What is your greatest gift? Best Christmas gifts this year… How about a Swiss (Army knife)? Or a multi-tool? Gerber? Leatherman? How about the gift that keeps on giving? Have you ever gotten one of those?
We just celebrated the birth of Jesus, the gift of God’s Son, Whom the Father gave to the world. God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Life forever. With Him.
Paul talks about this eternal life in Romans. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 6.23). It is a gift. A free gift. A grace gift. This means it is something I do not need to earn, which I cannot earn, something I do not deserve, in fact I deserve something else instead. We talked about one aspect of this last week, this whole idea of Peace with God. Serenity now.
Rom. 5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Grace. This totally free many-layered undeserved favor. I think this free gift of eternal life is sort of like the mother of all spiritual swiss army knives. There are so many different aspects of this eternal life - and different ones bless us or help us or encourage our hearts in different ways. So here we see peace with God. We also see justification - more on that in a bit. Exulting in hope - hope of glory, that we will be with our Lord in glory and even share in His glory. A real live bona-fide living hope which will not disappoint.
In Romans chapter 3, Paul talks more about this gracious gift of eternal life:
Rom. 3:21-26 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Okay - so what do we see here? What sticks out to you in this passage? So many things, so many spiritual truths which can rock your world…
Righteousness - mentioned 4 times. And Glory. The glory of God. His breathtaking goodness and marvelous manifold perfections. His blinding brilliant magnificence, on display in the heavens since the dawn of creation. He is perfect, infinitely perfect. Righteousness. He is always right, everything about Him, everything He does is right. Flawless. Just. Perfectly perfect in every way.
Sin. Not perfect, no one perfect. All have sinned. Sin was - and is - really bad. All of us, we are in really bad straights. Helpless. Falling short. All of us - every one of us - are guilty. Guilty as charged. We have done something wrong in God’s eyes. We have put something else in His place in our hearts. We fall short of His glory. We are separated from Him. Dead. And destined for punishment, eternal death, forever separated from God, from His love, from His light, from His breathtaking goodness. Helpless and hopeless.
We also see forbearance. And for many many years, God passed over our sins. He put up with them, so to speak, and didn’t punish them the way His righteousness and justice would ordinarily require. For many years God actually did not show His full righteousness. Because the right thing to do, the just thing to do would be to punish disobedience, wouldn’t it? Consequences. Kids - what should happen when you disobey? But now we've come full circle. Now, Paul says, we finally see the full righteousness of God manifested. Because He punished our sins - in His Son. God made a public demonstration of this punishment, of this sacrifice for all to see. All to see. And for all to believe. Because all have sinned.
We see grace. A completely free, totally undeserved gift. When in fact I justly deserve something else. All of this. God’s forbearance - I didn’t deserve that. And now the gift of His Son, dying in my place. I don’t deserve that either. I deserve death. Punishment. Forbearance was certainly a gift of grace. But now there is a new grace gift.
What is the free gift of grace here? Justification. Justification. Many people have defined this to mean, just as if I never sinned. It means, to be declared “not guilty”. Innocent of all charges against me. But it's not as if the charges weren’t dropped, not in this case. The case wasn’t simply dismissed or postponed. That was forbearance. No, this time, justice was served. The sentence was handed down and carried out. Executed. The Judge in fact executed His Son, in our place. And who are the recipients of this gift of justification? All who believe. Hold on to that thought. All who believe - that is a critical point, because all have sinned.
Rom. 5:15-21 But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
What does Paul tell us about the gift here? The gift is NOT like what came from Adam - judgment and condemnation and death. The many died. Deservedly. They earned it. The reign of death. The gift is not like that at all. In fact it is the complete opposite. "On the other hand", Paul says, we have the gift of justification. Righteousness. The many are declared righteous in the present - that is justification - and made righteous in eternity. Will be made righteous - that is glorification. When we see Him in glory, we will be like Him.
