Beware of the Roman within you!

Beware!  of the Roman within you.  Again, I am drawing from the verbal creativity of Dr. Voddie Baucham.  In one of his classic teachings, he states that if we send our children off the Caesar (Public School), we should not be surprised that they come home as Romans.  Now, my usage of this terminology is not directed at home-schooling versus public schooling, but rather, speaking about the topic of the inner man, the flesh.

A lot of recent events have mostly fueled this blog and yet, this is something that has been on my mind a long time.  My goal is to encourage all of us who claim Christ as our Savior to put in check the “roman” inside of us.  To those of you who do not claim Christ as your Lord and Savior, I pray this will encourage to “seek the Lord while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). 

Why this blog?  Well, as I look around, listen to conversations my brothers and sisters in the Lord have, and examine my own life, I am starkly reminded of how often we truly miss the boat.  You see, all too often, we, who are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a people of God’s own possession, (1 Peter 2:9) we live “just like the Romans”!  We hope in the same things they do, we act just like them, we are passionate on the same things they are.  This is troubling.  Very troubling.  So, here is one of the recent events that have fueled this, how we have mirrored the Romans, and what hope there is for us, or more precisely, how we should act.

This year in the political arena is an election year.  Most importantly, a presidential election.  As it stands, most Christians are opposed to President Obama.  That is ok.  It is ok to have convictions.  It is ok to make a stand (as long as you stand upon the Word of God).  However, what is troubling is to hear how angry, how passionately upset we get when we don’t get our way.  For instance, the recent debate over Obama’s health care scam.  Christians were in uproar when the announcement came that it was ruled constitutional.  Should we be upset, yes.  But should we have the same passion as the Romans, no.   You see, for those apart from Christ, this is “their best life now”.  They do what they do because they know nothing else.  They are of this world.  For them, that was a home run, for us, it was a called strike.  No big deal.  Honestly, no big deal.  How can I say that.  Well, because none of this has taken God by surprise.  In fact, He ordained it.  Furthermore, He ordained that Obama would be president.  He ordained that our economy would tank, He ordained that his health care law would pass.  And none of that should shake us.  Our passion should be in the Lord.  Our anchor is Him, not a moral or even Christian president.  Not a great economy.  Not more money in the bank.  Not more freedom in this land.  We are not citizens here, so our hope does not lie here.  Having a great president, a strong economy, money flowing prosperously, having more freedoms, all of those are vanity.  All that matters is Christ.  So I warn you, beware of the Roman within you.  Put him in check!

So, am I saying that we should do nothing?  No, we should fight, we should stand up for the cause of Christ, and we should hold our authorities accountable while submitting to them.  What I am saying is that we do this with the absolute confidence in Christ alone.  If we trust the Gospel, the whole gospel message, then we trust that Christ is not just reconciling us to Himself, but He is reconciling all things.  So, while I live in a day and age that seeks to silence the message of Christ, that wants to destroy to beautiful picture of marriage, that wants to murder children daily, that seeks to be tolerant (unless you’re a Christian), while all of this is going on in my day, none of that is to sway me, shake me, or move me, because of the overwhelming confidence that Christ is King, He is sovereign and He will make ALL things new.  The Romans cannot do that, they cannot live like that.  We however, must and should.

There are many ways in which this comes out in our lives.  It happens when our focus shifts from the Lord onto the “thing”.  Most of the time, it is around “good” things.  Such as standing up against abortion, standing up against the homosexual movement, or standing up against the liberals.  But we must, we must not lose focus.  We have to remember that sin is running rampant in our day.  This is because of the fall, not the liberals.  We are taught this by the Word.  We also have to remember that no matter what, we are not, cannot and will not be defeated by this.  So, when our towns votes to keep our town dry and the votes come in and they make it wet, we are not defeated.  This is nothing.  Sure, it is aggravating, sure it does not honor the Lord when the town, state or country lives contrary to His design for us to live, but does it mean it’s all over.  Of course not, remember, this is their best life now and there are more of them than there are of us.  So, when these things happen, we continue to preach and teach, perhaps more boldly, with complete confidence that the Lord will do His work.  He will make all things right.  He will hold the Romans accountable, He will seek and save those that are lost.  He will also encourage us (John 16:33), strengthen us and conform us into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29).  Finally, let’s remember this point.  God was very God, on His throne, completely sovereign when Adam sinned.  Although that sin caused chaos into man kind and creation, it did not even cause a ripple in Heaven.  We read that, we believe that and we trust that.  So as we read that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), may we rejoice that no matter what, the Romans do not get the victory, we do, through Christ! 1 Corinthians 15:55-56

I pray this will be of encouragement to all of us.  In this day, it is easy to feel overwhelmed, even feel defeated.  That make it easy for the Roman within us to come out.  However, may we speak as boldly as the Apostle Paul spoke:

I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  Galatians 2:20 ESV

The Mighty Ability of God

This is a response from a sermon I heard recently from Voddie Baucham.  In that sermon, titled “Christ is Worthy”, Dr. Baucham makes mention to these three verses, pointing out that in each of them, what is highlighted, is the “ability” of God.

