Rom 8:14-18

[Announce the Text] Please turn with me to Romans 8:14-18.

[Help those unfamiliar with the Bible to find it] Romans is located in the New Testament. You have Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts and then Romans. If you see 1 and 2 Corinthians, then you have gone too far.

[Scripture Introduction] As you are finding your way to the passage, I would like us all to consider what it means to be children of God. Specifically, what it means to be his children when life is hard, when we are afraid, and when we struggle for Christ as believers. Consider what kind of posture does our Father have towards us when we are hurting and enduring the hardships of this life?

[Read the Text] 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slaveryto fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoptionas 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,

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. (Romans 8:14-18 ESV)

[Prayer for Illumination] Let’s pray . . .

[Introduction] I recently read an autobiography of a man named Antwone Fisher. Antwone grew up as a Foster child in Cleveland, Ohio. His Father died before he was born, and his mother, who was in prison during his birth, never came for him later in life.

To make matters worse, he was placed in an abusive foster family.

The Father of the house was absent and didn’t even know his name until Antwone was a teenager

He was taken advantage of sexually by his babysitter

But the worst was his foster Mother would beat him and verbally abused him on a almost daily basis. She would call him racial slurs and say that he would never amount to anything in life. That his is living in this house because nobody else wants him.

For Antwone, the world was a scary place. Without the support and love from real parents, Antwone lived his life controlled by fear.

He was afraid to let anyone into his life since he expected them to leave him like his parents or to hurt him like his foster parents. He was constantly in survival mode and doing whatever it took to mitigate that fear and put himself out of harms way.

[COR]

Paul writes this letter to the Christians in Rome who also had many reasons why they could be controlled by fear. It was not safe to be a Christian in Rome in the first century.

Because Christians had a loyalty other than Rome, and because they served other God’s than Rome, the Romans were scared of Christians. They knew that they could not control them so they tried to wipe them out.

Christians were sometimes tortured and killed for their faith - sometimes as entertainment for the Roman elite.

They were easy targets for the blame of the Fire of Rome in A.D. 60

were often ridiculed for their strange new religion and not respected

Like Antwone Fisher, the Christians and Rome to whom Paul writes had many reasons they could have been controlled by fear. There were many things they could have pointed at to say, “God has left us, we are abandoned orphans.” They could have lost all courage, given up, or lived lives controlled by fear.

But Paul gives them another option: He writes in Romans 8:14-15

Romans 8:14–15 (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,

[apologetic Hint] You may be wondering why Paul keeps talking about sons, and never daughters. Paul is speaking to males and females in the passage. The reason that this word is translated as son, and not child, is because the son, in that time, was an heir of their father’s property and materials, and Paul will later convey that we, male and female, are heirs of God. So in this sense, male and female, all who are led by the Spirit, should consider themselves sons of God since all receive the promised inheritance. He is not approving of the culture, he is simply using the culture of his day to paint a picture in the way that the audience will understand. We aren’t like partially children of God, we are fully children and even heirs.

To avoid confusion, I will use the term children and adoption to make it clear that I am interpreting this passage to apply to both male and female equally.

The point of this verse is that they do not need to be controlled by fear, because they are sons of God - sons of the one who controls all things, the one to whom the Roman emperors must bow their knee.

Even though their trials were legitimately terrifying, they need not fear for their God is even bigger.

Just a few verses prior, in verse 11, Paul writes that this Spirit, the same Spirit who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies.

Paul encourages the Christians in Rome that this resurrecting Spirit does not only give them power, but it gives them a relationship as sons. It is withing the security of this relationship that we have confidence and courage, as Children of God, to face the trials of life.

[FCF] Paul knows that we are like sheep, and that we get scared easily. We have the tendency to be controlled by fear.

Perhaps we are afraid of not measuring up - so we get stressed and focus only on our carreers, or if you are a student on your studies. This fear of not measuring up can cause us to work unethically, cut corners, cheat on tests or cause us to neglect our loved ones.

