Deo Gloria
Sermon for June 16, 2019
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: Romans 5:1-5
Theme: You Have Much to Boast About!
- Peace with God
- Access to God’s grace
- A glorious future
- Even afflictions
People like to boast, don’t they? They like to brag about themselves and their accomplishments. “Hey, did you hear about the big promotion I got? You’re looking at the new vice president of the company.” They like to boast about the homerun they hit in the softball game or the trophy-size fish they caught on their fishing trip. They like to boast about their fancy home or their fancy sportscar. They even like to boast about their children and grandchildren and their accomplishments: how their son or daughter graduated at the top of their class, how they scored the winning goal in soccer or made the little league all-star team. You and I know how annoying people like that can be, always bragging about themselves, always tooting their own horn. And we naturally want to avoid being like that.
Is there ever a time, though, when it’s OK for a Christian to boast? Are there things that you and I can genuinely be proud of and rightfully boast about? The answer we find in our text this morning is “Yes,” an unreserved and unabashed yes. According the apostle Paul, you and I have much we can take pride in, much we can boast about. Let’s take a closer look at what he says. (Read text.)
As you looked at these verses from Romans ch. 5 and then looked at the theme of this morning’s sermon, you may have noticed a slight discrepancy: There is no mention of boasting in these verses. Now it is true, of course, that the NIV Bible does not use the word “boast” or “boasting;” but Paul does. He uses it at the end of v. 2 and again at the beginning of v. 3. “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God,” Paul states. “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings.” The word Paul uses that is translated “rejoice” literally means “to boast, to take pride in or glory in something or someone.” And in these verses Paul mentions at least 4 different things you and I can glory in, can take pride in, can boast about as Christians.
The first is mentioned back in v. 1: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” The story is told of a retired couple in the early 1980s who were quite concerned about the threat of nuclear war, so much so that they seriously studied all the inhabited places of the world to see where would be the safest place to live, the place that would be least affected by a nuclear war. They even traveled to various countries around the world until they found what they thought would be the perfect place. That year they sent a Christmas card to their family and friends from their new home…in the Falkland Islands. Unfortunately, it was only a year or two later that the Falkland War broke out between Great Britain and Argentina. Their hopes for peace were dashed.
Of course, it isn’t just retired couples that are looking for peace, is it? We all are. And it isn’t merely a quiet and peaceful place to live that we’re searching for. We’re looking for peace with God. We want to know God and be in a right relationship with him. We want to know that our sins are forgiven. We want the peace and security of knowing that if something should happen to us and we should die, we will be accepted by God into heaven. Just as God created fish with a desire to swim and birds with a desire to fly, he created people with the desire to know him and to be at peace with him. St. Augustine expressed this deep-seated desire of ours like this: “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in [God].”
You see, by nature we are not at peace with God. We are not in a right relationship with him, something Paul calls attention to later on in ch. 5. He describes us as being “powerless” when it comes to spiritual matters.(v. 6) He refers to us as “ungodly”(v. 6), as “enemies” of God(v. 10), as “sinners”(v. 8). That’s the problem, isn’t it, our sins, the times we have ignored God’s will for our lives and broken his commands; the times we boasted about ourselves while putting others down; the times we got drunk at a friend’s graduation party; the times we smiled and seemed so nice on the outside and were thinking mean and nasty thoughts on the inside? Let’s face it: When it comes to obeying God’s commands, you and I cannot claim to be innocent. We’re guilty, and we know it. And God does too. That’s what makes us afraid of God. We’re afraid that God is going to punish us because of our sins, that he’s going to throw the book at us on Judgment Day and sentence us to an eternity of hard labor in hell.
But Paul says that isn’t the case anymore—not for us anyway, not for those who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He says that we have peace with God. Why? Because we have been justified by faith. Justify is a courtroom term, a word that means “to declare ‘not guilty.’” You see, because of his great love for us, God sent someone to suffer the punishment we deserved. He sent his own Son to take our sins upon himself and suffer the punishment for them. And by his death on the cross, Jesus did exactly that. He paid the penalty for all our sins. And since the penalty has been paid, God has declared us to be “not guilty.”
In fact, God has done that for the whole world. He has declared all people to be “not guilty,” because Jesus paid for all people’s sins. The sad part is not everyone believes that. Not everyone believes that Jesus is their Savior and that he died on the cross for their sins. They lose the benefit of what Jesus did even though it’s there for them. But those who do believe, receive the blessing. They have forgiveness for their sins. Their guilt is taken away. They are once again in a right relationship with God. They are at peace with God. And that gives them something to boast about.
