In June of this year Chadwick Boseman won the MTV Movie Award for Best Hero. You may not know about the MTV Movie Awards. You may not know who Chadwick Boseman is. He plays the Black Panther. His first movie as the Black Panther was phenomenally successful. It is one of just over 30 movies to pull in over $1 billion.
The interesting thing is that when Boseman was given this award, he was grateful for it, but he immediately gave it away to someone else. In the audience that night was James Shaw Jr. Shaw had been in a Waffle House restaurant in Antioch, TN when a man shot four people dead. Shaw risked his life to stop the man from shooting more. Boseman invited Shaw to the stage at the MTV Movie Awards and gave the Best Hero award to him. He said, “It’s one thing to play a hero in a movie. It’s another to be a hero in real life.”
Who would you give a hero award to? Who is a real hero in your life? There are a lot of people I’d nominate right here at Highland. Buster Clemens for completing 30 years in HYG and 30 years of leading Memphis WorkCamp. Mendy Breeden for her amazing work at LaRose Elementary, one of our adopted schools. Jim Chester and Larry McKenzie, both of whom are coming up on their 50th anniversaries for Highland. David Ijams and his many years of teaching in our Children’s Ministry. I think of Beverly Lattimore and her good work out at the Women’s Prison in Henning, TN. I think of the many students serving in Belize and Atlanta. I think of my of children who served in Malawi and Belgium this summer on mission trips. How about you? Who would you give a hero award to?
Or consider this question: When might someone have given you a hero award? Have there been some times in your life when you’ve been heroic? Perhaps there was a moment in time when you did something big, something epic, that changed someone’s life. Or, more likely, perhaps over time, you did some small things that added up to something big that really made a difference in someone’s life. What times or seasons in your life might someone have given you the hero award?
David, in Psalm 8, reminds us that there is something heroic in all of us, in every human, when he writes these words:
1 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
to still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?
5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!(Ps. 8 ESV)
David begins and ends by praising God. Vs 1 and vs 9 are words of praise to God for his majestic name.
David then moves in v. 2 to proclaiming how he is not alone in giving this praise. The exact wording of vs. 2 is a bit difficult to pin down. But this seems to be David’s point–even the gurgling and cooing of a baby is party of the hallelujah chorus praising God for his majestic name.
But it’s not just God who is remarkable. In the rest of the psalm David notes that the human race is also very remarkable.
In v. 3-4 David notes that we humans may feel humbled next to the vastness of God’s creation–something we easily feel if we suddenly stand under a very clear night sky and can view the Milky Way.
Nonetheless, according to v. 5-8, God has made humans “a little lower than the heavenly beings”–a phrase that most likely refers to God himself–and “crowned him with glory and honor, and given him dominion on the earth.” This is a reference to Gen. 1 and God’s creation of humans in the image of God. God has planted part of himself in every human. Each of us is made in the image of God–crowned with God’s glory. This is a poetic way of saying that we are all indowned with godlike traits, godlike goodness, godlike capabilities, godlike qualities. Each of us are children who are created with the innate ability to be like our heavenly Father. In a phrase, at our best we are capable of being glorious.There is something heroic in all of us.
This may surprise you. You may think that since you’re reading the Bible or since you’re attending church, you’re supposed to feel bad about yourself. You’re a worm. You’re no good. You’re a wretch. But the truth about you, according to the Bible, is that you were made from the beginning with the capacity to be glorious. You were crowned with God’s glory.
That’s part of the reason why we can look around the world and, in every culture, in any moment, we can find people of any religious faith, or of no faith at all, doing holy things, compassionate things, life-changing things. This is how we were all created. Every single human being emerges from the womb with the capacity to act in glorious ways. That’s part of what it means to be made in the image of God. We are crowned with God’s glory.
