Several years ago my mom and late stepfather were hiking back from some hot springs in the desert when they decided to take a shortcut back to their car. That shortcut ended up getting them hopelessly lost in the desert. With the blazing heat beating down on them and with no food or water, slowly they started getting dehydrated. Eventually they couldn’t go on anymore. In the hot afternoon sun, they sat in a patch of shade, as the signs of serious dehydration started taking over their bodies and they started slipping into shock. All they could think of was water…cold, clean, refreshing water.
Well, after several hours of exposure they were rescued, but the only thing their rescuers had to quench their thirst was warm beer. Somehow after longing for fresh water, warm beer seemed to be a huge let down.
Isn’t that what life is like? We wait for things with hopeful, eager expectation, and when we finally get what we were eagerly looking forward to, it’s more like warm beer. As kids we eagerly look forward to Disneyland, yet as fun as Disneyland is, it doesn’t quite live up to our hopes. We look forward to going off to college, to getting married, to having kids, to moving up in the world, to retirement, yet none of these things deliver all we hoped they would. We spend all our time and energy climbing the ladder of success, but when we reach the top we find that the view isn’t nearly as wonderful as we’d once thought it would be.
There’s a restlessness behind our yearnings that nothing can seem to satisfy. Almost sixty years ago, the Christian author C. S. Lewis preached a sermon called "The Weight of Glory" that addressed this very issue (Lewis 361-70). Lewis claimed that the true longing behind all our earthly longings is a longing for heaven. Lewis said, "Our lifelong nostalgia, our longing to be reunited with something in the universe from which we now feel cut off, to be on the inside of some door which we have always seen from the outside" is really a hunger for God himself (368).
We’re like the Neo in the movie The Matrix. Neo knows that life is more than what he’s presently experiencing, and he yearns to know more, to experience more, to break out of his current circumstances and embrace real life. The Matrix is a kind of postmodern parable of the human condition C. S. Lewis talked about.
This experience is especially true of people who’ve become followers of Jesus Christ. You see, Christians live in between two ages, in a tension between the "already" and the "not yet" of God’s Kingdom.
On the "already" side, Jesus Christ has already lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and risen from the grave to vanquish death. Jesus claimed that his life, death, and resurrection established God’s rule and reign. Yet creation is still dominated by sin, and despair continues to persist, even though God’s new creation realm is invading the old creation.
On the "not yet" side is the future second coming of Jesus Christ’s at the end of the age. We’re still waiting for the final curtain on history to fall, when God’s kingdom is consummated in power on this earth. We’re waiting for that time predicted in the book of Revelation, when the kingdoms of this world become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah Jesus (Rev 11:15). We’re waiting for the new creation, that time when suffering is alleviated, grieving is soothed, when death is swallowed up by life.
Even though we live in between the "already" and the "not yet," the follower of Jesus Christ belongs to the new creation, to the future. The moment we trust in Jesus and become his follower, we become part of God’s new creation. That’s where our true home is, where we truly belong. We’re like Marty McFly in the old "Back to the Future" movie, stuck in the past but truly belonging to the future.
And because we live in this tension, it’s not always easy to live the spiritual life of following Jesus Christ. Today we’re going to look at three results of living during this in between time.
1. Creation Yearns To Get Back to the Future (Romans 8:18-22)
Let’s look at verses 18-22. Paul is contrasting the old age of Adam with the in-breaking of God’s future kingdom that was established by Jesus Christ. The old age is characterized by glory concealed, while the God’s new creation will be characterized by glory revealed. C. S. Lewis thought this glory was receiving recognition from God, as a proud father recognizes and praises his son (Lewis 366). It’s hearing, "Well done, well done, well done" from the God who made us.
The Bible claims that our present sufferings aren’t even worth comparing to the glory that will characterize God’s new creation. Yet our present sufferings are very real and often very painful. Each week as I read through the prayer requests that come in on our Keep In Touch cards, I’m reminded with the kind of suffering we’re vulnerable to. Elsewhere in the Bible Paul calls them "momentary and light afflictions," yet at the time they feel anything but momentary or light. Diseases ravage our bodies and the bodies of those we care about. Heartbreak from marriages ended, relationships broken, children in rebellion weigh heavily on our hearts. Physical pain, addictions, sexual abuse, and feelings of loneliness and despair plague us in this present age.
Yet the Bible claims that when we put these experiences in the scales, and weigh it against our future glory, there’s no comparison. You see, it’s not that our future glory balances out our present suffering, but it’s that the glory is so much greater than the suffering, that there’s no comparison. Our future glory will drown out all memory of our present suffering.
