Romans 8:26-27 July 24, 2022
Introduction:
Have you ever heard this quote...”If you want to make God laugh...tell Him your plans!”
I think that’s what James meant when he said, “Now listen you who say we’ll go here and we’ll do that...we’ll carry on business and make money. Why you don’t even know what will happen tomorrow...Instead you ought to say, “If it’s the Lord’s will we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13, 15).
Folks, most of the time we’re not really interested in God’s will. What we’re interested in is telling God what we’ve got planned and have Him put His stamp of approval on it!!!
What we have here is “failure to communicate.” (Cool Hand Luke accent)
Because we’re sinful by nature and we live in body’s of flesh. Paul says, “Jars of clay.” We want comfort...we want happiness...we want to feel good...we want to satisfy our body’s desire for ease and self.
But God has something different in mind, especially for His people. A plan that overrides our comfort and our ease...a plan that is more important than any of our desires. It’s the plan to conform His born again Spirit adopted children into the likeness of His only begotten perfect Son, Jesus.
Guess how he does that? Paul knew, and it wasn’t much fun. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me (a thorn on his flesh). But He (God) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:8-9)
Weakness is the laboratory where God mixes His power and His grace into our lives. That’s why this promise for God’s children is such good news in a bad news world.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US IN OUR WEAKNESS
Romans 8:26 starts off “In the same way...”
“In the same way the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.”
In the same way as “what?”
Well, to answer that question you have to go back a little in Romans chapter 8 and read the proceeding verses...Let’s read together.
ROMANS 8:18-25
The Holy Spirit helps us deal with the waiting period. He helps us deal with the struggles and sufferings and confusion in the period between salvation and complete redemption.
Romans 8:18 says “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Suffering is the result of sin, sometimes ours, sometimes others, all creation is fallen. Sin ravaged because of someone else’s sin, Adam and Eve’s.
If you live in this fallen world, the results of sin will cause you to suffer. You’re lonely because your mate died. Your physical body aches, hurts, cramps because it’s temporary. Your children or grandchildren are rebellious, and you hurt emotionally because you cannot fix them. Or, maybe you are involved in sin. Adultery, gossip, cheating, pornography and the direct result of sin is “separation” from God, and sometimes separation from others...suffering.
Weakness...Here’s an important truth, every one of us are sinners and we are either sinners who allow God to deal with our weaknesses, and live lives that are genuine and real so others can help us deal with our weaknesses. Or, we pretend to be super law obeyers. We pretend our weaknesses aren’t really that bad. Mostly by pointing out the weaknesses of others.
Christians are children of God because they are born again, adopted by God through His Holy Spirit. Listen to a few verses that proceed our text:
ROMANS 8:14-17
There is a very real transformation in salvation. And, there is a very real assurance that you are God’s child, not only His child, but His heir. “If indeed we share in the suffering in order that we may also share in His glory.”
The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness, our struggle, our sin, our waiting period until our inheritance is revealed “IN US.”
II. THREE WAYS THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS
1. He intercedes
2. He searches and
3. He reveals God’s will
Our text says, “We don’t know what we ought to pray for.” That is a blanket statement, written by the greatest missionary ever, the author of 2/3s of the New Testament, an Apostle named Paul, saved miraculously by Jesus while persecuting the Church. He says, “we,” me and you” don’t know what to pray for.
Paul knew the phrase, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”
Paul creates a team, on the back of our uniforms aren’t individual names but H.E.I.R.S. It’s also on the back of the Apostle Paul’s uniform. The Church, big “C” is the “we” Paul mentions who don’t know how to pray. By the way, everyone on this born again, Spirit filled team suffers in one way or another. Even creation suffers, like a woman in childbirth. [The only time I really believed Kari would kill me was in childbirth, after 19 ½ hours of pain and contractions. We were breathing together. I was the coach, and Kari was breathing in a way that made me laugh. She reached up, grabbed me by the throat and said, “If you laugh at me again, I will kill you.]
I didn’t! I don’t understand childbirth suffering (and according to Genesis 3:15 each mom can thank Eve for that).
No one likes to suffer, no one likes to be weak. But, it’s usually here we discover we need help.
The time I remember being physically the weakest was before my back fusion surgery. I’d taken epidural shots for 3 years, they’d helped for a while, and then they stopped helping. I spent a week in the Old Methodist Hospital having spasms and intense pain. The only option I had back then was surgery, but I couldn’t walk, couldn’t sit, couldn’t stand. If I wanted to get somewhere I tried to crawl.
If I wanted to get something, someone had to fix it or get it for me. If I wanted coffee the same thing, if I needed a book, across the room I needed help to retrieve it. It was the one time in my stubborn, self sufficient life that I could not do what I wanted to do without someone helping me.
I think of that time in my life when I consider Paul describing weakness, and the Holy Spirit interceding with groans.
I’m sure Paul often thought of the “thorn in His body,” where he pleaded for relief. And God said, “no,” but my grace is sufficient for you. My power is made perfect in “weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
We pray just like Paul “get rid of this God, take it away God. Make me more comfortable God! Surely you don’t want me to go through this God!”
