GOD'S GREAT NEWS for MAN'S GREAT PROBLEM - Romans 1-8

Childlike Receiving

Being the father of five children, I have a wonderful opportunity to observe children and learn about life through them. I was thinking the other day about a child's annual calendar. Ask any child, and the two major events in their year are their birthday and Christmas. Birthdays in our house are a delight, because of a sweet tradition Blythe has inaugurated. Each child in our family knows when they go to bed the night before their birthday, they will wake up with a present from their mother at the foot of their bed. Esther just turned nine a few weeks ago, and her present was to go on a treasure hunt to find three tickets to Les Miserables, since Esther loves singing so much. It was a pure joy to watch her delight in receiving those tickets. And is there any night in the child's year that even approaches the magic and wonder of Christmas Eve? The child goes to bed trembling with excitement, knowing that the morning will bring that moment of pure delight when the presents that have been shaken so much and endlessly fussed over will finally be open. Ah, the sweet delight of those moments of unbridled joy in receiving, even ripping into, the gifts provided under the tree.

But somehow over the years, we adults seem to lose the art of receiving gifts joyfully. Christmas becomes a financial burden to be calculated into the annual family budget. Are we excited about it, or do we dread it a bit? While the children joyously rip into their gifts, we parents are excited for the children, but less than thrilled about opening our own gifts. And what about our birthdays? Don't they lose more and more of their magic every year, so much so that when we get older, our birthday is not a harbinger of joy but a bell solemnly tolling the march of time across our brief lives? Birthdays are not always a comfort as we get older.

We adults have much to relearn from children on this score. Children receive gifts with joyous ease and squeals of delight. Adults receive gifts with questions: "What strings are attached?" ... "What can I do in return?" ... "Should I write a thank-you note?" We have a hard time receiving gifts because our pride gets in the way: "I don't need any charity," ... "I don't need any presents," or "I can repay you," ... "I can reciprocate so that all accounts will balance out." Several years ago one of Esther's teachers was moving into a house down the street from us, and we gathered a team of about 20 college students to help move their family. We did it purely as a gift. But all she could think about was how to settle the score: "We will buy you lunch," ... "We will invite you back over once we are settled and feed you a feast," etc. I just told her, "It's a gift ... we just want to help." But she struggled. There was no joy in her drawn face as she groped for ways to pay us back. We adults have a very difficult time receiving gifts.

One night some years ago a group of men gathered to have dinner. Their leader was a world class teacher, a wise man of enormous popularity. Most everyone considered him a genius, a man whose name was destined to go down in history. His stature in his community was enormous, and these men were his inner council, his lieutenants, ready to do his bidding at any second. But at that dinner, this great leader did something none of them expected. He stood up and removed his outer clothing. He then took up a towel and wrapped it around himself. Next he grabbed a servant's basin, pouring water into it himself. Then, he went around to each man, removing his dirty sandals, washing his smelly feet in the basin, then wiping his feet with the towel. This great man, this genius, humbled himself absolutely, giving them a gift none of them ever forgot. And all they were asked to do was sit back and receive His gift. Doubtless this was difficult for all of them, being adults as they were, but one of them couldn't stand it. He probably fidgeted until it was his turn. When the master finally came to him, this man stopped his master and said, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" He couldn't sit still and receive the gift of grace, the act of cleansing love ... he questioned it.

Today we will explore what it means to reign in life like a prince or princess in the royal family of God. Now we could talk about gaining power and using it effectively like Machiavelli in The Prince, we could talk about the self-esteem we acquire by seeing ourselves as princes and princesses, or we could talk about learning how to behave with royal dignity, noblesse oblige, to those less fortunate. But instead, we are going to talk about the secret of reigning in life as a true prince and princess the way God defines it. The secret is simple: reigning in life means receiving Christ's abundant grace and His righteousness infused into us. The deeper secret of reigning in life is in continuing to receive open-handedly all we need from Him every day for the rest of our lives. These great gifts come not by working for them, not by struggling to maintain them, nor by trying to rejoice over them out of a sense of duty. Reigning in life means simply receiving them with joy, the way a child rips open a Christmas present, and enjoying those gifts day-to-day for the rest of our lives.

