Supernatural Hope
Romans 8:18-25
Bruce Miller
Supernatural Hope
I never get tired of hearing how God changes lives. That’s what we want to multiply – life change. We are engaged in a movement to multiply – multiply Christ fellowship so we can multiply life change. We know we will reach more people if we are in more places. This week it was a joy to get emails and Facebook messages telling me how much God is impacting you through Romans chapter eight. From last week, two truths have been mentioned again and again: adoption into God’s family and killing sin. Over lunch one couple told me we need to hear that message once a month. The truth of our adoption into God’s family has brought us deeper assurance of God’s undying love. The challenge to kill sin has motivated us. Of course the frustration is that sin keeps coming back to life so we have to keep killing it. Sin cannot be eliminated. It is a life long struggle to put sin to death. Never give up. By the power of the Spirit keep putting sin to death.
We are in the third week of our series: Supernatural, a study of Romans chapter eight. At Christ Fellowship a series such as this involves more than worship services. We follow a simple discipleship pattern, a rhythm that grows us to be better followers of Jesus: Study the Word, Hear the Word, Discuss the Word and Live the Word. Each week study the Word yourself as you engage God on the biblical text we will teach that week; then come to worship gatherings where you hear the Word in a sermon; then connect in a group where you discuss that same biblical text and finally go live the Word to impact others. It’s a very simple, powerful weekly discipleship rhythm that will change your life: Study the Word, Hear the Word, Discuss the Word and Live the Word.
Open your Bible to the amazing Romans chapter eight. The big point of the chapter is that you can live a supernatural life by the Spirit because of God’s amazing gifts in Christ. Today we are diving into verses eighteen to twenty-five, a section in which we will discover supernatural hope. The Scripture gives us a divine perspective on suffering. Why do floods ravage Australia? Why does an earthquake destroy Haiti, killing over 200,000 people? Where is God? How could there be a loving, all-powerful God since there is so much evil?
More personally for Christians today, why do we keep on experiencing so much suffering if we have been saved? So far in Romans chapter eight Paul has listed many great blessings we have in Christ, but life is still really hard. Why? Why does your wife get diagnosed with cancer? Why does your child have a mysterious illness we can’t fix? How can we live for God in this kind of world, full of pain and suffering? How can those who have been set free “from the law of sin and death” die? How can God’s very own, dearly loved children suffer? Do not these contradict, or at least call into question, the reality of Paul’s “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”? In our passage today we see an answer. Paul shows us how we can have supernatural hope. (Moo, Douglas. The New International Commentary on the New Testament: The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans, 1996, (Pp 509))
In verse seventeen, Paul mentions suffering with Christ and sharing in his glory. Our passage today, verses eighteen to twenty-five, develops the contrast between suffering and glory. Broadly speaking Paul shifts from our present status in Christ to our future inheritance, our awesome future to come. As you prepare to read the text, notice that verse eighteen is a thesis sentence, then Paul develops his argument in two parts: creation’s response and Christians’ response. This passage puts our salvation in a cosmic perspective. Let’s pause to pray for God’s Spirit to transform us by His powerful Word.
Please stand for the reading of God’s Word. I am reading from the NIV (2011) translation that just came out:
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 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. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. 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.
The opening verb is significant. Paul says, “I consider.” “Consider” means “a firm conviction reached by rational thought on the basis of the Gospel” (Cranfield 1975:408) (Osborne, Grant R. Romans. Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press, 2004. (Pp 210)) Based on God’s truth Paul arrives at a settled conviction. Today let’s consider powerful truth that can change our lives. The whole chapter is telling that we can live a supernatural life by the Spirit because of God’s amazing gifts in Christ. This passage gives us a specific dimension of that supernatural life. We can live with supernatural hope. In a world of suffering, you can have supernatural hope -- an eager, certain expectation that enables you to patiently prevail -- by seeing three amazing, invisible realities: our future glory, creation’s eager expectation and the Spirit’s sure promise.
