He describes both God’s attitude and God’s action. Paul puts God front and center in the story of our salvation. The main story is not about us, it’s about him. In the story of salvation, we’re not the main characters. We understand what we should do, but we keep coming up short.īut we’re not, because we’ve been found.We know there’s a God and that we answer to him, but we still rebel.We might wish to be different but we don’t have the power to change.If heaven depends on our goodness or our effort, we’re not going. Paul sums up the mess we are in with those three words: ![]() We don’t hit the mark in how we think, what we say, the way we live. To have a target you ought to hit but you miss, that’s what it is to sin. The wall soon had so many holes it looked like we had a pest infestation. I was so bad that not only did I miss the numbers on the board I was aiming for, I often missed the board. When I was ten, my Dad gave me a dartboard. The root meaning of sinning is to miss the mark. We’re powerless, and we fail to recognize and honor God for who he is. Paul used that word for our behavior towards God. That’s the sense of the word asebēs – failure to honor something according to its true worth. That would be called ‘desecration,’ a complete failure to respect a masterpiece. Imagine a child wandering into a large art gallery, finding himself alone for a few minutes, taking out a broad-tipped pen and adding his own touches to a Picasso worth millions – just a few strokes here or there…! One of its root meanings is a complete failure to show respect. In the Greek (which Paul used) the word is asebēs. But that was our spiritual condition, our poverty. To be unable to save yourself or help yourself – to be powerless – is frustrating, humiliating, and disappointing. I tried – I really tried – but no amount of determination could make my muscles move. The day after the operation a nurse wanted me to try standing. I was powerless.ĭecades later I had an operation for back pain. ![]() A neighbor had to cross the fence to pick me up. I’m told that when I was about three years old and very fat, I fell over and could not roll over to get back on my feet. Literally the word means weak, incapable, unable to take action. These verses talk about us and also about God.įirst, us. Paul explains how that happened in Romans 5:6-8.Ħ 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. We had nothing but now we’re very rich indeed. It’s an old saying, that a man from a humble and deprived background who has been given enormous wealth is “just a poor man with money.”Ĭhristians could be described as poor people with great spiritual wealth. Amazing Love – Romans 5:6-8 By: Northern Seminary
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