What Saves Us - Romans 2:1-29
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
So if you are new or visiting we have started a series in Romans We started a couple weeks ago and so we are just going verse by verse through it and each week having a new part of this letter. And so little plug if you want to catch up or if you want to listen again. We now have a podcast you can go back and listen to the sermon again if that would please you so check that out. You can get the links on our website or look us up on whatever podcast platform you use.
But yeah, we are going through and so now we're in chapter 2 and so far in this book of Romans, Paul is laying down a foundation. As we go farther and farther into his letter, we'll see how he's laying brick by brick, kind of this argument. He's laying out this argument of the faith, his reasoning to believe, and why unity in Christ is of utmost importance. We've seen in chapter 1 that Paul is passionate about sharing the gospel, that nothing will come between him and getting the truth of Jesus out to all the nations. It's his top priority. And then last week, finishing chapter one, Pastor Chris talked about God's view of sin and how he can't stand sin and that humanity is bent towards sin. So therein lies a problem. I don't know if you know this, well Pastor Chris and I, we didn't know each other growing up, but you know we started to run into similar circles and so we share a mutual friend, someone that He went to elementary school, junior high, and high school, and someone that was a close friend of mine growing up.
And that friend is now a lawyer in DC, and he's a believer. And so I called him up this week to get his lawyer perspective of Romans. I'm not even close to a lawyer, don't even have that mind. Obviously, I'm a pastor, and Pastor Chris. So we have our pastoral conversations about Romans, but I wanted to get another perspective of a lawyer.
Paul had a judicial mind of being a Pharisee, and so I wanted to see, is there anything that I don't see? And so I asked him, I said, "What are your thoughts on Romans, the first couple chapter of Romans, and how Paul lays out this argument for the Gospel?" And he said that, he commented that Paul's rhetoric was top class, like it was amazing. And the rhetoric being the way that Paul weaves together a story and an argument, and how the story will progress the argument, and how the argument progresses the story. And Paul does that beautifully in this book of Romans, and as lawyers they study how to do that when presenting cases and defenses and trying to prove a point. So Paul is an example of that. He also brought up Paul's history, his own personal life as Saul, you know, Saul then becomes Paul, possibly playing a major role in his communication to the early church, especially to the Jewish Christians.
Saul was a highly regarded Pharisee, one of the best, well versed in the law, in the Jewish customs, and at one point, deeply entrenched in the Jewish mindset. So just everything that happened, he would process as a Jew. And so if anyone were to understand what the Jews were thinking and feeling in the early church, understanding their reactions to things, how they would respond, their initial thoughts or frustrations, it would be Paul.
So just further evidence that Paul was the man for the task. God knew, despite Paul's former life and all the persecution that Saul at that time oversaw over God's church, God knew that his power to redeem Paul's life and purpose was far greater. So I think it's fascinating that thousands of years later, Paul's words still make an impact, whether approaching the text from an analytical mindset or a theological mindset, or just wanting to simply understand what is Paul trying to say, there is something here for everyone. And today, Paul will continue to build upon his argument, another brick being laid down in his defense of the gospel, in his argument for the Church of Rome to remain united, to fight to stay together, to find their commonality in Christ. I want us to remember this morning, all of us here, that this letter was written specifically for the Church of Rome, but this chapter definitely pertains to us today. You've probably heard this tendency that we have as Christians when we read the Bible today to associate with the good side.
So in the Old Testament when God is speaking through the prophets and warning or coming down on the Israelites, we tend to think like, "Yeah, Israelites, come on now, you should know better.” Or when Jesus is addressing the Pharisees, we're like, "Yeah," or his apostles for making whatever mistake. We're like, yeah, come on, we understand. Why don't you understand? But really those same words that convicted them might need to convict us today. So we shouldn't always just assume that we know what's up. Maybe God's words are trying to speak to us. And so let's be open-hearted and open-minded as we grow in Christ and mature in our spirituality. Let's not lose that humility that brought us to Christ in the first place. Being willing to listen and undergo further work and and transformation by the Spirit. So let me pray, then we're gonna jump on in to chapter two. God, thank you again for your word that you have given us. And God, we pray for understanding. We're here to better understand your truth, your word that you have given us to live by. And so I pray that through your Spirit that you would help us to better understand you and then therefore better understand who we are supposed to be. We pray that your spirit would work in our hearts to continue to transform us to be more like Christ. Encourage us, God, through the teaching of your word. We pray this in your name, amen.
