Our scripture reading please remain standing for our
scripture reading which is Romans not chapter 6.
Sorry. It's chapter
we are in chapter 8,
and we are doing verses
16 to 18. Romans chapter 8
verses 16 to 18. I'm actually going to
be
focusing
the sermon on the second part of verse
17
and, of course, verse 18 as well speaks
to that, but I'm reading from verse 16
to have the full context
of this section. So please listen now to
the reading of God's word beginning in Romans
chapter 8 verse 16.
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. This
is the word of the lord.
Thanks be to god. Please be seated.
In John chapter 9,
the disciples asked Jesus concerning a man that
was born blind.
They asked him if the man was born
blind because of his own sin
or if he was born blind because of
the sin of his parents.
Jesus answers that it was neither because of
the man's own sin
nor because of the sin of his parents
that he was born blind.
Rather, Jesus says that the reason
what the man was born blind
was so that the works of God
might be displayed in him.
Of course, the works of God are indeed
displayed in that man since Jesus goes on
to miraculously
restore his sight.
And yet the question the disciples asked Jesus
is one of is one that many Christians
continue to ask themselves
whenever they experience suffering.
Perhaps it's a question that you are asking
yourself today.
The question is,
am I being punished
for my sin?
Now our sins do in fact have consequences
for our lives
and for the lives of others.
Consequences that often entail
suffering and which can be painful
and have devastating effects.
But this does not mean that our suffering
is a punishment from God.
There's another reason for it.
Or is there actually
no reason behind it at all?
No purpose for it. So that our suffering
is meaningless and pointless
as unavoidable
as it is irredeemable.
This morning's sermon will answer these questions as
we consider what Romans
8 verses 17 to 18 teaches
about the suffering of Christians.
In fact, the main point in this morning's
sermon is this,
suffering in Christ
anticipates
glory with Christ.
Suffering in Christ
anticipates
glory with Christ. Or one might put it
another way and say that the cross
leads to the crown.
The cross leads to the crown.
And we will develop the sermons proposition under
2 headings.
The first one is why Christians experience the
cross
and the second
why Christians expect the crown.
And we're gonna spend almost all of our
time in this sermon in this first one,
why Christians experience the cross. I wanna talk
about
suffering in the life of a Christian and
why
we suffer as Christians. But we will talk
about the glory and we'll talk more about
the glory of that we have in Christ,
next week,
in the next section in Romans 8.
Alright. So let's look at the first heading,
why Christians experience the cross. In verses 16
17, again, Paul writes,
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.
Last week, we learned that the Holy Spirit
who dwells within Christians
gives us assurance of salvation
by testifying to our spirits that we have
been adopted, that we are now members of
the household of God,
and that we are now heirs with Christ
of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.
We neither merited nor in any way deserved
such a great blessing.
And yet through the perfect
atoning work of Christ, our sins have been
forgiven.
We have been saved
by grace through faith,
and we have been brought into God's family.
But now in the second part of verse
17,
after writing of the extravagance
of God's grace toward us,
Paul jolts us back to the painful reality
of this fallen world by introducing the topic
of the Christian's present suffering
and by linking it to the Christian's expectation
of future glory.
Paul writes that as Christians,
we shall enjoy an unimaginably
rich inheritance
as God's heirs
and that a day awaits us still when
we shall bask in God's glory
with this caveat
that we first suffer with Christ
in the here and now.
Well, that does dampen the mood a little
bit, doesn't it?
The reason Paul hits the brakes
and causes us to slow down and to
consider
the topic of suffering
is that Paul is a good pastor.
Paul knows that suffering is an integral
and unavoidable part of the human experience.
On this mother's day, the moms in this
room can confirm
that pain and suffering envelope
the very moment of birth.
And the first thing that we do when
we are born
is to cry.
The moment of death is likewise
enveloped by pain and suffering
and is followed by days months of mourning
and weeping.
And we don't only meet suffering at the
bookends of life of life
for it is a recurring character in the
pages
that tell the human story.
So Paul writes now about suffering
because suffering is part of life.
Whether we talk about it or not,
whether we understanding
understand it or not, suffering
is reality.
So let's talk about suffering
and see what we can understand about it.
The first thing to note is that it
is impossible
to meaningfully
explain suffering
according to an atheistic worldview.
There's irony here
since many people attribute their atheism
to the existence of suffering.
They say, how can a good god
allow suffering to exist?
Yet atheism is not a viable
alternative.
You see, if god does not exist,
then there is no ultimate purpose
neither for our lives
nor for humanity
nor for the universe.
