Speaking of Life 5030 | Calling 911
This week we’re sharing a Speaking of Life message from our archive as a supplemental resource. We encourage you to use this for reflection and preparation, or small group discussion. For your worship gathering, consider how a call to worship from a local voice or contextualized introduction to the theme might serve your congregation well.
Watch video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6ZtLJRo6wY
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5030 | Calling 911
Greg Williams
Have you ever had to call 9-1-1? I hope not, but if you have, it was probably because you were in a serious situation that needed an immediate response. That’s why we call 9-1-1 here in the US. It’s the one number we know will be answered immediately and we will get a quick response to our needs. Could you imagine calling 9-1-1 and getting a recording or being put on hold? Hopefully, that will never happen to you. When an emergency occurs, there is a bit of peace knowing we can depend on someone answering us when we dial 9-1-1.
For those who have grown to know the Lord, 9-1-1 is likely the second call we make because our first cry for help is to the Lord himself. Like so many other believers, we have learned that the Lord is even more reliable than 9-1-1. He is always there to answer our call for help. Experience teaches us we can always turn to the Lord with our troubles, great or small because he has proven to be faithful to hear our call time and time again. Here is the beginning of a Psalm that expresses this trust:
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
He heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2 (ESV)
If you are watching this video, you probably don’t need to call 9-1-1. But I’m guessing many of you are facing troubles and trials. I encourage you to follow the wisdom of the one who wrote this psalm. Know and be confident in the truth that whatever troubles you are facing, either now or later, you can call on the Lord. Even when it seems he hasn’t answered, or answers in a way different than you desired, you can be sure you are not getting a recording or being put on hold. He hears you and always responds with the right answer at the right time.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Program Transcript
Speaking of Life 5030 | Calling 911
Greg Williams
Have you ever had to call 9-1-1? I hope not, but if you have, it was probably because you were in a serious situation that needed an immediate response. That’s why we call 9-1-1 here in the US. It’s the one number we know will be answered immediately and we will get a quick response to our needs. Could you imagine calling 9-1-1 and getting a recording or being put on hold? Hopefully, that will never happen to you. When an emergency occurs, there is a bit of peace knowing we can depend on someone answering us when we dial 9-1-1.
For those who have grown to know the Lord, 9-1-1 is likely the second call we make because our first cry for help is to the Lord himself. Like so many other believers, we have learned that the Lord is even more reliable than 9-1-1. He is always there to answer our call for help. Experience teaches us we can always turn to the Lord with our troubles, great or small because he has proven to be faithful to hear our call time and time again. Here is the beginning of a Psalm that expresses this trust:
I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
He heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2 (ESV)
If you are watching this video, you probably don’t need to call 9-1-1. But I’m guessing many of you are facing troubles and trials. I encourage you to follow the wisdom of the one who wrote this psalm. Know and be confident in the truth that whatever troubles you are facing, either now or later, you can call on the Lord. Even when it seems he hasn’t answered, or answers in a way different than you desired, you can be sure you are not getting a recording or being put on hold. He hears you and always responds with the right answer at the right time.
I’m Greg Williams, Speaking of Life.
Psalm 116:1–2, 12–19 • Genesis 18:1–15, (21:1–7) • Romans 5:1–8 • Matthew 9:35–10:8, (9–23)
Today’s theme is God proves his love for us. Our call to worship psalm is a response of abundant gratitude to the Lord who hears our cries and rescues us from trouble. The Old Testament reading from Genesis presents the promise given to Abraham and Sarah of having a child in their old age, a promise so outlandish that Sarah laughs; however, the Lord is faithful in keeping his promise. The epistolary reading from Romans highlights God’s love poured out through Christ, who died for us not when we were strong or righteous, but precisely when we were weak and unworthy. The Gospel text in Matthew shows Jesus’ compassion for the crowds and his sending of the disciples to proclaim good news, heal, and restore, revealing a God who entrusts ordinary people with extraordinary work.
Reminder: This introductory paragraph is intended to show how the four RCL selections for this week are connected and to assist the preacher prepare the sermon. It is not intended to be included in the sermon.
How to use this sermon resource.
