Shattering the Darkness with Glorious Light :: Romans 8:18-23

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[Introduction]

The world is groaning. 

Do you hear it? 

Creation is creaking. 

Do you feel it? 

Relationships have been broken. Families have been divided. Brothers have become jealous of one another. Sickness has ravaged our bodies. Anxiety, addiction, depression, and fear has disrupted our peace. Society has been marred by corruption. Poverty abounds. Men and women murder one another with words to their friends. And death hangs over us all like a dark cloud. Creation is groaning and creaking under the strain of sin.

But life everlasting awaits us when Jesus returns in glory! 

That's what Saint Paul is reminding us of today in our epistle reading. 

THE DARKNESS OF DESPAIR IS SHATTERED WITH THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL

I.

Paul writes, For I count that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is about to be revealed in us (v 18).

This is not sugarcoating our reality. We are sinful beyond measure. That is the cause of suffering. Paul just got done confessing that before our epistle reading. We don’t do what we ought to do; we do what we hate (Rm 7:15). ... Evil is close at hand (Rm 7:21). And this lawlessness ... darkness ... causes suffering (Gal 6:7). And love of many is growing colder (Mt 24:12). It subjects creation to futility unwillingly, and the universe to bondage (vv 20-21). And it is not supposed to be this way. 

In the beginning, when God completed his work of creation, he looked at the heavens and the earth and all of creation and declared it to be very good (Gen 1:31). We were one with God, in harmony with God, communion with God all the time. We had peace with God, peace that surpasses all understanding (Pp 4:7). But man and woman thought they wanted something of their own making. They tried to be like God. They thereby subjected creation to futility, unwillingly. And we have continued to rebel ever since. 

Sometimes we do that through simple twists of God’s word, with subtle additions like the woman did with the serpent in the garden (Gen 3:3). Sometimes we do it by not saying or doing anything at all while plotting evil against our brother like the sons of Israel (Gen 50:20). Sometimes we do it by assassinating each other’s character through the half truths of gossip, like Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did against Job ... accusing him of committing secret, heinous sins against God to justify the tragedies that befell him and not removing the log from their own eye (Job 42:7-8). Other times we do it by ignoring the decay around us, like the Pharisees did while masking their hypocrisy and lawlessness as they judged one another’s character while condemning those whom they thought lacked righteousness (Mt 23:27). And it needs to stop.

As Jesus said in our Gospel reading, we all need to repent and believe the Gospel. 

Become mercifully compassionate, just as your Father is mercifully compassionate. And stop judging, and you certainly will not be judged. And stop condemning and you certainly will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken, overflowing, will be given into your bosom. For the measure with which you measure will be returned to you (Lk 6:36-38).

[Catechism]

This is a good place to pause and remember what we all have been taught. 

Please now open your [Lutheran Service Book] to page 324, and let’s focus on the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer. As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household ... What is the Fifth Petition? ... What does this mean?

II.

There is nothing more powerful than simply sharing forgiveness with one another, relieving one another of condemnation, just as our heavenly Father does. It overcomes suffering. Forgiveness shatters the darkness of despair with the glory of the Gospel. And there is nothing that compares with it. Forgiveness lifts us up into unshakeable hope that all the work of our Lord and Savior indeed sets us free. 

Whereas creation was unwillingly subjected to futility because of the sin in the garden (v 20), and whereas that sin continues to subject us to futility, Jesus willingly took all of our sin from us. He willingly carried it to the cross, where he willingly was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities (Is 53:5). In doing so, he set us free from the slavery to corruption. Sin no longer has power over you (Rm 6:14).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, your sin died with Jesus, who had no sin of his own. Your sin was buried with Jesus so that it will never be heard from again. And your new life has arisen in Jesus. By his death and resurrection ... and your baptism into his death and resurrection ... we are forgiven and free. And we can therefore stop walking according to the flesh, and start walking according to the Spirit (Rm 8:4).

III.

This brings us to the pinnacle of Paul’s message in this passage, and the place where we find our immediate strength. Now we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (v 23).

Though we do not yet have resurrected, pain-free bodies ... though we live in this season between the cross and the final resurrection ... God still gives us his incomparable gifts. The Holy Spirit does not give us a spirit of fear ... He gives us a spirit of adoption, confidence and faith in God. And that’s comforting news. 

When you feel overwhelmed by guilt or sorrow, the Spirit speaks to your conscience through the Light of his Word, reminding you that you belong to Christ ... that Jesus lives in you and you in Jesus (Gal 2:20). The Spirit reinforces this truth through the light of his grace. He enables you to hear Absolution ... that on account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, you are forgiven and free. He enables you to return to your Baptism so that by daily contrition and repentance the Old Adam is drowned and dies and the New Man emerges and arises to live before God in righteousness and purity. And the Holy Spirit continues to remind you that every time you eat and drink Christ’s true body and blood, you receive exactly what the word of God says, the forgiveness of sins. Therefore, beloved children of God, share this now with one another. 

[Conclusion] 

Don’t wait until tomorrow to believe that our groans will pass. We stand today in the fullness of Christ’s glory, knowing that every tear shed, every sin confessed, every moment of weakness lived has already been paid for ... in advance by Jesus. The sufferings of this present age are not worth comparing with the glory that is about to be revealed to us.

This gives us active hope ... hope that is not passive wishful thinking ... hope that does not sit quietly while the world turns dark and we grow tired. This active hope moves us to do the good work God prepared for us ... to stop sitting idly by waiting for someone else to serve others here at Trinity. This active hope moves us to serve in brokenness ... to love without exasperation ... to forgive unconditionally ... even when you think they don’t deserve it. It opens the hand of fellowship and keeps us rooted in God’s Word and sacraments ... and the students we promised to be at our confirmation. 

In Jesus’ name ... Amen.

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