Romans

Roman 1

Hey, this is Paul, an enthusiastic follower of The Way and of Jesus the Christ coming to you on assignment, with all the backing of the other disciples to share with you all that God is doing, and will do, with His people. I write this letter to all of God's friends in Rome.

God’s Word contains the thinking of the Prophets about God's Son; the fact that he was related to David and he is the Son of our God. The Spirit showed this when Jesus was raised from the dead, proving he was the Christ and our one true Master. Because of this, we received the fantastic gift of life and of spreading the word. This gift of life made you who you are, and I greet you with all the love of God and Jesus the Christ, the one we follow.

First let me express my thanks for you being you. Tons of people are telling me about you and your desire to follow The Way. God, who we love, worship, and serve, knows that I pray for all every day. My prayer? I pray for a clear message, and the ability, to visit you all again. The longer I am away from you, the deeper the pain. I desire to visit because I see this as a great learning experience: you learning from me, and yes, me learning from you.

It seems like every time I pack and get ready for a road trip, something happens and I am unable to get going. It’s enough to drive you crazy. I know that it would be an incredible experience to get connected with all, as it has been for me with so many other towns and communities who do not follow The Way.  As I mentioned before, something always comes up to stop it from happening. But something has always come up and prevented it. No matter who I meet, those who are nice or snotty, those who are smart or slow add to and deepen my understanding of faith and my walk in The Way. That is one of the main reasons I strongly desire to hook up with you in Rome, and share and grow in the incredible good news given to us by God.

Nothing makes me happier than to share the news of The Way, and the great plan God has for everyone’s life. That plan? Trust in God, follow The Way and be rescued from a life of chains – cultural.  God has this incredible way of getting people right -- right with Him, right with life, right with each other. God’s way of hooking people up is found squarely in Scripture: “Those who let go, and let God really live.”

People lie, cheat, and steal. When people lie, cheat, and steal, God can -- and will -- get ticked. It is in this human condition where we disconnect with God. But we can reconnect with God by opening our eyes and seeing His life plan. Some people like to hide the truth from others; but followers of The Way have been able to see through such garbage and find God path. When we take a deep look at all of what God has done, we always see God’s hand at work. We see this in the expressions of life, in life everlasting, and mostly in the divine mystery of being. Because of this, excuses don’t hold water. You see, people like to play games and cut deals. People knew, and know, God’s plan -- it’s in their bones -- but they ignore His desires for their own limited gain. These people pretend to have all the answers, but they simply don’t have a clue. They mix culture with faith and screw it all up. Then, when you say something to them, they pretend to not know what you’re talking about or they misquote Scripture to support their view. Like “Christian Merchants” who peddle that “Jesus Junk” in “Christian Bookstores,” they are willing to sell it all for some cheap crap you can get from any roadside stand with a smiley face and a “Jesus Loves You” slogan on it.

So in effect, God said, “Cool. If that’s what you want to do, go for it.” But, it was their actions that caused them to live in a dump, filled with garbage both outside and inside. They kicked out all the good stuff God had for us for a few pennies, some fast times, and maybe a little pleasure. They took the true God and flipped Him for a fake god, and they loved and worshiped this fake god. They traded the God who created us for the god who created nothing. It’s amazing how little they have, because of how little they give.

But worse was to come. You see, when they disconnected from God, they disconnected from their humanity; by not knowing God, they did not know themselves -- men and women mixed their sexual roles and all kinds of sexual abuse started to happen. They confused lust with love -- lust coming from the human-made god, love coming from the one true God. Empty of God, empty of love, they soon found that their lives were empty godless wrecks.

What was the most interesting is that because they didn’t even acknowledge God’s existence, God didn’t acknowledge them either and let them run ragged. Over time it hit the fan big time; people killing, evil running all over the place, people stealing what they could get and killing for what they wanted. Gossip and vicious backstabbing were natural for all people. All people became vicious, cruel, mean-spirited, hell bound, lying, backstabbing, and envious creeps who cared for no one but themselves. No sooner was one lie created than they found a way of creating another. They would get rid of their parents if they got in the way -- they were stupid, slimy, bloodsucking creeps with no redeeming qualities. They knew from the start they were spitting in God’s face, but they didn’t care. What’s even more amazing is they honored the people who were best at spitting in the face of God.

