Edified Through Enduring - Romans 5:1-11
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
Question, just totally random. Any marathon runners in here? Anyone run a marathon? in life. No, no, it's gonna be like current. You're gonna be like, that was a former self. No, no. Alright, cool. So I'm just part of the gang here then. I have never run a marathon. Never. Probably will never do that. But I get these targeted ads on my social media for like the at-home marathon. Have you guys heard of those? We're like at your own pace. Like it's like from couch to marathon. You can like run and it's like whatever distance you cover in one day, that's fine. But when you get to that marathon Distance you they will send you a medal to be like you did a marathon your own marathon, but you did one and I think it's kind of cool especially the targeted as I get it's like okay I know I've only been here since September, but you guys learned like I'm a kind of a nerd So I get targeted ads for Lord of the Rings marathons We're like you can journey to Mount Doom as you run so it's like oh the distance you covered you went from the Shire to This mountain and then from this mountain to the file. I know okay, I know and And is it bad that I'm really tempted by that? Like, I love that. And I'm like, I kind of want all the medals. But the whole, like that whole thing intrigues me because I love the idea of getting something that you have to earn that you just can't buy. So if you see, if I saw someone with that medal, I'd be like, I know exactly what they did. They ran that marathon and therefore they have this thing. And I just, I love that part of it 'cause there's a certain reverence that I can give. Like, man, that person worked hard for that thing. Or a pride of like, man, I did something that I did a marathon over a year. Like I just ran just a little bit every day. But I love the idea of gaining something that you have to endure, some kind of challenge or hardship. Similar to why I love the show Survivor. Any Survivor? I know one Survivor fan. I know Survivor was like 20 years ago and everyone's like, I have not watched that show in so long. But my wife and I only got introduced to it like five years ago. So we've binged everything and we love, we're still watching it today. There's a season ongoing. I'm not sponsored, but Jeff Probst, if you want to sponsor Spring Valley. So I love the idea of the premise, basically, is 29, or I don't know how many people, I forget how many people, they're dropped off in an island, they have to endure all the elements, right? They have only the clothes on their back, they get very little food, if any, and they just, whatever storms come, then you have to endure all that. And there's physical obstacle courses. And then on top of that, there's a social aspect where you might get voted off the island, Your peers might not like you, and then you're gone. So the sole survivor at the end of 29 days, I think 29 days, which is a long time, gets a million dollars. Pretty awesome, but you have to endure so much. You have to go through that challenge. And so when someone, if I were to ever meet like, hey, I was a winner of Survivor, I would know like you endured a lot. Like you went through a ton, and yes, you got a million dollars, but like also like that's a pretty cool thing that you were the last survivor of that season.
So, again, this idea of earning something that cannot be gained in any other way, I just think is really cool. And today, in our chapter in Romans, Paul is talking about something like that in the Christian faith. Something that has to be earned, that you have to endure. So just to recap, I know we were taking a break for Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday. We're diving back into Romans today. And so, so far, we've covered chapters 1 through 4, and Paul has been teaching Christianity 101. We've learned things about sin, God's attitude towards sin, atonement, justification, grace. And right now, just start clapping. Give yourselves a hand. You just graduated Christianity 101, 1 through 4. Yeah, good job, people. Good job. That's no small thing. Those are a lot of things that we covered. And today in chapter 5 we are beginning Christianity 201. So you're still in school, you're still learning, there's more to know. Paul's letter is divided into these sections and they're usually broken up by the word "therefore" and I know every pastor and theologian loves to say, and I will say it now, that whenever you see a "therefore" in Bible you gotta ask, "Why is the 'therefore'... What is the 'therefore' there for?" And so, just a good mental note when you're studying the Bible to maybe look back and say, "Alright, this is hinging upon everything that came before it, and what is happening now is based on that previous section." So we covered one through four, talking about sin, talking about how everyone is sinful, and how God, his attitude towards it, and he can't stand it, but he did something about it. He sent his Son, and we have salvation in Christ. And now Paul is going to build a little bit more on that foundational premise in Romans 5. So let me go ahead, if you could turn in your Bibles, I'm going to read Romans 5. We're going to cover verses 1 through 11. Follow along as I read aloud. Paul writes, "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. we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance. Perseverance character, and character hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person. Though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die, but God demonstrates his own love for us in this. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him? For if, while we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life? Not only is this so but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have now received reconciliation.
