Romans - Week 7

Romans 5:9–11 NIV

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

3 parts here that we really need to understand about the Gospel

Reconciliation

Colossians 1:21–23 NIV

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.

We gotta back up and examine this word ‘reconciliation’.

It’s got two meanings

‘Cause to coexist in harmony’

‘Make an account consistent with another’

BOTH definitions work here.

Jesus has made it so that we can co-exist with God.

STORY - Explaining to caleb what sin was, and how sin can’t exist in God’s presence

He’s also made it so that our accounts of justice with God have been settled and balanced. Jesus settled all the negative balances in our account .

SIDEBAR God is justice - He can’t simply ignore sin or evil.

Imagine saying, i know i’m a good parent, because i make a point of ignoring every little terrible thing my children do, and only acknowledging good things.

We often don’t appreciate how important it was that Jesus ‘settled our debts’.

Our sins racked up a massive punishment from God.

STORY - Pastor friend got pulled over. you accidentally ran a stop sign. I won’t charge you for these things, but your tail light is out. And looks like your pink slip is expired. (ETC ETC) GOES FROM - this is inconvenient to THANK YOU FOR NOT CHARGING ME

But there’s an IF attached to this one - IF we continue in faith.

Jesus himself says this in John 3:18 “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

Our faith determines if we receive this reconciliation

Our faith is the defining factor of if we receive this reconciliation or not. Jesus holds it out - and it is through faith that we take it.

And to be clear, he offers it to every last man, woman and child, without any sort of conditions.

But we still need to receive it by faith in order to be saved.

And that leads into my next point.

Salvation & Resurrection

Romans 10:9 NIV

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Paul says, if we’ve already been reconciled - how much more will we be saved by his life!

As Christians,

We need both the death of Christ AND the resurrection of Christ

The cross, the death of Jesus -it squares our account of justice.

But there’s still this little pesky problem called ‘we’re dead in our sins’.

Ephesians 2:1 NIV

As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,

So in Christ, we receive reconciliation through our faith because of the death of Jesus. When we come to Jesus, our accounts are squared.

We don’t quite approach this conversation right. We think that all we are gunning for is forgiveness. All we need is Jesus to say, I forgive you, and then all is well with us.

And that’s what Jesus did on the cross. He paid our price. And forgiveness is something REALLY, REALLY big and important. It’s just not the whole story.

But paul says something really drastic about this:

1 Corinthians 15:17–18 NIV

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost.

Now to be clear, he’s not saying, the cross is worthless. What he’s saying, is that

The cross AND the resurrection are the full package deal from God

and we can’t separate them

Paul was saying this in response to some people saying, there’s no resurrection of the dead. And he says - if that’s true, then our faith is useless.

So when we say salvation, it’s a big word, and it has a deep meaning

But a key thing about it is this- that Jesus Christ died for our sins, and he rose from the dead

We can have forgiveness - and we can also have eternal life, the way God intended it

Salvation is not just forgiveness of sins - it’s regaining access to this eternal life of joy before the Lord that humanity was created to exist in in the first place

The third aspect

The Ministry of Reconciliation

2 Corinthians 5:18–20 NIV

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

I think that this is one of the most important aspects of our faith.

Absolute, Jesus loves you / wants to be with you / wanted to help you with everything

But when you give your heart, you’re following in a long line of people who also did - and then committed to this ministry of reconciliation

You’re not meant to be the last in line. once you’re on board - Jesus wants to work through you to find the next person.

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

The Spirit is given to make us His witnesses - to the ends of the earth

The thing is, the bible doesn’t simply promise us power. It promises us power-to go.

We are on the other side of this promise - and we don’t understand how big of a deal it was.

This was Jesus rocking the world of these disciples in two ways.

First, was sending the Holy Spirit

Second, was sending them out to the entire world

For sure, God works in our lives. He does amazing things for us.

But even down to the smallest healing and answer, we’re called to go back out into the world, and keep trying to draw more people in.

There’s no person on earth that God has absolutely no use for or ministry prepared for.

Here’s the best part - our experiences with God are the best possible witnesses we can bring to the world.

Peter says, 1 Peter 3:15 “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”

As a person who’s learned and been to school and studied - I see great value in these things.

But I have seen way more people come to faith because of the impact of someone else’s story.

STORY - Geoff T.

Whatever you may not have - you have the Spirit. So what else do you need?

So what should we do?

Go out - and invite someone back

Next week, we’re starting a unit through Christmas, where we’ll explore the gospel story, and how it really is the best gift we’ve ever received.

So as we go today - invite someone to church with you next week.

God is telling a grand story, and he’s calling every single one of you to be a part of it.