Everything is the result
of blind forces
acting
on random molecules
without a purpose
and toward no end.
In such reality,
life is like a soup that is prepared
and stirred, but not by a cook,
obeying a precise recipe
that no chef concocted
and destined to be consumed,
but not enjoyed.
When such a world serves a cold dish,
there's no one to complain to
nor is a complaint even warranted
for no menu was ever presented,
and no dinner party was ever planned,
and no banquet
was ever prepared.
In the godless ecosystem
of mere survival,
the game
is about avoiding famine not about enjoying a
feast.
And in that planet of pointless possibilities,
a cold cup of soup will do.
So in the face of suffering,
an atheist might reasonably respond with indifference
Whether through philosophical systems like stoicism
or through religious systems like Zen Buddhism
or through the numbing influence of alcohol,
drugs, and entertainment,
the godless solution to suffering
involves
either emotional detachment
or more likely
the relentless pursuit of euphoria,
hoping to artificially
drown down
the sadness of reality
in the fantasy
of escapism
or to overwhelm suffering
by the brute force of a dopamine hit.
Is this your response
to suffering?
Do you believe
the answer to suffering
is to abandon your faith
and to become indifferent to suffering
altogether?
In River Out of Eden, evolutionary biologist and
atheist, Richard Dawkins writes,
the universe we observe has precisely the properties
we should expect if there is, at bottom,
no design,
no purpose,
no evil and no good,
nothing but blind,
pitiless
indifference.
And yet,
truth be told,
very few people regardless of worldview or creed
are indifferent
to either human suffering in general
or to their own suffering in particular.
In fact, far too often,
the atheist general posture toward life, including that
of Richard Dawkins,
whom I just quoted,
can be accurately described by the creed,
I don't believe in God
and I hate him.
The so called new atheism movement that began
2 decades ago and which found its main
proponents in men like Richard Dawkins,
Christopher Hitchens,
Sam
Harris, and Daniel Dennett
was not characterized by love,
joy, and peace
but by hate,
anger,
and belligerence.
The reason for this
is that life is hard
and suffering cannot be ignored,
and people are looking for answers and looking
for someone to blame.
This is why the most common response to
suffering is not indifference,
but incense.
After the sadness and grief
that accompany
suffering subside,
irritability
and indignation
typically set in whether one believes in god
or not.
Is this how you respond to suffering?
Do you become indignant?
Do you blame God for the misfortunes
and the tragedies that may befall you?
Again, atheism neither ameliorates the sting of suffering
nor does it redeem its effects.
Now if we are to find any consolation,
we must not run away from scripture rather
we are to run to scripture.
For we see in verses 17 18
that the bible does not avoid the topic
of suffering.
So according to the bible,
why does suffering exist?
And why must Christians
carry a cross?
The answer to the first question, why does
suffering exist, consists in one word,
sin.
Unlike the unsatisfying
answer or non answer of atheism, which says
that suffering is the coincidental
consequence
of chemistry and chaos.
The Bible explains suffering as the consequence of
cosmic treason.
In Genesis 3, we learned that suffering entered
the world after Adam sinned
because Adam broke the covenant
that God had made with him. A covenant
that promised eternal life to Adam and to
his posterity if Adam obeyed,
but death to Adam and to his posterity
if Adam disobeyed.
Because Adam broke the covenant
that God made with him,
suffering and death entered
into the world.
God pronounced a curse
against Adam
telling him that he would now only eat
by the sweat of his brow
and that the very ground which used to
feed mankind
would now swallow him up at death.
He pronounced a curse against Eve
telling her that she would suffer pain in
childbirth
and that her relationship to her husband would
be strained.
But significantly,
God also pronounced a curse against the serpent
condemning it to crawl on its belly,
but also foreshadowing
the ultimate demise of sin,
of suffering, and of death, promising that one
day the woman's offspring would crush the serpent's
head.
Therefore, suffering is not random.
Its reason is cosmic treason.
But God's word not only tells us
that man's sin is the source of suffering,
It also tells us the solution to suffering
is
the woman's offspring.
So the burden of suffering may indeed be
heavy and its yoke hard,
but God's word of hope makes the yoke
easy
and the burden
light.
Suffering is not the last word.
God's word is.
The answer to the second question, why must
Christians carry a cross,
will help us understand the extraordinary
hope that we have in Christ
and God's commitment
to complete the work that he has begun
in us.
Jesus virgin birth identifies him as the promised
and long awaited offspring of woman who would
one day
conquer sin,
conquer suffering,
and conquer death.
