Doxology

Read It: Romans 16:25-27 (NRSV)

25 Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages 26 but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

Learn It:

This type of writing that Paul wrote above is called a doxology.  dox - means praise and ology - means writing, so a doxology is a writing of praise to God.  There are many different types of doxologies that Paul and other writers in the Bible have written down for us.  The most famous would be: "praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him, all creatures here below, praise Him above ye heavenly host; praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen."  This doxology was written in 1674 by Thomas Ken.  These types of writings are a way to talk about God and tell about all the great things that God does for us and all of creation.


Share It:
What are ways that you praise God in your daily life?  What are the different things that God does in your life that you are grateful for?  What are the things that you see in creation that just shouts that God is alive and active in the world?  How might your views or attitude change if you constantly looked for ways to praise God and ways that God does things for you?  Talk about these questions and anything else that may come up during your share it time together.


Live It:
During this week take some time either alone or with your family and write your own doxology (praise writing).  Think about what kinds of things you are grateful for that God does in your life and write them in a way that gives praise to God.  

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Loving the Law

Read It: Romans 13:8-14 (NRSV)

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. 

Learn It:

Everything for Paul and Jesus is summed up in the Great Commandment in Matthew 22:34-40.  It all comes down to love.  It sounds odd at the end that love is fulfilling the law because I think we tend to think that when it comes to God's love we think that we don't have to worry about the law anymore...God's love abolishes the law and yet Paul sees it differently.  If we truly love one another as we love ourselves (or ought to love ourselves) then we shouldn't be breaking any of God's laws.  So in the end, even though we are focusing on loving others as God taught us to love each other, we are fulfilling the law.  When we love each other we won't commit adultery, we won't murder, we won't steal, we won't covet, etc.  Love is fulfilling God's law.

Share It:

Take a look at the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:1-17 and see what each one says.  Then take a look at Luther's Small Catechism and see his explanations of each one.  Take turns reading the Commandments and the explanation and talk about how each one could be completed by loving one another.  Do you think that if we truly loved one another as we love ourselves that we could live peaceably with each other? What is hardest about loving other people?  What do other people do that makes it hard to love them?  Talk about these questions and any others that may come up during your conversation.

Live It:

Take this week to try your best (you may find it harder than it sounds) to love everyone that you interact with and meet.  See what kind of reaction you may get by loving them instead of treating them as they may think you might treat them.  It may surprise them, but it might just surprise you even more.

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Overcoming Evil with Good

Read It: Romans 12:14–21 (NRSV)

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. 17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 18 If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave room for the wrath of God; for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 No, “if your enemies are hungry, feed them; if they are thirsty, give them something to drink; for by doing this you will heap burning coals on their heads.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Learn It:

Paul gives us a kind of laundry list of things that we should do and the way we should live.  It's not just a list of things we shouldn't do but ways that we can live with one another...both Christian and non.  If you look at this list it really is a wonderful list of how to interact with people in appropriate ways.  Be happy with others who are happy about something.  Don't think too highly of yourself or say you are much smarter than you really are. Then Paul goes on to say one of my favorite quotes which comes from the Old Testament about vengeance belongs to God.  We don't have to worry about being vengeful even if that might be our first reaction.  If someone hits you you might want to hit them back or get payback for something they do to you.  God tells us that those kinds of things are for God and it it up to God to decide if God will take action or not.  The last line really says it all...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. That is truly what it's all about.  

Share It:

Take the Bible passage from above and walk through it with your family verse by verse.  Talk about what each of you thinks the verse means and what are ways that you see that in your everyday life.  Then talk about how you can apply these Christian ideas to the way you interact with others.  Think of other things you might add to this list that Paul has created to live in harmony with each person that you meet.

Live It:

This weeks live it is simple.  Try to apply these ideas you talked about above and the ones in Paul's list to the Romans (our passage up top) to each person that you meet this week.  We all know that there is bound to be someone in our week ahead that we might find difficult to interact with or be pleasant with...use these words from Paul as a way to work through that difficult encounter so that both you and the person you are interacting with leave with a sense of Christian love.

