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
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