One Thing Leads to Another / Based on Romans 5:1-5 / Delivered on June 16, 2019 to UMC-Hudson

One Thing Leads to Another / Based on Romans 5:1-5 / Delivered on June 16, 2019 to UMC-Hudson
Hymns: His Eye is on the Sparrow, Christ the Lord is Risen Today (vs 2,4,6), Standing on the Promises
Solo:  “Be Still My Soul” written by Russ and Tori Taff

Romans 5:1-5 (Contemporary English Version)
5:1 Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness combined with our faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
5:2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.
5:3 But not only that!  We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance,
5:4 endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
5:5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Good morning.  My name is Darci Strutt McQuiston.  I am a Lay Servant of this church and am standing in for Rev Dawn who is attending annual conference.  It is my honor to fill the pulpit today.  This Sunday is designated as Trinity Sunday and Peace with Justice Sunday from our United Methodist calendar, and also Father’s Day.  All that plus some good scripture! 

Children’s Sermon: 
Have any of you broken a bone?  Can you imagine what that would be like?  You wouldn’t be able to play as fully as your other friends.  School work would be harder to do.  It might hurt or at least the cast might itch.  A broken bone is not fun.  But, does it mean your parents don’t love you?  Of course not!  If you go through the broken arm and keep a good attitude with your friends and complete all your schoolwork, even though you have to work harder, how would you feel about yourself?  I’m betting you’d feel like you accomplished something and maybe feel a little proud.  You’d have every right to feel that way because you grew more confident in yourself during that hard time.  I’m betting your parents helped you out a lot during the hard time, so you also became more confident in their love.  Breaking a bone isn’t a good thing, but can you see how something good can come out of it? 

Main Message:
I’m not going to dive deep into the meaning of the Trinity on this Trinity Sunday.  God loves us.  Jesus told us that.  The Holy Spirit reminds us of all Jesus shared.  How that translates into three in one is a mystery of God.  I listened to a podcast that said one title for a pastor is “Keeper of the mysteries of God.”  That made me smile.  You’ll see the Spirit’s work in the scripture I’m using, but I’ll point you toward an Elder to explain the mysterious parts.

I’ve woven Peace with Justice into my message because it fit into my thoughts.  I’m glad it fell on this Sunday.

This scripture was a letter written to the Christians in Rome.  I’m first going to explore what was going on in their world and ponder what it would have meant to them.  After that I’m going to explore how it can apply to our lives.  There’s a lot to cover so here we go!

At first glance this passage of scripture can feel like a downer.  It seems to be telling us when faced with problems we’re supposed to grin and bear it.  Or even worse, see suffering as a positive thing! 

When I was asked to take the pulpit for this Sunday and saw this as one of the lectionary scriptures it felt like God was being mischievous and possibility a little insensitive given my life circumstances.  I’ve had a period of “troubles” recently and finding the positives takes work.  God must have known this scripture would be good for me.  After study I found this is a strong passage of hope.  It is a passage I needed and just maybe you do too.

In the Old Testament the people believed when bad things happened it was a sign that God was angry with you.  To the people in the pre-Christ world, suffering was caused by sin.  If you know the story of Job, this is why his three friends kept asking him what he had done against God to cause his present suffering.  This is also why the people asked Jesus whose sin caused a child’s blindness, the child’s or his parent’s sin.  Job had not sinned, and Jesus said the child’s blindness was not caused by sin either, but this was the common belief.

The church at Rome was under persecution.  They were suffering greatly.  The Greek word translated as “problems” in our text can also be translated as “suffering” or “persecution”.  The political powers above them wanted that suffering to cause them shame.  They knew the Jewish people associated suffering with sinfulness.

The Roman church was being persecuted because of their belief in Jesus Christ.  The political powers felt their faith was a threat that needed to be pushed down because it was so well known.

Paul’s greeting tells us this.
Romans 1:8 First of all, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because the news about your faithfulness is being spread throughout the whole world.

They are not to suffer in a “why me” state of mind.  Paul encourages them to let that persecution be faced with endurance.  The word translated as “endurance” can also be translated as “perseverance” which to me is a more active verb.  They are persevering in their faith despite their difficulties. 

