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Fellowship United Methodist Church, 7426 Highway 112, Elmer, LA (2026)

09/06/2026

Message from Chuck Christensen this morning:

September 6, 2026

Walking In a Fallen World

Romans 12:9-21

The mix up of messages from last week to this week turns out to be a positive thing. God always makes a way. Last week Paul wrote about Jesus’ teaching about loving our neighbors. Loving neighbor is a large part of Jesus’ teaching and it’s no surprise it’s also a central part of Paul’s theology. This morning Paul moves from theology to practice. He gives guidelines for living as redeemed people in a fallen world, redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ; saved by grace, empowered by his Holy Spirit, so we offer ourselves to God as living sacrifices in absolute surrender. Paul doesn’t use the term commitment; he uses the term surrender. There’s a difference between the two; Commitment is an act of human will, surrender is the act of giving up the human will. Paul exhorts us to present ourselves as living sacrifices to God as those dead to sin but alive in Christ. Commitment would have us sign a written contract; surrender would have us sign a blank contract, filled in by God as we walk as Christians in a fallen world. We surrender our bodies, our minds, and our hearts.
How can we walk in a fallen world? How can we live a Christian life and not conform to the ways of surrounding culture? Paul calls on us to take personal responsibility, and he makes this appeal based on the mercies we’ve received from God. Through Romans, we’ve read of the depravity of humanity and our inability to save ourselves and we’re promised: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
God has redeemed us, justified us, and reconciled us through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our faith in his life, death, and resurrection. Paul pleads with us to give ourselves to God out of love and gratitude. Paul doesn’t give commands, but rather heartfelt pleas for absolute surrender to God in the name of Christ in a series of imperatives. They come one after the other in an almost breathless manner. Paul pleads with us as believers in Christ because of our new relationship with God as our loving Father. God desires a willing submission, not a forced slavish life. He invites us to come, to give ourselves. and to surrender to Him.
Since God has been so good to us, the most reasonable response is to give ourselves to God. Christ willingly gave himself for us, so we willingly give ourselves for Him. For Paul, our submission is a reasonable, rational, and the only sensible thing to do. The believer should possess a single-minded devotion to God in worship, service, holy pursuits, and good deeds; devotion should be the motivation for all we do.
A couple of weeks ago we spoke of giving our very bodies as living sacrifices to God. “…I urge you brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God…” (Romans 12:1) When the world is sick, through Christ our hands can bring healing. When the world is sad, through Christ our voices can bring cheer. When the world is fallen, through Christ our hands can lift up. So, we present our bodies to God as living sacrifices. Walking in a fallen world can’t be done on our own, we can do so only through the power of Christ. This dark world needs the light of Christ to shine upon it; we’re people through whom Christ’s light can shine.
As with our bodies, Paul exhorts us to give our minds to God. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:2) The mind controls all of the body's actions. Our bodies cannot submit to the will of God without our minds first being in submission to the will of God. Paul suggests our minds can be renewed by the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. The submission of our minds happens from the inside out. How can we submit our bodies as living sacrifices to God without our minds first being given in submission?
We look at our world today and bemoan it’s condition. Rejection of God’s grace and mercy reveals itself in individual brokenness, shattered families, overflowing prisons, unending wars; the list of evils and horrors of rejection is never ending. The mind, the manner of thinking we had before we came to Christ pulled us away from submission to God, the current of the world continues in attempting to pull the believer away from God towards our pre-Christ lives. In Christ, our minds are renewed, transformed, changed. “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…” (Philippians 2:5), “Set you minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:2) Our old mindsets have been changed by Christ. Our renewed minds are about more than resisting evil things; it’s bringing our thinking under God's control; it’s the submission of our very minds to God.