Our passage describing this is Rom. 5:17: "For if by the transgression of the one death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ." We will look at this verse phrase-by-phrase, witnessing the death spawned by Adam's taking, speaking of the unending giving of Jesus Christ, and learning about our sole responsibility of receiving it all open-handedly, that we might live life as princes and princesses not looking to hold tightly a sceptre of control over our lives, but looking to God open-handedly to receive what He will freely give us.

"For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one"

No human being in the history of the world was given gifts of the magnitude and quality of the gifts given a man named Adam. Adam was given a perfect world, flawless in all its particulars, that he might be its steward. Adam was given the perfect spiritual environment, a garden of peace in which he daily walked with God in the cool of the day. Adam was given a perfect human nature, with the possibility of sin but not the certainty of sin. Adam was given the exhilarating task of naming all the animals. Adam was given a wife hand-designed by God just for him. Adam was given perfect freedom of choice, perhaps the greatest and most awful gift of all. Adam was given the tree of life to eat from. Adam was given all his food, in the perfect provision of a God who designed a world to feed this man. And Adam was given the supreme gift of life when God breathed into him the breath of life. No one was given gifts of the quality and magnitude of Adam.

And no one squandered the gifts so absolutely. Having been given the whole world and all that is in it, being able to look northward, southward, eastward and westward and see 360-degrees of divine provision, his eyes focused instead on the single thing he had been denied: the little fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, the lovely hand holding that fruit out to him clouded his decision somewhat. But in the end, Adam who had been given much reached out his hand to take all that was left. Having the perfect opportunity to reign over the world as God's vice-regent, to reign over creation as a human king serving under the High King in heaven, Adam became a grabby taker. He took what was not his and lost what had been his alone. He could have reigned in life as a king, but he became a taker, a sinner looking for a fig leaf to hide his now-shameful nakedness. In taking the fruit and becoming a taker, Adam failed to learn to receive and keep on receiving, thus he failed to reign in life.

Worse, he introduced the reign of death over life. Through the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one. From Adam to Moses, death reigned. Now we know that death claimed every human life from Adam onward (excepting Enoch and Elijah). But how did death reign? Was it just through the inevitability of the grave, or was it more than that?

It was much more than that. Like the taker that sired us, we sons of Adam and daughters of Eve became takers too. We became predators almost immediately, a tale Abel could tell us had his life not been taken by his brother. The earth became filled with violence: men stealing from one another, men taking the lives of other men in order to gain the supremacy. The whole earth was a war zone of gang warfare, like we have today in LA, Washington, D. C., and New York City.

The men of Sodom and Gomorrah sought to take whatever new male flesh wandered into town. They had become such takers that they refused God's gift of women, but tried to take for themselves two men whom Lot harbored in his house. Like the pornography addicts of today, only something newer and lewder could spark their thrill; like the drug addicts of today, the dosage had to continually rise. The problem with takers is that they are never satisfied. Like John D. Rockefeller, the billionaire oilman, who when asked "How much money is enough?" responded just like Adam in the garden: "Just one more dollar." The problem with takers is that we take and keep on taking, compulsively. It seems to be all we know.

Samson saw a pretty Philistine woman in Timnah, and grunted to his parents, "Get her for me, for she looks good to me." There is no mention of her name in that story, only her looks and his lust. For some 20 years, Samson crushed the Philistines on the battlefield and whored with their women at night. Nowhere was this seen more clearly than in Gath, when Samson saw a harlot, went into her, was almost trapped by the Philistines, then ripped the city gates off and carried them to a mountain. For 20 years Samson was a taker. His downfall came when he fell in love with another taker, Delilah, who trapped him and took his strength. Talk about a dysfunctional relationship: taker meets taker, like match meets gas.

