Today,
I’m going to do something a little different in my message. In addition to
speaking about a particular passage, I’m also going to touch on one of the key
doctrines of Christianity-the Trinity. After all, today is Trinity Sunday. The
concept is the Trinity is not mentioned specifically in the Bible, but it is
there. The Trinity is one of the most difficult concepts to preach on, and
that’s why many ministers take Trinity Sunday off!
Romans
5:5 begins a section of Scripture that scholars consider an exposition of God’s
love for humankind. John 3:16 expanded and expounded upon God’s love. Paul
refers to God’s glory, wrath, love and grace. God’s plan of salvation is a
reflection and extension of his attributes.
Paul’s
Letter to the Romans begins with the desperate condition of lost humanity and
ends triumphantly with the benefits of being reconciled to God. Just as it
begins and ends with “Through our Lord Jesus Christ,” so, too, is Christ first
and last in the life of the believer.
God
gives peace to us who have faith, even when we face life’s challenges. He pours
out love and gives us hope until the day when we share in his fullness. God’s
peace comes to us through Christ, and in Christ we have the constant assurance
of God’s grace. The Holy Spirit is the means by which we experience God’s love.
Some
people believe that they can earn their way out of sin debt to God. The problem
with that belief is that people can never know how much is enough. If we trust
in religion to save us, we will be in a constant state of fear because our debt
will solve the mystery of our eternal destiny. Our fate might be eternal
suffering. The only way to get relief from this fear is to receive God’s grace
through faith. If we do, we will be at peace. We will also have the assurance
that we will be with Jesus when he returns and remodels the world.
We
can have confidence that Christ will set things right one day. We have been
renewed and we are becoming more like Jesus. We can anticipate his return
without unpleasant circumstances to distract us. This does not mean that our
present lives will be free from suffering. Being faithful in a world that is
full of suffering is difficult and making sense out of it is, as Jesus says in
John’s Gospel, “too much for you know, but when the Spirit of truth comes, he
will lead you to complete truth. That truth involves persevering with faith
because of the power of the Holy Spirit.
The
Gospel reveals God’s love and justice, both of which begin and end with faith. When
we are saved through faith and by God’s grace, we receive God’s righteousness
and become children of God because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are
made wholly acceptable to God. God’s love touches every part of our lives. It
reaches out to everyone, and it is beyond comprehension. It’s like a buried
treasure that we have found. God has given us the realities of peace, grace and
love.
God’s
love sounds regularly in our hearts, but it is seldom heard. It’s often buried
under personal ambitions, cares, problems, daily routines and the general
busyness of life. When we stop focusing on ourselves and our own problems and
focus instead on God, our problems fade away.
God
gives us everything we need for inner peace. He opened the way for us to be in
his family. It’s as if we entered a castle and were escorted into the royal
presence as honoured guests instead of being treated as outsiders. Jesus
continually offers his peace so we can experience inner peace. The Holy Sprit
cultivates the fruit of peace in our lives.
The
word “peace” does not mean a lack of negative experience or a euphoric feeling.
It closely resembles the Hebrew word “shalom”, which describes a blessed and
prosperous community, not an inner, psychological or emotional peace. Paul has
that inner wholeness in mind. Peace must be in the hearts of the people for
there to be outward, objective peace in the church and in our lives.
God
gives peace to people who have faith. That peace comes to us through Jesus, who
gives us the constant assurance of grace. The Holy Spirit provides the means by
which we experience God’s love. We have a good, peaceful relationship with God
because of what he did for us in Christ. The Holy Spirit assures us that we
enjoy divine favour and access into God’s presence. Because of God’s grace, we
will share his glory on Judgment Day. God promises his children that they will
be one day clothed with Christ’s glory. The term “rejoice” means “to boast, in
the sense of jubilation, exultant rejoicing-to shout about it!”
Christians
are justified by faith and declared worthy by God. Consequently, they have
peace with God and don’t have to fear God’s judgment. When people are justified,
they have access by faith to the grace of God in which all Christians stand. In
the New Testament, the term “access” refers to the believer’s access to God
through Christ.
It
is quite natural to glory or exult in what is positive, but not in sufferings
and tribulations. In the Greek language, perseverance means “to abide under or
stay under pressure.” Suffering teaches believers to stay faithful under
pressure, like squeezing olives in a press to extract oil. This pressure
results from the conflict of two truths: faith and its enduring benefits versus
a fallen world under Satan’s influence.
When
we suffer we can rise above our sufferings to see the whole promise of God and
the structure he is creating in our lives. God’s grace is sufficient for every
situation we will face. Pressure is mandated by God and his love. When the Holy
Spirit enters our lives, he opens our eyes to the wonder of his love and shows
us that from now on our lives will be covered by his love and that all
circumstances (both good and bad) will be related to God’s loving purposes.
Learning
to stay calm under pressure produces character. The trials of life refine a
Christian’s character and faith. Paul is speaking of sterling character,
character without impurities. One writer calls it “tried integrity”-the
maturity of a veteran who is complete, or lacking nothing, as opposed to the
immaturity of a raw recruit. Christians can rejoice in future glory and present
trials and sufferings because they are changed and have become more
Christ-like. They have received God’s love and strength because when they were converted
the Holy Spirit poured God’s love into their hearts.
When we abide in Christ we are so saturated in Jesus that
when God looks at us he sees his own Son and wraps us in his love for Jesus’
sake. Real joy is found in God’s presence, with Jesus, secure and loved forever
and ever. God’s love never changes., and Jesus holds us close forever, no
matter what our circumstances are. Joy is the result of the work of the Holy
Spirit.
Bibliography
1.
Jeremiah,
David: The Jeremiah Study Bible, NKJV (Brentwood,
TN: Worthy Publishing; 2013; p. 1549-1550)
2.
ESV Study
Bible. Part of Wordsearch 11 Bible software package.
6.
Briscoe, D.S.
& Ogilvie, L.J.: The Preacher’s
Commentary Series, Vol. 29: Romans (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.;
1982)
7.
Jude
Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions, Trinity Sunday (C).” Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org
13.
Jude Siciliano, OP, “First Impressions, Trinity Sunday
(C).” Retrieved from www.preacherexchange.org
14.
Swindoll, Charles R.: Swindoll’s New Testament Insights on Romans (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan; 2010, pp. 110-114
16.
David Kalas, “This is Where You Come In.” Retrieved
from www.sermonsuite.com/printer.php?i=788040700
17.
Preaching Magazine, March/April 2016 (Nashville, TN:
Salem Publishing Inc.; p. 51)
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