The First Most Important Man In You Life
The First Most Important Man In You Life
- Greg Waybright
- Romans 5:12-21
- Made New - A Study in Romans
- 33 mins 46 secs
- Views: 750
Study Notes
Made New: The Most Important Man in Your Life
Romans 5:15-21
Today, we will do what Jesus commanded us to do together when we gather as his followers, i.e., we will remember our Lord Jesus’ death until he comes back again (1 Cor 11:26). I am convinced that doing this, receiving communion together, is one of the most important part in the life of a church. One of the reasons I say this is that, when we receive communion, we are forced to ask ourselves the question that is at the heart of the passage we return to today, Romans 5:12-21.
What is that question? How is it possible that one man’s death can bring such blessings to so many people? Look at that question and let me remind you of a couple of things:
- The Blessings – They are what we spent three weeks talking about at the beginning of this series. You find Paul rejoicing about them in Romans 5:1-11:
- Justification -- We who are sinners can be declared right with a holy God (5:1a),
- Shalom -- We who are broken can experience peace with God (5:1b,11),
- Certain Hope -- We are sure that God will make all things new in our lives (5:2,9-10),
- Purpose – We who find this world to be sense-less can live with the certainty that God uses all things, even suffering, to further his good work in us (5:3-4).
- The Means – The means by which we can have these blessings is spelled out in 5:6,8: “When we were powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrated his own love for us in this way: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This is the heart of what we call “the gospel, i.e., God’s good news. Most of us who go to church believe this good news from the depths of our hearts. Our responsibility is to place our faith in Jesus. See 5:1-2 – “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.”
This is a beautiful and life-changing message. But, for many of Paul’s readers – and for many people ever since -- it brought up the question that Paul addressed in 5:12-21 -- How is it possible that one man’s death can bring such blessings to so many people?
To answer that, the Apostle Paul draws upon something I spoke about at length last weekend – that there is a connection between all things in this world God made. In particular, there is an inter-connectedness of all human beings. What one person does affects all others to some extent. With that in mind, in 5:12, the Apostle Paul takes us back to Genesis 3, the chapter that describes the time when sin entered the world. What the first Adam did by disobeying God negatively affected everything and everyone. “It’s like that,” Paul said. “The impact of Jesus is a lot like that.”
So, all lives affect all other lives. But, in particular, what Adam and Jesus did have an ongoing enormous effect on others. It’s because they were the first to do what they did. Adam was the first one to sin, to disobey the God who made him. Jesus was the first one to live life as it is supposed to be lived – without sin.
As I was thinking about that point -- that those who do something first often have a transformational impact (for worse or for better) -- I began to think about the Oscar-nominated movie that I saw last year, i.e., Hidden Figures. It is a movie about three African American women who were the first to break the gender and color barrier at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the forerunner of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Mary Jackson was one of those women. She became the first African American woman engineer at NASA. However, before she could get the qualifications to become an engineer, she had to get a graduate degree, a degree that was only attainable in an all-white school. In her appeal to a judge to allow her to get into a graduate engineering program, she powerfully made the point of the significance of being the first one to change things. www.youtube.com/watch?v= The judge in the movie made a hard decision that day. He was the first to open the door for a woman like Mary to become an aeronautical engineer. Acts like that have had, and continue to have, a huge impact on our world. If you will magnify that principle a million-fold, you will grasp just a bit of how it is that one Person, fully God and also fully human, living a sinless life, willingly dying in the place of sinners, and then defeating both sin and death by his resurrection can change the lives of all who follow him.
Whose Family Are You In: Adam’s or Jesus’? (5:15-18) -- If the many died by the trespass of one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of that one man, Jesus, Christ, overflow to the many (5:15).
To grasp this important message, you should picture that Paul is describing two different families. Right now, all people in our world are in one of two families, each bound together by the head of the family. We might call them the family of Adam and the family of Jesus.
