Romans 5:6-11
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 11 Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
God Makes Reconciliation Personal
Do you know how long it’s been since I stood Bible in hand and preached to real live people? 115 days! It was still Lent when we were all together last. I’ve preached 19 sermons to an empty room and have sung far too many solos for my taste. I pray that we never have to go that long without worshiping together again.
But as hard as these 115 days have been, there was always a light at the end of the tunnel. We knew that eventually this day would come and we’d all be back together. Well, this day has come and here you are! It’s been a long 115 days and who knows what the world will look like 115 days from now, but here you are, and for that I boast in God.
Liam, Jaidan, Ashleigh, it’s been a long 2 years. Do you know how many lessons we’ve studied together in Confirmation Class? 90! At one time or another, you memorized all 14 pages of Luther’s Small Catechism. It wasn’t always fun. Scheduling an extra afternoon class was tricky. There were forgotten assignments, make up lessons, stressful deadlines.
But all of those long hours and lessons were preparing you for this day – for the day that you would stand in front of your church family and confess your faith, for the day that you would take ownership of that faith and willingly accept responsibility for it. I don’t know what the next 2 years will look like for you, but you’re here now and for that I boast in God.
There are moments like this in all our lives when God gives us the opportunity and the clarity to look to the past in order to find hope for the future and purpose for our present. Really, as Christians, this is our daily task – to look to what God has done for us in the past which gives us hope for the future and purpose for our present. That’s what we just read from Paul’s letter to the Romans.
He starts by talking about our past, and in not so glowing terms. At various points he calls us powerless, ungodly, sinners, even God’s enemies.
It doesn’t take much to make us feel weak, does it? Just try answering all 85 questions I threw at our confirmands last week, or surviving a 4-month (and counting) global pandemic. There are ways that God takes all control out of our hands and reminds us just how powerless we are. But the picture that Paul paints for us when he uses that word – powerless – is not that heaven is on a hill and we lack the cardio to climb it. It’s that there is a chasm between us and God – a separation of our own doing.
The other 3 words Paul uses – ungodly, sinners, enemies – all describe an actively hostile relationship against him. Ungodly people despise God; they would just as soon spit on him as bow down and worship him. Sinners don’t measure up; they miss the mark; they fail to do what God tells us to do and do the things God forbids of us. Enemies actively work against God.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that Paul is writing to believers here. He’s not penning a letter to the local penitentiary, or to the regional chapter of the atheist society. He’s writing to believers and he’s writing about himself. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless… while we were still sinners… while we were God’s enemies.”
By nature, we were all ungodly sinners and God’s enemies. No one is neutral. It’s not that we didn’t have a relationship with God. It’s that we had a bad one. It’s not that we were too weak to maintain a good relationship with him. It’s that we didn’t want to. Every fiber of our being rebels against God.
That’s why we’re so quick to fall into temptation, to lash out against internet trolls, to pour ourselves into recreation and ignore worship of God. That’s why we let lust and anger rule our hearts and get defensive when people call us out.
Paul doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of our past. But, I’m going to lean on you confirmands, what’s the answer to every question in confirmation class? When in doubt, just say, “Jesus.” Even for people who were rightly called powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies, Jesus died. In fact, Paul takes it one step further. He says, “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This Summer we’re looking at the Christian faith, one word at a time. Today’s word is “reconciliation.” Like atonement two weeks ago and righteousness last week, these are all synonyms for how Jesus saves us. But the flavor of this word – reconciliation – is so much more personal.
Atonement refers to the bloody sacrifice Jesus made to pay for the sins of the whole world. Righteousness is a courtroom word; it’s the technical explanation for how guilty sinners like you and me can go to heaven. These words are all beautiful in their own right, but reconciliation makes it personal.
Your individual relationship with God was broken. Your sin separated you from him. Your sinful desires turned you against him. But while you were still powerless, ungodly, sinful enemies, Christ died for you. He made it personal. Reconciliation isn’t a global decree. It’s God taking you by the hand, looking you in the eye and saying, “I forgive you.”
You may not deserve it – in fact, you’ve done everything to disqualify yourself from it – but God took the initiative and restored your broken relationship. His love took action and his Son took up a cross, so that you could know the depth of his dedication to you.
Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. There is power in Paul’s past tense, isn’t there? We were powerless, ungodly, sinful enemies of God, but that’s not our identity in Christ anymore. Now we are his dearly loved children because Christ died for us. It’s done. There’s nothing left for us to do to be reconciled to him. He has done all the work. It’s finished. It’s over.
Now, when we look to the past, we can see how sin used to separate us from God; but we can also see our Savior. Now, when we look to the past, we can see how God has reconciled us to himself through the blood and death of our Lord Jesus. And that look to the past gives us hope for the future.
If God went to all those lengths to save us from our sin, you better believe that he’ll finish what he started. Because of the past, we have a future. We don’t know what the world is going to look like in 2 years or in 115 more days or even tomorrow. We live in so much uncertainty with so many unanswered and unanswerable questions.
There are so many questions that sometimes doubt can begin to seep into our hearts, but that’s why Paul writes these words: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
If you’re facing trouble, hardship, sorrow in your life right now, it’s not because God hates you. The pandemic isn’t his way of punishing you. Your sin was paid for by Jesus in the past to give you a future made certain by his grace.
Liam, Jaidan, Ashleigh, sometimes I feel bad for you, because your high school years are going to be so much more difficult than mine were. You’re going to have to answer questions that nobody thought to ask 20 years ago. And my heart breaks to think of the problems that you’ll face because of it. But I don’t fear for your future, and neither should you, because you know the past.
If, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
God sacrificed his Son for you to secure a future for you. He didn’t let Jesus die to win a few good years for you here on earth. He was in it for the long haul, for eternity. And you can bank on it. Whatever happens in the Fall, next year, or tomorrow, you know where you’ll be when Jesus comes again. You’ll be in the good graces of God because of the love he demonstrated by sacrificing his Son to save you.
And because of that, we boast. We have reason to rejoice! That’s what boasting is, after all, isn’t it? You boast and brag about something because you’re so happy that you can’t keep quiet about it.
I hope that’s how you feel, on reaching your Confirmation Day. It’s amazing that you get to receive for the first time today the Lord’s Supper – Jesus’ true body and blood in bread and wine given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of your sins. That’s reason to rejoice.
I hope that’s how all of you feel, being together again gathered around God’s Word and hearing about his reconciliation. I want to boast about that! My God died for me! And it’s not about me. It’s not because I’m great. In fact, there are many ways that I’m not great, but my God is and I will boast in the Lord until the day he takes me home.
When I know what God has done for me in the past and the hope he makes certain for my future, it gives me purpose in the present – to give voice to the goodness and love of God; to go out like those Twelve disciples freely giving what we have freely received; to reach the lost and proclaim the good news that while we were still powerless, ungodly, sinners and enemies God, Christ died for us. He made his reconciliation personal. It is mine by grace and it belongs to everyone who believes.
Whatever tomorrow may bring, I pray you always know what God has done for you in the past, the future he has made certain for you in Christ, and the purpose he gives to your present. May we all boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. Amen.