paul – Tabernacle Baptist Church

September 30, 2024September 30, 2024 Sterling Severns Bible Study, Romans, Paul's letter to, Rule of Life, Rule of Life Together

Adult Reflection Guide: Romans 3:1-20

Welcome!

We invite you to take some time to reflect on key themes from our recent sermon on Romans 3. Paul’s message in this chapter challenges us to look honestly at our own imperfections and embrace the transformative grace of God. Whether you choose to reflect on one or all of the themes, this guide is here to support your personal or group study. The goal isn’t perfection but to create space for spiritual reflection and growth.

Sermon can be found at marker 42:56

Sermon Summary

1. The Reality of Sin (Romans 3:10-12)
Paul reminds us that “there is no one righteous, not even one.” This statement isn’t about condemning us, but about leveling the playing field—no one can claim perfection. All of us are in need of God’s grace. This realization sets the stage for transformation, which begins when we acknowledge our own brokenness.

2. Judgment and Projection (Romans 3:9-10)
Paul critiques the human tendency to judge others while ignoring our own failures. Judgment often stems from insecurity, as we try to shift the focus away from our own shortcomings. Paul calls for humility—an honest self-assessment instead of focusing on others’ mistakes.

3. Grace as the Foundation for Transformation (Romans 3:20-24)
Paul emphasizes that the law was not given for us to boast about following it perfectly. Instead, it reveals how far we fall short, making room for grace. True transformation begins when we stop relying on our own righteousness and embrace God’s grace as the foundation for change.

4. God’s Faithfulness (Romans 3:3-4)
Even when humans are unfaithful, God remains faithful. This promise reassures us that our failures do not diminish God’s love or commitment to us. Knowing this allows us to confront our brokenness with honesty, knowing God’s grace will always meet us.

5. The Treasure in Clay Jars (2 Corinthians 4:7)
Paul’s metaphor of “treasure in clay jars” reminds us that we are fragile and imperfect, yet we carry something precious—God’s love and grace. Rather than disqualifying us, our flaws become opportunities for God’s power to shine through us.

6. Transformation Starts with Honesty
Paul teaches that true transformation starts with transparency. We don’t need to pretend we have it all together. Instead, when we admit our need for God’s grace, that’s when real healing and change begin.

Reflection Questions

These questions are designed to help you think more deeply about the themes from the sermon. Whether you reflect on them individually or with a group, allow them to spark meaningful conversation.

Facing the Truth: In the sermon, we heard the famous line from A Few Good Men: “You can’t handle the truth.” When faced with difficult truths about yourself, how do you typically respond? Do you tend to confront those truths or avoid them? Why do you think that is?

Judging Others vs. Judging Ourselves: Paul talks about our tendency to judge others while ignoring our own faults. How often do you catch yourself being critical of others instead of reflecting on your own struggles? How might shifting your focus to self-reflection change your relationships?

Paul’s Indictment and Our Hearing: Paul’s words might sound harsh or judgmental at first, but he’s speaking from a place of humility, acknowledging his own brokenness. How do you think your personal experiences or insecurities shape the way you hear challenging messages, whether from Scripture or others? How might it change your perspective to hear those words as coming from someone who is “in the mix” with you, rather than judging you from above?

The Nature of Sin: The sermon described sin as “missing the mark” and how it puts us out of sync with God. In what areas of your life do you feel out of sync with God? What would it look like for you to realign your heart and actions with God’s purposes?

God’s Faithfulness: Paul reassures us that even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful. Where in your life are you struggling to trust in God’s faithfulness? How does this promise challenge or encourage you as you face uncertainty or failure?

Breaking the Cycle of Judgmentalism: We learned that judgmentalism often comes from a place of insecurity or self-loathing. How have you seen this cycle play out in your own life? What steps can you take to break free from judgmental thinking and move toward grace?

