John 1:1-18

John begins his gospel by stating clearly who Jesus is, and the opening sections sets out many themes that will be expanded on in the rest of the book. These include:

• The deity of Jesus.
• Jesus brings light and life
  
• The failure of the darkness to overcome the light.
• Jesus was rejected by the world, and by the Jews in particular
• The idea of receiving Jesus
• Being born again
• The humanity of Jesus
  
• The grace of God
• Jesus reveals the Father
  

John famously starts his gospel with the words "In the beginning was the Word ...". This is reminiscent of the start of Genesis. The term logos (word) would have been familiar to his 1st century hearers. To those familiar with the Old Testament the Word of God was very common. God created the world by His word, and He revealed His word to the various prophets. It would also be familiar to Greek readers as well. To Stoic philosophers the logos was the divine reason giving order to creation and overcoming human ignorance. Philo wrote of logos as denoting the mind of God and being the agent of creation, also mediating between God and creation,

The Word was divine and eternal. When it says the Word was with God, this can actually be translated as saying the Word and the Father looked affectionately at each other. Later in this section (v18) John says that the Word knows the Father's heart.

Jesus is the light and He brings life. If we want to know how to live, then we need to look at Jesus. We need to allow Him to shed His light into our life. John's gospel includes many instances of Jesus bringing His light into people's lives.

John's Gospel - Introduction

This should keep me going for a while. As with Joel I'll start with some background information. These are the primary resources that I use:

• The Global Concise Bible Dictionary - L O Richards
• TNIV Study Bible - Zondervan
• John - CG Kruse, Tyndale Commentary, IVP
  

John's gospel is quite different from the other three. It is far less a historical record (though this does not mean it is not historically accurate!), and far more reflective on Jesus' ministry. It also contains many more intimate details, with a large chunk of the book focused on the last days of Jesus' ministry on earth.

The overwhelming purpose of the book is to prove that Jesus is the Son of God (John 20:31), therefore the book is more structured around themes than in a strict chronological order. Though of course there is a general chronological order to the book.

The book was probably written around 90AD, and by the apostle John. There are arguments for a date around 60AD, but 90AD is more widely accepted.

There are many encounters recorded in the book. Examples include, Andrew meeting Jesus, the woman at the well, the woman caught in adultery, several between Jesus and the religious leaders, Thomas, the final meeting with Peter. All of these meetings included a revelation of Jesus and demanded a response from the people meeting Jesus.

There are many key theological themes in the book, these include: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is a big emphasis on the current benefits of the gospel.

Joel 3:11-21

The nations may think that they are going to do the judging, that they are going to inflict defeat upon Israel, but in reality it is the Lord who will do the judging, and it is the nations that will be judged. The judgement will be bloody, and similar imagery is used in Revelation (Rev 14:19,20, 19:15). In Rev 14 it speaks of an angel swinging his sickle on the earth, while in Rev 19 it is the Lord Himself who executes judgement. Our western mindsets find this hard to take, for it does not fit easily with out picture of Jesus, but we need to recognise that our culture has given us a distorted picture of who Christ is. The New Testament is clear that there is a coming wrath of God that people need to escape from (Matt 3:7; 1 Thes 1:10), and the only way of escape is repent and believe.

Afterwards there will be a new heaven and a new earth. There will be abundance in God's kingdom, but all other kingdoms will wither away and become desolate.

Moving on to John's gospel next.

Joel 3:1-10

These verse link the last few verses with the last days. God will restore the fortunes of Jerusalem, and bring them back from captivity. He will also gather all nations to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat means "the Lord judges", the Lord will judge the nations. This is a common them, namely that God will gather the enemies of His people. Their enemies will think they have come to claim victory, but it will turn out that God has called them to see Him bless His people (Ps 23:5). The nations would be judged for the way they had abused the people of Israel, particularly the children. The nations that attacked Israel will suffer themselves what they inflicted on the people of Israel.

Joel 2:28-32

This is probably the most famous passage in Joel. Peter quoted it at Pentecost after the Holy Spirit fell upon the people (Acts 2:17-21). In the New Testament it sometimes talks about the promised Holy Spirit (Gal 3:14; Acts 2:33; Eph 1:13). Passages such as this, and Jeremiah 33:31-33 are probably the ones in mind.

