Last Saturday Michele and I finally seized the opportunity to cash in a generous gift certificate to a
French restaurant that was given to us last Christmas by the Hemphills. In fact, we celebrated our
22nd anniversary there. What a delight! I had an entrée they called farcie limande (if I’m not
butchering the French), which was thin cuts of halibut rolled and stuffed with blue-claw crab meat,
served in combination with some mild vegetables and a delicate sauce that brought together the
other flavors with absolute artistry. Michele’s couscous entrée was equally wonderful. It made me
want to watch Ratatouille all over again. It seems like every bite provided a fresh sensory
experience.
Sometimes I feel the same way about reading the scriptures. The deeper we dig with our fork the
more there is to enjoy. Some of you are currently in a study of Paul’s Letter to the Romans with
Deborah Tischler. I’m sure you’re now appreciating the depth and beauty of Paul’s words to the
Christians in Rome more than ever. Having taken a class on Romans at Trinity, I also have
discovered that there are layers of beauty, wonder and truth in Paul’s words that seem to be unified
by a central theme, kind of a sauce that brings it all together. That theme is God’s love. L’amour de
Dieu sauce.
God’s love for us, and his grace in sending Jesus for our salvation, for millions has been literally a
life-changing discovery. For example, I think of Martin Luther, whose fear of the afterlife was calmed
once and for all, in large part by a close reading of Romans. He calls it “the most important piece in
the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it
word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul."
The eight verses of today’s epistle reading revolve around a subtheme that is hopefully familiar to
us in this church. That subtheme is hope. It’s hope based upon the unshakeable love of God. Let’
s walk through these verses together. Romans 5 begins with the word “therefore.” It’s a conclusion
based upon the words that have led up to this point. You might remember that we talked a little
about the previous chapter, Chapter 4, last week. This is where Paul speaks of Abraham’s
righteousness coming not from the law, but from his faith. And Paul concludes that chapter by
saying that we who believe that Jesus was raised from the dead for our salvation are also made
righteous by our faith.
So now, in Chapter 5, Paul says, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This alone is a remarkable statement. To magnify its meaning, let’s
first look at that word “peace.” The Greek word here is undoubtedly the one chosen to convey the
Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is not simply a lack of conflict, or even a feeling of peace, but
something much more positive. It’s the state of well-being, spiritual prosperity, and salvation of the
godly person. It’s a state of completeness and wholeness. It’s being the way God always meant us
to be. The harmony and healing that comes from being in right standing with our Maker is ours
completely and unreservedly for the price of our trust in Jesus. You see, we don’t have to strive or
concoct anything for this to be effective. We, by definition, now have peace with God. It’s not
something we accomplish, but it’s something given to us by God just because we believe in Jesus.
And it’s through Jesus and Jesus alone that we have access to this gift.
In verse 2 Paul then uses a word that may sound a little strange to our ears. We’re taught from a
young age that boasting is impolite and unseemly. At least we used to be taught that. But Paul
uses this word boldly, saying, “…we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”
Now, to clarify, Paul isn’t encouraging us to get in other people’s faces with our faith. That’s not
what he means by “boast.” Rather, he’s telling us to let our hope show. The NIV translation of that
same sentence says that “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” OK? We wear our hope
joyfully, but kindly. Remember St. Peter writes in his first letter: “Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect…” So we let our hope shine like the sun.
There’s another aspect of these two verses that’s worth mentioning. It has to do with time. Having
been given the gift of grace in response to our faith, we’re now in a state of shalom and we’re in
right standing with God. Present tense. Right now we’re in that enviable place of peace with God. It’
s a done deal. The new life has begun. But there’s also a future aspect to this. Because Paul talks
about “boasting (or rejoicing) in the hope of the glory of God.” For those who believe, there’s
something coming that’s beyond our wildest imaginings. We’ll one day be drawn fully into the glory of
God. Unimaginable vibrancy and vitality in what the New Testament scriptures consistently call
“eternal life.” Paul writes of this intriguingly in Romans 8, verses 18-25. This hope colors everything
we believe and everything we experience—even our suffering.
