A STEADFAST HEART (Romans 8:35-39)
Introduction: Separation is something we all deal with, in one way or another. What image does this word produce in your mind? For me, I see the picture of a little child lost in a grocery store. Distracted for a moment, the child loses track of what her mom is doing. Suddenly she looks up, and in an instant she realizes she is alone. That look on her face says it all—without her source of security and safety, the store has become much larger than it was before. It has become a dangerous, unfriendly place. And she begins to cry.
In our series, “The Great Physician Cares for Your Heart”, we have talked about an open heart that is humble and repentant, receptive to the work of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:26-27). We have also talked about a discerning heart that looks behind every event in our lives for the grace of God in leading us to glory (Romans 8:28-30). Today we are talking about a steadfast heart, for those times when all of us feel lost and separated from God and the whole world suddenly becomes a dangerous and unfriendly place.
I. When we sin, we separate ourselves from God.
Illustration: A little girl did something wrong, and when her mother found out she began to ask her daughter questions. Immediately the child lost her smile and a cloud darkened her face as she said, “Mother, I don’t feel like talking.” So it is with us when our fellowship with God is broken by sin in our lives. We do not feel like talking Him. If you do not feel like praying, it is probably a good indication that you should start praying immediately. (Billy Graham)
Some of us may have seen the poster with a little kitten stuck in a tree. The caption reads, “Does God seem far away? Guess who moved!”
The painful reality is that we have nobody to blame but ourselves for those times that God seems far away. The serpent tried to convince Eve that there would be no consequences to the first sin when she and Adam disobeyed God, but that was a lie. God was telling the truth when he warned them. As it says in Romans, “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)
With sin, three kinds of death came into the world:
1) Spiritual death—we were separated from a holy God and could no longer enjoy his presence in the same way. We became dead to God.
2) Physical death—the separation of our soul from our bodies. This is what most people think about when you talk about “death”. It’s not a pleasant topic. Yet, there’s something even worse than physical death!
3) Eternal death—for those who continue in their spiritual separation from God until their physical death, the separation will become complete and permanent. This is what hell is all about—eternal separation from God and any good gift of his that we now enjoy.
II. Jesus came to bring us back to God. (Many people explain this using the picture of a cross bridging the gap created by sin between us and God.) Just as we have nobody to blame but ourselves for our separation from God, so also we have nobody to thank but Jesus for bringing us back, or “reconnecting” us to God!
Illustration: People say, “There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Yet our OT lesson, Isaiah 55:1-5 is an open invitation—from God himself—to a free dinner of the finest food. This may seem like figurative language, but in our Gospel lesson, Matthew 14:13-21, Jesus actually provides the people he’s teaching with a free meal—one with leftovers to spare! Even more than providing bread to eat, however, the ultimate goal Jesus had in mind was to give himself as the Bread of Life. We take away from the greatness of what Jesus has done for us if we describe what he has done for us as anything less than a free gift!
A. The gift forgiveness, or reconciliation, was earned for us at the cross. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” asks Paul. (8:31) God himself is the one who declares us to be just and right for Jesus’ sake! And Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who literally gave himself—his body, and his very life—“for us” on the cross and is now alive again! He has risen from the dead, is in power at God’s right hand, and is pleading “for us” on our behalf. Talk about friends in high places!
B. God communicates his free gift of forgiveness—and new life—to us in a special way:
1) The Word of God, through which God calls us to himself: “The Gospel… is the power of God for the salvation of all who believe.” (1:16)
2) Baptism, through which God gives us new life in Christ: “We were therefore buried with [Christ] through baptism into death in order that, Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (6:4)
3) Holy Communion, a foretaste of the heavenly feast to come: “If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the Spirit, who lives in you.” (8:10-11)
C. We receive the gift of forgiveness through faith in Christ. Faith is confidence in God. Another way you could describe faith a heart that is steadfast in God, solid in Christ. For Paul, his faith is clearly expressed when he says, “I am convinced!” He has a certainty and confidence in Christ that—literally—nothing in the world can take away. And in Christ, so do we!
British novelist J.B. Priestly once declined the invitation to write an article on his religious beliefs, explaining that he was “perhaps better able to deny than to affirm.” But he added this with a touch of sadness: “I regret this, because now is the time for gigantic affirmations.” In an age of relativism and uncertainty, that is more true now than ever! The good news is that, as Christians, we can continue to stand on the rock-solid truth of the Gospel as we affirm the things of which we are convinced—even before the entire world! “I’ll shout it from the mountaintop,” goes the song, “I want my world to know: the Lord of love has come to me, I want to pass it on.”
