Morning Prayer: 09 July – Romans 2:17-24 ~ on practicing what you preach

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 2:17-24 (NLT)

You who call yourselves Jews are relying on God’s law, and you boast about your special relationship with him. You know what he wants; you know what is right because you have been taught his law. You are convinced that you are a guide for the blind and a light for people who are lost in darkness. You think you can instruct the ignorant and teach children the ways of God. For you are certain that God’s law gives you complete knowledge and truth.

Well then, if you teach others, why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal, but do you steal? You say it is wrong to commit adultery, but do you commit adultery? You condemn idolatry, but do you use items stolen from pagan temples? You are so proud of knowing the law, but you dishonor God by breaking it. No wonder the Scriptures say, “The Gentiles blaspheme the name of God because of you.”
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Reflection: Romans 2:17-24 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The argument of verses 17-24 is the same in principle as that of verses 1-3, and is just as applicable to us as to first-century critical moralizers and self-confident Jews. If we judge others, we should be able to judge ourselves (1-3). if we teach others, we should be able to teach ourselves (21-24). If we set ourselves up as either teachers or judges of others, we can have no excuse if we do not teach or judge ourselves. We cannot possibly plead ignorance of moral rectitude. On the contrary, we invite God’s condemnation of our hypocrisy.
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Christ be in my waking, as the sun is rising, in my day of working, with me every hour. Christ be in my resting, as the day is ending, calming and refreshing, watching through the night.

Christ be in my gladness for the joy of living, thankful for the goodness of the father’s hand. Christ be in my sorrow, in my day of darkness, knowing that I follow in the steps he trod.

Jesus, this is my devotion, all my life to know you, every day to walk with you. Savior, you’re my deepest longing, you’re the one I live for, teach me, Lord, to walk with you.

Christ when hope has faded, nothing left to cling to, every pleasure jaded, every well is dry. Christ the loving shepherd draws me with his kindness, leads me from the desert to the streams of life.
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Christ be in my thinking, and my understanding, guarding me from evil, walking in the light. Christ be in my speaking, every word a blessing, pure and not deceiving, grace to all who hear.
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 08 July – Romans 2:12-16 ~ on our secret lives

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 2:12-16 (NLT)

When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it. For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight. Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it. They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right. And this is the message I proclaim — that the day is coming when God, through Christ Jesus, will judge everyone’s secret life.
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Reflection: Romans 2:12-16 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

It seems that Paul is envisaging a debate in which three parties are involved: our hearts (on which the requirements of the law have been written), our consciences (prodding and reproving us), and our thoughts (usually accusing us, but sometimes excusing us).
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God’s judgement will include the hidden areas of our lives: God will judge men’s secrets. Scripture tells us repeatedly that God knows our hearts. In consequence, there will be no possibility of a miscarriage of justice on the last day. For all the facts will be known, including those which at present are not, for example, our motives.
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Dietrich Bonhoeffer was quite correct to write from prison, ‘I don’t think it is Christian to want to get to the New Testament too soon or too directly.’ What he meant is that, until the law has done its work of exposing and condemning our sin, we are not ready to hear the gospel of justification.
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That God has written his law on our hearts by creation means that we have some knowledge of it; when he writes his law on our hearts in the new creation he also gives us a love for it and the power to obey it.
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 07 July – Romans 2:5-11 ~ on God’s righteous and impartial judgement

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 2:5-11 (NLT)

Unknown Artist. The Last Judgement. Church of the Most Holy Mother of God ‘of Kazan’. Tolyatti RF. 2001

But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness. There will be trouble and calamity for everyone who keeps on doing what is evil — for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. But there will be glory and honor and peace from God for all who do good — for the Jew first and also for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
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Reflection: On God’s Judgement (John Stott, The Message of Romans)

God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done’ (6)…. Jesus himself repeated it… so did Paul. It is the principle of exact retribution, which is the foundation of justice.

Is Paul declaring that salvation is… by good works? No… what he is affirming is that, although justification is indeed by faith, judgement will be according to works…. The divine judgement, which is a process of sifting and separating, is going on secretly all the time, as people range themselves for or against Christ, but on the last day its results will be made public.