When we think about our nuclear families, we realize that we derive our beings and much of our identities out of two people called parents. Those parents derive their beings and much of their identities out of four other people called grandparents, and on it goes back to the very beginnings of human life. We're tied together in this human family in ways I think are undeniable. And that's why the heritage of all of those in Adam’s family is sin and death. Paul says that is our human family inheritance. We are blood kin.
But, you may think, if that’s true, we have no hope. We’re just born into that Adam-family and the consequence of that is that we all sin and we all die. I’m quite sure that most of us don't want this family inheritance “in Adam” but we don't know how we can escape it.
The Bible says, “Yes, that’s the bad news. And it’s real news – not fake news!” But, says God’s Word, there is good news available to you. You have the possibility of becoming a part of another family. It is true that you don’t have a choice about whether you’re born into the Adam-family. But you do have a decision to make about whether you will stay there. Now, all who trust Jesus as Savior are adopted into a new family with a new family head, the Lord Jesus. Yes, Jesus – the one who loves you and who died for you. And, note this: The contrast between those two families is enormous.
See v. 19: Just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. Paul is saying that God is offering us a new family head, the Second Adam, Jesus. What Jesus has done can now change the entire direction of your life. Adam's sin resulted to your sinfulness. But when you become a part of the family of God, Jesus' work on the cross will lead to your righteousness. Adam's sin leads to death, both physical and spiritual. Jesus' resurrection from the dead will lead to you being spiritually alive (i.e., born again to a new life).
That’s what Paul talks about in Rom 5:12-21: All who trust Jesus are made a part of God’s family, what we call here at Lake, God’s “unexpected family”, one no longer bound by bloodlines but bound by faith. In the eyes of the world, it’s an unexpected family because it’s made up of Jew and Gentile, indeed, of every people group, language group and nationality. We become one family “in Christ”. We are changed by what He has done. His death provides the punishment necessary for our sins; his resurrection life is passed on to us.
Therefore, in this new Jesus-family, sin and death no longer reign. Oh, physical death is still a part of this world, but death's sting is gone. We will be resurrected because our family head has been resurrected. And sin is still a part of our existence too ‑‑ but with God's power at work, that is in process of being dealt with too. One day, sin will not affect us any more. For those in God's family, sin and death will no longer be masters.
“How Much More”
I don’t want you to miss that phrase “how much more” in vv.15, 17 and 20. When you give your life to Jesus by faith, he does much more than simply restore you to being the way Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. Sometimes, we have the idea that God is only going to take us back to being the way Adam and Eve were in Genesis 2. But, when you think about it, there wouldn’t be a lot of hope for us if that’s all that God does for us.
In Genesis 2-3, it seems clear that the bodies Adam and Eve had were sustained by their access to the “Tree of Life”. When they no longer had that access, they began to die. Even more seriously, Adam and Eve were susceptible to sin. When a temptation came to put themselves into the place of God, they gave in. If we simply become like Adam and Eve were, we would sin and give up heaven in a moment. No, we need “much more” to happen than for us to become the way Adam and Eve were before they sinned.
And that’s what God is doing in you and me. He’s remaking us so that we will become conformed to the image of Jesus. As theologians put it, we will be freed both from the presence and the power of sin. When God is done with his work in us, what will be gained will be much more than what was lost when Adam sinned – we’ll be in a better garden, with better bodies and with a new moral strength made to be like Jesus.
And, all this is a work of the “grace” of God. The Bible says this over and over in Romans 5. We don’t deserve all these promises and blessings for we all of us have sinned. We cannot earn this great salvation because – well, as this entire text has declared it, we can’t. We’re trapped in this old family and in this old way of life. Our salvation is about grace. Grace is not achieved. It must be received. Grace cannot be earned. Grace is a gift God offers to people because he loves us. We receive that gift through faith in Jesus.
