Living in a Fractured world

A man stopped to watch a Little League baseball game. He asked one of the youngsters what the score was.

“We're losing 18-0,” was the answer.

“Well,” said the man. “I must say you don't look discouraged.”

“Discouraged?” the boy said, puzzled. “Why should we be discouraged? We haven't come to bat yet”

(Stan Toler, God Has Never Failed Me, but He's Sure Scared Me to Death a Few Times, Honor Books, 1995; www.PreachingToday.com).

Scriptures

Genesis 3:17–19 NIV

17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.

Romans 6:23 NIV

23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Introduction

Kansas Prayer – Pastor Joe Wright opened a session of a Kansas State House with a prayer in 1996 that caused an uproar

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good," but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and inverted our values. We confess that: We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism. We have worshipped other gods and called it multi-culturalism. We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it a choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it political savvy. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the airwaves with profanity and called it freedom of expression.

We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; try us and see if there be some wicked way in us; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent here by the people of Kansas, and who have been ordained by You, to govern this great state. Grant them Your wisdom to rule and may their decisions direct us to the centre of Your will... Amen

We need to realize the condition of the world we live in. Morality is low but most of all the world we live in is facing death. There are people your loved one’s, neighbors, friends, coworkers that don’t know him and facing eternity without him.

Romans 8:18–39 NIV

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God. 28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 31 What, then, shall we say in response 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, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered 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 convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Paul reminds the reader of the present circumstances and how we live in a world that is broken, suffering

Steps to living in a fractured world

Understand Today's Realities

We must understand that we live in a fallen world. This must break our hearts

Romans 8:22–23 “22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.”

Commentator Dr. Kenneth Boa

How many believers today wait eagerly for their adoption as children of God? How many have grown used to the cacophony (Co-Ka-phony) we call life on planet earth? How many Christian hearts break over the tragedy and despair present in the lives of so many in our world? We, even the church, have so effectively distanced ourselves from the groaning of the creation that we forget that we live in the midst of a curse. It is as if we have taken the anesthesia intended for the mother laboring to give birth in the next room. The results of the curse are in our very presence, but we fail to hear it. Any believer who does not groan inwardly and wait eagerly for his or her adoption has a shallow understanding of the present condition and future hope God has provided for his children.

Anchor Your Hope in the Unseen but Certain

You need hope

Romans 8:23–25 “23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

When words fail, the Spirit speaks.

Romans 8:26 “26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.”

Be Assured—God Hasn’t Clocked Out

Romans 8:28 “28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Rest in the truth: Jesus stands for you

Romans 8:33 “33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.”

Hebrews 4:14–16 “14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”

Know this: No force, no failure, no future can pull you from the grip of grace.

Romans 8:35–38 “35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered 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 convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,”

Trouble nor hardship nor persecution nor famine nor nakedness nor danger nor sword…

Death nor life, Angels nor demons, Present nor future, Height nor depth, nor any powers.

To round it up if you hadn’t quite got the message: ‘nor anything else in all creation…’

Everything in creation is under the control of God the creator and of Jesus Christ the Lord. That is why nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord Romans 8:39 “39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”