Sermon Tone Analysis

! NO SEPARATION

 

35 *Who shall separate* us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

\\ 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

\\ 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

\\ 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, \\ 39 neither height nor depth, *nor anything else* in all creation, *will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.*

Romans 8 35-39

 

This glorious statement about our confidence in Christ has the structure of two bookend phrases in verses 35 and 39.  Paul asks the question and answers it, and, in between he sets out the reality of the believers’ situation.

It is a confident statement and a wonderful promise – but it also demands that we take a good hard look at the opposition we face as those who put their trust in Christ.

This morning we considered the real significance of Romans 8 28 – not merely a memorable verse, or a timely reassurance; and certainly not a motto or a talisman – but a statement about God’s Big Plan.

Here Paul asks us to consider the *harsh landscape of the believer’s life* and pilgrimage.

He poses a question that strikes at the heart of the believer’s confidence – a question that is the climax of a series of questions for which this chapter is famous.

It was always a myth that the Christian life is one long happy experience – and yet the elusive calm and confidence is attainable – not by the absence of trials but by their presence.

The whole passage is marked by challenging questions:

 

What shall we say?                             31

Who can be against us?                      31

Who will bring any charge?

33

Who condemns?

34

Who shall separate?

35

Here we have:

 

*A real question*.

“Who shall separate…?”

35

 

*A hard prospect*.

“For your sake we face death…”    Psa 44 22         36

 

*A triumphant Lord*           “nothing…will be able to separate..”              37-39

 

 

!

A REAL QUESTION

 

*35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?

\\                                                                                                 v 35*

 

Of course we expect the answer “No” – but Paul doesn’t want us to rejoice in the reality of that truth without fully anticipating the very real challenges that do and will confront us.

The over-arching view is that NOTHING SEPARATES

 

But the apostle  is entirely realistic – he faces head on the many very real forces that oppose the Christian in his pilgrimage.

He lists the REAL forces arrayed against the believer:

 

·        Trouble

·        Hardship

·        Persecution

·        Famine

·        Nakedness                                 1Cor 4 11

·        Danger                                      2 Cor 11 26

·        Sword

 

He has in mind a psalm, from which he will quote presently, and which presents the victory and the opposition of the believer.

Paul is issuing a challenge.

In asserting the absolute assurance that the believer has in his Lord – in reminding him of the CERTAINTY of God’s love no matter what – he challenges his readers and ourselves to offer any objection – any possible agent that might SEPARATE us from Him.

Before we can stand as “More than conquerors” we must lie down as sheep.

The way to victory does not lie in AVOIDING the battles, or the pain, or the anguish – but in accepting them and THEN triumphing over them.

Paul is not conjuring these things up out of the air.

Any serious study of Paul’s life and work will conclude that he had a very hard time of it.

This is a ROBUST CHRISTIANITY that faces up to the difficulty and stands victorious in Christ – for He too never avoided the conflict or the suffering or the difficulties.

Is there anything you would like to add to the list that Paul supplies?

·        Trouble                                     pressing in John 16 in the world trouble

·        Hardship                                   confined

·        Persecution                                        pursued

·        Famine                                      =

·        Nakedness                                 1Cor 4 11[1]         

·        Danger                                      2 Cor 11 26[2]

·        Sword                                       Mat 26 47    - Peter, James

 

And in verse 38 it is continued….

\\ ·        Death

·        Life

·        Angels

·        Demons                                     Verse 38

·        The present

·        The future

·        Any powers

 

If we face lesser difficulties how much more will we not lose sight of His love?

This is a REAL QUESTION – because we have a REAL ENEMY.

It is not simply that we are subject to the same ups and downs of everyday life with its trials etc.  it is that the Christian life is a life lived on the battlefield.

There is an Enemy.

In the same way that the chapter sets out the grounds for our spiritual security so it sets out the very real issues that will challenge the believer – so that we may see that nothing – absolutely nothing – has been omitted.

He quotes scripture:

!

A HARD PROSPECT     

 

36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

\\ \\

                                                                        Psalm 44 22

 

Mmmm – that’s not exactly a motto text to be framed and hung on a wall is it?

But please notice it does not say we DIE  or ARE SLAUGHTERED  - but that WE FACE it  and ARE CONSIDERED.

It is not about a FINAL distress nor indeed an IMPOSSIBLE DIFFICULTY

 

It is a real look at real problems.

There is Scriptural warrant for hard times.

Over and over again Jesus tried to prepare His followers for what would happen to Him and what would happen to them.

Persecution is inevitable – because the world hates us as it hated Him.

What makes this verse peculiarly difficult is that by and large our Western Christianity knows so little of the adversity and challenge that other believers face daily.

Over and over again Paul – and the other apostles warned the Church of persecution coming – not so as to depress them but so as to help them see that the Chrisdtian life follows Christ into the real world – a world which has no time for Him.

This is the world in which all share in certain problems – whether believers or not

 

Suffering

Hurt

Death

Disaster

 

But Paul’s use of the psalm reminds us that there are perils reserved for us simply because we are the Lord’s.

17 All this happened to us,

though we had not forgotten you

or been false to your covenant.

18 Our hearts had not turned back;

our feet had not strayed from your path.

19 But you crushed us and made us a haunt for jackals

and covered us over with deep darkness.

20 If we had forgotten the name of our God

or spread out our hands to a foreign god,

21 would not God have discovered it,

since he knows the secrets of the heart?

22 Yet for your sake we face death all day long;