God's Justification - Christ's Redemption

Romans 3:21–26 (NKJV)

21But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Paul had addresses the idea of the righteousness of God being revealed back in chapter 1:17, when he introduced the theme of the book.  However, the rest of chapter one through chapter three dealt with God’s wrath being revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness.

But now Paul explains that God’s righteousness is revealed not through the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.  For everyone who places their faith in Jesus Christ receives God’s righteousness.   For God justifies that is he declares righteous those who put their faith in Christ Jesus for salvation.  Not only does God justify, but he justifies freely.  There is nothing that man can do in and of himself to deserve this justification.  He simply must respond in faith to the gospel realizing that Jesus Christ came to pay the penalty of sin through his death.  Though this justification is free to those who respond in faith, it did have a cost.  This cost was paid through Jesus Christ, therefore He is our redeemer. He paid our redemption!

This redemption is necessary for justification and is only available through faith.  This was the testimony of the Old Testament writers.  There is no advantage of the Jew or gentile and there is no other way of salvation because all are sinners and not capable of salvation in any other way.

Our prayer is that you too will respond to Jesus Christ in faith believing that he is alone the only redemption from sin that you might be justified by God and have eternal fellowship with Him.

The Unfailing Plan of a Sovereign God

Sunday the majority of people in our area celebrate Easter.  To some it will simply be a time for family.  For others it will be a time for chocolate bunnies and Reese’s eggs.  Others will reflecte upon a historical event: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

My hope is that all will recognize that the coming of Jesus Christ to earth to suffer and die to pay for the sins of man was not an afterthought but rather a plan from before the “foundation of the earth.”  (Eph. 1)  God in His omniscience (all-knowing) knew that man would rebel. God in His holiness knew that he could not fellowship with sinful man.  God in His justice required a penalty for sin. God in His love and mercy chose to put a plan in action to provide redemption for all who would believe.

Through time God gradually revealed his plan. This started with his response to Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden when he promised a “Seed that would bruise Satan’s head.”(Gen. 3)  Many, many passages speak of God’s plan throughout the Old Testament, but not many are any clearer than Isa. 53:2b-6 “He has no form or comeliness and when we see Him, there is no beauty that we desire Him.  He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet, we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, everyone, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”

This passage though recognized by most as referring to Jesus Christ was written several hundred years before Christ came to earth.

As Jesus ministered publicly for three years he again and again presented Himself as the Messiah.  This required individuals either to bow the knee in worship or to punish Him as a blasphemer.   Despite the fact that through His miracles and wondrous acts He revealed that He indeed was the promised Messiah, the pious religious leaders were not willing or able to accept Him.  They manipulated a Pilate, the people pleasing Roman ruler of the territory, and incited an emotional crowd to bring about Christ’s death.

To many observers this seemed like the end of Jesus Christ.  Perhaps God’s plan had failed?  What these observers did not realize is that God had used Pilate, the Pious religious leaders, and the crowd to fulfill His plan.  They acted through their own personalities and desires to accomplish what God had promised would happen.  They crucified the Messiah as promised.

In trying to pre-empt any possible fake resurrection they helped to prove the reality of Christ’s resurrection.  The governor’s seal and the soldier’s stance could not stop the Son of God from being victorious over sin and death.

God had indeed kept His promise, His plan was fulfilled.  He had provided a way for man’s redemption from sin.   “But as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become children of God, even to those who believe on His name.”  (John 1:12) 

I hope that as each of you reflect upon Christ’s resurrection that you will turn from your sin and put your faith in Jesus Christ to pay the penalty of your sin.  “For by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”  (Eph. 2:8-9)

Sparks Highlights 4-11-12

****Sparks Highlights****    We have been learning over the last few weeks why Jesus can be trusted as our Savior.  Now, when we put our faith in Him as our Savior – what comes next?    We are told in John 3:16 that if we believe in Jesus as our Savior we will have everlasting life.  But Jesus also claims that unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  The belief is more than just accepting that Jesus is who He says He is – it is about surrendering your life to Him.  When we truly put our faith in Him and understand to truly take to heart why Jesus gave His life for us on the cross, that belief is confessing our sin, turning our life to Him to let Him lead us and change us.  That is the being Born Again that Jesus is talking about in John 3 where we were studying tonight.  Your Sparkle’s caterpillar and butterfly are just an example of that change.  Caterpillars are a living being that changes itself into a butterfly – it metamorphoses in the cocoon to become a butterfly.  It is still the same living creature – it just looks different and acts different as a butterfly – it is born again in a sense as new appearance.  That is just like us when we let Jesus change us – we are still the same living creature, but when we are born again by our surrender and His changing us – we are the same living creature, but we act different – and look different to others when they see that change.  What a great time to make a change in your life, if you haven’t already – be spiritually born again this spring season – when the physical world around us is sprouting new life, so can you in Christ Jesus.   

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mr. Roger Fox, Mrs. Barb Stein.

???Pastor??? What Do Pastors Do With Their Time?

I was recently asked.  “What do pastors do with their time?”  This I can only answer for myself.     I believe everyone in the church should be using their gifts and abilities to fulfill the “one another” commands and their responsibility to the body of Christ.  Since many others work a full time job and then serve the church 5 to 10 hours after their work and outside of services, I try to do the same.  I put an average of 45-50 hours per week in outside of our regular service times.  The reason for this amount of time is that most people would consider 40 hours a full week of work.

