Shame: Was there a time in your life as a child that a parent said to you… “You should be ashamed of yourself! That is just NOT the way we behave!” Think back on that time and see if you can remember what it was that you should have been so ashamed of. We not only have had that said of ourselves, but we likely have said that statement to someone else. Shame is a part of our life’s history.
Guilt: We then need to think about the word “Guilt” and as painful as it may be we might need to remind ourselves of a time when we were guilty of something that we know was out of line.
Grace: But then this third word… “Grace” and how it comes into play in the middle of shame and guilt. Do you understand the theology of Grace?
I read this week in a commentary on Romans 5 that one of the most detrimental triggers to horrible theology, the kind of horrible theology that can end up almost ‘cult-like’ – is when we have a bad understanding and application of God’s Grace. I have had to think about that comment a lot this week, and I believe there is some real truth to it. Not understanding the real meaning of God’s Grace — undermines the message of the Gospel. We would all understand what bad behavior is. We all understand what it means to stray away in some form or fashion. We all certainly understand evil deeds, and most of us would work hard to stay away from that kind of behavior. But do we really understand those three words… “Shame,” “Guilt” and “Grace?”
This coming Sunday morning we are moving back into the book of Romans and our academic year series we call “The Gospel Truth.” Our focus Sunday will be on Romans 5:6-21. As you come Sunday I encourage you to come prepared by reading this passage carefully. Then go back and try to meditate and memorize Romans 5:8. Our goal is the same as the goal of the entire book of Romans! Our goal is the same as the goal when Paul wrote this letter to the Church in Rome 2000 years ago. We are called to be servants/slaves to Christ (Romans 1:1) in carrying the Gospel message to a world around us (Romans 1:5) because this Gospel is the only message that saves (Romans 1:16-17).
Now that we are in this section of Romans, I want to make it perfectly clear to us as a church body. We are not studying Romans for the academic knowledge and theological depth in order to attain some grand status. Instead, we are studying it because we are called as God’s people to bring this Gospel to a world so out of touch with God. These next many weeks I pray are interesting to you, but much more I pray that we are challenged in a whole new way. My prayer is that we dive deep into Romans 5, 6, 7, 8, and let it transform how we are used by God in this broken world.
See you Sunday on the adventure.