The three verses, or should I say doxologies, are Romans 16: 25-27, Ephesians 3:20-21, and Jude 24-25.

 I want to look at these verses to briefly glimpse into “the mighty ability of God”!

 First, let us look at Romans 16.

Obviously, as we look at the book of Romans, much has already been penned by the Apostle in this epistle. He has covered major theological themes such as justification, election and sanctification.  Yet, at the very end of his letter, he writes:
Now to Him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith, -----to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.  ESV

Wow!  I love how doxologies begin, don’t you.  Now to Him……. We have to get it right at the beginning.  There is an epidemic in our churches today where praise begins with man and not God.   Thus our doctrine is out of wack which leads to poor living.  So, the Apostle brings us back, after teaching us great theological truths, and puts it in a nutshell.  We are to praise Him!  Why, well as this verse points out, because it is He who is ABLE (the only one) to strengthen us to bring about the obedience of faith.  What an amazing, loving, compassionate God!  He will (without a doubt) bring about the necessary growth in us.  He has saved us, redeemed us, purchased us by His blood, He has adopted us, called us His own, given us the rights to the throne and now as we read, He will sanctify us.  He will use whatever means to bring about the obedience of the faith!  Now to Him………… be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!  Amen!

I am going to try and keep this as short as possible, I promise.  The next Scripture I want to look at is Ephesians 3:

Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen  ESV

This one resonates with me.  I am so weak, so shallow, so feeble.  I often limit God in my thinking.  You can pick any circumstance and often, my thoughts and views of God are limited.  It is painful to think about and humiliating, especially as He shows His might in the midst of my weaknesses.  I have many examples of this in my life, but I will share one. 

Last year, I was laid off from my employer of 4 ½ years.  It was expected and yet as the time came, it was difficult to deal with.  God was gracious to us to have me set aside money in preparation, but we weren’t expecting to be expecting at the time of my lay-off.  So, there I was, laid off, no job prospects and my wife pregnant with blessing number 6.  So, I did what any red blooded, born again, self reliant man would do.  I stressed!  Not so much on the outside, but I watched the money a little too closely, kept filling out applications, but it got to the point that it didn’t look good.  No job openings.  I was getting scared and I remember praying “just for a job”.  Well, for my family, not any job would do.  For me to work 1 job to provide for my family, it would have to pay very well.  I immediately threw that out the window.  Nevertheless, when my savings was all but gone, God graciously reminded me that He is in control and He is ABLE to do far more that I could EVER think of, He gave me a job, in the same field, doing the same type of work, making MORE money.   AMAZING!  Yes, to Him, the One who can do far more abundantly than we could ask or think, to Him be the praise and the glory forever and ever Amen!

 Next, I want to look at Jude 24-25.  This is perhaps my favorite doxology. 

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever.  Amen.  ESV

There are several reasons why I love this doxology.  First, because of what it follows.  You see, Jude is warning about the rise and prevalence of false prophets.  They are plaguing the church, they are misleading the weak, and if it were possible, they would deceive the elect.  Because of the rise of these false prophets, Jude exhorts us to persevere.  To read the letter, it may be hard to get emotionally connected.  Place all of this in our context, our day and age.  There are “many” false prophets who are plaguing the church.  They are distorting the truth and the crowds are lining up, packing out the pews.  It is very discouraging to see faithful men of God preach and struggle with the attendance of their flock and yet these wolves have them beating down the doors.  We must persevere.  We must continue to fight the good fight!  And just as they day is long, we are weary and burdened, this doxology from Jude is like water to a man who has been striving in the desert. 

Second, look at the wording, it say that He is ABLE to “keep” us from stumbling.  The word for keep paints this picture of a surety.  Christ stands as a surety, He lets nothing in without His permission and He lets nothing out without His permission.  That my friend is some really great news.  Because there are days when I “feel” like giving up, there are days the flesh is soo weak that I could just jump ship, and guess what, HE KEEPS ME!  Yes, He keeps me.  Don’t you want to doxologize right now?!  Next, we read that He presents us blameless.  How did He do that?  Was it not by His vicarious death on the cross.   The Great Exchange.  All of my sin for all of His righteousness.  He bore what I couldn’t.  He lived the life that I never could, He paid the price.  I have a new garment.  I am now clothed in Christ.  I am presented blameless before the Father.  Look at what else it says, it says that He did so with great joy.  Wow!  It was the joy that was set before Him to go and ransom all of the elect.  Hallelujah!!!! 

There is so much in these verses, I could never unpack them all.  I pray that as you have read this, you are reminded of the Mighty Ability of God. 

….. Now to Him…who is able…. be glory forever and ever!  Amen!

Revelation 5:1-14