BibleScribbler

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Teaching at a Valentine’s Dinner

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These are some of the scripture notes from Notion. I’ll fill in some of my points afterward.

Basically, I’m making the case that we were put here to build something together, and the thing we’re building is the Body of Christ!

Here’s the recording, in case you want to hear what I said. I talked about how God created us to build up the Garden of Eden.

Failing that, we got an even better task, to build up one another, which is the Church. Scriptures after the recording.

Genesis 2:5 (ESV): When no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground,

Genesis 2:15 (ESV): The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Genesis 2:18 (ESV): Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” ‭‭1 Thessalonians‬ ‭5‬:‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” ‭‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭4‬-‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church.” ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭14‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Romans Chapter 3 Sermon

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Here is my sermon on Romans 3 and Justification. You’ll find my rough notes after the download.

Romans 3 Sermon – Justification (Download Link)

When we last left off, Paul was talking about circumcision or any other outward sign of the law or of being Jewish is worthless toward righteousness if you don’t keep the whole law.

The key issue in this whole section of chapters is the thing that everyone really wants: to be right.

The Pharisees thought that they were right because of the families they were born into. They were kind of like the guy that when you knock on his door and offer to pray for him says “That’s ok, my dad’s a pastor.” And then closes the door in your face.

It might sound like it was pointless to be Jewish at this time, and that the Jews didn’t do any good towards God. That’s not true either. Just like if each one of us is judged by our own faith and not by our families, what good does it do to be raised in a Christian home? It’s still good, but it won’t make you righteous before God.

That is where Paul begins here.

1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar,

This is one of the greatest truths about God. He isn’t whatever we believe Him to be. He is who He is and that’s really who He is. No matter how many people call me Snow White and no matter how many people really think I really am Snow White, I’m still Dan Sullivan. Just because people are confused doesn’t change who I am.

It would be great if that message could go out to all the world. “God isn’t who you think He is! He’s Himself!”

Paraphrase v. 5-8

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? 8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

If my being sinful shows off God’s mercy, if my wickedness makes a great story of forgiveness and redemption that makes God looks good, then what right does God have to judge me for being evil? That’s what Paul is asking here. How can God be just in condemning me if my evil looks good? Again, good is good and evil is condemned. Evil that makes God look good isn’t good, it’s still evil.

Paul’s preaching was so free from a law, that people accused him of saying “let’s do evil so that good will come from it” They accused Jesus of drunkenness and gluttony. These guys lived so free in the Father’s love that the law-makers and the law-keepers couldn’t understand it.

We are all Sinners

9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one;
11  no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.”
13  “Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
14  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
15  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16  in their paths are ruin and misery,
17  and the way of peace they have not known.”
18  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

Justified: to be proven right. You did the right thing, that means you are justified.

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

This

This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

This

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.

This

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The Attributes of God

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Download MP3: The Attributes of God

This is a sermon I was able to preach about “The Attributes of God” as the church is going over the foundational teachings of Christianity. Mainly I talked about how Jesus said and did everything so that we would know about the Father.

Here are my speaking notes, not necessarily what I said, but the notes I prepared and went off of.

Attributes of God

Exodus 33

Moses says “Teach me your ways, show me Your glory”

God answers in Exodus 34

The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

(Exodus 34:5–7 ESV)

God is mighty, powerful, ruler over the whole universe.

God is beyond all comprehension. In Romans 11 Paul says:

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,

or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him

that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

(Romans 11:33–36 ESV)

Rick Underhill’s Intro to John Study

According to John 1:18 Jesus was the only one qualified to make the Father known to us.

John 1:18

No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

  • Jesus is closest to the Father.
  • Jesus is at the Father’s side.
  • Jesus has His head on the bosom of the Father.
  • Jesus is what the Father is like.
  • Jesus’ life explained the Father to us.

John’s gospel contains a lot of what Jesus said and did when He was with other people. We will study some of these conversations seeking to find the answers to the following two questions.

In each of these conversations what did Jesus say or do?

What did the words or actions of Jesus explain to us about the Father?

When we complete this study at least two things should have happened.

We should have a very good profile of the Father.
We should know what His actions look like in various situations.

Before we begin

Please understand that what we learn will not be a goal for us to imitate. However, the things we learn will show us much about the characteristics of a maturing Christian man who is living in a right relationship with the Father. These characteristics will be increasing in our lives but only as we learn to allow Him to express His life through us, just as Jesus allowed the Father to live through Him.