Taking in relationships is also alive and well today. Down at Barnes & Noble, we could pick up the following titles Getting Good Loving, Getting the Love You Want, Keeping the Love You Found. In fact, the bookseller told me there are whole screenfuls of titles that begin with the word "Getting." Getting, getting, getting ... taking, taking, taking.

Through the taking of Adam, his transgression in taking the fruit, death reigned. Taking for the self became more important than receiving from God, than obeying God. In fact, religions of idolatry arose so that man could get a god on his side, to bless his taking. If we could just figure out the right method of sacrificing to this idol, then the harvests will come and we will get food and riches. This is man's spirituality reduced into a quest of "getting," that I might get more things. Likewise today: the designer god is the "in" thing, there for my wish fulfillment. I remember doing a panel discussion on various religions in a dorm at Stanford, and one young woman held up her elephant idol from India and described how it was her personal god, how it made her feel good, how it was on her side. It is god as genie, as wish-fulfiller, who will indulge my "taking fantasies" that I may get what I want.

This is how death reigned: a life of endless taking, yet without satisfaction. Adam reached to take what he was not supposed to have, and what he had slipped through his fingers. His posterity has been trying to take it back ever since. Taking, taking, and taking ... death, death and more death. And that reign of death can still be seen today. But the reign of death has been superceded.

"Much more ... "

But into this melee of taking a Great Giver came. He did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond slave, being made in the likeness of men. The royal Prince of the Universe gave up heaven to be born in a smelly cave. He gave up the power and majesty of divinity to be bound in swaddling clothes. And the whole reason He came was not to take, but to give. He came to give His life on a cross. Whereas Adam had received a world, a garden, a wife, and the breath of life as a gift, he had squandered it all by his one act of taking. That taking, and all the taking it has spawned since, could only be erased by a life of ultimate giving. Adam took, Jesus gave. Adam took freely and died, Jesus gave His life freely and also died, but was given life again on the third day. Jesus experienced death, but lived to tell about a life beyond death. But He did more than tell about it. Like a whole new beginning, he breathed anew on His disciples the breath of God, telling them to "Receive the Holy Spirit." There is no mistake that the command is simply "receive." Adam took and all died, Jesus gave that all might live, and we are now to receive the life He gave. It is as simple and as glorious as that.

But it could not have been so simple for Him not to become a taker. That is why Satan tempted Him to take the stone and feed Himself in the wilderness. Satan tried to get Him to quit waiting on God's provision, and take what God clearly planned to give. Jesus didn't take the stone. Satan tried to get Jesus to take the plunge into glory off the top of the temple, thereby making a splash in the inner circles of Jerusalem. But Jesus knew God would take Him into the temple in God's way and in God's timing. Jesus didn't take the plunge. Satan then offered to let Jesus take the world and rule it as king, if He would only worship Satan. But Jesus knew that if He endured the cross faithfully, God would give Him all authority in heaven and on earth. Jesus didn't take the kingdoms. The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. He came to give, not to take. Giving was His genius, and our salvation.

The "much more" is that the equation of life on this planet expanded beyond the simple "Adam took and all died." Without Jesus, taking and dying would be all there is. With Jesus Christ, giving and receiving has replaced taking and dying, resulting in a reign of life that supercedes the reign of death. It took a Great Giver to cancel out the power of taking and the finality of death.

"Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness ..."

But if receiving is so important, what is to be received from Him? The first gift is a free gift so gigantic it exceeds our ability to measure it. It is the "abundance of grace." Now it could have said, "our due measure of grace," or it could have said, "only so much grace and no more," or it could have said, "probably enough grace to get by on." Thank God such limited terminology did not encase His endless grace. His grace, the free gift of God given without a hitch to the totally undeserving, is so abundant it can never be exhausted. It is the gift that keeps on giving, every day, every hour, every minute, minute-by-minute, throughout our lives and beyond. And the secret is to keep on receiving it, not just once at the point of conversion, but as a free gift of His love and care for every minute stretching from here to eternity.

