What do you say to a family watching the impact of dementia on a loved one as they see them robbed of memories, ability to communicate and even their personality? What do you say to Iranian brothers and sisters getting daily news about family who have been murdered by the regime? How about when a friend messages to say they are having a really difficult time at work, their boss is making life really hard for them. They are not sure how much more they can take?
The reality is that everyone faces suffering whether that’s because of the nature of the world around us, intentional persecution or even failings of the church. Romans 5:1-11 helps us to see how to respond to suffering. The idea of suffering might seem to be coming in a bit left field here in the middle of Paul unpacking his Gospel with all the big doctrines we encounter in Romans. However, for Paul, the Gospel is something that helps churches face life. The church in Rome would experience suffering from within and from persecutors, whether Judaizers or the Roman authorities. Paul won’t ask them to face anything though that he hasn’t faced himself.
So, how can we face suffering? I want to suggest three ways.
- Resting in what Christ has already accomplished for us
- Seeing what Christ is doing in and through us now
- Trusting in hope as we look forward to what Christ will do.
Resting in what Christ has already accomplished for us (v1-2)
Paul begins “Therefore”, a word designed to grab our attention. The sense is “because of all I’ve said so far, something big is coming up.” The “therefore” here links back to what Paul has said in chapter 4 about justification, being right with God (v1). This is something that Jesus accomplished for us at Calvary. It’s like the image of the poor girl, massively in debt, in rags. She meets a handsome, wealthy prince and he falls in love with her. He marries her. What is hers becomes his; he takes her rags, her debt and in exchange she receives new, beautiful clothes, a palace and unlimited riches. At Calvary, Jesus took the penalty of our sin on himself and in exchange gave us his righteousness.
The result, says Paul, is that we have peace with God and access to his grace: his undeserved favour or love (v2). This is no mere ceasefire, a temporary halt in hostilities, the kind of best hope we have for Ukraine or Iran. It’s about the underlying problem being resolved so we become allies, friends, in fact we become part of God’s kingdom, part of his family.
This enables us to rest. Note that God’s way for us always begins with resting – not so much a nap as enjoying the benefits/fruit of our labours. But Adam and Eve had their first sabbath rest the day after their creation. Rest precedes work because they got to enjoy what God has accomplished for them. We get to enjoy what Christ has done for us
We can rest secure in him, enjoying his peace and so we don’t view suffering as evidence of judgement/ of God being against us. It reorientates our perspective. We have access into God’s presence. Suffering is not a barrier to this.
But also, I think this is very important for one example of suffering that I mentioned at the start. Sometimes suffering comes from within the church. It’s not intentional, it’s not malicious but we manage to hurt each other. This can particularly happen when there’s fall out over things like worship song preferences, the gifts of the spirit and men and women in leadership.
We can…I can (I know it’s true of me and so I’m going to stick with the first person) hold too tightly to my interpretation and make that the number one issue. It can become about power and control. And what can happen is that people can end up being bruised by that.
Our concern should be that we live as a family of God’s people together in a way that honours him. I think that means that if we are seeking to be faithful to him and obedient to his word then we can trust him to keep us faithful.
But here’s the point. Justification means that we can keep the main thing the main thing, In fact, I don’t want to do anything that will cause anyone to lose sight of the great treasure we have of what Christ has done for us. This means that we don’t have to hold so tightly to those things and we can recognise where we have got it wrong and say sorry for where we have hurt others.
What God has done for us gives the basis for our future hope to come (v2b) but before that let’s look at the present.
Seeing what Christ is doing in and through us now (v3-5)
A big theme in Romans is that Grace/faith rule out boasting except in The Gospel and in our suffering. In other words, we are not just meant to survive our suffering or escape it but to thrive in it by learning to be holy. We rejoice or boast in suffering because of what it produces just as athletes have to work hard in training to develop stamina and improve if they are to have any hope of winning (v3a). Think of all the training that those England players have put in to preparing for the World Cup. The writer to the Hebrews also talks about God’s discipline through suffering being like a parent seeking to raise and nurture their child. Suffering produces endurance/patience which produces character as Christ is formed in us. This in turn produces hope 9v3b-5).
