Irene Olivier
Notes
Transcript
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Scripture: Romans 8:14-23
Irene Olivier Funeral Meditation
Brothers and sisters in Christ, I didn’t have a deep relationship with Irene though I was able to meet with her when she was hospitalized over the last year and at the Armour Care facility. We talked briefly, she listened as I read Scripture and prayed, but it was clear that her mind and her liveliness were not what they might once have been. Even so, just as we heard in the obituary, her time working at the nursing home is the memory that seemed to stick out to her and others. She shared that with me, that she worked those halls, and I’ve heard from several people that if there was ever a resident at the home giving trouble when Irene worked there, she had a knack at getting them calmed down.
When I think about that, Irene must have had a way of relating with some people that brought a sense of peace and trust. Yet she herself was dependent in her later years. She needed help, though she might not have always received well. But she had a great helper and companion in her husband, Lloyd.
Relationships are an essential part of the life God has created each of us for. To go back to the Garden of Eden, before sin entered in, God created woman, Eve, for the man, Adam. He created Eve because nothing else in all his good creation fulfilled what God desired for Adam. There needed to be at least one other human, and someone that was different in some ways, that they could interact and be together and help each other.
Many of us pursue and cherish these kinds of relationships between husband and wife, between parent and child, siblings, neighbors, and friends. Throughout our lives with our own interactions with others and watching various others, we pick up things that we wish to imitate and incorporate. We hope that by adding them into our relationships, what we have might become better and more fruitful relationships. It seems that the foundations of the best relationships though are qualities like love, trust, willingness, endurance, and that those would be mutually shared, not selfish nor one-sided.
Yet there are many broken, fragile, and troubled relationships. Most of us probably have experienced that to some degree in our own lives. Yet as we look to God’s word, we find a relationship being described that is perfect. Perfect, not on any human’s account, not on any of our ability to fulfill it as we think we should, but perfect because the one who initiates it, the one who upholds it, the one who rescues it when need be, he is perfect.
The relationship I’m talking about is of course the relationship between God and his chosen people, those who he claims as sons and daughters. What does it mean to be a son or daughter of God? If we can have a clean the slate of all the ideas that come to our minds and our experiences of those family roles, this is what Scripture prescribes for these specific relationships. Verse 14 says, sons and daughters of God are led by the Spirit of God. It’s not set up by us, it’s not conditioned on our goodness, our righteousness, but rather on the Holy Spirit. Verse 15 describes how daughters and sons of God are not meant to live in fear, fear of their heavenly Father or their divine brother Jesus, but a spirit which enables you to turn trustingly to your heavenly dad—the perfect and righteous and just Father God. We who believe are not to be in terrorized fear. A third piece of this relationship is set forth in verse 17—we are heirs. We are inheritors of what God graciously offers to us.
To be a daughter or son of God means that you have been led to him by the Holy Spirit, you are able to trust God, and you have a share in the inheritance of what Jesus offers—complete forgiveness, complete righteousness, and everlasting salvation. This is an incredible relationship to be in, and compared to any other relationship that we might experience in our lifetimes—even the best—it far surpasses all of them. No other relationship can offer this. No other relationship will involve someone so gracious. No other being can give what God can give.
If we zoom out, it’s appropriate to recognize that this doesn’t mean do whatever you want, be as rebellious as you want, you’ll enjoy the benefits anyway. No, we’re called out of our sinful nature into this family that God is setting up. To continue in sin without turning to God, without repenting of sin, does not lead to this adoption or the reward. But let it be clear there’s no way to even come close to paying God back, we don’t deserve this, this is wholly the gift of his grace.
When we think about death and the brevity of life, of our own shortcomings and the shortcomings of others, of pain and grief and sorrow, the only anchor that holds, the only hope that stands firm, the only medicine that can truly heal all of our diseases is a relationship with God. A relationship that places our whole hope and trust in him, that accepts his love, and seeks to love him and others. Despite grievances, despite distrusts, despite grudges, we know there is something greater to come, which we hope Irene is already getting to experience now.
Paul wrote in the second half of our passage about the present sufferings, creation being in bondage to decay, the whole creation groaning as in the pains of child birth, us groaning inwardly. He doesn’t have on rose-colored glasses. Things weren’t perfect for him or in his day either. He knew the reality of life, the same reality that we still know today. Things are not perfect in our world. People are sick and dying, there’s corruption and greed, there’s seemingly pointless wars and pride and oppression and abuse. It might look different today than it did back then, but all this traces back to the presence of sin and to the devil, the one who lies, the one who seeks to bring people against God and far too often is followed. Stay away from the path that leads to destruction, the path that leads away from God to the one who deceives.
I give you that instruction, that command, because the Bible offers us a far better hope! Paul wrote, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us…The creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God…We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons [as daughters], the redemption of our bodies.” This is all speaking about relationships. The relationship of the creation or the created to the Creator, the Creator who doesn’t just set things in motion and disappears, but who adopts and redeems us. He will one day take away all that hinders our lives, all our pain, all our weakness, all the troubles to body and mind and spirit and relationships. He will bring about renewal for his daughters and sons.
Brothers and sisters, this is what we look forward to. If we have experienced the love of God on this earth, and we have put our hope in him, we can look forward to eternal life. Jesus is the only way to that. It doesn’t mean everything gets perfect for the rest of our days and years, again, creation has been and continues to groan. But one day, when Christ returns, all will be restored, all will be made perfect. But we must have a relationship with God with faith in his Son Jesus. What we will profess in a few moments in Heidelberg Catechism Question and Answer 1 is about the relationship that God has claimed us first in, and which we claim as our promise, our guarantee, not just in life, but in death as well. May we always remember the truth that comes just a few verses later in Romans 8, “Nothing in all of creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Amen.