The End of Suffering and Struggle
Power for Living, part 3
Wildwind Community Church
David K. Flowers
August 12, 2007
I have often preached at Wildwind that what brings people together is weakness, not strength. Tales of strength create competition. Tales of weakness create companionship. I could have person after person come up here and tell you their tales of mighty spiritual victories, and with each story you’d feel what? Happy for them? Maybe. But definitely what? Jealous! Inferior! You’d think, “Well, I’m glad so and so kicked such and such habit, but I must not be very spiritual because I’m still struggling with that habit.” Or you’d think, “What’s so special about that guy?” Or, “Why do I stick with this anyway? Nothing seems to ever come of it.”
The Apostle Paul understood that it’s our weaknesses that grow a church community. Out of this understanding, Paul wrote:
2 Corinthians 11:30 (NIV)
30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.
Suffering and struggling are universal human conditions, aren’t they? You may not have a million dollars, but you have had heartaches and losses in your life, just like every millionaire, right? You may not have won an Olympic gold medal, but you have suffered the fear of not reaching a goal, haven’t you? You may not be a politician, but you have struggled to make a difference somewhere, haven’t you? My friends, when we think that no one understands our struggles, we couldn’t be more wrong. Struggles are what people understand best. If you’re down and out, someone somewhere understands, and you might be surprised who.
Before we launch into our text this morning, I want to tell you that if you’re struggling, if sin has a chokehold on you, if you feel like a slave to habits you can’t seem to shake, if you feel hopeless or lonely or broke or scared, if you wonder how anyone ever really does this whole God thing, I understand. WE understand. And my friend, you are in the right place this morning. Because today we are talking about suffering and struggling, but not just in order to wallow in them. Today we’re talking about a time when those things will end – when that universal thing that we all understand will no longer be something we’re familiar with. Will you imagine that with me for a second? The Bible promises that one day all pain and struggling and difficulty and suffering will be eliminated. It will no longer be part of our lives. I don’t know about you, but I can hardly imagine what this will be like, can you? No more flats on the freeway. No more power failures on hot summer nights. No more first kisses with no breath mints in sight. No more cancer. No more war. No more cutting yourself with the potato peeler. No more coming home exhausted from a long vacation to find your basement flooded. No more being told by the person closest to you that you’re defective in some way. No more losing your job or not being able to find one. No more losing everything after a computer crash in the middle of the night, with a huge paper due the next morning. No more Virginia Tech shootings. No more wondering where was God in those moments. No more being hungry, or tired, or sad, or feeling guilty. No more struggling with your self-confidence. No more saying goodbye to your children as they move out of state. No more long distance romance. No more sitting home on a Friday wishing he’d call. No more screw-ups at the bank. No more addictions – to anything. No more desperate craving for attention, for affection, for love, for recognition, for security, for promotion. No more children dying of AIDS. No more saying goodbye to animals we have loved. No more bullies stealing your lunch money. No more boring sermons or pushy church-people or stuffy worship services.
Think of any struggle, any difficulty, any suffering that you or anyone you know has ever encountered, and a day is coming when God is going to say No More. It’s one of the most glorious promises in all of scripture. Let’s look at it now. We’ve been studying the book of Romans, chapter 8. Last week we left off in verse 17, and I want to start there at that verse today and move through verse 27. Instead of reading the whole passage right now, let’s just continue going verse by verse and looking at this.
Romans 8:17 (NIV)
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs--heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
When I left off last week I told you that this week I’d get into this idea about what it means to share in the sufferings of Christ. We have spent time already talking about many kinds of suffering and struggling, but this verse talks about a unique kind of suffering. To share in the sufferings of Christ is to suffer some kind of persecution specifically for believing in, following, and living Christ’s message. It may be physical abuse. It may be taunts and teasing. It may be a feeling of being excluded. It may be knowing that people don’t respect you, don’t think you’re intelligent, and don’t think you’re capable of seeing the world clearly.
To be a Christian is to experience these things. It is a normal, expected part of the Christian life. I am too often guilty of thinking I can explain Christianity to people in a way that they can understand it and respect it, and that will be acceptable to them. But the Bible makes it clear that this is not going to happen in this world.
Matthew 5:11-12 (NIV)
11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.
12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
John 15:18 (AMP)
18 If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you.
Combine these passages and what you get is, “The world is going to hate you, and when it does, realize it’s not because of you, it’s because of me. It will happen to everybody who loves me and follows me.”
This hatred from people, this sense of being ostracized from the world, this persecution, is what Christians can expect. We cannot pick up a guitar and rock people into a new understanding. We cannot preach them into it. We cannot argue them into it. Some will become Christ-followers, but only because of God’s Spirit working in them, and as soon as they do, the same world that hated Jesus, and hates you, will hate them too. That’s what it means to share in the sufferings of Christ.
Verse 18:
Romans 8:18 (NIV)
18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
This is easy, isn’t it? Nothing you suffer now for Christ will compare to the incredible world you are in for. As bad as it seems, there’s no comparison. Think of it kind of like the pain of childbirth, ladies. As much as it hurts, the joy it brings is beyond comparison – so much that a few months after you’ve done it, you’re ready to do it again! There’s no comparison between the pain from childbirth and the joy from children, who make it worth it (so I hear). Paul tells us there’s simply no comparison between anything we suffer in this life for Christ and the joy we are in for one day.
Let’s take verses 19-22 together.
Romans 8:19-22 (NIV)
19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons 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 glorious freedom 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.
The word “creation” refers to everything that is under human beings – animals, plants, and minerals. The Greek word translated “eager expectation” means to watch with the head upright and neck outstretched (Illustrate) -- to keep looking until something happens. Paul paints a picture here of the entire created order expecting and waiting for something to happen. The God’s Word translation renders verse 19 as:
Romans 8:19 (GW)
19 All creation is eagerly waiting for God to reveal who his children are.
Reveal who his children are? What’s that mean? Jesus tells a parable in the gospels called the parable of the weeds, where a farmer plants wheat and it grows up, but during the night his enemy comes along and plants weeds. The servants ask the farmer if he wants them to pull up the weeds, but he says, “Not now, because you might pull the wheat up as well. At harvest time, we’ll separate the wheat from the weeds.” Right now we can’t always tell the wheat from the weeds – God’s children from those who are not. After all, you can’t tell just by looking, can you? But one day at the end of history, God will make that plain. God will reveal who his children are. That is the time when God will put an end to all suffering – the kind that comes from following Christ and all the other kinds as well. In the meantime, we wait. And waiting is frustrating, isn’t it?
Verse 20
Romans 8:20 (NIV)
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…
Creation was subject to frustration! In The Message, Peterson translates that,
Romans 8:20 (MSG)
20 Everything in creation is being more or less held back. God reins it in…
Kind of carries with it a picture of runners in the blocks waiting for the gun to go off. Just waiting – eager – every muscle tense and at the ready. Can you imagine if runners didn’t know how long they’d have to stand in the blocks before the gun went off? That would be frustrating wouldn’t it? The Bible says this is what’s happening in creation. Creation longs for God to put everything right – all creation waits eagerly – but the gun hasn’t gone off – we’re just waiting.
Verse 21
And as we wait, we’re frankly in terrible condition. We see in this verse that the entire created order, EVERYTHING, is subject to corruption – Paul calls it “bondage to decay.”
Romans 8:21 (NIV)
21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Think about that for a minute. Everything – literally everything – decays. Plants, animals, rocks – everything. Decay is just another word for breakdown. Tires go flat because they break down. Our loved ones die because their bodies wear out or they get sick (corruption of age and illness). Our marriages end because our relationships break down. We fight with friends and co-workers because of breakdowns in communication. Children rebel against their parents because of breakdowns that happen in families. People get addicted because of breakdowns that happen in human hearts and minds and bodies. Over millions of years, mountains literally become molehills. Decay and breakdown, caused by corruption, has affected every corner of creation. Corruption – hurt, death, loss, damage, breakdown – decay – is so normal that we barely think about it. We even have fancy names for it – progress, evolution, decomposition, 2nd law of thermodynamics – they’re all words for decay, or corruption – something breaking down and becoming less than what it was. Paul has it right – we are in bondage to decay. It is the certain fate of every single thing in this world.
Secular scientists would have you believe this is natural –this is the way it’s supposed to be. But who hasn’t stood at the casket of a loved one and sensed how deeply unnatural this seems, even though that’s how it’ll end for all of us? Who hasn’t seen a Hollywood beauty grow old and lose her curves and her smooth skin and felt it was a tragic loss? Who hasn’t looked in the mirror and realized they feel far younger than they are? We experience our bodies growing older, but our minds and hearts often remain young – something in us does not age. Something deep inside us tells us that although corruption and decay and breakdown are common, they are not normal. And since corruption and breakdown are common to everyone and everything, we can’t escape the conclusion that the basic story of life in this world is a tragedy. We can cheer ourselves with all kinds of happy news, but nothing will escape breakdown eventually. Nothing. Let’s take these two verses together:
Romans 8:20-21 (NIV)
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 glorious freedom of the children of God.
So there’s God – holding everything back – subjecting the entire creation to frustration – from becoming all it was created to be – stuck in that endless cycle of birth, growth, breakdown, death, birth, growth, breakdown, death –
Romans 8:21 (MSG)
21 until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment into the glorious times ahead. Meanwhile, the joyful anticipation deepens.
Paul has this vision of all of creation being held back by God – kept from the perfection every creature and every created thing seeks, until some appointed time only God knows when he can release the entire created order (plants, animals, rocks, people, everything) into this incredible new world. Right now, suffering has to happen. But God has a purpose, an overarching thing he is accomplishing in this world and until he gets it done, he holds on. And we experience frustration as God holds us back. Let’s look at that text again:
Romans 8:20-21 (NIV)
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 glorious freedom of the children of God.
The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, IN HOPE… I want you to see that yes, God is subjecting creation to frustration, but he is doing so IN HOPE, my friends. That’s the good news of the gospel. The hope that one day not only our bodies and the bodies of our loved ones will be redeemed, but that the entire creation will be redeemed, that this whole sick cycle will come to an end. God created the world to be a perfect place. Sin came into the world and corrupted it, twisted it, brought pain and death and hurt and loneliness and separation. But Christ came to make it possible for us to escape death, to be “redeemed;” for the price of human sin and corruption to be paid. The world was made for men and women. Since God will one day deliver us from corruption, he will deliver the world from corruption as well.
That’s the message of this part of Romans. Let us never think that the gospel message is saying some salvation prayer, getting fire insurance to stay out of hell, and that’s it. The gospel is about the eventual redemption of the entire created order, and you and I are just a part of that! God will one day redeem the whole thing!
Verse 22:
Romans 8:22 (NIV)
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Groaning as in the pains of childbirth. Hear the cry of the antelope taken down by the cougar as that groan. Hear the cry of an old woman recently widowed as that groan. Hear the cry of a punished child and aching parent as that groan. Hear the cry of a lonely girl as that groan. Hear the fearful and confused questions of a spiritual seeker as that groan. Hear the thunder of a volcano eruption or a landslide or earthquake or fire or flood or hurricane as that groan. Hear the cry of a slave or a dying soldier as that groan. Hear your cry for love, for approval, for acceptance, for security, as that groan. The whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth, and continues to. And why does Paul choose childbirth as the metaphor? Because just like in childbirth, pain on one side leads to joy on the other. Remember, the creation was subjected to frustration in hope. There will be joy that comes out of all this pain.
Romans 8:23 (NIV)
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Paul says not only does the creation groan as it waits for God to complete his work there, but Christians grown inwardly as we wait for God to complete his work in us. We long to see God and know him and be with him and be like him, and have our pain taken away and our hearts and bodies mended. We’re subject to constant brokenness and flaws and failures that cause so much pain and we just want to cry out to Christ to just come and fix it all – bring us the redemption he has promised. Jesus says in Revelation:
Revelation 22:20 (NIV)
20 He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
Christ’s promise, “I am coming soon” is a promise that what we wait for will surely happen. We will be redeemed. The pain will end. Joy will come in the morning.
And God is doing all this in hope, right?
Verse 24
Romans 8:24 (NIV)
24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?
When we come to Christ and say, “Jesus forgive my sins, be the leader of my life, show me how you would have me live,” Christ takes us on a journey, the logical end of which is this incredible deliverance from pain and suffering and trials and difficulties, and seeing God face to face and being with him. That’s the hope we are saved into. And at the same time we are saved out of the hopelessness of the cycle of death that just seems to endlessly go round and round – that cycle that secular scientists will tell you is natural, and all there is and all there ever will be. The reason we hope so deeply is because we do not yet have what we hope for! When we get it, we’ll stop hoping for it!
Verse 25
Romans 8:25 (NIV)
25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Why must we wait patiently? Because patience is a characteristic of God’s. Look how long God is waiting to bring about this deliverance of creation! So we get closer to God as we learn to be patient too.
Finally, in verses 26 and 27, Paul expresses something essential about what to do as we wait.
Romans 8:26-27 (NIV)
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.
27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.
Paul was talking earlier about the groaning of creation, and now talks about the groaning of God’s Spirit inside us. God actually groans right along with us in this life! We don’t always know how to wait, how to pray, how to become like Christ, but the Holy Spirit in us knows how to pray and will find the right words through our imperfect ones. We don’t have to get it right in prayer – we just need to show up.
This is a tough world we live in, isn’t it? But one day, God is going to say NO MORE – enough is enough – and put an end to suffering and struggle. God is at work even now, bringing all of creation into a state of readiness for this to happen, waiting until everything is in place. Though it may take thousands of years, when it happens, it’ll happen right on time. If you are a Christ-follower today, let that be a reminder and an encouragement to you. If you are not, I urge you to get in on what God is doing in creation by letting it begin in your own heart. Will you pray with me?
Father, redeem this world and deliver it from bondage. Do the same inside each individual here this morning. Amen.
