April 22, 2013

Posted on April 24, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves.

Paul was an experienced debater as well as evangelist. He knew how to tailor his message to fit his audience. He didn’t mince words and he didn’t dilute the message, but he used terminology those he was talking to could grasp. That’s an important skill! Sometimes we have trouble relating to what Paul wrote because we are in such a different cultural context. That’s why anointed paraphrases can be very helpful. However, the operative word there is “anointed.” Just spouting off what we think something means, without both study of the original context and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, leads to error of all sorts, and has derailed some individuals and groups completely. I am reminded of a story my wife tells from her childhood. She and her siblings often sang as a musical group with their father in churches in Virginia and North Carolina. One night they had been invited to sing at a little country church revival meeting, and the preacher earnestly expounded on Matthew 23. However, when he said, “When Jesus said, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,’ He meant STOP,” it was all they could do to keep from guffawing out loud, and their stifled laughter shook the bench so much their father took them outside. However, in the car on the way home, they all laughed long and loud! That is an amusing example, but much more serious mistakes have been made. We need to approach the Bible both with reverence and with intellectual honesty, and always let the Author be our guide.

This whole issue is, of course, of vital importance to me, especially since I minister in a cross-cultural context. I feel that being bilingual in such different languages as English and Japanese has been very helpful, but intellectual conceit is always a danger. I must let the Holy Spirit put the Word in heavenly context, because it was written neither in America nor Japan. I have beside me on the wall an outline prepared by Mark Conner of Australia that has done me more good than the preaching classes I took in seminary. It’s in the form of five questions to ask when preparing a message: 1. Who’s listening? (audience) 2. What am I trying to say? (purpose) 3. What to say? (content) 4. Who’s talking? (messenger) 5. How will I say it? (method). Those each, of course, have sub points, but the one thing in all caps is PRAY. I believe this is how Paul ministered, and I seek to do the same.

Father, You know even better than I do that I have plenty of room for growth in ministry. Help me not stagnate, but keep pressing forward so that I may be an increasingly effective tool in Your hands. May I handle the Word with all honesty, expressing it in ways my hearers can relate to, and always under the guidance and anointing of Your Spirit. May Your Word through me indeed accomplish all for which You send it, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 21, 2013

Posted on April 22, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 6:13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.

This is an enormously important Scripture, especially in current society. There are many who tell us that our purpose is physical pleasure: if it feels good, do it. They even push us to do things that initially don’t feel good, and try to teach us to take pleasure in them. At the same time, they have managed to create an environment, at least in the US, where it is not “politically correct” to say that any of that is wrong. Our physical bodies were created by God, and as such are beautiful and good. However, the devil hates God and hates us because God loves us, and he does all he can to contaminate and destroy that which God created. How we use our bodies is our choice, and is not “genetically determined.” This is what Paul is talking about here. We have all sorts of impulses from various sources, but whether we act on them is our choice. The devil doesn’t want us to know that! This isn’t all negative, either. We aren’t simply not to offer our bodies to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, we are to actively offer our bodies to God as His instruments of righteousness. The results are worlds better! And believe it or not, they are ultimately far more satisfying and, yes, enjoyable than the results of rebellion against God. “Party animals” actually live very empty, unpleasant lives even in this world, and of course, the outcome is eternal desolation and death. In contrast, someone who is actively committed to God has peace, joy, and satisfaction that others only dream of, and an eternity in heaven to look forward to.

This is something I’ve experienced from both sides (except for the “eternity” part!). I’ve experienced the peace, joy, and satisfaction to the point that someone who is active in a non-Christian religion has repeatedly brought people to meet me because he “wanted them to meet someone who enjoyed living.” That’s certainly not to say that I haven’t had problems, and sometimes plenty of them; we all live in a fallen world. However, I have certainly experienced what Jesus said in John 16:33: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” I have no trouble recommending being “instruments of righteousness” to anyone! However, I find that the “offering” part is not simply a one-time transaction; it needs to be daily, at least. I personally have Communion every morning, taking a crumb of unleavened bread before drinking tea or coffee or cola to get my eyes fully open. As I receive the bread, I thank Jesus for giving His body for me, and I renew the commitment of my body to Him, and then I receive the drink as the new covenant in His blood. I’m very thankful the Lord led me to start doing this years ago. (If unleavened bread is not available, I use whatever is.) I know that in my weakness, this has been a real help in keeping me on track.

