Title: SO MUCH GROANING
Focus: As we groan today with those who mourn their losses, we focus our eyes of faith on Christ and make a difference for people around us.
Function: To encourage the people to focus on the hope we have in Christ and to help those who mourn their losses.
Text: Romans 8:18-27
As I proclaim the good news of Christ’s death and resurrection today, I am very much aware of two risks I am taking: First of all, I must make reference to labor pains—for the Scripture leads me to do that. “But what on earth do men know about labor pains?” some of you might say. I will make no claims, other than to acknowledge that going through labor pains is no picnic.
Secondly, and more seriously now, I will compare the sufferings by so many in America and elsewhere in the world with labor pains. In doing so, I run the risk of sounding trite and hollow and shallow. So let me say it as clearly as I can today: the magnitude of losses, the depth of suffering by tens of thousands of people in the southern parts of the U.S., for example, are staggering and must not be minimized by us who observe and empathize from a distance.
Now in order to live and have our being, we need some order, some way to orientate ourselves to face the future. For example, when a protest march in downtown Minneapolis should turn into a riot, police will have to step and do what? Yes, restore order. Or again, when vandals ransack your home, what do you do? Yes, you clean up the mess and rearrange the furniture so that you can be comfortable again in your own home. Or again, what do we do when terminal illness or death enters our home? After the initial shock, we rearrange our mental furniture and re-order our lives in such a way that we deal and cope with our loss and continue to function as healthy, though changed human beings.
And this is what I see the Lord doing today through the scriptures we just read: The Lord is helping us to re-arrange the furniture of our lives in such a way that we do not lose sight of the hope that God has set before all believers in Christ Jesus. As we groan today with those who mourn their losses, we focus our eyes of faith on Christ and make a difference for people around us.
When hurricane Kathrina rammed the southern coast of Alabama, Louisiana, and Missisippi, America was hit by, what now appears to be, its worst natural disaster in recorded history. Thousands have lost loved ones by the raging storm or by the battering waves of the Gulf of Mexico or the breached levy waters of the Mississippi and nearby lakes. The entire city of New Orleans appears flooded and totally uninhabitable. It may take months before people can return to ruined homes and livelihoods—if they are still there of course.
The suffering endured by young and old alike staggers the mind; and the stories of horror and survival, the stories of courage and cowardice, the stories of hope and despair--have only begun to circulate. In the midst of it all, the victims groan and the world at large groans with them.
As Katrina calmed down by Tuesday, we heard of another calamity in Iraq, where close to 1000 Shiites lost their lives when panic broke out on a bridge packed with Shiite Muslims in a religious procession. Within a time frame of 60 minutes, hundreds of innocent people were trampled, shot, suffocated, or fell to their death in the Tigris River.
Both disasters—one natural, the other man-made—have made this week a week of groaning and immense human suffering. For many, life will never be the same. The chaos of Katrina, and the senseless deaths of so many have thrown the furniture of our existence into a pile of confusion and disarray. How do we who live by faith in the risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ go on with life and make a difference to the people around us? The answer lies with the Scriptures.
In Romans 8 the apostle Paul tells us that there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. In fact, there is hope and strength for all who turn to Christ, for Christ has sent us his Holy Spirit. Through the intercessory work of Jesus, the Holy Spirit connects us with God the Father by placing upon our lips the words “Abba.” And through the powerful work of the Holy Spirit, testifying in our hearts, each and every believer may know that he or she is a child of God. More than that! Through the work of the Holy Spirit, we are made “heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.” It’s in this context of Christ’s work and Holy Spirit, that Paul speaks about the role of suffering. In fact, in verses 18-27, the apostle Paul makes reference to three groanings:
· There is the groaning of creation. Listen: (vs.22) “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.” Referring to the created universe—animate and inanimate objects included—as if a person, Paul teaches us that all of creation at times expresses agony, as if it is going through labor pains. Creation groans.
· There is the groaning of Christians, people who find their hope and salvation in Christ. Listen (vs. 23) “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Creation and Christians—they all groan at times.
· And then there is the groaning of the Holy Spirit. Listen (vs. 26) ”We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” Creation, Christians, and Christ’s Spirit—together we groan as history unfolds and as God’s kingdom is coming.
How shall we understand this groaning of creation? We must begin by acknowledging that the created universe feels the effects of our sins. God’s curse on sin is brought to bear—not only on Adam and his offspring, but also on the heavens and earth. Creation “was subjected to frustration” says Paul, “not by its own choice (or its own doing), but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” As a result of God’s curse on our sins, all of creation shares in the effects of our sins. But creation does so in hope. That is, the groanings are not death pangs leading to annihilation, but birth-pangs, leading to something gloriously reborn, something beautifully new.
Hurricane Katrina was a force in nature that led to huge destruction. Tornados, earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides and any other so-called natural disasters—are forces that destroy life in creation and that threaten human lives time and time again. Air pollution, plant diseases, soil erosions—and any other planetary and human pests and plagues—are forces that lead to groans and cries for deliverance and new life.
Paul puts these things in a perspective of faith, and we learn these two key things:
For some
this is a shocking thought. You thought that Jesus had come to save souls—and
souls alone. But the good news of Scripture is far greater than personal,
individual new life for souls or people. The new life that Jesus offers is life
to be lived on a restored, renewed creation. This is the clear testimony of
Scripture. Listen to the apostle Peter: (II Peter 3:10-13) “But the day of the
Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the
elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be
laid bare…[that day of God]…will bring the destruction of the heavens by fire,
and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are
looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”
So, as we embrace these truths as part of the Christian faith, we face this new week with a renewed vision. Though we hear the groans and see death and destruction all around us, we shall not despair; rather, we shall focus our eyes of faith on Christ and make a difference for people around us.
Here’s what I suggest we do in light of scriptures:
· We groan with those who groan, while turning our eyes to Jesus: We empathize and weep with those who weep. We listen to the stories; we draw lessons from those stories, and put those stories in the context of God’s story in Jesus Christ. We pour all the groanings we hear and see into the filter of Jesus’ great work of salvation, and in that way we face each day with hope and expectation that Jesus will make all things new, that the best is yet to come. We groan with those who groan. That’s what we shall do.
· Also, we yield to Christ’s Spirit and rests in his groanings within us before the Father’s throne. The Spirit places upon our lips the cry of sonship: “Abba” It is through the Spirit of Jesus that we find our way to the heart of God the Father. And though we may not know how to pray—that is, we may be so overwhelmed, so confused, or so in the dark as to what to ask for, we shall not despair. For the Spirit of Christ within us groans before the Father. The Spirit petitions the Father and does so in accordance with the Father’s will, so that our prayers will bend the ears of God and reach his Father heart. So we pray for those who suffer; so we stand by them with our petitions, and intercede on their behalf. That’s what we shall continue to do.
One more thing: as we groan in hope and turn our eyes to Jesus, as we rely upon the groans of Christ’s Spirit within us,
· We reflect our hope in Christ Jesus and in the renewal of all things. How? By helping and supporting those in need. The most obvious one, I suppose is by sending cash donations to such organizations as CRWRC. They will channel our gifts to various places and people where needed. But there are other ways that we may be of help as well. This past Friday I called pastor Roger De Young of the Hope CRC in Houston. I asked him what his church is doing as Houston is helping such a large influx of homeless, displaced people from New Orleans and beyond. He said that his church is partnering with a neighboring church. They do what they can do with their limited resources. They are sheltering about 50 people. And a number of church families have taken people into their homes.