Top-ranked mixed-martial artist Donald Cerrone tells a fascinating true story of a cave dive off the coast of Cozumel. He and his instructor were entering an underwater cave when his instructor lost bouyancy and began to kick up silt from the cave floor, creating utter darkness. Cerrone, in an effort to save his instructor, entered the darkness where he could not see his hands in front of his face and did not know what was up or down, left or right, backwards or forwards.
For many of us, Christianity feels like a great escape. But is this what Christianity is like? Is this what Christianity is about? Is escaping the reality and result of sin about a strategic plan carried out with intense effort, driven by fear? What is Christianity all about?
Alexander the Great changed the world single-handedly, however, in the end there was a final enemy he could not vanquish. He conquered the whole world, but could not conquer himself. Welcome to the story of a lost servant of God in 2 Kings 5.15-27.
Whatever being a saint, holy, and light in the darkness means the greatest embodiment of these wonderful attributes, the Apostle Paul said, “Yes. I am these things. But I am filled with sin.” In his own words: “It is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me…nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh (or “in my sinful nature”)…Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Rom 7.17, 18, 24)…
Romans 7.13-25 is not telling us everything about the Christian life, but it is zeroing in on something central: the normal Christian life is a heroic struggle with sin. This being the case, how do we now struggle with sin heroically?…
Romans 7.13-25 is a controversial passage, namely because many thoughtful people disagree over what it means. Even though those I disagree with are wrong (ha!), they are still nice people…in a Romans 7 kind of way…
Paul calls us to enter the arena of real life where the law reveals reality to us – that we are not good people. Why would we ever want to do that? Paul’s answer is the story of his own personal breakdown before the law (v.9), and how breakdown is ultimately healing…
Rocky doesn’t shame his son, but points him to who he already is. Rocky reminds his son of his true identity. And Paul does the same thing in Romans 6:11 when he says, “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Paul has already laid the ground work and made very plain that their bodies are no longer to live in sin, but now he hammers the point: Consider it….
Romans 1-5 is about good news, not good advice. Romans 6 begins by anticipating a normal response to such radical grace: If salvation is by grace alone, then how do people change? Why be good and do good at all?…
Can too much grace be a bad thing? Won’t too much grace simply produce sons of anarchy, sin gone wild? I mean, c’mon, if it’s grace, grace, and more grace, what’s going to keep people in line?..
