Romans 3:19-28 – Free gift, freely given!

17 11 2025

Preached at the Stutterheim United Coingregation 26 October 2025

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile” (3:22). Beautiful words, words that have changed history! The mantra, the call of the Reformers, Zwingli, Luther, Calvin and many others was “through Scripture alone, through Christ alone, through faith alone, through grace alone and glory to God alone.”! In short ALL of us need Christ, ALL of us need the “righteousness” given to us freely, through grace.

Now I don’t have to tell you that there has been libraries of books written on the mechanism, on HOW it works. And despite all our “learnedness”, our cleverness, it remains a mystery. NT Wright puts it well: “There are many times, in reading Paul, when the right reaction is to kneel down and give God thanks. This is one of those times”.

So what do we know? I like the way NT Wright translates verses 22-24: “God’s covenant justice comes into operation through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah, for the benefit of all who have faith. For there is no distinction: all sinned, and fell short of God’s glory – and by God’s grace they are freely declared to be in the right, to be members of the covenant, through the redemption which is found in the Messiah, Jesus”.

Faith depends, first and foremost, on God’s initiative, for it is freely given (Romans 3:24–25). Not only “are we made right by [God’s] grace as a free gift” (3:24)—the redundancy is intentional—but outsiders can gain access to a covenant that had excluded them because of “redemption” (3:24). The term “redemption would immediately be recognised by Paul’s gentile audience as payment for deliverance from captivity or slavery. And what slavery is Paul referring to? In Romans 7:14 Paul makes the point that we are all slaves of sin and need freeing – redemption! For Paul the death of Jesus is indeed the new Exodus, the moment when the slaves are freed!

What Paul reminds these gentiles about is old news to the covenantal people with whom God forged a relationship, and that relationship is based on faith—that is, the faithfulness of God and the people’s faithfulness to the covenant. Now, God reveals to outsiders this faithfulness—except it is now expressed as Christ’s faithfulness. They are one and the same: The new is the old, since God is one. 

The same covenant is established for all, Jews and gentiles alike—“there is no distinction” (3:22)—in the same way that “all have sinned” (3:23). The Reformers were right: It’s all about faith! Not our personal trust in a higher power or a particular belief system, but God’s faithfulness in safeguarding the integrity of the covenant and in making it available for erstwhile rebels against God, those “without the Torah” (3:21).

Make no mistake: God takes the initiative in reconciling erstwhile rebels to God’s self. “While we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son” (Romans 5:10). With this decisive act, the true nature of the Torah/Law can emerge: It has never been about performance (“works”); it has always centred on faith.

What was needed, as we saw at the start of chapter 3, was for God’s faithfulness to be put into operation, not by scrapping the covenant plan to save the world through Israel and start again by some different route, but through, somehow, the arrival of a faithful Israelite who would offer God the faithful obedience which Israel should have offered but failed to do. Israel, called to be the messenger of God’s saving plan, had corrupted the vocation into mere privilege and had failed to pass the message on. Now we see the faithful Israelite Paul had in mind: Israel’s representative, the Messiah, Jesus. The faithful death of the Messiah unveils, before an unready and shocked world, the way in which the one true God has been true to the covenant and has thereby provided the answer to a world gone wrong, and to humans lost in sin and guilt.

By Jesus’s own blood, God consecrated Jesus as the place where forgiven humanity can meet God. And He does this through “Grace”. All God does on our behalf is done freely and without compulsion, out of pure love. Now all we need to do is accept this free gift of love and live from it!

Bibliography:

Keener, C.S. (1993) The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

Keener, C.S. (2009) Romans. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books (New Covenant Commentary Series).

Moo, D.J. (2000) Romans. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House (The NIV Application Commentary).

Wan, Sze-kar (2025). Commentary on Romans 3:19-28. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/reformation-day/commentary-on-romans-319-28-17

Wright, N. T. (2023). New Testament for Everyone Complete Eighteen-Volume Set: 20th Anniversary Edition with Study Guide (The New Testament for Everyone). 


