Sermon from March 2, 2008

Sermon March 2, 2008

Romans 8: 24-30 “Our Deepest Hope”

24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27 And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

Have you noticed the spate of television shows relating to ghosts, hauntings, and the occult? They are on the SciFi Channel, little wonder, but also on the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, and a few other more mainstream cable stations.

And there are the fictional series on this topic, my current favorite being the Ghost Whisperer. I like the premise, a young woman helping the dead finish up their unfinished business here so hey can move on into “the light”. It is language borrowed from out of body experiences, what Christians would equate with the journey to heaven after death.

All of these shows touch on a deep inward need, a need for people to know that there is something after death.

The first verse of our text this morning, which was also part of Romans 8 from last week, is the statement of our hope as people in Christ. We hope for what we do not see. Our hope is in the God who created us, who we believe we go to join when we die on this earth.

But the concern for what comes next is not something that only presses us today. It was a concern in Paul’s time as well.

I believe Paul is talking about the end of life, although he does not expressly say it, because of how I have used these words. He says that in our weakness, we do not pray as we ought, but that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.

That is always a part of my communal prayers, explicitly or implicitly. When we are too weak to pray, the Bible promises that the Spirit will pray for us. And those moments when I have been too weak, or been with someone too weak to pray, those moments have been near the time of death.

Whatever the weakness, the pivotal event in this process of prayer is in verses 27 and 28: And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” This is divine assurance that the Lord hears us especially when we cannot pray. God knows the Spirit’s mind, because the Spirit intercedes for us according to God’s will.

That is the prayer that never fails brothers and sisters, simply put, “Thy will be done.”

So there is the Spirit yet again, our Counselor at our moment of greatest weakness, our Advocate when we have no voice to bring to God on high. And the Spirit’s prayer is not our own stumbling searches for the will of God, no these prayers are according to God’s will. So we move from the hope of God, the hope in what is unseen, from that rather abstract idea to the very concrete. At our weakest, the Spirit will intercede for us. And the language here suggests that the Spirit is feeling our pain. The Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.

But then, at the end of this incredible expression of the deep and tender concern of God for God’s people, Paul swings into a full on theological discussion, consider the words: “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

I have a book in my office on what NOT to say in times of grief and weakness. Paul’s words are near the top of that list, “It will all work out for the best, or for the good.” Dying can be dignified, it can be appropriate, it can be peaceful, it can be full of grace and mercy, but it is never good for the people left behind.

In time, the good might become apparent, or it might not. But what Paul is telling us is not the most appropriate bit of news when offering pastoral care. Then comes a string of theological terms, foreknowledge, the big one for the Reformed faith, PREDESTINATION, conformity to the image of Christ, being called, justification, and glorification. These couple of verses in Romans 8 have become the basis for literally thousands of pages of theological explication and explanation.

Why is all this theological detail being juxtaposed next to these beautiful versesof the intervention of the Spirit? At first glance it looks like a real nonsequetor. But is it?

You do not tell a grieving widow that the death of her husband is a good thing, that is true. But Paul is not writing a counseling treatise here. In ultimate terms, God is in control. We believe our God is a good God and therefore, things work for good, even when we don’t understand how or why. And this theological language begins to explain how.

Everything is foreknown by God. Things don’t slip past God. Surprises in our lives are not surprises in heaven. In fact, things are predestined. The will of God is at work in this world, despite the sin and the pain and the horror. It does not mean that God is the author of sin, or responsible for sin. That came out of our own choice. But it does mean that God navigates through even the worst circumstances to bring out something better.

Now here is the power of the Spirit. It is so easy to lose faith, to be so angry at God in times of grief. I’ve noticed that people rarely get angry at Jesus. He was human. He died too. Grieving people can relate to him, sometimes more powerfully. We are to be conformed to the image of the Son. We are to be made like Jesus, molded into the children of God, being like the firstborn within a large family.

This is the will of God the Spirit is making known in our lives when that Spirit prays for us and in us. We are predestined to be children of God, we are called to be children of God, we are justified to be children of God, and we are to be glorified as children of God. All of this theological language is there to reaffirm for us again the promise of grace and love that comes to us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the information that the Spirit is putting into our souls when we are too weak to even think of God. This is the confidence in eternity that Paul wants us to know.

Last week, we talked about the power of the Spirit to lead us to take on big things. Now we are talking about the power of the Spirit to heal our souls when we are pushed to despair by the ultimate things of life and death itself.

What the Ghost Whisperer calls “the light”, we know to be the eternal life of heaven. And we know it, even at our weakest moments, because of the work of the Spirit who is within us. Thewhole process of salvation, the very will of God in heaven, is unfolded in our hearts by God’s own Spirit. What hope we have in our Lord.

Amen.