Luke 1:46-49 Mary responded, “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour! For he took notice of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and he has done great things for me.” What an incredible moment this was for Mary! How could anyone put into words the overwhelming joy and privilege of being called to be the mother of the Saviour of the World? It is hardly surprising that she, as a young Jewish girl, turned to familiar words from the scriptures. She would have been brought up with the wonderful story of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, and would have been familiar with her prayer when she learnt that she was going to give birth. The words of Mary’s song, which is often known as the Magnificat, are extremely close to the words which Hannah had used centuries before. There are many moments in our lives as Christians when we simply don’t have the words to describe how grateful we are to God. Like Mary, we often turn to other people’s words to articulate how we are feeling. I thank God for the many songs and hymns that have become precious to me over the years. Many of them are firmly associated with a particular experience. Once, I had a long - and fiercely hot - journey across Romania during the Communist era. I was travelling with a disabled friend of mine and, as we passed through Transylvania, our van broke down. My companions and I were not great technicians but, to our amazement, we managed to fix it. As we travelled into Oradea, our destination, we instinctively broke out into song. We sang ‘Great is thy faithfulness’ - and we really meant it! We could have expressed everything we wanted to say in a prayer, but it felt so much more complete to join together in singing a hymn that was so familiar to us, and that bound us together with God’s people who had used it to express their worship over the years. God loves it when we worship him, whether we use our words or borrow them from others. Mary’s song may have been based on familiar words from the Old Testament but there is no doubting that they were words from her heart, too. Question – What song or hymn is particularly important to you? Prayer – Thank you Lord for Mary’s song and for the way in which it encourages me to praise you for your greatness. Amen
Luke 1:38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” We know the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth so well that we often have to work really hard to imagine how completely incredible this moment was for Mary. She was probably a teenager, and may well never have travelled outside of the rural Galilee region where she was born. The news that she was going to have a baby was shockingly at every level. She was a virgin, and having a baby was therefore a complete impossibility. But she listened attentively to the angel’s words and is assured that, crazy as this all sounded, nothing is impossible with God. Her response was extraordinarily impressive. She describes herself as the Lord’s servant and accepted the future that God had chosen for her. To be a servant would normally be seen as demeaning. We probably instinctively think of Downton Abbey, and the way that servants, living below stairs, were given all the heavy, dirty and difficult work to do so that a few people could live lives of incredible luxury. Being a servant doesn’t sound remotely attractive. But Mary recognized that it had all had to do with who you were serving - and to be a servant of the Lord was the highest privilege of all. Mary’s story might feel utterly remote from your life. But it isn’t. Today, God invites all of us to be his servants and he wants us to see that this is the highest privilege of life. It doesn’t get better than this – not for Mary and not for us. Question – What does it mean for you to be the servant of the Lord today? Prayer – Thank you Lord that because of your love for me you invite me to be your servant. Help me to be like Mary and to joyfully embrace the future that you have for me. Amen
Luke 1:14 An angel of the Lord prophesied to Zechariah concerning the birth of his son, John the Baptist. “You will have great joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.” This was the greatest day in Zechariah’s life. Being a male descendant of Aaron, he was a priest, which was a great privilege. However, it is suggested that there might have been up to 20,000 priests at this time, and so there were divided up into 24 groups which served in in rotation. The greatest privilege of all was for a priest to be chosen to go into the temple and burn incense at the time of the morning or evening sacrifice. Having burnt the incense, the priest would then emerge from the temple and pronounce a blessing on the people. This was such a great honour that a priest could only do this once in his lifetime - and many never got the opportunity at all. The priest was chosen for this responsibility by lot. Just imagine the sense of anticipation as the choice was made, and the overwhelming sense of privilege and responsibility when you knew it was you! That’s exactly what happened to Zechariah. Zechariah and his elderly wife, Elizabeth, had no children. At the time, this was seen as a matter of great shame and a burden that they had lived with for many years. So, when an angel met Zechariah in the temple while he was burning incense, and informed him that Elizabeth would not only have a baby but that their son would play a key role in God’s purposes for the world, it is hardly surprising that he was left speechless. This wonderful account reminds us that we should never put a limit on what God can do. The idea of Elizabeth having a baby seemed ridiculous – but not to God. We must always leave our minds open to the new things that God might want to do in our lives. Question – What surprising things has God done in your life? Prayer – Lord God, help me always to be open to whatever you want to do, however surprising. Amen
