But Now

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened with a crowdsourced exercise: he had asked the congregation the week before to write the gospel in ten words or less, and he read through a collection of the responses before turning to Romans 3:21-25. The passage gives, in one long sentence, what he called the mechanism of the gospel, and that mechanism was the focus of the message. Before getting to anything new, Pastor Ray...

Read together

1. Romans 3:21-25 the main passage preached through, covering justification, redemption, and propitiation
2. Romans 1:1-4 quoted to show Paul naming the gospel in the opening verses of Romans
3. Romans 1:16-17 cited as the thesis statement of Romans, the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, the righteous shall live by faith
4. Romans 1:18-3:20 referenced as the section establishing that all, pagans and Jews alike, stand condemned before God
5. Exodus 21:28-30 quoted as an Old Testament example of the word redeem, the owner of a goring bull may redeem his life by paying a price
6. Psalm 42:1 sung as a congregational hymn, as the deer panteth for the water

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray asked the congregation to write out the gospel in ten words or less. How would you put it in your own words, and what does it reveal about what you personally think is most central to the good news?
2. Pastor Ray pointed out that 'all have sinned' is past tense while 'falling short of the glory of God' is a present continuous action. What difference does it make to you personally that sin is not just something we did but something we are currently doing?
3. Pastor Ray suggested that 'through faith in Jesus Christ' in Romans 3 might better be read as 'through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ,' meaning Christ is the subject rather than the object. He noted that our own faith wavers but Christ's faithfulness never does. How does that reading change the way you think about your standing before God on your harder days?
4. Pastor Ray described three words, justified, redeemed, and propitiated, as addressing guilt, enslavement, and wrath respectively. Which of those three do you find most meaningful to your own experience, and why?
5. Pastor Ray used the Dead Sea and Great Salt Lake as a picture of grace that flows in but has no outlet, and connected it to forgiving others the way God has forgiven us. Is there something you are holding onto right now that this picture speaks to?