A few years back, my mum went into hospital for surgery. Sadly the operation didn’t have the desired effect and she was taken onto ICU and intubated. During that time, there was a sense of suffering together. We were beginning to suffer a bereavement. Lots of prayer, lots of tears. Initially our prayers were for mum to get better. We had just short of two weeks with mum at her hospital bedside. And in that time God was at work in us. It took time, it took sleep interrupted nights, then other things in the middle of this. A break in to our shed at home, train journeys back and forth. God was teaching us to trust him not for our preferred outcome but to wait patiently for the better outcome that God had planned, to bring mum home to himself. Our character was being changed as we got to see God’s perspective. And hope grew out of this as we saw the way mum faced death, as we experienced the presence of Jesus in the ICU room.
Hope does not put us to shame – because our hope comes from Christ’s love poured into our lives.
Trusting in hope as we look forward to what Christ will do (v6-11)
We are beginning to look forwards in hope but the hope is still very much rooted in the past. How can we hope? Well, it’s based on what Jesus has already done. The phrasing is “Yet Christ … while we were sinners” (v6a). Christ is front loaded. The attention is meant to be on him. In fact, all of this past, present future stuff could be summed up as “in Christ.” The robes of righteousness we receive are His: in fact, we are clothed in Christ.
Jesus died for the ungodly and this was timely – both in terms of when we needed it and at the time in history of God’s choosing (v6b). Now, here’s a conundrum. Most of us wouldn’t die for anyone, even a righteous person; okay, maybe we would for a good person. It is possible that Paul is making a distinction here, the generally righteous person as opposed to the person who is specifically good to me or it may have the feel of “very few people will sacrifice for a good person… oh okay, yes it’s possible that you might, especially if they have been good to you.” Either way, the point is that sacrifice even for good people is rare, but Jesus died for bad people. Jesus died for sinners (v7-8).
Then there’s the “how much more” language that follows on.
“If/since …then how much more?”
“If/since we are justified …how much more we will be saved from wrath?”
“If/Since we were his enemies and reconciled by his death… how much more will we be saved by his life.”
The past event acts as the guarantee. God has already done the hardest bit at the Cross, so we can be confident. God’s people Israel expected the Messiah to intervene to deliver his people. If we have been included in the people of the covenant then we can expect to be saved.
Or here’s another way of putting it. “Satan’s not coming back in the second half.” Back in 2013, I took Sarah to see Bradford City v Northampton Town in the League 2 play off finals at Wembley. All of the supporters were tense. Then we scored a first goal, then a second then a third. Then Sarah said “surely you can all relax now!” This was met with a chorus of groans. “Nooo! You can’t say that. We can still throw it away in the second half.”
And perhaps that’s your fear. Especially when going through intense suffering. What if I lose my faith during suffering. What if fear gets the better of me in my dying days, what if dementia robs me of my knowledge of God and his word?” Jesus says that he has got it covered. His promise is that he won’t lose any of us. He will hold me fast.
Conclusion
What are you facing right now? Perhaps its difficult colleagues or peers making work or school unpleasant. Maybe they are particularly picking on you because of your faith? Perhaps you’ve just got that diagnosis, for yourself or a family member. It’s terminal. Perhaps you have spent many nights, sleepless, praying with tears for a son or daughter that seems a long way from Jesus.
The promise is that we can face those things in Christ. He will keep you safe through to the other side and he will use these trials to grow your hope in him.
So, I’d like to encourage you to do three things in response
- Right now jot down somewhere what aspect of suffering area of trial are you struggling with at the moment or identify one person you know is suffering
- Within the next week plan to meet with someone to pray. If you are struggling then identify a trusted friend you can talk to/pray with. Or plan to go and meet the person you identified.
- Within three months resolve to share testimony in your growth group about what God has been doing through suffering in your life.
Faithroots 