God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Observation
Having been made right with God, we have peace with Him because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us. He has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we can confdently look forward to sharing God’s glory.
When we were lost in sin, Christ came at the right time and died for sinners. We have been made right with God through the blood of Jesus.
Application
Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He didn’t wait until we were good enough.
Historically this is true for us. Christ died 2000 years ago, long before anyone now living was even born.
It is true also experientially. I know that Christ died for me long before I became a friend of God.
It is true that while I still hated God, He continued to love me. While I was still proudly atheistic and toying with Marxist philosophy, Jesus came into my life and washed me with His love. On one night in May 1976, I had a vision of Jesus that melted away every argument I had ever had against christianity. In that instant, I realised that I wasn’t fighting against a system of thought, but against a Person- and that Person loved me with an undying eternal love.
While I was fighting Him, Jesus was loving me. While I was denying Him, He was working in my life to bring me to a place of repentance.
How true it is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners. He never gives up on us.
Prayer
Thank you Jesus for dying for me wile I was still a sinner. Thank you for your great love for me and for all people. Amen.
Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger and in this, he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.
Observation
For Abraham, circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith, and that God had already accepted him. Abraham is therefore the spiritual father of all who have faith, regardless of whether they have been circumcised.
God’s promise is a gift and it is received by faith. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping, despite his great age.
Abraham grew stronger in his faith. He was convinced that God could keep His promise. This is for our benefit that we too will believe that trough Jesus Christ God makes us right with Himself.
Application
Paul tells us that Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. Yet we know that Abraham and Sarah did try to move things along with Hagar. Perhaps Abraham reasoned that this was God’s way of bringing the promise to fruition.
Regardless of this, it took a miracle to see the promise come to pass. Over the time before and after Isaac was born, Abraham trusted the Lord, growing in faith as he waited.
I have a few promises that I am waiting for God to fulfil. I can rationalise them or try to make them happen, but this always fails and, if anything, makes things worse.
The answer, I think, is to trust that God keeps His promises. Do not waver in trust and do not try to make it happen.
The other factor is prayer- lots of prayer. My prayer is life is not as sturdy or fervent as it needs to be. In order to see God’s promises fulfilled, I have to draw near to Him.
Prayer
Father, please help me to trust you for your promises to be delivered. Work in me Lord, so that I can devote my self to prayer. Amen.
People are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God, who forgives sinners.
Observation
In human terms, Abraham was the founder of the Jewish nation. He did not become acceptable to God by his good works but because he believed God.
When we work, our wages are not a gift. But forgiveness comes as God’s gift when we have faith in Him.
This blessing has nothing to do with being circumcised. Abraham was counted as righteous by God before he was circumcised.
Application
The heart of the christian faith is that we are freely forgiven by God through faith in Christ’s death for us on the cross.
We cannot earn God’s favour because the debt of our sin is too great. If God’s standard of behaviour is perfection, then even if I can live up to a perfect life from today, that doesn’t make up for my previous bad deeds.
It is like paying a debt to a so-called loan shark. No matter how much you pay back, the interest is always greater.
People think that God judges us by weighing up our good deeds against our bad deeds. But our good deeds can never be good enough to cancel out the bad ones.
Although we can frame the discussion in terms of good and bad deeds, or righteousness and sin, the truth is that God’s heart is about love. He doesn’t care about what you do for Him; He cares about whether you love Him.
When we approach God on this basis and ask Him to do away with the sins that separate us from Him, then He instantly takes away the guilt and shame of our sin.
Prayer
Lord, I have nothing to offer you, but I come with my life as a sacrifice. Please forgive me for the things that I have done wrong and help me t love you with all my heart, mind, soul and strength. Amen.
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:20. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au
Ephesians 2:20
… built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
The church, the household of God, is built upon the foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, but Jesus himself is the cornerstone.
If the foundation is the most important part of a building, in ancient times the cornerstone was the most vital part of the foundation. In a community where mass production of building materials is not possible, there is variation in every part. So the cornerstone was chosen to be the anchor point. It sets the direction for the whole building.
The cornerstone had to be straight, all its edges level, and its corners exactly at right angles. If it was not true then the building could not be constructed to the specifications. Worse still, the walls may lean outwards or inwards as construction proceeded.
If we use the analogy of a building to describe the community of faith called the church, then Jesus is the cornerstone for the building. All of our life depends on him- our lives together and as individuals. Our behaviour and our belief must reflect the person and the ministry of our Lord.
Any so-called church which deviates from the teachings of Jesus revealed in the scriptures ceases to be a church. This is true whether we’re talking about core issues such as judgement and salvation, or important but less spiritual issues such as sexuality.