As we read, meditate and act on God's word, a transformation begins. Our goals and plans begin to line up with His goals and plans. God’s word will set the standard for our lives. Our ambitions and dreams will be determined by heavenly and eternal truths and not by this evil, temporal and transient world system. Our minds become informed by God’s will, and our actions begin to conform to God’s pattern for living and our lives are transformed by the Holy Spirit into God’s original design. We become Christ-like, knowing what God requires and walking obedient to His way. As a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, the word of God brings our minds into a similar metamorphosis. A metamorphosis is not something we can do on our own. When we whole-heartedly submit to God as living sacrifices, God through the power of the Spirit and the salvation found in Christ will transform us. “And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into this image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Our submission to God through Jesus Christ is seen in the transforming of our bodies and our minds to the will of God as we walk through a fallen world. But this can’t happen if our hearts have not likewise been changed. “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” (Matthew 15:19) The heart is the central being within us. There’s a process in play here. I can change my mind about things which may lead to my behaving differently but, if my heart remains planted within our fallen world, how can Christ grow within me? I’m sure we all know this story: “…A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:3-8)
The seeds on the path never had a chance to grow, the birds ate them up as fast as they were sown. The seeds in the rocky places grew quickly but had no depth and so the sun burned the baby plants. The seeds among the thorns wanted to grow but they were choked out. The seeds on the good fertile soil grew and produced healthy crops. The soil is a metaphor for the human heart. It’s the heart which must be transformed through Christ before we can fully submit to God’s will. Paul exhorts God’s people in Rome to be transformed in body, mind, and heart as he exhorts us today to be likewise transformed. It begins in the human heart, moves into the human mind, and is externalized by the human body. This is the sacrifice of praise we bring to God, and it begins in the human heart.
How do we walk as Christians within a fallen world? Love must be sincere, hate what is evil, cling to what is good, devote ourselves to each other, honor each other over ourselves, be zealous in our spiritual fervor and serve God in such a manner. Be joyful in hope, patient in our afflictions, faithful in our prayers, share with the people of God who are in need, and practice hospitality.
How do we walk as Christians within a fallen world? Bless and do not curse those who persecute us, rejoice with the rejoicing, mourn with the mourning, live in harmony with each other, do not be too proud to hang out with those we consider below us, don’t be conceited.
How do we walk as Christians within a fallen world? Don’t repay evil with evil, do what is right, live at peace with everyone as far as it depends on us, don’t take revenge, that’s God’s job. Indeed, as Paul closes out this chapter: “On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” (Romans 12:20-21)
Think about all those imperatives Paul’s written in these briefs paragraphs. How many of these can we actually accomplish if our bodies, minds, and hearts remain locked into the fallen world we live in. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our bodies to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our minds to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our hearts to God. If no transformation through Christ, I can’t have a love that is sincere.
If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our bodies to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our minds to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our hearts to God. If no transformation through Christ, I can’t hate what’s evil and cling to what’s good, I can’t be devoted to the people of God.
If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our bodies to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our minds to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our hearts to God. If no transformation through Christ, I can’t keep my zeal for God, I can’t keep my spiritual fervor, I can’t be joyful in hope or patient in affliction or faithful in prayer.
If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our bodies to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our minds to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our hearts to God. If no transformation through Christ, I can’t bless the persecutors, rejoice with the rejoicing, mourn with the mournful, live in harmony, I cannot lay aside my own conceit.
If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our bodies to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our minds to God. If no transformation through Christ, we can’t submit our hearts to God. If no transformation through Christ, I must repay evil with evil, I can’t do that which is right in the eyes of God, I can’t live in peace with everyone, even as it depends on me. I take revenge because my heart, my mind, and my body rejects Christ’s transformation.
Paul writes of such a transformation: “Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.” (1 Timothy 1:13-16)
If no transformation in Christ, we’ll always be what we’ve always been. If no transformation in Christ, we can’t impact the world for Christ. Pray with me: Holy God, transform us into the very image of your son Jesus. Change us, transform us, let your Holy Spirit live within us so that we might be Jesus Christ to the world in which we walk, a fallen world which needs the light of Christ, the light we shine. In the name of Jesus the Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, to your eternal glory Father. [AMEN]

08/23/2026

If you have put off finding a church where the Gospel is preached, hymns are still sung, and you can come as you are, please visit us on Sunday at 10:45 a.m. If you have questions, please feel free to message the church or meet with any of the members for coffee and conversation at your convenience. We would love for you to join us!

