Romans 8

Where are you going?

If I was to ask you the question, what does your future hold?

How would you answer?

Often times when I’m sharing with my friends about Jesus, I share with them the promises of Jesus, that hope that we have as Christians, that there is a day coming where this world as we know it will be drastically renewed. Living in a new body, in a world without sin, without natural disasters, without sickness and without death.

There was an experiment done in two separate German concentration camp on prisoners during one of the world wars.

One group of prisoners had to shovel a mountain of dirt from one end of the courtyard to the other, day after day after day.

You may be struggling with HOPE at present.

The other group had to do the same thing, but they were told how long they would have to do it for. In the experiments those in the group that weren’t told how long they’d have to do this for all died or became mentally insane.

Those who were in the group that new there was an end to it survived.

Why? Hope.

You may have people in your life suffering at present with cancer, with addiction, with loneliness or depression.

You yourself might be suffering with these things.

At times it can seem it’s just loss after loss

Bad news after bad news.

You may be struggling with HOPE at present.

Is there any reason for us to believe that things will get better in the future?

Is this just wishful thinking?

Is this just wishful thinking?

On what grounds do we have this hope?

And how certain are we of experiencing the glory of this new world?

These are all the questions that Paul is addressing in this section of Scripture.

BIG IDEA: The Christian life and hope is GLORY through suffering; becoming like Christ in his dying and rising.

1. The shape of our hope;

the rebirth of the whole of creation, from a relationship of servitude to sonship. From a taste to a never-ending banquet.

2. The way of our hope;

groaning, suffering, while having joy within it. Working for liberation as those who are liberated.

3. The assurance of our hope;

nothing can separate us from the love of Christ.

Firstly, the SHAPE of our hope.

- In one word; GLORY

- V17 – Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

- V18 - 18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

- V21 - the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

- V30 - And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

- It’s a glory that no one can fathom.

It’s a glory that no one can fathom, but that has been revealed by his Spirit.

“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”[b]— the things God has prepared for those who love him—

10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. .

- It’s a glory that is nothing short of the rebirth of the whole of creation.

God’s plan is cosmic. It’s not that the new world will be a return to Eden. It’s a new world that far surpasses Eden.

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.

- It’s a glory that moves us from a from a relationship of servitude to a relationship of sonship.

14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

V19 - For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.

V23 - we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship

For all of you ladies, we have to understand the context that this was written to understand why it’s an adoption to sonship.

It was the firstborn son in the family that was heir to the family inheritance.

What this is saying is that we are all firstborn sons of God, through our union with Christ.

And that means that we are all heirs to the family inheritance. We share in everything that Jesus has been given.

Every Christian both male and female, in this way, are sons of God. There is no favouritism with God, all share equally in his glorious inheritance and in the riches of his house.

- It’s a glory that moves from a taste to a never-ending banquet.

V23 - we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly.

Jesus repeatedly described our future hope in terms of a banquet. And it’s a banquet in every sense of the word.

Not just food and drink, although it will certainly include that.

But a banquet of intimacy and relationships.

When Jesus says there’ll be no marriage in the new creation, some of us sometimes get a bit down about that.

I really like marriage.

Why won’t there be any marriage in the new creation?

Because the quality and level of the relationship that we’ll have with God, and with each other, will far exceed any marriage relationship. It’s on a whole nother level.

It’s from a taste to a never ending banquet.

Some of us are seriously feeling the weakness and the lack of glory that our bodies currently have.

Just getting out of bed in the morning is a struggle.

It takes me 5 days to recover from my soccer match these days. When I was younger I could play a game the next day!

The constant back aches.

We feel it don’t we!

- V23 - we wait eagerly for the redemption of our bodies

Seed/plant analogy

We groan cause we feel trapped like a seed stuck in its shell. Until it dies and is buried it can’t become what it was truly made for. Likewise with us.

Currently a seed, will be a full blown tree.

That’s the difference of our new bodies to our present ones. Dishonour now, honour then. Weak now, strong then.

We groan cause we feel trapped like a seed stuck in its shell. Until it dies and is buried it can’t become what it was truly made for. Likewise with us.

V36-43. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 40 There are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

SECONDLY, THE WAY OF OUR HOPE;

In one word; suffering

Ch 7 – we groan and suffer as we struggle against the sin that still remains with us. It doesn’t rule us, and never will, but it keeps nagging us.

