I'm So Glad We Have Help!
Notes
Transcript
I’m So Glad We Have Help!
I’m So Glad We Have Help!
I’m of the age now that I have to admit, more and more, that I need help in more areas than I’d like to admit.
That’s specially true in my spiritual life. I tend to plug along on my own power, relying on the talents and gifts God has given me, forgetting that those are just the nouns of being.
I need help for all the verbs of living, and certainly when it comes to what I need when I come before God.
Paul is real clear that we need help. But he is also real clear in letting us know that God is our help.
I’m so glad we have help!
We Don’t Even Know How to Pray
We Don’t Even Know How to Pray
The first thing for each of us is to place our hope in Jesus. Not in the frailties of the flesh, or the precocious nature of our feeble ways of thinking. That means faith, believing in what we can’t always see and measure, but becoming sure that the promises of God are for us. And we wait for the promise with patience.
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise 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.
The good news about our weakness is that God knows all about it, and sends his Spirit for our help. God is not unaware of the challenges of the flesh that Paul talked about in Romans chapter 7, the war of the mind that want to be set on God and the flesh that wants immediate gratification. And even in our prayer life, we will tend to give in, to drop back into selfishness.
We are weak, but God is strong. His Holy Spirit is given to us to help us, to come to our aid, to share the burden with us.
On our own, we can’t even pray right.
We will pray to satisfy our selfishness.
We will pray to placate our guiltiness.
We will pray to try to force God’s hand for our feeble wants.
We don’t have a clue about praying for what is important.
We don’t have a clue about praying for what God wants.
Thankfully, there is help. I’m so glad we have help!
God Knows How to Help Our Prayers
God Knows How to Help Our Prayers
Of course, God wants us to talk with him. He created us for relationship. Not just with one another, but also with our Father in heaven. That relationship is so important that he sent his Son to re-establish our connections that have been severed by sin.
But what would it be like if you were Father of the Universe and beyond, and most everyone who called you up didn’t want to hear from you or thank you for this amazing creation and the beauty that is all around us, but either wanted to get something from you by repeating some magic words at the end of the call or wanted to blame you for something they don’t like, and then just hangs up? Doesn’t sound very good, does it?
We do not know what to pray for as we ought!!
Likewise 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. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Becoming Children of God through faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord brings us into a renewed relationship with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Love of God brought us Jesus Christ, who then sent to us the Holy Spirit. And where we are weak, the Spirit helps us. That includes our praying, as an example.
Why do we need help? We don’t know the mind and will of God. We only know our own minds and desires. We ask for healing, finances, relationships, and most anything else. That’s not bad but that’s not good either. Prayer is not a tool we are given to put the Almighty God of the Universe on our leash to do our bidding. Yet our weakness shows in the ways we subtly or boldly beg for God to do what we want for us.
But are we following Jesus’ lead and praying “not my will but Thine we done”?
We should want what God wants when we pray. And that means our prayer may be met with a “No” instead of God saying, “Hey, I’ll get right on it. Thanks for pointing that out.”
Well, really, isn’t that the attitude we use in prayer? Not to get deeper into the heart of God, but to get God deeper into what we want.
Paul says the Spirit himself intercedes for us. That’s good news. Because we are so selfish we don’t have a clue how to pray God’s will in most situations, without the Spirit’s help.
So the Spirit steps in on our behalf. That’s the simple meaning of Intercession. To help, by clarity or influence, someone who brings a need before another one who can help in that need.
The Spirit prays with deep groaning; the meanings are beyond our words, beyond our wants, beyond our ideas and beyond our ideals.
God searches our hearts and knows the Spirit’s mind as the Spirit steps in to deliver our prayer to the Most Holy God in a way that doesn’t bring his wrath but his mercy.
Remember who you are asking when you pray. And do your best to seek the heart of God and the purposes of God as you pray, asking the Holy Spirit to be your help. Remember that even Jesus prayed to the Father that HIS will be done.
You will find it changes how you approach prayer. If we cannot celebrate God, in all the majesty and wonder of what we know of his being, why should we think we have any claim on his work for us?
We can talk with Jesus as a friend and brother, a conversation that can be almost continuous. It’s a little different approaching the Throne of God. When you ask the Holy God, seek a holy answer.
