Romans 9:30-10:4 sermon notes

date: June 26, 2016 Text: Romans 9:30-10:4 Greek text: 30 Τί

οὖν ἐροῦµεν; ὅτι ἔθνη τὰ µὴ διώκοντα δικαιοσύνην κατέλαβεν δικαιοσύνην, δικαιοσύνην δὲ τὴν ἐκ πίστεως· 31 Ἰσραὴλ δὲ διώκων νόµον δικαιοσύνης εἰς νόµον οὐκ ἔφθασεν. 32 διὰ τί; ὅτι οὐκ ἐκ πίστεως ἀλλʼ ὡς ἐξ ἔργων· προσέκοψαν τῷ λίθῳ τοῦ προσκόµµατος, 33 καθὼς γέγραπται· Ἰδοὺ τίθηµι ἐν Σιὼν λίθον προσκόµµατος καὶ πέτραν σκανδάλου, καὶ ὁ πιστεύων ἐπʼ αὐτῷ οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται.

10.1 Ἀδελφοί, ἡ µὲν εὐδοκία τῆς ἐµῆς καρδίας καὶ ἡ δέησις πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν εἰς σωτηρίαν. 2 µαρτυρῶ γὰρ αὐτοῖς ὅτι ζῆλον θεοῦ ἔχουσιν· ἀλλʼ οὐ κατʼ ἐπίγνωσιν, 3 ἀγνοοῦντες γὰρ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ δικαιοσύνην, καὶ τὴν ἰδίαν ζητοῦντες στῆσαι, τῇ δικαιοσύνῃ τοῦ θεοῦ οὐχ ὑπετάγησαν· 4 τέλος γὰρ νόµου Χριστὸς εἰς δικαιοσύνην παντὶ τῷ πιστεύοντι.

Translation: What then shall we say? That Gentiles, who were not running after righteousness have gotten righteousness, righteousness that is by faith, but Israel, running after a law of righteousness has not reached that law. Why? Because they did it not by faith, but by works–they stumbled over the stone of stumbling, just as it is written, Behold I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offending, and the one who has faith in him will not be put to shame.

Brothers and sisters, the desire of my heart and prayer to God for them is for salvation, for I witness to their having zeal for God, but it is not according to knowledge, for ignoring God’s righteousness, and trying to establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of God. For the end of the law is Christ to righteousness for all who have faith.

Diagram: See Romans Outline Charts Notes: background: Paul has shown that the wholesale rejection of the gospel by the Israelites of his day does not contradict, but rather confirms the teaching of the Word of God concerning God’s choice and calling as the basis for human salvation. Now he transitions by means of the rhetorical question Τί οὖν ἐροῦµεν; to a different perspective on the issue of Israel’s rejection of the gospel. Paul’s earlier teaching has shown God’s sovereignty in choosing and calling sinners to salvation; now he will show human responsibility for rejecting the gospel. Both of these truths are indispensable to a sound biblical theology. God who redeems sinners from slavery to sin. He raises people dead in sin to life in Christ. God seeks and finds lost sinners and gives sight to those blind in sin. He shows mercy and grace to those whom he chose in Christ before the beginning of time and space. Yet at the same time it is perfectly clear from common sense and Scripture that human beings are responsible for their own sinful thoughts and actions. No outside force seizes innocent people and makes them have bad thoughts and do bad things. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches that despite all the blessings of God that human beings enjoy and in spite of all the warnings against sin that he gives them, and in defiance even of their own consciences, human beings choose to live in sin. People are not innocent robots that God makes to sin, but self-willed beings who seek their own glory and pleasure.

flow of thought: The Jews have failed to acknowledge the truth of the gospel that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. Thus, Christ is for them a stumbling stone rather than the cornerstone. They have a zeal, but ignorantly seek to achieve their own righteousness rather than trusting in Christ, who gives a righteousness not attainable through the law. verse commentary: vv 30-31 Paul begins this section with calling our attention to a great irony: Gentiles–here he is speaking of the majority of the Roman church, and the Church at large–who did not seek after righteousness now have righteousness by faith, while Jews–that is, most of Israel–who did seek after righteousness through the law, have not gained righteousness. You can easily see the key difference between these two groups: the Gentile Christians have faith; the rejecting Jews do not. Righteousness, or justification, by faith is the central issue, as it has been from the beginning of the epistle.

