Keep the Proper Perspective
Ten Guidelines to a Meaningful Christian Life • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
We have spent ten Sundays now looking at how to live a meaningful Christian life.
Today is the tenth and final message in this series and it is the one that ties all the others together.
We must keep the proper perspective to live well.
We do this by focusing on what is to come over what is happening now.
Right now many of you may be suffering. Suffering from an illness, death, or physical pain.
Suffering is not fun nor is it desired, but it is something that is more consistent with life than the good.
One reason why this is, I believe, is because “When things are going well, most of us tend to take our blessings for granted. Suffering, however, causes all of us to look deep inside and ask the hard questions of life. “What does my suffering mean? Why is this happening to me? What do I need to learn from my suffering?” Sometimes when we are placed in the grip of suffering (whether mental, physical, or spiritual), the answers to these questions become a little bit clearer” (Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Romans, 93).
If we do not have the proper perspective in our Christian walk, we will not be able to stay committed to the 9 other keys to living this life well.
We will not love, sacrifice, be compassionate, be committed, trust God’s Word, be resolute, live by prayer, live confidently, or live beyond.
No, if our perspective is skewed we will live a life of worry, bitterness, greed, drifting, in mistrust, no resolve, no prayer, no confidence, and definitely not beyond.
What we see in this section of Romans is a way to live through sufferings and struggles.
We see how to live in the good and the bad.
We see that our perspective is what matters.
Have an eternal perspective and all this misery here will pale in comparison.
Paul says as much in the first verse of this section.
He then explains it is okay to groan in anticipation of the renewal of everything.
But we do this with hope because our hope is in Christ not the here and now.
We see this in Romans 8:18-25
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
We see in this text several aspects of the creation being under futility/frustration.
We see this in the way the world moves and is.
Natural disasters, disease, cancer, death, and many other climate issues. Thorns thistles and weeds, lack of rain, too much rain, heat, and bitter cold.
All are part of the futility of the world.
So the first observation in the text is that...
All is Ravaged by Suffering
All is Ravaged by Suffering
Paul begins this look at the ravaged world with a triumphant note.
He wrote that the present sufferings do not compare to the weight of glory to be revealed.
Think about that perspective a moment as we examine what he says.
The creation waits with eager longing.
The creation was subjected to futility not willingly but was subjected, but with hope.
We see this in Gen. 3:14-18 “14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 16 To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” 17 And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.”
The creation was subjected to suffering as have we.
But, the creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth.
That is the hope Paul speaks of.
Women who have had children know the pains of childbirth but the joy of what happens after.
The creation is in pains now. It is groaning toward the ultimate deliverance just as a woman does in childbirth.
We are subjected just as the creation is but we await our redemption which Paul speaks of in Titus 2:13
13 waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
We groan but not as one without hope because we know our redemption is near and our redeemer is drawing near.
That is why Paul has the perspective at the beginning.
He said that the present suffering does not compare to the weight of glory to be revealed.
It is a weight game as well as a waiting game.
Think if you will of a one ton concrete block.
That is heavy, but heavy compared to what?
To a feather it is heavy but to an enormous skyscraper it is light.
Everything is about perspective.
The sufferings now may feel like that ton of concrete but look at the weight of glory to come. That amazing heavenly mansion with many rooms that weighs more than any weight here on earth.
This is the perspective that we need. This is the perspective that will keep us going and help us to stay faithful to the Lord.
We do this because of the other observation in this text. That...
Hope is Possible
Hope is Possible
In the last part of verse 23 Paul wrote “we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Adoption takes time as we well know. It is a time of waiting and worry, but one of glorious happiness.
Our adoption is in effect as we are adopted into the family of God when we believe in Christ, but the fullness of this adoption comes with the return of Christ and our transformed bodies.
When our bodies are redeemed from the corrupt state we live in now, and placed in the glorious body we were supposed to have before the fall.
But this hope is in something we do not see.
We do not see Christ in front of us but we believe and have faith.
Paul says true hope is in the things we do not see but desire to be.
We wait with patience. We wait with a longing that drives us to follow Him at all costs.
We wait as a child at Christmas.
Think if you will about the joy of children on Christmas morning.
They have hoped and waited on this day staring at those wrapped gifts for days or even weeks.
They dive in and rip and tear at the wrapping and with joy see what is revealed to them.
Now, if they had knew exactly what was in there they would have not been as joyous.
Yes, they knew it was a gift for them.
