{"id":22912,"date":"2022-08-30T22:00:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-31T05:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-2_25-29-copy\/"},"modified":"2022-08-09T20:58:55","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T03:58:55","slug":"romans-3_1-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/romans-3_1-8\/","title":{"rendered":"You\u2019re Entrusted with Treasure"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romans 3:1-8 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 3:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 3:1-4 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-4:\u00a0 Just prior to this, in Romans 2:25-29, Paul said that a person\u2019s circumcision means very little if that person\u2019s heart is not set on living for God.\u00a0 But here Paul clarifies that this does not mean that the concept of Jewish circumcision itself has no value, or that being Jewish has no value.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n

–\u00a0\u00a0Just because one particular person does not value their circumcision does not mean that circumcision itself is a worthless idea (v2).
\n–\u00a0\u00a0Just because one person responds immaturely or ungratefully to God\u2019s blessings doesn\u2019t mean that God Himself is unfaithful (v3) or that God\u2019s blessings are not valuable.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0Just because you invest in someone and that person does not appreciate your investment or takes it for granted, that doesn\u2019t mean your investment was worthless.\u00a0 Your investment is still worth something to God.
\n–\u00a0\u00a0When God\u2019s blessings are not appreciated or used to the max, that is not God\u2019s fault but ours.\u00a0 As verse 4 says, \u201cLet God be true, and every man a liar\u201d.<\/p>\n

Also, in verses 1 and 2, Paul briefly addresses this question: if a person\u2019s circumcision means very little if that person\u2019s heart is not set on living for God (Romans 2:25-29), what advantage is there in being Jewish or being circumcised?\u00a0 Paul says that there is \u201cmuch\u201d advantage \u201cin every way\u201d (v2); that is, it is a great blessing to be Jewish.\u00a0 Paul says that there are many reasons why the Jews are especially blessed, but one reason is that God entrusted the Jews with His very words (v2), the Scriptures.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you have access to the Word of God, you are extremely blessed because God\u2019s Word is precious.<\/strong>\u00a0 Whether or not you obey God\u2019s Word is another story, but your obedience or lack of obedience doesn\u2019t take away from how precious God\u2019s Word is.\u00a0 This past October and November 2020, as part of our Bibles for Kenya campaign, you all at Thrive Church generously gave to provide approximately 900 Bibles to some of the poorest villages in Kenya.\u00a0 Praise God!\u00a0 We do this because God\u2019s Word in and of itself is precious.\u00a0 Since there are many people in the world who don\u2019t even have access to a Bible, thank God that you do.\u00a0 Don\u2019t take that the treasure of God\u2019s Word for granted.<\/p>\n

Since we too have been entrusted with the treasure of God\u2019s Word, may we be faithful trustees of God\u2019s Word and use God\u2019s Word to bring even greater blessing to this world.\u00a0 That way when we give an account to God one day, He will find that His investment in us didn\u2019t return empty.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Also, it follows logically that\u00a0just because a person claims to be a follower of Jesus but does not live up to Jesus\u2019 teachings, that doesn\u2019t mean that there\u2019s something wrong with Jesus or with His teachings, for the problem is not with Jesus but with the person following Him.<\/strong>\u00a0 So if you\u2019re exploring Christianity and are hindered by the fact that the Christians around you seem to be hypocrites, remember: Just because a guy claims to know math but gets a question wrong, that\u2019s not a reason to say that math doesn\u2019t exist or that math doesn\u2019t work.\u00a0 The problem is not with math but with the guy trying to do the math.\u00a0 Likewise, don\u2019t judge the merits of Christianity based on its fallible, imperfect leaders but based on its founder, Jesus Himself.<\/p>\n

In fact, Paul is suggesting in verse 4 that\u00a0when we fail to live up to Christian standards, that doesn\u2019t mean that Jesus is wrong or Christianity is wrong<\/strong>.\u00a0 In fact, our failure to live up to Christian standards shows that Jesus is right and that an important doctrine of Christianity is true: that we are sinners who desperately need a Saviour.\u00a0 As Paul says in verse 4, citing Psalm 51:4, \u201c[s]o that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge\u201d.<\/p>\n

Romans 3:5-8 (NIV)<\/strong>
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?”
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Why not say–as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say–“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is deserved.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 5-8:\u00a0 It appears that in times when Paul would talk about the points in verses 1-4, he would hear his critics bring this objection:\u00a0 \u201cIf our sinfulness brings out God\u2019s righteousness more clearly, then isn\u2019t God unjust for bringing his wrath on us?\u00a0 Shouldn\u2019t we just go on sinning to show that God is truly right?\u201d (v5, see also verse 7 which states the same question in a different way).\u00a0 Paul doesn\u2019t bother to respond to that objection except to say: \u201cTheir condemnation is deserved\u201d (v8).\u00a0 In other words, if that\u2019s how we think \u2013 if we say that we\u2019re going to sin more so that God\u2019s glory can be magnified \u2013 then that shows that our hearts toward God are cold, that our thinking about God is warped, and that we deserve to be condemned.<\/p>\n

May these verses remind us to keep a soft spirit and humble attitude toward God, lest we become cold in our heart and warped in our thinking.<\/p>\n

Father, You are the source of every good thing we know.\u00a0 Thank You for entrusting us with the treasure of Your Word.\u00a0 I pray that we would be faithful trustees of Your Word, that we would not take it for granted, but we would cherish it and use it well to bless others so that Your investment in us would not return empty.\u00a0 May we always keep a soft heart toward You and Your Word.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs!<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Romans 3:1-8.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Romans 3:1-4 (NIV)
\n1\u00a0\u00a0What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
\n2\u00a0\u00a0Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
\n3\u00a0\u00a0What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
\n4\u00a0\u00a0Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
\n\u00a0
\nOn verses 1-4:\u00a0 Just prior to this, in Romans 2:25-29, Paul said that a person\u2019s circumcision means very little if that person\u2019s heart is not set on living for God.\u00a0 But here Paul clarifies that this does not mean that the concept of Jewish circumcision itself has no value, or that being Jewish has no value.\u00a0 What can we learn from this?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22914,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22912"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22915,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22912\/revisions\/22915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}