Matthew 1:22-23 All of this occurred to fulfil the Lord’s message through his prophet: “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’” Loneliness is one of the greatest problems of our society today - and it is on the increase. This matters because loneliness is incredibly dangerous. It increases the risk of death by 26 per cent, is more damaging to health than obesity, and increases the risk of high blood pressure. Loneliness, living alone and poor social connections are as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to research. But the person who knows Jesus personally need never experience loneliness, because he is Immanuel, God with us, and when we live with him day by day, we are instantly connected to a worldwide family of his people. The difference between our relationship with God and with other people is that God never leaves us. He is always by our side. We may have warm relationships with our friends, colleagues and family but, because they are human, the experience is constantly changing. Sometimes, they are busy with other things. Added to that, they have good days and bad days. They go on holiday and get ill and can sometimes be distracted by other calls on their time. However firm our relationships with others, they are variable. But our relationship with the Lord is different. At any time, whatever our circumstances or mood, the Lord is by our side. He is always with us. As we celebrate Christmas this year, let’s not allow ourselves to become so distracted by the busyness of the celebrations that we fail to see Immanuel, the God who never leaves us. We have often been told that dogs are for life and not just for Christmas. But immeasurably more important is the fact the Jesus is for life and certainly not just for Christmas. Question – In what ways are you encouraged by the fact that God is always with you? Prayer – Lord Jesus Christ, thank you that you will never leave me or forsake me. Amen
Matthew 1:21 “And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” Naming a child is a huge moment for parents. If you have ever had that privilege, I am sure you will remember the conversations about the various possibilities. You might have considered names that were particularly important in your family, or names that you simply liked. But, knowing that the child will carry that name for life, you will have given it careful consideration. We have three children, and I remember the long discussions about various names well! Our third child is called Bethany, the name of the place where my wife and I first met. I was leading a student group on a trip around Israel, where we stayed in a cheap hotel on the West Bank near Bethany. My future wife was one of the students! Many have since asked us what we’d have called her if we had met in Bognor Regis or Market Harborough…and I guess the answer is probably Bethany! Jesus was given his name because that’s what the angel commanded. It was a very common name and has the same root as Joshua, meaning ‘God saves’. From the very beginning of his life, it was clear that Jesus had a special mission to the world. There is no doubt that Mary was fully aware that she was bearing a very special son after her meeting with Gabriel. But I would so love to know what kind of conversations Joseph and Mary had about Jesus. It must have been a lot for this young couple to cope with - and they handled the situation with such grace and calmness. Jesus would become an inspiring teacher and a miraculous healer but, before anything else, he came to be the saviour of the world. His unique identity as fully man and fully God enabled him to do what no one else could ever do. He set humankind free from their sins. Question – How important is your own name to you? Prayer – Loving Father, thank you for sending your son into the world to save us from our sins. Amen
Matthew 1:20 As Joseph considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit.” This account is so familiar to us that we need to take a moment to try to imagine what the experience must have been like for Joseph. In all probability, he was a man in his 20s. Mary may well have been a teenager. He was clearly of good character and took his Jewish faith seriously. His decision to end the relationship quietly was understandable - but he must have been experiencing a riot of emotions, thinking about Mary, himself, his family’s reputation and his desire to do what God wanted. As he turned these things over in his mind, he had a dream in which he was addressed with his family title. He was Joseph, belonging to the line of the great King David. In the dream, an angel told him not to be fearful but to take Mary as his wife, because the baby was a gift of the Holy Spirit. What I love about this story is that those words were enough for Joseph. Having heard them, he married Mary. He must have known that people would assume he was the father. He would have to cope with the sniggers and gossip but he could do so because he knew he was being obedient to God. God will often ask us to do things which are not well understood by those around us. Jesus lived with this continually. He was forever being accused of acting with bad motives - and even being inspired by the devil. The prophets in the Old Testament were rarely thanked for their utterances and were often cold shouldered by their communities. Following God’s will is rarely easy. We may know little about Joseph, but his obedience to God in an incredibly awkward situation is deeply impressive. It should inspire us as we seek to serve God today. Question – How do you hear God speak to you? Prayer – Loving Father, thank you for the ways in which you make your will known to me. Give me courage to be obedient to you whatever the reaction from others. Amen
