The Lutheran Hour
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"A Righteousness from God"
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Text: Romans 3:19-28
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I would guess that everyone is familiar with that moment in the courtroom when the judge pounds on his desk with his gavel and says, “Silence in the court.” He may have to do that many times because it’s difficult to get silence in the courtroom. There’s always an undercurrent of conversation going on. Spectators are buzzing about what’s being said, lawyers are conferring with their clients or with other legal assistants, and witnesses are being examined. Everybody, it seems, wants a chance to speak, to accuse, to explain, to interpret, to justify evidence one way or another. It’s almost a microcosm of life itself. Everyone is trying to look good or at least a little better than others. Even if we are not conscious of God, we want to be able to justify our actions to ourselves or to others. We want to appear presentable. We want to avoid having our real motives and actions exposed for what they are.
We get pretty good at justifying ourselves. We learn how to defend ourselves against all of our shortcomings and failings. And if our failures are exposed so that everyone can see them, we may convince ourselves that perhaps there are a few good things we have done to balance out the bad things. Surely they can count for something. Surely they can tip things in our favor.
Bernard Ebbers stood before the judge and asked for mercy. The former CEO of WorldCom had recently been indicted for orchestrating an $11 billion accounting fraud that shut down the telecommunications firm in 2002, yet he asked for mercy. His company’s collapse represented the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history and devastated the lives of thousands of employees, yet he asked for mercy. Speaking on behalf of his client, defense attorney Reid Weingarten cited 169 letters from Ebbers’ supporters, detailing the 63-year-old’s heart condition and numerous charitable gifts. “If you live 60 some odd years,” said Weingarten, “if you have an unblemished record, if you have an endless number of people who attest to your goodness, doesn’t that count? Doesn’t that count for something?”
But there comes a time when the talking ceases, when the attempts to spin the evidence and create a favorable impression are over. When the jury returns from their deliberations, everybody becomes quiet and the judge invites the defendant to rise with his attorney and then he says to the foreman of the jury, “Have you reached your verdict?” At that moment, there is silence. There’s no more talking, every eye is focused, every ear waiting for the jury foreman to deliver the verdict: Either “Guilty” or “Not Guilty.” That is silence. The verdict will change the lives of people in a flash. Those people who are defendants will either be set free or sent to jail while others whose lives have been affected by the crime the person was accused of committing will also be impacted in great ways.
In Romans chapter 3, Saint Paul is inviting us to envision a cosmic courtroom. In this courtroom the entire world is on trial and the charges are based on the perfect Law of God. That Law presents an unrelenting stream of accusations that expose all our faults. There are no loopholes for us to squeeze through because the accusations come from God’s perfect Law. Even if you can claim ignorance of the Law, it makes no difference. In Romans chapter 2, Paul says, “All who sin apart from the Law will also perish apart from the Law.” Those who did not know the Law showed by their lives that they had the Law in their hearts and their consciences accused them. There’s nothing more to say. In the end we all stand condemned together.
In Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of the New Testament, called The Message, Romans 3:19-20 reads: “This makes it clear, doesn’t it, that whatever is written in these Scriptures is not what God says about others but to us to whom these Scriptures were addressed in the first place! And it’s clear enough, isn’t it, that we’re sinners, every one of us, in the same sinking boat with everybody else?”
In the December 23, 2002, issue of Time magazine, Lev Grossman wrote the following: “Every year on the first Saturday in December, twenty-five hundred of the most brilliant college students in North America take what may be the hardest math test in the world – the Putnam Competition. How tough is it? Although there are only 12 questions, the test lasts six hours. And although these are the best and the brightest young minds our country has to offer, the median score on last year’s test was one point. Out of a possible 120.”
But God’s Law presents an even more rigorous and imposing demand – perfection. When that Law is finished making accusations, when every mouth is silenced, when there is no more defense, when all of our attempts to justify ourselves dissolve, then judgment is pronounced. And that judgment is devastating. We are all guilty. We all deserve the fullest condemnation of the Law – eternal damnation in hell. We have no basis to plead for mercy.
Bernard Ebbers got no mercy from his judge. He was guilty and the judge sentenced him to 25 years in the federal penitentiary. We cannot expect mercy from the Law, only justice. And that justice silences every mouth.
