TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
1:10 JOURNEY GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE 1.
Opener: Do you enjoy playing Monopoly? What’s your favorite board game?
2.
Read Romans 9:30—10:4. What did you hear in the sermon that you found to be new, helpful, relevant, or troubling?
3.
What are the two kinds of righteousness, and how is each kind pursued?
4.
Have you seen people (perhaps yourself!) who were not seeking righteousness, and yet God worked in their lives to bring them to faith in Christ?
Sunday, January 31, 2016 • Summit Evangelical Free Church, Alta, IA • Pastor Doug Corlew Series: To God Be The Glory (Romans 9-11), Message #5
TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ROMANS 9:30—10:4 Two kinds of currency
5.
When did you first come to realize that salvation isn’t about what you do for God, but what He’s done for you? Was this hard or easy for you to accept?
6.
What difference does it make in your life to realize that faith in Christ means the end of any reliance on law-keeping in order to be saved or stay saved?
7.
What is so offensive about the message of Christ that people stumble over Him?
8.
“It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” Discuss why people would believe this, and how you would respond to them.
If the gospel is for the Jew first (1:16), why are they missing it?
1. They pursue ______________________________________________ (9:30-32a)
2. They stumble _____________________________________________ (9:32b-33)
9.
Are you naturally someone who needs to add zeal to your knowledge, or knowledge to your zeal?
10. In what ways does this passage bring important balance to the discussion of divine sovereignty and human responsibility? 11. What kinds of prayers for lost people seem appropriate in view of Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-10?
3. They mistake _____________________________________________ (10:1-2)
FAMILY FAITH TALK — Romans 9:30—10:4 The following questions progress from simple to complex. Choose the best questions for your family discussion.
1. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? 2. Why do we need to have faith in Jesus? 3. What is righteousness? How can we be righteous? 4. Who is the stumbling stone? 5. How and why do people stumble over God’s plan for salvation? 6. How do God’s law and faith in Jesus relate to one another?
4. They refuse ______________________________________________ (10:3-4)
Monday, February 1
Read Romans 9:30-33
Thursday, February 4
Read Romans 10:3
“We do not like the doctrine of election, because it throws us upon the mercy of God. But assuming that we do nevertheless accept the truth of the doctrine, the next evasion is to try to deny our own responsibility. We are not mere puppets in God’s hands. We are responsible human beings, in spite of what we might wrongly deduce from Paul’s earlier teaching in this chapter… The Gentiles, who had not sought salvation, were nevertheless finding it. The only possible explanation of this mystery is God’s grace. Meanwhile, the Jews, who were trying to earn their salvation, did not attain it… What the Jews had not reckoned on was their own sinful natures, which made it as impossible for them to keep the law of God perfectly as it would have been for Gentiles to keep it had they possessed the law. Because they refused to see that, they also failed to see what the law was actually given for: to show that we cannot achieve salvation by our works and to point us to the only way salvation can come, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. Instead of becoming self-righteous, we should become aware of our radical unrighteousness and turn to Christ.”
“The basic spiritual failure of human beings is that they are so pleased with their own righteousness that they will not have the righteousness of God, which they need if they are to be saved from sin… God is the only righteous one. We are not righteous. So who is able to stand before God or be acquitted in His court? The answer is: No one, unless God provides His own righteousness for us as a free gift… The accumulation of human righteousness through avoiding evil and performing good deeds can never add up to the true, divine righteousness that God requires of us if we are to be saved from sin and have fellowship with Himself. Although God tells us that our own good works will not save us, we love them too much to abandon faith in them. He tells us that we must submit to the gift of His righteousness in Jesus Christ, but we will not submit to righteousness… As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I urge you to bow your proud head and put your whole trust in Christ alone. There is no other way of salvation, not by knowledge, not by sacraments, not even by good works.”