Romans 2

Yes, these people are on a deep decline in life -- but that does not make you any better. If you think because these people are so bad, you are so good -- guess again. Every time you point a finger at another person, you have three pointing back at you. It’s the old saying, “It takes one to know one.” What I have always found interesting is that the one who points the finger at others is the one you need to watch out for the most. When you accuse others, it is a way of escaping accusation yourself. It’s easy to compare ourselves to those in need, but how do you stack up next to Christ? You may think you are getting away with something, but God knows everything. You can’t hide from God.

Did you think that you could point out the problems others have and misdirect God from what you were doing? Or maybe you figured God was such a nice guy He would let you off the hook? Man, did you miss the boat on that slap of reality. We need to remember that God is just and kind, by God is no pushover. God is teaching us, and at times that takes a firm hand to lead us to a totally, radically transformed life.

You may think you’re pulling a fast one, but you’re not getting away with anything. Every time you think you “cut a deal” with God, it is adding to your account. Someday, that account will need to be paid in full and God will take what is His. Don’t forget, in the end God will take what is His. The choice is this -- real life, found in the one true and real God, or bankruptcy found in the god of your culture. You choose.

If you play in traffic, you are going to get smacked by a truck. It doesn’t matter who your mommy or daddy is; it doesn’t matter how much better you think you are; it doesn’t matter what school you attended -- stupid actions have consequences. When you embrace the way God does things, life is so much easier. You see, it doesn’t matter to God who you are, where you’re from, or how long you’ve been a follower. Being a Christian won’t give you a free ride. Just because you’re Christian doesn’t mean God gives you a “stamp of approval” to walk away from His path. God doesn’t care what others say or think about you and your righteousness -- God determines for Himself.

Don’t get me wrong; if you sin and you don’t know you’re sinning, God will take that into account. But if you sin knowing you’re sinning, God will take that into account also. Merely hearing God's law is a waste of your time if you don't do what He commands. Doing, not hearing, is what makes the difference with God.

When those who do not claim to follow the teaching of God walk in His way by instinct, they prove God is real. These people show that God’s grace is not something strange or impossible to follow, but is truth at every level of life, found coded in our DNA. It is something deep inside each and every one of us, a core DNA that mirrors God’s love and grace, yes and no, right and wrong. They will know it more clearly when God acknowledges them for doing His will. The truth of Jesus Christ is found to uphold all these differences, and to guide us in our walk.

Just because your mommy and daddy brought you up in a Christian way, don’t think for a second you can just kick back on your religion and take life easy, feeling smug over everyone else because you think you have an inside track to God’s truth; an expert on the best things of God, informed on the latest, greatest doctrine; because you read the latest authors!  Ok, here it is for all of you who think you got the inside track watch out.  Just because you think you know God’s scriptures inside and out, and you feel qualified to help others get their lives set in God’s way and help them deal with confused emotions; while you’re going this for others, who is doing this for you? No, I’m very, very serious. While standing and preaching, “Don’t steal!” are you in turn robbing others blind? After all, who would ever suspect a good little Christian like you? The same can be said about some other things, like adultery and idolatry. The reality is this; you can do and say almost anything you want, as long as you hide it with twisted and fancy talk concerning God, His grace and your inside tracks on the whole deal. The old line the prophet Isaiah gave us, “It’s because of the acts of the Christians that those outside are so down on God,” shows us a real problem that isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

Then there is baptism, the water ritual that marks you, as a follower of Christ, is wonderful – but you still have to live in accordance with God’s grace. Because if you don’t, if you chose to be baptized and follow and you don’t, it’s worse than not being baptized at all. The reverse can also be very true: if you are one of those unbaptized who happens to keep God’s ways then, you are just as good as the baptized -- in fact, I would say better. If you remember anything I write, remember this, it is so much better to keep God’s grace unbaptized than it is to break it baptized. Can’t you see: It’s not the dip in the water, no matter how long, how deep or how often, that makes you a Christian. You become a Christian by who you are inside, a changed life, a desire to follow the teaching of Jesus. It’s that mark of God on you, not how deep the water is that makes a person a Christian. Here’s an added bonus, recognition of your walk comes from God, not from legalistic rituals, or others who claim to know better.

Romans 3

So, I guess the questions become, does it matter who is and who is not a Christian, who has, and has not had all the training in the way of God?  Well, it seems it matters a lot, but not the way so many people think it should matter.

