Glory Through Suffering

Romans 8:26–30 CSB

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. ²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

Last week we talked about living through suffering because we know the future… and it is glorious!

This week, living through suffering because we know there is a purpose.

Our passage begins with the phrase, “in the same way…” This implies that is a continuation of what came before.

Romans 8:26 CSB

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

In the same way as hope sustains us in our sufferings of this life, the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness.

Romans 8:26 CSB

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

What is our weakness? It could be anything. Spiritual weakness like struggling to trust God or to know how to pray. It could be physical weakness, or emotional weakness. The H.S. is a counselor according to Jesus, and as such the Spirit can aid us in all our weaknesses.

In the case Paul brings here, we learn that one way the Spirit helps us is by interceding for us because one of our weaknesses is not always knowing HOW to pray.

Have you ever NOT known how to pray for something or someone?

This is especially true in matters of life and death. If someone is a Christian, death is a “change of address” as Justin puts it. They leave this body, this suffering behind. They end up in a far better place. So… when someone is suffering with a terminal illness we turn to God and we pray – but how do we pray?

DO we pray for a healing miracle? We know God does those. Do we pray for them to pass away quickly so they do not have to suffer? That just seems … not right.

In the end I want God’s will to be done and him to be glorified but I honestly struggle to know how to pray sometimes.

Romans 8:26 CSB

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

I had a friend who ran a disaster cleanup business. When there was a bad situation – like a fire, or tragedy in a home or car, his company would go in and clean it up. He shared with me that he always struggled knowing how to pray. To pray for God to bless his business meant that more people would have to have tragedy and catastrophes.

And that is just one illustration. How do we pray for:

• our enemies

Luke 6:27–28 “27 “But I say to you who listen: Love your enemies, do what is good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”

• Your government officials

1 Timothy 2:1–2 “1 First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, 2 for kings and all those who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.”

• A rebellious family member, or church member, who is causing havock. People wo do hurtful things. People who take the lives of unborn children.

All of these situations remind of the broken world that we live in. And when we pray about them, at least when I pray about some of these these things, my own brokenness comes through. Do I plead for God’s mercy on them as I have recieved mercy or to I call down fire from heaven to consume them? I know how I WANT to pray for them, but how SHOULD I pray for them?

We don’t know what to pray for because we do not fully understand the will of God. We certainly DO understand SOME of the will of God, but certainly not the complete will of God.

Romans 8:27 CSB

²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Paul says that one of the things the Spirit does is align our prayers with the will of God.  In the 1600’s they wrestled with the question of how to pray, and in 1647 the WCF gave an answer:

The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition The Larger Catechism

• 185. How are we to pray?
  A. We are to pray with an awful apprehension of the majesty of God, and deep sense of our own unworthiness, necessities, and sins; with penitent, thankful, and enlarged hearts; with understanding, faith, sincerity, fervency, love, and perseverance, waiting upon him, with humble submission to his will.

But it is that last part that we wrestle with, right? I can understand my own sinfulness, but what I really want to know, and cannot always understand, it God’s will.

Yet, we know we can pray according to God’s will, right? Jesus gave us the model prayer.

Matthew 6:9–13 CSB

⁹ … Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. ¹⁰ Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹ Give us today our daily bread. ¹² And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. ¹³ And do not bring us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

While that can be a helpful model for us, it leaves a lot of room for interpretation on how to pray for some of the daily situations in our lives. What does it mean for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven? Ultimately, we need to trust God.

But we don’t always know how to pray because we don’t always know what God has planned and we certainly do not want to contradict God. We want to allow his will to be done on earth as it is in heaven – through us.

But there is hope…

Romans 8:26 CSB

²⁶ In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings.

So, the Spirit steps in for us. As an interpreter. I pray, but before something totally inappropriate reaches the Father’s ears, the Spirit as adjusted it to make it the way it should be.

It is interesting that Paul says the Spirit groans. This is the third character in chapter eight that is groaning:

1. All of creation groans under the weight of the curse
2. All of humanity groans under the weight of the curse
3. The Spirit groans on our behalf, before the Father

This is an interesting phrase. There are 2 words: inexpressible AND groaning (or sighs)

Romans The Promise of God’s Sympathy and Help

The Spirit’s groaning, reminiscent of the groaning of creation and of believers (8:22–23) assures us that God is not unaware of, or unconcerned about, our plight. Just as God heard the “groaning” (στεναγμός) of his people in slavery in Egypt (Exod 2:23–24; cf. 3:7, 9) and was sympathetic with their suffering, so he continues to sympathize with the suffering of his people in all times and places (cf. Rom 8:26). When believers experience trouble so profound that they do not know even how or what to pray, they should not add to their anxieties the notion that God fails to hear their unspoken, inner yearning for relief…  God understands the suffering of his people and is deeply concerned for them.