God Proves His Love for Us
Romans 5:1–8 NRSVUE
Last Sunday, we heard the good news that God keeps his promises by giving us right relationship with himself. We do not earn or achieve a right-relationship with God but we receive it as a gift. Our relationship with God is grounded firmly on grace, as a gift; it is not something we earn. Grace is God’s generous love that gives forgiveness, new life, and strength — before we deserve it and apart from our performance. And grace is grounded in what Jesus has already done for us in his life, death, and resurrection. We saw that we are drawn into trusting the God who brings life out of death, as the Father fulfills his promise in the Son and makes it real in us by the Spirit.
God has already shown himself to be trustworthy — and you can trust him today.
Today’s passage will describe what this life in grace looks like. And we will see how God proves his love for us.
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.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:1–8 NRSVUE
There are three things you already have in Christ — three things or realities that “we have” on account of Jesus Christ. It is important to note that the three things are not presented as three things we must achieve or acquire on our own merit. Rather, they are three statements of reality that believers already have.
The first thing we already have is “justification.” “… we have been justified by faith …” You have already been made right with God. It may be hard to grasp the reality of the words “we have been.” This means that we have already been made righteous. How can this be in light of the fact that we so often fall again into sin or do not choose right relationship with God or others?
Sin is not merely the bad things we do that cause harm; it is the deep, twisted condition that bends us away from God and from one another. During our daily lives, we become painfully aware of our great need as sinners to be made righteous. We may conclude that we are not yet righteous and our justification, our being made right, still lies in the future. We are easily convinced that righteousness is a goal to pursue rather than a present reality to receive.
But this is not merely a potential or a possible, future justification. It is a justification that is already accomplished and real. And we have been justified “by faith.” That’s important. It does not mean, though, that our faith is what justifies us or saves us.
Rather, faith is trusting in Jesus for our salvation. It is only in him that we have justification. The righteousness we have is the very righteousness of Christ that he gives to us through the work of the Spirit. Christ Jesus has perfect right relationship with the Father. And because of our union with Christ, he shares his righteousness, his right relationship with us, by the Spirit.
In this way, faith is a means of receiving, not a means of achieving. We do not work up our own faith in order to accomplish something towards our own justification. Rather, in trusting Jesus, we receive what he has already accomplished on our behalf. And even faith is a gift that is strengthened the more we come to know who God is in Jesus Christ. There is nothing we do that makes ourselves righteous.
So, knowing that God has provided our justification produces faith. God proves his love for us, so we can trust in him.
Today we are reminded and encouraged to once again live in the faith of Jesus Christ who is ever faithful to us. We are reminded and encouraged to turn once again from other competing objects of our faith. We do not put our trust in any other person, thing, or ideology to justify us. It is only in Christ who is faithful to give us his righteousness that we can place our whole trust and allegiance.
The second thing we have as a gift of this justification is peace with God. Again, we “have peace with God,” not that we must attain it on our own. Although we seek and pursue peace ( Psalm 34:14), our efforts will not achieve reconciliation with God. But the God of grace revealed in Jesus Christ takes our sin and guilt and overcomes it. He overrides its consequences of death and alienation from God in order to bring us into a right relationship with himself. This is all done “through our Lord Jesus Christ” our High Priest, the one who mediates our peace with God by cleansing us of our sins and clothing us with his righteousness.
Again, this is a reality to receive by faith, not works. We do not have to work ourselves into the Father’s good favor. How might this change how we go about our day? We are not called to cower in fear of a god who is angry at us and seeking to catch us in some sin in order to blast us on the spot. We have peace with the Father. His thoughts towards us are only for our good.
Peace, biblically understood, is an active peace. It seeks the good of others. It is not merely a cease fire or the absence or end of conflict. It is a dynamic, intentional, and active relationship aimed at the good of the other. This will mean that the Father will not ignore our sins and shortcomings. On the contrary — that would not be a loving Father who has our best interest in mind. That would be a god who is disinterested in us or does not care if we destroy ourselves.
No, the Father is intimately concerned with our life choices. Why? Is it because if we are not “good,” God will not love us? Our choices can either cause harm or love, bring peace or conflict. We belong to one another and our choices have an effect on those around us. We already have right relationship with God and with others — live in that reality. Trust it.
Our choices reflect what we are putting our trust in. God is continually calling us to trust him. He is not a God of neglect. God proves his love for us.
Let’s move to verse 2 to see the third thing we “have” by faith:
… 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. Romans 5:2 NRSVUE
Not only does Jesus bring us into a life of peace with the Father but he also brings the Father’s life of grace to us. And again, this is a life that we already have. In addition, “we have also obtained” grace in such a fashion that it can be said that we “stand” in it — we are established in it, we live in it. Our “standing” with the Father is secured by his grace.
