Prayer of Consecration
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.
Jesus, We belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
Scripture
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Romans 3:21-26 (NIV)
Consider This
Today, dear ones, we have witnessed what is referred to as a mic drop.1
My dear friends in Jesus. We have heard the gospel today as handwritten by Saul of Tarsus, THE apostle Paul, somewhere around the year 50 in the year of our Lord. There’s a lot to be said about what Paul said, but I am moved to simply slow-walk us through what the Holy Spirit is saying here. We need to savor it, relish it, treasure it in our hearts, and ponder it. I’m going to line-break it like a poem; like the divine verse that it is:
But now
apart from the law
the righteousness of God
has been made known,
to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
This righteousness is given
through faith in Jesus Christ
to all who believe.
There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God,
and all are justified freely
by his grace
through the redemption
that came by Christ Jesus.
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,
through the shedding of his blood—
to be received
by faith.
He did this to demonstrate his righteousness,
because in his forbearance
he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished—
he did it to demonstrate his righteousness
at the present time,
so as to be just and
the one who justifies those
who have faith in Jesus.
[Full Stop.]
Mic Drop.
See also note 2 below.2
Prayer
Jesus, we belong to you, and we are not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; and for me. Thank you that your Word is powerful, full of grace and truth, and mighty to save. I hear these words, Jesus, but there are places in my heart and mind needing to hear them deeper. Holy Spirit, search me and find those hard places, those resistant places where I am not moved by this good news. Awaken me to more of you. Only then will I be less of the me I used to be and more of the me I was made to be. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.
Notes
- Mic drop is a new-ish idiomatic phrase referring to a performer who speaks or sings something so dynamically powerful they end the performance by intentionally dropping the microphone on the stage. It is a dramatic way of punctuating the performance. There are several “mic drop” moments throughout this letter to the Romans. I’d say the first one came in Romans 1:16–17.
- I like to see how Gene Peterson translates passages like these in his celebrated The Message translation of the Bible. It is a gem. Without further adieu, here it is:
But in our time something new has been added. What Moses and the prophets witnessed to all those years has happened. The God-setting-things-right that we read about has become Jesus-setting-things-right for us. And not only for us, but for everyone who believes in him. For there is no difference between us and them in this. Since we’ve compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us, God did it for us. Out of sheer generosity he put us in right standing with himself. A pure gift. He got us out of the mess we’re in and restored us to where he always wanted us to be. And he did it by means of Jesus Christ.
God sacrificed Jesus on the altar of the world to clear that world of sin. Having faith in him sets us in the clear. God decided on this course of action in full view of the public—to set the world in the clear with himself through the sacrifice of Jesus, finally taking care of the sins he had so patiently endured. This is not only clear, but it’s now—this is current history! God sets things right. He also makes it possible for us to live in his rightness.”
(Romans 3:21–26 The Message)