Untitled Sermon (11)

On June 17th 1992 a boy in born in a delivery room at Caraway hospital. Before the boy had been born, God knew him, formed him, made him.

The boy’s father was absent from the delivery, and would be absent his entire life. His mother would raise him alone, shielding and protecting him from the dangers of a life that could have been.

She worked hard, gave up much, but carried more than anyone could see.

There was love. Loads of it, but it was still hard nonetheless. There wasn’t always stability, there wasn’t always clarity about what life was supposed to look like.

And as that boy grew up, he didn’t have the words for it yet.

He just knew some things felt uncertain. Some things felt different from what he saw in other homes. There were moments he didn’t understand… questions he couldn’t answer.

And if you were to step into that story early on— if you were to look at it from the outside—

you probably wouldn’t say, “Yeah, this is all coming together.”

or

“This is good.”

You’d probably just say…

“That’s tough.”

(pause)

Let me tell you something.

That little boy I’m talking about…

is me.

(pause)

And as I look back now, I can say something I couldn’t have said then.

God was working.

Not in a way I could see at the time. Not in a way that made sense in the moment.

Not in a way that made sense.

But He was working. And every ounce was for my good. Not a single drop was wasted.

As we approach our text this morning, we have one single thing in common. Despite our situations, we will all suffer.

We Know

John Stott speaks of this passages saying, “

Romans 8:28 is surely one of the best-known texts in the Bible. On it believers of every age and place have stayed their minds. It has been likened to a pillow on which to rest our weary heads

The verse begins with two word, “We know”. Paul is stating that knowledge of this truth isn’t something that is possessed by a handful of elite Christians. It is a universal Christian truth to know this.

This isn’t the first time that Paul has used the word “we know” in this chapter. In verse 22 he says, “For we know” but in this instance it is the groaning of creation.

So, we know that this world is not what it is supposed to be. We know we haven’t arrived. We know that more and better is coming. We know, as verse 22 says, “the whole creation has been groaning.” But, look at verse 23, not just creation but “we ourselves” are groaning “as we wait eagerly for the adoption…the redemption of our bodies.

Paul is setting the two truths next to each other for a reason, and we will unpack it more as we go, but we have to allow the truths to live together. That is, we will suffer (groaning) but it works for our good.