190303 Eager Expectations

Romans 8:18-22 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.

Approximately 700 years before Jesus’ birth, Isaiah spoke of the future that awaited believers in Isaiah 64:4. “From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.” Jesus, speaking of the final judgment, had these words for us: “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34) God has already prepared an unimaginable glory for us.

When Paul wrote the words “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” He was writing about something that he had experienced. Using the words of Isaac Watts, he had certainly not been,

“carried to the skies on flowery beds of ease,

while others fought to win the prize and sailed through bloody seas”.

In Paul’s own words we can see that…

Paul understood suffering. Let’s turn to 2 Corinthians 11:23-27. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. ²⁴ Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶ on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure.

We can see from this passage that Paul understood what he was writing. I have often wondered if Paul took a quick tour of the prison wherever he traveled, knowing that he would be in it pretty soon! He didn’t even bother to count how often he had been beaten. He recalled five times when he was whipped with 39 lashes. He could remember being beaten with rods three times. He was stoned once. When he wasn’t being beaten nearly to death his ship was sinking under him. Danger marked most of his activity! When he looked back on his ministry he recalled being tired a lot. He lost a lot of sleep carrying the gospel to the nations. He remembered hunger and thirst, cold and exposure!

In spite of all that he could say that the suffering experienced in service to Christ would dim in the light of the glory yet to come.

Paul had not been there but Peter, James, and John were. You recall the story. The three disciples had gone with Jesus to the top of a mountain where they had seen Jesus meeting with Moses and Elijah. There…

Peter had seen the fading glory — now the unfading. Let’s look at 1 Peter 5:4. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

The disciples experienced something similar to Isaiah’s vision in the temple. It had happened in the year that King Uzziah died! Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up.

Another example would be Moses when he went into the presence of God. When he was surrounded by the glory of God he glowed but the glow faded. Now Peter tells us that the crown of glory we receive will be unfading.

After reflecting on his sufferings.

Paul had thought about these things. Let’s look back at Romans 8:18. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Paul begins verse 18 by saying, “I consider,” meaning “I have thought it over carefully—I have weighed the evidence and thus reckon it to be so.” He says essentially the same thing in 2 Corinthians 4:17—“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”  No matter what we have gone through, are presently going through, or will go through, the sum total is not worth comparing with the glory that awaits us. We can compare a thimble of water with the sea, but we cannot compare our sufferings with the coming glory.

Like the old song tells us:

This world is not my home I'm just a passing through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven's open door
And I can't feel at home in this world anymore

— Mary Reeves Davis (Jim Reeves wife)

There must’ve been many days when the apostle thought about the world that lay beyond the veil. Certainly, his tiredness while enduring constant pain must’ve held him down some days. Paul must’ve recognized that he was no longer subject to this world. In fact, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ should agree with him that…

Our citizenship is not earthly. Let’s look at Philippians 3:20-21. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.

It is a marvelous thing to consider who we really are! We are not just men and women subject to the things of this world. We are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Ephesians 2:19). Or, as the writer of Hebrews would have it, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:22-24).

So, we see that throughout Scripture there is evidence for our changed allegiance. Not only are we now subject to a new set of rules we will be restored to bodies that must be like those Adam and Eve had before they sinned. When they rebelled against God their bodies begin to die. Previous to that they had been part of creation that God, himself, said was very good. Having lost their perfect bodies they began to decline generation after generation until we have what we have today. When Christ comes again he will restore us to perfection! In the meantime, we will not be disembodied spirits. We are in a body today that is similar to a tent. It is fragile and subject to all sort of difficulties. But, we will lay aside this tent and it will be replaced with a building from God. We are not told exactly how that body will differ from the one we have now. The comparison is given in 1 Corinthians 15, the present body — earthly — is like a seed that will be put in the ground and the future body — heavenly — will be like the full stalk that grows from the seed. Jesus, after his resurrection, had a recognizable body but it was enough different that his followers did not immediately recognize him. We do not know exactly what our heavenly body will be like but John told us that, “when he appears we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2).

While we await that new body…

In the meantime — creation groans. Let’s go back to the original creation found in Genesis 3:17-19. 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. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

Before Eve ate the fruit and handed it to Adam they lived in a perfect world. They ate the forbidden fruit and suddenly were afraid of God and ashamed of their bodies. In fact, their bodies may have begun to change immediately. We are not told so we can only speculate. We should always be careful when speculating anything regarding Scripture. What was the world like where Adam and Eve lived? Apparently, all creation lived together without fear or anger. Apparently again, every creature — including humans — lived off of vegetation. They did not eat meat until after the flood covered the earth. (Genesis 9:3)

All creation fell when Adam and Eve sinned. Before that, they had access to all kinds of fruit and edible vegetation. They did not have to work the ground. After sin came into the world they had to scratch their living out of a resistant earth. For the first time, they had to sweat in order to eat. Ultimately, their bodies would return to the earth out of which they came.

