RADICAL HOPE: Hope Starts with Suffering - Romans 5:1-3 Sermon Outline (a blog post for a video sermon for Kenwood Church in Livonia, MI, from March 22, 2020)

RADICAL HOPE:

Hope Starts with Suffering (Romans 5:1-3) - March 22, 2020

INTRODUCTION

Radical Love series is over. I have been planning these series for a very long time, and who would have thought that we would finish a series on love and begin a new series on hope as the coronavirus pandemic would strike. God did.

“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 boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. 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. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! 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! Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭5:1-11‬ ‭NIV‬

“There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.”

― Clare Boothe Luce (politician, first female ambassador abroad, conservative figure)

We have reason for hope.‬

A. Peace with God is our foundation for hope.

1. Faith

2. Justification

3. Access into this grace

4. We boast in the hope of the glory of God.

I. SUFFERING

A. Hope and suffering

1. The glory of God

2. The suffering of this life

3. Hope points to something greater

“They preached the gospel in that city (Derbe) and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.”

‭‭Acts‬ ‭14:21-22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

B. Suffering and God’s will

1. Why do we believe that “suffering can’t be God’s will”?

Nouwen, McNeill, and Morrison “Compassion: A Reflection on the Christian Life” includes the idea of our suffering God

2. Look back on your life. How often can you see suffering connected to God’s will?

3. The lie of Satan - You are only suffering because . . .

II. BIBLICAL EXAMPLES OF SUFFERING

Paula and her life of suffering. I have told her ever since I met her that she needs a book written about her life. Abused, unloved, kidnapped, chronically sick, betrayed, isolated, diseased, injured, kidney stone sufferer, afflicted with disabling trauma. Yet . . . She rises up and praises God anyway.

A. Job

“and (Job) said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.””

‭‭Job‬ ‭1:21‬ ‭NIV‬‬

B. Joseph

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭50:20‬ ‭NIV‬‬

C. Paul

In 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Paul reluctantly recounts his resume of suffering:

• whipped with 39 lashes (5 different times)
• beaten with rods (3 different times)
• pummeled with stones (1 time)
• shipwrecked (3 times)
• adrift at sea (one night, one day)
• journeys (frequent)
• danger from rivers
• danger from robbers
• danger from his own people
• danger from Gentiles
• danger in the city
• danger in the wilderness
• danger at sea
• danger from false brothers
• toil and hardship
• sleepless nights (many)
• hungry and thirsty (often)
• cold and exposed
• the pressure of anxiety for all the churches (daily)

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:7-12‬ ‭NIV‬‬

D. Jesus

1. His life

a. Hated

b. Forsaken

c. Accused

d. Beaten

e. Killed for crimes he did not commit

2. His death

a. The penalty of sin

b. Separation from his Father

c. The weight of the world

III. SUFFERING PRODUCES PERSEVERANCE

Bob Ross is one of my favorite artists. A few years ago Paula and I looked into what it would take to buy “a Bob Ross.” Needless to say I don’t have one of his originals. If you watch Bob Ross paint, you know that when he begins it is very difficult to see a picture in his sweeps and swooshes. In the end though, there is always a beautiful seen with happy little trees and and reminders that “We don’t make mistakes. We just have happy accidents.”

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance

produce, perform, work out.

From kata and ergazomai; to work fully, i.e. Accomplish; by implication, to finish, fashion -- cause, to (deed), perform, work (out).

A. There is a purpose.

B. There is a result.

C. There is a hope.

CHALLENGE

Memorize and meditate on 1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” Write down 10 reasons for the hope you have. Share those reasons with someone else this week. Pray for one another. Contact one another.