Lectionary readings for Sunday 21st June 2020

• Gen 25:19-34
• Ps 119:105-112
• Rom 8:1-11
• Mt 13:1-9, 18-23

Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord Our Righteous Saviour
A reflection on Romans 8:1-11 by Michelle

The courtroom is silent. The judge instructs the defendant to stand for the verdict. He asks the jury for their decision. The jury foreman rises and slowly announces, “We, the jury, find the defendant……”.
This scene has been played out in courtrooms all round the world for many years. I imagine each defendant stands nervously, anxious about the decision that is being made by twelve strangers. Twelve imperfect people, often with an incomplete picture of the circumstances surrounding the accusations made. Yet their decision has the ability to change a person’s life – forever. A guilty verdict condemns. It condemns the defendant to fines, civil penalties, incarceration, or even death. Obviously, breaking the law has serious consequences.
In the first chapters of Romans, Paul puts forward a case that explains how each and every one of us can not meet the requirements of God’s law. We are innately sinful and continue to sin even when we don’t want to. On judgement day, we will all have to stand before God and wait to hear His verdict on our lives. And in our own strength, the verdict from our perfect, holy, and all-knowing God will have to be guilty. We will be nervous and anxious not because we are unsure of the outcome, but because we know we will be condemned, condemned to an eternity separated from God – eternal death!
In our secular legal system, a defendant can remove some of the uncertainty that comes with a jury trial by negotiating a plea deal. They can plead guilty in order to receive leniency in sentencing. In His great mercy, God has also provided us with a way to avoid condemnation. In Jer 23:5-6, the prophet tells the people of Judah that God plans to send a wise king who will save them. He will be called Jehovah Tsidkenu – The Lord Our Righteous Saviour. Jehovah Tsidkenu is realised in the person of Jesus Christ. The perfect, sinless, righteous son of God, who, because of His great love for us, God sent to give us the chance of eternal life with Him. As John tells us in John 3:17, “For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”
However, the plea deal offered by God, through Jesus, doesn’t just result in a reduced sentence. When we go to the foot of the cross, confess our sins, believe, and trust in Jesus, we will be forgiven. Through the blood of Christ, God no longer sees our sins. He accepts the death of Jesus as the sin offering required to restore our righteousness with Him. Psalm 103:12 tells us, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” When we stand before God in His courtroom, we will be declared Not Guilty!
It is this promise that leads Paul to declare in verse 1 of our reading today, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Our Jehovah Tsidkenu sets us free and gives us eternal life. Jesus, our righteous saviour, does what we are incapable of doing for ourselves. Those who trust Jesus now belong to Him. God’s spirit lives within them and on that day of judgement they will be raised to eternal life with Him.
How long has it been since you went to the cross? Our sinful nature ensures this is not a once only journey. We should stay close to that cross, stay close to Jesus and day after day after day accept the cleansing righteousness that He offers. When we do this, we are set free from any anxiousness about our future. We can be assured that, “if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his spirit who lives in you.” (Rom 8:11)
Turn towards that cross today, and thank our loving, merciful God for Jehovah Tsidkenu.

Lord I Need You – Chris Tomlin