Like God’s peace, his grace is also active toward our good. God’s grace is not some exception or pass, but rather a committed and determined will to bring us fully into the righteous life he has for us. That’s why Paul can go on to say, “and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (ESV). God’s glory is our destination.
Hope is a fruit God produces in us. And this is not the type of hope a child may have of getting dessert. He may or he may not, hope has nothing to do with it. The hope we have in Christ is a sure hope, a guaranteed reality that we know is here now and is coming fully in the future. Living in this kind of hope grounds all our thoughts and actions on the sure foundation of who God is and what he has done to bring us into “the glory of God.” That’s where we are going, and we have absolute assurance he will get us there.
We read on:
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, Romans 5:3–4 NRSVUE
This sounds strange at first. Why would anyone boast or celebrate afflictions or suffering? This is not saying suffering is good. It is not saying God sends or causes our suffering. But because God is so very loving and faithful, he can produce something meaningful and beneficial even out of suffering. So, suffering does not have the final word. God is at work even there.
For Christians, we know that all our suffering is gathered up in Christ’s sufferings. In fact, what we see on the cross is Jesus entering into our very sufferings. He has made them his own. He suffered for us to transform suffering. And because we are united with Jesus, when we suffer, he is with us, in us.
Because of what Christ has done on the cross, even our sufferings now serve the good purpose of bringing us into the life of glory the Father intends for us. As Paul puts it, our sufferings now “produce” something. They add up to “endurance” which is a patient waiting upon the Lord. We can endure with confidence because we know Jesus is faithful to us, despite the fact that our circumstances may scream otherwise.
Through this dynamic our sufferings produce character which in turn adds up to more hope. In this way hope becomes the way the believer orients their life regardless of what they are experiencing in this life. All the while, God proves his love for us by conforming us to his image.
Let’s read more about hope:
… and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. Romans 5:5 NRSVUE
This hope is a resurrection hope that “does not put us to shame.” We will not be shamed or embarrassed or disappointed for putting our hope in Jesus. Jesus was vindicated through his resurrection; we will not be left hanging by the Father either. Suffering will end in glory.
And we have assurance of this because of another reality that has already happened. Namely, that the Holy Spirit has already come to us and poured God’s love into our hearts. The Holy Spirit is a sign and seal that what he is presently giving us is what we will eternally be receiving in the future.
Love is also a fruit that God produces in us. As we come to know more and more who God is for us, we will be receiving his love more and more, enabling us to love others with the same love we receive. We do not need to manufacture our own love to the world. The Father’s love is not kept at a distance for us to try and copy. It is given to us through the Holy Spirit to participate in with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Now we turn our attention to the cross for a fuller revelation of God’s love.
6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Romans 5:6–8 NRSVUE
In these verses, we see the extreme radical nature of God’s love. This is not a love that comes to the strong or perfect. Rather it has come and continues to come to weak ungodly sinners.
These verses confront us with two realities. First, we cannot earn God’s love. Our pride may resist the stark reality of our sinfulness that is captured with the words “weak,” “ungodly,” and “sinners.” Not only are we ungodly sinners but we are too weak to do anything about it. There is no room to justify ourselves or better our situation.
To turn to the Lord, one must realize there is something to turn from. There is no life gained by holding onto our miserable state. Remember we said that sin is the deep, twisted condition that bends us toward ways that bring death and destruction.
God’s love is demonstrated in the very thick of that bent condition. Jesus is the very coming of God’s love to us, even in our sinfulness.
God proves his love for us. God initiates the first steps toward his beloved children while we are weak, bent toward harm, and unable to fix ourselves. We are given in Christ a revelation of God who is love all the way down. He loves us because that is who he is.
And it may be important to mention God does not love our sin. His love moves to remove our sins and not leave us in our weak, godless, and sinful state. His love aims to perfect us and bring us into his glory. The Bible is proclaiming God’s love when it warns against the many sins that stand against us. Our loving Father knows we are not created for sin. He acts to remove everything that harms us.
It all rests on grace. This is a grace we can trust to never let us down or sell us short. It is a grace that springs from God’s faithfulness to us. From our perspective, it is tempting to resist God’s grace on account of sounding too good to be true. But the Lord is no liar. He has truly come to give us an abundant life, the very life he shares with his Father in the Spirit. It’s a life we will not be disappointed in. In the end, we will not be ashamed of our choice to trust and follow Jesus.
