Romans 5:1-2
It is your first day of work. You applied for a job in a large company and they accepted you. You are excited to be part of this grand international company. You put on a suit and tie (or dress) and head off to work with some nervousness. What will this new job be like? Will your colleagues at work be pleasant to work with? And then you come to the door and walk inside. The security guard checks your name on a list and instructs you to take the elevator to the 17th floor where your orientation to the company will begin. As you get off the elevator a sign directs you to a room where there are a hundred others waiting for the orientation to begin. You get some tea or coffee and chat until the director of personnel walks in and asks for everyone to take a seat.
She welcomes you to the company and then says, “Let’s take a look at our benefits package.” And she proceeds to tell you about medical care and counseling available, vacations and holidays, bonuses and savings programs. Since you are now part of the company, there are a number of benefits you can take advantage of.
Paul, in his letter to the church at Rome, has just finished talking about how it is we enter the kingdom of God. Because Jesus has redeemed us with his blood, we are justified in the eyes of God. We have been adopted into his family and in chapter 5, Paul begins to tell us about the benefits that come to us because we are in the family of God.
I started out wanting to preach from Romans 5:1-11 for this Sunday and next. After doing a bit of study, That was reduced to just verses 1-8 and finally just the first five verses. When the content is as rich as it is in Romans, it is hard to rush through. So this week we will look at three of the benefits that come to the justified and then next week, we will look at a fourth benefit.
The first benefit in the package that is ours because we are justified by faith alone is that we have peace with God.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
To be at peace with God indicates that at one point we were in conflict with God. Isaiah wrote in 57:21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.” and this makes sense because it is not until we are redeemed by the blood of Christ and God sees us as holy, it is not until we are justified that we are at peace with God.
Augustine was a Berber from what is today Algeria. He lived during the last half of the fourth century and was and has continued to be one of the most influential Christians in church history. His spiritual autobiography, Confessions, contains a theme of restlessness. In his opening chapter he wrote (talking to God):
You arouse [man] to take joy in praising you, for you have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.
This restlessness is the opposite of peace and person after person in talking about their experience of Christ will talk about coming to an experience of rest when they submitted to God.
Stuart Briscoe in his book on the fruit of the Spirit tells the story of a young man named Trevor. Trevor came to a meeting and listened to everything that was said. At the end he came up to Briscoe and asked if he would help him commit his life to Christ. He had never before been in a church and had never heard a presentation of the Gospel of Christ but he seemed to understand what Briscoe had talked about and so they prayed together.
Later that night Trevor went as ususal to the local pub, ordered his regular pint and sat in his normal seat at the bar. One of his friends noticed that Trevor was more quiet than usual and asked him, “What’s wrong, Trev?” “Nothing’s wrong,” he replied. “In fact, come to think of it, for the first time in my life everything’s right. Up till now I’ve lived my life holding my breath. Now I feel I can let it all out and start to breathe.”
That is an experience of the peace of God. The peace of God is a sense of well being that comes from knowing everything is under control.
David wrote about this experience of peace in Psalm 131
I have stilled and quieted my soul;
like a weaned child with its mother,
like a weaned child is my soul within me.
Paul wrote of this experience in his letter to the Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
It is clear to me that David and Paul wrote about what they personally had experienced because what they wrote describes so well my own experience.
I remember once when I was in seminary and I was under a lot of pressure. I had a mountain of exams and papers in front of me. I don’t remember exactly the circumstances, but there were some relational struggles. I was feeling desperate. What I most wanted to do was to put a pair of jeans in a backpack and head out west somewhere, leaving no address and not telling anyone where I was going.
I sat down in a comfortable chair, tucking my arms and legs close to me, pulled a blanket over my head and began to pray. I poured out to God all my fears and struggles and I felt the burden lifted off my shoulders. It was not just an emotional release. I experienced a physical release of the pressure surrounding me. I experienced once again the peace of God which passes all understanding.
This is the benefit that comes to us because we have accepted God’s gift of salvation and have been justified. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. From time to time we lose this peace and have to come back to the arms of Jesus to know everything is OK, God is in control. The image of being held in the arms of Jesus and feeling safe because he is in control of all the circumstances around me is a very powerful and comforting one for me. Peace with God is one of the benefits of the justified.
The second benefit in the package that is ours because we are justified by faith alone is that we stand in grace.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
Grace is receiving what we do not deserve, but Paul is not talking here about any specific act. He refers to the whole package, the whole work of God from which we benefit. And he says two things about this grace. First he points out that we have gained access by faith into grace.
We have talked about this over the past several weeks but I thought it might be helpful to hear about this experience from the words of Karl Barth, printed for you in the bulletin.
Into the depth of our predicament the word is spoken from on high: By grace you have been saved! To be saved does not just mean to be a little encouraged, a little comforted, a little relieved. It means to be pulled out like a log from a burning fire. You have been saved! We are not told: you may be saved sometimes, or a little bit. No, you have been saved, totally and for all times. You? Yes, we! Not just any other people, more pious and better than we are, no, we, each one of us.
Karl Barth
While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We did not and do not deserve this payment of Christ’s blood for our sins but we have received it and for this we are grateful because we are brought into the family of God and this experience of grace.
We have gained access by faith into grace and we stand in this grace.
Because of the verb tenses used, standing in grace has a sense of solidity, security and permanence to it. We stand where we can not easily be moved.
One of the images I like to use for the Christian life is floating downstream in a river. There are times when everything is peaceful and serene with beautiful views of trees and birds and sky and clouds but then we come to a set of rapids and we are banged up against rocks by the swift, boiling current. We are cut and bruised and fear that we will drown and then we cry out to God and he lifts us up and sets us on a rock.
This rock is large enough and high enough that it is dry on top and although the rushing water can still be seen all around, it is no longer a threat because we stand on a solid rock.
