NEW YEAR ASSURANCE IN PAUL’S TRIUMPH SONG
"What will this year bring?" I expect that all of us in our private thoughts, or even spoken, have wondered what’s in store for us. I can’t tell you what will happen, but I suspect that 2008 will be much like 2007. The Earth has been circling the sun a long time. In principle, little changes - winter and summer, springtime and autumn come around with amazing regularity! That’s true of the big picture. And yet we do wonder what 2008 will bring. It’s easy to be pessimistic. There’s the uncertainly of the international scene with terrorism and, locally, our economy – and then we have our own personal and private fears as to the future.
I was at a business seminar and one of the participants told a story to illustrate a point about imaginary problems. A man was out hunting bears. He spotted one in a forest and took a shot but just managed to hit its nose, much to its fury! The bear gave chase and the hunter ran to a tree to climb out of harm’s way. Unfortunately, there were no branches low enough for him to grab, so he had to run around the tree followed by the bear. Just picture the scene - round and round they went this large tree. The man could feel the bear’s breath on his neck. He tried to escape by running even faster, but to his consternation he found he had a bear in front of him as well as behind! Imagination can play tricks on us, causing unnecessary fears - but they can be real as well.
The past is history, but the future is still in the unknown. There’s a saying that "life must be lived forwards but can only be understood backwards." The past teaches us that life can be most unpredictable. It’s rather like the weather - one day it can be glorious sunshine but the next is the opposite. Clouds can gather as a depression develops, with storm-force winds creating havoc to the well-ordered gardens of our lives. Life can be like that. The forces ranged against us seem to surround and overwhelm, and we are downcast if not despairing.
Paul the apostle knew the experience well. He gave the Christians at Rome the benefit of his being in the forefront of the spiritual battle. The last 12 verses of Romans 8 (28-39) have been summed up as "the Christian’s Triumph Song". Yes, there is triumph but Paul isn’t a triumphalist. He’s a realist. He knows all too well that where there’s a potential for triumph there’s trouble and trial as well. So we must ask:
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
It’s because we live in a fallen world. This isn’t how it was designed to be and Paul looks forward to the day when it will be freed from "its bondage of decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God" (8:21). Paul is quite definite that we’re still in the waiting period. Citizens of countries that had been overrun by enemy forces lived in hope that a liberating army would free them but there was to be a lot of hardship before that longed-for day came. There’s a saying: to be forewarned is to be forearmed. So what are the enemies that we might well encounter in the unknown future? There’s the consciousness of our:
IMPERECTION
Satan is known as the "accuser" - that’s what his name means. There’s never been a shortage of enemies to make accusations against God’s people. Then we have our own consciences and of memories readily pointing the finger - and all too frequently we know it’s true. It can be depressing to know that we frequently fall short of God’s standards. Paul knew this when he wrote to the same readers about the accusations of failure that he felt: "I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am!" (7:22-24). Yes, in 2008 we’ll be conscious of our imperfection. If we don’t recognise it ourselves, someone else is sure to tell us! But there’s more to come. There’s the probability of:
HARDSHIP
Paul catalogues a list of candidates to make life hard for us. Who can tell if the circumstances of the coming year will prove tough and uncomfortable, tempting us to cry out: "If God loves me, why does he allow this to happen?" It’s easy to make the mistake of thinking God’s love gives us the right to an easy life. The enemies that lurked around the corner for Paul were "tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril and the sword" (8:35). It’s possible that the future will bring a different mixture because we live in a more tolerant society and we’re privileged to live in a community with a social conscience, which provides some cushion against the harsh impact of destitution. All the same, a glance at the newspaper tells us that 2008 could be a tough year for many. And then there’s:
UNCERTAINTY
At Christmas many people send a letter with their card to friends they correspond with only once a year. Some I received told of a lost job, sickness or even bereavement. It happens to all at some time or other, as someone put it "in this short and uncertain earthly pilgrimage". The fear of the uncertainties of tomorrow is an enemy to be reckoned with. Will the family hold together? Will my money last? Will my job still be there at the end of the year? Will anyone care now that I’m getting on in years? And what about death itself? Of course we do our best to look after our families, our job and our health, but we have to face it that these uncertainties can be unexpected and unwelcome visitors at any time.
All these enemies, at one time or another, singly or together, may lead us to feel worthless, condemned and powerless. We may feel caught up in a situation that is like a bad dream - only it’s not a dream but true! Is there no hope? Is no one on our side? Yes, there is! So we must ask:
WHAT’S THE SOLUTION?
Paul begins his "Triumph Song" with "What then shall we say in response to this?" as if to say, "Yes, I know that life is full of uncertainties and problems" and he answers his question with another question. "If God is for us, who can be against us?" (31). It’s an affirmation of confidence that we can face the future because:
GOD IS FOR US
And yet, it’s essential that we should ask the question: "Is God for me?" in the sense that we make sure that God "is for us" by asking ourselves "but are we for God?" History is littered with people who have claimed to be "for God" but have done terrible things in his name. Armies have faced each other on the battlefield, both sides confident that God was on their side. Native peoples have been ‘christianised’ on pain of terrible persecution if they didn’t comply. Christians can have arrogant convictions that they are completely right and everyone else is completely wrong. No, God is not "for us" in that sense, so it’s essential that we ask ourselves the question: "Is God for us as we are and as what we intend to do in the coming year?"
