Anybody here remember Alice Cooper? No, she didn’t used to attend this church. As a matter of fact, she isn’t even a she. Alice Cooper is a man. He’s a rock star from the early seventies, the first "shock rock" act. I suppose you could call him an early Marilyn Manson. He used to parade around the stage with makeup and live snakes and indulge in spectacles like simulating his own decapitation - that’s beheading, to those of you who are allergic to Latin. A few years ago his career received quite a boost when he appeared in the movie "Wayne's World." The scene everyone remembers is where Wayne and Garth have a chance meeting with Mr. Cooper, and they fall to the knees in worship, saying, "We're not worthy, we're not worthy." Alice Cooper became sort of the poster child for the anti-rock ’n roll movement: he stood for breaking the rules, for rebellion, immorality, idolatry, and excess. Of course, gangsta’ rap hadn’t made its appearance yet, either.
Under the circumstances, you may be surprised to hear that Alice Cooper has converted to Christianity. I was. He gave his life to Christ in 1995, and is now involved in a Bible church in Phoenix, Arizona, can you believe it? He sings in the choir and helps out in the nursery. (Can you imagine how well it goes over to tell a newcomer dropping off their kids that Alice Cooper is volunteering in the nursery that morning?) Right now, Mr. Cooper is keeping a low profile and concentrating on growing in Christ.
The most surprising thing about this story is not the fact that this former delinquent - maybe even degenerate - is now a believer. The most surprising thing about this story is the number of Christians who don’t believe it. One publication reported receiving a significant amount of mail from people who didn’t believe the story and didn’t think it should be printed. One respondent said, “I give it a year before he’s back in the world.” Why should this be? Do you think that once someone has tasted God’s goodness and experienced the incredible joy of knowing freedom in Christ they are likely to be tempted by the tawdry showbiz rewards they have already found wanting? Why do we believe more in the attraction of sin than in the power of God’s grace?
Alice Cooper’s conversion is only one of many. The original Jane Roe, you know, the one involved in Roe v. Wade, the case that made abortion on demand one of our inalienable rights, according to the Supreme Court, is now a Christian working on pro-life issues. Chuck Colson, the powerful Washington layer/insider of Watergate fame, found Christ in prison and later started Prison Fellowship. A friend of mine from seminary days was a deadhead, one of those disciples of the counter-culture who followed the Grateful Dead around the country. Well, he saw a vision of hell at one of their concerts and turned his life over to Christ on the spot. He is now a pastor. And then there’s me. The mix I brought to God’s table included a history which ranged from militant secularism to dabbling with the occult, and included most of the sins of the flesh as well. I am convinced that there is nothing that God's grace can't overcome, there is no life which God’s power cannot change. As powerful as sin is, grace is even stronger.
That is the message of Romans 5:12 21. In this passage, Paul is saying that even though our lives have been ruled by sin, and ruined by sin, we can still be rescued by grace. Now, God's grace works in our lives in more ways than we can count, so we’ll just concentrate on three aspects today.
In the first place, God's grace can overcome sin.
Anyone who makes an effort really to change their lives to be in conformity with Jesus Christ quickly comes to the conclusion that sin is a persistent problem. It's more than a nuisance, it’s a stalker. It will not go away. Sin sticks to us like Velcro. And while it is technically true that we always sin by choice, some habits of thought and behavior are so deep-rooted in us that it really isn’t possible to free ourselves by ourselves. Sin - whether it’s a big-name addiction like narcotics or gambling or a pesky infestation like gossip or resentment or envy - can truly become our master. But while everyone can see the big problems, we usually don’t see how much control the little infestations have over us until we start trying to become free of them. You see, we make accommodations for the sin in our lives because it’s too uncomfortable otherwise. You learn to live with the things you can’t change, and as you live with them, they start seeming familiar, even harmless. It is only when we hold our lives up to the mirror of Scripture and the example of Jesus Christ, that we begin to see how corrosive our little everyday sins can be. That is what Paul means when he says that “sin is not reckoned when there is no law.” We cannot tell what is or is not sin without the Word of God as our guide.
