Hope In Suffering

Introduction

Video: Gospel (again)

Reader: Dan Maciej

Romans 8:14–18 (ESV)

14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Thank you Dan. I am pleased to announce that we have all the spots filled for our weekly readers for the rest of this quarter, but come January we will have another opportunity. So if you were still deciding if this was a good next step of growing in your faith you will have another opportunity very soon.

Tension

As you heard or read along with these verses did it get you thinking at all about the reality that any of us here who are “In Christ” were actually adopted into that position? What are some of the implications of that? What is the significance?

As we covered last week in Romans 5, We were all born into this world into the extended family of Adam - with a sinful nature that comes with that - but to be a child of God, Paul says you have to be adopted into God’s family.

Some of our us have first hand experience with the process of adoptions, but all of us understand at least to a degree what is involved. Our first father Adam, let us down, but now our heavenly Father, who we call “Abba Father” has adopted us.

That is what it takes for an adoption. It isn’t something that the child can achieve or negotiate. It takes movement by a parent. It is the parent stepping up and saying that they will take the legal steps necessary, they will pay the cost required, they will choose to become responsible for a life that they are not otherwise required to be responsible for.

Why would anyone do that? Why take on a burden, a debt, a responsibility that is not inherently yours? It is an act of love. If you have adopted children then you have a unique perspective into this attribute of God’s love. Adoption is a beautiful decision and it can be one of the most beautiful reflections of God’s character that a person can display.

But along with the unique joys of choosing adoption, there are also unique challenges. Sometimes their is baggage from the time that was spent living in their previous family life. Habits that were developed during that time. Perspectives that have to be informed. Attitudes that have to be identified and then worked on. And throughout their life they can struggle with identity issues where questions come up as to who they really are now that their life has undergone such a change. Are they fully a child of their adopted family, or they still a child of the family they were born into.

And every human family who has lovingly chosen adoption has different experiences with these unique challenges, but I bring them up because these struggles that are experienced in varying degrees in human adoptions, are always a part of the struggle with God’s adopted children.

Even though we have been adopted into God’s family, we are always struggling to accept our position there. We often revert back to the old habits of our previous “family” - our sin nature inherited through Adam. That is why Paul is so insistent that we understand our new position in Christ. That we “ have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

Don’t get thrown by the word “sons”. I like how the NIV uses the word “sonship” because it is not about gender. It is about inheritance. Some people get all worked up thinking that Paul is displaying some sort of prejudice here, like he is sexist or something, but that is exactly the opposite of what he is saying.

In his day, only a son would be the heir to his Father’s estate. A daughter inherit only what she married into…so basically what her husband inherited from his father. But Paul is saying that in the family of God, “sonship” is given to all who are led by the Spirit. Male or Female doesn’t matter here, only the position of having “received the Spirit”. As we see fleshed out in the next verse...

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ...

This adoption of God’s children, male or female, includes an inheritance. The concept of adoption and an inheritance would have been recognizable for the both the Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians in the Church in Rome. Remember that this book, Romans, was a letter that was written by Paul to the Church in Rome. A Church he had never been to, but had heard of because Rome was the epicenter of their world.

Their were some tensions that had to be worked through in that Church as the Jewish Christians had just recently been let back into the city by the Emperor and they found that some things had changed so that they needed to know what was essential to being and doing what God desired of His Church. How can we be a Christian Church, and not just a Jewish Christian or Gentile Christian Church.

Nevertheless, the Jewish Christians would have understood adoption as stemming from their heritage from the Tribes of Israel but the Gentile, or more specifically the Roman Christians, would have thought about adoption as something that a wealthy Roman Citizen who had no children would have pursued to carry on his name and care for his estate after he had passed.

From either perspective, becoming an heir was good news. Even today we get excited over the idea of receiving an inheritance...but what about that last line of verse 17...

17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ... ...provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Yikes...“suffering” is a tough sell. Not exactly good recruitment poster material, right? None of us came in here today hoping to hear a message that called us to suffering. We are doing just fine finding that one on our own. But hear me Church:

This is not a call TO suffering, it is a call THROUGH it.

Think of the recruitment poster idea again. An employer, the local gym, or the armed forces don’t make posters that highlight the suffering that you will have to endure - they highlight the benefit you will gain. They highlight the money you will make, the muscles you will build or the honor you will receive…but all of that is only yours if you make it THROUGH the suffering of long hours, sweaty workouts and boot camp “Sir Yes Sir” Right! .