Okay, so Romans 2. We're gonna kind of break this in half. We're gonna cover verses one through 16. And in this section, I think God is saying, or Paul is saying, sorry, that God's judgment is for everyone. Now if you're thinking, well, we just covered that last week. We just talked about how God's judgment is for everyone. Didn't Paul finish that? Well, let's read and see what this really means. So you guys can follow along. I'm gonna read out loud.
Chapter two, verse one. "You therefore have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them, and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when His righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. But glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good, first for the Jew, then for the Gentile, for God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law. And all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. Indeed, when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them, and at other times even defending them. This will take place on the day when God judges people's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
All right, again, God's judgment is for everyone. Paul shifts now from the guilt of the Gentiles
in chapter one, 18 through 32, what Pastor Chris preached on last week, and now points the spotlight on the guilt of the Jews. I don't know if you've, there's a reoccurring scene that happens in movies and TV shows where there's like a classroom or there's a big family at home and all the kids or the students are acting out. You know, they're being crazy. And the teacher or the parent comes in and is like, starts to hand out punishment and starts to lecture them. And sometimes in the scene in TV shows or movies, there's that one student who kind of starts standing by the teacher or the kid and looking at his fellow siblings or fellow students and like, yeah, you guys, that's right. Yeah, you weren't supposed to be doing that. And they think that they're good. standing next to that authority figure like yeah yeah you let's tell them let’s tell them these people what's up and then there's like maybe a silence in this scene and they realize that that parent or authority figure is like looking down be like you too and they're like what I'm your favorite student or I'm your favorite your favorite kid and then they're realizing that they’re gonna also face whatever punishment was happening for the class and whatever favorite favoritism that they had doesn't equate to a reward in that moment. I don't know if this rings true, if you can think of a scene in a movie or a TV show, or maybe real-life experience.
But this is the sort of scene that is playing out here in the second chapter of Romans. The Jews thought they were standing next to Paul as this letter is being read in the early church, and they're like, "Yeah, Gentiles, yeah, that's right, God's going to judge you." And again, Paul is anticipating, he's not there, but he's anticipating, knowing the Jewish mindset, anticipating what he thinks is gonna happen, what these Jews are gonna do. And he anticipates that they're gonna think that they're in the clear. Yeah, this judgment, God's judgment, all those things that Paul's talking about, that's just for you guys, we're good. And now Paul turns and looks down at the Jews in the early church and is like, I'm also talking to you. They thought that they were God's favorites, and Paul is gonna make it clear that This judgment is for everyone. So let's unpack some of these verses here and see how Paul lays this out. In verses one and two, the word for judgment here is the word to condemn. And so we recently talked about this in our Sermon on the Mount series that Jesus talked about not judging others. And while we can discern, talked about this this morning in our class, we can, judging others in the sense of discerning and figuring out who they are, we can do that, but we cannot condemn other people. That is the role of God and God alone. And that's the word, the condemned word is what Paul is saying here, that these Jews were in a sense condemning the Gentiles around them or other people, something that they should not have been doing. That act of condemning others is in a way acting like God, trying to be like God. And the Bible is very clear that you shouldn't try to be like God. Every example that it gives, Adam and Eve, to Satan, to the people at the Tower of Babel, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, all these people who tried to be like God, it doesn't end well. Don't try to be like God.
So Paul is reinforcing Jesus' words here. The Jews should not be condemning the Gentiles. In verse two, Paul is saying that God's judgment is just and true. Again, Paul is anticipating these thoughts that the Jewish people would have. And they're a thing, he's trying to just squash Every argument, but Paul, and he's like, no, and then this, and then this. So each verse is just another thought of how, geez, you don't have anything to stand on here. You too will also face judgment. And so he's saying that if you have an issue, you gotta go to God's character. God is a just and true God. So in a sense, if you have an issue with this judgment, you have an issue with him. And again, this thought that they were favorites because of all their history of being with God, they would know how just and fair and true God is. So that argument squashed. Verse four, Paul is addressing this Jewish thought that, they thought that God would exclude them from judgment. Again, given all their previous experience of God's goodness and mercy, and that story that I shared of like the favorite child or the favorite student, they thought that they were on that side, that God's judgment didn't necessarily pertain to them. And later he will riff on the memory of God's word of his blessing coming first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.