God has not only given his people a forward-looking hope that sustains us in the midst of hardship, but the Spirit to aid us in the midst of our present suffering (8:26–27).

We are reminded that we have a God who not only understands the suffering of our present, but also participates in the sufferings . While Jesus was on this earth he suffered far worse than we have. He sacrificed far greater than we ever will . And when he left this earth he left so that he could Send us the Holy Spirit as our comforter and our guide . And now that God’s spirit lives within us, as we go through our suffering the Spirit goes through them with us,  so we do not go through the suffering alone.

And as we try to pray and make sense of the suffering that we are going through the Holy Spirit interprets our prayer to make sure that God hears it .

NOTE: I believe the Holy Spirit also adjusts our heart and our motives if we allow him to , so that desires fall in line with God’s plans and purpose, which is another powerful effect of prayer.

Because God is a just God, he had to punish sin, and that punishment has affected all of mankind and all of creation ever since. But since he is also a merciful God, he provided a way for redemption from the curse – by allowing Jesus to be cursed for us. And if we accept that gift by surrendering our life to God, we not only receive adoption and an inheritance, we have God’s Spirit in us to intercede for us, and God’s Son at the right hand of the Father interceding for us.

Romans 8:26-27 says that the Spirit that lives inside of us is interceding for us.

Romans 8:34 “… Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.”

God is with us and God is for us… but that is Justin’s sermon next week… so I’ll move on 😁

Romans 8:28 CSB

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

This certainly one of the most quoted verses in the New Testament . But I think we sometimes misunderstand the application of what it means for something to work for the good of those that love God .

We know that all things work together for good.

οἶδα (oida). vb. to have seen, to know. Refers to the past act of seeing with the present effect of knowing what was seen.

In other words, what we have seen, or studied about God in the past has led us to the point where we not just think it, but we experience and know in the present that it is true.

So, to truly understand the meaning of this verse we have to understand what has been said previously. All those who love God are God’s children. We have seen the way God takes care of and redeems his children. We have seen how he led them out of captivity. We saw how God promised a Messiah to rescue us from the curse. We have seen how God proved his love for us in that while we were sinner Christ died for us. Over and over we have seen that God has had a plan and it has worked out for our good.

Romans 8:28 CSB

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

However what does for the good mean?

• Does it mean that in this life my circumstances will become better?
• Does it mean that nothing that happens to me now be left unresolved before I leave this earth?
• Does it mean that I will eventually be happy with what takes place in my life ?
• Or does it mean none of these things ?

I think the good that Paul is talking about has nothing to do with this life . The suffering of the present does not even compare to count to the value of what is yet to come, remember?

Romans 8:18 CSB

¹⁸ For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

That’s how we started out this section last week. Then this verse gets interjected – in the middle of passages on future hope – and we apply it to the sufferings of this present life as if we are promised that our sufferings will become good in this life. Suffering is suffering. Pain is pain. Jesus suffered in this life, and that is not what was good. It is what happened AFTER he gave up his life that was good! We live with the end in mind because we know that the end is better. Things will be good in the end because we will be with the one who is good forever.

Friends -> I do not believe Romans 8:28 is meant to apply to this present life. While we may get a glimpse of the good plan of God during our days on this earth, and we certainly experience his goodness through salvation, we are reminded that God’s REALLY GOOD plan is yet to come.

Paul then goes into this next section. Romans 8:28 gets quoted all the time. Romans 8:29-30 gets debated all the time!

Romans 8:29–30 CSB

²⁹ For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

While most people get caught up in what happened in the past (predestination), Paul is primarily talking about the end (glorification). For those that God knew beforehand, he predestined. But to what end? To become conformed to the image of the Messiah . When will that happen ? When will Jesus truly be the firstborn among brothers and sisters?

• Those that were predestined were called .  (past tense)
  • We were chosen before the foundation of the world Paul says in Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.”
• those that were called were justified .  (past tense)
  • When we believed in Jesus we were justified Paul said in Romans 5:1 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
• Those that were justified were glorified .  (past tense)

This is the one that seems odd… because this, too, is past tense.

While this is a key passage about predestination, that is not the main theme of this passage .

The question is not whether we are going to have a doctrine of predestination; as we have seen, predestination is a biblical concept. If we want to be submissive to the Word of God, we have to wrestle with this and come to understand some kind of doctrine of predestination.

Whether or not we understand predestination, we understand being called. We understand that those that accept Jesus Christ and the work that God has done on our behalf are justified. That happens immediately upon accepting the Messiah.

