St. Luke Ev. Lutheran Church
Sermon delivered by Pastor Anthony E. Schultz
Series B Lent 2 March 12, 2006 Romans 5:1-11

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 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. 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, who he has given us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

People of God—rescued from the flaming lake of fire in hell by the innocent blood of the very Lamb of God:

The last mounds of filthy snow and ice are melting just beside our drive way. If you look close—you will find some gravel that got plowed from the street onto our yard. Then there are little scraps of twigs—some bottle caps that must have fallen out of the trash—one of those little twisties from around a loaf of bread. I don’t know where all this trash came from. Little cigarette filters that must have washed down the block from around our circle street. It’s all so soggy and squishy there isn’t much I can do about this right now. But it reminded me—even if I go and fix up several square yards of my lawn—I am still far from making my yard perfect. After my yard—there is my desk—drawers full of papers and cards and stickers and business cards—stables and tape and glue and markers and hi-liters and more! There are boxes of papers and shelves and closets full of books. And this is not to mention the salt and gravel on the floor of my garage—or the stacks of stuff in my basement! I cloud lose sleep over my less than perfectly organized life—but the fact is I have reason to thank and praise my Heavenly Father. Because:

We Have Peace With God

1. While we were sinners Jesus died for us
2. So we rejoice—even in our sufferings

The part of God’s Word we are concentrating on today is part of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the believers in the ancient city of Rome! The People’s Bible commentary on Romans was written by Prof. Armin J. Panning. Prof. Panning taught Greek here in Watertown at Northwestern College. He taught us how to read the Gospel of John in the original Greek language. He also taught—and became the President of our Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary where he taught by his powerful, humble gentle example. When you think about the letter to the Romans—think about the Apostle Paul’s 3^rd missionary journey--about Paul having spent about 3 years in the city of Ephesus—teaching about the kingdom of God. And now Paul is in Corinth—on the way to Jerusalem—bringing disaster aid to the people suffering persecution.

The letter to the Romans is just 16 chapters long. It begins with the power and authority of Scripture. Paul, a servant—literally a slave—of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle. Divine calls—the ministry we have because the Holy Spirit has called us—and set apart for the gospel of God—the gospel he promised before hand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures! How important to read the Old Testament Scriptures—to understand the historical background and the wondrous Gospel promises the LORD made in Old Testament times. This has everything to do with understanding how Jesus fulfilled everything promised about him by Moses, the Psalms and the Prophets! The letter to the Romans is exceedingly practical. Paul wrote about the sins that infected ancient Rome and the hearts of people today. God’s Word says, “Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another…because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.” Romans 1:24f If a person is tempted in this way—they need to realize that Jesus forgives this sin—just like he forgives every sin. Jesus is the one who makes us strong—however we are tempted—to overcome temptation and to do what is right and good and pure!

And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings… Most people try very hard not to have suffering. In fact we try very hard not to be even a little bit uncomfortable! Think about it! If you have allergies—if you are allergic to pollen or mold or what look like horrible little prickly soccer balls that are so small you can’t see them—but they make your eyes itch—your nose run till you rub your phyltrum red and sore. The problem is—this allergy medicine can cause nose bleeds, seriously fatal heart attacks! What can that possible mean? If it’s seriously fatal—could it possible be any worse than that? Is it possible for us to risk nose bleeds, brain damage from a stroke and finally serious death from a heart attack—all in an effort to eliminate sneezes! This makes no sense whatsoever—does it?

