{"id":9733,"date":"2021-02-07T19:49:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=9733"},"modified":"2022-10-27T14:16:37","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T12:16:37","slug":"romans-81-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/romans-81-17\/","title":{"rendered":"Romans 8:1-17"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Sermon: \u0093In That Case\u0094 <\/strong><\/p>\n

Introduction: There is a lot of condemnation going on. The blame game
\nis familiar to all of us. We blame our parents for the mess we’ve made
\nof our lives. We blame the auto industry for the gas guzzlers that pollute
\nthe air and fill the highways. We blame the rich people who work on Wall
\nStreet for the present economic problems. We blame the politicians for
\nthe tension in the world. We blame our bosses, our fellow workers, our
\nneighbors, our spouses, our children. We can find somebody to blame for
\nnearly every problem we face. Sometimes we even blame ourselves.<\/p>\n

Our text for today indicates that the apostle Paul understood the blame
\ngame only too well. He had been on both sides of the game. He had blamed
\nthe woes of Israel on the Christians; and now that he was a Christian
\nhe found others blaming him. Of one thing he was sure\u0097that God is not
\nin the blame game. Oh, he could talk about God as the judge of all humanity,
\nbut when it came down to the verdict he was sure that there will be no
\ncondemnation for the followers of Christ.<\/p>\n

How could he be so sure? We would all like such blessed assurance. Well,
\nhere is his explanation. He begins with a simple question, based on the
\nfact that he has already established\u0097that \u0093all have sinned.\u0094 We have
\nno right to condemn one another, since we are all in the same condition
\nbefore God. Only God can condemn justly, and God has given Jesus Christ,
\nthe Son of God, for us. That leaves only one possibility. To get the
\nimpact of Paul’s statement, we must read the text very slowly. Let’s
\nfollow his thinking carefully.<\/p>\n

Only one person can condemn us:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u0093Christ Jesus.\u0094 The sinless one is the only one who has the right
    \nto condemn. The sinless one is the only one who can condemn justly.
    \nYou and I have no right to condemn others, since we are sinners just
    \nas they are. The answer Jesus gave to those who brought to him a woman
    \ncaught in the act of adultery applies in many situations in our lives:
    \nThe one who is without sin may cast the first stone. Jesus has the
    \nright to condemn us.<\/li>\n
  2. \u0093Christ Jesus, who died.\u0094 The one who died because of our sins has
    \na good reason to condemn us. Death, Paul has said, is the wages of
    \nsin. The corollary of that would be that the one without sin does not
    \ndeserve to die. But Jesus died; and Paul said he did it for our sins.
    \nThe apostle has reminded us that humanly speaking a person would find
    \nit very difficult to die even for a righteous person, if such a one
    \nexisted. But he points out that \u0093while we were still sinners Christ
    \ndied for us.\u0094 (Romans 5:8) That’s not an even trade. Christ has a reason
    \nto condemn us.<\/li>\n
  3. \u0093Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised.\u0094 Only a living person
    \ncan condemn somebody, so Christ has the ability to condemn us. He’s
    \nalive. We sometimes forget that. We remember at Christmas time that
    \nhe was born. We remember on Good Friday that he died. We sing on Easter
    \nabout his resurrection. But the rest of the year we tend to forget
    \nthat he is alive 24 hours a day, 7days a week, 365 days a year. Christ
    \nhas the ability to condemn us.<\/li>\n
  4. \u0093Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right
    \nhand of God.\u0094 In the minds of Paul and those he was writing to, to
    \nsit at the right hand of the ruler was to have power nearly equal to
    \nthat of the ruler. Christ has the authority to condemn. He could issue
    \nthe edict of condemnation from his position of divine authority. We
    \nare told that he will come again to judge the living and the dead.
    \nChrist has the right to condemn. Christ has the reason to condemn.
    \nChrist has the ability to condemn. Christ has the authority to condemn.
    \nThat makes for a very logical answer to Paul’s question, \u0093Who is to
    \ncondemn?\u0094<\/li>\n
  5. \u0093Christ Jesus, who died, yes who was raised, who is at the right
    \nhand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.\u0094 This last clause contains
    \nall the good news we ever need. Christ intercedes for us. He is the
    \none who could condemn. He is the one who could be the prosecuting attorney
    \nin our case before the divine Judge. And what does Paul describe him
    \nas doing? What is Christ’s role in this court case? He is acting as
    \nour defense attorney! When we come before God’s judgment seat, it is
    \nthe only one who can condemn us who is whispering in God’s ear: \u0093I
    \nlove that one. I died for that one. Please forgive that one.\u0094<\/li>\n
  6. Conclusion: Our case is finished before it begins. The only one who
    \ncan bring an accusation or present damaging evidence is our defense
    \nattorney, who is mediating on our behalf with the Judge. The judgment
    \nis \u0093Righteous.\u0094 The prisoner is set free. Let’s celebrate.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Prof. Bruce E. Shields
    \nEmmanuel School of Religion
    \nJohnson City, Tennessee, USA
    \nShieldsB@esr.edu <\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Sermon: \u0093In That Case\u0094 Introduction: There is a lot of condemnation going on. The blame game is familiar to all of us. We blame our parents for the mess we’ve made of our lives. We blame the auto industry for the gas guzzlers that pollute the air and fill the highways. We blame the rich […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,727,108,110,447,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-9733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-roemer","category-archiv","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-08-chapter-08-roemer","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9733"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14470,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9733\/revisions\/14470"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=9733"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=9733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}