Romans 5: 1-11
As I began to work on today's sermon, reading through the text, I suddenly saw something that I had never seen before. And that's v3.
Oh, I’ve read this verses many times. Quoted them even. But I’ve realised that v3 follows v1and 2. I’d never seen that suffering flows out of the context of salvation.
For v1 and 2 is the colossal news of God's forgiveness. We have been justified (made right) by faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore we now live in undeserved privilege. We live in the realm of grace. We were moved from judgment to grace. And so we have a secure future of joy with God.
But then comes the surprising continuation of this theme of joy in salvation v3: We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials (literally “sufferings”).
What? Problems and trials. What does salvation have to do with that?
How can we rejoice in trials?
This is difficult for us to understand, because our culture views all suffering as only evil, and we actually suffer very little compared to, for example, the apostle Paul. But without understanding how God uses our suffering, we will struggle as Christians, and always be dissatisfied, and maybe even believe that God doesn’t like us.
Therefore, we need to understand
First, we live in the realm of grace
Second, the way we respond to suffering shows that we truly belong to God
and third, In our weakness, God is strong.
1. We live in the realm of grace.
Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. 2 Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
“Therefore” is a most important word because it connects this chapter to those before. Whenever you see a “therefore” you must ask yourself what is the therefore there for.
And it’s there to remind us of the context. What have we learned so far? That we have been made righteous by faith. We are justified, redeemed, propitiated (or reconciled).
Justified: God as judge says we are acquitted. Jesus has taken our punishment. He swapped places with us. He took the punishment we deserved as guilty sinners, and gave his righteousness. We are declared to be in the right with God. Acquitted. Justified. In Christ.
Redeemed: God as rescuer in the slave market frees us from the power of sin. The price was blood money, literally – Jesus’ precious blood was the price he paid to free us from slavery to sin. Let's not play with sin – we are bought at a price. Redeemed
Propitiated: God as sacrifice. For the wages of sin is death. To sin is to reject God, and he is the source of all life. So to reject God is to reject life and so we die. But instead, Jesus has took our place, as our substitute. He is our substitutionary sacrifice. Like a lamb on the altar, he dies in our place, and justice is satisfied, so that we can be reconciled to God. We are propitiated. Reconciled.
In Christ we are justified, redeemed, reconciled. There is no further judgment over us. God is not angry with us anymore. Therefore, v1 we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.
Peace. Before, God was our enemy. We rebelled against him. “No, you shall not be my King. I will be my own king, my own master”. We declared our independence. But we still demand all the good things that comes from God: like life, creation, love, joy – even every breath.
It’s as if we here in Notodden suddenly declared that we are no longer a part of Norway. We are independent! But we still demand roads, electricity, police, hospitals, etc.
How do you think the government would react? And the rest of the country? We would awaken anger. By declaring ourselves independent we made them our enemies. And we would need someone, a peace negotiator who can reconcile us.
That's what Jesus does for us. Through his sacrifice he reconciled us and God. And so now we and God are no longer enemies. We have peace with God.
2 Because of our faith (in this reconciling work of Christ), Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand
We have now been brought out of the realm of wrath into the realm of grace. We now live in grace, under grace. Not under the law, not in sin, but in grace we now stand. Can you grasp that? That's what happened when you trusted in Jesus Christ. Moved from judgment to grace. And that's where you live now. But only in Christ. If you are not in Christ then you are not under grace, but under wrath.
But if in Christ you have nothing to fear. Through him, by faith, we now stand in undeserved privilege, grace. Amen!
and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory
That looking forward, or “hope” as some translate it – it’s the same word as in v5 – that is secure. When we say “hope” there is uncertainty “Oh, I hope I'll succeed”. But when the Bible uses the word hope there is no uncertainty. It’s in the future, but it is as certain as if it already happen. It is certain because God is behind it. So we can confidently look forward to sharing God’s glory. What joy! We who are in Christ will experience the glory of God because we live in the realm of grace. Because it does not depend on what you and I do - but what Jesus has done. It is guaranteed by his blood.
And so, we have a sure hope.
What does it mean, then, to you that you live now in the realm of grace, undeserved privilege?
For most of us live like this is not true. We try to justify ourselves by being good enough for God. Here’ s a way to test yourself: Are you ever proud of yourself because you've succeeded at being holy (or so you think!) and God’s impressed with you? Or are you exhausted or angry because you just can’t be good enough for God, and now your depressed and full of worry and believe that God doesn’t want anything to do with you? Both are wrong and reveal that you are depending on your own achievements instead of Jesus. Repent and be free!
