Author Archives: Randy Buchman

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About Randy Buchman

I live in Western Maryland, and among my too many pursuits and hobbies, I regularly feed multiple hungry blogs. I played college baseball, coached championship cross country teams at Williamsport (MD) High School, and have been a sportswriter for various publications and online venues. My main profession was as the lead pastor of a church in Hagerstown called Tri-State Fellowship for 28 years before retiring in 2022. I'm also active in Civil War history and work/serve at Antietam National Battlefield with the Antietam Battlefield Guides organization. Occasionally I sleep.

The One Thing (Romans 1:8-17)

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Laugh at me if you will, but I actually enjoyed the 1991 movie City Slickers starring Billy Crystal as Mitch. Probably the most famous line comes from the rugged old cowboy “Curly,” the tough old cowboy character played by Jack Palance.

Here’s the scene from the movie where Curly espouses his life philosophy to Mitch, Billy Crystal’s character …

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? … This. (holds up one finger)

Mitch: Your finger?

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don’t mean “poop.”

Mitch: But what is the “one thing?”

Curly: (smiling) That’s what you have to find out.

So today I’m going to tell you what the one thing is!

But first, Paul shares some warm words of affirmation for those in the church at Rome…

1:8 – First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you 10 in my prayers at all times; and I pray that now at last by God’s will the way may be opened for me to come to you. 

11 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— 12 that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith. 13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that I planned many times to come to you (but have been prevented from doing so until now) in order that I might have a harvest among you, just as I have had among the other Gentiles.

14 I am obligated both to Greeks and non-Greeks, both to the wise and the foolish. 15 That is why I am so eager to preach the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

It can certainly be said of the Apostle Paul that he was a team player. His passion was “team church” wherever it was found. The Roman church was not the result of his ministry or preaching, as were many others we read about in the New Testament. And Rome, being the center of the world (where all roads lead to), would have held great interest for Paul as to the nature of the local church ministry there. Clearly they were doing well, as Paul mentions the reputation their faith had throughout the Roman world. Travelers would have been in and out of the imperial city with news of the Christian community there being relayed to other churches.

Some of my fondest memories of my 40 years in ministry have been of Christians I have met and worshipped with in various corners of the earth: Puerto Rico, Kazakhstan, Scotland, England, Turkey, France, Uzbekistan, etc.  Sometimes the verbal communication was scant, but the “feeling” of being with true brothers and sisters in the faith was almost palpable. Paul was energized by this fellowship, rejoicing in the expanse of the gospel.

He wanted to see them because he knew that by God’s empowerment of his gifts, he could be a blessing to them to enable them to go forward in the work there. Yet note again how Paul looked as well to the blessing he would receive from them. (I literally had a personal illustration hit me of this very thing, just now as I write this paragraph. Here I am writing something that I hope will be of benefit to the readers of this devotional, and as I am typing this paragraph, a note pops up on my screen that a message just came into the devotional page. It was from Joni Sgaggero, writing to say that she is looking forward to this study on Romans. Wow! That was a blessing to me at just the right moment!  This blessing and ministering stuff really does go both ways.)

Paul wanted the readers to understand that it was not a lack of interest in the church at Rome that was the cause for his absence. Rather, it was the extensive press of ministry that God continually put before him that always filled his schedule with obligations. These opportunities involved all sorts of people from all types of backgrounds, and that “all peoples” aspect was the exciting part of the gospel message for which Paul was especially called.

Here comes “the one thing” …

1:16 – For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

This is a favorite question I have asked people in Bible studies and sermons over the decades: What is the one most important thing that you need to be saved?

I ask that, and then receive the answers. What invariably comes back is first something like “faith.”  And I’ll say that yes, we need faith for sure, but there is a better answer. And the next person will say “grace.”  After all, it says in the Bible that we are saved by grace through faith … but I’ll again say there is a better single answer. A few other suggestions will be offered, but seldom does someone give the very, very best answer. And that is “righteousness.”

God is perfect; that is what righteousness is — perfection. God’s justice demands judgment on anything in his presence that is not perfect and pure. So, if we are to be saved and to be with God and not face his judgment, we have to be perfect; we have to have righteousness. And there is the great problem. We do not have it, we cannot earn it, it has to come from somewhere else, only one person has ever had it, and we therefore need to get it from him.

This is therefore the theme of the book of Romans: The righteousness of God, revealed in the gospel and received by faith … and by faith we also live.

