What has happened to believers in Christ the Son of God? Is
there anything we boast of since we have believed in him? What do we boast of? What
does the world say when troubles and difficulties come? Do whatever you feel,
complain and murmur. What does God say? Rejoice in the Lord! The theme of
Romans Chapter 5 is to ‘rejoice in the Lord Christ.’ First, we rejoice because
we have peace with God since we have been made righteous in Christ Jesus. The
hostility has ended in Christ. Second, we rejoice in our sufferings for we
know that suffering produces perseverance, character, and hope in heaven. God
demonstrated his love for the sinners like us through the sufferings of the Son
on a cross. Third, we rejoice in God who reconciled us in Jesus Christ. Is
there more blessings than we have already received? Why is it that we are not
experiencing the riches of Christ in our midst? Why is it that we are not more rejoicing
than being bitter and anxious and complaining? God teaches and reveals the truth
why to boast in him and how to rejoice in the sufferings by the pen the
Apostle.
“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 boast in the hope
of the glory of God.” (Romans 5:1-2)
Until man is born again in Christ, they have no access to
the throne of grace, which means no peace and rest. But those who are justified
by the blood of Christ can stand in the presence of Holy God with confidence
and boldness. God is our home and welcomes anyone to his indwelling place
through the faith of Jesus Christ the Lord. “Let anyone who is thirsty come to
me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living
water will flow from within them. By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who
believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been
given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.” (John 7:37-39) Jesus says, “Everyone
who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I
give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them
a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) In Christ Jesus
the Lord, we have been united with him. We are in Christ and he in us.
In order to access into this grace we don’t need to go up to
heaven to bring Christ down nor need to cross the sea to bring back Christ from
the dead, because the word of God is in our mouth and heart. We are the temple
of God, says the Scripture. We have been made and blessed as his holy
residence. Jesus says, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father
will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.” (John
14:23) So, we boast in the hope of the glory of God. It is a mystery of God
that he indwells in man whom he made in his image and in his likeness. The
mystery has been hidden for ages and generations but now revealed by the Son
Jesus Christ. “I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to
present to you the word of God in its fullness— the mystery that has been kept
hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. To
them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of
this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:25-27)
So, strive to approach the throne of God by faith to take his grace and mercy
as needed. “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that
we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews
4:16)
“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because
we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and
character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been
poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”
(Romans 5:3-5)
Not only we rejoice in the hope of glory of God, but we
rejoice even in our sufferings. What we see is not all, but what we do not see
is reality. We believe that there is a God who knows what He is doing according
to the words of promise. Christ is the pattern of real man God intended man to
be even before the time began. The secret of the Son’s life on the earth is to
fix his eyes on the Father in heaven. “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do
nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because
whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and
shows him all he does.” (John 5:19-20a) The Father and the Son is in the
perfect communion forever, even during the earthly life of Jesus. Likewise, we
who have been made alive by the cleansing blood of Christ are in the perfect
communion with Christ Jesus the Lord.
God comforts us in our tribulations so that we may be able to
comfort those who are in trouble, with the comfort with which we are comforted
by God. What is tribulation? It means a great suffering, especially internal
pressure with no way of escape. Often sufferings are caused by the external
troubles, but not necessarily. Tribulation may come when you get up in the
morning suddenly and out of nowhere that your heart’s pressured and stressed
heavily. You may be overburdened when you go to work. You may encounter an
angry boss or coworker. You may be cut in line while driving. In fact, no one
can deny that life is full of troubles and heartaches.
Why do we experience the thuds and bumps in our midst? Do we
ever want to get free from troubles and sufferings. No wonder everyone is
dreaming of early retirement. There is something terribly gone wrong in our
humanity regardless of whatever it may be called like sin, destiny, fate, or
doom. Here is an amazing statement God spoke after the fall of man. This is the
ultimate prescription for the restoration process of humanity.
“To Adam he
said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about
which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
‘Cursed is
the ground because of you;
through painful
toil you will eat food from it
all the days
of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will
eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow
you will eat
your food
until you
return to the ground,
since from
it you were taken;
for dust you
are
and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17-19)
God knows us much better and deeper than we know ourselves. There
is a reason why we cannot escape the troubles of lives like distress, anguish,
despair, misery, sorrow, pain. No one is exempt from troubles because trials
are common to mankind. “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common
to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you
can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you
can endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) All sufferings are designed and given
unto his children to be disciplined and trained in order to produce patience,
character, and hope. The hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God
has been poured out into our hearts through the Spirit. It is the reason to
rejoice in sufferings. No sufferings, no consolations. “For as the sufferings
of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ.” (2
Corinthians 1:5) Just as we partake of his sufferings, so also we will partake
of his consolation sealed by the resurrection power of God.
Our hope is on things above, not on earthly things. “Since,
then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where
Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not
on earthly things.” (Colossians 3:1-2) The earthly things are perishable,
rotten, and fading away. Treasures on earth are destroyed by moth and rust and
thieves (Matthew 6:19). But the hope in heaven never make us ashamed because it
never perish, spoil, or fade (1 Peter 1:4). With such a hope, we have
confidence and boldness to venture out, offering our bodies as living sacrifices
to the Lord when the doors are open (Romans 12:1). Obedience is full submission
to the Lord, just as Christ did on the cross to the Father in heaven (Hebrews
5:8). God knows how much we can take. The sufferings are not coming without
purpose.
