The Spirit helps us in our weakness
Romans 8:18-27
Key verse 8:26
Good morning. Thank God for using our UBF ministry last 60 years for campus mission and world mission. I pray God may continue to use us to preach the gospel starting from UD campus and all over the world. Last Sunday, we learned three things: The Spirit helps us live a life for God. Also the Spirit helps us change our mind to please God. Lastly, the Spirit enables us to call God “Abba Father”. Today, chapter 8 teaches us two things: one is our present suffering are not worth compared with the glory in the future. The other is the Holy Spirit intercedes for us when we do not know what we ought to pray for. Through this passage, we may change our attitude toward sufferings and put our hope in Jesus Christ.
- Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory
Let us read verse 18 together? “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us”. Who are we here? They refer to not only Paul or believers in Rome but also to the creation. Also take notice Paul said in verse 18, our present sufferings, plural not singular suffering. He said our present sufferings are not worth compared with the glory in the future. Then, what are our present sufferings? Later in verse 35, in general, Paul mentioned sufferings. In verse 35, it says trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword. Also in 1 Peter, Peter said about present sufferings. He said “if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” (1 Peter 4:15-16). Personally, Paul himself suffered a lot to preach the gospel. According to 2 Corinthians 11, he was flogged, beaten with rods, shipwrecked, constantly on the move, in danger from rivers and his fellow Jews. Also at that time, believers in Rome were forced to leave their home. Later, to keep their faith, they even chose to live in the Catacomb (underground graveyard). However, Paul said such sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. What kind of the glory did Paul talk about here? How was he so confident in the glory? In verse 17, he knew the sufferings and the glory of Jesus. Let us read verse 17. “Now if we are children, then we are 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.” As the son of God, Jesus suffered and died on the cross. But God raised him from the dead. Jesus defeated the power of sin and death that he revealed his glory. Now he, as verse 34 says, he is at the right hand of God in heaven. As the son of God, Jesus suffered and received the glory, as the children of God, it is natural for us to go through the same steps: suffering and glory.
Why do people try to avoid sufferings? Because they do not know about the glory after sufferings. Two months later, there will be a summer Olympic in Japan. Because of COVID 19, many people has wondered if they should have the Olympic or not. But anyway, thousands of the athletes in the world have trained themselves for last 4 years. They practice from morning to evening, give up their personal life, and live a tight schedule. They are willing to suffer. Because they know the glory after sufferings. That is why they are able to endure sufferings. They even do not think they suffer. Rather, they are proud of bearing such sufferings. Similarly, our sufferings in Jesus Christ does not end in sufferings. How can we be sure? Jesus is the good example. When we suffer, God remembers our sufferings for him. When we work for his kingdom, he will reward us. He will say to us “well done, my good and faithful servant”. (Mt 25). So in a sense, our sufferings in Jesus is a blessing. When we share the gospel on campus, even though no one says “yes”, we join in the sufferings of Jesus. That is a privilege. Not everyone participates in the sufferings of Jesus. It is an honor for us. Galatians 6:9 says “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” When we suffer for Jesus, at the proper time, the glory will be revealed in us. Since I moved to DE, I could say that my sufferings are preparing for SWS message and praying one hour every day. Those are painful. If possible, I want to avoid them. But through this message, I could see once again that my present suffering are not worth compared with the glory which will be revealed in me later. Because of this, I am encouraged to be patient in my sufferings.
- The Spirit helps us in our weakness
From verse 19, Paul talked about how the creation waits eagerly for their freedom, how we believers eagerly wait for the redemption of our bodies, and lastly how the Spirit helps us in our weakness. First, the creation hopes for their liberation. In verse 20, the creation was subjected to frustration. Also verse 22 says “the whole creation has been groaning”. It is hard to believe what Paul said. Look at the nature. The flowers are so beautiful. The grass smells so good. These days, cicadas come out of the ground that birds enjoys their feast on eating them happily. But the Bible says they are in frustration. They are groaning. Why? Because God subjected them to the frustration because of Adam’s sin. In Genesis 3, when Adam disobeyed God, he punished Adam and Eve. While he cursed them, he also cursed the ground too. It says “The ground will produce thorns and thistles for you.” They did not do wrong against God. Men sinned against God. Nevertheless, by the will of God, they were put to frustration. Flowers have to wither in cold weather. Animals have to fight each other for survival. So the flowers sigh. The grass moan. Even the baby rabbit living in my backyard groans. Then, why did God put the creation to frustration? Verse 21 says, “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.” They have two hopes: one is that the creation itself will be liberated from their frustration. The other one is that they wait eagerly for the children of God to be revealed. In Genesis, the creation was frustrated because Adam did not live as the children of God. So, now they hope that this earth will be full of the children of God once again. When the children of God is full on earth, their frustration will be over too. They will have freedom and share the glory with the children of God. Isaiah 11 dreamed such a hope. Isaiah 11 says “The wolf will live with the lamb, The cow will feed with the bear, The infant will play near the cobra’s den, yet They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain”. These days climate movement or animal protection movement are popular. Lots of people or countries work hard for such movements. But the most important is that one soul repents and accepts Jesus as the Savior. When one person becomes the child of God, when more and more people become the children of God, the creation will be liberated form their frustration.
