Text: Romans 8:18-28
THE PRESENTS OF CHRIST: HOPE
Christianity is a religion of hope. The New Testament writers are constantly celebrating this hope and giving thanks to God for the gift of hope. So Peter writes in his first letter:
And in the book of Hebrews we read that we Christians have a hope because of God faithfulness that is like "an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." (Hebrews 6:19). Isn't that a wonderful image - we have a hope that is like an anchor, keeping us from being blown into the rocks during the storms of life. Now there are many in this world who have no hope. They look at life with despair and they look at death with fear and uncertainty. They haven't got a hope.
This is the truth we read in Ephesians 2:12:
Without Jesus Christ, my friends, there is no hope. To be sure there are some who put their hope in the progress of humanity, the belief that humanity is progressing, becoming a better people, more peace loving, more civil - an idea that was first introduced in the middle 1800s. But surely that idea has died with two world wars, the horror of Communism and now the wave of terrorism. There can be no progression of the human soul, the human mind, will and morals without the life-giving power of Jesus Christ. It is not until the heart of humanity is changed that the civilization of the world will be changed. Well, what is the basis of our hope and what is the content of our hope? To discover the answer to these questions we open our Bibles to our text to Romans chapter 8. James Boice calls this chapter the greatest chapter in the Bible. It certainly is one of my favorites for it ends with that great crescendo, There is nothing in all creation that is able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. But it is to the beginning and middle of this chapter that we look to today. What is the basis of our hope?
The basis of the Christian hope is the person of Jesus Christ. No longer do we worry about meeting the high standards of the law in order to win God's favour, Jesus Christ has met them for us (verses 1-4). He is our hope. No longer do we need to fret about the power of sin over us, for through faith in Jesus Christ we are released from sin's power (verses 5-14). He is our hope. And no longer do we worry about our standing before God because now through faith in Christ we are called children of God (verses 15-17). The basis of our hope is the reality of Jesus Christ, the reality of His birth, His death, and his resurrection. Some may say well this is just wishful thinking. Oh no - this is much more than wishful thinking. I remember when I was young, I wanted to be a football player. I was convinced that I could play for the Toronto Argonauts. I was sure that I would one day. I was certain I would play for the blue and white and I made my dream public to all my family. I knew what I wanted to do and was sure it was going to be a reality until one day my brother looked at me and said, "You haven't got a hope!" He was right. I was a short, stocky kid, with no athletic skills. I didn't have a hope - I had a wish.
It was nothing more than what I would like to happen - there was no realities upon which to base my thinking. It was only wishful thinking. But hope - hope is based upon realities, the realities of Christ's cross and his resurrection through whom we are now called God's children. And there is that amazing passage:
Wow, joint heirs with Christ - that just blows me away! That God would make us one of his children is enough but that he would cut us in on the inheritance is amazing! And really I don't think many of us believe that. We think that we have been born to regular parents, with no claim to any other inheritance except what we may receive from our earthly parents. But the reality is we have a Heavenly Father and what we will receive from Him will make whatever we may receive from our parents to be mere nothing. So this is the basis of our hope - the reality of Jesus Christ and how through faith in Him we are forgiven, made new and are called God's children entitled to same inheritance as our Lord. Now what is the content of this hope? What do we hope for? We could quickly say, we are hoping for a home in heaven with God. But Paul's answer is deeper than that - he says in verse 18 that this vision of glory is so great that it makes our present suffering, as difficult and as painful and as hard as it is - and we know that Paul knew suffering - but he says, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us." Sometimes our hope for the next world is so small - we have these stinted expectations, we hope that we might squeak into heaven by the grace of God, that there might be a house there in some back corner of heaven with our name on it and he might allow us a little plot in all of heaven to do some gardening - and we think, "After all who are we?" And Scripture explodes all that and says you are a child of God, a co-heir with Christ and you will share in His glory. And this glory which belongs to Jesus by right is given to you by grace - this glory the place next to God's heart is going to be yours also through faith in Christ. And this makes our present suffering seem so small, even bearable. It is a share in the glory of Christ - we did nothing to earn it, and we need to receive it humbly for sure, but can you understand the massive generosity of our God. It's not this little piddly amount that He puts in our hands, it is a share in the glory of the Son of God. Doesn't this hope change the way we deal with adversity and suffering? We can now say, "I will pick up my cross and follow Jesus, I will deny myself for His sake, I will endure suffering - let life bring whatever it will I will endure because - I have a sure and certain hope in an inheritance of glory.” Paul isn't denying the reality and pain of suffering he is simply saying our inheritance is so much greater and that helps us endure, we realize that this is the not the end, this is not the fulfillment of our lives, there is something that awaits us at the end of this. Oh my friends, we need to rejoice in the glorious hope that is ours. Our Gospel offers life after death - an inheritance with Christ. And that inheritance is so glorious that it enables us to bear this world. It is so huge and grand - Indeed, Paul goes on to say that our hope even encompasses all of creation.
It is not only Christians who have this hope in glory. All creation is waiting earnestly for the day when the children of God will inherit this glory. Creation not only waits, but waits with eager expectation. All of creation is on its tiptoes waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. That is, what we shall be when we share in the glory of God is now hidden, we look weak and imperfect like the rest of humanity but there will be day when what we are as God's redeemed children will be made clear.
