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1. NOW – The Time of Quiet Desperation
We could probably argue whether or not NOW is the most appropriate time for rejoicing. We might look at our family frustrations, work worries, and personal problems and say that NOW is no time for rejoicing.
Right NOW, there is a deafening silence covering the earth -- silence even in the midst of assertive, persistent, self-seeking voices. Imagine for a moment the folks of our world in line before God, all promoting themselves, all anxiously seeking divine approval on their activities. "I'm a pretty decent guy," maintains the moralist. "The end justifies the means," testifies the terrorist. "If it feels good, do it," howls the hedonist. "Act on your feelings; be true to yourself," argues the adulterer. "I had to find myself," moans the mother, who deserted husband and home. Like street merchants hawking their wares, their voices clamor and compete for the favor of God. Their voices fall on deaf ears. They are unable to justify themselves and their actions, try as they might.
Isn't it amazing how often it happens that when we turn inward and become navel-gazers, serious practitioners of the art of self-salvation, content with ourselves just the way we are, God grabs us by the scruff of our necks and causes us instead to gaze on His perfect will, the "law," as Paul calls it? What an appalling sight! In horror, we recoil from the deceptions uncovered, the rationalizations exposed, and the grotesque distortion of the "image of God" that we bear. Then comes the sinking feeling of personal accountability, the head hanging in shame, and the silence of despair. Paul describes the scenario in two short verses: "Now we know that whatever the law said, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin." The practice of self-justification, at which we are so good and so practiced, only leads to a NOW of quiet desperation.
Why? Because we realize that we can’t get there from here. We can’t please or appease the God of heaven and earth, who hates sin with every fiber of His being. The God who says: “Be perfect,” then punctuates that command with the verdict: “The wages of sin is death.”
We all have experienced that quiet desperation, that silencing effect of God's law in our lives, haven't we? We parade our righteous deeds before one another; we flaunt our intelligence or personality or ability, but deep down, we feel that we don't quite measure up. We mask our aging bodies with cosmetics, our interpersonal conflicts with accusations, our insecurities with false bravado and try to chase away the emptiness that haunts our lives. We all have felt the stillness of sin's night descend around us. Is NOW a time to rejoice? The distance between what we are and what we would like to be seems simply too far, too unbridgeable, too hopelessly silent to move our hearts to rejoicing.
2. NOW - The Time of Shattered Silence
How do we find a way to self-esteem, a path to honesty, an escape from sin’s silence in the face of our practiced self-delusion? "There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
But NOW the silence is shattered, not because we have found some divine legal loophole, but because the "Silencer" Himself breaks the stillness of sin's night. It's not that God overlooks or closes His eyes to our sins. Not at all. "But NOW a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known." Where we must cower in silence, totally incapable of living up to God's perfect standard of righteousness, we hear our God coming through loud and clear with Good News: "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ."
You may prefer your Jesus soft and still. But rather, let us celebrate a Savior who shatters silence -- the silence of sin's night. The night when He, while remaining God, became One of us was much, much more than a "Silent Night" as we so love to picture it. Just ask the Bethlehem shepherds who heard the angels' birth announcement. That night was no silent night. Not by any stretch of the imagination. And remember another time when it was black as night some 33 years later? Remember the skin-crawling, blood-curdling, silence-shattering shriek that came from Calvary's cross as the One impaled there suffered the agony of the hell that we deserved: "My God! My God! Why have You forsaken me?" How about the equally forceful final declaration that the price for our sin had been paid, the statement uttered triumphantly: "It is finished?" Filled with the wonder, excitement, and hope of eternal life for herself and us, Mary Magdalene broke the gloomy stillness of the first Easter morning by joyously shouting the news: "I have seen the Lord!" We were separated, alienated, and frustrated in our efforts to reach God. He saw our desperate situation, reached out in love, and shattered the silence of sin and separation with the roar of the death-and-devil-defeating Deliverer.
3. Now - The Time of Justifying Faith
The Apostle Paul turns to the Roman courtroom of his day in search of a vivid description for this activity of God: "Justified!" For the Romans, this meant "Innocent! Case Dismissed!" "Just (as) if I'd" never sinned! And so the Spirit-inspired Paul says: "We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law." Our justification for such a verdict? Not one plea except Christ's blood was shed for me. It is a defense conceived in eternity, carried out on Calvary, and communicated through the Gospel. "Innocent! Case dismissed!" That's not cause for boasting, for it is not through our own strugglings and strivings that we live, but we are "justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." That gift touches not only our yesterdays and tomorrows but also our todays -- that moment of time called NOW!
NOW can rob us of our joy and sap our lives of inner strength and vitality. NOW can blur our vision and deaden our ears to the message of Christ: "Innocent! Case Dismissed!" But living NOW with justifying faith bases our joy on Jesus, fixes our vision on the bloodied cross and the empty tomb, and tunes our hearing to the Savior's message of love, acceptance, and forgiveness. Like a little child safe in the firm grip of her father's hand on a busy, noisy street and feeling totally protected, we rejoice in the gripping relationship our heavenly Father gives us in Christ Jesus.
Sometime in the early 1500s, Martin Luther wrote a most remarkable commentary on the NOW: "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." That powerful hymn has given musical voice to the faith of Christians ever since. To sing this great composition as a mere "Battle Hymn Of The Reformation" is to miss its tremendous message for NOW. "But for us fights the Valiant One." For us, Saints! NOW! NOW means those Monday morning launches into the work week, those Wednesday won't-the-weekend-ever-come afternoons, and those Saturday get-ready-for-church struggles with the family. NOW means soiled diapers and sack lunches, long days and lonely nights, tight budgets and doctor visits. NOW means anger at the ravaging effects of cancer, anxiety about growing older, and anguish over the death of a loved one. Ultimately, NOW means all that we face this side of heaven in life and in death.
Who is this "Valiant One" who fights for us? "You ask, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is! The almighty Lord, And there's no other God; He holds the field forever." That's who fights for us -- the almighty Lord of heaven and earth! The God who continually reassures us: "Innocent! Case Dismissed! Justified by faith in Jesus!"
With that in mind, Saints, what is our attitude toward the NOW? Paul gives us a good perspective in 2 Corinthians 4: "We are hard pressed...but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed." Furthermore, in Romans 8: "We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Justified by Jesus! Our time to rejoice is NOW! Why? “And do what they will -- Hate, steal, hurt, or kill -- Though all may be gone, Our victory is won; Easter assured us that "The Kingdom’s ours forever." It is ours already! Right NOW! Amen.
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