They were so absorbed in their "God projects" that they didn’t notice
God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. Romans 9:32 (TM)

I know Paul is talking about Israel here, but he could be speaking about so many churches – so many of us who call ourselves Christians.

Ouch.

God, open the eyes of my heart. I don’t want to miss you.

This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid,
grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a
childlike "What’s next, Papa?" Romans 8:15 (TM)

Are you a spiritual undertaker – constantly hovering around and performing CPR on the dead carcass of your sin nature? Do you focus time and energy tending the grave of your sin-centered self? There is so much good stuff that our Father has for us. Walk away from the death pit. Take off the mourning clothes!

"With the arrival of Jesus, the Messiah, that fateful dilemma is
resolved. Those who enter into Christ’s being-here-for-us no longer
have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is
in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has
magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of
brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death…attention to God leads us out into the open, into a spacious, free life."

As one teacher put it:

"If I spend my time doing the ‘do’s’ I don’t have time to do the ‘don’ts’. And if I could I wouldn’t but I can’t so I don’t so it’s cool!"

But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep
it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best
intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it
takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I
don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My
decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has
gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time. Romans 7:17-20 (TM)

Many people who find the concept of ‘sin’ difficult. Paul gives in this passage the best definition of ‘sin’ I have ever read. "Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time." For every one of us who has struggled, attempted, worked, and willed our way to doing better only to fail again and again (and who has already shot your New Year’s resolutions), knows that we need help.

That’s what John 3:16 is all about.

That’s what baptism into the life of Jesus means. When we are lowered
into the water, it is like the burial of Jesus; when we are raised up
out of the water, it is like the resurrection of Jesus. Each of us is
raised into a light-filled world by our Father so that we can see where
we’re going in our new grace-sovereign country. Romans 6:3-5 (TM)

I have to get a little something off my chest today. I have worshipped and served in many different denominations. For the past ten years I’ve been back to my Dutch roots by worshipping in the Reformed church. Now, I’ve always abided by St. Augustine’s creed: "In the essentials unity, in the non-essentials liberty, in all things charity." So, I am happy to agree to disagree with my brothers on things I find non-essential to salvation. One of the places I disagree with my Reformed brothers is in the area of Baptism. The Reformed Church, like the Methodist Church where I was raised, teach and practice infant baptism by sprinkling.

One of the main reasons I disagree that infant baptism is God’s intent is found in today’s passage. Baptism (from the Greek word meaning to plunge) was intended as a metaphor of the changed life that happens when we are buried with Christ in the likeness of his death (plunged in the water) and raised with Him in the likeness of His resurrection (raised out of the water), our sins washed away by his blood. A public declaration of our faith and changed life. Infant baptism is an incomplete metaphor.

“All that passing laws against sin did was
produce more lawbreakers.” Romans 5:20a (TM)

I
spent one horrific semester at a Bible college that was very big on rules and
miserly in grace. There were rules for everything from haircuts to
relationships and everything in between. Every word and action was legislated
by the administration’s imaginative list of sins the students might possibly
commit.

I
learned a lot that semester before running as fast as I could from the place.
Romans makes it very clear that excessive laws only promotes excessive
lawbreaking. The students I witnessed that semester were immature, petty and
judgmental – so inwardly focused on adhering to every jot and tittle of the
code of conduct and proving their “goodness” that there was no time or energy
left for loving the lost or fulfilling our mission of taking the Message to a
dark world.  What a far cry from our
Lord’s admonishment to be “wise as serpents and gentle as doves”.

It’s not about rules. It’s about the relationship.

[Abraham] didn’t tiptoe around God’s promise asking cautiously skeptical
questions. He plunged into the promise and came up strong, ready for
God, sure that God would make good on what he had said. That’s why it
is said, "Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set
him right." But it’s not just Abraham; it’s also us! Romans 4:20-24a (TM)

How easy it is to slip into spiritual accounting to make a case for our salvation. "Well, I’ve been to church almost every Sunday. I’ve been giving more – so that’s good. I’m certainly a much better person than I used to be back in my party days in college…" Yet, Abraham was declared spiritually fit by "trusting" God…period. It’s not about what you do – it’s about who you trust.

[hint] Trusting your own spiritual efforts is not a good option.

And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us,
in the same sinking boat with everybody else? Our involvement with
God’s revelation doesn’t put us right with God. What it does is force
us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin. Romans 3:19-20 (TM)

So, judging others is really just standing on the deck of the sinking Titanic telling the orchestra that they’re rendition of "Nearer My God To Thee" is just a little flat.