His grace and His Glory
His Grace and His Glory Romans 8:18-27 I reckon it is a reasonable desire to see a purpose in life. We all want to be fulfilled, not thwarted not frustrated. And I believe that everyone, without exception, saved or lost, struggles with the seemingly hopelessness of living. This ain�t a new problem, born of the age of technology. It has been with us since time began. We want to know what life is really all about. IS it really just a routine and mundane existence. The same day in and day out or is there more? What is this quality of life? Does having more give us a better quality of our life? Does it ease the frustrations as to how we feel about our place in the world? When take in our possessions, we add payments, we add our maintenance. We look at the cost to maintain a standard of living that we have chosen if that includes a lot of stuff. Is that what decides the quality of your life? There are many people in the world who can never be satisfied they just want, want, want, people who are living for what they can own. But one day everyone turns around and finds that what they own has actually taken possession of us. What we think we possess really possesses us. What really makes the difference in a life? The Question Of Life What is really happening is that we are all grappling for the meaning of existence. It is the big question of life.(HHG) I find myself asking do I really make a diference? James 4:14 Asks us 14: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. That is a shattering statement! It sounds so very negative, futile and hopeless. At some point in our lives all of us could give that a big AMEN! I identify completely with that passage�Here today and gone tomorrow. Why go on? We all have friends who have passed on accidents and mortal injury or taken by senseless violence. And, we become aware when that it happens to someone our age we realize that life so very fragile. It could be gone tomorrow. Does my life make a difference? A materialist looks to what he can own and thinks, �If I can just one more thing and, I will be fulfilled.� Is materialism an answer to the question of life? Can ot make a quality of life? King Solomon is the illustration of one man who gave himself over to materialism hoping it would satisfy him. Look at what in Ecclesiastes he said. (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3, 9) 2: Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. 3: What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? now 9: The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. No different than us he struggles with a of life futility. He sees the routine and asks�What gives life meaning? (Ecclesiastes 2: 1 4-12, 15,17) 1: I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity Continuing 4: I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: 5: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits: 6: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: 7: I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: 8: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. 9: So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. 10: And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. 11: Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun. 12: And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done. Again in 15: Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.16: For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool. 17: Therefore I hated life; because the work that is wrought under the sun is grievous unto me: for all is vanity and vexation of spirit. (Ecclesiastes 2: 1 4-12, 15,17) Then in (Ecclesiastes 5:10-11) 10: He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity. 11: When goods increase, they are increased that eat them: and what good is there to the owners thereof, saving the beholding of them with their eyes? He tried to fulfill himself with worldly possessions. He had everything his heart desired� He his days with works of his hand. He tried to fulfill himself with money, entertainment diversion, and even sex. But still he hated his life and could not escape the futility of his life of materialism. Eventually he comes to an interesting conclusion. (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) 13: Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. 14: For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. After he looks at his futility, at the vanity of life, he says that the only one answer that can fulfill us completely and that is a relationship with God. Luke 12:15 says 15: And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. If that is so then what does our life really consist if it does not consist of that? A materialist tries to gain possessions. And finds that there is nothing but futility in it, he does not understand. That there must be more. Kierkegaard said, �Life can only be understood backwards. It must be lived forward.� In retrospect, we can only see what is really important by where we have been. A humanist knows this and looks at it from a different perspective. He says, �If life does not consist in the abundance of a man's possessions, life must consist in his relationships with humanity.� Some will say, �I am not really seeking more and more possessions. I am seeking a better relationship with my wife, my children. I am trying to be a better father (or mother). I am trying to relate better to my neighbors, to do good things for people.� This is really no better in the big picture. Humanism is not the answer either. The humanist, is people centered, and may be a little better off than the materialist, but still he does not have the answer either. The Quest Of Life We Christians look on and say, �We have an answer! Christ is the answer! He is the purpose for life! He is the reason for living! A relationship with God through Jesus Christ � that's the answer! Christ really is the answer to the question of life. That is the purpose of life, knowing God.� Now this is true. Christ does give meaning to life. But when we come into that relationship with Jesus Christ and find we still struggle. Many of us, even as believers, are frustrated by life it self. � Why is that frustration even in our lives? � Why are we so unfulfilled as believers, when we have found a reason for living? We can understand why those who do not know Christ struggle. So, why is it that even as a believer we experience frustration? I believe our this text addresses it perfectly. (Romans 8:18-27) 18: For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20: For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, 21: Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22: For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 23: And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. 24: For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? 25: But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. 