First things first, there’s this little matter of caring for and writing down God’s revelations, His Holy Scriptures.  OK, so what if in the course of keep track of it all a few Christians abandon their post?  God did not abandon them, did He?  Do you think for one second that their faithlessness causes God to walk away from His faithfulness?  If you do, you need to get a grip.  Count on this as absolute fact, God will always keep His word, even when everyone around you is lying through their teeth, God will remain with you.  Remember it was written long ago in the Psalms:

“Your words stand fast and true”

“Rejection doesn’t faze you”

OK, so someone else could ask, if when we do wrong it only underlines and confirms God’s right doings, shouldn’t we just be complemented for helping God out?  In other words, since our “bad actions and words” can’t put even the slightest dent in His good actions and words, isn’t it just wrong for God to back us into a corner and hold us to a particular standard?  Believe it or not, these questions come up.  But the answer to them is “no way.”  In fact, it’s a big “in your face and get a life” no way.  Think of it this way, how can we know how to walk and where to walk if we did not have the hand of God to guide us?  It’s just wacky to say, “if my lies show off God’s truth in a greater light, why blame me?  I’m doing God a favor.”  Some people are even trying to say that this is what we are teaching, and all we have to say to that is, “NOT.”  They are claiming that we are teaching, “the more evil we do, the more good God does, so let’s just do it.”  All we can say to that is it is one big fat lie, and I hope you will agree that it is a lie.

So then, where does that put us?  Do Christians get a better break then others simply because we are Christian?  No, not really.  You see, all of us start out in identical conditions; that is to say we all start out as sinners.  The teachings of the Psalmist, Moses and Isaiah leaves no doubt about that fact:

“No one lives right, no one, nobody who can keep the score for God.

Everyone takes a wrong turn, everyone has wondered down dark alleys.

I can’t find a single person who is living right

From their mouths come lies and gossip

Every word that comes from their mouths drip with poison.

When they speak, all that comes out is foul odor.

They seem to be trying to out do each other with their sins.

They abuse each other, emotionally and physically

They have no idea what it means to live in community

They don’t turn to God for his love and grace.

Seems to make it clear, right?  You see, when we read scriptures we think God is speaking to others, but in reality God is speaking to us.  God is speaking directly to you and me, the people the Scriptures were written for to start with.  Let’s be honest with ourselves, we know clearly that we are sinners; each and every one of us is a sinner.  We are all in the same sinking boat.  So you see, our connection to Gods revelation doesn’t put us right with God.  What it does for us is it forces us to face our complicity in everyone else’s sin.

Now, here’s the cool part; in our world, God has added something wonderful.  What all those who came before us, Moses and the other prophets, told us would happened, happened.  When we read about God wanting to set things right with us, we know it means that Jesus had done just that – set things right between us and God.  The very cool thing is that it is not just us, but everyone who believes in Jesus.  Keep in mind, there is no difference between others and us in this matter.  Because we were unable to live the wonderful life God had planned for us without sinning and messing it up, God did it for us.  Out of His love for us He put us in good standing with Himself; totally free from charge.  God got us out of the mess we got ourselves into with God and He restored us to where He always wanted us to be, and He did it through Jesus the Christ.

God sacrificed Jesus, a willing sacrifice, on the altar or humanity, to save humanity for all their sins.  Having faith in Jesus sets us in that saving grace.  What’s totally radical about it all is God did it for all to see.  God chose to save all humanity by the willing sacrifice of Jesus.  Jesus took the all the sins of humanity and endured the pain for us.  This saving grace is not only yesterday – it is now, right here, right now, this very moment as you are reading this.  God set this on the right path for us all.

So, the question becomes, where does that leave those prideful Christian insider claims and counterclaims?  Gone, yes totally and completely gone.  So you see, what we have learned is this:  it is not that God responds to us, it is that we must respond to God.  It took forever, but we finally figured it out; we live best with ourselves, and others, when we live in step with God.  We miss it all when we try to control the pace and push God out of the picture. 

Now, where does that leave our prideful Christian claims of having a “corner” on God?  Out the window:  God is the God of everyone, Christian and non-Christian alike, how can it be any other way, there is only one God!  God welcomes everyone into His family, and He saves everyone who seeks His forgiveness.  This is true for all of humanity, those who know of God’s ways and those who do not know of God’s ways.

By shifting the focus from what we do, to what God does, aren’t we getting rid of all our careful keeping of the rules and God’s commands?  Not in the least.  In reality when we place our life in the proper place and walk, we actually confirm that way of life.