The passage has a global significance. The Spirit will be poured out on all people. All can be taken as referring to all nations, and to all classes of people. In Joel it is probably the latter that was the most immediate application. Joel's earlier calls to repentance and seeking the Lord were directed at all stratas of society, so likewise the Lord's response would apply to all people, young and old, male and female, even on servants. Now we know that the Holy Spirit is for all believers from all nations. Indeed it was God pouring out His Spirit on Cornelius and his household that convinced Peter that God had accepted the Gentile believers on exactly the same basis as He accepted Jewish believers (Acts 10:44-48).

The pouring out of the Spirit is not the only thing referred to here, there are also signs of the end of the age. Jesus referred to similar events when talking about apocalyptic events (Matt 24:29; Mark 13:24,25; Luke 21:11).

So there are three things described here:

• The pouring out of the Spirit on many people, leading to them having dreams, visions and prophecies.
• Signs and wonders and cosmic events, heralding the coming of the Lord.
• Deliverance and salvation for all who call upon the Name of the Lord.

We have seen elements of all three, but have not yet seen all three happening together at once. When talking about the very last days we have a tendency to focus either on the doom and gloom of terrible things happening, or the bringing in of the final harvest. The truth is that all three elements spoken of by Joel will happen at once.

Joel 2:18-27

Our God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:5, 34:14), because of the way jealousy affects us humans this has negative connotations for us, but jealousy with God is different. He has the right to be our sole object of worship. If we worship or trust in other things it rouses jealousy in the Lord in much the same way a husband or wife might feel jealousy. Here we read that the jealousy of the Lord caused Him to have pity on the land. God was determined to have a land and a people who truly knew Him and lived under His blessing.

So in response to the repentance of the people God acts and promises to send blessing upon the land. The people would have all that they need, they would not be objects of scorn. Salvation today includes the same elements. Jesus told us that our Father in Heaven knows what we need and is our provider. Moreover, when we come to Christ He starts to restore our dignity.

Then the Lord will remove the enemies from the land. The stench refers to the stench of the dead bodies of the invading hordes. God will completely remove the enemies from our lives.

We should rejoice in our salvation, for God has done great things, and these are greater than anything we can imagine (Eph 3:20), and we have yet to see the full extent of His salvation, This salvation spreads to creation around us as well. The Lord will give bountiful supply, and the we will have all that we need to serve the Lord properly. Even the wasted years will be restored, With God salvation is complete.

Joel 2:10-17

The Lord will be at the head of the army. This means that the invasion will be God's doing. Joel is trying to impress on the people the awfulness of what is about to happen.

Even so, all is not lost. As I stated in an earlier section, the purpose of the Lord is always to elicit a response from us. The Lord desires that the people return to Him and repent. Whatever the situation, no matter how angry, and justifiably so, the Lord seems to be, His desire is always that we repent and turn to Him.

Repentance involves turning to God with all our hearts. It is an inward change, not a mere outward response. However, the inward response will produce outward effects. These may include fasting, weeping and mourning.

For the Lord is merciful. He is slow to anger and delights to forgive. It is in God's nature to look for an excuse to forgive, to find a reason not to punish. He would far rather bless than punish. The flipside of this is that when God does finally judge, it means that there truly was no alternative.

Joel again calls on the people to assemble before the Lord. This includes all the people, young and old, and it is to have higher priority than anything, even getting married (Luke 14:20). The priests are to call upon the name of the Lord.

Joel 2:1-9

While the current crisis is bad enough, Joel foresees an even greater catastrophe. The Day of the Lord is coming, and this will be a day of darkness and an invasion by a massive army. Why is the Day of the Lord to be dreaded? Because when a nation is in rebellion to God the Day of the Lord can only mean judgement. The invading army will be a devouring fire, consuming all in its path. The Lord is a Consuming fire (Deut 4:24, Heb 12:29). The invading army will be relentless, and set on its course.

The swarm of locusts had many of these characteristics, so the people could picture what was coming. The invading armies of Assyria and Babylon would have similar characteristics. When the final day of the Lord comes there will be no escaping it.