08/23/2026

This morning’s message from Chuck Christensen:

“Put Your Whole Self In” August 23, 2026
Romans 12:1-8

“You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out, you put your right foot in – and you shake it all about. You do the hokey-pokey and you turn yourself around – that’s what it’s all about.” Friday nights at the roller rink, doing the Hokey-Pokey. It ended with us putting our whole bodies in and shaking it all about.

Jesus demanded one’s all in following him. No exception. Remember the time the rich young man came to follow Jesus? Outwardly he had all the trappings making for a great follower. He had power, position, credibility, and wealth. I believe he was sincere. Inwardly, however, he was holding back, he just couldn’t risk what he had by following Christ. Jesus recognized that in him. Jesus can’t accept a partial commitment. He didn’t then; he doesn’t now.

Paul provides a framework for what it means to follow Christ totally and the consequential changes it makes in a person’s life. God expects unconditional surrender, he expects putting our whole selves in.

Paul writes: “Therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship” (Rom. 12:1). “To present our bodies” is Paul’s way of saying, “Put your whole self in.” Worship involves offering our whole person to God. Worship, with all its elements; prayer, song, fellowship, teaching, gifts, offerings, hugs, sometimes even tears, are all aimed not at or for ourselves but rather at and for God. We are, in worship, putting our whole selves in.

Most of us understand the idea of giving an offering at church. There’re plates and envelopes, and we put our money or our check in and drop it in the plate. This represents an acknowledgement of God’s blessings in our lives; it represents our commitment to the ministry of the local church; it’s a part of our worship; it’s a way in which we open the windows of heaven so God can bless folks around; it represents for many an antidote to materialism. Most of us understand what it means to make an offering to the church. But all of us without exception need help with the idea of offering ourselves completely to God, putting our whole self in.

Many people don’t come to worship prepared to give our whole selves over to God. We bring sins that need to be confessed and cleansed before we leave. We bring questions needing answers and problems needing solutions. We bring burdens to be lifted and anxieties to be dispelled. We bring frustrations, depression, boredom, preoccupations, predispositions and all kinds of distractions with us. Indeed, it might be easier to take out our checkbook and double our offering rather than putting our whole selves in.

Worship is giving our whole selves over to God. Worship is our total commitment of our total self for the totally of our life. Anything less is not genuine worship.

Worship is not merely the offering of elaborate prayers to God, not merely inspiring liturgy or splendid ritual, not merely making large donations. Nor is it merely singing majestic songs of praise, or listening to a sermon. Real worship happens when we confess sin, turn from sin, and offer ourselves completely and wholeheartedly to God. The liturgy of the church is the ancient mechanism by which the community comes together and commits totality to God.

Would we not give ourselves wholeheartedly in the very presence of God? Would we not fall at his feet giving him our all, if caught up in his splendor and holiness? Would we not put our whole self in, if we felt, physically, the love and power of God Almighty?

Paul presents God’s mercies as his strongest argument for giving ourselves to God. “I urge you, by the mercies of God . . . to present your bodies” (Rom. 12:1). In worship, we recognize what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, the only response adequate then is to give ourselves completely over to him. Jesus is the grace-giver. The one who saves us even from ourselves.

We are sinners, all of us. And sin has deathly eternal consequences. But while we’re still sinners Christ died for us. He took our place upon himself, the consequences and punishment of sin so now there is no condemnation for us because we are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8;1) We’re saved into the eternal presence of God, an act of grace and mercy, the ultimate gift - nothing in the history of the cosmos even comes close.

