Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 108

Gossip in the Old Testament

The first stop in our tour of the Bible is to see what the Old Testament says about gossip.

Hebrew Words Translated “Gossip” and Exposition of Their Occurrences
There are two major Hebrew words that are translated “gossip” in modern English Bibles and two other Hebrew expressions that are sometimes paraphrased as “gossip.” Interestingly, in the Old Testament, the words for “gossip” actually refer to the speaker not to the content of the speech. Proverbs is especially interested in warning readers about various categories of dangerous people that they will encounter in life–the sluggard, the wayward wife, the angry man, the fool, and the gossip.

In our next post, we will learn about the first word: rakil.


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Previous Posts in "Toward a Definition of Gossip"
New Blog Series: Toward a Definition of Gossip

[Matt's Messages] "Father Abraham"

“Father Abraham”
All Roads Lead to Romans
November 9, 2014 :: Romans 3:27-4:25 

I have an audacious goal for today’s sermon. I want to get all the way through chapter 4! We haven’t quite finished chapter 3 yet, but I want to try to not only complete that but to make it all the way through the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans.

Here’s why. 3:27 through 4:25 is really all about the same thing. It’s the next step in Paul’s argument. In his thought process, it’s all really one thing.

In 3:27-31, Paul is going to make some statements about the gospel, and then he’s going to illustrate, defend, and apply those statements in chapter 4 using the example of Abraham.

Remember Abraham? How many were here in 2003 when I preached all the way through the book of Genesis?  How important was Abraham back then in that book?

Well, it turns out that Abraham is one of those “roads that lead to Romans.”

And Paul is going to say today that he is “Father Abraham.”  Not just because he is the father of the Hebrew race, but because Abraham is the father of...faith.

We’re going to learn some lessons about faith from Father Abraham this morning.

Last week, we hit the highest point in Paul’s explanation of the gospel of grace.

Paul explained to us in amazing terms how God has solved our righteousness problem–how we who believe on Jesus are now justified–declared righteous.

Remember all those righteousness words?

God solved our righteousness problem, which solves our wrath problem[!], by presenting Jesus as a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins and redeeming us, purchasing our freedom. And He did this as a gift. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

And God’s answer to our righteousness problem was also the answer to His righteousness problem. Because He, in His forbearance had left sins of believers before the cross unpunished.

But God is not unrighteous. Jesus’ sacrifice paid for those sins, as well, so that God is both just (righteous) and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus.

That’s the gospel, friends, and it’s best news in all the world.

So...in verse 27, Paul begins to both apply and defend his gospel.

Paul doesn’t end Romans in 3:26. He has a lot more to say about how that gospel works out in real life (especially between believers in conflict with one another) and how it’s true even though there are many objections raised against it.

He begins with implications of the gospel for boasting. 3:27

“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

“Where, then, is boasting?”

Paul’s saying, if this gospel is true (and it is) then where does that leave our feelings of moral superiority?

Because we all have them. Especially those who have the Law, the Jews.

“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.”

No one can boast under this gospel. No one but God.

How come? What law is at work, what principle?

The law of works? No, the law of faith.

In other words, faith is the operative, driving, central idea in this gospel, and if faith is the operative, driving, central idea, then there is nothing for a believer to boast in.

What Paul says in 3:28 is his main point:

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Do you believe that?

That a believer is righteous before God apart from their doing what the Law commands?

That a believer is right with God apart from being good and doing good?

That a believer is declared righteous apart from doing the works of the law?

That’s what Paul has argued, and that’s what Paul intends to defend. V.29

“Is God the God of Jews only? [They’re the ones with the Law.] Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.”

Do you see how Paul argues? He says that there is only one God. That’s like the first thing that any Jew ever learns. “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one” (Deut. 6:4).

And if there is only one God, then He is the God of both the Jews and the Gentiles.

Those who have the Law and those who do not. Those who are circumcised and those are not circumcised but have faith in Jesus.

V.28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

By faith alone.

So, someone will ask, what does that do to the Law then?  V.31

“Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”

“Are you saying, Paul, that the Law is null and void and useless?”

“No, no, no. May Genoita! May it never be. No, the Law, properly understood and applied has lots of use. I’ll show you later how. But keeping the law os not how anyone gets justified.”

