In 5:1-5, Paul draws out a consequence of a person's right-standing before God, namely, peace with God. Since we stand right in the presence of God through the instrument of faith, on the basis of Christ's sacrifice on our behalf, we find ourselves at peace with God, ie. reconciled to God, v1; under His favour, v2; and assured of His love, v3-5.

v1. Those who are justified find themselves in an objective state of peace with God rather than war. We are no longer enemies of God. God's justification of sinners involves reconciliation; it involves peace. Being at peace with God (being reconciled with God) means that we are his friends. God's declaration of our eternal right standing in his sight (justification) includes the offer of his eternal friendship. All this is gained through Jesus' life, death and resurrection, ie. our justification, including our reconciliation, is through the faithfulness of Christ. All is a gift of God.

v2a. "This grace" (God's kindness in freely justifying the sinner) is appropriated through the instrument of faith in Jesus Christ.

v2b. We rejoice in a confident anticipation ("hope") of coming glory, when our whole being will be radiated with God's divine character. This was our true destiny, but it was lost through sin and now is restored by Christ to a degree far beyond the original gift. Such is ours in the day of Christ's return and ours at this very moment. So, because we stand in God's favour through Christ, we can rejoice in the hope of sharing God's glory.

v3-4. We also rejoice in our sufferings - for the proving (testing, strengthening) of our faith under pressure. Troubles drive us to rely more on the Lord and so produce perseverance, strengthening of character and the strengthening of our hope in the fulfillment of God's promises. So, we rejoice in suffering, knowing that our sufferings produce endurance, which in turn produces character (integrity - like a precious metal with the dross removed by fire), which in turn produces hope, a confident anticipation of eternal glory, of abiding with the divine for eternity. Our "hope" of glory is actually strengthened by both our perseverance and by the building of our character through life's trials.

v5. So, the hope we have is anything but illusionary; it is real and made more real to us as we daily rely on God's grace through the rough and tumble of life. Yet more than this, our hope is no illusion because we have already been washed with God's love. As Paul put it in v1, "since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"; we have received the abundance of God's loving mercy, are washed with it, cleansed by it and so are reconciled to God. The reality of God's love for us in Christ has been driven into our psyche through the indwelling ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit has taken God's Word and driven it home, driven it into our very being, has made it live for us. So, hope is no illusion to those in Christ.

I was talking with a fellow clergyman recently who spoke of his life as if it were clouded by a constant mild depression. The cause was simple enough; the stress and anxiety of ministry was slowly undermining his psychological health. Sadly, the goal-posts have shifted in ministry, and we now face a whole range of different and often false expectations of clergy. Ministers were once employed as stewards of gospel truth, preachers and teachers of God's word, yet now they have to be managers, group dynamic experts, social workers and marketing gurus. Pity help the minister who doesn't "grow" their congregation. Unending stress is the daily cross of the professional minister.

We mere mortals spend half our life struggling with the stress, anxiety and depression associated with modern living. How do we best handle life's cares?

When Joe Cocker sang "troubles lift us up where we belong", he was touching on a Biblical idea. Paul actually says that we can celebrate life's troubles. The word "celebrate" may be a touch strong. Some translations use the word "boast", while the NIV has "rejoice". There is a sense where the believer can move above life's troubles, and so rather than become a psychological cripple, we can find our character strengthened, we can become battle hardened, and so endure. In the face of the storm we can knowingly smile.

So what's the trick? It's all got to do with how we look at life. Let's call it "thinking christianly." We can focus on our troubles, or we can focus on the big picture, and the believer's big picture is very big. Paul calls it our "hope". It is the hope of glory, the confident anticipation that the day is fast approaching when we will stand in the presence of the living God as his friend for eternity, at peace with God, reconciled to God.

The amazing thing about this hope is that it is not a forlorn hope. A believer's hope finds its authentication in the love of God, in God's compassion toward us. To those who believe, Christ's death and resurrection have already gained for us peace with God. God is no longer our enemy; he is our friend. The Holy Spirit takes this profound Biblical truth and drives it into our psyche such that our hope is no illusion.

It is when we think christianly about the daily grind that we then rise above it

1. In what sense do we have peace with God?

2. What is the Christian hope?

3. Why is it that Christians can rejoice in their sufferings?