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Lukas 18:1-8 – ‘n Gelykenis vir vandag se wêreld

10 11 2025

Gepreek te Stutetrheim Verenigde Gemeente 19 Oktober 2025

Gelykenisse, soos baie deur Jesus gebruik, werk, want hulle stop ons in ons voetspore – Het ek reg gehoor? Wat is Hy besig om te sê? Is die God en Sy Koninkryk regtig so?

Hierdie gelykenis ruk ons vinnig tot stilstand! Sê Jesus regtig dat God ‘n onregverdige regter is? Wat is hier aan die gang? En om te verstaan wat Jesus doen, om die gelykenis te verstaan, moet ons natuurlik na die konteks kyk. Wat skryf Lukas, wat doen Jesus, voor en na hierdie gelykenis?

Ons vind die konteks natuurlik in wat Jesus leer oor die koms van God se Koninkryk in Lukas 17. Die Fariseërs het gevra wanneer die Koninkryk kom. Jesus het hulle vraag op sy kop gedraai – Die Koninkryk gaan nie oor tyd of ‘n datum nie (Luk 17:20). Die Koninkryk word gevoel, word ervaar, “want kyk, die koninkryk van God is in julle midde” (Luk 17:21). Daar waar gelowiges vergader is die Koninkryk. Daar waar gelowiges getrou leef word die Koninkryk sigbaar. En hierdie Koninkryk kom, word sigbaar in ‘n wêreld vol chaos en onregverdigheid, volgens Lukas 17. 

In hierdie konteks en teen hierdie agtergrond kom die gelykenis van die weduwee en onregverdige regter om te sê dat ons moet aanhou bid, dat ons nie moet moet opgee nie. God se Koninkryk word waar en sigbaar in die middel van chaos en ‘n deurmekaar wêreld. “Hy het vir hulle ‘n gelykenis vertel oor hoe nodig dit is om altyd te bid en nie moed te verloor nie (Luk 18:1).

En dit is ‘n gelykenis wat ons ook vandag nodig het! In ‘n wêreld vol ongeregtigheid, vol korrupsie, vol haat en geweld, moord, oorlog, kan ons ook hopeloos, verlore, op die rand van ‘n afgrond voel. En voel dit nie so nie! Na die chaos wat Lukas 17 beskryf, selfs die chaos in Sodom en Gomorra voordat die stede verwoes is, soek mens troos, vastigheid, hoop.

En dan hoor ons van ‘n onregverdige regter – nog korrupsie! Maar met hierdie verhaal wil Jesus ons fokus skuif – weg van die chaos van die wêreld, weg van die korrupsie om ons, na getrouheid en deursettingsvermoë. Natuurlik sê Jesus NIE dat God soos hierdie onregverdige regter is nie. Nee, eerder dat as selfs ‘n onregverdige regter na ‘n arm weduwee sou luister as sy aanhoudend pleit, hoeveel eerder sal God nie na ons luister nie.

God se ekonomie word nie gedryf deur onregverdigheid, deur korrupsie nie. God se ekonomie is gebou op liefde, op ‘n God wat werklik omgee vir ons. God se ekonomie is agterstevoor! Dit is waar, soos Jesus gesê het, die laaste eerste is en die eerste laaste, waar wat wysheid vir die wêreld is, dwaasheid is vir God, waar dwaasheid vir die wêreld wysheid is vir God.

“Sal God dan nie reg laat geskied aan sy uitverkorenes wat bedags en snags na Hom roep nie? Sal Hy hulle lank laat wag? Ek sê vir julle, Hy sal baie gou aan hulle reg laat geskied” (:7-8). 

Wanneer Jesus aan die einde van vers 8 sê: “Sal die Seun van die Mens, wanneer Hy kom, geloof op aarde vind?” – Dan is Sy vraag dalk juis gemik op ‘n wêreld soos die waarin ons leef. Wat se tipe geloof het ons nodig? Wat se tipe geloof wonder Jesus of dit nog sal bestaan as Hy kom? 

Hier gaan dit nie oor ‘n geloof wat hoop op ‘n plekkie in die hemel nie, nee, hier gaan dit oor ‘n geloof wat rebelleer teen die onregverdigheid en verkeerde in die wêreld waarin ons leef. 