Yes, they may have had an idea as to what it is.
We have this same thing with Christ.
We know that He is in victory and that we will be with Him forever, but we have no idea exactly how amazing this will be.
We wait patiently for His calling us to Him and His return.
We wait for this amazing weight of glory as we suffer along here.
Kids “suffer” while waiting for their gifts to be made openable.
They suffer along begging to open those gifts.
This is our groanings through sufferings.
We groan for Christ to return and end all these miserable sufferings to end.
He hears and He knows what we suffer through.
This is why when we wait with hope in the things we do not see we can have patience.
Why? Because Jesus has said, Heb. 13:5 “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
He is with us through it all and will not abandon us.
This world is rough and to make it you do not have to be tough as The Boy Named Sue was told by His father.
No, to make it through this rough world we need to trust in the amazing glory awaiting us with our amazing savior Jesus Christ.
He has promised and He is faithful to trust because He does not lie nor does He change.
Application/Conclusion
But how do I do this?
How do I make it through this miserable suffering and pain?
It is so hard and I am struggling. What can I do?
The Scripture gives us a few applications.
Keep hope in the unseen.
Keep hope in the unseen.
We do this because Christ said, John 14:1-3 “1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”
He has gone to prepare this place for us. We hope in this promise.
We keep our focus on Him when things get rough. We stop and remember that our amazing savior is going to take us home to Him one day.
We keep our perspective on the future and that glory to come not the misery now.
We know our home is not this miserable world. We know our home is with Christ and we will be there one day and we will see all our loved ones who were Christ’s then.
What a glorious day that will be.
But we do not only do that but we
Enjoy the Beauty of God’s Creation
Enjoy the Beauty of God’s Creation
Even though the creation is fallen and cursed, it is still God’s creation. His good creation.
Take time to take in His amazing wonders.
When stressed or in grief, stop and enjoy some of His glorious wonders.
The creation may be in subjection and in futility but it is still His creation.
There is still beauty and wonder in this world.
Make memories with those you love in this creation.
Stop working so much and take time to enjoy life with those you love because you never know when they will be taken.
Stop being so busy and make time to enjoy life in God’s creation with one another before it is gone.
Enjoy what time you have with those you love and enjoy what God has blessed you with because we have many blessings in this rough and tumble world.
We are in a fallen world that has many pains and miseries but this is His creation and since it is we have a why to live still and move forward.
We see this in His creation and His Word but also in some of our sufferings.
Take for example this story.
When Jewish psychiatrist Victor Frankl was arrested by the Nazis in World War II, he was stripped of everything—property, family, possessions. He had spent years researching and writing a book on the importance of finding meaning in life—concepts that later would become known as logotherapy. When he arrived in Auschwitz, the infamous death camp, even his manuscript, which he had hidden in the lining of his coat, was taken away.
“I had to undergo and overcome the loss of my spiritual child,” Frankl writes. “Now it seemed as if nothing and no one would survive me; neither a physical nor a spiritual child of my own! I found myself confronted with the question of whether under such circumstances my life was ultimately void of any meaning.”
He was still wrestling with that question a few days later when the Nazis forced the prisoners to give up their clothes.
“I had to surrender my clothes and in turn inherited the worn out rags of an inmate who had been sent to the gas chamber,” says Frankl. “Instead of the many pages of my manuscript, I found in the pocket of the newly acquired coat a single page torn out of a Hebrew prayer book, which contained the main Jewish prayer, Shema Yisrael (Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one God. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.)
“How should I have interpreted such a coincidence other than as a challenge to live my thoughts instead of merely putting them on paper?”
Later, as Frankl reflected on his ordeal, he wrote in his book Man’s Search for Meaning, “There is nothing in the world that would so effectively help one to survive even the worst conditions, as the knowledge that there is a meaning in one’s life.… He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
Suffering can take many forms. But no matter its shape, size, or nature, it is crucial to remember that God has given you, the believer, a great reason to live, a great purpose to carry out, and a great hope for the future. The believer’s future will be so glorious that it will make any amount of suffering here on earth worthwhile. Praise God, what a hope! (Leadership Ministries Worldwide, Practical Illustrations: Romans (Chattanooga, TN: Leadership Ministries Worldwide, 2004), 93–94).
We will face many difficulties on this palnet. We will face them until we are called home.
If our perspective is only on the here and now, we will be miserable and in pain.
But if our perspective is future focused/glory focused/eternally focused, we will be able to walk with joy and peace because,
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.