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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, ‘If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?’ Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—‘Let us do evil that good may result?’ Their condemnation is just!”
Romans 3:5-8
This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The Lord designed the human body with a central processing system called the brain. It controls every part of our bodily function to include our thinking.
Yes, it was God’s will to allow each person the ability to rationalize, analyze and draw conclusions but here’s the problem with that. Unfortunately, mankind has chosen more often than not to lean on their own reasoning instead of allowing the Lord to dictate their views and beliefs through His word and Spirit. This is obviously in violation of the following command found in Proverbs, the book of wisdom:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8
Did you notice something amazing about this passage?
It relates exactly to the chapter and verses from our excerpt from Romans, from chapter 3, verses 5 through 8. Tell me that our Lord isn’t absolutely amazing. This isn’t by coincidence, trust me.
So we’re not to lean on our own understanding or be wise in our own eyes. Rather, we’re to submit to the Lord and show Him the fullest measure of our respect. For we will only have the kind of reasoning He desires, which amounts to His reasoning, when we do this.
So what happens when we decide that we know best, when we try and make sense of the world on our own by thinking things through by means of our own intellect?
We see what can happen in Paul’s words from our passage for today. Look again at his words here:
“But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? Someone might argue, ‘If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?’ Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—‘Let us do evil that good may result?’ Their condemnation is just!” Romans 3:5-8
Note the flawed logic applied here.
Human reasoning might think that if a person intentionally acts unrighteously, it actually has a positive outcome as it enhances “God’s righteousness more clearly”. In other words, sin is good because it shows how wrong we are and how perfectly right God is.
With this, it is then unjust that God would bring wrath and judgment on anyone who sins because they are actually glorifying God by making Him look better.
Further, if a person’s deceit only amplified God’s truthfulness and thus increased His glory, then why would God condemn that person. Shouldn’t He lavish His blessings on them?
And then Paul seems to save the most outlandish belief for last, the belief that a person should do evil so that good might somehow be produced, as if transgressions ever produced anything positive.
Note Paul is careful to distance himself from these trains of thought by making it clear that they were framed solely by human arguments grounded in human reasoning.
I think you can clearly see the problem in adopting this way of viewing things. Such thinking is only worthy of one thing: God’s condemnation.
Given all this, how do you develop the way you see things?
Do you allow the scriptures and the Holy Spirit to shape your beliefs?
Or do you lean on your own wisdom and understanding, or the world’s?
In today’s message, I hope we’ll all see that God only values reasoning that He initiates and develops. So let’s all honor Him by surrendering all that we are to Him so He can shape us to be the people He wants us to be, and that goes for our thinking as much as anything else.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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