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Do you see how Paul is insisting on this?

It is so important!

Now, in chapter 4, Paul illustrates and further defends this idea by using the example of Father Abraham. Chapter 4, verse 1.

“What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about–but not before God.  What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”

Do you see how Paul is making his point?

He uses that word “boasting” again. If Abraham was justified by works of the law then he had something to boast about.

Did Abraham have anything to boast about?

Paul says, “Not before God!”

And he takes us back to Genesis chapter 15, verse 6.

“What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’”

Do you remember that passage?  I know it’s been a long time since we were in Genesis together, 11 years, but I made a lot of fuss over that verse at the time. It’s one of the roads that leads to Romans.

Paul reaches back in his mind through his Old Testament to show how the Father of the Jews was reckoned as righteous, and it wasn’t because Abraham obeyed the law. It wasn’t because he had done all that God had commanded.

The Bible said that Abraham was reckoned to be righteous because he believed God’s promise.

Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now, Paul is going to repeat those phrases again and again. They are really important.

This, by the way, is the first place where faith is mentioned in the Bible. Genesis 15:6. Not that people didn’t have faith before Abraham, but it’s the first place that it’s called that in the Bible. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited [reckoned, counted] to him as righteousness.” There’s our dikaiosunay again. V.4

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.”

If you and I agree on a job for me to do and how much I’ll get paid, and I do it, you don’t say, “Hey, great job. I think I’ll give you out of the goodness of my heart what we agreed upon as your wages.”

“Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation.” v.5

“However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.”

And Paul is saying, “That’s what happened with Father Abraham!”

He didn’t do all the works of the Law. He merely believed in God’s promise. Even though Abraham was wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

Do you see how potentially scandalous this is?

Simply believe, and God will declare someone who is wicked to be righteous?

Paul says, put yourself in the shoes of someone wicked like that who realizes that they are now justified. V.6

“David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’”

That’s not Genesis. That’s Psalms. Psalm 32.

King David whom we know was not a perfectly righteous man. He had been at times downright wicked.

But David knew the blessings of being justified.  “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”

3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Really?

Don’t you have to be Jewish to be righteous? Don’t you have to be circumcised to be forgiven? Don’t have you have to have the Law? V.9

“Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before?”

What’s the answer to that one?

Anybody know?  First, why does it matter?

Well, circumcision was the mark in the body of a Jewish man that he belonged to God and was under the law of God.

And the chronology matters. If Abraham was circumcised before he was justified, then maybe that’s a pattern for everybody. But if he was justified before he was circumcised. If he had faith first, then maybe that’s a pattern for everybody.

Which was it?

In what chapter was Abraham circumcised?  Genesis chapter, what?

Seventeen.

In what chapter did Abraham believe God and it was credited to him as righteousness? Chapter 15.  V.10

“It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. [That’s the Gentiles, that’s us, friends!] And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.”

Father Abraham!

Father of the Jews. And Father of the Gentiles who have faith.

3:28 “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

And Father Abraham’s life proves it. V.13

“It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.”

Did Abraham have the law?  Even after he was circumcised, he didn’t have the Torah!  He had commands from God, but not “the Law.”

What Abraham had was the promises.  We called them back in Genesis, “The Abrahamic Covenant.”

What were the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant?

Offspring, Land, and Blessing.

Paul lumps them together in verse 13 as Abraham being promised to be “heir of the world.”

I love that!

And he asks, do you get to be heirs of the world by law-keeping? V.14

“For if those who live by law are heirs, faith has no value and the promise is worthless, because law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.”

I think that’s a “no.” You don’t get to be heirs of the world by law-keeping.

Because no one keeps the law the way they should and an unkept law brings wrath. Those who have the law are more accountable. They not only sin, they transgress the law. So law-keeping is good whenever it occurs but it is never saving only condemning because it never occurs the way it should.

Law is not the way to justification.

3:28! “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

That’s how it was for Abraham, and it’s how it will be for Abraham’s true children. V.16

“Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace [a gift!] and may be guaranteed to all Abraham's offspring–[he loves that word “all”] not only to those who are of the law [Jews] but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ [Genesis 15:5]”

Father Abraham.

When I was a kid, we used to sing, “Father Abraham had many son, many sons had Father Abraham. I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s all praise the Lord!”

