Good morning!
Happy birthday to the church!
When we meet in person, we share our joys and concerns with each other. If you have prayer requests to share, you can add them to the comments on this post. When you are ready, you may use the prayer below to get started:
Heavenly Father, I ask you to help me to continue to grow in You so I may find joy amid my suffering. Help me to know You can use my suffering to grow me and encourage others. In Your name I pray. Amen
Today's lesson is on Romans 5:1-11.
Romans 5 depends entirely on Paul's previous discussion of the human response to the gospel found in Romans 4. Paul has argued, based on the experience of Abraham, that the true basis for a relationship with God is trust in his promises, that is, faith.
Our text today makes an important argument about why followers of Jesus both build their lives based on trust in God's promises yet still experience hardship. Those suffering might wonder whether the new era of God's mercy had dawned or not. In the past, prophets had revealed certain hardships to be God's judgment on sin. Is a Christian's suffering also God's judgment? Elsewhere, Paul boasted about his own suffering as evidence of God's work in his life. Paul would go on to be executed in Rome in AD 67 or 68. In his estimation, this surely was another opportunity to imitate Christ. The transformation to be like Christ has several parts, including a new understanding of suffering, reconciliation, growing friendship with God, and ultimately rescue from the power of sin and death. Paul explores each dimension of these implications in today's text.
Effects of Justification
Because God declares us accepted based on our faith in the Messiah, Jesus, this trust yields certain effects. Justification is not simply an accounting trick God makes. It begins a transformation of life. This includes Jews and Gentiles, with God showing no partiality to either. Because of God's work to keep the ancient promises to Abraham, everyone can have the kind of peace of which Paul speaks. In contrast to peace enforced at the point of the sword, God offers genuine reconciliation of all people to himself through Jesus' faithful obedience. Paul exhorts the Romans to have peace among themselves. Peace with God leads to (or should lead to) peace among followers of God when exhibiting the fruit of the Spirit. Access to God's grace does not derive from an accident of birth or even from doing good deeds. It comes by faith in God's gracious offer of mercy. We take confidence in God's promise, building our lives on it. Because Jesus trusted God, those who follow him may do so as well. The glory of God comes to light in the saving work of Jesus in his crucifixion and resurrection. God's glory is also evident in the life of the church and at the final judgment, when all things will become subject to God and open to his full presence (Romans 8:18) For this reason we boast in expectant hope that God has forgiven us and given us new life now and in Heaven. Paul opens the possibility that Christians might celebrate, not only while experiencing pleasant things but also in suffering. These words do not refer to mild annoyances or everyday problems but to devastating experiences. We think of tribulation that confronts the faithful who overcome it by the power of Christ's love and patience. Such hardship is an opportunity for God's grace to be revealed. Troubles and pain need not diminish our joy in Christ nor define our self-understanding. Suffering can nurture perseverance if we face the tribulation with the proper spiritual attitude. For Paul, growth occurred in the context of the mutual love between God and humankind. It does so because the suffering itself is part of God's movement in the present age to bring about the new era that commenced in Calvary and comes to full blossom at the Last Judgment. A willingness to endure hardship strengthens a person's character and makes it possible to hope in a better future. The overall idea is that of being tested to determine (or improve) one's mettle or your ability to continue despite difficulties. Character should be understood in the positive sense of a high level of integrity that has developed through difficulties. Those who have hope in God's saving work, even if they experience isolation or persecution, still have God's approval. God's love is the source of honor. The evidence of Paul's claim that suffering produces spiritual growth comes from the life of Christ himself. Christ suffered patiently and voluntarily in part because he knew what would be accomplished through his death. His followers may imitate his action, Christ did not die for righteous but the wicked. We were helpless to overcome death and evil before God's presence among humankind overcame those dangerous forces. God's mercy extends to those who need it most. Christ died for those who had done nothing for him and never could. The sustained human commitment to sin necessitated Christ's saving work. God shows love toward us by the radical nature of Jesus' death for strangers and enemies. God has overcome the power of sin and death. Since Jesus had already done the hard work of saving us from the power of sin and death, he can do much easier work of saving us from God's wrath against unrighteousness. Wrath in this context refers to the last judgment, in which the true distinctions between good and evil become unmistakable to all. In that moment of truth telling, the truth of God's mercy shown in Christ's death will win through. Those who trust God's promises to save through his Son will see their hope become a reality. Jesus' death paid the price we could never pay on our own. Rather, by entering the world of sin and death that humans experience, God in Christ overcame those great evils and ended the estrangement that separated humanity from our creator. The end of that alienation from God came about because of his actions, not ours. We can be at peace with God. We are new creatures, we wear a new name and we have a new destiny. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 The final two verses of this section build on the idea of salvation in two ways. First, Paul asserts that Christ's death has made possible our reconciliation to God. While Paul did consider humans as active participants in the process, here he emphasizes God's work rather than human responses. Paul's new thought is that humanity can be saved by Christ's life. We participate in the life he has brought about through his actions in Calvary. Those who trust God can anticipate rescue from the forces of evil. They will experience Christ's life in their own lives. Salvation has tangible results in one's attitude toward daily life. Verse 3 raised the possibility of celebrating even the worse parts of life as opportunities to experience God's mercy. But here, the rejoicing focuses on the mercy itself. Those who rejoice focuses on the mercy itself. Those who trust God celebrate the fact that God's mercy extends to all, not just to themselves. They see themselves as part of the grand story of redemption from the power of evil and share that joy with others. Most importantly, their joy comes through our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, he is the author, inspirer, and basis of their words of celebration. God's act of reconciliation involved not counting our sins against us. He refuses to let them define the relationship with us.
Conclusion
All human groups believe certain actions are respectable and others unrespectable, with many gradations in between the two poles of honor and shame. Because they followed a crucified Messiah, early Christians had to rethink their cultures' understanding of honor and shame from the ground up. This rethinking allowed them to endure the suffering that families and governments impose on them for their faith. They concluded that human life was not a contest for a limited supply of honor and that the true fount of honor was God. The God who raised Jesus from the dead would raise them too. They endured suffering, not for its own sake, but because in suffering, they could imitate Jesus Christ. That radical hope allowed them to face public disgrace or private strife with generous hearts and confident minds. It still can today. The ability to endure suffering as Christ did shows that the new era is in the process of dawning and that God's promises to protect those who trust him are reliable.
Prayer
God of our Lord Jesus Christ and of all who follow him, we thank you for not allowing us to be shamed by our failures or even our sins. You have welcomed us into your household as honored members, and for that, we are grateful. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen Thought to remember: We have peace with God because Christ paid sin's price for us.
Question for discussion
Benediction
Next week's lesson will be on Romans 10:1-17.
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