Groaning For New Life! Romans 8:18-23

The Fourth Sunday After Trinity                           23-June-2024

Sermon Text: Romans 8:18-23

Sermon Theme: “Groaning For New Life!” I. Be Patient In Suffering! (Vs.18-19). II. Let The Promise Of Hope Sustain You! (Vs.20-21). III. Labor Leads To Joyous New Life! (Vs.22-23) by Rev. Nathan J. Rusert

I.N.R.I. Psalms 27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?” Joyfully we sing with David, but then we hear the diagnosis, receive news of an accident, our children die, our finances collapse, our spouse leaves us. Fear floods upon us 24/7 in never ending news feeds of wars, crimes, weather, corruption, graft, evil parading as good, and good labeled “hate speech.”

    “Something isn’t right in our world.” This reality slowly gnaws at our gut. Even godly families can fail us. Husbands alienate their love for their wives. Parents play favorites. The favored sibling boasts, while the rest seethe in murderous rage willing to sell their own flesh and blood into slavery. Covering up their murder blaming it on a wild beast as they hand their father his son’s bloody torn robe. Something isn’t right in our world.

      The world wide flood of Noah’s day didn’t wash away that which wasn’t right in our world. Humanity was reduced to a family of eight, but the imagination of man’s heart remained evil from the moment of conception. Unwilling to heed the Creator’s command to marry being fruitful and multiplying families with many children to fill the earth by scattering abroad, mankind turned to making a name for themselves. Their great city and a tower to storm heaven to become their own gods and saviors. Babel ended in a confusion of languages. People groups were scattered by language. Still the lie whispered by the old serpent Satan echoed in their captive hearts.

        Study the ancient world. Where mankind settled and civilizations arouse, towers, pyramids, mounds were built so man could ascend to storm heaven and set things right again. The ancient Mayans of central America believed that they were survivors of a world-wide flood in which the angry gods destroyed the ungodly. The Teotihuacanos culture began 400B.C. and lasted until civil war destroyed it around 750 A.D.. They built a large city with a pyramid to the sun god, one to the moon good, and a third to a snake like god that incorporated all other aspects of their idols into itself. They sought to set things right in the earth by sacrifice of birds, animals, plants, and humans. Life was in the blood, so in trying to set things right by sacrifice they bound prisoners and cut the still beating heart from their victims to make things new again. This brutal false worship would be repeated by other cultures rising in the Americas.

     We may think we are much too cultured for such brutality. There are many fearing global climate change, who openly champion death of humans as the solution to our creation out of kilter. If we treat human life as an infection to be wiped out, they are certain they can save the world, restoring it to a pristine creation. Opinions in favor of sacrificing mankind to save the world are even discussed at the UN.

    Repent! Stop fearing the darkness! The Lord Jesus Christ is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? No one! In Him we are: “Groaning For New Life!” I. Be Patient In Suffering! (Vs.18-19). II. Let The Promise Of Hope Sustain You! (Vs.20-21). III. Labor Leads To Joyous New Life! (Vs.22-23)

I.  Rejecting the God of mercy the Creator and Sustainer of all life, men’s fool hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man - and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Ancient idolatry was satanic. The modern idolatry of scientism is satanic. Turning man away from the merciful Creator to set things right by their own sacrifices.

     The great Old Testament scholar St. Paul teaches (vs.18-19). Be patient in suffering. The cross and suffering in this once pristine creation isn’t according to God’s design. Satan, a created angel rebelled against God’s Word and rule. Pride puffed him up and became his downfall. Cast to the earth he sought to murder and destroy the crown of God’s creation - mankind created male or female gifted with sexuality to find its fulfillment in marriage, children, and the family alone. Satan hates God’s design. Taking our human will, mind, and desires captive through sin he chains us in the LIE.

       Satan whispers, “God is vengeful, punishing you unjustly, that’s why you suffer!” The devil is rightly called the Accuser - trying to crush conscience through suffering with his lie that God doesn’t care. Turn from the LIE! Listen only to He who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life. He whose flesh and blood alone reconcile us to our God and Father. We struggle with the sin that lives in these bodies - the old adam - who must be crucified daily. The old adam which will only be torn from these bodies by death and our brief rest in the grave.

