Redemption Hill Church

As we gather from scattered places this Easter Sunday, we will continue in our series with Romans 6:1-11. This passage gives us a clear calling with its foundations in the death and resurrection of Jesus. If we have come to God by grace through faith in Jesus, we are united with Jesus in His death, burial, and resurrection. Our baptism joins us to Him in unity. Then we are called and freed to live in the newness of life, free from the dominion of sin. This is the beauty of what we celebrate on Easter. Not just that these are true historical events, and they are, but that we enter into the story by the work of God’s Spirit in our redemption.

In this section, Paul answers the question, “How can one person’s actions save us?” In doing so, he pulls way up to a view of all of human history, and with it redemptive history. For all of the ways we divide, and all the categories we create for others, the biblical perspective is that there is one human race. We are all in Adam or in Christ. This passage is timely as we look at the results of sin and the one place we can find hope as we are faced with death itself.

As we gather from scattered places, we will continue in our series with Romans 5:6-11. Last week we saw the timely call to rejoice, even in times of suffering, knowing that God loves us. This week continues the same themes but is helpful at a more concrete level. When we don’t feel God’s love for us, how can we still know in our hearts that it is true and sure? Rest assured that our hope is not merely fanciful but is rock solid and historically rooted. This paragraph is densely packed with gospel beauty and God’s love, at full cask strength with no dilution.

This chapter starts a whole new section of the book. As I prepared to preach, I was struck again at God’s timing for us in a series that was planned out long ago. This text addresses suffering head on and calls us to rejoice even in the midst of suffering. That runs contrary to everything that we naturally turn to when things aren’t going our way. In the face of uncertainty and anxiety about living in the middle of a global pandemic, this passage will help us all recenter ourselves and remind us of the greatest source of hope we could ever have.

This Sunday we stay in our series in Romans and close the chapter with Romans 4:16-25. It is an incredibly timely text for us. This passage takes us into a further exploration of Abraham and Sarah’s life and shows us how to respond when we are living in the gap between the hopes we have and the reality we experience. How do we respond when the promises of God feel distant? What does it mean to have faith when things are uncertain and scary? How can we have hope when we get knocked down over and over again? 

As we begin a new chapter in the letter to the Romans, the argument turns to the Hebrew Bible to support the idea that it is God's grace alone through faith alone that we are declared righteous in God's sight. Over the next two Sundays, we will explore the story of Abraham and see how it points ahead to what was accomplished through Christ.

Some have said that the first paragraph of this section is the most important paragraph ever written, and Luther called it the center of the whole Bible. After spending 2 1/2 chapters setting the stage with the intense need we have for a Savior, the text takes an abrupt turn to show us that there is a great hope!

This Sunday we start a new chapter in Romans and round out the argument that the Apostle Paul has been building since chapter 1. If we are ever going to hope to understand the beauty and glory of the gospel, we need to first understand the need every one of us has for a Savior. Romans 3:1-20 can serve as a diagnostic test for our own souls. It is incisive, helpful, and universal in its application.

Last week we saw that all of us will face God in the end and that all of our secrets will be revealed because God shows no partiality. This week turns squarely toward the most religious of those in the church at Rome. Paul exposes the emptiness of religious practice that misses the heart of God’s Law, over-focused on the letter of the law and missing the spirit of it. This text hits home for those of you who grew up in church or have bought into more legalistic forms of Christianity. It’s a good corrective to remind us that we cannot save ourselves, even with the most careful moralism.

As Paul continued to develop his eagerness to proclaim the gospel, he turned toward addressing the religious in Rome. This passage is a stark reminder to every one of us that we will one day stand before God. All that we are and all that we have done will be revealed and clarified. God is just, and all people, however religious or irreligious will stand before Him. We will be responsible for what we know and how we have lived that out.