soldier in these things. It means hence, what a man earns or deserves; what is his proper pay, or what he merits."   (from Barnes' Notes, Electronic Database Copyright © 1997, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.) When we work at a job we expect that when payday comes we will get paid according to the task that we perform.   We also expect that we will get paid at regular intervals.   It is too simple to say that this passage refers only to the ultimate death that leads to eternal separation from God.   While this most assuredly is part of what is meant here, the fact that the word opsoonia is chosen

Rom 6:8-10 "Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." Alive! We are alive in Christ. All the bells in all the churches in the world should ring every time one of His creation passes from death into life. First of all we have the assurance of salvation. Rom 8:38-39   "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." There is no external pressure that can separate us from the promise of eternal life. Our place in heaven is guaranteed.   There are many depictions of heaven throughout the centuries.   Many people hav

Rom 6:6-7   "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. " When we surrender to Christ it cannot be a partial surrender.   To be completely yielded to Christ means that there is nothing left of our will.   It means that we need to cease to exist as the person we were before we believed in Him.   The old self is dead. The old self is our spirit, the part of us that was born into rebellion.   This is the part of us that places us at the center of the universe.   In psychotherapy this is called the id; this is the part of us that is concerned with instinctual drives and needs.   It is the part of us that drives us to satisfy the self.   It is all about "I, me and mine". When we constantly put ourselves first it leads to behaviors that are in conflict with God.   He created us to worship Him, to love Him, serve Him.  

Rom 5:8" But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."   Most religions in the world are about us getting our act together so that we can please God and somehow attain oneness with Him.   It is a futile effort.   The very best effort that we can put together will invariably fall short.   No matter how much we separate ourselves from the world, as some monks do, and no matter how much we meditate and try to purge ourselves of worldly thoughts and focus on the divine we are bound to fail.   Oh, we might sustain some measure of it for short periods of time.   We might even get quite proficient at it and be able to focus the purity of our thoughts for extended periods of time.   It still would not be enough. Other religions teach that you can earn your way into heaven.   They paint this mental image of an old man at the pearly gates with a set of scales and if your good deeds exceed you bad ones then you get a pass and you get

Rom 5:5 "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."   Among the greatest gifts that the Father has given us is the Holy Spirit.   Since Pentecost the Spirit has been available to all who call on His Name.   Through the Spirit, God pours out His love upon us.   Through the person of the Holy Spirit we have intimate access to the Father. Luke 11:13 "If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" In the Old Testament the Spirit of God was poured out to only a few.   Often only one or two men in a generation were anointed by the Holy Spirit.   However, before Jesus went back to the Father He made us a promise.   He told us that He was not abandoning us, that it was necessary for Him to go back to the Father so that the Spirit could come.   While Jesus was in His physical

Rom 5:2-5 "And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope."   Faith and works, joy in suffering; these are the great paradoxes of the gospel of Jesus Christ.   It is not either or; it is both and. We are not saved by our good deeds, our works; we are saved by faith.   Yet, works without faith is dead.   Our actions cannot save us, they reflect our salvation.   We do good works not to earn our place in heaven, but it is through our good works that we demonstrate the faith that we have that has secured our place in heaven. In verse 2 the word translated as "rejoice"   is more accurately rendered "boast".   We "boast" in the hope that we have because we know that it is ours and it is secure.   However, if we boast in this hope of glory we also need to boast in our sufferings. Too often we want Go

Rom 4:23-24 "The words "it was credited to him" were written not for him alone,   but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness — for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead."   These days there are very few of us who don't have mounting credit debt and loans to pay.   Who among us wouldn't like it if someone came along and paid off our debt. That is what Jesus did for us. When we say that we give someone credit for something it usually means that we are ascribing to that person an action that they either didn't do or didn't complete.   It is as if you take a test and you didn't know the answer to a question, but you put something down and the teacher is in a good mood and they give you credit for your answer.   Righteousness was "credited" to Abraham not because he was perfect and kept all the rules; it was because, in faith, he believed that God's promise to him was true even when everything in the n

