one step: Romans 12.1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In this verse, we see the culmination of the preceding eleven chapters of Paul’s argument for and explanation of the Gospel.* His “therefore” brings these eleven chapters to this point: worship.

The worship of Christians today ought to mirror the appeal of Paul. Paul appeals (he does not command, for the act of worship must be voluntary) to the Church in Rome to present themselves as living sacrifices.* This idea may seem scary or romantic (depending upon your general disposition and experiences), but to the people of Rome in the time of Paul, the metaphor would have come with vivid imagery.* The people of Pauls’s day were well acquainted with the transition from life to death that sacrifices experienced as their blood was spilled.* It was not an idea to them; it was a memory of something they had seen and experienced.*

For Paul to invite them to be living sacrifices was jolting.* How could one live as a sacrifice? It’s simple: all that we do should be worship to the Lord.* The worship of a Christian does not exist in between four walls, a welcome message, and church announcements. The worship of a Christian that is pleasing to the Lord is practically lived out in a way that emanates from the heart.* This is the worship that is set apart and pleases the Lord.*

Interestingly, while biblical scholars agree on these points, some haziness exists in the proper english translation of the Greek word used for “spiritual” in Romans 12:1.* Some argue that a more fitting translation would leave us with this:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your informed worship.

How could informed be a fitting translation? Sacrifices of Paul’s day shared two characteristics: 1) they were dead once they were sacrificed, and 2) they did not know what they were getting themselves into.* Paul invites the Christian believer to know exactly what they are getting into.* Paul argues that the living and informed sacrifice of the believer is both what makes the sacrifice holy and pleasing.* In fact, what is holy is pleasing to God.*

Here is an invitation: what are you worshiping? Where do you sacrifice yourself? Do you do your practical living (working out, having conversations, spending time in Scripture, raising kids, working your job, etc.) for God? Are you intentional with your activities to make them worship to God?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to start living a life of a living sacrifice today. Perhaps God would have you intentionally turn the practical activities of life into holy acts of worship to Him. Maybe today God would have you choose to live a lifestyle of worship.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 460–463). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 318–320). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 432–434). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 393–398). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 11.1

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

God’s plan for salvation is slightly broader than we often think. When we think about salvation, we often think about ourselves, people we know, or different people groups around the world. If we are feeling especially broad in our thinking, we will think about those people groups over the span of history. These thoughts often cause us to experience the very real gap between our understanding and the understanding of God.

In Romans 11, we see that God’s view is, as usual, higher than ours. Through Paul’s writing, we see God’s consideration for the salvation of the individual and the salvation of His people. Romans 11 shows us that God takes His considerations beyond the individual and the group by exploring the dynamic between the salvation of the Gentiles and the Jews.

We see the dynamic through the following:

• Israel has failed to accept Christ, but this state is not permanent (v. 11a).*

• The immediate use of their failing is to bring salvation to the Gentiles (vv. 11b, 12).*

• The more distant purpose is to make Israel jealous through the Gentiles (vv. 11c, 14).*

• This will eventually bring Israel back to God (vv. 14–16).*

Often we think of dynamics in life as win-lose where some in the game win while others must lose. For God, He uses the failings of some for the winning of all who believe; He uses it all for the good of those who love Him and diligently seek Him.

Maybe in life you cannot see how your failings could be used for good. Maybe you have seen those that you look to as an example fail, and it seems hopeless. Perhaps there are things in your life that you need God to save, but He hasn’t yet.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember that He even uses failings to bring people closer to Him. Perhaps God wants you to take a moment to thank Him for using the imperfections of the people in your life to bring you to Him. Maybe today, God wants you to trust Him for the timing of the salvation you desire from a situation.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 421–448). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 290–316). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 405–430). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 362–392). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 10.2

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

Walking through the streets of your home town, or sitting at an outdoor mall as people walk by, what do you see? I imagine that Jesus sees people in exile. I imagine that Jesus sees people who are very far from where He planned for them to be and how He planned for them to live. The people of Israel were in exile for 400 years. Like so many of us who have found ourselves far from the tasks or places that God called us to, the people of Israel found themselves in exile because they disobeyed the commands of God.

Paul, in quoting “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news,” is actually referencing Isaiah 52:7.* Isaiah is referring to the feet of the one who brought the good news that the 400 years of exile for Israel was over.*

Can you imagine the excitement?! Can you imagine how well-received this messenger was in those moments of sharing the good news that Israel could return to the place that God had for them? I imagine that it must have been like a celebration!

Paul implies that this is the level of excitement that those who preach the Gospel bring!*

Why do people need to call? Because, as Paul shares in verse 13, all who call upon name of the Lord will be saved!*

Salvation depends upon someone being sent with a commission.* The word Paul uses for preach is akin to herald. It implies that the message comes through the one who delivers the message and not from the one who delivers it.

