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October 29, Sunday—————————–ACCOUNTABILITY TIME!
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Dying to Live — The death of Jesus was a crushing blow to His followers. It looked like defeat; it looked like the end. They didn’t understand its necessity, its purpose, or its temporary nature. We sometimes also have those empty feelings when we lose something of value or experience the death of a dream. In this passage, Paul emphasized the positive side of these seeming disasters by using the Greek word hína (“so that”) four times: we have clay-pot bodies filled with a divine treasure (v. 7); our sufferings reveal the change a living Jesus made inside of us (vv. 10-11); our difficulties open doors of grace to other people (v. 15). Jesus had to die physically so that we could live with Him eternally—pain before pleasure. Normally, what looks good to us is of little true value; it must be discarded for greater eternal value. Jesus said that “whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). One must die to self to really live. Jesus is both the treasure and the treasure-giver.
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October 30, Monday———————-ACCOUNTABILITY REMINDER
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Recreate and Reconcile — Two major aspects of Christ’s sacrificial death are presented here. One is that He recreates us. He had created us physically from our mother’s womb, but He recreates us spiritually when we come to Him in faith: “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (v. 17). It is not a cleaning up but a making over. All things are new. What a change! This change was possible because of His death: “He died for all, so that they … would no longer live for themselves” (v. 15). Christ’s second major action here is that His death reconciles us. We were separated and alienated from God before Jesus recreated us spiritually. His death on the cross provided a bridge of grace across that relationship chasm and He paid a tremendous price for that bridge. He was sinless, but He was “made … to be sin on our behalf” (v. 21). God gave Him our sin so that He could give us His righteousness. What an exchange! After having experienced the wonder of being recreated and reconciled, God assigns us the ministry of reconciliation, bringing others into that experience and relationship. It is too good not to share.
What a Wonderful Savior – YouTube
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October 31, Tuesday———————–ACCOUNTABILITY FINAL DAY
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Declared “Son” by Resurrection — Paul mentioned “the gospel of God” in verse 1 and then briefly summarized it in the following verses. Two major parts of this good news had to do with a promise and a proof. It was “promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures” (v. 2). God’s salvation through a coming Messiah was hinted at and promised throughout the OT. One of those promises was that He would be “of the seed of David” (v. 3). The King of kings would be a descendant of Israel’s greatest leader, King David. That promise was fulfilled. What God promises, He accomplishes. The second emphasis of the gospel is that it is based on proof. Others had come before Jesus, claiming to be the promised Messiah, but they were all dead. Although Jesus was killed, He dramatically arose from the dead on the third day to prove that He was the Messiah. Paul wrote in this important verse: Jesus “was designated as [or declared to be] the Son of God in power … by the resurrection from the dead” (v. 4). Many had seen the resurrected Jesus, including Paul, who was taught by Him. The name, Jesus Christ, is really a name and a title, meaning Jesus the Messiah. The promise was fulfilled with proof; Jesus was God’s Messiah.
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November 1, Wednesday
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Loving the Needy — Christ’s death was motivated by God’s love (v. 8) and a desire to save us from His wrath (v. 9). He reached out to us, who were desperately in need and could not help ourselves. Our need was described in these four ways: We were “weak” and “ungodly” (v. 6), “sinners” (v. 8), and “enemies” (v. 10). While we were helpless, God reached out to us in love and sacrifice. A newborn baby is totally helpless physically and desperately needs a caring mother. As sinful adults, we are just as needy spiritually, although most people don’t recognize or accept it. On the positive side, six benefits are listed here that we receive by coming to Christ by faith. We are justified (being declared righteous by God—vv. 1, 9); we have peace with God (v. 1), grace and hope (v. 2), salvation (vv. 9, 10), and we are reconciled to God (v.10). God gives wonderful gifts to unworthy sinners. All this was accomplished through the loving, sacrificial death of Jesus. What a wonderful Savior!
What Wondrous Love Is This – YouTube
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November 2, Thursday
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Modeling Change — Jesus is presented as our model in this passage. As He died, carrying the sins of the world, so we should consider sin as no longer having a part in us. Jesus died “once for all” (v. 10), as opposed to the regular animal sacrifices the OT law required. It was finished; it has ended. The once-for-all event for us was when we surrendered our lives to Christ for salvation. Because sinful nature stays with us, however, we are tempted to dip back into our old ways of slavery. We should have posted a tombstone at the foot of the cross, marked, “SIN DIED HERE.” Jesus paid for our sin, and we were freed from its bondage. We shouldn’t be like a diabetic who decides to eat a little ice cream for dessert! Jesus is our model: “He died to sin once for all” (v. 10a). He is also our model for living righteously: “the life that He lives, He lives to God” (v. 10b). Our correct response obeys this command: “present yourselves to God as those alive” (v. 13). Live for God, not for sin! We are to be obedient to God instead of to sin. Jesus’ death has paid the penalty, and His grace continues to give us freedom so we can live outside the walls of that prison of sin.
He Giveth More Grace – YouTube
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November 3, Friday
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New Life — We encounter another passage today that speaks of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—the complex Godhead, Yahweh. The Father sent the Son (v. 3) to accomplish His plan for the salvation of mankind. That plan was for the sinless Son to become a man, take upon Himself the sins of mankind, and pay the penalty of death on a cross as a punishment to satisfy the perfect justice of the Father. By that act, “He condemned sin in the flesh” (v. 3). Sin was condemned so there would be “no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). Jesus paid our penalty. We are offered and given salvation’s gracious gift through placing our faith in Christ. When that happens at our conversion, not only does Jesus come to dwell within us (“if Christ is in you”—v. 10), but the Holy Spirit does as well (“if the Spirit … dwells in you”—v. 11). Something divine happens to us and we become alive spiritually. Our subsequent responsibility, then, is that we should “not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (v. 4). We now have a new master, a new life, and a new purpose. Believers are to “set their minds on … the things of the Spirit” (v. 5), which will result in “life and peace” (v. 6).
Since Jesus Came into My Heart – YouTube
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November 4, Saturday
An audio recording of the following reading is available below.
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Christ’s Righteousness — We are surrounded today by many people who are like the Jews of Paul’s day, “seeking to establish their own” righteousness (v. 3). It reminds me of my good friend who was raised as a Roman Catholic, even though his mother was a Baptist. Although two of his siblings have come to know Christ, my friend is still stuck in the mindset that he might be able to do enough good things to gain entrance into heaven. Just about every religion in our world is based on that false belief—earning salvation. That is impossible. The Jews were given the law through Moses, both to direct them in life and worship, and to show them how unable they were to keep it faithfully. It was a temporary law, however, and all the OT pointed to a coming Messiah who would fix everything. Although He came, most of Israel didn’t recognize or accept Him. Jesus put an end to that law by perfectly satisfying all its demands (“Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes”—v. 4). Obedience doesn’t achieve righteousness, it demonstrates it. We achieve righteousness by having Christ’s righteousness transferred to us, and that is accomplished by faith in Him (“…to everyone who believes”).
Thy Works, Not Mine, O Christ – YouTube
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