Matthew 1:19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know very little. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus, but after Jesus’ birth, we meet Joseph on only one occasion, when the family visit to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was 12 years old. Although it is not detailed anywhere, we get the distinct impression that Mary was a widow by the time Jesus’ public ministry began. One verse in the New Testament tells us that Joseph was an artisan (Matthew 13:55) and it is generally assumed that he was a carpenter - but we can’t even be sure of that. The Greek word used for artisan also refers to those who work with iron or stone. Although we know very little about this extremely important man, we do know about his character. In today’s verse, he is described as a “righteous man”, which means that he was concerned to be obedient to the law. That made life incredibly difficult for him, because he was engaged to a woman who was pregnant. Engagement, at the time, was a much deeper commitment than it is today, and it could only be brought to an end by death or divorce. When a woman who was engaged to be married became pregnant by another man, the original penalty was death by stoning, but by the time of Mary’s betrothal to Joseph, it had become divorce. So, according to the law, Joseph was obliged to divorce Mary. But he was a gracious and sensitive man and, although he was eager to obey the law, the last thing he wanted to do was humiliate Mary. Therefore, he resolved to divorce her quietly. Ultimately, an angel stepped in to change things but, still, I warm to the way in which Joseph set about handling this difficult situation. Life is full of awkward situations and challenges. I thank God for the Josephs of this world who are good and honourable people, always striving to do what is kindest and most honouring to God. Question – What do you learn from the way in which Joseph handled his predicament? Prayer – Loving Father, help me to live so close to you that I will always make wise and careful decisions. Amen
Matthew 1:16-17 Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah. Matthew shows here how the Old Testament has prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. He points out that there were 14 generations from the time of Abraham, the father of the nation, up to the reign of King David. This was undoubtedly the high-water mark in the Old Testament. David established Jerusalem as the city of God and prepared the way for the building of the magnificent temple. After that, everything went catastrophically downhill, with the next 14 generations ending with the Jewish people being taken into exile in Babylon. The following 14 generations were ones in which the prophetic voice was almost entirely silent. There is a 400-year gap between the final book of the Old Testament and the coming of Christ. However, throughout those dark years, there were some who held on to the conviction that God would send his Messiah, his anointed one, to usher in a new age of the Spirit. The coming of the Messiah was the fulfilment of many prophecies and saw the purposes of God move into a completely new era. History had been pointing in this direction but now, finally, it had become a reality. When the apostle Paul spoke of these things he wrote: “When the right time came, God sent his son, born of a woman” (Galatians 4:4). People had waited centuries for this special moment, but God knew exactly what he was doing. We cannot be sure how many people were awaiting the coming of Jesus, but it probably wasn’t many. Jesus’ arrival certainly came as a complete surprise to most people. However, we thank God for Simeon and Anna, two old people whose lives were given over to prayer and who immediately spotted the Messiah when they saw him (Luke 2:25-38). As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let’s give thanks to God that he sent Jesus as Messiah and that, through his death, he opened the way for us to find new life in him and to participate in the new age of the Spirit. Question – Looking at Galatians 4:4 what do you think made the time of Jesus coming exactly the right time? Prayer – Lord God, thank you for the new era that Jesus our Messiah opened up and in which we can share today. Amen
Matthew 1:1-16 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham…Joseph was the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. If you were writing a biography of a famous person, I strongly suspect you wouldn’t start like this. But Matthew was writing his Gospel for people from a Jewish background and so it was important that he started with an account of Jesus’ ancestors. They needed to understand where Jesus fitted in the history of the people of Israel. In his genealogy, Matthew details three groups of 14 generations. The first ran from Abraham to David; the second went up to the exile in Babylon, and the third concluded with the arrival of Jesus, whose legal father was Joseph. This placed Jesus firmly in the family line of David, and so he could be properly called the Son of David. The list names in this chapter doesn’t make great reading, but if you look at the individuals mentioned, it is absolutely gripping. The