Xref: 16 For

I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” - Romans 1 21 But

now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith… - Romans 3 Notice that the problem in the thinking of those Jews who rejected the gospel was not that their goal was wrong; the righteousness that the law revealed for which they aimed is excellent in itself. In that sense, they were better off than most Gentiles, and they knew it. No people had a law to come close to that which the Jews had received from Moses. The ten Words, or Commandments that the Israelites had from God have even today never been equaled for their beautiful and comprehensive statement of morality.

The Mosaic Law is the foundation for all of jurisprudence in the civilizations that have attained to the most free, equable, and prosperous cultures in the history of the world. Even today, to be a Jew, more than anything else, is to be a people who have a noble law. Jesus himself affirmed the law and taught it.

It might even be said that he exalted the law through his teaching more than anyone else has. The law itself was not the problem.

The wrong thinking of the Jews was not in the importance they placed on the law; rather, where they went wrong was in their thinking about the purpose of the law. To put it another way, they were thinking wrongly about righteousness, about what constituted right standing before the God who had given them the law. The purpose of the law was to reveal the righteousness of God and the holiness that is required to please him. The proper response of a sinner to the law is to offer God worship and plead for his mercy. The entire Jewish sacrificial system and all the prophets taught this, and this point was central to the teaching of Jesus as well. The law and the prophets and the writings of the Hebrew Scriptures all showed that sinners could only find forgiveness and right standing before God by putting their complete

trust in him. Jesus perfectly illustrated this with his story known from the King James Bible as the parable of the pharisee and the publican.

Xref: 9 He

also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ 14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” - Luke 18 vv 32-33 Here, then, is the heart of the wrong thinking of the Israelites: they did not put their faith and trust in God. Rather, they assumed that God had given them the law so that they could earn their own right standing, or righteousness before him through their good works in keeping the law. Because they placed their trust in their own works rather than in God, they completely failed to reach the righteousness for which they strived. It is this wrong orientation of reliance upon themselves led them to reject the gospel, which is focused not on what man can do, but upon what God has done.

Like a good teacher, Paul gives us an illustration, and knowing his audience, he uses the image of a stone. This would have been an easy image for the people of Israel and Palestine to understand, for their land is a land of stones. Especially in the area of Jerusalem and southern Judea, the steep hillsides are almost nothing but stones. There is so much stone in this country that it is used for everything: the buildings are stone, the pavement for roads and streets are stone, the cisterns are lined with stones, the plumbing is made of stone, and even furniture like tables and seats are often stone. Of special importance in construction was the cornerstone. The quality of the cornerstone and the care with which it was placed would determine the orientation and form of the entire building. A good cornerstone was therefore of great value.

Stones have their downside, however, especially for people who walk almost everywhere they go. Steep, stony hills and valleys mean that, when walking anywhere, one has to be conscious of the stones underfoot. Uneven pavement, a loose stone on a walkway, or a stray stone on a path can result in a fall for the unwary traveler. This is why the poetic literature of the Bible, like the Psalms, so often use tripping and falling as an image of catastrophe. A fall along a steep hillside pathway could easily mean death or permanent crippling. When David praises God for preserving him, he thanks God for keeping his foot from slipping. The prophet Isaiah artfully combines both the negative and the positive aspects of stones in two places that Paul combines to make his illustration of the wrong thinking of the Israelites who have rejected the gospel, a wrong thinking that many of their forefathers had. Isaiah speaks of the Lord himself as a stone, a stone that will bring either salvation or disaster upon Israel.

