QuickThoughts: Christian Liberty Has Limits!
The past couple of days, I’ve been reading Romans 14. The great passage on Christian liberty. The weak vs. mature believers. The passage often cited to allow the “strong” believers to partake in alcohol, eat whatever they want, and to shame their “weaker” brothers and sisters for lacking the freedom to do so.
In many ways, Paul does explain that Christians may partake in anything that is not inherently sinful. However, he also warns us not to judge others who do not yet personally have faith in that liberty.
📘 Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats must not view the one who does not eat with contempt, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who eats, for God accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
Romans 14:1-4 LSB
That “weaker” brother will stand before the judgment seat of God and His Master will “make him stand,” meaning he will remain justified before the Lord in his conviction to not partake.
This is a beautiful passage that frees the conscience of guilt before God in regards to things we do that are not inherently sinful.
This obviously is not limited to food and drink, though, as Paul goes on to discuss regarding one day over another.
📘 One person judges one day above another, another judges every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who regards the day, regards it for the Lord, and he who eats, eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who does not eat, for the Lord he does not eat and gives thanks to God.
Romans 14:5-6 LSB
Remember, Paul is writing to Christian believers in Rome here. His audience is a mix of Jews and Gentiles, and just a few chapters earlier he explained to his Jewish readers that God has grafted the Gentiles into the New Covenant of Christ’s blood. We now have Jews and Gentiles together in a struggle over which days, if any, are holier than others.
Jews likely wanted to keep to a Saturday Sabbath whereas Gentile believers may have wanted to avoid any adherence to celebrations and festivals that were so common in their pagan religions.
Each was to be “fully convinced in their own minds,” not overriding their consciences, nor judging others with differing opinions.
So, we know that we are free to partake so long as we do not judge one another for coming to different conclusions on these matters.
However, there is a pretty powerful caveat here that I believe is quite often overlooked!
In our liberty, whether we choose to partake or abstain, that choice must be made for God’s glory, not our own preference. Our motivation for our conviction must not be because we like to drink alcohol or celebrate Christmas or smoke cigars or worship together on Saturdays; no, our motivation must be to honor God in our decision:
📘 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.
Romans 14:7-9 LSB
This is not an isolated thought, either, as Paul had also written a similar exhortation to the Corinthians:
📘 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 LSB
So, if we are going to claim Romans 14 to excuse our drinking, smoking, or holiday celebrations, we must ask ourselves: Am I drinking for God’s glory or just because I want to? Does this cigar bring glory to God? Is our family Christmas celebration bringing honor to our Savior or just smiles and laughter to our own hearts and the hearts of our children?
This is not an easy passage to rightly practice; at least not once we look a bit deeper into what Paul has written. He is not simply giving us a license to engage in all manner of lifestyles so long as they are not inherently sinful. Instead, I believe he is also pointing out the hidden dangers of such liberty: we often partake of this liberty with sinful and selfish motivation.
QuickThoughts: The Intercessor
📘 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…
1 Timothy 2:5 LSB
Jesus Christ may be the only mediator of the new covenant between God and man, but did you know He is NOT the only intercessor?
When we pray, the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes with us, even when our prayers seem futile and weak!
📘 And in the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
Romans 8:26
Within the Trinity, not only is Christ our High Priest before the Father, but the Holy Spirit intercedes on our behalf, without the need of words because the Father knows the mind of the Spirit, for they are one.
📘 and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Romans 8:27
What is this “will of God?” Paul goes on to explain:
📘 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.
Romans 8:28
Everything the God does, everything the Spirit intercedes for, is done for the ultimate good of those who love God and whom He has called!
So, one aspect of the will of God is for Him to lavish His love on His beloved children and sovereignly work ALL things for our benefit.
There is an end goal in mind, however, in God’s will for us:
📘 Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers;
Romans 8:29
Don’t miss it, brethren. The ultimate “good” that God is working in His will, the ultimate intercession made by the Spirit, is that we who are in Christ become conformed to His image. To become more like Christ is God’s will for us; it is the very good for which He is working ALL things.
And, as with all things, God’s will WILL be done. He will accomplish it.
📘 and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified.
Romans 8:30
We’ve been predestined, called, justified, and glorified in Christ! There is no undoing what God has already done, what He has decreed from the beginning.
So pray, my brothers and sisters. Even when we do not have the words to say or even the thoughts to speak, know that the Holy Spirit has got your back.
Rejoice in the sovereign grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, which He has given freely.
After all, “if God is for us, who is against us?”
