4 June
2017 – Pentecost – Romans 3:21-28
Obedience
to God’s Word results from grace
Luther possibly said it best when he stated, “A Christian lives in Christ through faith,
in his neighbor through love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God.
By love he descends beneath himself into his neighbor.” As we continue in
our walk through the book of Romans we are presented with a question: “Why be
good?”
Why be good? We are found to be in a right standing
with God through Jesus’ work and Jesus’ merit. Paul reminds us that your
obedience does not save –“a man is
justified by faith apart from words of the law.” Your obedience to God’s
law has no part in getting right with God.
Now, if that is all true. Then why exert
yourself? Where does obedience stand?
We need to place obedience in its proper perspective.
Why be
good by obeying God’s Laws?
1. Not to earn God’s acceptance. “But now the
righteousness of God has been
manifested apart from the law, (although the
Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.)” “For we hold that one is justified
by faith apart from works of the
law.”— Vv. 21, 28
A. The righteousness of
God has been manifested apart from the law.
It is impossible
for a person to be righteous by law-keeping (v. 20). Not because of any
imperfection in the law. But the result of our inability to keep it. So it is
that God has provided a way of righteousness “apart from the law.” It is a righteousness that comes “by faith in Jesus Christ.” This
righteousness is available to all people. The
righteousness of God is Jesus. Apart from works of the law. Jesus’ sacrifice on
the cross fulfilled the law.
The entire Old Testament bears witness to Christ. On the road
to Emmaus as Jesus talked to those two witnesses, Luke reminds us, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:27)
B. You are justified
apart from works of the law.
This is glorious good news for anyone who has faced the
reality of their sinful nature. Try as we might to live a “good life” or “keep
the Ten Commandments,” we know that we fail time and again. If there is a way
to get right with God, it has to be “apart
from the law”. And thank God, that is exactly what the Father has revealed
in the gospel. As the Reformation would unfold Luther and Philip
Melanchthon would write, “Upon this
article of justification everything that we teach and practice depends. We must
be certain and not doubt this doctrine. Otherwise all is lost!”[1]
2. We follow God’s directive to express gratitude
for grace received. “…and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was
to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” - Vv. 24, 25
A. We are justified by
His grace as a gift.
Grace cannot be earned. It must be given
by God. The word Paul uses for “Redemption”
(Gk “apolytrosis”) is the concept of the buying back of a slave or a captive, setting
a person free. Christ gave His life to see all people free when He died on the
cross. “We receive the mercy promised in
Him by and set it against God’s wrath and judgment.”[2]
Paul uses the term “Propitiation.” Where the high priest sprinkled the blood of
the sacrifice on the Ark of the Covenant’s cover this all pointed to Christ. (See
Exodus 25:17) Christ’s righteousness covers the sinner. He is the sacrifice for
sin. Faith does not earn anything…it receives God’s gift.
C. Because the Father has
passed over former sins.
Christ’s work shows that God both justly
punishes sin and graciously forgives sinners.
God does not ignore sin. He delayed the punishment until Christ paid it.
But this is not child abuse. Christ willingly made full satisfaction for sin.
Christ is true God “reconciling the world
to Himself.” (2 Cor. 5:19) The Father sent the Son sincerely, anticipating
the sacrifice, victory and reunion. (The binding of Isaac.)
Remember Luther’s perspective; “A Christian lives in Christ through faith, in his neighbor through
love. By faith he is caught up beyond himself into God. By love he descends
beneath himself into his neighbor.”
Why be good? Because God is good. Because God is
good He has made you good. You are now free to love God as you serve your
neighbor in love.
Through the waters
of baptism, each of us is called by the Lord, to become agents of the Gospel –
the presence of Jesus Christ – wherever it is God calls you to serve. This is
your calling in life to love God as you serve your neighbor. In faith. In hope of all things possible. In love expressed by Jesus' sacrifice.
Words – 1,210
Passive
Sentences –9%
Readability –73.8%
Reading Level
-6.3
Luther’s Seal
© Ed Riojas, Higher Things
[1] The
Smalcald Article Book of Concord Concordia Triglotta: - Page 145
[2] Apology to the Augsburg
Confession 82
[i]
Jesus is not simply a
teacher or a great moralist or a great example; rather, he is, as we confess in
the Nicene Creed, light of light, very God of very God, of one substance with
the Father, and the only begotten Son of God. Remember that the Council of
Nicaea rejected the teaching of Arius, who did not think that Jesus was wholly
divine. Yet without being fully human and fully divine, you and I remain
earthbound, to dust and to decay.
“Some prefer a savior who
only teaches and provides an example of a good life, or advances a political
agenda. And to those people we must say that human teachers, no matter how moral
they may be, or how grand a political agenda they propose, they cannot raise
anyone-anyone-to eternal life, because such a teacher cannot conquer death.
Others continue to create a Jesus in their own image, a teacher of secret
truths to a select few, someone who has a grandiose social agenda of a
you-pick-the-ideology. Still others prefer a wise rabbi or philosopher.
And yet, martyr after
martyr, to say nothing of the disciples themselves, did not go to death out of
loyalty to a wise rabbi or a great moralist. The only reason they could look
death in the eye and not blink is because of the truth many had been witness
too. They had witnessed the crucifixion, they had witnessed the resurrection,
they were in the upper room, they had the Spirit breathed upon them on that
first Pentecost, they were with him for forty days, and they saw him ascend.
They took these truths and handed them down to others, who in turn passed them
along to others still. These were life changing events that gave them the
strength to sacrifice themselves for the Lord. This is the on-going work of the
Church today: to continuously hand down those truths that we have received from
those saints who came before us.” – Pr. Ken Kelly Ascension 2017 sermon
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