“Peace Even In Suffering”
Romans 5:1-5

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Third Sunday in Lent—March 23, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Our text is today’s epistle reading from the 5th chapter of Romans.  In these verses, Paul tells us three reasons why we can have “Peace Even in Suffering:” 

1) We are assured that our suffering is not in any way a punishment from God, because we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 

2) We look forward to our sufferings coming to an end when Jesus takes us to be with him in paradise, the eternal bliss of heaven; 

3) We trust that even the sufferings we experience in this life are a part of God’s working all things together for our good, although we often don’t understand how or why.

“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 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

There is probably no question more troubling than the question of suffering:  Why?  Why is this happening to me or to my loved one?  Why this suffering?  Paul begins by beautifully assuring us what is not the reason why you are suffering: “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.” 

Through faith in your Lord Jesus Christ, you are justified, you are at peace with God.  As Psalm 32 says, “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.  Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.”  Your transgressions are forgiven because Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death in your place, as your substitute.  The Lord does not count your sins against you because your sins are covered by blood of Jesus.

Our natural reaction to suffering is to assume that it is punishment, a punishment for some sin.  But, the Good News is “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  “Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” means that God is not angry with you; “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” means that God is not punishing you; “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” means that your suffering is not now nor ever a punishment from God. 

How can you be sure?  Isaiah says of Jesus, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him.”  How can you be sure that your suffering is not now nor ever a punishment from God?  Simply because there is no more punishment left for you to bear; Jesus bore it all for you.  As Peter says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross.” 

“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.”  That is why you can be sure your suffering is not now nor ever a punishment from God.  As Psalm 103 says, “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. . . as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”  That is the first reason you can have “Peace Even in Suffering,” because you know that your suffering is not in any way a punishment from God.

Paul begins our text at that point in your life when the Holy Spirit worked faith your heart to trust in Christ as your Savior: “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.”  Paul then moves to end of your life in this world, to the hope of eternal life in heaven: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.” 

Paul puts it beautifully a few chapters later in Romans, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  The sufferings of this world will come to an end.  The final ending of all suffering will be the beginning of eternal happiness, eternal joy, eternal bliss.  As heaven is described in the book of Revelation, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.  He will wipe [away] every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain.” 

“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 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”  That is the second reason you can have “Peace Even in Suffering,” because you know that your suffering will end and you will be with Jesus in the paradise of heaven,

Paul begins our text at that point in your life when the Holy Spirit worked faith your heart to trust in Christ as your Savior: “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.”  Paul then moves to end of your life in this world, to the hope of eternal life in heaven: “And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.”  But, what about everything in between?  What about your sufferings in the here and now?  Why doesn’t God just take you out of this world, with all its suffering, at the moment you come to faith in Jesus?  What about everything in between your justification and your glorification, everything in between coming to faith in Jesus and going to be with Jesus?

First Paul points us forward to heaven, beyond the sufferings of this world, to the eternal bliss of the world to come, because that is our ultimate goal and our greatest source of comfort as we face the sufferings of this life.  But, Paul doesn’t ignore the sufferings of the here and now:

“And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.” 

Paul is saying that the sufferings of the here and now are in some way for our ultimate good, although we often don’t understand how or why.  As Paul says a few chapters later in Romans, “And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love him.”  God does not desire you to suffer; in fact, if it were not for the daily help and blessing and protection of God, our sufferings in this life would be multiplied far beyond what we could possibly bear.  But, the sufferings God does permit to befall us are in some way used by him for our ultimate good, a part of his working all things together for our good. 

I’ve used before the beautiful illustration of the poem that begins, “My life is but a weaving between the Lord and me.”  The poem goes on to describe piece of fabric with a pattern or picture woven into it.  From the back side you can’t really understand it, you can see only little hints of what the pattern or picture is supposed to be.  But, from the front side it is clear.  In the same way, the Lord is weaving your life together, and the black threads of suffering are part of that weaving.  The Lord sees the front side, the full picture, the complete pattern.  He knows how those black threads of suffering fit in.  The hard part of us is that as long as we are in this world we see only the back side of the weaving.  Maybe at times we can see little hints of the pattern; maybe at times we can see how the black threads of suffering fit into the picture.  But, we will not fully understand until we are with the Lord, looking at the front side of the weaving.  As Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “Now I know in part; then I shall fully know.”

“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 rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.  Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.  And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”

Those are the three reasons why you can have “Peace Even in Suffering:” 

1) We are assured that our suffering is not in any way a punishment from God, because we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; 

2) We look forward to our sufferings coming to an end when Jesus takes us to be with him in paradise, the eternal bliss of heaven; 

3) We trust that even the sufferings we experience in this life are a part of God’s working all things together for our good, although we often don’t understand how or why.