Hey Kid,
We went through Romans chapter 4 over the past few days, and it was a lot. One of the
questions Romans 3 left off on was, “Why did God give the Law in the first place? And are we getting rid of the Law now that we understand God’s grace through Jesus’ death? How does New Testament salvation work with the Old Testament Law system?”
In order to answer that, I want to do two things. The first thing is looking at Abraham and David, the most famous Jews of all time, which is exactly what Paul does, too. Paul reminds his readers that Abraham technically wasn’t a Jew when God made promises to him and said, “Abraham, I like that you’re trusting Me; you don’t deserve My thumbs up, but I’m going to give it to you because you believe I will do what I said would.” God said that when Abe was about 85 years old; God didn’t give Abraham the sign of circumcision until he was like 99. That blows any idea of circumcision or Jewish heritage giving you God’s thumbs up completely out of the water. Abraham also definitely received God’s thumbs up way before God gave the Torah to Moses, so hat gets rid of the idea that having the Law puts you in God’s good books, either.
King David, on the other hand, was for sure Jewish, for sure circumcised when he was a baby, and for sure knew the Torah. But in Psalm 32, David acknowledges his sin, but God says the same thing He said to Abraham, “You’re trusting all of the things I’ve told you, so you get My thumbs up, just like Abe!” The point is, even though David had all of the things the Jews thought made them better than everyone else, he still met God’s standard just by God taking his trust and giving him grace.
Which brings me to point number two: The Law was still important for people to have. God gave the Law as an example of His character, His standard and to explain there is a consequence for not meeting that standard: death. All of this boils down to trusting God to do what He says, even though it is impossible. Just like Abraham trusted God to give him a son when he was 100 years old, we trust God that He has already accepted Jesus’ death for our sins to give us grace to be His children, meeting His standard.
After the last discussion on chapter 4, I had to go and talk to Dave Field, our teacher. I wanted
to ask him to explain exactly why he said the Law was necessary for Jesus to pay our sin debt that we
talked about last time. Like how can the Law be necessary, but I still feel free from having to fulfill it? We’re going to get more in depth with this later on in the letter, but I just want to share what Dave
shared with me, because I just think it’s super important to clarify. Basically, God chose the Law to give humankind an example of His perfection. While the Law and the sacrificial system were in play as a sin credit card, God showed grace to the people who trusted Him because He knew He would send Christ to pay it off. BUT THE LAW STILL BROUGHT DEATH!
So what about the standard? Because it still exists and it wasn’t thrown away, even when Jesus died and rose again. NOW, as a believer, I have the Holy Spirit, God Himself, His living standard, alive inside of me. He lives out the standard through me as I have faith in God like Abraham and David. The rest I find in that, Kid, is amazing.
I love you,
Viv
Wednesday, February 13, 2019
Thursday, February 7, 2019
Letter No. 3
Hey Kid,
I’m going to be real with you, this is the third letter I’m writing, but the first one isn’t in the mail
yet. It’s a goal for this week is actually to put at least one of them in the mail. Enough excuses, though, I’m about to lay Romans chapter 3 out for you!
The chapter starts out with a hypothetical conversation between Paul and a Jew. They’re
arguing about whether or not the Jew deserves God’s thumbs up (just so you know, NO ONE deserves God’s thumbs up, not even the Jew). To prove his point, Paul reminds his imaginary opponent about Psalm 51, in which David (the best Jew after Abraham) goes to court against God, and God is justified, not David! God is the only One who can ever be announced right. Paul uses a lot of Old Testament quotes to back up this idea, but then it finally gets good, Kid!
Starting in verse 21, Paul announces that now, through Jesus’ death on the cross, God is giving His right status to everyone who believes that what Jesus did was enough. In the Old Testament time period, God had set up for Israel a system of sacrifices that looked forward to what Jesus was going to do on the cross. Those sacrifices didn’t pay for Israel’s sin, it just covered for the sin like a credit card. Then, when Jesus lived the whole Law out and died on the cross, all sin was paid for IN FULL by His blood. Paul also announces that payment wasn’t just for the Jews, it was and is for anyone who will trust that Jesus’ payment is enough! This doesn’t mean the law is dead and gone, it just means that it is fulfilled and now we get to live in Jesus’ fulfillment of it!