We also rejoice in our sufferings, because sufferings work perseverance; perseverance, character… My brother e-mailed us the latest Jungle Journal—his latest journey down the Amazon River. They went for more than 20 hours down the river—deeper and deeper into the jungle! At night—he slept on the boat—midst huge plastic containers of gasoline—fat and filthy river rats run along the ropes that fastened their narrow open boat to the pier—then jump into the boat looking for the knap sacks of food—to tear them open and eat what’s inside! This is not to mention the flying insects that can smell your sweat and look for any opening to bite you—perhaps trading your blood for their sicknesses and diseases! Almost everyone can try to sleep—while one keeps watch—with his loaded shotgun—protecting against robbers and thieves! And all this—this discomfort—this frustration—this difficult—in order to share the good news of sins forgiven for Jesus sake. How difficult is it for us? How much suffering are we enduring? Oh, maybe we had to scrape a windshield this morning—or it was kind of misting or foggy? Maybe our bed felt comfortable and warm—our pillow soft and yet it was time to get up! Maybe we were low on milk this morning—or didn’t have much orange juice—so we had to eat a fresh orange? Most of us—most of the time—do not suffer. But if we do—if we battle cancer or heart attacks or strokes or worse—still Jesus is with us. We know that even the most painful and difficult days—of chemo therapy or radiation—when our hair falls our and our bones ache—make us stronger and stronger. Sometimes—the worse our physical condition becomes—the stronger and stronger our faith becomes.

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. Hope and trust in your Heavenly Father! Know that in his wisdom far beyond our feeble human ability to understand—Jesus will accomplish something good—even out of the most painful and difficult circumstances. In a way we can’t always understand—all things work together for good to those who love God. Then even if we are very sick—even if we are the victim of terrible crimes—even if we work very very hard and yet have only grief at our job—know that Jesus’ love will sustain you. These painfull and difficult times will make us stronger and stronger deep inside. Our faith and our insight will be refined—as what is uselsss and unimportant is burned away—so that only what is precious and right and good remains!

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. Norris was a homeless man—a 45 year old homeless man living down in Florida—minding his own business—sleeping on a park bench. Two young men started pounding him with baseball bats until they had inflicted fatal harm! If you had been there—would you have done anything? Would you have grabbed a hold of Brian or Thomas and made them stop? Would you have grabbed a hold of Norris and held on for dear life—covering his body with yours—enduring the blows—suffering the broken bones—the blows to your head—to protect his? Or—if the truth be told—you would have to say—I don’t know this homeless guy! I don’t know this man wearing all those layers of clothes with greasy stains of spoiled food—buttons missing—elbows worn through layers of sweaters. I don’t know this man with only a few teeth—and those stained and decayed—his hair in greasy mats and tangles—whiskers down his neck—hair in his nose and ears—a bad smell from what is left from shoes that are duct taped together. Would you suffer even give up your life to save someone like that? While we were still powerless—covered with the blood stained filthy rags of self-righteousness—Christ died for the ungodly. Knowing full well all our sins and mistakes—still Jesus died to wash us and clean us up!

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus died to wash away all our sins. The other day Mrs. Superman passed away—the lady who was married to the guy who was Superman in the movies. She was only 44 years old. She had lung cancer. She died. The guy on the Milwaukee radio that reported her death said, “The only good thing—if you believe in that sort of thing—is that somehow they are united again…” If you believe in that sort of thing… Don’t you? Don’t we believe that when we die—we go to a real and concrete place—to be with Jesus and our brothers and sisters in Christ? We will be with the Lord—and never ever have to say good bye to anyone—because we will all be home—home with our Good Shepherd forever!

Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ… Peace with God—from a good conscience—that all our sins are washed away! There is a woman named Beverly—28 years old—trembling, shaking, bouncing up and down in anxiety on a rusty chair beside a US highway—her face s streaked with tears. An hour earlier--she was driving her car—when a little girl on a pink bicycle swerved in front of her. Beverly hit her—sent her little body flying—until it landed broken beside the highway. Now her family has gathered around Beverly—handing her a bottle of water—stroking her hair—encouraging her to go to the hospital to make sure she is ok. But she isn’t. She has suffered a hurt—so deep in her heart—that I wonder if she will ever recover. And yet she will. She will have peace because Jesus gives us peace for the sake of his sinless life, his tortured death and his triumphant rising from the dead. We have peace with God for Jesus sake! Amen!

To God alone all glory!

Rev. Anthony E. Schultz