The English word ‘hope” can confuse us. We often use the word hope for what would be wonderful, but is highly unlikely to happen such as: “I hope I win the lottery.” “I hope I find a lost rich uncle who gives me a million dollars.” “I hope it does not snow anymore this year.” In total contrast, the biblical concept of elpis, the Greek term for hope, conveys an absolutely sure future reality. The Bible talks about the trilogy of faith, hope and love, firm spiritual realities. In English if I said, I hope summer vacation comes soon. I’m expressing an anticipation of what I know will happen. This is closer to biblical hope: it is a sure, eager expectation of what is certain to come. The Bible calls hope an anchor of our souls. You can count on it. Hope is an eager, certain expectation of what will surely take place in the future.
In this passage in Romans eight Paul wants us to see the magnificent future realities that we can count on; realities that can transform our present perspective. His point is not so much to convince us of the truth of our future glory as to heighten our understanding of its greatness. (Hodge, Charles. Romans. Wheaton. Crossway Books, 1993, Pp (250)) In verse eighteen, in his thesis statement, Paul says that if you have trusted in Christ, then your incomparable glory overwhelms our suffering. Our incomparable glory to come overwhelms our present suffering.
Instead of suppressing hope, our suffering can actually remind us that his world is not our final home. Something much greater is coming. Our glory to come is so great that Paul says it is not worth comparing to our suffering. Comparing our suffering to our glory would be like comparing a thimble of water with the Pacific Ocean. If we could see what’s to come more clearly it would put today’s difficulties in perspective. There is simply no comparison of pain today with the glory we will experience soon.
Our incomparable future glory does not erase the reality of suffering today. Paul does not hide the fact that believers suffer; in fact he highlights it. But it is only a suffering of this time. Paul’s word for this time is kairos. We are in a season of suffering, but it will not last. It is not permanent. And that’s the big point. It has not always been this way and it will not continue to be this way.
Every human faces the reality of evil and suffering. Why do floods, hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, blights, avalanches, and earthquakes stalk the earth? (Huges, R. Kent. The Sermon on the Mount: The Message of the Kingdom.
Wheaton. Crossway, 2001. (Pp 160))
If you do not believe in Romans eight, then what’s your explanation for suffering? If this world is a “closed system” of natural processes, then suffering is a harsh and final reality that can never be explained nor transcended.
But a Christian views the suffering of this life in a larger, world-transcending context that, while not alleviating its present intensity, transcends it with the confident expectation that suffering is not the final word. (Moo, Douglas J. The NIV Application Commentary: from biblical text…to contemporary life: Romans. Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2000, (Pp 511) ) The fact of suffering is the dark backdrop against which the glorious future promised to the Christian shines with bright intensity. (Moo, Douglas J. The NIV Application Commentary: from biblical text…to contemporary life: Romans. Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2000, (Pp 509) ) Rather than suffering leading to despair, with the perspective of Romans eight, we can see natural disasters not merely as a geological phenomenon, or as the unfortunate effect of changing weather systems, but as the writhing of creation’s discomfort at the present alienation from life and it’s longing for renewal.
While the suffering of this world is quite terrible, the glory to come is so transcendently wonderful that suffering flies in the air as if it had no weight at all. (Moo, Douglas J. The NIV Application Commentary: from biblical text…to contemporary life: Romans. Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2000, (Pp 511) ) Our pain will be a distant memory in the light of the glory that is coming. (Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids. Baker Books, 1998, (Pp 433)) Our future glories are so stunning and magnificent that they render present sufferings inconsequential. (Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids. Baker Books, 1998, (Pp 440))
My daughter Melanie is getting married this spring. Engagement can be difficult. Melanie is finishing her last semester at Baylor, trying to concentrate on her responsibilities while she is ready for school to be over. Weddings are full of details requiring seemingly innumerable decisions about flowers, invitations, colors and centerpieces, and how much each one costs. Not only are two people involved, a man and a woman, who have never done this before, but so are two families; especially both moms. In our case all that is going well, but decisions still need to be made and money spent. Once you are engaged, it’s hard not to be together. This week Melanie posted on her Facebook, “111 days until Jake and I are husband and wife.” This is her sure hope. The wedding is coming. She has an eager, certain expectation. It is that sure hope of her wedding that enables her to study for that test and finish that homework because in a few months she will be married. Homework and all the wedding preparations will be distant memories. She and Jake will be on their honeymoon in a wonderful place.
