Peace with God is yours through our Lord Jesus Christ, since we have been justified through faith in him. Amen.

Romans 5:1-11 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. ⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. ⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God's wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, when 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! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Lord, the ugliness of wars and the senseless violence all around us weighs heavily upon our hearts. We ask you today, "where can we find peace?" Help us to understand through your Son, the Prince of Peace, that true peace does not come through the ending of bombs and bullets, but through the peace of heart that comes from knowing Jesus as Savior. Because he lived in perfection in our place, and took our place of punishment on the cross, our guilt is forgiven! We can be absolutely at peace with the living God! That is the joy of knowing Jesus! Amen.

Thoughts jostled in his mind as the windshield wipers threw the raindrops to the side. It had been so long since he had seen his father. He still heard the echo of the angry words they had spoken. They had not parted on good terms, each of them vowing never to speak to the other again. Each of them stubbornly kept that promise. But everything changed last night.

Mom had called. Dad had a heart attack and the prognosis wasn’t good. He quickly made airplane reservations and was now driving to the hospital. Instead of anger, regret and worry filled his mind. All those years wasted because of a grudge!

When he arrived at the hospital, he found out that his father had regained consciousness. But even better news was that his father wanted to see him. They both realized the wrong they had done each other. They no longer wanted to be enemies. They wanted to be father and son again.

That is a picture of reconciliation. Reconciliation marks a complete change of status from enemies to friends. This morning we rejoice in our reconciliation to God. The apostle Paul wants us to see that this reconciliation with God is unique. It is very different in some important ways from the reconciliation in the story of the father and son. Our reconciliation was secured in a very different way. Our reconciliation creates a very different relationship. And our reconciliation brings a very different peace.

Often for two people to be reconciled, both sides have to battle their own pride and ego. Both sides have to learn to trust each other and live up to that trust. Both sides need to forgive each other and learn to compromise. I’ve done enough counseling to understand that in most conflicts, both sides are usually at fault for causing the division. The father and son in our story were reconciled through compromise.

The reconciliation that God worked for us in Christ Jesus was secured in a very different way. God did not reconcile us to himself through compromise. God had done nothing wrong. He is totally good and perfect. Any compromise on his part would mean sacrificing goodness and perfection. That would be wrong.

But, as humans we were completely unable to compromise. God’s Word says that we were powerless. We had no strength to do what was good, no ability to take a step toward God, no inclination to trust him. In fact, as Paul reminds us, we were completely ungodly. No love for God, no respect for God’s will, no desire to worship God in truth. Why? Because we were sinners. We were filled with evil desires. Our words and actions were corrupt. We didn’t come close to God’s holiness. No compromise could bring reconciliation.

And the more you look at our natural selves the more hopeless reconciliation with God appears to be. True reconciliation requires trust. Our sinful nature refuses to trust God. We know that he is a just God and will call us to account. Instead of trust, terror and hate are our natural response to God. We were his born enemies. And what did we do when God entrusted us with his commandments? We betrayed that trust. We break those commandments in our hearts and lives again and again. Saddam Hussein did a better job of following UN resolutions than we do in following the commandments. There is more hope that President Bush and Saddam will become good buddies than us to become friends with God.

However, God in his love and wisdom planned a very different way to reconcile us to himself. It wasn’t through compromise but through sacrifice. It wasn’t through building up mutual trust, but through his giving his Son out of pure grace while we were still his godless enemies.

"Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man 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." Some of our soldiers may sacrifice their lives to protect their families and country from terrorist attacks. Who of you would sacrifice your life to protect a terrorist?

That’s what Jesus did for you. While you were still his ungodly, sinful enemy, Jesus died for you. God offered his Son as the bloody sacrifice in your place. The Son of God died instead of you and me.

Listen again to how Paul underlines this mind-boggling contrast of what Jesus did to reconcile us even though we deserved the opposite: "When we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly … While we were still sinners, Christ died for us … when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son." The cross shows how God reconciled you to himself. Our reconciliation was secured in a very different way – not through compromise, but through the death of Jesus his Son. We know and believe that Jesus’ sacrifice changes our relationship with God. He freely gives us the status of friends instead of enemies. Rejoice in the reconciliation that comes only through Jesus.