This is not a call TO suffering, it is call THROUGH suffering to something better. And not just better than the suffering. Not suffering is always better than suffering! No it is a call to walk from where you are right now...THROUGH a measure of suffering…to something so much better than you where when you started.

In that way, recruitment posters pose the same question that our text is today. Isn’t it worth it?

Yes it will be challgneing. Yes it will be hard. But isn’t the inheritance of sharing with Jesus in the “glory of God” worth it?

That is what the rest of Romans chapter 8 answers for us. So keep your Bibles opened there, I’ll pray and we will dive into how our inheritance in Christ Jesus walks us THROUGH suffering to something much greater.

Truth

Romans 8:18 (ESV)

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Right away Paul says that from his perspective there really is no comparison. To inherit the right be become the children of God in heaven is far superior to anything that we may have to suffer through here on earth. So we focus right way on the theme that...

God’s children hope in His promised redemption ( Romans 8:18-25)

Remember we talked about “Redemption” being like someone who goes back to a pawn shop with the ticket to get their stuff back. To redeem those things that were theirs but were sold to the shop. But it wasn’t God who sold us out, we sold ourselves into slavery and still God loved us enough to pay the high price of buying us back - redeeming us. This is our hope.

Romans 8:18–21 (ESV)

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

Every suffering in our would can be traced back to the presence of Sin in our World. Sin is not just about doing naughty stuff, it is about denying our created design. We are “creatures” remember? We have a creator who created us for a good purpose and we have “corrupted” that purpose so that it is no longer good for what it was made for. Like a corrupted program or file on your computer...things just won’t work right until it is fixed.

And while Jesus already accomplished everything needed to fix it, things are still running their course to accomplish all that God seeks to do in His glorious redemption plan. And the entrance of Sin does not only effect us, everything God made to be good has been corrupted by the presence of Sin...

Romans 8:22-23

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

It is not just the world around us that will be made right, but we will be restored to the good design that God created us to dwell in. It will be like having our adoption be so finalized that we no longer experience the struggle of longing for our previous life. Instead we will be completely restored to the glory that God designed for us to live in as children of God.

This is our saving hope, the one that we look forward to and long for especially in times of struggle and suffering. That everything that we wrecked by our sin will some day be fully restored to it’s original and even greater glory through the redemption of Jesus Christ.

24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Our Faith is rooted in what Jesus Christ did for us in the Past, but our Hope is in what Jesus has promised to do in the future. You could say that Hope is Faith aimed at the unseen future. And so we wait…with patience? Yes, but still we say come Lord Jesus.

But while we wait for that day, we have been given something of a down payment of what will be. By this, I mean the very real presence of the Holy Spirit.

God’s Children hope in His provided presence (Romans 8:26-30)

While God promises his children that our lives will be marked with the pain of suffering, they will also be marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have already seen some of this earlier in the chapter. Back in verse 14 Paul said

Romans 8:14 (ESV) 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

This illuminates an important distinction. Many people like to say, “Well we are all God’s children”…it’s a nice sentiment but God’s Word does not teach that.

It says that we are all created in the image of God, so we are all equally worthy of value, dignity and respect but that does not make us “All God’s Children”. We are all born children of Adam, but we are only made Children of God when we are adopted as “sons of God” who are “led by the Spirit.”

To rightly understand what being “led by the Spirit” looks like though, we need to keep it in it’s context. Consider it with the verse right before it.

Romans 8:13 -14(ESV)

13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Then it says 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

These two ideas are so closely connected that many translations express them in just one sentence with a comma, instead of two sentences with a period.

Only creatures as foolish as us would think that after God saved us from a live enslaved to sin, that He would lead us right back to our old way of living again. That would be inviting back futility .

We have been adopted into a new family, God’s family. We are children of God, His adopted heirs. So the expectation, or really the demand is that we would abandon everything from our old way of life.

In the book of Galatians Paul said it like this:

Galatians 5:16–17 (ESV)

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Being led by the Spirit is not about God helping you to get what you want…it is about following Him into what He wants. God has given us the gift of His presence for a reason. Living according the flesh leads only to death, but if we truly follow Him into what He designed for us…that is where real life is found.

