#8 - No one is righteous. Romans 3:9-26, reflection by Mark Ludder

As I consider and write about this passage I am deeply aware of our congregation’s efforts to serve in preparation for our Annual Community Yard Sale. Even in this tremendous undertaking, the contributions and sacrifices of many are juxtaposed against our human imperfections. People, some who may never have stepped into our Sanctuary, come by with donations of every description. Someone from Prince of Peace may be around to welcome and direct them to the area of like items, or they may simply leave their gift without notice.

I encourage you to consider how they chose to part with their possession. This is an expression of faith, putting something in our hands to do God’s will. As new arrivals are accepted and sorted by our volunteers - are we guilty of looking at other peoples “stuff” with less than Christian Love? Is it true as our passage states "There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding”.

How humbling it is to have your “stuff” picked over, sorted, labeled, priced, haggled over and sold in public! Just a short time ago, that very item may have been a wedding gift, a precious memory of good times, a favorite shirt, a child’s toy, a family heirloom…. Do we see it a Junk? Do we joke about it as a burden which we now need to dispose of? Do we understand why they had to get rid of it?

We need to accept the actions of others with the acknowledgement that we do not understand what was going on in their lives up to that moment. And trust that God is aware of their journey and holds them with the same love and care we cherish. Keep the “venom of vipers” from escaping our lips. Give a smile and a welcome each interaction as a gift from God himself.

Romans 3:9–26

⁹What then? Are we any better off? No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰as it is written:
"There is no one who is righteous, not even one;
¹¹there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God.
¹²All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;
there is no one who shows kindness,there is not even one."
¹³"Their throats are opened graves;
they use their tongues to deceive."
"The venom of vipers is under their lips."
¹⁴"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."
¹⁵"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶ruin and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷and the way of peace they have not known."
¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰For "no human being will be justified in his sight" by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
²¹But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, ²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.