Romans 4

So, the question then becomes, ‘how do we fit Abraham (the first to follow God) into this new way of looking at life?’  I mean, if it’s all about Abraham and what he “did” for God that got him on the in with God, then we can give all the credit to Abraham for being a “good little follower.”  But if we did that, we would miss the whole idea behind the story.  You see, if we place it on Abraham, it’s a Abraham-story – but this is a God-story, and not an Abraham-story.  Moses himself tells us this in Genesis, “Abraham did ‘what God was doing for him’ and that was the point where it all changed.  He trusted God 100% to get him on the right path, because he knew he could never do it himself.”

It’s like if you spend your whole day working hard and doing a good job, you should get a paycheck; no one in their right mind would say, “your check is a gift” – you earned it.  But, if you look at the job and realize that there is no possible way you could ever do it, no matter how hard you try.  You realize, it’s a “God job,” so you trust that God will do the job.  Well, that trust, that trusting God to do the job is what sets you right with God – it is a gift from God to you – a pure gift.

In the Psalms, David backs that up.  He is saying that if you can trust God 100% to help you in life, and not try to control the outcome – then you are a wise person.

“You are one fortunate person knowing that your sins and crimes are carried off and wiped clean.  You are one fortunate person knowing that God is not keeping score.”

Here’s something for you to think about, do you think – even for a second – that this great blessing of God is only for those who think themselves “religious” and “baptized?”  Think of it this way, is it possible that God intended this blessing for people who never even heard of God, His ways or ever stepped foot in one of His churches?  I think we would all agree that it was Abraham’s welcoming what God did for him that made him fit to be before God.

Think of it this way, did God welcome and accept Abraham before or after all the “legal” stuff was done?  If you said before – you would be right on the money.  This is important, because it puts relationship before requirements.  Meaning?  That God was working in his life long before he did anything for God – God embraced him, long before he was required to do anything. 

This means that Abraham is an example of faith for all people who are looking to embrace what God is doing in the lives of people inside and outside the church – even those who are not baptized.  You see, it is these people – the lost and hurting – that God is seeking and who Abraham is an example for and he is an example for those who have been baptized as well.  Think about it again, God embraced Abraham long before he underwent any ritual.

The promise God made to Abraham, you know the one Moses told us about – that he and his children would hold the earth – was not given because of what he did or was going to do.  It was given because God wanted to bless Abraham, and Abraham believed 100% that God would live up to the promise made – complete trust in God.  If we think, even for a second, that God will bless and give to only those who ‘fill in the form completely’ signed and dated - those who follow every letter of the law – as if God were some cheap lawyer drawing up a contract with hidden clauses and supper fine print.  When that happens, we remove personal trust and create an ironclad contract – and if that is the case there is no promise, it’s just a cheap business deal.  Fine print, legalize, and punishments – that could never be defined as a ‘promise.’  God does not need to, nor did God intend to create a contract.  God simply gave us a promise – and that’s that.  You see, a promise from God is unbreakable, and no contract is required.

This leads to a very interesting fact in our relationship with God – trust.  We must trust that God will fulfill God’s promise – we need to trust and embrace God and know that God’s promise is a pure gift, with no strings attached.  Seeing God’s promise for what it is, a gift, is the only way we can be assured that everyone – everyone, those who hold to traditions and those who never heard of them – knows they are part of the promise.  When Moses tells us that God called Abraham “father of all” it is not a racial thing – it’s a faith thing.  If we think it is a racial thing we are seeing things in the wrong light.

Abraham was no saint – and God selected him, not because he was a saint, but because God could make something out of Abraham that no one else could ever dream of.  Isn’t that what Moses tells us in Genesis when he writes what God told Abraham, “I will make you the father of many people.”?  See the flow?  Abraham was FIRST called ‘father,’ THEN he became ‘father.’  Simply by God’s word did God make something out of nothing, all because he trusted God for God’s promise!  Raise the dead?  No problem.  Make something, from nothing?  Again, no problem.  When everyone else had doubts, Abraham stood fast and trusted God.  Think of this, Abraham lived life not based on what he could not do, but on what God would do for him.  Moses relates in his story in Genesis that because of this, his trust, God told Abraham, “You will have a huge family.” 

