Read Romans 16

Recent research has found that relationships with coworkers are the most significant predictor of job satisfaction. A study from Tel Aviv University found the level of support from coworkers affected employees’ health more than any other factor in the workplace.

When we are in Christ, part of our identity is “coworker.” We don’t have to be in full-time vocational ministry to be coworkers in Christ; we are spiritual colleagues with other believers based on our shared commitment to Jesus and His gospel. Our passage today provides a snapshot on the importance of being spiritual coworkers.

Paul asked the Christians in Rome to extend his greetings to dozens of his fellow laborers. Some names are familiar: many of us know Priscilla and Aquila, who worked with Paul and tutored Apollos (v. 3; see Acts 18), and Timothy was one of Paul’s most faithful companions (v. 21). But most of the rest of these names appear only here. Why would Scripture devote so many verses to naming obscure people?

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Read Romans 12:1-8

The process of whakapapa is fundamental to the identity of Maori people in New Zealand. More detailed than a typical Western genealogy, whakapapa includes not only generations of ancestors but also references to the land and geography, as well as both historical and mythological stories. Whakapapa also refers to the oral recitation of these genealogies, which can stretch back fifty generations or more.

Western notions of the individual tend to inform the way that we view ourselves. We like the myth of the self- made man, the Lone Ranger, the soloist. We rarely think like the Maori, as part of an interconnected family that extends further than any of our memories. For the next few days we’ll examine what Scripture has to say about this part of our identity. Are we spiritual Lone Rangers? Or are we an integral part of a spiritual family?

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Read Galatians 5:1-15

The 1995 film Braveheart portrayed a fictionalized version of William Wallace, a leader in the thirteenth-century Wars of Scottish Independence. Wallace rallies clans and armies in Scotland for the cause of freedom to repel the invasion of King Edward of England. At his execution in London, Wallace was given the opportunity to beg for mercy, but instead he roars the word most important to him: “Freedom!”

In our passage today, the apostle Paul is nearly roaring to the church in Galatia about the importance of freedom. If they don’t understand that they are free in Christ, they risk being “burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (v. 1).

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Read 2 Corinthians 3

A country’s constitution is the document that describes how the government will work and details the rights and protections enjoyed by citizens. After a two-year process, in 2014 Tunisia adopted a new constitution that protects freedom of religion, banning apostasy campaigns that previously permitted a death sentence for any Muslim charged with apostasy. The constitution also protects the rights of women under the law.

Believers in Jesus have been given the new covenant, which brings life and freedom through the Spirit. We are no longer bound by an old regime of sin and death. In the same way that a change in the Tunisian constitution enacted more freedoms for its citizens, the new covenant guarantees spiritual freedoms for believers in Christ.

The apostle Paul uses a rhetorical device in this passage that we might call “from good to great” or “good compared to best.” The old covenant, established by God with His people through the Mosaic Law, was good. It was given by God (see Exodus 19). In receiving the Law, Moses also received part of the glory of God and had to veil his face in order for others to be able to look at him (vv. 7, 13). If the old covenant was good, then, we have confidence that the new covenant is even better.

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Read Romans 8:1-8

Paul Geidel Jr. holds the record for the longest incarceration in the United States that ended with release from prison. Given a sentence of twenty years to life for second-degree murder in 1911 when he was 17 years old, Geidel was finally offered parole in 1974—and he declined. Having spent his entire adult life in prison, he wasn’t sure what to do or even where to go. At the age of 86, he finally accepted parole and is thought to have moved into a nursing home until his death.

For the next few days we’ll examine another feature of our identity as believers in Christ: we are free! Yet like Geidel, it’s tempting to remain imprisoned to our sinful habits and desires simply because they are comfortable and familiar. That’s why it’s so important for us to grasp what it means to be free in Christ.

Our reading today follows Paul’s extended explanation of the tension we experience as followers of Jesus who still wrestle with the temptation of sin (see Romans 7). If we are still struggling with our sinful nature, how can we possibly be free? The answer is that we’re now under a different legal system. We were under the “law of sin and death,” (v. 2), which condemned us to oppose God and pursue our own sinful desires (v. 7). But after salvation in Christ, we are under the “law of the Spirit,” which gives us new desires and sets us free to obey God.

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Read Colossians 3:1-17

Toddlers and preschoolers love to play dress-up as part of their expanding imaginations. “I’m an alligator! I need my alligator suit!” said one boy, demanding his plush costume. “I’m a princess—that’s why I have a crown!” said a little girl. Whether playing superheroes, princesses, or animals, young children love to dress the part.

The apostle Paul uses the metaphor of dressing up or clothing ourselves in several of his letters (see also Eph. 6:10–18). Our text today provides us with a detailed list of exactly what we should take off and put on as evidence of our true identity.

First, Paul describes the thoughts, motives, and actions that we need to abandon. It’s important to notice the exhortation here: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature . . . rid yourselves of all such things” (vv. 5, 7). Though we now have life in Christ, we still struggle with temptations of lust and greed and anger. We have been saved but not fully perfected; we continue to battle sin. The key distinction between our status as dead to Christ and now as alive to Christ is that we no longer want to persist in sexual immorality or rage. We are continually taking off these filthy old garments.

