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Romans Lesson 15 (2008)

THE NEW LIFE OF THE JUSTIFIED – VI
(Groaning for Future Glory)

Romans 8:18-27
Key Verse: 8:23

“Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

In the previous passage, 8:1-17, we learned that Christian life is virtually life in and by the Holy Spirit. In order to be led by the Holy Spirit, we need to have a spiritual mind-set because the mind of sinful man leads us to death and the mind controlled by the Spirit leads us to life and peace. (8:6) Our mind-set plays a key role in our Christian life. What we think and how we think are very crucial in order to be led by the Holy Spirit. We also learned that we need to put to death the misdeed of the body, which means that we are to continue to crucify our sinful nature with its passions and desires. (8:13; Gal 5:24) Nobody becomes a spiritual man in one day. It requires a lot of time and struggle for us to grow mature in faith. And as we struggle to live by the Spirit of God, we can eventually bear fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

In today’s passage, 8:18-27, Paul continues to address the ministry of the Holy Spirit for the future glory of God’s children. In this section, Paul mentions a lot about groaning, the groaning of the creation (19-22), the groaning of Christians (23-25) and the groaning of the Holy Spirit. Generally the word “groan” means “a deep sigh”, an expression of pain, suffering and disappointment. Generally, we think that those who are led by the Holy Spirit should be always joyful and happy. Yet, in today’s passage, we learn that Christians who are led by the Holy Spirit can also groan a lot inwardly. In fact, we learn that groaning is a hallmark of God’s children on earth. Verse 23 reads, “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” After all, we learn that when we groan, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. Let’s learn how we can be led by the Holy Spirit even when we groan inwardly.

Look at verse 18. “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” This verse is an elaboration of verse 17, which reads. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs – heirs with God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” I believe that everyone here would agree that life is difficult. Why is life so difficult? Life is difficult mainly because we have to deal with many kinds of sufferings and difficulties in life. Although by nature, we don’t want to suffer, we have no choice. We all suffer even though the degree of suffering may differ from one another. Even after we become saved, we still have to suffer. Obviously, God didn’t make life easy for His children. In fact, suffering is a part of God’s redemptive program. Suffering is a necessary part of the Christian life, prerequisite courses, not electives. Paul says that no matter how difficult our sufferings may be, they are only temporary and small compared to the eternal glory that will be revealed in us. By saying this, Paul wasn’t minimizing our suffering. He was emphasizing the glory of our resurrection body that will be revealed in us. According to 1 John 3;2, when Jesus appears again, God’s children will become like him. What does it mean that we will be like Jesus? It means that we will changed and become like him, in a sense that we will be completely free from sin, righteous and immortal. (1 John 3:2) The Prophet Daniel spoke of believer’s glory, “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever.” (Da12:3)

However, Paul does not explain further about the glory of our resurrection body as he did in 1 Corinthians 15 and many parts of his letters. Instead, he talks a lot about groaning in the following verses. Why so much about groaning? What’s so good about groaning? We find that the groaning of nature, believes and the Holy Spirit in today’s passage is related to glorious hope, the resurrection of God’s children and the restoration of the entire universe.

First of all, the entire creation groans. Do you hear the nature groans? You can hear it better when you are close to the nature. What is the nature groan for? Look at verses 19-22. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Here, the creation that was subjected to frustration and waits in eager expectation refers to all the created things, except humankind, angels and Satan. Paul said that the whole creation has been groaning for God’s children to be revealed right up to the present time.

Why has the creation been groaning? It’s because the creation has been subjected to God’s curse, not by its own choice but because of man’s sin. (Gen 3:17-18) God’s creation, once perfect and declared to be good, is no more perfect and good. Man’s sin brought corruption and decay to the entire creation. The effects of man’s sin was catastrophic not only to humankind but also to the entire universe. The cursed ground began to produce thorns and thistles. The world became full of decay, disease, pain, death, natural disaster, pollution and all forms of evil. Although much of its beauty, splendor and benefits of the mother nature still remains, we know that we are living in a world of curse. It’s sad to see in the TV that baby deer or cute sheep is being chased, killed and eaten by the predators, and leftover to be eaten by birds and insects. The vicious cycle of the law of the jungle is mercilessly exercised everywhere in the world. But sometimes we do the same thing. When we see a spider or ugly insect in the room, most of us feel threatened. And without thinking much, we are tempted to kill them. Sometimes, it’s necessary to kill infected birds, chickens and ducks. What a frustrating world we live in! This curse will be removed from the creation only when God’s children are restored to their glorious freedom through Jesus’ second coming. That’s why the whole creation has been groaning in eager expectation for the son of God to be revealed. The phrase “eager expectation” means to wait with the head raised, stretching the neck and standing on tiptoe in order to see the object coming.

