back from holidays..../ the church of Rome...part 1
It's very early in the morning and I am still struggling with the side effects of jetlag.
cant sleep when I need to, and can barely stay awake when I need to.
I decided when I was walking the streets of Rome and the Vatican, that I needed to re read the book of Romans.... and I started doing that, and these next few blogs will be a collection of my thoughts about what Paul was saying to the church in Rome, and what I think God is saying to me today as result of that.
It is not about the catholic church either.....it's more about my understanding and personal enlightenment or revelation.
The church, in general, often muddles things up.....we "do" what God tells us not to do, and "won't do" what He tells us "to" do.
Store up wealth on earth, when we are told to not...
Open the way for all to come to the Father, but then we close it up, to a select few...
Lock people down, rather than allowing them freedom...
And of course...
We put all kinds of restrictions and do's and dont's on what Jesus came to abolish....
Then you are stung with the words of Paul, one of the greatest men of God of all time.
As I walked the streets of Rome, and again, like Greece and Turkey, observed the history and deep truth of the bible coming to life for me, I was again reminded that God is and has been at work amongst us for a very long time.
As I walked the places that my ancient bible heroes walked, I was reminded also of the part I play in the grand scheme of things, that is, the kingdom of God.
Paul's words to the Roman church, still remain as a warning and reminder of who we are meant to be, how we are meant to live and what should be our motivation and priority, it also tells us that there still needs to be daily pruning.
When I started re reading Romans, I found myself reading things that I have read a hundred times but had missed previously. It was always there in the text, but now it had a different meaning for me.
That's one of the most amazing things about our bible....every time, it gets ya, the Holy Spirit using it to speak into your situation at just the right time.
A few years ago I was privileged to go one study tour of Greece and Turkey, but felt that Rome was missed out, in the overall story.... and for me this was the icing on the cake. To see first hand the ruins and history of the early Roman church and it came alive once again for me.
So now, I plough through...chapter by chapter, verse by verse, just seeing and gleaning my own revelation. And it is coming, some of it, I will preach tomorrow in our Good Friday service.
Romans chapter 1....says this...(NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
As I conclude the first part of this blog series....
It astounded me to see the sculptures in the Vatican, nude men and women, it was a big deal back then to sculpt nude....
One day, many years ago... a pope decided it was wrong and had another artist go around and cover the parts, of men especially, on the sculptures, with a fig leaf.
And the degradation that Paul speaks of in Romans 1 comes to life...as this pope tries to clean It up...to help priests and others in being tempted to think on things impure.
I read these words of Paul, and think about our world right now, that considers such things to be ok, and how the church is suppossed to handle this truth, how we are slammed for our stance, and rejected....ignored....abandoned....slandered....crucified !!!
Well, we are the bride of Christ.... We are suppossed to represent Him, to speak up for His ways and His truth.... He who was rejected....ignored....abandoned....slandered.....crucified !!!!
Hope it all makes sense, my rambling....however, I know it won't be popular.
It's important for us to love the sinner and hate the sin.
It's really important that the words of Paul as he spoke to the early Roman church, speak to us too...
We really need to practice this...loving the sinner thing...and hating the sin thing.
And making sure we don't allow any sense of compromise into the life of the church as an appeasement, or to be politically correct.
We must ensure we are biblically correct, spiritually correct and led by the Holy Spirit in all we do.
I am going to try to do that, as I ponder the words of Paul again, Gods words to His church.
I am reminded, I am, you are... the church.
cant sleep when I need to, and can barely stay awake when I need to.
I decided when I was walking the streets of Rome and the Vatican, that I needed to re read the book of Romans.... and I started doing that, and these next few blogs will be a collection of my thoughts about what Paul was saying to the church in Rome, and what I think God is saying to me today as result of that.
It is not about the catholic church either.....it's more about my understanding and personal enlightenment or revelation.
The church, in general, often muddles things up.....we "do" what God tells us not to do, and "won't do" what He tells us "to" do.
Store up wealth on earth, when we are told to not...
Open the way for all to come to the Father, but then we close it up, to a select few...
Lock people down, rather than allowing them freedom...
And of course...
We put all kinds of restrictions and do's and dont's on what Jesus came to abolish....
Then you are stung with the words of Paul, one of the greatest men of God of all time.
As I walked the streets of Rome, and again, like Greece and Turkey, observed the history and deep truth of the bible coming to life for me, I was again reminded that God is and has been at work amongst us for a very long time.
As I walked the places that my ancient bible heroes walked, I was reminded also of the part I play in the grand scheme of things, that is, the kingdom of God.
Paul's words to the Roman church, still remain as a warning and reminder of who we are meant to be, how we are meant to live and what should be our motivation and priority, it also tells us that there still needs to be daily pruning.
When I started re reading Romans, I found myself reading things that I have read a hundred times but had missed previously. It was always there in the text, but now it had a different meaning for me.
That's one of the most amazing things about our bible....every time, it gets ya, the Holy Spirit using it to speak into your situation at just the right time.
A few years ago I was privileged to go one study tour of Greece and Turkey, but felt that Rome was missed out, in the overall story.... and for me this was the icing on the cake. To see first hand the ruins and history of the early Roman church and it came alive once again for me.
So now, I plough through...chapter by chapter, verse by verse, just seeing and gleaning my own revelation. And it is coming, some of it, I will preach tomorrow in our Good Friday service.
Romans chapter 1....says this...(NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen. 26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. 28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
As I conclude the first part of this blog series....
It astounded me to see the sculptures in the Vatican, nude men and women, it was a big deal back then to sculpt nude....
One day, many years ago... a pope decided it was wrong and had another artist go around and cover the parts, of men especially, on the sculptures, with a fig leaf.
And the degradation that Paul speaks of in Romans 1 comes to life...as this pope tries to clean It up...to help priests and others in being tempted to think on things impure.
I read these words of Paul, and think about our world right now, that considers such things to be ok, and how the church is suppossed to handle this truth, how we are slammed for our stance, and rejected....ignored....abandoned....slandered....crucified !!!
Well, we are the bride of Christ.... We are suppossed to represent Him, to speak up for His ways and His truth.... He who was rejected....ignored....abandoned....slandered.....crucified !!!!
Hope it all makes sense, my rambling....however, I know it won't be popular.
It's important for us to love the sinner and hate the sin.
It's really important that the words of Paul as he spoke to the early Roman church, speak to us too...
We really need to practice this...loving the sinner thing...and hating the sin thing.
And making sure we don't allow any sense of compromise into the life of the church as an appeasement, or to be politically correct.
We must ensure we are biblically correct, spiritually correct and led by the Holy Spirit in all we do.
I am going to try to do that, as I ponder the words of Paul again, Gods words to His church.
I am reminded, I am, you are... the church.
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