Let me pray really quick. God thank you for your word. Thank you for the role that it plays in our lives of teaching us, encouraging us, edifying us and I pray that today through your word God that we would experience just that. That we'd be drawn closer to you. That we would be encouraged. That we would realize the hope that we have that is found only in you. Be with us this morning. We pray this in your son's name. Amen.
So, I kind of want to break up this section in two sections, Romans 1 through 5 and then the second half. And so in this first section, Paul talks about the Christian life and what can be gained only by being a believer when enduring hardship. Remember the first two verses, Paul talks about a hope and a peace that we have in Christ. And it's a hope and peace that we can boasting, not a selfish boast of, "Hey, other people, look what I did," but it's a boast in what Jesus has done in our lives. When we share, when we witness, we're not boasting about us, we're boasting about the work that Jesus did in our lives to transform us. So Paul is talking about that, "Hey, we can boast in what Christ has done." And the hope and peace that we have is not just for the good times, right? As Christians, some people think that the Christian life is happy, happy all the time. like happy you have God that means you're happy and I think most of us in this room know that that's not true we are not happy all the time just because we have Jesus doesn't mean that things in our life aren't challenging aren't difficult aren't hard and so to make sure that people don't think that the Christian life is happy happy all the time Paul says next in verse 3 but we also glory in our suffering now what does Paul mean by glory in our suffering is he some kind of masochist who just loves like pain like all the pain, like bring it on, I love it. No, he's not. But like on that show Survivor or the person who runs the marathon, Paul knows that whoever endures suffering has the opportunity to grow in a way that is only experienced in suffering. Paul was speaking to the church in Rome who dealt with persecution. They lived in the city where the Colosseum was, where Christians were put in there pitted against other animals or warriors to the death. So he knows full well when writing about glorying and suffering what his audience is going to think of about suffering. J.D. Greer, a pastor, says, "How well we understand the gospel is demonstrated by the attitude you have in suffering. What you truly believe comes to the surface when put under pressure. It's in those moments that we see what's inside our hearts, or if someone else is suffering, what's inside their hearts. They can say all the right stuff, they can be doing a lot of the right things, and have excitement and happiness and an attitude that is positive in life, but when the going gets tough, what's inside of them? when their wife gets cancer, when the husband loses his job, when their child passes away, when someone close to them or in their life, maybe even a pastor or a mentor, has been accused of some kind of immorality, something that will rock their faith, what happens in that moment? When life gets flipped upside down, what do you believe then? What attitude do you have in the midst of suffering?
And Paul is saying, for Christians, you can still have joy. Again, joy is different than happiness. Happiness is this feeling that is based on expectations and circumstances. I wanted this to happen and it happened in that way. I'm happy. Smile on my face. Or this surpassed my expectations in this circumstance. I am now feeling the emotion of happiness. That's all good and fine. Joy is different than that. is founded in God and it's not just a smile, it means a peace and understanding that God is at work in whatever is going on around us. There's a joy and a peace and contentment that comes in knowing that God is at work in the midst of suffering. This is what Paul is talking about in being able to glory in our suffering. He continues into this process of being formed into godly men and women in this process of developing character. So he goes through these steps. He says, "Suffering, we endure suffering, which leads to perseverance. And perseverance leads to character, and character leads to hope." I love this process. This is so good. Maybe as you're looking at this screen, you're seeing, like, I have experienced that. I know, I recognize that process firsthand. So we've talked about suffering, and when enduring suffering, this builds perseverance. Having to go through something difficult over time, over a season of life or over a period of time, perseverance is talking about enduring something even when we aren't getting anything out of it in the world standards for ourselves. So right now, for instance, I have a bad back right now, a lot of pain, and I'm not getting anything by enduring this suffering. I'm just hoping to get better. There's nothing that I'm going to have in my hands at the end of having a good back. That's the kind of perseverance that we're talking about. Not like the marathon or survivor where you do get something out of it. But the Bible is full of stories of people having to persevere and probably none better than the story of Job. Job is one who had everything taken away from him. His riches, his family, his own health. And people think that the Christian life is all about being happy. And if you're not happy in life, then it means that you're probably doing something wrong. So a lot of Christians, and even the people around him at the time, would say to Job, "Hey, you just gotta pray more. You gotta get right with God. Something's off in your life, because look at your life right now. It's terrible. You just need to be a better believer." But Job was being faithful, and he had to persevere. The trials in our lives are tests in many ways. Can you keep going when nothing is working out? Can you believe that God is good even when you don't feel it?
