September 2-4, 2023 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Romans 8:18-25 (EHV) “IT’S ALL WORTH IT!”

 

PENTECOST

September 2-4, 2023

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Romans 8:18-25 (EHV)

 

“IT’S ALL WORTH IT!”

1.     Suffering

2.     Groaning

3.     Waiting

 

          Is it worth it? Sometimes the answer is yes. On a recent vacation my daughter and I were hiking to see some waterfalls. The hike was getting long. No waterfalls. We met some people coming back. “Is it worth it?” we asked. “Oh yes, you will not be disappointed,” was the response. And we were not. The beautiful falls God created were worth the sore feet and temporary shortness of breath. Sometimes the answer is No. Is it worth it? One more drink and a drunk driving ticket. No, that’s not worth it. The word of God we are looking at comes from Romans chapter 8. I hope all of you have that bookmarked in your Bibles. It is filled with comfort and encouragement for all seasons of life. This section hits head on the truth that life is not always easy for followers of Christ. We experience suffering, groaning, waiting. So, is it worth it? Is it worth to pick up your cross and follow Christ?

          Is the suffering worth it? The Apostle Paul wrote this. “For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. ¹⁹In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope ²¹that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” For the followers of Christ life is filled with sufferings. We have the hurts, heartaches and problems common to all people living in the sin filled world. Following Christ does not give you immunity to cancer, Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons. It does not give you a get out of sickness free card or guarantee no broken bones, or broken relationships. Our world is ruined by sin. Our bodies are ruined by sin. We will have those sufferings and the extra suffering that comes with the hurt when we don’t understand why God allows certain things. Following Christ does not divorce proof your marriage or make your kids act like angels. It does not protect you from mean girls in high school. We are sinners living with sinners and some sins other people do hurt us, deeply, and the hurt can hurt more as you understand God could end those hurts, but He doesn’t. Deliberately following Christ in your life brings more suffering. We get extra when the society you live in is not Christian In case you have not noticed our society is turning more and more anti-Christian. Every sin is to be welcomed and tolerated but calling something God says is wrong sinful, well now, we can’t tolerate that. Watch the way the media treats churches, schools, individuals who make moral stand based on what God says. Sufferings are coming. Followers of Christ also feel the angst of the personal struggles against our own sin. Guilt and shame are not fun. The unbeliever does not have that. We do. Suffering. Is it worth it?

          Groaning. Is it worth it? “For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. ²³And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” Here and in the previous section Paul reminded us we are not alone in suffering, groaning and waiting. He pictured the rest of Creation like a person. Creation suffers because it does not work like it’s supposed to. God’s original plan for creation was never to let it be destructive with winds whipping fires and hurricanes and viruses making people sick. Just like we don’t like the sin that comes from us, Creation doesn’t like being destructive. And it groans. “No, not again! This is not what God created me to do! When will it end?” We groan too. Now there are different kinds of groaning we do. “All right students, tomorrow we will have test.” Groan! “Yes, you can play your video game, after you clean your room.” Groan! If you’ve ever heard a Mr. Kasten dad joke. Groan! That’s not the groaning we have to do as believers. Kids on bikes in hit and run accidents. Another senseless shooting. Dirty politicians getting away with it. Another hit to the family finances. Loved ones dying too soon. People who want to go to heaven hanging on. Another drug overdose. God blasphemed and kicked out of our nation and God does nothing about it. We groan. How long O Lord? Is it worth it?

          And then there is the waiting.  “Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? ²⁵But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.” “The waiting is the hardest part,” an old rocker crooned in a song that probably is not about something good. But in many ways, he’s right. Waiting is hard. You wait when something is out of your control. You wait when there is nothing that you can do to change the situation. Think of waiting for Christmas when you are kid, a medical test result for an adult. It’s all out of your hands meaning it is in God’s hands which we know is a good thing but…there’s a little Veruca Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in all of us. “I want it and I want it now!” But God says wait. There will be justice. When? Wait. Those who make your lives miserable for following me will pay. When? Wait. Your broken heart will stop hurting. I will give you peace. When? Wait. Your body will work the way it’s supposed to. When? Wait. Satan won’t get away with it. Evil will not triumph. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Jesus Christ as Lord. When? Wait. All of this waiting for what we do not have and do not see. Is it worth it?

          Snowflakes. Might seem an odd thing to mention in the midst of a hot sunny weekend and on the heels or a hotter more humid one. But I’m not talking about the snowflakes that fall from the sky and we want at least for Christmas! In modern usage calling someone a snowflake means they are overly sensitive and will melt when the heat is on. Satan wants you to be a spiritual snowflake. He wants you to look at your sufferings that God could take away and does not melt your love for God. Satan wants you to let your groaning at the unfairness of it all and your community and country turning its back on God and you and God does nothing about it, to melt in your faith, to give up, be hopeless and ultimately turn against your God who loves you. But God’s Good News for you is you are no snowflake. You are not going to give up because you know the suffering, the groaning, the waiting, it’s all worth it!

How do we know? We keep our eyes on Jesus. In the book of Hebrews we are told to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus who “…for the joy set before him endured the cross scorning its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2) Suffering. Groaning. Waiting. That’s Jesus on the cross paying for our sin. If ever someone would be justified in giving up, giving in to the Devil’s temptation to take the easy way out. But He didn’t. It was worth it to Him. Joy was set before Him, the joy of winning us for God, the joy of having us with Him in heaven. It was all worth it to Him to have you. And that’s why we consider our suffering and groaning and waiting worth it. Glory is coming! “For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” Creation is looking  “to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Twice Paul reminded us we are “eagerly waiting.” Heaven. It’s better than a waterfall. It’s better than a baby. It’s better than we can imagine. Just take the happiest you have felt, the best you have physically felt, the closest to God you have ever felt multiply it times a billion and you are far short of how great it will be. The Lord Jesus will make everything new. A new heaven and a new earth. New relationships and new bodies. And the Devil thinks were going to snowflake on that? No. Whatever we have to put up with to faithfully follow Christ, it’s all worth it! Because He is. Amen.