It is through grace poured out in Christ, sinners like we all are can be made right with God. Nothing else in the world works this way. You know that, don’t you? In every system in this world, whether it be education, sports, business, or the military, you have to perform before receiving the verdict, the reward or the grade. You must complete the mission, pass the test, win the game, or pay the debt before the reward or verdict is given.
But, with the gospel of God’s grace, the verdict about you comes first. God declares you right and forgiven because of the work of Christ done on your behalf. When you grasp this, and receive God’s gift of grace by faith, then something begins working in your heart. Here’s what happens: When your faith is real, you become grateful. You begin to experience the presence and power of God within. It is through the work of God’s Spirit in the hearts of grateful people that you and I begin to live new lives in keeping with God's will.
Listen carefully: You must never reverse this. You must never think that God accepts you based on how you perform. Jesus performed in your place through His life, death, and resurrection. On that basis, he offers you all those benefits of Rom 5:1-11: right standing with God, peace in your heart, and a promise that what God will bring to completion what he has started in you. And, until he’s done, nothing will separate you from his love that comes through faith in Jesus.
Responding to God’s Word: I want you to receive Jesus, to represent Jesus, and to remember Jesus.
- Receive Jesus -- I cannot preach a message like this without asking, “Are you in the family of God? Have you placed your faith in Jesus? The Apostle John used a lot of the same language in John 1:12-13 that Paul used in Romans 5. He said, “To all who receive him (Jesus), to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
- Representing Jesus -- Once you receive Jesus, you soon hear the privilege Jesus gives you of representing him in this world. After his resurrection Jesus told his followers, “As the Father sent me, I am sending you (Jn 20:21).” We are sent into the world as witnesses to the life all can have through faith in him. This Bible passage tells us what we have to offer our world. The world human family is hurting. It's trapped in a way of life that is futile. Death comes again and again with people not knowing where it leads or how they can have the hope of eternal life. The world's human families are thus broken. But we can offer a different family. And the local church is to be the place where, practically speaking, the support of that family is carried out. Today, ask yourself: “Who is there in my circle of relationships that I should witness to?”
But notice that Jesus said, “As the Father sent me, I am sending you.” What Jesus did was to enter into our world – with all its sin and death. He did not simply teach but entered into the lives of lepers, the demonized and prostitutes. He took on human flesh and faced all the temptations and trials that are a part of our fallen world. “Jesus personally bore our sins in his body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24).”
We are called to do the same. “I send you as I am sent.” But, what does that look like? I know this kind of entering into the pain of people in our world can take on many forms. It’s also something that even a child can do.
Last year, my 8-year old granddaughter Riley discovered her friend Sophie had a malignant brain tumor. Riley already has an open heart for God and for people. When Sophie’s hair fell out due to chemotherapy, she obviously felt self-conscious and alone as well as afraid of the cancer. So, this spring, when Riley heard of an opportunity to identify with her friend as well as raise money for childhood cancer, she became the only girl to volunteer to have her head shaved in solidarity with children with cancer. (I’ll show the pictures.) She was motivated by her love for her friend. She was moved because of her love of Christ.
How might you enter into the lives of people in our community? When you do, you show a small measure of the love of Jesus who entered into our world of sin and death in order to set us free.
- Remembering Jesus – Our gratitude for the love and grace of Jesus is the main motivation for us to want to obey and please him. So that you and I might never forget – that we might remember the Jesus who “when we were powerless, he died for the ungodly (Rom 5:6)” – I’ll ask pastor Annie/Jeff to come and lead us to the cross as we together will receive communion…
Chinese Study Notes
煥然一新: 你生命中最重要的人
羅 5:15-21
今天,我們作為耶穌的門徒要行他命令我們一起做的事,就是紀念我們主的死直到他再來(林前11:26)。我深信,我們如此一起領聖餐是教會生活中最重要的一個部分;因為我們不得不問自己的一個問題,就是羅 5:12-21節的核心問題。
什麼樣的問題呢?就是一個人的死怎麼可能會給如此多的人帶來祝福? 看看這個問題,讓我提醒你們幾件事:
- 祝福--從這個系列一開始,我們花了3個星期討論這個問題。你們看見保羅在羅5:1-11對此非常興奮;
- 稱義 -- 我們這些罪人得以被聖潔的神稱為義人(5:1a),
- 平安 -- 我們這些破碎的人得以經歷神的平安(5:1b,11),
- 盼望-- 我們確信神將使我們的生命煥然一新(5:2,9-10),
- 目的--我們這些在世界上找不到意義的人可以活得有確據,就是神使萬事,包括困苦互相效力,好讓我們得好處(5:3-4).