And we know that as Jesus being born to the Jews and witnessing to the Jews before spreading out further to the Gentiles. And he uses this in a kind of a sassy remark of, yeah, God's judgment is coming to you first and then to the Gentiles. So he is, as Chris was swinging last week, he's throwing punches and now he's facing the Jews and he's saying, I'm not messing around. This is serious, you too will face judgment. In verse six, Paul shares that God will judge both Jews and Gentiles and he will do so fairly. So we're reminded again that God will judge everyone and in doing so, no one will escape and it's done in complete fairness. And he explains in verses seven through 11 that people will be judged by their hearts and the lives that they have lived. So for the evil person, they will face wrath and anger. For the good person, they will receive honor and glory. For both Jews and Gentiles, this is the same judgment. Now, if you're thinking too about that judgment, that's a little too simplistic. For the evil person, for the good person, well, remember, this is Paul building an argument. So parts that are maybe have gaps right now, he will fill in later. In the coming chapters, we're gonna hear more about good and evil and what that is and who falls under those camps. But for right now, he just says, God will judge fairly based on the lives that they have lived and based on their hearts.
And then in 12 through 16, Paul is describing God's judgment on Jews and on anyone who had the law. We've heard this before, right? It's not those who hear the law, but those who obey. It depends on the response. Pastor Chris preached on this, again in the Sermon on the Mount, when dealing with building your house upon the rock. those who hear Jesus' words, then have a decision. Where will they build their house? And God is saying it's not just those, or Paul is saying it's not those who hear, but what they do after they hear. Verse 14, Paul is telling us that even for people who do not have the law, like Israel, Israel had the law from way back in the Old Testament, and there are many people now in Rome with different backgrounds and nationalities coming to the church. They didn't have the law, but Paul is saying there's something innate, natural inside of them that knows what is good and what isn't. And that comes from being made in the image of God. God has put in all of us something different than the rest of creation, and that is his image. And when I say image, think more likeness, not physical characteristics, but inner character, being made in the likeness, the character of God. So we are made in his image, his character, And therefore simply being human means that on an inner level, deep within us, we know to a certain extent what is good and what is evil. And so Paul is saying that even for those who didn't have the law, the official, the 10 commandments and everything in the Old Testament, they could still know what is good and what is wrong. And if they live by that voice within them that's telling them what is good, they too could possibly receive the honor and glory of God. coming to believe in the faith of Jesus Christ. And so how necessary are Paul's words to the Romans back then? How necessary are they for us today? I think they're incredibly necessary for us to hear because as a group of believers in a church, I'm not saying this church, but just in general, churches can quickly become a place of judgment, of condemnation, where believers just condemn those outside the walls of the church, outside of that church family, we start to look down on people that are not a part of this body of believers.
And we make this divide between us and them even bigger, saying we are over here and you non-believers are over there. Or to reference that movie scene, we tend to stand next to God and say, "Yeah, all of you, not me, but all of you guys." We wanna be a place known for loving like God has loved us, known for compassion, for kindness. We can also be known for knowing the truth and living by the truth, but hopefully we're not known for condemning people. So for us today, there can be a tension. Living as Christians, we wanna present and live this inner transformation that the Spirit is doing inside of us. At the same time, we can't lose our ability to be vulnerable and to relate with those who are struggling, to those who are in the midst of sin. If we give off this attitude that we are better than others or above people, then we're losing our ability to witness. So there's this tension that we must deal with, living a life being transformed by God and yet not being above people, not living a life that says because of God and what he's doing in me, I'm actually better than you. It's not how Jesus taught us to live, it's not how he taught us to minister. And so as we encounter new people that God brings into our lives, or maybe the people that were already there, but as we transform, we kind of sense this, well, now we're kind of going down different paths. May we fight against the urge to have any sort of dominance or superiority over them, whether in interactions or just in our minds even, thinking that we are better than them. Instead, our prayer should be that we see a person made in the image of God, standing before us to recognize our responsibility to be a light to them. Whether they're a believer or not, whether we even know of their relationship with God, may we just have an intentional humility and boldness to present Christ in everything that we say and do.