Joel 1:13-20

Having brought the horror of the situation to their attention Joel turns to the response required of them. When God speaks He is always looking for a response. Even if He declares that some judgement is going to come the Bible contains several examples of where God seems to change His mind (eg Jonah and Nineveh, much to Jonah's displeasure). God always responds to faith and repentance.

Joel calls first on the priests to repent and seek the Lord. They could no longer go about their normal priestly service. When we are prevented from doing what we normally do we should ask ourselves "is God asking me to do something different?". Having dedicated themselves to God, they were to call the leaders of the land, and all the people to cry out to God.

Joel gives further description of the disaster that has befallen them. Nature itself is groaning and lost. When God judges man the whole of creation is affected, likewise when salvation comes to man it affects creation as well (Romans 8:19-22).

In view of the destruction that has come upon the land, Joel cries out to God.

Joel 1:1-12

The word of the Lord came to Joel. Joel is about to interpret a naturally occurring event in terms of God's judgement, but he does this only because "the word of the Lord came to him". Ie he did soat the inspiration of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1:21), not because he thought it sounded good! We need to be careful ourselves. At the time of writing the world is experiencing the "credit crunch", with potentially devastating consequences. We must not claim that this is God's judgement without proper authority to do so. Now there are things that we can and should point out as being wrong with the world's economic system (eg exploitation of the poor, dishonesty, living in unreality (ie living on credit)), but we should have been pointing out these things before the crunch came, because the basis for saying them is a straightforward understanding of the Scripture. Only God can reveal what the exact nature of the current crisis is in terms oh His judgement on the world.

Joel picks out three groups of people who will suffer. First are the drunkards, for the vineyards lie ruined. Next are the priests, for they can no longer offer proper service to God. Finally the farmers, for the crops (effectively the economy of the time) have failed.

Note the oratory and graphic language that Joel uses to bring the horror of the situation to the people. We have a habit of refusing to face up to the reality of situations as long as possible, but there is a need for us to face up to them sooner rather than later.

Joel - Background Notes

A new book, this time from the Old Testament in the form of the book of Joel. I'll start off with a few background notes. I'll also change the colour scheme as well for the sake of something to do!

Joel means "Yahweh is God".

Date is unknown, variously placed between 870 and 200 BC. Earlier date is more likely as Israel's enemies referred to are Philistines, Phoenicians, Egyptians and Edom, rather than Assyria and Babylon.

Palestine was vulnerable to locust swarms. They are every green plant, they also buried eggs whose larvae then are the regenerating plants. Joel saw this as divine judgement.

Joel then talks about a time coming when a great army from the north will invade the land. He talks about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord does not just refer to a single day, but to a time when God's will is finally put in place. This is a time when sin is judged, and when salvation comes. This will ultimately and supremely happen when Christ returns, but there are "mini" Days of the Lord that happen at various points in history, ie times when God intervenes in a major way. The Assyrian and Babylonian invasions are examples of this.

Peter quotes Joel 2:28-32 at the Day of Pentecost. In interpreting prophecy it is helpful to remember that prophecy sometimes has multiple and partial fulfilments. So one event which fits in with a given prophecy does not necessarily mean that prophecy can be "ticked off" as completed.

Romans 16:17-27

Paul urges us to take a strong line against those who cause dissension and offence. We might object that this is too authoritarian, but disruptive people cause a lot of damage. We are not avoid people who teach false doctrine. They are not just offering an alternative view, but are going directly against the word of God. We are to be innocent as doves, but also as shrewd as snakes (Matthew 10:16).

In our walk with Christ, and our battle in the world, God is able to strengthen us. It doesn't matter what we are facing right now, the Lord is able to strengthen us. The end result is that Satan will be crushed and gospel will spread throughout the world bringing people from every nation to faith in Christ.

Romans 16:1-16

Must admit I tend not to get too excited about the passages which list lots of names. Even so, this does reveal one or two interesting things. One is the number of women named. Paul is often accused of being a misogynist (hating women). Frankly, this is a load of nonsense and can only be based on a complete misunderstanding of the his writings.

It also noteworthy that some of his relatives were in prison with him at various times. Paul's family was involved in following Christ. Indeed, they had been believers before Paul was.

