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Can I just say how much I love baptisms. It's
great to be able to share the joy of parents and family
and friends as they welcome a new person into the world
and especially as we welcome that new person into the
life of God's Church. And it's perhaps fitting that today
we're looking at a passage that explains the basis on
which we can indeed welcome a little child like Claudia
into God's family and say with confidence that God has
called her into his Church, that he's brought her out of
darkness into his marvellous light. For those who are
visitors today we've been going through the letter to the
Romans over the past few weeks and today we come to
3:9-21. |
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What we've discovered so far in the first few
chapters of Romans is that the great need, the great
longing of people throughout history has been to know
that they're right with God. There's an awareness in all
of us, if we're honest with ourselves, of how far we fall
short of God's standards. And it doesn't matter where we
come from. As we've discovered over the last couple of
weeks, those who are outside the people of God, who don't
have the written law to guide them, show that they have a
form of God's law written on their hearts every time they
experience guilt or a bad conscience for doing something
they seem to know innately is wrong. And yet they're
unable to consistently do the right thing. And we spoke
last week of how even those who do have the written law
of God to guide them, Jews and Christians alike, are
unable to keep that law. |
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Of course, Paul says, the Jews do have an
advantage as the custodians of the very words of God. Yet
even that doesn't help them. As he says here in v9
"Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have
already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under
the power of sin." |
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Now this isn't a new discovery of Paul's. He
hasn't just worked this out. He's actually learnt it by
reading his Old Testament. So he brings out a whole
series of quotations from the Old Testament, especially
the Psalms: Ps 14; Ps 53; Eccles 7; Ps 5, Ps 140; Ps 10;
Is 59; Ps 36. It's an amazing list of comments about the
evil we find in human nature. Now I don't think he quotes
all these passages just to get us depressed about human
nature. We're certainly not meant to read them as though
every human being does all these sorts of things. I have
a feeling that that's how some people have read them in
the past. As saying that there's nothing of any worth in
human nature. That the fall has totally destroyed
anything good. I don't believe that that's Paul's or
God's intention here at all. We'll see in a moment what
he wants us to understand from all these quotes. But I
think it's important before we go further that we be
reminded of the fact that every human being on this earth
is a person made in the image of God. So every one of us
has a value that can't be calculated and mustn't be
underestimated. And it certainly shouldn't be downplayed
through an overemphasis on our failure to live like
creatures made in God's image. |
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But having said that, we also mustn't try to
deny that failure. We mustn't think that because we're
made in God's image everything's just fine. You see, our
culture has a strong propensity for excusing or
explaining away sinfulness in people. There's an
interesting movie around, called '15 Minutes'. It's about
a pair of communist bloc criminals who come to America
looking for an accomplice who's run off with their loot.
They discover that he's spent the money, so in their rage
they kill him and then go into hiding. As they're laying
low, they pass the time watching daytime television. And
of course what they see is talk shows like Oprah and
Roseanne and Jerry Springer. They watch as a parade of
wrongdoers confess their infidelities to their spouses
and then explain it away by the way they've been treated
or brought up; by passing on the blame to someone else.
And in the end the spouse accepts their explanation and
everything's OK again. Then they see a murderer get off
because he pleads insanity. And not only that, but he's
paid millions for his story and the movie rights. So
these 2 guys decide if that's how America sees evil, they
might as well go on a crime spree, killing anyone who
gets in their way, knowing that when they get caught
they'll just have to plead insanity and they'll get off. |
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Well, you'll be pleased to know they don't get
away with it in the end, though it appears like they will
for quite a while. But the point is that there's this
attitude in western culture society that sin doesn't
exist; that wrongdoing can be explained away by
psychology or sociology, or even genetics. |
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But that's to deny the reality revealed to us by
God in his word. One of the reasons for giving us the
law, you see, is that it shows up our sinfulness, our
need for another solution. Look at v20. What does it say?
"Through the law comes the knowledge of sin." |
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There are still people around who rely on their
ability to do the right thing. They say, "I'm OK.
I've always tried to do the right thing, to live by the
golden rule. I'm sure God will think I'm OK." But if
you want to live by the law, if you hope to get by
according to the way you live, then you need to watch out
don't you? Because in the end all the law is going to do
is to show up our faults, show how far we've fallen
short. No, if we want to be right with God, then we need
a better way than our ability to do the right thing. |
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And that's what God has provided for us. Look at
v21: "But now, apart from law, the righteousness of
God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and
the prophets, 22the righteousness of God
through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe."
God has provided a way of salvation, a path to
righteousness, that's law-free, grace based and Christ
centred. |
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You may have been wondering what all this
depressing stuff has to do with a joyful occasion like a
baptism. Well, this is where the baptism bit comes in.
Because baptism, particularly of a child, is all about
the salvation that God offers us, free of law,
independent of our performance, based instead on his
freely offered gift of righteousness, won for us by Jesus
Christ. |
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You see a child can't do anything to earn God's
favour. All she can do is rely on God's love and
kindness, the same as she relies on her parents' love and
kindness. Does a child need God's salvation? Well, if
you'd seen my angelic 21 month old grandson the other day
screaming because he couldn't get his own way, you'd have
no doubt about it. |
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The fact is, as we read in v23, "all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Even a
little child like Claudia will try to control her
universe if her parents will let her. All of us want to
be the ruler of our own world, rather than live as
subjects of the one who is rightly Lord of the universe.
