So, I’m not exactly a “health and fitness guy”. And really anyone who’s ever put a piece of pie in front of me could tell you that. But I’ve recently started to try and work out a little more. I’m lucky enough to work a place that has an on-site gym, and not only that, but also offers fitness classes for free.
There are three that I’ve started to take on a semi-regular basis. (And by semi-regular I mean that I try to take them regularly, but you know, things get in the way, like using my lunch break to go get a burrito instead.)
I’ve started taking a rowing class on Mondays at 2:00. (So if you ever find yourself lost at sea, I’m your guy.)
I’ve also started taking a spinning class on Tuesdays at noon. (Now, last Sunday while Pastor Vawn was preaching, I was listening to his sermon and reading ahead to today’s passage knowing that I was preaching the next sermon. And I thought to myself, “Maybe I should talk about my spinning class.” Not 15 seconds later, Pastor Vawn says, “One time, I was roped into taking a spinning class.” The first thing I thought was, “What are the odds that spinning will be mentioned two weeks in a row at the East Franklin and Franklin churches.” And my second thought was, “Maybe I should talk about a different class.”)
The third class that I’ve started taking is TRX, which is a suspension weight training class. What that means is that adjustable straps with handles on them are suspended from the ceiling, and you basically use your own bodyweight against yourself in the weight training. So we do things like plant our feet, and then lean back while holding onto the handles, and then lift ourselves up to do like a pull up, or barbell curls. We also put our feet in the handles, and try to do “atomic pushups” with our feet suspended. Or the worst: side planks.
The thing about this particular class is that after I take it… I can’t move for the next three days. Every single muscle in my body hurts, I discover different muscles and parts of my body that I didn’t even know I had because absolutely everything is stiff and aches. And we all know it’s never the day after that hurts the most. It’s the day after the day after, right?
The first time I took this class was on a Friday, and I had heard how much you hurt after, so I tried to be really good about stretching frequently thinking that maybe I’d be spared. Nope. Before going to bed the next night, I got down on the floor of our bedroom to stretch, and I couldn’t get back up. Lissy walked out of the room to check on Colin, came back in to find me just lying motionless on the floor.
The second time I took the class was on a Wednesday, and it was a bit better. I could get off the floor under my own power, but this time it just totally destroyed my arms, especially the muscles on the inside of my elbow. So I couldn’t stretch my arms out straight for the next three days. I have a standing desk at work, and every time I hopped off my chair to walk to the bathroom, I’d walk with a slight bend in my arms. I looked like C-3P0.
Why do muscles hurt after you work out? When you work out or lift weights, it tears the fiber of your muscles, and they grow back stronger. That’s the pain, your muscles regenerating stronger.
But how do we know we need to work out or lift weights? How do we know that our muscles aren’t strong enough? Usually it’s when we have something to compare ourselves to. I’m not talking about the super chiseled and totally unrealistic people out there. I’m talking about you see a dumbbell that you have a lot of trouble lifting. Or a box full of junk you have trouble carrying down the stairs, and you think “This would be way easier if I worked out.”
In verses 1-11 of Romans 5, the passage Pastor Vawn covered last week, just before our passage now, Paul writes about the justification we now have in Jesus’ death and resurrection. But it begs the question: Why do we need justification? From what are we being justified? That’s what Paul writes about in our passage today, vv.12-21. He does so by setting up a contrast between sin and grace, death and life, condemnation and righteousness, Adam and Christ.
He starts in vv.12-13: “12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.”
What is sin? We often think about sin as: God gave us a list of rules to follow, and when we don’t, we sin. And to a certain extent, yes. I mean, “Thou shalt not kill” seems straightforward. But I think that understanding of sin doesn’t actually do it justice.
Sin is much, much heavier. Sin is separation from God. Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden in the presence of God. When they disobeyed God by eating the apple, God removed them from the Garden, and removed them from his presence.
But if, as Paul notes in v. 13, sin was in the world before the law was given, how would they know? “The law” meaning the law God gave to Moses when the Israelites were still wandering in the desert after coming out of Egypt. If you want to read it, it’s in Leviticus. Be prepared, it’s a doozy. But if there wasn’t anything to measure actions up against before the law, how do we know that sin was still in the world? It’s like the question I asked before, how do you know you need to work out if there’s no weight to compare your strength to?
We know sin was still in the world because death was present.
If God is the creator and sustainer of all things, God is life. And if God is life, and sin is the separation from God, then sin is death. Paul’s readers would have understood this because the Jewish view at the time, and still a common belief even in today’s church, is that physical death didn’t exist until sin entered the world through Adam. Of course, we understand this to also mean spiritual death. Just because you haven’t lifted a weight to know that your muscles could use some work, doesn’t mean your muscles don’t need some work. Like, just because there wasn’t a law given yet, doesn’t mean sin didn’t reign.
So Paul says, “14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.” What does it mean that Adam was a type of the one to come? Simply, Paul is pointing to Jesus. Adam was the firstborn of man into death. Jesus was the firstborn of man into death and resurrection. Jesus is the Second Adam come to make all things right.
“15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” And here’s where Paul sets up this contrast, this juxtaposition. We have Adam on one end, Jesus on the other. We had been and should still be living under the trespass of Adam, but instead we are living under the free gift of Jesus Christ.