Father, thank You yet again for Your grace. Thank You for meeting me where I am, loving me as I am, and drawing me to be what You created me to be. May I be an effective instrument of righteousness in Your hands, working Your works for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 20, 2013

Posted on April 22, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 6:3-4 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

This passage is read or quoted at many baptisms, but sadly, many people fail to live it out. This whole chapter was written to counter the kind of teaching that has popped up periodically throughout the history of the Church, that because the cross of Christ was sufficient for all our sins, it doesn’t matter how we live now. Probably not too many people have formulated their thinking as clearly as I’ve just expressed it, but that’s the way a lot of church members live. Whether they are actually Christians or not is up to the Lord to decide! It does no one any favors to fail to make the message of holiness clear at the time someone is converted. Actually, if they have had a genuine encounter with Christ, they will be very open to this message, and will rejoice that God has made provision for them to live holy lives. However, many preachers are so afraid of legalism that they more or less completely gloss over the message of holiness. That sometimes is because they aren’t living holy lives themselves, but sometimes it is just because they don’t want to seem “harsh,” or something of the sort, and scare people off. Holiness is never instantaneous, though we might wish it could be, but God’s Spirit is indeed the Holy Spirit, and the more we are filled by and yielded to Him, the more holy we will live. We are given positional righteousness and holiness by faith in Christ, (1 Corinthians 1:30) but we are responsible to live that out by our choice, with the help and power of the Holy Spirit.

I have to plead guilty to soft-pedaling the message of holiness out of a fear of legalism. The results have not been good. I need to make it very clear that salvation is by grace through faith, but that it calls for repentance, and “repentance” that doesn’t result in a changed life isn’t really repentance at all. That’s not to say that I’m to fall back on legalism. In some ways legalism is easier that active obedience, because external rules can be easier to follow than active commitment to a living Lord. However, legalism is dead, and salvation is all about that living Lord I just mentioned. I am to walk in fellowship with Christ myself and I am to call others to do the same, and as Paul said, “What fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Father, thank You for this clear Word this morning. Help me be faithful to obey it, so that every new birth in this church may be clean and complete, with people delivered from their old lives to walk in the new life You have for them, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 19, 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Probably a lot of people aren’t very moved by this verse, because it sounds technical or theoretical. However, it is expressing the basis for our being able to approach God, and thus the basis for salvation. It is a restatement of the previous verse, which uses “trespass” and “condemnation,” in an effort to make things a little clearer. The point is not any sort of universalism, which says that everybody gets saved, but rather that the basis for salvation is available to everyone. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul speaks of Christ as the “last Adam,” (1 Corinthi­ans 15:45) which is very much in line with what he is saying here. You could say that Adam blew it, so Jesus was a do-over! We can hardly imagine perfect obedience. Even computers are famous for not doing what we tell them! However, Jesus was no more a robot than Adam was, and He was perfectly obedient to the Father. That’s why faith in Him makes us righteous.

This is actually a very personal issue for me, but then, it should be for every human being. I am aware that in myself, I am capable of unspeakable evil. With a slightly different course, I could have become a mass murderer, because I was thoroughly caught in the conceit of intellect, thinking that because my IQ was higher than someone else, that made me inherently more valuable. That is exactly the sort of thinking that several mass murderers have had. God in His grace held me back from that and brought me to repentance, but it could have gone either way. I am deeply and profoundly grateful for the grace of God, but I wasn’t even aware of it at the time. This is part of the miracle of God’s love: it was while we were yet sinners that Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) Today, some people seem to think I’m “impossibly good.” They don’t know! I am righteous solely because of the grace of God in Christ Jesus my Lord.