This freely given gift offered to us by our Great Giver Jesus Christ has only one limitation to it. It can only be received. It comes to us in no other way. It is unmerited, so I cannot earn it. It is abundant, so I cannot measure it. It is free, so I cannot buy it. It is a gift: I can ONLY receive it.

This is what Abram learned on his way back from Egypt. His riches were increased by God's free gift in a land where he had sinned boldly. Thus, when it came time to divide forces with Lot, Abram lived open-handedly and let Lot choose first. Living by grace is living open-handedly, trusting in God's good provision, minute-by-minute, day-by-day.

It can only be received, by faith and obedience. God meant to give the entire land and all its wealth to Joshua and his men as a gift, through their trust in Him as they let Him win the victories through them. Achan forgot all that and went back to the ways of Adam: he disobeyed the command of God and took a little booty for himself. Isn't this always the way? God wants to give it all to us, the whole land, the riches of abundant life in Him, but we get greedy and want to take something for the self. And what we end up taking is a measly portion compared to all God wants to give us. Achan's treasure fit into a small hole under his tent. Such was the measure of what Achan took. God wanted to give them the whole land and all its wealth: Achan took enough wealth to fill a hole. God's great gifts can only be received, by faith and obedience.

The second great gift we are to receive is "the gift of righteousness." This goes back to Rom. 3:22, when by faith in our Christ of the cross, the righteousness of God is infused INTO the believer. Righteousness can only come to us as a gift because of the cross of Christ. Man tried to build a tower up into heaven to take God's righteousness, but the Tower of Babel was a failure. Man tried to follow God's righteous commandments when Aaron made the first sacrifices in the tabernacle, but right after blessing the people and the corporate worship of the nation, Aaron's drunken sons brought strange fire before the Lord and His divine fire burned them to a crisp. But His righteousness becomes our righteousness only by faith at the cross of Christ. It can only be received as a gift: it cannot be earned, cannot be bought, cannot be manipulated. Our role is to receive it, and say a heartfelt "Thank You!," continuing in that thankfulness all our days.

I believe our God is like a father who eagerly waits for us to wake up every morning like it is a Christmas morning. He has gifts for us every day, every moment. The gifts He gives keep on giving. We all had a fairly easy time unwrapping those gifts at the moment of conversion, when our sense of sin was palpable and we opened the gift of His abundant grace and received into ourselves the gift of His righteousness. But how do we now live? Having received once in time at a moment of need, do we now move forward to take back the controls, to take the Christian life by the horns and wrestle it into manageable daily routines, to take by daily or weekly doses by the flesh what God's Spirit so wants to give to us moment-by-moment? Having received once, how do we keep on receiving?

"Will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ"

We keep on receiving exactly as we received at the moment of conversion: by humble admission of our inadequacy and joyful reception of His adequacy by faith. We keep on receiving by saying "Thank You" to the One living inside us, living through us. He does not want to help us, nor does He want us to help Him. He wants us to keep receiving the riches of His life moment-by-moment by thankful faith; faith that says "Thank You" and walks right into all the challenges of life with absolute confidence in His ongoing gifts that never quit giving.

Hudson Taylor caught this process of learning to receive on an ongoing basis. He said, "I used to ask God to help me. Then I asked if I might help Him. I ended up by asking Him to do His work through me."

This ongoing receiving of His life is what reigning in life is all about. I have wondered for years what this phrase "will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ," really means. But now I see the secret: the secret of reigning like a prince or princess of the royal family of God in this less-than-regal age is in continually receiving His limitless gifts moment-by-moment. It comes by being a receiver, not an achiever. It is open-handed living based on His open-handed giving.