26: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27: And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. We experience a frustration because we, as believers, have not arrived where we are intended to be headed in our Christian lives. He is talking about a longing, a cry. He is addressing that sometimes overwhelming sense of frustration that we all sometimes feel, that everything of creation cannot help but feel. Each of us longs for God's purpose performed in our lives. Why is it that creation cries out? When mankind fell from God's grace, creation itself fell with man. The word tells us that when man disobeyed God, he brought death not only to himself, but to the created order of things. Creation, once perfect in God's sight, declared to be good, now suffered because of man's sin. It brought forth weeds and thorns. The labor of man became hard. Creation no longer cooperated with man, but was subjected to frustration. This is really a fulfillment of a scientific law called the Second Law of Thermodynamics, or the Law of Increasing Entropy. Simply stated, it means that creation is running down. Therefore, things tend toward decay. It seems to me to be a particularly keen observation, one that seems to contradict the popularly held laws of evolution. It would be nice if we could set a pile of bricks outside this chapel, come back in 10 years and find them evolved into a massive church the size of St Peters in Cathedral. That would be great but they would have turned into dust. Our physical self is running down as well. Creation is subjected to frustration. It is subjected to futility. Everything comes to and end. Creation groans for the us the children of God. The creation groans. But more so, we groan, because God is not finished with us. But in this passage of Scripture there is a threefold groaning, in verse 26, 26: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Why this groaning? In verse 29 29: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. To the likeness of His Son, Jesus. That is really the key to our groaning and fustrations. That is why we are frustrated with our lives because we have not yet arrived. We are not there. We still sin. We still fall short of the glory of God. Within ourselves we groan because God has not yet fulfilled His desire for us to walk in His steps. There should be a desire within us, to be recreated by the Holy Spirit, in order that we be transformed to be more like Jesus, and we will never be fulfilled, never be satisfied, never be content, unless actively pursuing his will for our lives. And so we wait, often in pain and frustration as God�s will is made perfect in us. We long for the day when the God�s work is complete we long for the day of Jesus� return. We groan for that day. Paul likens it, in our passage of Scripture, to a woman in childbirth, suffering in pain to bring forth a new life. Some suffering is pointless. And when he talks about our suffering with Christ, he is not talking about pointless suffering. There are some today who would have you believe that all the suffering you endure is somehow a suffering from God. But sometimes suffering is just suffering. Some suffering is the result of the evil one the evil perpetrated on all of human kind as a result of our sins as a people. Now, any suffering will be used by God in our lives. It can be suffering that helps us to mature, but that ain�t the point of our text when we read about suffering with Christ. God truly uses all things and works in all things for the believer who turns to him in the midst of suffering. God will use an evil thing and turn it around to the greater good. To suffer with Christ is to suffer to a purpose. Like the suffering of a woman in childbirth. It is the suffering that will produce the person you and I are intended to be. The suffering that a woman endures in child birth is unavoidable. The time itself is miserable but as you think of your child you would willingly do it all over again. You�re overjoyed by the result, and you thank God for every labor pain. I believe that there is another reason why we are frustrated and experience futility in life. It is because we do not see things from an eternal perspective. We, as Christians, need to spend some time thinking about our lives from God's point of view. I�ll tell you what, I go through the same thing everyday just like everyone else. I go to work. I get a paid, put it in the bank, and almost like magic poof it is gone the next day. Why? For what reason? Why Go on? To answer this there is only one thing to do. That is to sit down and try to look at our life we have been given what we need to fulfill God�s work in you. There are some questions we must answer. � What really counts in my life? � Why am I here? � What am I living for? � What are my priorities? � What would God have me to do? � Are we really living our lives from an eternal perspective, or are we just biding time? One of the reasons the church is so weak in the world is because we have failed to get our priorities straight, ordered our lives, from an eternal perspective. We, and the whole of the world, are caught up in the�I want it now lifestyle of our generation. We are looking to be fulfilled from sources other than God. So caught up in our day to day activities of the world around us. In 10 or 20 years we will look back with two questions �Have I made any impact on the lives of others? and �What have I really done that counts?� John Henry Newman said, �Fear not that your life shall come to an end, but rather that it shall never have a beginning.� Some Christians are saved but their spiritual lives have never really begun. They remain right where they began that first day. They just haven�t gotten started and either don�t want more or worse. The body of Christ has failed them and has not fed them so that they might grow to fulfill what God wants of them filling them with the need to strive for more or the pulpits of America have kept the hard teachings that require commitment from them for the sake of making a consistently comfortable congregation. This easy comfortable teaching has and is at this moment cheating Christians out of the wonder of of living a life obedient to Christ. Stealing from them the precious reason Christ chose to go to that Cross. So that we may one day be filled with completely with His spirit. We, as believers, are called to a higher calling than simply to be forgiven of our sins and live our lives until we die. � We are called to be Christ's representatives in the earth today. � We are called to be His ambassadors. � We are called to share the Good News with a lost world. But sometimes, even our Christian lives appear to be futile. It is like the farm wife who got mad at her husband when they went to a carnival. After he stepped off the Merry-go-round, she confronted him and said, �You spent all that money, and you got off right where you got on. You ain't been nowhere.� Many Christians live their lives like that. We get off right where we got on. We have not really made any progress. We are people who are called out of this world with a specific purpose. We are God's kingdom on earth. We are not a social gathering. God has called us to be His people. And we are going to have to come together as committed believers in Jesus Christ, so that we make a difference in this place. It is time that we invest ourselves in the eternal things, those things that we know will never pass away, things which will usher in the Kingdom of God. Creation groans, we groan, even the Spirit groans for the purposes of God to be fulfilled in us. We are groan for God�s glory. Father, Help us to set aside ourselves even in our own suffering and please use us as you will. Still the groaning of our hearts and fill us with the Holy Ghost�Give us love for Your Word and a need to move forward to experience all that we can be if we are willing to let go of the [ain and hurt that the world has thrown on us. Do not allow anything to stand between us and Your will for our lives. In the name of our glorious Savior Jesus Christ AMEN
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