As I checked the mail the other day I felt like I had won the publisher’s clearing house sweepstakes. It was a Thursday, and for me that means that I had a seminar that lasted from 11:00 until 2:30. Therefore, by the time I got home and opened the mailbox, I was starving. And as I opened the mailbox, I saw it. It was a coupon from Dominos, telling me that I could buy a large one-topping pizza for five dollars. And instantly I knew what my family was going to be having for dinner. It sounded good and was inexpensive. Everything in the world was a brighter shade, but then I looked at the coupon again and was brought back down to earth. I read, “If you buy three or more pizzas.” That is, if I was willing to spend fifteen dollars I could get a pizza for five dollars. Therefore, as I got out of my car to come inside, I paused for a moment by the trashcan to empty my hands of the mail.
This kind of thing happens all the time, doesn’t it? Especially this time of year the retail world floods us with offers that appear too good to be true. Stores will advertise that you can have a tie for free. But then comes the punch line – provided that you buy a suit and a shirt at regular price. Any time you see a blessing qualified with the statement, “Provided that you …” it almost has the effect of discouraging you even more than if there had been no discount advertised, no benefit announced, no blessing promised.
This can be the way one feels by the time we get to the end of Romans 8:1-17. The text Chad walked us through last week one of blessings announced. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. We have the Spirit of God. And we will one day be raised from the dead. Then, as we got to verses 12-17 the blessings promised to believers seemed almost too good to be true. We know that, according to God’s purposes and plans throughout Scripture, the Father is glorified through the exaltation of his Son. In fact, everything was created by him, through him, and for him. Jesus gets everything as the exalted Son of God. That’s why everything was created. But Paul tells us that since we are united with Christ by faith, then we are sons of God. And I believe this is carefully chosen language by Paul. In the biblical world, if you were a daughter, then you were loved and cherished as a child, but you would not be the heir of the Father’s possessions. That privilege belonged to the firstborn son. To be an heir meant you were a son. Therefore, when Paul declares that we are sons of God in Romans 8:14, it is not because he has forgotten that females may be believers as well. It’s because he wanted his readers to know that regardless of whether you are a male or female, if you are in Christ then you are treated as a son. That is, you are an heir. So, just as Christ is the heir of all things, and we are united with him by faith, so we have become co-heirs with Christ. The glorious news for the believer is that the benefits Christ has merited through his obedience come to us in him. That we are co-heirs with Christ, awaiting this glorious inheritance feels almost like it has to be news too good to be true.
But then comes the phrase we’ve almost been trained to watch for. Just after Paul tells us in verse 17 that we are children of God “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ” Paul adds, “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.” When we read those words we can almost feel our joy deflating. There are great blessings promised to us provided that we suffer with Christ. And this is a consistent picture throughout the Scripture. To follow Christ means to suffer with him. Jesus tells us that if anyone will come after him, he must take up his cross and follow him. There’s no way to take that without understanding that to follow Christ requires suffering with him. Then, Paul makes it even more explicit, telling Timothy, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Timothy 3:12).
Therefore, if you’re not a believer and you’re here this morning, the question you might be asking is, “Is it really worth it to obey Christ’s commands and follow him if it means suffering?” If you’re a believer you might be asking, “How do I endure the suffering of this present time until the day that we claim that glorious inheritance Paul has been telling us about up to the end of verse 17?” We can answer that question by looking at our text this morning: Romans 8:18-30. I believe that Romans 8:18-30 serves as an argument for how it is that we endure suffering with Christ in this lifetime so that we may be glorified with him on that final day, receiving the inheritance that belongs to us as believers. So, what then does he tell us? First, Paul declares in verses 18-25 that the glorious inheritance coming to us is beyond our comprehension.
In order to show that the glory coming to us is beyond our comprehension, Paul begins by noting in verse 18 that “the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” That is, far from being like a free pair of socks that comes with the purchase of a $250 suit or even a buy-one-get-one-free deal, the suffering with Christ that will characterize our lives in this present time is not even worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed. Do you see, this isn’t go through something bad to get something good. The suffering we experience is not even worth being measured with the same scales that shows us how weighty the glory to be revealed to us is.
Now maybe the best way to begin to think about this is to think of the worst suffering anyone has experienced for following Christ that we have ever heard of. In my limited hearing of such suffering, I’ve read of mean having their skin ripped off and their families killed in front of them. I’ve heard of people suffering slow and agonizing deaths because of diseases they’ve contracted serving as missionaries in foreign lands. I’ve read of mothers on the mission field having to watch their babies starve to death because the mother couldn’t produce enough milk because of the horrible conditions in which the missionaries lived. And if I take the time to think about those things in great detail, I think I have a good enough of an imagination that I could drive myself crazy.