How does this apply to my life today? SO MUCH, KID! I used to think that I could only fit into
God’s plan if I followed Jesus’ life exactly and obeyed the Law to its fullest extent. I thought that was the only way God would be happy with me. I trusted Jesus when He said He would save me in the Bible, but I also thought He would save me even though He was angry with me for failing at the Law every day. I love this because it explains what it took so long for me to understand as a teenager. Jesus did everything for everyone; it’s simple. All we have to do is trust Him that He did everything He says He did. Of course, Paul is going to keep explaining the ins and outs of the salvation situation as we go, but I hope this letter encourages you
I love you, Kid.
Viv
I’m going to be real with you, this is the third letter I’m writing, but the first one isn’t in the mail
yet. It’s a goal for this week is actually to put at least one of them in the mail. Enough excuses, though, I’m about to lay Romans chapter 3 out for you!
The chapter starts out with a hypothetical conversation between Paul and a Jew. They’re
arguing about whether or not the Jew deserves God’s thumbs up (just so you know, NO ONE deserves God’s thumbs up, not even the Jew). To prove his point, Paul reminds his imaginary opponent about Psalm 51, in which David (the best Jew after Abraham) goes to court against God, and God is justified, not David! God is the only One who can ever be announced right. Paul uses a lot of Old Testament quotes to back up this idea, but then it finally gets good, Kid!
Starting in verse 21, Paul announces that now, through Jesus’ death on the cross, God is giving His right status to everyone who believes that what Jesus did was enough. In the Old Testament time period, God had set up for Israel a system of sacrifices that looked forward to what Jesus was going to do on the cross. Those sacrifices didn’t pay for Israel’s sin, it just covered for the sin like a credit card. Then, when Jesus lived the whole Law out and died on the cross, all sin was paid for IN FULL by His blood. Paul also announces that payment wasn’t just for the Jews, it was and is for anyone who will trust that Jesus’ payment is enough! This doesn’t mean the law is dead and gone, it just means that it is fulfilled and now we get to live in Jesus’ fulfillment of it!
How does this apply to my life today? SO MUCH, KID! I used to think that I could only fit into
God’s plan if I followed Jesus’ life exactly and obeyed the Law to its fullest extent. I thought that was the only way God would be happy with me. I trusted Jesus when He said He would save me in the Bible, but I also thought He would save me even though He was angry with me for failing at the Law every day. I love this because it explains what it took so long for me to understand as a teenager. Jesus did everything for everyone; it’s simple. All we have to do is trust Him that He did everything He says He did. Of course, Paul is going to keep explaining the ins and outs of the salvation situation as we go, but I hope this letter encourages you
I love you, Kid.
Viv
Saturday, February 2, 2019
Letter No. 2
Hey Kid,
You probably haven’t even received my first letter yet, but I’m here to tell you about Romans
chapter 2—the major points that hit me and how I want to apply them to my life right now.
Chapter 1 ended with the idea that God gave all of humankind over to the darkness, because they chose it over Him. Remember this is a letter that didn’t have chapters when Paul wrote it, so chapter 2 follows in a similar vein. Paul now focuses his attention on the guy that is going to be like, “Hey, I’m not as bad as these remote tribal people who worship demons. I’m pretty good and I agree with God that those other people are bad, so God won’t punish me, right?” Wrong.
Paul tells that guy straight out, “You aren’t good all the time, so you miss God’s standard of right-ness, too. You’re just as bad as the other guy.” Through a number of hypothetical questions, Paul forces the “good-enough” guy to see that he isn’t good enough at all.
Finally, Paul talks straight at God’s chosen person, the Jew. The Jew thinks that, between the Torah, the fact that he is circumcised (I know, weird), and his lineage from Abraham, he has enough to deserve a pass from God. Paul smacks all of that into the garbage. He says, “Nope. You have the Torah, and you teach it, but you don’t actually do it. You fail to reach God’s standard, too!”
The main focus toward the end of the chapter is that God doesn’t care tiddlywinks for the rules you follow if your heart doesn’t match up with your actions. You can fool people into giving you a “good job” all you want; the reality is that only God’s “good job” matters. This all seems pretty dark, right? It feels like we’re all in a ship that is sinking fast, and for most of humanity that’s true. Kid, we can’t touch God’s right-ness on our own, but we both know how this story ends.
Keep reading these letters. I promise that it gets brighter.