Why is Creation waiting for that day? We continue to read, verse 20 – 22:
You will remember the facts of the fall recorded in Genesis 3. You know that one of the consequences of the fall is the cursing of the earth itself. No longer does it spontaneously bring forth food, but rather thorns and thistles. Creation itself suffers as a result of the sin of Adam, of humanity. And so creation yearns to be free of its constant decay. Paul says that creation groans, waiting for the transforming work of God. That is a wonderful word, "Groans." It speaks of wanting to be released from its decay. As we watch the mess that we have made of our earth - I mean, we can hear creation groan, can't we? Have you seen the pictures of the oil spill off the coast of Spain? Horrible black goo covering the water, birds are incapacitated. You can just hear creation groaning to be released from the horrors that we have unleashed upon it. But it also speaks of a hunger for that which is yet to come. All creation waits with EAGER expectation. It can't wait for God to restore creation its original state and for the people of God to gain their inheritance. The content of our hope is that large. But it is more than this - if that were possible. Yes, the hope of future glory is even greater says Scripture!
So our hope is not just to win a place in heaven, it is that we are waiting for our adoption - it's another way to say "for the children of God to be revealed." Charles Spurgeon suggests a helpful picture to help us understand this verse. He says that among the ancient Roman people a person could adopt a child and that child might be treated as his for a long time; but there is a second adoption that took place in public. And during this public adoption the child is brought before the designated authorities and in the presence of spectators the child's ordinary clothes which it had always worn were taken off. And the father who adopted the child would clothe the child with new clothes that reflect their standing and rank in society. We read in John's first letter, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known." (3:2). We are now presently children of God, we have been adopted into His family, but there is still an inheritance to receive. And our hope is not that we will receive this miserly inheritance, but our hope is that we will be clothed in the robes of righteousness, in the clothes of the children of God. John says in that same letter that we shall be like Jesus. My friends as God clothes His Son so He shall clothe us. And so we groan in anticipation of it all - having the Spirit within us, we know what it means to be close to God, to be loved by God, but we're not there yet. It’s like eating the first fruit of the season, says Paul - we long for the full harvest. The content of our hope - it is so large. Let me put it plainly. Right now through faith in Christ you are redeemed your soul is saved and made new. But our bodies have not been transformed. To be sure we now offer all that we can do with our bodies to God. We present our bodies as living sacrifices, our bodies are now temples of the Holy Spirit. But our bodies have not changed, the body is still racked by pain and suffering - the most holy of us cannot stop from aging and from bodily death. But listen - there will be a day when even our bodies are redeemed. I know it is a great mystery and I don't know how God will do it, but I do know that on the last day the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable and we will be changed. (I Corinthians 15:52) My little mind cannot fully comprehend it but I do know that the hope that is ours in Christ is that large. Because of His life and death and resurrection, He was able to save not just your soul, but your body, not just people but all of creation. He was able to give us not some corner in heaven, but to make us co-heirs with Him so that we will be clothed in the same clothes of royalty that grace His shoulders. To be sure it is not ours yet, we hope for what we do not see, and we wait for it patiently. But our hope is that large, that magnificent. I once heard Jill Briscoe tell of how she was putting her two eldest grandchildren to bed. Daniel is 10 and Michael is 8. She helped them off with their clothes, and their two little piles of clothes were there, and into the bath they went and out of the bath they came, and into their nightclothes, and into their bed and the stories were told and the prayers were said, and as she had her finger on the light switch the eldest one said, with a note of urgency in his voice, "Nana, nana". "Yes Daniel" she said. "Nana I was watching television tonight. “Yes.” "Nana, there was a funeral. There was a funeral.” “Yes.” “Nana, there was a box. There was a box (a casket).” “Yes.” “Nana, how long will I have to be in the box?” So she stopped and took the child's bible and turned to one of her favorite pieces of Scripture. And she said, "Daniel look at me, listen to Nana. Not one minute.” And her finger rested on 2 Corinthians 5 where Paul is again talking about this hope that is ours, and describes the our heavenly dwelling verse 8 - we are confident that we will be away from the body but present with the Lord." So Daniel said to her, "Nana, so what goes in the box?" And she looked down on the floor and there were a pile of clothes the children had left. And she said, "Look Daniel and Michael, that is like your body. And the moment you die, your body will fall off you like that pile of clothes and that's what goes in the box.” So Michael, age eight from the other bed, said, "Will we be naked then?" And her fingers went racing through that 2 Corinthians 5 passage again and she found that verse and she said, "Look Michael we are going to have glory clothes. We won't be naked. We are going to have glory clothes.” That's the truth of it. The work of Christ has given us a glorious hope. Every time I conduct a funeral of a believing Christian, the triumph of the cross and resurrection overwhelms me. We have been given a sure and certain hope in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is like an anchor that cannot be moved, steadfast and sure. It is not puny hope but a hope that grand and great. It is far outweighs our present suffering, indeed makes our present suffering bearable - it is far more than the saving of our souls but includes our bodies too - and not only us but all of creation longs for that day when it will be released from it's bondage to decay. We only glimpse a little of it now. But it will be life eternal without pain, or death or sorrow. All of this is a gift for you this Christmas from our gracious Lord. May it be real in your lives. Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - December 2002
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