If we are in Christ, we never need to do anything good again. We never need to do anything good again. Because it's not our performance that matters - it's Jesus's performance. And he succeeded! He passed the test. Therefore we have passed the test. That's the first thing we must understand. If we are in Christ, we never need to do anything good eve again.
Of course, because we have a new nature, the Holy Spirit in us, we will do what is good, more and more, not out of desperation to satisfy God, but because this is what Jesus is like and we are becoming more and more like him as He renews from the inside out.
OK. Got that. If I trust in Jesus, I am righteous, I have peace with God, I live in the realm of grace, and look forward to taking part in His glory. But how do I know that I’m actually trusting in Jesus, and not in myself. How do I know that I'm not just fooling myself. I say I'm a Christian, but am I really?
2. The way we respond to suffering shows that we truly belong to God.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Rejoice in trials? What kind of problems and trials? Trials because we are Christians: for example, the fight against my own sin? Or is it persecution we are talking about? Or is it just living in a fallen world with sickness and death and lies and cheating and violence and immorality and so on?
Our battle with sin, persecution, or living in a fallen world? Or all three?
And I think this is about all three. The word translated “problems and trials” or “suffering” in other translations means “that which causes pain”. Everything that causes pain, whether it is internal conflict or external pressure, whether it’s because we are Christians or just because we are not yet in the new creation. Problems and trials. Suffering. And this we should rejoice in?
Why?
To explain that let me tell you about Richard Wurmbrand. Richard Wurmbrand was a Christian leader in Romania during Communism, and was brutally tortured and persecuted, along with many other Christians. He said this “When they pressured us Christians, when they hit us, squeezed us - what came out? Love. Love came out.”
We rejoice in our sufferings, or as in Norwegian we have confidence in our sufferings not because we like to suffer, but because of what they reveal in us. They show that we truly belong to Christ.
Remember last week when we talked about sin: the core of sin is ... “I am God”. I am god. I choose. But if I am God, I would never have chosen suffering for myself. Problems and trials clearly show us that we are not God.
As sinners, this makes us angry, despondent, full of fear and bitterness. But if we are Christians then we discover something else at the same time. Calm. Inner peace. Another power beyond us that comes from within and carries us. It is the Holy Spirit. God in us. God with us. And we turn to Him.
As we go through such sufferings, whether it's persecution or just a cold - we are encouraged in our faith. Wow! God is really with me! He's alive! We see the power of God in us (sometimes only afterward as we look back). And those around us noticed it as well.
Because think about this: if everything just went our way, how would we know that we are Christian? And how would others?
Imagine a good-looking couple. They’re both Christians. They both grew up in a good Christian home with Christian parents who loved them. They were popular at school, had many friends, were academically gifted. They met at university, fell in love and had a dream wedding. They deeply loved each other and had no problems in their marriage. They had two children, both of whom were dream children. They also were popular at school, gifted and talented, and they too met their spouse at university, and they too had a dream wedding and a joyful marriage without problems and had dream children. And at a ripe old age this couple died togheter in their sleep. They never had any health problems, financial challenges, or any other form of suffering. Not even a headache.
How would anyone know that they were actually Christian? Did they love God because they loved him? Or did they love God because he gave them what they wanted? If we just love God because he does what we want, then we’re not loving God but loving ourselves! But when we discover that we still love God even while we suffer – then we know that love is real.
For how would this “perfect couple” known that they were actually Christians? Because a Christian is one who sets himself aside and puts God first. A Christian is someone willing to sacrifice everything, to die to himself and to live for Christ. If God only does what you want him to do - are you really a Christian?
You know that you belong to Jesus when you choose to be obedient when it costs. When it hurts. Especially when you think God is wrong. Even when it goes against what society says.
For example, Glenn and Birthe have chosen to get married because they trust what God says and not what society says. It shows that they belong to God.
I know that Christian and Johanna did not want to go through what they went through when Isabella was born. Both Johanna and Isabella nearly died, and they were extremely ill for a long time. No way Christian would have chosen to go through that!
