13 June 2021
Two-Minute Features | 20 June 2021 | 06 June 2021

In Serving the New, We Bear Fruit for God (TMF:1635)

Friday, June 18, 2021
Peace to Live By: In Serving the New, We Bear Fruit for God (TMF:1635) - Daniel Litton
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       And now that we are dead to sin, dead to our old, instinctive, worldly ways of living, what is the goal in our newfound faith? Well, we are to bear fruit for God. That’s a total change in how we relate to God, to ourselves, to other Christians, and to the world. That’s a total change in how we live in the world. Bearing fruit for God encompasses every part of the Christian life. It certainly includes the Fruit of the Spirit Paul mentions in Galatians chapter 5, but it is much more than that. The cross-reference verse that immediately comes to my mind in reading this verse in Romans chapter 7 is the one in Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2:10 states, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (ESV).

Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 3 (TMF:1634)

Thursday, June 17, 2021
Peace to Live By: Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 3 (TMF:1634) - Daniel Litton
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       “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:4-6,ESV). Verse 4 here basically shows the new position for the Christian. It is a summary of what has transpired for each of us, and reveals were we now stand. We’ve been talking about how each of us had died to the law in Christ, through his sacrifice on the cross for us and resurrection from the dead. We are no longer obligated to keep the ceremonial parts of the Jewish Law in order to be pleasing to God. God can accept us now without following those guidelines, those requirements.

Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 2 (TMF:1633)

Wednesday, June 16, 2021
Peace to Live By: Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 2 (TMF:1633) - Daniel Litton
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       Paul points out the fact that if the married woman’s husband dies, if he passes away, she if free to be married to another man. She is back on the market. The marriage vows she had spoken on her original wedding day before the man and before God are no longer binding; they are annulled because the man is dead. As we know, God permits people to remarry if their spouse dies. As a matter of fact, God encourages it for younger people, but Paul nevertheless encouraged singleness afterward for some women as he believed they would be happier. But the point here that Paul is trying to make is that through the husband’s death is a newfound freedom for the woman. Do you see where this is going? This represents what Jesus has accomplished for us. By his death on the cross, and are being united in his death, we were released from the confines and restraints of the Jewish Law in order to serve another.

Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 1 (TMF:1632)

Tuesday, June 15, 2021
Peace to Live By: Released from the Old to Serve the New, Part 1 (TMF:1632) - Daniel Litton
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       Nevertheless, “the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives” as Paul stated. There are all kinds of examples we could bring to mind to illustrate this point. The illustration the Apostle Paul chose to use here in Romans chapter 7 is of a married woman. The vows two people make before God are binding in the spiritual realm. God takes people’s marriage vows seriously. So, in Paul example, when a woman is married to a man she is bound by law to be the wife of that man. She cannot decide she is going to have another man, have another husband or have sexual relations with another man. If the married woman was to do that, she would become an adulteress--a person who has committed adultery. This is something that is even frowned upon among non-believers. Most non-believers do not look favorable toward adultery. If you’re married, you just don’t do that; it’s not right, and it’s a violation of God’s law and of your marriage vows.

Our Faith Doesn't Take Away God's Law (TMF:1631)

Monday, June 14, 2021
Peace to Live By: Our Faith Doesn't Take Away God's Law (TMF:1631) - Daniel Litton
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       This is a very significant point, and it’s something that we need to recall as we go through our discussion today. Our newfound faith in Jesus, our working and active faith, that faith does not take away God’s Law, it does not even render it obsolete. To say so would be a misunderstanding. The verse from Jesus should be popping into your head by now. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matthew 5:17-18, ESV). It wasn’t that Christ sought to throw out the old and bring in the new. The new finishes, or completes the old. It’s much like the sequel to your favorite movie. The sequel doesn’t throw out the first movie, it brings the story into further completion, brings more out of it; it brings it to further fulfillment.