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We tackled what I thought was a fairly simple theme on Sunday night. But as I prepared, I realised that the ramifications of what I was reading were huge.

In Romans 3:1-20, Paul talks of God’s faithfulness.

It seems like the Jewish Christians were having a bit of a whinge. They couldn’t see the point of holding on to their Jewish heritage if they weren’t going to get special treatment. But Paul says they have every reason to hang onto it. There’s is a special responsibility to take the law of God into the rest of the world and live it out. Basically, God chose them to tell His story.

An interesting question is asked of Paul. If God chose the Jews for a special task, and the jews went and did their own thing, does that make the word of God worthless? Not at all is Paul’s reply. Infact, because God judges the Jews for the way they have lived their lives proves that God is just. No matter what the Jews did, God remained faithful to his word and the Jewish nation had to respond to the story just like everybody else.

To conclude this section, Paul encourages the Roman church by reminding that all of them, Jew and Gentile alike, stand equal before God.

This passage is one of those where you could take out the word “Jew” and replace it with the word “Christian” and it would still make perfect sense. Christians, like theJews, have been given a special responsibility to take the story of The Word in to the world, and tell it by word and action. Just becasue Christians have, at times, been pretty ordinary in carrying out their responsibility doesn’t make God any less faithful or the story of Jesus any less powerful. The story is like a light that reveals things hidden in the darkness - regardless of what sort of life the carrier of the light is living.

It’s hard for us to get our mind around this. Whether we like it or not, we act like we have some special privilege because God is on ‘our side’ and too easliy forget our place before God. God is the faithful, unchanging one. We are a changeable bunch that get it wrong more than I care to admit. But it is reassuring to know that God is faithful no matter what.

I’ve had mentors that have cheated on their wives. I’ve had teachers that I’ve respoected turn their back on faith and walk away from it completely. I’ve had friends that have said they wished they’d never had anything to do with Jesus and wasted so much of their life. It’s always hard to hear stories like this, but despite them all, God is still faithful.

With this in mind, I covered three promises. Promises made by a God who is faithful no matter how we live our lives.

1. God loves us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:9-10, Romans 5:8)

When he has been naughty and has received a telling off, my eldest son will ask, “Do you still love me Daddy?” My reply is always, “Of course I still love you. Even when you’re naughty I still love you.” I think God is a bit like that.

God has shown his love in the sacrifice of Jesus. His resurrection is a promise that the love will never end.

God has promised that he loves us and god is faithful, no matter what we do.

2. God will always forgive us (1 John 1:5-9)

I sometimes encounter people who think they’ve done something that is beyond redemption. “How can god ever forgive me?!” If I’m honest, I feel like that myself from time to time.

But God has promised to forgive us. No matter what we’ve done or how we’ve lived, God will forgive us. God is faithful and will do it - all we have to do is ask.

3. God will not change his mind (Hebrews 13:8, titus 1:1-3)

It’s one thing to make a promise, but it is another to keep it. You know how it feels when you confide in somebody and they promise not to tell anyone - only to turn round and tell the very next person they meet. It’s hard to trust them ever again. You’re never quite sure if they will keep their promises or not.

But God does not change his mind. If God has promised to love and promised to forgive, then that’s the way it is. Always. No questions asked. And as much as we hate to admit it, it doesn’t matter how you’ve lived your life or what you’ve done wrong. god loves you. God forgives you. And God won’t change his mind about that, Why? Because God is faithful.

It would be easier for me to accept this if I could do something. Some how work towards earning God’s love and favour, but it doesn’t work that way. And no matter what I do right, or what I do wrong, I will never be able to change the truth of God’s faithfulness. The Jews couldn’t and Christians can’t.

Perhaps this is a good reminder of how much bigger God is than us, but also a reminder of how amazing it is that God is interested, passionately interested, in who we are and how we live. I wish I could get my head around it more so I could explain it better, But I can’t.

So just remember that God is faithful. Simple…