The Notes are Good

Have you ever stopped to really think about this whole idea of intercession?  Most of us read it or hear it and just pass by it.  But, let’s camp out for a minute and think about this.

We know that God the Father loves us and works all things for the good of His people who love Him.  We know that He knows all things and He had a plan to bring us to glory before we ever existed.  He is unchanging, Sovereign and all powerful.

We also know that 2 other parts of the Trinity are “interceding for us”, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Whenever we pray in Jesus’ name, He intercedes for us to the Father.  The Holy Spirit does it at a spiritual and emotional level as well in accordance with God’s will.

But why and how are they interceding?  The word has a few levels of meaning.  It can mean someone in between, not so much in a blocking sense, but more like an amplifier.  It can mean to “fall in with” a person as soldiers falling in line with each other to form a company or even like Jesus did after his resurrection with the travelers on the road to Emmaus.  A third meaning is to formally petition like an attorney or representative would take desires and form them into a document to present to the court.  The fourth meaning is to pray for and entreat (ask someone earnestly or anxiously to do something).

When we speak of Jesus and the Holy Spirit interceding for us, which is meant?  I think all of the above is the right answer.  They are not trying to coerce or convince God the Father, they are not trying to argue for Him to change His mind.  That would be a silly thought with an all-knowing and unchanging God.  It also would not be consistent with the shared power and authority of the Trinity.

No, I think the correct perspective is of 3 loving parents or grandparents.  They simply love to talk about us.  They love to discuss our lives and they do not lie, but they see the best in us and for us.  They formalize plans together (although the plans have existed for all eternity) and they care and pay attention to everything we want and need even when we don’t know we want or need it.

But, wait, there is more.  The word used in verse 26 when talking about the Holy Spirit interceding is a Greek word found no where else in the bible.  It isn’t just entygchanō, intercession.  No, in this one reference it is hyperentygchanō.  The Holy Spirit doesn’t just intercede for us.  He Hyper-Intercedes.  He intercedes on steroids.

The next time you are feeling down, or bad, or lonely, or hurting or unloved, pop this verse into your mind.  Up in Heaven the Holy Spirit is cheering for you.  The Holy Spirit is shouting your name from the mountaintops of heaven for all to hear because you are a child of the most high God.  The Holy Spirit is bragging to the angels and saints about how much you are loved and cherished, how you are made in the image of God and how one day you will be clothed in the garments of righteousness and join the multitudes in singing God’s praise.  You are family.

My Answers:

11.
R: In our weakness, interceding for our prayers in accordance with the will of God
L: Teaching from the H/S
A: Power to be witnesses
A: Direction and calling – being compelled by the Spirit
E: Unity of the Spirit, the bond of peace – to be one body of Christ (the church)
E: The sword of the Spirit = the word of God
1C: Understanding from the Spirit of God

12.
a.
The Spirit is God and always does the will of God and is accord with the will of God. He intercedes for God’s people so that God’s will for His people is done. He does and provides, through grace, what they are incapable of doing on their own: knowing God’s will

b.
My wife, my kids
My wife, kids, BSF kids, co-workers, pastors, customers, business owners, friends, neighbors, etc.

Are we there, yet?  How much longer until we can cut the cake?  How many days of school are left?

Waiting is hard, especially for something really great and fun.  Years ago there was a ketchup commercial with a song that played in the background about “anticipation.”

It is hard.  Our hearts and body and mind yearn for the big event, the time to come.  We fuss, we fidget, we are distracted, we groan.

Romans 8 tells us that we are not alone.  All of creation is groaning in anticipation of Christ’s return to, once again, set everything right.  The wickedness all around us is like a gloomy day to someone who has tickets for a tropical vacation.  The noise of the bitterness in this world is like the sound of a beginner band to a music teacher with tickets to the Philharmonic.  We want to get past this and to what is to come.  We savor it and yearn for it.

Hoping isn’t wishing.  Hoping is anticipation of the big day and big event.  We are a bride with a destination wedding.  We are an astronaut awaiting launch.  We are the children of God.

