Life defining hope

If I told you that you had to pick one aspect of your life, one thing, it could be a relationship,

it could be your income, it could be your job, it could be your skills, it could be your level

of holiness, whatever it is. If I told you that you had to choose one aspect of your life and

right now we will lock that aspect in. I mean it will stay as it is right now and will not change

for good or bad at any point in the rest of your life. What would you choose? Would it be your job?

Would it be the amount of money that you earn? Would it be the place that you're in relationally,

maybe with your spouse or your kids or with your housemates? Is there an aspect of your life,

any aspect at all that you go, you know what, I'm happy with where that is and I actually don't

need it to go anywhere else. Now you might be kind of happy, you know like I love my wife,

I think we get on pretty well but I'm kind of hoping we keep getting better at being married

and our relationship keeps improving. I want it to improve, I think I get paid reasonably well,

you might be pretty happy with the income that you get but you wouldn't turn down a slight increase,

I mean it wouldn't hurt to have a little bit more money for a holiday or whatever else you want to do.

I'm glad that I'm good at certain things and I have certain skills but you know I'd love to

get even better or learn. It's built in to every single aspect of our life, even the ones that we're

happy about, is this kind of subtle discontent. It's not driving always, sometimes it is but there's

this inbuilt sense that I actually want to move forward from here, I actually want the next step,

it could be that it's good and you want it a little bit better, it could be that it's horrible

and you want it fixed but every aspect of life we have this inbuilt perspective and understanding that

we're longing for just a little bit more, just a little bit better, just a little bit happier,

just a little bit nicer. We long for more, we hope for more and we actually need that hope

because hope is the thing that makes it okay that even though it's good, it's not quite where we

want it to be. Hope is the possibility that the things that I'm not okay with are going to improve.

We actually need that hope because it doesn't take a whole lot of looking around at the world to see

that there are some problems. There's injustice, there's oppression, there's war, there's natural

disasters, there's starvation, there's sickness and it's not just out there that there's problems that

we sit there and go, it's got to improve, it's here as well. In my life there's pain,

there's frustration, there's hurt. In your life there's relational breakdown, there's starvation.

And we need hope because hope is the possibility that this isn't all there is.

Hope is the thing that protects us from despair. Hope is the thing that releases us from giving up

because it just gives the chance that we could be in a better situation. And hope's not an exclusively

Christian thing. Everybody in the world needs hope. People need and want to believe that life can get

better, that there's going to be a little bit more than this. And in Romans 8 that Nick just read out

for us, Paul wants to encourage us that our present sufferings, those things that we're not quite happy

with yet, those things that frustrate us, those things that we want to move forward, we want to change,

are not worth comparing to the future hope that we look forward to as Christians.

They're not worth comparing to heaven. They're not worth comparing to all the goodness that is promised

in scripture. Our present situation doesn't weigh up next to just how good it's going to be one day.

But our present situation is still our present situation. It's still real. It's still the thing

that you wake up each morning going, oh, I've got to go to that job again. I've got to deal with that

person again. I'm not feeling well again. It's still real. It's still there. And so we need hope.

And we need it every day. And so Paul opens in verse 18. I consider that our present sufferings are

not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. Why do we need that hope? For the

creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected

to frustration, not by its own choice, 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 freedom and glory of

the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth

right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit

grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. Paul tells

us that it's not just us who feel this discontent, that creation itself is frustrated, that the world,

the material world around us is frustrated because it is buckling under the weight of its bondage to death.

Everything that exists is trapped in a cycle of decay from the point where anything is born or

begins, it begins to die. That is the weight that weighs down not just us as people but even

trees, nature, forests, all those sorts of things. It is this cycle so that even the creation

longs for the day, longs for the future that Christians look forward to when those who belong to God are

finally and fully vindicated, fully released from this curse, from this burden.

And on top of creation, we've grown inwardly. We've kind of tasted how it's supposed to be.

This is what we talked about last week. We've tasted what it is to have the possibility of punishment

removed from us. We've tasted the joy of being accepted by God. We've tasted the joy of being

promised eternal life, having death taken away. And so we know even more so how much this world is

not how it's supposed to be. We feel it even more acutely because God has begun to open our eyes to how

it is going to be. And so suddenly, not only is it just this vague sense that it's not quite right,

it's actually nowhere near the picture that God is painting for us. Something better is waiting.

