I am so excited to share with you
the good news of the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ and what that means for
us that I don’t know whether to shout, to cry tears of joy, or to dance. Paul
gives us a clue in this text, we are to celebrate and so celebrate is what I am
going to do today. I am going to
celebrate Just as Paul celebrated in
being able to share the magnificence of God, in his justification, his
suffering and his reconciliation with God, we today have these very things to
celebrate so let’s not waste any time Let’s celebrate!
We continue looking this morning at
Paul’s letter to the Romans. We are
given an interpretive clue right off the bat when the first word of our text is
therefore. Whenever we see the word
therefore in the Bible, the writer is saying make sure you know and understand
what I just wrote before you proceed forward.
In this instance Paul is talking about the fact that he has just
established that both Jew and Greek are part of the covenant God made with
Abraham. Israel doesn’t have dibs on
God’s grace and love. God’s grace, love
and peace are for all. Knowing that we can all approach the next part of the
text knowing it is for us, justified by Christ’s faithful obedience even unto
death. That is the first thing we
celebrate! We celebrate that while there
is nothing we can do to justify ourselves, Christ’s faithful obedience unto
death has justified us. In that moment
we were pardoned and the restoration of ourselves into the image of God we were
created to be began! NT Wright says that
in his death Jesus has ushered us all who believe into a room where we now
stand, a place characterized by the presence and sustaining love of God” This
is the grace into which we stand and that is something to be celebrated!
Paul says hold onto your seat
though. If you think that’s great there
is more. Not only do we celebrate in
being justified, at peace with God, standing in God’s grace. We also celebrate in our suffering. What?
What do you mean celebrate in our suffering? I will never forget the moment I got the call
that my best friend’s mom was quickly losing her battle with cancer at the
young age of 43. I was devastated, I was in my first year of seminary and I was
already in the midst of questions that I didn’t know the answers to. Many first year students in seminary talk
about losing their Jesus. I was quickly
losing my Jesus and this wasn’t helping matters. Louise’s life had been marked by more
suffering than any one person should have to endure and I didn’t
understand. That question of where God
is when bad things happen to good people was coming to the forefront of my
thoughts and my confusions. In that
moment a good friend looked at me and said “I envy Louise right now.” He went onto explain to me that “Louise is
knowing God right now more intimately and more fully then I could ever imagine,
and I envy that. He was right, when
asked for a word as she laid on her death bed she awoke for just long enough to
recite Psalm 91 which includes a promise for long life. Yet, there she lay dying. This week our community lost a wonderful man
when they lost Robert Brown. We’ve been
praying for Robert over the last 3 years.
Elsie has requested prayer for him.
Andrew has requested prayer for him.
Many of us know and love his wife and know all the suffering she has
endured over the years. Our hearts hurt
as she and Robert battled this cancer together over the last 3 years. Last Sunday at Long’s Chapel Robert gave his
“God Story” through video to the congregation.
The video was taped within the couple of weeks preceding and Robert knew
his battle with cancer was near its end.
As the members of Long’s chapel watched that video, Robert laid in a bed
at the Homestead Hospice with one foot still here and the other in the very
presence of God. What did Robert say in
his God story? He said:
“Even though I am
melting as we speak I’m so glad I’ve made it to this day. As I look around, I thank God for the gifts
that he’s given me and that I got to lie to this time. There’s always hope. My story is to say as I fought through the
cancer I was dealing with stuff that made me realize that everyone has
struggles in life. I am not alone. With God I am not alone, I am never alone. And he has given me the strength to see
through, as I’ve told my wife recently, I can do this with God, I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me.
That is where I am in my life. I
have not given up hope and I know that he’s behind me and he’s behind my family
and those who are losing hope have to know that hope is always here, right
behind the chair you’re sitting in. I
couldn’t sit here any longer, I wanted to come and share with you that there is
hope.”[1]
He knew he was dying…..yet there was
still hope. You see friends when we are
suffering we are not alone. God is with
us and gives us the endurance and strength.
Write these words down. Suffering
produces endurance, endurances produces character, character produces
hope. Now say it with me suffering
produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope. Don’t forget that. We have hope because we have God’s love
poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is always with us! That is something to celebrate!
But
wait……there is more. After Paul expounds
on God’s love for us, his great love for us that is so great that even when we
are alienated from God, even when we are hostile toward God, we are reconciled
to God through Jesus. He says yep, there
is even more to celebrate. Not only are
we justified, not only do we have hope even in our suffering, but we have
received reconciliation. I looked up the
word reconciliation in the Eerdmans’s dictionary of the Bible. It says that to be reconciled means that
there is a changed relationship in which formerly estranged persons experience
a restored harmony. Because of the
faithful obedience of Jesus Christ we are reconciled to God. “God is the perfect reconciler. Death and resurrection restored all people to
a right relationship with God and summoned every believer to cooperate in this
ministry of reconciliation.” (Erdman, 1112-1113) 2 Corinthians 5:18says: “All
this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us
the ministry of reconciliation.” We
celebrate today in the fact that we through the death and resurrection of Christ
we are everyone invited into reconciliation with God. God is always there, never leaves us, and
never forsakes us. Now we are to respond
to that by seeking reconciliation in our world, in our communities, in our
church, in our families. Who do you need
to reconcile with this morning. Who are
you estranged from? Who do you hold a
grudge against and avoid being around.
My friend God reconciled God’s self to you, won’t you take the steps to
reconcile with others.
In
a few moments we are invited to the table to feast on the gifts of the body and
blood of Jesus Christ. We come to the
table in celebration of the fact that God loves deeply each and every one of
us. We come to the table in celebration
of the fact that by the faithful obedience of Jesus Christ we have been
pardoned. We come to the table in
celebration of even our times of suffering for in those times of suffering we
are made strong and given hope through the outpouring of God’s love through the
presence of the Holy Spirit with us. We
come to the table in celebration of the fact that we are reconciled with
God.
We
are going to sing our song of response this morning. It is a song that celebrates that marvelous
infinite grace of God in which we stand.
The altar is open this morning. As
you celebrate your reconciliation with God, as you celebrate standing in this
room of grace that Jesus brings you into, do you need to bring others into the
room of God’s grace by way of extending that grace to others? Make that commitment today, either where you
sit or stand or here at this altar. Now, let’s celebrate this marvelous,
infinite Grace in which we stand. In the
name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Amen.
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