Wil jy God se Koninkryk sien? Kyk na waar mense in geloof ten hemele skree teen ongeregtigheid, na waar mense God vertrou dat iets anders kan wees, waar mense bereid is daar te wees vir ander. Daar waar mense God se Koninkryk uitleef! Doen wat jy kan waar jy leef. 

Bibliografie:

Barreto, Eric (2025). Commentary on Luke 18:1-8. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-29-3/commentary-on-luke-181-8-6

Morris, L. (1988) Luke: an introduction and commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries)

Van de Laar, John (2025). Lectionary Reflection for Proper 24C on Luke 18:1-8.https://sacredise.substack.com/p/lectionary-reflection-for-proper-bb0?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1879235&post_id=175825086&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1depz3&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Wright, T. (2004) Luke for Everyone. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge


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Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 – Kla teenoor God

3 11 2025

Gepreek te Stutterheim Verenigde Gemeente 5 Oktober 2025

“Hoe lank nog, Here? Ek roep om hulp, maar U luister nie; ek roep uit na U, “geweld!” maar U verlos nie? Waarom laat U my onreg ervaar, en leed, terwyl U toekyk? Vernietiging en geweld is reg voor my. Twis ontstaan en rusie neem toe. Daarom het die wet sy krag verloor, en tree die reg glad nie meer na vore nie; maar goddeloses omsingel die regverdige. Daarom is die reg so verdraaid” (Hab 1:2-4).

Dit klink of Habakkuk vandag se koerante gelees het!! “Geweld vier hoogty in die dorp!” – Worcester se dorpskoerant. “Geweld vier hoogty in Gauteng” – Netwerk24. “Geweld neem aan Weskus toe” – Weskus gemeenskapskoerant. So kan mens aangaan, koerant na koerant, berig na berig! Saam hiermee gaan die klagte dat daar geen gevolge vir die misdadigers is nie. Net hierdie week berig RSG dat die polisie se statistiek sê dat slegs 1 uit 10 moorde opgelos word. Sewe jaar om ‘n politikus skuldig te vind aan ‘n daad wat geweld aanblaas – reg en geregtigheid moet gesien word om te geskied. Maar die klag is dat “die reg so verdraaid” is (Hab 1:4).

Omtrent 2600 jaar gelede, so paar dekades voor die Babiloniërs Juda in ballingskap weggevoer het, skryf Habakkuk hierdie uitroep, aanklag teen God, oor die onreg, oor die manier waarop die leiers gewone mense in Israel behandel.

En Habakkuk klink byna soos Job – in plaas van om direk teenoor die leiers te kla is Habakkuk se klagte teen God gemik! “Hoe lank nog, Here? Ek roep om hulp, maar U luister nie (:2). Dit is natuurlik nie net Habakkuk en Job wat so direk teen God gekla het nie. Daar is ‘n hele klomp klaag-Psalms wat dieselfde tema het – dinge is verkeerd en God doen niks nie!!

Hoe kan ons dit verstaan, wat beteken dit vir ons vandag as ons ook in misnoeë die wêreld rondom ons gadeslaan? Hoe kan ek in waarheid teenoor God kla oor dit wat verkeerd is rondom ons?

Eerste ding natuurlik om te onthou is dat al hierdie klagtes kom vanuit ‘n vertroue in God, vanuit geloof! Dit is nie die taal van ongelowiges hierdie nie. Hierdie is die taal van ‘n gelowige wat verwag dat God iets KAN en WIL doen aan die situasie waarin ons lewe. ‘n Verwagting dat God ons nog nie vergeet het nie! Nie vergeet het in ‘n polities deurmekaar wêreld nie, nie vergeet het in my eensaamheid nie, nie vergeet het in my siekte nie, nie vergeet het in my ekonomiese probleme nie.

En ons MAG en KAN in eerlikheid kla teenoor God! God verwerp nooit diegene wat in eerlikheid met pyn in hulle harte na Hom toe kom nie. 