most startling feature was the inclusion of several women. That in itself was remarkable because of the low place women held in Jewish society. Women had no legal rights and were, tragically, simply seen as the possession of their father or husband. In the regular form of Jewish morning prayer, a man would thank God that he had not been born a Gentile, a slave or a woman. Matthew’s inclusion of women is even more incredible when you see who these women were. Tamar was a seductress and adulteress; Rahab was a prostitute and Ruth wasn’t even Jewish. As a Moabitess she belonged to a hated people whom the law stated should not “be admitted to the assembly of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 23:3). In addition, there is reference to Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, whose affair with King David led him to arrange for the murder of her husband. It’s a murky story but all of it goes to show that Jesus was part of a human family, warts and all. Matthew was absolutely clear that Jesus was fully God, but he was equally clear that he was also fully human. This is the amazing truth which we celebrate at Christmas. Question – Why is it so important that Jesus was fully human? Prayer – Loving God, I praise you for the way in which you showed your love for humankind by sending your son Jesus into the world. Amen
Romans 11:33-36 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Paul has spent the last three chapters agonising over the issue of his people, the Jews. He is desperately keen that they should follow Christ and receive the gift of salvation, but he also acknowledges that most of them have rejected the offer of new life in Jesus. I love the way that Paul ends this part of the letter. He does so in worship, celebrating the greatness of God’s riches, wisdom and knowledge. In the previous chapters he has given the best of his mind to setting out the dilemmas and his thinking about the situation. But, at the end of the day, he knows the limits of his understanding are very real, and he rests in the fact that God’s ways are infinitely beyond our ways. He uses verses from Isaiah 40 to acknowledge that there will never come a time when we are called upon to give God advice, and no one will ever be able to outgive God. We all live with many mysteries in this life. However hard we think things through, there will come a time when we have to face up to the fact that we haven’t got all of the answers. Whether you are wanting to explain the wonders of a sunset, the beauty of a flower or the miracle of life, you will never arrive at a complete explanation. At that point, you will need to come to God in worship because, in his greatness, he is worthy of all our praise. The same is true if you reflect on the suffering of innocent people in the world, the injustices that so many endure or the cruelty that blights so many lives. It is important for us to apply the best of our efforts to these situations, but our thinking must finally lead us to worship a God whose love, mercy and grace are infinitely beyond anything that we could ever achieve. As you reflect on the wonders, mysteries and challenges of life today be sure to come before God in worship and praise. Question – For what specific reason are you worshipping God today? Prayer – Almighty God, I worship you. Amen
Romans 9:2-3 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. The apostle Paul was proud of his Jewish heritage and was passionate that his Jewish brothers and sisters should share in the wonder of knowing Christ as their personal Lord and saviour. But look at the language he used! He was willing to be cursed forever if it meant that the Jews would find salvation. This is incredibly strong language and shows very clearly that it meant everything to him. Paul knew that the Jewish people were in a very privileged position. They had been chosen to be God’s adopted children. God had revealed his glory to them, made covenants with them and given them the law. They had Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their ancestors and Christ himself was a Jew. They had every advantage - and Paul couldn’t cope with the pain of seeing them reject Jesus. I want to turn Paul’s words into a question to you and me. How desperate are we that our friends and family should find new life in Christ? It looks to me, much of the time, as if we have come to accept things the way they are. Of course, we would be delighted if other people came to believe in Jesus. We would be happy to encourage them to do so. But I rarely meet Paul’s level of passion that other people should become Christians. I believe that we need to pray for our churches to become far more passionate about sharing the good news of Jesus. Christians are a small minority in our society - and that will not change unless we acquire some of Paul’s passionate longing for other people to follow Christ. Question – What do you learn from Paul’s burning desire to see his Jewish brothers and sisters follow Christ? Prayer – Loving Father, thank you that you have given me new life in Christ. May the wonder of knowing you give me a constantly deepening desire to see other people become Christians as well. Amen