His death on Golgotha
which means the place of the skull in
Aramaic,
far from being his defeat was the moment
he drove the cross
through the serpent skull.
Jesus' victory was confirmed
when he was raised from the dead,
and our own victory was secured
when Jesus ascended into heaven where he ever
lives to intercede for us at the right
hand of the father.
Therefore, when Paul writes in verse 17
that we are now heirs with Christ,
provided we suffer
with him in order that we may also
be glorified with him,
He does not mean by this that our
blessedness
depends on our own suffering.
Christ has already suffered in our place.
He has already been judged for our sins.
He has already crushed the serpent.
He has already defeated sin and suffering and
death.
He has already secured our victory. All that
is done. It is finished.
What Paul means in verse 17
is that when we suffer as Christians,
our own sense of security
in Christ grows
even as the spirit bears witness with our
spirit that we are children of God, that
we are his heirs.
In other words,
although everyone suffers because of sin,
the suffering of Christians has a sanctifying effect
on us.
It is used by God to conform us
more and more to the image of Christ.
So how does suffering help us to grow
in our faith?
1st,
suffering teaches us that this world is not
our home.
In John 15 verses 18 and 19 Jesus
writes,
I mean, Jesus says,
if the world hates you,
know that it has hated me before it
hated you.
If you were of the world,
the world will love you as its own.
But because you are not of the world,
but I chose you out of the world,
therefore,
the world hates you.
Earlier this week,
I had dinner with a friend from Europe
who told me that he was perplexed when
Christians in this country talk about being persecuted
for their faith.
He said, when I grew up in Europe,
I rarely met Christians
and I never told people that I was
a Christian.
But here,
there are Christians everywhere
and there is no shame in identifying as
a Christian.
There's
a great this is a great country for
Christians, he said. So no Christian in America
should be worried
about persecution.
Although I wholeheartedly
agree that one of the great blessings of
being a Christian in America
is that we enjoy great liberty to worship
God and to practice our faith,
I do believe
that there are dark clouds gathering over Christianity
in our country.
I won't get into my assessment
now of the situation since it's beyond the
scope of this particular sermon.
However,
even though there is there are clear signs
of a storm on the horizon, not the
just the one that we hear now,
and perhaps even if your raindrops
have already begun, maybe God is trying to
tell us something,
by and large
it is still comfortable
to be a Christian in America.
This freedom is a great blessing, and we
must steward it well as long as it
lasts.
But
our freedom and comfort
also presents a great challenge for us. It
presents a great challenge to the growth of
our faith in this country
because it is easy to identify as a
Christian
because it cost us very little.
We believe we can curate
our Christian experience.
We take the aspects of Christianity
that we like,
meeting people with good family values,
finding nice friends for our kids,
listening to an inspiring sermon every once in
a while,
and perhaps even having an inside track to
network with potential business partners or with
potential clients.
We take these parts because we like them,
but we discard the parts that we don't
particularly enjoy.
Pursuing holy living,
all this talk about sin and repentance,
attending weekly worship,
attending Sunday school,
volunteering to serve,
tithing,
staying for fellowship, and so on. Plenty of
things make it hard to be a Christian.
We build our own Christian experience
because we can.
Because life in this country is so good
that we really don't feel like we need
the church.
We don't need
Christianity.
It's just nice to have.
Well, when suffering comes to us
not because of our sinfulness
or because of our foolish decisions
or because of other people,
and the fact that they're jerks sometimes,
when we suffer because of our faith,
the term of the self curated Christian experience
goes away.
If associating with Christ,
if obeying him
causes us to bear a cost,
then we will have to reflect on God's
love.
We will have to consider
Christ's sacrifice for us.
We'll have to rely on the Holy Spirit
to persuade us that the cost is worth
it
and to sustain us when things become
difficult.
In short,
when we suffer as Christians
we are disabused from the idea that our
joy
and happiness and peace are found
in the premises and promises
of our materialistic
culture.
And instead,
we rightly discern that only in Christ
can we find fullness of joy.
In the beatitudes,
in the beginning of Matthew 5, Jesus writes,
blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and
persecute you and utter all kinds of evil
against you falsely on my account.
Rejoice and be glad for your reward is
great in heaven, for so they persecuted the
prophets
who were before you.
It's easy for us to understand
that we are greatly blessed when we are
not being persecuted
and when we are not suffering because of
our faith.
But Christian,
you must know
that when you are persecuted
for righteousness sake,
that when you are reviled and slandered on
account of Christ,
that too is a great blessing.
And Jesus calls you to rejoice and be
glad in that moment
because it reminds you that your ultimate reward
is not here,
but in heaven.