And to bring back a description of the gospel that we used in a series on that topic a year ago … the gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed than we could imagine, yet more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope.

We’re just getting started to unpack that.

Included, Yes, You Are! (Romans 1:1-7)

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When it comes to naming favorite books of the Bible, Romans is always on the short list of God’s people; and it might be that only the Gospel of John would outrank it. Surely some would favor Psalms. Personally, I rank Hebrews as my all-time favorite.

Here on our devotionals page we are approaching 900 posts, and we have a complete series on John (“God Up Close”), Psalms (“God’s Playlist”), and Hebrews (“Endure”).  But Chris and I have never done an entire series that works exclusively through Romans, chapter by chapter. So it seems timely to do this as we study on the coming Sundays through Easter under the topic of “In my place: Why did the cross have to happen?”

Our series which seeks to answer this question as to the centrality of the cross as the symbol of the faith – featuring the cruelest instrument of human execution imaginable – will have wide-ranging tentacles into all the corners of the Scriptures. But central to much of what will be shared is the great teaching of the Apostle Paul in Romans.

Ancient letters customarily began with the name of the writer, the identity of the recipient(s), and a statement of greeting. And so we have in verse 1:1 the writer Paul … and then we skip to verse 7 to see the recipients and greeting … 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.  The intervening material is rich with parenthetical thoughts about Paul and his ministry, as well as the gospel message and those to whom it would reach.

1:1 – Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.

Paul begins by calling himself a servant of Christ, a word that pictures being essentially a slave. His view was one of doing what Christ sent him to do, irrespective of his own interests or even any cautious concern or consideration of personal safety in carrying out his mission. That really is commitment, and it is good for us to remember that in God’s will and leading we are safer in the most dangerous place on earth than we are in the seemingly securest location imaginable, though outside of God’s leading.

Paul knew he was set apart for the work of the gospel. His entire background, though convoluted by Jewish and Greek instruction mingled with Roman citizenship in a secular world, all worked together toward the perfect skill set to accomplish his appointed apostolic mission.

And this gospel message was not something of his own construction or imagination (as accused by traditional Jewish hearers). No, it was the fulfillment of a multitude of writings of God’s prophets over vast centuries of time. It all pointed to the Son. And Paul here affirms the very teachings we just completed in our previous series about Jesus Christ – that he was fully man as a descendant of David, yet fully also the Son of God as proven by the resurrection.

1:5 – Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

Paul never ceased to marvel at God’s grace. It is my anticipation that we shall do an entire sermon series on the life of the Apostle Paul over this coming summer, but we recall here the simple fact of Paul’s divine salvation that was literally out of the blue!  Paul was not looking for it at all. Rather, he was persecuting the church and Christians with great zeal, only to have God break in and marvelously turn around his entire life.

A lot of us who have lived a while in this life would have never imagined we would do or serve in places that we have either worked or given copious amounts of our time. And Paul could have never imagined as a young man that he would be called by God to follow and promote an entirely “new” message and revelation (a mystery from a Jewish perspective). And it was one thing to do this under the Jewish umbrella of Christ as the fulfillment of Messianic promise, but it was quite another thing to grow to understand that this was a message for the whole world … for Gentiles as well as Jews. And now, Paul comes to see that he has been made the primary spokesman for this message and work.

He tells the Romans, a host of Gentile believers in the gospel message of Christ, that they are the gracious recipients of this calling of God. These Gentiles who were most likely following a pantheon of false gods in the Greek and Roman tradition had heard the gospel message through some divine circumstance. Like Paul, they would not have been looking for it; and like Paul they were exposed through a work of the Spirit that opened their eyes to life-changing truth.

Paul’s story … the Romans’ story … it is our story as well. As we have come to hear the gospel message and responded to it in faith, we have come to understand that our eyes were opened to it in grace and through providential circumstances sourced in God. It is all of grace. But we are included. And we may also like Paul rightly marvel at this grace … at this inclusion!

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All’s Well That Ends Well

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For all of us there are many circumstances that we worry about in this life … wondering how things are going to eventuate. We might worry about the future of our careers, our long-term health, retirement and financial security, personal relationships with those we love, to name a few.

In the things we worry about, wouldn’t it be great to know that they all work out well in the end?

