Introduction: In the book of Isaiah, Jesus is called the Prince of Peace (Is. 9:6). He is called the Righteous One (Acts 3:14). He was said to have had Joy even as He faced the Cross (Hebrews 12:2). If these are indeed traits Jesus has, and if we are to imitate Him, then Peace, Righteousness and Joy need to be in our lives. But how do we come to experience them? Secondly, how do we imitate these traits in our lives?
In the book of Romans, Paul gives us some strong teaching on who we are in Christ and what God has done for us to put us in a position to be like our Master Jesus.
Romans 5:1-11.
This morning I want to share with you 5 things about our lives and what God has done for us. Hopefully by the end of this message you will see more clearly how great our God is and how much he loves you. As you see that love my hope is that it will prompt you to desire to imitate Jesus as you live the life God has given you! Also, I hope that if you have never given your life to Jesus, you will hear the voice of God in your heart and respond by surrendering your life to Him.
Well, Paul begins by telling us something very important:
1. We have been declared righteous by faith! (vs. 1)
The KJV says – “being justified”. The Greek word is Dikaio. It means made right or just. It is in the aorist tense which means it is an event or action done once. It is in passive voice which indicates that the subject is the recipient of the action not the originator. This means if you have accepted Jesus Christ in to your life – you are declared righteous NOW!
You don’t have to work at being righteous in God’s sight – you are already! Does that mean that we can do whatever we want and God will turn a blind eye to it? No, of course not! Just like when our children disobey there are consequences – our sin brings consequences. Our relationship with God is damaged and we feel disconnected from Him. That is not a good place to be but still we never cease to be his children. And just like with our children, discipline happens. For the Christian the desire to do the right things comes not out of trying to win god’s favor but to live right because of God’s favor. Because God has made us righteous – we need to live out who we are – we are the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus!
2. We have peace with God through Jesus! Vs. 1
Greek word – eirene means 2 peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord. 3 security, safety, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous). 5 of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God.
Because of our faith in Jesus Christ we now have open communication and connection with the God of the Universe! We are no longer at odds with him – be we have been made right with him and that brings peace. Remember Jesus was called the Prince of Peace? Doesn’t it stand to reason that those who believe in him and are filled with his spirit would be people who are at peace with God? This peace brings with it a sense of security and safety. A person who is cognizant of His connection with God through Jesus will be a person who isn’t rattled by life. Sometimes we all need a reminder of that. God holds the whole world in his hands. He is in control of everything – and He is our father! Knowing that and reminding ourselves of that will bring peace even in the midst of storms.
3. We stand in grace. Vs. 1
“Grace is normally God’s free and unmerited favor, his undeserved, unsolicited and unconditional love. But here it is not so much his quality of graciousness as ‘the sphere of God’s grace’, our privileged position of acceptance by him. (Stott, Commentary on Romans, p. 139-140)
Paul says “we have obtained access”. This word in Greek has a sense of formality to it. It is in the perfect tense showing a statement of fact – the action has been completed once for all! It is used in only 2 other places, both in Ephesians 2:18 and 3:12. In both instances there is a strong thought of being brought in by another person or thing outside of self. In other words we don’t come into the grace of God on our own. We are ushered into it by Jesus through Faith. Both of these are outside of our own abilities. We are given faith by God. We don’t seek him out - he seeks us out!
The verb ‘stand’ is also interesting because it is in the perfect tense as well. John Stott in his commentary of Romans says this, “Our relationship with God, into which justification has brought us, is not sporadic but continuous, not precarious but secure. We do not fall in and out of grace. No we stand in it, for that is the nature of grace. Nothing can separate us from God’s love. (8:38).” (P. 140)
4. We rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Vs. 2
The hope we have as Christians is not uncertain. The word for hope means – “a joyful and confident expectation of eternal salvation” which rests on the promises of God. Because of who God is and His extreme trustworthiness, we can rejoice even in difficult times! Why? Because there is hope!
The object of that hope according to this verse is the glory of God. I heard a guy say one time, “God will be glorified. In good times, bad times and in between times, He will always be glorified!” His point is an eternal one – God was, is and always will be glorified! But it goes a step further and this may blow your mind: we are to reveal the glory of God.
Here is a break in the action. Up until now Paul has been painting a happy, happy, joy, joy picture. Just so that we recognize the reality of life he gives us the next 2 that deal with the harsh reality of life on this planet and how far God had to go to bring us to himself.
5. We rejoice in afflictions. Vs. 3-8
How is it possible that we are to rejoice in afflictions? Well the first thing we must understand is what is being talked about here. The word afflictions means. This is not referring to the aches and pains or the fears and frustrations of life. It is not talking about the disappointments and things we have to do without. The Greek word is ‘thlipseis’ which literally means “pressures”. This word speaks directly to the opposition and persecution of a hostile world. This is the same word Jesus used in John 16:33 when he told his disciples, “You will have sufferings in this world.”
So why should we look at sufferings with rejoicing? Paul answers that question in the following verses:
Affliction produces endurance. We could not learn endurance without suffering. We will never learn how to win if we are always quitting when it gets tough!
Endurance produces proven character. The word here is: dokime – it is the quality of a person who has been tested and has passed the test!
Proven character produces hope.
You see we are told that we are to look at difficulties with expectation of God’s glory being revealed in and to us. Paul says over in 8:16-17: 16 The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. Romans 8:16-17 (HCSB)
The reality is that you grow the most during difficult times. This principle is true in the physical realm as well as the spiritual. You build up physical muscles by working them – putting stress on them. Iron and steel are forged through the fire. Diamonds are made by constant pressure being exerted on it. Spiritual muscles and beauty are developed through the fires of life. So many times we try to avoid the sufferings by not taking a stand for our faith in the public square. But unless are stand up for Christ and face the ridicule and pressure we will not grow stronger.
