Christ’s Commitment to Us • Romans 5
By Becky Brown
Long before the pair (pear? Hmmm…) under the tree in the Garden of Eden managed to completely eat us out of house and home, Jesus was saddling up His white horse, donning His robe dipped in blood, and preparing to ride forth in the final battle. Before Genesis 1:1 and after Revelation 22:21, God knew everything that would happen in between those verses in His Book. Ink would be spilled on scrolls of parchment and papyrus to tell the story of sinless blood that would be shed by the perfect sacrifice at Calvary. Even before all of us living on this side of the cross were born, Jesus had already died for us.
There can be no doubt Jesus was fully committed to come, live, die, and live again FOR us, to supply His Holy Spirit to live WITHIN us, and to work THROUGH us to accomplish His work on Earth. God would spell commitment J-E-S-U-S.
Jesus is, always has been, and always will be ALL IN. For the next seven weeks, we will explore the full commitment of Jesus and the necessity of the commitment of those of us who claim to be His followers. Jesus got an A+, which stands as a perfect example for His floundering students.
We have just concluded our six week study of the Ten Commandments. We also looked four hundred years later at the life of Israel’s King David as he fleshed out these ten words from God to the people through Moses. Sometimes David was obedient. Sometimes David was disobedient. We watched as he muddled through his own humanity. The Psalms of David are filled with recognizing and repenting for his failures and rejoicing in his victories. Sinful human beings find it difficult to be fully committed. God wants us to follow Jesus all the way to a mansion near His throne. Jesus is our directional signpost that takes us there. The Holy Spirit is our onboard GPS to keep us on track and on task.
Jesus proved His commitment to us on the cross. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 5:6-8 that while we were YET sinners, Christ died for us. We were helpless. We were ungodly. We were unrighteous. We could not help ourselves. Jesus died for us anyway! In John 15:13-14, Jesus said, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.” Commandment and commitment almost rhyme. As we look at the example of Jesus, we know that He did the dying for us. He wants us to do the living for Him!
Jesus proved His commitment to us by reconciling us to His Father. We were in a state of disrepair and distance from God because of our sinful natures. By shedding His own blood and by giving His sinless life, Jesus made it possible for us to be brought back into a right relationship with God. His cross “bridged the great divide,” to quote a musical offering by Point of Grace. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners. We were reconciled to God by the death of Jesus.
Jesus continues to prove His commitment to us by making a way for people to have eternal life. Generation after generation, the offer still stands as the Gospel continues to be shared. Jesus did not drop the Gospel baton even once while He walked this earth. Near their first day on earth, Adam and Eve were infected by sin as they submitted to temptation in the Garden of Eden. On the third day after the Resurrection, Jesus walked out of the tomb into the morning sunrise. Jesus made a way for all who would receive Him to walk out of death into life. What freedom it is to move from bondage to sin to freedom of eternal life.
Romans chapter five is filled with words from Jesus to His beloved ones that almost sound like marriage vows. Justified by faith. Peace with God. Grace in which we stand. Exultation in the hope and glory of God. Tribulation, certainly, but perseverance, character, hope, love of God. Salvation from the wrath of God… saved by His life! Where sin had reigned, grace abounded.
The sin of Adam sold us out. The blood of Jesus Christ bought us back.
Brown is staff evangelist at First Church, Richland.