Father, words fail me completely when it comes to expressing how much I owe to You, because I owe You everything. Help me express Your grace to others in ways that they can understand and receive it, because they are just as much in need of it as I am or ever was. May I be an open channel of Your grace and love to all, so that as many as will may repent and believe, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 18, 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned –

The doctrine called Original Sin has caused both confusion and arguments in the Church down through the centuries. People tend to take extreme positions on the issue on one side or another, when all of the uproar is caused by a combination of our pride and our limited understanding. Some people react violently to the idea that we are “born sinful,” so to speak. I once had a pastor friend say to me, “If anyone doesn’t believe in original sin, I’d like them to stand with me for five minutes and watch the children in our church kindergarten!” His point was that our sinful natures are evident at a very young age. However, I have also had a new father refer repeatedly to his son, less than a year old, as “you little sinner.” Of course it was done affectionately, but it still bothered me. I think the next verse is vitally important in this regard, where is says, “sin is not taken into account where there is no law.” Paul was not trying to condemn infants, he was trying to say that mankind is rebellious against God even when no specific commands are involved. I feel like I’m back to the definition of sin that I saw just recently, that sin is “anything that is at odds with God’s character.” The only problem then becomes our understanding of God’s character! We tend to focus on one facet or another at the expense of the rest, and that distorts our understanding not only of God, but of mankind and of sin. God is perfectly holy, but He is also loving and merciful and patient. We fall short in all of those areas!

This question comes up especially at the death of a child, such as in the recent terror attack. Jesus’ words in Luke 13:1-5 focus on the fact that we all need to repent. People who get tied in knots over Original Sin generally don’t want to acknowledge their own sinfulness! I don’t think Paul, or Jesus, is condemning infants, but the importance of sharing the Gospel even with small children becomes evident. My mother had a real experience of repentance at age five, and remembered it well enough to tell me about it after I was an adult. The youngest person I’ve ever baptized was likewise five, but was an exceptional child in many ways, and has been active in her faith ever since. I wish her family still lived in Omura! I am not in the business of condemning people of any age, but I am to help them understand that their own attitudes and actions condemn them, (John 3:18) so that they may repent and believe the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

Father, all of this is beyond my intellect. It helps me understand that I too am a little child, in need of trusting my heavenly Father for things that are beyond my understanding. Help me express Your truth in Your words so that as many as possible may repent and believe, whatever their age, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 17, 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 5:5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

People hope for all sorts of things, and sometimes they get them and sometimes they don’t. That’s why it’s important that Paul points out that the hope we have in Christ does not end in disappointment. (The Japanese expression is literally, “loss of hope.”) The reason for that is the Holy Spirit pouring God’s love into our hearts. When we understand how much God loves us, then temporal things are no more than bumps in the road, and they cannot rob us of the assurance of salvation. The world is crying out for hope, because a life without hope is hardly worth living. One of the magnificent things of the Gospel (and there are so many!) is that it gives us eternal hope, that not even death can shut down. The length of our life on this earth is essentially immaterial, so long as we make use of it to commit to Jesus Christ as Lord. Doing that opens up eternity to us, and that puts everything else into perspective. That is indeed an eternal hope!

I got a strong lesson in this when my father died less that two weeks after his 64th birthday. I was hit with loneliness, because we had enjoyed just 2½ months of real fellowship as adult brothers in Christ, but I had the assurance that the separation wasn’t forever, and that God had blessed my father with not having to retire from being a missionary in Japan. Those without hope in Christ cannot imagine that perspective! At this point, when I am several months past my own 64th birthday, I have no idea when God will call me home, or for that matter, when He will call anyone else home. However, I don’t need to be anxious about any of that because I know the love of God, and I know that I can trust Him with everything.