QuickThoughts: Freed From Sin
📘 for he who has died has been justified from sin.
Romans 6:7 LSB
Who is the one who died here that has been justified (or freed) from sin?
It is us ~ Those whom God has called to repentance and faith, brought from death unto life!
Just as Christ Himself died to sin and was raised to life, never to die again, so have we!
📘 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Romans 6:8-10 LSB
Sin and death are no longer our master either. It is a done deal.
📘 … How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Romans 6:2 LSB
We no longer live in sin, are no longer slaves to its will, no longer shackled by the bounds of death. Just as Jesus was raised, we too have already been made alive again in Him and will never taste death again.
📘 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6:11
Do YOU “consider yourself” in this manner? Do you reflect on this marvelous truth? You are free from the guilt, free from the penalty, free from the condemnation that is brought by sin!
Do not return to your sins of the past as a dog returning to its own vomit. Why would a slave return to visit his cruel master after he has been freed?
You have been raised with Christ, now abide with Him!
📘 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
Romans 6:12-13 LSB
While our spirits have been freed, our flesh still remains. Do not let it rule over you. Bring your physical body in line with the spiritual truth of freedom in Christ!
📘 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Romans 6:14 LSB
So, my brethren, make a conscious effort today to consider yourself freed from sin. Present yourself, spiritually and physically, to God in obedience, adoration, and thanksgiving!
📘 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
Romans 6:17-18 LSB
Beyond this freedom, though, what is the benefit of being enslaved to God? Is there more to it than just a life lived unto God in obedience to His Word?
Yes! In fact, our benefit in Christ far outweighs any perceived joy and happiness we may have once found in our sins:
📘 Therefore what benefit were you then having from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification, and the end, eternal life.
Romans 6:21-22
We have eternal life, brethren! Never to die, but to pass on and be with our Savior forever!
This is a gift we could never earn, will never deserve, and will never lose!
And if this is not yet a reality in your life, I urge you to repent of your sins, call upon the name of Jesus Christ, and you too will be freed from the death you deserve and raised to newness of life in Him!
📘 For the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23 LSB
QuickThoughts: God’s Perfect Law
Our consciences alone can only reveal so much sin.
The consciences of unbelievers can prick them for the sin of murder, for example, but they generally will not be bothered with holiness or serving the one true God.
Without God’s Word, it is easy to sit back and consider ourselves to be pretty good people, not wicked and depraved, because we don’t murder, rape, steal, etc.
But God, in His love and mercy, knowing the just penalty for sinning against Him, has provided His Law so that we may avoid such rebellion:
📘 Now the Law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:20-21 LSB
By giving us His Law, we suddenly become aware that not only are we nod good in His sight, but our transgression is amplified, laying bare the deepest-seeded sins of idolatry, envy, greed, lust, malice, immorality, and the like.
This should cause the Christian to pause and reflect: “His grace didn’t just forgive me for those so-called ‘deadly sins,’ but He paid the price for all these as well!”
Where sin increases, grace abounds all the more!
God’s Law is a beautiful and perfect thing. What the world finds judgmental, restrictive, and wicked, those who have been called to faith in Christ rejoice in.
Our desire for righteousness is aided by the Law, not hindered by it. Through the Law, we are shown God’s character and what is pleasing (and displeasing) to Him. We need not guess or wonder.
📘 The law of Yahweh is perfect, restoring the soul;
Psalm 19:7-8 LSB
The testimony of Yahweh is sure, making wise the simple.
The precepts of Yahweh are right, rejoicing the heart;
The commandment of Yahweh is pure, enlightening the eyes.
Read the Word today and every day, brethren. May your souls be restored, your wisdom bolstered, your hearts rejoice, and your eyes enlightened!
QuickThoughts: Sovereignty In Trials
God designed, planned, orchestrated, and authored the most unjust tragedy in human history: the crucifixion of His only Son, Jesus.
So many Christians accept this glorious truth, yet reject that He may have also done the same for those tragedies in our own lives?
There is a level of arrogant entitlement behind the belief that God merely “allows” bad things to happen to them and others, so they need to explain it away and make apologies for God. “God surely wouldn’t cause calamity that brings me pain!”
Yes. Yes, He does. All throughout Scripture we read about God’s discipline and judgment, both for believers and unbelievers, and it is very often painful (or even fatal).
God does not apologize for Himself. He does not make excuses for His sovereign plans. We shouldn’t either.
Instead, we need to recognize that in His sovereignty, even when it hurts, “all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
His purposes are rarely known to us, especially beforehand. Whatever trials and tribulations we encounter, we can be confident in knowing it was by the Father’s hand, for His glory, and for our good!
