Romans delayed a week?
Who would have thought we’d have that snow delay on Sunday? It sure was good to see some of your family pictures that you shared.
Hey, thanks, by the way, for sharing some of your pictures on our Facebook page. We really only get traction when you interact with our page like that, and social media is one of our best ways to connect to people in our community! If you haven’t already shared a snow picture, don’t be scared!
Getting Ready for something big
I am seriously psyched about kicking off the Romans series this coming Sunday. I really think this is going to be huge for our church. Why? Because Romans is the greatest letter ever written.
This letter to the Roman church has been the catalyst for revolutions and reformations.
In the summer of 386AD, Augustine, a native of North Africa, was the professor of rhetoric in Milan, and a follower of the pagan Manichaean religion. In the garden of a friend, he picked up a scroll and read the following passage:
Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires
Romans 13:14
Augustine wrote, “No further would I read. Instantly, at the end of this sentence, a clear light flooded my heart and all the darkness of doubt vanished away.”
In that very moment, from that one sentence, the church received the great gift that we now call Saint Augustine… The framer of so much of our theology today.
In November 1515, there was an Augustinian monk named Martin Luther, the professor of sacred theology in the catholic university of Wittenburg. He began to teach this letter to his students… And he daily spent himself in the understanding of the epistle. As he daily prepared, he became more and more aware of the centrality of the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith.
“I greatly longed to understand Paul’s epistle to the Romans. And nothing stood in the way but that one expression, “The righteousness of God,” because I took it to mean that God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous. Night and day I pondered until I grasped the truth, that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy he justifies us by faith.
Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn, and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on new meaning. And whereas before the righteousness of God filled me with hate, it now began to fill me inexpressibly with a sweet love. The passage of Paul became to me the gateway to heaven.”
The result was the Great Reformation.
God has used this letter to literally change history. How might he use this profound work in your life?
I believe God will do something powerful… Maybe miraculous… As we do a deep dive into Romans. We’re going to spend months… Maybe the rest of the year on this book. Are you in?
I want our hearts and minds to be prepared. Maybe God allowed us an extra week before starting so you could begin to prepare yourself! Take advantage of this page I put together on our website that will provide you with resources you need to get ready:
We Are Family
What one word would you use to describe your family right now? Why?
Is there a different word you would use to describe your family when you were a child? If those words are different, what does that indicate about the way you see your family now?
Do you often think of the church as being the family of God? Why or why not?
I know we didn’t “have church” on Sunday, due to snow… But you and I both know that “church” isn’t simply a weekly gathering for singing and preaching, right? Whether we know it or not, every Christian belongs to a family alongside the one you grew up with. It’s a family that extends beyond race, culture, or creed. But it’s a family that is linked together with the unbreakable bond of faith in Jesus Christ. The church is the family of God.
Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts. 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope. 13 But now you have been united with Christ Jesus. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to him through the blood of Christ.
14 For Christ himself has brought peace to us. He united Jews and Gentiles into one people when, in his own body on the cross, he broke down the wall of hostility that separated us. 15 He did this by ending the system of law with its commandments and regulations. He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. 16 Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death.
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord.
Ephesians 2:11-21 NLT
Paul here is writing to both Jewish and Gentile believers. What kinds of problems did these two ethnic groups face?
How has Christ destroyed hostility and made peace possible for all people (v. 14)?
According to verses 14-18, what are the positive results of this wall coming down? Which one is the most significant to you and why?
Paul wrote that Gentiles, who had once been separated from God and excluded from His family, had now been brought into God’s new people—the church— through the death of Jesus. That’s the same family that we are a part of.
What kinds of things make the family of God different from any other family?
What about the family you grew up in? What is different about the family of God and your natural family?
What sorts of barriers are crossed in the family of God that might keep people apart in other situations?
The family of God is not dependent on race, gender, or any other natural factor. While these things might separate people in other situations, our differences in the family of God only serve to highlight the greatness of what we have in common.
There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 3:28 NLT
How does the fact that all different kinds of people come together in the family of God highlight the power of Jesus?
What, then, is our responsibility as members of this family?
Is it ever difficult to practice these characteristics of God’s family? When?
Which do you most need from the family of God right now? Why?
When the family of God functions as a healthy family, people of all sorts find hope, encouragement, and support in our midst. Regardless of what kind of family people come from, they should find in the church an example of the love and support they get from their Heavenly Father. When this happens, people not only connect with and love each other more deeply, but they also experience in tangible ways the love and support God Himself has for them.
And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Hebrews 10:21-25 NLT
What did the writer of Hebrews encourage the family of God to do? What did he warn them not to do?
Why is it important for a family to be together, in person, regularly? What happens when they aren’t?
Based on this passage, how should the family of God motivate each other?
What is one way you might be more supportive of God’s family this week?