Giving our whole lives to God is not motivated to avoid eternal separation from God. No, if reflecting on God’s mercies doesn’t move us, what can? Where would we be without God’s love and forgiveness? Where would we be without God’s presence in our lives? What kind of hope would we have without the cross and the empty tomb? Consider family, friends, jobs, and our church. Do we deserve these on merit alone?

The movie Tender Mercies tells the story of a washed-up, drunk country western singer abandoned by his band somewhere in East Texas. Over time he meets a Godly-woman who shows him what God’s Tender Mercies are all about. His changes, he’s transformed. Now, we may not be in the same shoes as the actor in the movie but, the truth is each of us could have a biography written about ourselves that could be called Tender Mercies. And based on the mercy of God, in view of his grace, we give ourselves to God totally. His mercy is reason enough to put our whole selves in.

Paul writes “...present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God” (Rom. 12:1). The expression “living sacrifice” is set within the context of Old Testament sacrifices. The worshipper offered an animal, we’re asked offer ourself. As the people of Israel presented animal sacrifices to the priests we’re to hand over our bodies to God. Out of celebration for what God has done for us through Jesus, we give ourselves wholly to him. When Paul uses the term ‘body’ he is implying the whole person, body, mind, and soul.

We don’t give over our dead bodies, but rather our living. A “living sacrifice” sounds like an oxymoron true, but a living sacrifice is more difficult to give than a dead sacrifice. A living sacrifice means something to us. It has intrinsic value. Dead sacrifices have no value. A living sacrifice cost us something, a dead sacrifices costs us nothing.

There were two “living sacrifices” recorded in the Bible, both acts of worship. The first was Isaac, willingly put on the altar, ready to die in obedience to God’s will, but the Lord sent a ram to take his place. Isaac “died” just the same - he died to self and willingly yielded to God’s will. The second, of course is Jesus; the perfect “living sacrifice,” he actually died as a sacrifice, in obedience to God’s will – and yet, he lives eternally and forever.

There was this old pastor of a little Scottish church. He was asked to resign because there hadn’t been any conversions that year. “Aye,” said the old preacher, “it has been a lean year, but there was one.” “One conversion?” asked an elder, “Who was it?” “Wee Bobbie,” replied the pastor.

They’d forgotten a lad who had given himself in full consecration to God. It was “Wee Bobbie” who, when the plate was passed for an offering, asked the usher to put the plate on the floor. Stepping into it with his bare feet, he said, “I’ll give myself—I have nothing else to give.” Wee Bobbie became the world-renowned Robert Moffatt who, with David Livingstone, gave his life to healing the open sores of the continent of Africa in the name of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?” [hold up a blank piece of paper] “It’s signing our names at the bottom of this blank sheet and letting God fill in as he wills.”

This is what Paul has in mind as he writes the Roman church “…offer your bodies as living sacrifices.” This is what Robert Moffatt did. This is what’s expected of all who call themselves Christians.

Living implies life. Offering ourselves to God isn’t only an hour’s worship. A living sacrifice is a sacrifice alive and continuous in action. Worship occurs not just in the sanctuary but in our whole world. Worship moves away from just this hour into all the hours of all our lives, away from one activity of coming to worship at the feet of God to all our activities: all our relationships, all our tasks, each and every opportunity, each and every problem, each and every success, and each and every failure.

Worship is our personal linking of faith and works, the offering of everyday life to God, not only in the church. Worship sees the whole world as the temple of the living God and every common deed as an act of worship, as the offering of everyday life to God. A person may say, “I’m going to church to worship God,” and also say, “I’m going to the office, the school, the garage, the garden, the field to worship God.”

