God Makes Sense

Word: Romans 4:13-15
It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.

Notes: We are not good because we obey the law. We try to obey the law because God has made us “good”. The law points out that we fall short of God’s standards. We do not obtain “goodness” by obeying for 1) we cannot be successful in fully obeying due to our sinful nature and 2) that is not the purpose of the law - to make us good. That is the purpose of grace.

I recently started something new in an effort to keep getting the great message of Christ to as many as possible in different ways. I got together with Rev. Dave Rodgers for what I call “Coffee Talk”. Coffee Talk is a time of informal discussion (sitting around with a cup of coffee) about matters of Christianity presented in a Podcast. You can listen directly to each edition of Coffee Talk here on the God Makes Sense website or you can download the Podcast and listen to it later on your favorite MP3 playing device.

The topic of the first edition of Coffee Talk is ‘Our Conscience - What’s it All About’

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Word: Romans 8:1-2
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life
set me free from the law of sin and death.

Notes: Through the sacrifice of Christ we are set free from the bondage, torment, guilt, and punishment of the law of sin and death.  It is the law of sin and death that drives us to actions and attitudes of disobedience (see Romans chapter 7).  This law of sin and death has been conquered by the sacrifice of Christ - but only if we accept it and surrender to it, is the victory realized in us.

We often struggle with the fact that people who seem to be able to produce so much good in their lives can also produce such bad. It makes us question all that we view as right about the world. It can even make us question God. After all, if God is the all-powerful creator , can’t He either a) make us in such a way that we cannot do such bad or b) keep us from doing it? Now I will address the second of those more thoroughly in another article. Suffice it to say for now that God can indeed ‘keep us’ from doing such bad but only as we allow Him.

The one who is able to do much good has equal ability to do much bad. It is precisely the ability to do such good that enables them to also do the bad. The one who is creative in his doing of good can use that same creativity toward the doing of good. It requires submission to the greater will of God to channel this ability toward good.

There are several terms we use as descriptors as if they are an absolute condition or state of being. Some of them are misleading insomuch that they seem to be on equal footing with their supposed counterpart.

Take for example the term dark, when used in reference to a room or the night around us. Dark is not a true measurement. There are no units of dark. There are only units of light. We measure light and use the term dark to describe the absence of light. Dark is solely a term of relevance, describing a condition where someone feels there is sufficient absence of light. Cold is another term like this. We measure units of heat and we say something is cold when it reaches some level of an absence of heat.

To refer to something as wrong is similar. When we refer to something as wrong we are describing it as being absent of or deviating from the condition of being right. Right is the standard. When we say something is wrong, we mean it does not or is not at the time, living up to the standard of being right. Whether we want to accept it or not we all have within our natures some level of understanding of an absolute standard of right. See my previous articles on God and intelligent people along with the article discussing other gods for more background. When we talk of something being wrong, or unfair, we are measuring it against this standard that originates with God.

Wrong is not an alternative means of doing something. It is the choice to deviate from the right way or the standard.