Finally, most of the people are mentioned nowhere else in the Bible, but they were still noticed by God. Everyone who serves the Lord, whether it is in a prominent way or not, will receive their reward (Matthew 10:41,42).

Romans 15:22-33

With Paul being such an important figure in the early church, the Roman Christians may have wondered why he had so far failed to visit them. The reason was that Paul had aimed to ensure that he had preached in as many unreached parts of the world as possible, it was not because of any lack of desire to see the Romans. Now, he was able to visit them, on his way to Spain (though he never actually reached Spain).

In the meantime he was on his way to Jerusalem. In fact he got arrested in Jerusalem, and was then sent to Rome as a prisoner, though with considerable freedom (Acts 28:16).

Paul sees it as fitting that the sharing of material gifts goes hand in hand with sharing of spiritual gifts. The Gentiles were sharing in the rich Jewish spiritual heritage, it was therefore perfectly proper that they should give material gifts to Jerusalem (which was undergoing a famine at the time).

Paul knew that he was going to a very dangerous situation in Jerusalem, and seeks the prayers of the Roman Christians.

Romans 15:14-21

The words in v14 are not just soft soap to try and flatter his readers. There is a constant war between the flesh and the spirit (Gal 5:17), and we need support in order to help us live by the spirit and not by the flesh. At times this may include "bold" words.

Paul was able to write boldly because of the grace given to him. The grace of God is not just a matter of forgiveness, but is enabling as well. One might object that because of Paul's past he had no right to speak firmly to others, but because of God's grace he did have this right. After the Damascus road his calling in life was proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles.

Paul delighted in serving God. We do not realise what an amazing thing it is for a 1sr century Jew to delight in working amongst Gentiles. Paul was only interested in what he achieved through the power of the Holy Spirit. He did not rely on human methods. Moreover, he did not seek to build on other people's foundations, but wanted to preach the gospel where it had not been preached before. We should beware of Christians or churches that grow by "poaching" members from other churches.

Romans 15:7-13

We are to accept each other as Christ as accepted us. In so many ways we are to treat each other in the way that God treats us. He forgave us, so we are to forgive each other, He is patient with us, so we are to be patient with others, He loves all, so we are to love all.

Paul says we are to accept each other so that God will be glorified, When we refuse to accept each other we often convince ourselves that we doing it to honour God. Now there are times when distinctions need to be drawn, but we must be very careful, for most of the time it is our own ego or sinfulness that is at the root of such actions, rather than true concern for the glory of God.

Jesus truly glorified God, and He did so by being a servant to the Jews, and sending the gospel to the Gentiles (who were outcasts as far as the Jews were concerned). Paul then quotes various Scriptures that show that it was always God's plan that the Gentiles share in the kingdom.

In v13 Paul talks about peace and joy. If we are full of peace and joy we are far less likely to waste our time considering ourselves better than others, and seeking reasons to disagree with each other. And we are to overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes power to give us hope, for hopelessness can be so powerful. This is not just hope for ourselves, but hope for others. Again, we start to look down on people when we consider them to be beyond hope.

Romans 15:1-6

A key element of the Christian life is that we live not for ourselves, but for others. Jesus is the supreme example of this, but it is something we should all seek to do. However, it is essential that we do so by living by the Spirit, not in a legalistic fashion. Otherwise we turn into Pharisees and ultimately bring no honour to the Lord. In Christ we have the freedom to live for others. For we have nothing to prove, for Christ alone is our righteousness, and we have nothing to fear, for the Father will provide all that we need.

Moreover, we will find it immensely liberating. When facing difficulties our natural reaction is be even more self-centred, because we believe we have to be. Instead try focusing on the needs of others, especially those immediately around you (family, friends etc). Often times you will find that when you do this your own problems miraculously get sorted out.

In verse 3 Paul quotes from Psalm 69, and reminds us the Old Testament was written in order to teach and encourage us. We gain hope by enduring and by reading the word. Most of us find ourselves in situations where we are sorely tempted to give up, for all seems lost, but the mere fact of keeping going will bring us to a point where hope bursts forth. Another phrase for ensuring is waiting on the Lord. The Lord will always show up. In addition we are to immerse ourselves in the word, for it will feed our spirits, and bring even more hope.