My Answers:

9.
Christians groan – eagerly awaiting adoption to sonship and redeemed bodies, whole of creation groans in anticipation of renewal, The H/S intercedes for us through wordless groans

10.
a.
eternal life, adoption, redeemed bodies, the coming of the Lord to reign and to put all under his feet. We wait eagerly, hopefully, with faith

b.
See 10.a. It is the glory of God and the completed work of restoration

We don’t give enough credit and thought to God’s creation.  We think of rocks as just rocks and dirt as dirt, grass, birds, plants, sheep, ants, worms, they are all just things.  But over and over again the bible paints a different story.  When Cain killed Abel, his dead brothers blood cried out to God from the ground.  In Leviticus 18, God warns the people against defiling the land as the Canaanites did, lest “it vomit you out.”  On Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, when the Pharisee’s told Jesus to chastise the crowds for calling out to Him, Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, Jesus told them, “if the people keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

Clearly we are quick to dismiss and under value something that we don’t understand.  But, just as clearly, there is much more going on than we give credit.

In Revelation we are foretold about the destruction that is wrought upon the world, the plants, even the sky and stars, because of the corruption of sin on God’s creation.  We see the way we contaminate and pollute, but this is more and deeper, this is a permeation by sin itself into the very substance of this world and all around us.

Should we then be surprised that God creation yearns to be liberated from our sin?  Should we be dismissive when we realize that we truly are, at time, dumber than dirt – especially when it comes to desiring a close relationship with God?

My Answers:

6.
All things in the physical realm

7.
not give up its fruit, hard labor, rocks cry out, decay, death. All was brought on by sin. Revelation says large portions will be destroyed because of sin.

8.
The beast will be defeated and thrown into a lake of fire and the world will be set free from the effects of sin. A new heaven and new earth will come and those in Christ will rise with new bodies to ever lasting life.
What we see is temporary but was is to come is eternal

The passages we looked up in today’s lesson regarding Paul reminded me of a story I once read about Dwight Moody.  Moody was a preacher in the late 1800s.  When he turned 55 it was detected by his Doctor that he had a heart condition and recommended that he take things easy to prolong his life.  Shortly after the diagnosis and pledge of a slower pace, he, along with his son, boarded the Spree to cross from England to New York.  However, several days into the voyage the Spree had one of the steam engines seize throwing a shaft all the way through the hull of the ship.  While the crew worked to stem the flow of water into the ship, it flooded the rear compartments, making it unable to navigate and floating severely off course to the north in very rough waters.  The boat began to list heavily and it was beginning to sink when Moody organized the passengers, huddled together, into a prayer service.  One crew member, moved by the renewed hope and confidence of the prayers, left the service and brightened the signal fires in all the burning lamps on deck.  Several hours later, the USS Lake Huron, noticed what appeared to be a boat on fire far in the distance to the north.  The Christian captain, steamed over 2 ½ hours off course to reach the vessel and, when the waves were too mighty to even through a rope aboard during the night, waiting alongside until morning.  Daybreak brought clear seas and the captain of the Huron secured a tow rope and proceeded to tow the vessel back to Ireland, praying for calm seas and that his own coal supply would hold for the journey.  The boats arrived back at port and docked with only 15 minutes worth of coal left for the steam engines.

Moody indicated the experience taught him, no matter how much time we have left, life is too short to “take it easy.”  It is said the last 7 years of his life, starting after the shipwreck, were the most productive in terms of bringing believers to the gospel.  Attendance in his events were not measured in people but in the acres the people covered to hear him preach.

Moody said, we are in a sinking boat that is called life, we will all drown with no power of our own and engulfed in sin.  The only alternative is to accept the invitation of Christ through the lifesaver of faith to be in His boat called righteousness.

Suffering is not something God leads us in to.  It is just the reality of our situation of our life of this world.  If we aren’t bobbing up for air, we have already given up to sin and are drowning.  But accepting the merciful hand of our savior – there is no greater glory than His sure and sound vessel – and no greater destination than His home.

My Answers:

3.
imprisoned, flogged, 5 x 39 lashes, 3 x rods, stoned and left for dead, 3 x shipwrecked, night and day in open sea, danger from rivers, bandits, Jews, Gentiles, city, country, false believers, gone without sleep, food, water, cold, naked, concern for the church. Yet, pressed in but not crushed, struck down but not destroyed, persecuted but not abandoned.. in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love

4.
a.
Magnificent, highly renowned, brightness, splendor, magnificence, majesty

b.
2 Cor: being transformed into his image and ever-increasing glory which come from Lord
Phil: …will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body
Col: glorious riches of mystery: Christ in you, the hope of glory
2 Thes: chosen as 1st fruits to be saved through sanctifying work of H/S called to share in glory
Heb: Christ, pioneer of our salvation is perfect through suffering to bring many sons to glory

5.
suffering is temporary, glory is eternal. Suffering unites us with Christ who suffered and died for our sins. Suffering is from man but glory is from God. Suffering shows us we are on the path of greater glory like gold refined in fire

 

Not only did Jesus Christ come to this world to save us, but He also came to open the door to a new relationship with us.  It is actually a very old relationship, but one that we elected to break in the garden of Eden.