The modern world has developed a kind of selective Christianity allowing us to be deeply and sincerely involved in worship and church activities and yet pagan in the day in, day out business of life. Worship is not just a church activity; it’s a life activity. Not a sometime thing; but an all-the-time thing. A. W. Tozer wrote, “If you will not worship God seven days a week you do not worship him on one day a week.” (John Blanchard, comp., More Gathered Gold, Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England: Evangelical Press, 1984, p. 344.)

Sometimes we mistakenly think we must always withdraw to a church building to worship. Too often we’ve sought to protect our spirituality by developing a ghetto mentality and a greenhouse environment. But that’s not healthy. Worship is never isolation and separation. Worship is offering God our whole self every day, wherever we may be. On the other hand, we also fall into the mistake of thinking the church body means nothing, this is also not healthy, we need our church body. There has to be a healthy mixture of corporate and individual and ‘out-in-the-midst-of-the-world’ worship if we are to be Jesus to the world.

Worship leads to transformation through renewed minds, hearts, and souls. Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:2). So, we give ourselves wholly over to God and it’s reflected in how we live. We live in the secular world without being trapped or molded by it, as holy people who are distinct, separated from the ways and the wiles of the world while remaining within it. We live as nonconformists, not as chameleons changing as culture changes, we don’t take our being and likeness from our surroundings, rather we live as transformed people, metamorphosed on the inside, and showing it on the outside.

Worship is a changed people; reflected in our walk, our talk, our personality, and our actions. We live, not self-centered lives, but rather Christ-centered lives. The world seeks to pressure our mind from without, but one who has given themselves wholeheartedly to God allows God’s Holy Spirit to release his power from within.

This happens when Christ comes into a person. We become new; the mind is different, for the mind of Christ is now within. Christ shapes us into his likeness. Worship is a molding process, we’re to be Christ as an image is to its original. This is transformation. The only way transformation occurs is in giving ourselves totally over to God so the mind and power of Jesus can indwell us, in every moment, in every activity – we’re to be like Jesus.

“Worship is the free offering of ourselves to God; ever renewed, because ever imperfect. It expresses the consciousness that we are his by right, yet we have not duly passed into his hand.” (James Martineau, Hours of Thought, Vol. II, 1879. Cited in The Treasury of Religious and Spiritual Quotations, p. 637). Pray with me: Holy God, we ask you to accept our sacrifice of our whole selves. Do with us as you will. Guide in the areas of our lives we have yet to have given you. Give us your Holy Spirit to go into the world as completely transformed people, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world around us. We pray this in the name of Jesus our Savior, in the power of your Holy Spirit, to your eternal glory most Holy God. [AMEN]

08/16/2026

This morning’s message from from Chuck Christensen:

“Grace, Grace, God’s Grace”

