The Gospel for 5th Graders
Notes
Transcript
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Introduction
Introduction
Have you ever heard of a laughing heir? I’m not talking about laughing gas, I’m talking about when someone gets a call from a lawyer saying, “your rich uncle passed away and left you all his money!” It’s when you didn’t realize you would inherit something, but suddenly someone tells you you’re going to be rich.
Would you be laughing with glee if you got a phone call like that?
Getting a financial inheritance would be nice, but your inheritance of origin is likely even more precious.
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In the 1990’s and 2000’s China approved a policy of international adoptions to try to get rid of the extra kids that came because of their one-child policy. Some families inside china had been informally adopting kids in the 80’s trying to keep the extra kids off the Chinese census. But in 1991 China opened itself up to international adoption. Up to 90 percent of them were girls under the age of two and over half of them went to U.S. couples.
In 2005 childless middle-income Chinese families made official adoptions in China much more common and by 2015 china ended its one-child policy, both of which caused international adoptions to plummet.
Unfortunately, the demand for international adoptions during its peak was so lucrative that many children in china were stolen or purchased by adoption agencies in china who made up fake stories about their family background to create sympathy for them among adoptive parents. Of course, there were legitimate adoptions, but not every story had a perfect beginning.
With the rise of DNA testing many people are finding long-lost relatives. Children who thought they were the only child are finding they have a brother or sister, and people who thought they were the biological kids of the parents who raised them are finding they have a different family origin. Many of these cases are precious revelations, some aren’t as nice. Whatever the origin story, finding out you have a different background than you expected is life-changing for anyone who experiences it.
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I’d like to explore a subject that is just as life-changing as finding out your true origins. We’re reading through the Bible and today in our In The Word series we’re studying the book of Romans. Please turn there with me. I know that Romans can be one of the more complicated books of the Bible, but its has in its pages the simplest explanation of the gospel message. So I’m calling this message, “The Gospel for 5th Graders.”
The first thing we need to do is define the word, “gospel.” It’s pretty simple. You should be able to remember it without having to even write it down. Gospel means, “good news.”
So, what’s the good news? First lets define where we are:
Romans 3:9–12 (NLT)
…all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin. As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.”
That’s the bad news. We are all, every single one of us, in a bad situation.
But we do try to be good, don’t we? We do our best to measure up. We try to get good grades and follow the rules. We try to live good lives. But even the good stuff in our lives is riddled with selfishness and pride and the desire to be liked.
Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
This is a real problem. No one is good, and even if we try to be our efforts are like rags. This doesn’t sound like good news. This is depressing.
So lets look at the good news.
But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins.
This is starting to sound better. Everyone has sinned, we all fall short, yet God… That’s the key phrase here.
“Yet God, in his grace, FREELY makes us right in his sight.” Underscore that verse. Highlight it. Write it in your journal and memorize it. This is the core concept in the gospel message.
God.
In His Grace.
Has Freely.
Made us right in His sight.
Keep in mind that when Paul is writing to the Roman church he’s writing to a group that has been divided between Roman and Jewish Christians. The Romans were called Gentiles and the Jewish Christians were referred to just as Jews. Some of the Jewish Christians were annoyed that the gentile Christians were part of their group. They wanted them to be circumcised and to follow all the old laws of the Jews in order to be called Christians. So Paul has to remind the Jews that their story is no different than the Romans. They too are sinners. Both the Gentiles and the Jews need the grace of God.
Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Paul uses one of his favorite words here — justify. It’s a simple word. It means to be considered just. Or as some people put it, “just as if I’d never sinned.”
How are we justified? How are we made right with God? It’s through God’s free grace by faith.
God’s free grace kind of makes sense, but what is faith?
That’s another simple word that just means “believing.” When we believe God’s promises, then they are true for us. So, if I have faith—if I believe them—then God’s promises are just as good for me, a non-Jew, as they are for the Jews who were given the promises to begin with.
Remember the beginning about laughing heirs? When you are a child of a rich person, you expect to receive an inheritance. But if you’re not a child of a rich person, you probably don’t expect anything at all. What Paul is saying is that God’s inheritance that he promised to the Jews is ALSO meant for the gentiles. And all you have to do to receive it is show up and say, I’m in God’s will too. That’s faith.
Here’s the first reality of Salvation that you need to know.
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It’s not what you do, it’s whose you are
The enemy knows that if he can get you to tie your self-worth to what you do instead of whose you are then he can keep you defeated.
God has paid every requirement and done everything necessary to adopt you into His family and give you His good inheritance of life and righteousness. But he won’t force you to become part of His family, so you have to choose Him. You have to agree to be His child and receive His name. All it takes is for you to believe that God actually does want you to be His child.
We all have regrets. We all have reasons to be ashamed of ourselves. But here’s the good news about how God sees you:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.
That reality that bound you to the sinful, selfish, no-good, very bad you—that’s broken by Christ. He doesn’t condemn you because he took all that badness as though He was the one that did it.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Jesus set you free from sin and death by taking your sin and giving you His righteousness. We call this “Christ’s Righteousness.” If you ever hear that term—sometimes it’s said like this: “the robe of Christ’s Righteousness”—that’s referring to this idea that Christ took your sin as His own, and gave you his righteousness as though it was your own.
But what does that word, righteousness mean? It’s another simple word. It just means “to be in right relationship.” Usually we think of it as doing the right things, but that’s not really what it means. It’s more like when a married couple are fighting—that would be like sin—and then they make up and forgive each other and now they’re holding hands and smooching and enjoying each other’s company—that’s righteousness.
You see, the problem isn’t just that we do bad things, it’s that we’re separated from our Father. Our relationship with Him is broken. That’s why its so important to believe that Jesus did everything to make our relationship with God whole again. If you truly believe that, then you will come to God as His child rather than running away from Him as though he’s a mean slave-driver. When Jesus takes your sin — the thing that separates you from God — and gives you his righteousness, then you can confidently say, “i’m a child of God.”
Now, let’s set up for the next basic truth about salvation. Paul describes it in Romans 8:3-7:
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Ok, Paul, let’s simplify this flesh and spirit stuff. It’s like this: you were born the child of Patrick or Micheal or Lawrence or Zeke. That’s your flesh and blood—your origin. In a similar way you were born—the flesh and blood aspect of you—as a child of sin and selfishness. That’s your literal, skin and bones reality. Paul calls that “sinful flesh.”
But Jesus came in “the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering” and change everything for us. When someone is adopted they become part of a new family. It’s not their flesh and blood family, but it’s a real family. They are a son or daughter or sibling in spirit, even if not in flesh. And so, because Jesus came in our flesh and blood and died in our place, he makes us adopted children of His Father in heaven. We are His children in spirit. So Paul tells us we should “live… according to the Spirit.”
Your Bible probably has “Spirit” capitalized, which shows you theres a tiny bit of nuance to this word that goes beyond the spirit of adoption. And it’s a really important nuance. The Spirit Paul is talking about is the Holy Spirit who is the power behind this adoption and the power behind what it means to live in the family of God, and ultimately the power behind your future resurrection from the grave to live as full sons and daughters of God in God’s own home.
So here’s the second basic truth you need to know about salvation:
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It’s Who You Are Becoming
The most important work in your life ins’t the list of good deeds you’ve done. The most important work in your life is who you are becoming in Jesus.
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In 1964 Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison, and Stanley Holloway played the key actors in a movie titled, My Fair Lady. The story is based on the premise that one’s accent and way of speaking determines a persons prospects in society. One evening the Professor that was doing the research about this idea heard a young flower seller in the market speaking in a strong Cockney accent — cockney is a dialect of the english language that originated in London’s East End and is associated with working-class Londoners. It doesn’t pronounce the “h” in words, “L’s” sound like “w” and lots of words get an “aagh” sound at the end. A strong cockney can be hard to understand if you’re not used to it.
The professor runs into a guy who is confident that he can teach even someone with such a strong accent as the flower seller to speak in the most proper and eloquent Queen’s english. And importantly, the flower seller is considered low-society. The story goes through hilarious twists and turns as they try all sorts of things to get this young lady to fit into high society. She eats in fancy restaurants, dances in balls, and a rich guy ends up falling for her.
In a way, this is what God does with us, but its not that we were low society and he’s trying to make us fit into heaven. We were a child of the king of the universe and we just never new it. And it’s different living as children of the king. You can’t lie and cheat and hurt other people and also be a child of God. Just hanging out with the Spirit of God makes you more like Jesus—gentle, patient, kind, loving, and so on.
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Let’s recap:
It’s not what you do, it’s whose you are, and it’s who you are becoming.
Now jump forward to Romans 13.
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
In this one simple paragraph Paul lays aside the nonsense of all the religions and shows what it really means to live like Jesus. And this is the third important thing to know about salvation:
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Love Fulfills the Law
Living like a child of the king doesn’t begin with taking control of your actions, it begins with surrendering your heart to your Father in Heaven.
Surrender is probably the hardest part about love. You can’t love someone unless you surrender a bit of yourself to them. Instead of only being interested in what you like to eat, you ask them, “what would you like to eat?” Instead of only being interested in what you want to watch or listen to you ask, “what would you like?” Instead of spending the day doing things that matter to you, you also ask the person you love, “what’s important for you today?” Married couples know this, but probably need to hear it more often—love means investing in the interests and needs and desires of the other person. And that goes for any other loving relationship like the relationship you have with your kids and your parents, or the relationship you have with a friend. Love is other-focused.
Notice how James puts it:
James 2:18 (MSG)
You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove.
James 2:18 (ESV)
…I will show you my faith by my works.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So this is salvation for a 5th grader:
I believe that Jesus came and gave His life for me, which makes me a child of God. I’ve been adopted into His family and His Holy Spirit gives me both the right and the power to live like God’s child. And you’ll see that I’m God’s child because day by day I’ll be living more and more a life of love.
It’s not What you Do, it’s whose you are, and it’s who you’re becoming.
Love Fulfills the Law
Now that you know all this, you should be pretty happy. Giddy in fact. You’re the heir of life. Your home is heaven. You’ve got a Father that designed you and gave everything to save you, and will soon give you a new home with every resource the universe can hold. You are a laughing heir.
Do you believe it?
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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
Let’s confess with our mouth right now.
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God’s grace is so wonderful. Please stand with me and let’s sing about His Amazing Grace.