When you look at the contact between God and man throughout the rest of the old testament it is, well, a bit terrifying.  God shows up in fire, in smoke, in a hurricane in storms in ways that time and again cause people to fall to their face in the dirt out of wonder and awe and fear of His majesty.

God hasn’t changed, there isn’t a God of the Old Testament that is a different God than the New Testament.  God is God, unchanging.  But Jesus changed everything about us.  We now can be priests and saints.  We are not outsiders but invited members into the inner courts of our King.  We are family not enemies.

Through not only His act but the reason for His act, our relationship with God changed for all time for all who believe.

We have the ability, the invitation, to return in to a right and good relationship with God.  The same relationship that the Trinity enjoys with itself.  We don’t compete with God or try to be “like God”, we, instead live for all eternity in complete community and communion with Him.

The Holy Spirit’s presence in believers is not just a metaphor, it is the intimacy of the relationship that we now have with God.

My Answers:

11.
Conformed to the image of Christ:
Sonship, ability to call the Almighty God, Abba Father. Testimony of this fact by the Holy Spirit. Heirs of God and co-Heirs with Christ. Share in His suffering and also share in His glory.

12.
God knows us, knows what we want and need (will even pray for us when we do not have the words), worthy to God, loving discipline for development and growth and for our good. We are being transformed, even now, into a holy nature like Jesus Christ, being purified.

13.
It should amaze us and humble us. It should also recognize this isn’t just Good News, but amazing news. We have been saved and elevated beyond anything we can imagin.

As a child of God we have entered everlasting life as a member of the family of the King of Kings.

Isaiah 25:6 prophecies the banquet on God’s holy mountain and Jesus discusses how we will sit at the table with the patriarchs of old.  Whether we eat or drink to nourish our heavenly bodies, I do not know, but I know that Jesus also used food as an analogy for the nourishment that comes from God.  After working with the Samaritan woman at the well Jesus commented, “my food is to do the will of Him who sent me.”

I bring all of this up to point out that we need no longer eat scraps from dumpsters and trashcans.  We are now the adopted children of the King.  Why would we partake of rotten food and trash?  We wouldn’t.

In the same way, Paul calls us in our verses today to get rid of the other trash that we have consumed in the past and that we may have stored up in our lives.  Get rid of the misdeeds of the body.  He doesn’t say to kill them as one would kill an animal in hunting to provide food, instead, he uses the same terminology of putting them to death as one who is convicted of a capital offense and sits on death’s row in prison awaiting execution.

This is not a loss to us.  Do you eat rotten food?  Do you drink spoiled and rotting milk?  Of course not.  You through it away and have no desire for it.  It does not nourish or help you it only brings harm.  The same can be said of our sin nature and misdeeds.

Do not get confused in our questions in this section of Romans.  We are not discussing sacrificial works giving in.

My Answers:

9.
To be a child of God, to be unknown to the world because I no longer adhere to the desires of the world (or am growing out of them to a higher calling). to know Christ to become Holy and seek more light. To shine that light to others.

10.
a.
By serving, by loving others and being obedient to God. Walk by the Spirit (be a spirit with a body instead of the other way). Bear fruit. Cloth yourself in compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. forgive one another. Let the peace of Christ rule

b.
it isn’t manage sin or resist sin or tolerate sin, it is put it to death in us. We can be a witness when our words and actions match. Actions speak louder than words, but they both should carry the same message. Let others know we are Christians by our love.

Robert Redenmeyer once wrote in regard to giving, “There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving and thanksgiving.  Grudge giving says, ‘I have to’; duty giving says, ‘I ought to’; thanksgiving says, ‘I want to.’”

As we looked at the contrasts by those living by the flesh and those living by the spirit Redenmeyer’s words came to mind.  Someone living by the flesh is not excluded from living what others would view as a good life.  They may donate time and money to charitable causes.  They may help those in need.  They may be pillars of the community, servants, judges and others held in high respect and regard.  In the same way, Christians are not those who are perfect, they are simply those who are saved.  To outward appearance we often do not look decidedly different, unfortunately, than others.  We yield to temptations.  Our eyes stray.  The words that come from our mouth do not always bring glory and praise.

But God’s focus and training is not solely on outward appearances it is first and foremost on the mindset.  What is in your heart?  Do you work for My glory or for your own?