When we lose hope we are more likely to look for reasons to disagree with others. We do this is as a human way of "coping" with difficulties, as it helps us avoid the real issues. We should seek a different way. Of great news is the fact that "endurance and encouragement" come from the Lord. We may feel that all our strength and hope has gone, and this may even be true, but God is our source of supply. So we should ask Him for the hope and endurance that we need.

Romans 14:17-23

The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. How well we would do to remember this when we are tempted to get all excited about minor issues. The gospel is about us being made right with God. Because of Christ's death on the cross we are declared righteous. But this isn't just a theoretical matter whose reality we will not experience until we die, it makes a difference now. The gospel brings joy and peace now, it gives us strength to love and to overcome now.

The cross has made us acceptable to God, so we should not go around trying to find reasons why someone is not acceptable to God! Instead we should be concerned with trying to build each other up. Now this may involve correcting one another from time to time (Col 3:16), but there is a world of difference between having a critical and judgemental attitude, and seeking to help someone live a more Christlike life.

In the particular matter that Paul was dealing with at the time, he tells those who felt free to eat meat, that they should not do so if it is going to cause problems for others. Indeed, they could lead others to sin, for to go against our conscience (even if the matter is not an absolute, such as eating meat) can be sinful (Luke 17:2). The gospel requires us to have a completely different attitude to life and to others.

Romans 14:10-16

Man forgets that the Lord is God and that we will all have to give an account, instead he puts himself in the judgement seat. We need to constantly remind ourselves not to do this, and constantly passing judgement on others is an example of forgetting who the Judge really is. Jesus told the parable of the servant who was forgiven a great debt and then went on to refuse to forgive someone who owed him a little (Matt 18:21-35).

Constantly comparing ourselves to others is also a sign that we have not appreciated God's forgiveness of ourselves. We now have no need to prove ourselves, so we are free to act and think aright, Instead of trying to prove ourselves better than others, we should be considering the needs of others, refusing to put unnecessary stumbling blocks in their way.

In the matter of food Paul was convinced that all food was, other things being equal, fine to eat (Mark 7:19,20), but he would still desist from eating something if need be. We need to guard our own conscience, and that of others. If we do something that goes against our conscience then it causes us guilt it makes us less able to serve God. We are to make sure we do not unnecessarily offend someone else's conscience. Instead we are to act in love, not out of proving how "wise" we are.

Romans 14:1-9

We need to be concerned with the heart of a person, more than outward appearance and even actions. Those "whose faith was weak" were probably Jewish Christians. The reason for thinking this is that the matters referred to concern certain foods and special days. If these had been associated with pagan rituals it is unlikely that Paul would have said it was OK for them to observe these things.

It is also important to draw a distinction between the Jewish Christians here and the Judaisers of Galatia. The latter were proud and acting against the gospel (saying one needed to be circumcised in order to please God), the ones here are acting out of a genuine desire to please God. They were concerned about eating meat because this may have been offered to idols, and so would be "unclean". Others said it was OK to eat meat because we can eat anything. Both sets of people are to treat the other with respect, not considering themselves better than the other. We need to recognise what is truly important, if someone's heart is for God, then that is the main thing. For God has accepted both. We need to remember that the Church is belongs to Christ, not us, and that we belong to God.

The special days probably refer to various ceremonial days. Again the attitude of the heart is the key thing. If we live, we live for Christ. If we deny ourselves something, again we do it for Christ.

Roamns 13:11-14

hese instructions are not given in a vacuum, nor are they just the "right thing to do". They are given with understanding of the present times. Jesus has brought the day of salvation, today is the day of God's favour. So we are to be alert, not just to let life drift by.

Some might say it is two thousand years since Christ came, so how can the day be near? Peter reminds us that with God a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like a day (2 Pet 3:8). And in view of eternity a thousand years is nothing, but the key point for our own lives is that we live as wise people, knowing that the day of darkness will not last forever. One day Christ will return and His rule visibly established over everything. We are to prepare for the coming kingdom, not the one that is passing away.So we are to do away with sinful acts, and to put on Christ, to live and think in a Christlike manner.

We are to live with an eternal perspective.