But now, in the very silence the Law has created, God speaks another word. It is a different word, a totally unexpected word. It is a word of grace, undeserved, difficult to comprehend, hard to believe. It is a word we could not have anticipated, even in our imagination, for God pronounces us “not guilty.” He declares us to be righteous, right with Him, all our failures pardoned, all our sins forgiven. It is a righteousness apart from the Law, that comes from Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. You might ask how God can do that without betraying who He really is? How can a God who claims to be just, just simply dismiss all of our penalties? How can a God who is righteous simply turn his back on all of this sin? How can He just dismiss the enormous debt that we had accumulated? Can God just sweep it under the rug, so to speak? How can the just penalty of the Law be ignored?
That is what the cross is all about. There on the cross God exacted the penalty the Law demanded of us from His Son. There His wrath over sin was emptied into the cup that Jesus drank for us. There the fire of His wrath fell upon the sinless Son of God who hung suspended between heaven and earth suffering for you and for me. Suffering the torments of hell in our place. In this way, God demonstrates His justice. He shows His justice by demanding justice. All His forbearance, His passing over sin, was only a temporary suspension of His judgment. But in the moment of His judgment, nothing is suspended. He spares nothing of His wrath over sin. Jesus absorbs it all for you and for me. And because God does not spare His Son we are spared. We escape, we go free.
That now is so important. It changes everything. It is a simple word, but it announces something that God has done that changes everything. It keeps popping up in this letter to the Romans. In chapter 5:9: “Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him.” In chapter 5:11: “We also rejoice in God though our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” In chapter 6:22: “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” In chapter 7:6: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the Law, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit…” And in chapter 8:1: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…”
Now we see the cross in a whole new light. It is no longer just a symbol of execution and death, of shame and a curse. Now it is a symbol of God’s incredible love for the whole world, of new life, of forgiveness, and of hope. Above all, it is a symbol of grace, the undeserved love of God for sinners.
Denise Bonderman, from Hannibal, Missouri, tells about an experience with her final exam in the youth ministry class at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Missouri:
“When I got to class, everybody was doing their last-minute studying. The teacher came in and said he would review with us before the test. Most of his review came right from the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard. When questioned about it, he said they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn’t argue with that.
“Finally, it was time to take the test. ‘Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I’ll tell you to start,’ our professor, Dr. Tom Hufty, instructed.
“When we turned them over, to my astonishment every answer on the test was filled in. My name was even written on the exam in red ink. The bottom of the last page said: ‘This is the end of the exam. All answers on your test are correct. You will receive an A on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced grace.'”
It isn’t often that we experience grace in situations like that. More often than not it is the cold, hard reality of justice that confronts us. But there is one experience of grace that tops them all. It is when we stand at the foot of the cross and hear the words of Jesus, “You are forgiven.” At that moment all boasting comes to an end. There is no more need for self-justification, no more need to claim that you are better than someone else, because the only thing we can boast about is what Christ has done for us. Because of that gift of grace we can boast about the salvation we have received in Christ Jesus. Now we are free from any attempt to justify ourselves before God. We need to simply say, “God be merciful to me a sinner.”
In a few days the Church will be celebrating the anniversary of the Reformation which began 490 years ago. It is an important event to remember, because Martin Luther discovered this beautiful truth in Romans about how God puts sinners right with Himself through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not a new truth, but one that had been hidden and neglected in the Church. It is good news for the whole world about a righteousness that we can’t secure on our own. It is God’s gift to us. And because of that gift we, through faith in Jesus, become the children of God, set free to live in joyful hope of His coming again.
May God fill you with that same joy and hope as you put all your trust in Jesus the Savior. Amen.LUTHERAN HOUR MAILBOX (Questions & Answers) for October 28, 2007
TOPIC: Right ReligionANNOUNCER: Now, Pastor Ken Klaus answers questions from listeners. I’m Mark Eischer.
KLAUS: Good morning, Mark. And, I imagine this Sunday, when Reformation Day is remembered in many churches, we have a suitable question.
ANNOUNCER: I don’t know how “reformation-ish” this question might be, but we do have a question that might call for someone to reform their thinking.
