Author: ianfrancoisdt

My power throughout the universe displayed, yet You gave Your Son to die for me, I scarce can take it in.

“ I have always been for you, even in the darkest hours, My attitude is one of love demonstrating it through My grace to each person I have created. Yet there are many who have turned their backs on me and ignore me. Now, at the beginning of a New Year, My power and my love are focused on all those who have responded to that love. So, no matter what obstacles and difficulties you may encounter this coming year, remember I am a good God and if I am for you who can be against you effectively. I have demonstrated this in giving my Son to die on a cross – I am fully committed to the point of death.”

As the prospect of a new year opens up before us, I have decided to share Paul’s prayer in Colossians 1:9-14 that I used for my sermon on Sunday with you all, as it seems so appropriate and immediate for each one of us.

Firstly Paul brackets the prayer with a description of the gospel in vv 13,14, which he has mentioned earlier, The prayer is aimed at asking God to help each one of us to live the authentic Christian life and he wants to remind us that we cannot live this life authentically unless we are true Christians. He speaks about power in the prayer and that power is only available through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us, once we are born again.

He starts the prayer, with a plea for knowledge. Knowledge which is not merely book knowledge, or head knowledge, but knowledge which is accompanied by wisdom and understanding, iow heart knowledge. This type of knowledge very definitely requires the input and presence of His Spirit. Furthermore in vs 10 he returns to the theme of knowledge saying that true Christianity is always accompanied by a growing knowledge.

Now friends, we can ask God to help us acquire knowledge but we need to do our share in this. We need to seek knowledge. To place ourselves in the position to receive that knowledge. The main source of the knowledge God is speaking about is His word and the onus is on us to continue to grow in our understanding of his word. A real challenge for this coming year.

He then prays that we may live a life, worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every good work. Notice he doesn’t lay out a list of rules to follow. he is speaking of a way of life. That way of life, to be pleasing to God must arise from our ongoing dynamic relationship with Him. it starts at the beginning of the day by having the right attitude to God and His kingdom work. It is fostered by spending time in prayer and reading His word at the start of every day. If we are listening to Him he will lead us to the good works he mentions here.

The sign of a true Christian life is not how many meetings you attend or books you read, but in the fruit you bear. Real Christianity is always demonstrated by fruit. Your changed life must impact others in the community. Some may be physically limited, but even they may pray and encourage.

Then we come to the real heart of the prayer. He prays for power for each Christian. Not a power to do miracles but a power to endure hardship with patience and demonstrating joy. It is easy to be joyful when everything is going well. But when the storm clouds come up, we need the full power of His glorious might to be able to endure the storm with patience, joyfully. This joy is not a frothy joy, just a deep sense of peace and love for God even in the darkest valley.

To be able to do that it is easier if you regularly practice by giving thanks in all things on a daily, if not moment by moment basis.

So friends, thank you for enduring by staying with me in the blog this past year and as we go into the new year. Here is my challenge to each of you. Make it a practice to start each day, as you wake up, with thanksgiving and to end it by using your last words in thanksgiving again before you go to sleep. And persevere with this the whole year. May God bless you all into 2026.

It’s almost as if, in a way the world has become hushed, as it gets ready to remember the beginning of the most important event of all time.

”I am gathering the thoughts of My people who really care, together so that there will be a new and powerful impetus taking My kingdom forward. So many are involved with side issues though and have lost the sense of urgency that should prevail as you all wait for My return. To many of my children, to My sadness, this is something they rarely contemplate and act on. Continue to make the spread of My gospel your priority at all times and especially now on the day that has been chosen as My birthday, so that many, many new people can experience My love which remains the same powerful force which launched the life of My son Jesus.”

Last week we remembered Jesus as the baby destined to become the most powerful King of all time. Let us today become quiet and contemplate the fact that our king is a king that is totally humble. He does not force himself on anyone and acts by serving rather than ordering. Start by reading the well-known passage in Luke 2::8-20.

Who would have thought of an entry into the world like this. First the fact that there was no room for Him. Priority would normally be given to make room for the arrival of an important figure like a king. Being laid in a feeding trough as a cradle, He commences His life as the lowest of the low. Then the great announcement of His arrival is given to a group of shepherds out in the fields.

Not the religious hierarchy or the politically important. In this way He was identifying with the lowliest people, on their own level. No ordinary king would have done that. No wonder people had such difficulty in identifying Him as the expected Messiah.