This imagery of the open hand is the key to this whole thing. Each of us knows that fear is symbolized by a trembling hand, anger by a shaking fist, judgmentalism by a pointed finger, peace by the two-fingered "V" sign, and that the "thumbs up" means everything looks good. And the Christian life can best be symbolized by two open palms facing heavenward, ready to receive whatever gifts God gives.

I was very struck by a woman I used to know who was eagerly wishing to be a mother but had not been able to have a baby because of some health problems. She had prayed and agonized over this for years, a woman marked by a shadow of sadness. One day she finally decided to quit fighting against it. She said she had decided she had to open her hand to God, letting Him give to her whatever He would give. She realized that in receiving she would be reigning. Her whole demeanor significantly lightened up, as she discovered the secret of the open hand held heavenward.

What we keep on receiving is His limitless grace to cover all our mistakes, His love that covers the multitude of our sins, and His righteousness placed in us filling our lives out like the wind filling a sail. But we also receive an amazing gift none of us ever imagined we would receive. It is almost too good to be true: we reign in life. We reign as princes and princesses in the royal family of God, not just when we get to heaven, but right now on this earth. Yes we suffer, yes we struggle, but God looks at us and sees a king or a queen under wraps, reigning right now in life with more power than the reign of death.

This is the amazing truth of this passage. Death reigned because of Adam's taking. But now, because of Christ's giving, WE reign in life. Death has no power over us. Sin has been paid for and forgiven. We enter into the royal family of God, and begin to reign as princes and princesses right now.

And we reign in life regardless of our circumstances. The following letter was written by Lady Jane Grey the night before she was executed. It was written at the end of a Greek Testament given as a final gift to her sister Katherine:

GOOD SISTER KATHERINE, -- I have here sent you a book which although it be not outwardly trimmed with gold, yet inwardly is more worth than precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the law of the Lord. It is his testament and last will, which he bequeathed unto us wretches, which shall lead you to the path of eternal joy, and if you with a good mind read it, and with an earnest mind do purpose to follow it, it shall bring you to an immortal and everlasting life. It shall teach you to live, and learn you to die. It shall win you more than you should have gained by the possession of your woeful father's lands. For as, if God had prospered him, you should have inherited his lands so, if you apply diligently this book, seeking to direct your life after it, you shall be an inheritor of such riches as neither the covetous shall withdraw from you, neither thief shall steal, neither yet the moths corrupt. Desire with David, good sister, to understand the Law of the Lord God. ... Defy the world, deny the devil, despise the flesh, and delight yourself only in the Lord. Be penitent for your sins, and yet despair not; be strong in faith, and yet presume not; and desire with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ with whom even in death there is life. Rejoice in Christ, as I do. Follow the steps of your master Christ, and take up your cross; lay your sins upon His back, and always embrace him. And as touching my death, rejoice as I do, good sister, that I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption. For I am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal life, win an immortal life, the which I pray God grant you, and send you of his grace to live in his fear, and to die in the true Christian faith, from the which, in God's name, I exhort you that you never swerve, neither for hope of life nor for fear of death. For if you will deny his truth, to lengthen your life, God will deny you, and shorten your days. And if you cleave unto him, he will prolong your days to your comfort and his glory: to which glory God bring me now, and you hereafter, when it pleaseth him to call you. Fare you well, good sister, and put your only trust in God."

She wrote that when she was about 17 years old. Caught in a trap of political intrigue, this beloved young woman was condemned to die. But she was a woman who reigned in life, having received God's grace, having His righteousness infused in her, and she rejoiced in Christ instead of fearing death.

This young woman reigned in life by open-handedly receiving what God gave, even the strange gift of death. That's right, even death can be a gift, as Hezekiah failed to realize. This young woman knew when it was her time to die, God had called her home, and her homegoing was a mighty gift indeed. With our God, even death is transformed from a bitter tyrant to the final gift we receive on this earth, before we receive the ultimate gift of seeing His face for the first time.