Romans 8.38-39 I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. When I lived in India, I got to know an elderly missionary who had lived in the area for a very long time. She had asthma and found that the tropical climate was very helpful for her condition so, when she retired, she stayed in India and continued to have a powerful ministry there. Whenever I said goodbye to her, she would always come out onto her veranda, wave and say the same words: “No separation.” It was an unusual farewell, but she was celebrating that, when we become Christians, nothing can separate us from God’s love. Even if we travel away from our Christian brothers and sisters, we are always united in his love. Isn’t that a wonderful sentiment? In Romans, Paul goes to great lengths to spell out how destructive sin is. One of the terrible things that it does is cause separation. Anger, bitterness, jealousy, resentment, pride (and any other sin that you care to think of) always lead to brokenness and separation. It tears relationships apart. Think about any soap opera and the agony of brokenness is a major theme. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Jesus came to offer us a love that is unbreakable. When he died on the cross, he made it possible for us to have a restored relationship with God that lasts for ever, however fierce the opposition. The future is full of questions and challenges but the person who has committed their life to Christ has nothing to fear. Like Paul, we can be absolutely convinced that whatever happens in this life, or the one to come, nothing can separate us from God’s love in Christ. Question – How will the knowledge of your security in Christ affect you today? Prayer – Lord God, I thank you that I can never be separated from you. Amen
Romans 7:24-25 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. It isn’t easy to talk about the battles that go on in our lives but here, Paul lets it all pour out! Here is a mature Christian leader and brilliant teacher admitting that, although he wants to do what’s right, he often found himself doing the exact opposite. Paul recognised that there was a power inside him that encouraged him to be a slave to sin. It was an agonising dilemma that left him feeling miserable. But Paul also celebrated the fact that sin didn’t have to have the last word. The answer was – and is! - Jesus. By looking to Jesus and placing his trust in him, Paul found the liberty he craved. And so can we. The problem with sin is that it keeps knocking at the door of our lives. However mature we are in our Christian faith, it keeps trying to find a foothold in our thoughts, words and actions. Paul’s astonishingly blunt words remind us that we need to be absolutely honest with ourselves. We can become very good at putting on an act and trying to make it look as if we’re fine, even when we know that we are battling with sin in our lives. It may be easy to deceive other people, but we can’t fool ourselves – and we will never fool God. We must take a leaf out of Paul’s book and look at ourselves in the mirror. God is never in the business of humiliating us. As we own up to our sin and claim his gift of forgiveness, he delights to set us free and open the door to new life. Question – Are you willing to be totally honest with God today? Prayer – Lord God our Father, I thank you with everything in me that, through Jesus’ death on the cross, I can be set free from all of my sins. Amen
Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Everyone agrees that it is desirable to find inner peace. Go into any book shop and you will find dozens of books that offer you quick routes to inner tranquillity. These will give you a wide range of suggestions - from those that encourage you to change your diet, minimise your exposure to conflict or start meditating. None of those things are necessarily wrong, but they won’t get to the heart of the problem which is that, as human beings, we fundamentally lack peace because our lives are not right with God. It is only when that relationship is sorted out that we can begin to experience God’s gift of peace. In today’s verse, Paul celebrates the fact that Jesus’ death on the cross gave us that gift. When we are at peace with God, Paul declares that the door is flung open to all of God’s other blessings. The person who finds peace is introduced to a new attitude to life, within which even sufferings are a source of joy. This sounds crazy, but Paul discovered for himself that suffering produces perseverance (v4). And perseverance produces character (v5). If life was always easy, we might never learn that. Nothing is more important than to build up a strong Christian character - and that happens as we trust God through the twists and turns of life. Finally, Paul added, character produces hope. That is to say, we can look to the future with confidence because of the presence of God’s Holy Spirit within us. God’s gift of peace doesn’t offer us a problem-free life. But as we allow the Holy Spirit to shape our lives day by day, we can be confident that God’s peace will be with us whatever storms we face. Question – What does God’s peace mean to you today? Prayer – Loving God, I thank you that Jesus died for me and that, through his death, I can experience peace today and every day. Amen