We might be afraid of the political climate of our nation which causes us to quarrel and treat other people without dignity

Perhaps we are afraid to be lonely so enter into unhealthy relationships - we may even know they are wrong but we still enter them because of the fear of loneliness

And when hard things happen, we may fear that God has forsaken us. We can feel like Antwone and think that we are spiritual orphans. If we see other people with successful careers, or healthy families, we may think that we are neglected by our Father in heaven.

[Garden Lens]

But Paul reminds the Romans, and he reminds us, that we are children of God. In this secure relationship, in which our Father is the all powerful God, we have security and confidence to live boldly in this life.

If Christianity is something new to you and you are not sure what you believe about Jesus and the Bible, then this sermon is a snapshot into the life of a child of God, and it is invitation to you, to trust in Jesus, and live with a Father who is good.

If you are already a believer in Jesus, then this sermon is an encouragement to you, to live boldly as children of God, to do hard things for the gospel because of who are Father is.

[Big Idea]

If I could summarize this sermon in one sentence, it would be the following:

As Children of God, we can suffer into glory because...

1. Our Father hears us (15b)

2. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our adoption (16)

3. Jesus suffers with us (17-18)

[repeat]

As you see, this is a beautiful portrait of our triune God. We see in this text how the Father, ,the Holy Spirit, and the Son work together as one for our salvation and for God’s glory.

1. Our Father hears us (15b)

Let’s look at this first aspect of what it means to be children of God, that our father hears us

Romans 8:15 ESV

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!”

As sons and daughters of God, we can cry out to him, and he hears us! [Apologetic Moment] Depending on how your experience is with your earthly father, some of you may have a hard time imagining God as father. I had a friend who had had a bad experience with her father, and as a result, it felt inappropriate for her to call God her Father. Tragically she would skim past such passages of the Bible and it took years for her to allow God to be her Father.

Some of you might feel pain and insecurity when you think of Fatherhood rather than love and security. If this is the case, I am really sorry for the pain you must feel. I think it would really help if you take the courage to consider God as a good father, even if that seems like an oxymoron, because you need a Father who hears you in order to live confidently as a Christian in this world.

Our Father hears us, even if we are not used to being heard. He hears us.

Paul says that through the Spirit, we cry “Abba Father” - This is an Aramaic word that children would use to address their fathers in a tender way. Similar to papa, or daddy.

As I lived in Munich, I stayed with a friend of mine who has a two year old son named Mateo. This son is adorable, a bundle of joy. Everyone who visits seems to want to play with Mateo more than talk to his parents. One thing that stood out to me in this family, was the tender love that they had for their son. When Mateo got scared, he would run to his parents and they would hold him and comfort him. And then a few minutes later he would forget his pain and go back to playing like nothing happened!

This is the kind of dependence that God wants us to have with him. He wants us to approach him with our fears and pains. No pain is too small, he doesn’t expect us to grow up and deal with life on our own. He wants us to stay small, like little children, and call out to him without shame. Our Father hears us.

We see this dynamic in the relationship of Jesus and the Father. On the night of his arrest, as the magnitude of the cross loomed over Jesus, he started to feel the intense weight of what was taking place. He cried out to God

Mark 14:36 ESV

36 And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

[Application] In this very dark moment for Jesus, he was able to be small before his father. He was able to be dependent like a small child. Dependence is not a bad thing. We might feel uncomfortable with it, we want to be strong and figure out life on our own, but we can’t make it on our own. We weren’t created to do that. We were created to live as Children of God - fully dependent on him.

I often come to God in my prayers and, like Jesus, ask for the situation to change. I ask thy my will be done, or that God’s will may be different. We are allowed to ask this. Jesus did. And sometimes God will take us out of the scary situations of life. But not always. Sometimes God has a plan for us that involves suffering and scary situations.

Notice that the solution to our fear is not situational but relational!