Paul pictures the entire cosmos--all the galaxies of God’s creation--as waiting on tiptoe in anticipation for this future age to dawn. The entire created order--the galaxies, the stars, the solar systems, the earth--are like an audience waiting in eager anticipation for the final curtain to fall.
When that final curtain falls, God’s true sons and daughters will be revealed for who they truly are. Right now Jesus Christ’s followers look just like other people do. We get sick, just like other people. We experience heartbreak, failure, broken relationships, anger, frustration, and all the other things that are characteristic of the human condition. But one day the curtain will be pulled away, and who we really are will be revealed: God’s adopted sons and daughters. First John 3:2 puts it this way: "We are God’s children, and what we will be has not yet been made known." Currently God’s children are concealed, but one day they’ll be revealed.
In this section Paul seems to be reflecting back on Genesis chapter 3, and the effects of human sin on God’s creation. When sin entered into the world through Adam, the entire created order was subjected to frustration by God as a consequence of Adam’s sin. The word "frustration" here simply means, "unable to fulfill its function." The creation order didn’t do anything wrong, yet God himself subjected creation to frustration in order to vanquish the power of sin and bring about a new creation. So the entire created order is waiting to be liberated from its bondage to decay.
Yet God subjected creation to this "frustration" in hope, because he knew that he’d use this very condition to vanquish the power of sin. The word picture Paul uses to describe creation’s present condition is childbirth. When labor comes, the the contractions pains can be unbearable (not that I know from personal experience). After watching my wife in labor with our first son, I was amazed that she wanted to have more children. Yet once that child comes, the joy of holding that little baby isn’t even worth comparing to the agony of labor.
Here we find the first consequence of living in between the times. IN THE MIDST OF OUR PRESENT PROBLEMS, THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE YEARNS FOR THE COMPLETION OF GOD’S PURPOSES.
What this does is give us a macro-vision of God’s plan. You see, God’s vision isn’t just for people, but God’s vision is to transform his entire creation. God wants to bring about salvation of the cosmos, not just salvation for people. And it’s that ultimate goal creation longs for. From the moment of the Big Bang, the universe has been continually expanding, and it will expand until Christ comes again and completes God’s purposes.
All human history, and the history of the galaxies are moving toward the finish line of God’s purposes. This completion of God’s purposes will mean the defeat of sin, the death of death, the vindication of goodness and the extermination of evil. Until then, creation rumbles and trembles with earthquakes, tornados, and typhoons--like labor contractions--as it awaits the fulfillment of God’s purposes.
2. We Yearn to Get Back To The Future (Romans 8:23-25)
Yet the created order isn’t the only thing yearning. Look at vv. 23 to 25. Paul shifts from the macro-vision of God’s whole creation to the micro-vision of our individual lives.
Once again we find a tension between the "already" and the "not yet." On the "already" side we have God’s Holy Spirit living inside of us as God’s "first fruits." Back then, the first fruits were the first crops that were harvested by a farmer early in the season. The first fruits indicated the quality and scope of that season’s harvest; good first fruits meant a good harvest was coming. This is a word picture telling us that the indwelling of God’s Spirit is God’s pledge--a foretaste and guarantee--of the "final harvest" we’ll receive at the end of the age. Throughout Romans 8, we’ve encountered different things God’s Spirit does in our lives: In v. 5 God’s Spirit changes our thinking; in v. 9 he makes his home inside of us; in v. 11 he promises us life; in v. 13 he empowers us to put to death the misdeeds of our body; in v. 14 he leads us; in v. 15 he brings us into an experience of adoption; and in v. 16 he testifies to our spirit that we’re truly God’s children. Yet as awesome as these things are, they’re only a pledge, the foretaste or the first fruits of what awaits us in our future. If the first installment is that awesome, imagine what the final payment will be like.
We also find a tension here about our adoption as God’s children. Back in v. 15 we found that we’ve already been adopted by God the Father. Yet here we find that although our adoption is accomplished, it isn’t yet revealed to the world. The revealing of our adoption to the world is still future, awaiting the consummation of God’s kingdom.
Although the salvation of our souls has already been accomplished, we’re still waiting for salvation of our bodies. Our sins are forgiven; we’re saved forever from the penalty of our sins. Yet we still struggle with the power of sin in our lives, and we still have the presence of sin in our bodies, leading us to weakness, pain, sickness, and even death. So although our souls are saved, we still await the redemption of our bodies. This final salvation isn’t salvation FROM our body, but it’s the salvation OF our bodies, when our bodies rise from the grave immortal, glorious, and fit for living in God’s kingdom.