The animal world was invaded by fear and violence. The most beautiful scenes in nature are also witnesses to horror: floods, hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes, blights, avalanches, and earthquakes are common today.

Not just mankind, but all of the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. Since the fall of mankind, the whole creation has been groaning together in the labor to produce a new world where we will all be at peace. We are in expectation of a new world…

Until all things are made new. Let’s go to the end of the story Revelation 21:1-5a. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. ² And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” ⁵ And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”

Everything that was lost in Genesis is restored in Revelation. Everything that was twisted and destroyed by sin is going to be straightened and restored. The earth as we know it today will be changed. There will no longer be a need for the vast seas that cover much of our earth today. And there will be a connection between heaven and earth in the city -- the New Jerusalem! Again, God will dwell with man. He will be our God and we will be his people. There will be no more tears, no more death, no mourning, no crying, no pain, our God will make all things new!

We can expect that the new heavens and new earth will be a fully perfect creation that was once proclaimed to be — and will be again — “very good”! Eventually, all things will be subjected to the people of God under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. God’s original plan to have everything in the world subject to human beings will be accomplished. Mankind will once again fill the earth and subdue it having dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens and every living thing that moves on the face of the earth. I would encourage you to look at the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 65, which ends with the fabulous promise, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord.

Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will be a part of that new world. Jesus will call us to inherit the kingdom he has prepared for us. Recall that he promised his disciples — and that includes us — that he would come again so that they would be where he is at even today. The Bible assures us that such a place where he is at exists even now. As far back as Isaiah’s prophecies, God said there would be new heavens and a new earth and we will live with God there. Heaven is the place where God makes his presence known to bless his people. We know that it is a real place because the Bible says so! It is the place where Jesus ascended into the clouds after his resurrection in his last days with his apostles. It is a place Stephen saw when he was being stoned to death! It is the place Paul saw when he was stopped on the Damascus Road! It is the final resting place for the people of God!

I pray that you will be there.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton, Ill, Standard Bible Society.

190224 The Father God

Romans 8:12--17 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

In the past two weeks, we have looked at the central passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans. We have seen something about our relationship to the indwelling Christ. We have looked at our relationship to the indwelling Spirit. Now we come to consider our relationship to the first person of the Trinity, the Father God. For the person who has received Christ Jesus as Lord has been set free in the Son of God by the law of the Spirit of life. In this passage, we see that we are able to call God “Abba, Father ”! How do we arrive at that blessed place? We are adopted by God the Father into his family. The idea of being adopted into God’s family is the opposite of being born into a human family. Adoption follows conversion and is God’s response to our faith. The Holy Spirit, who is also the Spirit of the Son, allows us the privilege of calling God our “Daddy”. The work of the Holy Spirit gives us assurance of our adoption. After we have become children of God we receive adoption into the family of God as the result of saving faith.

In order to better understand this let’s look at a couple of verses that make it clear that adoption follows conversion and is God’s response to our faith. First…

In the beginning of John’s Gospel. Let’s look at John 1:11-13. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. ¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

In regeneration we are made spiritually alive. As a result, we are able to come to God in prayer and worship. We are able to hear his word with receptive hearts. Believers in the name of Jesus have received him and are given the right of adoption allowing us to become children of God.

We need to recognize that God did not have to adopt us into his family. He has other creatures who are spiritually alive and do not have the privileges of family members. Angels, for example, would fall into that category! The writer of Hebrews makes it very clear that angels are a different category of creation. The angels are ministering spirits who are sent to serve mankind. Our Father put humans in charge of the creation, not angels (Hebrews 2:1). Paul, writing to the Corinthians, tells us that we are to judge the angels.

God is our Creator, our Judge, our Lord, our Teacher, our Provider, our Protector, and our Sustainer. Yet the closest relationship that we can have with God is his role as our heavenly Father. Relating to us as a Father shows very clearly that he loves us and that he understands us. He takes care of our needs and gives us many good gifts. The greatest gift is Himself in the person of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Without that gift we would not have salvation. What about…

Those who do not believe. Let’s look at Ephesians 2:1-3. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

Before a person comes to faith in the Lord Jesus — and there is no other way of salvation — we are spiritually dead. Unbelievers are totally unable to do spiritual good. That is a hard concept to wrap our minds around. There is no doubt that Scripture teaches us that everyone is in spiritual bondage at birth and we remain in that condition until we come to faith in Christ.