I will share an “average” week; although, a normal or “average” week seems to happen very seldom.  According to Acts 6:4 the primary ministry of the pastor/elder is to be the “ministry of the Word and prayer”.   I spend about 4 hours of my “church time” praying and the following is a breakdown of my Word ministry.  As mentioned previously, I spend 8-10 hours each week preparing my Sunday AM sermon.  I don’t preach on Sunday evenings, but teach and often on a shorter topic or theme in further application of the Sunday morning sermon so I average 4-6 of prep for that time.   Our “First Word” ministry, which is a video blog, takes about 5 hours a week.  This is possible because we have other men who teach Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible Study.  I teach a weekly men’s Bible Study into which I put 3 hours  of preparation and attendance.  Planning for future teaching/preaching ministries averages 1-2 hours a week.  One area under the ministry of the word which varies greatly is counseling in person, by phone, and electronic media.  These primary areas of ministry take over 30 hours a week on a regular basis.

The rest of my week is taken up performing various other duties.  Meetings such as those with deacons and preparation for those meetings as well as  time with my assistant or other pastors takes around 2.5 hours each week.  Administrative,  maintenance, and secretarial type tasks such as computer maintenance, sermon uploads, mail, bulletin prep, e-mail , phone calls, cleaning, setting up, van care, and calendar/long-range planning all add up to about 12 hours a week on the average.  (A pastor who is expected to preach 3 or more sermons each week will need an office assistant or others to help in many of these areas to free him for more time in the Word.)  I am thankful for many volunteers who have helped to greatly reduce the time I need to spend on these areas each week. Visits with new contacts, shut-ins, church members, or the sick can take up many hours in the week.  When there is any serious medical need our main hospitals are 1-1.5 hours away so one visit can easily take 3-4 hours out of a week.

I have not yet mentioned that I try to do reading to improve on preaching and shepherding skills as well as current topics that are relevant to the church.   Having at least a minimal knowledge of current events and activities culturally, politically, and socially helps in relating to people and applying the scripture to those in our society so reading and information gathering is necessary here as well. 

Outside of “church time” I spend personal time in Bible study and prayer as well, but because of limited time/space I will save that topic for a later date.

Let me encourage you to be praying for and encouraging/assisting your pastor as he strives to shepherd the flock God has placed him with.

Sparks highlights 3-21-12

****Sparks Highlights****    We have seen the amazing attributes of our Savior Jesus – He is Holy, He is Powerful, He is our Provider, He is our Teacher, He is our Healer, AND He is also our Shepherd.    The Bible tells us that we are alike sheep who have gone astray and Luke Chapter 15 tells us that Jesus, our Good Shepherd cares enough for each and every one us that He will come to find His sheep that have gone astray – one of the many.   What a comforting thought that Jesus cares for each of us to consider us that much loved that He would come to find one of the many!  Psalm 23 tells us, too, that the Lord is our Shepherd and we shall not be in want as He supplies our very most needs – even before we know it.   If you know anything about sheep, it is that they are helpless animals that need to be led to food and shelter and need to be protected from other animals that hunt them.  So just like sheep, we need a leader for our lives and a protector from the evil one Satan – who the Bible says hunts for whomever he can devour.   Jesus is that leader for our lives, but in order for Him to lead, we have to surrender our wills to His – and we know so far we can trust Him as Savior because He is holy, powerful, a provider, a great teacher, a healer, and as a preview to next week’s lesson – the very Son of God as God proclaimed Him as such as the Way, the Truth and the Life.  And not only is He the Shepherd, but He is also proclaimed to be the spotless Lamb of God as He was the sacrificial lamb for our sins.  

You are welcome to join us anytime at Sparks!    You can also check out the AWANA program at           www.fbc.littletonil.org.    

Mrs. Jennifer Schroeder, Mr. Roger Fox, Mrs. Barb Stein.

The Jewish Advantage

Romans 3:1–8 (ESV) ¹Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, “That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” ⁵But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ⁶By no means! For then how could God judge the world? ⁷But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

To better understand this passage we need to understand its context.  In chapter 1 verses 18 to 32 Paul was addressing a worldly individual possibly an atheist or agnostic definitely an idolater. The pious Jew looking on may have been tsking him or shaking his finger at him, had he been a Baptist he may have been saying Amen. But in chapter 2 Paul began to address this pious Jew or this religious person. He was rebuked for the fact that he had not responded to God's grace by repenting. He was challenged by the fact that though outwardly he appeared to be a Jew he was not circumcised of heart. If he would ever please God he had to be circumcised of heart by the Spirit.

Paul being a Jew understood the Jewish mindset he knew exactly what this pious Jew was thinking and in these verses in chapter 3 Paul begins to answer four arguments. The first of these questions was, "Is there an advantage to being a Jew?" Paul's answer was, " Yes, there are many advantages to being a Jew." The foremost advantage of being a Jew was that they were given the Scriptures. God had blessed them with his written word. It would be good to remember that Jesus said in Luke 12:48 and whomsoever much is given much shall be required."

The second argument Paul dealt with was whether or not the fact that some unbelievers would make God's faithfulness untrue. Paul replied that even though every man is a liar God is always truth. The third argument in this passage challenged Paul with the idea that man's unrighteousness would help display God's righteousness better. This is like the adage of today that says, “The end justifies the means”. God is always just as wrath in his judgment and he will judge the world in truth.  Therefore, we must choose to do right.

The final argument is similar with the idea of my life bringing glory to God because of God's truth. This is nothing more than antinomianism lawlessness. Paul's statement was that for these people,"Their condemnation is just."

Whether Jew or non-Jew we all stand accountable before a true God a righteous God holy God we will all give account for our actions for God will judge the truth and righteousness. I hope that you are ready to face Him face-to-face because you've placed your faith in the blood of Jesus Christ for salvation.