So, today, we are encouraged to receive all the Lord has for us. We are reminded that we stand in the grace God gives us. Live in the faith, peace, and hope that flows from God’s life in us. The Lord is still calling you to himself. He is continually seeking by the Spirit to reveal himself to you. He wants you to know that his Father is the One who is surprisingly faithful with a love that will never leave you ashamed, disappointed, or unsatisfied.
God proves his love for us.
Listen to audio: https://cloud.gci.org/dl/GReverb/GR076-Pandel-YearA-Proper6.mp3
Sunday, June 14, 2026 — Proper 6
Romans 5:1–8 NRSVUE
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Program Transcript
All right, let’s transition to our next pericope. It’s Romans 5:1–8. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 6 in Ordinary Time, June 14. Matt, would you read it for us, please?
[00:19:19] Matt:
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. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
[00:20:07] Anthony: Hallelujah. There’s a lot contained in that passage. So, if you were preaching this text to your local congregation, what would you proclaim?
[00:20:15] Matt: I think the first thing would be what we alluded to a little bit before this — who’s faith idea. In verse one, since we are justified by faith the human predilection is to try to put our effort into something.
[00:20:27] Anthony: Of course.
[00:20:59] Matt: That by adding our intelligence, our experience, our fortitude, we can somehow make something better. And sadly, a lot of the English translations, particularly those that base itself off the King James, do tend to focus a lot of this emphasis on it being the faith of us that impacts and changes us rather than an external faith that’s given to us by God, and in which case it actually is a triune faith that’s imparted to us. The big theme of this passage for me at least, is this idea that divine action and intervention is not conditioned on our conduct or on our capacity to understand.
[00:21:12] Anthony: Come on.
[00:21:14] Matt: This learning for the purpose of somehow manipulating the will of God to our own human will really has to be jettisoned for the garbage theology that it is.
That’s not how love works. If the nature of God isn’t just to be loving, although he is, but is love in its most expressed, perfect, truest form, all that Father, Son and Spirit do within their interactions with Creation through that perichoretic union, it has to be synthesized down to love.
And throughout this passage … verse eight, “but God proves his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We focus a lot on the sinners part of this, which is an accurate presentation, but I think the bigger theme here is when humanity is at its worst, we do the most vile and evil things to one another to the Creation itself, that is the moment where we’re looked at and God says, “Yeah that that’s a people worth loving, that is a creation that is worth the surrender of the most meaningful thing that any of us have, life itself, and being willing to lay down that life on behalf of this very broken, confused, distorted creation.”
I get the question a lot from students, especially … And it seems the question’s asked … the earlier in their academic journey, it’s asked, I can gauge what branch of fundamentalism they went through. But the question always comes up of this, why did Jesus have to die? And I’ve heard lots of great answers. Brad Jersak has a wonderful perspective on this, but where I’ve settled is right within this verse. It’s the means by which God proves his love.
[00:23:14] Anthony: Yes. Come on.
[00:23:16] Matt: We had nothing to prove to him. At the cool of the day, after Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit, they start hiding themselves and try to cover themselves. God still shows up in the cool of the day, well aware of what’s happened, yet nothing changed on God’s front. He still shows up at the same time they always met.
It’s man that hides. It’s man that needs something to cover what we perceive as sinfully standing in the way of our relationship with God. I don’t know what more a person can do to prove love than be willing and following through on, giving up the thing that we as humans value the most, life.
[00:24:02] Anthony: Stated, sir. So, given what you just said, that he proves his love for us while we were sinners, why suffering? And here’s the thing, suffering is universal, amen. None of us get through this life unscathed. We all experience affliction.
And in any church on a Sunday morning, when the gospel’s being proclaimed, there are people who are knee deep in suffering, they’re hurting. And so, I’d like to invite you, if you’re willing, to make this personal, how have you experienced suffering which leads to hope, as pointed out in the Scriptures here? And again, I’m grateful in advance if you’re willing to share.
[00:24:42] Matt: Sure. Yeah. I’m happy to. If I could, I’d like to just throw a general request out there to the pastors and preachers who are listening to this. It can be very uncomfortable when you are ministering to people and you know they are hurting and so you want to be there and step into that with them and that’s a wonderful cruciform thing to do.
But to try to make it better by downplaying the suffering. It is not effective. It is not Christlike. We don’t see Jesus do that. Right before he resurrects Lazarus, he’s weeping with them that his friend is dead. He acknowledges the pain that they’re in. It would be wiser to say nothing than to attempt to sugarcoat or explain away suffering.
[00:25:33] Anthony: Yes, preach.
[00:25:33] Matt: So, sit with them in it. I think specific to your question — many years ago now, my youngest brother died by suicide.
[00:25:43] Anthony: Oh, I’m so sorry.
[00:25:44] Matt: And that carries all kinds of baggage with it and I don’t want to nullify anybody else’s experience that’s similar to it. But when you are a psychologist, there’s an added guilt that comes along with it: how did you miss this? You knew he was not well, but you didn’t believe it was this severe, under the impression he was getting some kind of help.
That event, the most — I’m in my mid- 40s and still the most difficult thing I’ve ever seen in life has been my parents try to move forward. And they did. It took time. It took a lot of healing to be revealed within them. But that was hard to watch. It was hard to not … I’m the oldest of three brothers and so there’s this sense of being the one to say, “Okay, we’re going to … here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got to plan.” And to not have a solution to that other than time and inertia letting the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit was going to do in the timeframe my parents needed it in rather than in the timeframe I would’ve preferred, yeah, of my own choice or volition. But that changed, that was …
I had a theology of suicide.
[00:27:10] Anthony: Yeah.
[00:27:11] Matt: I had a theology of death in general. I had a theology of death that, that seemed to deviate or delineate between individuals who had some type of salvific experience and those who did not. But then I also had a specific concept of theology based on suicide, the act of death itself.
It’s funny, theologies are interestingly formed when they’re academic. When there’s no skin in the game.
Anthony: Yep, preach.
Matt: This wasn’t close to me, right? That this was something that I was almost in an ivory tower. Most of my career has been in academia more so than the pulpit. And I’m in my ivory tower and I had structured a theological rubric based on various proof texts I had selected that seemed to fit the mold.
And all of that came crashing down with an experience where the theology I had formed in no way aligned with how I saw the Godhead revealed in Christ. So, I had to rethink that belief. And that led to rethinking a variety of things. I’m not a fan of the term deconstruction. I understand its basic logical use and I don’t criticize when it’s used. But I really do prefer rethinking, or even reconstructing, renovating, identifying those things that do not align with the rubric we’ve been provided as to who God: Jesus Christ.
If it doesn’t look like that, it has to be reevaluated. And that began that for me. It really hasn’t stopped. It’s something that’s, I think, a lifelong journey of looking at the beliefs we hold most dear and then allowing our encounters with Father, Son and Spirit to reset the lens, like going to the optician.
And yeah, the prescription that I used to wear doesn’t work anymore. I can’t see clearly with it anymore. I need the prescription adjusted and allowing the Holy Spirit to do that. So, honestly, the majority of what I do professionally today is remarkably informed by that experience.
It sounds, it’s an odd statement to make, and I hope it’s understood in the context I mean it. It has birthed remarkable fruit. Still a tragedy. I miss my brother every day. I still wish he was here, but it doesn’t, it does not nullify what came out of it, the beauty for ashes that was able to come out of it.
[00:29:50] Anthony: I’m humbled that you shared, and I’m so sorry for the loss of your brother, and we give thanks to God that he’s good, he’s great.
Matt: I know.
Anthony: And this is why even thinking of that line: suffering is universal. Yes, it comes to us all, but it’s also meant to be experienced by others.
I think it’s one of the reasons God in his wisdom placed tear ducts in our eyes, because it’s meant to be seen and shared and experienced with others. We mourn with those who mourn and we sit with them and we know that, as you pointed out, Jesus crying at Lazarus death, even though he knew he was going to raise him to newness of life and a resuscitation, he still weeped.
The death is, man, that doggone death. It’s still there. There’s no spiritual sting any longer, but it sure hurts on this side of the veil, doesn’t it? And …
Matt: Yeah.
Anthony: … it’s meant to be shared together in the body. And another beautiful thing I hear you say is how certainly God was not the Genesis or the cause of your brother’s pain, but boy, is he at work in it to bring about goodness where there was such deep pain and suffering. And I just think there’s so much we could dive into there in terms of the way that we experience this life, but thank you for sharing.
[00:31:09] Matt: Absolutely.