The only question left is how to apply this to my life. I think the main thing for me is that, with our background, I know a lot. I know the rules, I know what this is supposed to look like, and I know that, in the past, I've stood on a soapbox to preach something I'm not living. My prayer tonight is that God would keep softening my heart to recognize every effort of my own to reach His right-ness is pointless. Like I said, this is a lot of talk about failure, but I know you know the solution for failure, too, and I'm about to write about it next time.
I love you, Kiddo
Viv
You probably haven’t even received my first letter yet, but I’m here to tell you about Romans
chapter 2—the major points that hit me and how I want to apply them to my life right now.
Chapter 1 ended with the idea that God gave all of humankind over to the darkness, because they chose it over Him. Remember this is a letter that didn’t have chapters when Paul wrote it, so chapter 2 follows in a similar vein. Paul now focuses his attention on the guy that is going to be like, “Hey, I’m not as bad as these remote tribal people who worship demons. I’m pretty good and I agree with God that those other people are bad, so God won’t punish me, right?” Wrong.
Paul tells that guy straight out, “You aren’t good all the time, so you miss God’s standard of right-ness, too. You’re just as bad as the other guy.” Through a number of hypothetical questions, Paul forces the “good-enough” guy to see that he isn’t good enough at all.
Finally, Paul talks straight at God’s chosen person, the Jew. The Jew thinks that, between the Torah, the fact that he is circumcised (I know, weird), and his lineage from Abraham, he has enough to deserve a pass from God. Paul smacks all of that into the garbage. He says, “Nope. You have the Torah, and you teach it, but you don’t actually do it. You fail to reach God’s standard, too!”
The main focus toward the end of the chapter is that God doesn’t care tiddlywinks for the rules you follow if your heart doesn’t match up with your actions. You can fool people into giving you a “good job” all you want; the reality is that only God’s “good job” matters. This all seems pretty dark, right? It feels like we’re all in a ship that is sinking fast, and for most of humanity that’s true. Kid, we can’t touch God’s right-ness on our own, but we both know how this story ends.
Keep reading these letters. I promise that it gets brighter.
The only question left is how to apply this to my life. I think the main thing for me is that, with our background, I know a lot. I know the rules, I know what this is supposed to look like, and I know that, in the past, I've stood on a soapbox to preach something I'm not living. My prayer tonight is that God would keep softening my heart to recognize every effort of my own to reach His right-ness is pointless. Like I said, this is a lot of talk about failure, but I know you know the solution for failure, too, and I'm about to write about it next time.
I love you, Kiddo
Viv
Wednesday, January 23, 2019
Letter No. 1
For nine weeks this semester, my class will be going through the book of Romans. Part of our homework is, after each chapter, stopping and writing a letter to someone about what we've learned and how we can apply it to our lives. While I'm pretty sure I know who I'm going to send my letters to, I also want to put it on here. My hope is that maybe someone will find it encouraging:
Hey, Kid!
We're starting this semester at school with a class on Romans. Each week, part of our homework is to write a letter about what we have learned to a non-student, so I chose you. Here we go!
You know that Romans is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the early Roman church. It starts off with Paul introducing himself to the church as a servant of Jesus, an apostle, and as someone set apart. It was really cool to see that he introduced himself as a servant first, because that was what he considered to be the most important thing for the Romans to know about him. Then, they needed to understand that his teaching held the same authority as James or John, the early church leaders who walked with Jesus. His title as an apostle gave him that authority. Finally, when Paul says he’s set apart, it explains how God saw Paul. He had one job in God’s eyes—spreading the gospel, and that’s it.
The next thing that stood out to me was verse 15, which leads into the "theme verses" of the letter. Anyway, it talks about the news of Jesus' life, death and resurrection (which is the gospel) and how it is as much for people after they're saved as it was from them to become saved. The gospel literally plays into every aspect of Christian life! That concept goes forward into verses 16-17, where Paul basically says, "I am beyond proud of this Jesus story because it shows us how right God is and it gives salvation from sin because He gives His right-ness to people FREELY through Jesus!" The big point you need to get is that God's salvation for people comes through trusting in God alone.
One more thing! Paul gets into explaining how God revealed Himself to everyone, even the most remote people groups, by His creation. Kid, you have to read verses 20-23. At one piont, everyone alive KNEW about God, BUT PEOPLE CHOSE NOT TO CHERISH THAT KNOWLEDGE, Kid! Humankind actually CHOSE to forget God. So what did God do? He let them forget and gave them all the horrible consequences that went with choosing darkness over God's light. He let them go, ready for them to realize how awful life was without Him, ready for them to turn back to Him. They noticed, all right, but they got all excited about how horrible they could be instead of going back to God and His right-ness.
