Monthly Archives: August 2024

“IT WON’T HAPPEN TO ME!”

Christian Life, ,

Romans 2:1, 3 NLT
[1] “You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things….
[3] Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?”

Having exposed the wickedness of ungodly Gentiles, Paul turns to the Jews. They were smug in their belief that they were safe from God’s wrath because they were His chosen people, blessed and protected by the knowledge of His covenant.

In the main, the Jews were just as ungodly as the Gentiles. Their history was littered with accusation, condemnation and judgment for their idolatry and its effects on them.

Paul reminds them again, in case they had forgotten,

Romans 2:6-8 NLT
[6] “He will judge everyone according to what they have done… [7] He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. [8] But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness.”

Possession of God’s Word and the blessings of His covenant are no guarantee that His people will escape His judgment. There is only one criterion for safety, lives that are in line with His instructions.

Obedience to God’s Word is not the way to be saved from God’s wrath. Salvation is by faith in Jesus alone, by God’s grace, but… the evidence that we have been saved from sin is in our attitude to sin.

If we think that we can continue in sin because God forgives, we are making a grave mistake. The attitude, “It won’t happen to me!” clearly shows that we have misunderstood grace.

Grace is free but not cheap. God’s grace towards us cost Jesus His life in the cruellest and most painful way. Grace cost the Father the agony of watching His Son die at His own hand.

Romans 8:32 NLT
[32] “Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all…”

To treat the grace of God as cheap is to belittle Jesus to the lowest of the low.

If anything, God’s children should be elevating the worth of Jesus to the highest of the high by hating and fleeing from sin as the most abhorrent of all human behaviour.

The cross is God’s unembellished declaration of His attitude to sin, anything that contradicts God’s holy and righteous attributes. He cannot abide sin. His plan of salvation takes care of every effect of sin on people; alienation from God, pollution of our souls, the power to drag us into hell…all these and more that separate us from God and His plans for a godly family od sons and daughters like His Son.

If we trifle with sin in any way, thinking that small deviations from God’s holiness don’t matter, we are in serious danger of losing our way. Paul was emphatic, writing to believers, that those who deliberately practise sin in any form will not inherit God’s kingdom.

Philippians 3:17-18 NLT
[17] “Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example. [18] For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ.”

Galatians 5:19, 21 NLT
[19]”When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures…
[21] envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

Are we to live lives of sinless perfection, then? Impossible! As long as we are in these bodies, we will always wrestle with temptation and easily fall into sin. There is an ongoing war between our flesh and the Spirit in us.

However, if we do sin, and we will, inadvertently, God has provided a solution.

We have an advocate…

1 John 2:1-2 NLT
[1] “My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. [2] He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.”

… and we have a way out…

1 John 1:8-9 NLT
[8]” If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. [9] But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Paul reminds the Roman readers that the cross of Jesus has a powerful effect on believers if they understand what the death of Jesus means in their lives. It’s not only about forgiveness. It’s about a new life and a new way of living.

Romans 6:1-4 NLT
[1] “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? [2] Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? [3] Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? [4] For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”

In conclusion, our attitude to sin and righteousness are clear evidence of our standing in grace.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1]”Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

What is Paul saying?

Our faith in Jesus, if it is genuine, has changed our standing before God from sin and condemnation to grace and God’s power. We have a permanent standing in God’s grace that enables us to recognise and stand against sin.

Romans 6:14 NIV
[14] “For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”

However, God’s grace is only for those who are humble enough to admit they are wrong. The attitude, “It won’t happen to me!” will disqualify me from the grace I need to overcome temptation and sin.

James 4:6-8 NIV
[6] “But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” [7] Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [8] Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

“It won’t happen to me”? Yes it will, unless you access God’s grace by confession, forgiveness, and humble trust in God to keep you from sin.

WHY NO OTHER GODS?

Christian Life, ,

God hates idolatry! He prefaced His instructions to His people with an emphatic…

Exodus 20:2-3 NIV
[2] “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery…”

… and launched into His resume of requirements for a covenant relationship with His people….

. [3] “You shall have no other gods before me….”

Throughout Scripture, God insisted that His glory was paramount in everything He said and did, and that His people should reverence Him and promote His glory in all the details of their everyday lives.

Isaiah 42:8 NLT
[8] “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to anyone else, nor share my praise with carved idols.”

God chose one nation to be the vehicle through which He would display His love and power to the ungodly, idolatrous nations around them; for example, He crushed Egypt with ten plagues and delivered the Isaelites from the power of Pharaoh, exposing the impotence of Egypt’s gods.

Isaiah 43:21 NKJV
[21] “This people I have formed for Myself; They shall declare My praise.”

