Good morning! First, would you join me in a couple of special Thank You’s?

First, to Anthony Trujillo, who has stepped in to lead the choir this last month with Gary on leave. We are so grateful for you Anthony! And second, for our entire choir who has led us in worship in different ways this entire year- special music, hymns, with the ensemble, special services. We are so grateful for your service and leadership- and we now want you to enjoy your summer off!

With all this Pentecost “red” around here, it seems appropriate I tell you a story about Red Mountain. Red Mountain is a small peak up near Snoqualmie Pass. Jeff Van Duzer and I set out to climb it several years ago. The trail starts you up into the forest, you go up for quite awhile, then down across Commonwealth Basin and then you start up Red Mountain. For awhile there’s a clear trail, but it get smaller and smaller as you get up the mountain. Pretty soon you feel like you’re just scrambling up. Many times we would look up, think we saw the top, only it wasn’t the top. There was always another thing that looked like a peak above you.

Four times we thought we were there, but we weren’t. Finally, we stopped and ate lunch. It was getting later, and we thought maybe we’d missed it, or it wasn’t the defined peak I’d remembered. After lunch we decided to give it one more chance, and go up the next “false” peak. And lo and behold, this was the real peak. We were there. There was even a waterproof capsule with a little book to sign and prove you were there, and the view was stunning. The back side dropped away in a sheer cliff for a thousand feet and you could look out across the Cascades. All that slogging and scrambling up and down and up had paid off, and we had the great view we’d dreamed about.

Maybe you feel like that with the letter to the Romans. Four chapters now we’ve done a fair amount of slogging. Worked hard. Stuck with Paul sometimes painstakingly making his points. He’s underscored that sin is everywhere, and affects everyone, no one is immune no matter what their background. And the answer to it comes only from God. We’ve worked hard to take it in, but finally we’re being rewarded. The view is pretty great in the first half of chapter 5. Will you stand with me if you are able?

Reading: Romans 5:1-11

Before we look at this view from Romans 5, I want to just mention two quick things about Paul and his writing. We’re blessed to have this hard copy of his letter. You’ve probably noticed that when you get a real letter, it hangs around the house and ends up getting re-read several times. It’s unlike emails which we tend to read, respond to and delete. Done. But re-reading a letter lets us think about the subtlies, the patterns and maybe get more insight into the writer. So here’s just a couple things.

First, Paul has favorite words and phrases. Last week I told you that one of Paul’s favorite words was “therefore (oun).” He uses it to move his conversation on, dependent on all he has already said. So when he starts chapter 5 with it, he is again saying “given all we’ve talked about…” In chapter 5 there’s also another favorite phrase, translated here as “much more (surely).” He uses it when he compares something- like “though the sin of Adam was powerful- much more powerful is the grace of Christ.” We’ll notice more favorite words as we go.

Secondly, Paul is a theologian. He is always concerned with communcicating theology. So, having cleared the decks on the topic of sin, he quickly clarifies who the God is he has been talking about- Father, Son and Holy Spirit. “We have peace with God…through our Lord Jesus Christ…and God’s love is poured into us through the Holy Spirit.” Father-Son-Holy Spirit, the name of God we (will) baptize Grace with this morning.

The nature of God is three-in-one, the trinity that fits together like a three-legged stool. And the history of the Christian church is to ignore one part of God or another, to have an incomplete picture, a 2-legged stool that can’t stand. And most often, most parts of the church have ignored the Holy Spirit. But not Paul.

So. THEREFORE, since we are set right with God by faith (chapter 4’s point)…,” I can say this. And I’ve picked out three things Paul says in this passage. One is surprising. One is overwhelming. And one is shocking.

The surprising thing is found in verse 3. It’s surprising because Paul is moving along with a nice list of benefits that we enjoy. We have peace with God in Christ. We have received the grace of God. We celebrate in the hope (expectation) of sharing God’s glory. All great stuff- justify, peace, grace, glory. And not only THAT, Paul says, and here we expect him to move to something even more amazing- what will it be? Contentment? Resurrection? Eternal life? Tell us what else is in our goodie basket, tell us what other benefits we get!

Surprise! “We also “boast” or “celebrate” in our sufferings. Whoa. Sufferings! I thought this Jesus stuff was good, I thought if we follow him good things will happen! Well, they will. Amazing things will happen- like faith, relationship, peace, grace, glory…but also suffering.

Now, Paul isn’t just talking about suffering as “hardship” or “difficult things happening in life,” though that’s applicable too. But often “suffering” is translated as “tribulation,” and used to describe difficulties that come specifically from following Christ in a hostile culture.

Paul says “rejoice in this,” not because we look for or celebrate suffering, but we can celebrate in our suffering because only God able to use it for good- to bring maturity and depth and compassion. Sometimes we only think of “suffering” as something that would make us doubt God. Why would God let this happen to me? But what if it actually could be productive? What if we were open to it drawing us nearer and deeper to God? Surprising.

Now comes the somewhat overwhelming part. Our hope, our expectation for a favorable future is rooted in something outside ourselves: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” It’s part of the Pentecost story. The Spirit of God that Jesus had promised, that had shown up just occasionally in the Old Testament but which Jesus said would be with them foever is with us, pouring God’s love into our hearts.

