Where Grace Leads

Romans 3:21-31

Introduction

While many people celebrate Halloween on October 31, that day is significant for protestant Christians for another reason. It was October 31 in 1517, that a monk named Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-five theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, in modern Germany. Although Luther was a Roman Catholic, he had some serious concerns about certain practices and used this dramatic action to bring it to the church’s attention. This is considered the beginning of the protestant Reformation, a movement that really transformed the world. Even though we are a Baptist church and not Lutheran, the work of Lutheran helped to pave the way to Baptists and many other protestant traditions.

We should be careful when we look at Luther and not put him on too high of a pedestal. He was not perfect and there were parts of him that were very disturbing. But one thing we can be thankful for is that God used him to re-emphasize the doctrine of grace and the idea of salvation by faith. These ideas help to shape our understanding of our relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

One of the books of the Bible that brought these ideas to Luther’s mind was that of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Speaking of the passage that we are about to look at, Luther described it as “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.” We may or may not agree with that statement but it is true that this passage is extremely significant and is worth our examination and reflection.

Saved By Grace

We need to remember that Paul was writing this letter to specific people was not just writing theology for the sake of theology. We are literally reading someone else’s mail as we look at Romans. The church in Rome was one that included both Jewish and Gentile believers in Jesus. But this was not a united church. There was conflict between the two groups, specifically about how they connected with God and the role of the Jewish Law in that. Did the Jews have an advantage over the Gentiles over the Jews because of the Law? In the previous chapters, Paul had been working through these issues and we can catch up with him here.

Already Paul was been trying to demonstrate that all have fallen short of the glory of God. That just means that we all start of in a state of brokenness. It does not mean that we are all terrible people or that we are all as bad as we can possibly be. But even those that we think of as being the best among us are ready to admit that they are aware that are things about them that are not as they should be. There is something separating us from God.

So what is the answer? Probably the most intuitive answer is that we need to become better people. We need to follow the rules better. This made sense from the Jewish perspective when it came to the Law and it made sense from the Gentile perspective when it came to following their conscience. The problem was that they never were able to be consistently obedient. Martin Luther understood this because he tried to please God by following church law and he could never get to the point where he was satisfied that all the barriers had come down between him and God. It is a nice idea but it never works in practice.

That is where grace comes in. What is grace? Grace in its basic meaning is a gift that is not earned. So it is not a bonus for an employee after a productive year nor is it a medal for a soldier who did some brave action. Grace is giving something without any indication of deserving on the part of the recipient. Think about it like this. You go to your bank and withdraw five one hundred dollar bills. You then walk around downtown and give one of those bills to five random people you encounter. Not to people that you already owe money to but to people who you would have no logical reason to give money to. That is grace.

If that is the case, why isn’t everyone a Christian? Salvation is just handed out, that sounds like an offer to good to refuse. But people do refuse it. Paul talks about grace but he also talks about faith. If grace is giving that person a one hundred dollar bill, then faith is that person accepting that gift. Who would say no to a gift?

I get emails all the time from people I do not know claiming that they want to give me millions of dollars. Why don’t I just accept that gift? Because I know that it is a scam and they just want my bank information so they can take from me. I do not have faith in them. But I have had other people that I know give me gifts and I receive them. I receive them because I trust them, that is I have faith in them. I do not believe that non-Christians are rejecting God’s grace out of sheer stubbornness. They just have not gotten to the point where they can trust God’s goodness. They do not have faith.

Living By Grace

What I have shared so far, that we al fall short of God’s glory, that works are not sufficient, That God offers salvation by grace and we receive it by faith is about as far as most people take Paul’s teaching here. This really was how far Martin Luther took it. His felt need was experiencing separation from God and by grace and faith, he was able to finally become a child of God. But that was not all Paul is teaching here and I do not even think that it is Paul’s main point.

What was the reason Paul wrote Romans? It was to address the division between the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. The church was divided, each seeing themselves better than the other group. Paul systematically removes every basis for boasting. It doesn’t matter what category you are in: we all are sinners and we all need to rely on God’s grace.

Now the issue in today’s church is not between Jews and Gentiles but we still have plenty of divisions. We can see divisions in the global Church, in individual denominations and even in local congregations. One group sees itself as having some advantage, a better interpretation, a more spiritual life than another. We sit in judgment over one another, frustrated that they cannot see things as clearly as we do. Let’s admit it, we all have done this at some point.

What would Paul say to us? Paul would say that “All have fallen short of the glory of God.” Not that group but all people. As we sit on our pedestal, looking down on others, Paul would kick the leg of the pedestal, sending us tumbling down to everyone’s level. 

The only reason we are anything is because of Jesus. Jesus died on the cross. He didn’t die on the cross for people like us because he knew we deserved it. Jesus died for everyone and freely offers his grace to all people, no matter what group they belong to.

Our job is simply to receive that gift by faith. But what about that other group who does things differently? Do they have faith? What about those people who interpret those passages differently? Do they have faith?

We have been talking about Martin Luther. Around 1529, Luther met with a number of other leaders of the Reformation, including the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli. They got together to talk about what actually happens in the Eucharist or Communion. It did not go well. Luther angrily, stated: “I would rather drink blood with the Pope than mere wine with the Swiss!” Luther and Zwingli were both sinners in need of God’s grace but neither man was prepared to offer that grace to one another.

Conclusion

I want to conclude with some wise words of another man who was at that meeting between Luther and Zwingli. Martin Bucer attempted to mediate between Luther and Zwingli. He later wrote this: “If you immediately condemn anyone who doesn’t quite believe the same as you do as forsaken by Christ’s Spirit, and consider anyone to be an enemy of truth who holds something false to be true, who, pray tell, can you still consider a brother?  I for one have never met two people who believed exactly the same thing. This holds true in theology as well.”

Paul’s point in his letter to the Romans is not just that we are justified by faith. His point is also that since we are justified by faith, we are all on level ground. There is no more us and them within the family of God. We are all sinners, we are all offered grace and hopefully we all receive that grace by faith. There is nothing in there for us to boast about. Such a foundation for salvation should also be the foundation for the unity. There is a place for diversity in the Body of Christ, but that is not a basis for exclusion.