Father, even though what I have written is true, I still get frazzled by little irritations. Thank You for such reminders that I need to keep growing! Help me keep my eyes on You, and specifically on Jesus Christ my Lord, whatever is going on around me, so that I won’t allow anything to steal the peace and joy You have provided for me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 16, 2013

Posted on April 20, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 4:18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

Sometimes the modern, “scientific” mind gets in the way of our receiving what God has for us. It’s not that God doesn’t want us to use our minds, it’s that He wants us to trust Him more than we trust our senses. As an aside, it is very interesting that where the NIV says “many nations,” the Japanese says, “people of all nations.” Whereas I think verse 20 in this passage borders on hyperbole in saying that Abraham “did not waver through unbelief,” it is true that each time he struggled with the gap between his circumstances and what He knew God had said, he went back to God. That is where we often trip up. We try to validate what God says through our circumstances, rather than the other way around. We tend to use our circumstances as the filter through which we read the Bible, rather than viewing our circumstances through the filter of the Word. That gets us into all sorts of problems! We do not achieve the faith of Abraham until we have God and what He says as our first priority in what we think, say, and do.

I have never defined the faith of Abraham this way before, and it is very powerful, and challenging. I’m certainly not all the way there yet! However, since Paul was so clear that he hadn’t “arrived” either, I should be comforted. (Philippians 3:12-14) Rather than being discouraged at my own lack of faith, I should rejoice that this is the kind of faith that God has prepared for me, and open my heart to receive it as a gift. (Ephesians 2:8-10) The important thing for me is to exercise the faith that I already have, because that is how faith grows. Likewise, that is how I should be encouraging everyone with whom I work. Beating ourselves up over our own lack of faith is hardly productive! Rather, I need to rejoice at whatever level of faith is already present, and trust that God will pour out more as we live out what we have.

Father, thank You for this, on all levels. Thank You for growing my understanding, as well as my articulation of the truth You reveal to me. Help me indeed live out the faith You have given me and encourage others to live out the faith You have given them, rather than scolding them for not having my faith, and vice versa. May we all progress from knowledge to faith to full trust, so that all of Your plans for us may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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April 15, 2013

Posted on April 16, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 4:13 It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Paul spent a lot of time on this point for various reasons. In the first place, Jews took a LOT of convincing that Gentiles could be heirs of the promises given to Abraham. God had to arrange special circumstances to get the point across even to Peter, as is recorded in Acts 10. With Peter, God just said that he was not to call unclean anything God had made clean. (Acts 10:15) God used Paul to explain that the only reason anyone can be called clean is because we are cleansed by the blood of Christ shed for us, which we receive by grace through faith. The Jews were enormously proud of the Law of Moses, and rightly so, because it was a revelation God hadn’t given to any other people group. However, they missed the point that they had been given the law not because they were so good to begin with, and certainly not that they were so much better than any other people group, but so that they could communicate the truth of a loving, righteous God to all who would listen. Actually, there are Christians today who fall into the same error, feeling like the Bible is theirs, with no concern for getting God’s Word to everyone. The Bible is not a good luck charm, and by itself it isn’t a ticket to heaven. Rather, it is the printed record of God’s Word to all who will receive it, to draw them to repentance and faith for their salvation.

Of all the blessings of my family heritage, none is more precious than the love of God and His Word. I will always remember a question W. O. Carver, my seminary professor grandfather, regularly asked his students: “How big is your Bible?” When they insisted that theirs was as big as his, he corrected their thinking, saying that he wasn’t talking about printed pages, but how much was in their hearts. Having read through the Bible for the first time when I was 10, and many times since then, I am extremely familiar with the printed pages, but I too am challenged by how much is in my heart, and beyond that, by how much I am living it out. I’ve got to remember, and teach, that it isn’t the Bible that saves, but the God of the Bible. I have met dear brothers and sisters who seemed to have that backward, and that’s sad. I am to rejoice that the Bible is available, and seek to make it even more available to everyone, but remember that it isn’t the Bible that saves, but Jesus Christ, whom we learn of through the Bible, and from His living in our hearts by faith.

