Sermon Series chat
This week’s sermon continued in Romans chapter 4, and Luke preached the Gospel. I know there are times in our lives, whether in the past or as it continues to be a struggle, where we feel that we must do more “good” or do less “bad” in order to compensate for something we have done (or failed to do) morally. This may manifest in different forms from person to person and from time to time. It may be that you lied to your boss to cover yourself, so you do something nice like take a co-worker out to lunch to feel better about yourself. Maybe you look a little too desirously at a man or woman who is not your spouse and so you read an extra chapter in your Bible to make up for it. It may be that, for some people, this system of checks and balances is more than an occasional battle with feeling better about yourself. It may be that for you, this feeling means you are “OK” with God only when you do good “Christian” things. Or maybe that you are “OK” with God because you attend a church service regularly. Maybe because you think you aren’t as bad as some people, being “OK” is fundamental to how you view your interaction with God and His Church.
The good news that God shows us in His word in Romans 4 is that you are not “in with” according to what you do or do not do, but you are “in with” God ONLY according to your faith in Christ’s atoning sacrifice. You can’t be saved by being a member at any church, or by being part of a particular denomination, or by observing certain religious practices. You are saved only by FAITH. This idea of salvation by grace through faith is the most fundamental of all truth. I wonder if any of us are willing to share our testimony of when and how we realized that we must trust God for our salvation, or of a time when you had to be reminded of this again after salvation (like many of the churches that Paul wrote to like Galatians)?
Please feel free to share your story here that our faith may be mutually encouraged.
Grace & Peace,
Paul