It is good to enjoy
the correct perspective.
Another way in which suffering sanctifies us is
that it encourages us to pray.
In 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 verses 16 to
18,
Paul writes,
rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances.
But the truth is that when things are
not when things are going great
we are prone to forget to pray.
We're more likely to live life almost as
if we were self sufficient.
But when there is a crisis in our
life,
whenever we encounter suffering
especially when it is due to a circumstance
that is
entirely
outside of our control,
we will be much more ready to pray.
And this is true
whether the crisis is the result of a
religious
persecution against us
or whether it's simply the consequence of living
in a fallen world.
During our last presbytery meeting on April 8th,
we had hoped
that the presbytery would vote to officially
approve our church plant at that meeting.
This was not
the outcome that transpired when the presbytery for
various reasons voted to postpone the vote until
August.
It wasn't what we hoped for,
but one of the immediate benefits
from that outcome was that it gave those
of us who were there from our church
plant,
who were there at the meeting,
the opportunity to gather
and to pray
and to thank God
for his wisdom,
for his sovereign will
because he knows what is best for us
and he knows what will bring him the
most glory.
We can trust him with that and we
have to rejoice in that and we have
to thank him. He knows better than we
do.
And so we had that wonderful opportunity.
Adversity
pushed us to pray together
and it made the time that we had
more sweet.
It allowed us to feel God's presence with
us and it gave us the opportunity to
trust in his good and perfect will for
this church. Praise the Lord.
A third way in which suffering helps us
to grow in our faith is that it
reminds us of our sinfulness and gives us
an opportunity to repent.
I'm not saying that God is punishing us
when we suffer.
Again,
suffering because of our sin does have painful
consequences,
but our suffering is not God's punishment for
our sin
and we know that to be true because
Christ was already punished for our sin.
He was punished in our place.
But anytime we suffer, we are reminded
that this is a world that is in
rebellion against God.
And this realization also gives us an opportunity
to reflect
on our own sinfulness
and to repent of it and to ask
God for forgiveness.
Remember that only Jesus
was entirely without sin when he suffered.
And remember that it was your sin
and my sin
that led him to suffer on the cross.
So whenever you suffer unjustly
on account of Christ,
rejoice
because in that moment God has given you
the great privilege
of imitating Jesus.
And take the opportunity
when that happens
to repent of your own sin
which was imputed. It was credited
to Jesus on Calvary. He took it on.
He was punished
for your sin and my and for my
sin. He took our place.
As you do this,
God through the holy spirit will purify and
refine you,
causing you to grow in your hatred of
sin,
especially your own sin,
and in your love for your savior.
A 4th way in which suffering sanctifies you
is that it gives you a stronger grip
on your assurance of salvation.
When former boxing
heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson,
was asked if he was concerned
about his upcoming fight with the great Evander
Holyfield,
Tyson famously responded,
everyone has a plan until they get punched
in the mouth.
It's one thing to say one believes
in God's sovereignty,
in God's love,
in Christ lordship,
in the power of the Holy Spirit to
transform hearts, but it's another thing altogether
to confess Christ and curse Caesar
when you're in the middle of the Roman
Colosseum
and you can hear the lions roaring.
None of us want suffering.
None of us are called to look for
suffering.
However, we are told to expect it
and we are called to be faithful when
the moment of trial comes.
Suffering is a severe mercy in this.
It gives us the opportunity
to test our trust in God
and to test our love for Christ
and to test our reliance on the Holy
Spirit.
And if we endure that trial
and we persevere in our faith,
then our assurance of salvation will only get
stronger.
During the Last Supper that Jesus shared with
his disciples,
Jesus took a moment to privately speak to
Judas
and separately
to Peter.
To Judas, Jesus said,
what you are going to do,
do quickly.
But to Peter Jesus said,
Simon, Simon,
behold,
Satan demanded to have you that he might
sift you like wheat.
But I have prayed for you
that your faith may not fail you.
Perhaps the most significant reason why Peter who
denied Jesus three times and even cursed him
did not apostatize
while Judas did
is that Jesus prayed for Peter.
Dear Christian,
don't miss this.
In that same room where Jesus celebrated the
last supper with his disciples,
he prayed for them,
he prayed for Peter,
but also and significantly
he prayed for
you. Look at what Jesus prays and for
whom he prays during what's known as the
high priestly prayer
of Jesus
in John 17.
Beginning in verse 20, we read this is
Jesus praying.
I do not ask for these only. That
is, I do not ask for the disciples
only.
