[1] Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

[2] through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.

[3] And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

[4] and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,

[5] and hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

[6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.

[7] Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die.

[8] But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

[9] Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.

[10] For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.

[11] But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

[NRSV]

INTRODUCTION:

How many of you have had a chance to watch NBC's "Weakest Link?" This game show is a cross between Survivor and Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. It's host, Anne Robinson seems to be a cross between Monty Python's Flying Circus and Don Rickles.

The basic premise is that a group of contestants answer quiz questions and try to bank as much money as possible. Only banked money carries over to the next round. At the end of each round, the contestants determine who the Weakest Link is and vote them off the show and out of the competition. And Anne regales them with her now famous phrase: "You ARE the weakest link! Good-bye!"

The host Anne Robinson is brutal in her attack on these players. Here are a few of her comments:

"Whose parachute sadly has failed to open?

"Whose talents are better suited for silent film?

"Who's the dark cloud with no silver lining?

"Who's in need of mental floss?

"Whose brain in that last round sadly expired?

"Who is the alien from the planet incompetence?

"Where does knowledge go to die?"

A few of the folks seem to just set themselves up for even more brutal punishment by conversing before they leave. Of all the ones listed on NBC's web site I like this one the best:

Anne: "Jill, are you a member of any clubs?

Jill: "Yes (laughing)."

Anne: "What's funny about that?"

Jill: "I'm a former member of Mensa."

Anne: "Former member of Mensa . . . did they throw you out?" (1)

I'm not a big fan of this game show but a couple of weeks ago they had a plethora of weakest links on the show. I had to watch it because I couldn't believe they really got all of these people to agree to come on this show. Especially knowing how Anne Robinson likes going for the jugular. Maybe you saw it. It had all the Weakest Links in the country on it. Folks like: Kato Caitlin, Jennifer Flowers, Darva Conger, Todd Bridges, Tonya Harding and Leif Erickson, It was like loser central. Or if put in terms of the Scripture, it was Prodigal Central.

Some of these folks just happened to make mistakes that gained National Notoriety. Some of them didn't just happen to make mistakes, some of them jumped in feet first but the truth is we all make the kinds of mistakes. At one point in time, we could all be "The Weakest Link."

In Friday's News Of The Weird in the Star-Telegram there was a story about a spy cat. You heard right. Not a spy plane or a spy but a Spy Cat. It seems that former CIA officer Victor Marchetti told London's Daily Telegraph that the CIA had a project in the 1960's called "Acoustic Kitty." The central figure was a cat which had batteries and wire surgically installed, with an antenna for a tail.

The purpose was that the cat could be place close to enemy operatives and transmit eavesdropped conversations back to the monitoring devices. It took five years of development to perfect the "Acoustic Kitty." And on the day the first kitty was deployed, almost immediately after sending it out as a field agent, it was run over by a taxicab. (2)

So you see, even the greatest minds can become the weakest link. That's what the Apostle Paul is writing about here in Romans chapter 5. He knows first hand what it is like to be the weakest link. He knows what it is like to say one thing and do something else. He knows first hand what it is like to have all the best intentions but to fail; to make promises to God but three minutes later break them. He knows what weakness, failure, and sin are like.

As we read this passage we discover that when it comes to our faith and our attempts to live out our faith: SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG, BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG, AND JESUS MAKES US STRONG.

I. SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG:

A. SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, no matter how hard we work at being good, no matter how many good deeds we do, we just get it wrong. We blow it. We have the best of intentions but we stumble and fall. We make promise after promise to God but fail to keep them.

The American scientists at NASA were thrilled. For several years they had been trying to get detailed photos of the moon's surface. Every time a Ranger satellite was sent, there was some type of glitch that ruined the effort. This time Ranger 7 sent down superb footage of the lunar surface.

The scientists in California quickly sent the tapes to Washington, D.C., so that President Lyndon Johnson could view them the next day with his chiefs-of-staff. A special Air Force jet took off and flew throughout the night to bring the films to the White House.

