Paul’s letter to the Romans has some of the clearest explanations of who Christ was and what his life, death, and resurrection mean to each of us. It also addresses some of the community issues—issues that were also true for Corinth and other cities in the region. One of those issues was who was better, who was more righteous than whom. The gentiles or the Jews? The circumcised or the uncircumcised? Those who knew the law or those who simply believed? Those who had been part of God’s community forever or the new kids on the block?
From Paul’s letter it is clear that there was dissention in the church. There were arguments about who had a firmer foundation, whose way was the *right* way, and who actually was justified by God. These things took place in the first century soon after Christ’s death. Now, we 21st century Christians, having all the benefits of modernity, technology, and 2000 years of faith ancestry—we certainly don’t have any of these disputes amongst ourselves, right?
We don’t quibble about whose music draws us closer to God, or whose clothes are more appropriate, or whose baptism is more legitimate. Not us! We aren’t concerned with worship that is unfamiliar or biblical teachings that call upon feminism, the black perspective, or social oppression to find a new reading of the Gospel. We aren’t threatened by different. We aren’t tempted to proclaim our faith as more righteous than that of those who attend the big church down the street. Right?!
This definitely was a first century problem and is not an issue we deal with today.
But, for the sake of argument, let’s pretend we too struggle with conflict in the church. Let’s assume, just for a moment, that we’ve made the mistake of claiming our way or the highway and see what God’s message for us would be.
First, we hear a reminder that righteousness comes by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Righteousness—in other words, godliness, holiness, uprightness, our sanctification, comes from God as a gift. We don’t earn it; we can’t buy it—the only way we have a possibility at righteousness is because of God’s goodness. And the way we receive that gift, the way we open it, is by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul reminds us that none of us is holy or righteous by our own doings, but only through God’s gift of grace through Jesus.
Now, why aren’t we righteous in our own right? I mean, I’m a pretty good person….how am I so unrighteous?
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Oh. Yeah. That. Sin. It gets us every time! But, I only sin a little—so doesn’t that mean I only fall a little but short of the glory of God?! I mean, I’m not one of those BIG sinners—so I have to be closer to God than they are, right?! Wrong. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. No class system of sin. No lesser sin or greater sin. Just the simple fact that we have turned away from God; we have disobeyed the rules; we have sinned. Period. And because we have sinned, we are all equally unrighteous. We are all broken. We are all imperfect. We are all sinners on equal footing, down at the bottom of the pit in the mire of sin. No distinction. No privilege. No hierarchy. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
And the only way we get up out of that miry pit is through grace. God’s grace pulls us up. And whether we accepted that grace through our faith 70 years ago, or 25 years ago, last year, or today—we remain equal. We are undistinguished in our sinfulness and we are undistinguished in our righteousness.
So those arguments we, of course, don’t have about whose way is better, or whose prayer is more holy, or whose worship service more God-inspired, they’re all irrelevant. There’s no room for them. We can’t boast about being better because we aren’t. We are equally sinful and we’re equally saved. No more, no less. Not the pastor. Not the elder. Not the child. Not the missionary. Not the Sunday School teacher. Not this section or that section. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and we are all saved by God’s grace alone.
Turn to your neighbor and say: “I’m a sinner. You’re a sinner. It’s nice to meet an equal.” Now say: “God saved me. God saved you. It’s nice to meet an equal.”
Regardless of how many people are in worship, the language we speak, the missions we complete, the music we use—we all sin and we are all saved by the grace of God. So let us not be caught up in proving righteousness or disputing traditions, but let us be bonded as sisters and brothers by the same faith in the same God who offers the same grace in the same way in the same amount to each and every one of us. The same grace, offered to the same sinners, so that we might be justified in the same way, through the same faith, in the same man—Jesus Christ. All on equal footing, equally saved, equally righteous, equally loved.
May God be glorified by the reading and hearing of the Holy Word. Amen.
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