There's a certain faith that a person can have when you follow God in just the day-to-day life. You follow God's word, you follow what he wants of you, and he blesses you. You just experience... This is the faith that most of us live in most of the time, and it makes sense, right? We do what God wants, and God is pleased and blesses us. Think of Job before everything bad happened. Job was a very blessed man. He had a great family, great wealth, and great health. He just had everything. It was great. He followed God, and God blessed him. There's also a faith that is found in desperation. In times of extremes, when we're at the end of ourselves, there's a faith that develops when we cry out to God, hoping and trusting that God will hear us. Think of Jesus in the garden that night before going to the cross. Or think of Job when losing his children, losing his wife, losing his own health, and the crying out to God, there's a faith that is being developed in that circumstance. Or think of something in your own life. At a time when you were crying out, everything around you was bleak. And you're just praying to God. You can't even put into words, but you know my heart right now. I'm at my end. And then there's a third kind of faith that comes from being fully content with just God. About understanding, sorry, about finding one's sufficiency in God. And this is the faith that Paul is talking about here in Romans. And it only comes having gone through trials and hardships. No matter what is around me, I know that I am okay because of God, and God in me through the Holy Spirit. Everything I have, I'm in an okay place. Everything could be falling down around me, my own life could be falling apart, but my sufficiency is found in God. Corrie ten Boom once said, "I never knew God was all that I needed until God was all that I had." In our suffering and in our trials and our hardships, and I know I look out on you people, I know that you have gone through those things or are still going through something, God is sufficient in every moment of every day in the midst of whatever you're going through. Will you remain faithful to God and find that God is all that you need? And that's a decision that has to be made over and over again, right? You wake up one day and you're like, "God, I'm with you." And the next day could be a whole other struggle, and you have to make that decision all over again. "Today, God, you are everything that I need." So that's perseverance.
And then comes character. One of the reasons why I love a small church community is that it has a multi-generational aspect, right? We have people from all ages. We have the little ones who run around and make noise and are just awesome and great and don't know what's going on. And we have people who are seasoned in life, who have gone through so many stages of life, and we're all here together. I grew up in a smaller church similar to this. Got the chance to work in it. And I remember in high school, when my faith really became my own, starting to realize the importance of a multi-generational church. And I developed this appreciation for, especially the elderly at the church. A group of people that as a high schooler I didn't interact with much, but they were there every Sunday, and they would come up and ask how life was doing. I was like, "Oh great, I don't know you much about your life, but I'm doing good, thank you." Elderly couples, widows, widowers, and I can still name them, but like they're imprinted on my heart now. I think of these couples like John and Faye Williams, George and Carol Dill, widowers like Betty Darflin and Peggy Nolan and Navarre race and all these people who I went to church with I did life with for so many years and I saw in them how they endured life in so many seasons whether it was good or the bad I saw them endure failing health I saw them endure their spouses passed away I saw them endure their own family start to crumble their kid who had grown up in the church no longer walking with God and how they had to wrestle with that I saw them follow God through everything that they went through. They had character. And as a high schooler, until the day that the church closed a couple years ago, or until they passed away to be with God, they taught me the importance of prayer. They taught me how important it is to remain with God in every situation. They taught me how to love someone, no matter what that person is like, or how they show up on a Sunday. They were always the first ones to say hi, to say, "Hey, God loves you." "Hey, you're welcome here." I was surrounded by people of the richest character who had endured and persevered through so much. And that's why I have come to love this church. Because you guys, I look out and I'm like, this is the same feeling that I got at East Parkway. I get here of people who are in all different stages of life and some who are Walked many more stages than I have and have that faith, have that character. That's why it's so important for us to be together, to show up for each other, to participate and belong in this community. Sundays are important, sermons are important, worship is important. But just as important is going to a Bible study, going to the prayer group, because that's where we start to share life. I was talking with Bob this week and he was saying that, you know, at one point in his life sermons were like that was that's what Sunday was all about. But now he's come to a point where it's the fellowship. It's the before and after service that that's what he values most right now. And that's what we should all value is the time together. Because it's when we share with what's going on that I can learn from you. We share with you, you can learn from each other like, man, I haven't gone through that. I haven't gone through that situation yet, but I see how you are following God and I want to do that in life, too. We don't get that if we just show up on a Sunday and say hi to each other and listen to the sermon. This is where younger families, younger adults, even teenagers, think of the teenagers we have here at this church, they're gonna see you walk through your stages of life, not just on a Sunday, but in every part of life, and they're gonna learn. It's gonna soak into them. And they're not going to necessarily, they can't pinpoint it now, but I bet later on in life, they're going to be like, "Man, I did learn the importance of prayer. I did learn from these people how to follow God when life gets hard." There is a character that can only be learned by going through life's hardships. And for some of us in this room, you've gone through some of those hardships you have that character it's important to pass that on to exemplify that for those who haven't yet it's important to be looking at other people and say man they do have character they the way they live their life the way they are faithful to God no matter what I want that this character isn't something that is just gained upon believing in Jesus that moment of salvation you don't automatically get this character it comes through enduring hardship persevering and as you walk through with Jesus through all of it you you build this character.
