Romans 5:1-5

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Matthew 6:5-14

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. “Pray, then, in this way: Our Father in heaven, may your name be revered as holy. May your kingdom come. May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you

Results of Justification

Romans 5:1-5

5 Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³ And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, ⁴ and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵ and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

Matthew 6:5-14

Concerning Prayer

⁵ “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ⁶ But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁷ “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. ⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

⁹ “Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father in heaven,
may your name be revered as holy.
¹⁰     May your kingdom come.
May your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹     Give us today our daily bread.
¹²     And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³     And do not bring us to the time of trial,
but rescue us from the evil one.

¹⁴ “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

See also: James 1:2-4 NASB (New American Standard Bible)

 ² Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

“Justification by faith in the atoning work of Jesus Christ transfers believers into a state of peace and reconciliation with God and introduces the theme of sanctification.”[1]

Prayer on the Path 

Today is the third Sunday in Lent and we have a reading on prayer from the Sermon on the Mount. And we have a reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Romans is the longest of the letters in the New Testament. And it is the first. So, incidentally, here is a fun fact. The letters in the New Testament are arranged in order of length. Longest to shortest. So Romans is the first letter and it is the longest letter of the New Testament. Romans is also the most complete development of Paul’s Gospel. In our reading from Romans this morning, Paul writes on justification and endurance. This is how he begins his letter to the Romans.

Justification and Sanctification

So here, I want to give you two theology words. These are words that are good for us to know and understand as Christians. They are good old-time religion words. If you have a Methodist background, you will recognize these words. They are justification and sanctification. So let’s take a look at this.

Justification is the beginning. It is the first step on the Christian path. We receive God’s grace through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. So this is a one-time deal. It happens once in your life. In the good old fashioned gospel language, this is when a person “gets saved.” Hallelujiah! You get saved. You accept Jesus into your heart. Even though you don’t deserve it, and you know you don’t deserve it, even though you may feel unworthy, and we are unworthy, you accept this grace. It is freely given. Because God loves us. That is the bottom line. God loves us. And God offers us this saving grace. When we accept God’s Grace through Jesus, then we are justified by faith.

Justified means we are made right. Everything is lined up correctly. We are made whole.

For example, say you are writing an article. Maybe you are writing an article for the Landmark, you know, our church newsletter. And when you are typing this article into your computer, you have a choice for the page margins. You can have the left side aligned, the right side aligned, or you can have justified margins. Justified text means the text fits perfectly on the page. It is aligned on both sides. It lines up perfectly on both sides. Everything is in alignment. It is justified.

Or, let’s say you are charged with a crime. You get arrested by the police and you have to go to jail. You hire a lawyer. You post bail. All of those things. Eventually, you go before a judge. You might even go before a jury and have a big jury trial. Right?

And then, there comes the moment everyone is waiting for. When the jury brings out the verdict and the judge reads the verdict to the entire room.

“Not Guilty!”

Suddenly, you are free to go. You are free. You are justified. You are made right, made whole, all is good, you are free and good to go. You are justified.

So justification is the beginning of the Christian path. God declares you righteous. “You are righteous. You are made right and whole. You are healed. You are justified. Justified through faith you are made righteous in God’s sight. It happens once in a lifetime. But then, there is more work to do. It never ends. We continue, following Jesus, learning from Jesus, learning how to be more and more like him, learning how to have the mind of Christ. And this learning process we sometimes call “discipleship.” And sometimes it is called “Sanctification.”

Sanctification is a lifelong process. We conform to Christ’s image. We purify our lives. We keep working and struggling to grow in holiness, to become better people, more loving people, until one day, finally, we go back to God, we return to God’s holiness. We return to our true home.

Sanctification happens through problems, through facing our challenges. We learn and grow through difficulty. That’s what Paul is talking about in Roman’s 5. “Affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

We find a similar text in James.

James 1:2-4 NASB (New American Standard Bible)

 ² Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Now, these are very powerful words. And, at first glance, they don’t make sense. “Pastor Ed,” you say, “What are you talking about?” “I’m supposed to be joyful when I have a bunch of problems?” But our problems make us stronger. Our problems make us tougher. You know? We have to be tough. We have to be strong. We have to have endurance to run this race called life.

I don’t mean the kind of tough and strong that hurts other people. I mean the tough and strong like Jesus. Look what he endured. And still, he loved. He kept his heart open. This is the heart of Jesus. The mind of Christ. This is the endurance we seek. And this is how we become sanctified. Let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Now, in my own life, these verses from James have been very helpful. When I was a kid, my parents sent my brother and me to a summer camp up in the mountains of Colorado. It was a Christian camp run by the Navigators. And the Navigators are big on memorizing scripture. So at camp, we were always memorizing Bible verses. I had a little pack of cards with Bible verses on them I carried around in my pocket, and whenever I had a minute, I would take out the verse I was memorizing, and practice. You know? Over and over. Repeating that verse, until I knew it by heart. Memorizing. Through repetition. Repetition is the mother of all skills. And it’s true. If you want to learn a new skill, do it over and over. Repetition is the mother of all skills.

So this verse, James 1:2-4, was a verse I memorized at camp. And it has stayed with me all these years. These words that I keep in my heart, they have been so helpful, during so many difficult times. Getting the words of the Bible into our hearts is part of the Christian path. It is a vehicle for sanctification.

Sanctification is not easy. And so that is why spiritual life is a discipline. In our reading from Matthew, we continue to look at the Mind of Christ by studying the Sermon on the Mount. And here, Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. How to pray. This is how to be tough, how to be strong, how to endure. Pray. The Christian life is a life of deep prayer. Prayer will give you strength and endurance. It does something to you when you pray. When you get these words into you. You know? You get them into your system. And it changes you. Jesus shows us exactly how to pray. This is the source of the Lord’s prayer that we say every Sunday.

If you want to have a prayer life. If you want to take the next step in your spiritual life, focus on prayer. Even just take five minutes in the morning and five minutes before you go to bed at night. Find a quiet place to be alone with God. And pray the Lord’s prayer. You can even read it directly from Matthew. Just do that much, and see how it changes you. Allow these words to change you. They will sink into your very being. Through prayer, God will make you a new person, a more loving person, a more joyful person, even in your afflictions, even in spite of your problems. You will develop endurance and you will grow in holiness. Through Grace, it can happen. I have seen it happen.

May it be so for you.

Amen? Amen.

[1] James R. Edwards, notes to Romans in The New Interpreter’s Study Bible, p. 2016.