And when I got a little older, I came to think that that just wasn’t true.

I’m not Jewish!

I don’t have the Law. I’m not ritually circumcised. I’m not from the twelve tribes.

Abraham is not my father.

But Paul says, “Oh yes, he is. If you believe in Jesus.”

“Abraham is the father of us all” who believe.

3:28! “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Just like Father Abraham.

So, what is faith?

Because all of a sudden, it seems really important.

Before, you might have thought that works were really important. Obeying God’s commands (always a good thing) is really important.  Finding out what God requires and doing that seemed really important.

But now, it’s becoming obvious that faith is really really important.

What is faith?

Well, we can tell by look at Abraham.

First, faith focuses on God. V.17

“He [Abraham] is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed–the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.”

Faith focuses, not on what we can do, but on what God can do.

Some people call themselves believers, but what they really are is do-ers. They like to accomplish things for God. They are religious.

But faith focuses, not on what we can do, but on what God has done and will do.

Abraham believed that God could give life to the dead and call things that are not as thought they were...like baby Isaac! V.18

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed [he and faith] and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ [Remember how Abraham was promised offspring, and how unlikely it seemed? Why? Because Abraham was an old man. But He knew he had a powerful God. V.19] Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah's womb was also dead.”

Here’s number two. Faith faces facts.

Faith does not discount the hard facts. It does not pretend there are not almost overwhelming difficulties in life. Abraham faces the fact that he was an old geezer who shouldn’t by any natural process be a Daddy.

And even more Sarah shouldn’t be a mommy.

He had his eyes wide open.

But, #3. Faith takes God at His word.

Abraham knew that there were more facts in the world than he and his wife’s nearly dead old bodies.

He knew God’s promises. V.20

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God,”

Faith takes God at His Word. Faith soldiers on.

Faith believes that God always keeps His promises. No matter what.  And that brings glory to God. V.20 again.

“Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.”

Faith gives glory to God.

You see, when we trust in works, then we get the glory.

But when we trust in God’s work, then He gets the glory.

And God is unswervingly committed to getting His glory!

So Father Abraham gave God the glory, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised. V.22

“This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’”

Because that’s what faith leads to.

Faith leads to life.

True faith in God’s promises always is credited to the believer as righteousness.

That’s how it’s always worked. That’s how it was before the Law.

That’s how it was for Father Abraham.

And that’s how it is for us. V.23

“The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness–for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Paul has proved his point from 3:28.

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

That’s how it worked for Abraham.

And that’s how it works for us who are Abraham’s children.

For all who believe in Jesus.

Jesus was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our being declared righteous, our justification.

Isn’t that glorious?

Now, let me give you three words of application from all of this glorious truth.

Three words.

#1. BOASTING.

What does this gospel say about boasting?

It is excluded. Abraham didn’t have anything to boast about before God.

And neither do we.

So, why do we?

This gospel obliterates our boasting. It obliterates our moral superiority.

It should end our judgmentalism.

Remember, there are two groups of Christians in Rome, and they are having trouble getting along.

Did you ever know two groups of Christians to not get along?

I’m sure that one group thought that they were better than the other. Probably both groups thought that they were better than the other.

But Paul says that boasting is excluded.

What should that do to these fighting Christians?

It should bring them together.

What about you and me?  Where are we tempted to think more highly of ourselves and our works than others?

I think a lot of that goes on over social media.  We love to rail against those idiots who do such stupid things and believe such stupid things.

And we point our digital fingers at them and look down our technological noses.

“I would never do that.”

“Those people are so worthless.”

“I do good things. Look at me.”

“Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded.”

#2. BELIEVING.

Not boasting, but believing.

This whole chapter is a call to faith.

It’s a call to believe like our Father Abraham did.

To focus on God and what He can do.
To face the facts, but not just the hard facts in the room, but the facts you can’t see, the facts of who God is.
To take God at His word and believe what He has promised. No matter what.
To give God the glory.
To believe God and have it credited to us as righteousnesss.

Because Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”

Believing.

Are you believing?  Do you have faith?

Now, don’t get me or Paul wrong. That faith will work itself out in genuine transformation. The faith alone that saves is never alone. It always issues into good works.

But it’s faith alone that connects us to God’s justifying grace.