I hate the saying, “God won’t give you more than you can handle” because it’s a lie. God will most certainly give you more than you can handle, so in faith you can trust Him to handle it. He won’t give you more that He can handle! When the Spirit intercedes it’s from within. Our bodies, “His temple.” When He groans God hears.
And
2) He searches. God searches our hearts, and He knows what the Spirit thinks. “It’s His Spirit!” God’s Spirit interprets our wants, needs, desires, hurts, insecurities and inabilities, our weakness through the filter of “God’s will.”
Our selfish desire, how we think we should pray, will always be “give me relief! Give me the money, Give me the health, make things more comfortable. (worldly people who believe in God and carnal immature Christians only invite God into their lives when they need rescue, and then after the need passes they quickly kick Him out again)
If we don’t know what we should pray for, and the Holy Spirit is searching and revealing, why pray? Some truly ask “why pray if it’s God’s will it isn’t going to change?” Kind of a que sera sera, “whatever will be will be” relationship with God.
This isn’t the relationship between a son or daughter and their dad, it’s more like the relationship of employee to boss. It’s nothing like Jesus’ relationship with His Father in prayer while here on earth.
Satan’s goal is to create distance between people and God. God’s goal, through Christ is to build a bridge and restore the relationship we broke. And one day, in the future that relationship will be restored perfectly in a new heaven, a new earth, and a new us!
So, if the Holy Spirit intercedes, and searches, it’s for a purpose. 3) He reveals God’s will for your life. “He proves the world wrong (John 16:7) and accordingly Jesus said, “He will convict you in regards to sin, righteousness and the judgment.” (John 16:8) Our brother Cluadio says, “Pecado, Justicia, Juicio. (Sin, Righteousness, Judgment)
He tries to call you from the wrongness of the world and show you the Father’s plan of redemption through Jesus.
So why pray? Well if you’re lost, if you’re in the midst of conviction, the place where God’s Spirit is drawing you into a relationship, then prayer is essential, it’s the first surrender in the process of salvation, with whatever words you want. It’s I surrender, I’m guilty, I need a Savior, I want to be Your child, I want to follow Jesus.” It’s not all there is, but conviction leads to confession, repentance is the real sorrow for sin, our sin that turns us around toward God. Baptism is visible union with Jesus. Death, burial and resurrection...through the gift of the Holy Spirit. And, if there has been a true rebirth, our life afterwards bears fruit...in our attitude or in our actions...we begin to grow up into mature spirit-filled and led followers.
While Jesus was here on earth His prayer life was...Father, let me be obedient to your plan in every area of my life...”Even if I would rather not drink this cup, not my will be done, but yours.” (Luke 22:42)
A child of God prays for the same reasons as Jesus did. God I want to be obedient to your plan in every area of my life.”
And as we begin to grow from Baby’s demanding milk and comfort immediately to more mature followers, our prayer life changes.
If God’s Spirit lives in you, then real joy and peace can only be found in the center of God’s will.
God’s not a safety net or Santa Claus any longer. He’s a trusted Dad who is bringing to completion a work he started in you at salvation.
You see God’s will is to shape you into His perfect son’s image. He is more concerned with your inner character than your outer comfort. I want to end with 3 quick scriptures that talk about knowing God’s will. The first is
ROMANS 8:28-29
The Spirit is interceding (according to verse 27) but God is working for the good, in everything that happens in the child’s life He’s called. Children who love Him. Faith that nothing will touch you that doesn’t first pass through Jesus’ nail pierced hands keeps you trusting, even when you’re groaning and don’t understand. Like Joseph in prison, like Sarah’s barrenness for 89 years, like Rick in the burn unit, like you in your place of weakness. God blesses you so that you can be a blessing. And God comforts you so you can be a comforter.
Hebrews 4:13 says, “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight, everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”
Then we read
HEBREWS 4:14-16
Jesus is our interceder, our High Priest. Because of that truth we have someone who understands our weakness, and responds with grace. We can approach God’s throne with confidence, knowing the answer is mercy. The answer is help.
And the final scripture I’ll share concerning God’s revealed will for our lives is:
ROMANS 12:1-2 (The Message):
So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
Simply put, the more we surrender of the every day us to God, the more we recognize His voice when He speaks...And the more we respond to His voice, the quicker we recognize Him next time.
Confusion comes about when we try to listen to the world and God...that never works. Our nature wants to listen to the voice that says, “please yourself.” While God’s Spirit says, “Come out from among them and listen to me, “I will never leave you or forsake you!”
[In my walk with Christ I’ve discovered that the Holy Spirit almost never shouts. Most often, He whispers. Satan knows we fear silence, so he shouts. His agents create clatter and confusion. Under stress Satan screams “Hurry up or you’ll never get there.” And the Holy Spirit says, “Be still and know that I am God.”
Easy to do? Now, it goes against our nature. Surrendering to God’s leading, hearing His “still, small, voice from among the earthquake, fire and thunder isn’t easy, but it’s essential if you want to be led “like a child of God.”
Let’s pray.
