The point of this lesson: Coping with Christian stress is found in placing trust in God's acts in Jesus' death and resurrection instead of trusting in our accomplishments. Strength is found in what God did in Jesus, not in our acts.
Life is stressful! Seeking (earnestly) to be a righteous person in an evil world is stressful! Seeking (earnestly) to be a godly person in an evil environment increases the stress! It does not take long after conversion for most Christians to discover that becoming a Christian does not eliminate some stresses. Instead, for stress in general, Christianity merely refocuses stress. Most Christians find both temptations and learning to live by new values stressful!
The existence of and experiencing stress does not prove the person does not have faith. Even Paul endured stress (see 2 Corinthians 11:28; 12:8-10; and Acts 15:1, 2)
The message of Romans (among many ways) can be grasped from the perspective of stress. Chapter one presented the clash between God's wrath and the behavior of godless people (who often regarded godless conduct as "good" in their godless environment).
Stress is not the central message of Romans. However, the situation Romans addressed was stressful for members and those who sought to bring solution.
Chapter two focused on a basic boundary issue. There was an obvious difference between the conduct of conscientious Jews focused on a divine, revealed Law, and the conduct of all non-Jews (gentiles) who did not know that this divine, revealed Law existed. In time the Jews envisioned their role to be one of passing judgment on those who did not comply with God's Law. Being judges of others rather than being practitioners of the Law became the role of Jewish "experts in God's Law." (It is always easier to evaluate others' behavior than it is to apply God's values to your own conduct.) The Jews knew they were right—they had the Law of the living, true, one God—other people were idolaters!
The Jew-gentle problem addressed in Romans brought enormous stress on the Jews and their view of being righteous.
In Chapter 3, if what Paul said about everybody becoming righteous if they entered Christ, then Jews lost their advantage—a horrible, stressful thought to Jewish people! How could any person knowledgeable about God's Law suggest that God devised a means of being righteous that was not founded on the application of that Law? The stress is escalating!
Religiously, to realize that a true view of a salvation issue is not your view is enormously stressful. The pressure Jewish converts felt with Paul's concept of being righteous without yielding to a Jewish understanding of God's Law would have been enormously stressful.
Paul said the "new" way for God determining righteousness was not "new" in chapter 4. It was the way God measured righteousness prior to the Law being revealed to the Jews. From Abraham (their forefather who existed before the Jewish people existed), God measured righteousness by faith, not by compliance with Law. Unthinkable! The stress increased!
It is fairly simple to disregard a "new" thought. However, when a person with credibility proves factually the thought is not new, but older than you or your people, the result is an antagonistic stress that demands one consider what had previously been unthinkable.
In chapter 5 Paul said people were justified by faith in Jesus Christ, people had peace with God through Jesus Christ, and people had hope because of Jesus Christ. Instead of being helpless because of their failure to comply with the Law, people could be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. The Jews said, "What a strange way to look at being righteous before God!" The stress continued to elevate!
A justification by faith or confidence in God rather than a justification by human acts in obedience are quite a contrast. Understanding that the foundation of righteousness is found in trusting God rather than in lineage or performance was devastating to a Jewish perspective. Justification, peace with God, and hope came from Christ, not from lineage or following tradition. Seeing obedience as a response to God rather than the means of making one righteous involved a total change in concepts of how to be righteous.
In chapter 6, Paul anticipated a question designed to discredit righteousness in Jesus Christ. Was Paul suggesting that people should sin as much as possible to achieve God's purpose? Paul said that question suggested a ridiculous concept! Those who grasp God's incredible achievement in Jesus Christ stay as far from sin as possible! Never would they deliberately sin! Why? They gratefully acknowledge what God continues doing through Christ. Sin is the problem! Sin never has God's purposes as its objective!
A powerful way to discredit a concept (still used today) is to prove the concept is ridiculous. One does not have to disprove the content of the concept if one can prove the concept is foolish, without merit. To suggest that God's will (purposes) can be achieved through sin is ridiculous, foolish.