God does not take us out of scary situations, but he gives us himself as a Father to whom we can cry “Abba Father”.

The Spirit of Slavery is not replaced by a Spirit of comfort and ease, but a Spirit of sonship by whom we cry “Abba Father”

The solution to our fear is not situational but relational - Our Father hears us.

If you have a hard time crying out to God, then I recommend reading, praying, and singing the psalms when possible. The word that is used here for “Cry” is used over 40 times in the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. By giving us the Psalms, God not only demonstrates that he hears our cries, but he even gives us words to put language to our pain and fear. He not only welcomes our cries, but he encourages them and helps us do this by giving us the psalms.

As Antwone Fisher grew up, he started to be able to grieve his pain and he wrote this poem. For the sake of time I won’t read all of it, but I will read the beginning and the end.

Who will cry for the little boy? - Lost and all alone.

Who will cry for the little boy? - Abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy? - He cried himself to sleep.

Who will cry for the little boy? - He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy? - A good boy he tried to be.

Who will cry for the little boy? - Who cries inside of me.

This poem struck me. I was struck by his pain and loneliness. I was struck by his courage to write about it. But what struck me most, was a surge of gratitude as the Holy Spirit reminded me that I have an answer this question! As I listened to the Poem, I was internally answering each line with Father! Father!

Antwone is morning fatherlessness. He is morning the fact that no one knows his pain because no one listens to our cry. As I first read this poem, I was filled with gratitude and the name Jesus sprung to my mind in every line that Antwone asked, who will cry for the little child. Because Jesus intercedes for us to the Father, we do not have this loneliness and despair. We have a Father who knows our pain. We have a heavenly Father who listens to us as a good father listens to his dear child.

Father cries for his little child - Lost and all alone.

Father cries for his little child - Abandoned without his own?

Father cries for his little child - He cried himself to sleep.

Father cries for his little child - He never had for keeps.

Father cries for his little child - A good boy he tried to be.

Father cries for his little child- Who cries inside of me.

Psalm 68 describes God as the Father of the Fatherless who settles the solitary in a home.

If you are fatherless, if you do not know God as your father, then I encourage you to consider God’s invitation to you, to be his son and to find a home by him.

If you are God’s child, then find your home by Him. Cry to him because he hears you!

[Transiton] Our sonship is necessary for our confidence and boldness as Christians. We live in a world that is plagued by sin and danger. We need to find security in the God who rules over all and has power over Darkness. Since our Identity as God’s children is vital to our survival as Christians, Satan will often try to convince us that we are not really God’s children. He will feed us with lies that we are orphaned and abandoned. This why we need the Holy Spirit to remind us of our adoption.

As Children of God, we can suffer into glory because...

1. Our Father hears us (15b)

and

2. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our adoption (16)

Lets look now in our Bibles at verse 16

Romans 8:16 ESV

16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,

Do you guys ever have times when you doubt your faith? Even though I grew up as a Christian, I still have times in my life when I really don’t feel like a Christian. My actions do not line up with what I claim to believe and sometimes I even feel controlled by my sin instead of by the Spirit.

Doubt is a part of the Christian life and growth. It’s not good but I do think it is common. If it were not common, the Holy Spirit would not need to continually remind us of our adoption as this verse describes.

Indeed, this verse comes shortly, not coincidentally, Paul’s description of his battle with morality and identity.

In Romans 7, Paul describes this battle that goes on between his mind and his body.

He loves the law of God, but his body acts out of his flesh.

He does not do the things he loves but does the very things he hates.

He describes this battle between himself and sin and cries out in Rom 7:24

Romans 7:24 ESV

24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

Paul seems to doubt his status before God because his deeds and his desires do not match. But Paul is able to say in Rom 8:1

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Even Paul, and he would say especially Paul, needed to be reminded of the grace that is found in Christ Jesus. Paul holds on to the fact that Jesus suffered in his place, he was treated as a wretched man in his place. Paul hopes in the truth that he is forgiven, and that God is on a mission to make all things new, even his body that is corrupted.

