Romans 2

One of the first things I have the high school juniors do, those who are enrolled in the Advanced Placement Language and Composition course I teach, is take a practice test that closely mirrors the exam they must pass in the spring to earn college credit. They fail gloriously. I spend the next week convincing them not to drop the course, reminding them that we have an entire year to get them ready and reminding them of the high pass rate our school's program has earned.

It is a necessary step.

People will not embrace a viable solution until they embrace the full measure of the problem. If those students can not see their lack of knowledge and skill clearly they will not value and embrace the offer of instruction for the remainder of the year. This is why, in Paul's presentation of the gospel, he talks early on of "God's righteous judgment" stored up for those who "dishonor God by breaking the law." His audience fully understood the perfection demanded by God's perfect Law.

The law is necessary.

The purpose of the law is to help us understand and embrace the full measure of the problem. Only perfect things have access to God but we can not achieve perfection. If we can not see the impossibility of achieving the perfection God requires we will not value and embrace the offer of salvation extended freely to us. We must fail gloriously in order to see the glory of our Lord.

We must have a water-into-wine moment.

John tells the story of the wedding in Cana, where Jesus turned water into wine. It was a hugely symbolic miracle, the first miracle he performed after gathering his disciples and it supports the teaching Paul offers in the second chapter of Romans. Listen. The master demands wine [perfection], we can't produce wine [we are jars of water...a weak substitute], we allow Jesus to transform us [by placing the Holy Spirit inside of us], the master is pleased with the wine [we are embaced by God].

God is perfect. His law is perfect.

None of us is perfect.

Embrace failure.

Embrace salvation.