The next morning, the President and others gathered excitedly to see the landmark images. Unfortunately, the images from the moon were not seen that day. The projector at the White House failed to work properly! (3)

And we're a lot like that. SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG. Just when we think we have all of our ducks in a row; just when we think nothing can go wrong, something does. We forget who we are and whose we are and we turn away from God. Sometimes it's simply because we've been told not to do something that we wind up doing it.

Back in July there was a Non-Sequitur cartoon that sums it all up. In the cartoon you see a couple standing at crosswalk. Next to them is a sign that reads: "Absolutely NO Machete Juggling."

The man turns to the woman and says: "Suddenly I have an urge to juggle machetes . . ." The caption reads, "The essence of human nature." (4)

And it's so true. We are so easily distracted from what is right. Sometimes we blindly stumble into sin. But most of the time we run headlong into sin without even thinking. SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG.

B. A couple of weeks ago Religion Today reported about Preta, the prayerful pooch, who goes to church every Sunday.

The publication quotes a Portuguese newspaper telling how every Sunday morning at 5 am, the dog leaves her owner's house, in the small northern Lusitanian town of Sobrado and trots to the neighboring village of Ermesinde, some 8 miles away.

Preta arrives at the local Catholic church just in time for the 7:30 am service. She saunters right up to the church's chancel and lies down by the side of the altar. When the congregants rise for the Kyrie or the Gospel lesson, so does she. When they sit down, she'll stretch out on the stone floor again.

After the blessing, Preta heads home, another 8 miles. That is, if nobody gives her a lift.

The newspaper reports that the church is filled to capacity every Sunday, because everyone wants to come and see Preta.

Now I think it's wonderful that this church is filled to capacity every Sunday. But you and I know that a lot of those people are going for wrong reason. They've got it completely backwards. We don't come to church to see a dog. That's not a worthwhile or valid reason.

It's just the opposite. We come to worship God. We know that. But SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG.

II. BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG:

A. It's true SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG.

And that's what Grace is all about; Jesus righting our wrong and righting us. Paul says that because of what Jesus did on the cross, we now have access to this Grace. Once we were salves to sin, but now through our faith in Christ Jesus, we have access to the forgiveness offered to us by the Son of God. through our faith in Christ, we have access to God's Grace and God's Glory.

William Willimon, Chaplain and Dean of Preaching at Duke School of Divinity, tells of a small College Chapel in North Carolina that has one of the most unusual baptismal fonts in the world. It is made from a huge stone which has been hollowed out for a font. On that very stone, African slaves stood to be sold to the highest bidder.

Today, the stone serves Belmont Abbey as its baptismal font. An inscription on the plaque tells all who enter those cleansing waters: "On this stone men were sold into slavery. From this stone men are now baptized into freedom." (5)

Through the power of Jesus Christ, you and I move from slavery to freedom, from despair to victory, from fallen to forgiven, from sinner to saint. And none of this is because of anything we have done or can do. This all comes simply through faith in Christ Jesus.

Paul writes: [vss 1-2] "Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God."

Simply put, it's Jesus who makes this possible. SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG.

B. The name Corrie ten Boom is synonymous with forgiveness. Corrie ten Boom was imprisoned in a German concentration camp for aiding Jews during the Nazi occupation of Holland. She returned after the war with a message of God's love. She told her former enemies, "The death of Jesus writes 'Paid in Full' to our sins. And Our heavenly Father throws away the list."

The wife of a visiting couple said, "That must have been awfully hard, to forgive those who've harmed you."

"It was very hard," Corrie agreed. "But there's something still harder, forgiving those you thought were your friends."

She was clearly glad to unburden herself to visitors who didn't know the people involved and so she plunged into the story of a group who'd sponsored her on a speaking tour. Then they wound up keeping the offerings intended for her work.

"Later they did release part of it. But it wasn't a quarter of what they took. I can show you!" Corrie Ten Boom went to a drawer and, stooped down, drew out a folder of papers and said, "I have it all down in black and white!"