Romans 4:20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. Paul is clear that faith is all important for those who want to be put right with God. Here, he uses Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, as the supreme example of this. He trusted God completely even when life was tough and there was little encouragement. It all began when God called Abraham to leave his home, together with his family, and set off on a journey into the unknown. When God later promised him, as an old man, that he and his aged wife would have a son, he trusted God once more - even though all the evidence pointed in the opposite direction. I love verse 18 of this same chapter, which reads: “Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.” That’s faith! Abraham showed total confidence in God. Now let’s bring this up to date. Today, God is calling you and me to be people of faith amid the very different challenges of the 21st century. On this journey, it is good for us to be inspired by those who have gone before us. The Bible and Church history are full of inspiring examples, but it’s also important to hear recent stories of faith. On Premier’s radio stations and in our publications, we constantly seek to bring you stories of faith that will encourage and strengthen you. Very often, they are stories of people who have faced huge challenges, but who have found that their faith sustains them through it all. Abraham wasn’t perfect and neither are we. God isn’t looking for perfect people but for those who will commit themselves to him and place their whole trust in him. Question – How would you describe the life of faith to someone who has just started out as a Christian? Prayer – Lord God our Father, I place my life in your hands. Help me to trust you with every aspect of my life. Amen
Romans 3:29-30 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The apostle Paul was Jewish and very proud of the fact. In this letter he goes to great lengths to show that Jews have a very important place in the plans of God, but he wants his Roman readers to understand that God’s love wasn’t in any sense confined to Jewish people alone. Indeed, God sent Jesus into the world for non-Jews (who he calls Gentiles) as well the Jews, because we all have an equal need for forgiveness. Jesus’ death on the cross was for every kind of person because we all fall short of God’s standards. Earlier in this chapter, Paul asks whether Jews were in some sense better than other people, before flatly rejecting the idea. Just like every Gentile, they too are sinners in need of God’s grace. It’s very important that we never gain a sense of arrogance about ourselves, as if we are somehow superior to other groups of people. You may have been brought up to live a good and moral life, and you may think that you have never caused intentional harm to another human being. If that is so, that’s splendid. I warmly congratulate you. But you are still a sinner. If you visited a high security prison and heard some of the prisoner’s stories, no doubt you would be shocked by the lives that they had lived. I’ve found that prisoners are often very willing to go into detail about their crimes. You might well come away reflecting that they are very much worse than you. But Paul says that you would be wrong. You have both fallen short of God’s standards and are in need of his forgiveness. As you meet people today, I would encourage you to remember that everyone is in the same place as you before God. We are all loved by God and are all in equal need of him. Question – Do you ever feel superior to other people? If so, how could you get over that feeling? Prayer – Loving God, thank you for the way in which you reach out in love to every kind of person. Amen
Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. People often ask how God will judge those who have never responded to him, and especially those who have never heard about Jesus. Here Paul makes it clear that everyone has had an opportunity to respond to God, because he has made it so clear in creation. People have no excuse, but the tragedy is that we have often ended up worshipping what God has created rather than the Creator himself. Our mission, like Paul’s, is to present the good news. We want to help people understand why Jesus came into the world - and we can all play our part in that. We are not all evangelists but everyone who follows Jesus is a witness. We have a story to tell from our own personal experience, and our stuttering words are often far more persuasive than any silver-tongued evangelist. Sadly, a huge proportion of the world’s population will never hear about Jesus for themselves. But we can take comfort from the fact that creation is continually speaking about God, pointing to his greatness and majesty. Paul is clear that those who have rejected God have chosen a destructive course, and he speaks of God’s anger towards those who oppose him. None of us enjoys thinking about an angry God, but it is an inevitable consequence of his love. His passionate love for humankind and his desire that we should live in partnership with him fills him with sadness and anger when he sees people deliberately rejecting him. As we move through today, let’s look at people from God’s point of view - and remind ourselves that he wants them to live in a relationship of love with him, however far they may be from him at this moment. Question – How do you respond to the statement that no one is without excuse for not knowing God? Prayer – Lord God, thank you for the way in which you make yourself known to people through Jesus and creation. Amen
