Thursday, September 13

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Romans 1:1-7

Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God — the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ.

To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Have you noticed that lots of people in our culture are somewhat skeptical of what they call “organized religion?” I heard a man say recently, “I’m a spiritual person, I’m just not very religious.” Whenever I hear someone say something like that I try to respond with, “Me too! I’m a pastor and I’m not very religious either! In fact, I don’t really believe in religion!” That usually gets a conversation started! 

The gospel is revolutionary good news because it radically changes our understanding of religion.

Tim Keller has written:

“It is essential, then, that we distinguish religion from the gospel. Religion, as the default mode of our thinking and practices, is based on performance: “I obey; therefore, I am accepted by God.” The basic operating principle of the gospel, however, is, not surprisingly, an about-face, one of unmerited acceptance: “I am accepted by God through Christ; therefore I obey.”

This is what Paul means by “the obedience that comes from faith.”

The gospel is revolutionary because it begins with faith. The gospel is revolutionary because it begins with grace and ends with obedience, not the other way around.

God loves us not because of who we are but because of who he is. God accepts us not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done.

Sometimes we think of “grace” as a kind of “super-niceness.” We think of God as a kind of sweet grandfather-in-the-sky who just kind of ignores our sin or turns his head when we act like spoiled children. That’s not grace at all.

Grace, properly understood, is not nice. Grace is sharp and penetrating, like a scalpel. Grace is also powerful, like a tsunami wave. Grace tells us that we cannot save ourselves. 
Grace tells us that we are hopelessly and completely powerless to make ourselves acceptable to God. Grace tells us we are dead where we stand, spiritually speaking. Grace tells us that sin is not just something we slip into once in a while, but sin is the pervasive truth about who we are. No, grace is not nice at all.

Grace is hard. Grace is hard because it knows who and what we are. Grace is hard because it demands truth. Grace is hard because it demands surrender. And until we know the furious love that is the grace of Christ, we have neither understood nor experienced the gospel.

In Ephesians Paul writes:

For it is by grace you are saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.  Ephesians 2:8

We so want to save ourselves! We so want to prove our goodness and worth! We so want to boast of what we have accomplished! Grace takes all that away; discarding it as so much worthless trash. Grace finds us stripped bare of all self-importance and self-righteousness, and saves us, accepts us, loves us as we are. 

No, grace is not soft; it is not nice. But grace is good; grace is the gospel. And the gospel changes everything. 

Pastor Brian Coffey