Life in the Spirit -Help and Assurance audio
Well, how’s life treating you? That’s a fairly common question people might greet you with; commonly responded to with “Fine, thanks.” But is it fine? Or is life a bit tough at the moment, even if you don’t feel like sharing that with a mere acquaintance? Are you worried about some issue in your life? Are you concerned about the future?
Over the past few weeks we’ve been reading Paul’s letter to a church that were certainly doing it tough at a number of levels: at both the personal and external level. They were struggling with living lives that please God, and they were struggling with the pressure of living in a world where normal expectations and lifestyles were opposed to Christianity. In other words they weren’t that much different from us. Suffering is very much a universal experience.
Last week, though, Steve pointed out that we need to give thanks to God because the sufferings of this world can’t be compared to the glory that awaits us and now Paul goes on to build on that theme of thankfulness.
You know it’s interesting that most mentions of Christians suffering in the New Testament letters refer to the sort of suffering that arises from opposition or persecution but here he seems to have a much broader focus. If you look back at the previous couple of paragraphs you’ll see that he talks about the whole creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Well, there’s no question that the creation is groaning at the moment is there? With the global mean temperature at the highest point in recorded history, with ocean temperatures rising to the point where the Antarctic sea ice coverage, in the middle of winter, is at the smallest on record you’d have to say that this part of creation, this world, is certainly groaning.
On a smaller, more local scale we all groan, or perhaps cry out in protest, when we think about the various ailments that pop up from time to time, the tragedies that we experience, or see our friends experiencing; when we see the effect of disease and accidents on good people, even the effect of aging that some of us experience worse than others. We’ve all asked that perennial question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
We’re never given an answer to that question are we? All we’re told is what we find in those few verses last week: “The creation was subjected to futility … in the hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought in to the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
You see, if we experience a sense of futility when we think about all the problems in our world, that’s simply a sign that we understand the reality of our world. Not much comfort though, is it?
Well Paul does finish this chapter with three good reasons for us to give thanks, three areas where we can find comfort.
Hope
The first is in vs 28-30: “28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
Now v28 there is probably one of the most misused verses in the Bible. I know I was told many times as I was growing up that all things work together for good for those who love God: to which my occasional response was the question “So, am I not loving God enough?” as things went wrong, as I had various accidents and other calamities. If God is a God who keeps his promises, what’s going on? Don’t tell me that everything will work out for good when I know that clearly they haven’t.
Well the thing is, this is just poor exegesis of the text. You can’t just pull out a nice sounding text and apply it willy-nilly. You need to read it in context. We need to read all three verses together. What’s the flow of the text? How do we know that all things will work out for those who love God, those whom God has called to be his children? Well look at what God has done. He’s called us and his plan is that we’ll be conformed to the image of his son. That is that, in the end, we’ll be made to be like Jesus.
One of Paul’s key descriptions of Christians in his letters is the phrase “In Christ”. In one place he talks about us having taken off the old nature and put on Christ, as though we’re now clothed not just in Christ’s clothing but in Christ himself. I think that’s the idea he has here. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to change us into the image of Christ, or perhaps restore in us, the image of Christ. So he’s called us to follow him; and having called us he’s also justified us; that is, he’s made us right with him, wiping away every mark of sin from us, every failing; and the final step is that since we’re now made right with him we can also be glorified with him; that is, raised with Christ to God’s presence. Now clearly that hasn’t happened to me yet; or to any of you; but it will happen on the day that Jesus returns. And so we can rejoice and give thanks, that our future is secured, even as we experience the futility and suffering of life in a fallen world.
Faith
Then he gives us a firm reason for trusting in this promise in the form of a simple question: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” He’s saying, “Just give it some thought. What do you know about the gospel? If God gave up his only Son for our sake, what else could we need that he wouldn’t give us?” Is there something that you really need? Then ask God for it and if he agrees with you he’ll give it. God isn’t like the guy who lends his friend his car but expects his friend to fill it up before he brings it back. No, he lends us his car and gives us his fuel card to pay for the petrol as well.
And when you start to think that maybe you’re not good enough to deserve God’s kindness and generosity, read what comes next: “33Who will bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.”
Of course you don’t deserve God’s generosity and kindness. You don’t deserve to be forgiven. That’s basic to the idea of grace. Grace is the totally unmerited, unearned favour that God bestows on us. He forgives us purely out of his love for us, purely on the basis of Jesus’ sinless life and his death in our place. He forgives us because Jesus sits at his right hand asking for our sins, our failings, to be overlooked, washed away. If that’s the case then we can trust that God will continue to show us his grace no matter what failings we might see in ourselves.
Love
Underpinning all this of course is the love of God. He asks “35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” His question is about the strength of Christ’s love. “Just how strong is the love of Christ?” Is there something that might separate us from his love perhaps?
Well, let’s think about it. What are the sorts of things that separate people from each other? They say the greatest strain on marriages, the factor which most contributes to our high divorce rate, is worry over money, financial hardship. Hardship may well separate a husband from a wife, or a wife from a husband, but could there be any hardship great enough to separate us from God? What about distress, suffering? Again, human relationships may be damaged by the strain felt by people who are undergoing great distress or suffering, some great loss or tragedy in their life, but the love of God is often felt most strongly in those times as we lean on him for support even more than usual. And the same with the rest of that list: persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword? They’re all things that might separate us physically from human loved ones, but God’s love transcends those sorts of physical barriers. His plan for us runs through to eternity, to the realm of the spiritual, so no physical separation will harm it. All death does in that respect is to bring the fulfilment closer.
Victory
He rounds off this discussion with a statement about where our confidence comes from. “37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”
One of the clearest things we find as we read through this letter is that it isn’t our own efforts that bring victory over sin and death. No, it’s God who gives the victory. God has done everything necessary to make us right with him. He’s brought us through to the point where nothing can overcome us. Christ has won the victory and then shared the prize with us.
One of the events I always enjoy watching at the Olympics or the Commonwealth Games is the team pursuit in the cycling. I don’t know how familiar with the team pursuit you are, but the way it works is that there are 2 teams of four competing, each team riding in concert. The riders take turns at the head where the going is toughest and then move to the back of the pack to catch their breath. Sometimes one of them decides he can’t keep up the pace, so he drops out altogether. But the fact that he’s dropped out doesn’t stop the team from going on. What matters is that one of the team finishes. And even if one or two of the riders from the team have dropped out, if the lead rider crosses first, they all get the gold medal. Well, I think that’s a bit like what he’s talking about in v37: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” How are we conquerors? We’re conquerors through Jesus Christ. He’s won the victory and we’re brought along in his wake to share the glory with him. In fact, he says, we’re more than conquerors. It’s as though the word isn’t enough to express all that Christ has won for us. His victory means more than we can ever imagine. His love is so great that nothing can ever separate us from it. Again, we have this list of forces that some people might imagine coming between us and Christ’s love: death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, 39height, depth. But no, there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from God’s love.
How do we know our future is assured? How do we know we’re going to be with God when our time in this world is over? We know because our salvation is God’s work from start to finish. We know because God has poured out his love on us in Jesus Christ. We know because he’s filled us with his Spirit as the sign and seal of the salvation to come. We know because it’s God who’s begun this great work in us and who promises to bring it to completion on the last day. And we know because God has already shown us the measure of his love for us by giving up his own Son to bring us salvation.
If you ever find yourself wondering whether you can keep going; if you ever find yourself doubting your salvation, doubting whether you're good enough for God, perhaps wondering whether it might all be too good to be true, remember that it’s God who sustains us, God who justifies us, God who saves us, God whose love we’re depending on. And then we might join with Paul in saying that we too are “convinced that … nothing in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
