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9^th PENTECOST Sunday

July 13, 2008

Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sioux Falls, SD

Rev. Norman F. Seeger

Romans 8:18-25

¹⁸ I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹ The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹ that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²² We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³ Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

ROMANS 8:18-25

"WAIT, PATIENTLY WAIT…”

1. Tomorrow’s Glory Will be Greater than Today’s Suffering

2. Creation Will be Renewed

3. Our Bodies Will be Redeemed

Dear faithful followers of Jesus Christ,

An Achilles tendon tears for no apparent reason; even successful surgery requires many months of therapy. Cancer unexpectedly appears; chemotherapy healing our body brings some undesirable side-effects. Arthritis restricts our activity; causes increasing aches & perpetual pain. In a world of suffering where physical problems appear innumerable, our Lord preaches patience. Fires burn California. Floods overwhelm Iowa. Tornadoes tear up Tennessee. In a world of suffering where natural catastrophies are tough to totally record, our Lord preaches patience. War is reported as an almost unavoidable part of daily life. Murder is merely mentioned as another statistic indicating society’s loss of love for human life instead of as an outrage-raising red flag. Domestic violence appears anticipated. Divorce seldom surprises. Crimes against our children, fortunately – at least children we can see -- still causes immeasurable heartache throughout our community, yet evil appears prevalent everywhere. In a world of suffering, where my own sin, as well as my neighbors’ sins, may remove any hint of happiness hearts once held, our Lord preaches patience.

Patience? If curing one sickness seems to exacerbate another illness in my body, how am I supposed to patiently wait for good health to return? If catastrophic tsunamis or hurricanes are only pushed out of headlines by more deadly tornadoes or earthquakes, how am I supposed to hopfully wait for better weather? If shocking acts of evil apparently encourage even more wicked works in our world, why would anyone wait, patiently wait for improvement? There’s only one answer: Our Lord’s promises. Our Lord’s promises produce patience. Our Lord’s promises produce hope. Promising our bodies will be redeemed, promising creation will be renewed; promising tomorrow’s glory will be immeasurably greater than today’s suffering, our Lord urges & inspires us saints to wait…to patiently wait for Jesus Christ to come again.

Whatever we may be suffering, please notice, Paul does not lightly dismiss our troubles as if they were nothing. Physical suffering is very real. Some may be psychosomatic, but pain actually exists – broken bones hurt; hammered heads ache – ever since Adam’s original sin brought death & decay into our world, limiting our life on earth. Mental stress is not imaginary. Spiritual suffering is genuine. Broken hearts really hurt when I sin against God – “the good that I would I do not; the evil that I would not, this I keep on doing … what a wretched man I am!” – or when someone sins against me. But, whatever consequences of sin we now suffer, Paul assures us today’s pain cannot compare with pleasures we will enjoy when Jesus returns in eternity.

“Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” is a simple statement of fact, details remaining hidden. On a playground, picture an elephant sitting on one side of a see-saw while an ant sits on the other. Will it balance? Not a chance. No matter how many ants climb on the same side, this elephant will not begin to be lifted off the ground. “Our present sufferings” are the ants in this picture, of course. No matter how many friends might break my heart with their shockingly sinful behavior nor how much guilt may burden my soul as I sin against God, no matter how many illnesses I may be asked to endure on earth; no matter how much mind or spirit-piercing pain I might experience in my lifetime, my “present sufferings” simply cannot compare with the glory, the praise; with the joy Jesus will bring his disciples when he returns to finally judge us. While some say, ‘The more we suffer on earth, the more we will enjoy heaven,’ this is not really true, for there is no comparison between heaven & earth. Heaven’s joy cannot begin to be measured on the same scale we use to evaluate earthly pain, not any more than an ant’s fraction of an ounce can touch an elephant’s tons.