Paul teaches us that such a mindset is not native to mankind.  Our flesh desires to serve itself.  But the spirit of God calls us to thanksgiving.  We no longer need to cling to things for hopes of remaining afloat and alive.  We are secure in our salvation and one with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, working and shaping us to a life of holiness.

My Answers:

6.
Those who live according to the flesh, set on desires of the flesh, death, hostile to God, does not submit to God’s law, cannot please God
Those who live in accordance with the Spirit, set on what the Spirit desires, life and peace, submit to God – Belong to Jesus!

7.
It bears fruit for God, We use the gift of the Spirit that is brought to us for God’s glory, focus is on eternity not the worries of this world. It does not mean we are immune, but have a different focal point and direction.

8.
In the realm of the Spirit, Belong to Christ, Spirit gives life because of righteousness, God gives life, Jesus gives life
I am not dead but alive. By an amazing act of our Lord and by His invitation and grace even I am set free and adopted to Him.

Paul left us at the end of chapter 7 and with the discussions leading up to it divided.  I do not do what I want to do and do that which I don’t want to do.  I acknowledge and accept Jesus as my master, but my flesh still feels as if I’m churning on the side of sin.  But, I am saved.  I am redeemed by Jesus Christ.  I am not perfect or holy or righteous on my own, but I am also not the one I was before being saved.  So, what now?

And this is where Paul starts chapter 8.  “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  We are free.  We are safe.  If God is for us, who can stand against us?  If God declares us not guilty, who would have greater authority to overrule the verdict?

But, as with most things Paul has written, there is depth in this explanation and that depth tells us a lot about the character of God.  By this I mean, the real God, not the gods that men create or want God to be.

I’m reading a book by Timothy Keller called Hidden Christmas and he explains the reason for the Christmas, which is the reason for a savior to be born, in a way that supports Paul’s depth in our modern world views.  He writes, “Neither the god of moralism nor the god of relativism would have bothered with Christmas.  Moralism is essentially the idea that you can save yourself through your good works. And this makes Christmas unnecessary. Why would God need to become human in order to live and die in our place if we can fulfill the requirements of righteousness ourselves? Relativism is essentially the idea that no one is really “lost,” that everyone should live by their own lights and determine right and wrong for themselves. The “all-accepting god of love” many modern people believe in would never have bothered with the incarnation. Such a god would have found it completely unnecessary.”

As Paul states it, “the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us.”  This comes not by us but by the work of Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, coming in to us and fulfilling the requirement for us that we cannot fulfill. God is just and God is compassionate.

My Answers:

3.
a.
We are saved by faith not works, we are dead to sin and having been made so, through grace and faith we are alive in Christ Jesus, the law is fulfilled and no longer the measure of our righteousness. NOW, there is no condemnation. We are declared righteous not because of our works or adherence to the law but because of the work of Christ and His fulfillment of the law

b.
Free from sin and joyfully indebted to my savior. I’m humbled that the one who by a single word created all there is and that He would want a relationship with me. To seek God not as an advisor by as my savior and Lord.

4.
The Father God sent His own Son to be a sin offering because He is just. The Spirit lives in us and we live in the Spirit not as slaves to our flesh. Christ Jesus is the giver, the one who saves.

5.
The requirement is still present (God is Just), but paid by Jesus through His sacrifice and conquering of death and ascension to heaven. We have righteousness fulfilled through the seal of the Holy Spirit marking that we are in Christ and Christ is in us in Spirit, Word and Power

The key repeated word in our lesson today is distress.  Synonyms to distress are anguish, torment, pain, suffering.  Distress is not the same as fear or anxiety, it is not doubt or uncertainty, but it is physically and mentally hurting.  Another synonym is heartache.

Why?  Why is Paul in such agony and pain?  What is it that is bringing this wise and well educate man anguish and distress?  In large part it is the confirmed realization that he is not in charge.  He is not the king of anything, the master of anything.  He does not even have control of his own actions and emotions.  He wants to do one thing and he does the opposite.  He wants to fill his thoughts with one thing and he is filled by the opposite.  He is utterly incompetent at controlling any ongoing dynamic of his spiritual life and has little control of his physical one as well.

The reason this matters is because, the thing that separates man from any other living creature is supposed to be reason and self-control.  We are not mere animals caving to every animalistic yearning.  But, Paul finds his own mastery lacking.  This is something we all find as well if we honestly assess our situations and power.