In the next three verses of Romans 5 Paul launches off into kind of an excursis, saying that even
suffering now has new significance. He says that we boast, or rejoice, in our sufferings, knowing
that they end up producing good things. They lead to positive changes that will serve us well in God’
s kingdom. Now this, at least for me, is a tricky one. It’s a little hard to convince me right in the
middle of suffering that this is all somehow for the good. Remember those words from our parents
just before they assisted us in experiencing consequences for our wrong actions? “I’m doing this for
your own good.” Or, “Some day you’ll thank me for this.” How convinced were we of the truth of
these words? Yet, as we look back over our lives, don’t we find that much of our suffering was
ultimately meaningful? We learned important things from it. We developed positive character traits
and inner strength that only became apparent in retrospect.
What Paul is saying is that, even though it’s hard in the short run to find meaning in suffering, for the
believer God helps the “bad” transform into the “good.” Lemons are made into lemonade.
Remember it was Paul who said, “All things work together for good for those who love God, and are
called according to his purpose.” This, too, is from the Letter to the Romans. And in today’s
passage he says that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character
produces hope. The very thing we expect to be destructive ends up becoming valuable. Like the
pressure placed upon a lump of coal, over time, can produce a diamond.
And Paul cinches this bold assertion with the reminder that hope will not disappoint us because God
has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit He’s given us. My friends, the love’s
there if we choose to look for it. Sometimes I don’t choose to look, because frankly, it can feel too
good just snuggling with my misery. You know, if no one will feel sorry for me I’ll just have to do it
myself. (My mom used to say, “If you want a job done right you have to do it yourself.”)
Some of you may know the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, who was permanently paralyzed in a
diving accident as a teenager. I saw her speak at the Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh
a few years ago. If anyone has earned the right to engage in self-pity, it’s her. But listen to her
words: "You don’t have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it’s all been
made possible by your Savior. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so
you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and
sorrow.” You’ll notice that she didn’t say you’ll never have hurt and sorrow. But she said, “You
need never be alone in your hurt and sorrow.”
Now I’m sure that just like us, Joni has moments of sadness and depression. In Pittsburgh, in a
moment of candor she sweetly said something to the effect that, when she gets to the gates of
heaven she’ll cheerfully send her wheelchair hurtling to hell! She’s no Pollyanna.
But for all of us, periods of suffering are exactly when we’ll do well to heed Paul’s words and remind
ourselves both that our suffering is temporary, and that for the asking, God is there to walk with us
through it.
We really needn’t be alone. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts,” Paul says. And the
Greek word for “poured” carries overtones of lavish abundance. God doesn’t skimp when it comes
to loving us.
So we come back to God’s basic motivation for arranging the whole story the way He did. It’s all
about love. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us because of love. And His love has been poured into us
through the Holy Spirit. Paul concludes this brief passage by proclaiming just how unique and lavish
this love is. This isn’t the kind of love that simply reciprocates someone else’s love, but the kind that
sought us out when we wouldn’t give God the time of day. We were too intent upon satisfying our
own desires in our own way, and rejecting God and His ways. Yet Paul writes, “For while we were
still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous
person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves
his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
This is the lifeguard who dove into the depths to save us after we ignored his warnings. He’s the
platoon leader who threw himself on the grenade even when we were rebelling against his authority.
He demonstrated a new kind of love that stands head and shoulders above the very best of human
love, and even in contrast to human wisdom itself. No longer are we tied to the impersonal forces of
cause and effect which say, “You made your bed, so now you can sleep in it,” because He took
drastic and costly action to draw us back into the safety of His embrace. He saved us through His
sacrificial love, then turned right around and gave us His own Spirit so we, too, could show that kind
of love.
As a consequence, we who have the gift of God’s loving Holy Spirit can no longer be satisfied with
detachment to people’s suffering, because Jesus has showed us a better way. He’s showed us how
to love our neighbors, even when our neighbors are obnoxious. He’s taught us and empowered us
not to relieve our hurt in retaliation, but to find meaning in our suffering that points to God’s eternal
love. This is the nature of the One in whom we invest our trust. He’s showed us that sacrificial love
produces a song that drifts upward to the very courts of heaven. It’s a song that proclaims that God’
s love is stirring on this earth and will again one day reign over all creation. Our job is to tune in to
the Spirit, sing this song of love, and invite others to join the choir. In the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
French restaurant that was given to us last Christmas by the Hemphills. In fact, we celebrated our
22nd anniversary there. What a delight! I had an entrée they called farcie limande (if I’m not
butchering the French), which was thin cuts of halibut rolled and stuffed with blue-claw crab meat,
served in combination with some mild vegetables and a delicate sauce that brought together the
other flavors with absolute artistry. Michele’s couscous entrée was equally wonderful. It made me
want to watch Ratatouille all over again. It seems like every bite provided a fresh sensory
experience.