Romans 11:1-2, 25-36

August 16, 2026

Can a thinking person really believe in the Grace of Almighty God? This thinking began during the Enlightenment era and evolved into various streams of thoughts preached by people such as Lenin, Stalin, Hi**er, Mao Tse Tung, Ho Chi Min, and Pol Pot. Lenin with the infamous “religion is the o***m of the masses” and Pol Pot the author of the killing fields of Cambodia. I’ve tangled with folks over this issue of religious people being less intelligent than non-believers. Some folks believe there is nothing greater than humanity, we’re the top of the food chain, the ultimate animal – with nothing above or beyond our species. That’s human ego. Some folks just can’t accept the idea of a Creator giving the Created this crazy gift of Grace because of the great love he has for humanity. It’s just not logical they say.
When we get right down to it: grace, grace, God’s grace is the bottom line. We have all kinds of rituals, creeds, devotions, spiritual practices and disciplines, but at the end of the day it’s really is all about grace, grace, God’s grace. This is what Paul’s talking about in this morning’s Scripture; Paul is talking God’s grace. But what about this term grace?
It’s this incredible, amazing, unexplainable, and wonderful capacity of God to accept us just the way we are. I’m blown away by God’s love for me because I know who I am and who I was and many times, I’m not much better than that now. We don’t have to prove ourselves to God even if that were a possibility. We can’t earn our way into the presence of God even if that were a possibility. We can’t do anything worthwhile to make ourselves presentable to God even if that were a possibility. We can’t even figure out how to make our way to God. And yet, grace, grace, God’s grace… God says: I’ll take you as you are, forgive you for what you’ve done. You don’t have to prove yourself to me, I’ve already proven myself to you. That’s grace, grace, God’s grace.
“D L Moody was confronted by a man who said I want to take 30 seconds to tell you something it took me 40 years to learn. There’s nothing I can do to earn my salvation. God never asks me to do anything to earn my salvation. God has done everything necessary for my salvation. His Grace is sufficient for my sins.” [1]
That’s what the bible teaches. When we go all the way back into the mists of pre-history and we read about creation, God says “It was very good…” Not just kinda good, or just okay, no - very good.
The garden was equipped with everything humans needed to survive and not just survive but to thrive. “And God walked with them in the cool of the evening…”
But the humans were not content to have everything they needed to thrive and to have the physical presence of God among them, what they wanted was the one thing God held back, the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. Oh we knew good, that’s what we were created for and what we were created in but that wasn’t enough. And humans fell, and here we are.
If it was me – I might have started over from scratch. I would’ve eliminated free will. I would’ve made a race of robotic beings slavishly devoted to my every whim, but that’s just me. That’s not God. He says, “Let us make man in our own image, in our likeness…” And, so somehow, in some way I don’t understand, there is god-stuff within our very beings. We are indeed the stuff of the stars were also created by God.
This idea, this concept, this gift even, of freewill is an interesting and perplexing thing. I mean, if we knew our child would be Hi**er, would we allow it to be born. I don’t know the answer to that, but this is essentially what God did in creation. He created beings in his vast love whom he knew would have the potential to turn on him. Our EGO and our LOGIC preclude our participation in anything we know would hurt, maim, or exterminate ourselves. Let me rephrase that… Free will, is a concept our EGO and our LOGIC misuses because our EGO and our LOGIC lie outside our understanding of grace, grace, God’s grace.
So we humans, whom our EGO and our LOGIC say are the ultimate creation in the universe, the absolute top of the food chain, the stars in our own show, have always had within self-preservation because life has built this into us. Explain war to me… Explain murder to me… Explain child sex-trafficking to me… Explain hurtful gossip to me… Explain racism to me… “I think we get the point” we say – and God says, “No, I don’t think you do…” So, here’s my one and only son, the one who’s been part of me for eternity, he’ll come and put on your skin and bones, he will walk beside you, not just in the cool of the night, but in the heat and the hate of the day. He’ll take upon himself all the sin of all the world of all time, and he’ll take that sin to the heavenly mercy seat and set humanity free from the bonds of the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. He’ll set humanity free from EGO and LOGIC.