Idolatry is the worst form of insult to God since idols are man-made, useless, powerless, reflecting the worst of human nature, and are, ultimately, both visible and invisible representations of demonic spirits. Idols are substitutes for the only true God. They can do nothing to us or for us.

The worship of idols is the expression of human defiance against God, unbelief in who He is, and a determined effort to replace Him with self. Since humans create their own gods in one form or another, humans regard themselves as the creator above the great Creator. People create gods in their own image to elevate themselves.

How does idolatry affect people? When people worship anything or anyone other than the living God, they are living out the essence of Adam’s rebellion. “I don’t need God. I can be God!”

The spinoffs of idolatry are clear.

Humans create gods like themselves, worship them and eventually become like them, entrenching in themselves the wickedness of their gods. Idolatry becomes a vicious circle of demonic control and wicked behaviour.

Hosea 9:10 NLT
[10] “The Lord says, “O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshipped.”

The greatest tragedy of all is that Israel attempted to marry their idolatry to the worship of God. They attributed to idols what God had done. They urged Aaron to make gods to represent the God who had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.

Exodus 32:4-6 NLT
[4]” Then Aaron took the gold, melted it down, and molded it into the shape of a calf. When the people saw it, they exclaimed, “O Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of the land of Egypt!” [5] Aaron saw how excited the people were, so he built an altar in front of the calf. Then he announced, “Tomorrow will be a festival to the Lord!” [6] The people got up early the next morning to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings. After this, they celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”

As God’s children, we may no longer worship carved idols, but the remnants of idolatry are in us if we do not guard against the elevation of self in its many subtle forms. Let me highlight three ways in which we set ourselves above God.

  1. Self-importance and self-suffiency go together.

When we inflate our opinion of ourselves above who we are, we think we don’t need God or people. Pride is nothing less than. A form of idolatry. You have heard the statement about a proud person, “He is a self-made man who worships his creator!”

  1. Unforgiveness is another form of idolatry.

An unforgiving person displays an attitude of arrogance. “I am better than you. I didn’t say/do what you said/did. You owe me. I will not lower myself to your level. I will not let you get away with this. I will punish you by withholding my forgiveness. I… I… I…”

Withholding forgiveness is a form of manipulation, keeping the debtor in my power, playing God in another’s life.

Jesus forgave in the most extreme of cruelty and indifference to His suffering…

Luke 23:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” And the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.”

  1. Self-pity is a subtle form of idolatry.

“Look what has happened to me. I don’t deserve this! Poor me. I am a victim. Please feel sorry for me. Please pay attention to my suffering. Me…me…me?”

Again, it’s all about me!

Jesus is the perfect example of a human who had the correct perspective in life.

Luke 23:27-28 NLT
[27]”A large crowd trailed behind, including many grief-stricken women. [28] But Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, don’t weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.”

In His temptations, He refused to deviate from the Father’s instructions and His commitment to obey Him. “It is written…” was His response.

In His suffering, He entrusted Himself to the Father,

1 Peter 2:23 NLT
[23] “He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.”

His example offers us a way to escape idolatry.

There are also significant spinoffs in worshipping the living God, the true God of the Bible. Jesus, as God, is worthy of our worship.

Jesus did not reject worship.

John 9:35-38 NIV
[35]”Jesus heard that they had thrown him (the blind man whom Jesus healed) out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” [36] “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” [37] Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” [38] Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him.”

The same principle is true, that we become like the object of our worship, when we worship Jesus, the Son of God. We become like Him.

2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
[18]”And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

Likeness to Jesus is God’s goal for His children. He is recreating us into Jesus’s image so that His children will all resemble His Son in His eternal family.

Romans 8:29 NLT
[29] “For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

Worshipping God is an attitude and a way of life that witnesses to our belongingness to Him.

Colossians 3:17 NLT
[17]”And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

1 Peter 2:9 NIV
[9] “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”

Worshipping God, living every moment connected to God as the centre and focal point of our lives, is God’s purpose.

John 4:23-24 NLT
[23]” But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. [24] For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.”

Worshipping God is the way we live in covenant with Him. In this covenant, sealed with Jesus’ signature in His own blood, is the guarantee of all the benefits of salvation and God’s provision for life. God’s requirement for us is to believe in Jesus. His promises are the conditions of His covenant, ratified and fulfilled by Jesus. We add our “amen” to receive them.

Worshipping God alone is central to everything we have been promised and everything we enjoy in the New Covenant. Conversely, idolatry in any form cancels our participation in this new life we have in Jesus.

1 John 5:21 NLT
[21] “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.”