- 方法 –我們能擁有這樣祝福,其方法寫在5:6, 8節: “原來,當我們還軟弱的時候,基督就按照所定的時候為不敬虔的人死了……但是,當我們還是罪人的時候,基督就替我們死了”。這就是我們所說的“福音”,即神好消息的核心。我們大多數來教會的人都相信,這福音在我們內心深處,我們要以信心來回應,見5:1-2 “這樣,我們既然因信稱義,就藉著我們的主耶穌基督與神和好了;2我們也藉著他,因信進入了現在所站的這恩典中,並且以盼望神的榮耀而誇耀”。
這是一個美好並能帶來生命改變的資訊,但對保羅的許多讀者,卻帶出了5:12-21保羅要談的問題 -- 一個人的死怎麼可能會給如此多的人帶來祝福?
為了回答這個問題,使徒保羅提到一些事,也是我上週末花時間講的---就是神所造的世界萬物是相互聯繫的。特別是人類,有某種內在的關聯,一個人所做的會在某種程度上影響到其他人。請記住5:12,保羅把我們帶回創世紀3章,那一章描述了罪進入世界的情形。亞當違背神的行為帶給每個人以及萬物負面的影響。保羅說,耶穌也像這樣帶來了影響,卻是正面的影響。
生命影響生命。特別是亞當和耶穌所做的,都帶給人類長久巨大的影響,因為他們都是第一個這樣做的人。亞當是第一個犯罪的,違背了創造他的神;耶穌是第一個活出了生命本質的人,卻沒犯罪。
當我思考這一點---那些第一個做的人常常帶來深遠的改變(好的或是壞的)---我就想到去年我看的奧斯卡提名影片“不為人知”。那影片描寫三個美國黑人婦女第一次在NASA打破性別和膚色的隔閡。Mary Jackson 是其中一個婦女,她成為NASA的第一個美國黑人工程師 。不過在她夠格成為工程師之前,她不得不拿到研究生學位,當時只有在白人學校才能獲得這樣的學位。她向一個法官申請去拿這個學位,於是實現了極具意義的突破,成為第一個改變體制的人。www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aiWlZJ6Pfg
影片中的法官在那一天做了個困難的決定,就像Mary 成為第一個航太工程師,他是第一個為黑人婦女開門的人。類似這樣的行動會為我們的世界帶來持久深遠的影響。不管對這個原則有怎樣的演繹,你只要抓住這一點,就是耶穌基督,一個完全的神,也是一個完全的人,以無罪之身甘願替罪人死,而且藉著從死裡復活擊敗了罪與死,改變了所有跟隨者的生命。
你在亞當的家裡還是在耶穌的家裡? (5:15-18) -- 但是恩賜不同於過犯。原來,一個人的過犯尚且使眾人都死了,何況神的恩典和耶穌基督一個人恩典裡的賞賜,難道不更要豐豐富富地臨到眾人嗎(5:15).
為了抓住這個重要資訊,你應該把握好保羅所描述的兩個家庭。 今天,世上所有的人非此即彼在其中一個家中,與那個家的家主相連,就是我們所稱的亞當之家和基督之家。
當我們想到我們的小家庭時,我們知道我們從兩個人,就是父母獲得了我們的肉身和身份;而父母從四個人,就是我們的祖父母獲得這些;我們還可以一直追溯下上去,毫無疑問,我們都在人類這個大家庭中被綁在一起,都從亞當之家繼承了罪與死,保羅說這就是人類之家的遺產,我們是繼承人。
你可能想,要是真的話,我們豈不無望了?但我們的確生在亞當之家,後果就是罪與死亡。我確信大多數人不願要在亞當裡的繼業,但是我們不知道怎樣才能躲開?