Could it be that those that Jesus sees who are far from where He wants them to be need you and me to bring His Good News to them? Could it be that the excitement that awaits the Good News that you have to bring is just as amazing as the end of 400 years of exile? Bringing the Gospel to those God calls you to continues the work of Jesus on this earth.*

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to ask Him what He is calling you to do. Perhaps God wants you to take a step of sharing the Good News. Maybe God wants you to take a step back toward Him from the place of exile by obeying what He is asking you to do.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 417). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 273–276). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 389–391). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 351–352). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 10.1

…if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

Have you heard it said that some Christians receive Jesus as Savior but not as Lord? According to Paul, this is not possible. To know Jesus as Savior is to know Him more and more as Lord; you cannot separate the lordship of Christ from the salvific work of Christ.* In fact, in declaring Jesus as Lord, you are recognizing that Jesus was more than a rabbi or a messiah - you are declaring that He is fully God and Lord of all.* Confessing Jesus as Lord means that one belongs to Jesus and is submitted to Him.* This submission and recognition of Christ is required for Salvation. Hence, one cannot receive Christ as Savior and not as Lord and cannot recive Him as Lord without embracing HIs salvation.

Similarly, the confession of the mouth and belief in the heart that Paul notes as requirements for salvation are tied.* So much so, Paul lists them in opposite order in verses 9 and 10 so as to communicate their connectedness.* Confession and belief are not two separate activities but are two parts of one expression of faith.* As theologian Colin Kruse shares,

Believing with the heart without confession with the mouth is not true faith. Confession with the mouth without belief in the heart would be hypocrisy.

Theologian Leon Morris states,

With that confession Paul links believing in the heart. The reference to the heart points to the inwardness of faith; Paul is not referring to a superficial confession, accompanied by no more than a token faith. He is referring to a faith that takes hold of the whole of the inner man.

He also shares that,

Both the outward and the inward are important. No one is saved by the merely outward; the state of the heart is important. But Paul does not contemplate an inner state that is not reflected in outward conduct. If anyone really believes he will confess Christ, so it is natural to link the two.

The beauty of salvation is that the only part we have to do is believe. This belief, if true, will manifest in confession. The work of Christ on the cross is so strong and so complete that the only thing left undone is our choice to confess and believe. The salvation set before us is not just reserved for one future day when Christ returns, but it is made available today as a current state made complete on His return.*

Are you saved? Have you believed? Is He your Savior and Lord?

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to breathe in afresh the beauty of the Gospel. Perhaps God wants you to share that Gospel with someone you know. Maybe the one step that God wants you to take is to remember that Jesus is your Savior and Lord.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 410). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 270–271). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 384–386). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (p. 336). Zondervan Publishing House.

one step: Romans 9.2

What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory— even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

The tension between the sovereignty of God and the choice of humans overlaps in confusing ways. Is God in charge of everyting while humans have no choice? Or do humans control the pace of history with the decisions that we make daily?

One theologian suggests that God determines the future but allows for those under His rule (including humans) to navigate the path through their choices. Furthermore, this theologian suggests that God knows the future, but it does not mean that just because God knows what will result from choices made that it will necessarily happen. For example: if people hear God’s voice and turn, then they avoid destruction. Hence, God knows the outcome of not turning (and some do not turn), but He did not intend for them to be destroyed… He intended for them to turn to Him.

Yes… it gets quite confusing and deep very quickly (there so much more to this conversation than the paragraph above). Nonetheless, let’s move forward.

Paul attempts to bring clarity in Romans 9 to the questions of the Jewish-Christian church in Rome who wondered why some Jews rejected Christ.* Paul’s explanations at first glance give us cause to believe that God leaves no room for free will. Paul offers (and rightly) that God is the Potter and we are the clay.* It is under His rights as the Potter to do with the clay whatever He chooses: give mercy or harden hearts.* At first glance, and without of the context of the rest of Scripture, it would seem that we should take a fatalistic posture that gives up on the choice of our will.

Paul would disagree. While God is sovereign, and while we see God move in the lives of people, selecting some for specific purposes to move forward His will, and while we see God select peoples and communities to have as His own, and while He selects those who believe in Christ as those to enter relationship with Him, God also desires that something changes in the process of time: our heart.*

In 1 Timothy 1:13, Paul reflects on the great patience that God showed him while he persecuted the Church of God.* In 1 Timothy 1:16, Paul refers to himself as the chief of sinners to whom God showed great mercy and patience as an example for others so that they might believe.* These texts as well as 2 Peter 3:9 lead us to believe that God extends patience to those yet-to-believe in order to bring them to repentance as He desires that none perish.*

Furthermore, Paul goes on in the later part of Romans 9 and into Romans 10 discussing the choices that those Jews who did not believe made.* This implies that their will had a part to play.

What is the point here?

The point is this: God knows what direction your life is going, and He has a plan for it. This plan includes a mercy-filled amount of patience to wait for you to believe in His Son as Lord and Savior. The choice is waiting for you and for I. Even if you don’t feel chosen today, if you feel like an unwanted, misunderstood outcast, God chooses you. He’s waiting.

Today, take a step.

Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to say “yes” to His invitation to relationship with Him through Jesus. Perhaps today God wants you to receive His love and acceptance. Maybe today God wants you to engage your will to act on the things that He has destined you for.

Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.

Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.

Feel free to comment at the bottom of this page! We would love to hear from you!

*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 341, 374–394). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.