The big point is that our incomparable future glory overwhelms our current suffering. Paul wants us to understand the magnificence of our future glory so in the next few verses he opens our eyes to see a cosmic perspective. Our salvation is much more than personal; it involves the entire creation. Our future glory is so incredible that all creation eagerly expects our glory.
Creation eagerly expects our glory
Our future glory is so stupendous that all of creation eagerly looks forward to seeing it revealed. Think about this. All creation is longing for and waiting for the glory the children of God to be revealed, that means for you and me, for our glory. Let’s break this down to try and understand it.
What is creation? This refers to nonhuman life, animals and hills and planets and molecules and stars and meadows. Old Testament writers pictured hills, meadows, and valleys “shouting and singing together for joy”…and the earth “mourning” (Isa. 24:4; Jer. 4:28; 12:4). Paul personifies the creation to convey a sense of the cosmic significance of both humanity’s fall into sin and believers’ restoration to glory. (Moo, Douglas J. The NIV Application Commentary: from biblical text…to contemporary life: Romans. Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2000, (Pp 514))
What is the revelation of the children of God? When Jesus returns our real status will become manifest. This will be a disclosure of the new status God has given us that we have in initial form today through the Life-giving Spirit. On that day our glory will be complete. It will be a visible event to all creation. We will be home with our Father.
The words “eager expectation” picture a person craning his or her neck to see what is coming. (Moo, Douglas J. The NIV Application Commentary: from biblical text…to contemporary life: Romans. Grand Rapids. Zondervan, 2000, (Pp 513)) In Greek it is two unusual double compounds that together give a vivid picture of the hushed expectancy with which the whole creation awaits the disclosure of the coming glory. (Morris, Leon. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids. William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1988, (Pp 321)) In J.B. Phillip’s paraphrase he gives a picturesque rendition: “The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.” (Mounce. Robert H. The New American Commentary, volume 27: Romans. Broadmand & Holman Publishers., 1995, (Pp 184))
A few years ago our oldest son Bart served in the United States Navy on the Iwa Jima, a huge transport ship. They had been deployed for a number of months. When we found out his ship was returning, our family flew to Virginia to welcome him home. I remember so vividly standing on the pier along with hundreds of other family members of other sailors, straining to see the ship slowly cruising into the port. We were leaning forward squinting our eyes to see the ship taking form, willing it to come faster. The sailors were lining the deck. We knew that Bart was one of those sailors on the deck but they were all in the same uniform, so I was straining forward full of expectation to see my son. It was cold outside, but that did not matter. I hardly noticed the cold because all my attention was focused on my son who I knew I would soon embrace. It is our eager, certain expectation that enables us to prevail in the cold weather today because we know what’s coming, so it hardly matters that it is cold.
Look at what the Bible says in verses twenty and twenty-one that explain verse nineteen. Creation is waiting in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed because it was subjected to frustration. The word frustration explains what happened to creation when humanity fell into sin. It too was impacted by the death that came from Adam and Eve’s sin. Creation is frustrated because it cannot fulfill its God-given destiny. All of nature is enslaved in an unending cycle, so that conception, birth and growth are relentlessly following by decline, decay, death, and decomposition. Stott, John R. W. The Message of Romans: God’s good news for the world. Downers Grove. Inter Varsity Press, 1994, (239)) And yet there was hope, right from the beginning. In Genesis chapter three God promised that the seed, the descendant of the woman, would crush the serpent.
