Archive for righteousness

Defining Sin

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Freedom in Christ with tags , , , , , , , , , on February 20, 2022 by paulthepoke

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What is sin? How do we know what sin is?

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The New Testament word for sin is ἁμαρτία/hamartia. Here is how the word is defined: failure; missing the mark; guilt, sin, a fault, failure, sinful deed.

The first time the term “sin” is used in the Old Testament is Genesis 4:7.

Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.

The Hebrew word translated as sin is chatta’ah. Within in the context of the passage of Genesis 4:7, sin is simply not doing the right thing. One did not achieve the set standard.

A person can do their best with the best of intentions and fail to meet the standard. It is still a sin. Clearly, people can willingly choose to disobey God’s statute. This is a sin.

We stand before the dart board of life. The bullseye is the standard. The intent is a perfect shot. The stance is good. The technique has been mentally rehearsed. Confidence reigns supreme. The bullseye is coming. With all your heart, the dart flies. Woops… missed. We are all sinners.

Which leads to another question, how do we know what is the right thing? Who sets the standard for what is right and what is wrong?

Sin is rebellion against God’s righteous and just character. Sin has its roots in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 2:16-17 And the LORD God commanded him, “You may eat freely from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

Genesis 3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom, she took the fruit and ate it. She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

We are all sinners. How are we going to manage our sinful ways? What is our response going to be to sin? God knows we are all sinners.

Cain’s response to his sin was to murder his brother Abel. Adam and Eve tried to cover and hide from their sin in the Garden. Judas hung himself. At Golgatha, one thief next to Jesus lashed out at Christ.

David turned from adultery, lies, deception and murder and moved his heart towards God. Saul was killing Christians until he was blinded and became the Apostle Paul. Matthew was a corrupt tax collector swindling his fellow Jew. Matthew was upholding the “laws” until he answered the call of Jesus. At the The Skull, one thief on the cross revered God the Man and admitted his guilt and understood his consequence. And today, that thief is in Paradise.

Psalm 51:4-5 Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be justified in Your words and blameless in Your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Yoke of Slavery

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Freedom in Christ with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 7, 2022 by paulthepoke

Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ESV

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Slavery or δουλεία/douleia in the koine Greek of the day. The word is translated as slavery or bondage. The root word is δοῦλος/doulos or slave. Doulos is also translated as servant in the New Testament.

The Hebrew word for slave is ebed. Generally speaking, the word is translated as servant in the Old Testament. Ebed is used 800 times in the Old Testament. Ebed is from the word abad in the Hebrew.

As a nation, Israel is all too familiar with slavery. The nation Israel spent 400 years in Egypt as slaves. In the verse below, the term abad is used.

Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.

Click on the audio/video link below for teaching and commentary.

Humanity’s dilemma… What are we going to do? What are we going to choose? Fundamentally we have two choices, life or death.

Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

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What happens when one chooses a lifestyle of sin regardless of the specificity? God says we are a drift, thoughtless, and sensual. We are malicious, spiteful, greedy little haters. Again, the end result is death. And our path to death is not paved with good times and gold.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

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Don’t kid yourself. There is no way we can overcome sin on our own. We are currently in a fallen and broken state. We are not independently strong enough to break the yoke of sin. It is a monstrous and overwhelming burden.

Believers are called to be slaves to God the Father. Notice the progression in the verse below from Romans. Choose God and this leads to growth, purification, and holiness. The end result is eternity with the Father, Son, and Spirit.

Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

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Believers are called to be slaves to justice. We are called to do the right thing by God.

Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

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This is ultimately about your attitude and heart toward Jesus. He wants us to be a willing participant. Christ is not making us follow Him. As people, we have the free will to choose.

1 Corinthians 7:22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.

A point of Galatians 5:1 is this. As a believer in Jesus Christ, the individual has broken away from the yoke of sin because of Him. One has become free. This is an appeal to the will. Don’t go back to being a slave to sin. Stay with Him and in Him.

Do the Right Thing… Paul Beverly

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Paul Beverly with tags , , on July 27, 2021 by paulthepoke

Doing what’s right… We all know the difference between right & wrong usually. So why do we choose to do what’s not right at times? Is it because of selfishness? Greed? That we don’t care? Doing the right thing may not always be easy, but it will be rewarded. Doing the right thing will bring peace to your heart.

James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

2 Chronicles 15:7 But you take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.

Have a do the right thing week my friends!!!

When The Wicked Goes Unpunished! Joshua of Ghana

Posted in #PaulthePoke, Joshua Ghana with tags , , , , , , on November 28, 2020 by paulthepoke

TEXT: Luke 11:29-36

Key Verse: “Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them” (Job 24:12).

@beholy404

There are many things about God and His dealings that we seem not to understand. One of such is the spate of wickedness and atrocities being perpetrated by wicked people and judgment does not seem to quickly catch up with them. Evils and crimes are committed in many places with impunity. The rights and privileges of the less privileged are forcefully trodden with no one to speak for them. And God seems to be silent!

Many people wonder why God delays judgment on the wicked. They want Him to unleash His wrath as they observe all the wickedness going on in the world. This was the same question Job raised in our passage as he tried to show his friends that God was not punishing him for his sins as they thought. He pointed their attention to all the wickedness going on daily around them which they were quite aware of and yet God seems to be silent about them. If God were punishing him for his sins, why then were all the wicked and terrible people around him in the society walking about free and judgment is not coming upon them, he queried.

Many people have been tempted to think that God is not fair. In fact, there are people who have concluded that it is either God does not exist or that He has abandoned the world to self-destruction. But the truth is, God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He has a set time for everything and a day of judgment for every wicked person.

Our attitude then is to have faith in His righteousness and justice. We cannot have a sense of justice more than the almighty God. Let us leave the judgment of the wicked in His Hands and strive to maintain an upright and just life. He will certainly judge the wicked and reward the upright with good.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God’s sense of justice will not overlook wickedness.

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