And because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are more able to do this than we think.

Romans 8:26–30 (ESV)

26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. (Amen?) For we do not know what to pray for as we ought,

We “ought” to know what God would have us pray. We “ought” to know Him so intimately that our prayers are just an extension of His Word, His ways and His Will for our lives…we “ought to” but we don’t.

We are still learning, still growing, still killing those things that belong to our old “flesh”. The “firstfruits” of the Spirit are there, but we still need help...

..but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 is one of those power verses that people like to memorize to have available in times of suffering. That is great idea, I would encourage you to do that…just don’t short change the message of it.

Make sure you don’t throw out some redacted version into someone’s struggle. Something like, “Well remember that the Bible says that “all things work together for good” because that is not what this verse says. That is empty optimism. We live in a world that is still sick with sin. It longs to be made right but it is not there yet. In this “sin-sick” world there are a lot of things that work together for evil, and not for good, and we should not be telling people otherwise.

What we “know” ...according to this verse...is that “for those who love God... and are called according to His purpose…all things work together for good.” If your life is aimed at doing the things you want to do (Gal 5) then there is no promise in this for you. This is only for those who are about walking by the Spirit into God purposes for us.

A lot of people have left the Church because they were sold this lie that if they become a “Christian” then everything is going to be just as they wanted…but that is not what being a Christian is. Being a Christian is about removing yourself or anything else from the position of “Lord” of your life and replacing it with God.

And like every trustworthy principle in Scripture, there is no better example of this than Jesus. Look all the “things” that Jesus endured for us: A wrongful arrest. A lawless trial. A brutal beating. A senseless verdict that led to the most excruciating style of execution known to man.

Would we call those things good? No, but we can see how they worked together for good.

Romans 8:29–30 (ESV)

29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (adopted brothers and fellow heirs)

30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

God’s children hope in His promised redemption ( Romans 8:18-25)

God’s Children hope in His provided presence (Romans 8:26-30)

God’s children hope in His extravagant love (Romans 8:31-39)

Remember how we said that Hope is Faith aimed forward into the future. Well here Paul grounds all the hope he has given to this point in the Faith that looks back to the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:31–39 (ESV)

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If you were so invested in something that you secured it with the life of your one and only Son, wouldn’t that prove that you would give anything to get it done. That is what God has done for us...

33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

What a great declaration of the Gospel message, and then Paul goes on to explain how this all works together in making it through any of our suffering into our fully realized position as Children of God.

35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

First, we can have hope because God will redeem His children. The world and our lives will get better when Jesus returns.

Second, we can have hope because God is present with His children. He works through even bad situations for our greatest good.

Third, we can have hope because God loves His children. His love is so extravagant that nothing can separate us from it.

Gospel Application

Like most early Christians, Paul’s readers in the Church in Rome experienced suffering. Their new allegiance to Jesus over everything else set them them up to face things like rejection from friends and family, finding themselves at odds with their surrounding culture, giving up their cultural heritage and any conflicting values.

Because of this many of them endured persecution, prison, or even death. They probably began to wonder the same question we asked in the beginning.

Is it worth it?

To be an heir of God and fellow heir with Christ, means that we will suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Paul’s answer to the question of “Is it worth it” was emphatic “YES!”. And Paul not only answered with his words, but with his life. He knew what it was like to follow the Spirit through great suffering.

In our Table Talk Groups after the service we will look at the chapter in 2 Corinthians that lists all that Paul suffered. But even with all of that, he was still able to write in 2 Cor chapter 4

2 Corinthians 4:17 (ESV)

17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,

There seemed to be no question in Paul’s mind. No matter what we suffer here, nothing compares with the eternal glory that is found in being a Child of God.

Landing

And that is an even bigger question. Are you? Are you a child of God?

If you are, if you have have turned from your sins and trusted in Jesus—then this passage promises you the greatest hope imaginable. Even when life is tough or you feel loved by no one else, absolutely nothing can separate you from God’s love. You are His child, and so you have hope through the suffering.

On the other hand, if you have never turned from your sins and trusted Jesus, this passage serves as a great invitation. The glorious hope that God offers His children is far more satisfying than whatever you look to for meaning in your life. He offers you a better way—if you turn and believe in Him.

Today would be a great day for you to do just that. Let’s stop and pray into that right now.

Communion!!!