One day the creation will be set from its bondage to decay. Famous author C.S. Lewis pictures this bondage in his classic Christian Allegory about Chronicles of Narnia. In the first book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, they suffered from endless winter. And yet when the great lion Aslan, the Christ-figure, comes and vanquishes the witch, winter melts into spring. Creation is set free into the freedom and glory of the children. In this amazing cosmic perspective we learn that our final revelation in glory will engulf the entire cosmos, and reverse and transcend the consequences of the fall. (Schreiner, Thomas R. Romans. Grand Rapids. Baker Books, 1998, (437)) Creation will be made new. Our winter will melt into endless spring where the flowers always bloom.
Verse twenty-two pictures all creation groaning in the pains of childbirth. Notice that this is not the pain of death, but of birth. (Osborne, Grant R. Romans. Downers Grove, Ill. InterVarsity Press, 2004, (213)) In fact pain in childbirth was a consequence for Eve, which has been echoed in all creation. The Bible often uses the image of labor pain to describe how we are living today, in pain but expectant. A baby is coming. For us Jesus is returning. We will be revealed in glory as the adopted children of God. Creation does not groan in meaningless despair, but in hope, expectant. My wife Tamara has given birth to five babies. I was there for every one of them. I can testify that she was in some incredible pain. But after the first one, if the joy of our baby boy did not out-weigh labor pain, we would not have five children. Years later what we remember is not labor pain, but the blessing of our children. We don’t focus on the agony. No one carries a picture of their wife in labor; look how much agony Tamara suffered. We show the picture of our wife only hours after labor with her newborn baby cradled in her arms and a bright smile on mom’s face. Jesus said in this way to his disciples at the last supper:
21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. John 16:20–22 (NIV84)
The incomparable glory to come overwhelms our present suffering. All creation stands at the waiting room window peering in to see the revelation of the children of God in all our glory. This is an amazing picture. If all creation is standing on tiptop eagerly expecting our glory, how much more should we eagerly anticipate it? In the last three verses of our passage Paul shifts from creation to Christians. Not only is creation groaning but also so are we. Paul says in verse twenty-three:
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
The Spirit promises our new family and new body
What does it mean to have the first fruits of the Spirit? Your Study Guide explains that in the Old Testament Jewish people gave the first fruit of the harvest to God as an offering. The principle is that you give your offering first, not last; don’t give God the leftovers. Giving the first fruits communicates your confidence that there is more harvest to come and that it all belongs to God. Paul shifts the metaphor from what we give to God to what God gives to us. God gives us the Spirit as the first installment of our salvation, a beginning of all that is to come. We have the Spirit already today and the Spirit is a promise of what we do not have yet, but is certain to come.
So the coming of the Spirit actually intensifies our groaning because we are even more aware that there is more to come. We have tasted life and now we want the whole meal. As followers of Christ we balance joy in the blessings God has already given with an intense longing for what has not yet been given. We have been adopted, but we are not yet home with Poppa. We have been redeemed, but we still have our old bodies.
So why are we groaning? We groan in frustration over the suffering in this life and we groan in anticipation of all that is to come. Our spirits groan in rhythm with creation longing for full release from the curse into the freedom and glory that will be ours. We are living between the times. We are engaged but not married. God’s Son is on the way back, but he’s not here yet. We’ve are heirs, but don’t have our inheritance. We’ve been adopted, but are not in our new home with our Father. We live between the already and the not yet.
We wait eagerly along with creation. This is the third time Paul has used this word in our passage. It connects with our hope. We live with eager, certain expectation that enables us to prevail today, no matter what we face.
I love the adoption image. How is it that we have been adopted and yet we wait eagerly for our adoption? The story of Rafe and Laurie Wright’s adoption of their boys Jacob and Micah helps me understand. This week I asked Laurie to tell me the story again and it touched my heart again. Laurie said, In July 2005 - Jacob and Micah fraternal twins, were 5 years old. They had been in a Russia orphanage since the age of 14 months and had never had a visitor from outside the orphanage. They lived in a group home with many other children, limited caretakers, and their only "possession" was each other. Older kids could be rough on the younger ones. Over the years, Jacob & Micah witnessed many parents coming to visit and pick-up their children. They often tugged on the caretaker’s shirt and pleaded with tears in their eyes, "When are our Momma and Poppa coming to see us?"
