Renewed in Mercy

PASTORAL PRAYER

Gracious and merciful God,

We come before you this morning as people who carry many things in our hearts. Some of us arrive with joy, some with quiet gratitude, and others with burdens that feel heavy to hold.

You are the God who sees us all.

Today we remember those in our congregation who are mourning the loss of loved ones. Surround them with your comfort. Sit beside them in the silence of grief. Remind them that even in the valley of sorrow, they are not alone.

We pray for those who are facing illness, treatments, uncertainty, and long days of recovery. Bring healing where bodies are weak, peace where minds are anxious, and courage for the days ahead. Give wisdom to doctors, nurses, and caregivers who walk beside them.

God of the nations, we confess that the noise of the world can leave us unsettled. The constant stream of news, conflict, and uncertainty weighs on our spirits. Where there is war, bring peace. Where there is fear, bring steadiness. Where hearts are troubled, remind us that your kingdom is still coming among us.

And Lord, as our clocks shift and the rhythms of our days change, help us to remember that you are not bound by our time. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever—our refuge in every season.

Pour your love into our hearts once more, just as your Word promises. Renew us in mercy. Strengthen us in hope. And teach us to trust that your grace is still flowing, even when life feels uncertain.

We offer all these prayers in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who reconciles us to you and calls us friends, The one who taught to pray, saying:

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

SERMON

Renewed in Mercy: Romans 5:1–11 (NLT)

3rd Sunday in Lent | Rev. Brandon D. Buchanan | Greenville Methodist Church

As the weather begins to warm up, I’m reminded that soon my family will once again be able to go to a splash pad or a water park. And there is something magical about standing at a splash pad in the middle of a hot summer day. There’s always that giant bucket hanging above the children.

And I’m fascinated watching it. You can hear the water rushing into it. Slowly it begins to fill. Slowly it rises. And before long, children begin gathering underneath it. Some watch it carefully. Some dare each other to stand a little closer. Others stand there with their shoulders tucked up around their ears, bracing themselves. Because some of them know what’s coming. The bucket will tip. And when it does, the water doesn’t trickle out. It doesn’t politely sprinkle.

It pours.

A sudden rush of water crashing down, drenching everyone standing underneath it. And the strange thing is—people anticipate it and are surprised by it at the same time. You know the water is coming. And yet when it finally spills over, everyone gasps, laughs, and tries to catch their breath. In many ways, that’s how Paul describes God’s love in Romans 5.

God’s love is like that overflowing bucket. Love poured out for you and for me.

Paul writes, “Since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us” (Romans 5:1).

Paul uses an important word expression, been Made right, or, as another translation says: justified. In our Methodist tradition, we talk about three movements of grace in the life of faith: prevenient grace, justifying grace, and sanctifying grace. Prevenient grace is the grace that goes before us, the grace that has been drawing us toward God long before we ever noticed it. Sanctifying grace is the grace that keeps shaping us, slowly transforming us into people who look more and more like Christ through our love of God and Neighbor.

But justifying grace, that is the moment Paul is describing here. Justifying grace is the moment when God says to a sinner, “You are forgiven. You belong to me.” It is not something we earn. Or achieve through moral effort. It is God’s gracious act of mercy toward people who trust in Christ. As John Wesley liked to say, justification simply means forgiveness—the forgiveness of our sins and our restoration into the favor of God. And Paul says when that happens, something remarkable follows: we have peace with God.

Paul says something extraordinary here. Through Jesus Christ, the hostility between humanity and God has ended. Where there was once distance, there is now peace. Where there was once fear, there is now grace. Where there was once separation, there is now access to the very presence of God.

And Paul says we now stand in that grace. Not visit it occasionally. Not earn it slowly. But stand in it. Imagine that for a moment. Standing beneath the overflow of God’s mercy.

Paul continues: “We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials. For we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation.”

Now this is where the passage may get a little uncomfortable. Because Paul refuses to pretend that faith removes suffering. The Christian life does not exempt us from hardship. And if you know a thing or two about Paul, you might know he had firsthand and secondhand experience.

