Romans Series # 38 May 15, 2002
Title: AAARRRGGGHHH!
Website: www.newlifeinchrist.info
Email: pastorsarver@yahoo.com
Introduction: Welcome to New Life in Christ. We are currently in Chapter 8 of Romans as we continue with message #38 of our verse-by-verse study of the Book of Romans.
Read Romans 8:18-27
Opening Prayer
I am going to start of tonight by asking you to say a word with me in unison and with passion. The word is spelled A-A-A-R-R-R-G-G-G-H-H-H! On the count of 3 let’s give our best effort in saying this word – 1,2,3 AAARRRGGGHHH! Do you feel better now? Do you feel silly?
Well you are probably wondering if your pastor has lost his mind. You may not think that this act of linguistic aerobics has much to do with tonight scripture passage. But in a way this strange word does have a relationship to the biblical text tonight. Some of you may have recognized this word. It is the word that Charlie Brown, from the comic strip Peanuts, would use when Lucy pulled the football away. He would always land flat on his back and yell “AAARRRGGGHHH!” This was the writer of the comic strips attempt to express with a single word what we would call a groan. A groan is an expression of hurt, frustration and longing for things to be better. Charlie Brown was groaning because he was frustrated at repeated failure and falls and because he was longing for a better day.
In real life it isn’t just Charlie Brown who is groaning. There are a lot of people who feel as if life has let them down and have a longing or groaning for things to be better. In our text, this issue of groaning in addressed. In fact, the text tells us that there are 3 things that are currently groaning. In verse 22, we are told that the creation is groaning with frustration and longing. In verse 23 we are told that Christian’s are groaning in frustration and desire. In verse 26 we are even told that the Holy Spirit is groaning. In this text Paul tells us why there is groaning, when it will end, and how we should respond in the mean time.
The main message that the Bible is communicating through tonight’s passage can be summarized as follows:
I. Suffering shouldn’t discourage us because one day the groaning will end and the glory will begin.
Paul begins to describe that day and it’s implications in verses 18,19. I discussed the first part of verse 18 last week, so I will not go over that again.
Read Verses 18,19
We wait in faith for the day that the full benefits and inheritance of being a child of God to take place. Paul describes this event in the latter part of verse 18.
Paul says in verse 18 that God’s glory will “be revealed in us.” He is referring to our status as children of God being made complete and fully manifest or revealed.
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.
Source: Sermon “Back To The Future” by Timothy Peck
As Paul says, we await for “the glory (of being God’s children) to be revealed in us.” As we wait for that day, we still go through what Paul calls “present sufferings.” Presently Christians groan because we are enduing the hurts, pain, corruption, and frustration of living in a fallen world. We shouldn’t be overwhelmed and in despair about this because it is a temporary condition. One day the glory of being God’s children will be fully experienced and manifested to the world.
I. Suffering shouldn’t discourage us because one day the groaning will end and the glory will begin.
The Apostle John refers to this day of God’s glory being revealed in us in 1 John 3:2 which says, “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
This event is so important and so glorious that it says in verse 19 that the “creation waits in eager anticipation” of it. Paul wants to express how wonderful and glorious this day will be so he uses the literary device of personifying creation. In this example, the inanimate creation has the same attitude about this day as children have about Christmas day. Children can hardly wait and are filled with “eager anticipation” for Christmas Day to arrive because that day is so great and fantastic. Creation is waiting for the greatest day of all, which is the day Jesus comes, because on that day we will be revealed as the children of God and will receive all that comes with being His child.
Now to guard against a false teaching that is currently popular, I need to explain the timing of this event. This event is not something that happens prior to the physical, literal return of Jesus Christ. Some false teaching known as the “Manifest Sons of God”, “The Restoration Movement” or “Latter Rain Doctrine” proclaim that prior to Jesus return some or all Christians will become “sons of God” in a greater sense than Christians are now. Many titles are used to describe this group of super Christians: Joel’s Army, Omega Generation, Melchizedek Priesthood, Third Day Christians, etc. According to this teaching, these people will be like super-saints. They will have supernatural power and revelations so great that they will do greater miracles than even the Apostles. According to most of this teaching’s promoters this end time army of super saints is just around the corner. When the time comes and they are manifested as sons of God then the world will see a new level and type of Christianity, world-wide revival, numerous and incredible miracles, and deeper prophetic insight. This is an exciting and attractive teaching. Certainly this teaching is more appealing than the suffering I have been talking about as a normal part of the Christian’s life. The only problem with this teaching is that it is totally false. I know it is false because it is unbiblical. The Bible clearly teaches that Christians will be manifested as sons of God when Jesus returns and that at the same time our bodies and the creation will be freed from all corruption.
Now getting back to our text. In verse 19 Paul tells us that the creation waits in eager anticipation for the sons of God to be revealed. Why would creation be anxious for this day to come? Paul answers that question in verses 20,21.
