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Today's reading is from the letter of Paul to the Romans, chapter 8, verses 16 through 28, as printed in the liturgy or on page 916 of the Blue Church Bibles.
A reading from the letter of Paul to the Romans.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
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.
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
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 firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly
as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
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.
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 knows the mind of the Spirit,
because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
This is the word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Well, thank you for that scripture reading, Michael.
Good morning, everyone.
My name is Andrew, and I'm one of the pastors here.
And I'm looking forward to opening up this word from God with you this morning.
Will you join me in prayer?
Lord God, I want to give you praise.
Because you know that this week when I was working on this sermon, it just felt like duty.
But by your Spirit and through the prayers of your people, you turned it into a delight.
And I pray that those who hear your word this morning would taste how delightful your word is.
How good the good news of the gospel is in Christ.
So would you do that amongst us, amongst your people.
For your glory we pray in Jesus' name.
Amen.
All right, so we've been taking our time.
We've been going through chapter 8 of Paul's letter to the church in Rome.
And last week we left off in verses 17 and 18 with some really good news.
Michael just read it.
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children.
Now if we are children, then we are heirs.
Heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
It's great news.
But then just as soon as we read this good news, that we are God's children, co-heirs with Christ,
Paul continues, if indeed we share in his sufferings.
in order that we may also share in his glory.
And all of a sudden, it's like, wait, what?
God's children will still suffer?
What kind of an all-powerful and loving father
would allow his children to suffer?
What kind of a good parent would write suffering
into the stories of his children?
As a pastor of care here,
I know many of the sufferings that are in this room,
in our church family,
and I know that this is not just an abstract,
theoretical question for many of us,
but a deeply personal one.
And why would God let anyone,
and especially his children, suffer?
And maybe this is why some of you don't believe in God,
or some of you have trouble believing in God.
It's why my own best friend has walked away from God,
because he can't believe in the coexistence
of God and suffering.
Now, I don't want to mislead you.
Today's sermon is not going to directly engage
with the problem of God and suffering.
You're going to have to wait a month or so
for Jonathan to tackle that one.
I just raised the questions here.
He's going to tackle that one in our Explore God series
in just a few weeks.
I think it's sermon number three,
so you can mark your calendars for that.
December 8th, I mean, October 8th,
why does God allow pain and suffering?
But for today, I'm simply going to assume
that God and suffering somehow coexist.
And the question I believe Paul addresses
in our text today is,
in the face of suffering,
what good is being a child of God?
In the face of suffering,
what good is being a child of God?
Like, how does being a child of God
make a difference for those of us who suffer?
And what resources are uniquely available
to God's children in the midst of their suffering?
Now, according to Paul,
being a child of God makes all the difference
in the world.
But in case you beg to differ,
I want to ask you to consider
what better resources do you have
to face pain and suffering in your life?
Because, you know, we can bash Christianity
for not giving us satisfying answers
to the problem of pain and suffering,
but no matter who we are
and no matter how many religious traditions
we might reject or critique,
at the end of the day,
we're still all left with the same problem
and the same absence of answers.
I mean, sure, maybe some take the mindfulness route, right,
and try to trick themselves into believing
that their suffering is not that bad
or just an illusion.
Or others take the materialist, atheist route
like Richard Dawkins,
who claims that suffering is neither good
nor evil nor meaningful,
but just a bare, neutral fact of reality.
But for the rest of us, right,
the majority of us who are probably unconvinced
that suffering is a mere illusion
or a meaningless fact of reality,
we know that we need the resources
to live meaningfully through our pain
and through our suffering.
And the problem for most of us, though,
is that this modern Western culture
that we swim in offers us little to no resources
or explanations for our suffering.
Like everywhere around us,
we're told that the meaning of life
is to pursue pleasure through consumption
or to pursue personal freedom
so that we can consume whatever we want.
But this has left us incredibly soft
and ill-equipped and vulnerable
in our attempts to handle the harshness
of this broken world.
You know, there's this renowned surgeon.
His name is Paul Brand.
He worked with lepers,
people who suffered from leprosy in India
for many years.
But then he moved and he started to practice
in the United States.
And what he writes is this.