One of the great loves of my life was coaching high school runners and teams. Starting a new season at the end of the summer was always a fun event, seeing what new talents were joining the program and beginning to whip a team into shape. Early-season races were fun events to get a picture of what might lie ahead. But as the year went along, the meets took on more seriousness. At the end of the season were the four biggies: conference, county, regional and state championship meets. I thought about them every day; they loomed large in the back of my mind. Coaching was still fun, but it would have been a lot more enjoyable if I knew in September that we were going to be standing on the state championship platform in November.

But that is the great truth of the Christian life. We know that it ultimately ends in the most fantastic way possible! Yes, we’ll have some struggles along the way … to press the running metaphor, we’ll have some injuries, illnesses, bad weather and even lose a few races. But we are champions in the end.

At the end of Romans chapter 8 it lists an entire dossier of things that can go wrong in life: persecution, famine, peril, hardship, etc.  But it concludes that none of this can prevent us from winning in the end, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. In all these things, we are more than conquerors!

As we conclude this series on knowing God, that knowledge of Him informs us that there is a certainty that all things will be set right again. God will be glorified victoriously forever. Christ will return as the earthly ruler and the focus of worship around the throne. The Spirit will be active throughout to empower believers toward faith and worship of God for all eternity.

All of this is wonderful truth for us to ponder. The Apostle Paul prayed that the Ephesians would have this mindset (1:18-19) … I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

And so the story of stories ends with the true and best “happily ever after.”  It is this goal and moment and reality toward which our hearts are bent; and when we understand that, we understand truly what life is all about, what knowing God is about …

–           We know the perfect way things were originally made and were meant to be …

–           We know the total mess-up that happened that put us all under a death sentence …

–           We see that God in grace had a plan he has worked out through time and history, making all of history make sense …

–           We now know the pinnacle moment of the fulfillment of God’s plan was the death of Christ …

–           We understand now that the resurrection gives us through faith a new relationship with God and empowerment in this life through the Spirit living within …

–           And the hope of all things being made right again supports us through this life and even through our death, as an eternal life is promised us in Christ.

Rev. 21:2-5 – I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”

Shadowing God

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So you’ve got a new job and it involves some complexity and a learning curve. Your boss understands this and sets up an arrangement for you to “shadow” an experienced employee, to watch what they do and how they do it, toward the end that you will serve and function like them someday. How successful would you be if you only marginally paid attention to your mentor and spent most of your time doing what you thought should be correct, or simply doing what you wanted to do?

We are told in Scripture that we are to be like God … “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’”  Yep, just do it! Just be like God! Don’t mess up!

That is the tallest of orders, to grow to be like God … like Christ. But here is where our series of studies on the Godhead becomes immensely practical. We call this process of becoming increasingly Godlike or Christlike “sanctification.”  Ultimate or final sanctification is the result of receiving our glorified bodies on the other side of this world. Progressive sanctification refers to the lifelong process of gradually and increasing growing in faith and character to become more like the model of such that we have in Jesus Christ.

And thank God for that model!  Jesus being God in the flesh gives us a visible, exemplary personification of the goal toward which we strive. Without this we would be much less informed as to what godliness would look like, the standard being much more ethereal.

I love these verses in John 1:14,18 – The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth … No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.

That final verb for “making known” is interesting the Greek language. It describes what I’m doing with you right now – giving a detailed explanation about something. That is what the word means, to break something down into the details and unfold it in teaching. In Acts chapter 15, this word is used to tell how Paul and Barnabas at the Jerusalem Council went into great detail to rehearse for the hearers the details of God’s grace that was moving amongst the Gentiles.

So Jesus makes God known to us. He is the visible explanation of what God is like in character, thought and deed.

This again is why we need to know God and to know Jesus, for this is how we grow to be like them, like Him. Along with this, we have the work of the indwelling Spirit in our lives to empower us to be good shadows of the divine example.

But we need the desire and continually growing discipline to allow this process to happen in our lives. It is good for us to have a process where we regularly ask ourselves if we are indeed growing to be more like Christ.

God Dies

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Biblical Christianity is totally different than all other religions. Every other religion teaches us to earn our way to God. Christianity is the only religion that teaches that God came to us. Other religions require man to die for God, Christianity has God dying for man.

We began this week of studies by talking about the reality of sin and its consequences that have extended to all mankind. There is no doubt that this is felt innately in the human soul. The natural sense is that there is a God … with a sense of resident guilt that this God has been offended by our sin, and thereby an additional sense that one has to do something to earn one’s way back into God’s graces.