Abraham did focus on all his “problems” and say, “Oh hopeless me.  There is no way this old, very old (100 plus years), body will ever father children.  There is no way that my old, very old, and infertile wife could ever have children.  I think I will give-up.”  No way, he trusted God’s promise.  In fact, he jumped head on into the promise and took it by the horns; he had no time for hypothetical “what ifs.”  By doing so, he came up strong and ready to move forward knowing and trusting that God was good for the promises made.  That’s why Moses in Genesis says; “Abraham was cool with God because he knew God would set him right.”  Guess what?  It’s not just Abraham that lives by the promises of God – we can also.  We can have the same stuff told about us when we accept and embrace and believe the God who gave life to Jesus when all was hopeless.  What Jesus did for us, sacrifice himself, set us right with God – and that’s a good thing.

Romans 5

By walking into a faith with God, something he always wanted to do for us – get right with him on all levels – basically, we have it all with God because of what Jesus did for us – wait, that’s no all, there’s more:  get ready for this, as we kicked open the door to God, at that very moment – not a second after – we found that God had already opened his door to us.  All of a sudden, we found that we were standing right where we always wanted to be standing, in the middle of God’s love and grace, singing his praise from the top of our lungs.

Yea, but there is more to come; we actually continue to shout and sing praise, even when we are stuck between a rock and a hard place and life is feeding us garbage – because we know that God is with us and that fire can temper iron and make it harder.  Troubles help develop a deep passion for change and a deep understanding of patients.  Our tempered nature develops a solid place for virtue to set and grow, which keeps us awake for what God will do next – meaning we never feel left out of God plan; we know God would never short change us in live.  In fact, there is no way we could get enough big baggies to catch all the blessings God is giving to us; life poured out in great qualities with the Holy Spirit as the one pouring.

It is so cool to know that Christ arrived right in time to make all this happen.  You see, we have to remember that he didn’t wait for us to get ready, which would never happen.  Jesus stood ready to give his life for us when we were not even close to being ready; we were too weak and rebellious to understand what was happening.  Besides, even if we were not weak and rebellious, we would have no idea what was happening anyway.  You see, we can see a person dying for a person who is worthy, but to die for us – people not worthy – that’s hard to understand.  Because of this we have been set right with God, now we are no longer at odds with God – we can count on the sacrifice of Jesus for us.  Think about this, this is just too cool – if, and get this, if we at our worse and God gave his Son for us, now that we are in a deep relationship with God, he has expanded our lives and offers to us everything we could ever need.  Now that we walk in a relationship with God we are no longer satisfied to just “live life.”  Now we desire to live life to the fullest, shouting and singing praise with great joy.

Ok, you might know the story of Adam in Genesis and how he got us in a mess with God?  It’s death, sin and destruction and not a single person exempt from the actions of Adam.  It was because of Adam’s actions that sin came between God and us.  Yet, the extent of this “relationship disturbance” was not truly understood until God shared it all with Moses in Pentateuch (first five books of the Jewish Scriptures).  So, this huge abyss, this cavern between God and us filled the lives of all people between Adam and Moses.  Even people, who did not sin in a “precise” way like Adam, did by disobeying a command that God had given – and this cause a separation between God and us.  But God is just so cool, just as Adam cause this mess, Adam also pointed to the way we would be save and placed back into a relationship with God.

Think of this, and you will be amazed at God’s love for us; one persons actions placed us in a separation relationship with God; causing the abyss that we strived to fill.  Then God’s wondrous gift in Jesus Christ got it right!  To see them as equal – the sin and death gift of Adam and the life and love gift of Jesus – is crazy.  If one persons actions cause that much sin, and for that long of a time; imagine how wonderful the gift of salvation is when we see that God’s own son gave his life for us to break the bondage of sin.

All right, this is as simple as I can put it, ready?  One person messed up and did mega-wrong and got us all caught in sin and death, then another person did mega-right and got us out of all the garbage; but even more – besides getting us out of the garbage, he got us into life.  One person said “no” to what God wanted and got other messed up, and one said “yes” and fixed it all.

In fact, it’s all Christ.  All the laws passed did nothing except create lawbreakers.  We need to remember that no sin can ever outdo or overpower the greatness of God’s love and grace.  In the battle between sin and grace, grace wins hands down.  All sin can ever do is threaten us with death, nothing more.  But, because of the love and power of Christ over sin, grace lives and abounds in the world in massive ways – it’s never ending and always around.