The Comfort of Hope for a life of Suffering

Open: Hurricane Katrina, the death of Finn Watson from cancer a few months ago; the tragic death of Jeff Peal a year ago; a faithful church member who suffers with chronic pain and illness for over 20 years; a neighbor’s 69 year old mother who doesn’t know her own daughter due to dementia.

What do these events have in common? They all involve pain and suffering. The level of suffering is not equal in each case, but they are representative of life in a fallen world. Each of these situations, and countless more that I didn’t mention pose a challenge to those involved: why is this happening, and how do I respond to it as a person of faith?

When bad things happen to good people many of us struggle to make sense of the situation. God understands our pain and suffering like no one else, and He does give us a framework that will help us as we wrestle with such issues.

READ the Text: Romans 8:18-25

Life in this present time involves suffering for believers. (18)

Explanation: Paul has just informed believers of the glorious truth that they are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus. What a wonderful truth! He then surprises them by telling them that suffering is involved. Not may be involved, not as in a small percentage, but he informs that suffering is a necessary part of the package.

Paul develops the concept of sufferings for the believer in this next eight verses. One of the first things to note is that the word sufferings is a plural (more than one suffering) and that these sufferings occur in this present time. Remember that his audience is believers - the people who have just been declared heirs of God. He is telling them that God is not going to exempt them from pain and sorrow in this walk of life

illustrate: All of the Sci-Fi movies have space ships with force fields. The bad guys shoot photons and laser cannon but the good guys don’t take any damage due to having protective force fields

Argument: There are some people who are associated with a false brand of Christianity known as the Health and Wealth Gospel (Name it and claim it) or the Prosperity Gospel. Their false Gospel states that God wants all of His children to prosper and be pain free in this life and in the next. They teach that if your faith in God is strong like it should be, then you pray for God to throw His Holy Spirit force field over your life and all will be great.

This teaching is NOT biblical. It mis-represents God’s plan for this world and is offensive to those believers who are suffering from chronic illnesses and those who have had loved ones die from cancer or some other physical illness. What an insult to believers who are told that this negative thing happened just because their faith wasn’t strong enough!

The reality is that believers do suffer. God does not surround us with magical protection when we yield out lives to Him. He tells us in advance that suffering and sorrow are in our future. Then he tells us that regardless the level or length of suffering it does not compare to the glory we will experience in heaven.

I am going to circle back to the contrast at the end of this message. For now, let us go forward in the text and look at why suffering exists

We suffer in the present because of the curse of sin from the past (19-23a)

Explanation: Paul ties the sufferings we experience in the present to the curse that was placed in the past. Paul reminds the reader of what he has already covered in chapter 5 - sin entered the world through Adam and the consequences of that action were cosmic in scope. All of creation was placed under the curse (v. 20) and longs for release.

The created order groans as it waits for the regeneration that is in the future. The creation is declared to be in a state of futility - meaning it is empty and vain. It falls short of its intended purpose and in some way, longs for redemption from its current state. The creation is stated to have been and continues to be groaning in birth pains (travaileth)

Argument; The first words of v. 23 indicate that humanity is likewise suffering. We too experience the birth pains in this present life. The analogy used also indicates that new life is on the way. Birth pains are intense, but they result in a new life that makes the previous pain seem of small consideration.

Believers have the first fruits of the Holy Spirit which gives us the hope of a future deliverance (23b -25)

Explanation: Paul declares a wonderful truth in the next part of v. 23. He reminds his audience that believers have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He declares that we have the firstruits of the Spirit. Paul is not saying that we only have part of the Holy Spirit now and that we will gain the rest of Him at some time in the future. Each believer receives all of the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. The term firstfruits was familiar to his original audience and they would have understood it to mean a guarantee of that which was yet to come.

Argument: Believers live in the “already - not yet,” in which we are not yet fully realizing the complete and full nature of salvation. In the previous section Paul declared that believers have received (past tense) the Spirit of Adoption (v. 15) and yet in v. 23 Paul states that believers are waiting for the adoption.

Paul is not confused. He is simply stating the tensions of life in this present world. In Christ, we have been adopted by the Spirit into the family of God, and at some point in the future that Adoption will reach its maturity when believers receive their glorified bodies (the redemption of our body). In that stage of Redemption history the struggle will be finished and the suffering and sorrows of life will be no more.

Revelation 21:4 ESV

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

This is a glorious truth, but we do not see it now. That is why we HOPE. This is why the Apostle declares that “we are saved by hope” (Rom 8:24). If we saw it and experienced it, then we wouldn’t have to hope for it.

Illustrate: Girls used to have Hope Chests. As young teens the girls would begin to collect items for their wedding and those items they would need for married life. They placed the items in the chest in hopes of being married in the future.

Close: This brings us back to the the first point - we live in a fallen world and we experience pain and sufferings. How do we deal with the disappointments and discouragements of life in the present moment? We face them with hope for the future and we can reckon our sufferings to have less weight than our future glory. This is not to make light of sufferings, but it is how we gain victory over our circumstances - we calculate, we contrast the two and realize the glory far outweighs the pain and sorrow.

God gives us another word on this subject through the pen of the Apostle Paul in his 2 letter to the Corinthians when he says, “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight OF GLORY;  While we look not at the things which are seen, BUT at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; BUT the things which are not seen are eternal.” ( 2 Co 4:17–18.)

We can reckon this in spite of our feelings (we CAN gaze at the Savior and glance at our circumstances instead of GAZING at our sufferings and glancing at God and His goodness)