Fourth Sunday after Trinity

Our text this morning is taken from St. Paul’s Epistle to the church of Rome: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Ro 8:18). Suffering is unavoidable. It’s the consequence of living in a broken and sinful world. In spite of this, I think most of us here would agree that we have lived relatively happy and blessed lives. Yes, we suffer, but God gives us the grace to endure. And generally, the sorrow we face is spread out over our whole lives. But imagine what it would feel like if every bit of suffering you experienced in a lifetime were summed up into one terrible crushing moment? What if on September 11th you also found out you had cancer, then ran over your own dog, totaled your car, came home and your wife said, “The bank is foreclosing on the house and I want a divorce.” That almost sounds comical, but there’s nothing funny about suffering. And when you stack up everything that we experience in a lifetime, it really can add up.

But St. Paul says: Take all that suffering, pile it all up on the scale, and guess what? It doesn’t even compare to the joy of heaven that God has in store for us. He isn’t making light of our suffering, but next to the glory that is to be revealed, it is like a drop of water compared to the Pacific Ocean. That’s the future that God has planned for every believer. That’s a wonderful promise.

“For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Ro 8:19). This is a very interesting idea. Nature itself is longing for the restoration of creation. Have you ever considered that? When God made the world, it was perfect. There was no death, ever. People, animals, plants, even the weather, all lived together in perfect harmony. Then we introduced sin into the universe. Can you imagine a zebra saying, “I don’t understand. Adam and Eve disobeyed, and now I have to get eaten by lions? It’s not fair.” Martin Luther wrote that the sun itself, one of the most radiant and glorious created things, might say: God created me to shine upon his perfect, beautiful world. But now I must give light and heat to murderers, blasphemers, and adulterers. “I must serve those who slander and defame God and carry on all malice and lawlessness” (LW 78:164).

Certainly zebras don’t talk and the sun is not a rational being, but even so, the Bible tells us that creation longs “to be set free from its bondage to decay” (Ro 8:21). Unlike us, the creation did not choose sin and death. It was subjected unwillingly. God said to Adam, “Because you have [sinned], cursed is the ground for your sake” (Gen 3:17). If the ground could talk, it might have said, “Excuse me! How does that work? Adam sins and I get cursed?” This is the monstrous truth about sin. It never affects just the sinner. When a man commits adultery, how many people’s lives are destroyed? When a drunk driver gets behind the wheel, other people, strangers even, will suffer. So it is that all creation now suffers under the burden of human sin, eagerly waiting for the day of freedom, for the revealing of the sons of God.

St. Paul compares this waiting to childbirth. All of creation is groaning together, waiting to be delivered. A woman giving birth suffers great pain, but she has hope. Soon the suffering will be over and she will hold the child in her arms. In this way all of creation is in travail, eagerly longing for the day when the new creation breaks forth, the day when God wipes away every tear, the day when the sons of God are revealed in glory at last.

We too long for that day. We have, as St. Paul says, the firstfruits of the Spirit. In other words, we have the seal of baptism, which is God’s promise that we are his children and will reign with him in the new heaven and earth that is to come. This promise is like a down payment. There’s a lot more to come. Here on earth we are already God’s children. We are already saved. When God gives his promise, his word is as good as kept. But the glory of the children of God is still hidden. Does the world regard us as God’s children? No. In every age God’s children have been mistreated, thrown into prison, and afflicted in every way. Today God’s children must be subject to unjust laws that permit the murder of unborn children and celebrate unholy unions as marriage. The true teaching of Christ is called error, hate, and heresy. False pastors and false churches peddle smooth-sounding words of deceit that are no gospel at all. And we, who remain faithful to the Word of God must bear the mockery of an increasingly hostile world that condemns righteousness and flaunts wickedness.

Have the children of God been revealed in glory yet? No. We have the hope of that glorious day, but now we groan in childbirth along with all creation waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. Heaven and earth and all creation cries out and complains, unwilling to be subjected to vanity, unwilling that the ungodly should misuse them against God’s honor. Meanwhile, the children of God remain hidden on earth, just as the kingdom of God is hidden. And so, the children of the devil strut in their merry hour across the stage. They enjoy the praise and glory of men, the finery of this world, all the pleasures of life, like the rich man in the parable a few weeks ago. But our hope is in the world to come.

That’s why the prayer of our hearts, and of all Christians is, “Come, Lord Jesus.” When we pray as our Lord has taught us, “Thy kingdom come,” we are crying out with all creation in earnest expectation of that glorious day, when our Lord comes to rule visibly and in glory. We ask that he would hasten his coming, that the curse of sin would be undone, and that our frail bodies would be renewed to be like his glorious body.

Christian do not appear in the eyes of the world as people with a future or a hope. We are regarded by many as weak-minded individuals who must rely on the crutch of religion to make it through life. But our hope and trust is in the mighty King of glory. We are only travelers in this world, citizens of a higher and greater kingdom. And the dawn of that heavenly realm is near. Very soon, our Lord will appear, not in humility as in his First Coming, but in radiant glory, brighter than the sun. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away as the darkness before the morning. And even the memory of suffering will be as a fading dream. This day is fast approaching when our Lord Christ will make all things new. This is the great hope and certain promise given to all believers. And so, with joyful expectation we add our voices to those of all of creation, crying, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus.” Amen.