Psalm 118:19-24 Isaiah 8:13-15; 28:16
Isaiah 57:12; 64:6 Acts 15:7-11; 28:23-28
Luke 18:9-14; 20:9-18 1 Corinthians 1:22-31
Tuesday, February 2
Read Romans 10:1
Friday, February 5
Romans 1:14-17 2 Corinthians 5:21
Read Romans 10:4
“Instead of dismissing his countrymen and consigning them to some bad end, we find that Paul is praying for them, which is what each of us should do for those who are unbelieving or who try to create problems for Christians who are witnessing to them about Jesus… The previous chapter of Romans has been on election, and this one is on the fact that the failure of Israel to believe on Jesus is their fault rather than God’s. Each of these points would seem to be a legitimate reason not to pray. But apparently neither one is a good reason, since Paul is praying for their salvation… One way in which God works to call sinners to repentance is through prayer. So, when we pray, God answers our prayers and saves those for whom He moves us to pray... We are to pray about all sorts of things. But Jesus said something we need to think about (see Matthew 16:26a): However good it is to have peace and to enjoy a reasonable measure of prosperity, these and countless other things count as next to nothing (or worse than nothing) if we acquire them and yet fail to receive God’s salvation. Remember that when you are praying for other people.”
“Christ is ‘the end of the law’ in the sense that He fulfilled or satisfied the demands of the law completely… He fulfilled the law on our behalf, so that now He is not only the source but is Himself the righteousness of all who are joined to Him by faith… He has freed us from the law’s bondage… 3 applications: 1) Christ is everything. It is hard for us to imagine how important the law of Moses was for Jewish people living in Paul’s day. The law was the very essence of Jewish religion. Yet, Paul, who was himself a Jew, is telling us that Christ is the culmination, fulfillment, and (in a sense) termination of the law. For He ‘is the end of the law.’ It is a way of saying that everything that matters in salvation and religion is in Him. 2) If I am in Christ, I will never be condemned for breaking the law or be rejected by God. How could I be, since Jesus has fulfilled the law on my behalf and has borne the punishment due to me for breaking it? He has become my righteousness. 3) To be ‘in Him’ I must believe in Him. Christ is the end of the law for everyone ‘who believes.’ For everyone? Yes, but for everyone who believes. The promise is universal and specific.”
Numbers 21:6-7 1 Samuel 12:23 Esther 8:6
Luke 24:13-25 John 5:46
Wednesday, February 3
Luke 13:34; 19:41-42 Acts 26:28-29
Romans 9:1-3 1 Timothy 2:1-6
Read Romans 10:2
“Zeal is no substitute for conversion. Even the zealous must be saved… For the most part the Jews took their religion very seriously. Paul had done so himself, but all of his zeal could not save him. And in fact, his zeal was so misdirected that for a long time it actually kept him from Christ… Paul acknowledged the zeal of his countrymen. Yet he still regarded them as lost, prayed for them fervently, and worked tirelessly for their salvation. This is extremely relevant in our mindless, pluralistic, all-accepting society. For there is a common error that says that as long as a person is sincere, it does not really matter what he or she believes. In our day we are supposed to be open to everyone’s version of the truth… It shows how far our culture has moved from Christianity. Why? Because the religion of Jesus is not ‘all-accepting,’ except in the sense that anyone may repent of his sin and come to Jesus. On the contrary, Christianity teaches that all are lost and that even the religiously zealous are not saved by zeal alone. We are saved by Christ alone, received by faith alone. Anything else is not true Christianity.”
Proverbs 19:2 John 3:36; 14:6
Acts 4:10-12; 10:42-43; 17:30-31 Philippians 3:3-11 (v 6)
Saturday, February 6
Romans 3:21-31; 8:1-4 Galatians 3:15-29
Read Romans 10:5-13
As you prepare for next Sunday’s message, meditate on the human response that is required to benefit from the salvation God has provided.
Devotional Thoughts by: James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) ROMANS, An Expositional Commentary, Vol 3: God and History (Rom 9-11); Baker 1993
Opener: Do you enjoy playing Monopoly? What’s your favorite board game?
