By: Curtis Baker
One of my favorite series of movies from my childhood was the “Back to the Future” trilogy that was so popular in the 1980’s. It is hard to believe that this year, we actually passed the date that Marty McFly traveled to when he left the 1980’s and came into the future. Things don’t look quite like they were imagined to be in the movie (we do not have flying skateboards yet!), but it is fun to go back and watch those movies to see how people imagined what the future would look like. One of my favorite scenes from the movie was when Marty McFly bought a sports almanac from the future that gave him the results of every sports game that had been played from his own time into the future. When he traveled back from the future with that almanac in hand, he was able to make huge bets on sporting events because he had the inside track on every sports game ever played.
Wouldn’t you love to have access to something like that? Wouldn’t you love to have the inside track on something so that you could get ahead in life?
In life, we are always looking for the inside track. Whether it be the get rich quick schemes that teach you how to be a successful stock broker in four short weeks, or the new diet fad that promises you to lose weight while you eat anything you want, people are always looking for the shortest and easiest way to obtain whatever it is that they want. Many of us are foolish enough to fall for such schemes. For those of us who have experimented with such methods before, we know how false the notion is that there is ever an inside tract to the important things of life.
As Paul continues the opening part of his argument here in the book of Romans, he addresses this very thing in regard to our life with God. Paul has already shown that, both the unbelieving pagans as well as the religious Jews, are all under the curse of God’s wrath because all of them have been disobedient to God. The pagans are disobedient because they ignored what they could have known about God from the natural world around them, and the people of Israel were disobedient because, despite having God’s revelation given through the law, they did not honor the law or the God who gave it. Because this is true, all people are deserving of God’s wrath.
As Paul lays all this out for the church at Rome, beginning in chapter three, he anticipates a possible objection, especially from the religious Jews: “If it is true that both the unbelieving pagans, and the religious Jews are all under God’s wrath, what advantage is there in being a Jew?” (Rom 3:1) In other words, the religious Jews were saying, “If we don’t have the inside tract, what advantage is there in being a Jew in the first place?” Paul believes that there was a great privilege in being a Jew. They were the ones chosen by God and entrusted with his revelation (Rom 3:2). This was a great honor! However, as great an honor as this was, the people of Israel were never supposed to assume that this was because they were worthier than anyone else. They were not.
The fact is, all of mankind, no matter what their ethnic or religious heritage, is all guilty of sin and is deserving of God’s wrath (Rom 3:9-10). There is no one who is truly righteous; there is no one who truly does what is right. All have sinned and have fallen far short of the glory that God intended for us. When a person comes to grips with this reality, it almost moves one to despair. But Paul will not leave us to despair. Yes, it is true that all of mankind is guilty of sin and is deserving of God’s wrath. But as we press on in our study of Romans, Paul is going to teach us something more amazing than our minds can rightfully comprehend: despite the fact that we ALL deserve God’s wrath, God has made a way that we might be reconciled to him, and freed from the wrath that we all deserve. This is the good news of Jesus Christ. More about this next week.
(Don’t forget to join me for A Message From the Heart radio program Sunday evening at 8:00pm on KJAK 92.7FM, or streaming live at www.kjak.com) (curtisbaker@hotmail.com)
Write to: P.O. Box 157, Slaton, TX 79364
