Sermon 8th March 2026 – 3rd Sunday in Lent
Text:
Romans 5:1-11 – Hope in suffering
St
Paul presents us with a beautiful message of hope and love even in the midst of
our most difficult times. Paul begins with a powerful declaration:
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." Notice Paul’s statement of when this
happens - We HAVE been justified – we
HAVE peace with God. These are present realities not future dreams. And as we
learned last week from John 3:16 –God’s love is not something we earn; it is a
gift from God from the heart of God -
his unconditional love for us. Through
faith in Jesus, our sins are forgiven, and we are declared righteous. Which means we don’t have to wait to learn our
fate when we face God after we die.
In
Colossians 3 Paul says we HAVE been raised with Christ already. And in
Ephesians 2 he says something even more profound:
God raised us up with Christ and seated
us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. It might not feel like that
especially when going through times of suffering but that is part of the
mystery that Paul will reveal in our Bible reading today. We are no longer
separated from God; instead, we are invited into a relationship of peace with
Him. Paul explains that through Christ, we have access to grace in which we
stand. This grace is not just a one-time
event; it is the very foundation of our lives as believers in Jesus Christ..
In
a world filled with chaos and uncertainty, we stand firm in the grace that God
has gifted to us. This peace is not merely the absence of conflict but a
deep-seated assurance that we are right with God. It enables us to face the storms of life with
confidence, knowing that we are loved and accepted as His children. But now we
come up to one of the most difficult, and dare I say, strangest of Paul’s
statements. He says:" We rejoice in
our sufferings” Could you imagine sending someone a “congratulations” because
you’ve heard they are suffering? But Paul sees suffering as part of a mystery
because suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope." And it’s all about hope for Paul.
Hope
is a major part of Paul’s understanding of God. Even in death Paul says in
Thessalonians – let us grieve – but no like those who have no hope. In the
midst of our struggles, Paul calls on us to rejoice—not for the pain itself but
for the work that God is doing within us. For Paul’s understanding of hope, each trial
is an opportunity to grow in our faith and trust in God rather than ourselves. Suffering
leads to endurance, endurance forms character, and character gives birth to
hope.
This
hope is not wishful thinking; it is a confident expectation in the love of God.
In fact Paul says he boasts about his suffering because he sees Jesus nearer to
him and says “when I am weak, then I am strong”.
Paul
reminds us that God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy
Spirit." In our darkest moments, we
can cling to the truth that God’s love is ever-present, assuring us that we are
never alone. And God’s love is not dependant on us in any way. In fact, Paul
says that it was while we were still sinners, at the right time Christ died for
the ungodly." It was at our weakest, in our most vulnerable, in our most
desperate state, that Christ came to be with us. At just the right time, while we were still
sinners, Jesus gave His life for us. This demonstrates the depth of God’s
love—a love that seeks us out, regardless of what we might think of ourselves
or what others think of us.
God
loves us because we are his children. In our Baptism God affirmed that – you
are my child whom I love. Paul acknowledges that it is rare for someone to die
even for a righteous person, but God’s love surpasses all human understanding. He didn’t wait for us to become worthy –
because that would never happen; God
loved us as we are because he created us. In light of this, Paul reassures us
that if we have been justified by His blood, we will be saved from the wrath of
God. Our salvation – our home is heaven - is secure in the unconditional love
of God for us.
Paul
concludes this passage with a triumphant declaration: "We also rejoice in
God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received
reconciliation." Through Jesus, we have been restored to right
relationship with God our Creator. We are no longer enemies but friends,
children of God, co-heirs with Christ. This
reconciliation is the ultimate expression of God’s grace. In this truth, we
find not only assurance but also a reason to rejoice – even in our suffering. Our lives should overflow with gratitude and
joy because of what Christ has accomplished for us. And because of this
glorious gift, we are called to share this message of hope and reconciliation
with the world around us.
We
are called to be examples of His love, reflecting the light of Christ in our
words and deeds. We are called to bring the same hope we have into a world that
is struggling to find any hope at all. Our hope is not found in money. Our hope
is not found in possessions. Our hope is not found if fame or fortune. Hope for
the world is not found in military strength or economic booms. Hope – true hope
– is found only in Christ and for that reason Paul highlights that when we go
through our times of suffering we remember that we don’t have all the answers. Only
Jesus has the answer because at the right time he came to live among us and
take away everything that separated us from God. The righteous for the
unrighteous.
God
made him who had no sin to become our sin so that we would become the
righteousness of God. That is our hope.
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