Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. Amen
Romans 8 is probably my favorite chapter of the Bible. There are individual verses I like from all over the Bible, but this is my favorite chapter, I think. The chapter starts out with the great declaration, ‘There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” I’ve told you before how and why that verse is so important; it’s one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible. Paul builds on that, declaring we are heirs with Christ through His death and resurrection.
But, Paul says, that gift of being heirs is couched in suffering this side of heaven, in this life. I know suffering is not a popular topic. We do almost anything and everything we can to alleviate suffering, both for ourselves and for our loved ones. Last week, we talked about how suffering is part of the created world and part of the human condition. Mankind along with the world in which we live, we all groan in anticipation of the glory which is to come in the last days. We suffer illness, job loss, shattered homes, broken relationships, heat, drought, flood, and hurricanes. Being a Christian does not exempt us from these things. But being a Christian does come with its own set of suffering. Classmates laugh at you for praying before you eat at school. A co-worker complains about you to HR because you have a cross on your cubicle wall and play Christian music on your computer speakers. Family meals become tense when you speak a Christian worldview into current events. Our groans join those of creation as we look forward in hope to the return of Christ Jesus in the culmination of that which was won at the cross. “I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come.” This is most certainly true.
But there may be some who misunderstand this suffering. You hear this in the world, don’t you. Why isn’t God doing something about…fill in the blank. Why isn’t God doing something about the unnecessary suffering in the Ukraine, or among cancer patients, or people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. Why are children traded into sex work or abused at home? Why do people go hungry? If God is good and all-powerful, why doesn’t He do something? You can double that for Christians. Why does God allow ISIS to torture Christians in such horrific ways? Why must the church stay hidden, underground in China? Why are Christians mocked, abused, and assaulted for standing up for the truth of God’s Word in our own country? Does God care? Or, some even wonder, is God Himself against us?
No, Paul says. He rejects the idea that these sufferings are God exercising His wrath and anger against us. That was complete at the cross when God’s entire wrath was poured out on Jesus. While we cannot say how and why God allows such things to happen – they are hidden from us in His perfect will – we do know that He uses them for good. Having been justified by God, the suffering isn’t to make us holy. We are already declared holy through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
So, why then? Theologians and lay people have wrestled with this for millennia. It’s one thing to wrestle with it in Bible class, or with a cup of coffee, or even in a sermon. It’s a whole ‘nother thing when it’s you or your loved one who suffers. In those moments, it’s very easy to turn clenched fists to the heavens and demand of God an explanation, or at least a deferment of the pain.
There isn’t a simple answer because suffering isn’t a simple question. Sometimes, God uses suffering to strip away all the gods (lower-case g) from our lives so that there is nothing left but Jesus. Sometimes He uses it to humble us; other times, to test and strengthen faith. Sometimes, He allows Satan to use it to tempt us. Often, those two go together. Sometimes it’s for the benefit of the Church, the community of saints. Sometimes it’s to cleanse the Church from falsehood and false teachers.
Understand this: the verse does not say that all these things like tribulation, distress, famine, persecution, or danger are good. Likewise, it doesn’t say that all of the suffering of the world comes directly from the hands of God, as if He is to be blamed for it all, like we are following in the footsteps of Adam and Eve: it’s you; no, you; no, YOU, God! What these verses do teach is that God remains in control over His entire creation, even over the forces of evil, chaos, loss, and destruction which all seem contrary to God’s good will. These things that cause such suffering - natural disasters, disease, human’s sinfulness against others – they are not “good” in and of themselves. In the face of such suffering, and pain, and loss, and chaos, and destruction, however dire and terrifying they may be, Scripture affirms this: God’s control over evil is so complete that he could even claim it for His own [holy] purpose. In other words, God is even Lord over evil. Remember the children’s song, “He’s got the whole world in his hands”?
Perhaps this may be of help: Verse 28 reads, “We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good.” Our concept of “for good” is through our lens, our view, our perception, our concept of good. It is often is very short-sighted, temporal, and worldly. Our idea of good is also quite subjective, as if Paul said, “all things work together for my good and my convenience.” There are many gifts that God gives that are good – daily bread, First-Article gifts abound all around us. Think of these as good with a lower-case G: they are good for our daily lives. Now, think of God’s gifts that lead to eternity, Second and Third Article gifts, like Word, Water, Bread, Wine, the Church as the body of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, the gift of salvation itself, eternity with Jesus at the foot of the Father. Now, think of these as Capitol G Good, as in Resurrection-to-Eternal Life Good. Even these, we sometimes question – how is a handful of water good? What good does it do? But God promises that this gift, seemingly so insignificant, does Good – capitol G – good things for those who are baptized. Wyatt received Good gifts today. Simple water plus God’s Word gives forgiveness, life and salvation. We get a taste of them now, but we are looking forward to Christ’s return where we will have them in all of their holy, rich fullness. So, when we read “all things work together for good,” think of it as God uses all of these things - these sufferings and struggles this side of heaven, like tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, and sword - God uses these toward Good - with a capitol G - in the resurrection of all flesh. If you still need another way to think of this, another way to remember it, “good” is an old English derivation from God. So, bidding someone “good day” was a blessing: it is God’s day. Even “good bye” was a blessing: God be with you. So, when Paul says these are for good, or better, toward good, substitute God for good and you discover suffering points you toward God.
You can only understand this through the lens of the Cross. There is nothing good (remember – using that distinction about lower-case g in this world) about surrendering your only-begotten Son. There is nothing good about the cross. There is nothing good about a truly innocent man being sentenced to die, a perfect death for imperfect people. There is nothing good about jealous, wicked men determining to eliminate Jesus as their competition. But God takes that which is wicked and sin-stained and uses it for Good, Resurrection-to-Life capitol-G Good, for the redemption and justification of God’s elect. The cross becomes the means of altar of salvation; the Son’s death becomes the way to eternal life; the holy and innocent death becomes the atonement price; the Father’s surrender of His Son welcomes all of all of us into sonship and daughtership through divine adoption. In the cross, you see how God worked all things toward good, so much so that we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
I had to think about that “more than conquerors” part. How can we be more than conquerors? Let’s say you’re in the Roman army. You’ve conquered a neighboring country. But now what? You either have to go on the attack against another enemy, or you have to prepare to defend against a counter attack. You can never enjoy the victory lest you become the conquered. Paul says we are more than conquerors because the victory in Christ is full, complete, and finished. Yes, satan is having his moment, and yes, as we heard last week, there is still suffering this side of heaven, but – remember - all things work toward Good with a capitol G and the resurrection awaits us.
How certain is this truth? So certain that Paul gives a whole litany of neither/nors: 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. If you want a verse to memorize, I might suggest this one to you. It’s verse 38 & 39 of Romans 8. These words are the perfect bookend to this marvelous chapter. Verse one began, “There is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus,” and it concludes with nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Those last words are key for you as a child of God who struggles in this life under the cross on this side of the resurrection. When life is hard, in the midst of suffering and struggling, when you hear creation groaning, when your groans join in prayer-filled anticipation and hope of the resurrection to come, and when you find your prayers more-and-more echoing St. John in the Revelation, “Come quickly, Lord Jesus,” in those moments and the crises rise, then suddenly only one things matters. Nothing – absolutely nothing, Paul says - 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. “When life narrows down, and crisis comes, and suddenly only one thing matters. And suddenly, only one thing matters, and there in the narrow place stands Jesus” (Rev. Arnold Kuntz. Devotions for the Chronologically Gifted).
Amen.
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