In verses 23-25, Paul says that even Christians who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, God’s security deposit for our redemption, groan inwardly for the same thing. Look at verse 23. “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first-fruit of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” In fact, when we read the Scriptures, especially Psalms, we are surprised to find that many of the psalmists sounded like they are disappointed people. They expressed their frustration, sorrow, bitterness and confusion very honestly. Many of them said, “This world is not fair. Wicked people seem to be prosperous while righteous people like me are suffering. I don’t understand God. Why me? Why it has to be me all the time?” Were they bad Christians that they groaned much? Were they considered rebellious? No. They were considered as good examples. Why? Because they were honest with themselves before God for they knew that God sees what is in their hearts. They didn’t just pray mechanically, “Father in heaven, Hallowed be your name.” They didn’t just try to behave better. They came to God just as they were with honest feelings, sorrows, despair and disappointment.

We groan much because we are still in our mortal body. Life in this cursed world is a big challenge to everyone. Christians are not an exception either. To some people, certain things are only a piece of cake. But to others, they are very hard to deal with. We groan when we don’t get good grades. We groan while we have to struggle to survive. These many people groan because of the rising prices, especially gas price. We groan when we don’t find real meaning in what we do. We groan because we are not fully satisfied with ourselves and in our relationship with others and even with our religion. We groan because of loneliness, we grown when we are tired and sick. We groan when our friends disappoint us. We groan when we are misunderstood by our loved ones. We groan when bad things happen to us. It’s hard to make smiles and be always happy when you have so much to struggle. Probably Paul groaned a lot in the journey of faith. Even though tried to please God, he was often mistreated by others, put in prison, beaten and falsely accused. I don’t think he was always happy about what he was going through. I believe that he groaned a lot. Especially he prayed a lot that God might remove the thorn in his flesh. But God didn’t remove the thorn. Instead, he told him, “Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.” (2 Cor 12:9) Why did God let him suffer with the thorn in his body? It was educational. God wanted Paul to depend on God not in himself.

Why does God allow such groaning among his children? Why doesn’t he do something about it? Does God care? Some of us may feel discouraged because our struggle seems never-ending. Does God know what we are going through. Yes, he does. Does God hear our groaning? Yes, he does. Then why does God do anything for us? We often hear people say that life is unfair. How many of you ever thought that life is unfair? I am sure many of you have, especially when you compare ourselves with others. When we try our best, we don’t get what we think we deserve. Instead, we get the opposite. How we respond in such case? We get angry and blame those who seem to be responsible for our sufferings. We think that life should be fair. If there were anyone who could say that life is unfair, it should be Job in the Bible, who was a righteous man and yet suffered a great deal. In one day he lost his wealth, all his ten children and even his own health. His wife told him, “Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) His closest friends didn’t help him much either. They kept telling him that his pains and sufferings were due to his hidden sin problem. When we think of Job’s suffering from a human perspective, yes, life was unfair for him. Throughout the book of Job, we see Job’ constant groaning in pains and confusion. Life was very difficult for him.