He writes,
And the reason he suggests
is that if consumerism,
the pursuit of pleasure and freedom
through consumption
is the very meaning,
the ultimate meaning of our lives,
that then suffering can ever only be
an interruption in our lives,
an unfortunate, meaningless, useless chapter
in our poorly self-written stories, right?
A wasted page in our storybooks,
just purposeless chance misfortune.
But you know what?
The good news of God's word to us today
is that God is a better story writer
and God has a better plot for his children,
one that can even make meaning out of suffering,
subvert suffering,
redeem suffering for our good
and for the glory of God.
Notice in verse 17,
the narrative arc there,
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.
See, if we are children of God,
if the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead
has united us with God's crucified and risen Son,
we have an incredible resource
with which we can face suffering.
And so God's word to us today is this,
that though God's children
will never avoid suffering,
we always groan with hope
and we never groan alone.
Though God's children will never avoid suffering,
we always groan with hope
and we never groan alone.
And those are our three points,
that no, sorry,
God's children never avoid suffering,
but they always groan with hope
and never alone.
So point number one,
even God's children never avoid suffering.
Even God's children groan.
Here in verses 17 and 18,
you can look at it with me.
Paul strips his readers of any notion
that God's children enjoy
the special privilege of a life without suffering.
And Paul would even say
that the greatest possible privilege
isn't the absence of suffering,
but the presence of God.
Fellowship with the Father and the Son
and the Holy Spirit.
And maybe to some of us,
this is incredibly disappointing, right?
Especially for those of us
who are on the fence
about whether or not we want to follow Jesus
and have him in our lives.
But if we pay attention
to what Paul's saying here
in verses 17 and 18,
he has something incredibly profound to say
about our present sufferings.
And listen, when he says in verse 18,
excuse me,
that these present sufferings
are not worth comparing
with the glory that will be revealed,
he's not trying to be all saccharine
or like some kind of, you know,
pie-in-the-sky, optimistic preacher
just telling us that there's a silver lining
in all our sufferings.
No, Paul doesn't downplay our groaning.
He doesn't downplay our suffering.
But he does want to put it
in proper perspective,
in proper context.
See, when Paul not only admits,
but he foretells
that even God's children suffer,
he's making a provocative suggestion.
And that suggestion is that
the chief and the man
is not to not suffer.
And maybe that's a word for us this morning, right?
Us Americans, us Westerners,
are we living our lives guided
by the ultimate principle
of avoiding suffering?
Or are we living our lives guided
by the ultimate person
who may very well call us to suffer
just like he did
for the good of others
and for the glory of God?
Are we working our jobs
guided by the principle
of doing as little work as we can
for as much money as we can,
just trying to minimize our inputs,
maximize our outputs?
Or are we selflessly
and sacrificially going to our jobs
with the goal of bearing fruitful witness
to the kingdom of God
and the lordship of Jesus Christ?
Are we raising our kids
guided by the principle
of seeing them suffer
as little as possible?
Or by the principle
of seeing them grow
into the fullness
and maturity
of Jesus Christ
as his disciples?
Paul is making
a counter-cultural statement here
that the chief end
of our existence
is not to not suffer,
but actually
it may very well
involve suffering.
And this is even more
counter-cultural, right?
Contrary to modern
Western secular thought,
which only understands suffering
as an interruption
and an obstacle
to us living our best
and fullest lives.
Paul is saying
that there is such a thing
as a full and meaningful,
satisfying,
and significant life
that the worst suffering
cannot take away from us.
He's saying
that suffering
is not the ultimate enemy
or it's not the ultimate enemy
of the fullest,
most meaningful lives
we could possibly live,
but perhaps
even a necessary part
of the glory stories
God's writing for us.
And maybe you're thinking like,
man, that's a lofty claim.
And you doubt the basis
of such a claim
and to that,
Paul would point you
to the Son of God,
Jesus Christ,
innocent and blameless
in the entirety
of his life,
the most beloved
of God's children,
and yet the one
who faced the most
literally excruciating
suffering of all time.
Just read the prophet Isaiah,
chapter 53,
he bore the curse
of our sin,
he bore our griefs,
he carried our sorrows,
he was stricken,
smitten,
and afflicted by God,
his own father,
as he bore our sins
in his body,
pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities,
wounded,
chastised,
and oppressed,
cut off from the land
of the living.