“對,這是壞消息,而且千真萬確不虛假”,不過神說,還有給我們的好消息,你有可能成為另一個家庭的一員!雖然你無法選擇只能生在亞當之家,但你可以決定是否留在那裡。今天,所有接受耶穌為救主的都被新的家主---耶穌基督揀選到新的家庭。耶穌,就是愛你並為你死的那一位!請記住這兩個家庭間的對比太巨大了.
第19節: 藉著一個人的悖逆,眾人怎樣都成了罪人;藉著一個人的順從,眾人將怎樣成為義人。 保羅是在說上帝賜給我們一個新家主,就是第二個亞當---耶穌。耶穌所成就的如今要帶給你的生活方向性的改變。亞當的罪帶給你罪性。但當你成為上帝家庭中的一份子,耶穌在十字架上的作為將使你成為義。亞當的罪帶來身體和靈性的死亡;而耶穌從死裡復活將帶給你靈性的新生(如,重生得新生命)。
保羅在羅馬書5:12-21所說的是:相信耶穌的每個人都要成為上帝家中一員,在Lake教會,我們都是上帝家中“不期而遇”的家人,那是一個不再因血緣而是因信心組成的家。在世人眼中,這真是一個“不期而遇“的家,因為它是由猶太人和外邦人,也是由各方,各族,各民組成的。我們“在基督裡“成為了一家人。我們因他的工作而改變。他的死為我們的罪提供了必須的代贖;他又將復活的生命傳遞給我們。
因此,在這個新成立的耶穌大家庭中,罪和死不再掌權。噢,身體的死當然仍是這個世界的一部分,但死的毒鉤已不再。我們都要復活,因為我們的一家之主已經復活了。罪雖然也仍是我們生命的一部分-----但因著上帝工作的大能,它將逐漸被消滅。將來有一天,罪對我們再也不能有所作為;對上帝家中的人而言,罪和死不再作主。
“豈不更要”
我不希望大家忽略15節, 17節和20節都提到的詞“豈不更要。” 當你因信將生命交托耶穌時,他要在你身上成就的不只是恢復你像伊甸園中的亞當夏娃那樣。有時,我們會以為上帝只是要將我們帶回創世記2章亞當夏娃的光景中。然而,上帝如果真的只能做這些,我們也實在沒有什麼好盼望的。
在創世紀2-3章,很清楚, 亞當夏娃的身體不能接近“生命樹“。 當他們無法接近時,就開始死亡,更嚴重的是,亞當夏娃極易犯罪。 當試探替代了神時,他們妥協了。如果我們只是變成像亞當夏娃一樣,我們還是會在頃刻間犯罪棄絕天國。不,我們需要比亞當夏娃犯罪前的光景更好的事發生。
這就是神在你我身上所做的。他重造了我們,使我們得以有耶穌的樣式。神學上講,我們脫離了罪和罪的勢力。當神在我們裡面完成他的工作時,我們所得到的遠超過因亞當的罪讓我們失去的。我們將在更美的園子,擁有更好的身體,更強的道德力量,從而更像耶穌。
所有這一切都是神恩典的作為。 聖經在羅馬書第五章一遍遍說,因為我們在罪中,本來不配這些應許和祝福,我們不能靠作好人去掙得這個偉大的救恩,就像整本聖經所說,我們不能!因為我們陷在舊的家庭和舊的生活方式裡,所以我們的救恩是關乎恩典的。恩典不是抓取的,一定是領受的,而不是掙得的。恩典是因著神的愛賜給人的禮物。我們是在耶穌裡領受這恩典的。