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Using Gifts

Read It: Romans 12:2-8

 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Learn It:

Sometimes it is easier to go with the flow of classmates, coworkers and people that you hang out with on a regular basis. In our text today Paul is encouraging the church in Rome to not conform (or go with the flow) of the way everyone else does things but to use your heart and mind and faith to transform (go against the flow) so that you can do God's work.  One way to go against the flow is to not think we are better than the world or anyone else but instead to understand the gifts that God has given to each of us and to use them for the glory of God and not for our own gains.  That is why it says to use sober judgement...we need to realize our gifts and to also realize that others have gifts as well and none is better than the other.  They each have their own use and can all contribute to the greater good (of spreading God's word and love).  

Share It:

What are the different things you are good at?  Do you use those things to be better than others and prove how great you are?   We often build up our gifts for our own purposes like to get a scholarship for college or to be on varsity sports instead of JV or to get into advanced classes to look better in school.  What are ways that you can use those gifts to build up other people even if they aren't as skilled or gifted as you?

Brainstorm with you family about ways to use your gifts to build up others instead of just yourself.

Live It:

Use those ideas from the Share It section to see how you can use your gifts or skills to help someone else out this next week and beyond.  School is coming up so if you come up with something you can do to help others try it out the first week of school or at work or at some group.  Think, "how can I help someone else with things I am good at?"

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Power of the Spirit

Read It:  Romans 8:26-28 (NRSV)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Learn It:

The Spirit is a wonderful part of the Trinity.  Sometimes I think we don't often talk about the workings and the importance of the Spirit enough.  Yet this passage tells us the important work the Spirit does on our behalf and in our midst.  When life gets too hard and we are unable for one reason or another to tell God what it is that is really bothering us or upsetting us or distressing us...it is the Spirit that knows that pain in our lives and intercedes on our behalf.  It is the Spirit that takes over when we are too busy or too preoccupied to tell God what is really on our hearts and minds.  When our sighs are so deep that we don't have even a word to say the Spirit tells God what is going on so that God may search our heart to know how to make our situation work toward something good.  That is just one of the many wonderful things the Spirit does for us in our lives.

Share It:

Have you ever been so upset at something or soemone (whether angry or sad) and you just had no idea how to put it into words?  What was that situation and what made it so hard to talk about?  Do you think there is ever a conversation you couldn't have with God?  What kinds of things would you be hesitant to tell God?  Why?  Share these thoughts and others that come up as you discuss this with your family.

Live It:

This week while you are out and about in your life try to focus on the difficutl situations that you encounter and if you don't have a word to offer up to God then I simply encourage you to just say the name "God" and then take in a deep breath and sigh.  Let that big sigh be the letting go or the release of the situation.  Let the Spirit take it over from there so that the Spirit can intercede on your behalf. 

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Intended to Be

Read It: Romans 8:18-25 (NRSV)

¹⁸I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; ²³and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Learn It:

I wonder if when we look at creation we see it waiting to burst with joy.  When we look at the beauty of what God has created can we see the goodness that is in it and see what it is all mean to be?  This feeling that creation has and even we have in ourselves is the Spirit working in and through us.  Paul tells us that all of creation and even our bodies are eager to return to the closeness of God that we once shared long ago.  Basically we are waiting for the day, whether we know it or not, when all of creation can return to the way it was before the fall.  In all the waiting that we do consciously or unconsciously we live with hope.  Hope is what keeps us going from day to day knowing that we have been saved and knowing that there will be a day when all it comes to happen.

Share It:

Are there things that you notice from day to day or every so often that make you realize just how much life is bursting out all around us?  What are those things you notice and would you say that is life finding a way to go back to the way God intended it to be?  Why or why not?  In what ways does your life reflect a way that is eager for creation to return to the way it should be?  If the world were to return that way what do you suppose it would look like, sound like, feel like, be like?  If creation were as it should be describe how you would imagine it being.

Live It:

Take this week to enjoy creation and see the ways that it bursts with life.  It may not be perfect but life always seems to find a way to show itself even in the darkest of times.  Find those times of joy and light...of hope and share them with someone so that they too can see the joy of creation reaching its potential and its intended purpose.  

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Why did I do that?

Read It:  Romans 7:15,24-25a (NLT)

15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.  