IF we remove the cornerstone, that is Jesus, then the building collapses.
The church is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.
In one sense, this relates to the teachings of the Bible. The prophets refer to the Old Testament looking forward to the coming of Jesus the Messiah. The apostles refer to the New Testament in which the original apostles gave their testimony (in various forms) to the teaching and ministry of Jesus which culminated in his death on the cross .This opened the way to eternal salvation for all who put their trust in him.
The Bible, then, is the foundation for the church, the constitution on which the life and witness of the church is established. Just as the constitution of Australia describes how the nation is governed, the Bible describes how the church, the household of God, should order its life together.
Over recent decades there has been a re-discovery in the church of the ministry gifts of apostles and prophets. We are now in a time in which we have contemporaneous prophets and apostles, as was the case when Paul wrote this letter .
Space prohibits a full exploration of these ministries here, but a quick summary will help.
Apostles are men and women who are called by God and equipped by the Holy Spirit to provide covering and oversight of the church at a trans-local level. It is important to see that this is different to being appointed by an organisation. These apostles carry authority as a gift from the Holy Spirit, and other ministers willingly submit to their authority. This is not an institutional arrangement, but a spiritual ordering of ministry.
Many apostles see themselves as fathers to other people in ministry. This is a relational term, an analogy for the style of authority exercised. It is similar to the relationship that a father might have with an adult son.
Prophets are men and women who hear the voice of God in some detail. They are often described as the heart of God in the church , as they have the ability to discern God’s will in specific situations that are not always clearly spelt out in scriptures.
Often churches are planted by human organisations out of a strategy or corporate action plan with no apostolic authority or prophetic mandate. The church planters think a congregation of their brand might flourish in a town or city, so they start it, the same way that a fast food franchise might start.
If there is no prophetic or apostolic foundation for a congregation, then it will struggle because it is built on a foundation that is not Christ’s foundation.
They may preach great sermons, care for the poor, draw in thousands of people. But if the foundation is wrong the building will ultimately fail .
Those of us who called pastors and ministers in the church, together with all of Gods people, must make sure that anything we try to do carries the apostolic and prophetic mandate. It must be built on the right foundation.
Jesus must always be the cornerstone in all that we do.
Key points in this verse
The true church is built on a foundation laid by Jesus himself.
We must build with Jesus as the cornerstone.
Apostles and prophets, together with Jesus, form the foundation the church.
Any church which is built on a false foundation will fail
7 Children Share Their Favorite Bible Verses Right Now
When my daughter was growing up, the thing I wanted and prayed for most was that she would love the Lord and have a solid foundation in the truth. That’s a priority for Compassion-assisted kids, too. It warms my heart to see that these kids from Asia, Africa and Latin America have got that solid foundation based on God’s Word.
See (and hear) for yourself what some of their favorite Bible verses are — and how those words are encouraging them right now!
Ashly, 8, is from Guatemala. She draws strength from Psalm 23:1.
“‘God is my shepherd; I shall not want,’ is my favorite Bible verse,” says Ashly. “God will be with us during the hard times, he will give us peace and he will protect us because we are his children.”
David from Colombia, 8, made a poster of his favorite verse, Psalm 91:1, which says, “Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” What does that mean to him?
“This means that if we look for God, he will always protect us. I ask my Father God to protect all the families and sponsors of my child development center and around the world. May he keep them safe from this new virus. Amen.”
Faith like David’s surely warms the heart of God!
Here’s Nataly, 11, bravely showing the world her favorite Bible verse in front of her home in Colombia. In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, she quotes Psalm 143:1, “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications.” Her message to all of us:
“We can see here that King David had the need for his prayers to be heard. David was feeling alone, sad and worried. Many people have felt alone, sad and worried, but we have a God who listens to us. He listens to our prayers and pleas. Like the psalmist, I have also felt alone and sad, but I have prayed to the Lord and I have seen his power in my life. I motivate you to trust God and not to be afraid. Amen. God bless you!”
Kerren (on right), hugs her best friend, Jesika. This 11-year-old girl from Indonesia knows herself and has a sense of humor.
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“Proverbs 6:6 is my favorite verse: ‘Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!’ I like that it tells me not to be lazy and to be more diligent. Sometimes when my mom asks me to go get something that’s far away, I can be lazy,” she explains.
Can’t we all?!
Eighteen-year-old Amon learned one of his favorite verses this past January at his student center in Uganda. “The verse that encourages me is John 16:33: ‘I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world,’” he says. He’s nailed the application as well:
“If Jesus won the world and Jesus is in me, I will also be able to overcome the world,” he says confidently.