Our EGO and our LOGIC work like this: EGO = humans are all that and a slice of cheesecake on the side. There’s nothing we can’t do. There’s nothing we’re incapable of. We, as the prime species in the universe make our world the perfect utopian place for all. And God’s like: “Okay, cool – how’s that worked out for all y’all…” And our LOGIC = this whole God-thing, you know man out of the dirt, girl out of the rib, go forth and never eat apples thing, this turns into a rejection of the Creator rescuing the Creation by sacrificing the Creator by the Creation so that the Creator could come and hang out with the Creation. And then, our EGO and our LOGIC says, “I think we get the point” and God says, “No, I don’t think you do…” So, here’s my one and only son, the one who’s been part of me for eternity. He’ll come and put on your skin and bones, he’ll walk beside you, not just in the cool of the night, but in the heat and the hate of the day. He’ll take upon himself all the sin of all the world of all time and he’ll take that sin to the heavenly mercy seat and set humanity free from the bonds of the knowledge of the difference between good and evil. He’ll set humanity free from EGO and LOGIC.
EGO and LOGIC are two things that keep us from believing in grace, grace, God’s grace.
EGO says we’re the exception to the rule. We don’t need Grace. EGO says I’m a good person.
Good to my wife/husband, Good to the kids. Good to my mother in law. I make a good living
I’m good enough, why do I need have Grace? Scripture says: The heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. And the heart is deceitful about the fact that it’s desperately wicked. The hardest part about salvation is realizing we need salvation, sin is real, and without Jesus we’re lost. We have this idea we’re OK the way we are, and we have no need for someone or something to help us change…
LOGIC says: This God thing is too good to be true. There must be more to this than Grace. Because, Houston, we have a problem, we live in a performance based society. Look at our jobs, it’s not how hard we work, it’s how much we get done. It’s not how we live, it’s how much we have. It’s not about the free gift of God’s grace through simple faith in Jesus Christ, it’s how ‘good’ we are, how ‘blessed’ we’ve been, and how ‘sweet’ we smell. In our world if we must perform to succeed in this life, then how MUCH MORE must we perform in the heavenly world. Thus Grace isn’t logical, indeed grace is faulty logic. The Creator rescuing the Creation by sacrificing the Creator by the Creation so the Creator could come and hang out with the Creation. Just doesn’t make sense. So where does all this leave us?
Let’s go back to why we’re studying the Book of Romans. Paul’s writing a letter to this infant church in Rome. He’s never been there, but he knows of them and he knows they love God and desire above all things to follow him. This letter becomes, for them – a letter of guidance, advice, exhortation, and warning.
It’s a letter of guidance in that it lays out Paul’s theology of God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ. It’s a letter of advice in that it portrays how Christians are to live together in love. It’s a letter of exhortation in that it encourages the Church in Rome to continue to grow and to love and to be Jesus to their neighbors. And it’s a letter of warning because Paul knows (he’s already experienced this!), persecution is coming and the only thing the people can hang onto is their faith.
Paul talks about what’s going on with the Jews. Followers of the Way have been asked to leave the synagogues and the separation between Judaism and Christianity has already begun. What then of the Jews? Are they completely lost? Has God rejected them? Remember, folks in the Roman Church have family members who don’t follow Jesus, many of them Jewish.
And so, Paul speaks of God’s grace. “So, I ask you, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not!” (Romans 11:1)
See, if the cross is big enough, and if the tomb is empty enough to allay the rejection of God by God’s own people, then I suspect they cover my indiscretions. If the cross is big enough, and if the tomb is empty enough to graft the entire world onto the branch of Jesse’s tree, then I suspect they cover all of my sins. “Grace, grace, God’s grace. Grace that is greater than all our sin…”
I believe the cross is big enough and the tomb is empty enough to cover the vast gamut of my sin, indiscretions, frailties, mistakes, and out and out poor decision making. I wasn’t always this way; there was a time I blew off church and this God-thing because it simply had no bearing and no place in my busy EGO and LOGIC driven existence.
Think about these things this week. Think about the hatred ripping through our country and our world today. Think about the incipient racism still bubbling just below the surface of our nation and our world. Think about the self-loathing driving people to complain about every little thing because there’s nothing in their lives worth celebrating. These become some of the destinations of human based EGO and LOGIC. Think about it. Pray about it. Let me know what you think. Think about grace, grace, God’s grace.
“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”
35 “Who has ever given to God,
that God should repay them?”
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
Pray with me: Holy God, we you’re your Holy Spirit will show us the areas of our lives in which our ego and our logic drive your reality away from us. We pray your Holy Spirit will show us where you need us so the world around us can experience the love, mercy, and grace of Jesus Christ. We pray this in the name our Messiah Jesus, in the power of your Holy Spirit, and to your eternal glory Father God. [AMEN]
______________________________________________________________________________[1] D.L. Moody Center. Viewed on August 3, 2026 from: https://www.moodycenter.org

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