Notes From Jon

Someone always says what I’m thinking better than I could.  In this case, I’m linking to Chuck Warnock’s blog, “Confessions of a Small-Church Pastor.”  This is something like my post a couple of weeks ago, “How to Vote in the November Elections,” but Chuck’s version is much more concise and much better stated.

I encourage you to have a look at Chuck’s post from last week: “Why I will not endorse a candidate for president.“

Romans 5:9-21
“The Great Disease”

Greater Than / Less Than

As we read the passage for this morning, we may notice that Paul is using a certain kind of logical argument here.  Do you remember, from early math, the “greater than” and “less than” signs?  Paul’s making an assumption from the start, and we can use these signs to describe grace and sin.

Paul’s logic:  GRACE > SIN – that is, “grace is greater than sin.”

Is this true?  We know it theologically – God’s love and grace will conquer in the end.  But sin and death are awfully powerful forces.  Last time anyone checked, there was still a 100% mortality rate for sin.  Can it really be true that grace is greater than death?  That forgiveness is greater than sin?

It’s true on a theological scale.  And we can prove it by looking at our own lives.

Pretend someone does something to hurt you (not hard to pretend, is it?).  The wrong done (we’ll call it a “sin” against you) always has consequences, it’s true.  It hurts, and very little if anything can be done to take the hurt away. Read the rest of this entry »

Romans 5:1-8
“Rejoicing in Suffering?”

Last week we talked about the plotline of the story Paul is telling.  The exposition, the narrative hook, the rising action, the climax, and the falling action.  We also talked about how this is not just a novel or some story we’re reading – but that at the climax, each of our stories begin.  We hear the good news, we are confronted with the power and truth of the Gospel.  The rising action asks the question: How will we respond?  Paul assumes we will respond in true faith that changes our lives.

So Paul continues in chapter 5:

Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,  (2)  through whom we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of God’s glory.

This sounds good so far, right?  But Paul never leaves well-enough alone.

Rom 5:3-8 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,  (4)  and endurance, character, and character, hope.  (5)  And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

And why do we have hope?

(6) For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.  (7)  (For rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person perhaps someone might possibly dare to die.)  (8)  But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Woah, Paul.  Why’d you have to go there?  Rejoicing in “the hope of God’s glory” from verse 2, that’s good.  Why don’t we skip a few verses?  There’s no need to talk about suffering, is there? Read the rest of this entry »

Did you think I’d given up on Romans?  I’ve been sorely tempted.  But many of my church folks have told me that these are some of the best sermons I’ve done since I’ve been here.  So I’m continuing.

I think the popularity of these sermons is because they are basic and systematic.  They are basic in that they are designed to speak to the average person with no background in Christianity, but with enough depth that we can all learn or be reminded by studying them.  They are also basic in that they deal with very foundational tenets of the faith.  And they are more systematic than I usually am – my series generally do not last longer than three or four sermons.  Of course, I haven’t (until now) tackled a book more than four chapters.

You may have noticed that I went back and renamed the first few sermons – I renamed the posts by the scripture passage instead of just numbering them “Romans Part 1, Part 2″ and so on.  That’s mostly because I’m finding that as I get deeper into the book, I’m taking more and more time on smaller passages.  Before you know it, I’ll be on “Romans Part 26,” and that seems ridiculous.

Also, between the last post on Romans and this one, I did a very brief sermon on a communion Sunday on the first few verses on Chapter 4 – basically talking about the difference between grace and mercy – grace being what God chooses to give us that we don’t deserve, and mercy being what God chooses NOT to give us that we DO deserve.  It was more of a devotional thought than anything else, and I didn’t type it up.

So, all this to say – here’s the next part in the continuing series on Romans, and Paul’s basic outline of the faith.  As always, remember that this is not a full transcript – only the notes I typed up to get my thoughts together.  So sorry if they’re rough around the edges!

Read the rest of this entry »