It’s only our trusting in what Jesus did for us that connects us to the righteousness we need.

“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

Believing.

Don’t stop believing. Even if it seems like you’re about dead and so is the womb of your wife. Believe the promises of God.

Believe in Jesus.

And #3. BLESSING.

That’s what was promised to Abraham. To be “the heir of the world!”

Offspring, Land, and Blessing.

And what a blessing it is to be justified.

To not have your sins counted against you.

But to have righteousness of Christ counted for you.

Rejoice with Father Abraham, and with Paul, and with King David in verses 6-8.

“David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.’”

Blessings!

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside.


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Messages in this Series

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News
07. Justified08. Father Abraham

Bzzzz!

Bytes His Tongue

"A man of knowledge uses words with restraint,
   and a man of understanding is even-tempered."

- Proverbs 17:27 (NIV 1984)

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Thanks to Kerry Doyal for the title of this post.

New Blog Series: Toward a Definition of Gossip

I believe that one of the most helpful features of Resisting Gossip  is the definition of sinful gossip found in the first chapter: bearing bad news behind someone's back out of a bad heart.

However imperfect and imprecise that definition may be, I believe that it basically captures the biblical teaching and encapsulates it into a form that is fairly memorable and practical.  I'm grateful to have been able to study the biblical data thoroughly and formulate this definition to share with others. One of the main reasons I studied gossip in the Bible was to be able to define it for myself. Gossip can be slippery and elusive to define.

I'd like to explain to you how I came to that definition. Over the next few weeks, I'm going to post excerpts from my doctoral project that "show my work" in the biblical research. We'll call it, "Toward a Definition of Gossip." In my doctoral project, it was the second chapter "Biblical and Theological Foundations."

It begins with this introduction:

Recognizing Gossip

The goal of this project is to help God’s people in recognizing sinful gossip, resisting its lure, and responding in faith and love when personally affected by it. This chapter will focus on the first of these three aims–recognizing gossip. Discerning certain talk to be sinful gossip is often the most difficult part of the problem. It is very hard to resist or respond to something you cannot properly identify. What, exactly, is gossip?

The Bible does not offer, in one place, a simple definition of gossip, but it is not silent on this important topic! In this chapter, we will survey the Bible’s teaching on gossip with the overarching purpose of offering a functional definition that can be utilized in our personal lives.

We will start in the Old Testament. Proverbs, especially, bulges with warnings about sinful talk and offers more wisdom about gossip than any other book in the Bible. We will study the main Hebrew words that are regularly translated “gossip” in the best English versions and each of their occurrences in the Old Testament. Then we will consider passages of Scripture that address the phenomenon of gossip without using the word itself.

Similarly, in the New Testament, we will survey the Greek words regularly translated “gossip” in our English versions and attempt to understand the context and teaching surrounding those words. At the same time, we will consider other New Testament passages that touch on the phenomenon of gossip.

To truly grasp a biblical theology of gossip, we also have to consider a larger theology of words and story. Two particular aspects of that broader theology have significant ramifications for identifying sinful gossip.

At the end of the chapter, I will suggest a functional definition of sinful gossip that weaves all of these biblical and theological elements together, and hopefully, helps Christians to properly recognize sinful gossip as they are tempted to offer or to receive it.

Which Mouth Today?

"The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,
    but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence."

                          - Proverbs 10:11 (NIV 2011)

[Matt's Messages] "Justified"

“Justified”
All Roads Lead to Romans
November 2, 2014 :: Romans 3:21-26 

And we’ve finally made it to the good stuff.

Verse 21 begins, “But now.”

We’re turning the corner from the “Bad News” section of Romans to the “Best of News” section of Romans.

“But now.”

This paragraph, these 6 verses, contain some of the most precious sentences in the whole Bible.

Some have said that they are the heart of the gospel. They are the heart of this letter and even the most important paragraph in the whole New Testament!

Whether or not that’s true, and I don’t know how you can tell, they are incredibly important and incredibly sweet and precious. This paragraph just drips with spiritual honey and eternal life-changing truth.

If you thought the last several messages on the Bad News, the Even Worse News, and the Worst News were depressing, this paragraph more than makes up for them.

And it does it in large part because of one main word, “Righteousness.” In Greek, dikaiosunay.