No one suffered more
than the Son of God,
and yet,
no one lived
a more meaningful,
significant,
and satisfying life
than the suffering servant
Son of God.
Listen again
to the words
of the prophet Isaiah
at the end of chapter 53.
It was the Lord's will
to crush him
and cause him to suffer,
but though the Lord
makes his life
an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring
and prolong his days,
and the will of the Lord
will prosper in his hand
after he has suffered.
He will see the light
of life
and be satisfied.
By his knowledge,
my righteous servant
will justify many,
and he will bear
their iniquities.
Therefore,
I will give him
a portion
among the great,
and he will divide
the spoils
with the strong
because he poured out
his life unto death
and was numbered
with the sufferers,
numbered with the transgressors.
You see,
in Christ,
we find that the most
painful life in history
was at the same time
the most profound
life in history.
At the cross,
we find that suffering
doesn't get in the way
of a full life.
Rather,
it is the way
to a full and meaningful life
that honors God
and serves others in need
and satisfies our own souls.
So I'm not saying
that we should therefore
go and try to suffer
just for the heck of it,
okay?
But what I am saying
is that when God's children
look to their ultimate
older brother,
the Son of God
who became flesh
and dwelt among us
in this broken world,
what we find
is that while suffering
is never an end
in itself,
it can very well be
the beginning
of something glorious.
And all God's children
are invited
into this fellowship,
into the fellowship
of this glorious story,
invited to share
and unite themselves
with the story
of the risen Christ,
co-heirs with Christ.
Notice in verse 17
how Paul doesn't just say
that God's children
will suffer,
but it says that
co-heirs with Christ
will share,
will share in His sufferings
in order that we may
also share in His glory.
This is what it means
to be united with Christ.
It means to experience
what He experienced.
It means to walk
in His way
after the pattern
of His life
in this broken world.
And that means
that we will indeed
share in His sufferings
in order that one day
we will also share
in His glory.
A glory, as it says
in verse 18,
that will far outshine
any of our sufferings.
If the eternal Son of God,
Christ Church,
if the eternal Son of God
did not consider Himself
too great to suffer,
neither should any
other child of God.
And this is the pattern
of all God's children
living in this broken,
sin-stained world.
The pattern of Jesus' life.
The Son of God,
a journey from suffering
to glory.
And there is no greater story
ever told
than the story
of the glory
of Jesus.
And the good news today
is that we're all invited
into this story.
So if you're here today
and you're frustrated
in your suffering
and you're frustrated
with God
because you feel like
He should give you,
His child,
a life that is free
from such suffering,
the Spirit of God
crying,
Abba, Father,
within your hearts
this morning
wants to point you
to Jesus
and to the reality
that even God's
most beloved child
did not avoid suffering.
Unless we be tempted
to fume at God
for placing this
seemingly unnecessary,
pointless page of pain
into the storybooks
of our lives,
God invites us
to see our pain
not as an interruption,
but as an invitation,
a generous invitation
to fellowship with Him
and to know Him,
to know His beloved Son.
Yes, in suffering,
but also and more importantly,
in His glory.
So while our modern,
Western, secular culture
may claim that suffering
is the enemy
of the self-made,
meaning we're all striving
to manufacture
for our lives,
God offers us
a transcendent meaning
through union with Christ
that no suffering
could ever take away.
And that's point number one,
that God's children
do still suffer,
but that's neither
the worst possible news
nor an obstacle
to God's good news
for us in Christ.
Now, for all God's children,
suffering is an opportunity
to experience deep union,
communion,
and fellowship
with the living God,
the Son of God,
and the full and meaningful life
that He very much wants for us.
That's beyond all comparison,
glorious.
Now, point number two,
God's children
always groan with hope.
All right, now in verse 23,
Paul talks about
how God's children,
they suffer,
and they groan
in their present sufferings.
But Paul also wants us
to remember Christ's
whole trajectory
from suffering
to glory
that we never groan
without hope.
And he even sees creation
testifying to this hope
in eager expectation.
Verse 19,
For the creation
waits in eager expectation
for the children of God
to be revealed.
Meaning all of creation
is waiting for God's people
to be the way
that they were always
meant to be.
