Theme of the Week: The God Who Shows
Bible Verse: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21, ESV
Scripture Reading: Romans 1:1-4
The phrase I hear most often at home is, “It’s not fair!” It usually comes from my kids, and often it has to do with how one of them is judging or evaluating the other one according to their own standards.
Do you want to see who you really are? Look at how you judge others – we always tend to give ourselves a break. Deep down, if we are honest with ourselves, we could never live up to our own standards, even if we take God out of the picture for a moment.
The implications of this are profound. It reveals to us the essence of sin according to the Bible. Is sin breaking the law of God? Yes, that’s the expression of sin. The essence of sin is that we put ourselves in place of God.
God created and sustains all things, including you and I. And yet, we all try to be our own master and control our lives. If we lived in a kingdom with a king that is the only master over everything, and then you declare yourself your own master, that’s called treason.
That’s the essence of our sin – treason. We can barely breathe, survive, and definitely can’t live without God’s provision. Still, we puff up our chest and call ourselves masters of our own destiny.
At the introduction to this letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul makes a profound declaration. He said he was set apart for the good news of God, concerning his Son, “who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness.” (v. 3,4).
This is indeed good news. In Jesus Christ, the God who created you showed up to take your place. A God…made man. This is not a 50/50 deal: He descended from David, but he is God way before that. He was not born God. He has always been God.
So, when we look to the cross, we don’t simply see someone that paid the penalty for our treason. We see a man who felt and suffered the unfairness, injustice, and all the expressions of our sin and can empathize.
How does God, as the legitimate king, respond to our treason? He takes our place. Why? Because we need it. If the essence of sin is us taking God’s place, the essence of salvation is God taking our place.
That is good news.
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