Mood:
chattyTopic: MyWords::RE::God'sWords
Last two weeks: Thanks/God's disguise
MOTIF
> How bad am I? How far do I fall short?
> "The Hitler Scale" [Hitler/Bin Laden/Simmons/Binks>> <<Warren/Teresa/Graham/Yoda]
> "Good Enough" video
> As long as we stay on "good side," we think we're okay.
-> Even Christians: "Well, yeah, this attitude is wrong, but y'know there are worse things I could be doing." Or end justifies means: Scream at kids/break speed limit to get to church on time.
DILEMMA
> Problem: Two sorts of people: (1) Jesus has forgiven me! Everything's okay!>Fails to see God as holy, good/(2) Constant guilt>Fails to embrace God's grace.
> This was problem in Rome:
--> (1) Jewish believers: Saved by grace, showed it by keeping Torah [WHAT IS TORAH?] ... if you didn't obey Torah, you were not in God's grace ... wanted Paul to say: "Gentiles [non-Jews], if you've really trusted Jesus, you must keep all the Torah." Didn't see fullness of God's grace.
--> (2) Gentile/Greek believers: Saved by grace, so nothing was necessary ... as long as Jesus is your God, nothing more is needed ... wanted Paul to say to Jews: "Ignore your ancient Torah!" Didn't see fullness of God's goodness/holiness.
> Paul refuses: Torah is important, shows separation between God and humanity/In fact, even Gentiles have Torah/Never tells Jewish believers to stop keeping Torah/At the same time, Torah is not standard by which God judges--Jesus Christ.
> "Okay, we're all equally guilty. So, how bad are we?"
TEXT
Romans 3:9-31
> "What, then, does this amount to? That we Jews stand on a higher plane than the nations? No! For we have already established one verdict for Jews and Greeks."
> Paul uses legal terminology [2-3 witnesses]: Nature, human experience ... Scripture [Psalms, hymnal].
> Paul describes the darkness: You don't look for God, and everything you do is tainted--at some level--with sin. v.13: Rottenness, death, poison
> [Wad from magazine in Denver]: Even in doing right, my first motive was to preserve myself, my second motive was to glorify God ... sometimes, glorifying God doesn't even make Motive #2.
> If you were to dig to the depths of your soul, this is what you'd find.
> What would you do if no one would ever find out? What would you do if not even God would find out? What would you do if no one--not even God--would ever find the body? That's who you really are.
> There is darkness in my heart that no one around ever sees, that I do everything I can to deny, but that God sees clearly.
3:17-18: "Way of peace": It's this darkness that steals our peace/Problem: "No fear of God.">"To be more concerned with what God thinks and what God could do than what anyone else might think or do."
3:19-20: Our darkness runs so deep that outward keeping of laws--whether Torah or sense of right in hearts--cannot show that we are right with God.
> It is possible to keep Torah/rules and still to be filled with darkness and sin.
> "Silenced": Legal term that meant, "Objection overruled." Any objection you have is overruled by the fact that there is a darkness in human heart that runs deeper than any law can touch.
3:21-24: God's standard--"God's righteousness"--is not revealed to the world through the rules we keep but through Jesus Christ whom we trust.
> "Through trust in Jesus Christ": Trust, life-pledge [not intellectual belief, not simply repeating words of prayer, not joining church, not certain steps ABC]
> Not "Hitler Scale," but absolute standard of perfection of God in Jesus [3:23, Jesus is God's glory] ... merging our lives with life of Jesus, trust Jesus ... not perfect, but orientation [focus] of life becomes, "How can I be like Jesus?"
3:24-26: How can God do this? "Propitiation": God's wrath at sin poured out on Jesus [God the Son], God took his own punishment, for all who trust ... also, in Old Testament, the mercy seat [ark of covenant] ... place where God is most present.
> "Are you saved?" "From what?" We are saved by God from God.
> v. 25: "Demonstrate justice": endeixis: Legal charges brought against someone who has claimed to have rights that she or he doesn't actually possess. We have claimed right to run our own lives.
3:27-31: This is the ONE WAY to know God--not one for Jews, one for Gentiles.
> Appeals to Jewish Scriptures: v.30: Shema Yisrael YHVH elohenu YHVH echad. If there is one God, known to us in Jesus Christ, there must be one way to know this God.
> In this way, Torah is established. Whether Jews or Gentiles, we see truth about our sin, truth about why we feel guilty, truth about why we must do what is right--because we were created to be like Jesus.
RESOLUTION
> How bad are we? What matters most is not our worst but God's best.
> In cross, God takes his stand at darkest point of our darkness. God's best--Jesus Christ--descends to the point of hell itself.
> Why? [$100 bill] ["If I ... how much is it worth?" {Ps139:14}]
APPLICATION
> Your value doesn't depend on how clean you are; it depends on who created you. That's what cross is about.