Do you remember how we defined righteous? Morally right. Morally perfect. Acting in full accord with moral or divine law. God’s law. Total conformity. Not one misstep. This is the crucial point here - not one misstep. Not one blemish or flaw. This is the gold standard for entry into heaven. If you’re not righteous, if you’re not perfect, you’re not getting in. No way, no sir.
So, morally right, perfect - this is the way we WILL be, yes, but with justification this is how God sees us in the present. We have a new status. Right now. Through the One. Through the One. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. God’s riches at Christ’s expense, right? Isn’t that how we define grace? But let’s not miss this - through the One, through faith in Jesus Christ and His death on the cross - for our sins, in our place - we are declared righteous. God says, not guilty. No guilt. Christ’s blameless unblemished blood covers us, covers our sins, and finally that’s all God sees when He looks at us. This is about how God sees us, right now, in the present. How does He see us? If we have put our trust in Christ, how does God see us, right now? Righteous. All right. If and when we are in Christ, in God’s eyes, we’ve done everything right. In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right. In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right.
Now why am I repeating that? I think many times, and for many of us, we have a hard time believing that. The whole process of coming to Christ and embracing God’s love for us begins with admitting that I am not all right, that I have sinned and that I fall short of God’s glory. That I am not blameless but rather I am to blame. And much of our journey with Christ then becomes trying to overcome those areas of my life where I still struggle with sin. I think our relationship with God can tend to get colored by our struggles on this side of heaven. And when you ask many Christians how God feels about them, how He sees them, I think the answer too often is more in the realm of, well, God’s not finished with me yet. He’s patient with me, He’s gracious to me, He’s forgiven me - but sometimes we are carrying around the weight of our sins as sort of this lingering shame. Or we are all too conscious of how far short we still fall of glory, focusing on how far we still have to go. And so often, that’s how we feel God looks at us. Cuz that sometimes is how we feel about ourselves. The stench of our struggles is all up in His nostrils. Or we live in this realm where we are afraid of failure, where we feel like we’re just 12 inches from the door…
[Our Cru staff team had just finished our weekly prayer meeting at the home of one of our families, and everybody was bolting out the door to get to campus. I didn't need to hurry on to campus, and since I lived right next door, I was lingering at the door. As I lingered, saying goodbye to the couple that hosted our time, I (barely) thought to thank the wife for hosting our time. She had gone to the trouble of preparing some tasty treats and beverages. But as I thanked her, she burst into tears. I had no idea what I had done to upset her so. Come to find out, her husband explained, I was the only one who had taken the time to thank her. And as I tried to deflect any undue credit by admitting that I almost did not think to thank her - my exact words were, "I was 12 inches from the door", the husband responded by saying, "Chris, we're always 12 inches from the door". He was referring to our ever-present proximity to walking through the door of failure, of disappointing or hurting someone we care about.]
But the Good News is, in Christ, there is no longer any door of doom. There is no door which we can ever walk through or get anywhere near where we will ever be anything less than fully loved, fully forgiven, and fully righteous in God’s eyes. Blame-LESS. But not merely less blame. No blame at all! No blame. No shame. I love how Paul puts it in chapter 8 of Romans:
Rom. 8:1, 38-39 Therefore there is now NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus… For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
How much condemnation? No condemnation. None. Not now, not ever. Never separated. Do you believe this? This is true only because of Jesus, what He did for me and you on the cross. But it is totally true! What is true is that through faith in Him, we are declared righteous. Justified. Again, we like to say, just as if I never sinned. But I like to say, in God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right. Do you believe that is true? That through faith in Jesus, I am declared righteous, and that in God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right? All my sins - past, present, and future, taken up and removed as far as the east is from the west? No blame. Do you believe that? In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right. I am all right - ALL. 100% right. Because of Christ.
Say it to your heart, right now. In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right.
