Romans-Week 6

Romans 5:6–8 NIV

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

This wasn’t just a thing we could have said in the past. ‘They were powerless then. We’re doing pretty good now’.

Every one of us, before accepting Jesus

We were powerless

We are all still powerless without Christ. Nothing we have is from us, it’s all God’s grace.

When we don’t accept this point, we’re denying a fundamental part of the Gospel.

We can fall into the trap of thinking, oh ya, we’re mostly good, God is making a course correction for us and that’s all. Salvation means, aim a little more to the left

But the message to us is clear - Jesus came while we were still sinners. While we were powerless. While we were dead in our sins.

Salvation is not a redirect - It’s a new life entirely

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

God is saying - what you had before is completely broken. Here’s something new.

This means that we need to give space for God to do some serious rewriting in our hearts and our lives.

This process of being a new creation doesn’t mean that we automatically throw out every single thing we’ve ever known or done - it means a return to the reason and the path that God created us for to begin with.

It means, handing over control.

This is why we preach giving our lives to Christ

Because we know that the life we have now is really His.

Galatians 2:20 NIV

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

And honestly - is it that bad of a trade? How much are we losing, giving up something filthy and broken and temporary, to gain something amazing and eternal?

But when we do,

we have to make sure to give credit where credit is due

Proverbs 3:5–6 NIV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

The person who takes their faith and turns it back onto themselves, and uses it as a spotlight to highlight how awesome and good they are - they’ve completely missed the point.

God’s called us to serve him - and next week, we’ll get into what this means - but in a nutshell, we’re the primary vehicle that God has chosen to express this wonderful news to the next person down the line.

That’s why we have such an intense focus on people on the outside - it’s a core part of the gospel that we take these new lives that Christ has given us, and go out into the world, into the dark places, and say, HEY FOLKS, LOOK WHAT WE FOUND.

As we’re doing this, Jesus said once, Luke 17:10 “So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ””

And that’s not looking down on yourself.

It’s deep humility.

Know enough to say, this isn’t about me.

Humility is scary, because in this case, it’s about trusting someone else with our wellbeing more than ourselves.

But here’s a secret -

God loves you so much that this is the best kind of life

Jesus told a parable once about people jockeying for the best seat at the banquet.

Luke 14:11 NIV

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Later, Jesus tells people, when they host a dinner, don’t invite brothers / sisters / relatives / rich neighbours.

Invite the poor, the blind, the crippled.

And he gives a reasoning behind it. He says - they can’t repay you - but God will.

In fact, Jesus goes so far as to say, anyone who even gives out a cup of water in the name of Jesus will not fail to receive a reward.

So when we humble ourselves, when we say, this is all about God, and not me, and he needs all the glory and all the recognition, when we recognize and confess that we were sinners and Jesus showed HIS love for us when He died- we need to ask ourselves:

How much are we really giving up?

How much is it actually a sacrifice to give up our lives for the eternity that Jesus has for us?

STORY - Once when I was a kid, I remember having this dessert. and it was like, two soft ginger snap sort of cookies, with whipped cream between them. They came in these boxes, they were a school snack. They were amazing.

But here’s the thing - that was a single thing, decades ago. Imagine if i lived my whole life and that cookie was the highlight.

James 4:14 NIV

Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Jesus has a wonderful eternity prepared for us - do we really want to sacrifice that just for our measely cookie? He hast a banquet table, and a feast, and mansions prepared for us, and joy and peace and no more pain. What are we really giving up?

I like to think, that after thousands and thousands of years with Christ - that we may not even remember any of the things that we held so valuable today.

Our houses and security - we’ll be living in mansions

Our fear of the next meal - God will have stuffed us silly

What God calls us to - is so, so much better than what we give up.