Paul continues to say that the hope forged in the fires of life will not disappoint. Why? Because of God’s love! He says, “God’s love is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”
It is in the difficult times that we actually experience the depth of God’s love. The words ‘poured out’ can be seen in the metaphor – “a cloudburst on a parched countryside.” God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. As we just read a minute ago in Romans 8:16 – the Spirit testifies with our spirit. One of the functions of the Holy Spirit in our lives is to let us know that God loves us! We have within us a constant reminder of the incredible love of God.
Now you may say – “Well my life stinks right now! I’m hurting and God doesn’t seem to be anywhere around!” If you can stop long enough to look beyond your circumstances to the larger picture: God is working to make you like Jesus. Jesus himself would have been able to say on several occasions – life stinks! But he kept his eyes on his mission. The book of Hebrews tells us that we are to keep our eyes of Jesus – because our relationship with him is the only thing really worth living for. You see this life is a dress rehearsal for eternity. This is not the end all! How we live is preparing us for eternity. Everything we do matters! The character we develop, the ministry we do, the people we serve, all matter for eternity. If we can keep that perspective, we will be able to face whatever comes our way with the faith of Job – “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord!” We can learn to praise God in all circumstances – because our hope is not just for this life but in the life to come!
But another proof of God’s love is the cross! Vs. 8 says that God proves his love for us – through the cross of Jesus. Now I want us to think for a moment about the price God paid for your sin and mine. God gave his one and only Son, Jesus. He literally gave Himself for you and me.
It has been said that the essence of giving is love. “Moreover, the degree of love is measured partly by the costliness of the gift to the giver, and partly by the worthiness or unworthiness of the beneficiary. The more the gift costs the giver and the less the recipient deserves it, the greater the love is seen to be.” (Stott, Commentary on Romans, p. 144) God is perfect, holy, righteous, all powerful and all knowing. He became a man and laid his life down for you and me. The worth of God is beyond measure. What were we worth? What does the bible say about us? How does the Bible describe us – even as Jesus laid down his life for us.
Vs. 6 – helpless and ungodly. Vs. 8 – sinners. Vs. 10 – enemies of God.
We were helpless – weak without strength – we were powerless to change our own way! We were hopelessly lost; totally unable to rescue ourselves. That’s what you and I were when Jesus died for us!
We were ungodly. This means we were not just helpless we were active in our rebellion toward God. It was purposeful rebellion. Instead of loving God with all our being, we rebelled against him!
We were sinners. We have departed from the way of righteousness, fallen short of God’s standards and missed the target!
We were enemies of God. We held a deep seated hostility toward God. 8:7 says, “the mindset of the flesh is hostile to God.” We resented His authority over our lives. We actively worked against Him! But I want you to notice something – the hostility was not one sided. The Bible says that the wrath of God remains on the ungodly! Paul says that those don’t believe are condemned already. Condemned by whom? By God!
Now realize that while we were all those things – helpless, ungodly, sinners, enemies of God – He sent Jesus to take our place. The wages of sin is death! God made that rule! So He provided the payment himself! Jesus willingly went to the cross to pay for your sin and mine!
Vs. 10 says that we have been reconciled to God through the death of Jesus and we are saved by Christ’s life – speaking of the resurrection!
You see at just the right time says vs. 6 Jesus died for you and me. When we come to him in humility and repentance asking him to forgive our sin and cleanse us, He does! In coming to Christ, we escape the penalty of our sin – we are set free. Also we are given the gift of having the wrath of God that our sin deserves turned away from us so that we can stand before him on judgment day with the righteousness of Jesus on us and not our sinfulness!
You see we can rejoice now because we have been reconciled to God through Jesus! Vs. 11
Conclusion: How do we appropriate peace, righteousness and joy? There is only one way – we must come to Jesus by faith and place our trust in him alone for salvation. We cannot experience these Jesus traits any other way!
Can we imitate these traits? Yes, we can, but not perfectly.
PEACE: Jesus said blessed are the peace makers. Why are they blessed? Because Jesus says they will be called sons of God. You see we are called to be peacemakers so that others can see God in us. Making peace is difficult and sometimes seems almost impossible. But just remember the distance God covered to make peace with Him possible. His Holy Spirit now resides in you so you have the ability to be a peace maker. Not by your own strength but in His!
JOY: James reminds us that we are to be joyful even in our trials. Joy comes from knowing what is on the other side. Working out your body is not always joyful but when you remember the end results it makes the workout more fun. We need to remember what this life is for – it is to make us more like Jesus. Part of the forging process of our character is difficult but it is necessary. God loves you and He is more than trustworthy. Nothing in your life comes without first passing through His hands. So trust Him even in the difficult times and hold on to the hope that He will never leave or forsake you! When we think about that – joy in the midst of pain will come.
RIGHTEOUSNESS: Finally we come to righteousness and goodness. Can we imitate that? Yes we can. We simply need to learn to live out who we are. We have been made the righteousness of God through Jesus. This is fact! You know a male lion cub isn’t king of the jungle yet but he will be because that is who he is. His whole life as a young lion is learning to live out who he really is. Guys we don’t need to walk around like we are the scum of the earth – we are the children of God – we have been given the righteousness of Christ! Let’s start living out who we are!