How did that feel? Uncomfortable? Hard to believe? Probably - if you're like most people. But let God be found true…
I’ll tell you how if feels for me. Every time I say it. It feels like rest. It feels like I have laid down this tremendous unbearable burden, which I have been carrying around for far too long, this burden of constantly trying to curry favor with the Lord, as if my acceptance by Him still depends on my performance in this life. Works. I’m not saying that I am trying to work my way into forgiveness and eternal life - I am fully aware that this only comes through faith and trust in what Jesus did on the cross. But there is this lingering burden, this vague general sense that my continued struggles with sin in this life somehow discolor how God sees me. And that He generally is vaguely disappointed with me because of my imperfections. How far I still have to go.
What’s your greatest fear? Some say public speaking - there is no way I am ever getting up in front of people. Some say death. The great unknown. For others, it is some kind of creature - some kind of jumpy or crawly or slimy or flying stinging creature (my brother and I used to terrorize our younger brother with a book whose cover had this picture of a huge wasp - he was terrified of it!). What's your greatest fear?
Lots of fears. Fear of rejection is another. But I’d say the one I have struggled with most over the years is the fear of failure. And not simply not wanting to fail - I mean nobody wants to fail, do they? Sign me up for failure, boss - said nobody ever. Seven steps to failure - nobody’s reading that book. But fear of failure can show up in a number of ways. You might try to avoid doing certain things, just to keep from putting yourself in a position where you might fail. Or you might try extra hard to cover up when you do fail. Hiding. Lying even. Because part of the fear of failure is fear of discovery, isn’t it? It is not wanting others to see my failure. To see me as a failure. It is doing whatever I think I might have to do to keep others from seeing my mistakes. I can’t admit when I’m wrong. I struggle to own my mistakes and my shortcomings. To say I’m sorry.
Maybe some of us can relate to that this morning?
The most important thing about you, about each of us, is how God made you, and how He sees you. And you, my friend, you and I - we are miracles. We are wonderful impossibles! The mere fact of being alive, that God has breathed into each one of us the breath of life. And so much more than that - you and I have been designed and fashioned with marvelous wonder, beautiful craftsmanship and design. Each one of us is a work of art, a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, irreplaceable, exquisite - intended to show off the breathtaking goodness of our Creator in ways that no one else can do. And yes, we are all born into the brokenness of Adam, a broken world with broken people who tend rather to spread brokenness rather than heal it. And our shortcomings and failures - our sins - are real. They do indeed separate us from our heavenly Father and from one another.
What was the first thing that Adam and Eve did after they did the one thing which God had told them not to do? They hid. They hid from God - and from one another. They covered themselves up. The great cover up. And we’ve been covering up, hiding our shortcomings and mistakes ever since. Fear of failure. Fear of being exposed. Fear of being known. It can be debilitating.
But the free gift of grace and eternal life - justification - is not like that. Not like that at all. In fact, it reverses the curse! In Christ, we are forgiven - and declared righteous. Blameless. Perfect. Marvelously restored. So much so that now when God looks at us, He sees His Son. He sees Jesus. In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right. So take a deep breath, and exhale, a long exhale, a long awaited sigh of relief, that you don’t have to try to earn God’s favor. It doesn’t depend on you. It doesn’t depend on me. And thank God for that, cuz if it did, I’d be in trouble. We’d all be in trouble, wouldn’t we?
You and I no longer need to hide, to live in the crippling fear of failure. It is the freedom and power to think differently about yourself. It is like the mindset of those at the Rolls Royce company:
A London plutocrat was driving his fine new Rolls-Royce over the Alps when he heard a disquieting “twang.” His front spring had broken. He called the Rolls plant in London by long distance, and, in what seemed like no time flat, three gentlemen arrived by plane with a new spring — and off went the plutocrat on his interrupted jaunt. Now comes the really interesting part of the story. After six months the plutocrat had received no bill from the Rolls people. Finally he appeared at the plant in person and asked that the records be checked for “the repair of a broken spring in Switzerland.” After a brief delay the manager of the plant appeared in person, gazed at him rather reproachfully, and announced, “There must be some mistake, sir. There is no such thing as a broken spring on a Rolls-Royce.”
