Sermon:
March 25, 2001
Sunday Night Alive!

Scripture:
Romans 3:21-24

In the U.S. in 2001, spirituality is in. Specific claims about spirituality are not. The good news is you could read this verse and no one would accuse you of being too specific, because no one would have any idea what you just said. You could title this passage: "What not to preach at a new service designed to be friendly for people who didn't grow up in church."

Let me explain why. We in the church have at times been accused of not speaking the "language of the people." After all, God came to us as Jesus Christ, so that we could "understand his language." As Joan Osbourne sang a few years ago: "What if God were one of us? Just a slob like some of us?" Well, it happened, and we need to keep restating it in the language of the people. Jesus came to show us who God was. He did it using common, even crude language.

Now, the problem with this passage:

But now, apart from the law of Moses, (what?)
the righteousness of God (what?) has been disclosed,
and is shown by the Law and the prophets, (huh?)
the righteousness of God (there it is again)
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
For there is no distinction, since
all have sinned (archaic) and
fallen short of the glory of God; (what?)
they are now justified (ahhh - now I get it)
by his grace (mmm?) as a gift,
through the redemption (?) that is in Christ Jesus.

Here's the best news for all you believers who did grow up in church. We're going to explain it right now so you can pretend like you knew it all along!

The righteousness of God is God's way of bringing people into right relation to himself.

The law of Moses is the teaching of Moses given by God. It was twofold: moral and ceremonial. Moral to uncover sin (separation from God); ceremonial to provide cover for the sin.

The Law and the prophets is a summary term for the Old Testament

Faith in Jesus Christ is simply belief in action. We are not saved because of our faith in Christ. Our faith makes no contribution to what God already completely did for us. It is by faith that we accept God's gift.

This is where Christianity differs from every other religious system. As you study other religions, no matter which ones, they are all based on one tenet: they affirm that salvation must be earned, that it is by works, that we must do something to merit God's favor. In Christianity, works do not result in salvation, they result from salvation. The reason we serve others, the reason we worship, the reason we praise, is not to earn anything; it is simply out of gratitude for what was done for us.

All have sinned, from Jeffrey Dahmer to Mother Teresa. No one is perfect. Everyone is separated from God. We all have missed the mark. Being a sinner does not make you a bad person; it simply means you are separated from God. For some people, it's obvious - they're missing something, all right. For others, it just doesn't seem fair. They are very good people! Here is where we must remember we aren't measured by human standards, but by God's.

The glory of God is like the rays of the sun. Because of the sun's core, it gives off rays of light and heat. Because of God's holiness, God radiates glory.

Justified. One of the best things about computers is that they have given us a great illustration of "justified;" as in "right-justify" and "left-justify." The words line up. When we are justified by Christ, we "line up" in the way God sees his own Son. Because Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our sin, which was death, we are literally seen as righteous by God; the way God sees his own Son.

Grace is unmerited favor, getting what we don't deserve. It is by grace that we are justified to God. Grace is a one way gift; one that can never be repaid.

Redemption is like being bought out of slavery, and then set free. It's more than just being purchased, it is being purchased and then handed your freedom. The benefit of being redeemed by God is forgiveness of sins. We were purchased, and then set free from sin.

Let's try it again:

Now, the way to be in relationship with God has been made plain in a way other than Moses' teachings. The whole Old Testament points to this new way. Jesus Christ said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me." By accepting Jesus Christ we are made right with God. There is no difference between people. All people are separated from God and not holy like God is; but they are made right by God's great gift of his Son. They are set free from sin through Jesus Christ.

It is a free gift from God to us. But it was not cheap. It was costly.