📘 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will affliction, or turmoil, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Romans 8:35 LSB
Note that nothing we encounter, as followers of Christ, is encountered apart from the love of Christ. His love is IN the trials He sends.
Rest in Him, my brothers and sisters. In the midst of great pain and suffering, rest on the promise that He works ALL things for good. He has a plan and it is perfect. Make no excuses or apologies for what God has done, but rejoice in knowing it was done out of love for you.
QuickThoughts: The Gospel Summarized
There is nothing in life to be more thankful for than the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
What are some of your favorite verses/passages that proclaim the Gospel message well (and as completely as possible)?
I’ll kick us off:
📘 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:8-9 LSB
SO much truth can be gleaned from this short passage! Our sin, the penalty for sin, God’s mercy and love, Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf, and the glorious result for those who come to Him in repentance and faith are all on full, glorious display here!
Go, be thankful today for the Gospel and the Word of God that makes it known!
QuickThoughts: Justified by Faith
📘 Now to the one who works, his wage is not counted according to grace, but according to what is due.
Romans 4:4 LSB
God does not owe us anything. There is nothing “due” to us that He must pay, no works we have done to earn any wage other than death.
Instead, God, in His mercy, credits His own righteousness to those who have not earned it through any works:
📘 But to the one who does not work, but believes upon Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness
Romans 4:5 LSB
Even Abraham had righteousness imputed to him prior to the covenant of circumcision. It was not his works, nor the circumcision, that God credited as righteousness, but it was through his faith in Yahweh.
📘 Then he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness.
Genesis 15:6 LSB
Circumcision was not required for Abraham’s justification, but it was given to him as a physical “seal of the righteousness of the faith” (Romans 4:11) and as a sign of the justification God had already granted him.
📘 For the promise to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.
Romans 4:13 LSB
No works. No rites or rituals, no circumcisions or baptisms. No prayers or mantras or charity or service. “But through the righteousness of faith” and faith alone.
The Law does not save, nor does it bring us righteousness. The Law brings only judgment upon us:
📘 For if those who are of the Law are heirs, faith has been made empty and the promise has been abolished; for the Law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there also is no trespass.
Romans 4:14-15 LSB
Stop striving for righteousness, brethren, as though you could earn God’s favor. Strive to be holy as Christ is holy, not for salvation, but because He is worthy and has called you into fellowship with Him.
Like Abraham, our faith in many things might waver. Our financial situations, our health, and our very lives are subject to radical changes. But God changes not, nor are His promises ever shaken.
📘 In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your seed be.” And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to do.
Romans 4:18-21 LSB
Give glory to God in all things, and rest assured that what God has promised, He has already accomplished!
QuickThoughts: God’s Wrath of Abandonment
God’s wrath of abandonment and its effects are described in striking detail in Romans 1:24-31.
Here, Paul instructs the Roman believers on what they should expect from a pagan culture that has rejected the obvious truth of God and have turned instead to worship idols (vv. 18-23).
📘 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:24-25
What does that mean, that “God gave them over?” Did God force this wickedness upon them as a part of His wrath?
Absolutely not!
The wickedness Paul goes on to describe is brought out from the “lusts of their hearts.” These sins are those that they naturally, as fallen sinful men, desire most deeply.
We will explore how that looks in a moment, but Paul uses a specific example in the following verses:
📘 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions; for their females exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the males abandoned the natural function of the female and burned in their desire toward one another, males with males committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind, to do those things which are not proper,
Romans 1:26-28
While Paul specifically calls out homosexuality here, sexual depravity comes in many, many forms, as we see every day in our culture. Fornication, adultery, pedophilia, rape, incest, cross-dressing, trans-genderism, general debauchery, etc., are rampant.
This inevitably leads to their bodies being dishonored (v. 24) as a penalty for their errors (v. 27).
God gives these unbelievers over to such degrading passions because they hate Him and have rejected His glory and perfect design for their sexuality.
Paul then expands the list of resulting sins beyond homosexuality to include a dramatic range of wickedness:
📘 having been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, violent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
Romans 1:29-31
Christians often tend to focus on the homosexuality in view in the prior verses, which DO deserve greater attention today due to that being the most visual and widely accepted in society, but neglect to reflect on the rest here. That is improper, as this list reflects the total corruption of Man as a result of God “giving them over.”
Again we must ask, though, if God is giving them over to these sins, doesn’t that mean God is forcing these sins upon them? Again, absolutely not!
