Who's In Your Wallet?
Have you noticed how the commercials for many of the credit card companies really trumpet the benefits that you get from buying things with their card? Benefits like frequent flyer miles, bonus points, cash back and more. A certain company even asks the question, given all the benefits that they offer, "What's in your wallet?". In Romans 5:1-11, Paul similarly lets us know that justification through faith comes with real and eternal benefits for believers. Benefits like, peace with God, access to His grace, hope and more. I pray that your study of this scripture will help you to recognize and value the benefits that God has provided to you as a believer.
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. (Romans 5:1-5) Paul explained that justification is not just some nice esoteric concept, but it has real benefits to the believer. Those benefits include peace with God and ongoing (standing) access to grace from God. These benefits form the basis of our hope. Our peace with God means that we are no longer in a struggle against an almighty God. That is a battle that we could never hope to win. Our ongoing access to Gods grace means that we are welcome at any time in the heavenly royal court to seek God's favor in our lives. Our hope is to be with God forever, and He has poured His love out into us through the Holy Spirit which He has given to us as a confirmation of that hope. But Paul also says that our hope is not just focused on heaven. Our hope allows us to endure and grow through the tribulation we encounter in our daily living and, as a result, draws us closer to God.
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. (Romans 5:6-8) Paul used the phrase "at just the right time" to indicate that Christ came and paid our sin debt in God's perfect timing. But the hallelujah in what Paul said is that God did all of that for us.. while we were still deep in our sin! We were not righteous or even good, but Christ died for us when literally no one else would have sacrificed their life for us. If you need an example of what you would sacrifice and do for someone else, just think about the last person you ignored at the traffic light, when they asked you for a monetary handout.
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. (Roman's 5:9-11) We are still subjected to God's correction when we do wrong. But because we are saved, we are no longer enemies of God and subject to His wrath. His wrath is reserved for those who remain the enemies of God by refusing His grace and salvation. Instead, we have been reconciled to God through Jesus' saving work on the cross (not through our own works), and we are now His children whom He loves.
Paul makes it clear that justification through faith gives us real benefits. The battle between us and God is over. We are no longer God's enemies. We now have peace with Him and ongoing access to His grace. That gives us hope, not only for eternal glory in heaven, but hope in enduring and growing through tribulations in our daily living. God has poured out His love all over us and given us the Holy Spirit to help us. Finally, Paul makes it clear that all of this only comes to us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and not through anything we have done (note that Paul uses the word "through" repeatedly in the scripture text). It's clear that once we accept God's grace through faith in Jesus, God gives us benefits that last through eternity. Capital One can give you some temporary financial benefits, but Jesus is the only One through whom we can have real and eternal benefits. Capital One will save you some money, but Jesus will save your life. If we think conceptually about a wallet as someplace we safely keep important and valuable things that we want to have immediate access to. I’ll just ask you one question...is Jesus in your wallet?
Blessings,
Rev. Glenn