The redemption of our bodies. The removal of the effects of sin and death. I mean, already,

condemnation is gone. The possibility of punishment is gone. But in the future, one day, every trace of

sin, every consequence of sin completely removed from creation. One day, heaven. We've had the taste.

And so now we're aware what we're missing out on. This might not come as a big surprise to you,

but I'm a bit of a soft drink junkie. And so my wife holds grave fears for our two boys.

So we have an unofficial line that my son, my older son, we haven't even talked about Hudson yet,

he's second. So he's bound to get a softer version. But my oldest son, Bailey, always wants Coke.

He sees us drinking. Can I have some? Can I have some? No, no, no. And then we joke, you know,

maybe for your 18th birthday, we'll get you some Coke or something like that. And then we're having

a half serious conversation the other day. And we said, oh, maybe when he's like 10, we'll let him

try some Coke. Because I'm just worried that he's going to be like me. And he's just going to drink

it all the time. But Coke has brought out this ginger flavored Coke as a promotion for Christmas.

This is not cash for comment, just to clarify. Although if Coke wants to give me some, I'm not going to

turn them down. And so we bought some to try it. And it was quite good. It was on the table. And Sal

had this genius idea that maybe she'll let Bay try this one because he probably won't like it

because it's got ginger in it. And so he said, can I have some? She goes, oh, you just give him a tiny

bit in a cup. And you should have seen his eyes light up the second it touched his tongue. He was

licking the bottom of his cup to try and get the last dregs out of it. He was trying to wrestle my can

off me so that he could continue drinking it for the remainder of dinner. And now the issue is,

he knows how good it is. And so whenever I'm drinking Coke and I say, not just a vague sense

of it's probably good and one day it'll be nice. He knows exactly what he's missing out on. And so

the angst has increased. The answering back has increased. The attempts to steal Coke from the

fridge have increased because he knows how good it is. And in a similar way, because we have been

invited into God's family, because we have been forgiven, because the power of death has been taken

off from hanging over our lives, we know that all the effects of death that we experience,

all the effects of sin, sickness, disharmony, oppression, injustice, all these things that we've

talked about, we know how good it tastes when those things are gone. And so we long for the day when

they are fully and finally removed. And so in this life where they're still here, in this life where

day-to-day you still have to deal with frailness, with sickness, with relationship breakdown, with your

own failure, we need hope. Hope is essential. But what does hope look like?

It's not that we'll no longer experience suffering or difficulty. It's not that somehow suffering or

difficulty is not as serious as we thought it was. I mean the image here in Romans, I don't know if you

caught it, is that it's like childbirth. Now granted I'm a man, but I can say with a fair degree of

confidence that childbirth is at least a 7 out of 10 on the pain scale. I'm joking, I'm joking, it's

like a 15, it's crazy, I didn't even want to be in the room. But the point being that the pain is still

real. Paul's not trying to shrink it down and go, we've got hope so. It's still there, it still matters,

it's still serious. So hope's not about ignoring it or pretending it's not painful. What does hope look

like? Verse 25, if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Hope is patience. That's not the same as disinterest or apathy, because we already heard in verse 23 that

we're waiting eagerly. So what does eager patience look like? Well verse 26, in the same way the Spirit

helps us in our weakness. So in the same way, it's got to do with patience. In the same way the Spirit

helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes

for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts, that's God, knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.

Eager patience looks like prayer. Hope is expressed in prayer. Hope is lived out in prayer. And the crazy

part about this is we don't even know exactly what to pray for in our hope and our discontent.

We know things aren't the way they're supposed to be, and so we can pray, God, this sucks,

and that's good, and that's right, and that's valid. But our understanding of what God will do,

of what it will be like, is so partial that we literally don't even know what to pray for.

Christian hope by its nature is not seen. We don't have it yet, and we've never had it.

