Suffering in the Kingdom of Grace
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 2 viewsIn the Kingdom of Grace, where does suffering fit in? Why do I as a believer suffer? What is the point of my suffering?
Notes
Transcript
I hope you have been enjoying the book of Romans as much as I have. It has been so rich and so full of hope.
Romans 5-8 we see the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of sin and what it is like for a believer to live in the Kingdom of Grace. (Slide)
Sin is… Kingdom of Grace is...
Renewed mind - Gap and gain
Resurrection livin - You have won the battle is over Oletha and the game
New Self - The old is done away with and the new has come
Set Free - Powerful image of being set free from the chains
Lives to God - Last week Steve talking about the Holy Spirit living inside of us. waiting in line to see Jesus and where is He. Jesus is right here.
So all this leads us to where we are in Romans today. Today’s text begs the question.
If all this is true then...
Where does suffering fit in the believers life?
Where does suffering fit in the believers life?
In the west, it can be hard for us to figure out this topic of suffering. Because, we have traditionally not had to suffer physical persecution for our faith like some of our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the world.
The letter of Romans is written to the believers in Rome. Today’s passage Paul begins to address this question to all believers.
Suffering is a broader term than just physical persecution.
Suffering is physical persecution, it can be personal consequences, deep tragedies (loss of a loved one, tragic accidents), anxieties, personal struggles, poor health, financial, lack of basic needs.
The Kingdom of Grace is one of beauty and the accuser wants nothing more than to destroy this Kingdom and to destroy your life.
The Bible project describes the accuser in this way
As humans, we have enemies that we can see and enemies that we cannot see. And we are in need of protection from their hostile tactics. In Matthew 21 one of the enemies of the vulnerable was the greed of the power-hungry religious leaders. They set themselves against Jesus and all his followers. The Bible also talks about dark, unseen spiritual beings who rage against God and his people. The apostle Peter described Satan as an adversary who prowls around like a lion hunting for his next meal (1 Peter 5:8
8 Be serious! Be alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.
Suffering is more than just physical persecution. Suffering may be the result of the accuser.
Let me get real vulnerable with you for just a minute. I want to share what suffering has looked like in my life over the past couple of months.
Kylie: Shriners
Macy: Stomach, alerted some hip issues Shriners PT
Colten: Sports Physical, Heart specialist for kids waiting a month
Amy: The Sunday after she spoke at the women’s event she went to the doctor not feeling well. Sent her to ER and wanted her to get check further for possible cancer. (Follow up was not cancer) Still awaiting referrals
Jonathan: A man cold that has been intense for the last 3-4 weeks of coughing.
Wednesday night Kylie fell at basketball practice. Thursday we took her to the urgent care and she broke her thumb.
So here I am trying to live out Romans 5-8 with the Kingdom of Grace in mind and I keep getting hit with a new thing that brings some anxiety.
My trials may be light compared to what you are going through today or my trials may be heavy in comparison for how things have been going for you.
Where does suffering fit in the believers life?
Where does suffering fit in the believers life?
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Sufferings exist because of Genesis 3. In Genesis 3, man worships the created rather than the Creator. The fall of man happens and suffering is the result.
Suffering also comes to believers because the world has been won over through the suffering of Jesus. So for believers Suffering ties us to Jesus.
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!”
Jesus
36 And He said, “Abba, Father! All things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will.”
I am moved that suffering identifies me with my Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
Glory
The rule and reign as human beings
This goes back to Genesis 1 and states our original design in creation was to watch over and steward creation as God has called us to do.
4 what is man that You remember him, the son of man that You look after him?
5 You made him little less than God and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You made him lord over the works of Your hands; You put everything under his feet:
7 all the sheep and oxen, as well as the animals in the wild,
8 the birds of the sky, and the fish of the sea that pass through the currents of the seas.
We are to be the Royal Priesthood. We are to be under God and over the world. To be as priest sharing in the worship of all creation and presenting it to God.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.
The goal is not for us to die and go to heaven. If that was the goal then we should find ways to make that happen. That is not the goal.
The goal is New creation. The goal is New Jerusalem. It is the revealing of New Creation that the Bible speaks of. Here in Romans he describes the whole of creation reaching this goal.
19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility —not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it —in the hope
v. 19 Creation itself eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed.
v.20 Back to the Genesis 3 problem.
17 And He said to Adam, “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘Do not eat from it’: The ground is cursed because of you. You will eat from it by means of painful labor all the days of your life.
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow until you return to the ground, since you were taken from it. For you are dust, and you will return to dust.”
The original call was to be fruitful and multiply and walk with God in the cool of the day. Man turned to the created rather than the Creator and this is the result.
20 For the creation was subjected to futility —not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it —in the hope
21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
But there is hope - Creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay. Creation itself will be “freed” and “glorified” like us His people.
Bring back the picture of the chains for us as humans but there is a coming day when creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption. God is going to redeem all creation.
Because we get saved God is rescuing the whole creation!
(This is so much different than a view of the world/cosmos that it will just “burn up” one day in judgment, etc.)
22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
This is the current state of affairs. Earth quakes, floods, intense heat, drought, Tornados,
Labor and childbirth imagery. Reminds us of Eve now facing labor pains.
It also reflects the idea of bringing about new through the old. So creation itself will be rebirthed or brought about new. Much like what happened to Jesus. He faced suffering, He was put in the grave, he was raised to life and He was Glorified.
23 And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits —we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
Firstfruits
When the crop starts to come up you take the very first fruits and you bring it to God as a thank offering. You worship God as the giver of all good things.
It is a sign that there is a whole large harvest that is to come. The firstfruits are saying I see the large harvest that is to follow.
The full harvest is coming!
Groaning
This is part of our role as believers. We share in the groaning and longing for new creation. In the groaning, we share the hope of new creation. As Jesus prayed we long for the they Kingdom come thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven. We rule over creation in groanings longing for new creation to come.
24 Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
In our suffering we hope for new creation. We identify ourselves with Christ in our suffering and cry out to God Saying Abba Father.
Matthew 21 Its the triumphal entry
He goes to the temple complex where heaven and earth met.
12 Jesus went into the temple complex and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves.
13 And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer. But you are making it a den of thieves!”
14 The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them.
15 When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant
16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” “Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read: You have prepared praise from the mouths of children and nursing infants?”
2 Because of Your adversaries, You have established a stronghold from the mouths of children and nursing infants to silence the enemy and the avenger.