Sometimes I feel the same way about reading the scriptures. The deeper we dig with our fork the
more there is to enjoy. Some of you are currently in a study of Paul’s Letter to the Romans with
Deborah Tischler. I’m sure you’re now appreciating the depth and beauty of Paul’s words to the
Christians in Rome more than ever. Having taken a class on Romans at Trinity, I also have
discovered that there are layers of beauty, wonder and truth in Paul’s words that seem to be unified
by a central theme, kind of a sauce that brings it all together. That theme is God’s love. L’amour de
Dieu sauce.
God’s love for us, and his grace in sending Jesus for our salvation, for millions has been literally a
life-changing discovery. For example, I think of Martin Luther, whose fear of the afterlife was calmed
once and for all, in large part by a close reading of Romans. He calls it “the most important piece in
the New Testament. It is purest Gospel. It is well worth a Christian's while not only to memorize it
word for word but also to occupy himself with it daily, as though it were the daily bread of the soul."
The eight verses of today’s epistle reading revolve around a subtheme that is hopefully familiar to
us in this church. That subtheme is hope. It’s hope based upon the unshakeable love of God. Let’
s walk through these verses together. Romans 5 begins with the word “therefore.” It’s a conclusion
based upon the words that have led up to this point. You might remember that we talked a little
about the previous chapter, Chapter 4, last week. This is where Paul speaks of Abraham’s
righteousness coming not from the law, but from his faith. And Paul concludes that chapter by
saying that we who believe that Jesus was raised from the dead for our salvation are also made
righteous by our faith.
So now, in Chapter 5, Paul says, “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This alone is a remarkable statement. To magnify its meaning, let’s
first look at that word “peace.” The Greek word here is undoubtedly the one chosen to convey the
Hebrew word shalom. Shalom is not simply a lack of conflict, or even a feeling of peace, but
something much more positive. It’s the state of well-being, spiritual prosperity, and salvation of the
godly person. It’s a state of completeness and wholeness. It’s being the way God always meant us
to be. The harmony and healing that comes from being in right standing with our Maker is ours
completely and unreservedly for the price of our trust in Jesus. You see, we don’t have to strive or
concoct anything for this to be effective. We, by definition, now have peace with God. It’s not
something we accomplish, but it’s something given to us by God just because we believe in Jesus.
And it’s through Jesus and Jesus alone that we have access to this gift.
In verse 2 Paul then uses a word that may sound a little strange to our ears. We’re taught from a
young age that boasting is impolite and unseemly. At least we used to be taught that. But Paul
uses this word boldly, saying, “…we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.”
Now, to clarify, Paul isn’t encouraging us to get in other people’s faces with our faith. That’s not
what he means by “boast.” Rather, he’s telling us to let our hope show. The NIV translation of that
same sentence says that “we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” OK? We wear our hope
joyfully, but kindly. Remember St. Peter writes in his first letter: “Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with
gentleness and respect…” So we let our hope shine like the sun.
There’s another aspect of these two verses that’s worth mentioning. It has to do with time. Having
been given the gift of grace in response to our faith, we’re now in a state of shalom and we’re in
right standing with God. Present tense. Right now we’re in that enviable place of peace with God. It’
s a done deal. The new life has begun. But there’s also a future aspect to this. Because Paul talks
about “boasting (or rejoicing) in the hope of the glory of God.” For those who believe, there’s
something coming that’s beyond our wildest imaginings. We’ll one day be drawn fully into the glory of
God. Unimaginable vibrancy and vitality in what the New Testament scriptures consistently call
“eternal life.” Paul writes of this intriguingly in Romans 8, verses 18-25. This hope colors everything
we believe and everything we experience—even our suffering.
In the next three verses of Romans 5 Paul launches off into kind of an excursis, saying that even
suffering now has new significance. He says that we boast, or rejoice, in our sufferings, knowing
that they end up producing good things. They lead to positive changes that will serve us well in God’
s kingdom. Now this, at least for me, is a tricky one. It’s a little hard to convince me right in the
middle of suffering that this is all somehow for the good. Remember those words from our parents
just before they assisted us in experiencing consequences for our wrong actions? “I’m doing this for
your own good.” Or, “Some day you’ll thank me for this.” How convinced were we of the truth of
these words? Yet, as we look back over our lives, don’t we find that much of our suffering was
ultimately meaningful? We learned important things from it. We developed positive character traits
and inner strength that only became apparent in retrospect.