And I began today by saying “Biblical Christianity,” because this feeling that one has to earn his way back to God has even corrupted various branches of the tree of those generally identifying as “Christian.”  A study of their doctrinal systems reveals that a person must do this and that to gain merit with God. But the Scriptures teach there is nothing we can do to gain merit. Our good works will always fall short of paying the bill; and teasing out that concept further we could say that our fleshly good works are a currency that is not accepted by God as payment for sin. Only the perfect sacrifice would do, and since no man is perfect, only a God-man would suffice.

Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

When we were at our worst, God gave his best for us.

1 John 3:1,16 – See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!  …  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.

Yesterday we referenced the annual Day of Atonement in the Old Testament sacrificial system. On that day the high priest was to go into the most holy place, behind the curtain. Therein was the Ark of the Covenant with Law on the inside and a covering called the mercy seat. On this day only could he approach it and not fear death within what was seen as coming into the localized presence of God. He first went in and sprinkled blood as a covering (atonement) for his own sin. His second trip inside was with the blood of a goat that was sprinkled to make atonement for the sins of the people. A second goat – a scapegoat – had the sins likewise pronounced over it, but rather than be sacrificed was led away into the wilderness, never to be seen again. This symbolized the removal of sin.

Jesus, the true high priest, is spoken of in Hebrews as coming but once into heaven – the true tabernacle – not with the blood of bulls and goats, but with his own perfect blood, thus making atonement for all mankind.

At the moment of Christ’s death, a great earthquake shook the ground. And the curtain in the Temple that separated the most holy place was ripped into two pieces from top to bottom, exposing the interior. The final price had been paid, once and for all. God died that man might live.

Hebrews 9:11-14 – But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption. 13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

God Didn’t Have to Do It

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What do you think of the young adult child who is given everything over and over by a loving parent, but the child continues to return to a wasteful lifestyle?  What do you think of the husband who repeatedly cheats on his wife and comes back endlessly hoping for forgiveness and restoration?  What do you think of the employee who regularly cheats on the boss, and even though the employer knows it, he is not fired?

We would shake our heads at such displays of ingratitude and disrespect. But when it comes to our relationship with God, we are the insolent young adult, the cheating spouse, the impertinent employee. Like every generation before us, we have continued to sin and rebel against God and His good law. And whereas we reap what we sow in multitudinous ways, yet God continues to offer to us a plan of forgiveness, both in terms of daily fellowship and in regard to eternal standing.

Actually, it is impossible to pen any sort of human illustration that rises to the immensity of God’s grace. God could have justly walked away from Adam and Eve and let the natural course of sin lead to the destruction of the human race. Or he could have wiped out that race in the flood without saving Noah and his family.

But God had a plan, even before the creation of the world – and here again we get into a category of inability to understand time as related to God and eternity, who exist outside of time. But Jesus is spoken of as the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. And in Ephesians 1:4,5 …

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will…

The first hint of a plan of grace that is seen within the actual human timeline occurs immediately after the fall of man into sin. As God pronounces curses upon Adam and Eve and Satan, He lets the Evil One know that a final day of reckoning is coming when this mess that has been created will be reversed…

Genesis 3:15 — And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

Looking back from our vantage point in history we know that this anticipates the death of Christ, but also the final death of Satan and evil when Christ is exalted. Of course, little of this would be understood until the work of Christ was completed.

Throughout the Old Testament, God chases down His people through a series of formal promises known as “covenants.” A covenant is a promise God makes to His people, and also serves to ask and answer the question: “How do I experience the presence of God in my life?”

After the expulsion from the Garden, the total mess that has befallen man through the entrance of sin is evident in a series of accounts that are terribly painful to read:

–           The first murder of Cain killing Abel

–           The spread of evil with only Noah and his family found righteous – flood

–           The disobedience of man to obey God and spread throughout the earth – Babel

–           In the midst of new generations of people distant from God, He chooses to work through one man and his family – Abraham, giving him specific promises (a covenant) …

Genesis 12:2-3 … “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

And the story goes on through Abraham’s offspring as promised > Isaac > Jacob > Judah, the last of these being the son/family/tribe that the kings of Israel and THE KING would come from …