KLAUS: Reformation-ish? That’s a new word. To reform people’s thinking, that sounds ominous.
ANNOUNCER: Maybe more like vacuous.
KLAUS: Even better yet. What have we got?
ANNOUNCER: This is taken from a lengthy letter which basically accused you of being “opinionated.”
KLAUS: No problem there. I am.
ANNOUNCER: But we’re going to focus on part of the letter which said, “Religion isn’t one-size-fits-all. The right religion is the religion which is right for the believer.”
KLAUS: What a wonderful, catchy sound bite. “The right religion is the religion which is right for the believer.” And if we put that idea under the microscope, what do we see?
ANNOUNCER: It’s another way of saying, “all religions are the same.”
KLAUS: OK, they mean my religion is right for me because I believe it, but a different religion can be equally right for you, because that’s the religion which reaches you, which gives you the help and insight you need.
ANNOUNCER: Right. And according to this view, the truth of any religion is to be found in the heart of the believer.
KLAUS: What a fashionable notion that is! The listener’s idea isn’t new. In the days of the Savior, and even long before, people had a similar concept. Back then, everybody believed in all sorts of gods. There were gods to take care of nature; gods to take care of territory; gods which maybe even could even be bribed. If I lived in St. Louis, I had one set of gods which did the job for me there, but if I traveled to New York City, it would be better for me to acknowledge the New York City gods who were in control in that location.
ANNOUNCER: Sounds more like a street gang to me. So you are saying, the gods of one person weren’t the gods of another.
KLAUS: Yes, the gods for one area weren’t the gods of another area. The right religion was the religion which was right for where, and who, you were.
ANNOUNCER: But can all religions be right?
KLAUS: Suppose one religion says you should cut the hearts out of living, human sacrifices to please your god, and suppose another religion says you should love your enemy. Is it possible for those religions, those contradicting thoughts, to be right for their believers?
ANNOUNCER: Well, if we go according to that statement, “The right religion is the religion which is right for the believer” then, yes, in that case I suppose it would be possible.
KLAUS: And suppose one religions says it’s OK to blow up innocent people to get your way while another religion says, “Love those who persecute you.” Would both of those religions be right for their believers?
ANNOUNCER: Once again, there are such religions, and my answer would be a qualified “yes.” Each person could believe the religion that appealed to him or her.
KLAUS: Good. So, then, who determines the validity of the religion, of the god who is being worshipped?
ANNOUNCER: In this case, the believer is deciding those things.
KLAUS: And they would then be deciding what is true, what is real, right? (And I caution you here, be careful how you answer that one.)
ANNOUNCER: They would be deciding what is truth for them only. But, that doesn’t mean that what they believe really is the truth.
KLAUS: Aaahhhh, and that’s the point. A religion is true if it is objectively true, not because a person, or even a whole bunch of persons, believe it to be true. God is divine, not because you think He is divine, but because He is divine. Your belief is right or wrong insofar as it is in harmony with the real truth. It’s not the other way around.
ANNOUNCER: So then, religions and gods are not right because of what their believers believe.
KLAUS: Exactly. Now the problem is, how are you going to know which god and which religion is true? For a lot of people, that question seems uncertain and unanswerable. They either give up on God and say He is unknowable, or they assert that all religions and gods are the same.
ANNOUNCER: Which brings us back to the Reformation. Martin Luther said we are saved only by faith in the truth revealed in Scripture alone. And in Scripture alone we read of God’s grace that comes to us only through the person and work of Jesus Christ.
KLAUS: Who died for our sins and rose from the dead. That’s an objective fact of history. And, by His resurrection, Christ affirms the truth of His claims to be the one true Savior of the world.
ANNOUNCER: This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries.
Music selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by John Leavitt. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“The Gospel Shows the Father’s Grace” arranged by Henry Gerike. Used by permission
“My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less” From Hymns for All Saints: Adoration, Praise, Comfort (© 2004 Concordia Publishing House)
“Jesus, Your Blood and Righteousness” by Chris Loemker. Concordia Publishing House/SESAC
“A Mighty Fortress” by Helmut Walcha. From Cramer & Resch at Kramer Chapel by Craig Cramer and Richard Resch (© 2001 Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne)