Good Grief

Good Grief

Romans 9: 1 - 5

Intro: I ran across this prayer while I was preparing this sermon and I thought I would share it with you. “Dear God, So far today I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, I haven’t lost my temper, I haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, selfish or over-indulgent. I’m very thankful for that. But in a few minutes, God, I’m going to get out of bed, and from then on, I’m probably going to need a lot of help. Amen.” (SermonCentral contributed by Charles R. Swindoll, 10/17/04)

I VS. 2 “I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.”

A At the time of Paul, the heart was considered metaphorically as the very center of a person’s personality. One can sense that Paul is REALLY concerned about something or someone.

B Paul uses lupé (????) which refers to a “great sorrow” or state of “heart” related to something sad outside of itself. He also uses odyné (?d??é) which refers to a “constant sharp pain or anguish”

C From these two words alone we can see that Paul is really upset. He is grief is deep and enduring.

II Perhaps you have been in a similar situation! Grief can be debilitating, crippling, and continuous.

A You may be thinking “How can grief be good?” That is an excellent question to which we might find an answer if we put our imagination to work on VSS. 3 – 5 of this text.

B “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people . . . “ (VS 3)

C Good grief focuses on the situation of others going beyond our grief to share in the grieving over others.

III Perhaps Paul struggles or grieves because of the failure of his people, the Jews, to accept Jesus as the Christ.

A Despite all his efforts, perhaps Paul is grieving over friends or fellow-Jews who have not accepted Jesus and worries that they may be excluded from salvation.

B When close friends or family members have left a church, a denomination or given up on faith altogether, those of us who remain may miss, mourn and grieve over them.

C What do we say to those who do not follow Christ? For us, this is indeed “GOOD GRIEF” because we are concerned about their relationship with God.

Concl: In our words and in our actions, we must live as Christ commands, follow His way and share His love and hope. We must trust God in our grieving and entrust those for whom we are anxious to God because God can fulfill God’s covenant with humanity despite human unfaithfulness.

Romans 8: 38 – 39 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation , will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”