We rarely do justice well. God always does justice well. Romans is about the justice of God—real righteousness. As Paul built a bridge between Jews and Gentiles in the church at Rome he explained what God’s justice looks like. Following the opening greeting and his typical thanksgiving, Paul stated the thesis (Romans 1:16, 17). The […]

Eating is a form of thanksgiving and table fellowship is sacred. Jewish table grace went something like this: “Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” When we eat we are acknowledging that God has provided for our needs. When we sit down at table […]

God is sovereign over his kingdom. He decides who gets in and who is put out. Still he invites, entices, and pleads with people to accept the invitation into his kingdom. It is his good pleasure to give his people the kingdom (Luke 12:32). But those who are invited must respond.  Our text comes once […]

A deacon’s meeting had gotten out of sorts. Tempers flared, temperatures rose, and words got ugly. One deacon tried to calm the group by saying, “I think we should just stop and pray.” Another deacon said, “Has it come to that?” Why is prayer often a last resort as opposed to a first concern? Prayer […]

If the unforgiving servant had a shrunken heart (last week’s lesson), the unjust leaders who condemned Jesus had shrunken souls (today’s lesson). While many Jews received Jesus gladly and became children of God (John 1:12), these “religious leaders” played the role of antagonists in the gospel record and in this text we see evidence of […]