Let's not sit behind our religion as a guard thinking that we are above the messiness of other people around us. 'Cause as Paul points out, we'll all be judged by God. It's our hearts that matter, not necessarily how clean and pristine our lives look on the outside to other people. So in this first section of chapter two, we see that God's judgment is for everyone. We see that God will judge fairly and with no favoritism. And we are reminded that we are not in a place to condemn. It's never our role. As we move into the second half of this chapter, Paul will further explain how the role, what the rule of the law is.
And so I wanna just present now this little question, does the law save us? Don't answer it, just in your heads, think about that. Does the law save us? Let me go ahead and read our second half of the chapter.
Verse 17 says, "Now if you call yourself a Jew, if you rely on the law and boast in God, if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law, if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth. You then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written, God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you. Circumcision has value if you observe the law, but if you break the law, you have become as though you had not been circumcised. So then, if those who are not circumcised keep the law's requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one who is not yet circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you, who even though you have the written code and circumcision are a law breaker. A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person's praise is not from other people, but from God.
I'll be honest, Paul is really wordy, and it's really hard to read sometimes. He just packs so much in there, there's so much. So Paul is continuing this argument that the Jews are not justified simply by having the law. He references their own hypocrisy as they teach others or inform others of the law, but they don't even uphold it themselves. He uses circumcision as an example of how being Jewish only holds value if that person also obeys and lives a holy life. Ethnicity is not as important as a person's heart. I grew up in a church, going to youth group, And in the past 15 years, I've known many of my fellow youth group friends to walk away from the faith. And many of them referenced, as I had conversations with them, the hypocrisy they saw within the church, from people in their lives calling themselves Christians, not living a Christian life. And I'm not saying that Christian hypocrisy justifies them abandoning their faith, But I think I get some of Paul's frustration here as he's talking to the Jews saying, "You were supposed to be a light, be a representative. "And you talk a certain talk that is what God's truth is, "but the way you live your life "is going against those very words that you teach." And I think the same thing happens today. Non-believers are looking down on God because of the way Christians in their lives have acted, giving a false testimony of who God is, a really bad representation of God's character. And it's humbling to think about some of these friends that I've had, a couple of them who were close friends, and we haven't talked about this, but I wonder, did any of my actions fall in that camp of something that they saw as hypocrisy? They saw me at a younger age, so I've gone through different seasons and maturity levels in my life, but back then, I may have misrepresented Christ. Did any of the sin that I let live in my life, that I let fester within me, that I even lived into, did any of that play a part of them walking away from their faith? I don't know. And maybe some of you have wondered something similar about someone in your life, or maybe you're that person who has struggled with hypocrisy in the church. But Paul's words here remind us to be mindful of how we live our lives. to be mindful that other people are watching us and it matters how we live. Not just what we say, not just when someone asks, what do you believe? And then we have the right answers. But from every moment of every day, the words that we say in conversation, how we are with our kids, how we are with friends, what we live out matters. And it shows what's in our hearts.
Paul's words here remind us to be mindful. His warning and scolding of the Jews who were guilty of this is a warning for us too. So let's take a deeper look at some of these verses. Paul is again putting the spotlight on the attitude of moral superiority. He says that you Jews were relying on the law. And again, this is the thought that they had final exemption from God's judgment. So Paul is making sure, he's like ripping it up to shreds. Anything the Jews thought they could stand on to say, no, we're gonna be okay, no, whatever God's judgment is for the Gentiles not for us. He is making sure there's not a shred of that left in them. He's ripping it up. Paul, in verse 19, is pointing to some old references here. The original reference is that God, found in Isaiah 42 verse 16, that God is a guide to the blind. The blind being Israel, they don't know what they're doing, God is their guide. Jesus, in the New Testament, makes a riff on this, mocking the Pharisees, insulting them, calling them blind guides. They're the guides, but they don't know what they're doing.