And so his whole life has shown this topsy-turvy upside down route, focussing on statements like the first shall be last and the last shall be first. And, of course His signal statement in Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom for many”. Being in very substance God but not claiming the rights to that position.

Considering this amazing picture there is no room for ourselves to have pride and think of ourselves as any better than anyone else. We can and should just be so happy to serve like our Master did and is still doing.

May all you dear people have a blessed Christmas, and do pray for our outreach service on Christmas morning, as we seek to share the gospel with whoever God brings in to us.

The king is coming, the king has already come, yet He is coming again.

”You are understanding the position of the world, of My creation. I have come – as a helpless baby, born in the most menial environment, dying in shame and disgrace. Many have said and will say – is that really a king? Can that be the King? The time is coming soon when all doubt will be removed and I will appear in all My glory. Every important person, king, ruler, Pope, judge, whoever, will have vanished and my glory will fill the world instead. So be patient – enjoy the foretaste of My Kingly rule as you celebrate My first coming at this time.”

As Christmas rushes up on us, I have decided to look at the passage I am going to preach on on Christmas Day today. So please read Colossians 1:15-22. I will be focusing on the potential that was wrapped up in the little, helpless baby, born under the most menial conditions. I believe many people will be stuck on the baby part and miss the fact that this was only the beginning, a most inauspicious beginning.

There are 4 things I will be emphasizing.

1 He was and is God: vs 15 “He is the image of the invisible God. Vs 19, God was pleased to have all His fulness dwell in Him.” When this truth first hit me it changed who I was. Jesus, not just a great and holy person, but actually God Himself, in human flesh.

2. He created all things and sustains all things. Note the repetition of all, 6 times. This means from the furthest galaxies, thousands of light years away down to the tiniest atom or particle present here on earth. (As an aside, are you aware that each tiny atom is a picture of the stellar system, a nucleus with particles rotating around it?) Notice also in vs 17 In Him all things hold together. He is holding the strings of the whole world together. Nothing is out of His control!

3. Twice He is called the Firstborn vss 15, 18 This doesn’t refer to some sort of birth, it refers to His position of authority. He has authority, firstly over all creation and secondly of the “body, the church.vs 18.” Our church does not have a Pope or bishop or head of Synod as its head. There is only one head and that is Jesus Himself. We are made part of that only because we have been born into it, not by choice of membership.

4. What did He come to do? He came with a specific purpose – “to reconcile all things to God, whether things on earth or things in heaven by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross” vs 20. He has dealt with our alienation and enmity to God and brought us into a relationship, based on His bodily death on the cross. Vv 21-22.

Friends, as you read this passage it should shine and sparkle like the most beautiful jewel and fill you with absolute wonder. What a God we serve. I do so pray that every person who will be at our service next Thursday will catch a bit of a glimpse of who this little baby really was and is and that it will transform their lives. Will you all pray that God will make His word come alive at that service. God bless, till next week.

I will trust in You alone and Your endless mercies will follow me and lead me home.

“That Is what I desire from you, complete trust. I have put Myself out there and demonstrated My power, wisdom, love and grace in so many ways, even sending My Son to the Earth so you could see and meet Me in the form of a person. Yet all the time My actions and emotions towards you have been unseen – operating in the heavenly realms – so it calls on you to trust – to trust in that which I have told you about in My word and to give yourself completely to Me, in love to serve and follow Me till you join Me in glory. Make the most use of this advent season to share your solid belief in Me with others who will benefit from it.”

We read the short but very important piece in Romans 3:27-31 today. The subject of the law comes up again. Now remember last week we were told that God has given us a righteousness through the work of Jesus on the cross. Vs 24 emphasised that this justification came freely by his grace. Surely then it is obvious that there is no other way to acquire God’s righteousness than to receive it as a gift by faith? So what is the problem?

The Jewish believers had, for centuries believed that they could attain righteousness by following the law. So the law was held up as the means to entry and citizenship of God’s kingdom. We know in retrospect that it is impossible to keep the law to the perfection that Jesus did. The Jewish believers that would receive the letter of Paul in Rome however would still feel that the law plays a vital role in making them righteous.

What is the problem with adding a bit of their ability to keep the law to making or keeping them righteous? The problem lies in the little word boasting. You see obtaining the righteousness God gives focuses on Him and Jesus completely. Any contribution they may have felt they had made by keeping the law makes Jesus work and God’s grace void. If they feel they are succeeding in adding to God’s righteousness by obeying the law it could lead to them boasting that their effort had supplemented His grace, effectively nullifying it. Paul uses the same argument in Ephesians 2:8,9: For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God – not by works lest we should boast.

