God is FOR US. Romans 8.31-34

Chosen—it means God is FOR US.  Romans 8.31-34

I was speaking on the subject of friendship.  Specifically, I was trying to give a definition for a true friend.   A true friend is someone who says to the object of her affection, ‘I am FOR YOU’.  It means:  I will cheer you on ... I will believe the best in you …  I will release you of my expectations of you … I will hold you close to my heart, but not demand you be close at my side … I will endeavor to ‘hear’ you when you have difficult things to say to me … I will not try to ‘one up’ you in front of others … I will keep your confidences … (1)

To be FOR someone means I try my best to identify with him … I celebrate his victories and mourn his setbacks.  It means I deeply and sincerely wish him well. At its utmost, to be FOR someone means I would get in the trenches and fight for him—I would sacrifice for him—yes, I might even give my life for him!

God is FOR us.  Look what Paul wrote:

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Romans 8.31-34

That one line surely must scream off the page at you, doesn’t it?   If God is for us, who can be against us?

I don’t know about you, but if I rightly understand this, it changes everything!  If God is for us, who can be against us?  In brief, Paul then shows us what he means by ‘God is for us’---he gave up his Son for us, which, if he did that, then he will graciously give us all that we need.  God has chosen us, (there it is again!) and then justified us, (made us right with him), so no one can condemn us . . . Jesus died for us, rose again, sits next to his Father in Heaven, and prays for us.  Oh yes, I would say that God is FOR US!

Interestingly enough, any Jew who knew the Scriptures well, would identify with Paul’s wording about God ‘not sparing his own Son, giving him up’.  ‘See, that was what God had said about Abraham in Genesis chapter 22, “You have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”  Do you see how brilliantly Paul constructed these several verses? 

Packed with meaning, the gospel in brief, the heart of God displayed, and a clear way that Jewish Paul would speak to the heart and mind of the Jewish reader, in the first century until today.

Since our God is FOR us, no one can condemn us . . . is that true?  Many of us forget that, and allow others to condemn us.  We let others wag the long finger of condemnation at us—you know, the harsh sting of criticism, the shaking head of disapproval, the regular reminders of our failures; and, because we permit it, in essence, we condemn ourselves.  That ought not be. 

I’ve got a powerful song for you—please click on the link—watch and listen.  Make sure you go at least 2 and a ½ minutes because that starts the portion I want to resonate in your mind.  Chris Tomlin – “Our God”(2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlA5IDnpGhc

Truly, ‘and if our God is for us, then who can be against us?’  Question is:

Are you WITH HIM?

  He is closer than you think;

    he is as close as you want him to be,

      as close as you let him be.

Christine

podcast: 

(1) from a study I wrote called “Becoming the Friend You’d Like to Have”; in January this year, I taught on the subject at a women’s retreat—it was sweet!

(2) Our God by Chris Tomlin, from 2010 Passion CD “Awakening” or his CD “And if our God is For Us” - *both of these CDs are beautiful