For us, this is not about denial. It is about mindset. True identity. In Christ we have this mind-boggling life-changing new identity. A NEW STATUS. In God’s eyes, I’ve done everything right. All right. But there are a couple other things we have because of this free gift of grace, because of this justification. We also have a NEW ONUS. We CAN accept responsibility for our actions. Own up to our mistakes. God’s grace is sufficient to cover over all of our sins. All of our mistakes. Every last one of them. There is nothing we can do which the blood of Christ did not cover. I’m not saying that God covers them up, in that He hides them or looks the other way. No no - there are consequences. The biggest consequence for my sin was that God wound up punishing His Son in my place - but usually there are still consequences when I mess up this side of heaven. Sin is still heinous, and can only be eradicated by the grace and power of Christ. Nevertheless I can admit my mistakes, I can be honest about those, knowing that in spite of them, God still loves me and accepts me because of Jesus. I can make things right and move on, in the hope of glory. The hope of glory is the assurance of things unseen. Everything going to be alright, because in God’s eyes, I am ALL right.
We also have a NEW IMPETUS. New status. New onus. And new impetus. A new driving force. We are no longer driven by an engine of works. Working to earn God’s favor. Doing in order to be blessed. Doing something good so that God will bless me, so that He will like me. Nope. Grace isn’t like that. Because of this free gift of grace, I do what I do BECAUSE I have been blessed. I am not trying to get more favor. That cup already runneth over with favor. I have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. By grace through faith. And so I can serve and give and even simply show up out of gratitude, not out of guilt. Out of an abundant overflow, not out of some spiritual deficiency. I am not trying to pad my spiritual resume. I already have Jesus on there, and that’s all I need. It’s not like Steve Martin after his character hits rock bottom in "The Jerk":
Well I'm gonna go then. And I don't need any of this. I don't need this stuff, and I don't need you. I don't need anything except this. [picks up an ashtray] And that's it and that's the only thing I need, is this. I don't need this or this. Just this ashtray. And this paddle game, the ashtray and the paddle game and that's all I need. And this remote control. The ashtray, the paddle game, and the remote control, and that's all I need. And these matches. The ashtray, and these matches, and the remote control and the paddle ball. And this lamp. The ashtray, this paddle game and the remote control and the lamp and that's all I need. I don't need one other thing, not one - I need this. The paddle game, and the chair, and the remote control, and the matches, for sure. And this. And that's all I need. The ashtray, the remote control, the paddle game, this magazine and the chair. [walking outside] And I don't need one other thing, except my dog. [dog growls] I don't need my dog.
We don't need a dog or ANY of that other stuff. Nope - we are truly need-less, because we are truly blameless. Righteous. In His eyes, because of Christ. And we have this amazing new impetus. If I am in Christ, I don’t need to do anything anymore to try and earn God’s favor. I already have it in spades, all of it. I don’t need to show up on Sunday to keep His love. I don’t need to tithe to keep His love. I want to show up on Sunday and give generously and be with His people and learn about Him and worship Him and serve Him - out of gratitude. It is Paul in Romans 12:1 - in light of, because of God’s mercies, present yourselves to God a living sacrifice. Because of His great mercy, because of all He has done for us in Christ, forgiveness, eternal life, justification - declaring us all right in His eyes, in His eyes I’ve done everything right - because of all this, I serve Him and love Him with all my heart. We love because He first loved us. That is the order of things. That’s how it should be. New status, new onus, new impetus - in Christ, because of Christ. Free gift.
So the question then becomes, are you all right now? Have you put your trust in Jesus? IF you haven’t, you should do that right now. And if you have, you are all right now - but do you see yourself this way? Do you see yourself as God sees you? Because that could be precisely what has been holding you back from being the glorious living sacrifice He has restored you to be. Looking back on your year, how did it go? Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ. Your response today could be simply to thank the Lord for His marvelous grace, for the gift of eternal life AND of justification, that in His eyes God sees you as having done everything right. And now you are ready to climb up on that altar of living sacrifice and present your whole self to Him, whatever He may want. Go anywhere, say anything, do anything, for Him. Let’s pray…
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