Romans 5:1-5
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 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. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 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.
I spend a lot of time reading electronic documents; one thing I love to have when I am reading is hyperlinks. You can click on a word or phrase, and it takes you elsewhere. I like to read documents that have them and send out stuff with links in them. One hour before the virtual worship starts, church members get an email that says the worship service will start in an hour. Monday morning, church members get an email with a link to all the church videos, the 10 am, the 11 am, and a link for just the sermon. When we have Church Council meetings, the church members also get a link for that. I am fond of this technology because it allows someone to access a lot of information without taking up a lot of space. They also allow you to connect items that would typically be far apart. One-click and what they need is at their fingertips.
At first, they were called "embedded menus."
The invention of these menus occurred before we had even heard of something called the internet or the World Wide Web, and it happened in the early ages of computer technology.
Ben Shneiderman, a computer scientist at the University of Maryland and the inventor of the embedded menu, quickly gave these menus a new name: hyperlinks. It caught on, and without them, researchers, librarians, grad students, parents, and countless others in every occupation would be floundering and perhaps still looking for help in the venerable Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.
Hyperlinks are so natural that they've become invisible unless we make a special effort like this to appreciate them. Hyperlinks were one application of Shneiderman's theory of direct manipulation, which also led to the tiny touch-screen keyboards on mobile devices, tagging family photos, gestural interaction, and other visual interfaces." All these developments served the purpose of communication and connection.
Paul wrote his letter to the Roman church for that exact reason. The book of Romans is the apostle Paul's longest letter in the Bible, and Paul wrote this letter before he visited the Roman Church.
Paul was laying the groundwork before he visited because he might have been worried about how the visit would go. Paul wasn't sure the Roman Church would receive him, and he wasn't sure the Roman country would accept him.
Paul collected offerings from Gentile churches in Macedonia and Asia, and Paul was worried the Roman church would not take a gift from the Gentiles. This idea is funny because the Romans were oppressing the Jewish-born Christians while the Jewish-born Christians had trouble, including the Gentiles.
This church is also in the city of Rome, Roman leaders did not let their military generals come close to Rome because they feared a potential takeover, yet these people who professed to follow a king of kings lived in their city. The Roman Government was always scared of being overthrown, so much so that their military leaders couldn't come back home with their soldiers because the Government would see that as an attempted takeover. Now you have this group of people living in the city who were not treated warmly.
Paul used the Roman letter to address these issues and many more. First, Paul lets the believers in Rome know that the Gentile Christians and the Jewish Christians are justified by faith, not by some sort of social status. As believers, we are made right in God by faith and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
So now, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith in God's promises, we can have real peace with God because of what Jesus Christ has done for us. Because of our faith, he has brought us into this place of the highest privilege, where we now stand. We confidently and joyfully look forward to becoming all God has in mind for us to be. Paul is showing the people how to connect to something peaceful in the middle of the tests and trials.
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient. Patience develops our strength of character and helps us trust God more each day until our hope and faith are strong and steady. We can then hold our heads high, no matter what happens, and confidently know that all is well. We know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with God's love. We receive that love even while we are suffering.
Suffering
Suffering comes in many forms. For the early Christians, physical torture at the hands of authorities, impatient crowds, and bloodthirsty mobs challenged and fearful of the "different" among them was not uncommon. Today, people worldwide still face the threat of bodily harm because of the color of their skin, their religious beliefs, or their gender.
But we also know that the people in your congregation might be suffering mental anguish, emotional pain, and chronic bodily pain. They might know the pain of loss — the loss of a spouse or a child, the loss of income, the loss of a home, the loss of health.
People are suffering today, and often we don't know it; this may be because, as the Bible suggests, "Laughter can conceal a heavy heart, but when the laughter ends, the grief remains" (Proverbs 14:13, NLT).
Yet, embedded in the biblical discussion of suffering is another link that reveals an interesting truth about suffering: There's a positive byproduct to suffering!
Endurance
The "endurance" Paul speaks of is a far more active experience than the sometimes-translated "patience" would suggest. While "patience" seems to denote passivity, perseverance reveals the activity involved in such an experience. "Enduring" does not suggest quietly "waiting it out." Biblical endurance requires "wading right in." Endurance races test the ability of the competitor to keep on going, despite exhaustion, obstacles, and genuine suffering.
This word is sometimes translated as "perseverance." Some people seem to be good at this. It is listed as a virtue on many lists of values and strengths. Endurance might be a product of your DNA — who you are — but the apostle suggests that when we experience suffering or what other translations call trials and tribulations, it produces endurance. It is one of the unique byproducts of suffering.
A person with endurance has learned how to gut it out daily. I tell you that endurance is not built overnight. Endurance builds over time by just doing one more. Working out one more time, praying one more time, saving one more time, fasting one more time, practicing one more time, speaking one more time, getting up one more time. No one masters anything overnight; it is a collection of all those times you did it one more time.
Character
The Greek word used for the word character in this passage could be said better as experience, and the term refers to a metal or precious gem that has gone through a trial by fire to test its worth. Character is not just who we are or what we are when no one is looking, it is also who we are while probed, vetted, observed, thoroughly examined, and tested, and all know the results.
Hope
I have heard hope described as faith with the lights turned on. Paul is telling the people to have hope because they have been through the suffering, had their endurance built up, and developed character, so they know that God loves them and has poured out his love into their hearts. This is not a fly-by-night feeling that will fade, they have been through some things and know that God will bring them out, and while they are waiting, they know that God is with them. They are connected to God so that, even though it seems far away, the connection is as fast as one click.
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