And this free gift is not like the trespass. The trespass of one man on one side only brought death to many. Physical. Spiritual. Separation from God. Death. But instead, this free gift on the other side has brought grace to many through Jesus Christ. And this grace doesn’t just replace the trespass. This grace overcomes the trespass. God’s grace is infinitely greater for good than is Adam’s sin for evil. And that is good news for us who are desperately in need of grace.
“16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.” Condemnation and justification are at odds with each other. Condemnation and justification can’t inhabit the same space. We’re either one or the other. We’re either condemned or we’re justified. And so the question is simply, which one is stronger?
And here’s where my weight lifting analogy starts to break down. (Most pastors would generally tell you that if you’re going to pick an analogy, make sure it’ll make it through the whole sermon. But we’ll ignore that common sense for this morning and run with it together.) But here’s where it breaks down because if we have a hard time lifting a weight, it means we need to get stronger. And the only way for you to get stronger is for you to work out, and eventually the weights you lift start to feel lighter. (At least, that’s what I’m counting on if I’m going to keep going back to my TRX class.)
The law was a heavy enough burden on its own. But the more the people of God tried to earn their justification, the heavier the burden became. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus’ time. They weren’t the only religious leaders, but a major party. They somewhat get a bad rap because Jesus was constantly challenging them (and the whole trying to kill our Lord and Savior thing), but what they were trying to do was preserve their faith. They were so concerned that the people of God would break the law, that they instituted additional rules and requirements to try and ensure that the Jews wouldn’t break the law and sin against God. That’s like lifting weights and working out, and instead of it getting easier, it just gets harder day by day, by day. (At that point, I would say, “I’m done.”)
But this burden doesn’t get lighter because of anything we have done or can do. It’s a free gift! And the one trespass is strong because it brought condemnation. But the free gift is stronger because it brings justification following many trespasses. The free gift is stronger than the judgment.
And here’s the verse for which I’m incredibly thankful: “17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” Because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man. But because of the abundance of grace, those who receive the free gift of righteousness reign in life through Jesus Christ. Death reigned for death’s sake. But instead Jesus turns that on its head so that we, the recipients of His free gift of grace and righteousness, reign in life, in communion with God.
There’s the difference between the two: the reign of death is completely self-serving. The reign of Jesus, on the other hand, is completely self-giving. And death has to be self-serving to protect itself because it’s weaker. But Jesus doesn’t need to be self-serving because He already holds all authority in heaven, earth and hell! He is completely self-giving because, between He and death, He’s already the stronger one, He’s already won the battle, and we taste the victory.
Let’s look at v.12 again really quickly: “12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned…” Paul sets up its contrast in v.18: “18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.”
Now, we’ve read repeatedly about righteousness in this passage. What is righteousness? It’s a lot more than simply being a good person, or going to church on a weekly basis, or sharing those posts on Facebook that say, “If you believe, type ‘amen’ and share”. Jesus really defines righteousness for us here through his actions of obeying God. And that’s how we are made righteous. It’s through Jesus’ obedience to God, and it’s through our continual obedience to Jesus. Don’t get this confused: we are justified by faith. But the evidence of our faith is in our obedience to Jesus in our actions.
And I’m also not just talking about obeying a list of rules that God hands down. Because he did that. And it didn’t exactly go well. “20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more…” The law was not meant to save. It was not the way that God would bring about redemption. It was the way we were shown our need for redemption. The way of Jesus, though, brings us redemption. And the more we become aware of our sin, the more we become aware of our need for redemption and the way of Jesus.
The way of Jesus is one of righteousness because it is one of obedience to God, and as followers of Jesus, we are called to this way. Verse 21 says, “21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” I love how the New Living Translation puts it, “21 So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God’s wonderful grace rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
“…now God’s wonderful grace rules instead…” And the way this wonderful grace is shown is the way of Jesus, and it’s this way of peace in which we are called to live instead.
And it looks confusing to the powers and authorities and the ways of this world, because it looks so different!
It’s this way of Jesus that calls us to love our enemies, not to degrade or dehumanize them; to tear them down, to keep them out, to alienate them, or to commit violence against them!
It’s this way of Jesus that calls us to turn the other cheek, not to stand our ground, puff ourselves up, and get ready for a fight!
It’s this way of Jesus that when Jesus was being arrested and the disciples had every right to defend Him and themselves, Jesus said, “Put away your sword!”
And it’s so confusing and looks weak to the powers and authorities, because this world tells us to beat our chests, and to say “Look how much power I have! Look how much influence I have! Look how much money I have! Look how successful I am! Look at the size of my house and the car I drive! Look how many people serve me! Look how strong I am! Look at how many guns I have! Look how big my bombs are! I will win, I will crush my enemies and anyone who gets in my way!” This is sin. This is the way of death.
But instead.
Not in addition to, but instead. We put that way aside, instead.
We are called to the way of Jesus that can look weak to the world, but is so much stronger because Jesus is stronger and God is good. We are called to love in this way, to think in this way, and to live in this way, because Jesus has shown us how. It is hard, and it doesn’t come through our own power, but we rest in the truth that God’s wonderful grace rules instead, and that through this grace we are being eternally transformed.
Friends, we are playing the long game. We are not in a short yardage situation. Julien Edelman running a crossing route will not bail us out over the middle. If you don’t know what that sentence means, just watch one Patriots game this season and you’ll get it.
Jesus Christ has done an eternal work in justifying us in the face of condemnation. And we join this work by taking part in His free gift of grace and righteousness “giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”