Hier in Habakkuk kom God se antwoord in hoofstuk 2. Daar is nog ‘n openbaring, ‘n hoop, dit kom verseker. So omtrent 600 jaar voor Jesus se geboorte, lank voor die Babiloniese ballingskap en uiteindelik verlossing kom die belofte dat ten spyte van hoe donker dinge lyk, God ons nooit verlaat nie!

Ons as gelowiges wat leef na Jesus se lewe en opstanding ken die verhaal natuurlik goed. Niks kan ons uit God se hand ruk nie, selfs nie die dood nie! Geweld het nie die laaste woord nie! Paulus gebruik :4 – “die regverdige – deur sy betroubaarheid sal hy lewe” – in Rom 1:17 en Gal 3:11 om te verduidelik dat alles oor vertroue op God gaan. Vertroue in goeie en slegte tye, want God hoor ons altyd!

Ons as gelowiges sê graag dat God ‘n plan het met alles – Ek wil eerder sê dat God ‘n droom het met alles en VIR MY, vir elkeen van ons! ‘n Droom van lewens wat Hom vertrou, ‘n droom van lewens wat iets wys van Sy geregtigheid en regverdigheid, ‘n droom van lewens wat iets wys van Sy Koninkryk – ook in die donkerste nag!

In die donkerste nag “wil ek… op my wagpos.. gaan staan” (2:1), wil ek getrou God vertrou in ALLES! 

Bibliografie:

Andersen, F.I. (2008) Habakkuk: a new translation with introduction and commentary. New Haven; London: Yale University Press (Anchor Yale Bible).

Baker, D.W. (1994) “Habakkuk,” in Carson, D.A. et al. (eds.) New Bible commentary: 21st century edition. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

Barry, J.D. et al. (2012, 2016) Faithlife Study Bible. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

Mayfield, Tyler (2025). Commentary on Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-27-3/commentary-on-habakkuk-11-4-21-4-11

Matthews, V.H., Chavalas, M.W. and Walton, J.H. (2000) The IVP Bible background commentary: Old Testament. electronic ed. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.


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Luke 6:24-26, 46-49 Eph 4:20-24 Message paraphrase – The good life!

27 10 2025

Preached st Stutterheim United Congregation 18 September 2025

What does it mean to live a “good” life? How can I get to what Paul calls in the letter to the Ephesians (4:20-24 MSG) “a God-fashioned life”? Time after time I will meet people that complain that they are TRYING to live a good life, but keep on failing. So we stand up and fall, stand up and fall, and by trying to live a good life, we keep on falling into a life that is “rotten through and through” (Eph 4:20-24 MSG).

Maybe part if the problem is that we think that the day we become Christians, when we accept Christ, or whatever we call it, we are automatically perfect, because aren’t we now children of God? The problem could also be that we are so satisfied to live a life that is “rotten through and through” (Eph 4:20-24 MSG) that we just think that is what life is. I can’t do better. That’s the way I am. As the Afrikaans saying goes – “So gemaak en gelaat staan!”

If we think any of the above two things we are missing Jesus’ words. The Message paraphrase puts it well: “If you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation!” Following Jesus is much, much more than knowledge, than attending church services, than attending Bible studies, even than doing “good” deeds. Following Jesus is LIFE, it is a way of living for every day, not only for Sunday mornings. It is a way of life that says I am not satisfied to be always failing, to be always trying and falling. We don’t have to be, no, we can’t be satisfied with where we are (Luk 6:25).

We have to work Jesus’ words into our lives (:48). But that is often exactly our problem! We struggle with the HOW!

Following Christ can be like going to the gym or starting running – you don’t have muscles the first day, you can’t run a marathon in the first week. Some things must happen, we must practise! And the same is true for our lives of faith. We must practise to follow Jesus. Yes, we will fail, we will trip, but trip because your are practising to follow Jesus, not trying out of your own strength to be “good”. When we are practicing we might twist an ankle, pull a muscle – give yourself permission to trip, BUT get up and practise some more!

What this means is that we must life consciously – conscious of the presence of the Holy Spirit, conscious of the words of Jesus, conscious that God’s Kingdom is around and in us. We don’t learn to follow Jesus by osmosis, by just cruising through life. 