And so Paul is mocking now the Jewish Christians in the early church calling them guides to the blind. They're again trying to be like God, but you can't be like God. In verses 21 through 23, Paul is pointing out the hypocrisy again. The Jews are not justified by having the law. They are doing the very thing that the ungodly do. They're dishonoring God. They have the law, they possess the law, but they They fail to faithfully heed its commands, and therefore they undermine the law's purpose. And then in 24 through 29, Paul wraps up his point and shows how misguided the Jewish thought could be at that time. In 24, he reminds them that God elected Israel as bearers of his promise, to bless other nations. Somewhere along the line, Israel kind of got selfish with that blessing and didn't feel like sharing it, and felt like, yeah, we'll share some of the blessing, but we're like the OG people here, so we get special status. And Paul's saying, no, it's not how it is. The Jews' hypocrisy instead is making the Gentiles blaspheme God's name. And again, this should make us pause and reflect on our own lives and actions and words. Are we representing God, helping other people better understand who God is, or are you misrepresenting him? Paul then gets into circumcision as a practice closely connected with the covenant to Israel and the Jewish identity.
Paul is warning them that their disobedience decreases the value of their ritual and covenant that they are so attached to. So Paul, again, is making sure that every possible point of these highly religious Jews in the early Roman church might be able to stand on is knocked over. You think, he's saying to them, you think your association with the law can save you? No, it can't. You think because you're circumcised and that's a sign of the covenant, you think that will save you? No, it doesn't. And in verse 29, he wraps it up, Paul says, he's emphasizing God's desire for genuine loyalty and obedience with heart, mind, and soul. And that's a callback to Deuteronomy when God is talking to his people in the greatest command, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, Jesus would reiterate that to his disciples. So Paul is making it clear what is demanded to be saved. And it is not the law that saves, but it is Christ who saves. He's kind of teasing here, right? We're not gonna get, well, in the coming chapters, we're gonna get a better explanation of how Christ saves in this argument, but he's just laying the foundation here for it. The law is not the answer.
I think of another story in the Bible that makes, I think brings a lot of clarity to those who called themselves believers, but only thought they were believers 'cause of the law. And that's the story of Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, not just any Pharisee, but he was the ruler of the Jews. Jesus even called him the teacher of Israel. Nicodemus was the top dog during Jesus's time. And even though there's a couple different ways to approach the story of Nicodemus, what is true is that Nicodemus was someone who thought they had a tight relationship, sounded Australian right there, that was awesome. They had a tight relationship with God. He thought that he was in. He thought he didn't have anything to worry about. I'm God's special servant. I teach God's people, the nation of Israel. Nicodemus' whole life was devoted to God and his law in a way that honestly would put us all to shame. Like Nicodemus, he had the whole Old Testament memorized. We don't, even as pastors, we do not have the Old Testament memorized. I live closely to this book and I open it often. The one area that Nicodemus was mistaken in is the area that mattered most, And it's what Jesus had to address in John 3-3 when he says, "You must be born again because you're not saved." You think you are. You think that your relationship and how you live your life according to all of God's laws, you think that you are saved, but you are not. And we tend to think of this interaction with Nicodemus as a evangelistic story of Jesus reaching someone who's not saved. And I think I just want to change that tone a little bit to someone who is on a spiritual pilgrimage. He clearly knew of God, he clearly respected God and desired to glorify God through the law. He obeyed the law. And I would better not call Nicodemus a non-believer, I would call him a not yet believer. And I think that mindset would help us today too. Instead of this divide of, well, we're believers and you're not, to have this mindset that Jesus did of I know where you're at and I'm gonna help,
I'm gonna give you a push one step closer to God. And if we view other people not knowing their status, we don't interact with strangers, neighbors, or even if you do, if you don't think that they are a believer yet, think of them as a not yet believer. And what can I do to give them a push in the right direction? What, in my interactions, in my words, in my, the way I live my life around them, how can I push them towards Christ? They're not, the non-believer seems so final. Like, that person's a non-believer. They've made their decision and it's not worth my time. They're a not yet believer. They could be, we don't know. And let's hope and let's push to help them believe. And that's what Jesus does with Nicodemus. Nicodemus had his relationship with God all mixed up, putting all the emphasis on the law, understanding the law, following the law. But he missed that the law points to our inability to keep the law. The law is so perfect and we are not, we will never be able to uphold the law perfectly. And it shows that we need Christ. So Jesus had to tell Nicodemus, you need to be born again. You're not saved from God's judgment. He had to learn that it wasn't his understanding, knowledge that saved him. It was belief in Christ, the need to be born again, to be transformed by the dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
And that lesson that Nicodemus learned, that Paul is also talking about here to the early church in Rome, is one that some people need to hear today, even within the church.