Second, we believers hope for the redemption of our bodies. Look at verse 22 and 23. In verse 22, Paul said the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. In verse 23, he said not only the creation but also we ourselves groan. Can we read verse 23? “Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.“ We were set free from sin. We are justified. We became the children of God. We have the Holy Spirit. Yet, Paul said we ourselves groan inwardly. Why? because we have our sinful body yet. In chapter 7, he confessed in his inner being, he delighted in the words of God but in his flesh he did what he did not want to. So he groaned “what a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from the death that leads to death?”. Then, at this point, we are wondering why God did not save our body? If he had saved our bodies, we do not need to groan. The reason is back to verse 23, “as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies”. When can the redemption of our bodies happen? When Jesus comes again. Now we could see the reason God did not save our bodies is for us to put our hope in Jesus while we live in this world. So Paul talked about hope in verse 24 and 25. Shall we read verse 24 and 25? “For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” We have hope that one day when Jesus comes again, our bodies will be redeemed. Our bodies will be changed as imperishable, in glory, in power and a spiritual body. (1 Corinthians 15). Until that time, God wants us to put our hope in his son Jesus. That hope is real hope. According to Peter, that hope is a living hope. A hymn song titled “my hope is built on nothing less”. It says “My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name”. The writer of this song is Edward Mote. In his lifetime, he wrote only one song: this song. He wrote this song when he visited one woman’s sickbed. She almost died. To encourage her to have resurrection faith, he wrote this song down for her. We have many hopes: hope for better school, better salary, better car, better house, better ministry, and so on. But who can save our mortal body? Only Jesus. Only when he comes again, our body will be glorious body.
Where do you put your hope for these days? Actually verse 24 teaches me how blind I am spiritually. My body actually groans. But honestly I do not feel it. I do not know what I really hope for. Now I remember how much I groaned and waited eagerly for my salvation when I was unbeliever. I thought I never asked God to forgive me. But now I see actually I was frustrated in my sin and groaned inwardly. When I put my hope in Jesus, he saved me. In the same way, when I put my hope in Jesus and his 2nd coming, he will surely redeem my sinful flesh too.
Third, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. Let us read verse 26. “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.” The Spirit came to help us in our weakness. Here, help, in English, just help but in Greek, the original meaning is to “hold someone’s hands”. So, the Spirit hold our hands when we are in weakness. When we are in weakness, we do not have any power to praise God, pray to him, and work for him. At that moment, when we are down, the Spirit hold our hands to stand up once again. Especially, in verse 26, often we do not pray at all, also when we pray, we do not know what we ought to pray for. In that time, the Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans. Here, intercede means to intervene between two parties with a view to reconciling differences. So the Spirit is like a mediator between God and us. As mediator, how does he intercede for us? In John 14 and 16, when Jesus promised the Spirit, he talked about the role of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16 says “he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever”. Also in John 16, he said “When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment”. The Spirit prays for us, reminds us of Jesus’ teaching, and convicts us of our sins to repent. When we do not know what to pray for, he prays for us according to the will of God. When our prayer topics are mostly about me, my children, my family, my ministry, and so on, but he does not condemns us nor rebuke us. Rather he understands our weakness and through wordless groans. Here, groan means “make a deep sound in response to pain or despair.” The spirit groans for us. He teaches us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. Also he helps us to pray according to the will of God. When can we experience his help? When we pray. If we do not pray, we cannot experience his help. So even if we pray only about me, at least it is better than not praying. Also when we pray, the spirit surely help us to pray according to the will of god. When we sin and are stubborn in repentance, he convicts us of our sin in our heart. There is a Christians song called “someone is praying for you”. I think this song is translated into many different languages. It says “Someone is praying for you
Someone is praying for you
So when it seems you’re all alone
And your heart will break in two
Remember someone is praying for you”. As this song sings, someone, the Spirit is helping us when we are in weakness.
Look at verse 27. The Spirit searches our hearts. So he knows what we are thinking. At the same time, he knows the mind of God that he intercedes for us according to the will of God. There is a famous architecture company called TimHass. The CEO had heart problem. Luckily he was able to receive a new heart transplant. But after the surgery, he got complications. So he had to receive another heart surgery. He was very down. As a Christian, while he prayed for his health, all of sudden, deep in his heart, one thought came on his mind. Why not ask God not only change a heart but also “change myself as a new person”? Where did such thought come from? The Holy Spirit helped him in his weakness while he did not know what he ought to pray for. The Spirit interceded for him and helped him pray to God according to the will of God. Now he is health and serves God and neighbors through his business.
In conclusion, Our present suffering are not worth compared with the glory in the future. Joining in the suffering of Jesus is a blessing and privilege. Let us not be afraid of sufferings for Jesus. Also when we are in weakness, through wordless groans, the Holy Spirit helps us. Thank God for the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us according to the will of God. Let us pray to God.
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.