There is a lot more, but those are the highlights that stuck out to me the most. Sometimes the hardest or most time-consuming part of learning all of this is how to apply it to my own life. When I look back at how Paul introduced himself, I don’t think the first thing I’ve ever told someone about me is that I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Honestly, I don’t that I’ve ever spoken or even thought of myself in those exact terms for any extended period of time until this class. Kid…that probably (which means definitely) needs to change.
The other major thought that is going through my mind stems from the bit about what happened when people didn’t cherish their knowledge of God. It reminds me of myself when I went to college for the first time. I feel like, for the first time, I am truly understanding how equal the playing field is between me and the unreached tribal nationals in Africa in terms of knowing God.
I love you and God loves you,
Hey, Kid!
We're starting this semester at school with a class on Romans. Each week, part of our homework is to write a letter about what we have learned to a non-student, so I chose you. Here we go!
You know that Romans is a letter from the Apostle Paul to the early Roman church. It starts off with Paul introducing himself to the church as a servant of Jesus, an apostle, and as someone set apart. It was really cool to see that he introduced himself as a servant first, because that was what he considered to be the most important thing for the Romans to know about him. Then, they needed to understand that his teaching held the same authority as James or John, the early church leaders who walked with Jesus. His title as an apostle gave him that authority. Finally, when Paul says he’s set apart, it explains how God saw Paul. He had one job in God’s eyes—spreading the gospel, and that’s it.
The next thing that stood out to me was verse 15, which leads into the "theme verses" of the letter. Anyway, it talks about the news of Jesus' life, death and resurrection (which is the gospel) and how it is as much for people after they're saved as it was from them to become saved. The gospel literally plays into every aspect of Christian life! That concept goes forward into verses 16-17, where Paul basically says, "I am beyond proud of this Jesus story because it shows us how right God is and it gives salvation from sin because He gives His right-ness to people FREELY through Jesus!" The big point you need to get is that God's salvation for people comes through trusting in God alone.
One more thing! Paul gets into explaining how God revealed Himself to everyone, even the most remote people groups, by His creation. Kid, you have to read verses 20-23. At one piont, everyone alive KNEW about God, BUT PEOPLE CHOSE NOT TO CHERISH THAT KNOWLEDGE, Kid! Humankind actually CHOSE to forget God. So what did God do? He let them forget and gave them all the horrible consequences that went with choosing darkness over God's light. He let them go, ready for them to realize how awful life was without Him, ready for them to turn back to Him. They noticed, all right, but they got all excited about how horrible they could be instead of going back to God and His right-ness.
There is a lot more, but those are the highlights that stuck out to me the most. Sometimes the hardest or most time-consuming part of learning all of this is how to apply it to my own life. When I look back at how Paul introduced himself, I don’t think the first thing I’ve ever told someone about me is that I am a servant of Jesus Christ. Honestly, I don’t that I’ve ever spoken or even thought of myself in those exact terms for any extended period of time until this class. Kid…that probably (which means definitely) needs to change.
The other major thought that is going through my mind stems from the bit about what happened when people didn’t cherish their knowledge of God. It reminds me of myself when I went to college for the first time. I feel like, for the first time, I am truly understanding how equal the playing field is between me and the unreached tribal nationals in Africa in terms of knowing God.
I love you and God loves you,
Viv
Thursday, January 10, 2019
there and back again
It's crazy to think that Christmas and New Years Day have come and gone. I've driven to New York, stopped in Ohio twice, driven back to Wisconsin, and stopped at a train station along the way. We're amping up to do leadership training before the semester starts, then classes and work both kick off on Monday.
Over the break, I was supposed to go to the doctor to have some tests run. For the past two years, I have had abnormal results in other routine tests, and my PA suggested that it was time we took a closer look at things. The first specialist didn't do any of the things she was supposed to do and, after further deliberation with my PA, we decided that I should see someone in a different practice. My new doctor, however, isn't accepting new patients until March. I feel like I've been waiting forever to find out what is going on in my body for certain, but the waiting isn't over.