Romans 13:8-10

We should pay everything that is due, taxes, financial debts, honour etc. Ie we are to fully give what others have a right to. But with love, we have an unending duty to love others. Love is freely given, we are to love people because it is right to do so, not because they have earned it. For this is how God loves. All the commandments relating to ones duties towards other people can be summed up the one command "love your neighbour as yourself".

So, Paul says, love is the fulfilment of the law. Jesus said the same thing when He said the law can be summed up by the two commandments, to love God with all we have, and our neighbour as ourself.

Romans 13:1-7

Remember that the chapter and verse numbers were not part of the original text, but were added later for our convenience. Sometimes this can make us compartmentalise sections, whereas they were written as a continuous text. Paul has just said do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Governments often do evil, and the Roman authorities were certainly no exception to this. The instructions that Paul gives here on submission to authority should be read in this context.

Authority has been instituted by God. Now, the government may not be exercising that authority properly, but we are still to submit to it. If we resist authority we are in fact resisting God. We often feel self-righteous when we object to some authority, whether it be government or at work, but we are in fact resisting God.

The godly purpose of authority is to promote good and to restrain evil. So the general rule is that if we do good then we will get on fine with authority, if we do evil we will suffer the consequences. Likewise we are to pay our taxes fully and willingly.

Of course all this raises many questions. Is it ever right to resist authority? The answer has to be yes. Peter and John refused to stop preaching, but we need to closely examine our motives.

Our starting point should be that we will submit to authority. Our sinful nature is to be rebellious, so we should always view inclinations to resist authority with suspicion.

If we then still feel we must resist we should ask ourselves on whose behalf are we resisting? Is it for our own self-interest, or is to protect others. If the former then it is highly likely that we are wrong to resits.

Another question to ask is who is going to pay the price of our resisting? Is it us or someone else? If it is someone else, again we need to closely question whether or not we should resist.

Finally we should examine our hearts. Are we feeling self-righteous? If we suffer for resisting are we going to start blaming all sorts of people and complaining "it's not fair". If so, then it is unlikely to be a godly resistance, for Christ did not complain at the suffering He had to endure.

Romans 12:14-21

The gospel produces a radically different approach to life. The natural reaction is to love those who love us, and hate those who do us harm, but Jesus tells us to love those who hate us (Matthew 5:43-45). We are to pray for the well being of those who do us harm. This does not mean pretending that what they are doing is not wrong, but we are to pray for their highest good. The natural reaction is to put ourselves in the judgement seat, but this position belongs only to God. This is what Paul means when he says "leave room for God's wrath". The best outcome is that someone repents and turns to God, and that is what we are to work towards. Now, Paul is perfectly aware that not all will do so, but we trust God to do any judging that needs to be done. In fact the very act of helping our enemies will throw them into confusion.

We are not to be self-centred, but to rejoice with others who are rejoicing, and to share in the sorrows of those who mourn. We are not to have a high opinion of ourselves, but to consider others better than ourselves (Phil 2:3). This does not mean having a demeaning opinion of ourselves, but considering others to be of great value.

As far as it is possible we are to live at peace with each other. Again, Paul is very aware that it is not always possible, but we should make sure that we do not give people a justifiable excuse for being offended by us.

Romans 12:9-13

Any notion that saying we are saved by faith alone means it doesn't matter what we do is consigned to the dustbin by passages such as this (of which there are many in Paul's writings).

We are to have a sincere love for one another. The gospel gives us the freedom to do this, for we have no need to prove that we are righteous, so we can genuinely look after the needs of others. We are free to honour one another, and to be devoted to each other. Jesus was able to give completely because He had complete confidence in His Father, we can now do likewise. We can give in practical ways, we can give in honour. For we know that God will provide, and we know that we have nothing to prove to God, so we have no need to prove that we are better than someone else (or that someone else is worse than us, which is fairly standard human reaction!).

We are to maintain our spiritual zeal. The zeal of the Lord is crucial, and we need to ask the Lord to daily renew our zeal. The events of day to day life can easily sap this zeal, but through the Holy Spirit we have an unending supply of renewed zeal.

Hope is to be a characteristic of our lives. The expectation of a great future should fill us with joy. When we go through times of affliction (as we will inevitably do from time to time) we need to be patient, for we know that the end result will be good. Prayer is essential.