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Read Ephesians 2:1-10

Many pregnant women crave unusual food combinations such as pickles and ice cream. But many also suffer from pica, the desire to eat nonfood substances like ice, chalk, clay, or laundry powder. One Russian woman ate a box of chalk from the local elementary school every day; some 50 percent of Kenyan women eat clay; and many pregnant American women report overwhelming cravings for ice. Experts think pica likely stems from nutrient or mineral deficiencies like anemia.

Just as pica during pregnancy can reveal underlying health problems, so too our spiritual cravings reveal whether we are healthy spiritually. Are we “gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts” (v. 3)? Or are we living in a way that reflects the life we have in Christ?

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Read 2 Corinthians 5:11-21

Many second or third daughters in India are named Nakusha, which means “unwanted.” One local government in the state of Maharashtra decided to hold a ceremony for many of these girls to give them new names. One girl chose the name Sakshi, meaning “witness.” “I was going to be a witness to a historic event, and become a part of it too,” she said. “I know I have to be patient, because people are used to calling me Nakusha. . . . But now I have a name and I feel good. I feel like a new person. It will change my life forever.”

Believers in Jesus have a new name and a new destiny. Indeed, because of our identity in Christ we are now a new creation.

As we’ve seen throughout our study, Scripture doesn’t tell us about our identity in Christ so that we can sit back, take it easy, and feel good about ourselves. Knowing that we are a new creation—freed from old habits and old perspectives—should be tremendously encouraging. It should also compel us to share this news with others.

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Read Galatians 2

What does justification mean? In academic research, justification explains a theory or thesis in order to support the conclusion. In ethics, justification is the category of theories that tries to answer questions like “Why should I be moral?” In popular usage, if we say a decision or action is justified we mean it was an acceptable choice. But what does it mean to say we are justified in Christ?

Our passage today provides us with a clear answer. Being justified is a central part of our identity in Christ, and it is part of our understanding salvation in Jesus.

First, justification means we are declared righteous before God (v. 21). As we saw yesterday, we can never justify ourselves. We can never be right with God on our own terms. “We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ” (v. 16).

Second, justification means we now live by faith in Christ (v. 20). Being justified in Christ not only changes the status

of our relationship with God but also transforms the way we live. We have the Spirit of God living within us to guide our lives. We can embrace grace rather than legalistic ideas of how to please God.

Justification also matters for our relationships with others. If we grasp that our identity of being justified in Christ is entirely based on what He has done for us—not our own goodness— then we can extend that grace to others. We don’t have to impose additional restrictions or expectations on others when we know that Jesus does the work of justification for all who believe in Him (vv. 4, 21).

APPLY THE WORD

Peter and Paul clashed over associating with Gentiles. Disagreement between Christians is not new and need not mean breaking fellowship. In disagreements, the gospel takes priority over our preferences. Paul confronted Peter for choosing Law over grace; Peter later became a persuasive advocate for Gentile believers (vv. 11–14; Acts 15).

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Read Romans 4:13-25

Like many people in the 1990s, Chris Robinson loved Beanie Babies. He thought the small plush toys would increase in value, and he began devoting all his spare time—and money—to amassing a collection. He figured eventually he could sell them to pay college tuition. But after spending over $100,000 on some 15,000 Beanie Babies, the market for the toys plummeted, leaving Robinson with a whole lot of stuffed animals and debt.

Trying to invest money can be a wise decision, but the investment must be trustworthy. The object of our trust is important: faith in a worthless cure or risky business or unreliable person will do us no good. This is even more true in our spiritual lives. Merely having faith will not save us. Our faith must be placed in Jesus Christ.

As our text today makes clear, the object of faith was always supposed o be God, the Giver of the Law, not the Law itself. Only God can keep His promises. Only God could fulfill His word to Abraham to make him a father of many nations (v. 18).

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Read Luke 24

In his book Lament for a Son, Christian philosopher Nicholas Wolterstorff has explored the grief of losing his adult son in a mountain-climbing accident. “It’s the neverness that’s so painful,” Wolsterstoff says. “All the rest of our lives we must live without him. . . . A month, a year, five years—with that I could live. But not this forever.”

Death is not what God intended for His creation, and the Bible describes death as humanity’s great enemy. If we have suffered the grief of losing someone we have loved, we know the searing pain, suffering, and tragedy of death. Thankfully, we also know the good news of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ, which reverses the curse of death. The day will come when we will not seek for the living among the dead. The dead will be raised to life, and Jesus’ resurrection is proof that our hope for death’s defeat is certain (see 1 Corinthians 15).

Luke closes his Gospel by returning to some themes we have seen since the beginning of his account. The angels were present to announce the good news of Jesus’ birth to Mary and to the shepherds, and they are now posted as sentries at the empty tomb. The disciples throughout Luke’s Gospel have been slow to grasp the understanding of Jesus’ identity, and they continue in their obtuseness even after His resurrection. It would take multiple eyewitness testimonies and finally a shared meal to begin believing that the apparition before them was not a ghost but the resurrected Jesus (vv. 36–43).

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