Without revealing heaven’s tiniest details – details my earthbound mind cannot comprehend – Scripture simply yet repeatedly reminds me my sin-infected life on earth is ‘less than nothing’ next to “full joy & eternal pleasures” we will experience “in Jesus’ presence at our Lord’s right hand” [PS 16] in heaven. “Do not lose heart,” Paul urges in another letter. “Outwardly we are wasting away, but inwardly we are being renewed day by day… Our light & momentary troubles achieve for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen but on what is unseen, for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”[2 COR 4]

Heavenly glory I cannot yet see will be far greater than any suffering I so easily see in my life today. God promises. So, whenever we suffer, whatever we suffer, I pray we saints will wait, patiently & confidently wait for the Lord to work his will in our life, just as “Creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” Our natural world, Paul explains, is also waiting for Jesus to return, because “creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay…” When Adam sinned, our perfect world became imperfect. As God cursed the ground because of Adam, man’s toil became “painful…thorns & thistles”[GEN 3] started to sprout. Days we detest our work instead of enjoying our job are a consequences of Adam’s original sin, little reminders of our world’s & of our own imperfection. Death not only became man’s destiny but also our world’s ultimate end, as Peter explains: “our present heavens & earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment” … “These heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire; the earth & everything in it will be laid bare.” Now, “in keeping with the Lord’s promise we are looking forward to a new heaven & a new earth, the home of righteousness.”[2 PT 3]

Today, smog in Beijing so thick marathoners worry their lungs will be harmed by breathing it in for 26 miles is not only a potential public relations nightmare for Olympic organizers but is also a frustration for this world God created to surround us with clear air. African elephants, giant pandas, sea otters – animals whose continued existence is endangered by human hunters – frustrate a natural world God created perfectly balanced between predators & prey. What will our world do when rain forests are disappearing; if ice caps may be melting? While our whole globe is warming or cooling, depending upon an orator’s particular point of view, our world waits. Yes, our world “eagerly & expectantly waits for the sons of God to be revealed” the day Jesus will return to separate the righteous from the wicked. Our natural world – God’s creation -- waits to be renewed, eagerly waits for that perfect “new heavens & new earth” God promised to produce when Jesus will usher his faithful sheep into heaven after ordering every unbelieving goat into hell.

With “the whole creation groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time, we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly wait for our adoption as sons; wait for the redemption of our bodies.” Like a pregnant mother who certainly experiences pain as her baby is born, as the Lord warned Eve while listing consequences of her original sin, “with pain you will give birth to children”[GEN 3] – like a birthing mother who, “after her baby is born, forgets her pain & anguish because of her joy that a child is born” – believers whose souls are already redeemed by Jesus’ innocent death as our God-given Substitute will patiently wait for Jesus’ joyful return. While we will almost certainly experience different types of pain today as a consequence of our own sins, as well as of Adam & Eve’s original sin, we redeemed souls will eagerly & expectantly wait for Jesus to also redeem our bodies as he returns in glory at the end of time.

When Jesus will finally return, as promised, to raise our buried bodies from our graves; to glorify & reunite our bodies with our souls for all eternity – when “Our Savior Jesus Christ will transform our lowly bodies so they will be like his glorious body,”[PHIL 3] – when Jesus will take us saints to live with him in heaven, where he “will wipe every tear from our eyes; where there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,”[REV 21] – like the joyful mother of a newborn forgetting the pain of childbirth, we saints in heaven will no longer remember whatever pains we are asked to endure on earth today.

Glory to be revealed in us & for us when Jesus returns – glory too great to compare with today’s suffering -- will wipe away every painful memory of whatever consequences of sin we may now be suffering. This is our hope, an inspired apostle Paul points out, a sure hope of salvation already won for us by Jesus’ irreversibly righteous life & atoning death as our Substitute. Yes, this is the sure hope our Spirit-worked faith clings to as suffering souls patiently wait for the rest of our Lord’s plan to be unfolded. No ‘ifs,’ no ‘maybes;’ no mere possibilities… This is the sure hope resting on God’s promises, hope enabling us to ‘wait out’ wickedness causing our worldly pain today; to ‘wait out’ physical illnesses or spiritual stresses without ever wavering in our faithful commitment to Jesus Christ. This is the hope that has us eagerly & expectantly waiting for what we have not yet seen but what we know will happen -- waiting for our bodies to also be redeemed, to be raised & glorified when Jesus comes again, just as our souls were already redeemed when Jesus first came into our world to save us by replacing our sins with his righteousness.

Redemption? Renewal? Realizing tomorrow’s heavenly glory is too great to compare with today’s earthly suffering, with God’s creation I pray we will wait -- eagerly, expectantly, hopefully wait – I pray we will patiently wait for our Savior Jesus Christ to come again.

Amen.