Morning Prayer: 27 July – Romans 5:11 ~ on rejoicing in God

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 5:11 (NLT)

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
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Reflection: Romans 5:11 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The results of justification (5: 1– 11)

The whole paragraph (verses 1– 11) depends on the opening words: Therefore, since we have been justified through faith.… Paul utters six bold assertions in the name of all whom God has justified.

f. We also rejoice in God (11)

Christian exultation in God begins with the shamefaced recognition that we have no claim on him at all, continues with wondering worship that while we were still sinners and enemies Christ died for us, and ends with the humble confidence that he will complete the work he has begun. So to exult in God is to rejoice not in our privileges but in his mercies, not in our possession of him but in his of us.

In spite of our knowledge that for Christian people all boasting is excluded (3: 27), we nevertheless boast or rejoice in our hope of sharing God’s glory (2), in our tribulations (3) and above all in God himself (11). This exulting is through our Lord Jesus Christ, because it is through him that we have now received… reconciliation (11).

It seems clear from this paragraph, then, that the major mark of justified believers is joy, especially joy in God himself. We should be the most positive people in the world. For the new community of Jesus Christ is characterized not by a self-centred triumphalism but by a God-centred worship.
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Canticle

Christ, as a light illumine and guide me. Christ, as a shield overshadow me. Christ under me; Christ over me; Christ beside me on my left and my right. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Be in the heart of each to whom I speak; in the mouth of each who speaks unto me. This day be within and without me, lowly and meek, yet all-powerful. Christ as a light; Christ as a shield; Christ beside me on my left and my right.

Blessing

May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you. May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm. May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you. May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 25 July – Romans 5:9-10 ~ we will certainly be saved

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 5:9-10 (NLT)

And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son.
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Reflection: Romans 5:9-10 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The results of justification (5: 1– 11)

e. We shall be saved through Christ (9– 10)

So far the apostle has concentrated on what God has already done for us through Christ…. Yet there is more— much more— still to come, which is not yet ours . In fact, verses 9 and 10 are notable examples of the familiar New Testament tension between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’, between what Christ has accomplished at his first coming and what remains to be done at his second, between our past and our future salvation. For salvation has a future tense as well as past and present tenses, and the words common to these two verses are the statement that we shall be saved.

If, therefore, we are asked… whether we have been saved.., the correct answer would be ‘Yes and no.’ For yes, we have been saved through Christ from the guilt of our sins and from the judgment of God upon them, but no, we have not yet been delivered from indwelling sin or been given new bodies in the new world.

So the best is yet to be! In our present ‘half -saved’ condition we are eagerly looking forward to our full and final salvation.
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Canticle

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 24 July – Romans 5:5b-8 ~ on knowing God loves us

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 5:5b-8 (NLT)

For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
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Reflection: Romans 5:5b-8 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The results of justification (5: 1– 11)

d. We also rejoice in our sufferings (3– 8) Pt. 2 vs 5b-8

To be sure of God’s love… is the major secret of joy, peace, freedom, confidence and self-respect. The apostle spells out two major means by which we come to be sure that God loves us.

The first is that God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us (5b)…..

The Holy Spirit is God’s gift to all believers (since Paul is listing the consequences of justification), so that it is not possible to be justified by faith without at the same time being regenerated and indwelt by the Spirit….
The Holy Spirit was given to us at a particular time, namely at what is popularly called our ‘conversion’, or when we were justified.
Having been given to us, one of the Holy Spirit’s distinctive ministries is to pour God’s love into our hearts. Indeed, he has done this in such a way that the initial outpouring remains a permanent flood.

The second and objective way of assuring us of his love is that he has proved his love by Christ’s death on the cross…. For ‘Christ died for us while we were yet sinners, and that is God’s proof of his love towards us’ (8).

The essence of loving is giving…. ‘The Son of God … loved me and gave himself for me.’
The degree of love is measured partly by the costliness of the gift to the giver, and partly by the worthiness or unworthiness of the beneficiary.

Measured by these standards, God’s love in Christ is absolutely unique. For in sending his Son to die for sinners, he was giving everything, his very self, to those who deserved nothing from him except judgment.