2.
Read Romans 9:30—10:4. What did you hear in the sermon that you found to be new, helpful, relevant, or troubling?
3.
What are the two kinds of righteousness, and how is each kind pursued?
4.
Have you seen people (perhaps yourself!) who were not seeking righteousness, and yet God worked in their lives to bring them to faith in Christ?
Sunday, January 31, 2016 • Summit Evangelical Free Church, Alta, IA • Pastor Doug Corlew Series: To God Be The Glory (Romans 9-11), Message #5
TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS ROMANS 9:30—10:4 Two kinds of currency
5.
When did you first come to realize that salvation isn’t about what you do for God, but what He’s done for you? Was this hard or easy for you to accept?
6.
What difference does it make in your life to realize that faith in Christ means the end of any reliance on law-keeping in order to be saved or stay saved?
7.
What is so offensive about the message of Christ that people stumble over Him?
8.
“It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.” Discuss why people would believe this, and how you would respond to them.
If the gospel is for the Jew first (1:16), why are they missing it?
1. They pursue ______________________________________________ (9:30-32a)
2. They stumble _____________________________________________ (9:32b-33)
9.
Are you naturally someone who needs to add zeal to your knowledge, or knowledge to your zeal?
10. In what ways does this passage bring important balance to the discussion of divine sovereignty and human responsibility? 11. What kinds of prayers for lost people seem appropriate in view of Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-10?
3. They mistake _____________________________________________ (10:1-2)
FAMILY FAITH TALK — Romans 9:30—10:4 The following questions progress from simple to complex. Choose the best questions for your family discussion.
1. What does it mean to have faith in Jesus? 2. Why do we need to have faith in Jesus? 3. What is righteousness? How can we be righteous? 4. Who is the stumbling stone? 5. How and why do people stumble over God’s plan for salvation? 6. How do God’s law and faith in Jesus relate to one another?
4. They refuse ______________________________________________ (10:3-4)
Monday, February 1
Read Romans 9:30-33
Thursday, February 4
Read Romans 10:3
“We do not like the doctrine of election, because it throws us upon the mercy of God. But assuming that we do nevertheless accept the truth of the doctrine, the next evasion is to try to deny our own responsibility. We are not mere puppets in God’s hands. We are responsible human beings, in spite of what we might wrongly deduce from Paul’s earlier teaching in this chapter… The Gentiles, who had not sought salvation, were nevertheless finding it. The only possible explanation of this mystery is God’s grace. Meanwhile, the Jews, who were trying to earn their salvation, did not attain it… What the Jews had not reckoned on was their own sinful natures, which made it as impossible for them to keep the law of God perfectly as it would have been for Gentiles to keep it had they possessed the law. Because they refused to see that, they also failed to see what the law was actually given for: to show that we cannot achieve salvation by our works and to point us to the only way salvation can come, which is through faith in Jesus Christ. Instead of becoming self-righteous, we should become aware of our radical unrighteousness and turn to Christ.”
“The basic spiritual failure of human beings is that they are so pleased with their own righteousness that they will not have the righteousness of God, which they need if they are to be saved from sin… God is the only righteous one. We are not righteous. So who is able to stand before God or be acquitted in His court? The answer is: No one, unless God provides His own righteousness for us as a free gift… The accumulation of human righteousness through avoiding evil and performing good deeds can never add up to the true, divine righteousness that God requires of us if we are to be saved from sin and have fellowship with Himself. Although God tells us that our own good works will not save us, we love them too much to abandon faith in them. He tells us that we must submit to the gift of His righteousness in Jesus Christ, but we will not submit to righteousness… As a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, I urge you to bow your proud head and put your whole trust in Christ alone. There is no other way of salvation, not by knowledge, not by sacraments, not even by good works.”