This “pouring” word is used a number of times in the New Testament. Sometimes it means “shed,” as in blood being shed. It often appears as “poured out,” particularly, in Matthew, Mark and Luke’s stories about the last supper and Jesus’ words “this cup is my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

Quite literally, Christ poured himself out in giving his life away. In the book of Acts, that Jennifer read earlier, this same word is used to describe the extraordinary way the Holy Spirit of God comes upon people- poured out upon men, women, older, younger, for prophecy, for God’s Word to go out. So blood shed, Christ poured out, Holy Spirit poured upon, the love of God poured into our hearts in the Holy Spirit- all the same word.

And to me, “poured out” doesn’t mean a trickle, it means a waterfall. A gusher. A roaring river. Poured out doesn’t mean a careful feeling, but a dousing. Poured out means coming from a greater source and going into or upon a smaller one. Poured out is the locker room scene of the World Series champs- people thrown into showers, steam rising, champagne spraying around, it’s bedlam, there’s liquid gushing everywhere- God’s love has been poured out, into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

Nothing held back. Giving everything. This is part of what the Holy Spirit does, pours God’s love into our hearts. It doesn’t matter if it is a quiet sense of God’s presence, or a word spoken in a tongue in a time of worship. God’s love, poured into our hearts- is overwhelming.

But what is shocking is the depth of that love. Because it was given to us while we were enemies of God. Paul says we were reconciled to God by Christ- while we were still a long way off, when we didn’t care, when we were enemies. This is how God proves his love- gave up his son for those who didn’t care.

I thought about this quite a bit this week. I thought about situations where people have been willing to give up their lives. I thought about some of my favorite fictional characters- like, Owen Meany, who gives up his life for the sake of others, some innocent kids in particular. Or the true stories of many who gave up their lives to hide Jewish people during the Holocaust. Or perhaps the story of Flight 93 on 9/11, when passengers revolted to keep the terrorists from pointing the plane at Washington DC., and it crashed- giving their lives for people they didn’t know. Or I’ve talked to aging parents whose adult children have died, who have said earnestly to me “I wish God had taken me instead.” Powerful, powerful actions and attitudes…to give up one’s very life for unknown people, or innocent people, or people you love.

Yet this is still different than any of those. Who gives up their life for an enemy? And why would God do this shocking thing? Perhaps you have noticed already in our short trip through Romans how many famous verses there are- foundational ones, great ones to have memorized actually.

Romans 1:16- I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of salvation for all who believe.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

Here is another wonderful one today, verse 8:

“But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

Maybe you say “Dan, that’s too long for me to remember.” Well, you could even take just the last 4 words: “Christ died for us.” If you ever need to share the gospel in 4 words or less...you could do much worse than this. Two words of history: Christ died…and two words of theology that interpret that history: …for us.

Now- when the Holy Spirit has done its job of pouring God’s love into us, then surely it will make our lives look different. In the power of the Spirit, everything we’ve talked about here in Romans coming into us- we can participate in Christ’s ministry in it going out to other people.

We can model the surprising message of the gospel- that even in difficult times, maybe especially in difficult times, God is with us. Can we lean into that? At a Men’s breakfast yesterday, 4 men of different ages (21-61) shared parts of their stories of faith and vocation, and I was struck that one of the threads was where God had met them in difficulty, uncertainty. Can we embrace that? Even point others towards it?

Are we willing to pour ourselves out- give everything for the sake of others? Can we be the kind of people who, having had God’s love poured into our hearts, now give our lives away?

I heard a great story this week. You know that Young Life is one of our ministry partners here at Bethany, and they do a great job of working with youth around the country and the world. In September of 2003, a Young Life area director in Georgia named Chuck Scott received the phone call you never want to get. It was about a former student of his in Young Life named Gip, who had also played football for him a few years previous. Gip had been shot in the head from close range in a hunting accident, and was in critical condition in Savannah after being airlifted. In fact, he had been given last rites, with little chance to survive. But he did.

What happened was that Chuck gave his life away for the next several years, to Gip and to Gip’s family. Even though he had his own wife and kids and job, he made himself constantly available to Gip. Spent countless hours at the hospital. Made the family laugh during dark times. Helped with therapy. Recruited prayers. Did fundraising to pay hospital bills. Chuck even organized a team to decorate their house for Christmas one year when the family just could find time to do it between hospital crises. When Gips’ mom was asked about Chuck, she said simply “Chuck was the face of Jesus in our lives.” The face of Jesus.

And finally, an we open ourselves up not only to those we know and love- but to those we don’t, and even to those who are our enemies? A person who has repeatedly disrespected us at work, or someone estranged in our family. Can we reach out, not because we can but because Jesus did? Surely a life touched by the Spirit of God will be more than simply “I took care of the people I loved.”

That’s enough from Romans for one morning. But it’s by no means all. One of the wonderful things about the view from Red Mountain that day was to look out and see so many other peaks in the Cascades. If we were going to climb them, we’d have to do some more slogging down and then up- but there were a number of other stunning peaks with amazing views. It’s the story of Romans. And it’s the story of life with Jesus.

Let us pray.