Romans 8:18-25
Last week we studied the glorious inheritance Christians will receive: God himself. But in the very end of last week’s passage hangs a tag that itches in our minds. The passage says that since Christians are children of God, they’re also heirs of God with Jesus, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:17).
The Bible is not simplistic in its teaching about suffering. God isn’t some absent minded father soothing his child’s boo-boo so he can just get back to his TV show. Nor does he offer greeting card limericks like fly swatters to fight the bear of suffering. He doesn’t simply say that if we add Jesus, our suffering will dissolve, evaporate, and disappear into joy sparkles.
Suffering is assumed in the Bible. It’s presented as part of life. But more than that, it’s sewed in to the very fabric of Christianity. In verse 17, it’s presented as the prerequisite to glory. We have to work through Suffering 101 before we can get to Glory 101. So this post is devoted to the subject of suffering.
How Suffering Works
1. It effects everything and everyone, mother nature and human nature, plants and people. (See v.19-23)
2. It is caused by futility and corruption. (See v. 20-21)
Futility is pointlessness. Corruption is rottenness. The fact is, the things of creation are pointless and prone to rot. For example, we rake our yard only for it to be covered again by leaves before we’re done; we elect officials only to be disappointed in them within a year; we eat right and exercise only to get soft and flabby if we lay off for just a week. Why is it that our yards don’t want to grow grass, our political system can’t govern with justice for all, our bodies fight health and wellness? Why is it that our families gravitate toward discord, our societies toward inequality, our lives toward breakdown? Because creation is screwed up by sin.
3. It causes eager longing/groaning. (See v. 19, 22-23)
The cry of the mother who just lost her child rises along side the chants from the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party picketers and joins with the wailing of starving people across the world and merges with the shouts of those dying in battle and is carried upward with the thundering sounds of earthquakes and tornadoes and hurricanes and floods – all rising into great cosmic groans.
It’s the sound of a world in labor. Something new and beautiful will be born of all this suffering; but presently, it’s horrific.
4. It is bringing about the children of God. (See v. 19, 21, 23)
Just as a baby emerges from the womb into a world he could not have imagined or understood, so will the children of God when Jesus returns. (1 John 3:2) Maybe this is what Paul is getting at in verse 18. The new birth will so outweigh the labor pains that we won’t even compare the two, like women who go through the excruciating pain of childbirth, but can only talk about their new born baby.
What This Means for Us
Two reminders and an admonition:
1. Everyone suffers.
Keep in mind that the people you deal with this week are probably suffering in ways you don’t know. Let’s be gracious to each other.
2. Expect suffering.
Or as Peter puts it in 1 Peter 4:12, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though some strange thing were happening to you. And, yes, Christians suffer too.
3. Direct the heat toward the hope. (See v. 24-25)
Suffering burns, fueling hope. It will either fuel hope in the unseen kingdom of God or the visible kingdom of man.
If your suffering causes you to hope more ferociously in the things of man, you will find yourself gripping what you can see more tightly, like people, plans, pills, places, positions, or property (any other ‘p’ words?).
If your suffering causes you to hope more ferociously in the things of God, you will find yourself gripping the unseen things of God more tightly, and letting go of the things of this world.
Perhaps this is what Paul meant in verse 17 when he said provided you suffer with him. There is a special with Jesus brand of suffering that Christians can do. It’s a suffering that shakes lose the temporary and fastens down the eternal.
Discussion Starters
1. What did you find most interesting/challenging about this passage?
2. Share an example of suffering you are experiencing these days.
3. What is Paul referring to as the glory to be revealed to us in verse 18? (See Colossians 3:4, 1 John 3:1-2, Revelation 21:1-8)
4. Read verses 20 -21. What evidences of futility and corruption do you see in the world? In your life?
5. What visible, temporary things do you need to loosen your grip on? What unseen, eternal things do you need to tighten your grip on?
6. Read verse 25. How does this hope lead to patience? How might it give you patience in your specific suffering?
7. How should this passage affect the way we reach out to those in extreme suffering?
8. How can we serve one another in light of this passage?
8. How can your group pray for you this week?
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