Three days of tests, a long wait for the discharge papers, and the fear of a patient who would rather not know the results, that hospital scene opens a reflection on a far more serious diagnosis. Romans 3 reads like an X-ray of the whole human race: there is no one righteous, not even one (Romans 3), and the disease called sin covers a hundred per cent of the population. Yet the same diagnosis comes with a treatment, justification as a gift paid for by Christ, and the story of a man led out of the street and addiction by a single evening at a music festival. Listen, and take an honest look at your own life.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- In Romans 3:10-18 Paul strings together Old Testament quotations into one diagnosis: throat, tongue, mouth, feet. What does this description say about humanity, and why does it end with the absence of the fear of God?
- According to verses 19-20, the law does not justify but brings knowledge of sin. How does the picture of a straight line, which reveals how crooked we are, help you understand this?
- The speaker compared sin to a disease affecting 100% of people, and Augustine said: I sin because I am a sinner. How does it change your thinking that this problem includes even the smiling elderly lady baking cookies?
- Justification is courtroom language: the judge pronounces the sentence and then pays the penalty himself. How does this picture help you understand what Jesus did on the cross and why salvation cannot be bought or earned?
- Andrew's story shows that grace reaches even someone at rock bottom. What in his story moves you most, and what does it say about the solution being for everyone?
- The speaker invited us to play the doctor and diagnose our own spiritual life instead of wearing masks or saying others are worse. What specifically do you want to confess to God this week and turn away from?