        There is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus! Our present sufferings are according to God’s mercy - not His wrath. We live by the Spirit walking by the Spirit by hearing and living Christ’s Word. “The Christian life consists altogether in the practice and experience of what the Word of God tells us.”(Luther) So closely has our crucified, risen, ascended triumphant and ruling Savior Jesus knit us into His living flesh that we are privileged to share His cross. We suffer for we have a real inheritance, Satan will not stop pursing us to snatch us from our Savior’s hand. Take heart! Hear your Good Shepherd! John 10:27-30 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (28) And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. (30) I and My Father are one."

    The sufferings of this present time. Living in this present world corrupted by Adam’s sin is only temporary. Satan’s days, evil’s days are numbered. You do not suffer alone, creation suffers with you, it eagerly waits - as each dawn breaks the birds sing in praise that perhaps this is the Day! The Day of its Creator Whose Blood was poured upon it on Calvary to make all things new! Is this the day when all creation sings in triumph over evil, sin, death, and Satan - “Psalms 118:24 This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Patiently wait with creation as you suffer - after the winter spring returns - new life proclaims that there will be a resurrection of our bodies to eternal life.

II. Joseph’s brothers had meant evil to him, but God meant it for good. Satan rejoiced for brothers to hate and murder their brother selling him into slavery. Christ ruled over all the affairs of fallen mankind to sustain and prolong human life through seven years of famine. God seeks to protect and sustain every human life He creates.

     Be merciful! Why? Your Father in heaven is merciful! Let the promise of Hope sustain you! Listen! (Vs.20-21) Only after creating mankind in His own image, male and female, blessing them with marriage, and calling them to have children - does our Creator declare everything “very good!” Mankind is the crown and caretaker of God’s creation. Then Satan whispered his lie, we turned our back on our merciful Father and His Word. Satan took Adam captive by sin, and with him all of creation was plunged into corruption and death.

    Creation was subjected to futility because of mankind’s sin. It didn’t wilfully rebel, as our father Adam had - then the Creator stepped into the Garden - calling man and his wife to repent! Preaching the promise of Jesus to come born of a virgin Mother to crush the devilish thief. Creation heard and rejoiced in hope at the Creator’s promise. It now would yield thorns and thistles because of our sin - but it’s future is tied to our deliverance.

     Now the sun must shine on the righteous and the evil. The rain falls on the believer and the pagan. Creation continues to serve mankind according to our Creator’s Word spoken when it was brought forth from nothing by His Word. Learn from creation to look forward in hope! Get away from all the screens. From man made images instilling constant fear and terror. Turn from the idols of our age - technology is a tool - never a Savior.

     Look up at the stars at night! Trust the promise in Jesus that you will shine like them in the resurrection. Behold the power of the storms! Trust the One whose voice brought peace to the fearful disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee! Learn from the soil beneath, the sky above, the air you breath - live in hope. Confess with Peter, “2 Peter 3:9-13 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (10) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (11) Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, (12) looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? (13) Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Hope in Christ! Speak His mercy that others repent and cling to their Creator - Christ Jesus now in this day of grace!

III.  Our first parent’s sin, in which all of us were conceived and born, complicated a mother’s bearing children. Genesis 3:16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." In labor a wife brings forth children, but in child bearing is hope. Hope for a new generation - hope for the woman, the virgin Mary, brought forth the Son of God conceived in her womb by the Holy Spirit through the Word of promise preached by the angel Gabriel. He has made all things new by His life, suffering, death, and resurrection. Now we wait like a nine month pregnant woman - waiting on the time new life replaces all our pain and labor with joy - joy that life eternal is born.

       Live in Joy! (Vs.22-23) Listen to creation! It groans with labor pains! It waits for it to be born anew without any sin, devil, evil, or corruption infesting it. You too wait. Not to be rid of these bodies, but that your mortal body might be further clothed with life. You have the first fruits of the Spirit - baptized into Christ’s death and resurrection the Father has adopted you - brought you into His Home of mercy, grace - judged you to be His own! Now we wait in hope!

     In the Saxon Visitation articles of 1592 - Lutherans confessed of the Lord’s Supper: V. The body and blood of Christ are received not only by faith spiritually, which can also occur outside of the Supper, but here with the bread and wine orally. Yet this happens in an unexplainable and supernatural way, as a pledge and assurance of the resurrection of our bodies from the dead.” Every time you wash - remember your baptism - your adoption. Every time you feast on Jesus’ living, forgiving, and renewing body and blood - rejoice - LIFE won you! Amen.