Romans 15:4-13 (NASB)
4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope. 5 May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, 6 so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. 8 For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises made to the patriarchs might be confirmed 9 and, moreover, that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written: “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing the praises of your name.” 10 Again, it says, “Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.” 11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles; let all the peoples extol him.” 12 And again, Isaiah says, “The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope.” 13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The unity of God's people comes only through their adoption of the humility of Christ, who came to serve and not to be served. Humility, Paul argues, is a necessity for Gentiles who have been brought into God's family as outsiders. Gratitude and thanks should mark their attitude for the work which God has done through Jesus for them.
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Isaiah 6 (NASB)
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. 3 And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” 4 At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 5 “Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.” 6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 With it he touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.” 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.” 11 Then I said, “For how long, Lord?” And he answered: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and the fields ruined and ravaged, 12 until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. 13 And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land.” God commissioned the prophet as a testimony against the people. Their hardness had closed them off from the life of God. The prophets words would not undo this rebellion but would reinforce it, testifying to the truth of God even amidst the turmoil which was coming. Jesus himself recast these words in his ministry to depict the importance of proper response to God (Matthew 13). It is those who hear and heed God's message who truly please Him. Jeremiah 33:14-16 (NASB)
14 “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. 15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it[c] will be called:The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’ In the agony of the exile, the prophet did not leave Israel without hope. God's message was that, in spite of the destruction to come, He would restore His people and heal their land. It was the Messiah who would accomplish this restoration for God's people, bringing justice, peace, and rightness to the world. As we await the fullness of the kingdom of God and His Messiah Jesus, we too hold to the words of the prophet and anticipate the days when Peace reigns over the earth. John 1:6-9 (NASB)
6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe.8 He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. John prepared the way of the Light to come into the world. This Light-for-the-world, for the whole world, for everyone, was foreshadowed by the prophet Isaiah who spoke of Jerusalem's restoration after the exile, saying; "A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken” (Isaiah 40:3-5). This voice prepared the coming of the glory of God, of God Himself. "See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:10-11). Christ came as God's presence, God's glory, coming to set things right among His people and within the world. John 1:1-5 (NASB)
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life,and that life was the light of all mankind. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The Divine Logos, Agent of creation, Eternal with the Father, Lord over all, is the Life of humanity. True humanity. Humanity reconstituted as it was always meant to be. Formed-in-the-Image-of-God humanity. Through Christ this image, tarnished by Sin's presence in the world, is restored. The Light of this Life shines through the darkness which is in the world for the sake of the world. For the whole world. Followers of Jesus are bearers of this light. Mark 13:33-37 33 Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. 34 It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. 35 “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. 36 If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. 37 What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’” Just as temptation overtook the disciples in the hours before Jesus' death, so too believers must live watchfully so as to not stumble. The hour of the Lord's return is unknown and comes suddenly. In spite of the unknown timing of this event, Christ assures his followers that he will indeed return, an assurance which must inspire faithfulness in those who call upon his name. I'll be following an advent reading schedule from Catholic.org this season and thought I'd post the readings with some reflections for those wanting to follow along.
Romans 13:11-14 (NASB) 11 And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. 14 Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Love is the fulfillment of the Law (Rom. 13:10), and those who have God's Spirit are equipped to love with the love of God. It is the Spirit who equips us to clothe ourselves in light rather than darkness, in Christ rather than Sin. It is the Spirit who enables us to live in accordance with the divine calling of God, to be a people dedicated to the service of God and others. Love is the fulfillment of the Law. 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 (NASB) 3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 5 For in him you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge-- 6 God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. 7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. God's favor allows his people to follow in the faithfulness of Jesus. Christ is both our faithful example and the one whose faithfulness we share in when we walk in union with him. It is God's faithful activities through Christ and the Spirit that ensure those who follow him of their favorable outcome in the day of the Lord. It seems to me that a couple of things are running amok in evangelical theology right now which are pushing theology-in-practice to some unfortunate extremes. Though other things could be thrown in, two issues of principle concern to me are: 1) meticulous determinism and 2) either an over-inflation of human worth or an over-defamation of human nature.
Here is an appropriate quote from N. T. Wright on Col. 3:4-11.
'put to death...' and 'rid yourselves...' (vv. 5, 8). These verbs introduce two lists of vices, one relating to sexual sin, the other to sins of anger. The two lists are classic statements of the ways in which Christians can be untrue to themselves and, more importantly, to God. By bluntly naming sins which are all too often excused or glossed over with euphemisms, Paul sets a clear standard for the church both ancient and modern. Many Christians tend to concentrate on one list or the other: one knows of Christian communities that would be appalled at the slightest sexual irregularity but which are nests of malicious intrigue, backbiting, gossip and bad temper, and, conversely, of others where people are so concerned to live in untroubled harmony with each other that they tolerate flagrant immorality. The gospel, however, leaves no room for behaviour of either sort. (N. T. Wright, Colossians and Philemon, TNTC (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2008) As in Paul's situation, ours has not changed much. The call today for the Church to embrace a post-modern sexual ethic finds no grounding in the ethical vision of the New Testament, which was decidedly "conservative" in these matters (and pitting Jesus against the rest of the NT authors doesn't accomplish that end either). In the same way, the narrow factionism that is found on the other end of the spectrum in Christian circles does little to further the kingdom or to embrace the NT call for the unity of believers. Both sets of prohibitions must be headed, though their is polarization today concerning which modern audiences need to hear which vice-list the most. |
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