February 25, 2018 Text: Romans 5:1-8
Dear Friends in Christ,
Sometimes it’s good just to go back to the basics, just to hear once again the core of what wee believe, just to listen to what brings peace, hope and joy to our hearts. Romans 5 does just that. The Apostle Paul is assuring us of the basic, core hope we have when he says, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (v. 1)
This sermon is about what God has done through Christ. But first we must begin with ourselves. We must admit that God needs to save us because we cannot justify ourselves. Weak, sinful, and ungodly is not how we want to see ourselves. Frankly, we want to see ourselves just the opposite. It starts young.
In Nevada there is a school system that is changing the grading system so no one fails. If you get A’s and B’s you are “extending.” C students are “developing.” Those who should get an F are “emerging.” In this school system you only succeed. You are only described in positive terms. That is how we want to see ourselves – as adults too. But that is not how God sees us. Not strong and emerging, but weak and sinful. So we need the message today . . .
“BACK TO THE BASICS”
We have always had some controversy in our country over the posting of the 10 Commandments in our courtrooms. But imagine sitting in God’s courtroom with Him as the judge and the 10 Commandments boldly plastered on the wall behind Him. You stand before Him and he reads the 2nd commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” No use of four letter words. No carelessly saying or typing on your phone “Oh God” in the middle of a sentence. No calling another a nasty name because you are angry. Just the commandment staring you in the face, saying, “Did you keep me all of the time?” and God asking “How do you plead?” Not in the positive even if you went to school in Nevada, “guilty as charged.”
Let’s try another one, say, “You shall not steal”? No greed. No anxiety over money. No buying stuff on yourself and not being generous to others. Just the commandment staring you in the face saying, “Did you keep me all the time?” and God asking, “How do you plead?” Not good, just guilty. Just weak, ungodly and sinful. No we don’t want to be in God’s courtroom where His justice would declare us to be unloving, helpless, deserving of God’s punishment. That’s basic.
But we are not in His courtroom. We are in His house, his church. We are in the one place where we remember that the greatest injustice of all time has saved us from God’s punishment. Here in the church we do not stare at God’s Law and wilt under our guilt. No, we also see Jesus’ cross and rejoice in our justification. That’s basic.
Remember that dark Thursday night and Jesus has gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. As the disciples awake, Jesus is arrested and he is going to trial. The court is hastily convened. People come forward but their charges do not agree. Jesus is innocent. Here is the one person inherently good and strong and godly and sinless. No charge can stick against Him except one that is trumped up. So an injustice is perpetuated and Jesus is sentenced to die.
Yet justice is served when Jesus is nailed to the cross – God’s justice. Our breaking of the Ten Commandments could not be simply excused. No, someone had to die. Someone had to take the eternal punishment, and that someone is Jesus. Our sin and His death combine on a cross and God’s justice is satisfied. We are justified in God’s sight as Jesus holds onto us as our only hope. He is the only reason for our rejoicing when we stand before God on Judgment Day.
Reader’s Digest years ago had a story about Bill who had donated 100 pints of blood. What Bill did was kind and generous but here is what he said, “When the final whistle blows and St. Peter asks, ‘What did you do?’ I’ll just say, ‘Well, I gave 100 pints of blood, that ought to get me in.’” A writer by the name of Joe McKeever made this comment about Bill, “Bill was probably joking. But if he was serious…if Bill is counting on the giving of 100 pints of blood to get him to heaven, he is trusting in the wrong blood.” Our faith is in Jesus, because His blood shed on the cross justifies us. That’s basic to what we believe.
When you go back to the basics – that we are weak, ungodly, and sinners, yet justified because God’s love in shown in Jesus, who, at just the right time, died for us – it makes a difference in how we feel. We rejoice. It makes a difference in what we do. We endure when we suffer, even more; we become people of character and hope. We love and live for Jesus. And it makes a huge difference in what we know. It is deep and mysterious, yet our faith holds on to one basic truth: God’s love was shown when Jesus stretched out his arms as wide as they could go and He died for us so that we might live.
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yes, it is good to go back to the basics.
Amen.