Groaning with Hope
Pastor: Allen Snapp Series: The Summit Of Our Salvation Topic: Hope Passage: Romans 8:18–27
The Summit of Our Salvation
Allen Snapp
Grace Community Church
Oct. 6, 2024
Groaning with Hope
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, becausethe Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Rom. 8:18-27
Category 4 Hurricane Helene has been described in terms such as “catastrophic”, “apocryphal”, leaving “biblical devastation” in its 400 mile wake. Ashville, NC had 14’ - nearly 3 months of precipitation - fall in 3 days. Busick, NC got 2.5 feet of rain. Meteorologists estimate more than 40 trillion gallons of water drenched the southeast United States in less than a week. That’s enough to fill the Dallas Cowboys’ stadium 51,000 times. As of Wednesday there were over a hundred deaths and hundreds still missing.
Let’s pause a moment at this point and pray for these towns and communities. (PRAY) Let’s keep the hard-hit regions in our prayers and I encourage anyone who is able to give financially to help organizations like the Red Cross, FEMA, Samaritan’s Purse, and others to get relief to these devastated communities.
Paul describes creation as groaning under the weight of bondage to the fall and corruption. When mankind fell, the creation was subjected to futility, which means emptiness, meaninglessness, vanity. We see that in the aftermath of Helene. My heart was so saddened to hear of grandparents and their 7-year-old grandson climbing onto their roof trying to escape the rising floods, only for the roof to collapse and they perished. One of my grandsons will turn 7 in a month. My other grandson just turned 6. It hurts my heart to think of someone their age facing such terror and perishing.
Creation subjected to futility – we see it all around us. Helene is just the most recent example. Nature can be so beautiful it takes the breath away, and then it can be so terrifying and ugly. Jesus prophesied that natural disasters such as earthquakes will increase as we get nearer to his return, using the same metaphor of childbirth that Paul uses. In other words, it’s going to get worse, not better.
But it’s not just nature. Creation also groans underneath the manmade corruption ofdeath and war and crime and sickness. People all around the world - from the Ukraine to Russia, from Israel to Gaza, from Lebanon to Iran, from China to North Korea are experiencing suffering and pain because of the sinful decisions of governing authorities, whether their own or a neighboring country.
And with the approaching elections, we are once again reminded how divided this country is at this time. I am not making any predictions, but in my heart I feel that our current trajectory as a nation can’t continue and there are more storms coming to America.
But let’s remind ourselves that this isn’t anything new. History is full of war and death and sickness and natural disasters and corrupt leaders and bad people and it can feel so empty and meaningless. What’s the point? That’s what futility is – emptiness, meaninglessness. It’s what Solomon cries out in Ecclesiastes: “vanity of vanities, all is vanity!” All is meaningless!
Not only does creation seem futile, it seems very fickle. Disasters happen to some and not to others. My son Matthew is in Georgia, my daughter Jennifer and her family live in NC just a few miles from Lake Norman which flooded its banks. I was very grateful to hear they were all safe. But others didn’t get the good news that their loved ones were safe or that their homes and communities were ok.
I get why someone might ask “why?” “If there’s a God, why does He allow such things?” Pain and suffering and devastation and death don’t lend themselves to easy answers and the Bible doesn’t give simplistic answers. But it does give a simple reason. All of this is the result of sin or what is called the Fall. It’s not what God intended, it’s not the good earth that God created and saw that it was good.
When mankind disobeyed God, we rebelled against His rule. We said no to His goodness, righteousness, love, wisdom, and order so that we could be our own gods and when we did that, not only did we get chained to war, sickness, chaos, crime, cruelty, cheating, pride, selfishness, and death; but because God gave us dominion over the earth, it came under bondage to corruption too. And it groans under the weight of that corruption.
For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Vs. 22
And we are groaning too.
And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. Vs. 23
But notice: our groaning is going somewhere! The earth is groaning for childbirth! It won’t always be like this, it’s going to give birth to something much, much better! For those who trust in Christ our groaning is going somewhere! We wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies!
Jesus entered this broken, suffering world in order to make us children of God. To adopt us as sons – yes, women are sons too – who legally inherit all that belongs to Christ! In Christ we have such a hope!
Paul says the glory will far outweigh the suffering. The joy will outweigh the tears. In fact, this short little suffering isn’t worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed on that day. So hold onto hope!
I heard someone liken the suffering and the glory the believer experiences to our lives being on a giant catapult. The further down the catapult gets pulled, the higher we go when the catapult is let go. We get pulled down a little (suffering in this world) but it can’t be compared to how high we will soar when we are released from the bondage of this short life!
Does that take away the pain? No, but it gives us hope! It’s not for nothing. God has a good purpose for it all. The pain and suffering aren’t good but the purpose God is using it for is good.
Often when people say, “if there was a God He wouldn’t allow suffering…” what they’re saying is nothing good can ever come out of suffering. A good God couldn’t have good purposes cloaked in suffering. To them, a good God – if He is sovereign and in control– would only let pain-free, good things to enter our lives. All sunshine, never rain. All comfort, never pain. All easy, never hard.
So if that’s the true measure of a good God, then theoretically the best and happiest children are those who get everything they want given to them. They never have to cry because as soon as a tear forms in their eye, whatever they’re crying for is given them before that tear runs down their cheek. They never have to face disappointment or denial or sadness or loss.
But we know that’s not how it works. What I just described would more often than not produce a spoiled brat. People who have everything handed to them expect everything to be handed to them. They feel entitled and can’t relate (don’t want to relate) to less privileged people. They aren’t grateful for what they have, they whine and throw tantrums to get what they want.
So we find a good God uses suffering, loss and disappointment to teach us character lessons:
- We learn compassion through pain and disappointment.
- We learn empathy by having walked through the hard thing that someone else is walking through.
- We learn to love deeper through sacrifice and self-denial
- We learn gratitude by knowing what it is to do without.
So creation groans, and we groan, and the Spirit groans within us, helping us to pray when we don’t know how to pray. Sometimes in this complicated world we really don’t know how to pray. And the Spirit groans through us in prayer. It’s more than articulating, it’s feeling the fallenness of our world and the lives around us and it needs groans more than words.
All of this groaning is going somewhere – and that gives us a hope that can’t be taken away. Hope isn’t hope when we see it. Hope sees what can’t be seen. Hope looks beyond the momentary hardship and sees the good that God is going to bring out of that momentary hardship.
The Holy Spirit groans with prayers that express the will of God for our lives. The Holy Spirit cries out in us, “Abba, Father!” The Holy Spirit gives us hope that even when life pulls us downward, downward, downward, one day we will rise up and up and up and there’s no comparison between the depth of the down of suffering and the heights of the upward of glory!
This is why in verses we’ll look at next week, Paul says that God is working all things together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. All things aren’t good, but God works good through all things.
Don’t ever lose hope! Put all your hope and trust in Jesus your Savior. And don’t ever lose hope! Wait patiently for him and don’t ever lose hope!
other sermons in this series
Dec 7
2024
God Never Gives Up on His People!
Pastor: Allen Snapp Passage: Romans 11:1–23 Series: The Summit Of Our Salvation
Dec 1
2024
Good News in a Bad News World
Pastor: Allen Snapp Passage: Romans 10:11–17 Series: The Summit Of Our Salvation
Nov 24
2024
Everyone Who Calls On the Name of the Lord Will Be Saved
Pastor: Allen Snapp Passage: Romans 10:1–3 Series: The Summit Of Our Salvation