The presence or absence of saving faith in our hearts will be disclosed by the presence or absence of good works of love in our lives…. Those who seek God and persevere in goodness will receive eternal life, while those who are self-seeking and follow evil will experience God’s wrath.

The judgement of God will be righteous (according to what we have done, 6-8) and impartial (as between Jews and Gentiles, without favoritism, 9-11).
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 06 July – Romans 2:1-4 ~ on space in which to repent

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 2:1-4 (NLT)

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You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things. And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things. Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things? Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?
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Reflection: Romans 2:1-4

Paul uncovers in these verses a strange human foible, namely our tendency to be critical of everybody except ourselves…. We work ourselves up into a state of self-righteous indignation over the disgraceful behavior of other people, while the very same behavior seems not nearly so serious when it is ours rather than theirs. We even gain a vicarious satisfaction from condemning in others the various faults we excuse in others. Freud called this moral gymnastic ‘projection’, but Paul described it centuries before Freud. Similarly, Thomas Hobbes, the seventeenth-century political philosopher, wrote of people who ‘are forced to keep themselves in their own favor by observing the imperfections of other men’. This device enables us to simultaneously retain our own sins and our self-respect. It is a convenient arrangement, but also both slick and sick.

…This is not a call either to suspend our critical faculties or to renounce all criticism and rebuke of others as illegitimate; it is rather a prohibition of standing in judgement on other people and condemning them (which as humans we have no right to do), especially when we fail to condemn ourselves. For this is the hypocrisy of the double standard, a high standard for other people and a comfortably low one for ourselves.

…[However] God’s kindness leads us towards repentance. That is it’s goal. It is intended to give us space in which to repent, not to give us an excuse for sinning.

(John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 04 July – Romans 1:18-32 ~ God abandoned them

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 1:18-32 (NLT)

But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.

So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.
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Peanut Gallery: This is the first 4th of July that I am ashamed to be an American; I cannot in good conscience fly the flag of my country. It’s not just about the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage (although that has been a precipitating event). It’s more about my shock and dismay at being a citizen of a country that has so blatantly abandoned God and it’s Judeo-Christian roots. This has been 50 years in the making… slow and steady. But here we are… America has lost its soul.

I think the watershed event was Roe v Wade (1973.) How can God bless a nation that murders the weakest, most defenseless, among us – the unborn. Mother Teresa Of Calcutta put abortion in perspective:

It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

The sexual revolution in America has been the driving force behind our decline. And now, it has finally driven our country off a cliff. We can no longer pretend to be a Christian nation; we can no longer claim the moral high ground. We have become another Godless nation… a powerful nation, but nevertheless Godless. Our future looks bleak.

At this time in history, I cannot invoke God’s name to bless America – not because God has abandoned us, but because we have abandoned God… “to do whatever shameful things [our] hearts desire.” And what has been the result? Are we happier? Are we living more fulfilled lives? Are we glorifying God? We are not.

Turn on the TV. Listen to the news. Watch the world at your doorstep. And what do you see? You see Romans 1:28-32 being played out before your eyes.

Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Where is God? Nowhere to be found on the field of public life… relegated to the sidelines as a paramedic of sorts – rushed onto the field in emergencies to fix the damage we’ve done to ourselves.

Have I lost faith in Christ to save us? Not at all. But America does not want to be saved; in fact, it believes it has been set free from the shackles of an outmoded belief system. We will have to crash as a nation before we turn again, in repentance, to God. Until then, may God have mercy on our souls.
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Salvation’s Song – Stuart Townend

Loved before the dawn of time, Chosen by my Maker, Hidden in my Saviour, I am His and He is mine, Cherished for eternity.

When I’m stained with guilt and sin, He is there to lift me, Heal me and forgive me; Gives me strength to stand again, Stronger than I was before.

So with every breath that I am given / I will sing salvation’s song; And I’ll join the chorus of creation / Giving praise to Christ alone.

All the claims of Satan’s curse / Lifted through His offering, Satisfied through suffering; All the blessings He deserves/ Poured on my unworthy soul.

Singing glory, honour, wisdom, power / To the Lamb upon the throne; Hallelujah, I will lift Him high. Hallelujah I will sing

Stars will fade and mountains fall; Christ will shine forever, Love’s unfading splendour. Earth and heaven will bow in awe, Joining in salvation’s song.

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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen