Risk: More than Conquerors
Romans 8:35-37
Series: Games of Life
October 30, 2011
Morning Service
The Game of Risk
Risk is a game of world conquest. The goal is to defeat all of the other enemies and rule the world. In a word, Risk is awesome.
People who took great risks
Noah risked ridicule and rejection to build the Ark
Abram risked his future to follow God to a new land
Abigail risked everything to save her household
Paul risked his life to promote the gospel and plant churches
There are no victories at discount prices – Dwight Eisenhower
The fact is that sometimes risk is required to achieve great things for God and to overcome everything that stands in our way. Paul describes the kind of victory that we can experience through Christ in his letter to the Roman Church. If you have your Bibles, please open them to Romans 8:35-37.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35-37
We cannot be separated from the love of Christ
Paul opens the passage with the word who. Paul is not speaking of a problem with a person. The word that Paul uses can be translated who but also what. Paul speaks here of impersonal things that have the ability to derail a person’s faith. Paul speaks of difficult and dangerous situations. Difficulties can draw us away from a strong faith.
No situation can rob us of the victory we have in Jesus unless we allow it. How we handle the trials and hardships of life testifies to the love of Christ in our lives. The separation that happens between us and God is due to our choices to separate from Him. The only person that creates a rift in your relationship with God is you.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? 8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, 10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 11 If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," 12 even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. Psalm 139:7-12
The problem is that many feel that they are unworthy of the love of Christ. These feelings reflect an inner sense of being unlovable.
People feel that they fail too often
People feel that they fall short too much
People feel that they have been too disobedient
The victory that we experience from Christ is a direct reality of His love for us. The love of Christ is not based on our worthiness but on His character. We cannot base our faith on how we feel because feelings change. Our feelings and emotions will betray us and will minimize our faith, if we allow it. The only thing standing in our way of a deeper relationship with Christ is us.
We cannot be defeated by troubles
Trouble
The Greek word here is thlipsis, which means to be squeezed or placed under intense pressure. The focus that was often implied was one of outside difficulties that forced and interior response. Paul was saying that the outward trials we face cannot ever remove us from the love that we have in Christ. No matter how severe or desperate the difficulty, it cannot take us from the love of Christ.
Hardship
The word Paul uses is one that communicates great distress. The implication is to be helplessly hemmed in by problems. The understanding is to be confined in a narrow space. Nothing can confine us from experiencing the love of Christ.
Persecution
Persecution is affliction that is suffered for the sake of Christ. God pours out His divine blessing on us when we suffer for His sake. The promise of God is great reward in heaven for those who suffer for the Kingdom of Christ. The greatest blessing that we can gain is the outpouring of Christ’s love.
Famine
Famine was often considered a natural disaster when the food supply became drastically low. In the Old Testament, Joseph saved his entire family and the all of Egypt during a severe family. Paul is describing something different when he uses the word famine here. The implied instance is being denied food or means to get food. The result is a gradual death by starvation.
There is a great spiritual famine that is happening within our nation. Week after week people flock to churches to find feel good messages that are void of depth and scriptural meaning. Is it any wonder that the church as a whole is in decline?
Nakedness
The instance here does not mean nudity as some might think but rather it means to be destitute to be without the supply of clothing. The poverty would be so severe that there would be no way to properly provide clothing. The issue also implies vulnerability and being unprotected.
Danger
The word means to be placed in peril or to be exposed to extreme amounts of danger. The understanding that Paul conveys is one that danger is created by some form of treachery or mistreatment. No matter how badly we are mistreated in this world we cannot lose.
Sword
The word that Paul uses here for sword is not what we might think of as a sword. The word was used to describe a long dagger that was often used by assassins. The sword here was not for combat but specifically used for murder. Paul was saying that there should not be a concern over the threat of taking life by murder. Even by taking our lives, we cannot be defeated.
As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
Paul quotes the wisdom of the psalms to give insight ito the victory we have in Christ. The truth is that God’s people have always experienced suffering and hardship in this fallen world. The only thing that will ever change the reality of suffering for faith is the return of Jesus. We cannot forget that we live in a fallen world and this world cannot understand the devotion God’s people have for Christ. Those who are called to follow Christ will also share in His sufferings.
Paul is making three things clear through these words:
1. We do all things for God’s glory
2. We will face opposition
3. We are called to give all
We are more than conquerors
No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors
Paul clearly states that everything he mentions cannot stand in the way of believers. The hardships of life are never able to defeat us. This is a practical application of the understanding that if Christ is for us, who can stand against us. There is nothing that can keep us from the love of Christ.
The love of Christ is what brings us victory in life. Nothing can ever prevent us from accessing the love of Christ. Nothing can ever steal away the victory that we have in Christ.
Paul describes those who follow Christ as more than conquerors but the real question is why? Why would we be considered more than just victorious? Paul is showing the Roman church and our church today that there is far more than just being victorious in this world.
The reality is that victory in this world is only one small facet that Paul wants us to understand. Christ brings us victory over all of those things that he mentioned above. Our victory is not only temporal in this life but carries on through the next life.
James puts it best: Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. James 1:12
The love of Christ is what brings us victory in life and it is this love that makes us more than conquerors. The power of Christ’s love is experienced through the work of the cross and the reality of the resurrection. Through the cross Jesus overcame the power of sin and through the resurrection He overcame the power of death.
How does Jesus bring us victory?
We have victory over the power of death
"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:55
We have victory over the power of sin
3 This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 4 for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:3-4
We have victory over the coming judgment
Jesus Paid it All
Jesus Paid it All, all to Him I owe, sin had left a crimson stain, He washed it white as snow.
