Romans 7

I am always amazed by the obsession of many modern artists to blend things that were never meant to go together. Take French pianist Jacques Loussier and his trio, who have been blending classical music and jazz together for decades... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N-wfsxEhl8 . I find these guys simply incredible. Who would have thought that Bach's Concerto in D Major for Harpsichord could be transformed into a rollicking jazz number? Brilliant!

However, it is not a peaceful co-existence. Listen to the music in the YouTube clip. There is a real tension when classical and jazz come together, as if the musicians are forcing similar poles of two magnets to touch. When I listen to the trio, it always feels like a back-and-forth battle. Sometimes, the classical composition is winning. Other times, the jazz composition is winning. Maybe someday an ultimate winner will be declared...but I doubt it.

We are just as complicated.

Paul is equally amazed by the on-going struggle between the eternal spirit within him that has "the desire to do what is right" and his mortal flesh that has "not the ability to carry it out." He wonders how it is possible for a holy and righteous spirit to live within a person whose imperfect behavior is shaped by years of living in a broken world. The blend of the Holy Spirit and our imperfect bodies is the work of a supernaturally gifted artist...Jesus Christ.

However, it is not a peaceful co-existence. Paul notes that, while we "delight in the law of God" in our eternal spirit, we are "waging war" against our mortal flesh, which is "captive to the law of sin." This is a tension that we will feel for the duration of our lives, much like the tension between classical and jazz...with one exception.

The spirit is eternal...the flesh is mortal.

We are God's workmanship and, while we may not fully resemble the people he designed us to be when he created us, there will come a time when our mortal flesh passes away and all that will remain then will be an eternal spirit...a holy spirit. There will be an ultimate winner declared. God is the Master.

We are his masterpiece.

Romans 6

Speaking as a former stage actor, I can tell you that the costume department is an under-appreciated part of the performance team. I have been in productions where a director has asked a player how he/she felt in the costume...if they felt comfortable in the "skin" they had been provided. I myself have gone through two or three costumes before finding the right one...the one that made me feel like the character I had begun to assemble in my mind.

It is so important for an actor to feel comfortable in their outer appearance because moving around in that skin helps them to conform their mental and emotional state toward the created character, to align the inner self with the outer appearance. However, in our life-long relationship with God, that principle is completely reversed. It is learning to be comfortable with what's inside us that helps us conform our outward behavior...to align the two.

Paul makes it clear that when we accept the "free gift of God," we receive "newness of life," a holy spirit within us that is "free from sin" and a "slave to righteousness." Paul instructs us not to "let sin reign in [our] mortal body" because the holy spirit within us has the power to control our outer behavior...our habits of mind and body. Before we accepted God's gift we were "free from the control of righteousness," but now we are connected to that power.

We don't need to change in an attempt to earn God's love...he already loves us and we are already changed in spirit. We need to learn to be comfortable in that new identity... loved... righteous... holy. We need to bring our mind and body into alignment with that identity.

Are you comfortable in your skin?

Romans 5

Have you ever been to a party that felt kind of lifeless until that one person arrived who just set it off? Some people just change the whole dynamic of a room. They talk, they smile, they laugh, and everyone just seems compelled to follow their lead. Every year, I locate that person in each class I teach and make it a point to engage them in conversation before class begins. It's like flipping a switch, they become electric and so does everyone else. They are "game changers."

It's not that the work we do in my classes isn't difficult. In fact, it's really challenging for most students. However, that one student sets the tone for the class, they "charge" the room with positive attitude because they talk, they smile, and they laugh while we are engaged in the difficult work of learning. The day-to-day life of the classroom remains the same but the perspective of the students changes radically. That's the role of the "game changer."

The day-to-day realities of the life we live remain very stable: God is perfect, we are imperfect, and the world is sinful. We live in a tough learning environment, where it is easy to feel ashamed, to feel hopeless, to focus on our imperfect character, to stop trying, to suffer the challenges of living in a sinful world. It is easy to look at life each day with that negative perspective. Enter the "game changer."

Jesus is the game changer.

Paul tells us that "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame." How can we live this difficult life and experience joy and hope and the absence of shame? Because "God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit," who assures us "that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," making "peace with God" for us.

Day-to-day life can be hard, but the game changer wants to shift our perspective radically.

Follow the leader.

Joy. Hope. Peace.

Romans 4

My grandfather passed away last spring, a pillar of our family. He was many things us. He was farm boy, purple heart recipient, and CEO. He sang hymns, wrote poetry, and painted seascapes. He was nursemaid, storyteller, and drill sergeant. He fed raccoons, drank scotch whiskey, and cheered for the Mets. He loved his wife, his boys, and all his grandchildren. Most of all, he loved God with a love that sprang from a deep faith in the goodness of the heavenly Father.

His faith was a blessing to me.

We share a relative like that...Abraham. He is many things to believers. He was a farm boy, a warrior, a chieftain. He worshipped God, built altars, traversed landscapes. He was healer, counselor, and herdsman. He raised cattle, negotiated with rulers, and lived for a long time. He loved his wife, his boys, and all his descendants, who are as numerous as the stars in the sky. Most of all he loved God with a love that sprang from a deep faith in the goodness of the heavenly Father.