When we are suffered and tried, we immediately protest,
saying “Why is it happened to me?” It is so easy to tend to think that I am the
most suffering person in the world. But it is not true, says the Scripture. All
temptations are common to man. No trials come to man, which they cannot take. How
do we know? It is because God is faithful and knows what we can take. So, God
does not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are not able to take. Furthermore,
in the midst of temptations God surely will make the way out. Our God is compassionate
and merciful in love. Our God is faithful and just. In Him, there is no
variation or shadow of turning (James 1:17).
God chastises and disciplines us out of love and grace. “’My
son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he
rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone
he accepts as his son.’ Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as
his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? If you are
not disciplined—and everyone undergoes discipline—then you are not legitimate,
not true sons and daughters at all.” (Hebrews 12:5b-8) The trials and
temptations are the opportunities designed for our lessons to understand and grasp
the mysteries of God. We are not able to see the whole picture yet, the depth,
the height, the width, the length hidden in God who sees and knows all things. So,
we trust and live by faith on the foundation of truth, Christ Jesus. Walk in
Christ daily and give thanks for everything. There is no confusion or
uncertainty in Christ because there is no darkness at all. Those who are in
Christ shall walk in the light, full of light.
“Trust in
the Lord with all your heart,
And lean not
on your own understanding;
In all your
ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.” (Proverb 3:5-6)
How can we be sure
of that the love of God poured out into our hearts by the Spirit in the midst
of troubles and travails? Apostle Paul explains for us how we can be certain of
God’s love. He reminds us of the unfailing fact that God gave His begotten Son
Jesus Christ when we were the enemies, running away from him further and
further. God loved us first even when we were still sinners. The demonstration
of God’s love has been manifested in the death of the Son Jesus Christ with
blood on a cross in Calvary. God reached out his long stretched loving hands to
all people who were aliens and strangers, standing far away from the
righteousness of God through not an angel but the Son Jesus Christ.
“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 person, though for a good person 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. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much
more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! For if, while we were
God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much
more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is
this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom
we have now received reconciliation.” (Romans 5:6-11)
Paul concludes the infallibility
of God’s love. Eugene Peterson renders, “Now that we are set right with God by
means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no
longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our
worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his
Son, now that we’re at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and
deepen by means of his resurrection life!” (Romans 5:9-10, The Message) We have
the undeniable reason to rejoice in the sufferings because we are in Jesus
Christ who suffered and died in our place when we were still sinners. God loved
us first, which means he let his Son to suffer much in our place. Even the Son
learned obedience through what he suffered (Hebrews 5:8). Jesus says, “Remember
what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted
me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey
yours also.” (John 15:20) Because it is the way to life, to the Father, to salvation,
to glory, God was pleased to crush the Son who obeyed the Father. “Yet it was
the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the LORD makes
his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and
the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.” (Isaiah 53:10) So also we boast
in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have received
reconciliation. His grace is sufficient to overcome the world since Christ in
us defends us before the Holy God (Romans 5:12-21). “For if, by the trespass of
the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who
receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness
reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17)
What do we get out
of this? What is holding us back from experiencing the riches of Christ? One,
the promises of God is too good to be true. It may be working for others like
the patriarchs but not for me. So, there is no expectations to receive and
experience the promise in the hope of glory. Two, unrealistic expectations. Our
journey in Christ is not a day, month, or year, but lifetime long. We obey a small
thing and God will reveal another truth. The more we obey, the more God will
give and reveal the secrets of life. We know God is faithful, so we wait
patiently, believing that his ways are different, higher, deeper than our ways.
Hebrews tells us we are in the race of faith and commands to follow to run the
race on track. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
(Hebrews 12:1) Judge is not human but God. These two, too good to be true and
unrealistic expectations, may be the things that hinder our race. Three,
pretense or hypocrisy. It is the sin that easily entangles us. We know that we
have a lot of problems in our lives. We know that we are tempted and failing in
many ways. At the same time, we don’t want to admit. We don’t want to be
ashamed and humiliated. We want to avoid as far as we can. But the more we try
to avoid the more we are entangled with the sin, not being able to run the
race.
Jesus said to a
Samaritan woman, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a
drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
(John 4:10) What does God want us to do? Ask for a drink. That is it. Ask! God
is ready to give us whatever we ask in the name of the Son Jesus Christ. Why
does our God want to give us whatever we ask? Are we any better than others? Is
anyone to deserve for his loving care and blessings? No, no one deserves. But because
he is love, he gives and gives, even the Son for the sin of the world. With
such a love, our God invites us to come unto him with open arms and drink the
living water welling up to eternal life. God is asking us to respond to his
love through the faith in the Son Jesus Christ, the pioneer and finisher of
faith. Jesus doesn’t say that she should first clean up and ask. If it is
required for anyone to clean up first no one is able to ask because it is
impossible to clean up by ourselves. We have been made righteous by the blood
of Christ, so we simply ask through the faith in Christ Jesus the Lord. Hebrews
says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who
comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who
earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Our God is compassionate and merciful,
taking care of his children as the Father and Shepherd. “Are you asking for
help?” Maybe do we think that we need to do more to God? More prayers, more
service, and then ask. What does it pull us away from asking like a child? Guilt
may deeply be embedded in our hearts for not doing more. But there is no way to
do more. If there is a way to do more, then Christ doesn’t need to die for us.
We have been made righteous, so we may ask for God with confidence by faith. Then,
the heavenly Father who is merciful and compassionate rewards us. Listen to
what our Lord Jesus says:
"Therefore I
tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about
your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more
than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store
away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more
valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your
life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all
his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying,
‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the
pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need
them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things
will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew
6:25-34)
October
9, 2017
©
2011-2017 David Lee Ministries – All
Rights Reserved.
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