But what does this have to do with us, we are not Jews? Our culture is so steeped in God’s law that every one of us is aware of at least certain aspects of it. The older generation was very focused on keeping the law as a way of life. Unfortunately often missing the real point, like focussing on keeping the Sabbath, instead of building relationships based on love. The danger lies in a subtle mindset that says that keeping the law makes us more acceptable to God. If we manage to perform according to the standards we have set for ourselves in our own minds we are ready to pat ourselves on the back, if we fail we feel awful, a failure and condemned by God. It is so important to focus on God and the completely free gift He gives through faith and not to rely on our own performance at all.

Is it not important to keep the law then you may ask? Of course we need to keep God’s law especially as it is redefined by Jesus. But we do that as a response to God’s love and acceptance of us in Jesus, not to try and gain His approval and perhaps make our salvation more certain. The focus should always be on God and His Son Jesus, not ourselves and our ability to keep the law, lest we may boast. We either serve God completely or mammon.

God bless till next week as Christmas approaches expectantly.

Oh mighty Cross! His sacrifice on Calvary has made that mighty cross a tree of life for me.

”Life – life In its abundance – true life is what I chose to bring to a world dying in its own squalor of sin. Against that dark background I raised a cross – a cross on which hung my beloved Son, His blood streaming down as He took the burden of the world’s sin upon Himself. That cross had and still has the power to bring life, true life to everyone who would look up at it and call out to Me. My promise is confirmed by the sight of an empty tomb 3 days later. In the same way I will give eternal life to everyone who believes. In the meantime there is abundant life in Me here on Earth as you wait and hope for eternity.”

Today’s passage – Roman’s 3:21 -26, is perhaps the clearest description of what Christ did on the cross in the whole of Scripture.

Let us take a step back to 1:17, the great statement of the gospel by Paul at the beginning of his discussion. It is all about righteousness. (For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.) For two and a half chapters Paul has shown how every person on earth is unrighteous. So the question is, “How do we become righteous”? Paul’s sneak preview in 1:17 is that there is a righteousness from God which has been revealed. We now come back to that statement in 3:21.

That righteousness is apart from the law and has now been made known V 21. Secondly it is from God Himself but comes to us through faith in Jesus to all who believe v 22. Remember 1:17; the righteousness that is promised is by faith from first to last.

Then Paul reiterates the universal need “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”. But now they have been justified. (The word for justified is the same as righteous, in other words to be justified is simply to be made righteous) v 23. This comes as a free gift by God’s grace v 24.

It is so important to grasp the concept of God’s grace at this point. Nothing we have done or can do affects how God applies His work to us – it is truly free depending on His huge attitude of love towards all of us. Our part is simply to believe and receive.

Now the key verses: (24,25) we are made righteous by an act of redemption (this is a transactional statement that Jesus has bought our freedom through His death) which came as a result of God’s act of presenting Jesus as a sacrifice on the altar of the cross. Now the NIV uses the word “atonement” which does not carry the full power of the Greek word which means “propitiation”. Propitiation is powerful word describing a turning away of the wrath of God from us onto Jesus. V 25.

Now comes the great revelation. The next vv show how God has always had this method in mind in dealing with those who had faith in Him in the past. There is only one way to receive God’s righteousness and those who died before Jesus’ life and death on earth were also all forgiven in anticipation of Jesus’ death in the future. He has always been just and this is the only way of giving His righteousness to any human being. This goes a long way to explaining what happened to all the saints in the Old Testament.

Now notice, this righteousness is imputed to us. In other words it is placed as a description of our state in the eyes of God. It is not necessarily a description of how we will live our lives from that moment on. The aim of God is that we start learning to live righteous lives from then on and the rest of Roman’s is going to help us understand what that means.

We can only marvel. Our plight is as black as the night until the morning sun rises with Jesus to bring our redemption and not only freedom and forgiveness, but full membership of God’s family, adopted as sons and daughters for all eternity. Wow!

God bless you all as you enjoy this advent season in anticipation of Christmas day.

“Christ in me, my hope my song, the life I live to you belong – all for you, Christ in me.”

” I accept your worship and dedication. My desire is that that worship should be welded together into the love which I have cast over you and all who I have called. It pleases Me when you set aside your own agenda and give all your attention and love to Me. That is why I have created and am working towards a kingdom where everyone will have that attitude – from that will come total unity of spirit and mind. It is a huge task since I have given everyone freedom to choose and there are so many ways that that freedom works its way out. Yet ultimately the kingdom will look like I want it to and the good news for you and your readers is that you will all be there – part of it”.

