I had the opportunity to preach at Trinity Church in Lansing this past Sunday on Romans 8:31-39. Romans 8:31 and Romans 8:37 are home run verses that we love (and I love), but if we’re not careful they can become verses we take out of context and use to formulate a theology that bad things will never happen to us if we are Christians.
How often has something really bad happened to someone and they have one of the following responses: “God, you could have prevented this from happening and you didn’t, thus you don’t love me,” “God I must be a failure in your eyes / not a good enough Christian, or else this bad thing wouldn’t have happened,” and “God you weren’t able to stop this bad thing from happening, thus you are a weak God, or even worse, you are an evil God.” With the final statement of all three of these being therefore I am leaving you.
The truth is we can’t understand the triumphant verses of Romans 8:31 and Romans 8:37 without also understanding what the “these things” are that the verses are referring to. They are referring to the suffering described in Romans 8:17-18 and Romans 8:35-39!
Ever heard of Christians being fed to the lions in the Roman Coliseum? Check again who Romans 8 was written to…you’ve got it, they are one and the same people! The Roman Christians were lion food. In Romans 8:35, Paul is so specific with the people about the type of suffering they will undergo as Christians. And he never tells them the suffering will stop. What he tells them is that Jesus’ authority is greater than the authority of our suffering. Jesus doesn’t offer a life without problems, he offers a life with One who is greater than your problems.
Jesus wins. Our problem is we get the scenes of the movie mixed up. We are living in the middle of the movie, with the authority of Jesus’ victory covering us, though we wait patiently for the final scene of the movie, when there truly will be no more suffering on earth, to take place. When we get things out of order, our entire theology gets out of order and it’s no wonder we get blind-sided when trouble comes our way.
Knowing the end of the story not only brings incredible peace and joy (let alone give us the ability to not ditch our faith when suffering comes), it also unleashes us to a life of freedom and sacrificial obedience. Having the authority of Jesus over everything the world can throw your way is like having a royal flush in poker: you know your hand will beat any other possible hand at the table. What do you do when you have a royal flush? You go all in! You certainly don’t fold your hand. Many Christians are afraid to take any risks in their faith, anything that might bring any sort of persecution or risk or jeopardize our comfort zones or sense of security. We have the royal flush but never use it. We never push the chips in to the center of the table, applying the truth that Jesus fills us up and nothing can separate him from filling us up. Is there really any risk when you are holding a royal flush?
Praying Hebrews 12:27-28 has been life-changing for me and I hope it is for you as well. Pray and ask God: God please show me your unshakable kingdom in the midst of the shakable kingdom all around, and then let me invest fully in your unshakable kingdom. Pray this prayer and then keep your eyes open; it will change everything about how you use your money, how you use your time, how you share your faith, and the things you worry about and get anxious over.
I am so thankful for the authority of Jesus, as it is the authority to free me from slavery, from myself, and from death itself.
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Hey Noah, just tremendous. Couldn’t sleep and listened to your sermon. . . something so good about it, you speak as if it’s all true, Jesus is more than the thing keeping me awake and He’s worth it. Anyone ever tell you that you should be a preacher? Great message man.
One other thing in the light of day… was drawn to the message being from Romans 8. There’s a group called 8thirty8 that is encouraging prayer for brothers & sisters in the Middle East (and elsewhere) at 8:38pm. They do this based on believers there overcome based on Romans 8:38&39. Also, 8:38pm for us is the beginning of a new day for them. Believe they’re on Facebook but they also have an app for your phone. Today is the 19th day of Ramadan and the app (and probably FB) has some believer who needs prayer now.
Last week they shared this story of a Christian family in Syria whose village was taken by Al-Nusra who we’re killing Christian youth. Muslim neighbors offered to take in George, their 18 yr old, telling him to take another name and stand with their kids. His parents agreed but George remembered Jesus’ words about anyone who denies Jesus before men will be denied before the Father. He said, “Mom, I would rather die as a Christian with my name George than have to live a lie. I cannot hide my faith and fear this announcement.” George was killed in the street outside his home.
Prayer for brothers and sisters and the body being one in that way is always good. And prayer during Ramadan for Muslims is timely. Two crazy facts. . . In Muslim dominant countries, over 80% of converts to Christ follow Jesus because they met him in a dream or vision. Other thing I read last week. . . There have been more Muslim converts to Christianity since 9/11 than in the previous 14 centuries combined, since the start of Islam. Pray for Muslims to meet Jesus as they’re reaching out for God during Ramadan.