24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Learn It:

Just like last weeks devotion we find another wonderful text that really speaks to who we are as people.  That is probably what is so powerful about Paul as a writer, speaker, and servant of Christ...he knows what it is like to be someone who has messed up and done things that he shouldn't have done.  Paul was one of the main persecutors of Christianity from the beginning and now he is the main teller of the faith.  Even still, he doesn't always do the right thing and he admits his own failings so that he can show the Romans that people aren't perfect but it is God who is perfect and God through Jesus Christ that frees us from our lives that are dominated by sin.

Share It:

This week I am going to put a little pressure on the parents.  I would like the parents to share with their families times when they've done things they shouldn't have done.  What were things in your youth or young adulthood that you did when you knew you shouldn't have?  Share with your family to show that we all do our best but sometimes we slip up.  The rest of the family...as kids there are plenty of times when you don't always do as your told.  Share a time when you did that and felt terrible afterward.  This is a time not to judge or criticize but simply to hear the stories of how none of us are perfect, but in our imperfection God loves us still!

Live It:

This week when you realize you did something maybe you shouldn't have done take a moment and think about why you did it and then reflect on this verse.  Also if you encounter or learn about something that someone did and shouldn't have remind yourself...none of us are perfect...but that doesn't mean we shouldn't try!

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To Sin or Not to Sin

Read It: Romans 6:14-15 (NRSV)

 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. 15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 

Learn It:

What a great question.  Should we not worry about sinning because we know that we have been saved by grace?  If I'm already promised eternal life through God's grace and forgiveness then what is there to stop me from sinning?  Paul wants us to understand that living in a life of grace and God's forgiveness is a free gift, but if we go and show our lives to other people and in Paul's example God, then our life should reflect the gift given us.  So if we are people who love God then we should have examples and memories of ways we have lived that out. If, however, we have a life full of sin yet say we believe then maybe our true belief isn't what we claim it to be.  Don't just say you believe but live it out.  SAY and DO what you believe.  We don't perform acts of love to others to earn God's grace but we do it as a RESPONSE to that free gift of love and grace.

Share It:

What are the ways that you as a family live out your faith life?  What ways do you live under the grace of God and not under the law of sin?  What might be other ways in the future that you can respond to the grace God has given you?  In other words, what are ways that you can say THANK YOU to God for the gift of grace which tells us of God's love and forgiveness and everlasting life for us?  Share with your family about these ideas and more about living in God's amazing grace!

Live It:

This next week pick 1 thing you can do to live in God's grace and respond to it.  Help out a friend, send someone a note, give a hug, etc.  Make this time a time to live out the gifts God freely gives us.

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Never Disappointed

Read It: Romans 5:1-5 (NRSV)

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. 

Learn It:

It seems interesting that Paul suggest that we should boast in our suffering.  Many times in our lives I think we look at our suffering and think of the things we did wrong or things we could have done different to avoid whatever suffering is going on in our lives.  We then use that information to either make the suffering right or we don't do those actions again so that we can avoid it.  But Paul lets us know that it's ok to suffer.  It's ok to mess up at times in our lives because the end result is a hope that will never disappoint us.  Never being disappointed seems like a pretty nice deal in the end.  We boast because we have hope which has been given to us by the Holy Spirit who made us right with God...who justified us. Think of the first two verses as the result of the rest of the verses.  Paul is giving us the end result first and then telling us how we get there.  The end result is pretty amazing...look at the verses again.

Share It:

What kinds of things have you suffered from?  Share a story about a time when you had to endure some kind of hardship.  What was it like when it first happened and then what was it like when you realized you were past it?  Then talk about how you view the experience now.  Did you learn anything?  Have you grown in faith or in character because of the experience?  Did you rely on God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit to get you through the suffering?  Can you use the stages that Paul describes in verses 3 &4 and fir that with what you experienced?  Have everyone share and remember that we all experience different levels of suffering, but for us they are very real.

Live It:

The next time you experience some kind of suffering, whether big or small, think about boasting instead of wallowing in the pain or hurt.  Think about these verses from Romans and how much we have to be grateful for because of what Christ has done for us.  Think about how you will never be disappointed in the hope that God provides for us daily through the gift of the Holy Spirit.

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