Psalm 118:19-24 Isaiah 8:13-15; 28:16
Isaiah 57:12; 64:6 Acts 15:7-11; 28:23-28
Luke 18:9-14; 20:9-18 1 Corinthians 1:22-31
Tuesday, February 2
Read Romans 10:1
Friday, February 5
Romans 1:14-17 2 Corinthians 5:21
Read Romans 10:4
“Instead of dismissing his countrymen and consigning them to some bad end, we find that Paul is praying for them, which is what each of us should do for those who are unbelieving or who try to create problems for Christians who are witnessing to them about Jesus… The previous chapter of Romans has been on election, and this one is on the fact that the failure of Israel to believe on Jesus is their fault rather than God’s. Each of these points would seem to be a legitimate reason not to pray. But apparently neither one is a good reason, since Paul is praying for their salvation… One way in which God works to call sinners to repentance is through prayer. So, when we pray, God answers our prayers and saves those for whom He moves us to pray... We are to pray about all sorts of things. But Jesus said something we need to think about (see Matthew 16:26a): However good it is to have peace and to enjoy a reasonable measure of prosperity, these and countless other things count as next to nothing (or worse than nothing) if we acquire them and yet fail to receive God’s salvation. Remember that when you are praying for other people.”
“Christ is ‘the end of the law’ in the sense that He fulfilled or satisfied the demands of the law completely… He fulfilled the law on our behalf, so that now He is not only the source but is Himself the righteousness of all who are joined to Him by faith… He has freed us from the law’s bondage… 3 applications: 1) Christ is everything. It is hard for us to imagine how important the law of Moses was for Jewish people living in Paul’s day. The law was the very essence of Jewish religion. Yet, Paul, who was himself a Jew, is telling us that Christ is the culmination, fulfillment, and (in a sense) termination of the law. For He ‘is the end of the law.’ It is a way of saying that everything that matters in salvation and religion is in Him. 2) If I am in Christ, I will never be condemned for breaking the law or be rejected by God. How could I be, since Jesus has fulfilled the law on my behalf and has borne the punishment due to me for breaking it? He has become my righteousness. 3) To be ‘in Him’ I must believe in Him. Christ is the end of the law for everyone ‘who believes.’ For everyone? Yes, but for everyone who believes. The promise is universal and specific.”
Numbers 21:6-7 1 Samuel 12:23 Esther 8:6
Luke 24:13-25 John 5:46
Wednesday, February 3
Luke 13:34; 19:41-42 Acts 26:28-29
Romans 9:1-3 1 Timothy 2:1-6
Read Romans 10:2
“Zeal is no substitute for conversion. Even the zealous must be saved… For the most part the Jews took their religion very seriously. Paul had done so himself, but all of his zeal could not save him. And in fact, his zeal was so misdirected that for a long time it actually kept him from Christ… Paul acknowledged the zeal of his countrymen. Yet he still regarded them as lost, prayed for them fervently, and worked tirelessly for their salvation. This is extremely relevant in our mindless, pluralistic, all-accepting society. For there is a common error that says that as long as a person is sincere, it does not really matter what he or she believes. In our day we are supposed to be open to everyone’s version of the truth… It shows how far our culture has moved from Christianity. Why? Because the religion of Jesus is not ‘all-accepting,’ except in the sense that anyone may repent of his sin and come to Jesus. On the contrary, Christianity teaches that all are lost and that even the religiously zealous are not saved by zeal alone. We are saved by Christ alone, received by faith alone. Anything else is not true Christianity.”
Proverbs 19:2 John 3:36; 14:6
Acts 4:10-12; 10:42-43; 17:30-31 Philippians 3:3-11 (v 6)
Saturday, February 6
Romans 3:21-31; 8:1-4 Galatians 3:15-29
Read Romans 10:5-13
As you prepare for next Sunday’s message, meditate on the human response that is required to benefit from the salvation God has provided.
Devotional Thoughts by: James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) ROMANS, An Expositional Commentary, Vol 3: God and History (Rom 9-11); Baker 1993
