Proper 11 A

Not Worth Comparing

Romans 8:18-27

20 July 2014 – Redeemer

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. If Saint Paul’s apostolic resume wasn’t filled with so much suffering I would want to laugh at his words. “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.”(2 Cor 11:24ff)

Now don’t think I’m trying to lessen your suffering by saying you’ve got nothing compared to Paul. His suffering was his suffering and yours is yours. He was beaten with a whip, Satan has battered you into believing you are not worthy of God’s love. He was shipwrecked and your family has been wrecked by divorce and adultery. He faced the physical dangers of many foes; you face the spiritual dangers of a culture intent on following its lusts to its destruction.

These words of Romans 8 along with Romans 7 do not make sense. In Romans 7 we heard that sin lingers within us even after we have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ. A new man is created in us – a believing, righteous, forgiven child of God and yet the old Adam rises every day like a dead Zombie and won’t stop until he is finally obliterated on the last day. Wouldn’t it seem reasonable that a Christian would be free from the struggle of sin? And so in Romans 8, wouldn’t it seem reasonable that a Christian would be free of or have reduced suffering? Wouldn’t that be a great advertisement for Christ if Christians prospered while unbelievers suffered, if our children never died in accidents or suffered disease? Imagine if Christians never got fired or storms never touched our homes!

In today’s Gospel reading the workers in the parable had the same thoughts – why can’t we get rid of the evil now, take out the weeds now? Why must evil remain side by side with Christians in the world? The Sower of the Seed – Jesus Himself says He will take care of the weeds. It is His job, not ours and on the last day, based on His wisdom, work, and Word He will separate the weeds from the wheat and remove us from all sin, suffering, and evil.

What would happen if God removed your suffering? If He took away all your troubles, made you upper middle class, restored your eyes, straightened your back, returned your children to the church, resurrected your marriage, allowed you to conquer your worst sin? Name it and claim it. W hat do you think would happen to your faith, to your prayers, to your yearning for God’s deliverance? I know what would happen to me – the same thing that happens to me when I get what I want – I forget God, my prayers go silent, my yearning goes away, because I am so full of myself.

Our hope is not in this present time. Our hope is in Christ and the glory that is hidden right now in His forgiveness of our sins. This forgiveness which looks like nothing now in the face of all the world’s problems – this forgiveness will be revealed on the last day – all that it is, all that it does, all that it makes us, the very Sons of God, destined to inherit everlasting life and the resurrection.

St. Paul tells the Romans the hidden story behind our hidden glory. Even though you cannot see it “The Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the Sons of God.” The little ducklings of creation did not sin, but they get run over on the road because of sin. The mighty trees of the forest did not sin, but they suffer forest fires because of sin. The foundations of the earth did not sin, but they shift and heave and quake and cause mass destruction because of sin. The wind and water did not sin, but the wind blows with destructive might and the waters rise and fall in raging floods because of sin.

You can never excuse your sin by saying it doesn’t affect anyone or anything else. Adam’s sin brought down all of creation. The Father subjected the world to decay and corruption because of one sin, but now, because Christ has come the sin of mankind is forgiven. A new day dawned when Christ rose and when He returns again that day will be complete. Creation will be restored, our bodies will be raised, suffering, sadness, sorrow, sin, Satan, will be locked away.

Paul uses creation as an example to us. Creation groans for the day when the Son of God is revealed. The mountains yearn for the day when they won’t be what they are today – places of rockslides and avalanches. The rivers and lakes yearn for that day when they won’t destroy homes or drown people. They look for that day when the new earth will be recreated and they will see and enjoy the fulfillment of Christ’s redemptive work.

Creation also looks forward to that day because then it will be freed from the worship of man and all eyes in that new earth will look to Christ. One of the greatest sufferings that creation endures is that people worship creation – a beautiful sunset, a peaceful day on the lake, the grandeur of the mountains. How many times have you said, “I feel so close to God when I’m fill in the blank with your favorite part of creation.” Creation shudders when you put the gifts of God in the place of the Son of God – there is only one way for God to be close to you and that is in His Son Jesus Christ.

This same groaning and longing is the substance of our lives as God’s children. We groan under the suffering of body and soul and at the same time we long for the redemption of our bodies. “The Redemption of our bodies” – the Son of God has a body. Jesus was born of a human mother. He took on flesh, came into this world and died bodily for our sins. His body was buried. His body rose. He didn’t come to take us out of our bodies or out of this world. He came to save us from our sins, to redeem our lives and bodies, to buy back our bodies from suffering and wickedness and evil. We believe in the resurrection of the body – that means that when Christ returns my body will rise. In the resurrection I will be a human, more human that I ever was in this fallen world. I will be free of sin, free of suffering, temptation and evil, but I will not be free of feet and legs and heart and lungs or eyes and ears. On the last day the Father will once again speak those words over His creation that He spoke in the beginning, “This is very good.”

This Word of God from Romans 8 is not an easy Word for us. We do not long for the “glory to be revealed” as we should and that is most evident in our prayers. Are your prayers more for the present time or the time to come? Are you praying that your suffering ends here and now or are you praying for faith in the resurrection? Are you asking for your troubles to cease or for faith to cling to Christ in the midst of the troubles? Do we live for what we see or do we hope for what remains unseen until Christ returns? Thanks be to God that 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.

I have said it many times – this life of being a baptized Christian is a weird life. It is not the life you would expect, imagine, or reason you should have. Sin and righteousness dwell side by side within you. Suffering and hope surround you in this world. The world and your body suffer decay every day and yet you are confident that creation is being made new and your body is too. You are dying and yet will live forever. Evil seems to have you evermore in its grips, but its losing its grasp. You‘re a child of God, but sometimes even that is hidden from your eyes. It is a weird life, but it is the only true life. It is the life won for us by the death and resurrection of Christ. The life born in us in the waters of baptism. The life spoken to us in the Word of forgiveness from Jesus. The life fed to us in Christ’s body and blood. This is the life that is ours now and the life that will fully be revealed soon. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Pr. Bruce Timm

19 July 2014 anno Domini