III. What God has joined together, no one (or nothing) can separate!
Ironically, our reconnection with God produces a new division with God’s enemies. Make no mistake about it: the devil, the world, and our old sinful self are now lined up against us in all their fury. (In this section, Paul concentrates on the devil and especially the world.) But while our bold affirmation of faith in Christ inevitably draws the attacks of the forces of evil, it is at the same time our best defense against them!
A. So Paul begins with a question: Shall trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger or sword separate us from the love of Christ? His question is not an idle one! He actually experienced the things he wrote about. He wrote to the Corinthians: “To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless.” Later, he wrote, “I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.” Paul was not alone in his suffering. Peter also wrote: “Your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.” In fact, the words Paul uses are a good summary of the history of Christian suffering:
1) Trouble (literally, pressure): the non-Christian world tries to put pressure on Christians to conform to its godless ways. Christians resist.
2) Hardship (literally, narrowness): The world doesn’t have room for those who reject its warped value system, and Christians are squeezed out, in subtle and in not-so-subtle ways.
3) Persecution: The world actively seeks out goes after Christians, making them a target or a scapegoat.
4) Famine and Nakedness: The world tries to deprive Christians of the most basic necessities of life.
5) Danger and the sword: In the end, even the very lives of Christians are physically placed in peril.
B. Paul cites an example from the history of Israel: Psalm 44:22 describes the suffering of God’s people by saying they are “considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” Can you find a more helpless or pitiful situation? The Psalmist stresses that this was not a punishment, not something the people deserved: “All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant.” (v. 17) Yet, the Psalmist eventually places his confidence in God’s own steadfastness: “rise up and help us,” he says, “because of Your unfailing love.” (v.26) How blessed we are to know the “rest of the story”! Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He himself was led like a lamb to the slaughter. (Isaiah 53:7) But on the third day, he rose victoriously from the dead. In Jesus, who loves us more than we could ever deserve, we have a source of help that not even death itself can overcome!
C. Remember the question? Jesus is the answer! Because of Jesus, we can boldly assert with Paul, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Jesus Christ our Lord.”
1) We are more than conquerors! In a modern-day example, the Turks, having tortured and slain the parents of a little Armenian girl before her eyes, turned to the child and said, “Will you renounce your faith in Jesus and live?” She replied, “I will not.” “Then to the dogs!” they said. She was thrown into a kennel of savage and famished dogs and left there. The next morning they came and looked in and saw the little girl on her knees praying, and beside her the largest and most savage of all the dogs, snapping at every dog that ventured near, thus protecting the child. The men ran away, terrified, crying out, “There is a God here; there is a God here.” This is a story not of one victory, but of two. First of all, the girl was kept safe here on earth. Secondly, her parents were kept safe in heaven. In Christ, we have the confidence that, no matter what happens, we win! In fact, what seems to us to be an impossible situation can often be a real opportunity for God to show us the power of his love.
2) Nothing can separate us from God’s love! Today’s message is really more about God’s steadfastness than ours. Our love is weak and pale in comparison. So often, we love only when it is comfortable or convenient. Not so with God! Loving sinful people like you and me could never be comfortable or easy. Instead, it took everything he had—the life of his only-begotten Son. But because God’s love is so stubborn and tenacious in spite of our unworthiness, we know that it’s a love we can depend on no matter what! Our text concludes with a list of extreme opposites like life and death, angels and demons, height and depth, as if to say that everything else in between is included. There simply is nothing in the entire created realm—heaven, earth, or even hell itself—that can undo what Jesus has already done for us on the cross.
Conclusion: Every day we hear about terrorists, asteroids, disasters, war, and other atrocities of human cruelty. Yes, in such times, even as Christians, our hearts may grow fearful, weak, and unsteady every once in a while. The world has become a very dangerous and unfriendly place. Nevertheless, in such a world of economic, political, and even environmental uncertainty, the love of God is all we have to hang on to. Thank God that it’s more than enough! His love hangs on to us—it will never let us go. When your heart begins to tremble, don’t listen to your heart. Listen to God’s Word! God’s love for us in Christ remains steadfast and sure. And in his eternal love, we have a source of security, safety and strength for our heart, soul and mind that will last forever.
When I was young, I misunderstood one of the table prayers my family prayed. I said, “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, and his mercy indoors forever.” What a terrible thought, that there could ever be a limit on God’s love! Now I know better, and God is teaching all of us to know this lesson better day after day: “Oh, give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good, and his love endures forever.” Now that’s the way it should be. Amen!