Free from sin,
free from suffering,
restored as image bearers
of God,
and ready to rightly rule
over His creation.
Like quite the opposite
of what happened
at the fall.
Look at verse 20.
For the creation
was subjected to frustration
not by its own choice
but by the will
of the one
who subjected it.
And see,
this is Paul bringing us back
to Genesis chapter 3
and the fall of humanity
and all creation.
He's saying that the world
was subjected to pain
and suffering
and futility
because the people of God,
the people God made
to rule over creation,
we went our own
destructive ways
apart from God
and thus creation,
this creation
that we were all called
to manage,
it went south too.
So broken by sin
is creation
that even inanimate,
like subhuman creation,
everything is just
out of whack now.
Natural disasters,
painful, deadly illnesses,
scarcity,
thistles and thorns,
meager and uncertain harvests,
that's all because
of our sin.
That's all because
sin has crept in
and broken this world.
But,
notice the last two words
of verse 20.
For creation was subjected
to frustration,
it says,
the last two words,
in hope.
See,
God still had a plan,
God still had an intention
and a goal for his creation
even while subjecting it
to thorns and thistles
and scarcity
and sweat and toil.
He subjected it
to frustration
in hope.
In hope,
verse 21,
that the creation itself
will be liberated
from its bondage
to decay
and brought into the freedom
and glory
of the children of God.
See,
that was always the goal.
Liberation from decay,
freedom and glory.
This is what all of creation
has been groaning for
ever since our falling out
with God.
Verse 22,
we know that the whole creation
has been groaning
as in the pains of childbirth
right up to this present time.
And this is an important metaphor
to describe creation's groaning,
this idea of the pains
of childbirth.
I have no experience in that,
but I'm told
it's very awful.
And I believe,
I believe those who tell me.
All right?
And by the way,
shout out to Chengin and An.
Maybe you're tuning in
on their baby.
I don't know if you remember
Chengin a couple weeks ago.
She shared her story of faith.
She just had a baby this week.
So praise God for that.
But I imagine
it was not easy, right?
I wasn't there,
but I imagine
it wasn't easy.
And here we have Chengin
experiencing firsthand, right?
The pains of childbirth, right?
And the mothers here,
you know this pain, right?
And that's a massive understatement,
but I'm just going to stop there.
But what's key also
to this metaphor
is that pain
is not for nothing, right?
Pain is not for nothing.
And the groaning
is a yearning,
not just a yearning
for the pain to be over,
but for the pain
to accomplish
its better purpose.
And what is the purpose?
New life.
Fruitfulness.
Something,
someone who will make
every good mother say,
I was glad to suffer for this.
This was totally worth it.
And my life is better
for having suffered
through this experience
than if I had not.
You know,
my wife Chelsea,
she's not here today.
My nephew's actually
getting baptized
out in Castro Valley.
That's why my family's
not here today.
But that's why
I can talk about her.
You know,
she had two,
we have two daughters,
and both those pregnancies
were super hard.
People ask us,
are you going to go
for a third?
We say,
if we could be guaranteed
that it won't be as hard,
we would,
but we don't have that guarantee,
so we're done.
We're done.
And again,
her pregnancy
was just super hard.
She was barfing
like buckets upon buckets,
multiple hospital visits,
ER visits,
and honestly,
she wanted to die.
She would say that
every day,
and we would cry together
every day.
She wanted to die.
And it came to a point,
right,
where her pregnancy
was so hard
that both times,
for Kami and for Leah,
our medical provider
and even some close family
suggested
that we terminate
our daughters,
that we just have
an abortion
to just end
my wife's suffering.
So I'm incredibly
sympathetic
to those who
contemplate that option
because it truly was
the worst suffering
that my wife
has ever experienced
and myself, too.
But you know what?
On this side
of the suffering,
as we watch our girls
laugh
and play
and sing
and show kindness,
right,
and recite
the Bible verses
that Miss Catherine
gives us every week,
as we teach them
to pray
the Lord's Prayer,
Chelsea will tell you
that she is glad.
She's glad
she didn't end
her suffering
prematurely
when she could have.
Chelsea waited
eagerly
for her future hope.
And this is what
children of God
are called
to do.
Especially
as those who've
witnessed
the first fruits,
right,
of the ultimate hope
to come,
Jesus is risen.