Just as hope is to be a characteristic, so is generosity. Our God is a generous God who delights to give, we should emulate Him in this.

Romans 12:3-8

"By the grace given to me". When someone tells us what to do we might react against them saying "what right have they got to say that to me?" Paul had the "right" to say what he did because of the grace God gave him. He said these things because God had chosen him to be the apostle to the Gentiles to bring the good news of the kingdom to them. We tend to think of the grace of God only in terms of His forgiveness and mercy towards us. But His grace also gives authority to people, as it did to Paul. We need to look at people, particularly leaders, and ask what grace has God given to them? How does God want to work through them to bring His kingdom into our life. If we look at them only as men or women we will miss out on what God wants to do in our lives (2 Cor 5:16).

Likewise we are not to view ourselves from a human point of view. This leads to erroneous views of ourselves. We either think we are rubbish, or get to high a view of ourselves and our abilities. Instead we are to have a sober view of ourselves, a realistic view, But that is not all, we are to view ourselves according to the faith God has given to us. What we can achieve in life that is truly valuable is governed by the faith that we have.

We are not all the same, but are all part of the body of Christ. We can fall into the trap of either thinking our particular gifting is the most important one, or of thinking that we are not important because we do not have the same abilities as someone else. The body has many parts, and needs all its parts, and will function properly only if every part works as it should.

So whatever gift we have we are to use it according to the faith given to us, and to use it to the full, recognising that God works through us together with others to build the kingdom.

Romans 12:1,2

Now Paul turns to some of the practical implications of the gospel. This is a pattern he follows in most of his letters. The "theological" bits are not there for mere academic interest, they have a direct impact on our day-to-day living. What we believe will affect how we live.

God's mercy is in no way to be viewed as meaning we can do what we like and get away with it. In fact we would pout ourselves in grave danger if we treated God's mercy with contempt (Heb 6:6). Instead we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. Because of what Jesus did in the cross, our lives are acceptable to God. Sometimes we can hold back because we feel unworthy. Isaiah 6 we read that once the burning coal had taken away Isaiah's sin he was willing to offer his service to God. We should do likewise. The sacrifices of the Old Testament were dead, but we are living sacrifices, our sacrifice will achieve something. The true worship is the offering of our lives to God as instruments to be used by Him for His glory and for the good of others.

We are not to be dictated tom either in our actions or thought patterns, by the world. Instead we are to be transformed, we are to allow the Holy Spirit to renew our minds. Sometimes people talk as if the mind is a problem. A renewed mind is not a problem. A mind that is submitted to God is one that will help us to live lives that are pleasing to Him. Our minds were a problem because of sin, but then so were our hearts (Jer 17:9). Jesus died to bring complete salvation to us, and that includes sanctifying our minds.

Romans 11:33-36

This outburst of praise to God by Paul is the attitude that we all ought to have. God's plans go way beyond anything we can imagine. They are infinitely wiser than anything we can come up with, and beyond our understanding. Yet when they are revealed they will prove to be full of justice, mercy, love and grace.

Here in Romans Paul is applying this immediately to Israel, warning us against putting God in a box and thinking that we have it all worked out with regard to Israel, but we can apply the lesson more widely. The error of thinking that Israel is now out of the picture can be based on a short term view, based on what Israel has just done (ie reject Christ). God looks further back than we do, and further forward than we do. If we are honest this isn't hard to do! We very easily become blinded to the truth by the way that things seem to be right now. In any situation we face we do well to remind ourselves that God has an eternal perspective on things. He knows that the final outcome will be. We need to learn to share something of the perspective.

But someone could equally well come to the conclusion that Israel has been rejected by looking at Israel's track record. As Paul points out (and Jesus as well for that matter), she had repeatedly rejected God and His ways. The rejection of Christ was the culmination of this, therefore she no longer has a special place in God's plans. Such a view ignores all the promises made by God, and, perhaps most importanty, the extent of God's mercy. We can be insituations where failure, either for ourselves or for someone we love, seems to be the only possible outcome, inded the only justifiable outcome. The glory of the gospel is that where sin abounded, graces abounded all the more (Romans 5:20).

When we look at situations two of the things we need to do are:

1. Have an eternal perspective on things
2. Be aware of the depths of God's love and grace.