Everyone Needs a SaviourShembull

No person can claim that they are good apart from God’s empowering grace.

You might be saying to yourself: “At least I am doing good in my community. Surely I am better off than the hippies on the beach that get baked every day." Or you might be the one protesting, “Hey, at least I’m honest about who I really am. I don’t wear a holy mask on a Sunday and then don’t pay my taxes."

We need to be honest in our self-assessment and realise that “we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin… and fall short of the glory of God…” (3:9 and 23a NIV). According to God’s standard, we have blown it! “Through the law we become conscious of our sin” (3:20 NIV).

Those of us who belong to the rag-tag surfing communities in different parts of the world have a very interesting relationship with the natural creation. The Romans letter actually tells us that Creation as a whole, especially the ocean in our case, is God’s way of making Himself known to us. No, seriously, “God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made…”(1:20a NIV). This means that we realise our smallness in comparison to God’s power and glory when we observe the ocean and its power and glory. It also answers our question to why interactions with the ocean stirs up that feeling of wanting to shout or give thanks to something, or someone, whenever we make that stand-up barrel, for instance.

Christians would consider that response a form of worship. God has made it clear that He alone is worthy of our worship. We should ask ourselves: “How can we worship God then?” Well, God has revealed the path to worshiping Him, of course. He is the author of our lives and the creator of our being after all. The appropriate response is not to rely on the good works in His Law for salvation. No, preceding these good works is a change of heart, a repentance at the core of who we are and what we believe. This moves us towards practicing “the law that requires faith,” and this faith actually upholds God’s law (1:27-31).

It is faith in this truth that “at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (5:6 and 8 NIV). This is the pinnacle of The Good News, the removal of our sins and shortcomings. Faith, belief, trust in this leads us into freedom that allows us to live, not for ourselves, but rather live through Jesus Christ. For faith in Jesus’ sacrificial death restores a once fractured relationship caused by our sin.