Jesus' resurrection
points to our future
resurrection,
new creation,
life.
Verse 23,
not only so,
but we ourselves,
who have the first fruits
of the Spirit,
a risen Christ,
grown inwardly
as we wait eagerly
for our adoption
to sonship,
the redemption
of our bodies,
the full and final
reception of our
inheritance in Christ,
imperishable,
incorruptible,
eternal life,
with no suffering,
with God,
in His new creation,
forever.
Verse 24,
for in this hope,
this new creation,
resurrection hope,
that isn't simply
like wishful optimism,
but a sure hope
that's only yet
to be revealed.
In this kind of real
and future hope,
Paul says,
we were saved,
but hope that is seen
is no hope at all.
Who hopes for what
they already have?
Verse 25,
but if we hope
for what we do not
yet have,
we wait for it
patiently,
and I might add,
expectantly,
even in our groaning.
And I wonder if that's
a word for you today,
that yes,
your life may be
full of groaning,
but in Christ,
it can be even fuller
with hope,
because the suffering
servant is risen,
and his suffering
was only a chapter
on the way
to the final page
of forever glory.
And now point number three,
God's children
never groan alone.
So in verse 23,
Paul talked about
the groaning
of God's children, right?
But there are two
other subjects
in this passage
who groan along with us,
right?
Verse 22,
we know that the whole
creation has been groaning
as in the pains
of childbirth
right up to this present time.
Here we see Paul
personifying creation,
the universe,
as something that groans
and suffers just like us
and alongside us.
So like when you have
an oil spill
that destroys tons
of marine life,
creation groans.
When COVID,
when the death count
rapidly rose and rose,
creation groaned.
Creation groaned
over the smoke
rising in Lahaina,
over the 25,000 people,
10,000 of whom
are children
who die every day
due to hunger-related
causes.
Creation groans,
and I think we all
can hear it
if we're paying attention.
Now maybe you're wondering,
though, like,
so what?
Why does it matter
that creation groans
with us?
Well, maybe I can provide
an alternative scenario.
Okay, you know,
the famous atheist,
Richard Dawkins,
he wrote this,
in a universe
of blind physical forces
and genetic replication,
some people are going
to get hurt
and other people
are going to get lucky.
And you won't find
any rhyme or reason
in it,
nor any justice.
The universe that we observe
has precisely the properties
we should expect
if there is,
at bottom,
no design,
no purpose,
no evil,
no good,
nothing but pitiless indifference.
So see,
in Dawkins' mind,
the universe
isn't created
by a personal God
and therefore
it doesn't groan
over suffering.
The harsh world
just is.
Suffering just is.
It's all impersonal
and indifferent
as the universe
just hums along
its natural path.
But for Paul,
and I think for all of us,
if we really think about it,
when Paul personifies creation
as something that groans,
he's indicating
that contrary
to a strictly
materialistic view
of the world,
things are not the way
they were meant to be.
And suffering
is neither normal
nor natural
nor neutral
but something wrong
and worth groaning about.
Paul doesn't say
creation hums along
or that the cogs
of creation
just continue to turn
with natural seasons
and rhythms of suffering
just because
that's the way it is.
No.
He says creation groans
because creation
gets it.
It gets it.
And creation knows
and testifies
that this isn't it,
that we were all meant,
every square inch
of reality
was meant to experience
something far,
far better
than what we currently
experience
in this broken world.
See, Christians
aren't wishful,
thinking,
self-deluded optimists.
We simultaneously
have the greatest
reason to groan
even as we have
the greatest reason
to hope.
And we can hold
both of these things,
groaning and hoping,
together
because of
the other person here
who groans
alongside of us
in verse 26.
In the same way,
the Spirit
helps us
in our weaknesses.
See, we are weak,
Paul says,
and we're miserable
and we are so unaware
of what we even need
that Paul says
in verse 26,
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
knows the mind
of the Spirit
because the Spirit
intercedes for God's people
in accordance
with the will of God.
And what this is saying
is that for every
child of God,
the Spirit of God
intercedes for us.
Praise to the Father
on our behalf.
Like fragrance
rising up
into the heavens,
the Spirit expresses
our deepest groanings
to the Father
and the Father
hears our groanings
and he is faithful
to listen
and to answer.