Because of this tension between the "already" and the "not yet." we also groan for our future. We’re already saved--past tense--but we still need to hope for the future. Hope by its very nature is still future, which means that as long as there’s hope, our salvation is sure but not yet completed.
So here we find the second result of living in between. IN THE MIDST OF OUR PRESENT SUFFERINGS, WE YEARN FOR THE COMPLETION OF OUR SALVATION.
We still await that final day, when our body catches up to our soul. Until then, we struggle as followers of Jesus Christ. Although our souls are getting stronger spiritually, our bodies are getting weaker. Though we long to obey Jesus, to reflect Jesus in our daily decisions, something inside of us resists this desire. We’re susceptible to disease and sickness, mortality and corruption. We experience heartbreak and sometimes we wonder if we can even go on another minute. So we yearn to get back to the future, God’s future where we truly belong.
3. God’s Spirit Yearns to Get Us Back To The Future(Romans 8:26-27)
Now let’s look at vv. 26-27 to explore the third result. As in the previous verses we find a contrast between the "already" and the "not yet." Our present condition is characterized by "weakness." This word means "a state of incapacity" (Louw and Nida 74.23). Sometimes this word refers to physical weakness, like disease, fatigue, sickness and aging. Other times it refers to spiritual weakness, where we find ourselves confused and feeling alone in the spiritual life. Weakness is the opposite of glory.
Part of our present condition of weakness is not knowing how to pray because we don’t know what God’s will is. Even in our praying, we’re in a state of weakness often characterized by ignorance and spiritual poverty (Cranfield 1:421-22). We know God’s revealed will from the Bible, but most often we don’t know exactly what God wants to do or accomplish in specific situations. Although lots of Christians like to pretend they know exactly what God’s will is in specific circumstances, the reality is that we walk by faith-and often our walk is in the wrong direction.
I find it interesting that Paul doesn’t tell us to try to overcome this state of ignorance about God’s will. Paul doesn’t tell us, "If you just try harder, you’ll know exactly what God’s will is" (Moo 524). He doesn’t promise absolute assurance of God’s will in every circumstance if we just pray hard enough. Ignorance of God’s will is part of our condition of weakness, a condition that we’re stuck with until the second coming of Jesus Christ. So although there will be some times when we feel supernatural guidance in God’s will, these times will be rare, and even susceptible to error at times.
Instead of telling us to overcome our condition of weakness, the Bible promises help from God’s Holy Spirit in the midst of our weakness. The word for "help" here conjures up the image of someone struggling to carry a heavy burden, unable to lift it. But then another person comes along, and they help pick up the burden, so together you can carry the burden (Mitchell). God’s Spirit comes along side of us, and picks up the burden of our weakness, our ignorance of God’s will, our incapacity to know what to pray, and he picks it up.
God’s Spirit helps us by interceding to the Father for us with groanings too deep for words. The word "groaning" is the same word used in v. 22 of creation groaning, and in v. 23 of us groaning. Here God’s Spirit is groaning.
Now some people think this is talking about God’s Spirit giving the Christian a special "prayer language" to pray with, a special language that the Christian can’t understand. The idea is that God’s Spirit is praying through the Christian using this special prayer language that’s unknown to the Christian. However, I don’t think this passage is talking about a prayer language or what the Bible elsewhere calls the "gift of tongues." The Greek adjective translated "words cannot express" literally means "unspoken" or "wordless" (Moo 524). The gift of tongues always consists of words that are always spoken out loud, even though the person praying can’t understand the meaning of the words without the gift of interpretation. But these groanings are "unspoken" or "wordless," it can’t be a reference to language, known or unknown. Another indication that this doesn’t refer to the gift of tongues is that this promise of help from God’s Spirit is promised to all Christians. No matter how mature or immature, no matter how spiritually gifted, every follower of Jesus Christ is promised this help in how to pray. Yet elsewhere Paul makes it clear that no all Christians have a prayer language or the gift of tongues, that this is only give to some Christians, as God’s Spirit sees fit (1 Cor 12:11, 30). (Go to an article by Dr. C. C. Mitchell on this issue go to www.chafer.edu/journal/98a-01.htm).