And that is why, although we are indeed under grace and not under law, the law is a good gift. Because sin can utterly destroy lives. It can destroy the life we live in this world, and it can destroy our hope of life in the world to come. In this passage, how-ever, Paul proclaims the good news that God's grace overcomes sin. There are at least three ways in which it does that.
First of all, we see that...
Grace overcomes the penalty of sin. [v. 16] Sin has consequences. Each one of us begins our life separated from God, which is the essence of sin, and the cause of sinful acts and thoughts. Without the reconciliation made possible by the gift of Jesus Christ, sin eventually leads to eternal separation from God. However, Jesus Christ has paid the penalty due, and the great gap, the gulf, the breach between God and his creatures has been crossed. (I was going to say bridged, but I realized that “crossed” really is the right word.) For, as Paul says in the next chapter, “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Rom 6:23]
Next,
Grace overcomes the power of sin. Think about the misery that exists in our world, and see how much of it is the result of sin. The genocide in Cambodia and Rwanda are examples. The famines in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan are others. Millions of people have suffered and died as a direct result of sin. It was not the victims’ sin; if the victims were just getting what they deserved for their own behavior it wouldn’t be so bad. But their sin didn’t cause these tragedies. It was the sin of the countries’ leaders who put the pursuit of power or wealth or ideology above the well-being of those whom God had entrusted to their care. It was the sin of those who took advantage of chaos and lawlessness to take short-cuts to wealth or revenge on their neighbors. It was the sin of those who could have done something about it and chose to look the other way. If sin only hurt the guilty, it wouldn’t be so bad. But sin always hurts the innocent, as well.
And it’s important to realize that almost all human suffering is the result of someone's sin. Sin and death came into the world at the very beginning of human existence, through Adam's sin. It pervades every corner of our existence, every aspect of our lives. And when people say, as many do, “How can a good God allow sin to flourish like that?” My answer is, “How can you look at the misery people inflict on one another and not realize how desperately we all need a savior?” Because sin will flourish as long as God allows people to flourish, as long as he allows each of us the freedom to say no to the free gift of Jesus Christ.
But the only real freedom is the freedom from sin that Jesus Christ gives. Paul says in Romans 6:16 that “[we] are slaves of the one whom [we] obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness.” Sin acts on people kind of like gravity: we have to have a power greater than ourselves to escape the pull of gravity. Jesus Christ gives us the power to resist the pull of sin.
The third way in which God’s grace overcomes sin is:
Grace overcomes the presence of sin. I have this truly terrific dentist. I get nitrous oxide to calm me down even before he starts with the novocaine, and by the time he approaches with the pick-axe and jackhammer I should be off in never-never land. But as soon as the drill comes on I tense right back up again, and even though I can’t actually feel anything I can’t relax because of the noise. My dentist back in Minneapolis used to give me a radio with earphones, and when the drill came on I’d just turn the volume up. But my dentist here doesn’t have that. I’ve been thinking about taking my CD player the next time. In a somewhat similar way, God's grace drowns out the presence of sin.
That is what Paul means in v. 20, where he says “...where sin increased, grace increased all the more.” Some people say, "If you preach too much forgiveness people will feel free to sin more." Those people simply do not understand grace. When you experience God's grace, it overpowers the presence of sin in your life. It simply crowds it out. I read of a preacher who said, "Because of God's grace, I sin all I want!" After the words had sunk in, he added, "In fact, because of God's grace, I sin more than I want." God's grace in our lives makes sin look less attractive, and pulls us toward holy living. Or, as Martin Luther is reported to have said, "Love God and sin boldly."