That word or a form of that Greek word appears seven times in these 6 verses!

And one of the problems we have in going from Greek to English is that we tend to use different words to translate that Greek word depending on what we mean. So, you might miss that Paul uses that word 7 times in 6 verses. Sometimes the English versions translate it, “Righteousness,” but other times it is “justice.” Basically the same idea, different words in English.

I’m going to read this to you, and I’m going to emphasize to underline every word that has that dikaios root in Greek so you can hear it with your own ears.

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified [same root word, justified] freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

This is a very precious paragraph.

You can hear how it picks up where Paul left off in Romans 1:16-17.

Remember back to Paul’s statement that he is not ashamed of the gospel?

Look back at Romans 1:16 and 17.

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. [We memorized that. Why is the gospel so powerful?] For in the gospel a righteousness [dikaiosunay] from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

Do you hear that righteous word in there?

That’s really important.

Because we have a righteousness problem.

That’s what Romans 1:18 said. Next verse.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness,”

And that word “wickedness” is “adikia.” Un-righteousness.

The bad news that we have seen over and over again is that the wrath of God is coming because of our unrighteousness.

And that’s true for Gentiles even though they don’t have the Law. Because deep down they know enough to condemn them.

And it’s true for the Jews even though they do have the Law because they do not keep it.

Jew and Gentiles are all under the power of sin.

And we learned last week that there is no wiggling out of this unrighteousness problem. And there is no working ourselves out of this unrighteousness problem, either.

Chapter 3, verse 20.

“No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.”

We ended last week by saying on our own we are doomed.

“But now.”

Something has changed.
Something has happened that changes everything.

And by it, we are “Justified.”

That should be one of your favorite words.

We don’t have an English word “righteousified,” but maybe we should!

To be justified means to be declared righteous.

To have the status of being righteous, to be found in the right.

And it’s a glorious thing to be justified!

Because for people who are justified, it means the end of God’s wrath.

God’s wrath comes on those who are declared un-righteous.

But it does not come on those who are declared righteous.

Those who are justified.

Do you see how important that concept is?

And actually, there are two different ones who are justified in some sense in this passage. And today, we’ll talk about both of them.

The first is US.

#1. US.

Those of us who belong to Jesus are justified.

That’s what this precious passage teaches.

Let’s look at the details. V.21

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” Stop there for a second.

I love that “but now.”

That’s a seismic shift from what we’ve seen so far in Romans 1-3.

So far, we’ve seen that all of humanity deserves the wrath of God. We have asked for it by exchanging God for stuff. For suppressing what we know about God and worshiping God-substitutes. For pretending and playing at being good but actually being bad. For being unrighteous.

“But now.”

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made know (v.21) and (v.22) it comes to those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

This is precious.

How precious?

At least six ways.

First, it comes “apart from law.”

Now, what does that mean?  It could mean that it comes apart from law-keeping. That would fit with verse 20 is saying that no one will be declared righteous by works of the law.  And that is definitely true. This is righteousness does not come through our law-keeping, our works. We’ll see that more in a second.

But it probably means “being learned about apart from the Old Testament Law.” Meaning that something new has happened. This righteousness of God has come on the scene in a way that you need a new revelation to get. It’s not in the Old Testament.

But at the same time Paul doesn’t want us to think that it wasn’t hidden in the Old Testament. It was there, too. V.21 again, “apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” They pointed towards this new thing in shadows and signs, but now that the new thing is here for us to clearly see.

And here’s what it is v.22

“This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”

How precious is that?

It comes “through faith.”

Not through works!  It does come by our hard efforts.

It doesn’t come through our self improvement.

It doesn’t come through our being good people.

It doesn’t come by works. It comes by rest.  By our resting on this person Jesus Christ.

And more than that, this righteousness comes through faith...

“To all who believe.”

Paul uses the same word for faith or belief twice in that one verse. Pistis is the word.

“Through faith in Christ Jesus to all who believe.”

Why does he repeat himself?  Because he wants to emphasize that’s faith.

And it’s faith for ALL who believe. He says (v.21), “There is no difference.”

Difference between what?

What do you think?  By now you should think, “Jew and Gentile,” right?

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile.
No difference between Israeli and Palestinian. Just as lost. V.23

“...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

So if all have sinned, all have been found in this state of sin, then there is no difference between Jew and Gentile.