There is a struggle for liberation going on, and we are in the midst of it. We fight for liberation as those who have already been liberated.

If you’re like me, you’ve often prayed and longed for it all the be over, for the glory to just come now.

Why do we have to wait so long, and go through a life of pain and suffering before we get there?

We groan.

I wonder if Jesus thought the same thing while he was on earth.

He knew what was ahead for him, glory.

But he also knew he had to go through the suffering of temptation, trial, rejection and death before he could experience that glory. And in fact, it was in the very process of going through the groaning, the pain and the suffering, that he was glorified.

V17 we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his (Christ’s) sufferings

V18 18 I consider that our present sufferings

V23 - we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly

This is God’s plan. The whole of creation, including us are in the pains of childbirth.

And for any of you women who have been through childbirth.

And any of us who have seen childbirth, groaning is a bit of an understatement.

A fight for liberation always involves suffering. Think about it.

How did Christ suffer?

First he suffered in that he related to the poor and the diseased and the evil around him. There is not one instance recorded where Jesus was faced with evil or sickness or disease or someone in need, where he didn’t respond with compassion, enter into their suffering and overcome it.

Much of Jesus suffering was his compassion.

As we enter into the plight of the poor and the oppressed and work for their liberation.

And it’s as we are in these weak, vulnerable places that we enter into the life of God.

V26 Likewise, 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... the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

Not only do we have the promise of God the Holy Spirit working for us, but we also have God the Father working outside of us to bring about all things together for our good.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] 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.

The victory is so much sweeter for those who have had to fight for it.

The victory is so much sweeter for those who have been in the trenches, who have seen the devastation that the enemy has done, and who have come out on top.

The glory is so much greater for those who have experienced the grief.

And that is why earlier in , speaking on this same topic Paul writes;

We boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

What does this require?

PATIENCE!

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. 11 For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. 12 So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

14 ...we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself...

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

As our passage in v25

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.

But waiting isn’t easy is it? Not only do we have God the Holy Spirit and God the Father working in us and for us, but we have God the Son, Jesus, who knows what it’s like to suffer. To be weak. To be vulnerable. And the great news is, he doesn’t just say suck it up and stop moaning. He’s intimately involved in the pain that we go through now. Jesus can empathise with us in our weaknesses and temptations, cause he’s been through them, but he doesn’t remain distant from our own sufferings. He’s with us through them by His Spirit. It’s the difference between a friend who texts you when you’re going through hardship saying their praying for you, and the friend who texts you and then comes and walks through the hardship by your side. This is the kind of friend God is to us.

And this leads us to our final point;

The shape of our hope: glory.

The way of our hope: suffering.

The ASSURANCE of our hope;

- In one word; God.

God’s love in Christ through the Holy Spirit.

I love superhero films. I love them because they remind me of my superhero. They truly do. My Saviour. In these films, as long as the superhero is around, there’s hope. In fact, you know the endings going to be good, if you’re on Thor’s side. Friends, God is on your side. He is FOR you. And the incredible thing is he is FOR you not because you were FOR him. He is FOR you because if HIS grace. Because of his out of this world love. You were his enemy, but he has not only saved you but made you his very own and now fights for you for your good. You don’t have anything to fear.

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.

Before our boys go to bed, one thing we remind them of continually is the promise in verse 35. Nothing can ever separate you from the love of Christ. Nothing. Death is coming for us all, but like a dark tunnel, there’s light at the end of it. Cause nothing can separate us from the love of Christ

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.”[j]

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,[k] 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.

Isaiah loves the Lion King. When Mufassa dies, and scar takes over it was devastating the first time he watched it with me. He was full of anxiety because he didn’t know the ending. But I did, so even though I was saddened, I knew how it ended.

Knowing the end makes all the difference to how you deal with the sufferings in the middle.

What’s the ending?

The ending is family.

A movement from being in a serving relationship to a sonship relationship.

And the whole of creation, not just us, is contracting in labour pains, until this sonship relationship is established. This is the thing, we’ve been given the taste of that family relationship. We’ve been given God’s Spirit, by whom we cry out Dad, Father. But it’s only a taste. And there’s something that has to happen before it’s fully experienced. Just like before the full experience of family is realised for a couple and their unborn baby, there’s birth pains. But they’re not worth comparing with the glory and the joy to be revealed when the baby is born.

Invitation to respond