If we only focus on our weakness, we will make another mistake. We will forget that we are given the privilege to pray directly to our Father in heaven that wants to give us what is in his will for us. We will make the mistake of putting another human in between us and God as we pray. That is the pattern and the teaching of some expressions of Christianity. How can one of we peons dare approach God? Or even His Son?
Paul gives us a different teaching, so let’s stick with the Bible. As a saved Child of God you are already in the class of “saints” before God and the Spirit himself intercedes for you in your prayer. I’m so glad we have help.
Life is not simple, an we need to know what Paul has figured out, that…
God Will Turn Messes into Miracles
God Will Turn Messes into Miracles
We may not know how, when, where, why, but God’s got your future in mind. Paul says this:
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
And we know: Paul is sure of this.
That for those who love God: there is a condition here!
All things work together: Things might be a mess, but that’s not a problem for God. Even in the detritus of sin’s messes, there is a master weaver at work to redo the fabric of our lives to produce a something we never saw or understood, for good.
For those who are called: Another condition.
First is that we must love God, so now, if we want to see how things work out, now we must be on God’s “nice” list too?
Well, the good result that God will weave, from the “all things” in our lives, will be hidden to the unfaithful, unavailable to the selfish, but will be clear and beautiful to those that love God, and are willing to take part in the purposes of God.
This follows the passage on the Spirit’s intercession for us. We do not know what to pray as we should, without the Spirit’s help, so how can we know the heart and mind and will of God for the miracle he will make out of the mess we are in?
Don’t worry too much about the outcome. Keep seeking God’s heart, and ask him to show you his mind and will. You will continually see many miracles of God’s creation in even the small things.
But remember, God doesn’t throw trash into our lives just so he can prove to us he can do something with it. God doesn’t MAKE things happen to us. He doesn’t need to. This broken world we live in will throw plenty of trash in our lives already. So God, instead, uses all the ups and downs and trials and errors of our lives as a starting point for pointing us to his purpose.
I’m so glad we have help!
You can be sure that God is at work, because you can be sure that...
God’s Got Our Number
God’s Got Our Number
Now, this passage deserves its own message, so it will be the focus of next Sunday’s message. For now, just rest in the fact that God know you. Paul gets real specific here:
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 among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
There is a difference between God knowing what choice we will make and God causing us to make every choice in our lives.
God’s sovereignty and mankind’s freedom of choice seem to completely clash, but that is not quite so. It’s a matter of perspective.
We’re like a caterpillar on a fruit tree. We only see the leaf we are chewing on. But God sees the whole tree—not just what it looks like now, but exactly how things will look at the end of time.
God’s eternal plan for us is that, in obedience to his will, we believe in Jesus whom he sent, and then he sets us on a path to become like Jesus. We are called to believe; we are justified when we believe, and we share in Christ’s glory when we believe. But more on that next week.
For now, be sure that you know that …
God Knows How to Preserve Us
God Knows How to Preserve Us
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
When we put the holy law of God up against our sinful selfishness, it’s easy to see how messed up we are on our own.
And if we focus on our failings, we can easily get stuck in a rut of wretchedness as Paul expressed in
Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
Remember why he said that:
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You see, Paul was discovering more about the meaning of Christ in our lives every day.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
In Christ Jesus, we are set free from the law of sin and death (8:2).
For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
And this is worked out in our new opportunity to experience the freedom from guilt purchased for us by the blood of Jesus.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
God is for us. Even to the point that his gift of Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin and remove that mark of death that sin had put on our souls.
For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
This is the Gospel in the book of Romans. And it is good news.
I’m so glad we have help!
We’ve Got an “In” With God
We’ve Got an “In” With God
There is something important about God’s adoption of us through faith in Jesus Christ. Any charge the world wants to make against us, because we are his, will not stand in the highest court.
Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.
Who might now have the audacity to charge us with sin leading to death? We stand before the throne of God with Jesus as our defender.
Jesus hears the charge and the letter of the Law and simply says, I’ve got that covered. The guilt is gone, the price has been pain, this one is NOT GUILTY.
Jesus, raised and glorified, his work for humanity completed, whispers into God’s ear, “I know this one. She’s one of mine. She’s under the blood of forgiveness.”
And God throws out the charges!
I’m so glad we have help!
Stuck Like Gorilla Glue
Stuck Like Gorilla Glue
There’s no way that Jesus Christ, who paid such a high price for our sorry, sinful souls is going to just let us flounder and fail in our Christian life. Here Paul talks about the Love of Christ and later the Love of God that is poured out on us which become the reality of God’s presence, no matter what we face in life.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
What can separate us from the Love of Christ?
