Daily Liturgy and Scripture

Having laid out what we have walked away from in our following of Jesus, now Paul describes what we walk toward and in: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. And above all, love. These aren't goals in themselves, but become the fruit of our lives when the Spirit is present.

The Kingdom of Christ does not neutralize the things that make us unique. Paul's decree that there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, etc., does not mean a loss of cultural identity. It means that all of those things are caught up in Christ, and that everything is reframed in light of that. This is the same Paul who says he is "all things to all people," so he defini...

The Kingdom of Jesus has been given a life to observe so as to know what God expects of us, and this is the Way we follow. He is also the power at work around us, working with the Father and the Spirit to bring the world back to wholeness. This is also the work we mimic.

Why was it such a big deal to tell the early churches he was doing on their behalf? Was Paul tooting his own horn? Maybe, but even more importantly, he wanted them to know that what they were part of was important. Living lives in Jesus was more than a new book of rules, it is a Kingdom that comes to life in the life of its citizens.

Walking in the Way of Jesus, aware of the Sprit, with a heart bent toward worshipping God: this is our part of life in the Kingdom. God is recreating all things, holding all things together in Jesus, until resurrection can fully restore the world.

In Romans 12, Paul talked about living sacrifices. Here again, he uses language that might have been familiar to those who knew the Jewish system of sacrifice: "a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God." This isn't the blood of animals, but the shared love between believers. It was money in this case, but there are certainly more ways that we can sacrifice for on...

Heavenly citizenship has earthly connections. Those who claim such a citizenship spur one another on to be more like Christ, as Paul unpacks here. The reward is already ours, and pressing on toward it is our daily work.

Sacrifice is taught to us by Jesus himself, and Paul models it in this verse. People who preach the gospel in order to defy Paul? That's a pretty twisted motive, but Paul's focus remains steadfast: if the Gospel is there, then he doesn't mind to be a casualty.

This community of which Paul is so fond is not together by accident, they're the body of Christ. The humility of Christ is their playbook, and the glory of God is their goal.

This inside look at the love shown between members of the early church is kind of inspiring. Sending people to care for others? Taking time away from your home to look after someone else? This is a vision of the true love Christ gave us to share with one another.

Paul opens the letter to the Philippians, a group of people for whom he clearly had great affection. He was writing from prison, but still expressing warmth and thankfulness for them.

Paul ends Romans with a list of specific members of the church of Rome, probably for a couple reasons. First, they really were dear to him. But also to establish his credibility to this church. He was asking for their help, and so here they had a list of people who knew Paul. "Oh, Priscilla! I know her! He must be okay, then."

Having harmonized the Jew and Gentiles under Christ, Paul now gives back a little of the Jewish identity. The promises of God have been carried through them, and they are made complete in Jesus.

Paul means to uproot the system of food purity laws from the Jewish way of life, but not destroy it. Instead, he reframes it. Instead of following rules to appear most holy, do so in a spirit of love between believers. Those who came from Jewish backgrounds would have more than food to think about with this, they would have a generous amount of food for thought as well!

The Kingdom of Jesus was established to be a people set apart, but not a nation in retreat from the world. This Kingdom is in the world, bringing something new and unusual to the world, but still paying taxes to their country and respect to their leaders. The love we have to show is given to us from our Savior, and that is our defining characteristic.

Today is leap day that extra day we get in the year, every four years. The Bible reading plan we follow doesn't account for this, so we have some readings about the Day of the Lord, and about God's faithfulness. Both go together. Christians have been looking for Christ's return pretty much since Christ ascended, but don't give up hope. We are his people in the present and future bo...

The measure of a faith expression is the kinds of people it produces. Paul gives a vivid picture of the kind of people he sees coming of this new faith in Jesus: loving enemies, serving one another in real love, and making sacrifices for each other. It's a wacky and upside down kind of approach, but that's what people thought of Jesus too.

Paul wishes to clarify that Jews have not been excluded from this new kingdom, despite their having been part of the first wave of God's plan. There could have certainly been some confusion about this, particularly because Christianity was originally a division of Judaism, but now that a new thing was happening, they were included too. Jews had also been kicked out of Rome, this was an importa...

Jew and non-Jew are both equally welcome in the Kingdom of Jesus, but how do we get there? Belief. God is doing most of the work, building the Kingdom and calling new citizens. Calling on the name of the Lord and following are our part.

Having resolved the issue of Jew and non-Jew as heirs of the Kingdom, Paul now discusses what determines that adoption: the will and sovreignty of God. This upends the approach of religious leaders who lord over others the need to follow the Law, because determination of who's "in" and who's "out" isn't theirs. God is God, and God determines his people.

Life in the spirit is more than just a new way to do things, it is a new attitude toward eternity. Eternal life is not something we have to wait for after death, it is a style of life that starts now. Because we are part of the eternal plan of an eternal God, our life is in his hands.

Having previously talked about the bond in Christ between Jews and Gentiles, Paul now talks about the life that both share: life in the Spirit. This is more than a connection based on heritage and culture, it is a new shared heritage and a new shared culture. Life in the Spirit redefines life now, and leads us in walking with God.

Paul unpacks the significant difference between the Law and life in the Spirit: the Law points to sin, but the Spirit brings freedom away from sin. The awareness to see those flaws in our lives is one of the works of the Spirit, and it is always the work of God to bring restoration.

If all are covered by grace and one in faith through Jesus, what is our part? To fully realized the life in the Spirit and walk in that way. This isn't rooted in the law, as if we had to carefully keep ourselves from condemnation. It is rooted in love and the life we have been given.

Moving on past the harmony between Jews and Gentiles, Paul now introduces a more critical idea: the undoing of the power of sin through Adam, courtesy of the righteousness of Christ. That power has always been part of the life of being human, but now Jesus has redefined humanity by bringing God into our world in the flesh.