But what he insists is that suffering does not have the final word. Instead, suffering becomes part of the strange and holy work God is doing in us. Hard seasons teach endurance. Endurance shapes character. And character gives birth to hope. The kind of hope that can stand in the storm.

And Paul says that hope will not disappoint us. Why? Because, “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Hear that again, God’s love has been poured. Poured. Not rationed. Not measured carefully. But poured. Like that giant bucket tipping over. God’s love spills over the edges of heaven and floods into human hearts.

And Paul doesn’t stop there. He tells us how we know this love is real. And this might be the most shocking line in the whole passage. Paul writes, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.”

Think about that. Christ did not wait for humanity to get its act together, or for us to be morally impressive, or for us to have cleaned ourselves up. Paul says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. And that changes everything. Human love, Paul says, might stretch far enough for someone good. You might risk your life for someone noble. Someone heroic. Someone deserving. But God’s love moves in a completely different direction.

God’s love runs toward the broken. Toward the weary. Toward the sinner. Toward the ones who feel least worthy of love. And Christ dies for them. For us. For me. And you.

Sometimes I imagine God speaking those words to us personally. A few moments again we heard the worship song by Phillips, Craig & Dean.

“Pour my love on you.” And all my life, I’ve been singing this song from my perspective telling God that I will pour my love on you.

But in my studying this week, and looking at how God’s grace and love pours out on us, I couldn’t unhear this song being sung as a love story; it almost sounds like God speaking to us.

“I want to pour my love on you. I want to let my mercy fall like rain.”

That is the gospel Paul is describing. But a God tipping the bucket, not excluding but raining down love on us all, where we expect it or not or we are anticipating it or not. God’ love is pouring. It’s pouring mercy over sinners. Pouring grace over failures. Pouring forgiveness over people who never believed they deserved it.

And friends, that is exactly the kind of love we need. Because many of us carry a quiet wound. We may not say it out loud. But somewhere deep inside we wonder if we are truly worthy of love. We wonder if God might love other people more than us. We wonder if our past has disqualified us. We wonder if our failures have placed us outside the reach of grace.

But Paul says something different. Paul says Christ died for us while we were still sinners. Not after we became saints, you know, like so many of us are. No. Before. Before we fixed ourselves. Before we had the right answers. Before we had it all together. And that means the love of God is not something we earn. It is something we receive.

Like standing beneath the splash pad bucket. You don’t control it. You don’t deserve it. You simply stand there and let the water fall. And when it does, it drenches you. Grace works that way. It drenches sinners. It soaks broken people. It floods dry hearts. And it leaves us renewed in mercy.

Paul ends this passage with one final declaration. He says, “Now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.” Friends of God. Enemies turned into friends. Strangers welcomed home. Sinners reconciled.

All because of Christ. And that is the promise we hold onto in Lent. Lent is a season where we confront our brokenness honestly. But it is also the season where we remember something even greater.

God’s mercy is deeper than our sin. God’s grace is stronger than our failures. God’s love is wider than we imagined. And it is still being poured out.

So if you ever feel unworthy… If you ever feel like you don’t belong… If you ever feel like grace is for someone else but not for you… Hear Paul’s words again.

“God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

The bucket has already tipped. The mercy of God is already pouring. The only question left is this: Will we step underneath it?

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Let us pray:

Gracious God, Your love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Help us now to receive what you have given. Where we feel unworthy, remind us of your mercy. Where we feel weary, renew us with hope. And where our hearts have grown dry, let your grace flow again. Teach us to stand in the grace of Christ and to live as people renewed by your love. Through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

BENEDICTION

Now go from this place standing in the grace of God.

May the love that was poured out in Christ fill your hearts with peace.

May the Spirit strengthen you in every trial.

And may the mercy of God overflow through your life this week.

Go in peace, knowing that the bucket of grace is still pouring.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Amen.