Sin and Projection: The sermon explored how we sometimes project our own discomfort by focusing on others’ faults. In what ways have you seen this dynamic in your own relationships? How might embracing vulnerability instead of judgment deepen your connections with others?

Transformation and Honesty: Transformation begins with an honest appraisal of our limitations and failures. Is there an area in your life where you’ve been avoiding the truth about yourself? What would it take for you to bring that into the light and experience God’s grace for healing?

Carrying God’s Treasure: Paul’s metaphor of “treasure in clay jars” was highlighted in the sermon. How do you see God’s grace shining through your own imperfections and weaknesses? What might it look like to embrace your vulnerability as a strength?

The Weight of Sin and the Law: We heard that the law reveals our need for grace rather than giving us a means to boast about our righteousness. How has your understanding of the balance between law and grace evolved? How does this shift in understanding impact how you live out your faith day to day?

Receiving Grace in Community: The sermon emphasized that none of us are exempt from the human condition of sin. How does recognizing your shared brokenness with others affect the way you engage with your community? How might it change the way you receive or extend grace?

Quotes for Reflection

Here are a few quotes to ponder as you reflect on the sermon’s themes. Use them as conversation starters or points of meditation.

“There is no one righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)
“Judgmentalism is often rooted in our own insecurities. When we judge others, we are projecting our discomfort with our own sins.” — Richard Rohr
“Even when we are unfaithful, God remains faithful.” (Romans 3:3-4)
“Transformation begins with honesty—admitting our brokenness is the first step to experiencing God’s healing.” — N.T. Wright
“The principle of Transformation reminds us that nothing, no one, no situation is immune from the transforming love of God.” – Desmond Tutu
“The law shows us our flaws, but grace enables us to grow beyond them.” — Charles Talbert
“We carry this treasure in fragile clay jars, but it is in our weakness that God’s power shines through.” (2 Corinthians 4:7)

We hope this guide prompts meaningful reflection as you explore Romans 3 in your personal journey or with others in your community. Let this be a reminder that God’s grace meets us where we are and leads us toward transformation, not through perfection, but through honesty and love.

Additional Reflection Guides for Children & Youth:

Going Deeper: Exploration of Romans 3:1-20 with your Teen

Going Deeper: Exploration of Romans 3:1-20 with Your Children

Sources Cited

Wright, N.T. Paul: A Biography
Rohr, Richard. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life
Talbert, Charles H. Romans: A Theological Commentary on the Bible
Peterson, Eugene. The Message (Paraphrase of Romans 3:10)

March 19, 2024March 19, 2024 tbc Devotional, Devotionals, Lent, Lenten Devotion

Anxiety: A Lenten Reflection by Frederick Buechner

Written by Frederick Buechner, Whistling in the Dark

“Have no anxiety about anything,” Paul writes to the Philippians. In one sense it is like telling a woman with a bad head cold not to sniffle and sneeze so much or a lame man to stop dragging his feet. Or maybe it is more like telling a wino to lay off the booze or a compulsive gambler to stay away from the track.

Is anxiety a disease or an addiction? Perhaps it is something of both. Partly, perhaps, because you can’t help it, and partly because for some dark reason you choose not to help it, you torment yourself with detailed visions of the worst that can possibly happen. The nagging headache turns out to be a malignant brain tumor. When your teenage son fails to get off the plane you’ve gone to meet, you see his picture being tacked up in the post office among the missing and his disappearance never accounted for. As the latest mid-East crisis boils, you wait for the TV game show to be interrupted by a special bulletin to the effect that major cities all over the country are being evacuated in anticipation of nuclear attack. If Woody Allen were to play your part on the screen, you would roll in the aisles with the rest of them, but you’re not so much as cracking a smile at the screen inside your own head.