Read Verses 20-21
“The creation was subjected to frustration…” This is a way of saying that the world is just messed up. It is messed up because it is under the curse or judgment of God. The creation is no longer “very good.” It is no longer in its original created state and therefore, figuratively speaking, it is frustrated and longs to return to that “very good” state.
The world we see around us today isn’t right! Now there are thorns, diseases, poisonous plants, weeds, natural disasters, etc. Before the “creation was subjected to frustration” there was nothing to cause harm or pain.
Just like Christopher Reeves, after his crippling accident, would be frustrated at his inability to function as intended and long for the day that he could be what he was made to be, so the creation has a similar longing for the day that it will return to be what is was made to be. According to verse 21 that day will take place when the children of God experience the completeness of what it means to be a child of God.
Paul says that this frustration or curse took place by the “will of the one who subjected it.” This is referring to God, not Adam or Satan, who alone has the power and authority to condemn creation because of human sin. Man is the cause of the curse but God is the agent. Paul brings out the fact that God subjected the world to the curse to encourage us. How does this encourage us? It encourages us because the same God who pronounced a curse also pronounced a promise of hope of restoration. Paul specifically says that God “subjected it (creation) in hope…”(Vs 20)
God never intended that the world would continue in corruption anymore than He intended that Christians remain subject to the corruption, consequences and influence of sin. Rather He gave creation and Christians the promise of deliverance one day so that we would have hope! (See Genesis 3:15 for the first promise of hope.) When will creation experience this hopeful promise? According to verse 21 this liberation from decay will take place in conjunction with the liberation and manifestation of God’s children. These two events are closely related, this why it says in verse 19 that the creation is eagerly waiting for our revelation as sons of God. Since we have this hope we can stand strong during suffering.
I. Suffering shouldn’t discourage us because one day the groaning will end and the glory will begin.
Read Verse 22
In this verse Paul says that the creation is “groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” This figurative reference to labor pains is particularly fitting since a woman does not lose heart when she suffers pain, even when it intensifies, because she knows that when the labor is over there will be a glorious new life. The pain will be quickly forgotten and the joy will be lasting. In other words all the groaning will be worth it because of the glory that comes afterward.
Right now we live in a fallen world that is experiencing the pains of being corrupted by sin and with it we experience the pain, hurt, and corruption of decay. Even as the pains of life intensify we are not to lose heart or be overwhelmed because one day soon it will all be worth it! Creation will no longer groan in frustration and neither will the Christian.
Read Verse 23
Here Paul reminds Christian that we are not exempt from the consequences of living in a fallen world and in a corrupted body. As Paul says in this verse, “We ourselves…groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons…” We groan or suffer now because we do not yet have the full benefits of being God’s child. Currently we have only a foretaste of what to expect in the future.
As Paul says, we have the “firstfruits of the Spirit…” We have received a small portion or sample of what lays ahead. It is like watching the preview of a movie “coming to a theater near you this summer.” The coming attraction helps us to recognize how good the movie will be when it is released. This foretaste is like the aroma of BBQ ribs slowly cooking on the grill. This aroma is only lets us know how good the ribs will be when they are ready. In a similar sense we experience some of what God has for us as His children now (Peace, Joy, Love, Power, Freedom, Healing, etc), but all this is but a small portion of what is to come. This foretaste guarantees our future, and reminds us that the wait and the suffering are well worth it. The best is yet to come!
I. Suffering shouldn’t discourage us because one day the groaning will end and the glory will begin.
When that day arrives it will mean the “redemption of our bodies.” (Vs. 23) Our bodies (physical selves) are currently not redeemed and are thus still in bondage to corruption. This is why Christians still struggle with sin, still get sick, still experience pain, and still die. The Bible doesn’t tell us to currently expect to be free from these things, but rather to look forward in faith to the day to come when we will be free from these things. If we had or should have these things now (as some teachers claim) then we wouldn’t need to hope for them. After all nobody hopes for what he already has. Paul very point in these next two verses is that Christians hope for full redemption because they do not yet experience it.
Read Verses 24,25
Remember I told you last week that the early Christians were disillusioned by their suffering. They were dumbfounded because they expected to presently be free from the consequences of living in a condemned world and corrupted body. Paul reminds them, and Christians who think this way today, that such desires are the hope of salvation. “In this hope we are saved…”
You don’t hope for what you have. Hope always points to something you do not yet possess. Hope is not hope if we currently experience what we hope for. As Paul says, “Hope that is seen is not hope at all!” So the fact that we currently suffer should not be a surprise at all. We do currently suffer but we also look forward, in faith, to the day of deliverance from this condemned world and our corrupted bodies.
Even though Christians suffer now, we are not overwhelmed because we have the hope of future deliverance from suffering. As verse 25 says we must wait for this day “patiently.” The word “patiently” here means with perseverance and confidence.
I. Suffering shouldn’t discourage us because one day the groaning will end and the glory will begin.
Conclusion: We currently may be groaning and thus say, “AAARRRGGGHHH!” But we are not discouraged became we know that one day we will all experience our inheritance and glory and say, ‘HALLELUJAH!”
Closing Prayer