Maybe here in this room, or you know people who call themselves Christians, but maybe they are, they misunderstand what really saves them. Maybe they think that they're ties with the church, or how they were brought up in a Christian home, or how they attend church every Sunday, or they are a moral person, and they're just a law-abiding citizen, maybe they think that's enough. And they're like, "I know I'm good, I'm good with God. I'm not gonna face God's judgment." But they would be incorrect. And we would hate for them to get to the end and find out that they were wrong this whole time. And so if you know someone, if the Spirit's prompting you right now and saying, "That might be me," there's no shame in that. There's no shame at all. Nicodemus was someone who was on a spiritual pilgrimage. And it took, he was in that place for years until Jesus finally interacted with him. It can be years before the truth of God sinks in until we fully understand. And we praise him when it clicks. We just praise him for when it does, finally, we understand what it is that we need to do to be saved. And so if you're here today, I just wanna say this. If you're here and you felt the Spirit prompting you, you'd be like, "I'm not sure if I am saved. I might've been putting my hope in the law. I might've been putting my hope in following what the Bible says without that relationship of Christ, without the work of Christ." Come find me or Pastor Chris Affords. We would love to talk to you and just further understand where you're at and help you in coming closer to Jesus. The law doesn't save us. Christ alone can do that.
And again, now after chapter two, we have this foundational brick being laid down that we are all sinners facing God's judgment. So from the story of Nicodemus to the words of Paul here, we have a better understanding of God's law. And it's clear that the law doesn't save, but only the work of the Spirit. And next week, we're gonna move to God's faithfulness. So one layer of this argument is down. I'm gonna move on to the next layer. Paul has leveled the playing field. Not all of the early Roman church is aware that Jew or Gentile, they are now in the same camp. And he's trying again, if we remember our backstory, there's cause for division in this church, and he's saying, look, you guys are all in the same, you're all in the same room here. There's not one that's better than the other. You're all sinners facing God's judgment in need of Christ. In Spring Valley, as we continue to go through this series, as God continues to work in each of us and refine us and transform our hearts and our minds, let's heed this warning from Paul.
Let's not think that we are superior to anyone. Let's be intentional to remain humble. Let's be proactive in building each other up. Let's be willing to make the sacrifice that is committing to a body of believers. And I say sacrifice because it takes time, it takes energy, it takes vulnerability, patience and understanding. But this is what Paul desired. He desired that the church, that we today at Spring Valley be unified, that we be together in our commonality, in the belief in Christ that we share. So this week, all of us in our lives, from work to home, friends to community group here, let's choose to interact with each other, interact with God and partner with God in what he is doing in our lives and in the lives of others, amen? Let's pray. God, again, thank you for your word that teaches us that we cannot be saved without you. No matter how good we are, no matter how well we understand your law and live by it, it's an incomplete picture and we're still at a loss and we need your son and the salvation that he brings.
And in the coming weeks, as we get into God's faithfulness and how He has saved us and what salvation looks like through this letter to the Romans. I pray for those of us who are saved that we would just have a deeper appreciation and gratitude for the work that you've done. And for those who aren't yet saved, I pray that you would bring them closer to you. God, I pray for the people in our lives that we may think or have a notion that they're not yet a believer. I pray that we would not put them in that box of a non-believer, but we would be intentional to reach out to them and represent you well. Help us to be mindful of our words and actions that everything we say and do is pointing to you. And we want it to be an accurate picture of your character. God, give us the strength, empower us to live for you with everything that we have. We know you will, we know you can, and we give you all the glory. We pray this in your son's name, amen.