Romans 8:18-25 - Temporal Crosses ... Eternal Crowns
/Romans 8:18-25
No cross can compare with the crown of glory that is waiting.
18 For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope 21 that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. 23 And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.
Sermon Text:
Peter is a New Testament example to keep one’s eyes upon. Last week, he beautifully confessed the foundation of the Christian faith, noting that Jesus, true man (rarely denied), was also the Christ, the Son of the Living God (Matthew 16:16). The God-Man Jesus would be the perfect formula to take away sin and deliver from death and the devil on the cross. But then Matthew masterfully buts our Gospel today right up against that beautiful confession. Peter is now ardently standing in the way of the very cross he had confessed only verses before.
Isn’t that the way of it with frail human flesh? We rejoice in the promise of salvation and then abhor how it must be brought. What is more, we take such delight in being among the stones of the living and breathing church of God only to revolt when we learn that this means we will be accosted by the flaming darts and arrows of the devil, the world, and yes, even our own sinful flesh. We do not wish to have to stand up and be counted (see Jeremiah’s complaint in our First Lesson). Far easier in our minds is to blend into the world around us. We desperately want to have our cake and eat it too.
Perhaps that’s why the words of our second lesson are at first startling to hear. Paul tells us our sufferings aren’t worth comparing (literally “are of no weigh” or “not worthy of comparing”) to the promise of the glory Christ has won. Or to put it another way, your crosses are temporal, but your crowns are eternal.
Okay, as we start to move into this portion of God’s Word, perhaps a simple and obvious truth should be stated. Crosses aren’t fun. When we must shoulder hardship or endure abuse for the sake of the Gospel, even our lesson acknowledges this is “suffering”. As Paul points to creation as an example, he uses words like “futility”, “slavery to corruption”, “groaning”, and “pain”. So, unless you are a masochist, you will not like it. So, I feel for Peter and Jeremiah in their respective lessons today just as I feel for all of you, even as I join you and them in my dislike of it. Again, this is not, “I stubbed my toe. Oh, woe is me!” but “I believe in Jesus and the world hates me for it” kind of stuff. Though at times our spiritual foes can use my stubbed toes to assault Christianity as well, I suppose.
This reality means that everyone of us faces our cross with some amount of trepidation or fear. Yet that truth doesn’t mean we don’t have to do it. I’m reminded of the times I didn’t like something in my young life and therefore wanted nothing more than to avoid it, but mom and dad rightfully insisted that I get to it. While I might not like it, it doesn’t make it any less sinful to avoid it. Consider those words of Jesus to Peter. He says it’s downright satanic to avoid the cross, yes, Jesus’ cross especially, as it is more than a hardship born for the sake of the Gospel, but rather THE Cross which saved the world from sin. Nevertheless, Jesus tells us, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. (Matthew 16:24)” There is no room for selfishness in the heart and mind of the Christian. It is, after all, a breaking of the very first of God’s commands.
The theology of the cross is then one of those teachings in God’s Word that always gives me pause. I have been satanic at times in my refusal and even some rebukes of God for the struggles that have entered life. I don’t like being considered narrow-minded, outdated, or even ignorant by those around me. I don’t like the scorn that can come my way because I must speak up when sin rears its head, and I certainly don’t like losing people, friends, even family members when I make my stand for the truth. Truth be told, I have even at times chosen silence over suffering in this world of ours, and I promise it doesn’t go better as a result. So, I have to wonder just how demonic Jesus would consider me and my shabby cross-bearing.
Ah, but another truth of the theology of the cross is now in order. Christ’s cross and my own crosses in this world will always be linked. They must be. For you see, He bore His precisely because I would shun mine. It was for me that Jesus was betrayed and handed over to the sham courts of the Sanhedrin and the rage of Roman soldiers. It was for me that brutalized, torn and beaten, He picked up His cross and traveled outside of Jerusalem to die. It was for me and my sin that He hung lifeless and was laid in that tomb. But it was also for me, early in that first day of the week, that He rose. Yes, dear friends, our Risen Savior is the promise of glory, of eternity, of salvation, and life forever with God. And His cross forever changes our own.
Paul bursts forth in our second lesson this morning, “For I conclude that our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.” Our sufferings at the present time, though hard, perhaps even awful, certainly not fun, are present-time sufferings. They are bound by the realities of this world, even if they should remain with me till death, even if they should cause my death, they must stop there and go no further. However, the glory that is going to be revealed is eternal. Eternity, by its very definition, is untimed, unbound, unending.
Now, this certainly doesn’t make the hardship go away in the present, nor is this some weird attempt to say, so buck up, buttercup. No, consider the rest of the lesson, “
19 In fact, creation is waiting with eager longing for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope 21 that even creation itself will be set free from slavery to corruption, in order to share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 For we know that all of creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. 23 And not only creation, but also we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. 24 Indeed, it was for this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? 25 But if we hope for something we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance.”
Paul acknowledges the groaning, the suffering, the pain but also acknowledges the One who will get us through it, who has already saved us from it on a cross of His own and has provided a hope that will outlast it. This side of heaven, there will be crosses, in fact there must be for a world that hated Christ will not endure His people. Satan, to thrashed violently when Jesus’s feet trod the dusty roads of this earth, will fight when His followers open their mouths that the Spirit may impart the gift of faith to still others through His powerful Word. Our sinful flesh will revolt at the thought and certainly at the reality. There will be groaning. But by God’s grace, as we eagerly await our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body that very groaning will give way to patient endurance. In fact, just three chapters back Paul had already written,
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God.
3Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, 4and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. 5And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)
Brothers and sisters in Christ, crosses will need to be carried in this sin-sick world of ours, but there is a reason for that as well. Even if not for us, the truth must be held out that others may hear it. It will take a denial of self and a clinging to Christ to accomplish any of it. Ah, but then in that very same Jesus, we find the job once again everything we need from salvation to the strength to stand as we wait for that hope.
Yep, Peter is worth keeping your eyes on in the Bible. Because as it turns out, he is often exactly as we are at the same time sinner and saint, selfish and saved. Deeply connected to Christ. And because we are, well, there is hope! For our crosses are temporal and temporary, but the crowns God has in store for His people well, they are eternal. Amen!