Notice that their boasting is not about themselves and what they did. They don’t boast about the kind of lives they lived, how they were so much better than other people. They don’t boast about how nice they were and all the good things they did for other people, as if that would somehow qualify them to get into heaven. They don’t even boast about their faith. They recognize that their faith too is a gift from God, another demonstration of God’s amazing love. As Paul says in the last verse, God poured out his love on them by giving them the Holy Spirit, who in turn led them to know God’s love and believe in him as their Savior. So it isn’t about them at all. It’s all about God and what he has done for them, that he has taken their sins away, that he has declared them to be “not guilty,” that he has brought them to faith, that he has given them peace. “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
A second reason we have to boast is that we have access to God’s grace. Paul continues in v. 2: “…through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” Fort Knox—has anyone here ever been to Fort Knox? Has anyone here ever gotten to go inside? I don’t know anyone who has gotten to either. Fort Knox is the home of the US Gold Reserve. Thousands of gold bars are stored there in its vault behind massive walls made of granite and steel and concrete. And security there is extremely tight. No visitors are allowed in. Even the President of the United States cannot get in on his own. He doesn’t have the combination. Only a very few people have access to the treasury of gold in Fort Knox.
Imagine for a moment the treasure vault of heaven. Instead of being filled with gold, it’s filled with God’s grace, his undeserved mercy and love. And unlike the gold in Fort Knox, you and I have access to it. We have the combination to the vault. We can get in anytime. In fact, we’re already in. We’re standing there in the middle of the vault, surrounded by the riches of God’s grace, unlimited stores of love, unending piles of forgiveness, enormous mounds of mercy. The unending and faithful love we so deeply desire…is here. The full and free forgiveness for all our sins…is here. The mercy and compassion we seek to heal our bruised and battered hearts and help us in every time of need…is here. And it’s ours. It’s all ours through Jesus Christ our Savior. This is another thing we can boast about.
A third is the glorious future we have to look forward to. Paul mentions this at the end of v. 2: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” Many students have recently graduated—some from high school, some from college. They leave school with a sense of excitement and anticipation, their hearts filled with hopes and dreams for the future. Some hope to go on to college or graduate school. Some hope to make it in the big leagues, playing professional baseball or basketball or football. Some hope to find a job and start a career. Some hope to get married and start a family. But will things turn out they way they hoped? Will they be accepted by the college or graduate school they’re interested in? Will they be able to find a job? Will they ever find a companion for life? They don’t know.
But we do. We know what the future has in store. We know that when we graduate from this life and step into eternity, we have glory to look forward to. Not only will we see God in all of his glory, but he will also share his glory with us. He will change our lowly and imperfect bodies to be perfect and glorious like his. He will invite us to live with him in his perfect, glorious home. And there we will enjoy with him a perfect and glorious life—a life without sin or sadness, a life without pain or death, a life of perfect happiness forever. That perfect, fairytale ending, where we all live happily ever after—that’s what we have to look forward to, and another thing we can boast about.
The fourth and final thing we can boast about is our sufferings or afflictions. Yes, you heard me right. I said we can boast about our sufferings. To be honest, that’s not one of the things I would have chosen to put on my bragging list, but it’s one Paul chose. Look again at what he says, beginning in v. 3:
Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.(vv. 3-5)
The word that Paul uses here for “suffering” literally means “pressing” or “pressure.” As Christians we experience many different things that oppress us or press us down. It may be a lingering illness or the pain and suffering associated with some disease. It may be the rejection of family and friends or the ridicule we face at work or school because of our Christian faith. It may be the frustration and pain of financial loss or the heartache and pain of the loss of someone close to us. Is Paul saying that we should be happy about things like that, that we should be happy we got sick and ended up in the hospital, that we should boast about the fact that we lost our job, that we should rejoice that a friend of ours from school died in a tragic accident? No. What Paul is saying is that even in things like that, things that press us down and afflict us, God can and does work for good in our lives. He brings about blessings that actually strengthen our faith and trust in him. And that is what we can rejoice in and boast about.
Suffering, Paul says, produces perseverance. Perseverance is the ability to hang in there, to stick to it and keep on going even when it’s difficult. As we experience difficulties and hardships in life, God leads us to rely less on ourselves and more on him. We realize we can’t do it on our own. We can’t handle it all on our own. So we lean on God. We look to him for guidance and strength, for comfort and peace. And as we do, he helps us hang in there. He helps us persevere.
Perseverance, in turn, leads to character. The word that Paul uses here has the idea of a “tried and true character,” a “genuine character.” The word was used for coins that had been tested to see if they were genuine or fake. As we experience difficulties and hardships in our lives and persevere through them, it results in a certain “genuineness” in us, a tried and true quality. We aren’t counterfeit Christians, people who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but really aren’t. We’re the real deal, tried and true, genuine Christians, people who have persevered in the storms of life and have continued to cling to Jesus as their Savior.
And that tried and true character, in turn, leads to hope. Knowing that we have been through those trials and weathered those storms, knowing how God has helped us and strengthened us and guided us through those storms of life, increases our faith in God and renews our hope for the future. No matter what lies ahead, no matter what kind of afflictions or suffering we may have to endure, we know God will see us safely through them and bring us safely to our heavenly home. And that’s why we can boast even about our sufferings.
Is it ever OK for a Christian to boast? Actually, it is. We don’t boast, though, about our new cars or our new clothes or that big promotion we just got. We boast instead about our gracious God, our gracious triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—and all that they together have done and continue to do for us. Peace with God, access to God’s grace, a glorious future, and even afflictions—yes, as Paul spells out for us in the verses of our text, you and I have much to boast about! Amen.