We stand in grace and it is a solid platform but it is also a secure platform.
Have you ever been to a party or some function where you did not really feel you belonged? I once went to a dinner in New York City where everyone was dressed in tuxes and black dresses. This was one of Annie’s functions as part of her work at Princeton University Press. I flew in from a business trip out of town and came there to meet her. I was invited in to sit at her table, at the front of the room next to the speaker. All the men were wearing a white shirt with black tie and I had a blue shirt with a red tie.
I walked in with confidence and sat down but at any moment, someone could have come along and told me to leave. This was not my dinner. I did not really belong. There was no such thought in any of the others in the room who had received an invitation, but I was a last minute addition, inappropriately dressed.
A king has many advisors and many who hang around the throne trying to get this favor or that. The king may pay attention to one person for a time and then get tired and dismiss him or her. When a man approaches the king, he is addressed as His Majesty and he looks to see if the king will allow him to speak before approaching him.
But there is one person who will not need to ask to see the king. The crown prince, Hassan, will be able to run up to Mohammed VI, jump into his arms and call him daddy. Hassan will not be replaced depending on the political will of the king. He is secure and has intimacy with the king, his father.
We have been brought into the family of God and are his adopted sons and daughters and we do not need to address God formally. We are invited to call him Abba, Father and jump into his arms and experience his peace.
And so the writer of Hebrews wrote in 4:16
Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We stand in grace and our standing is solid, secure and it is permanent.
Jesus taught in John’s Gospel (John 10)
My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
We are protected by Jesus. We have been lifted up onto a rock that is solid and secure and we will not be pushed off back into the raging rapids. We stand on a rock that is solid, secure and permanent and so Paul wrote in Romans 8
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because we are justified by the blood of Jesus, we have peace with God, we stand in grace that is solid, secure and permanent and thirdly, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Our hope is a confident hope. It is not like saying, “I hope it doesn’t rain for our picnic on Saturday.” Our hope is a joyful and confident expectation which rests on the promises of God.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter, James and John saw Jesus revealed in his heavenly glory along with Moses and Elijah. They were privileged among the twelve closest disciples of Jesus to see this. Of all the thousands who followed Jesus and heard him teach and saw him perform miracles, it was only Peter, James and John who saw Jesus in his heavenly glory.
But they saw from the outside looking in. They saw like a hungry beggar looks in through the window of a fine restaurant as people are being served an elegant seven course meal. They saw but were not able to participate.
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God which means we will see as Peter, James and John saw.
I Corinthians 13:12
Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
We will see as Peter, James and John saw but we will also be seen as Jesus, Moses and Elijah were seen. We also will be transformed into our heavenly glory. We will be fully known.
In I Corinthians, Paul answers the question, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” and his answer is that there are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. And then he goes on to say:
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. We will see Jesus as Peter, James and John saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. We ourselves will be revealed in the heavenly glory of our heavenly bodies and creation itself will be revealed in its heavenly glory.
Paul wrote in Romans 8
creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
CS Lewis paints this picture so well in the last of his seven books in the Chronicles of Narnia. In this book, The Last Battle, there is a picture of heaven in which the children and other characters of the books race into their new world, running up waterfalls and going deeper and deeper into what looks like Narnia but they discover it becomes more and more what Narnia was supposed to be as they run further and further into it.
We will see Jesus and the saints of history in their heavenly glory. We ourselves will be transformed into heavenly glory and the world will be recreated into what it was originally intended to be and we will see beauty such as we have never been able to imagine.
This is part of the benefit package that comes to us because we have been justified by faith alone. We will look next week at one more benefit that is found in verses 3-5, but for this week, dwell on these first three benefits. We have peace with God. We stand in grace. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
These are our benefits because we are in the family of God, but we need to remind ourselves about these truths because forces of evil will always try to persuade us that they are not true.
Let me return to the circle of faith we talked about last week.
Fact: We have peace with God.
Antifact: I am worried. I am anxious. I have more to do than I can possibly get done. My business is facing bankruptcy. I don’t have enough money to pay my bills. My girlfriend is breaking up with me. I’m flunking math. My daughter is seriously sick. My parents can’t take care of themselves anymore and I don’t know how to convince them to go to an assisted care facility.
Tenacity: Sit down in a quiet place and pray. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Picture yourself as a weaned child in its mother’s arms. Feel the arms of Jesus around you as you release the worries and concerns that are attacking you.
Triumph: And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Fact: We stand in grace and our standing is solid, secure and permanent.
Antifact: How can God love me when I continue to sin? How can God accept me when I disappoint him over and over and over again? If God is going to love me, I must work hard for his kingdom. If God is going to keep loving me, I must read my Bible and pray. If God is going to accept me into his kingdom, I have to be a good Christian. I have to earn God’s favor.
Tenacity: Resist the devil and he will flee. Hold on to the promises of God. While you were still a sinner, Christ died for you. There is nothing you can do to repay God for what he has done. There is nothing you can do to deserve what God has done for you. Thank God for the grace in which you stand.
Triumph: Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Fact: We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Antifact: Sometimes I doubt that there is a God at all. Maybe it is true that we are the result of chance. I pray and God is silent. Maybe he is not there at all. How can I be encouraged by hoping for something that I’m not sure is true?
Tenacity: Remember your experience with God. Remember once again the ways in which God has helped you. Think through what it is you believe. Take time and realize how secure the rock is on which you have been set. Pray and ask God for his help as you struggle with doubt.
Triumph: God will renew in you the hope of the glory you will experience.
We live in a world that is committed to destroy what it is we believe and hope for. Resist and daily remind yourself of what is true.
Because you have been justified by faith alone, you have peace with God; you stand in grace and you rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
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Benediction
Romans 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