We are all in the same sinful boat, and we can all, with no difference, enter into the same saved boat and be justified. V.24

“...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

To all who believe.

Justified.

In Greek, “dikaioumenoi.” Being justified. Being declared righteous.

That’s one the most important Bible words for everyone to know.

It’s so precious.

Here’s another reason why. It’s free!

“justified freely by his grace...”

Justification is not something we earn.
It’s not something that Christians work their way up to.

It’s free. It’s a gift. It’s by grace.

Grace is unmerited favor. It’s blessings that we don’t deserve.

Justification is by grace.

That’s what all the fuss was about between Martin Luther and the medieval church back at the Reformation.

It’s been just about 500 years since Martin Luther pounded his 95 Theses on the church door at Wittenburg. He did it on October 31st.

And he kicked off the Protestant Reformation which was, in large part, a rediscovery of Paul’s gospel of grace.

Justification by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

V.24, “justified freely by his grace.”

Justification does not come through your good works or my good works.

Your righteousness is not enough.

You need God’s righteousness.

And that is enough!

“justified freely by his grace.” How precious.

It’s free to you and me.

But it was costly to Him. V.24

By his grace “through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Do you see how every word is precious?

“Through the redemption.”

What’s that mean?

The word here means to be pay a price to free something or someone. To buy back. To redeem means to pay a cost for something to go free, to be liberated.

It was often used of slaves that were paid for to set them free.

In the New Testament, this payment, this cost was not paid to Satan or to some other cosmic force but it was paying the debt that our sin had incurred. Basically, to God’s own justice.

Our salvation is free to us, but it cost Jesus so much!

What did it cost Him?  V.25

“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

Some of your versions have “propitiation” where the NIV has “sacrifice of atonement.”

The Greek word is “hilasterion.”

And that words is connected in the Greek version of the Old Testament with the mercy seat. With the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant.

With the day of atonement when a sacrifice was made to make atonement the sin of the people.

In other words, Jesus Christ had to die as a sacrifice to satisfy the righteous wrath of God.

It’s the Cross.

You know, I told Heather last night that it was difficult to prepare this message, not because the news in it was bad, but because we’re so familiar with it.

I think that I preach this message every single week. I try to! It’s the gospel. I try to make this gospel clear every single week and show how it ties to every single passage that we study together.

But here it is in a pure, undistilled, form.

Jesus died on the Cross as a propitiation for our sins.

He absorbed the wrath of God.

That’s what it took for us to be justified. To be declared righteous.

It took the death of Jesus Christ.

“God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”

How precious is this!

Redemption through Propitiation.

By Grace Through Faith.

To All Who Believe.

Apart from the Law.

Justified!

What a gospel! What good news!

Justified!

That’s how God solves our righteousness problem.

And it’s also how God solves His righteousness problem.

#2. GOD.

Does God have a problem with righteousness?

Not any more!

He was never unrighteous, but it might have looked like it. V.25

“God presented [Jesus] as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice [same word, righteousness, dikaiosunay], because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his [righteousness, dikaiosunay] justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”

Think about this for second.

Do you like it when criminals get away unpunished?

Neither does God.

It offends God when the guilty go unpunished.

Listen to these three passages from the Old Testament.

Exodus 23:7 “Have nothing to do with a false charge and do not put an innocent or honest person to death, for I will not acquit the guilty.”

Proverbs 17:15, “Acquitting the guilty and condemning the innocent–the LORD detests them both.”

Proverbs 24:24&25, “Whoever says to the guilty, ‘You are innocent’–peoples will curse him and nations denounce him. But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come upon them.”

That’s justice.

People getting what they deserve for their crimes.

But God, in His wise forbearance, had left the sins before the Cross unpunished.

That’s talking about those who belonged to God before Jesus.

Their sins were passed over. They were forgiven. And there wasn’t a sacrifice great enough to pay for their sins!

The blood of bulls and goats won’t do it. Not really.

The blood rams and lambs won’t do it. Not really.

So the question is was God truly righteous? Was He truly just?

Sometimes we wonder if God is just to blast us when we do wrong.

The real question is why doesn’t God blast us when we do wrong?

Why didn’t God blast everyone from Adam to John the Baptist?

