Pittsgrove Presbyterian Church
Sermon Roman 8:18-30 “Our Future”
March 29, 2020
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Today is the final Sunday in Lent and our third Sunday in our quarantine for the coronavirus. So far during Lent, we have been looking at the sin that pervades our world and how God has decided to deal with it. We have received from God the gift of justification with the forgiveness of sin and the promise of eternal life. Through Jesus Christ, we have been adopted as children of God and filled with his love. We have been sanctified by the Holy Spirit, freed from slavery to sin and enabled to grow more and more like Christ throughout our lifetimes. And today we will look at the glorious future that awaits all of creation. We will get to this, but first, let’s pray.
Lord God, we thank you for your covenant promises to forgive us and to help us lead the lives you created us to live. We eagerly await your coming in glory to redeem the world. As we wait, lessen our sufferings, hear our prayers and give us patience and endurance. We pray this in the glorious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Romans 8:18-30 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise, the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Before becoming a pastor I owned several businesses. At one time I managed my father’s Baskin Robbins ice cream store. I owned a chain of wicker furniture stores that sold furniture, baskets, and macramé from the Philippines. I owned, with a partner, a technology business that sold computers and software. And I owned an internet business that sold point of sale software all over the country. All of these businesses were started with great fanfare and tremendous hope for success. But now, all of these businesses have closed. Businesses have a life cycle; they are born, grow up, change, and eventually die.
Everything in creation has a life cycle. Everything has a beginning, a middle and an end. This is clear evidence that we live in a fallen world. When God created the world everything was good. There was no decay or death. All of creation was designed by the creator with an eternal warranty. But one day the terms of the eternal guarantee were violated and the promise of God to protect creation was withdrawn. We call this “the Fall” when humanity began deciding for itself what was right and what was wrong. Because humanity had dominion over all of creation our sin resulted in the decay and death of everything.
We have seen in our look at Romans how God has dealt with the effects of the fall and sin in our lives. First, God forgave our sin and promised us eternal life. This is called justification and occurred two thousand years ago on a cross in Jerusalem when Jesus died on a cross. Then, God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him to a position where Jesus could offer us God’s unlimited love as adopted children. Then, God sent the Holy Spirit to fill us with his love and worked to make us holy, sanctified as we were created to be.
But what about the rest of creation, what has God done to redeem it? As we look around our world we have to say that not much has been done. Disease and death are still with us. We still have earthquakes, mudslides, droughts, wildfires, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, gangs, murders, robberies, wars, and as we now see, viruses. The list can go on and on.
God knows of our present suffering in this fallen world. God knows of our stresses at work. God knows how much we will miss our children and grandchildren who are so far away. God knows about the financial pressures we are under. God knows of our difficulty in changing to a new job or into retirement. God is with us in the hospital and as we recuperate at home. God also knows of the suffering of those whose homes and lives are destroyed by wildfires in the American southwest, the tornadoes in the Midwest and South, the earthquakes and mudslides in California, the tsunami in Southeast Asia and other disasters around the world especially the coronavirus.
When a business goes on a downward slope the managers want to stop the slide and return the business to growth. One company helping businesses to do this is Lego. Now you think that Lego is a company that makes toys that little kids use to build things and you would be right. Lego is a huge toymaker and has the Legoland theme park in California. But now Lego’s consultants help failing businesses to model different strategies for returning the business to health. The Lego building blocks are used to create three-dimensional models, or “metaphorical abstractions”, of the business which can easily be changed to test different options. The hope is that a company in trouble can test its options and find one they can put into practice. For example, if the boss is crunching the spirits of the employees then a giant boss could be constructed from Legos stomping on a bunch of little people. In other words, they flesh out on the model ideas and feelings so that the business knows what underlying problems are that need to be solved.
The prophet Ezekiel saw God using a similar strategy. He saw God using something like Legos. Rather than using a box of Legos, God used a valley of dead bones. And God showed us how he intends to recreate our fallen world. God’s strategy was to take what has died and decayed and restore it by giving it new flesh and breathing into it new life. All disease, death, decay, and destruction in the world would be used by God for the purpose of re-creating the world as it was originally created to be. This process of re-creation has already begun and will be completed when Jesus returns.
God, in His infinite love, uses the church to begin the work of re-creation by dealing with the suffering that happens today. The Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is available to help wherever disaster strikes and Christians need to respond.
When a cyclone struck Bangladesh killing 3000 people and destroying thousands of homes, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance worked with local agencies to provide emergency shelter and helped people to return to their homes and rebuild their lives. PDA worked in Kenya to help people who are displaced by the post-election violence. And PDA helped the people of New Orleans deal with the effects of Hurricane Katrina and recreate their lives. The work of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is made possible through the One Great Hour of Sharing, our Palm Sunday special offering. This allows you to participate in God’s re-creation of the world.
God also uses our prayers to do the work of re-creation. God hears our prayers and listens to our suffering. Even when we don’t know what to say, God hears us because the Holy Spirit can read our minds and our hearts and knows exactly what we need. So there is no need to worry about if we have done enough or said enough because God understands what we need and will use us as his adopted people to help others.
God’s work of re-creation consists of displaying his glory to the world. God’s glory was initially revealed when light pushed out darkness during the creation and was displayed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This glory can be present in us through our faith in Jesus Christ. We then glorify the church as we become more like Christ. Through the work of the church, we bring God’s glory to the whole world.
But just as God’s glory was veiled on the cross it is sometimes today veiled by conflict and controversy within the church. This makes the church a community of sufferers, like Christ, waiting for the final manifestation of God’s glory when we will be resurrected with Christ. So we need to pray that in this life we are guided and strengthened by God’s glory and that God will give us patience and endurance until Christ comes again.
So long as Christ is in the church we have the hope of a future re-creation and of the experience of the full glory of God. This future hope includes our resurrection when God will put flesh on our dead bones and will breathe the spirit of life into our lungs, just as God raised Jesus from the dead. One day we will all be raised in a resurrection harvest and experience God’s amazing glory for ourselves. The whole world will be freed from futility and corruption. And Christ will return filling all of creation with God’s glory and power. Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we wait patiently for your coming. Come quickly with all of God’s glory and power. Protect and comfort us as we wait for this glorious day. And form us in your image so that we may display God’s glory to the world. We pray this in your glorious name, Amen.
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