October 12, 2023 | Be On Mission
How God Demonstrates His Love for Us
Scripture: Romans 5(NIV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned—
13 To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. 14 Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who is a pattern of the one to come.
15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! 16 Nor can the gift of God be compared with the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification. 17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
18 Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.
20 The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Devotional
Let’s be clear. You cannot earn your way to heaven. It’s not by being a good person, or living a good life, or doing more good than bad that one is justified. Rather it is by faith in Jesus that you receive the free gift of God’s righteousness credited to your spiritual account. In Romans 4, Paul went back to Genesis 15, reminding us that when Abraham believed God, his faith was “credited to him as righteousness.”
Here in Romans 5, Paul takes us all the way back to Genesis 3, when Adam ate the forbidden fruit and the Trinity said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever” (Genesis 3:22). Because of Adam’s action “sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned” (Romans 5:12). Way to go Adam. Uh, way to go me.
Enter grace. This word is defined as God’s free gift to us. It is His undeserved, unmerited favor. We don’t earn it. We just receive it. God’s righteousness is credited to our bankrupt spiritual accounts. God’s favor is bestowed upon our vacuous, narcissistic way of life. It is a gift, pure and simple.
We get confused about gifts. We think we deserve them when it’s our birthday or when it’s Christ’s birthday. We tell people what we want, then expect a gift receipt to take it back if they get the wrong color or style or quality. We keep track, presuming people to give us gifts equal in value to those we give them. It’s really more like bartering than gift receiving.
But a real gift is not something we earn or expect or deserve. As Paul wrote, “But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man [Adam], how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!”
Praise God that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners! That’s what I call a true gift!
Poem
Production
If I want my life’s garden to flourish and grow
Enduring life’s sorrows I must undergo
For sorrows with suff’ring produces the stem
Enduring life’s strong gales while learning to bend
Endurance soon brings buds of character true
While flowering into a pollen filled bloom
Next fruit begins forming, the harvest of hope
Which feeds hungry heart, great ability cope
With whatever life brings to my table to dine
God’s glory, my grace stand, a pairing divine