Rom 4:7-8 "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.   Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."   These are the kind of verses that I hang on to like a drowning man hangs on to a lifesaver.   I have screwed things up sufficiently and sinned against God and my fellow man that I depend on His forgiveness. To whom much is forgiven, much loves. Let's get it straight, I do not deserve God's love. I do not deserve his mercy.   What I do deserve is His wrath.   My sin is detestable to Him and should earn my separation from Him for eternity.   I deserve to pay for my sins.   I know some folks who would like to see me get the punishment that I deserve.   They feel that way because of the pain that my sin has caused them.   Now think of how God feels.   He created this universe for His pleasure, a perfectly balanced paradise that bore fruit and was full of beauty.   He then created man in His image to be the caretake

Rom 3:23-24 " for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."   It is our nature to want a list of simple rules that will earn us a place with God.   It is His nature to know that redemption cannot be achieved by our actions; only from an act of love that comes from Him Since Adam there has not been one human being, no matter how good, who has not sinned. All religions talk about different roads that lead up the mountain.   The problem with that is that you can get all the way up the mountain and still find yourself short of communion with God because He resides in heaven. Since only the perfect can get into heaven and none of us are perfect, there is gap that cannot be bridged by our actions, no matter how good and numerous they might be. John 1:12-13 "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born n

Rom 2:4   "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"   Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon called "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" that became the standard for hell-fire and brimstone preaching of an entire generation. While ultimately there will be judgment, His kindness in the now is meant to lead us to repentance. So why did I start with Jonathan Edwards when I wanted to talk about grace? It is simple. One cannot exist without the other. Bill Hybels taught a session at the most recent "Leadership Summit"   called "Getting From Here to There" about a few things that he has learned about leadership.   He talked about the fact that it is not enough to share a wonderful vision about where God wants to take us.   As wonderful and exciting as that vision might be, in order for it to gain momentum it first has to overcome inertia. So, before

Rom 1:17 "For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."   The Good News of the Gospel (evangelion) is that there is a righteousness, a right relationship with God that does not emanate from my good deeds but comes from God and is imputed, assigned to me by faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel is God's revelation, through Christ of a new plan.   Under the old plan our sin was temporarily atoned for by animal sacrifices.   Sin is so detestable to God that the only way that justice can be satisfied is through the spilling of blood.   That atonement was only temporary because the moment that we sinned again, there was immediately enmity between us and God. God is perfect and holy and that which is not perfect and holy has no place with Him. Isa 64:6 "All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags"

Rom 1:7 "To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints"   Those of us who call Christ our Lord are called to be saints, sanctified, set apart by God and for God.   We are being made increasingly holy by the Holy Spirit. It is sad that the Roman Catholic church has changed the meaning of so many passages in Scripture.   To understand why this happens we need to know that the Roman Catholic church puts equal authority and weight on the three pillars of its' dogma or catechism. The first, like the rest of those who call ourselves Christians is the Word of God, only it does not limit itself to the Canon of Scripture as it includes a number of apocryphal books in the New Testament.   This acceptance of the Apocrypha comes from the second pillar which is tradition and it holds as much weight as the Bible.   The third pillar is the Magisterium which is made up of the Pope and the College of Cardinals as the only ones equipped to correctly interpret the Scriptures.

2 Tim 4:7   "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."   I admire Paul's confidence in saying this without being in the least bit arrogant.   Every day I have to challenge myself to walk the walk so that when my time on this earth draws to a close I too can utter these words knowing, that while nowhere near perfect, I have given my all and done my best for the Lord. One of my axioms is that perfection is a destination, but excellence is a journey and the joy is in the journey.   The closer that I get to God, the more time I spend in His Word, the more I find myself lacking.   Don't get me wrong, this is not about guilt or shame.   That is what the enemy would like to turn it into.   He would love to point out all the situations where I have fallen short in order to discourage me.   I am talking about the "holy discontent" in my spirit placed there by the Holy Spirit as God spurs me on to be more like Him.   The reason th