Max Lucado asks:

Did you ever think about the cross? Can you turn any direction without seeing one? On top of a chapel, carved on a gravestone, on a ring, or a necklace or earrings. The cross is the universal symbol of Christianity. Don't you think that it is strange that a tool of torture would come to embody a movement of hope? Other faiths have symbols a little more upbeat: the six-pointed star of Jerusalem, the crescent moon of Islam, the lotus blossom of Buddhism. Yet an instrument of execution? It's pretty tacky if you ask me! Would you wear a tiny electric chair around your neck? Suspend gold hangman's nooses from the ceiling? Many people make the sign of a cross when they pray. Would you make the sign of a guillotine? Karate chop your hand? It's missing something, isn't it?

Yet the cross is a perfect symbol of our faith. Look at the cross itself. One beam horizontal, one vertical. One reaches out like God's love. The other reaches up, like God's holiness. The cross is the intersection of both. The cross is where God forgives us without lowering the standards. How? God put our sin on his Son and punished it there. "Christ never sinned! But God treated him as a sinner, so that Christ could make us acceptable to God."

Picture it. God on his throne. You on earth. Suspended between you and God is Jesus Christ on his cross. Your sins have been placed on Jesus. God who punishes sin, releases his rightful wrath on your mistakes. Jesus receives the blow. Since Christ is between you and God, you don't. The sin is punished, but you are safe, safe in the shadow of the cross.

Besides, consider what he did. He gave his son. His only son. Would you do that? Would you offer the life of your child for someone else? There are those for whom I would give my life. But ask me to make a list of people for whom I would kill one of my children, and I will give you a blank piece of paper. The list has no names.

But God's list has the name of every person who has ever lived. This is how wide the scope of God's love is. This is why he gave us the cross. For the whole world.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever shall believe in him shall not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Just as the center beam points up to God's holiness, the crossbeam declares his love. Aren't you glad it didn't say, "For God so loved the poor..." or "For God so loved the famous..." or "For God so loved the thin, or those who have their act together..." When we read John 3:16, we simply read: "For God so loved the world." And that means you. You are forgiven. You are included!

It's nice to be included. You aren't always. Universities exclude you if you aren't smart enough. Businesses exclude you if you aren't qualified enough. Sadly, some churches exclude you if you aren't good enough.

But though they exclude you, Christ includes you. When you ask Jesus to describe the width of his love, he stretched one hand to his right and the other to his left and had them nailed in that position so you would know, he died loving you. It's his free gift to you. It's free, but it's not cheap.

There was once a man who worked in a small town as the operator of a drawbridge on a river. A train track ran across the bridge, and the operator's job was to keep the bridge up when no train was coming so that the boats could pass underneath. When a train approached, he was to blow the whistle and let down the bridge.

One sunny Saturday morning, the man brought his seven-year-old son along to work with him. The boy played along the river, skipping rocks, chasing bugs, and even trying to catch fish. Shortly before noon, a passenger train was due to come through the area. The man began to make preparations to let the bridge down so the train could pass safely across the river. As he examined the bridge, he noticed that someone-a small child-had somehow climbed over the guardrail next to the bridge, and was playing at the very spot where the bridge would come down. As he looked closer, he realized with horror that the child was his son. He was desperate. He yelled for his son. But the sound of the train approaching drowned out his screams. He knew he had to make a quick decision. If he lowered the bridge now his son would die. But if he didn't, all the people on the train would die as they would plunge into the river. He barely had time to think. As he screamed in agony, the man thrust forward the lever to lower the bridge just as the train arrived. His son died instantly. As the train passed, the people were smiling, talking and laughing, oblivious to the horrible drama that just took place. The man was in agony.

Isn't that what God did for you and me? Were I a passenger on that train, only to later hear about what happened, I would owe the man my life. I would want to thank the man; honor his son; tell others about him. My free ride was costly. The ultimate price was paid for me. Only in our story, HIStory, the Son freely gave his life, so you and I could be free to live with him in final victory.

May we claim his story, which is our story, and live out of gratitude for a love given at so great a price, yet so wide and so free for you and me. O, sweet victory that we have been given in Jesus Christ!

Amen.