Xref: 13 But

the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.” - Isaiah 8 14 And

16 therefore

thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion, a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation: ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’

17 And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plumb line; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” - Isaiah 28 Psalm 118 uses the image of a stone rejected by the builders that the Lord make the cornerstone for his building.

Xref: 22 The

stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. - Psalm 118 Jesus quotes Psalm 118 in pronouncing a word of judgment upon the Jews who rejected him.

Xref: 42 Jesus

said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 44 And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” - Matthew 21 Peter applies the Psalm 118 passage to Jesus in the sermon he gives in response to being questioned about a miracle of healing done through him and John.

Xref: 10 let

it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” - Acts 4 And, not surprisingly, Peter uses both the Psalm 118 and the Isaiah passages when speaking of the Church as founded upon Jesus Christ.

Xref:

4

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”

7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” 8 and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense.”

They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. - First Peter 2 Paul makes the same point in writing to the church in Ephesus.

Xref: 19 So

then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

- Ephesians 2 In our text, then, Paul is saying that the Jews, who should have welcomed the gospel and rejoiced in Jesus as their Christ, the Anointed One who is the cornerstone prophesied by their own Scriptures, have instead refused to put their trust in his righteousness. Because they have refused to make him the cornerstone of their faith, they have made him a stone of stumbling, bringing shame upon themselves. v 10:1 This is not a helpful chapter break, for Paul continues on the same subject, repeating the sentiment he expressed at the beginning of chapter 9. Paul reiterates that he longs for and prays for the salvation of his fellow Israelites, reminding us that he is not motivated by animosity in speaking of their sin. Paul continues to pray for his fellow Jews though they have rejected the gospel and indeed have made themselves enemies of the gospel. We do well to never give up praying for people who are spiritually estranged from and enemies of Christ, for God chooses to work through such prayers to bring others to salvation. Stephen prayed, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” as he was stoned to death by his fellow Jews, with Paul–then called Saul–serving as an official witness authorizing the execution of the sentence of death on Stephen as a blasphemer. Stephen’s dying prayer was answered by the Lord by taking upon himself Saul’s sin and bringing him to faith. v2Paul acknowledges that most Jews are zealous for God. Zeal, or sincere passion, can be a positive characteristic. Jesus was so passionate about the holiness of God that he violently drove out the merchants who were doing business in the temple courtyard that was meant for worship and prayer. But like any human emotion, zeal may be directed toward sinful ends as well as good. I am reminded of words from a poem composed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow about a little girl: “When she was good / She was very, very good, / And when she was bad she was horrid.” F. F. Bruce points out that the

description Paul uses fits himself prior to his conversion. Paul before his conversion was so passionate for his religious beliefs that he persecuted Christians to imprisonment and death. Our Lord’s zeal in cleansing the temple of profane practices was godly, but Saul’s zeal against Christians was sinful.

Xref: 13 For

you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. - Galatians 1 4 though

I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. - Philippians 3 In other words, Paul is saying in Philippians, my zeal brought me not gain, but loss. Zeal without true knowledge brings death, not life. Those who have refused to humble themselves in order to gain true knowledge only make their case worse when they zealously act on the basis of the falsehoods they trust.

Is this not the cause for much of the violence and death in the world today? Radical Moslems are full of zeal when they force conversion or death on their victims. Radical atheists are full of zeal when they demand that any mention of Christ be removed from public discourse or display. v3The wrong thinking in view here, like all wrong thinking, has two components. On the one hand, it ignores what is true, and on the other hand, it believes what is false. To digress for a moment, this duality in regards to wrong thinking means that there are two aspects to right thinking. On the one hand, right thinking exposes falsehood, and on the other hand, it affirms what it true.

In this case, those who reject the gospel do so first of all because they do not know God’s righteousness.