And this character leads to hope. This hope brings us back to Christ, because it's from Christ, it's sustained by Christ in our lives. In the midst of our suffering, we have hope that comes from Jesus, the one who endured all things, and was raised from the dead, who was crucified on the cross, and is living now. There is no greater hope than is found in Jesus, and He's the one that gives us hope. I mean, it was just Easter, right? And on the church calendar, we're still celebrating the resurrection of Jesus. The hope that Paul is talking about is a hope that is based on the resurrection. So hope that reminds us that God is still at work in this world, and He's working to redeem. He's working to make everything broken new and make it whole again. And part of that work is what happens inside of us. We are broken and we need to be made new and to be made whole. And that is what Jesus is doing. Theologian D.A. Carson said once, "I'm not suffering from anything a good resurrection can't fix." I mean, doesn't that just encapsulate the hope that we have in Christ? Whatever we endure, whatever is going on, we always have a hope. Because we know that we get, for those who believe, we will be in heaven with God in the end. The worst things that we could face were eternal punishment for our sin and a physical death that led to that eternal punishment. And Jesus redeemed both of those things. Our physical death now leads to eternal glory in heaven with God. And through his ascension, we too, That means that we will be ascended into heaven with God. So what does this hope look like? It's a hope that means that no matter what you go through, you can know that Jesus is present and is at work. In whatever situation is going on in your life, when you have that character within you that is only gained through enduring difficulties with God, then you can have a hope that whatever whatever you go through, you will make it through, and you will be with God. It's a hope that has an eternal perspective. You can make it through the current situation you're going through, and you can make it through the next, and the next, and the next, 'cause life is full of difficult situations, as we know, right? They don't stop. We can have hope, and a hope that grows as each one passes, that we are getting closer and closer to God.
All right, our second section is Romans 5, 6 through 11, and Paul is starting to put some pieces together and taking us further into Christianity 201, right? We're building on top of that layer. He says in verse 6, "When we were still powerless," Paul is wanting to make the connection in our minds about our former selves and our new reality, that we are undergoing a transformation in our lives. We were weak, we were powerless, we were helpless. But now our reality is that we have been reconciled to God through Christ. Christ sent his Holy Spirit to dwell in us as our helper, so we are now empowered by God, and Jesus is at work in us. We have a purpose, we have things to do, there's purpose to our lives. Paul continues, "We were God's enemies, "and yet Jesus still died for us." I want to pause here because this is just mind-blowing. We were God's enemies, and yet Jesus still died for us. J.D. Greer says this example, and it's uncomfortable to say, but it's so true. He says, "That would be like me laying down my life "for a terrorist who just murdered my child, "me sacrificing my life so they could go back "to their family and their kid." That does not make any sense. Paul says in verse seven through eight, "Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person, someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Who would do anything like that? No one on earth, but God did. And not just for the Jews who demanded His crucifixion at that time, all those years ago, but also for us as sinners, because it was our sin that held them there on that cross. Jesus died for His enemies, and we were once His enemies. He didn't wait for us to switch teams, to switch sides, to be like, "All right, now that you're good, now I'll do it for you. Now I'll make this sacrifice." Verse 10 says, "For if, while we were God's enemies, "we were reconciled to him through the death of his son, "how much more, having been reconciled, "shall we be saved through his life?" And saved by his life. If the blood of his death secured our forgiveness, now that we're on his side, how much more will he do in and through us in our lives? Again, J.D. Greer says that the fact that he lives and now stands as our advocate besides God's throne guarantees that he will watch over me and use every trial in my life to produce good in me and use everything the enemy intends for evil for good. What is more hopeful than knowing that no matter what happens in your life, no matter what, man, challenges or even attacks by the enemy, no matter what happens, Jesus is gonna use for good. Later in Romans, Paul will write, 828, he says, "And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love them." Like in the life of Job or in Jesus' life and death, through the darkest times, God is at work in our hearts, in our souls, in our minds, working on us, doing good, when we walk faithfully with him through every trial. Paul is telling us, guys, we know how it ends. You don't have to wonder anymore. Going through the trial, will I make it? Is everything going to be okay? The answer is yes. God's given you the answer. I'm going to use everything that happens to you. If you stay faithful to me, I will use it for your good. Oh, work in you, I'll transform you, I will make you more like Christ. I will make you more whole. I will continue to do that sanctifying work in you.
