PRE-TALK OR CHILDREN’S TALK
Before Priscilla and I got married I used to keep a scrap book. In 1988 I cut out this picture from a newspaper. It’s of Linford Christie at the Seoul Olympics. He had never before competed in the Olympics but at Seoul, he won the silver medal. Four years later, he competed at the Barcelona Olympics and won gold. Christie had a friend called Daley Thompson. Thompson competed in the decathlon. He’d won gold medals in the two previous Olympics.
The article had the headline, Christie ‘owes it’ to Daley. The article went as follows:
‘British sprinter Linford Christie gained the inspiration to live with the world’s fastest men in the Olympic 100 metres final from Daley Thompson. The 28-year-old Londoner said after being presented with his Olympic bronze medal that becoming the first European to break 10 seconds was the crowning glory.
Christie said: “Daley has done a great deal for my confidence. He must be the best motivator in the business. He got me up for this and before I raced told me to get out there and win a medal. I was running to win and I wasn’t worrying about Ben or Carl. That is why I got a medal.”‘
I’m sure Christie was motivated by the thought of getting an Olympic medal. I’m sure he trained incredibly hard, he put in a great performance, and he got the result. But it wasn’t just the thought of a medal that motivated him. He said his friend, Daley Thompson, was the best motivator in the business.
RECAP / FIRST TALK
Today, we’re continuing in our series of ‘Great Messages of Encouragement’.
Let’s first review what we’ve looked at so far. Two weeks ago, we had the first talk in our series. The people of Israel were preparing to enter the Promised Land. Moses assured them that God WOULD NOT LEAVE THEM OR FORSAKE THEM. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews applied Moses’ words to the people of his time. He reminded them that God promised, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ Jesus told his disciples much the same thing in slightly different words: ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ God’s promise applies to us too: God will not leave us nor forsake us; Jesus will be with us always.
That has to be a great encouragement for us! Everyone faces struggles. The ancient Israelites faced the nations of Canaan. We also face challenging situations. For some of us it might be dealing with a difficult customer or taking a tough exam. But in central Nigeria, where Habila and Jemimah are from, there’s the threat of being killed or abducted by a hostile militia. As we face these struggles, we should be really encouraged by the knowledge that God is with us.
But God didn’t simply promise the people of Israel that he’d be with them. He promised them that they would destroy the nations that occupied that land. ‘The Lord will give them over to you’, Moses told them. And just before, Moses told the people of Israel that God wanted to prosper them. But there was a condition. Moses told the people, ‘For the Lord will … take delight in prospering you… WHEN YOU OBEY the voice of the Lord your God … WHEN YOU TURN to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’
The principle we learn is that God prospers those who obey him and turn to him with all their heart and with all their soul. This isn’t just an Old Testament concept. It’s very much in the New Testament too. For example, Peter preaches in Jerusalem and says, ‘Repent therefore, AND TURN AGAIN, that your sins may be blotted out, THAT TIMES OF REFRESHING may come from the presence of the Lord.’ According to Peter, the people needed to turn to God for times of refreshing to come.
So, what happens if people do the opposite?! What happens if people don’t turn to God but despise him and rebel against him? If people don’t obey God, they shouldn’t expect God to prosper them. Right?
RECAP / SECOND TALK
Last week, we had the second talk in our series. We looked at a passage in Isaiah 40. Isaiah wrote something we wouldn’t expect!
In the time of Isaiah Judah had been invaded by Assyria. Before long, it would be conquered by Babylon. Most of the population would go into exile. But the biggest problem of all was that the people of Judah, by and large, despised God and had rebelled against him. Surely Isaiah couldn’t give a message of encouragement at such a time? And yet, in Isaiah 40, God does so:
‘they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint’ [Isaiah 40:31].
How could God give a message like this to people who are rebellious?
Isaiah hears three voices. The first voice says, ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord.’ You know what that means, don’t you?! ‘Prepare the way of the Lord’ means that the Lord is coming. Jesus would enter our world! That will change things!
The second voice says, ‘the word of our God will stand for ever’. God’s purpose doesn’t change.
The third voice tells him, ‘Behold your God!’ I love that phrase. ‘Behold your God!’ Look at him! Consider him! Our whole view changes when we do that! ‘Behold, the Lord God comes WITH MIGHT’, Isaiah continues.
So, how could Isaiah give a message of encouragement, even to a disobedient people? Judah had been defeated but that doesn’t mean that God had! First, God, in the person of Jesus, would enter the situation. Second, his word stands for ever. What he intends, he does. Third, he is mighty. He doesn’t fail!
In the 8th century B.C. the future for Judah was bleak. They would be invaded and go into exile. Life would be very difficult. But Isaiah exhorts them, ‘Wait for the Lord! As you do, you’ll find your strength renewed.’