Mishel, a 12-year-old girl in Bolivia, was just 7 when she received her first Bible through her Compassion center. Scripture became her source of comfort in a very difficult time.
“Reading my Bible really encouraged me after my dad left my family. It helped me to deal with that painful moment and made me feel peaceful,” she explains. “My favorite verse is Philippians 3:14: ‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’”
Here’s a final treat. See if this doesn’t make your day! Marcos, a teenager in the Dominican Republic, proudly recites his favorite verse, James 1:27, in English. Yes, Marcus, you nailed it. Religion that our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.
That sentiment, that Bible verse, shows what Compassion is all about!
For everyone has sinned, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
Observation
We cannot keep the requirement of the law, but God has shown us the way to be made right apart from the law. We are made right through faith in Christ.
Everyone has sinned and falls short of God’s standard. Because Jesus has paid the price for our sins, God declares that we are righteous.
We cannot boast that we are acceptable to God because of anything we do. This is by faith not by our deeds. That does not mean that we can ignore the law because it is only when we have faith that we can truly fulfil the law.
Application
Everyone has sinned. This is the fundamental truth about human nature. We can justify ourselves and excuse our behaviour until the cows come home, but the truth remains that we are all sinners.
Because we are sinners, we fall short of God’s glory. We were created to reflect the nature of God. We are meant to be loving and holy, perfectly righteous in every way. Sin has taken the shine off that image which God planted in each one of us.
But the brilliantly good news from God is that He can fix that. Firstly, in Christ He sets aside our guilt. The power of sin to separate us form God is overcome by faith in Christ.
Then, when we have been reunited with God, the Holy Spirit sets about restoring in us the magnificence, the glory that we were created for. This is a life long process that equips us and trains us to be children of God.
Prayer
Father, I thank you for all you have done for me in Christ. Thank you for forgiving me and than you for changing me to be more like you. Amen
Here is my commentary on Ephesians 2:19. I am publishing these once or twice a week, but you can read all of the available articles at our web-site, http://www.new-life.org.au
Ephesians 2:19
“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people [saints] and members of God’s household.”
Because of Christ we are no longer foreigners and aliens.
Before we came to Christ, we were outside of the people of God. We had no access to God’s throne. We had no fellowship with God, because because we were not Jews.
Now we are no longer foreigners and aliens. We no longer stand outside of God’s family. We once were seen as outsiders or foreigners. We were the ones with the bad customs and bad habits- commonly called sin. We lived lives that were marked by sin, controlled by our old sinful nature, and were opposite in so many ways to those of the saints, the people dedicated to God.
Because of Christ’s death on the cross, we who were far off are now in the family of God.
We are now citizens in God’s Kingdom . A citizen is a person who has full membership, all the common rights and responsibilities of a nation. If you are a migrant to Australia, you can be removed at any time by the government. You have no rights to vote, limited access to Social Security and health cover.
But once you are a citizen, nobody can force you to leave. You belong! As citizens of God’s holy nation, we who were once non-citizens, aliens with no rights, are taken in and given all the rights of God’s people.
Nothing now can separate us from God and his people (Romans 8:25-39). We belong!
We are fellow-citizens. We are not just nameless people in an impersonal society. We belong to each other- to all the other citizens. Nobody is higher or lower. No one lives remote from the others. We are in this together, building God’s Kingdom, God’s household in a common enterprise directed by God.
The word translate as “God’s people” is really the word for saints. In Grteek the word is hagios the holy ones. Holy does not necessarily mean to be righteous or heavenly minded. To be holy is to be set apart for God’s purposes.
God’s people, then, are those who have responded to God’s call to repentance, but now, having been cleansed by the blood of Christ, are seet apart for God. We no longer live for ourselves, but for God who makes us holy.
So we have joined the citizenry of the holy people, we are saints. We need to see our daily lives as holy times, always on God’s mission. This applies at work, at home, at sport, wherever we are. We are people who are called for God’s purpose, and every minute belongs to him.
We are not just citizens of a kingdom but members of God’s household . We are no longer homeless street dwellers with no place to call home. We have been adopted into God’s household, God’s family.
In the society of the Roman Empire, a household consisted of every member of the extended family, including slaves and servants. They were considered to belong together, and were in fact the units of society. Each household was ruled over by a patriarch whose job was to lead the family and to protect it.
A person’s standing in the culture was determined by the household they belonged to. If a household was shamed, every member bore the shame. Likewise, if the household was honoured, the standing of every member rose .
Now we are in God’s household. He is our patriarch- our leader and our protector. He is the one with the highest standing of any patriarch. This is the family into which we has been included!