We've got a little taste. We've got clues from God's Word in the Bible. We look forward to no hurt,

and no sickness, and no pain, and no tears, but we really don't know what that will be like,

because all we've experienced is hurt, sickness, pain, and tears. It sounds appealing, but we actually

don't know exactly what it will be. We look forward to meeting God face to face, but none of us has

experienced that before, so we've got this kind of veiled, non-detailed idea of what it is that

we're hoping for, which could be enough to stifle eagerness. That could be enough for us to get

distracted by some other things and think, you know what, I'm going to hope for holidays, retirement,

something less. But God bridges the gap between what we know and what we need to know by His Spirit.

This is the same Spirit that released us from the power of sin in the beginning of chapter 8,

the same Spirit that drew us into God's family as His sons and daughters, which now intercedes for us.

He guides us in our hope. He takes our imperfect prayers and kind of sharpens them and aligns them

with God's will. It's God's Spirit, so He knows what God's mind is. He knows what it is that we're

looking forward to. He knows it perfectly, and so not only is He adjusting our prayers,

He's slowly adjusting our hearts, slowly adjusting our desires,

aligning our hearts with God's heart, so that as we pray, we're actually being given a sharper image

of our hope. We won't see it fully until we get there, but what's going on here is we're praying,

these imperfect, fumbled prayers that God would fix everything that's wrong, which is good and right,

and the Spirit is taking those imperfect prayers and making them express God's desire.

And when someone intercedes, that's not a one-directional interaction. They go between,

between us and God. So they take our limited understanding and make it a prayer that is in

line with what God has designed, and then they take that prayer that they've sharpened and write it

onto our hearts, so that increasingly our desire lines up with God's desire. Increasingly, our vision

for the future lines up with God's vision for the future. Christian hope looks like prayer.

Prayer because we're eager, because we get this incredible vision, even in its limited

bit that we see, we get this incredible vision of what God has in store, and at the same time patient,

but because we have this deep confidence in the one who has promised to deliver.

But this isn't the same as fatalism either. Christian hope is distinct from the attitude of,

hey, it could be worse, or hey, somebody else has it worse than me, or one thing, things will get better.

Now, there's some overlap there. There's some truth in those statements,

but Christian hope is more than just something that we're waiting for. It's more than that.

Christian hope actually transforms right now as well. It is future. That's what hope is by definition.

It is something that we look forward to, but it's not just that.

Christian hope actually has power today. Power in your situation, in your circumstance.

Have a look at verse 28.

We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

who've been called according to his purpose.

We're still in the groaning.

We're still in the things that we want to change,

but Paul says confidently, we know,

not we hope,

not fingers crossed,

not it's my best guess,

we know

that in all things God is working for the good of those who love him.

This is one of the best known and quoted Bible verses,

and it's a good one to have memorized.

We love to quote it when times are tough in our own life or to people around us.

But how can that be true?

What do we mean when we use the word good,

and we're talking to somebody who's just lost a loved one?

What do we mean when we say God is working for your good

as you receive the diagnosis of cancer?

What do we mean good as you hear the word that you have lost your job

and you will have to work out how to feed your family and pay your rent?

Is it like relative?

Do we mean, hey, it's not as bad as it could be?

At least you're not starving in Africa?

Or does the Bible mean,

and do we mean when we say it,

good is in a sense that this is positive,

this is beneficial,

maybe even joy giving?

What do we mean by good?

Good is defined here

by God's agenda.

Verse 29,

for those God foreknew,

He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son,

that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

God's agenda

is that you would be made completely like Jesus.

Or from last week,

in verse 4,

God's agenda is that the righteous requirement of the law

might be fully met in you.

God's design,

God's good desire for you

is that you get transformed

to the point

where you're righteous enough

to be able to spend all eternity

in the presence of God.

That's His good for you.

That you might spend all eternity

in the presence of the One

who is all-powerful,

all-loving,

all-knowing,

creator,

sustainer,

judge,

source of every good gift,

in the presence of the One

who sent His Son

to die in your place

so that you might have eternity in heaven.

That is the good

that God is committed to for you.

That is the good

that it's talking about

in Romans 8.28.

That's the ultimate good

that gives context to everything else.

God has raised the bar on good here.

I think sometimes we get criticised

and maybe fairly

that we use this verse unhelpfully

and that we kind of,

by good we mean,

you know,

survivable.

But God hasn't lowered the bar here

so that He can use the word good.

He has actually lifted it.

Good is no longer defined by

I've had a good week.

things are good at home.