Genesis 49:10 … The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

The family becomes a nation that is enslaved for several centuries in Egypt, ultimately to be led out of Egypt by Moses who receives the Law. This detailed revelation of God is filled with covenants, particularly those related to sacrificial ordinances for the redemption of sin. The most significant of these (a shadow of the true and better sacrifice yet to come in Jesus Christ) was that of the annual Day of Atonement … Leviticus 16:15,16 …

He (the high priest) shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull’s blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it. In this way he will make atonement for the Most Holy Place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites

Once established in the land of Israel, the nation enters into a time of the rule of kings – the greatest being David of tribe of Judah, who it is promised will have the ultimate KING come from his lineage…

2 Samuel 7:16 – Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.

And thus the promises and covenants continued from Abraham (roughly 2000 BC), from Moses (1500 BC), from David (1000 BC), followed by the prophets in the 700-400 BC era making more specific remarks about the Messiah to come.

Over and over throughout these many centuries, in spite of God’s blessings, miracles and promises, the people rebelled and repeatedly turned away from following God. But God persisted in working His plan of grace and redemption.

We’ve only touched the tip of the iceberg in terms of God’s magnanimous grace … only mentioned a few mountain peaks of its progression and display. There is nothing more YUGE than God’s love and grace. Let that seep deeply into our souls today.

As Bad as it Can Possibly Be

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At one point or another in our lives, most of us get to face some critical health moments. Something isn’t right; we don’t feel well. So we go to the doctor or the emergency room to discover the underlying problem and gain some relief. We may have an expectation as to what is going wrong. The diagnosis may prove to be minimal compared to our concerns, or it may be something even beyond our worst imagination.

Several years ago when I had the one and only hospitalization of my life with the pulmonary emboli (blood clots in the lungs), I underestimated the situation. The doctor walked in and began with those words you don’t want to hear, “Well, I’ve got some bad news for you.”  I never once suspected what was actually happening. But the good news was that it didn’t kill me and the worst was over; it was just a matter of recovery.

Spiritually speaking, our diagnosis is very, very bad. In fact, it is as bad as it can get. We have inherited at the moment of inception a deadly condition for which there is no natural cure. There is nothing we can do to fix the problem that will result in our physical death and eternal separation from God. Yep, it’s bad.

As we wrap up this final week of our “Him Alone” series about the Godhead of the Father, Son, and Spirit, we will be talking about how to truly know God. And to know Him we need to recall the grand story that spans from eternity past to eternity future. And we will do so by making five divisions, beginning today with creation and the entrance of sin.

Creation: God Creates / Man Sins

There was a perfect once-upon-a-time beginning to God’s Big Story. We read in Genesis 1, on the 6th day, God made the animals and finally man as the pinnacle of creation …

Genesis 1:28 – God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”  …  31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.

Things were as good as they could possibly be. After all, you can’t beat perfect.

But you can mess up perfect, especially when Satan is involved. You know the story of the fall of man into sin, and everything changed. A curse of death was pronounced on all; and at the end of Genesis 3, man is driven out of the Garden …

Genesis 3:23-24 — So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

So how bad is the situation?  Very bad. As bad as it can be. Man is destined to struggle all through life in a cursed environment, die physically, and be spiritually separated from God due to the debt of sin. This truth is picked up and spoken of throughout Scripture.

Psalm 14:2-3 — The Lord looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned away, all have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.

This passage from Psalm 14 is quoted in Romans 3 at the final, decisive point of Paul’s argument about the lost condition of man. Paul wrote graphically of this as well to the Ephesians when reflecting on their condition prior to knowing the gospel …

Ephesian 2:1,3 — As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins … we were by nature deserving of wrath.

Dead is bad … very bad. It is not just a sickness from which recovery is possible. There is no life. The only hope is resurrection, and dead people can’t make that happen for themselves.

Why is it important to understand this clearly?  Let me suggest two reasons that come to my mind.

  1. Evangelism – There is an old saying about evangelism that you have to “get a person lost before you can get them found.” Think of those you know who scoff at the notion of God and a Savior. They have no sense of need. They errantly believe they are self-sufficiently in a good position. And until a person realizes they are lost, they will not reach out for a map or check the GPS system.
  1. Appropriate Gratitude – When we realize that biblically and spiritually speaking we were truly lost and dead in our sins, without God and without hope, we rightly realize that we did not find God, He found us. He chose us so that we could choose Him. The extent of grace is beyond our imagination, just as was the lost condition we faced … but all of that is a part of other portions of God’s Big Story.