On July 16, 2005, their Momma & Poppa did come to meet them. Rafe and I traveled to a poor section of St. Petersburg on a very bumpy road to the orphanage. As we walked around the corner of the worn down building, Jacob & Micah saw us and they raced as fast as they could with outstretched arms yelling, "Poppa, Poppa, Poppa" and they each grabbed onto one of Rafe’s legs and clung on - screaming "Poppa, Poppa, Poppa". They were then reminded of "Momma" and they gave me a hug too. They were overjoyed with excitement!
As we made our way to the playground bench, I opened up a backpack and shared a few gifts we had brought for them - they had never received gifts before. They tore into the packages and began eating the treats and stuffing the rest into their pockets or carrying the gifts. They were careful not to lose anything. I had brought photos of our family and home. The first photo we showed them was a picture of Rafe and I with their picture inserted in the photo. We wanted them to know that they were a part of our family. Micah asked, "How can this be, we just met you, how can we be in a picture with you?" We showed them other photos and explained through a Russian translator - this is your home, your bedroom, your playroom, your dog, and so on.
We told them we would need to go away for awhile and it will seem like a very long time, but we assured them that we will return and bring them home. Nobody knew exactly when we would return as we were at the mercy of the courts. Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months - delay after delay. The wait must have seemed like an eternity to a 5 year old.
Finally - Sept 24, 2005 we are off to Russia! When we arrived at the orphanage, Jacob & Micah were taking a nap. We peered through the glass on the door and saw 8 beds lined up in two rows. Micah woke up first and saw us looking at him - he smiled from ear to ear. Then Jacob woke up and both of their faces became bright red and flushed with excitement. We went outside to play and exchanged lots of hugs and kisses. They continued to touch and squeeze our faces and hair as if to see if we were real. I asked them if they were scared because we were gone for a very long time. They said they missed us, but did not cry, because they knew we would be back to take them home.
Before Rafe & I went to meet the boys at the orphanage, we went to Build A Bear and had teddy bears made for each of them. We recorded our voices and placed the recording inside the bear. The recording said, "I am your Poppa" & "I am your Momma" and "We love You" in both Russian and English. We planned on taking the teddy bears to the orphanage and leaving them there so the boys would be able to remember our voices and they could play the recording whenever they were scared or felt sad. However, the adoption agency recommended we not take the bears because they would become community property and would probably be destroyed. Once the boys arrived home in McKinney and were given their bears, we heard them playing the recording over and over - it must have been at least 200 times the first night! They knew we were their parents and we loved them, but they wanted to hear it over and over.
We are Jacob and Micah in an orphanage called earth. We’ve been adopted and our Father has given us gifts to hold onto until the day he completes our adoption. We will be in a wonderful new home. Already we are in God’s family picture; we are his children today. And there is so much more to come. We can put up with some crummy meals in the orphanage and older boys pushing us around, because we are adopted: Poppa is coming to bring us home.
We have a sure, certain eager hope. We live in vivid anticipation. As verses twenty-four and twenty-five conclude, we are saved in hope – remember hope is not something unlikely, but a sure, certain confidence of what will happen. The Greek phrase for wait patiently is beautifully described in your Study Guide with a great real life story from Lisa. It means more than waiting; it is fortitude. We can prevail over suffering today, not in dismal acceptance of inevitable fate, but in confidence that suffering will end. We are like a solider who fights knowing the battle will be victorious. We can live with supernatural hope. In a world of suffering, you can have supernatural hope -- an eager, certain expectation that enables you to patiently prevail -- by seeing three amazing, invisible realities: our future glory, creation’s eager expectation and the Spirit’s sure promise. Paul encouraged the Corinthians with these lines:
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. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16–18
We can live supernatural lives by grasping our supernatural hope.
To view this sermon video, visit: http://www.christfellowshipeldorado.com/sermon/supernatural-hope/