So what hope is there for us, as far as getting right
with God goes? |
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The only hope we have is the hope that God
offers us. V23, you see, becomes v24: "23since
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24they
are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25whom God
put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood,
effective through faith." There's a lot of jargon in
there so I thought it might be helpful to unpack it. So,
first: |
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Everyone has sinned and fallen short of the
glory of God. |
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It's as though there's a scale that measures our
standard of behaviour. If we could get to the top of the
scale then we'd be like God. We'd be able to stand next
to him and show forth the glory that he has. The idea of
a halo around the head of a saint was meant to portray
that idea. The halo was the glow that emanated from
someone who was so good they were getting close to the
glory of God. Well, imagine that that scale is like one
of those growth charts you might have on your wall if
you've got growing children. But this one reaches all the
way up to the ceiling. And when we stand beside it we can
measure ourselves against the glory of God. Some days
we'll feel like we've done really well. We might even
feel like we're getting up near the picture rails. Not
quite to the top, but fairly high. But then some days we
fail and slip down the chart a bit. Then other days we do
really badly and feel like we've got to start all over
again. Then we do well and feel good about ourselves
again. |
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But the trouble is, when God looks at the chart,
he isn't just looking at where we are today, he's looking
at our whole history. To attain the glory of God requires
an entire lifetime at the top of the chart. Or to change
the image, it's like getting your shirts OMO clean. It
doesn't help that most of the shirt is clean if you have
a great big ink stain on the cuff. No, you want the whole
shirt to be clean. So it is with our lives. We've all
fallen short at some stage, if not at most stages, of the
standard of perfection that God requires; that is of the
glory of God. |
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So what's the answer?. |
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They are now justified. |
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He says they are now justified. That is we're
declared to be right with God. This is a legal term that
has the idea of being declared innocent. A helpful way of
understanding this, that I was taught as a teenager, was
that it's 'just as if I'd never sinned.' God looks at us
and sees the glory of Jesus Christ rather than our own
failure to meet his standards. |
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And how can we receive this new status? |
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By his grace as a gift |
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Grace is one of those jargon words that
Christians use in quite a different way to the way it's
most commonly used. Usually it has the idea of the way
someone carries themselves or the measure of social skill
and politeness they exhibit. Or else it's used of a
thanksgiving prayer before a meal. But what it means here
is God's freely offered, unearned, favour towards us. The
righteousness that we long for, the justification we
need, is offered to us by God as a gift, without
condition, other than a willingness to accept that it
comes from the one who is the Lord of the universe. |
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And how is this gift of righteousness brought
about? |
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Through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, |
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Again, redemption is a jargon word. It comes
from the context of a slave market, where someone who had
been captured and made a slave, or had been sold as a
slave could be bought out of that slavery by the payment
of a price. In our case the price that had to be paid was
what we owed for our disobedience. As we'll discover when
we get to ch6 that price was death. But the death we owed
has been paid for us by Jesus Christ, by his death on the
cross. Jesus has redeemed us. That is, he's bought us
back from slavery to sin and death, by dying in our place
on the cross. |
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Whom God put forward as a sacrifice of
atonement by his blood. |
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That phrase sacrifice of atonement has been the
source of a lot of discussion and controversy over the
years. We don't have time to go into the various
arguments here, though if you're interested I'm happy to
discuss them with you later. But for now let me suggest
that the idea behind the phrase is that Jesus' death is a
sacrifice which removes God's anger at the sin in our
lives and makes us right with him again. In other words
it's an idea that has to do with our relationship with
God. This is a very imperfect example, but it's as
though, when we disobey God, God feels towards us a bit
like a wife might feel towards her husband if he were
unfaithful to her, if he had an affair. But Jesus takes
away that anger, he takes on himself the punishment that
we deserve, by his death on the Cross. And finally: |
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This is made effective through faith |
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The only thing we need to do to receive this
gift from God is to believe. To believe in God, to
believe that Jesus Christ is his only Son. To believe his
promise that he'll make us right with God. Again, there's
nothing new about this. This is how God has always
provided forgiveness of sins. Look at what he says in
v25: "He did this to show his righteousness, because
in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins
previously committed." In the days of the Old
Testament, God had instituted a system of sacrifices by
which people could ask for forgiveness. But of course
sacrificing a sheep or a goat couldn't actually cleanse
them of sin. So how could God justly forgive them? He
could only forgive them if they were to be justified on
the same basis as us. On the basis of faith in God's
promise to forgive them. On the basis that Jesus Christ
took their sins on himself. |
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And so he says, there are no grounds for
boasting. Don't ever say you've been good enough.
Especially don't think that you're a Christian because of
some value inherent in yourself. No, if you're a
Christian it's solely on the basis of the grace of God,
given to you as a gift: unearned, unmerited, freely
given. |
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Do know that you're right with God? Not that
you're good enough for God, not that you've lived an OK
life, but that he sees you as good, as one who is
righteous, just. Would you like to be sure of that fact?
There's nothing difficult about it. How does he say we
come by that righteousness? "They are now justified
by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, 25whom God put forward as a
sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through
faith." If you want to be sure of your standing
before God all you need to do is to believe. Believe that
Jesus did indeed die to bring you redemption, forgiveness
from sin. Believe that God wants you as his child, that
he'll welcome you into his family the same as he's
welcomed Claudia today. Ask him for the forgiveness, the
righteousness that he freely offers, a righteousness that
comes through his grace, freely given, law free, based on
what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. And then
you can enter into the life of God's people in freedom
and joy, not bound down by your inability to do what's
right, but freed by God's Spirit to live for him in faith
the rest of your life. |