God has both proved his love for us in the death of his Son (8) and poured his love into us by the gift of his Spirit (5). Objectively in history and subjectively in experience, God has given us good grounds for believing in his love.
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Canticle

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 23 July – Romans 5:3-5 ~ on joy under fire

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 5:3-5s (NLT)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
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Reflection: Romans 5:3-5a (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The results of justification (5: 1– 11)

d. We also rejoice in our sufferings (3– 8) Pt. 1 vs 3-5a

The ‘sufferings’ in mind are usually translated ‘tribulations’. These are not what we sometimes call ‘the trials and tribulations’ of our earthly existence, meaning our aches and pains, fears and frustrations, deprivations and disappointments, but rather thlipseis (literally, ‘pressures’), referring in particular to the opposition and persecution of a hostile world… the suffering which God’s people must expect in the last days before the end.

What attitude should Christians adopt to these ‘tribulations’? Far from merely enduring them with stoic fortitude, we are to rejoice in them. This is not masochism, however, the sickness of finding pleasure in pain. It is rather the recognition that there is a divine rationale behind suffering.

First, suffering is the one and only path to glory. It was so for Christ; it is so for Christians. As Paul will soon express it, we are ‘co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’ (8: 17). That is why we are to rejoice in them both.

Secondly, if suffering leads to glory in the end, it leads to maturity meanwhile….

Suffering produces perseverance (endurance)… because without suffering there would be nothing to endure.
Perseverance produces character… the quality of a person who has been tested and has passed the test.
Character produces hope… because the God who is developing our character in the present can be relied on for the future too.

Thirdly, suffering is the best context in which to become assured of God’s love. Of course many people will immediately assert the contrary, since it is suffering which makes them doubt God’s love. But consider Paul’s argument. He has traced the sequence of chain reactions from tribulation to perseverance, from perseverance to character, and from character to hope. Now he adds that hope does not disappoint us, and never will. It will never betray us by proving to be an illusion after all.

But how do we know this? What is the ultimate ground on which our Christian hope rests, our hope of glory? It is the steadfast love of God. The reason our hope will never let us down is that God will never let us down. His love will never give us up.
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Canticle

Blessing

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Morning Prayer: 22 July – Romans 5:1-2 ~ on peace, privilege and joy

Reading through Romans

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Opening sentence

Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory. You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.
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A reading from Romans: Romans 5:1-2 (NLT)

Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.
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Reflection: Romans 5:1-2 (John Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World)

The results of justification (5: 1– 11)

a. We have peace with God (1)

The pursuit of peace is a universal human obsession, whether it is international, industrial, domestic or personal peace. Yet more fundamental than all these is peace with God, the reconciled relationship with him which is the first blessing of justification. Thus ‘justification’ and ‘reconciliation’ belong together, for ‘God does not confer the status of righteousness upon us without at the same time giving himself to us in friendship and establishing peace between himself and us’…..

And this peace becomes ours now through our Lord Jesus Christ…

b. We are standing in grace (2a)

Literally, ‘through him [sc. Christ] we have obtained our introduction into this grace in which we have taken our stand’. ‘Grace’ is normally God’s free and unmerited favour, his undeserved, unsolicited and unconditional love. But here it is not so much his quality of graciousness as ‘the sphere of God’s grace’ (NEB), our privileged position of acceptance by him…..

First, we have gained access into this grace…. Secondly, we have taken our stand firmly in or on this grace into which we have been introduced.

Justified believers enjoy a blessing far greater than a periodic approach to God or an occasional audience with the king. We are privileged to live in the temple and in the palace…. Our relationship with God, into which justification has brought us, is not sporadic but continuous, not precarious but secure.

c. We rejoice in [our] hope of the glory of God (2b)

Christian hope is not uncertain, like our ordinary everyday hopes about the weather or our health; it is a joyful and confident expectation which rests on the promises of God, as we saw in the case of Abraham. And the object of our hope is the glory of God (2), namely his radiant splendour which will in the end be fully displayed.

Already his glory is being continuously revealed in the heavens and the earth. Already it has been uniquely made manifest in Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, most notably in his death and resurrection. One day, however, the curtain will be raised and the glory of God will be fully disclosed.
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