And Paul could only believe in these things because of the Spirit’s work in his heart.

Paul says that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. What does this mean? It means that our spirit plays a part in the demonstration of our adoption.

If we read verse 15 carefully, we see that it is through the Spirit that we cry “Abba Father”. So this cry itself, is a testament to the Holy Spirit’s work in our hearts, and therefore a testament to our adoption.

So if you are doubting your adoption, if you are doubting that you are God’s son and doubter, do not ask if you are perfect, ask yourself if you are crying out to God, because you can only do that through the Holy Spirit. Don’t ask yourself if you are perfect, ask if you are dependent on God. Because that is what a child is, a child is dependent on his Father. If we cry out to Him in our sin, in our failure, then be encouraged - you are his child and he is your father. He will help you through. It often takes longer to get through the struggle then we wish, but he will help us through.

Image you are on a Soccer team, and you have a wide open goal and you miss the shot. In this moment, the other team will be much happier about your shot than your own team. But the team you are on is not determined by weather or not you make the shot or not, which team you are on is determined by the jersey you are wearing. And your jersey does not switch colors when you miss a shot.

This work of the Holy Spirit in our spirit, that causes us to cry Abba Father is the jersey, it reminds us whose we are.

Satan will want to take us out of the battle by attacking our identity as children. Hold fast to your identity as children of God and be encouraged that the Holy Spirit will not let us loose this identity. He will continually remind us.

As Children of God, we can suffer into glory because...

1. Our Father hears us (15b)

2. The Holy Spirit reminds us of our adoption (16)

and now we will see that we can suffer into glory because

3. Jesus suffers with us (17-18)

Romans 8:17 ESV

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.

Paul does not only say that we are children of God, but he takes it a couples steps further. We are not only children, we are his heirs. We are not only heirs, but we are heirs with Christ!

Let that sink in for a second, how great an honor it is for us to be heirs with Christ. How great an honor we do not deserve.

But what is our inheritance?? This is an important theme that we find throughout the Old and the New Testaments. To say it shortly, it’s the inheritance that is promised to all those who live in covenant with God.

When God first made the covenant with Abraham, he promised him Land, many offspring, and to be a blessing to the nations. As the covenant continues throughout the old testament and into the new, the promises of the covenant are revealed in more and more detail.

In the new covenant, Paul says in Galatians 3, that Jesus is actually the heir of the covenant. He fulfilled the law perfectly and receives the inheritance of the covenant. But the crazy thing is, that we can also receive the promises of the covenant if we are united to Christ through faith and baptism. If you believe in Jesus, if you are baptized into his church, his bride, become part of his body, then you are Christ’s. Paul says in Galatians 3:29,

Galatians 3:29 ESV

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Through Jesus, we do not only receive the promises of Israel, but much more.

I explain all this to demonstrate that it is only through Jesus - through our union with him that we are heirs. Jesus earned our inheritance and we receive it through our union with him. Our union occurs through faith and baptism. If we are united with Christ, we will also share in his mission in the battle against sin and to make all things new.

We are not only heirs with Christ, we are also people who suffer with Christ.

There are two misconceptions about suffering that I would like to address. Two misconceptions that I believed as a child.

I used to think that suffering is avoidable. I thought that extreme Christians or those that live in extreme countries are persecuted. Like the Christians in 1st Century Rome or Christians today in Iran. I knew it was a reality it may happen, something I should be ready for, but I really hoped that it wouldn’t happen to me.

Brothers and sisters, suffering is a reality for all Christians. Paul says in v17 that we are

Romans 8:17 (ESV)

17 ... heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

There is no inheritance without our suffering, and it even seems that suffering plays a necessary part in our future glorification. In many ways, suffering functions as a refining fire, to make us holy - more and more like God.