Today we wrap up Paul’s argument which he started in 1:18 -“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness….” He has come from different angles to show that ultimately everyone falls under that description. Every person is “under God’s wrath”.

In today’s section, Romans 3:9-20, he drives this home with a number of quotes from the Old Testament Scriptures. Firstly in v9, a reminder that Jews and Gentiles are equally culpable.

He then takes 7 quotes from various parts of the OT, combining some. Read them. The list is all encompassing and frightening in its reality: no one righteous, or who understands. No one who seeks God, but all have rather turned away from Him, becoming worthless.

No one who does good – NOT EVEN ONE. Friends even the “good works” with the best intentions are as filthy rags in winning God’s approval.. Every word we speak is evil, coming – as it were- from an open grave with the aim of practicing deceit. Our words are like a viper’s poison, full of cursing and bitterness.

Our aim is to destroy, to harm, to bring misery and ruin, the opposite of peace and the bottom line is that there is no fear of God.

As I contemplated all these I thought, “No wonder the world is in the state it is in and things like divorce so common.” What hope is there? Then I realised that our need is perhaps far greater than I have ever perceived. I think that is what Paul wants us to see. We are all totally unrighteous, the law has shown that up but not changed it. The conclusion – we all need a righteousness that only God can give.

It is absolutely basic to the gospel that one has to understand the need, the desperate situation each person is under. Against that background the gospel offer is like a shining light, drawing all to it. Against that background the opening statement in next week’s study 3:21, “a righteousness from God has been known” draws us into desperately wanting to know about this righteousness.

Although we may feel so frustrated with people, especially our loved ones who don’t “get it” that we may feel like hitting them over the head that they may listen and understand this. However the reality is we cannot make someone grasp this frightening truth. This is the work of God, through His Spirit and His word and we are merely witnesses. Bur we do have God’s ear in prayer. It is the Spirit’s work to convict. To apply these truths to the heart

Any “gospel” that does not have this reality placed centrally in it, is no gospel at all. Jesus is portrayed in so many ways, as Healer”, “Friend”, “Peacemaker, “Reconciler”, “The Answer”,etc without addressing the basic problem everyone has of being totally separated from God and under His wrath is presenting a false Messiah. It is the most difficul thing of all for man to accept our sinfulness and the reality of God’s wrath on us.

God bless you all as we move to the exciting part next week as the Christmas season starts.

I am learning how to breathe in the rhythm of your grace. Be still and know I am finding rest within the storm.

” The noise of the world can easily occupy you and your mind so every moment your consciousness is overwhelmed by noise, sights and colours, people, thoughts churning around in your mind. That is why it is so important to draw aside and become still and allow your mind and thoughts to focus on Me. I am there to bring stability amidst the storm, to bring hope when voices are shouting there is only disaster coming. In all this My aim is to help you turn your thoughts to Me, to seek Me in the quietness and in the storm. I am always there, always the same and will be into eternity – in Me is total stability – I am The Rock.”

Today we come to a little pause in Romans as Paul takes up a diatribe (an argument) with an imaginary person. Read Romans 3:1-8. It’s almost as if he feels that the Jews may think he is being a bit harsh with them. Remember that throughout Romans this problem of dealing with both Jews and Gentiles keeps surfacing. This little interlude almost acts as an introduction to Paul’s later argument in chapters 9 – 11, where he deals in greater detail with the problem of the Jews.

As we read this section we need to hear the questions Paul is answering, to follow his argument.

Verse 1 -“Is there no advantage (spiritually) to being a Jew? – Much – in many ways, and here he picks the main one initially. They have been entrusted with the very words of God. Is that not our claim as well?

Verse 3 – does the Jewish unfaithfulness point to God also being unfaithful? His answer is much stronger than the NIV shows it. More like the powerful replies in Galatians “let them eternally be damned”. God is and will always be true!

Verse 5 – So if our unrighteousness sets off against God’s righteousness, highlighting it by comparison, should we not sin more to show God’s righteousness up better? If that is so it means God is being unfair by bringing His wrath to bear on us. Paul pauses here realising how outrageous this may sound. If God is unfair how could He judge the world. He takes this argument to its conclusion in verse 8 with a statement commentators believe was one that was being spread around at the time “Let us do evil that good may result”.