Paul is writing to those who are truly of the faith, those "who love God, and are called according to his purpose" (28). If we are among that number we can be confident that God is "for us". But the apostle doesn’t just make the statement and leave it like that, but provides a convincing proof. Actions speak louder than words and it’s what God has done that should convince us that God is on our side. Paul has an immovable foundation stone for his faith because:
CHRIST IS WITH US
Back in the late 1800’s in the state of Hawaii there was no cure for the highly contagious and deadly disease called leprosy. It was a horrible dreadful disease that today is curable, but it wasn’t back then. So, in order to keep the disease at bay and to keep it from spreading and creating an epidemic, the government would send lepers to a colony on the island of Molokai where they would be secluded and isolated from those who were not infected with the disease. In 1873, there was a young, brave Catholic priest named Father Damien, who volunteered to spend his life serving the people secluded on the island of Molokai. This brave man lived among the 700 lepers, knowing the dangers, realising the inevitable results of so much personal contact with a highly contagious disease. He built hospitals, clinics, and churches. But only two years later, at the age of 45, he had to announce, "My fellow lepers, I am one of you now." It was out of love that he gave those lepers a gift that would change their life for all of eternity. That is what God in Christ has done for us.
The apostle Paul tells us that God, "he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" (32). Our God is the God of the Incarnation. His Son, Jesus, exchanged heaven for Earth, for our benefit. God did not withhold, did not keep back, did not spare his own Son. His love for his people was so great that he was prepared to sacrifice his only Son for them. Surely we can trust a loyalty like that. It was for us that he stood in the place of sinners, our place, so that we might be pardoned. Christ died for us and established the basis for our security. It’s just as if the charge sheet of crimes compiled by the prosecutor in a trial has been miraculously wiped clean. The judge has to declare that there’s no case to answer. God has justified us through Christ and no accusation has any hold on us now. Paul’s argument goes like this: "If God has acquitted us from condemnation, who then can condemn us?"
The basis of our assurance of sins forgiven is the core of the Gospel. Christ died, Christ arose, but not only that, Christ reigns. His resurrection, great though it was, isn’t the end of the story. He is "at the right hand of God" (34). In other words, he’s occupying the supreme position of authority in the universe. There’s no power that’s stronger than his. But the wonder of it is that he’s exercising his power for the benefit of those he has saved from sin, in a continuing way.
Jesus is at God’s throne interceding for us. His reigning in power is not impersonal, nor is he enjoying for himself the reward that was his for defeating evil on the Cross. No, he is personally involved on our behalf, seeing us in our struggles and praying for us. But he can only help us if we help ourselves by coming to God in prayer. We don’t do so in any worthiness of our own, but trusting that God will see us through his Son’s worthiness. If we do this, it’s our privilege "to approach the throne of grace, with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Heb 4:16).
Once we realise that this isn’t just a theoretical position but a practical possibility, we can face the future with confidence. The apostle asks some more questions in the light of what Christ is, has done and is doing for us: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (35). Paul was just as liable as the rest of us to wonder at times if he had been forsaken. There were times in his life when he was under tremendous pressure, when he wouldn’t feel near to God, perhaps even felt abandoned. When clouds are passing over the sky, they may hide the sun but they don’t extinguish it.
There’s a poem called "Footprints". The author dreamed he was walking across a beach, representing his life. For most of the way there were two sets of footprints in the sand - his and God’s - but at the saddest times of his life there was only one set. He asked God what this meant. "My child," God replied, "I love you and would never leave you during your times of trial and suffering. When you saw only one set of footprints is was then that I carried you!"
Paul doesn’t say that we’re going to escape troubles and problems. In fact it’s quite the opposite, for he writes that it’s in these things that we are to be conquerors. The circumstances of life may be difficult and we may wish they were different. We may pray to the lord to change them, but in his sovereign will, he may choose not to do so. The important thing to grasp is that God promises to give us victory in all our problems. But when is this to happen? Is this a picture of the future in heaven? Paul doesn’t say "we shall be" but "in all these things we are more than conquerors." Left to ourselves this would be absolutely impossible, but Paul goes on to say how it can happen: it’s "though him who love us" (34).
Sometimes His ways are hard to understand at the time, I can offer a personal example: Teenage children can be quite a trial, even a pain! 25 years ago my son was! He was keen on old vehicles that he intended to renovate. Against my better judgement, so I thought at the time, he acquired an old banger that he placed in my carport - and there it stayed untouched for months! How annoying! But do you know? God had planned for that for my benefit. It happened like this. It was the year of the great hurricane that swept over Guernsey causing a great deal of damage including the roof of my carport. I went to investigate and in so doing slipped and fell through the Perspex sheeting. If the old banger hadn’t been there I would have fallen eight feet on to the concrete floor, but no, in God’s providence, I tumbled on the car roof, slid down on bonnet to the floor. Yes, I was shaken and sore for a week or two, but avoided breaking my back, which so easily could have happened.
Well, what will the New Year bring? Frankly, I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter because, whatever it brings, it will not be outside the scope of the love of God to keep us safe. Paul clinches his argument with a statement of unshakeable conviction: "I am sure" he says, "that neither the crisis of death, nor the calamities of life, nor the unseen powers of this world, nor time (whether present or future) … " and just to make sure that he hasn’t omitted anything he adds: "nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (39). What a Triumph Song!
Some of Paul’s readers were fearful of some fate beyond their control that might befall them, but he’s able to reassure them and us that all these things are powerless to separate us from the love of Christ. Here is the answer to any fears as to what 2008 and future years have for us. God wants to be our companion and defender, to be "on our side". How can this be a reality? We must take him at his word and trust in what he has done in Jesus. Then we will know that to have God on our side outweighs all the enemies we can ever have. Let’s resolve to make Paul’s Triumph Song our motto for the coming year. We can’t predict what the next year will hold for us – we just don’t know. But if we’re true believers in Jesus, if we’re right with God in Christ, we can face whatever happens.