And if we asked Paul, “Is the glory we’re going to know as believers to the degree of that suffering that I just described?” Paul would very assertively declare, “No!” Rather, he would point out that there’s been much greater suffering in the world, but the degree of that suffering doesn’t even compare to the glory that is to be revealed to us. Simply put, the glory of our inheritance in Christ is greater than anything we can comprehend. It is so glorious that it makes life-long terrible suffering look like temporary light affliction.
In fact, Paul tells us that all of creation longs for this coming glory as well. He writes in verses 19-22, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
Paul says, “You want to know how great the coming glory is? All of creation is longing for it?” Specifically, creation is longing for the day our bodies themselves are redeemed because on that day creation itself will be redeemed. Now, let’s take this in parts. First of all, what creation is longing for is the day when Christ returns and the dead are raised and those alive have their bodies transformed into resurrected bodies. Verse 19 declares that creation waits “for the revealing of the sons of God,” but if we read on, we find that Paul describes this revealing of the sons of God using different phrases until he declares in verse 23 that we wait eagerly “for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” That is, our salvation will not be complete until that day when even our bodies are raised and/or transformed.
Second, the reason creation is groaning is because it was subjected to futility when Adam sinned. When Adam was put on earth, he was placed in the garden to rule over all of creation. He was given dominion over everything. Therefore, when Adam was cursed for his sin, so all of creation was cursed. The reason that there are thorns and thistles, hurricanes and tornadoes, earthquakes and droughts is because of man’s sin. Adam’s sin brought a curse on the earth. God subjected it to futility on the day that Adam sinned.
Creation wasn’t subjected to futility willingly, but as a result of man’s sin. Yet, God subjected it to futility so that one day he might redeem it from futility. He placed creation under the curse so that he might one day redeem it from that curse. God’s plan was always to one day redeem the creation from the curse so that we might man might again reign on a perfect earth. But that day will only come for creation when men themselves are completely redeemed. Just as creation was tied to man’s sin, so creation’s redemption is tied to man’s complete redemption. And, in light of that, creation itself is groaning for the day our bodies are redeemed. Perhaps this should change the way I see yard work. I’m not against my grass, the grass and I together are fighting the effects of sin. My grass is saying, “You’re telling me these weeds are an annoyance. That’s why I’m waiting for the day your body is transformed.”
And, finally, creation isn’t the only entity groaning for the coming glory, but we groan as well, don’t we? Paul writes, “And not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (v. 23). That is, we groan for redemption as well. But the reason we do is because God’s given us the firstfruits of the Spirit. In giving us the Spirit, God has given us a taste of what is to come. The term “firstfruits” means the first part of what is to come. So, having the Spirit, we have enough of a taste of what our complete redemption is like to eagerly long for more. We have enough of a desire for righteousness and hatred for sin to long for the day when sin will be no more. We see just enough of how glorious our Lord is to long for the day when we may behold his glory. Everything that God created that understands in some part what is coming eagerly longs for it. That’s how great the coming glory is.
“But,” someone will say, “we don’t have this glory yet.” So Paul responds, “That’s right. That’s why we confidently hope for it.” He writes, “For in this hope we are saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” (vv. 24-25). Paul knows we don’t yet have this glory. That’s why he’s written about hoping for it. Our job now is to wait for it with patient endurance, but we can patiently endure the sufferings of this present life because we know the coming glory is sure, and it is beyond our comprehension. It is so great that everyone and everything that can understand even a bit of what is coming longs for it eagerly.
But Paul points us to even more means to patiently endure the suffering of this present life as we wait for the coming glory. Not only do we endure, knowing that the coming glory is beyond our comprehension, but we can also endure because we can know that in this life the Spirit of God is interceding for us.
Paul writes in verses 26-27, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Another way we can endure sufferings in this life is by knowing that the Spirit of God is interceding for us.
The Spirit of God is not only in us so that we might have a taste of what is to come. He also intercedes for us. In this life as we go through sufferings and earnestly endure, we are weak, not even knowing for certain what the will of God is. Therefore, when we go to pray in the midst of our suffering, we don’t know what to pray for as we ought. After all, as believers, you and I long for the will of God in our lives. I know that is true of you. Yes, some of us struggle not being married when we’d love to be, or not getting pregnant when we’d love to be. Others struggle, not having the exact job we wish we did or the success we thought we might. But, in the end, I think we all would say, “I’d trade all my desires just to know that I’m carrying out the will of God in my life.” If you just knew that, wouldn’t it make everything you’re enduring bearable?
I think I experienced a taste of this a few weeks back. The semester has been pretty intense. In fact, through about a four week stretch I was spending the good part of every day in the library. Lili and I actually developed a pretty consistent plan where shed bring dinner to the seminary so that I could eat dinner with my family and see everyone since I wouldn’t be home from the library before she’d put the kids to bed. So, one day I was sitting there thinking to myself, “Why am I doing this?” After all, the church wasn’t telling me I’d better go get more education or I’d be fired. And in the end I’m coming back to Jackson so that I can do the same thing I was doing before I ever went to do Ph.D. work. So, I fired off an email to my pastors, telling them all these questions that we’re racing through my mind.