This is the wrath of abandonment. God has abandoned them and removed His restraining grace from them, allowing them to pursue the sinful lusts of their hearts (v. 24), the degrading passions they long for (v. 26), and indulge every whim of their depraved minds (v. 28).
He is no longer restraining them in His mercy, keeping them from the most grievous of sins. He is allowing them to store up wrath for themselves on the day of judgment (Romans 2:5).
All this, and Paul again reminds his readers that these unbelievers are without excuse. They know better (which the next chapter explores in even greater depth).
📘 and although they know the righteous requirement of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Romans 1:32
Before he moves on in the next chapter to address the hypocrisy of those in the Roman church, Paul segues by specifically calling out those who stand by the debauchery just described and approve, encourage, celebrate, and advocate for it. They too fall under God’s wrath, often being guilty of the same sins, whether in deed or in their hearts.
Brethren, this is a heartbreaking reality of our day. It is heartbreaking to watch the consequences of God’s common grace being withdrawn from our friends, family, children, neighbors, and country as a whole.
But be encouraged and rejoice in knowing that God is never fighting to keep up; He is never caught by surprise and forced to quickly react to events; He is never out of control.
All these things must take place and will further showcase the glory of our Savior when He comes again in power and majesty.
Pray for these people. Preach to these people. Share the soul-redeeming power of Christ and His gospel with these people!
But also remember, such were ALL of us! If Jesus can redeem a man such as myself, not even those who have been “given over” are beyond His mercy and grace.
QuickThoughts: God’s Righteousness vs. Man’s Unrighteousness
An interesting contrast is revealed in Romans 1:16-20. Often when we discuss God’s judgment against unrighteousness, we will begin with v. 18 of the text, but that isn’t where Paul begins.
He actually begins this topic in v. 15 by letting the Romans know he is eager to preach the gospel to them. Why?
He tells them why:
📘 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous will live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17
Paul gives two reasons for his eagerness to share the Gospel:
- The Gospel is the very power of God for salvation (v. 16)!
- The Gospel reveals God’s righteousness (v. 17)!
It is here that Paul tells how God’s righteousness is revealed in judgment against the unrighteous:
📘 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
Romans 1:18-19
God’s righteousness demands wrath. To let wickedness go unpunished would make Him a cruel and tyrannical deity. He is neither!
The unrighteous, however, reject the God they know exists, suppressing that basic truth to justify their unrighteousness.
Yet God chose to make His presence clear within them; the very fact that the unrighteous can reason and make moral judgments is proof enough of God’s existence and righteous nature.
Paul does not stop there, though, because God went further:
📘 For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, both His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20
Not only has God revealed Himself in our consciences and capacity for logic, He ensured that even creation itself screamed of His majesty, displaying His power, His divine nature, His creativity, and even His care what what has been made.
Verse 20 even ends with an explanation for WHY God chose to reveal Himself to all mankind in this way: “so that they are without excuse.”
God chose to reveal His eternal power and divine nature to ensure that no one could claim ignorance on the day of judgment! No excuses.
But the unbelieving world tries to make excuses anyway, usually in embarrassingly stupid ways:
📘 For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
Romans 1:21-23
By consciously rejecting the obvious truth of God and His perfection, they are forced to explain Him away with futile and foolish theories, speculations, and alternative man-made objects of worship (we are, after all, MADE for worship; all mankind worships someone or some thing).
This is what Paul was excited to share with the Romans. The Gospel of Christ reveals not only God’s righteousness, but also the unrighteousness of the world, thus exposing our need for a Savior!
The Gospel message is far more than simply “Jesus loves you.” It comes with both a proclamation of God’s goodness AND a warning of the wrath to come and the wickedness of rejecting God.
May we all be as eager as Paul to share this message!
QuickThoughts: Encourage One Another
Even the Apostle Paul, arguably the most holy man to have ever lived (apart from Christ), needed and sought not only to encourage others, but to be encouraged by other believers.
📘 For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be strengthened; that is, to be mutually encouraged, while among you, by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
Romans 1:11-12
Though he had been called to “bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for [Jesus’] name’s sake” (Romans 1:5), Paul was not so proud as to avoid being encouraged BY the faith of those same Gentiles.
As those called by Christ, saints of God, and as we go about the business of preaching the Gospel to others, let us not forget that we too need to be encouraged and reminded of the Gospel!
Stand fast, brethren! Seek out the fellowship of the saints and encourage one another. We NEED one another!
📘 And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can stand against him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
Ecclesiastes 4:12
The Unworthy Prodigal 