Reformation Sunday, 2007
Rev. Brian L. Kachelmeier
Romans 3:19-28
In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Have you ever been on a scavenger hunt? If so, you probably can remember the fun and excitement of playing. In a scavenger hunt, each team is given a list of items to find. Each team moves about checking items off of their list when they obtain them. The first team that returns with all the items on the list is declared to be the winner. Now that’s how things work in this game. In fact, that is the way a lot of things work. If you’re packing for a trip, you can use a checklist to determine if you are ready to go. If you’re baking a cake, you can follow a recipe step by step. Once you have added all the ingredients, put the pan in the oven, and then take the cake out when the timer buzzes, you can eat the perfect piece of cake. Here on earth, a lot things work out this way. Once you have followed the directions, completed the instructions, and checked off every thing on the list you are good to go.
Now that’s not the way that it works in spiritual things. The law is not a check-list. You can’t take the law in one hand and mark off the fulfilled items with the other hand. The law is not a recipe for perfection. You can’t follow the law step by step in order to produce a perfect life.
Verse 20 of our Epistle lesson states, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight…” (Romans 3:20 ESV). What does this mean? Well for starters, works of the law are the deeds, actions, thoughts, and desires commanded by the law. No human being means no human being. Therefore, no human being, no not one, will be justified, that is declared righteous, by the law in God’s sight. Rather than declare righteous, the law declares guilty.
Our Epistle text clarifies why this is the case in verse 20 when it states, “ …since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20 ESV). In other words, the law reveals, exposes, brings to light, and makes one aware of sin. Ultimately, the law points to the root sin which is the sinful heart. All actual sins flow from the heart.
If you want to use the law as a check-list, then here’s how it works. Rather than checking off the things you have accomplished, “I haven’t murdered anyone… …check… …I haven’t committed adultery… …check…” you would check off all the sins that you have committed, “I’m guilty of breaking the first commandment… …check… I’m guilty of breaking the second commandment… …check…” The law brings to you the knowledge of your sins. The Ten Commandments show you what sins to confess.
For example, the law says, “you shall have no other gods.” Now if you view the law as a checklist of things not to do, then you can assure yourself that you don’t have any golden calves that you bow down before at your house. However, the law digs deeper than the surface. It exposes the desires of the sinful heart that fears, loves, and trusts in other things more than God Himself. In fact, any time you break any of God’s commandments, you transgress the first commandment. You act like your father Adam and your mother Eve who desired to be like God deciding for themselves what is right and what is wrong. You are flesh of their flesh.
Since you are children of Adam and Eve, it is impossible for you to completely fulfill all the requirements of the law in your flesh. It requires perfection. Yet, from your conception you have been stamped “Imperfect.” The law cannot declare the imperfect person to be perfect. The law can only confirm the reality of the imperfection. We know this to be true. The law brings the knowledge of sin. If it weren’t for the law declaring us to be sinful, we wouldn’t realize that we are. The law declares us to be unrighteous in God’s sight.
But the Gospel declares the unrighteous to be righteous before God. This is done apart from the law. Verse 21 states, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law…” (Romans 3:21 ESV) Thus, there is another way to perfection. In fact it is the only way to perfection. There is a different way to be justified before God. It is the only way to be justified before God. It is the righteousness of God that has been revealed apart from the law. It is the Good News that Jesus is the way to perfection. Jesus is the righteousness of God. He alone is perfect. He alone is righteous. Through faith in Jesus, all who believe are justified before God. God declares us righteous on account of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Jesus is credited to us as if it were our own righteousness. Our unrighteousness is declared to be His. His perfection is reckoned to be our perfection. Our imperfection is declared to be His. There is only one way to be justified in God’s sight and that is through faith in Jesus Christ. The Gospel brings salvation while the law brings damnation.
Verse 23 states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” (Romans 3:23 ESV). Because we are human we are sinners. Because we are sinners, we sin. Thus, it doesn’t matter how much you sin, you will still fall short. If you have broken one commandment, you are guilty of breaking them all.
In Super Bowl XXXIV, the St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans. Although the Titans only lost by one touchdown, they still lost. With 1:54 left on the clock, the Titans were given the opportunity to tie the game and possibly win. They started on their own 10-yard line with the ball. They successfully moved the ball all the way down to the other end of the field. With only 6 seconds left on the Ram’s 10-yard line, quarterback Steve McNair threw the ball to receiver Kevin Dyson. He was on his way into the end zone. But, Mike Jones of the Rams tackled him and brought him down at the one-yard line. He was caught, brought down, and his forward progress came to an end. The game was over and the Titans lost. They fell short. It was only one yard, but it was still short by one yard. It doesn’t matter how well they played, they could not be declared the Super Bowl Champions, because they fell short.
In our lives, it doesn’t matter how well we do compared to the Ten Commandments, because we still fall short of the glory of God. We can’t say, “Well, nine out of ten isn’t bad.” Thus we cannot be declared righteous by the law for all fall short of fulfilling the law. The wages of sin is death.
But the gift of grace is life. Verse 24 states that we, “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:24 ESV). Our salvation is a gift that is freely given to us. It has already been paid for.
When I used to work at the public library, there were a group of magazines that were designated as gratis. As a high school student I was curious what that meant. I was told that these were magazine subscriptions that were donated to the library. Someone else paid the price while the library received the subscription. In like manner, the public received the benefit of this free gift.
It is Jesus Christ our Savior who took upon our flesh so that He could shed His blood for us. He followed the perfect will of His Father and was a servant like His mother Mary who said, “let it be according to Your will.” It is God who pays the price for us while we receive the benefit which is eternal life. In this way God is both just meaning that justice is met and at the same time He is the justifier meaning that He declares us righteous in His sight because of Jesus. This righteousness is ours apart from any deed done by us. We are righteous in God’s sight through faith in Christ. On this day and every day we rejoice that God justifies us through our faith in Christ apart from works of the law. It is truly good news that God declares sinners righteous. Amen.