So how do we apply this passage to ourselves? I don’t believe we would easily take a view that sinning more is good because it shows God’s righteousness up better. However many people feel quite comfortable in their lack of taking sin seriously, because in their minds their sins are being covered by God’s forgiveness and grace. Paul repeats this question in 6:1 again. This lack of recognizing the seriousness of sin is far more subtle and I believe pervades the western Christian culture. God’s wrath is very real and very frightening so much so that He sent His Son to die for our sins, how can we not take them seriously?

(Lily has pointed out to me that the LutheranChurch has a special day of repentance today. This is most appropriate in this context).

Then there is also the reminder at the beginning of this passage of the huge grace we have in our possession in the form of God’s word. This is so precious and we should all appreciate its value enormously, demonstrating that by spending time reading and meditating on it. It is in seeing God’s holiness that we become more conscious of our lack of real holiness.

So Paul is building his case that everyone is a sinner and in need of God’s solution, the forgiveness of sins as won for us through Jesus’ death on the cross, as described in the gospel, about which Paul is so passionate. We will reach the climax next week. God bless till then.

Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to Thee.

” I receive your worship which is good and right. That is what I seek from each one of my children, even if the words may seem more grand than the actions that follow. Nevertheless the desire to offer yourself and your body as a full act of worship is the way to enter and continue our relationship. There will be many areas which you may not be aware of yet, that actually hold you back from complete consecration. However the desire to give all of yourself is an important step, from there we can work together to the point where you will ultimately see and experience My glory while you receive yours. So welcome as you and your readers walk with me into the future.”

As we read Romans 2:17 – 29, Paul now turns to address the situation of the Jews in relation to God’s wrath and judgement.

There were two main things that gave the Jews their specific identity as God’s chosen people. 1. Circumcision, which was the entrance right to His covenant relationship that God had given Abraham. 2. The Law, which was given centuries later, to direct the covenant people how to live and express their relationship as an example to the pagan world.

So Paul challenges them: If they know all the benefits of obeying the law – a relationship with God (vs 17), know His will, and what is superior, because they are instructed in the law, being a guide to the blind, a light in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because of their knowledge of the law…… Stop there. Does that sound familiar? Is that not what we claim as the benefits of being in a relationship with God?

Continuing – if they know all these things why do they not practice them? Do they steal, practice adultery, seek idols? Brag about having the law yet openly breaking it causing God’s name to be blasphemed by those who watch. My unsaved partner once told me that he knew all the people who sit in the front row of the church on Sunday and he knows what they get up to during te week and used this as a reason not to take Christianity seriously.

Paul then turns to circumcision. Once again the charge is that they claim the identity that God has given them because they have been physically circumcised, yet their behaviour does not reflect that.

Ultimately Paul concludes with the the statement that to be a genuine Jew their hearts have to be circumcised….note: not by the written code but by the Spirit. Sound familiar? We can apply these thoughts to ourselves as part of a massive “Christian community”.

Paul is moving along to bring everyone, equally to the same hugely frightening conclusion, that everyone is equally culpable and under God’s wrath. He will drive this home in the first part of ch 3 which we will look at next week.

This passage brought home to me again how we might. Identify ourselves by a number of outward actions – belonging to and attending a church, talking Christ – talk, doing charitable things etc, expecting them to identify us as Christian. While what actually identifies us as Christian is our changed lives through the Spirit and fired by our ongoing relationship with God through Jesus, expressing itself outwardly by a supernatural love for our neighbours.

May God bless you all till next week.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise all ye creatures here below, praise Father Son and Holy Ghost.

”I receive your praise with joy. Your praise joins millions of brothers and sisters who are part of our beautiful family. Yes, and every part of My creation has been made to praise Me and represent Me to those who would open their eyes to see. That is why I have said man is without excuse because I am there, everywhere in creation, in all my creatures and especially those whom I have taken into My family. So open your heart and mind and open your mouth and praise Me with all your being.”

We take a second bite at Romans 2:1-16. I have often had difficulty in placing this section in the overall argument of Paul. This is how I see it, being as simple as possible.

Back in 1:18 Paul makes the statement about God’s wrath in introducing an explanation why the gospel – salvation story is so important. In the rest of that chapter he starts proving how all mankind is under God’s wrath. Now there are two questions. Why is it a serious situation to be under God’s wrath? What about those who live more moral lives, especially those who have the law?

So this part of ch 2 he devotes to showing how God’s wrath leads to His judgement. He expands that to say His judgement is always right, according to His righteousness, vs 2. (Then he deviates to discuss man’s judgement by comparison. That is what we dealt with last week). He ends this section, bracketing it, in 2:16 where he rounds off the description of God’s judgement.

