Dead Religion

Clay Smith JFBC

Romans 2:17-29

Some religion may look alive, but God knows that it's dead. Like the movie Weekend at Bernie's. Apart from Jesus, we would be just as condemned as the unsaved. The Jews thought they were set apart, but Paul called them out for having dead religion.

Preaching through the books of the Bible forces you to address verses you might not usually cover.                              

Truths about Dead Religion

1. Talking the talk but not walking the walk v 17-25. Paul gives advantages of living in the law: boast in God, know his will. Also obligations: guide the non Jews, a corrector of the foolish. Also hypocrisies: you don't take heed of your own teachings. Do you rob temples? Do you dishonor God? The Gentiles blaspheme God because of you. Isaiah 52.

This same dead religion can happen to us. So hard to walk the walk. Paul was saved then went to the desert for three years before starting to teach. Hard to publicly live out your infancy in Christ.

2. Outward declaration without inward transformation v 25-29. Outward signs of your faith are only of value if you follow the law, if you walk the walk.

v 26 Paul talks to the Gentiles. The lack of outward signs isn't as important as the inward transformation.

v 28 seek for praise from God, not from people. Paul has a lot of good things to say about Jews later on in his writings. Circumcision and baptism are both outward signs, but they aren't what transforms us inwardly. A sinner who gets baptized is just a wet sinner.

Application: our response should be to help one another examine our spiritual health. 2 Cor 13:5

How?

1. Requires transparency, especially in an affluent neighborhood. God sees through a charade.

2. Accountability.

3. Encouragement, not judgement.

Sunday School Brian Fox

Takeaways from Luke 14:15-24

1. take heed of earthly treasures and pleasures

2. Beware of spiritual pride that assumes you're going to heaven

3. Offer the outcasts a place in the kingdom

4. Reach out to the lowly.

We paired up and practiced sharing the parable from memory, of the man who had to invite the poor to his banquet because his rich friends were too busy to come. About 20 in attendance.

Feb 26 lunch with sent ones

Feb 28 MOVE missions dinner

Mar 1 social with NYC church planters

A single lady in our Sunday School class needed help retrieving her car from a shop 5+ hours away in Kentucky. I thought it would be an adventure to drive up there and back with a friend, but someone beat me to it.

I asked Grok (Twitter's artificial intelligence) which Bible verse best describes me. Based on my interests and interactions, it replied with 1 Corinthians 9:24 "Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize" – because "this verse speaks to the competitive spirit and the pursuit of excellence, themes that seem to echo through your engagement with sports and discussions on performance in your Twitter posts". I'm not sure how accurate this is, as I am the least competitive person that I know. Good try though.