Real talk: I'm not a patient person. Like not at all. I like to think I am, and I try to be when I'm dealing with other people, but I'm for sure not patient when it comes to dealing with myself. I want to know what's wrong, why I'm feeling the way I feel, and what I can do about it, and I want to know all of it yesterday. And maybe that's why God's timing is working the way it is. I need to wait on Him. I need to trust Him. That's all.
Medical aspect of break aside, it was probably the most relaxing break I've had with my family in years. We played a ridiculous amount of board games, ate all the time, stayed up late and slept in. Of course there were moments when we all got under each other's skin, and I'm 100% happy to be back at school, but my over-arching memory of the break is sweet.
On to Semester Three!
Over the break, I was supposed to go to the doctor to have some tests run. For the past two years, I have had abnormal results in other routine tests, and my PA suggested that it was time we took a closer look at things. The first specialist didn't do any of the things she was supposed to do and, after further deliberation with my PA, we decided that I should see someone in a different practice. My new doctor, however, isn't accepting new patients until March. I feel like I've been waiting forever to find out what is going on in my body for certain, but the waiting isn't over.
Real talk: I'm not a patient person. Like not at all. I like to think I am, and I try to be when I'm dealing with other people, but I'm for sure not patient when it comes to dealing with myself. I want to know what's wrong, why I'm feeling the way I feel, and what I can do about it, and I want to know all of it yesterday. And maybe that's why God's timing is working the way it is. I need to wait on Him. I need to trust Him. That's all.
Medical aspect of break aside, it was probably the most relaxing break I've had with my family in years. We played a ridiculous amount of board games, ate all the time, stayed up late and slept in. Of course there were moments when we all got under each other's skin, and I'm 100% happy to be back at school, but my over-arching memory of the break is sweet.
On to Semester Three!
Friday, December 28, 2018
Picture This
(Jay and Eli listening to devotions on Christmas Eve, sporting the matching jammies from Mom)
(This break, we’ve gone to the pet store to play with the puppies a bunch.)
(Kharis and I saw Buttermilk Falls had been closed down for the season, so we walked around the road block and took a few pictures anyway)
Tuesday, December 11, 2018
Semester 2
Two tests to go and Bible school is half over, which means I'm halfway to halfway prepared (or at least as prepared as I can be) to going overseas. So what have I learned?
Today, as we closed out Acts with Adam Demark, he said something that I thought, in my humble opinion, was profound. He said, "The book of Acts with the word 'unhindered,' not the death of the Apostles Paul, because it isn't about Paul. This book has always been about the Holy Spirit who will always be triumphant while you and I are expendable." And rather than being offended, it was probably the most comforting I've heard in a while.
His statement paired well with a challenge we received from Rick Barth in Bible Basis of Missions. He was talking about discerning God's will and he stated, "I don't want a shout. I want to be ready to hear the whisper." Meaning we should be so in tune with God's heart, so filled with the Holy Spirit, that God's will isn't a question. Time and time again this semester I've been reminded of good ol' Roger's (that's my dad) words of wisdom all through high school and college. "Is your heart to glorify God? Then whatever you do won't be a mistake." Pursuing God's heart isn't just half the battle of figuring out life, it's the whole battle.
So again, what have I learned? At least from this most recent block (maybe I'll tackle the whole semester another time) life might not be easy, but that doesn't mean it was ever intended to be complicated.
Today, as we closed out Acts with Adam Demark, he said something that I thought, in my humble opinion, was profound. He said, "The book of Acts with the word 'unhindered,' not the death of the Apostles Paul, because it isn't about Paul. This book has always been about the Holy Spirit who will always be triumphant while you and I are expendable." And rather than being offended, it was probably the most comforting I've heard in a while.
His statement paired well with a challenge we received from Rick Barth in Bible Basis of Missions. He was talking about discerning God's will and he stated, "I don't want a shout. I want to be ready to hear the whisper." Meaning we should be so in tune with God's heart, so filled with the Holy Spirit, that God's will isn't a question. Time and time again this semester I've been reminded of good ol' Roger's (that's my dad) words of wisdom all through high school and college. "Is your heart to glorify God? Then whatever you do won't be a mistake." Pursuing God's heart isn't just half the battle of figuring out life, it's the whole battle.
So again, what have I learned? At least from this most recent block (maybe I'll tackle the whole semester another time) life might not be easy, but that doesn't mean it was ever intended to be complicated.
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