But as Christians, we run to God, because we know that He can carry us through. And that's what they did. They had no choice! But God carried them through. Yes, it was difficult, and we’re not saying that the suffering itself was good. No. But through that suffering they learned to know God better, deeper. Their faith was strenghtened. And that is good.
3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. 4 And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. 5 And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
This is how it works (yes I have a drawing!).
For endurance through suffering develops character. We experience that God is with us. We find that we really believe, it's not just something we do. This is our life! And character develops hope. Because when we suffer, we are reminded that this world is not our home and we look forward to the next, where we will experience the glory of God in its entirety. Here there are problems and trials - but we look forward to the day when will we see our Saviour face to face. When all is renewed. Where evil is destroyed. And we are made new and sin in us is crushed. Amen!
When you squeeze people you see what’s in them. When you squeeze an orange, orange juice come out. When you squeeze a Christian, Christ comes out. People do what serves them. But when we suffer because we are obedient to God, it’s proof that we belong to Jesus. And it is a testimony to all around us that Jesus lives in us. Just think of Mia. How she responded to her cancer has been a great testimony to her work colleagues. They have seen Jesus in her.
The way we respond to suffering shows that we truly belong to God.
Therefore, when we suffer, what should we do? Thank God. And pray for his strength to get through. Because We are weak, but he is strong. Richard Wurmbrand and our Christian brothers in Romania were not supermen. They didn’t have some extraordinary gene that allowed them to shout out “I forgive you in the name of Jesus” while they were being beaten by the police. No. They had the power of Jesus in them. Jesus was with them. And this is often what we forget. We fear things and are anxious and worried because we forget God in the situation. Elisabeth Elliot said “there is no mercy for the imagination”. When we sit and worry about everything that might go wrong, we find no comfort because we look only to ourselves and our own strength and then we freak out “I can’t do this!”. We forget God. We forget that if what we are worried about should actually happen (and it usually doesn’t) but if it does - then we're not alone. God is with us. And all his strength is with us. Christian and Johanna experienced it. Richard Wurmbrand experienced it. And you, if you are a Christian, have experienced it. Remind yourself of it. Especially when you are worried about obeying God. You know you need to obey but Oh, it too hard, what if everything goes wrong, what will people say, etc. All the excuses we use. Pull yourself together, be a man, and do what's right. And God will not let you down.
Be a man and do what is right. And you will learn endurance. And endurance develops character, and character delivers a sure hope. Because, though we are weak, he is strong.
3. In our weakness, God is strong.
6 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.
My brothers and sisters, Jesus died for us when we did not deserve it. When we were weak, ungodly. Against God. In the moment we deserved it least - he died for us, his enemies.
7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
It’s completely unthinkable. It is as if a Jew stood up and said “I will die instead of Hitler so that he can go free”. Completely inconceivable. There was nothing in us that was appealing. We were sinners in rebellion against God. And then he chooses to save us by giving his life. Hallelujah! In our weakness he is strong.
9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
I love v10. If he loved us so much when we were enemies - why do we think he will love us less when we have become his friends, his children? For we speak warmly of salvation, about justification - but when we talk about sanctification, living as a Christian – then suddenly it's all serious and hard and duty and we can lose everything. Nonsense! 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
God doesn’t save us halfway. Good luck with the rest! We have a sure hope. Because we don’t rejoice over our works v11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
Our trust is not in ourselves, but in Jesus. We live in grace. Therefore, we can rejoice in our sufferings because it makes us dependent on Jesus. And when we call on him for help we are not disappointed. In our weakness, we experience his strength, and that is a great witness to us and to everyone around us.
So next time we suffer, let's say, “Thank you God for these problems and trials, because they make me depend on you, and you will show you glory and strength to me through this and to those around me.” Amen.
One final word: this is for Christians. Those who trust in Jesus. Those who have him as Master and Lord. If that’s not you, then there is no comfort, no help in suffering. But sufferings are a great warning sign that you are not God and you need to repent and accept Christ. So if life is too difficult to bear - you're absolutely right! It's too difficult to bear. None of us can bear the burden of life because we were created to live with God. Repent and come to Jesus.
Almighty God, I am a sinner because I’ve chosen to put myself first. I have ignored you. I have lived as if you were dead.
In your mercy, Lord, forgive me. Thank you for the Cross, for there Jesus died to take away my sins. Let your Word renew me and give me new life.
I choose to set you first, Lord. From today I want to belong to You. Be my Saviour, my Lord, and my God! Amen.
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