And God's replaced it with

I'm one step closer to heaven

than I was.

God's replaced it with

right now,

in this moment,

in my pain,

in my struggle,

in my win,

in my everything,

God is here walking with me.

Loving me unconditionally,

strengthening me,

enabling me to keep going.

Context is everything

when you think about good.

I've got an illustration

that I use in

a year six scripture lesson

that I used to do annually

as to try and invite kids along

to Jesus mostly,

but also to join church and youth.

And it's about the two roads.

It's a story that Jesus tells.

And so I draw up on the board

this kind of mountainous goat track

with a fence at the front.

It's hard to find the entranceway.

And then this just amazingly drawn

six lane highway

with a big neon sign.

And ask the kids,

which road do you want?

And, you know,

apart from the kid

who knows the answer

and just wants to cause trouble,

everybody chooses the freeway.

Because the freeway looks straight,

it looks easy,

there's plenty of space,

no one's going to get in your way.

And that makes total sense.

But you don't choose a road

based on how it looks.

The point of a road

is to get you

to where you want to go.

You can't get on the M2

if you want to go to the beach.

You might eventually end up at a beach,

but it's going to be the long way.

You choose the road

that's going to take you

towards the coast

because that's where you want to be.

That's the destination

that you're trying to get to.

We've got to understand

that it is a daily miracle

for us to keep following Jesus.

The Bible makes it clear

following Jesus is the goat track.

It's the hard path.

It's more difficult

than just doing your own thing.

It is a daily miracle

that God enables us

to keep going on that track.

It is God's grace to us

that we are able

to persevere through difficulty

and get that one step closer

to the destination

that we actually want.

It makes so much more sense

if you ignore God

to just take the easy road.

But what we want

is not an easy road.

What we want

is something better

than an easy life.

What we want is heaven.

What we want

is all of the problems dealt with,

not just the struggle this week.

We want death taken.

We want sin taken.

We want sickness taken.

We want pain taken.

We want relational difficulty taken.

God has raised the bar on good

because he's given us hope

for eternity.

Our measure now

is not how was my week

or even how was my year.

God has given us a vision,

even just a partial vision,

that is so good

that words can't express it.

We need the Spirit's help.

Even our wildest imaginations

keep falling short

of what heaven is going to be.

And so everything

from now until then

needs to be measured

in relation to that good,

to that destination.

That's why Paul says,

I consider our present sufferings

are not worth comparing

with the glory

that will be revealed in us.

They're still difficult,

but they're not worth comparing.

And so in the context

of marching towards heaven,

even difficult can be good.

When that's the ultimate good,

when that's the thing

that defines all other good,

even painful can be good

because it's taking me

to the good that I need

and want most.

Which takes us to our last question.

How do I unlock this kind of power

in my life?

How do I hold on

to that future hope

in such a way

that it does transform right now?

Because it could be

that right now

you don't have a whole lot

of need for hope.

When we started,

you actually had a few things

in your life

that you go,

I'd be pretty happy

if this locked in like that.

I like where I live.

I like my job.

I like my family.

Maybe things are going well

and so you don't have

a whole lot of eagerness

for what might be.

Or maybe you're at the other end

and right now

it is a struggle for you

to be sitting here,

let alone being told

that God's working for your good

in whatever's going on

for you right now.

In those circumstances

and everything in between,

how do we unlock

the power that makes

right now good?

That makes it possible

for you to hold on

to the truth

that God is actively

working for your good

in your situation?

How?

Verse 31.

What then shall we say

in response to these things?

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

He who did not spare

his own son

but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also

along with him

graciously give us

all things?

Hear that again.

He who did not spare

his own son

but gave him up

for us all,

how will he not also

along with him

graciously give us

all things?

the foundation

for hope,

the thing that

enables you

to look past

your circumstance,

to believe

even when it's hard

to know exactly

what God is doing,

that he is doing good,

is Jesus.

It's the cross.

The cross is the place

where we take it

not just as empty words

but as the all-powerful God

who is unmatched

in his power

expressing an unmatched

love for you.

It is God who has

everything at his disposal

choosing to express

his love to you

in a way that you

cannot ignore

by sacrificing

the thing that

matters most to him

so that even though

you may not know

how or why

God is doing

what he's doing

in your life,

you can know

that it is

for your good.