We reign in life by open-handed living, because of His open-handed giving. It means we shun the worldly path of grabbing and taking in order to get ahead. We don't look to "seize the day" so much as to "receive the day." We don't look to take in our relationships, but to receive what we need from our indwelling God, letting Him give to others through us the love they may need. We do not try to do religious behaviors to get God on our side, but we boldly approach His throne of grace, waiting open-handedly to receive what He wants to give us.

This is a mighty lesson, a lesson God taught David in the hard school of the wilderness. David graduated from that school when he stood above the sleeping Saul in the cave at Engedi. There was the current king, the evil man who had hunted David across the years, the man God had decreed that David would supplant. And it seemed that God had delivered Saul into David's hands. But David had learned that reigning in life as a king means learning to receive, not to take. So he decided not to take Saul's life. He would not reach out to take his kingdom for himself. Even when he took a little bit off of Saul's robe, his conscience smote him. Because Saul was still the Lord's anointed, David did not want even to touch him. If God would make him reign as king, David would receive his kingship as a gift, not by taking it in the darkness of that cave. He was reigning in life already, whether or not the crown was actually on his head.

The other night we were talking in our home, and Joe asked me some questions about my life. I have had a magnificent life. I look back over every single aspect of my life, and I am filled with nothing but thankfulness. My growing up years were largely a joy to me: years filled with sports and school, hunting and fishing, enjoying the beauty of the Rocky Mountains, taking the epic family journeys to Texas, having the gift of one very close friendship. I had the blessing of hearing Major Ian Thomas preach as a young child, a gift I have kept receiving over the years. My junior high and high school experiences were idyllic in nearly every way. I would change nothing about all those years. Then I went to Stanford, and found the greatest gift of all: Jesus Christ Himself. Then the vistas of eternity opened to me when I received Him, and I have the continual joy of receiving more and more of those riches given to me with each passing day. My life has been one beautiful gift, and my Great Giver keeps on giving. And all I can do is look back and say "Thank You," and just keep on receiving. I can keep on receiving open-handedly forever, because the abundant grace of Christ and His gift of righteousness will keep giving to me moment-by-moment forever, in this life up to and through my day of death, then on into everlasting life with Him.

This is reigning in life: open-handed living because of His open-handed giving. It is a life of moment-by-moment receiving of the inexhaustible gifts He keeps on giving. And it is a life of unending thankfulness. This is the abundant life, based on His abundant grace.

Conclusion: All we try to take and cannot hold, He gives, that we cannot lose.

This passage has riveted me to the core of my being. When I survey what the majority of Americans mistake for life, I want to weep. Lost in a wasteland of taking, taking and more taking, they seem totally unaware that they are dying more and more each day. And in this party of death stands Jesus Christ the Great Giver, like a father on Christmas morning, with His inexhaustible gifts wrapped up nicely beneath His tree, the tree of the cross. Yet much of humanity sits around that tree in a frenzy of taking, rather than coming to Him and receiving, even ripping into, the great gifts He so deeply wants them to have. All we try to take and cannot hold, He gives, that we cannot lose. But we must receive them. Oh Lord, may You continually bid them come, and may they come and receive from You, that they might keep on receiving and thus reign in life.

I think an unknown Confederate soldier during the Civil War put this open-handed reigning in life best in the little verse entitled Answered Prayer:

I asked God for strength, that I might achieve,
I was made weak, that I might learn humbly to obey...

I asked for health, that I might do great things,
I was given infirmity, that I might do better things...

I asked for power, that I might have the praise of men,
I was given weakness, that I might feel the need for God...

I asked for all things, that I might enjoy life,
I was given life, that I might enjoy all things...

I got nothing that I asked for but everything I had hoped for;
Almost despite myself, my unspoken prayers were answered.

I am among all men most richly blessed.

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