What DID Jesus say about this?

John 14:9

Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.

That was His reply when Phillip said “Show us the Father.”

Compare that with Moses saying “Show me Your glory.”

So I want to do a fast list of a few things that Jesus said and did that show us what the Father is like.

Cared about people over rules

Jesus Manifesto:

The meaning of Christianity does not come from allegiance to principles of justice or complex theological doctrines, but from a passionate love for a way of living in the world that revolves around following Jesus, who taught that love is what makes life a success; not wealth or health or anything else. Only love.

Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2010–06–01). Jesus Manifesto (p. 117). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

It is true that God gave Moses The Torah, the Law, the Way of life, but all of that was to point to Jesus. The Law was never meant to earn anyone holiness before God.

Jesus showed this continually by pushing people to look beyond the law and to look to God’s intent behind the law. Saying “I you look lustfully at a woman you’ve already committed adultery in your heart” doesn’t mean you need to gouge out your eyes, it means you have to re-orient and recalibrate the direction of your heart.

God really cares about people. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

(2 Peter 3:9 ESV)

Confidence in the Father that caused overwhelming joy, hope, and life to come out of Jesus

Again a quote from the Jesus Manifesto:

Jesus did not live by His own natural strength. Instead, He lived by the energy of His Father who indwelled Him. He spoke when His Father spoke through Him. He worked when His Father worked through Him. He made judgments when His Father judged within Him. Jesus only did what the Father did, and He did it by means of His Father’s indwelling life. Therein lies the root of Jesus’ amazing life.

Sweet, Leonard; Viola, Frank (2010–06–01). Jesus Manifesto (p. 126). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

God is utterly confident, complete, and in control. God doesn’t say “fear not, trust in me and nothing that you fear will happen to you” Instead God says “Fear not, the things that you are afraid of are quite likely to happen to you, but they are nothing to be afraid of.”

Unconditional love

You don’t have to read far into the book of Genesis to see that people are really messed up. Genesis 3 is where it begins, actually. If God loved people based on their accomplishments or merits, the Bible would be 5 chapters long. It would be Genesis 1 and 2, then Revelation 21 and 22.

I’m leaving room in there for one Psalm.

As you watch Jesus’ life, and as you watch people throughout the old testament relate to God, you can see out of his Exodus 33–34 mercy and compassion, and out of his love for mankind, and His confidence in who He is and what He is going to do, unconditional love is all His!

Jesus said that to do the will of God is to believe in the one that He sent. Not do good or do right, but believe in the one He sent, because the one that God sent is going to do all of the saving for all of us. Our self-righteousness isn’t going to save us. Only God’s righteousness can save us.

God doesn’t love people based on their performance of his hoops. It’s about knowledge. It’s about relationship. It’s about friendship.

(Matthew 7:21–23 ESV)

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

but Jesus says elsewhere what God’s will for us is

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”

(John 6:28–29 ESV)

NT Wright Comment on Matthew 22, Wedding Party

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“But what he is saying, as he does in one way or another throughout, is that just because God’s wedding party has been thrown open to all and sundry — to Gentiles as well as Jews, as Paul never tired of insisting — that doesn’t mean that once they’ve accepted the invitation they can carry on as though it wasn’t God’s wedding party. All are welcome; but all must dress appropriately.

– NT Wright, Lent for Everyone, Matthew 22 section

It is so good how he words it without getting into universalism. Yes, all are invited, but they must dress appropriately. And that dress isn’t good deeds or right morals, it’s Jesus. When we “put on Christ” (Romans 13:14) we are dressed appropriately for the Heavenly wedding party.

Leaving Room for God or Bumping Him Out of Vengence

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Romans 12:19-21 NET

19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

If we repay, or take justice into our own hands, we risk becoming the oppressor. We risk beating the evil of our enemy by being more severe or untrue or unjust than they were. When that happens, we take away the room for God's justice, because He always takes the side of the persecuted or oppressed underdog.

1 Corinthians 6:7

To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?

He is saying that it would be better to be defeated than to risk man-made justice that threw dirt on God's face.

How many times do you get in a fight (maybe this just happens between husbands and wives?) and afterwards you see that it was an argument over less than $10? After the fact, don't you ever think "Man, I would totally pay $20 for peace and reconciliation right now!"

Romans 12:19-21 NET

19 Do not avenge yourselves, dear friends, but give place to God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Rather, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing this you will be heaping burning coals on his head. 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.