The rest of the section is largely devoted to showing that everyone is equally culpable under God’s judgement. Everyone will be judged according to the way they have lived their lives. Here we read for the first time what judgement under God’s wrath looks like. Vv 8,9 wrath and anger and trouble and distress.

The last paragraph is devoted to proving that those who have not had the benefit of the law are equally culpable because God has built into every person a conscience. Those who have the law should not think that they are better off than those have not heard it, because hearing it alone has no benefit, it is how we live in the light of it that matters.

In 2:16 he makes three points concerning God’s judgement as he rounds off this section: All that which was secret will be revealed. Judgement will be through Jesus. And finally, most important the gospel will make all the difference. Hence a reminder that all will fall under judgement. The only way to escape it will be through the salvation provided by Jesus Christ.

The bottom line then is that there will not be any special treatment for those who have never heard the gospel or those who have heard it and ignored its appeal. This is a stark reminder that each believer holds a golden key in the gospel, as the only way to escape God’s judgement and should therefore be prepared to share it with whoever we can that God leads into our path. There is no reason to believe that we could ever live such a righteous life that we will not be judged so we need to continue to be eternally grateful that, despite everything we have received Jesus’ salvation.

God bless you all till next week.

You still reign and you are still God, you are mighty, you are strong, yet you hold me like a song.

”You are so precious to Me that I will always hold you as if you are a small bird, being careful not to squeeze, lest I hurt you. Yet my grip on you is as strong as the mightiest tempest, nothing, but nothing can ever tear you loose from my tender clasp. You are the only one who can separate yourself from fellowship with me by turning away from Me. Yet even then, though our fellowship may be damaged, My love will never let you go and I will ultimately fetch you even from the furthest shore. So be still and know that I am the most powerful God yet filled with tender covenant love for you”.

We continue with Romans in ch 2. We will read up to vs 16, but will deal with this section in two bites. Let us first remind ourselves where we are in the letter. The central issue is God’s righteousness and flowing from that the problem that all people are totally unrighteous and separated by a gulf which is caused by God’s wrath against all such unrighteousness. The gospel is the hope of the world to restore the harmonious relationship of man to God, which He originally intended.

After His introductory statement on the importance of the gospel, Paul has set out to prove to the reader that everyone on earth is equally unrighteous and therefore under God’s wrath and desperately needs this message. Last time he showed the progression from denying God, despite His revelation of Himself in His creation down to the deepest depths of sin. He ended with describing the onlooker to this sinful behaviour and declared that by approving of this behaviour they are equally guilty.

He starts today’s passage as if he is carrying on a discussion with an invisible person. The original sounds more like: “You, oh man…” He addresses the other people who are looking on at this deepening evil. You who look on at this sin and feel personally affronted because you aren’t like that at all! Is it not easy? No, even natural to view other people’s falling into sin and judging them and feeling good that you are not like that? You are better than that. This section addresses exactly those who live fairly moral lives and look at the “sinners” with revulsion or contempt, while patting themselves on the back that they are not like that. I am afraid many church goers fall into this category.

However Paul wants the reader to understand there is only One who is totally righteous and qualified to judge. When we pass judgement we are actually condemning the very actions and attitudes we ourselves have, because we are all equally guilty of unrighteousness.By doing this we show contempt towards God, because we are misunderstanding His attitude of patience towards all sinners and desire for them to repent and turn to Him. If it weren’t for that He could judge them immediately.

So by having this superior moral attitude, we are demonstrating our own sinfulness in our stubbornness and unrepentance and will have to face God’s wrath equally to all the other sinners. Paul then sets out the basis according to which God will judge.(vv 6 – 9). Now we have to be careful here because he is speaking about judgment and not salvation. This passage is not saying we will be judged according to these standards and that some will then be good enough to be saved. On the contrary he is at pains to show that all people Jew and Gentile will be equally subject to judgement. He is building a case for the need of the Gospel and Jesus’ work in salvation by everyone.

As we listen to Jesus, we have a very powerful message here for all of us today. It is almost inevitable that we subtly and subconsciously compare ourselves to others. God will not have that. He is the one who will Judge. He is calling on us to show loving kindness and compassion towards all others, otherwise we will be the people who will be judged. It so easy to be a little like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable who stood in the temple and said thank God I am not like that sinner there at the back.

Time for some deep reflection and maybe repentance today. May God bless you all till next week.