Does the terrible fear of disaster conceal an even more terrible hankering for it? Do the accelerated pulse and the knot in the stomach mean that, beneath whatever their immediate cause, you are acting out some ancient and unresolved drama of childhood? Since the worst things that happen are apt to be the things you don’t see coming, do you think there is a kind of magic whereby, if you only can see them coming, you will be able somehow to prevent them from happening? Who knows the answer? In addition to Novocain and indoor plumbing, one of the few advantages of living in the twentieth century is the existence of psychotherapists, and if you can locate a good one, maybe one day you will manage to dig up an answer that helps.

But answer or no answer, the worst things will happen at last even so. “All life is suffering” says the first and truest of the Buddha’s Four Noble Truths, by which he means that sorrow, loss, death await us all and everybody we love. Yet “the Lord is at hand. Have no anxiety about anything,” Paul writes, who was evidently in prison at the time and with good reason to be anxious about everything, “but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

He does not deny that the worst things will happen finally to all of us, as indeed he must have had a strong suspicion they were soon to happen to him. He does not try to minimize them. He does not try to explain them away as God’s will or God’s judgment or God’s method of testing our spiritual fiber. He simply tells the Philippians that in spite of them even in the thick of them they are to keep in constant touch with the One who unimaginably transcends the worst things as he also unimaginably transcends the best.

“In everything,” Paul says, they are to keep on praying. Come Hell or high water, they are to keep on asking, keep on thanking, above all keep on making themselves known. He does not promise them that as a result they will be delivered from the worst things any more than Jesus himself was delivered from them. What he promises them instead is that “the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The worst things will surely happen no matter what that is to be understood but beyond all our power to understand, he writes, we will have peace both in heart and in mind. We are as sure to be in trouble as the sparks fly upward, but we will also be “in Christ,” as he puts it. Ultimately not even sorrow, loss, death can get at us there.

That is the sense in which he dares say without risk of occasioning ironic laughter, “Have no anxiety about anything.” Or, as he puts it a few lines earlier, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice!”

Philippians 4:4-7

October 16, 2015February 13, 2021 tbc Media

Let’s Talk About Sex: Week 6

This is the sixth session of our fall 2015 Wednesday night Adult series. Our topic this week is “Sex and Sexuality in the New Testament, part 2.” We’re making these podcasts available if you are unable to join us on Wednesday nights in the fellowship hall. You are also invited to join us on Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 10:15am in the parlor to discuss the previous Wednesday’s topic. These sessions will be led by Rev. Kristen Koger.

Tentative Schedule for the Series

Introductions and Context
September 9
Week 1 – Introduction, Ground Rules, and Big Questions

September 16
Week 2 – Sexuality and Objectification in Contemporary Culture

Sex and Sexuality in the Bible
September 23
Week 3 – Sex and Sexuality in the Old Testament, part 1

September 30
Week 4 – Sex and Sexuality in the Old Testament, part 2

October 7
Week 5 – Sex and Sexuality in the New Testament, part 1

October 14
Week 6 – Sex and Sexuality in the New Testament, part 2

Healthy Sexual Relationships Today
October 21
Week 7 – The Biology of Sexuality

October 28
Week 8 – Sex and Marriage

November 4
Week 9 – How to Talk to your Young Children about Sex and Sexuality

November 11
Week 10 – How to Talk to your Teenagers about Sex and Sexuality

November 18
Week 11 – How to have Difficult Conversations

December 2
Week 12 – Dealing with Shame and Guilt

December 9
Week 13 – Toward a New Theology of Sexuality (Closing session)

October 8, 2015February 13, 2021 tbc Media

Let’s Talk About Sex: Week 5

This is the fifth session of our fall 2015 Wednesday night Adult series. Our topic this week is “Sex and Sexuality in the New Testament, part 1.” We’re making these podcasts available if you are unable to join us on Wednesday nights in the fellowship hall. You are also invited to join us on Sunday mornings from 9:30 to 10:15am in the parlor to discuss the previous Wednesday’s topic. These sessions will be led by Rev. Kristen Koger.