Romans 5:1-8 (NRSV)
5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
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Good morning. Or, Good afternoon, depending on when you are watching today’s Live Stream Quarantine Worship at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Selma, California - or reading this message on my blog. If you are watching on the East Coast, it is definitely afternoon. Assuming all goes well with our internet and software, West Coast people may be watching in the morning. One of the blessings of online worship is the opportunity to attend church at many different places all on the same day and hear many different preachers address the same scripture readings from a variety of perspectives. And to show up whenever you want to show up, dressed however you want to be dressed. When it is time to share the Lord’s Supper you might have bread and juice, or coffee and a donut, or something else entirely. And at home you can sing - as loudly as you want, with little regard as to whether you actually hit the right notes. When we come back together - whenever that is - we will not be singing. Which is sad. But, we want to keep everyone healthy so worship will look very different indeed - when the time comes. We will, however, keep providing online worship for all who cannot be with us in person.
So - Romans Chapter 5. The New Revised Standard Version uses the words “justified by faith”. Have you ever wondered what exactly justified by faith means? Because I have. I mean, if I want to justify a particular statement or action, I rely on research and logic and reasons - hopefully good reasons - for that particular statement or action. So perhaps, taking the rest of that verse into account, this means that we are at peace with God because we have faith. So, the mere belief that Jesus is Savior is all it takes.. maybe?
A question like this always sends me off to do research. When I looked for this verse in the Common English Bible it said, “Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” So justified through faith here is interpreted as made righteous through his faithfulness. In other words, it is not anything we do that brings us to a place of peace with God, but God’s own faithfulness toward us. Romans 4:24 tells us that “[righteousness] will be credited to those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” So it’s not about us and our faith at all. This is all about God, and God’s relationship with us.
Then, just for fun, I looked in the Message Version, and found this: “By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus.” This kind of looks like it’s about our faith . . . but when we look back to Romans 4, we find this. “Abraham was declared fit before God by trusting God to set him right.” Abraham trusted God to keep faith with him by keeping the promise of a son. “But it’s not just Abraham; it’s also us! The same thing gets said about us when we embrace and believe the One who brought Jesus to life when the conditions were equally hopeless.” So this is still not about, “I believe in Jesus therefore I am reconciled with God.” It is I trust that God will treat me faithfully, as Abraham was treated. I come to that understanding of God - that God is faithful - because I have seen the resurrection of Jesus, and know in my heart that this was God’s work, and no other.
Okay. So far, so good. But why me? I’m sure Abraham asked that question, too. After all, God came to Abraham specifically and chose him to go and become the father of nations. Scripture doesn’t tell us that Abraham was particularly pious or godly in his behavior. So, why him? Maybe the better question is, why not him?
We, who believe, don’t really have to ask why God was faithful to the promise made to Abraham. We believe that God is faithful in all things. Whatever God has promised will come to pass, because God always keeps promises. It may take longer than we hoped - as was the case with Abraham and Sarah having a child, and the exiles returning to Jerusalem from Babylon, and the coming of the promised Messiah. All of these things happened much more slowly than humans would have liked, but they happened. Because God is always faithful. God always keeps promises.
Still, why me? I can see God being faithful to people who are faithful to God, but me? I walked away from the church of my youth, spoke openly and often about my anger with and rejection of God, and led a far from righteous life for the next couple of decades. Why me? Because, Paul says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
The Message Version says that a bit differently. “Christ arrives right on time to make this happen. He didn’t, and doesn’t, wait for us to get ready. He presented himself for this sacrificial death when we were far too weak and rebellious to do anything to get ourselves ready. And even if we hadn’t been so weak, we wouldn’t have known what to do anyway.”
True, that. I wasn’t able to start doing the right thing, the righteous thing, until I was ready. I wasn’t ready until I had started seeing God’s promises coming true in the world around me, and started believing that God is faithful, and started trusting that God loved me. And I wasn’t ready to even see those things until someone said to me, “I know that you do not believe these things, but are you willing to believe that I believe, and keep an open mind?” I agreed that I could do that.
“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. . . But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
Sometimes I look around the world and wonder if we are ever going to be ready - if we are ever going to be able to reject sin and become reconciled with God and with each other. John 3 tells us that, “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” God sent the Christ in order that the world might be saved, healed, reconciled - so that the world could learn to love God and each other.
I look around the world and wonder if we are ever going to be ready to be saved, healed, reconciled - with God and with each other. With all the hate and divisiveness between us it is hard to see how we might ever be reconciled with one another.
Just FYI - Reconciliation does not mean that we all agree with each other absolutely, any more than unity means uniformity. According to Merriam Webster, reconciliation is the act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement. Or the process of finding a way to make two different ideas, facts, etc., exist or be true at the same time. (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reconciliation). In other words, we can hold different opinions without hating one another. We can believe different things without fighting with one another. We can believe different things and still love one another.
In Christian theology, reconciliation includes atonement or penance. Atonement can take many forms. It can be whatever the parties who have been divided agree it should be. It can be an apology, a heartfelt hug, a promise to be open minded in the future. Reconciliation is more than simply letting bygones be bygones. It is a commitment to act rightly in the future - to not allow differences to divide us, but to work at forming relationship that is lasting and based in love, in desiring the best for each other, just as God desires the best for us.
The differences that divide us from each other and from God are sin. We know this. Hatred and anger, jealousy, resentment, fear of the other, all of these things that divide us from each other are sin. “But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.” God does not reject us or deny us, even when we disobey, even when we reject God, even when we cause physical, emotional or spiritual harm to ourselves and others by our sinful behavior. God is faithful, even especially when we are not.
And that, my beloved, is the Good News. When we go forward into the world this week, may we remember that God’s love for us is steadfast and unconditional.
God’s grace is undeserved, yet freely given.
God is faithful.
Amen.
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