Series: The Judged
Message: None
Preacher: Jessyka Albert
Reflection: Jessyka Albert
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Purpose: Vanessa Rivera
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Romans 3:9-20 in the English Standard Version (ESV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: As I said earlier in the week, this section of Scripture isn’t the most encouraging. You might have read this portion of the Bible every day, feeling a bit beaten down as a result. And if you didn’t, you might be missing the point of what Paul has been trying to say. Although this section of Scripture may seem a bit depressing, Paul is setting us up for the best news. He has helped us feel total empathy toward one another—rather than pointing out someone else’s faults over our own, we acknowledge that we have all fallen short. We’ve all made mistakes. None of us is better off than anyone else. We’re all on the same boat here.
Paul shares that no one can be made right with God by following the law; the law only reveals to us our sins. The law acts like a mirror showing us the spinach in our teeth, the zit on our forehead, and the booger in our nose. This isn’t like any regular mirror either. It’s a magnified mirror with harsh lights pointing out every pore filled with dirt. And just like a mirror, the law can’t fix those things—it can only highlight them.
Throughout this Scripture and this week, we have been shown the tough reality in a mirror. None of us are looking good. None. But the good news is to come in the next section. Paul doesn’t leave us hanging; he shares with us the best news—the news that we should be focusing on. It’s time to take our attention away from our friends’, neighbors’, family members’, or enemies’ faces. It’s time to stop pointing out one another’s flaws. We’ve looked in the mirror and seen that we have our own fair share of breakouts. It’s time to look to verse 21 and begin to see the righteousness of God through faith!
This week, I hope you have learned to care for one another in a fresh way. I hope you have been humbled in your own life. And most importantly, I hope you are overjoyed at looking more deeply into Paul’s message of God’s love for us through Jesus.
Recalibrate: Like a mirror, what has the law revealed about you in your own life?
Respond: Thank God for His goodness and love for you.
Research: Read Romans 3:21-31 in preparation for next week’s good news!
Remember: “There is no one without sin. None! There is no one who understands. There is no one who looks to God for help. All have turned away. Together everyone has become evil. None of them does anything good” (Romans 3:10-12, ICB).
Jessyka Albert is associate pastor at Boulder Adventist Church, leading Live Wonder (ages 0-3), Live Adventure (ages 4-11), and Live Purpose (ages 12-17), along with their supporting ministries. She grew up in Washington State and has a degree in theology from Union College in Lincoln, NE. Jessyka has served in various areas of ministry, but her passion for discipling kids has taken center stage in her career.
Hold up a mirror or use the camera on your phone to show your child a reflection of what they look like. Do what we did on Sunday, identifying their features and asking where their eyes, ears, nose, and mouth are. Say how much you love them, even when they drop their food on your clean clothes and when they keep you awake for hours on end. Nothing can change how much you love them. This love is the love our Heavenly Father has for us. Unconditional and never-changing love.
Yesterday, I asked you to create a treasure hunt for your family and friends and to choose where you wanted them to finish the hunt first. When God created the world and us in it, He began with where He wanted us to finish—together with Him. The Bible says in our text this week that no one will be declared righteous by obeying the law; rather through the law we become conscious of our sin. The law helps us realize when we are doing something that isn’t God’s way. Choosing to love Jesus and living that love is how God sees us being made right and is the only way to be together with Him forever.
I started this week talking about running a race with a group of friends. It was one of the hardest things I had ever done. At the finish line, there was a crowd of people congratulating us. They didn’t know my team, but they knew we were about to cross that finish line. There were people putting medals around each finisher’s neck—and everyone received a finisher’s medal. (Sure, the top three people in their designated age groups received additional special medals also.) Although I may not have been one of the first to finish, I received the same recognition as the fourth person to finish, the 50th person, the 75th person, etc. Imagine if the longer we took, the smaller our medal was. That would probably be a “fair” way to acknowledge our finish. But we all got the same size medal. Isn’t this what God’s grace is all about? We know that through His grace we all have the same opportunity for salvation.