We know that God is working all things for our good. Everything that gets thrown our way from the good and the bad, the painful stuff of life, the hurts and the limitations we face, we know that God is working through all of it. And the plans of the enemy will not prevail. We know the ending. Yes, amen. Praise God. Because of Christ, we can talk about hope today. And that's where I want to end. For those who have not yet put your faith in Jesus, I want to say this. You are going through life. You are going through the same difficulties and challenges and hardship, pain and hurt. But your hope is based on something in this world, something finite. Whether it's your own strength, your own abilities, your own situation. But what happens when that strength fails? When you're outside of your limitations? When you don't have control of the situation? What happens then? Where is your hope then? I want to say to you that you can have hope. You can have a hope that comes from the God of the universe, the King of Kings, the Savior, our Messiah, the one who defeated sin and death. He died for your sins. You can have a hope that comes from His resurrection. is available to you. You can have a hope that isn't dependent on how finite you are, but is based on how infinite God is. And for those who do believe today, live into that hope that you have in Christ. No matter what you're going through, and you may be going through a lot, and you're allowed to feel all the emotions, God doesn't say you have to be happy, The Bible is full of people venting to God. "God, I'm feeling this frustration. God, this is my emotion right now." There's frustration, anger, pain, desperation. You're allowed to cry out to God. But remember, through all that, at the end of that venting, the hope that you have in Him. The hope that you can carry through all of life's toughest circumstances. You have a hope that comes from a living God Who cares enough and has the power and intentionality to use everything that is going on for your good. To shape you, to form you, to develop you into a more Christ-like person. It's part of the redeeming work that Christ is doing in this world now, is in you. So be edified through your enduring of all things. And leave this morning with the hope that comes from Christ alone.
You guys pray with me? God, we give you all the praise. We give you all the glory. There are people in this room right now who are maybe in a good place in life. And we praise you for that. We praise you that they are enjoying life and they are feeling your blessings. And God, we know it's a spectrum because we know there are people in this room who are going through the hardest thing they've ever gone through. and you are still present with them, and you are still working in them, and we praise you for that. God, I pray that you would instill in us that joy, the joy in the midst of suffering, that only comes from you. God, give us that in abundance. And I pray that as we go through these things, as we remain faithful to you, that you would build in us that character, a character that is recognizable to other people, that encourages other people, that is its own form of witnessing. And God, as we have that character, may we recognize the hope. Each day, each moment of that hardship, may we recognize the hope that we have in you. God, continue to form us. Work all things for our good and ultimately for your glory. We love you, Jesus, with everything we have. We give our lives to you. We pray this in your name. Amen. Thank you so much for being here this morning. We have some, in the back of your announcements, we have some of those opportunities to be a church. I just want to say from a personal standpoint, I just want to do church with you. I want to be in community with you for each other and so that we can learn from each other. We can grow closer to God and closer to each other. So Seriously consider those opportunities those midweek things or the Sunday morning. I want to Want to have that feeling here with you guys. So thank you again, and we'll see you guys next week.