In that second chapter to the Ephesians, Paul reminded these mostly Gentile readers of the extent of their lost condition …

2:11 – Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— 12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

It is good for us to remember how lost we were.

Is Jesus Still Human?

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This is an interesting question. As mere humans we look forward to being something better and having better bodies than these that do terribly annoying things like get cancer or make you limp around with arthritis of the knees. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:50-52…

I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

So that is a new body, but it does not change the fact that we are human creations of God.

We need to understand that the incarnation of Christ was not something like Jesus putting on a costume. He is in essence forever the God-man.

Consider the words of the angel at the ascension of Christ in Acts 1:9–11…

As [the disciples] were looking on, [Jesus] was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

So Jesus went up from the earth with a human body. He sits now in God’s presence as the God-man, and he will return “in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” – meaning in his humanity.

In the Kenosis passage that we wrote about on Tuesday, Jesus put on his humanity by pouring his deity into his perfect humanity. And the writing in that letter to the Philippians later says that Jesus maintains that form…

Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20-21)

Jesus didn’t shed his human skin. He still has a body—a “glorious body,” a perfected human body, a body like we haven’t yet experienced but one day will experience when he transforms us.

As well we know of the ongoing work and ministry of Christ as our mediator. Paul says to Timothy (1 Tim. 2:5) …

There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Paul speak clearly of Jesus in the present as “the man Christ Jesus.”

The resurrected body of Jesus, seen by many, retained the scars (John 20:26-27) …

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!”  Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

And Jesus in heaven will be tangible to us in a form that we can see, hear, and touch (Revelation 22:3-4)…

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

And finally, have sung the praises this week of the fabulous book of Hebrews, it says of Christ that in an ongoing way …

For this reason he had to be made like [mankind], fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Why Did Jesus Have to Die? (Hebrews 9)

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As I set out to speak a few words on this theme today, I hope that you are all really, really interested in this topic! The reason is because in just a couple of weeks, beginning on March 2nd, the next sermon series of six parts will be called “In My Place: Why did the cross have to happen?”  And doing that is a decision made after this devotionals schedule was previously set in place with this title today.

So we will be delving into this essential question in great depth in the coming weeks, leading up to and finishing on Easter Sunday. But let’s take a quick shot at answering this question today. Obviously the quick answer is because of imputed sin that is on all of our accounts that we are unable to pay for ourselves.

But let’s talk first about what is real and what is a copy, or something temporary. We think that the physical things of this world are real; they are material. But spiritually speaking, the real stuff and the real reality is in heaven. Our worship, old and new, is a copy of that which is truly real. So the work of Christ on the cross in dying and paying for sin is not a copy of the Old Testament sacrifices nearly so much as they are a shadow of the true and better payment by Jesus – the perfect lamb of God.

The writer to the Hebrews picks up this theme …

Hebrews 9:11 – But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation. 12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.

So the work of Christ was not the shadow cast by the sacrificial system of the Old Testament era. Rather, the whole complicated rituals of atonement through animal sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the true event at the cross and before God in heaven itself. The Mosaic system was effective (“efficacious” is the word we would use in theology) for that time. But the real payment was that of the cross. The passage continues …

Hebrews 9:13 – The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!

The argument here is to say something like this. “If animal blood sacrifices of the old system worked to cover for sin (and they did), then how much better is the blood of the perfect, fully human, sinless Son of God, presented before God Himself (and it is)!”

Allow me to use my old and well-tested illustration. When you buy something from the store with a credit card, you have made a sort of “payment” that was effective for a period of time. You successfully carry the product out of the store and it is yours. But a day comes when a full and final and better and truly real payment has to be made. You get the point. That final payment was necessary to be made with real financial resources.xnx_q_scucu-jametlene-reskp

And after discussing some more details about the earthly “copies” of the OT system, the Hebrews writer continues a bit later in the passage …

Hebrews 9:23 – It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence. 25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28 so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

The real payment!  Made by the perfect high priest. Made in the real place. He did it once – not having to enter once for himself and his own sins, and then another time for the people. And he did it once for all – not ever having to be repeated again and again. The final NECESSARY payment was made.

The application is in the passage as well. Our earthly death and termination is not the end. There is salvation for those “who are waiting for him” – meaning those who have trusted in this payment rather than their own good deeds for eternal salvation.

