Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. – Romans 5:1-2
It is early Tuesday morning, 6:40 AM and dawn is lighting up the skies over Howard Memorial Presbyterian Church. As I walk past with Max, down Saint Patrick Street then around to Saint John on the other side, I can see a couple of vehicles drive up and then the lights turn on as one of the guys turns on the coffee and another pulls a few extra chairs into the room where we meet.
I walk up to the Town Common as more and more light spills into Tarboro from the east, turning over a couple of ideas in my mind for my opening story and talking with God about which way to steer.
Back at home I feed Max, drink a cup of coffee and go over my notes before walking to the church, where a buzz of noise greets me from the 15-20 men already there. I circle the room, greeting everyone by name before writing a series of key words on the whiteboard.
By the time I turn back around and open my notebook the room is full. And when I ding the bell to grab their attention there are 30 men seated and ready to share, and to pray, and to read God’s word, and to encourage one-another, and to listen to whatever it is that gets me excited about the scriptures and following Jesus today.
These are the words I had circled when reading Romans 5: Justified, faith, grace, hope, righteous, sin, saved, reconciled and trespass.
“One of the most problematic issues of our day,” I say, “is the lack of real communication. Just because there is talking and posting and messaging doesn’t mean there is an actual exchange of ideas. Talking only becomes communication when an idea is received and understood and responded to and dialogue ensues. In our world today we have a lot of noise but not much in the way of communication…
“It is important then, that before we read today’s scripture we all understand the meanings of the key words. If words mean one thing to me but something else when they land at your end of the table then we can’t really talk about the ideas they represent.
“In Romans 5, Paul uses a lot of deep and far-reaching theological terms. So let’s go over what they all mean before we read from the Bible.”
As it was, we ended up only talking about the first eleven verses. And for me it all boiled down to the first complete sentence, verses 1-2a above.
We have this amazing privilege, Paul points out, of standing in grace. What a beautiful thought! Faith in Jesus has given us the gift of peace with God and that same faith allows us to literally stand in grace.
It reminds me of a position Rebekah and I took early in our marriage. We may have fallen in love when we first met, but now we are – and very intentionally – standing in love.
“Justification,” by the way, means that – because of Jesus – our “sin” (the stuff that separates us from God) no longer carries any weight. It’s “grace” because we did nothing to earn this generous gift. “Faith” is the unshakable confidence and trust we have in God. And “peace” is the sense of wholeness, wellbeing and completeness that comes from knowing Jesus.
There is nothing complicated about what Jesus offers us. It is simply God’s gracious invitation home.
Standing in God’s Grace – DEREK