Careless Christianity
Notes
Transcript
Careless Love
Careless Love
Form 19400 to 1944, Corrie Ten Boom and her family used their home in the Netherlands as a hiding place for Jews who were fleeing the Nazi’s.
They saved an estimated 800 lives throughout those years.
The family built a secret room in Corrie’s bedroom.
It could hold about 6 people. they even created a ventilation system so they could get air.
The installed a buzzer in the house that would warn them to go into hiding if the Nazi’s were at their door.
One night, in 1944, they were betrayed and the nazi’s raided the home, arresting Corrie and her family… The jewish family they were hiding were never found...
Corrie was sent to a concentration cam where she would suffer while the Nazi’s would use the people in their concentration camps for experiments and such.
The story ends with Corrie actually being released while the rest of her group were sent to a gas chamber...
Bottom line, I think we can all agree that he love for the Jewish people and her hate for evil lead her to do some insane things that could’ve costed her life...
To summarize her character, I want to read you a quote she once said...
“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.” - Corrie Ten Boom
“There is no pit so deep that God’s love is not deeper.” - Corrie Ten Boom
As we open Romans 9 tonight, I want to address what some may be considering now or will eventually...
God’s word reveals God’s character. God’s character, as we’ve seen up to this point, is full of love, mercy, grace, AND justice.
God loves the sinner. God hates the sin. This chapter is filled with statements that build a define secondary doctrines that are still disputed to this day.
Here are the truths you will find specifically in this chapter-
God is Creator. We are His creation. God loves us. We are in need of saving. Only God can save us. God desires to save.
Tonight, we are only going to unpack the first 5 verses, meaning we won’t even touch some of the things that the chapter is primarily known for...
I want to encourage you to study this chapter with the context of this book. Wrestle with it’s words. Seek understanding from myself or other’s who have walked faithfully in line with Jesus. It will/should do nothing but humble you… This is the word of the Lord.
Let’s pray.
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— 2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. 4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Immediately we see Paul’s emotion shift dramatically.
Remember how excited he was in Romans 8?
12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
But look at the tone of Romans 9… We see Paul shifting toward a sorrowful and saddened emotion...
1 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit—
He is serious! What he is about to announce is incredibly important.
He moves to an attitude that is making an attempt to persuade the audience/us tonight that what he is about to say is worth listening to.
So what in the world has Paul in such a swift swing of moods!
Look at verse 2-3.
2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Paul desires so much for people to have eternal life in Christ that he would be willing to lose his own life that someone might experience a spiritual resurrection.
Who is Paul thinking about? Why is Paul torn up about someone- what has caused this train of thought?
He is talking about the jewish people who are rejecting Christ!
“My kinsmen” aka those who are supposedly God’s chosen ones yet are rejecting the name of life of Jesus Christ!
This is wearing Paul out!
I can somewhat share about these emotions because I have experienced them before...
In 2009, I watched one of the most valuable people in my life begin to suffer like never before. Some of you have heard this before...
My mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
*This was a picture taken right before her hair was starting to fall out due to her chemo treatment.
*This was easter, about four months later, in the middle of one of the rounds of chemo treatment.
I remember seeing my mom for the first time while she was getting treatment. My dad picked me up after school. It was just us two. We ran by McDonalds to get some fries for mom, she really wanted some!
As I walked into the massive room, passing cancer patients, most of who were fighting for their lives, we finally made it to mom’s chair.
In that moment, I would have done everything.
You see, Paul felt this way about those whom he didn’t even know personally...
When we begin to understand the depth of the love of Christ, our love for the stranger because even wider.
When we begin to understand the depth of the love of Christ, our love for the stranger because even wider.
8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
16 So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.
Love is a definitive attribute of God’s character!
And how is God’s love ultimately expressed?
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Through His Son, who is God in the form of man!
Jesus suppressed every fleshly desire to run, hide, or fight in such a way that he might avoid death.
Yet, he submitted Himself to God’s plan… he gave His life, out of the overflow of His love for us, that we might be saved!
What Paul is articulating is exactly what Jesus is portraying!
Look what he says in verse 4-5...
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.
Paul identifies the benefits of being a child of God!
You are adopted, given a new name, glorified in eternity, under an unbreakable covenant, offered protection, the ability to worship, and to embrace the loving promises of God!
And even better, to identify with Christ- WHO IS GOD, in His death, burial and resurrection!
And here is the deal, if we continue to read on throughout the rest of this chapter, we learnt hat he isn’t talking about the Israelites anymore....
30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; 31 but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. 32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
This is a faith that can be owned by all… by the world! Paul is confirming the teachings of John!
That Christ himself defeated death so that we might embrace love by receiving it and then extending it!
Paul’s heartbeat in the beginning and end of this passage, and everywhere in between, is to articulate and identify the insurmountable love of God!
God is love!
Paul gets it! This is why he talks about what is gained in your faith in Christ!
13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Invitation
Invitation
So as we close, this is what we must ask and consider...
Does our love mirror the love of God?
How are we loving people, even those we don’t know?
What are ways we can express this love?
The gospel.
*Share the gospel.
It’s time we become like Christ, we love like God, and we serve our circle...
Let’s Pray.