藉著在基督裡神恩典的澆灌,我們這樣的罪人才能被神稱為義,世上沒有其它的途徑能如此。你是不是知道呢?世界上的任何系統,教育、體育、商業、軍事都要求你憑努力去得誇讚、獎賞和分數;你一定要完成任務、通過考試、贏得比賽,付出代價才能得到獎賞和人的裁決。但在神的恩典中,對你的裁決卻是在一開始---因耶穌基督在你身上的工作,神一開始就稱你為義並赦免了你。當你抓住這一點,並因信接受神恩典的禮物時,神就在你心中動工, 會使你心中充滿感恩,開始經歷神在你裡面的能力。憑著神的靈在我們裡面的工作,你和我可以活出新生命來尋求神的旨意。
請聽仔細:你永不可推翻這個道理:你永不可以為上帝接納你是因你的作為。耶穌籍著他的生,死,復活已代替你完成了這一作為。在此基礎上,他將羅馬書5:1-11提到的所有益處賜給你:在上帝面前站立的資格,心中的平安,上帝將為你創始成終的應許。
回應神的話: 我要你接受耶穌,紀念耶穌。
- 接受耶穌—傳講這樣的資訊時,我必須問一個問題,你是耶穌家中的一員嗎?你相信耶穌嗎?使徒約翰在約翰福音1:12-13節中使用了和保羅在羅馬書5章中幾乎同樣的語言。他說,“他到自己的地方來,自己的人倒不接待他。 凡接待他的,就是信他名的人,他就賜他們權柄,作神的兒女。“
- 代表耶穌—你一旦接受耶穌,你很快會聽到耶穌邀請你作他在這個世界的代表。耶穌復活後告訴他的門徒說,“父怎樣差遣了我,我也照樣差遣你們(約20:21)”。我們被差到世界做見證使所有信他的人可以得生命。這節經文告訴我們要給世界什麼。世界的家製造了許多傷害,使人們的生活陷入空虛不能自拔。死亡一次次襲來,人們不知如何找尋通往永生的希望之路。世界的家就是如此破碎。但是我們可以帶給世人不一樣的家。地方教會應該成為見證這樣的家的地方。今天,你要捫心自問:”我該向哪些朋友做見證?“
請注意耶穌說的話,“父怎樣差遣了我,我也照樣差遣你們。”耶穌所做的就是進入我們的世界—充滿罪惡死亡的世界。他不僅教導人,也進到大麻風病人中間,進到被鬼附的人以及妓女的生活中。他披戴人的血肉之軀,面對了世界中的一切誘惑試煉。“他被掛在木頭上,親身擔當了我們的罪”(彼前2:24)。
我們也當如此行:“父怎樣差遣了我,我也照樣差遣你們。” 但那會是怎樣的情形呢?我知道,這種進入人類疾苦的形式可以是多種多樣的;但同時,也是連孩子也可以做到的。
去年我8歲的孫女萊莉發現她的朋友索菲長了一個惡性腦瘤。萊莉有一顆向上帝和他人敞開的心。萊莉看見索菲因接受化療而掉頭發,想到她聽說過的一個辦法,既可以與朋友認同,又可以籌錢幫助兒童癌症患者,她自願獨自一人剃光頭與兒童癌症病患認同。(我給大家看看這張照片)她因愛朋友而生髮動力,她因愛基督而行動。
你當如何進入你周圍人們的生活中?當你這樣做的時候,你就將耶穌之愛的一小部分帶進我們這個充滿罪與死亡的世界,要去釋放人們得自由。
- 紀念耶穌—我們對耶穌愛與恩典的感激是鼓勵我們順服和討他喜悅的主要動力。因此你和我永不要忘記的是,我們要紀念耶穌,“因我們還軟弱的時候,基督就按所定的日期為罪人死”(羅5:6)
我現在請安妮/傑夫牧師帶領我們來到十字架前一起領受主餐。。。