The Love of Christ is with us through any trouble.
The love of Christ is with us no matter the hardship and stress.
The love of Christ is with us even when we are actively persecuted for carrying the name of Jesus.
The Love of Christ is with us even in the darkest dungeons of mankind’s cruelty and the deepest days of poverty. Even where there is nothing to eat and where even having clothes enough to keep you warm isn’t possible.
The Love of Christ is with us in every danger that this world surrounds us with. Everything Paul has mentioned in this list is part of his personal story. He knows from his own experience.
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.
Stuck Like Gorilla Glue
Stuck Like Gorilla Glue
Oh, and there is one more. Paul was a few years from facing this himself, but he would at the hands of Nero in Rome.
The love of Christ is with us even if we face death or execution because of our faith in Jesus.
The love of Christ sticks with us better than Gorilla Glue, for you just can’t come between the love of Christ and the believer.
Paul shares a quote is from Psalm 44:22 in
As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
There is nothing new about suffering in the name of Jesus. There is nothing new about persecution in the name of Jesus. God will have the victory, but we will need his help to get through.
But the good news here is an amazing statement:
Because of God, We Win
Because of God, We Win
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
We are the overcomers, through Jesus Christ. In fact, what the Greek says in this verse is that we are “HYPER-CONQUERORS”. We’ve God Jesus, so we’ve got super-powers!
Well, maybe not quite. We can’t fly or see through walls are bend steel with our bare hands.
But we are given a glimpse into the future: No matter what happens, we still win.
No matter what happens, through him who loved us, Jesus Christ, we can’t lose!
Hit Us With All You’ve Got
Hit Us With All You’ve Got
Our lives are sometimes so fragile. Sure, most of us think we’re tough, or used to. Sometimes we manage to live by our dumb luck, sometimes we’re obstinate, often ornery, but we are also amazingly fragile. Living can be difficult because of the skin we are in or where we live. We can be taken out by an invisible virus or a 44-magnum in the hands of an angry man or woman. We can be sidelined by a muscle cramp. We can get crazy -confused because of stress, catatonic with depression, or sweating blood because of finances. We can find out political or social systems reeling from attack, or war, or protest against injustice. After just a few years, according to the hills and stars and moon, if we have lived what others will say was a full life, we may quietly breathe our last because of the end of our days.
But what does that mean for we who are called “more than conquerors” through Jesus? Paul’s confidence is sure as he says some important statements about our fragile lives and God’s infinite love:
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
This is Paul’s testimony of what he has experienced of the Love of God, in all his own trials and tribulations while he was spreading the Gospel.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Not death; in fact, not even the complexities of life.
Death entered the world through sin,and now it seems to reign over God’s creation, as we become virtual slaves to the terrors of dying. Life is only real when it is life by faith in Jesus. But the two are at odds: life is our promise and hope, yet death swirls around us.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Not God’s heavenly messengers nor God’s heavenly enemies. The very cosmos seems to want to drive a wedge between the believer and God’s love. But Christ has conquered these unseen powers
He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Not the times we live in or the things to come.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
We will get through these days with all the challenges we face. And we can be confident that our worries about the future can be put to rest; for we are called to look past the the things of life and trust in the future God has planned for us.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Not the realms of darkness. We need not fear the demons or even the devil, when we are in Christ and so in the love of God. That doesn’t mean we ignore them. It doesn’t mean we don’t stand up to injustice and ungodliness. Hold your ground, Christian, the powers of darkness have no claim on you.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
Not the cold distant reaches of the universe nor the deepest, darkest, hottest hole on earth. Nothing in the world or outside the world can do a thing about the incredible love of God.
What can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord?
NOTHING in all God’s creation. Absolutely nothing. There is nothing that can break the relationship between God and His children. Period.
All this love of God is poured out on us “IN Christ Jesus our Lord.” We need to be his by believing in who he is, and in what he has done through his death on the cross and resurrection to the right hand of God.
We Jesus is Lord of our lives, we are surrendered to his sovereign control, and washed in the love of God. Here is where we find our security, here is where we find our safety. In Christ Jesus, we are forgiven. In Christ Jesus, we are justified. In Christ Jesus we are set aside for God’s purposes. In Christ Jesus we are bound up by the Love of God.