The word behind the English translations here is the word from which we get our word ignoring. The implication here is that this ignorance of God’s righteousness is willful. It is not that most people are earnestly seeking to know God’s righteousness. Rather, as Paul says at the beginning of his epistle, human beings naturally suppress the truth about God that is already evident to them. In Romans 1, Paul refers to the revelation of God through his creation and the human conscience. Here in Romans 10, Paul is speaking about the Israelites who have the revelation of God in their Scriptures. In the Law of Moses, in the preaching of the prophets and the narratives of God’s saving work, God’s goodness and holiness have been again and again been revealed as he has acted to save sinners. This revelation all points to the Anointed One, the Christ, but the majority of the Jews have willfully blinded themselves to that truth.

Perhaps even worse is the second component of the wrong thinking here, and that is to substitute a falsehood for the truth. Rather than acknowledge God’s righteousness, sinful human beings want to establish their own righteousness. Contrary to reason and common sense, people delude themselves into thinking that they can achieve goodness by their own efforts. The Jews, of all people, ought to have known better, since they had such a clear revelation of God’s goodness in his Word that he gave them. In addition, this attempt by people to attain right standing by their own efforts never succeeds, but leads people into one of two extremes. They fall into despair and decide simply to do whatever they feel like doing, or they fool themselves into believing that they are indeed being good and they become hypocrites. God’s Word is more harsh with these hypocrites that it is with those who live in open sin.

Jesus rarely rebukes someone who openly sins, like the prostitutes and tax collectors, but he frequently rebukes those whom he knows to be hypocrites, living lives that appear good on the outside. Part of the reason for this is that hypocrites who claim to be following God’s Word are worse enemies of the gospel than open sinners. Hypocrites impugn the character of God and disgrace his Word. They are seeking, as did Paul before his conversion, to substitute their own righteousness for the righteousness of God. Jesus himself exposed the wrongness of this unbelieving zeal.

Xref: 13 “But

woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. - Matthew 23 2 Look

out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3 Paul is focusing on the wrong thinking of most of the Jews of his day here, but we would have to say that this same wrong thinking characterizes most people, Jew or Gentile, in our own culture. Most people in our society believe that there is a God, and that they have a chance of being admitted by that God into some kind of heaven on the basis of their good intentions and good deeds. In other words, they are trusting in their own righteousness. The ignorance of this thinking is staggering. A god that would be satisfied with my best efforts would not be a god worth worshipping, and perhaps that is why people that think this way can’t be bothered to put much effort into worship. A god that would overlook my sin would certainly not be a just god, a god who loves truth, and he certainly would not be a holy god. The kind of god whom I could please by my own efforts would be nothing but a celestial Santa Claus, a divine grandpa, which means that he would be no god at all. To believe in the kind of god that may be satisfied with human good works is to engage in the worst kind of idolatry, an idolatry of selfrighteousness. No wonder it was for this kind of thinking that Jesus reserved his harshest condemnation, calling those who embraced it blind guides, serpents, putrefying corpses, and children of Satan.

As John Calvin writes, then, …the first step towards obtaining the righteousness of God is to renounce our own righteousness… - As Paul expresses it in the section of Philippians quoted earlier, there has to be a turning from wrong thinking before there is an embracing of the right. I gave up everything associated with my zeal for earning my own salvation, he says.

Xref:

8 Indeed,

I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. - Philippians 3 v4Here, then, is the right, the reasonable way to think about the relation between righteousness and the law, and it centers, of course upon Jesus, who embodies in human form God’s righteousness: Jesus is the end of the law. There are two senses in which Jesus is the end of the Law, and Paul may mean us to see both of them here. The difference depends on how we interpret the word end. This word may be used in the sense of a goal, or purpose, as in the expressions the end of the race or the end for which we are created. The word end may also be used in the sense of cessation or termination, as in the expressions the end of the term or the end of book. Both of these senses my be applied to Jesus as the end of the law.