She straightened slowly, a stricken look on her face. "O Lord Jesus," she whispered so softly the couple could barely hear, "when You've canceled all my debt and thrown the list away. . . ."

And for the next few minutes, the three of them fed a pile of papers into the fire burning in the fireplace. (6)

Our God is a God of love who is just like that. That's why Paul writes: [6] "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly."

God knows that SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG when we put our faith and trust in Him.

III. AND JESUS MAKES US STRONG:

SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG. We need to remember that JESUS can RIGHT THAT WRONG. AND JESUS MAKES US STRONG.

Through the power of God's Holy Spirit, Christ with us, we are made strong in the faith. Booker T. Washington, author of Up From Slavery wrote: "There are two ways of exerting one's strength: one is pushing down, the other is pulling up."

In l935, what some have called America's Pyramid, the Hoover Dam was built on the Colorado River in the Black Canyon, between Arizona and Nevada. It still is recognized as one of the nation's civil engineering wonders.

Hoover Dam is an arch-gravity dam; that is, it is an arch laid over on its side. It is designed so that the more pressure is applied against the dam; the more it is wedged into the solid rock. And the more it is wedged into the solid rock the stronger it becomes. (7)

We live that same principle in our walk with Christ. Our lives are built upon the Solid Rock. And while we were weak, Christ died for us. And when we admit that we are weak, we are wedged more and more firmly into the Rock of our Salvation. And the more firmly we are wedged into the Rock of our Salvation, Jesus, the stronger we become.

As we are pushed down by the adversities of life and are forced to depend more fully upon on our foundation in Christ we are made stronger. And as we are wedged more firmly in Christ through those adversities, Christ Jesus pulls us up and lifts us up and gives us the strength so we can travel through them.

That's why the 23rd Psalm talks about God walking with us through the Valley of the Shadow of death. Notice it's not above or beyond it but through it.

SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG. JESUS can and does RIGHT THAT WRONG. AND JESUS MAKES US STRONG.

CONCLUSION:

A military airfield here in Texas serviced both commercial and military landings. One aircraft called into the tower as it was landing and asked to synchronize time with the air control tower. The controller asked what kind of aircraft was calling. The pilot was confused by the controller's question and asked. "What difference does that make? I just want to find out the exact time."

"Well, it does matter!" the air controller answered. "If you are a commercial flight, then it is exactly 3 PM. If you are in the Air Force, then it is 1500 hours. If you are in an Army aircraft, then the big had is on the twelve and the little hand is on the three. And if you are in a Marine aircraft, then it's afternoon." (8)

We don't have to be the weakest link to know God's love. But if we are or even if we feel like we are remember what Paul wrote in Romans 5:8 says: "God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us."

In other words, while we were still the weakest links God proved His love for us through the death of His Son. And because of that you will never hear God say: "Who's the rotten tooth that needs to be pulled? You ARE the weakest link! Good-bye!" (9)

Instead, God offers something different. God offers an invitation. An invitation to wholeness and forgiveness. An invitation into a new relationship. An invitation to become stronger.

And all God wants you to do is accept the Grace offered to you through Christ Jesus. Not because of what you've done or what you didn't do but because of what God has done for you though Christ.

Yeah, SOMETIMES WE GET IT WRONG. BUT JESUS RIGHTS THAT WRONG. AND JESUS MAKES US STRONG.

Accept that Grace today. Let Christ be the Lord of your life. And if you've already accepted that Grace, then renew it.

1. Quotes from www.NBC.com

2. Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Star-Time, pg. 70, November 16, 2001

3. Daily Uplink, www.tln.com

4. Non Sequitur, July 31, 2001, Wiley

5. William Willimon, "Remember Who You Are," Upper Room, 1980, page 61.

6. Daily Guideposts, Jan 1, 1997

7. Parables, Etc. (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), November 1995

8. The Pastor's Story File (Saratoga Press, P.O. Box 8, Platteville, CO, 80651; 970-785-2990), June 2001

9. Ibid