ROMANS 3:21-31

Why the GOOD NEWS is GOOD

Romans 3

21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood (atonement), to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Romans 3

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The Forever Empty

The Struggle for Freedom

Hugging or Mugging

Honesty and Truth

Religion and Fear

If there is no God, then, to be intellectually honest you have to admit meaningless

And that no one is objective

Freud, Russell, and others say religion is a means to deal with this fear and with death

Why does it bother us? CS Lewis

Beginning with Fear

Proverbs 9:10, Psalm 111:10

Disillusionment and despair produce fear

The Bible says this is where you get to know God

This is the BEGINNING of wisdom, not the END

Love drives out fear (1 John 4:18)

Power and Holiness

This place is where you reckon with an all-powerful God

Our experiences with power have made us afraid and skeptical of those with power

Humans abuse power What Paul is asking

here is this, “How does God use His power?”

Otherness and the Cross

Holiness as otherness God does things

differently Humans can take any

GOOD and make it BAD

God can take any BAD and make it GOOD

God saves by giving up power, and is thus totally other

The Way of Love

God doesn’t act out of fear, but out of love

He is HOLY and LOVE We pass through His

HOLINESS on the way to LOVE

Love is OTHER ORIENTED by nature

Fear is self-preserving

The Problem of Meaning

Life isn’t meaningless is there is a God that is transcendent and infinite

This means you have to deal with meaning

Actions do matter There is a higher

moral law and purpose that this transcendent being has put in place

Why Am I Here?

The multi-layered GOOD NEWS

Doesn’t just save from meaninglessness

Justification We all have reasons for

saying, “This is why I matter.”

What gives you meaning and purpose in life?

Always relational Righteousness as a

relationship that gives you meaning, purpose, identity, and value

Covenanting

In the Bible, this relationship is called a covenant

Promises are made between two parties

This is where you get your righteousness and justification

Job, Boy/Girlfriend, Money, Grades, etc.

Unforgiving Little gods

The problem is that none of these things care about you

Nor can they forgive you when you fail them

NONE of them can justify an ETERNAL sort of life

They all fall short of what we need and want (Romans 3:23)

Glory as PRESENCE and WEIGHT

Rules or Relationship?

Romans 3:23-24 God justifies our

existence and redeems us

Picture of a slave being bought back

Hosea and Gomer We want to justify and

redeem ourselves Rules (goodness) or lack

of rules (badness) Legalism or lawlessness It’s a gift!

Atonement

Someone has to ATONE for the brokenness of this relationship

The cross is God’s “NO!” to all our self-justification

He calls us back to Himself, to meaning and purpose!

Col. 2:13-15 Moral influence, Christus Victor,

Satisfaction, Penal Substitution, Ransom, The Final Scapegoat

Refusing this gift is ACTIVELY choosing the ABSENCE of GOD, which is Hell

Hell is full of people who have chosen relationship with rules rather than with God

The Danger of Grace

Javert Kills himself because of

grace extended to him Jean Veljean enters it and

finds redemption Salvation by grace is scary if

you don’t want to be known Justification and meaning

from outside yourself are difficult for those who like control

Facing that control was an illusion means entering further into it

Fear=beginning of wisdom

What’s My Motivation?

Why should I live a good life?

If grace causes you to think this it means FEAR was your motivation

Verse 31 Other oriented vs. self

preserving God doesn’t need your

good deeds to justify you, so the legalistic paradigm falls apart

Good Deeds and Relationship

Good Deeds

Relationship

Good Deeds and Relationship

Good Deeds

Relationship

Jesus and the Law

Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus FULFILLS the law

because he gives it meaning Shows how it has worth and

value and what it was meant for

He does the same with people There are rules, but they

function to deepen relationship and meaning and purpose

Cheating on your wife Stop looking at your sin and

your good deeds and look at Jesus

And the invitation from Paul is to look closely

Col. 2:3, Psalm 130:4

The Logos

Greek philosophers for hundreds of years debated what the meaning of life was and they claimed there was a LOGOS

Some thing or idea external to the person that would show what the person was meant for

Fish and water By Jesus’ day, people had

basically given up John 1:1 Not a thing, but a person When you submit to Him, you

experience freedom and find out who you are

Prayer