Is that wrath of God really coming? Is it trustworthy?

Or does everyone just get a pass?

No, God is just. He is righteous. He is unswervingly committed to His glory.

He always does what is right. He never does what is wrong.

He is holy, holy, holy, and the wrath of God must come on unrighteusness.

So to demonstrate His righteousness, God used the Cross.

God presented Jesus as a propitiation to satisfy His own justice. Jesus took our place. He died in our place and paid the penalty for our sin.

And He gave us His righteousness.

His righteous status.

Not as a legal fiction, but now as a legal fact.

We are declared righteous because of what Jesus did for us.

V.25. “He did this to demonstrate his [righteousness] because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished–he did it to demonstrate his [righteousness] at the present time, so as to be just [right] and the one who justifies [declares right] those who have faith in Jesus.”

He grants us His saving righteousness.

He is just. He is justified, and rightly so.

Isn’t that glorious?

Here’s the big question. Who gets justified?

V.26

“Those who have faith in Jesus.”

Do you have faith in Jesus?

Have you put your faith, your belief, your hope squarely down on Him?

John 1 says “to all who received him, to those who believed [had faith] in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”

“Those who have faith in Jesus” are the ones who are justified.

Not just believing things about Jesus.

But believing in Jesus.

Not trusting in our good works, our church affiliation, our baptisms, our religiosity, our charity, our family, our familiarity with spiritual things.

But faith in Jesus and Jesus alone.

That’s who gets justified.

***

Messages in this Series

01. All Roads Lead to Romans
02. I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel
03. The Bad News
04. Hope for Holy Sexuality
05. The Even Worse News
06. The Worst News07. Justified

Rosa "Charles de Mills"

2 Sermons on Resisting Gossip by Jim Stewart

I love this!

This week while running the logsplitter to get us ready for Winter, I listened to two really good messages on resisting gossip by Pastor Jim Stewart of North Avenue Alliance Church, in Burlington Vermont:

    Gossip: A Community Killer

    Gossip: Don't Pass It On

Both messages are part of his ongoing series on being "Lonely in a Crowd." People are more technologically connected to each other than ever before and yet report feeling more lonely than ever before. Pastor Jim explains how Jesus is the answer to this problem. In these two messages, he identifies gossip as a community killer, defines it in terms recognizable to readers of Resisting Gossip with a focus on motivation, and lays out strategies for resisting this temptation ranging from very direct to very indirect.

Pastor Jim has read and recommends Resisting Gossip , but he doesn't merely repeat it. He has studied the biblical teaching and presents it in his own words, with his own stories, and in his own very engaging style. I especially enjoyed his unpacking and application of these phrases from 1 Corinthians 13 for resisting gossip: "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." I also thought his explanation of idolatry in our gossip motivations was really well put, "Gossip serves as a substitute for God at that moment."

What a privilege it is to hear how Resisting Gossip is being used! I'm so encouraged that pastors are reading my work and then teaching their flocks what the Bible says about gossip. I pray that churches would be strengthened and biblical community flourish as we grow in our understanding of God's Word.


Today is the last day for Westminster Bookstore's fantastic sale on resources for resisting gossip.

The Definition of Gossip and the Art of Pastoring

Recently, I had an email conversation with a wise pastor who had some good practical questions about how to use my definition of gossip in pastoring people. Our interaction demonstrated a few things to me. First, that this is an important thing to be thinking about because it involves real people in real situations. Second, sometimes there are no easy answers. It's an art not a science. Third, pastoring is a terrific privilege and worth the hard work of learning to love people well.

I asked my new friend if I could post our conversation for others to read, and he said yes so long as we kept it anonymous. We don't want to gossip about those who might be gossiping! Below is a lightly edited version. Chime in, too, if you like, in the comments below.

