April Week 2 Commission Thursday: Remember Where You Came From: The Power of Christ's Sacrifice

The transformative power of Christ's sacrifice forms the cornerstone of our faith, yet how often do we truly pause to consider what it means that "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"? This profound meditation on Romans 5:6-8 invites listeners into a deeper understanding of God's extraordinary love.

The apostle Paul, himself once a persecutor of Christians before his dramatic conversion, provides us with two crucial descriptors of our pre-salvation state: we were "weak" and "ungodly." Far from being mere theological abstractions, these terms serve as vital reminders of where we've come from and highlight our complete inability to save ourselves. Paul draws a striking contrast between human and divine love – while people might occasionally sacrifice for someone righteous or good, Christ willingly gave his life for us while we were still in active rebellion.

The phrase "But God" marks the divine intervention that changed everything. This distinct love – unearned, unmerited, and freely given at exactly the right moment in history – stands in stark contrast to the conditional affection offered by the world. As we reflect on these powerful truths, we're challenged to develop the same attitude toward those still living in sin today. How might our perspective shift if we approached the lost with the same sacrificial love Christ extended to us? Consider how you might pray for and reach out to others with the transformative good news that changed your own life.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Commission Thursday
• 0:18 Scripture Reading: Romans 5:6-8
• 1:21 Our State Before Christ
• 2:30 Christ's Distinct Love for Sinners
• 4:29 Our Call to Share the Gospel

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:00

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening from wherever you're watching us. This is the Commission Thursday. Receive greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. We are happy that you join us on a weekly basis to be able to reflect together on the Commission Thursday. In our today's segment, I would like us to reflect on the book of Romans.

Speaker 0: 0:23

The book of Romans has been written by the apostle Paul, one who was once lost, but now he has been found and now he is an apostle of Jesus Christ. And so we are going to read from Romans, chapter 5, beginning verse 6 through to verse 8. Let us read For while we were still weak, at the right time, christ died for the ungodly, for one will scathely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love. But God shows his love for us, us in that, while we were still sinners, christ died for us. From this passage of scripture, the apostle Paul aims at encouraging the believers at Rome of their reality before they met Christ, their reality after they had met Christ. Here we find that Paul describes our state before Christ, and two words are used here is that they were still weak you and me we were weak but secondly is that we were ungodly. Now these two words are important for consideration, because what they do is that they make us remember where we have come from. That they make us remember where we have come from, because a failure to remember where we have come from, we can take for granted what we have now received through our Savior, jesus Christ. I believe that these two words achieve two goals One is that they show us our inability to save ourselves, apart from the work of Jesus Christ at the cross. But secondly is that it demonstrates the desperate need that we have for us to be saved in Jesus Christ. And so here the Apostle Paul makes them appreciate the devastating state that they were in before they met their Savior. But secondly, we find he describes the Savior's attitude in that state that they were in.

Speaker 0: 2:30

It is worth noting that Christ, in this state, while we were still weak, while we were still ungodly, christ loved us, christ died for us, and so we must know that Christ's love for us is different from what the world gives us. The world, in this particular context, shows us love because we do particular things, because we are good people, but here we see that, still in our devastating state, christ died for us. So here we see the willingness of Christ to pay the cost. But secondly, the timeliness of paying the cost. And so here we observe that Christ, at the right time, he died for us, he was willing, he was not forced to die for us. He gave up himself for us all so that we may become like him.

Speaker 0: 3:23

But lastly, the distinct love of our savior. The distinct love of our savior Notice that in verse eight. But God, imagine, we were lost, we were weak, we were ungodly, we were seen as by description. But God, so God did something my beloved, by showing his love, his love, he compares it, not as the world does, for we see in verse 7, for one will scarcely die for a righteous person. But here we see that God did actually die for the ungodly, god actually did die for the sinners.

Speaker 0: 4:00

And so for us today, how do we reflect in light of these three truths, that one we were in a devastating state before we met Christ. But secondly, god's attitude of love towards us is one that is indescribable. But lastly, we have seen the distinct love of the Savior. I am persuading us this afternoon, this morning and this evening, consider the same attitude that Christ had towards sinners. We were sinners, but we still have many sinners in the world. What can you do? What can I do? We need to pray for them. We need to reach out to them with the gospel, for the gospel is the good news of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Be blessed.