What Now?

What Now?

A sermon delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson

August 19, 2018

at Bethany Presbyterian Church, Zuni, Virginia

Romans 5: 1-11

Nehemiah 4: 7-15

Let us pray,

Help us to see despite our eyes

Help us to think outside of our minds

Help us to be more than our lives

For your eyes show the way

Your mind knows the truth

Your being is the life.

Amen.

This morning we are going to look at Paul’s description of a life giving change of our status and place in the world, one where we have been set free and made a peace. Another time in the Biblical narrative when such a change occurs is at the end of the Babylonian exile, where the Jews are allowed to return to Jerusalem and build the temple back. The Old Testament Lesson focuses on the issues they had. Nehemiah 4: 7-15

 ⁷ But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. ⁸ They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. ⁹ But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

¹⁰ Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

¹¹ Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”

¹² Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

¹³ Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. ¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

¹⁵ When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

When you are working for God, doing something new, restoring that relationship, there are always people who stand against you. We see that often in our world as well, which brings us now. . .

to Romans. . . We have taken two weeks off from our journey through Romans, once for Bible School, and then last week too, when we tried to take a look at what is at the heart of our worship. But it should come to no surprise that truthfully those two weeks, though technically a break from Romans fit seamlessly into the pattern, not deviating at all from the themes that we had been looking at. It makes sense because Romans, whether we know it or not, stands very much at the center of what we know and believe about Jesus Christ, God, Christianity, this world, our struggles, our joys, our mission, our day to day lives, and our struggles. Romans is central, and this morning’s passage from Romans is one of the most famous, most often preached, most often quoted, for it sits at the very center of what we know about what Jesus Christ took on for us when he went to the cross, and what is resurrection means for our lives. Let’s take a look, this is Romans 5: 1-11.

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.

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ 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! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Last week, I made the claim that at the center of our worship service is Reconciliation, that we are re-enacting the great reconciling act that Jesus makes in his death and resurrection. That through our confession we are going through a reminder of the change in status that Christ makes possible. That we start with our call to worship, based in the greatness of God, and then standing in that greatness, we are forced to accept the fact that we do not live up to that standard, up to that greatness, but then we confess our frailty, our brokenness, our sin, and we are forgiven, not by our action, truthfully not even in our confession, it doesn’t happen because we do it today, it doesn’t happen in the act of worship, but our worship includes it because we need to be reminded, and not just mentally, but wholly, experientially, a full bodied reminder of what has been given to us. An act of reconciliation, we have been reconciled to God, to God’s glory, to the glory of the creation of the world, made new, whole, and complete, at peace. . . and this is what Paul describes in these famous words that open this 5^th chapter. . .  “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.” Justified, faith, peace, grace, in which we stand! These are the words at the very heart of our faith! And as we discussed last week, of our worship as well. How great is God for working that “break” into our series, to connect this letter once again and bring it front and center into our minds, for bringing it home.

The title of my sermon today is, “What now?”, because I want us to really think about, as we go forward, what this means to our lives now. What it means to us in this moment, here in church, and out in the world, what do these famous words mean to us today? There are so many questions about it right?

We are reconciled, what now?

What happens now that the peace has been made?

What do we do with this peace?

What does God mean it for?

Where is our place in relation to what God is doing in this world?

What is at the heart of our New Life in the glowing light of the Resurrection?

Do you hear it? Life, our new life,

 IN our life. . . .But before we get to that oh so important question. I want to take some time to go through exactly what Paul is saying here, to dig a little deeper than what we take just at first glance, and see if there is more we can glean by scratching beyond the surface.

Look at that famous first sentence:

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. 

It combines all the important ideas,

 justified – I saw some other translations of that word, including, to be made righteous, to be cleared, to be made friends with again. . . the Greek word, at the time was one typically used in courts, and trials, to be made right with justice, the law. . .makes sense.

We get to that point through faith

And through that justification comes peace - - - all so important shalom, full bodied, peace in the strong Jewish tradition, Paul the Pharisee would use that word with its fullness in mind

God through Jesus Christ – and look then he parallels the statement

Justification through faith – peace in first phrase

Grace through faith – in which we now stand

So you can interchange all those ideas together. . . he invites us to, that we can grace is to stand in peace with God, having been justified.

But most importantly there is that word “we” rather than I, this act of reconciliation then is an act of community, we are not islands of ourselves.

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

And here goes Paul with the boasting again. . . his time boasting in hope of the glory of God, remember that boasting we had said is connected to ranking, and no exception here, God is greater than other gods, especially those in temporal power like the Romans and their gods == hope is an important word here, we’ll get to it in a minute, we need hope because look where he goes next. . .

