"So who wants to write about sin? Who wants to write about the wrath of God? If that is the end of it then no one does. However, if it can help provide understanding of God, and if it magnifies God's grace, love and mercy, and if it is the very reality of our condition and His holiness then we must discuss it or just foolishly choose to deceive ourselves. So it is for our good that the book of Romans starts here. It is vital to the gospel and it is vital to us having a deep-rooted gospel joy in Christ. Let me say at the start that I do not understand this book. It is so deep and so beautiful that the greatest theological minds have spent years swimming in it only to never find the bottom. However, I want to just gleam some truths from it so we can taste just a bit of the sweetness of Christ that is found here. The glory of God is first and foremost in scope here. However, the good news for us is that that is just what we need to know a deep satisfaction in our hearts and to one day have eternal bliss with Him. So we began with one more text of introduction and then we go to Romans.
Take a second to consider Luke 7:36-50. There are two people here, an immoral woman and a Pharisee. If you read the story you find the woman weeping at the feet of Jesus and the Pharisee pridefully looking at the situation with disapproval toward them both. Jesus then responds to him with a parable. In the parable there are two people that have a debt. One owes $10 and the other owes $1,000,000. Jesus says they are both forgiven and asks who would love more. The answer is obvious and the Pharisee answers correctly. Then Jesus says that the immoral woman has been forgiven of her many sins. He then says, “she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Did the self-centered, self-righteous, self-motivated Pharisee really only have little sin to be forgiven? Isn't this the type of person we see Jesus actively opposing throughout the gospels? Or perhaps, is it just that he was failing to realize the depravity of his heart and saw himself as a “pretty good person” in light of the woman who was most likely a prostitute?
We have this problem in America. Our Christian mindset is almost one of, “I was a pretty good person but Jesus just helped me out a bit and now I am a Christian.” We have taken the light and fluffy points of Christianity and tried to make it our religion. If you look at the numb, dull and dying church of America you will clearly see that it is not working. We have created a Jesus that just pets squirrels, stands under rainbows and offers His love as a means to give us a boost to live a moral, comfortable, self-absorbed life. We have gotten away from “rejoicing with trembling (Ps. 2:11)”. We have become man-centered and God is just someone who serves us. We are all about success, self-esteem, self-confidence. We are all about us and nowhere in the equation is this notion that God is the one who created us and only in Him can we find the very purpose for why we exist. We have decided that we can decide for ourselves what He is like and how He deals with us. If we want Him to be distant then we make Him distant. If we all of sudden see that He can offer us something to benefit our lives then He becomes our little assistant in the sky who is just a means to our gain. If we want a religion that lets us get high or be gay or live our lives in greed well we will just invent one or maybe just amend the one we now have. A man-centered theology permeates America inside and outside the church. Think about it, the very phrase is an oxymoron. He is God and we are not. We have not known that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Prov. 9:10).” We have neglected the horror and seriousness of sin. We have belittled the God of the universe. We are so far off and I wonder how are we ever going to get back. How are we going to get back to the joyful, soul-satisfying purpose for which we have been created. Well we have to understand God and ourselves and nowhere are both more clearly seen than in the gospel. So we will start by exploring our sin and His justice next time.
I had full intent of jumping in to Romans this time but my heart began to burn in a different direction. So after three devotional thoughts of intro, possibly we will get to Romans next time. I want to leave you with a quote and a verse to set-up next time and encourage our hearts."
“If we don't understand rightly the depth and evil of our sin then we can never expect to understand the greatness of our Savior.”
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
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