Week 40
Romans 5:8 “But demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
The gospel of Jesus Christ includes three powerful realities: the love of God, the initiative God takes in love, and the sacrifice He gives because of the previous two points.
In our text here we see the love of God in magnificent display. The point is not that we love God and deserve His salvation; the point is that He loved us and out of His voluminous love came God’s saving act and work.
God’s love for us DEMONSTRATED TOWARD US in Christ. Love must be expressed to be love. Love is not passive or apathetic, it acts in accord with the nature and meaning of love. Out of His eternal love for His people God the Father gave Christ. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” God’s love is the powerful impetus by which God acted redemptively for our salvation.
God’s love took the initiative. He did not wait for us to act, to love, or to make appeal for salvation, no, He loved and gave Jesus “while we were yet sinners.” How great is the love of God! How magnificent is the love of God to pour out the most precious gift of all – the Lord Jesus Christ!
This demonstration of God’s love acting in foreordained fashion by taking the initiative thus made the greatest SACRIFICE of all – the sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the offering for sin for the salvation of those who would believe in Him. The text says, “Christ died for us.” We did not deserve this sacrifice, this gift of love. We did not make petition for the benefits of this sacrifice and love. No, it was while we were wallowing in the puddle of our sin and filth God acted in love and redemption for our salvation. God sent His precious Son to bear the full weight of our sin, our wretchedness, and our punishment that we might go free. God gave His Son as our substitute being made guilty with our sin that made the gospel possible.
What did Paul anticipate our response to be to this glorious truth? Praise to God? Absolutely! God calls us to thanksgiving, gratitude, and praise. The gospel of Jesus Christ is at the heart of worship. We give thanks to God for Jesus and the sacrifice He gave for us. But God also calls us through the sacrifice of Jesus to faith and obedience. We believe in Jesus, and we follow Him as His disciples. The cross is the call to us to leave our sin and selfishness and come to discipleship and service.
Christian friend, this day let us rejoice in the sacrifice of Jesus for us and may the gospel of God’s love in Christ for us inspire us to follow Jesus more closely and lovingly.
Prayer: Dear Lord, please grant that this day will witness my love to You because of Your love for me. Grant, O God, that I may follow Jesus this day out of gratitude for what He has done for me. Amen.