 ³ Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. 

In great Pauline fashion, he is always putting suffering right alongside, grace and peace and hope. . . He does so in the Corinthian letters, especially 2 Corinthians, where he is explaining to the Christians there in Corinth who may be questioning his status as someone in right with God because of all the suffering. . . Ancient religion would typically assume poor behavior, God anger, matched with suffering, but not here, check out what Paul’s claim is. . . suffering leads to hope

Explain the chart. Movements that lead to hope. . .

Sufferings -- Perseverance à Character à Hope  --  NIV

Suffering – Endurance à Character à Hope – NRSV

Tribulation – Patience à Experience à Hope – KJV

Troubles – Endurance à Approval à Hope – GNT

Problems – Endurance à Strength of Character à Hope – Living Bible

Troubles – Passionate Patience à tempered steel of virtues à alert 4 God will do – Message

Suffering – Endurance à Character à Confidence – God’s Word

Affliction – Endurance à proven Character à hope – Christian Standard

                                          

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.

This hope is in our hearts, and is real, its connected in the Holy Spirit

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Here Paul brings out how amazing the love is, and that we do not deserve it, but that it is truly amazing and beyond the normal way this world works, God shows his love for us as his enemies, as those who have turned away. So if we were to react to this by trying to earn it, to live up to it, it would never be enough. . . never never never, so there must be some other reaction we should have. . .

But now look at verse 10

¹⁰ 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! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Look at what he puts at odds here, saved as enemies through the death of his son, but how much more can we be saved through his life. How much more with life. . . Look at how life and death are brought out here. . . why does he do that? Why does Paul say that we are saved that much more through his life. . . what is the difference between the life of Christ and the death of Christ? Why such emphasis on both Life and Death? And why divide them?

Brian Blount’s book

The future resurrection of the dead now becomes transposed into a doctrine of post-mortem afterlife for the individual believer.

But is that not exactly where our centruries of teaching and preaching have brought our mainstream churches? To a docrine of postmortem afterlife for the individual believer? Where everything is about us? What of our funeral sermons with their preoccupations with a life well lived on earth and now well situated, in many ways because of that earthly good living, in heaven? Death is made palatable in the Christian framework because we believe and we preach that we can individually rise beyond it, and we can take comfort that those we have lost individually have indeed risen beyond it, and further that we may one day, in our own individual resurrection, get to be with them again. The best collective image we can muster. . . it is this individualized disfiguring of the resurrection that, at least in Christian circles makes death livable. . .

The counter to such a myopic proclamation of the faith is Paul’s presentation of the crucified Christ’s resurrection as the invasion of an occupied world, an invasion that is not all about me and my individual future faith relationship or secular standing in the world, but rather the breaking free of this entire world and cosmos from the grip of powers hostile to us and to God.  Yes that means something to me individually, but it means something first and foremost for our world. . .  Our goal, we should preach, is not to die and get to heaven, with our loved ones hopefully trailing in our wake. Our goal, we must preach is to live into the war raging all about us, siding with God’s forceful engagement against the powers that overwhelm this world and its desperate age, even if, and perhaps especially when, the casualty count for believers rises high.  This is what it means, it seems to me, to live out resurrection in a world and church preoccupied with crucifixion. . .Thus it is the resurrection of Christ, I am arguing, that is the turning point in the cosmological war.  It is the resurrection that reveals God’s intent for humankind and the cosmos. It is the resurrection that is God’s act.  The cross,. . . well that’s on us.

What he goes on to push is what he calls vulnerability to God, that God has broken down our walls, our shells, our facades, our protective barriers, our second faces, and through the holy spirit has made us what he calls, “vulnerable”

What does this mean? It means being open to the relationship that God has made possible.

Open to the war that God is raging against death

But always as one who is following God, waiting for God’s leadership, open to what God is doing

Vulnerable. . . it is the “Here I am” phrase so often repeated in the Old Testament, and sung by the choir this morning. . . . Here, now, in this spot, at this moment, right now, right here, I am Listening, vulnerable, ready for what may come next.

I, is important too, me, as you made me, open ready, willing, full wholly, unafraid, hopeful, come what may

The two things that Jesus most often criticizes in the Gospel are what? They may surprise us. . .

Hypocrisy and Fear

Look at how those are the antithesis of being vulnerable to God. . .

Hypocrisy is putting up a mask, an outer shell different from your true inner one

Fear causes you to build walls, grasp tightly. . .

Vunerability releases control, and stands front and center, un masked as purely, lumps and all self.

Here I am, what a statement of vulnerability. . .

This is life. . .