The second aspect of grace that we want to take note of is that God's grace is available in endless supply. “...How much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ." [v. 17]
First, there is an endless supply of forgiveness. I can’t tell you how many people I know who don’t think they need God’s forgiveness, that the good news of forgiveness of sin isn’t for them, because they’re “good people.“ They haven’t killed anyone, they’re mostly pretty honest, they try not to hurt anyone. Well, I agree that killing is something one should try to avoid. But think about it. The three most significant men in scripture (other than Jesus) were guilty of murder. Moses killed an Egyptian, David killed Uriah (not to mention Goliath and others in battle), and Paul killed a number of Christians - or at least he was responsible for their being put to death. Murder is the worst sin of all, in our culture. Most of the other sins can be put right, at least to a degree. Stolen money can be paid back. Bodily injuries heal. Relationships can be mended. Murder, on the other hand, is permanent. But even murder can be forgiven. The only sin that cannot be forgiven is the sin that is not confessed.
A recent poll shows that people have pretty much stopped paying attention to the commandments that deal with our relationship to God. Most people agree that murder, adultery, lying, and stealing are wrong. But they don’t even remember the ones that say “put God first,” “don’t use his name lightly,” “keep the Sabbath,” “don’t worship idols.” They’ve forgotten that the commandment which is the foundation for all the others is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” Well, that’s the commandment that God thinks is the most important, and none of us can keep it as it ought to be kept. But even that one, if we confess it, God’s grace will cover it. No amount of sin, and no category of sin, outweighs God's grace. God offers us as much forgiveness as we need. It is abundant - available in endless supply.
God also offers us an endless supply of righteousness. That doesn’t mean that we’re good, it means that we have been restored to God’s favor. We are on the inside track. We have access. We are credentialed as being in good standing with God. Our passports are in order, we have the right visas, we have the engraved invitation, the VIP pass. We get this access not because we have VIP standing ourselves, not because we’re celebrities in our own right, but because we know the boss’s son, who gives free passes to anyone who wants to be on his team.
And thirdly God offers us an endless supply of strength. Paul’s writings make it clear that the Christian life is to be filled with victory, and joy, and fulfillment. He uses phrases like "dominion in life" [v. 17] and "more than conquerors" [Rom 8:37]. In his letter to the Philippians Paul says, confidently, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." [Phil 4:13] God doesn’t intend for us to be defeated by sin, either our own or others’. This gift is, in a way, the other side of the coin of God’s grace which overcomes sin. God evens the playing field by flooding the environment with grace, and then he equips us to take our part in the struggle against sin by giving us strength.
Lastly... God's grace enables us to experience salvation: “...so grace might also exercise dominion through justification leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” [v. 21] Because we are descended from Adam, we all are born into spiritual death, and are subject to the corruption of sin. But since there is nothing that God's grace cannot overcome, we now have the opportunity to unite with Christ, and experience life instead. We didn't have a choice regarding our physical nature, but we do have a choice regarding our spiritual nature. We can choose to receive God's gifts of grace + righteousness.
And that is the only way we can be reconciled to God. Diligence in being good, in doing good, aren’t enough. Not even diligence in religious work is enough. Martin Luther discovered that. John Wesley discovered that. Both of these men worked and fasted and prayed for years in their pursuit of righteousness. Yet neither one was at peace with God until they realized that it is Christ’s death alone which is able to restore us to God.
Where the Gospel is permitted to be preached, and even in places where it is illegal, Moslems are coming to the Christian faith by the thousands. One reason for this is that the idea of grace is completely foreign to Moslem teaching. Free forgiveness is simply not a part of Islam. The kind of assurance Jesus promises his followers is beyond their grasp. When Moslems hear the gospel, it really is good news to them! Bill Bright, head of Campus Crusade for Christ, says that when they show the evangelistic film "Jesus" in Moslem countries, the crowds are moved beyond description. He said, "They are stunned after they view the film... They are most moved by [Jesus’] forgiveness, that He willingly carried His cross for them, and then died on it."
I was going to call this sermon “One for All”, because the one man, Jesus Christ, died for us all. Calling it “All for One” was initially a typo. But after I thought about it, I left it the way it is. Because Jesus gave all he was, all he had, for each one of us. He gave himself so that grace and salvation and righteousness and peace might come to you, and to you, and to you, and to me. One, by one, by one he restores us to God. Have you received him yet?