Father, as I wrote that I could imagine how some of my friends might respond to it. May my love of Your Word not descend into bibliolatry, but rather keep me listening to You. May I be a faithful steward of the Word, so that people may be fed and strengthened and brought into right relationship with You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 14, 2013

Posted on April 16, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 4:4-5 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

This principle is enormously important, but it is also at odds with how we usually look at things, which is why Paul spent so much time explaining it, especially in his letters to the Romans and the Galatians. It’s interesting that in verse 4, where the NIV says “credited as a gift,” the Japanese says “considered (credited) as grace.” That in itself is a reminder that grace is a gift, and by definition cannot be earned. We understand grace only when we get it through our heads that we can never be good enough to earn salvation, the forgiveness of sins and a right relationship with God. There is a song in The Sound of Music that says, “Nothing comes from nothing;nothing ever could, so somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” That’s how we usually think, but it doesn’t agree with the Bible! Hinduism and Buddhism have codified humanistic thinking and called it karma, but again, that completely misses God and His grace. Throughout Church history there have been groups that took this issue the other direction and thrown all rules out the window. (That’s called antinomianism, but who needs words like that?) That’s forgetting what Jesus said was the greatest commandment, which is loving God. If you really love God, you will seek to please Him in response to His love for us. Augustine went so far as to say, “Love God and do as you please.” However, that requires a real understanding of what love for God looks like! The more we understand that God loves us in spite of our failures, the more we will desire to walk in harmony with and obedience to Him.

This is something I first learned as a principle as a little child, but the longer I live, the better I grasp it. Sins have consequences, and though I have tasted some of those, God really has not treated me as I deserved, but much better. That’s grace! We’ve been looking at passages on righteousness for a long time now, but it always comes back to this: we cannot be sufficiently righteous in our own strength, but when we abide in Christ by faith, His righteousness is manifested in and through us. (1 Corinthians 1:30, 2 Corinthians 5:21) This is what I seek to teach and to live by, in gratitude to God for His grace.

Father, it seems a little confusing even to me when it’s written out like this, and I wrote it! Thank You for the reminder that we can only receive it by a revelation of Your Spirit. Help me share Your truth without holding anything back, but never think for a moment that I can get the job done on my own. I ask You to continue to reveal Your grace to me, and to use me in revealing Your grace to others, so that as many as will may receive the righteousness that comes by faith alone, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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April 13, 2013

Posted on April 14, 2013 by jgarrott

Romans 3:23-24 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I learned verse 23 very early on as a tool for personal evangelism, but I don’t recall hearing a sermon that specifically included verse 24, even though it is part of the same sentence. Paul’s focus here isn’t on “everybody’s bad,” but rather on “salvation is available to everybody.” This is not universalism, because the context before and after makes it very clear that salvation is only by faith. There is a weakness to English that makes verse 24 harder to understand than it might be. “Freely” (justified freely) has a number of connotations in English, but the Japanese makes it clear that what is meant here is “without cost.” The idea of “paying for” our sins is very ancient in human culture, and even today we say, “You’ll pay for that!” Micah expressed it as, “Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” (Micah 6:7) The greatest miracle of the cross, the cornerstone of the Gospel, is that Jesus paid it all (to borrow the words of the hymn); we pay nothing. We struggle with that from one direction or the other. On the one hand, we have a lust for pride; we want to be able to say, I did that. That is excluded, as Paul said in verse 27. We don’t like that! From the other side, we have a tendency not to value things we don’t have to work for or pay for. The most valuable thing in the universe can only be received, gratefully and by faith.

This is an understanding I have grown into more and more over the years, though the words themselves are something I learned as a child. My personal tendency has been to fail to value such a great salvation, precisely because I didn’t work or pay for it. I think that was because I had so little grasp of what it is like to live apart from Christ. The longer I live, though, the more I deal with people who don’t have the hope of salvation, and the better I realize that apart from faith, I am just as worthy of destruction as they are. The saying is very true that “Evangelism is one beggar telling another where to find bread.” I have no room whatsoever to look down on anyone, because, to quote another saying, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” My task is to let people know that salvation is already provided for them, as much as it is for me, if they will only let go of the sins they have been hanging on to (repent) and reach out in faith to receive it.

Father, this is extremely basic, but we stray from the basics to our peril. Help me present the simple facts of the Gospel more and more effectively, so that more and more may repent, believe, and receive, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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