And the response I got was perfect. Ray wrote to me saying (in essence) the reason you’re in the library writing is because we believe this step is a necessary one for us as a church to fulfill God’s will for his church at large. We believe that he has called us to send you there so that we might one day be able to minister to God’s people in more places more effectively. So do not spend your time there wishing you were here. Spend your time there laboring well so that when you return you can be with us completely. In short, he reminded me that I was fulfilling what we believed to be the will of God for us right now. It didn’t mean the work was easier or the hours shorter. But it did remind me that what I was enduring was God’s will.
In the same way, Paul says to us that though we’re weak, not knowing exactly what God’s will is and exactly what we should pray for, we can know something else. The Spirit of God is inside of us interceding for us. As we cry out, “God, I don’t know whether you want me married soon, or us to have children, or me to have that job, or my migraine headaches to go away, I just want to know my life is pleasing to you but I don’t know what your will is. I don’t know how to pray,” the Spirit takes our longings and intercedes for us before God, with groanings too deep for words. And because the Father knows the mind of the Spirit and the Spirit intercedes perfectly according to the will of God, God hears the Spirit’s intercession for us and answers him. Therefore, whenever we find ourselves aching before God and not even knowing how to pray, we can know that the Spirit is interceding for us perfectly according to God’s will, and God is searching our hearts, hearing the Spirit, and answering his prayers. So, we endure suffering, knowing the coming glory is beyond our comprehension and that throughout this present life God’s Spirit is interceding for us and his perfect prayers are being heard and answered by the Father. And it is this understanding of the Spirit’s intercession for us according to God’s will that leads us to the final point in our text. We can endure suffering because we know that God is working everything in our lives to the end that we are conformed to his Son.
Paul continues with reason for enduring by writing, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknow he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (vv. 28-30).
Not only is the Spirit interceding within you according to God’s will and God is answering his prayers, but also God is working everything together in your life to his perfect end. That is to say, for every believer God had a perfect plan worked out for your life before the world was even created. The perfect end for believers is that we are perfectly conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. And Paul tells us in verse 29 that God predestined some to be conformed to the image of his Son. He made certain before the world was created that some would be perfectly conformed to the image of his Son. But whom did he predestine? It was those whom he foreknew. But for God to foreknow someone does not simply mean that God had some knowledge about you before you came into the world. To say God foreknows someone means much more than that God knows something about you.
When God declared to Abraham in Amos 3:2 that Israel only did God know of all the nations on the earth, he didn’t mean that Israel was the only nation God had knowledge of so that if Abraham had mentioned the Hittites God would have said, “Abraham, I have no idea who you’re talking about.” He meant that Israel was the one nation God had committed affection toward. He knew them. He dedicated himself specially to them.
So when Paul says that God foreknew a group of people he means that before these people even exist God committed his affection to them. He devoted himself to them. And this committed affection set in motion a series of things. Those whom God foreknew he predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. And those whom he predestined, he called to himself in this life. And those whom he called he justified, and those whom he justified he will one day glorify. In fact, their glorification is so sure that God speaks of it as if it has already happened.
So, if you are a believer, God is not frantically acting to see how he can salvage some part of your life. He’s not saying, “Man, if Joe hadn’t messed everything up I really wanted to accomplish much in and through him.” No, God has more vested in your than that. Before you did anything, before you were created, God had set his affection on you and said, “That one is going to be perfectly conformed to the image of my Son.” When you placed your faith in Christ it’s because God called you to himself and justified you. And nothing is going to stop him from carrying out his plan for your life.
Therefore, for those whom God has called to himself (i.e., believers), God is working everything in your life together for your good, toward that perfect goal he has for you. Everything going on in your life right now, no matter how happy or miserable it makes you is being used by God to conform you to his goal. No matter how great your suffering, God is working it for your good. And nothing will stop him from achieving his perfect goal in your life.
So, how do you endure suffering in this life as a Christian? You remind yourself that the certain coming glory is beyond your comprehension. Your present suffering is not even worthy to be compared to it. It’s my prayer that we might have the strength to remind those around us who watch our suffering, even leading us to death, to remind those around us that what they’re witnessing is temporarily light affliction preparing for us an eternal weight of glory. Second, you cry out to God in prayer, knowing that the Spirit is meanwhile interceding for you perfectly according to the will of God. And, finally, you remind yourself that God is using your present circumstances to further conform you to the image of Christ, which is his unswerving goal for you. And the perfect way to remind yourself of these realities is by coming to the table. After all, as we will see in the text next week, if God did not spare his own Son to redeem you, how will he not also do everything necessary to bring your redemption to completion? So, let us remind ourselves of what he has done so that we might be strengthened to realize what he is doing in our lives and what he will do in our lives until that great day. Amen.