If this isn’t a prayer language, what is it? I think the idea is that in the Christian’s heart, he or she truly wants to see God’s will accomplished. We echo the prayer Jesus taught us, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." Yet in our daily circumstances, we often don’t know exactly what God’s will truly is. Sometimes we are so desperate and distressed, all we can do is cry out to God with inaudible groanings. God’s Spirit takes these inarticulate, wordless longings and expresses them to God in accordance with God’s will. Since God the Father knows the mind of God the Holy Spirit, God’s Spirit translates our requests in a way that is consistent with God the Father’s will for our lives.
So here we find a third consequence of living in between the "already" and the "not yet." IN THE MIDST OF OUR PRESENT PROBLEMS, GOD’S SPIRIT YEARNS TO HELP US FULFILL GOD’S WILL.
Let me share an example with you (Mitchell). Hundreds of years ago, there was a guy named Augustine who grew up in a home with a devoted Christian mom and a non-Christian dad. Augustine rebelled his mom’s faith, he joined a non-Christian cult, and he lived a life of sexual immorality and partying. Augustine’s mother Monica prayed daily for Augustine’s salvation, but he seemed to sink deeper and deeper into rebellion and unbelief. One day Augustine announced to his mom that he was moving to Italy, which would be a lot like your teenager announcing that he’s moving to Cancoon. Monica desperately prayed for God to stop Augustine from moving to Italy, crying out to God in desperation for her son. Monica feared that she’d lose her son for good if he moved to Italy. Yet it was in Italy where Augustine started attending a church as a seeker, and an Italian Christian pastor named Ambrose eventually led Augustine into a life changing relationship with Jesus Christ. God’s Spirit took Monica’s desperate pleas to God to stop Augustine from moving to Italy and translated these requests into pleas for Augustine’s conversion in Italy.
This is God’s promise to you and I, to help us fulfill God’s will, even when we don’t know what that will is.
Conclusion
Christians live in between the ages, in this "already" and "not yet" tension.
Now come Christians get out of balance, and over emphasize the "already" part of the spiritual life. These Christians start trying to claim promises for their lives that won’t be fulfilled until the "not yet" phase. These are people who think that Christians shouldn’t get sick. Many of the "name it, claim it" preachers tell people this very thing, that Christians shouldn’t get sick in the present life, and if they do, it’s because there’s something wrong with the Christian. These Christians live in constant guilt, because they’re trusting God to do something he hasn’t promised to do until the "not yet" part of our salvation comes.
Other Christians out of balance in this area claim that it’s possible to reach a point of sinless perfection in this life. These Christians claim that if you still struggle with sinful habits and attitudes, then there’s something wrong with you. They claim that mature Christians will completely stop sinning in this life, reaching a point of sinless perspective. There are entire Christian groups that believe this, and this creates a heap of guilt and legalism on those exposed to this out of balance teaching. This teaching also breeds hypocrisy, because Christians start pretending and faking it, because inwardly they know that they’re still struggling with sin.
Finally, people who are out of balance in this area tend to think suffering is a sign of God’s displeasure. If my marriage is struggling, or I get fired, or someone runs a red light and crashes into my car, it must be because there’s something wrong with me. Rather than seeing suffering as a sharing in Christ’s passion and the pathway to glory as we found last week in Romans 8:17, suffering is viewed as a sign that there’s something wrong with me.
But other people get out of balance on the other side. These people get out of balance on the "not yet" side, not realizing that God can help them today. These people tend to live defeated lives, not knowing that they can make real progress in the spiritual life. Even though we won’t reach sinless perfection in this in between time, we can grow. These people often have a "hunker in the bunker" mentality, simply holding on with white knuckles until Jesus comes again. Rather than filling their lives with purpose and meaning by laboring with Jesus Christ’s Church for God’s kingdom purposes today, they simply give up and give in. They are filled with hopelessness, simply hoping for the future without experiencing God’s love, peace, and joy in the present.
God wants us to live a balanced life in between the "already" and the "not yet" of God’s kingdom. Until we get back to the future where we belong, the universe yearns for the fulfillment of God’s purposes, we yearn for the completion of our salvation, and God’s Spirit yearns to help us fulfill God’s will.
Sources
Lewis, C. S. The Essential C. S. Lewis. Ed. Lyle Dorsett. Simon and Shuster, 1996.
Louw, J. P. and E. Nida. 1989. Greek English Lexicon of the New Testament Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies.
Mitchell, C. C. "The Holy Spirit’s Intercessory Ministry." www.chafer.edu/journal/98a-01.htm
Moo, Douglas. 1996. The Epistle to the Romans. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