His faith is a blessing to all of us.

Paul tells us that "Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness" and that "he is the father of all who believe...in order that righteousness might be credited to them." Paul goes on to tell us that we are all "Abraham’s offspring," adopted into his family because we embrace "the faith of Abraham." As descendants of Abraham, as his heirs, we enjoy a blessing credited to him and to his numberless family. Receive it.

“Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered."

"Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them."

Be blessed.

Romans 3

My neighbor is a tool freak. In 2001, shortly after we moved into our current home, he told me not to purchase any new tools from the hardware store because, whatever it was I needed, he probably already had it and I could just borrow it from him. He is a little bit tool crazy. Once, he rang my doorbell at 3:30 in the morning dressed in his pajamas and holding a nail gun...I was concerned. As it turned out, he had heard the wind crack my fence post and we secured it before it was ruined.

My neighbor is a tool freak because he is firm believer that there is a proper tool for every job. He does not believe, as some men do, that a flat-head screwdriver can be used as a mini-pry bar, or that it can be flipped backward to double as a hammer. For my neighbor, a screwdriver has one application...the proper application. For my neighbor, a screwdriver is used to drive screws...hence the name..."screw-driver." He says that misapplying a tool is a recipe for disaster.

He is right.

Paul tells us that "by works of the law no human being will be justified in [God's] sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin." Here, he clarifies for us the good and proper application of the law, the Ten Commandments, as a teaching tool. The law is designed to teach us about sin, the ways people fall short of God's perfection. The law is not designed to fix people, to perfect them, to justify them before God. To use the law as a tool for salvation is a recipe for disaster.

Do we ignore the law? Paul answers clearly when he says, "By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law." Paul wants us to understand that our salvation does not come from our efforts to obey the law but from faith in Christ. However, he also wants us to understand that the law is the still the standard of God's perfection and that God intends to transform us into that perfection through the work of the Holy Spirit and that we should work toward that obedience.

Grab your tool belt.

Go to work.

Romans 2

One of the first things I have the high school juniors do, those who are enrolled in the Advanced Placement Language and Composition course I teach, is take a practice test that closely mirrors the exam they must pass in the spring to earn college credit. They fail gloriously. I spend the next week convincing them not to drop the course, reminding them that we have an entire year to get them ready and reminding them of the high pass rate our school's program has earned.

It is a necessary step.

People will not embrace a viable solution until they embrace the full measure of the problem. If those students can not see their lack of knowledge and skill clearly they will not value and embrace the offer of instruction for the remainder of the year. This is why, in Paul's presentation of the gospel, he talks early on of "God's righteous judgment" stored up for those who "dishonor God by breaking the law." His audience fully understood the perfection demanded by God's perfect Law.

The law is necessary.

The purpose of the law is to help us understand and embrace the full measure of the problem. Only perfect things have access to God but we can not achieve perfection. If we can not see the impossibility of achieving the perfection God requires we will not value and embrace the offer of salvation extended freely to us. We must fail gloriously in order to see the glory of our Lord.

We must have a water-into-wine moment.

John tells the story of the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. It was a hugely symbolic miracle, the first miracle he performed after gathering his disciples and it supports the teaching Paul offers in the second chapter of Romans. Listen. The master demands wine [perfection], we can't produce wine [we are jars of water...a weak substitute], we allow Jesus to transform us [by placing the Holy Spirit inside of us], the master is pleased with the wine [we are embaced by God].

God is perfect. His law is perfect.

None of us is perfect.

Embrace failure.

Embrace salvation.

Romans 1

I spent a few summers of my childhood on Cayuga Lake at my grandparent's vacation house, which was situated at the edge of the forest at the top of a huge sprawling hill of grass that ran down to a two-lane road that circled the lake. Before sunrise my grandfather and I would cross the road, descend a wooden stairway that led to a beach of smooth gray stones, and settle ourselves at the end of an old dock to greet the morning. It felt peaceful there.

Paul greets "all those in Rome who are loved by God and consecrated" and proclaims "grace to [them] and peace from God [the] Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." In our fast-paced modern world it is hard to find moments of complete peace. Complete peace comes when people are liberated from the oppressive thoughts and feelings that distort relationship with themselves, others, and God. If we look at the italicized words in Paul's greeting backwards we can understand this peace.

Peace. Grace. Consecrated. Loved.

Believers should experience peace because the grace of our Lord has consecrated us so that we can fully experience God's love. In other words, when we accept Christ's offer of grace, the once for all forgiveness of our sins; we are consecrated, set apart as holy through the gift of the Holy Spirit placed within us; and the Holy Spirit helps us understand the depth and breadth of God's love for us. This love liberates us from the thoughts and feelings that distort life. This love brings peace.

Paul tells us that those who refuse to believe these things have "exchanged the truth about God for a lie."

I don't know about you, but I don't want to live a lie.

I choose to believe the truth.

I choose peace.