Romans 3:21-28 -- "Making a Difference"
Notes
Transcript
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,
Actually, that doesn’t sound so bad, does it? We’re all in the same boat. None of us is perfect, after all. Paul is right. We have fallen short of the glory of God. It’s just that we know some have fallen shorter than others.
Some people, well, fall really short! They don’t even come close, those really bad sinners—and we all know who they are!
Then there are those in the middle. You know, not too bad but certainly not the closest to attaining God’s glory.
And then there are those who fall just a little short. Those people who are pretty good, who don’t hurt anybody, who come to church all the time.
You and me? Where would we fall? Maybe somewhere in the middle. Not the best, but certainly not the worst! Probably more on the better side of the middle, right?
1. Though we like to make distinctions, there is no difference among sinners.
1. Though we like to make distinctions, there is no difference among sinners.
What about that pesky phrase at the beginning? “There is no distinction.” Or as another translation puts it, “There is no difference.” That’s a problem, isn’t it? Because we’re making distinctions all the time, like we just did a moment ago. Who’s the greater sinner? What’s the greater sin? Who’s closer? Who’s more worthy? Which of us has fallen just a little short, and which of us has fallen a lot short? Who needs just a little forgiveness, and who needs a whole lot?!
2. Try as we might, we can’t make a difference.
2. Try as we might, we can’t make a difference.
St. Paul is telling us that in God’s eyes, “there is no difference.” There is no distinction. The measuring stick we use is not the measuring stick God uses. In fact, to be honest, the measuring stick we use is more like a rubber band, isn’t it? Flexible when we need it to be (like when we’re measuring ourselves), and long and rigid when we want it to be (like when we’re measuring others — from other denominations — Catholics, ELCA folks, etc.
In God’s eyes, “there is no difference.” In God’s eyes, it doesn’t matter how close you think you come, how well you think you’re doing, how much you believe you’re improving.
No, you’re either a sinner or you’re not.
You’re in or you’re out. And to “fall short” means you’re out. You’re finished. You’re done. You didn’t make it.
In The Hammer of God, Bo Giertz writes a parable about this delusion of ours, that we can make a difference, a distinction, in our lives. He pictures it akin to clearing stones and rocks from the ground of our hearts. At first, perhaps, it’s easy. Some rocks are small and move easily. Some sins are perhaps easy to stop. But then there are more stones the deeper one gets. Bigger stones, more entrenched. These are sins that are harder to overcome, more a part of our lives. And the deeper one goes, the more stones and rocks are discovered. Until one day in your digging your spade hits solid rock. And you can dig and scrape on every side, but to no avail. This one cannot be moved. You may have moved a whole truckload of stones, of sins, and yet still your heart is rock. It’s “a ledge of granite.” Down deep, that’s the sinful human nature you’re born with and that you’ll die with. And Giertz concludes, “It is this stony ground that explains why a man is just as great a sinner before God after he has offered God the best he is able to give of obedience and commitment” (The Hammer of God [Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1960], 314–15).
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,
3. What will Make a difference: Redemption by Christ Jesus.
3. What will Make a difference: Redemption by Christ Jesus.
But there is something that does make a difference, and this is what Paul wants us to know as of first importance. Where does our hope lie?
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law”—apart from instructions, apart from self-improvement, apart from what we do—“is revealed. . . . This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. . . . [We] are justified freely by [God’s] grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (vv 21–24). In other words, once we realize that moving rocks is not the way and cannot be the way, there’s another rock on which we’re built. It is the rock revealed to us in the Holy Gospel, the rock on which the church stands or falls: that we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
4. In Christ, we are different.
4. In Christ, we are different.
He was the one who, although like us in every way, did not fall short. He was born without sin and had no rocks to clear from his life. When measured against the standard of God’s Law, he was completely perfect and innocent and fulfilled what God demanded in every way. He was deserving of every accolade, reward, and blessing from God. And yet, instead of receiving these things, he was crucified. God laid upon him the punishment of those who fall short, who are finished, out, done, and have no chance of heaven—in other word, our punishment!—so that by taking our place, we could take his place and receive his reward. And as St. Paul says, “This righteousness from God”—this right-ness from God—is given “through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (v 22).
So by faith we have been established on a new foundation, on a new rock. The faith given to us in Holy Baptism, the faith strengthened in us through the Word of God, the faith renewed in us through Holy Absolution, the faith in us fed by the body and blood of our Savior—this
FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!
FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!
For now, among us in whom there is no difference, there is a difference!
By faith in Christ, we are made right with God.
By faith in Christ, we are forgiven.
By faith in Christ, we are no longer counted among those who “fall short,” but now among those who have been redeemed—purchased and bought with the blood of our Savior, shed on the cross, for the forgiveness of our sins.
Faith in Christ Jesus Makes All the Difference in the World.
And so as we enter into the season of Pentecost, the long season of those green paraments that represent growth in the Christian life, St. Paul would have us know that this growth does not take place by any effort of our own. No amount of instruction or effort on our part is worth anything. Clearing rocks will only tire you out, and you’ll always fall short (v 27: “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded”). No, growth in the Christian life takes place only in Christ, at his cross in repentance and faith. This is the foundation upon which we now stand. This is the source of our life. For in falling before our Savior in repentance and faith, we receive his gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation. These are the gifts our stony hearts need.
5. How shall we live this difference? In repentance and faith.
5. How shall we live this difference? In repentance and faith.
Herman Sasse once remarked that “all great epochs of the church have begun with the call to repent” (The Lonely Way, vol. 1 [St. Louis: Concordia, 2001], 71). Let it be so also for us as we begin this season of Pentecost, this season of growth. That we who have fallen short live not by our own strength and efforts, but in repentance and faith, until the day when the one who did not fall short takes us from the foot of his cross and altar here to the foot of his throne in heaven, forever.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.