When You Have Nothing to Offer: The Peace That Comes From God’s Relentless Love
The Heart of the Message
In Romans 5, the Apostle Paul makes a claim that cuts against everything we naturally believe about earning love and acceptance: God did not wait for us to get our act together. Pastor Kirt Anderson opened this message by admitting that Romans has intimidated him for decades, and you can sense why when you read what Paul actually wrote. The passage describes a love so far outside normal human reasoning that Christ died for people who were, at that very moment, His enemies.
Looking for the full service stream? Watch here
What does “the wrath of God” actually mean?
It’s one of those phrases that makes people uncomfortable, and Pastor Kirt addresses it directly. The wrath of God is not God pacing around in anger, waiting to punish us for every mistake. As Pastor Kirt explains from Romans 1, the wrath of God is expressed by God letting us go, allowing us to follow our own choices and live with the consequences. It is the natural result of turning away from our created nature, not a divine temper tantrum.
Does God only love people who are good enough?
Paul’s answer in Romans 5 is an unambiguous no. The text is specific: Christ died for us while we were still weak, still sinners, still enemies of God. Pastor Kirt points out that there is nothing we bring to the table that qualifies us for this love, quoting the old hymn “Rock of Ages”: empty hands, nothing to offer, and yet pursued anyway. The only qualification is having a pulse.
Why is self-righteousness such a serious problem?
Pastor Kirt raises this in a pointed and personal way, describing a conversation with a fellow pastor who refused to set foot in a certain store because of who shopped there. He draws the comparison to the priest and the Levite in the story of the Good Samaritan, the righteous ones who crossed to the other side. When we appoint ourselves as judges of who is worthy of compassion, Pastor Kirt says we are placing ourselves in the position of God, which is the very sin of pride. All have sinned and fall short, Paul writes, and that includes us.
Scripture Focus
Primary Anchor Text, Romans 5:1-11 (RSV):
“Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Why, one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for a good man one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Not only so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received our reconciliation.”
Additional References:
- Romans 1:18-21 (the wrath of God revealed against ungodliness)
- Romans 3:23 (all have sinned and fall short)
- Isaiah 53 (referenced as a passage pointing toward the nature of the Messiah)
- The Parable of the Good Samaritan (referenced in application)