Program Transcript
All right, let’s transition to our next pericope. It’s Romans 5:1–8. It is a Revised Common Lectionary passage for Proper 6 in Ordinary Time, June 14. Matt, would you read it for us, please?
[00:19:19] Matt:
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. 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.
[00:20:07] Anthony: Hallelujah. There’s a lot contained in that passage. So, if you were preaching this text to your local congregation, what would you proclaim?
[00:20:15] Matt: I think the first thing would be what we alluded to a little bit before this — who’s faith idea. In verse one, since we are justified by faith the human predilection is to try to put our effort into something.
[00:20:27] Anthony: Of course.
[00:20:59] Matt: That by adding our intelligence, our experience, our fortitude, we can somehow make something better. And sadly, a lot of the English translations, particularly those that base itself off the King James, do tend to focus a lot of this emphasis on it being the faith of us that impacts and changes us rather than an external faith that’s given to us by God, and in which case it actually is a triune faith that’s imparted to us. The big theme of this passage for me at least, is this idea that divine action and intervention is not conditioned on our conduct or on our capacity to understand.
[00:21:12] Anthony: Come on.
[00:21:14] Matt: This learning for the purpose of somehow manipulating the will of God to our own human will really has to be jettisoned for the garbage theology that it is.
That’s not how love works. If the nature of God isn’t just to be loving, although he is, but is love in its most expressed, perfect, truest form, all that Father, Son and Spirit do within their interactions with Creation through that perichoretic union, it has to be synthesized down to love.
And throughout this passage … verse eight, “but God proves his love for us and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We focus a lot on the sinners part of this, which is an accurate presentation, but I think the bigger theme here is when humanity is at its worst, we do the most vile and evil things to one another to the Creation itself, that is the moment where we’re looked at and God says, “Yeah that that’s a people worth loving, that is a creation that is worth the surrender of the most meaningful thing that any of us have, life itself, and being willing to lay down that life on behalf of this very broken, confused, distorted creation.”
I get the question a lot from students, especially … And it seems the question’s asked … the earlier in their academic journey, it’s asked, I can gauge what branch of fundamentalism they went through. But the question always comes up of this, why did Jesus have to die? And I’ve heard lots of great answers. Brad Jersak has a wonderful perspective on this, but where I’ve settled is right within this verse. It’s the means by which God proves his love.
[00:23:14] Anthony: Yes. Come on.
[00:23:16] Matt: We had nothing to prove to him. At the cool of the day, after Adam and Eve consumed the forbidden fruit, they start hiding themselves and try to cover themselves. God still shows up in the cool of the day, well aware of what’s happened, yet nothing changed on God’s front. He still shows up at the same time they always met.
It’s man that hides. It’s man that needs something to cover what we perceive as sinfully standing in the way of our relationship with God. I don’t know what more a person can do to prove love than be willing and following through on, giving up the thing that we as humans value the most, life.
[00:24:02] Anthony: Stated, sir. So, given what you just said, that he proves his love for us while we were sinners, why suffering? And here’s the thing, suffering is universal, amen. None of us get through this life unscathed. We all experience affliction.
And in any church on a Sunday morning, when the gospel’s being proclaimed, there are people who are knee deep in suffering, they’re hurting. And so, I’d like to invite you, if you’re willing, to make this personal, how have you experienced suffering which leads to hope, as pointed out in the Scriptures here? And again, I’m grateful in advance if you’re willing to share.
[00:24:42] Matt: Sure. Yeah. I’m happy to. If I could, I’d like to just throw a general request out there to the pastors and preachers who are listening to this. It can be very uncomfortable when you are ministering to people and you know they are hurting and so you want to be there and step into that with them and that’s a wonderful cruciform thing to do.
But to try to make it better by downplaying the suffering. It is not effective. It is not Christlike. We don’t see Jesus do that. Right before he resurrects Lazarus, he’s weeping with them that his friend is dead. He acknowledges the pain that they’re in. It would be wiser to say nothing than to attempt to sugarcoat or explain away suffering.
[00:25:33] Anthony: Yes, preach.
[00:25:33] Matt: So, sit with them in it. I think specific to your question — many years ago now, my youngest brother died by suicide.
[00:25:43] Anthony: Oh, I’m so sorry.
[00:25:44] Matt: And that carries all kinds of baggage with it and I don’t want to nullify anybody else’s experience that’s similar to it. But when you are a psychologist, there’s an added guilt that comes along with it: how did you miss this? You knew he was not well, but you didn’t believe it was this severe, under the impression he was getting some kind of help.