***
Hi, Pastor Matt,

I have a read and watched many of your resources and am thankful for your ministry to the church. I have a couple questions on gossip and would love to hear your thoughts if you have some time:Is it gossip for people to tell me (as a pastor) things in a counseling session? If not why would that be different than one friend coming to another friend to receive counsel? For that matter is sharing things in counseling, or in small group settings when people share their personal history or testimony in general about family history, conflict, etc. gossip? Is it gossip to share parts of our story that involve others negatively? A woman in our church often talks with other gals sharing her experience of abuse by her ex-husband. But is she gossiping about him in order to minister to others? Is it gossip to tell someone to watch out for another person because of danger? Paul seems to do this with various people. If it’s not gossip does that mean one single gal telling another single gal “I wouldn’t date that guy because he did…”? Can spouses share everything with one another since they are one or is that still gossip? Last one: if there is distance of relationship does it not counted as gossip? For instance, if someone shares with their friend about how they struggle with their Mom’s trying to be involved in their parenting is it okay to share that since the friend doesn’t know the mom at all and it doesn’t become divisive. If your able, thank you in advance, if not no worries.

Pastor Anonymous

***
Pastor Anon,

Great questions! Thanks for asking.

The short answer to all of them is, "It depends." It could be sinful gossip in any of those cases, but it might not be, especially depending upon motivations and how the information sharing was conducted (carefully and in love or carelessly, recklessly, and divisively?).

I've written a brief article about this on my blog, "So, Is This Gossip?" that might be helpful to you.

After reading that, let me know what you think.

Blessings,

-Matt

***
Hi Matt,

Thanks for the quick response. I appreciate it.

I had read that blog and I think I’m still left with questions. I’m sure I’m looking for a hard fast rule that simply doesn’t exist.

Most all of the instances I listed are done in a hidden way so that part of the definition is present. However, the “bad heart” seems hard to define. I think many times the way people defend their (potential) gossip is by saying “I wasn’t doing it to harm anyone I just needed counsel.” While that may be true it can still cause harm. In addition “bad heart” might not be trying to harm another person but rather trying to make ourselves look, appear, feel good, etc. So…I guess maybe a follow up question would be how would you define bad heart in these contexts? And isn’t it possible to do something that’s not from a bad heart but still has bad effects and thus we should refrain to begin with? I don’t know the answers to these…want to help folks not gossip, and not participate in it in my role as a pastor but also don’t want to draw unnecessary and even harmful lines in the sand.

Thanks for listening,

Pastor Anonymous

***
Dear Anony,

I understand. I went looking for those hard and fast rules when I did my biblical research and was disappointed to not find them.

The hard and fast rule we do have is that if we are loving those whom we are talking about and loving those to whom we are talking then we aren't going to be gossiping. What's difficult about that is that we can fool and justify ourselves and others can fool and justify themselves to us.

For ourselves, the more we are aware of our sinful tendencies and the biblical truth that undoes them, the more able we can be to see our own sin and turn away from it. That's the focus of my book. It's written to those who want to resist gossip in their own lives.

In ministry to others, we have to both (1) try not to judge others motives when they are doing something that looks, at first glance, unloving and sinful, and at the same time, (2) be discerning of possible motives that would be sliding a conversation into a dangerous place. We can really tell a lot about why someone is talking about someone else negatively by how they do it. Does it appear to be just someone running someone else down? Do we get facts and story that doesn't help anyone? Is there an attempt to provide alternate explanations for someone else's behavior or do they seem to be jumping to conclusions? Are the warnings being offered to others careful and nuanced based on facts or cutting and rash and based on feelings or hearsay? Is there evidence of the Golden Rule at work in this conversation or is it one-sided? In a conflict, has person A gone to person B, or are they talking about it with people C through Z who don't reasonably need to know any of these facts? Is there an obvious true, constructive, loving purpose to this conversation or is it aimless, careless, entertaining? You're right that our bad hearts may not be malicious to the one we are talking about but they might be careless and not thinking about the one we are talking about. That's a lack of love, as well.

Our pastoral response needs to be in proportion to what we discern is going on. If someone is spreading bad information, it's more cut and dried. If someone is calling families one-by-one in the church about a conflict to make sure that everyone knows all the details and won't go directly to the subjects of the talk, that's more obvious. But a few of your case studies call for more discernment.

Is that helpful? I could write more, but I'm trying to give the principle and let you work it out in your own practice.

-Matt

***
This is good Matt, thanks for helping me to continue to think through this. Appreciate the time very much so.

- Anonymous

***
You're welcome. It's a privilege to have gotten to study this on this level and share with others what I've been learning.

Blessings on you and your church family.

-Matt




Westminster Bookstore's fantastic sale on all resources for Resisting Gossip ends tomorrow.