So what do we need to do purposefully? How do we work Jesus’ words into my life?

There are many, many ways of doing it – Dallas Willard says that one of the best ways is to memorise passages or verses. Bible studies, attending church all helps, but only if we remember this is not about knowledge alone – it is about a way of life! About the Kingdom of God becoming my life! Jesus can only be my foundation if I know what He said.

And there is nothing wrong with doing what Jesus did! We read that He prayed, He rested when tired, He went to synagogue, but then He lived out what God gave Him through fellowship, through meals with people. He lived in a way that showed God’s Kingdom.

So, live every day in dependence of Him, listen, read, memorise His words, obey His words, live His words. Don’t be satisfied with your “fitness” level. “And it’s trouble ahead if you’re satisfied with yourself. Your self will not satisfy you for long” (:25).


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Luk 15:1-10 – Inclusive life

20 10 2025

Preached at the Stutterheim United Congregation 14 September 2025

The Pharisees are back again, and they’ve got another issue with Jesus. He dines with “sinners.” What one ate and with whom one ate both mattered, and the “with whom” has always mattered for most societies. Eating with someone embodied acceptance if not also approval of them.

Here it is crucial to pay attention to the opening words of the passage. “Tax collectors and sinners” are coming to Jesus (Luke 15:1). As The Message puts it, “a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus”. These outcasts are welcomed by Jesus. And the Pharisees and Scribes does not like this, they “grumble”, they “mutter”. They looked down on all three groups in this parable, tax collectors, shepherds and women. They don’t even like what is inferred, that these people could turn over a new leaf.

Tax collectors were often-despised individuals who gathered income on behalf of the Roman Empire. “Sinners” is a rather general term to refer to individuals who are not included among the upright or righteous followers of God’s law. And this Rabbi practices table fellowship with them! He “welcomes sinners and eats with them!” For Jesus, there were no unacceptable associations. His message and mission were an uncompromising call for followers of Christ to become people of indiscriminate hospitality. For Jesus, this is the fundamental way that God’s reign is made visible in human society, and he embodied it by befriending those who were considered unacceptable in his world.

So, with this combined audience, Jesus directs his three-fold parable to the Pharisees and scribes to help them understand the nature of his message and mission. And this is a message of hospitality, of inclusion, of learning that God’s love is indiscriminate, inclusive. It is a way of loving more than we can imagine! The part of the parable we did not read shows this radical love. When the son who rejected the father returns home, we read the following (:20): “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms round him and kissed him.” Twice (:7 & 10) the joy about a sinner repenting is stressed.

Jesus’ parable about lost items show how serious God is about love. And in the parable the relative value of the lost item increases: one out of one hundred, one out of ten and finally (15:11) one out of two. Unimaginable, incredible – what words can we choose that will adequately explain how great this love is? 

John van de Laar wrote a poem to try and put it into words:

It was scandalous then, Jesus:

your inappropriate choice of associations,

your insistence on being with those

who were least likely to be friends of God.

It’s scandalous now, Jesus!

We like to think we’re more gracious than that,

but we still struggle

with whom you choose to include…

Maybe the point of today’s reading, the point Jesus was trying to make to the Pharisees and Scribes, is a point that we should take seriously!

God searched out, called even me! But on the other hand this parable also calls me to ask who might be those deemed “tax collectors and sinners” in my midst? And what does “lostness” look like among us? What do we use to exclude rather than include? Status, language, race, economic status, political views? 

“there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents (:10).”

How can WE live Jesus’ inclusive life?

Bibliography:

Clark, E. Trey (2025). Commentary on Luke 15:1-10. https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-24-3/commentary-on-luke-151-10-6

Keener, C.S. (1993) The IVP Bible background commentary: New Testament. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

McKnight, Scot (2023). Luke: Empowered Living Through Holistic Redemption (New Testament Everyday Bible Study Series). 

Van De Laar, John (2025). Lectionary Reflection for Proper 19C on Luke 15:1-10.https://sacredise.substack.com/p/lectionary-reflection-for-proper-446?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1879235&post_id=173070798&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=1depz3&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email


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