All of this is by the death of Christ on the cross. It is more than being saved from our sins. We are people of honour and standing, citizens and members of the most honoured household of all.
Key points in this verse:
we were once foreigners and aliens
the cross of Christ has brought us into God’s Kingdom
we cannot be separated from God because we are citizens
we are saints, dedicated to God’s purposes
we are members of God’s household, directed and protected by him
Just because the Jews have the Law does not mean they are any better than others. All people are under the power of sin.
Paul quotes several Psalms to illustrate the point that God judges that no one is righteous. All have turned away from God and revel in foul talk, lies, murder and destruction.
The law is to keep people from excuses and to show their guilt. The law cannot make us right with God; it simply shows us how sinful we are.
Application
Our culture keeps telling us that people are basically good. We have removed sin from our vocabulary and talk instead about bad choices. We like to believe that babies are blank slates with no intrinsic tendency to sin.
Characters are flawed. Nobody is perfect. Bad people do good things and good people do bad things. Thus we like to muddy the waters about God’s standards for our lives.
God’s judgement is very different from man’s judgement. There is no one who is righteous. Not even one.
We are all marked with sin. Unless that sin is atoned for then we continue to carry it.
On the reality TV shows about the police, it is interesting to see how many people drive without a licence, often in unregistered vehicles and sometimes with outstanding arrest warrants from previous crimes. The police don’t care about your spotless driving record if you drive without a licence. You are breaking the law, and are by definition a law breaker.
This is how it is with God. We have all sinned. We all fall short of His standards. We are all law breakers.
The Good News is that when we come to Christ, our past history is removed from the record. God, in His great love for us, no longer holds our offences against us.
Prayer
Praise to you, Most High God. Your love for me has overcome my sin against you. Thank you for forgiving me and not holding my sin against me. Amen.
But someone might argue, “How can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?”
Observation
“What is the value of being a Jew?” Paul asks. He says it is of great value because the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.
The fact that some Jews were unfaithful to God does not mean that He is unfaithful. Even if every man is a liar, God is true.
Some people have argued that being a sinner is a good thing because it helps people see God’s goodness. It can’t be fair to punish these sinners for showing God’s holiness.
Some people have even claimed that Paul has said the more we sin the better it is. Paul calls such statements slander and says those who say such things will be condemned.
Application
It amazes me sometimes how far we go to justify our sin. Somehow we find ways of admitting that our actions are wrong, but God is OK with that. How dare God punish us for sinning?
In our increasingly godless culture, people base their morality on feelings and on the idea that any behaviour is acceptable if nobody gets hurt or they are serving a higher purpose.
No matter how we try to justify ourselves, sin is sin. It is God, not ourselves, who sets the standards.
God is never glorified by sin, no matter how much we might try to rationalise it.
What does glorify God more than anything else is somebody who devotes their whole life to loving God and living by His standards. That might seem boring in a culture that has turned God’s value system on its head. But it is the only way for the follower of Jesus to live authentically.
Prayer
Forgive me Lord for the times I try to justify my sinful actions and attitudes. Help me to turn away from sin and to walk in the ways you set for me. Amen.
No, a true Jew is one whose heart is right with God. And true circumcision is not merely obeying the letter of the law; rather it is a change of heart produced by God’s Spirit. And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God not from people.
Observation
You cannot be a teacher of God’s law and break it yourself. To tell people they must not steal, commit adultery or worship idols, but then do these things yourself is hypocrisy.
Some of the Jewish leaders were so proud of owning God’s law, but they failed to obey it. By doing this, they caused the Gentiles to blaspheme the name of the Lord.
Circumcision is only of value to those who obey God’s law. An uncircumcised Gentile who obeys God is better off than a Jew who disobeys the law.
To be a true Jew is more than parentage and ceremonies. It is about seeking God’s will.
Application
What Paul says here about Jews is also true of christians. It is not about adherence to a lifestyle, following religious rituals or being brought up in a christian family. To be a christian means that we are allowing God’s Spirit to change our heart.
Before I was saved, I didn’t care what God thought about me. I didn’t even care if God existed.
That night when God confronted me, and I said “Yes” to Jesus, my attitude started to change. Now I knew that God was real, and that He loves me. Suddenly I found that I wanted to please Him and to obey Him.
This is a life long process. I didn’t wake up one morning finding that I was perfect in every way. I still struggle with sin and the old nature. But the point is that I struggle. I am not content to let sin reign over me.
The heart that pleases God is one that is open to being changed by Him.
Prayer
Today, Lord, I seek you and your righteousness. Thank you that you are continuing to change me as I surrender to you. Amen.
New Life Narrabri 