Groaning and Glory

Groaning and Glory

by Zuxing Chen

2012

Scriptures: Romans 8:16-27

Good morning, everyone. I feel so honored to be here to share God’s word with you.

Shall we start with a word of prayer? Let’s bow down our heads and pray:

O Father God, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to share your word with my dear sisters and brothers in the Lord in English congregation. O Lord Jesus, please cleanse me with your blood so that I can be a clean vessel. Holy Spirit, minister to each and every one of us, speak to us right where we are, and make us be what Father God  intends us to be. In Jesus’ precious name we ask it, Amen.

Ok, I’m eager to share with you what I have learned from this passage that Brother *** just read. I gave my sermon a name, called Groaning and Glory, two Gs.

I share three points today. Number one:

1. God’s people were subjected to have sufferings in present times

Have you ever heard this joke about the 3 Rings of Marriage? Engagement Ring; Wedding Ring; and SuffeRing.

In the very beginning of today’s passage, in verse 18 Paul mentioned this third Ring---Suffering.

I have some bad and good news for you in terms of our sufferings. The bad news is: A suffering-free life does not exist in our present times.  However, the good news is: suffering is part of God’s plan for his children to eagerly wait for something glorious.

Ever since Adam and Eve sinned and disobeyed God, both the nature and man were cursed. This nature stands under the judicial sentence of God—a sentence of universal futility and corruption---- that’s why we have floods, famines, earthquakes, tsunami, H1N1, SARS, and this list goes on. Then how about man? God subjected man to suffering, no one is excluded, not even the precious children of God: Singles and married couples alike.

No matter who you are, Non-Christians and Christians alike, everyone has to face disease and death sooner or later. No matter how much you pay attention to your diet, how much physical exercise you do every day, you are getting older and older, something you just can’t stop. I guess this is what “decay” means. But for Christians, we have also the battle between the flesh and spirit, we have the pain in the process of sanctification, except that we in our fallen state are enslaved to flawed perception, misconceived goals, foolish blunders, and spiritual numbness, so we suffer and suffer a lot. We groan quite often.

What kind of sufferings are you dealing with right now? Being sick, losing your job? Uncontrollable burst of anger toward your kids? Never seem to conquer pornography?

Let me be real with you: I really don’t want to be a hypocrite but so many times I feel that I am.  I am not satisfied with my current circumstances, I yearn for something better. In addition, I really don’t want to be Pharisee, but so many times I just behave like that. I am also frustrated with the slow pace of my spiritual growth.  I long for a deeper relationship with God, and I long for a more mature spirituality. I long for a bigger heart, full of love. I have a dream of what I supposed to be, but I just can’t.

Let me pose the question to you once again:  what are your sufferings? How do you deal with your sufferings? Do you try to escape ignoring, hiding like an ostrich? Do you drink heavily to forget it? And Tell yourself that the sufferings is just a bad dream?

According to the passage we just read, we Christians need to deal the sufferings differently by embracing it.  We should face them, we should look beyond them.     

Cause suffering is part of God’s plan for his children to eagerly wait for something glorious.

And like the pains of childbirth, on the one hand, our sufferings are true, acute, severe, on the other hand, our sufferings are not in vain but full of hope, which leads us to the second statement/point of my sermon:

2. God’s people have the privilege to anticipate a sure future glory

Paul reminded his readers in verse 17 that sharing in the glory of Christ in the future required sharing “in His sufferings” in this life. But after careful figuring Paul concluded in verse 18 that our present sufferings are far outweighed by the glory that will be revealed in us. This future glory is so great that present sufferings are insignificant by comparison.

Do you have hope? What is the content for your hope? Are you hoping for a better life, a better job, a better salary, a better relationship with spouse/kids, a bigger house?

It’s OK to hope a better life now and here. But you will miss a lot if you don’t have the hope that Paul describes in today’s passage.

Some of you may get confused: Paul has already said we are adopted in many other occasions; here he says we’re waiting for our adoption. He’s already said we’ve been redeemed. Here he says we’re waiting for our redemption. My understanding is:   We are heirs, but we have not yet received the fullness of the inheritance. We have within us the first fruits of the Spirit, but we have not yet received the fullness of what we will be in the revealing of the sons of God.

With that in mind, I believe that Paul talks here about that the day when Christ returns. That day, all pain and disease and deformity and disability will vanish. That day, all sin, which so often takes the body for its base of operations, will disappear. That day, in a mysterious and wonderfully spiritual way we will have new and glorious bodies. That day, God’s children will see Christ face to face, they will see an overwhelming, all-satisfying beauty and greatness.

Just imagine one day when every crutch will be carved up, and every wheelchair melted down into medallions of redemption. ***, ***,***,***,*** and all the others among us will do cartwheels through the Kingdom of Heaven. Isn’t that cool?

But so often, people including me are too occupied by the things of this present age to remember the glorious future. As a result, few people lead the abundant life that Jesus has promised to His followers and few people experience the real joy of life.

