Romans 3 

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

I played baseball growing up. I started with t-ball, graduated to coach pitch, and spent about five years playing good old-fashioned baseball.  Sometime around middle school I actually got pretty good (at least I thought I did).  Week after week the coach placed me in prominent spot in the battling line up and shuffled me to whatever positioned needed someone strong.  

By the time I suppose to move up to high school, I was pretty confident in my abilities.  It never crossed my mind that I might not be up for the challenge.  Without hesitation I signed up for high school baseball assuming I would make the team. Well, things didn't go as planned.  The tryouts didn't play out as I expected, and I found myself cut from the team embarrassingly early.

I didn't perform up to the standard!

Our entire world functions that way.  Approval and value is tied directly to performance.  We have countless reality shows, which attribute value to performance.  It's the way our world works. Before we buy anything, we check out reviews to see how it performs.  If you purchase many things, which are used, the big question is always about how close in quality it is to the new version.  

We value items based off whether they meet our standards!

Romans 3 makes one thing certain, no one has met God's standards.  Verses 10-12 are a brutal evaluation of mankind.  No one does good.  No one seeks God. No one understands God.  Paul's final summary of mankind's performance in verse 23 makes things very simple, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

The term "Sin" is an archery term, which means, "to miss the mark."  The imagery is very simple.  God had a target, and we missed it. The Hebrew word translated as "Glory" literally means "weight."  We have fallen short of the weight of God.  He was the standard, and we didn't live up to it.

All of us have failed to meet God's standard.

The good news is that God doesn't function like my baseball coach.  He doesn't buy items based on the same standards as you and I.  God values things even when they fail to meet His standards.

God values me!

Romans 3

There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

• When I wasn't performing...
• When I was failing to meet standards...
• When I was far from God...
• When I wasn't seeking God...
• When I was in sin...
• When I was unrighteous...
• When I wasn't doing good...
• When I was totally missing the mark...

God paid the price for me!  God wanted me!  God redeemed me! My value doesn't come from my performance. God's acceptance isn't based off meeting standards.  

God's love is unconditional!

Sean Chandler | Associate Pastor

Sean has been a part of the association of Hill Country Bible Churches for over twenty years. He received Christ as a youth while attending Hill Country Bible Church Austin. He attended Hill Country Bible Church NW from 1989 to 2002. At that time he began attending HCBC Pflugerville. He served as a student ministry intern there for two years. In 2008, Sean graduated from Columbia International University with a double major in Bible and Bible teaching. Sean married his wife, Jennifer, in 2006. Their first child, Liam, was born in 2012, and their second, Chloe, was born in 2014.

He blogs regularly at seanchandler.net.