This, then, is the backdrop and the context for our text this morning. We continue our survey of 16 texts which help tell the story of the Bible. Our text this morning is Rom. 3:21-26
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.(Rom. 3:21-26 ESV)
In Rom. 1-3 Paul has just finished surveying all of the human race. And he’s reached one conclusion, which he states in Rom. 3:23: “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul surveys those who would be considered those most in danger of not making it to heaven–the Gentiles–in Rom. 1. Then he surveys those who would be most likely to make it to heaven–the Jews–in Rom. 2. And Paul finds that both groups are the same–all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
This language is purposefully reminiscent of the language from Psalm 8. At our best, we are capable of being glorious. We are crowned with glory. But at our worst, we are capable of being ghastly. We fall short of the glory of God. Falling short of the glory of God is a reference to failing to live up to the image of God planted within us. It is another nod back to Gen. 1. The truth is that every human is capable of amazing virtue. And every single human is capable of remarkable sin. We are capable of glorious living and ghastly living.
About a year or so after I was baptized I remember one particular night. It was after our high school football game. Several of us on the team did not go to the dance that was always held after home football games. We had lost the game and we were in a foul mood. Jesse lived out of town at a sawmill and had an old beat up pick up. He suggested we pile in the back of his pick up and drive around town and cause trouble. It sounded good to me. So, for the next hour or so, several of us did just that. We drove around the dirt roads of my small hometown chunking large rocks through the windows of darkened vacation homes, causing literally thousands of dollars of damage. I never told my parents about it. I never told any adult about it. It was a horrible thing to do, especially as one who, just months earlier, had come out of an unchurched background and had confessed faith in Christ.
I remember when I first started preaching in Las Cruces, NM. I had a strong opinion about how our adult Sunday School classes ought to be organized. The deacon who was in charge of them had a very different idea about how they ought to be organized. I had a conversation with him about my idea, but he was not persuaded. So, I went over his head and talked to the elders about my idea. And then, I wrote an email to the deacon telling him that I wanted him to move forward with my idea by such-and-such a date. Well, that just caused him to go over my head and meet with the elders. And the whole thing turned into a real mess, with the elders basically mediating a fight between me and this deacon. I’m embarrassed about the way I behaved. It was my-way-or-else. I didn’t attempt to build a relationship with the deacon. It didn’t put in the work to try to find some compromise with him. I just acted selfishly and rashly. It resulted in a mess.
We are capable of being glorious, and of being ghastly. Crowned with glory, we fall short of glory.
Then Paul uses three images to describe how God has dealt with this through Jesus.
- First, Paul uses an image from the world of slavery. Through Jesus, Paul says in v. 24 that God has given us redemption. This word “redemption” means to purchase from slavery. It’s the paying of a ransom so that a slave may be freed. Paul may be giving a nod back to Israel’s enslavement to Egypt. Just as God redeemed them from Egypt, so God, through Jesus, has redeemed us from our enslavement to ways of living that keep us from fulfilling our glorious potential as image bearers crowned with glory. With his his own life, Jesus freed us from that slavery. The idea here is that we’ve gotten so used to living ingloriously, we are enslaved to it. The other night we were at a pie place. I overheard a couple sitting hear the front. They ordered three pieces of pie. The wife said, “We’re having pie for dinner. We’re on vacation. You can do that on vacation.” Can you relate? On vacation, you can eat whatever you want, whenever you want. The problem comes when vacation is over. Even though it’s only been a week, your tongue and your tummy are used to it. They’ve become enslaved to it. And it’s hard to give it up. Some of us have had entire lives of living ingloriously in aspects of our lives. So Jesus comes and he purchases us, he frees us from that by his cross. And ultimately, he’s freeing us from Satan himself. Jesus is purchasing our freedom, freeing us to live as we’ve been created to live.