First, he is the end, the goal or the perfection, of the law because he fulfilled the law. By his life of perfect obedience, Jesus completely satisfied the law’s demands. In that sense, he was the one Israelite, the one Jew who fulfilled the covenant that God made with Israel. He had a zeal for the righteousness of God, a passion for pleasing his Father, and by his righteous life, Jesus reached the law’s end, or purpose.

Because of that, Jesus earned the law’s reward, which was life.

Xref: 1 And

the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, I am the LORD your God. 3 You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. 4 You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the LORD your God. 5 You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules; if a person does them, he shall live by them: I am the LORD. Leviticus 18 The second sense in which Jesus is the end of the law is that in his life, death, and resurrection he has ended the law as the means whereby people may be declared righteous. No mere human being could satisfy the law’s demands, and in fact, since all have broken God’s law, all are under the law’s curse of death. When Jesus took upon himself that curse on behalf of his people, he rescued them from death. By faith in him and his righteousness, those for whom he died are no longer under the law, but under grace.

Xref: 23 Now

before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. - Galatians 3 Theology: Sinners seek to establish their own righteousness, thinking that they can generate good intentions and actions that will justify themselves. They reject Christ, who is in himself the goal and end of the law, though it is only by faith in him that sinners can be imputed righteous.

Application: What does this mean for us today? We often sing of God’s grace and we affirm at every worship service together that it is by God’s mercy and grace that we are saved. Do we really need to hear what Paul says here about most of the Jews of his day? Of course we do! We should probably read these verses every day this week, because we so easily, in our thinking about ourselves and others, slip into this error. It happens every time I find myself thinking Because I made a sincere decision to follow Jesus, he saved me. When I begin to despair, thinking I must not be a Christian, because I am so unworthy, Satan is tempting me to think that being a Christian means making oneself worthy. Whenever I begin to talk about my salvation with the words because I rather that because God, I have the focus on the wrong place. Paul has emphasized to us in Romans that it is only because God showed me mercy that I saw my need for him. It is only because God called me that I responded to his call to follow him.

I would like to blame my obsession with perfection, my drive to never make a mistake on a father whom I never seemed able to please, on a legalistic upbringing. I like to think that I feel compelled to be the best at whatever I do to live up to the measure of my grandfather. But the truth is that my motivation is probably just my own pride, my own desire for autonomy. I don’t want to owe anyone anything.

Is my thinking in harmony with the truth of Scripture? There is a warning and a promise for us here in Romans. The warning is against any idea that our right standing before God is based on our own intentions and efforts. Whenever I begin to use the term because I to account for my justification, my salvation, I am thinking wrongly. The righteousness that is mine through faith in Christ is not because I, it is because God. God alone determined my salvation; he alone called me and raised me from being dead in my sin to being alive in him; he alone found me when I was lost and brought me back to himself; it was God alone who took my sin and place it upon Christ and took the righteousness of Christ and put it on me. The other side of the coin to these warnings, however, is the promises they contain.

Because God determined my salvation, it is secure. Because God called me and raised me to life in him, I am alive for eternity. Because God imputed my sin to Jesus and imputed his righteousness to me, my eternal destiny is sure.

Is your thinking because I or because God? Have you repented because God has awakened you to your sin? Do your choices from day to day reflect because I or because God? Are your decisions ultimately based on the reasoning because I want, because I feel, because I wish? Then is it any wonder that your thoughts are often so troubled, your choice unsatisfying, your life unhappy? God calls you to think his thoughts after him: because God. To live is to choose. Are you choosing on the basis of because God? Because God has shown to me my sin, I repent of it. Because God has created me for his glory, I can choose to glorify him in my little place on earth. Because God has called me to be where I am as a father or a friend, a sister or a son, a boss or a brother–because God has called me in this particular way, I will make pleasing him my number one priority. Because God has loved me, I will love him. Because Jesus left all to become my Savior, I will leave all to serve him as my Lord.