That event, the most — I’m in my mid- 40s and still the most difficult thing I’ve ever seen in life has been my parents try to move forward. And they did. It took time. It took a lot of healing to be revealed within them. But that was hard to watch. It was hard to not … I’m the oldest of three brothers and so there’s this sense of being the one to say, “Okay, we’re going to … here’s what we’re going to do. We’ve got to plan.” And to not have a solution to that other than time and inertia letting the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit was going to do in the timeframe my parents needed it in rather than in the timeframe I would’ve preferred, yeah, of my own choice or volition. But that changed, that was …
I had a theology of suicide.
[00:27:10] Anthony: Yeah.
[00:27:11] Matt: I had a theology of death in general. I had a theology of death that, that seemed to deviate or delineate between individuals who had some type of salvific experience and those who did not. But then I also had a specific concept of theology based on suicide, the act of death itself.
It’s funny, theologies are interestingly formed when they’re academic. When there’s no skin in the game.
Anthony: Yep, preach.
Matt: This wasn’t close to me, right? That this was something that I was almost in an ivory tower. Most of my career has been in academia more so than the pulpit. And I’m in my ivory tower and I had structured a theological rubric based on various proof texts I had selected that seemed to fit the mold.
And all of that came crashing down with an experience where the theology I had formed in no way aligned with how I saw the Godhead revealed in Christ. So, I had to rethink that belief. And that led to rethinking a variety of things. I’m not a fan of the term deconstruction. I understand its basic logical use and I don’t criticize when it’s used. But I really do prefer rethinking, or even reconstructing, renovating, identifying those things that do not align with the rubric we’ve been provided as to who God: Jesus Christ.
If it doesn’t look like that, it has to be reevaluated. And that began that for me. It really hasn’t stopped. It’s something that’s, I think, a lifelong journey of looking at the beliefs we hold most dear and then allowing our encounters with Father, Son and Spirit to reset the lens, like going to the optician.
And yeah, the prescription that I used to wear doesn’t work anymore. I can’t see clearly with it anymore. I need the prescription adjusted and allowing the Holy Spirit to do that. So, honestly, the majority of what I do professionally today is remarkably informed by that experience.
It sounds, it’s an odd statement to make, and I hope it’s understood in the context I mean it. It has birthed remarkable fruit. Still a tragedy. I miss my brother every day. I still wish he was here, but it doesn’t, it does not nullify what came out of it, the beauty for ashes that was able to come out of it.
[00:29:50] Anthony: I’m humbled that you shared, and I’m so sorry for the loss of your brother, and we give thanks to God that he’s good, he’s great.
Matt: I know.
Anthony: And this is why even thinking of that line: suffering is universal. Yes, it comes to us all, but it’s also meant to be experienced by others.
I think it’s one of the reasons God in his wisdom placed tear ducts in our eyes, because it’s meant to be seen and shared and experienced with others. We mourn with those who mourn and we sit with them and we know that, as you pointed out, Jesus crying at Lazarus death, even though he knew he was going to raise him to newness of life and a resuscitation, he still weeped.
The death is, man, that doggone death. It’s still there. There’s no spiritual sting any longer, but it sure hurts on this side of the veil, doesn’t it? And …
Matt: Yeah.
Anthony: … it’s meant to be shared together in the body. And another beautiful thing I hear you say is how certainly God was not the Genesis or the cause of your brother’s pain, but boy, is he at work in it to bring about goodness where there was such deep pain and suffering. And I just think there’s so much we could dive into there in terms of the way that we experience this life, but thank you for sharing.
[00:31:09] Matt: Absolutely.
Small Group Discussion Questions
- The sermon emphasizes that justification, peace with God, and grace are realities we already have, not things we must earn or achieve. Where do you most struggle to receive what God has already given, and where do you still feel pressure to “prove yourself” — to God or to others?
- The phrase “God proves his love for us” is repeated throughout the sermon as the foundation for trusting God. What makes trusting God difficult for you right now, and how does the cross reframe or challenge those doubts?
- Romans 5 describes suffering as something God works through to produce endurance, character, and hope — not something God causes for our harm. What would it look like to trust that God is still at work even when circumstances seem overwhelming?
- How have you experienced God’s love poured into your heart, and how might the Spirit be inviting you to extend that same love to others right now?
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