Today’s reading is from what some refer to as “The Great Eight,” in Romans chapter 8. When I think of so many of the great verses in this chapter, Romans 8:3 isn’t one that really comes to my mind at least until this assignment today, but it might arguably be the most important one.
“For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,”
Within the last year our church did what we called a “Barnabas offering” through members selling something of value and giving it to the church, modeling what Barnabas did in Acts 4:36-37 when he sold a field of his. I must admit that when I began thinking about what to sell, the first things that came to mind were things that would bring value, but yet I would not really care about and likely never miss in the future. When I was thinking about my offering, I was not thinking about my best and first sadly.
When God thought about the offering He could give us for the forgiveness of OUR sin, He did not think about the smallest and easiest way He could bail us out for our transgressions…He gave us His best and first, His Son. He was willing to let His own Son pay the price in the worst, but only perfect, way for our sins. Although He gave us the Law, He knew all the way back in Genesis 3:15 right when sin entered the world that we could not keep it, and He would have to give us His best and first offering to bring us back to be one with Him in the way we were before sin entered the world. He knew that giving up His Son who was in the flesh and faced all the pains, problems, challenges, and temptations of this world, yet did not sin, as a sacrifice was the only way to truly free us and help us also realize the perfect love He has for us.
Pastor and author Mark Batterson said once when you see the word “therefore”…you should take note and see what it is there for. Typically, when “therefore” is used by an author it is used after many other sentences to then highlight the true point of everything before it. However, Paul actually starts out Romans 8 with “therefore” in Romans 8:1…
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
Paul started out with “therefore” in Romans 8:1 because he wanted to highlight from the beginning how important it is that because of God’s perfect offering in His Son Jesus, we are not punished for our sins. He paid the price already, so that despite our transgressions, we can live with Him forever in Heaven. Let us begin our day today by thanking Him for the only perfect offering possible in His Son Jesus. Personally, with today being our daughter Reese’s 5th birthday, it underscores even more how big of deal it is that He gave you and me His very own.