- Second, Paul uses an image from the world of the temple. Paul speaks in v. 25 of Jesus’ death on the cross as a “propitiation.” The Greek translation of the Old Testament uses this word to refer to the place where sins are atoned for, or blotted, the ‘mercy seat’ which covered the ark in the holy of holies. Only now, the sins are not only symbolically atoned for or blotted out or removed, they are truly and fully and once and for all atoned for and blotted out and removed. Jesus does what the Temple never could fully do. All the times we will ever fall short of the glory we’ve been created to achieve have already been blotted out, already been atoned for, already been removed, expunged from our record. When our daughter Jordan was in Malawi this summer, she treated many patients suffering from Malaria. Malaria is treatable if caught early. Sadly, many patients seen by the hospital she was working with don’t seek treatment until the disease is very progressed. Jordan and her team gave blood so that patients could receive transfusions. The hospital did not have the facilities to store much blood, so Jordan and her team gave blood to be used immediately. One young girl was brought in with advanced Malaria. Jordan gave her blood and it was given to the girl in the hopes of saving her. Sadly, the girl was suffering so severely from Malaria and from other conditions that Jordan’s blood could not save her. She died not long afterward. She was too far gone. What Paul wants us to know is that Jesus has come to give his blood for us. And Jesus blood is curative and effective 100% of the time. We are never too far gone. Every time we fall short of the glory of God, whether it be the first time or the 5,000th time, Jesus blood is effective. It washes away the disease of sin. It rids us of the infection of our own selfishness. It removes it completely and fully.
- Third, Paul uses an image from the world of the courts. Paul speaks in v. 26 of God being our “justifier.” This is a forensic term which means to acquit, to declare righteous. It’s something a judge does. It’s a legal standing. On the cross, Jesus took the punishment for our crime. He was declared “Guilty.” He was condemned. We, therefore, were able to be declared “Innocent.” We were justified. I just finished reading a tragic book. It’s called The Cadaver King and Country Dentist. It is the true story of the many defendants in Mississippi courts who were wrongly convicted and imprisoned because of the testimony of two “expert” witnesses. Doctors Steven Hayne and Michael West testified in about 80% of the criminal court cases, skewing their testimony about physical evidence to fit whatever made the best case against the primary suspect in the case. As a result, numerous people were declared “guilty” in court cases though they were, in fact, innocent. Paul says that just the opposite has happened for us. We have been declared innocent though in fact we are guilty. Jesus has taken the punishment due us for our inglorious lives, leaving us with the innocent verdict.
And all of this was, as Paul indicates, a gift. This is what makes Christianity different from any other faith. This is all a gift. There is a righteousness, a legal standing, available apart from law, available for us. Apart from merit. Available separate from anyone’s ability to try to live it out. We cannot earn it. No amount of living gloriously will make up for it. It’s given to us.
All we can do is receive it by faith. Four times Paul mentions the word faith in this text. We receive all of this by faith. By faith we admit that we have fallen short. This was one of the completely unexpected and delightful things that also happened at the MTV movie awards this year. Again, I don’t even watch these. But I caught the news summary of it. Actor Chris Pratt won the Generation Award and in his acceptance speech gave 9 rules to live by. One of them, number 9, the last one, was this:
Nobody is perfect. People will tell you that you are perfect just the way that you are, you are not! You are imperfect. You always will be…
Pratt’s no preacher. But that’s pretty close to gospel. Paul is saying we’ve got to accept this by faith. By faith we’ve got to accept that we’ve fallen short of the glory of God. We are created to live gloriously. We are crowned with glory. Every one of us. And, at times, we live up to that potential. But the truth is that we usually don’t. We fall short. And nothing we do can make up for that. Nothing we do can absolve ourselves for that. Nothing.
But by faith, we can accept the free gift of Jesus. Like slaves, we’ve been freed. Like worshippers at the temple, our sin has been atoned for. Like defendants in a court case, we’ve been declared innocent. All because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.
And that faithful acceptance of this gift begins in baptism. A few chapters later, in Rom. 6, Paul will describe baptism as a dying with Christ and a rising with Christ. It’s where we die to this inglorious way of life and are reborn to a new life. And now, according to Rom. 8, we aren’t just left to our own strength to live this glorious life. We have the spirit of Christ within us, empowering us.
That gift is waiting for you to receive it. Will you?