When we face suffering and especially when bad things happen to us, what should we do? First of all, we must know that we are not alone. God disciplines those he loves. We may say that life is unfair, yet we must know that God is not unfair because God is treating us as his beloved children. What’s the purpose of suffering? What does God want to achieve in us through groaning and suffering?
According to verses 24 and 25, we learn that through our suffering God wants to develop two qualities in us, hope and patience. Read verses 24 and 25. “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” Here, we learn that our suffering is educational in that it teaches us hope and patience – two spiritual qualities that can’t be gained any other way. Romans 5:3-5 reads, “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy spirit, whom he has given us.”
What is it that we are eagerly waiting for? Paul says in verse 23 that we are waiting for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Here, the phrase “adoption as sons” had a special meaning in the Roman world. People in Roman satellite countries eagerly wanted to obtain Roman citizen. It meant a lot to them. Many brilliant young people from satellite countries were adopted into aristocratic Roman families. However, before the actual adoption, the elected adoptees had to wait due to legal procedures. We Christians are like elected adoptees, waiting for the day of adoption in the kingdom of God. Right now, we are children of God living in decaying bodies. Our bodies are weak and vulnerable. We easily get sick and tired. We will die someday and our dead bodies will turn to dust. But in the day when we will be adopted as sons, we will be given an immortal body, which is sinless, righteous and incorruptible. We will enter into our full legal standing as the children of God.

For this glorious adoption to be fulfilled, the creation groans and we groan ourselves. But according to verses 26-27, the Spirit Himself groans as well, as He “intercedes for us.” Look at verses 26-27. “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.” In order to make clear how the Spirit works in us for the future glory, Paul turns to the subject of prayer. Although we are redeemed and absolutely secure in our adoption as God’s children, we do not know exactly how to pray as we should. Often our prayer is self-centered and nothing more than preaching to God. We are often distracted and our words of prayer don’t make much sense. There is also time when we cannot pray but can only cry out, “Oh, Lord, have mercy! O Lord, have mercy!” Sometimes, we only cry, “Abba, Father!” But that’s enough for God. God hears all our prayers. He can figure out exactly what we want and need. In fact, God knows what we need even before we pray. Even though we cannot articulate right sentences, we don’t need to worry because the indwelling Spirit speaks for us. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us in harmony with God’s will. Even the Christians who prays sincerely, faithfully and regularly cannot possibly know God’s perfect will concerning all of his own needs or the needs of others for whom he prays. We need to hear the whispering voice of the Spirit in us. One sign is that we pray for one thing and God leads us to a different way. Sometimes, God leads us to the opposite direction.
Does that mean our prayers are in vain? No. Does it mean that we shouldn’t even pray? No. It simply reveals our weakness and the limitation of our perspective in life. We must humbly admit that we see the part but the Spirit sees the whole. We see one little piece but the Spirit sees the big picture. What Paul is trying to emphasize here is that our help is from the Spirit Himself. The Spirit intercedes on our behalf in a way that is totally beyond human comprehension, with groans that word cannot express. In fact, we remain justified and righteous before God only because Christ and the Holy Spirit are advocating and interceding on our behalf before God our Father. If Christ and the Holy Spirit stop interceding for us, we would fall back into our sinful state of separation from God. In fact, it’s because of the interceding work of the Holy Spirit in us, we are secured in spite of our weaknesses. That’s way when we fall, we don’t fall hopelessly. We can get up again and again and continue to run the race of our faith. Therefore, we should not panic or despair. We don’t need to be afraid of having problems and facing suffering and difficulty. Because they are essential for our growth and for the future glory.

However when we face suffering and difficulty, we have choice to make. We can deny them, pretending that the problem is not there. When someone say, “How are you?” We say, “Great! I am doing great!” We know that we are not telling the truth. We can also get angry at God and become bitter toward Him or blame others for the problems we face, saying “It’s all their fault, not mine!” But it’s going to hurt not only ourselves but also our relationship with others, including our relationship with God. When we take this kind of approach toward suffering and problem, we will never improve or grow. Instead, we get trapped by them. However, we can also accept what happens to us ad begin to learn from it. And this way is the a truly Christian way of dealing with the difficulties of life. When trouble comes, we have only two choices. Either we can become a victim or becoming a student of what we face in our day-to-day lives. Being a student means asking ourselves, “What have I learned from this? What is God trying to say to me! How can I grow from this painful experience?” Of course, we don’t have all the answer for all the problems we face. We don’t always understand everything. But it does not matter because when our glory is revealed, we will come to know better or those things are not important any more. We should not suffer for nothing. We should suffer for Christ because our present suffering in and for Christ is not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

 
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