Grace Lutheran Church The Second Sunday in Lent, March 12, 2006

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

March 12, 2006 "The Peace that justifies"

Second Sunday in Lent Romans 5:1-11

I am a young guy who works in a profession that is defined by wisdom. I wish that I could just put a piece of paper up on my office wall that says I have wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Paul wrote that we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Rm. 5:2-5)

You must understand that I would rather not go through the suffering producing endurance, producing character, producing hope route. I would prefer an expressway to happiness instead of taking the back roads that take through suffering, endurance, character, and then to hope.

This easy way I think is what Peter wanted when Jesus was teaching the disciples about how the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. Jesus said it plainly. He was going to suffer. He was going to be killed. He was going to be raised on the third day. Peter could not hear about the destination because the road to that destination was not what he wanted. So he took Jesus aside to stop him from suffering.

Peter did not want his master to suffer. I don’t want Jesus to suffer either. But Jesus had the wisdom and knowledge to see that we were already suffering without him. Suffering without Jesus is to be lost and condemned. Suffering with Jesus is to grow in our depth of understanding how far the love of Christ has reached into lives. While we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Jesus died for you and me even while we were lost and condemned in our sin.

We still suffer. But we do so confidently that we are not lost. We know the pathway. I may not like my life at times, but I know where it is going. A passage of scripture that is one of my favorites to share when visiting someone at the hospital is Isaiah 43:1-3. “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”

This passage of scripture is important to me because it speaks honestly of life. Waters, rivers, fire, and flame. Life is not easy. There is suffering. But is all this suffering to no end, no purpose? We can know this much.

Fear not.

How can I not fear?

I am known.

The Lord God has created me, formed me, and redeemed me. He knows me. In explanation of the first article of the creed “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth” Martin Luther wrote, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that he has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them.

He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all that I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.

He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.

All this he does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.”

It is the good and gracious will of your God to lead and guide you through this life.

St. Paul wrote to the Romans to given them confidence in their faith in the midst of sufferings and persecutions. Paul wrote, “We have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand.”

I want you to consider that suffering without Christ is to be lost and condemned. But we are not lost. We are not condemned. Jesus Christ has found us. He has come in the flesh and suffered and died and was raised again for you. Therefore believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and as your savior from sin and you will therefore stand by grace before God. We have been given the field victorious to stand upon. Though battles rage about us, we stand firm upon Christ.

So if we have obtained by grace through faith access to God and if we have his assurance of the pouring of God’s love into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us, why do we forfeit this gift?

Why do we act at times like we do not know that the destination is secure? Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, if it were not so he would not have told us. Jesus has promised “where I am there you will be.”

We forfeit this gift when we respond with violence to violence. We forfeit this access to God when we act apart from his commandments. Can you imagine a team being given the playbook to the perfect game? They have been assured that if they have faith in this playbook there is absolutely no way they can lose the game. They also have been told that in the game it will not always look like victory is at hand. But even so they are assured that no matter the roadblocks they hit in the game to have faith in the playbook and they will have victory.

So the team takes the field. They rush onto the field filled with the confidence of victory. But at half time they walk slowly back to the locker room. One of the leaders of the team stands up and walks over to the table upon which the playbook sits. He picks it us, rips it in half, and throws it at the coach. The team takes the field at half-time and each player plays the game the way that he thinks best. They sink further into defeat and never show a chance of victory in the second half.

This is what we do when in suffering we do not trust in the way of Christ. Your friends and family know that you are a Christian. They look to your witness and when you respond with anger and hatred in your voice you are forfeiting what Christ has obtained for you. When we are filled with tension, anxiety, or hatred we are giving up on the promises of Christ.

You are a Christian by your faith in the gift of Jesus Christ. This is not of your own doing but the working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has worked through the gospel to bring you to faith. Daily and richly he provides for you. But we sure do a good job of trying to undo the work of the Holy Spirit when we try to live our lives apart from the commandments of our Lord.

While you are traveling through life I understand that there will be moments of anxiousness. But we are called by God to live our lives through God’s love that he has poured into our hearts. So when you are suffering and seem to be hitting dead-ends in life I encourage you to fix your eyes on Jesus the author and perfecter of your faith.

I do not deny suffering will happen for Christians. In fact I can promise that you will suffer. But this suffering is not a dead-end. Suffering produces endurance. Our faith is strengthened when we stand firm on Christ in the middle of the waters that crash against us. I know I want a shortcut to happiness. But pleasure in this life is not ultimately found in satisfying the physical desires of the sinful flesh. Pleasure in this life is found in knowing this life is secure in the hands of Jesus. With the freedom we have in Christ we are free to act out of love and mercy and not obligation and guilt.

Trust and stand firm by the grace of God. Have faith in Jesus Christ as your victorious savior upon the cross. He is not dead. He defeated sin, death, and the devil.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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