What Paul is saying is that, even though it’s hard in the short run to find meaning in suffering, for the
believer God helps the “bad” transform into the “good.” Lemons are made into lemonade.
Remember it was Paul who said, “All things work together for good for those who love God, and are
called according to his purpose.” This, too, is from the Letter to the Romans. And in today’s
passage he says that suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character
produces hope. The very thing we expect to be destructive ends up becoming valuable. Like the
pressure placed upon a lump of coal, over time, can produce a diamond.
And Paul cinches this bold assertion with the reminder that hope will not disappoint us because God
has poured His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit He’s given us. My friends, the love’s
there if we choose to look for it. Sometimes I don’t choose to look, because frankly, it can feel too
good just snuggling with my misery. You know, if no one will feel sorry for me I’ll just have to do it
myself. (My mom used to say, “If you want a job done right you have to do it yourself.”)
Some of you may know the story of Joni Eareckson Tada, who was permanently paralyzed in a
diving accident as a teenager. I saw her speak at the Hope and a Future Conference in Pittsburgh
a few years ago. If anyone has earned the right to engage in self-pity, it’s her. But listen to her
words: "You don’t have to be alone in your hurt! Comfort is yours. Joy is an option. And it’s all been
made possible by your Savior. He went without comfort so you might have it. He postponed joy so
you might share in it. He willingly chose isolation so you might never be alone in your hurt and
sorrow.” You’ll notice that she didn’t say you’ll never have hurt and sorrow. But she said, “You
need never be alone in your hurt and sorrow.”
Now I’m sure that just like us, Joni has moments of sadness and depression. In Pittsburgh, in a
moment of candor she sweetly said something to the effect that, when she gets to the gates of
heaven she’ll cheerfully send her wheelchair hurtling to hell! She’s no Pollyanna.
But for all of us, periods of suffering are exactly when we’ll do well to heed Paul’s words and remind
ourselves both that our suffering is temporary, and that for the asking, God is there to walk with us
through it.
We really needn’t be alone. “God’s love has been poured into our hearts,” Paul says. And the
Greek word for “poured” carries overtones of lavish abundance. God doesn’t skimp when it comes
to loving us.
So we come back to God’s basic motivation for arranging the whole story the way He did. It’s all
about love. Jesus sacrificed Himself for us because of love. And His love has been poured into us
through the Holy Spirit. Paul concludes this brief passage by proclaiming just how unique and lavish
this love is. This isn’t the kind of love that simply reciprocates someone else’s love, but the kind that
sought us out when we wouldn’t give God the time of day. We were too intent upon satisfying our
own desires in our own way, and rejecting God and His ways. Yet Paul writes, “For while we were
still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous
person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves
his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.”
This is the lifeguard who dove into the depths to save us after we ignored his warnings. He’s the
platoon leader who threw himself on the grenade even when we were rebelling against his authority.
He demonstrated a new kind of love that stands head and shoulders above the very best of human
love, and even in contrast to human wisdom itself. No longer are we tied to the impersonal forces of
cause and effect which say, “You made your bed, so now you can sleep in it,” because He took
drastic and costly action to draw us back into the safety of His embrace. He saved us through His
sacrificial love, then turned right around and gave us His own Spirit so we, too, could show that kind
of love.
As a consequence, we who have the gift of God’s loving Holy Spirit can no longer be satisfied with
detachment to people’s suffering, because Jesus has showed us a better way. He’s showed us how
to love our neighbors, even when our neighbors are obnoxious. He’s taught us and empowered us
not to relieve our hurt in retaliation, but to find meaning in our suffering that points to God’s eternal
love. This is the nature of the One in whom we invest our trust. He’s showed us that sacrificial love
produces a song that drifts upward to the very courts of heaven. It’s a song that proclaims that God’
s love is stirring on this earth and will again one day reign over all creation. Our job is to tune in to
the Spirit, sing this song of love, and invite others to join the choir. In the name of the Father, and
the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A Helping of Romans
Romans 5:1-8
Romans 5:1-8
June 15, 2008
Fr. Dan Tuton
Fr. Dan Tuton