Jesus centered Hope amidst suffering

Welcome/Prayer/Intro

Welcome- Good Morning Church, How is everyone doing this morning?, Guess what book we are continuing in? Romans! We are going to look at one of the most truth packed chapter in the bible.

Prayer- Holy Spirit come into our hearts this morning and work in us. Jesus may we encounter you as the living word as we study the written word. May this be a morning filled with Holy moments where we encounter the living God and are transformed. May we leave here looking more like you Jesus. That is our hope this morning. Amen.

Pastor Russ ended his sermon with a challenge for us to be a source of hope for the world. I want to expand on what he started this morning. I want to focus on us having hope. Jesus centered hope.

Finish this Sentence (Slide): It is hard to have hope when…?

Suffering exists, we see it all around us.

Pain, death, loss, grief, decay and disease.

What are some other examples of suffering in the world?

What are some of the responses we can have to suffering?

Ignore

Relativize without true empathy

Become overwhelmed and discouraged.

Is it even possible to have hope amidst suffering?

Transition: Paul says that even though suffering effects all creation we can still have hope. In fact, the proper response to suffering is Jesus centered hope. Lets dive into Roman’s chapter 8 beginning at verse 18.

Scripture Speaks to Us today: Hope in Suffering

Paul says that our present sufferings are not even worth putting on the scale alongside the glory to come! What a bold statement! Does he know whats going on in the world?

Yes! he says we can see this same attitude in Creation. All of creation is itself tiptoing in expectation

Like how we tiptoe down the stairs on Christmas morning.

Awaiting that moment when God’s children will be revealed

Paul says creation has been subject to pointless futility- this is referring to the broken that came to creation after the fall.

Subject to the 2nd law of Thermodynamics- energy decays over time. Its been enslaved to this decay and waiting for freedom.

Yet, despite this there has been hope (vs 20) hope for something greater.

Paul is saying, Yes we see a broken world, but we have also seen God’s power and that brings us hope in the suffering and hope in the brokenness.

We have to have that same hope that creation has for God’s glory that will be revealed for us. That glory that outweighs suffering!

The hope that we are called to is not:

Short or Shallow- its not about our circumstances or feelings. We hope for things to change or get better in our lives. We want to be back to normal an end to masks. Dont be seduced church! Our hope is far Greater@

Growing up I was taught our hope was in heaven. Ive had struggles with that because the way I was taught it made me believe our hope was found in some far off disembodied celestial future. If our hope is some heavenly retirement plan that we are “waiting for”- thats a lazy hope.

Let me be clear, Im not saying heaven isn't real, but its not just something we retire to but as paul says in verse 18- this glory is something revealed to us. God will bring it about in the world we are living in now.

Jesus teaches this very thing in the Lord’s prayer: Let thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven!

Jesus is our example of this hope. Jesus came down from Heaven to earth. He embodied this future hope when He came down. That’s why our hope is Jesus centered.

Jesus didn't just come down to die and He certainly didn't teach us to wait and die and than the kingdom will come

Quote: “We want to avoid suffering, death, sin, ashes. But we live in a world crushed and broken and torn, a world God Himself visited to redeem.”

He said the Kingdom of heaven is here, not far. Jesus brought heaven to earth in the incarnation.

Jesus not only preached a better world to come but created a better world!

He actively healed and restored. Remember the Scripture from last weeks sermon?

Slide Luke 4:18-19- Jesus brought that future Glory that we hope for in his work on earth.

Church, part of our job is to continue that work that Jesus began having and bringing hope.

Paul gives us a great analagy of the kind of Hope we should have. Vs 22 all of creation is groaning together and going through labor pains. We are supposed to have a pregnant hope.

When you are pregnant you arent just waiting for a baby, there is alot more going on. You dont just find out your pregnant and Ta-da you have a baby!

You prepare for your baby! You take the right medication, you store up clothing and diapers, you build a nursery , child proof the house. This is a slow and patient process.

There is suffering in pregnancy, especially for the mother, but there is also hope. That builds as the mothers stomach does.

a hope of a new creation, of a new world, a new family.

We need to have the same kind of hope: Pregnant hope.

The thing about pregnancy is its noticable, people see it, they want to come over and touch the belly , they want to be involved. Our hope needs to be the same way!

We need to walk around with like pregnant women with hope for the world to see!

Paul then talks about groaning for awhile next, which also happens in pregnancy: especially toward the end!

vs 23, we are groaning as we eagerly await our adoption and the redemption of our bodies. What Paul is alluding to is the struggles between now and when God reveals the fulness of his plan through the resurection of our bodies.

Question: What do we ground about church? I might be taking this to literally, but what we complain about often reveals our hope?

if something broke on the farm and you are upset, Why because its not what you were hoping for or how things are supposed to be

Paul says, its the same thing in this in-between time between now and God’s revealed future.

What do we groan about? What do we complain about to God and to others?

Are our “groans” aligned with the Kingdom or what we want?

Our groans are what we hope for, Paul writes that our hope is not what we see, but what we dont see.

Transition: Paul says that God has given us help in the present sufferings.

The Spirit is our help in times of trouble, so we dont just have hope, but help.

Spirit is our comforter, source of wisdom, advocate and guide.

The Spirit is only a taste or “first crop” of what God is doing.

The spirit helps us in our prayer life.

As we focus on developing our prayer lives, try what Paul says here. To sit in Gods presence in allow the Holy Spirit to speak to and for you. Paul says that even when we don’t know what to pray, He is the seacher of Hearts, knows

This doesnt mean we don’t have to pray, it means we can learn to pray with less words.

Paul’s final point in this passage is this: God’s promises propel us forward to live with HOPE.

Right now, we live in the already, but not yet. God has done amazing things. He has brought an end to the reign of sin and death through the cross, but we still experience it. In other words, We are not completly their yet.

Vs 28 tells us that God is working. He is still doing Good in his people.

Paul then writes that we are called according to his purpose- that means his mission for His people.

Which has always been to live lives that draw the world back to himself. What Paul is saying here is not about salvation for individuals, but a plan for His People.

To be conformed to the image of Jesus- that’s was his purpose for us since the beginning- when he made us in his image.

Jesus was the firstborn of the new creation- the first of a large family.

What Paul is saying in these closing verses is not any different from what He has been saying, We can have hope because what God started he will finish and He will use his people to do it!

Application: What does this change about our lives?

Reflection:

This week I want to continue to reflect on this Jesus centered Hope. Reflect on the following questions.

How do we respond to suffering in the world around us, not just our own?

What things do we put our hope in? (Keep a running list this week)

How does Jesus bring Hope?

What do you “groan” for?

How can we have and show “pregnant” hope?

Prayer Focus: Jesus, be our hope. Help us to let go of the “hopes” that are not rooted in you. Spirit, help us in our weakness to groan for your Kingdom. Father in times of suffering and despair, help us hope in the promise that you are not done, rather the work has just begun. Amen.

Benediction: Romans 15:4-6, 13