But also for those who will believe in
me through their word
that they may all be 1 just as
you,
father,
are in me
and I in you
that they also may be in us
so that the world may believe
that you have sent me.
The glory
that you have given me,
I have given to them
that they may be 1
even as we are 1.
He prays for those who will believe in
him through the word of the disciples. Jesus
is praying for each and every Christian in
this room.
And he says that he has given you
the glory
that the father
gave him.
This brings us to our second heading
with which we will conclude the sermon why
Christians can expect the crown.
In verse 17,
Paul wrote that Christians who suffer for Christ
can be certain that they will also be
glorified with him.
Paul complements this concept in verse 18 where
he writes,
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'll talk more about verse 18 and the
verses that follow next week especially how they
relate to the glory that is to be
revealed.
But right now
I want to leave you with this thought.
For the Christian,
suffering
in Christ anticipates
glory with Christ.
Be encouraged
even when you suffer because the cross leaps
to the crown.
Inevitably,
the word glory is not easily defined,
but it has to do with the weight
of something or of someone's
worthiness
or holiness
or honor
or with his his brilliance or radiance or
splendor.
All of these things
are part of what the word glory
means.
And Paul writes that if you were to
put the substance of your sufferings on a
scale
and put the substance of your future glory
on the opposite part of the balance,
you would realize that it is no contest.
That the substance of suffering as significant as
that suffering may be
is not in the same league
as the glory that is already yours in
Jesus Christ.
Paul puts it this way in 2nd Corinthians
chapter 4
verses 17 and 18.
He writes,
for this light momentary affliction is preparing for
us
an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison
as we look not to the things that
are seen,
but to the things that are unseen.
For the things that are seen are transient,
but the things that are unseen
are eternal.
Dear Christian,
your suffering is light, but your glory will
be weighty.
Your suffering is momentary,
but your glory is eternal.
Your suffering is earthly and will pass away,
but your glory is heavenly
and will last forever.
And you can be sure of this because
you are united to Christ
who has endured the cross and has received
the crown,
and it is with him. As it is
with him,
it shall be with you. Your union with
Christ
through a spirit wrought faith
guarantees it.
You have been sealed
by the holy spirit.
I remember hearing
the late RC Sproul
who was one of the sharpest theologians and
one of the most gifted teachers of our
time. I remember hearing him tell a story
about a trip that he made to Eastern
Europe in 1990.
He said that he had been invited to
do a series of lectures in 3 countries
in Czechoslovakia,
in Hungary, and then finally in Romania.
These three countries were Soviet satellite states at
the time.
As they were leaving Hungary and they were
gonna go into Romania, they were warned that
the border guards in Romania were quite hostile
to Americans and so they should be prepared
to be hassled and perhaps even arrested at
the border.
So they boarded the train with some trepidation
and they reached,
the border, with Romania. And at that moment,
2 guards jumped onto the train.
They couldn't speak English, but they pointed to
the passports and to the luggage.
As they scowl, they rudely gestured for the
Americans to open their luggage.
Suddenly,
the their boss appeared, a burly officer who
spoke some broken English.
And he noticed that one of the women
in the group had a paper bag and
that there was something
that was,
peeking out of that bag as it were.
He said, what's this in the bag?
Then he opened the bag and pulled out
a bible.
RC Sproul says that in that moment, he
thought, uh-oh.
We might be in big trouble.
The officer began leafing through the Bible quickly,
going through various passages.
Then he stopped,
looked at r c and at his wife,
both of whom were holding American passports,
and he said to them, you are not
American.
They were confused,
concerned, a bit frightened
at what might happen next.
But then the officer smiled
and he said, I'm not Romanian.
Then he pointed to the bible,
gave it to RC and said, read what
it says.
And RC read the text which was Philippians
chapter 3 verse 20 and it says our
citizenship
is in heaven.
The guard was a Christian.
He turned to his subordinates and said, leave
these people alone. They're okay. They're Christians.
RC gave a sigh of relief
and thanked God for his mercy.
Our suffering in this life is not random
or pointless.
Through it, God is preparing us for an
eternal weight of glory for a crown
forged
by the loving work of our savior.
The crown is radiant because it reflects the
splendor of its maker.
It's kept secure in heaven
in the country that we belong to.
But I say,
we let his glory shine here in this
country,
even if imperfectly
as we reflect the attributes of the master
craftsman
by building a community
that radiates love, joy, and peace,
and exudes patience, kindness,
and goodness,
and displays faithfulness,
gentleness, and self control.
The cross leads to the crown.
So let us not tire in proclaiming the
cross
that the glory of the crown
might shine more brightly.
Let's pray.