So like,
even when we pray
totally inappropriate,
off-base prayers
that are not at all
in accordance
with the will of God,
like,
God,
help me lose my virginity.
Or,
God,
let me win the lottery.
Or,
God,
make me powerful
and influential
in my workplace,
in my industry.
The Spirit of God
discerns the thing
beneath the thing.
The deeper groanings
beneath these prayers
for his children
are primal groanings
for intimacy,
are primal groanings
for basic necessities
and security,
are primal groanings
to be fruitful
in our vocations.
These pure groans
that actually are
in accordance
with God's will,
these are lifted up
to the Father
by the Holy Spirit
and the Father
delights to receive
and grant
these requests
from these
Spirit-descerned
groans.
You know,
Tim Keller,
he used to often
say this about prayer
that even though
God often
doesn't answer
our prayers
in exactly the way
we want,
for all God's children,
he does give us
everything
we would have asked for
if we knew
everything
that he did.
And see,
when the Spirit
groans with
and for us,
the Spirit
intercedes
and asks the Father
for the things
we really should
have asked for.
That's the work
of the Holy Spirit.
And when this happens,
that's how we get
this wonderful promise
in verse 28.
And we know
that in all things,
God works
for the good
of those
who love him,
who have been called
according
to his purpose.
And this is the gospel.
Not that we must
work all things
for our own good
through self-love,
but that we have
a God
who both groans
with us
and who is working
for our good.
And it doesn't say
he's working for the good
of those who avoid
suffering at all costs.
No, it says that
in all things,
he works for the good
of those who love him
and who have been called
according to his purpose.
So again,
how are we living
our lives?
How are we going
to live our lives?
Are we living primarily
to avoid suffering
or are we living
to love God
by walking
in his calling
and his purposes
even when suffering
might be involved?
Do we love the one
who first loved us?
Has it sunk in
how deep
and how far
and how wide
and how long
is his love
for his children?
You know,
at the beginning
of the sermon,
we approached
the problem of God
and suffering
and I told you
I wasn't going
to try to provide
an answer
to why God
has allowed
such suffering.
But what I do
want to share,
what I am absolutely
convinced of
is what the answer
cannot be.
And the answer
cannot be
that God
doesn't love us
or that he's
unwilling to come
near to us
and experience
our groaning
and our suffering
himself.
You see,
it's not only
the creation
that groans
with us,
it's not only
the comforter
who groans
with us,
the Holy Spirit,
but the wonderful
mystery of our faith
is that Christ
groans with us,
that Christ
groans for us.
the one who
took Psalm 22
upon his lips
while hanging
on a cross
in our place.
He cried,
my God,
why have you
forsaken me?
And do you know
how the rest of that
verse 1 of chapter 22
in the Psalms goes?
Why are you so far
from saving me
from the words
of my groaning?
we have a groaning
Savior.
And see,
on the cross,
Jesus was dying
and he was groaning
and he was crying out,
but no one came near
to his groans.
Even his Father
in heaven
did not save him
from that cross.
And the good news
of the gospel
is that because Jesus
came near to our groaning
and had his own
groanings ignored
upon a cross,
none of our groanings
will therefore
ever go unheard
or unanswered.
Christ groaned
and died upon a cross
so that God
could end
our groaning
and our suffering
without ending us.
And this is the gospel.
For although
the children of God
will never
avoid suffering,
they will always
have hope
and they never
groan alone
apart from
the Spirit of God
and the Son of God.
His name is Jesus.
Will you pray with me?
Lord God,
we can't say
that we like suffering.
We thank you
that you're bigger
than that.
You're a better
storyteller,
you're a better
story writer
and you offer us
a better hope.
God,
help us to be a church
that embodies
authenticity,
that truly groans
together,
but that also
hopes together
and therefore
rejoices
in the good news
of Jesus,
our suffering servant
who groaned
in our place
so we can be
guaranteed
that you hear us,
you hear our groans,
you are listening
as we await
the final chapter
in our stories,
the story of glory
because of the work
of Christ
and the work
of your Spirit.
Thank you, God.
Thank you.
Give us faith
to believe
this wonderful news
in Jesus' name.
Amen.