On the other hand, we are so concentrated on the pain that the pain seems getting bigger and bigger. As a result, we complain to the Lord that why you are so hard on me.

So sisters and brothers, don’t focus on the pains you have now, but focus on the glory to come. The more you anticipate the future glory, the more strength you will find to overcome your sufferings. 

We have already said that God’s people were subjected to have sufferings in present times, we have also said that God’s people have the privilege to anticipate a sure future glory, do you know as God’s children, we have another privilege, this leads to my third point:

3. God’s people have Holy Spirit to help them in their weakness

Verse 16 says the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  

And Verse 26 says the Spirit helps us in our weakness. I can testify for that.

Year 2009 my family went thru a very “bumpy” journey.

Earlier last year, my wife’s doctor scheduled a medical operation on March 17 to cut part of her uterus because of severe infection. Just one day before the operation, I drove my wife to see her doctor first, and then to Memorial Hermann Hospital to take some blood for preparation. Late that afternoon, we got a phone call from the doctor. We were told that my wife was with a child!

We hadn’t anticipated another child, and honestly the idea took a little getting used to for both my wife and I. But after the shock wore off, our excitement and anticipation of another baby grew.

Everything went smooth until one day my wife Lijie had a profuse bleeding. She went to see her doctor and after a series of checkups, the doctor informed her that the baby had gone. In other word, my wife had a miscarriage. The baby went back to the Lord after finishing his/her earthly mission---healing all the infection inside my wife’s uterus. Now that was a difficult time for our family, but I have to say that it was especially tough for my wife Lijie. She had already spent 7 weeks getting to know our child in a way that I could not. The sense of loss was profound. Our family, individually and collectively groaned over the fact that we didn’t get to know this precious child like we had anticipated.

We were sad, and perplexed.

As an English saying said: it never rains, it pours. Not long after my wife’s miscarriage, my two kids and I got involved in a severe car accident. Both cars involved were severely damaged, ours even got totaled. My right hand got burned because of the airbag explosion. It’s not my fault, but frankly speaking, I don’t think I was concentrating on driving when the car accident happened. I was groaning over the loss of our third baby.

But as is always the case, God has faithfully granted his comfort to us. He did not leave us alone. During the time following Lijie’s miscarriage and my car accident, we were overwhelmed by the people who reached out to comfort us. Prayers, emails and words of comfort filled our experience of grief with hope.

As a matter of fact, I had one more car accident and my wife had three more car accidents from June to November. Altogether we had 5 car accidents last year. I mean real car accidents, not including one flat tire one day around 1 o’clock early in the morning. The Lord sent an angel policeman to send me back home. Thanks to the Lord, even though we lost a child and a car, and we had a lot difficult times last year, we did not lose heart, faith, hope. We don’t have any credit, may all the glory be to the Lord.

I do believe that in all things including bad things like miscarriage and car accidents, God works for the good of those who love him, just as verse 28 says.

Up to now, we can really count those accidents as blessings, since the relationship between us and God, and the relationship between my wife and I are getting much stronger and better than before.

Can’t imagine how terrible it would be if these things happened 15 years ago when both of us did know Jesus yet! but thanks to the Lord for his salvation! And according to Ephesians 1:13-14: once we were born again, we were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption

Holy Spirit in this age does not completely take away the groaning of unredeemed bodies. However, He is the first fruit, as verse 23 says, also the seal, and the down-payment of redemption. Holy Spirit is the foretaste of the glory in this present age!

What a gift from our Father! Through Him we can foretaste the glory of future! What’s more, Holy Spirit intercedes for us, according to God’s will and for God’s glory, just like verse 27 says. I don’t know the details how Holy Spirit prays for us, it’s a mystery. But I know He does intercede for us.

Not only does Holy Spirit intercede for us, He also inspires us with hope again and again IN our groaning. He empowers us to endure to the end all the difficult times;

What a blessing we have! May God’s children---you and me cherish this wonderful gift from the Father, and don’t try to rely on ourselves anymore, but be filled by the Holy Spirit and lead a life of eternal hope.

Conclusion:

Dear sisters and brothers, everyone has sufferings and everyone groans, but for God’s children, suffering is part of His plan for us to eagerly wait for the reunion with the Father in heaven. Plus, as God’s children, we have been granted two privileges: # 1, we have a sure bright glorious future, #2, we have Holy Spirit to help us. Let us remind each other: don’t become so preoccupied with the setbacks happened in this present age that we forget the glory of the age to come.  Don’t ever lose our mindset of eternity. Don’t put our eyes on our sufferings, but put our eyes on the future glory, and with a thankful heart give ourselves over to the Holy Spirit. Let Him minister to us and help us as He pleases.  By doing so, God’s will will be fulfilled in us and through us.

Let’s all arise and sing a hymn together as a response. I ask Pastor *** come up to pray for us after the hymn.