Which leads us to the fact that we cannot free ourselves from the bondage of slavery.  We do not have enough control to be right and pure.  We do not have the power to resist sin.  We don’t have the strength to stand up to temptation.  The waves of life crash over us and we are cast about like a ship without sail or anchor.  A shipwreck is eminent.

Who will save us?  Who will redeem us?

At the answer to this question Paul pivots the discussion he has carried us through in the past 7 chapters into a new direction and new realization.  We need a Lord of our life.  We need a Master who is in control.  We would prefer that Lord and Master be one who is compassionate and desires to help us and save us and grow us and not one who is set on our destruction.  In either case, the fact is we do not have the power or ability to be the master ourselves.  Our master is another, it is either the author of salvation of the speaker of lies, the source of light to the world or the purveyor of darkness.

Paul expresses his choice in whom he gives thanks.  “I give thanks to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  In that sentence, he acknowledges and gives thanks that Jesus is his Lord because Paul knows that Paul himself is not Lord of anything.

But, like anyone who has spent time in rough seas, the fact that he has been rescued and now stands on solid ground has not stopped the sea sickness raging in his body and continuing to feel the churning of the waves in his head.  His equilibrium is still off.  He is unbalanced.  His senses and desires are not yet acclimated to this new reality because they carry the remnants of the prior situation.

I know with my head and heart that I belong to Jesus and He is my Lord and Master, but there is also a part of me that is still churning in the rough waters and tempted to grab ahold of all the wrong things to rely upon other than God.

I’m looking forward to how Paul continues this dialogue into the next chapter.

My Answers:

11.
He has looked in the mirror after witnessing and seeing Christ and sees more clearly the presence of unmitigated sin in his life. This happens each time one of the prophets came into the presence of God. We see our unclean lips, our wicked tongues, our stiff-necks and our sin.

12.
a.
God delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.

b.
There is no other deliverer than Jesus. We cannot save ourselves.

13.
I felt overwhelmed with family struggles last week, heavy weight on shoulders and inability to do anything to affect change and lasting improvement. Prayer brought peace. Nothing changed, but I no longer felt in charge.

Following on my masonry analogy related to the law as a plumb and level from yesterday’s lesson, I thought I would stay with building projects today.

In every building project there is some scrap.  There are raw goods and materials that get thrown away.  A board is cut down and the remainder is unusable.  Concrete is mixed in excess of what needs to be poured.  Nails are bent, metal is bent and cut, glass is cut to size or broken.

One of the roles of a builder is to minimize excess waste.  It is not to eliminate it all together, because that would simply create wastes in other areas, but scrap thrown away has a cost and efficiency is good stewardship.

The gift we are given of being alive can and is also divided into building blocks which we call moments of time.  We all will have a fixed amount of time between birth and death.  It will be different for each of us, but we can’t purchase more at the end of our days.

My answer to the question of what do you do that you don’t want to do is that I waste time.  I’m not talking about the time spent sleeping or doing things that enhance or strengthen my body.  Some of that time may be considered scrap to my mission in living, but it is scrap that was built in to the budget, calculations and expectations.  Instead, I’m talking about the time spent sinning.

My revelation in this study is that time spent sinning is time that is dead in God’s eyes.  As one who is saved by Jesus Christ, it is not held against me as if I was still being measured against the law trying to earn righteousness.  However, it is also not counted for me, either.  One way of thinking of it is that out of the 60 or 80 or 100 years of my life, only 40 or 20 or 10 may show up in materials that actually end up in the building project I have been given, the rest is in the scrap pile hauled off to be burned away.

What building project am I working on?  It is the same mission we are all given as Christians, to reflect the light of Christ into the world, to make disciples and to share the good news, to serve and support and to be salt and light.  The reward for a completed project is a bigger project and the desired words from our foreman, “well done, good and faithful servant”.

My Answers:

8.
Sin is a noun and represents the infection that permeates our physical selves. I am, by nature, sinful and unclean because I have inherited this status from the sin that is in the world and inherited to all mankind.
The law is from God. It is a foreshadowing of holiness and was only fulfilled by one man, Jesus Christ.
Paul is pointing out the obvious… although saved and born again, we still live in human bodies born of sin

9.
Welcome to the club. This is the defining, self evident, fact that works will not bring holiness. Being more and more devout does not reduce our temptation to sin, in fact it may magnify it because we move the bar to a higher standard by understanding more what it means to be fully dedicated to God.

10.
I waste time. I participate in idle thoughts and actions that do not refresh me in body or spirit and do not produce anything of value for anyone. I do not give enough or with enough joy to strangers. I do not see all people through the eyes of God. I’m greedy and covet things.