Holding on to faith in the middle of troubles creates a stronger person.  It adds to their character.  Continuing to persevere and survive, despite suffering, also leads to hope.  The longer you survive the more confidence you have in your future.  Paul was telling them God was with them in their suffering and His love was pouring out to them.

Paul’s opening words of this chapter gave them hope because of their faith. 

5:1 Therefore, since we have been made righteous through his faithfulness combined with our faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
5:2 We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand through him, and we boast in the hope of God’s glory.

The NIV of the Bible uses the word “justified” instead of the phrase “made righteous”.  Justified can also mean alignment.  Think about a printed text on the page.  When you have all the letters in a row along an edge, we call that text justified to the right or left or maybe even both sides.  Sin caused us to go every which way.  Jesus Christ made us aligned to God once more. 

Jesus brought peace with God, not just a cease-fire.  Jesus fought the fight and was victorious.  I chose verses from the Easter hymn ‘Christ the Lord is Risen Today’ to try and hit this home.  This isn’t a temporary condition.  It is ours for all eternity.  We can claim that hope of future glory by standing in the grace Jesus paid his life to bring us.

5:5 This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

There is no shame in their suffering.  Their current problems were not caused by sin.  The suffering of the church at Rome was caused by faithfulness.  That is why they could boast.  The Greek word translated “boast” can also be translated as “glory”, “exult”, or even “we rejoice”.  They could rejoice that their faith was so evident to the powers in Rome that they were persecuted to knock it down.

That’s the scripture as focused on the church at Rome.  However, this letter was included in our Bible because the words of Paul weren’t only applicable to those Roman Christians but also to us.    

The first verse of our reading begins with the word “Therefore.”  That told me there was something before this passage that the first verses were based on.  That made me look at the chapters leading up to this one.  Chapter 4 was filled with a discussion of Abraham being called righteous based on his faith instead of his works or obedience to the law.  The law didn’t exist yet!  If you have your Bible open flip back a chapter.  I’m grabbing verse 3 and then verses 20-25.

Romans
4:3 What does the scripture say?  Abraham had faith in God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.
4:20 He didn’t hesitate with a lack of faith in God’s promise, but he grew strong in faith and gave glory to God.
4:21 He was fully convinced that God was able to do what he promised.
4:22 Therefore, it was credited to him as righteousness.
4:23 But the scripture that says it was credited to him wasn’t written only for Abraham’s sake.
4:24 It was written also for our sake, because it is going to be credited to us too.  It will be credited to those of us who have faith in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
4:25 He was handed over because of our mistakes, and he was raised to meet the requirements of righteousness for us.

That is the information he gave before the “Therefore.”  Trusting God’s promises and having faith in Jesus sacrifice means we can claim that peace Jesus won for us, and the grace that continues to pour into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  It is by faith.

Then we come to the center of this passage; the part about trouble, or suffering, or persecution.  We know from the example of the Roman Christians that their suffering was caused by them doing what was right in the eyes of God.  They weren’t suffering because of bad decisions.  They were suffering because this world isn’t aligned to God’s will.

I am confident that pain of any sort can be our teacher if we chose to see it that way.  Sometimes those lessons are simple and sometimes they are more complex.  If you burn yourself on the stove, you learn to check the burner.  If you break your arm climbing trees you learn to respect heights.  If you feel the pain of losing a friend, you learn lessons of how to maintain healthy relationships.

Those are examples of poor decisions that lead to troubles or suffering.  This scripture is pointed at suffering from a different cause.

Suffering born from doing what God would call us to do is a different sort of lesson.  In the Old Testament I immediately think of Daniel whose faithfulness to God landed him in the lion’s den.  He was not saved from the lion’s den but was saved within it.  Then there’s Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who were thrown into a fiery furnace by the king of Babylon when they refused to bow down to his image.  They weren’t saved from being thrown into the flames, but God’s angel was with them in the furnace.  This suffering wasn’t God’s punishment.  It was the world’s response to their faithfulness.  In these examples their suffering leads to a stronger faith and hope in God because they saw God supporting them within their suffering.