But when are we glorified ? Have we been glorified yet?

I certainly hope not! if this is what it means to be glorified I’m disappointed. Glorification is a future event even though Paul refers to it in the past tense . It is something that is our inheritance that we can hope for and know that it’s coming but we have not yet received. It is part of our inheritance and future hope that we know is coming, but not here yet.  And when we do receive it we will be like Christ.

Contextualize it.

We would be neglectful to ignore all of the context of this chapter and take verse 28 to simply mean that God will make our lives good in this life.  That God will workout our situations in this life. That everything that happens we will understand and be able to wrestle with and come to conclusion with in this life. Because it’s not about this life . The context of this passage refers to all of creation and all of humanity groaning waiting for the restoration of all things . It’s about what awaits. And no matter what the circumstances of our life are we can be sure that eventually, on that day when we are reunited with our Father, when all things are made new, when the glory that is to come is revealed , it will be very good indeed.  This is the glory that awaits. That is when we will be glorified – when we will take on the glory of the Father.

Matter of fact the word glory bookends the beginning of this chapter and the end of this section of verses.

Romans 8:18, 30 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. … And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.”

We know that the suffering of this present time does not even begin to compare to the glory that awaits . And those whom God has called he has justified and he has glorified.

All things do work together for good – in the end.

I love symmetry of the scriptures . Just as the beginning and ending of this section are bookmarked by glory,  he beginning of the Bible points to and resonates with the end of the Bible. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth . And after each thing was created he said, “it is good”. When he created man he said, “it is very good”. And then man fell. Man sinned. Paul brought us to that passage in Genesis 3 when he talked about all of creation groaning because of the curse that took place in the garden.

When that curse is lifted, that which is created will once again be good. We can be certain that all things that happen in this life happen for God’s purpose and work toward the ultimate good of his plan of restoring mankind. I cannot be certain that I will understand the sufferings of this world . I cannot be certain that I will see the good in this life . But I am confident that God is good and that eventually all things will truly workout for good for those of us who love God .

I love that the word ἀγαθός (agathos) not only means “good”, it also means generous! And I cannot think of a better word to describe the inheritance that awaits us .

According to His Purpose.

I want to go back and revisit one of our verses as we close so we can wrap our head around the way that suffering, glory and goodness all work together.

Romans 8:28 CSB

²⁸ We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

Loving God and being called according to his purpose are HOW we are to live through suffering.

No matter what happens, we have the choice and the privilege of loving God. It is one of the purposes we live for. It is part of the calling we have as believers:

Deuteronomy 6:5 CSB

⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

And that means we choose to love him even through our pain. Our pain is meant to endear us to God. Our suffering is meant to remind us of God’s plan of redemption.

When we choose to love God and trust him – even through our suffering – we accomplish the purpose for which we are called.

The example of creation.

Creation is groaning and is suffering under the curse, fight? We studied that last week. But earlier in the Book of Romans, Paul said that what can be known about God can be seen by what he created.

Romans 1:20 CSB

²⁰ For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse.

When you read the Psalms you read that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament speaks of him, that everything that’s created speaks about who God is and declares his wonder and his glory.

And yet, this is the same cursed ,groaning, creation that Paul refers to in Romans 8. Even though creation was cursed because of Adam it still is able to reveal who God is and what he is like.

It’s not that the removal of the curse declares the glory of God. It’s the relationship of the created being to God in the midst of the curse that declares the glory of God.

When you and I, as children of God, hold on through the curse; as we embrace our pain and even thank God for what he allows us to go through because we know that there’s a hope and there’s a future and a redemption coming; we declare the glory of God. We display the glory of God, his very nature in his very character, shining through us to the world around us.

The Westminster Confession of Faith: Edinburgh Edition The Shorter Catechism

• Question 1. What is the chief end of man?
  Answer. Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.

That is the first question of the WCF. And we are reminded this morning that we can bring glory to God even in the midst of our broken world and suffering. Not only can we, but we have the Spirit of God within us to help us do just that.

Friends, I must admit – I did not want to preach a series on suffering. Know why? Yeah, because as a pastor, God often wants me to go through things so I can understand them personally. He wants to work in me before we works through me. It is the same reason some of you refuse to pray for patience 🙂

But we live in a broken word that can be full of pain at times.

Jesus has already achieved victory over this world – and because of him we have a future glory to look forward to.

But while we are on this earth, God has called us to love him, and to trust him in the midst of our suffering. He has given us his Spirit to help us in our weakness, and he promises to go through the suffering with us. And as we go through the suffering and remain faithful to Him, we bring glory to God. A glory we will share some day when his good plan comes to completeness.