Romans 1:17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. I once heard about a group of rowdy young people who had too much time on their hands and decided that it would be great fun to push a piano down the stairs in the building where they were meeting and see what happened. The result was inevitable. The piano was wrecked. Hearing what had happened, an elderly man decided to take the battered and damaged piano on as a project. He spent the following year restoring it to its former glory. Don’t you love stories like that? We all love hearing about bad situations that have been turned to good. But when we look at the world today the problems are so overwhelming – and, at their heart, is the fact that humankind is out of step with God. Here in Paul’s letter to the Romans, he begins to set out, with meticulous care, how we can be put right with God. Nothing could possibly be more important than this. The key to receiving this transformational good news is faith. Everything turns on faith, so it is vital that we understand what this means. We exercise faith every day. We have faith in our nearest and dearest, in the person who drives our train, in our doctors and garage mechanics. Our lives are made up of a tapestry of faith-based relationships. Our faith in other people means that we are confident of their abilities and are happy to rely upon them. Paul is saying that we need to have that kind of relationship with God, too. But with God, it is fundamentally different from other trusting relationships because he will never let us down. God sent Jesus into the world to be our saviour and, through dying on the cross, Jesus has made it possible for us to be made right with God. There is nothing we can do to impress God or earn our salvation. We simply need to open our hands, day by day, and receive by faith God’s freedom and generosity. Question – How would you describe your faith in God? Prayer – Loving God, thank you for sending Jesus into this disordered world. Help me to receive by faith all the gifts that you want to pour into my life. Amen
Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. We are told that the apostle Paul had a particularly unimpressive appearance. According to tradition, he had heavy eyebrows, bandy legs, a bald head, a hooked nose, bad eyesight and no great gifts as a speaker. How could such a person have an impact on the city of Rome, which stood at the heart of a vast and confident empire? The fact that his ministry did have an enormous impact on that city - and far beyond - is because he was absolutely sure of what God had called him to do. He was bursting with pride about the good news. I love the expression that he was “not ashamed” of the good news. It almost sounds like a joke, because Paul was the complete opposite. He was willing to give every second of his time and every ounce of his energy to letting people know about Jesus and his gift of salvation. I wonder what you speak about with pride. Over the last few years, both our daughters have got married and one has given birth to our granddaughter. As you would probably expect, I take any opportunity to talk about them - and if you’ve got the time, I’ll show you the pictures, too! I’m sure you are just the same. Perhaps you also love talking about your family, your successes at work or the improvements you’ve made to your home. It’s good for us to speak with enthusiasm and pleasure about all these things. But I wonder how you talk about your Christian faith. Are you full of pride? I’m really pleased if that is the case, but to be brutally honest, some churches (and some Christians!) can give the impression that they are deeply ashamed of the good news of Christ. They keep it to themselves and squirm when asked to share it with others. Paul’s example should be a challenge and encouragement to us all. Like Paul, we have every reason to be proud of the good news. Nothing else in this world can transform a person’s life in the way that Christ can. He alone can set us free to be the people that God has made us to be. Question – What are the things that you are proud to speak about, and how does that challenge the way in which you speak about your faith? Prayer – Loving Father, thank you that you have called me to share the good news of Christ. Help me to become bolder in the way that I pass it on to others. Amen
Romans 1:9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. Prayer is a blessing in every way. It is how we communicate with God and so it needs to be at the beating heart of a Christian’s life. Prayerlessness is the surest path to spiritual weakness and discouragement. By contrast, the person who takes prayer seriously will find every aspect of their life blessed. However, the blessings of prayer don’t end there. They also strengthen our relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters. One of the greatest privileges of my life is the knowledge that, every day, people pray for me. I couldn’t demand or deserve it, but I receive it with enormous gratitude. In today’s verses, we are given an insight into Paul’s life as we hear that he was persistent in his prayers for the Christians in Rome. He prayed for them night and day - which shows the intensity of his commitment to them. These were not formal prayers that he offered as a matter of dull religious duty, but prayers which sprang from his passionate desire to see them stand strong in the faith in their strategically important city. Paul probably wrote this letter whilst he was in Corinth, about 20 years after the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He declared that he was longing to see them and so he would, but probably not in the way that any of them expected. Approximately five years later, he would arrive in Rome as a prisoner, having been arrested in Jerusalem. I have no doubt that, throughout the intervening years, he continued to pray faithfully for the church in Rome - and one can only imagine the joy he felt when he was finally able to spend time with them. It’s clear that this relationship was, and always had been, underpinned by prayer. Prayer is vital to our Christian life. It not only strengthens our relationship with God but also with our Christian brothers and sisters. Question – In what ways have you seen your prayers strengthen your relationships with others? Prayer – Loving God, I thank you for the privilege of prayer and for the way in which it strengthens every part of my life. Amen