Monday night is a very important meeting for our congregation. We are voting on calling a new 1^st Grade teacher. There will be those who think that we can’t afford to call a teacher. There will be those who think that we cannot afford to not call a teacher. This important decision reminds me of when I was a vicar, kind of an apprentice pastor, twelve years ago at Sola Fide Lutheran Church in Georgia. After much discussion and debate, they had a voters meeting on whether or not to start a Lutheran grade school. The vote ended in a 25-25 tie.

I preached the next Sunday on 1 Corinthians 12:12: "The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ." I mentioned in the sermon that it didn’t matter if you had voted for the school or against the school, as long as you voted for what was best for the kingdom of God, then you made the right decision. It wasn’t about what was best for Sola Fide Lutheran Church, or what was best for the school, or what was best for the members or their children. What was best for the kingdom of God?

After the service, one older gentleman shook my hand and said, "Vicar, how dare you call me a sinner for voting against the school." Now that is not what I said.

The point for us is this – when we make any kind of decisions in our church, for our school, in our workplaces, or in our homes, we should always decide what is best for the kingdom of God. Not what is best for my church, or what is best for my children, or even what is best for me personally. What is best for the kingdom of God? When we make our decisions based on that one criteria, we can’t go wrong.

And we are only able to make that decision because of our new and very different relationship with God. A relationship that is based on faith, grace, and love. A relationship that is even based on sufferings, perseverance, character, and hope. "Through [Christ] we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." We rejoice in our difficulties and difficult decisions, because it produces a stronger hope and confidence in the God who does not disappoint us. He does not disappoint because our relationship with him has changed forever.

We also rejoice in our reconciliation because it brings a very different peace. When people are reconciled with one another, there is always doubt. Will this peace last? Will old arguments re-ignite? Can I really trust this person now? God’s reconciliation is quite different.

Instead of a doubtful peace, God’s reconciliation brings a sure salvation – peace that never ends. This is our unfailing hope that will not disappoint. Why can you be so sure that you will be saved? "Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!" Jesus’ blood has taken away our punishment. We don’t need to fear God’s wrath any longer.

"For if, when 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!" We were God’s enemies, and God’s Son hung dead on the cross. Now we are his friends, even his sons and daughters through faith in him. God reconciled us to himself, and Christ has been raised to life. Because Jesus lives, we will live also.

This reconciliation brings a different kind of peace. In the midst of difficulties and difficult decisions, we have peace of mind. In the middle of emotional pressures, we know that we are loved and forgiven. When we are dealing with temptations, illness, persecution, and even death, we have peace knowing our heavenly Father is taking care of us, bringing about our salvation, and he will be taking us to heaven.

"Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Jeremiah has peace with God through his baptism that he is marked as a child of God. His baptism has washed away his sin, created faith in his heart, and has given him eternal salvation. Jeremiah’s family has the peace of mind of knowing that no matter what may happen to Jeremiah, he is now a baptized and redeemed child of our Father in heaven. When you are struggling with your own personal issues, you can receive strength, assurance, and a calming peace through God’s sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and through his grace-giving Holy Word.

A man's daughter had asked the pastor to come and pray with her father. When the pastor arrived, he found the man lying in bed and an empty chair beside his bed. "I guess you were expecting me," the pastor said. "No, who are you?" "I'm the new pastor at your church," the pastor replied. "When I saw the empty chair, I figured you knew I was going to show up." "Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man. "Would you mind closing the door?" Puzzled, the pastor shut the door.

"I've never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it always went right over my head. I abandoned any attempt at prayer until one day, about four years ago, my best friend said to me, 'Joe, prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here's what I suggest. Sit down on a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I'll be with you always.' Then just speak to him and listen in the same way you're doing with me right now."

"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful, though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd send me off to the funny farm." The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the gentleman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with him, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her dad had died that afternoon. "Did he seem to die in peace?" he asked. "Yes, when I left the house around two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me one of his corny jokes, and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange. In fact, beyond strange – kind of weird. Apparently, just before Dad died, he leaned over and rested his head on a chair beside the bed."

Doesn’t that story typify the unique reconciliation that is ours? A reconciliation that comes in a different way, that creates a different relationship, and brings a different pace. Rejoice in your unique reconciliation that comes only through Jesus. Amen.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Amen.