GRAVE TO GOSPEL
GRAVE TO GOSPEL narrates the continuous story of Christ from Genesis to Revelation. Every action we take is driven by this life-giving message, reminding us that faith in Christ goes beyond mere knowledge, rituals, numbers, or programs. Expanding upon this foundational principle involves sharing and deepening our experience of Christ’s love through the Gospel, making each new endeavor a powerful echo of the Good News. Without the gospel, ministry loses its pulse; with it, every heartbeat carries the life of Christ into the world.
Let's move His gospel forward with every beat, because Christianity is not about Christians, it’s about Christ.
GRAVE TO GOSPEL
Open Your Bibles to Romans 13 8-14
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Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For 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: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.
Romans 13:8-14
Having established our subjection to the civil magistrate, Paul now directs us to the singular debt that remains for the justified: the obligation to love.
In this week’s episode of Open Your Bibles, we answer the question: Does love fulfill?
We understand that while we are freed from the law as a covenant of works, we are bound to it as a rule of life. We do not love to become right with God, but because we have been made right with Him through the finished work of Christ.
In this episode, we talk about:
- The Perpetual Obligation: Why love is described as a debt we never finish paying. We discuss how the Christian’s freedom in Christ is not a license for autonomy, but a call to a higher service toward our neighbor.
- The Third Use of the Law: How Paul summarizes the second table of the Decalogue through the lens of love. We explore how love does not replace the Law, but is the very "fulfillment" (pleroma) of it, guiding us in our sanctification.
- Redemptive Urgency: A look at the "Already/Not Yet" of our salvation. We discuss what it means to "wake from sleep" in light of the fact that our final glorification is nearer now than when we first believed.
- Put on Christ: A Reformed view of the "Armor of Light." We talk about the active nature of the Christian life—casting off the works of darkness and being clothed in the imputed and practiced righteousness of Christ, making no provision for the "flesh".
When we recognize the lateness of the hour in God’s redemptive timeline, we find the strength to cast off the deeds of the night. We live not for the fading shadows of this world, but in the growing light of Christ’s coming Kingdom.
Grace and Peace.