We live in a world that killed Jesus, if we are united with Christ, the world will be hostile towards us as well.

So if we know that suffering is a reality, if we know that following Christ might mean hostility from the world, rejection from our loved ones, maybe even our families, and other trials, why should we follow Jesus? I would like to give two reasons why it is worth it to follow Jesus and to be united with him despite suffering.

It is a great honor to suffer with Jesus.

By giving us the same words to cry out to our Father that Jesus used in the night of his death, Abba Father, Paul is showing our union with Christ. It is an honor to cry out to God with these words that Jesus himself used

It is an honor to be a soldier in Christ’s army. It is an honor to fight side by side with him. To bring about renewal and goodness as we fight against the powers of darkness.

I used to think that suffering was something that isolates. I hid my pain from other people and isolated myself when I wasn’t doing well. In a similar way, I felt that God was really far from me when things were hard, and that when things were going well that I was close to God.

In reality, the opposite is more often the case. We have far more in common with Jesus when we are suffering than when we are comfortable. Jesus did not live a comfortable life. Isaiah describes him as a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief.

Jesus understands our pain, not only because he can cognitively understand it, but because he is with us in it.

By worldly standards, we may not be much. We might be socially insignificant, mocked because of our faith. We might be poor and needy because of the Gospel and despised by others. but let us not be consider ourselves wretched when Jesus says in

Matthew 5:10 ESV

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Even though life is hard as a Christian, we should consider it an honor to suffer for righteousness sake.

2. The second reason why we should follow Jesus, despite the inevitable suffering, is given to us in verse 18.

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.

The reality that awaits us, our inheritance in Christ, is so glorious, so magnificient, that the trials of this time, as hard as they really are, do not compare.

Our trials are like feathers on a scale. One one side you have a feather. That’s our suffering. On the other side you have a massive boulder. The boulder will not even feel that the feather is there. So it is with the glory that we will receive when Jesus returns and makes us, and all of creation, new.

You might feel overwhelmed with your suffering today. But tomorrow you will be 10,000 more times overwhelmed by the glory of God in the new heavens and the new earth

Maybe you are poor because of the gospel - In heaven you have riches

Maybe you are lonely and rejected by your family because of your faith - with God you have brothers and sisters and a home

Maybe you are suffer from mental illness - With God you will have complete peace and joy for eternity.

Maybe you are sick or you lost a loved one - God knows how hard this is, and he encourages us to hope in the day with no more crying and no more death.

All of us will be tired - when our inheritance becomes reality, we will find our rest.

As Children of God, We can suffer into glory, because Jesus is with us. It is an honor to be with him in our pain. It will be a greater honor to be with him in glory.

[Close]

I recently read a book for my counseling class at Covenant about attachment between people. The author is Sue Johnson, an important Psychologist in the realm of marriage and family counseling. She says that children with secure relationships with their parents have a base from which to go out into the world. they are more

More adventurous, take risk, have confidence

Since they can rely on a dependable person and be dependent, they are paradoxically stronger. They are secure. They can take risks, because they know that they their parent’s love will not change based on their performance. Fear is also less crippling from them since they will not bear the pain of failure all by themselves.

Sue Johnson then goes on to describe three things that make up a secure relationship between the parents and the child. They are when the parent is

accessible

responsive to the child’s call

engaged with the child

As I read this description of a secure relationship. a relationship that propels I child into the world. I realized that our passage this afternoon describes each of these aspects

Is God accessible? Yes, Our Father hears us!

Is God responsive to our call? Yes, the Holy Spirit responds to our call and reminds us of our adoption

Is God engaged with us? Yes, Jesus suffers with us. And we will also be glorified with him!

Modern Psychology agrees with Romans 8 that we as Children of God have every reason to boldly and confidently endure suffering because of our secure relationship with our triune God. Our relationship with God, and our hope for the future are the secure base that propel us forward.

Psalm 23:4–6 ESV

4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.