Life in the 21st century A.D. is often difficult too! Work stresses us out. A loved one dies. Someone cheats us. Like those ancient Israelites, we think, ‘God doesn’t notice; he doesn’t care.’ But Isaiah’s exhortation speaks to us too. ‘Wait for the Lord!’ Even in the difficult, perplexing times. God’s promise to us is that as we do, we’ll find our strength renewed.
A THIRD MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
Today, we’re moving on to the third passage in our series and a third great message of encouragement. It’s in Romans 8:18-25.
When Paul wrote his letter to the Romans, it seems clear that Christians there were experiencing persecution. In Romans, Paul mentions suffering several times. But the persecution was going to get a lot worse. Seven years after Paul wrote, in the time of Nero, there was a great fire in Rome. Nero looked for scapegoats and picked on Christians. It was probably then that both Paul and Peter died.
In this difficult time, Paul has a great message of encouragement for the Christians in Rome. Look at verse 18: ‘For I consider that THE SUFFERINGS OF THIS PRESENT TIME are not worth comparing with THE GLORY THAT IS TO BE REVEALED TO US.’
Glance ahead to verse 22. Paul writes, ‘For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.’
Paul’s analogy isn’t complicated. Labour is painful. But the pain is forgotten when the child is born. Jesus used the same illustration a couple of times. The principle is clear. We put up with pain knowing that it will pass, knowing that there is something much better to follow.
Linford Christie was motivated by the thought of an Olympic medal and the glory that goes with it. But what’s the glory that we can look forward to?
Many of us use the NIV version of the Bible. In the NIV, verse 18 is as follows: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed IN us.” Here, the idea is that glory will be revealed IN us. But most versions of the Bible say the glory that will be revealed TO us. Commentators say that both ‘in’ and ‘to’ are possible. But they seem to lean towards ‘to’.
But maybe we don’t have to choose! There’s a glory that will be revealed IN us AND a glory that will be revealed TO us.
Look at verse 19. Paul writes: ‘For the creation waits WITH EAGER LONGING for the revealing of the sons of God.’ The Greek phrase that’s translated ‘with eager longing’ means literally, that creation is stretching its head! In English we might say that creation is craning its neck. Creation wants to see the revealing of the sons of God – and daughters of God too! In the New Testament, ‘son’ also means female believers. At least four times, the New Testament tells us that believers will receive a crown. The word it uses for crown in these verses means the wreath awarded to a victor in the athletic games. Peter says, ‘when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown OF GLORY’ [1 Peter 5:4]. There is glory coming to us, a a glory that will be revealed IN us. FF Bruce wrote: ‘We will be publicly and universally acknowledged as the sons of God.’ And daughters of God, of course! Creation is craning its neck in expectation!
But there is also a sense that glory will be revealed TO us. I get very excited as I think about this!
Christians in Rome might think, here we are, just a little blip in history. But Paul tells them that isn’t the case at all. They’re part of a MUCH bigger picture. It isn’t only they who are waiting for this glorious future! Five times in five verses, Paul uses the word ‘creation’. What is happening is something that affects the whole of creation and you, believers in Rome, are part of it.
In verse 19, creation waits in eager expectation. In verse 23, God’s people wait eagerly.
In verse 21, creation hopes to enjoy the freedom that God’s people will enjoy.
In verse 22, creation is groaning just as God’s people are.
Christ’s work doesn’t just impact people. It impacts the whole of creation. The whole of creation will be redeemed, set free from its bondage to decay and enjoy the freedom that the sons of God will enjoy. There’s a future for this created world.
That gets me excited! Even with the mess that humankind produces, the created world seems extraordinary, beautiful, awe-inspiring. It’s already glorious. But imagine what it will be like when it has been set free from its bondage to decay! And what will the world be like when Jesus, Prince of Peace, takes up his rule?
I don’t know if Paul meant that glory will be revealed IN us or TO us. But both thoughts are true. There is a glory that will be revealed IN us as we are revealed as sons and daughters of God. And there is a glory that will be revealed TO us as we see creation freed from its bondage to decay and the world under Christ’s kingship.
Linford Christie was clearly motivated to get out and win a medal at the Seoul Olympics. But let’s keep Paul’s observation in mind: ‘They’ (that is, athletes) ‘do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable’ [1 Corinthians 9:25]. We have MUCH more to gain that Linford Christie ever did.
So, what do we have to do? What’s the practical application? Look at verses 24 and 25. We have to hope. We won’t go for something if we don’t think we’ll ever get it. We have to hope patiently. I have to do for you what Daley Thompson did for Linford Christie. I have to tell you, ‘Get out there and win a medal.’ It’s there!
So, let’s be encouraged. Troubles will come. But – as Paul tells us – they’re not worth comparing with what’s to come. Let’s keep the glory in mind, shrug them off and press on.
Talk given at Rosebery Park Baptist Church, Bournemouth, UK, 23rd January 2022