You gotta love Hebrews!!  If you’re new to TSF and these devotionals, there is an entire series of 46 writings called “Endure” that you can read through the whole book.

Is Jesus Really God?

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I don’t think there is really any debate that Jesus is the most famous person in all of history. I’ll not even go into any debating about the silliness some promote that the historic reality of Jesus is nothing more than a big story or essentially a fairytale. He is even spoken of in some secular records of the time soon after; but again, that is the stuff of another debate.

Our interest today is the matter of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Is he God in human form, or is he merely a great and exemplary figure of history?  There are even Christian people in more liberal traditions who are weak on seeing Jesus as fully divine. But again, as in other arguments and presentations in this series, if you accept the Scripture as God’s word to us, it is rather impossible to conclude anything other than that Jesus Christ is God – he is divine.x2cxuxfqkcm-chris-brignola

Today let us add to the truth we wrote about on Monday of the preexistence of Jesus as the divine Son a total of four more categories of Christological understanding that support the divinity of Christ …

A – His Divine Titles – Consider these final verses from John’s gospel: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (Jn. 20:30-31)

  1. Christ – The word “Christ” isn’t Jesus’ last name; it’s His title. The word Christos is a Greek translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah.” Both “Christ” and “Messiah” mean “King”—the King to be more specific. For Jesus to be the Christ means to be God’s divinely appointed royal representative on earth.
  2. Son of God – This title is used (or the concept of sonship) a total of 124 times in the New Testament. It is evident from the Synoptic Gospels that Jesus understood himself and his mission according to divine sonship and clearly implied that he was the Son of God. “… and behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)
  3. Son of Man – This may not seem like much of a title. After all, we’re all the son of a man. But it had a ring to it in the ears of Jewish people who were tuned into the Scriptures and recalled a particular passage from Daniel. In 7:13 of that book we have this phrase: “I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. (Daniel 7:13)

As Jesus was being questioned during his trial, the High Priest asked Jesus to confirm whether or not he was the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus replied, “‘You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest tore his robes and said, ‘He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy.’” (Matthew 26:64-65).

Clearly these ‘biblical scholars and experts’ knew exactly what Jesus was saying and it led to the crucifixion. This was therefore clearly a statement of divinity.

B – Divine Works – By this we speak especially of the many miracles recorded throughout the gospels, being witnessed by thousands of people. These displays would authenticate him as the Promised One and authenticate the message he brought.

When John the Baptist was imprisoned and apparently facing some doubts, he sent some of his disciples to see Jesus and ask… “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”  Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.”  (Matt. 11:3-5)

So this was not a direct answer, though it was a clear reference to prophesies of Isaiah that the Messiah would perform such deeds.

C – Divine Statements – The book of Book contains seven “I am” statements that Jesus uttered on various occasions, clearly picturing his personage as divine …

  1. “I am the bread of life” (6:35, 41, 48, 51)
  2. “I am the light of the world” (8:12; 9:5)
  3. “I am the door of the sheep” (10:7, 9)
  4. “I am the good shepherd” (10:11, 14)
  5. “I am the resurrection and the life” (11:25)
  6. “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6)
  7. “I am the true vine” (15:1, 5).

These statements are all clear connections of himself with the Divine.

As well, there are other “I AM” statements, particularly in John 8:58,59 – “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!”  At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.”

The “I am” recalled the revelation of God speaking to Moses in the Old Testament, referencing God as the self-sufficient one. Jesus made some “I am” sorts of statements prior to this passage, and up until this juncture the Jewish leaders and crowd gave him the benefit of a doubt. But there was no mistaking at this point what he meant. And actually from this time forward in John’s gospel, the Jewish leadership is intent upon getting rid of this Galilean troublemaker.

D – Divine Character – We’ll just mention two items here: sinlessness and omniscience. We know of Christ’s perfections without sin. And multiple times it speaks of how Jesus knew the thoughts of those testing him; he knew what Peter was going to do to deny him; he knew Judas would betray him and was not a true disciple.

Summary – There is simply no doubt about Christ’s divinity – You have to not want to believe it in order to not believe it, the evidence is so strong.

So Jesus is not just a good guy, but is for us all the perfect payment for a debt we have with God that we could never pay on our own. And beyond that, he has shown us what God is like; he daily intercedes for us and helps us; and he promises to come and get us to be with him forever.  All of this beats some system of God up there and us down here, wondering how to bridge and connect that gap??  Jesus does it all.