Paul, in chapter 7 and the early part of chapter eight, said there are two ways to see life: in physical considerations through human eyes, or in Spirit-guided considerations through divine eyes. The first emphasizes human accomplishments as the person focused on "what I have done". The second focuses on God's achievements in Christ. People in Christ seek to look at and see things as God does.
An important key to understanding the truth about existence is found in the way the person "sees" life, physical existence. The way one looks at physical existence determines how the person lives and who the person is.
Is that stressful? To the people to whom Paul wrote, the answer was a resounding, "Yes!" In an idolatrous society ruled by an idolatrous empire, following Jesus Christ produced stressful conflicts. Christians were a minority! Many times Christians seemed to be at a serious disadvantage. Could they endure in such an overwhelming idolatrous situation?
Too often we study the Bible and act as if scripture was written to us about our challenges and life circumstances. We need to understand the New Testament was written to people 2,000 years ago and must be accurately applied to us. An understanding of how difficult it was to be Christian in an idolatrous world would bless us enormously.
Paul's answer was a resounding, "Yes!" in the last of chapter 8. Why? They would endure because of God's strength! Paul often emphasized the incredible power God provided people. That power originated in Him. Consider Ephesians 3:20 and Romans 16:25-27. Also consider the statement in Jude 24, 25.
The strength lies in what God does for us in Christ, not in what we do.
Though it often is stressful to be a godly person, the solution is not found in what you can do, but in what God can enable you to endure. Read Romans 7:18-8:4, and note God provides the Christian a solution in Jesus Christ that could never be obtained through human conduct/ achievement. The point is not that we sit and do nothing. The point is that it is always God we trust, not ourselves.
We serve; God enables.
Trusting in what God did in Jesus' death and resurrection provides the Christian strength and hope! Our acts of obedience are an essential expression of our faith in God and Jesus, but those acts are inadequate for eternal salvation! Only God's accomplishments in Jesus' death and resurrection are completely adequate for every human weakness as we seek eternal salvation. God and only God is the source of our strength in Christ Jesus!
Our faith is not in us or what we do. Our faith is in what God did in Jesus' death and resurrection, and in what God does for us individually when we enter and live in Christ.
FOR THOUGHT AND DISCUSSION
1. Why is life stressful?
a. The stress is generated by seeking to be righteous in an evil world.
b. The stress is generated by temptations and godly values.
2. What is one way of looking at Romans' message?
One way to examine the message of Romans is through the perspective of stress.
3. Viewed from stress, what clash is presented in chapter one?
It is the clash between God's wrath and the behavior of godless people.
4. Viewed from stress, on what did chapter two focus?
It focused on a basic boundary issue: the obvious difference between the behavior of conscientious Jews who focused on the Law, and the behavior of non-Jews (idolatrous people) who did not know the Law existed.
5. Viewed from stress, what did Jewish people lose in chapter three?
The Jews lost their advantage (by their perspective).
6. Why did Paul declare that the "new" way for being righteous was not "new" at all?
It was the way God measured righteousness in Abraham, before the Law was given.
7. In chapter 5 of Romans, what three things did Paul say God provided to the Christian through faith in Jesus Christ?
Paul said God provided justification, peace with God, and hope through Jesus Christ.
8. In chapter 6, what question did Paul anticipate? Why was that concept ridiculous?
Paul's anticipated question: "Was Paul suggesting people should sin as much as possible so God's purpose could be achieved?" Those who understand what God did in Christ stay as far from sin as possible.
9. In chapter 7 and early 8, what are the two ways to look at life? What is the focus of each?
a. One can look at life from physical considerations through human eyes.
b. One can look at life by Spirit-guided considerations through divine eyes.
10. What made that way of looking at life stressful to them?
Those Christians lived in idolatrous societies ruled by an idolatrous empire and endured serious conflicts that existed for them as a disadvantaged minority.
11. Why would they endure?
They would endure through God's strength, not because of their accomplishments.
12. Where is the solution to be found?
The solution was not found in what they could do, but in what God could enable them to endure.
Link to Student Guide
Lesson 5