06/01/2026
On the day following Pentecost, on a day when many churches celebrate Trinity Sunday, the mystery of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit--three in one--is preached, shared and celebrated. There are many texts that reveal the reality of the Trinity (e.g. Matt. 28:19-20, 2 Cor. 13:11-13, to name a few). One of those trinitarian texts, Rom. 5:1-5, was the focal point of Jesus' message to us through Christ's scripture yesterday morning.
What does Rom. 5:1-5 teach us about the presence and power of the Triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)? Well, quite a few things it appears. As Paul teaches about justification by faith and introduces Jesus as the new Adam, now people are made righteous through the perfect Adam--Jesus Christ--making all just before God. Moving into Romans 5, we see that God has given us peace through Jesus Christ, and that God's love is poured out to us through the Holy Spirit. There certainly is a trinitarian presence located in this passage of scripture, and that divine unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are joyfully at work in the lives of believers, but in holy methods that many of us would want to ignore, much less avoid.
And those holy methods are accomplished by the presence of affliction.
Paul instructs us about afflictions (burdens, weight, pressure, grief). In the sermon yesterday I mentioned that the Greek word for "affliction" is "thlipsis", a word that has the idea of being pressed and squeezed. Oftentimes the very difficult moments of our days, the burdensome times, the feelings of oppressions--these are the opportunities we have to let the Father, Son and Holy Spirit surround us in healing community. In other words, The role of God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are to work in tandem to use our afflictions for greater discipleship and faith. That's right--we are to trust that the Triune God is at work in our lives using the weight of our suffering to develop perseverance, then perseverance develops character, and finally, character leads to hope. God--fully one yet three distinct parts of the God-head (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)--works together for our good, causing us to do more than simply submit to the LORD during moments of affliction and pressure.
The Greek word for "boast" here in this passage is a word that means "publicly rejoice, brag about". This means that whatever we are going through, however long God wants us to remain in suffering, we are to praise God in it, through it and after it. Yes! Let God and others know that the afflictions we carry are simply reflections of God's active grace in our lives. When we begin to view our suffering through the lens of gratitude and joy, then we begin to see our lives as mirrors of God's healing power. Our afflictions are producing endurance, and endurance produces character, and character leads to hope. Let me be clear--no one wants to willingly suffer, and suffering is not something to weirdly enjoy. The point is not that we should want suffering but that we should expect it--to expect suffering means that God will use affliction as a channel through which we receive transformative blessings in our lives (endurance, character and hope). And, as we become less and God becomes more (John 3:30), we experience what God's peace and love truly are.
The world needs hope--the REAL hope of Christ Jesus--more than ever before. This means that we must do whatever we can, not to run from our sufferings but to submit to God in them, boast about our God through them, and praise God for getting us to the next phase of our discipleship journey. Everything that happens to us and for us strengthens our faith and shapes us into the image of Jesus.
And you can bet on this: When people see Jesus at work in our lives, and notice the divine blessing of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit dancing ("perichoresis"--dancing around) victoriously in our afflictions, we begin to experience the community of the Triune God in ways that we'd never imagined (had we not faced our afflictions with obedient trust first).
So, whatever pressure you're feeling now, whatever heaviness you'll experience in the future, know that the joy of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are primed and enthusiastic to shape you more into the likeness of Jesus. The more you become Christ-shaped, the more you become cross-shaped--and the more cross-shaped you become, the more love you lavish on all those you meet along your journey.
Be encouraged--the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are producing fruit in your life through affliction. God's peace and love are with you!
--Pastor Will
