Honoring Convictions While Extending Grace.

In Romans 14, Paul provides categories and principles to foster unity among brothers with different consciences. He outlines that we believers, proceeding from faith, welcome and honor one another, put off passing judgment on one another in matters of conscience–because we live and die to the Lord–and instead, we pursue peace with each other, building up one another and God’s kingdom of righteousness, PEACE, and joy! Whether we forsake or partake [fill in the blank!] because of our conscience, we are always to love.

God’s Righteousness in Future Restoration.

Here in chapter 11, Paul proves God’s righteous plan for future restoration with an argument that shows the intricacy, reveals at least some of the mystery, and underscores God’s sovereignty in his election plan for his people.

Paul’s intention in writing this passage was to show us that God is righteous in all things–including in his plan of salvation for the Gentiles and the Jews–and that we can and should completely trust him to accomplish his perfect will for each and every one of us.

Paul reminds us that it is by the Spirit you have been freed from your sinful flesh, found as adopted sons of God whom you now call Abba! Father!, and have been made co-heirs with Christ by the fellowship of his suffering for the fruit of eternal glory with him.

This week in Romans 6:12–23, Paul reminds us that because of what Christ did, we are not slaves to sin and our passions anymore. Instead, we have a new master, a master Paul calls Obedience, Righteousness, and finally, God. And what a gracious master God is!

Under this new master, we have become obedient from the heart, we devote ourselves to righteousness, and we bear the fruit of sanctification by living unto God—for eternity. When we believe God, this is our reality, and Paul entreats us to live out of that reality. Sinclair Ferguson says it this way, “This is how we want to grasp Roman 6, not so that we understand it up here (gestures to head), and it is a challenge to grasp it up here, but so that it will create in (us) gospel instincts, affections, and emotions that are driven by the fact that we live the whole of our lives in union with Jesus Christ.”

This week Paul offered Father Abraham as an example of how to obtain righteousness with God—through Christ by faith alone. We learned that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness BEFORE he was circumcised. God made a promise to and covenant with Abraham to redeem the world—both the circumcised AND the uncircumcised—and it would be carried out by Abraham believing God and his promises, not by his own keeping the law. When we are under grace, believing God, then our sin is forgiven and our faith is counted to us as righteousness. Abraham’s faith was/is the model and the pointer to God’s plan for his people.

Sometimes, in order to repent and worship God, we have to take a long hard look at what life apart from him looks like. This week in Judges 17 and 18, we saw the ironic and devastating effects of Israel’s rejection of the one true God: “There was no king in Israel, and everyone did right in their own eyes.” The fruit: relational manipulation, deceit, generational sin, the perversion of the priesthood, and death. The proud, thieving son is robbed, betrayed, exposed, and abandoned. Israel is lost.

So, what to do? Learn from Israel, examine our own hearts, repent of specific idolatries, and gratefully worship the one true God!