In more modern times when I consider people who suffered for doing good I think of Mohandas Gandhi peacefully working for the freedom of India, Martin Luther King speaking out for equality, or more recently Malala Yousafzai who as a teenage girl advocated for the education of women and children in Pakistan.  They suffered, they persevered, they gained character, and they had hopes for the future.  Because of their perseverance, many others gained hope.

Their work was being faithful to God’s call to do justice.  That brings me to my link into Peace with Justice Sunday.

Micah 6:8 tells us of God; He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God. 

Jesus told a parable pointing to the power of continued prayer, but it also comments on God’s feelings on social justice.

Luke 18:2-8a He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him, asking, ‘Give me justice in this case against my adversary.’ For a while he refused but finally said to himself, I don’t fear God or respect people, but I will give this widow justice because she keeps bothering me. Otherwise, there will be no end to her coming here and embarrassing me.” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. Won’t God provide justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he be slow to help them? I tell you, he will give them justice quickly.

Jesus challenged unjust behavior.  He was an advocate for the poor and for those suffering from prejudice.  His ministry gave hope to those that felt hopeless and lost.  He helped the outcast feel loved again.

These were actions that caused Jesus to get in hot water.  They can cause us to get in hot water still today. 

Earlier this year Rev Dawn preached on the three rules John Wesley lived by.  They are: Do no harm, Do good, Stay in love with God.

We are called to act from an attitude of love.  “Do no harm” is a powerful rule to live by.  Remember, that person that may be acting unjustly is also a child of God and God loves them.  Bringing justice is a different action than condemning the unjust.

The words “Peace” and “Justice” are focused on the positive.  Mother Theresa gave an example of the difference when she said, “I was once asked why I don't participate in anti-war demonstrations. I said that I will never do that, but as soon as you have a pro-peace rally, I'll be there.”

If we feel pain in our lives or experience suffering it doesn’t mean God is angry with us.  It doesn’t mean we have sinned and deserve to be punished.  Bad things really do happen to good people.  Our task is to determine if our suffering is the sort caused by bad decisions, or if it is the result of doing the “right thing” in the eyes of God.  In the first case we need to learn from our mistakes and make better decisions, and in the case of being aligned to God’s will we need to persevere. 

Checking in with John Wesley’s three rules is a good start.  Remembering what Jesus did provides us examples.  The Holy Spirit can help us remember.  Here’s part of the passage from the Gospel of John that was assigned this Sunday.  It is part of Jesus farewell discourse.

John 16:13-15
13 However, when the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you in all truth. He won’t speak on his own, but will say whatever he hears and will proclaim to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and proclaim it to you.15 Everything that the Father has is mine. That’s why I said that the Spirit takes what is mine and will proclaim it to you.”

The same Holy Spirit that is pouring out God’s love to us in the passage from Romans is our reminder of the words of God spoken through Christ.  If I feel like I’m acting in God’s will I can use Jesus as the example as I consider my actions.  Jesus promised the Holy Spirit will guide me in that truth.

This doesn’t mean suffering won’t happen, remember Daniel in the lion’s den, but it puts me on the path described in Romans which ends in hope that doesn’t disappoint.  As the song I offered earlier says, we can “be still” and know that He is God.  God is pouring love into our hearts.  God is with us in our troubles.  We can stand in his grace.  We can stand in His promises.

Here’s my cliff notes version.
We’re commanded to love God and each other.  That love includes caring about justice issues for those without social power.  Doing the right thing, even when we’re careful to do no harm, can still cause us suffering.

Learn from suffering that is the result of poor decisions and stop and change.  But if you have examined your motives, and with the Holy Spirit’s guidance believe you are acting according to Jesus teachings, then persevere in your faithfulness.  Suffering in this way puts you in good company.  Peace and grace are ours because of Jesus sacrifice.  Living in that faith we can live in hope; a hope that doesn’t disappoint.

Amen


Solo before the sermon: “Be Still My Soul” written by Russ and Tori Taff
https://www.facebook.com/darci.strutt/videos/10216668083027004/?t=0