God

because

why would he

hold something

small like

your temporary

health

or your job

or a few dollars

or a restored

friendship back

from you

when he's already

handed over

his precious

only son?

the all-powerful

God

the all-powerful

father

holds nothing

back

in pursuing

your good

that's his agenda

in transforming

you to be more

and more

like Jesus

he's taken

condemnation

he's taken

the only thing

that could stop

you finishing

this path

that you're on

in heaven

and now

instead of

judgment to fear

there's that

question in there

did you catch it?

verse 33

who will bring

a charge

against those

whom God

has chosen?

and the answer

down halfway

through verse 34

no one

Christ Jesus

who died

more than that

who was raised

to life

is at the right

hand of God

and intercedes

for us

so the one

who will judge

the one who

will make a

decision about

whether you get

to that glorious

hope that you

want to get to

that hope that

has the power

to transform you

right now

and give you joy

even in difficult

circumstances

the only one

who could say

no you're not

welcome

says here

died and rose

again

and now

sits in heaven

at the father's

right hand

forever

Hebrews 7

says this is

his forever

job

he sits at

the right hand

of God

saying no no no

I love them

they're one of mine

when you stuff up

Jesus is there

he's already

saying to the

father

in that moment

it's okay

I've paid for

that

he intercedes

the judge has

gotten off the

judgment seat

and is standing

as your defense

lawyer

there is no

judge left

and so your

hope is certain

the hope you

need

to face

whatever you

are going

through right

now

is here

in Jesus

if you

lack

eagerness

if you've

lost sight

of how

good

heaven

is going

to be

then just

look at

Jesus

and see

how

kind of

sad

and pathetic

the things

that you are

looking forward

to are

in reference

to him

even

even though

you don't

get it

completely

understand

that if

it cost

Jesus

death

on the

cross

to

purchase

it

for you

it's

going to

be

better

come back

here and

begin to

dream

about what

God has

in store

for you

and begin

to live

in light

of that

if it's

hard for

you to

see

how

God

could

be

being

good

to

you

right

now

the

hope

you need

is in

Jesus

won't

make the

pain

disappear

but he

will walk

with you

in it

and he

will guarantee

that there

will be a

good

outcome

in it

it may

not be

the good

outcome

that you

want from

him right

now

but it

will be

the best

kind of

good outcome

there is

it will

be heaven

it will

be another

step in the

journey of

preparing you

for eternity

in the

presence of

God

himself

the hope

you need

is in

Jesus

and lastly

if you're

not a

Christian

if this

is your

first time

in this

room

or if

you've

been

coming

here

for 40

years

but you

know

you're

not a

Christian

and you

feel that

discontent

that we

started

with

you feel

that desire

that something

would be

different

in your

life

in the

world

around

you

the hope

that you

need

is in

Jesus

the power

to transform

your life

is in

Jesus

the one

who loves

you even

though you

don't deserve

it

the one

who dies

in your

place

removes

condemnation

and invites

you into

his family

if you're

not a

Christian

the hope

you need

not just

for this

life

but for

eternity

is here

in Jesus

who dies

in your

place

and forever

intercedes

what

then shall

we say

in response

to these

things

if God

is for

us

who can

be against

us

he who

did not

spare

his own

son

but gave

him up

for us

all

how will

he not

also

along

with him

graciously

give us

all things

who will

bring any

charge

against those

whom God

has chosen

it's God

who justifies

us

who then

is the

one who

condemns

no one

Christ

Jesus

who died

more than

that

who was

raised

to life

is at

the right

hand of

God

and is

also

interceding

for us

who shall

separate us

from the

love of

Christ

shall

trouble

or

hardship

or

persecution

or famine

or nakedness

or danger

or sword

as it's

written

for your

sake

we face

death

all day

long

considered

as sheep

to be

slaughtered

no in

all these

things

we are

more than

conquerors

through him

who loved

us

for I'm

convinced

that neither

death

nor life

neither

angels

nor demons

neither the

present

nor the

future

nor any

powers

neither

height

nor depth

nor anything

else in

all creation

will be able

to separate

us

will be able

to separate

you

from the

love of

God

that is in

Christ Jesus

our Lord

Amen