Why Should I Follow Jesus?: A Meditation on Romans 5:1-2

Imagine you’re having a huge party. It’s your birthday, and the thing you want most is to have all your friends over and celebrate. Everyone responds with an enthusiastic, “Yes!” Well, everyone but your friend James. He says he can’t come. Surprised and even a little hurt, you ask him, “Why can’t you come?” 

“Well,” he says, “you’re going to have birthday cake there, aren’t you?”

“Of course,” you reply, “it’s not a birthday party without cake!”

A sullen look comes across James’ face as he says, “I’m sorry, I can’t come. You see, birthday cake, it’s against my religion.”

Now, obviously, this story is a joke. No one would actually stay home from a birthday party because cake is involved. However, this fictional story has a point, and that point is that this is often the way our irreligious friends see us as Christians. In the eyes of the world, Christianity (and all religions, really) is seen as a strange set of restrictions. The gospel is not seen as a positive power for good but, rather, a list of things we are not allowed to do because it goes against our God and our conscience.

Of course, it hasn’t always been this way. If you were to take a time machine back even 50 years ago, you would find a Western culture that tolerated and often approved of Christianity. In such an age, no one would think to question your desire to follow Jesus. “Good for you,” they’d say. “We need more of that in our world.” But due to the rise of Postmodernism, where the idea of truth and the relevancy of religion is questioned, there is a valid question in the mind of every secular person: “Why Should I Follow Jesus?”

Today on the blog, we’ll take a look at this question. I’d like to argue that there are two concrete benefits of being a Christian, both central to the longings of the human heart. Following Jesus is good because being justified by faith in what Jesus has done allows you to have (1) Peace with God, and (2) Access to a Father.

We will explore these benefits by meditating on Romans 5:1-2 together:

“Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God”

Peace with God

There is nothing as bad as feeling like someone is mad at you. You know the feeling. You tiptoe around your roommate, and neither person is willing to address the awkward feelings you have toward the other. You feel as though what was once a close friendship has been demoted to walking on eggshells. Any time you engage, you feel as though you’re both wearing a mask, putting on a face to cover up how you really feel.

This is, in part, how the Bible describes our relationship with God. Except, God was willing to address the awkwardness. He was not content to let the relationship fester and ultimately die. Rather, he gave up His perfect and only Son Jesus to pay for what we did. Even though we were God’s enemies (Rom. 5:10), God paid the price on His own. He did not wait for us to come crawling on our hands and knees to forgive us. He made the first move so that the hostility might be put to an end. (Eph. 2:14)

Romans 5:1 puts it like this: “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The gospel is a story of enemies becoming friends, hostility becoming peace, and hate becoming love. 

Don’t you feel it? This sinking feeling that you are somehow disconnected? Isn’t this why you strive, why you work, why you chase after your desires? Does it not promise you that if you get enough stuff, one day you’ll feel whole? God paid the price on your behalf, so that you might be justified through faith, and therefore have peace with God. This is the first benefit of following Jesus: Those who believe in Jesus have peace with God.

Access to a Father

Vision is important. No, I’m not talking about the vision a leader has for an organization or a psychic vision that allows one to see the future. I’m talking literally, about the sense of sight.

Have you ever been around a baby or small child? Maybe you’ve had a few of your own. If so, you know this principle is true. You can have all the same elements: same room, same people, same furniture, and the same toys, yet what the baby is looking at is pivotal to how they feel. Imagine they crawl toward the corner to play with some blocks, but after a few minutes pass, they look up. They don’t see Mom or Dad – in fact, they don’t see anyone! What do they do? They freak out. Internally they are given an experience that the human heart hates, the feeling of being bitterly alone in the world.

On the other hand, what happens when they turn around, look up, and see Mom smiling down at them? They are filled with the most wonderful feeling, a feeling of joy and normalcy. It’s this feeling that says, “Everything is going to be okay, Mom wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.”

In the first verse of our passage, we saw how a relationship with Jesus gives us peace, and here we see the experience of peace as we gain access to an eternal Parent. Still speaking on the benefits of being justified by Jesus Christ, Paul in Romans 5:2 goes on to say give us another benefit of Christianity: Access to a Father. John reflects on this wonderful truth in 1 John 3:1 where he reflects, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” A relationship with God gives us many things, but perhaps the most important thing is that it changes the nature of our relationship with God. No longer are we his employees, enemies, or even just acquaintances. No, in Christ we are so much more; we are His children.

Don’t so many problems in our lives boil down to the fact that we feel parentless in a big, scary world? We go to school or work, and we feel this profoundly fearful dread that seems to whisper in our ears, “It’s all on you, buddy. If you don’t take care of yourself, no one will.” This leads us to walk through life feeling a tremendous weight of responsibility. In short, we feel the need to parent ourselves.

Wouldn’t you agree that the Bible’s vision for you is so much better? Today God invites us to cast our responsibilities and cares onto a perfect Father who desires nothing more than to spend His day with us (1 Peter 5:7). This is the second benefit of following Jesus: Those who are justified by Christ have access to a Father.

Conclusion

The funny thing about a topic like this is so much more could be said. Psalm 103:2 says, “Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” This leads us to believe that if given enough time, we could continue to think about what God has done for us and come up with benefit after benefit. The truth is, this is a healthy practice for everyone, not just Christians. It’s good for us to look at our lives with a critical eye and ask the tough question, “Do I like the direction of my life? Does serving God (or not serving God) give me the benefits I desire?” I strongly believe that Christianity is the greatest source of joy, primarily because of the two benefits outlined above.

What about you? Do you have this peace that exceeds understanding? (Philippians 4:7) Do you live with a sense that you have a Friend in God? Or are you living life without Him? Know that whoever you are, and whatever you’ve done, God is continually pursuing you with love. He isn’t afraid of your past, and He doesn’t see you as a lost cause. He has the heart of a Father who is constantly seeking after His children, wooing them with love to finally come back home.

Those who follow Jesus have (1) Peace with God, and (2) Access to a Father. Today, I invite you to step into this peace and embrace the God who paid the ultimate price so that you might have access to Him forever.