Humanly speaking unbelievers are able to do many things that are good but we must remember that “all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment” (Isaiah 64:6). Unbelievers are not even able to understand the things of God correctly. The Bible tells us that the “natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). We cannot even come to God on our own power. That statement flies in the face of much that passes as evangelism today. To say to a person “read these four scriptures and pray this prayer and you will be saved” goes against the very words of Jesus. Jesus says, “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). If we have a total inability to do any spiritual good in God’s sight doesn’t that mean that we have no freedom of choice with regard to salvation? Those who are outside of Christ make many voluntary choices. They decide what they want to do and they do it. There is a kind of freedom in those choices. However, since we are born in fundamental rebellion against God, as well as a fundamental preference for sin, unbelievers do not have the most important freedom! They do not have the freedom to do right spiritually nor the ability to be pleasing to God. If God gives anyone the desire to repent he or she should not delay and face the possibility of hardening their own heart. The ability to repent and the desire to trust in God is not naturally ours but is given by the Holy Spirit. If you sense God calling you to repentance please respond quickly. The writer of Hebrews tells us “Today, when you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 3:15). We are born separated from God and we are unable to save ourselves.

The Bible teaches us that…

We are children of God through faith. Let’s look at Galatians 3:25-27.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Before Jesus came into the world the consciousness of God as Father was quite limited. The privileges of membership in God’s family did not come until Christ came and the Spirit of the Son of God was poured into human hearts. As children of God through faith, we have the privilege of calling God “Abba! Father! ”…

And relationships have changed. Let’s look at 1 John 3:1-3. See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ² Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. ³ And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

In fact, all relationships change to some degree. With salvation, we enter into a deep, deep, love of God that goes beyond anything we can know as a human without him. The gift of faith allows us to be called the children of God! John, in his gospel, talked about those to whom Christ gave the power to become children of God! Remember they “were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). We cannot save ourselves nor can any other person grant us salvation. This is only the work of God and it brings us into new relationships all around. As God’s children, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. The Christian faith is unique! No other religion (and I don’t mind calling it a religion) is treated as harshly as Christianity. The world does not know or understand why we are like we are. We not only have a new Father and an untold number of brothers and sisters…

We have a new older brother. Let’s look at Hebrews 2:10-13. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

¹¹ For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, ¹² saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

¹³ And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

There was eternally a Father-Son relationship! The role of the Father in creation and redemption has been to plan and direct the Son to implement our salvation. It is the role of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father, to complete the work of salvation by convicting of sin and testifying about Jesus.  Throughout eternity the Father has been the Father, the Son has been the Son, and the Holy Spirit has been the Holy Spirit.

The writer of Hebrews takes us to Psalm 22:22 and shows us that the passage belongs to Jesus. “I will tell of your name to my brothers” since Jesus and the children of God all came from the Father Jesus was not ashamed to call us “brothers”! We are told “he had to be made like his brothers in every respect” in order to bring about salvation (Hebrews 2:17). Being like us Jesus was tempted in all ways like us.

In the Roman world and throughout most of the history of the human race the oldest son is viewed as the head of the household when his father dies. As such he is superior to the rest of the family. That imagery certainly works in the relationship of Jesus to his family. He has become our older brother and we are subject to him, even to the point of kneeling before him, praising him and obeying him. Since we have come into this new family…

We have family responsibilities. Let’s look back to Hebrews 12:7. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Discipline implies responsibility. As children of God, we have the responsibility of growing to be like him. Jesus spoke of our proving our relationship to him.

It is a great privilege to receive discipline from God. The Lord disciplines who he loves. He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. Proper discipline has always been the foundation of an orderly life. In Proverbs we find “whoever spares the rod hates his son (Proverbs 13:24). And, the rod and reprieve give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother” (Proverbs 29:15).

As a result of our new relationship…

We have a new way of living. Let’s look at 1 Peter 2:11-12. Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

We have the responsibility of living a life that brings honor to our God and Father. I can remember several times when my mother told me “The Bray family doesn’t live that way!” She wasn’t claiming we were better than anyone else she was just simply saying that we did have standards to live by. The same is certainly true of becoming Christian

There are many benefits, or privileges, that come to us with our adoption into the family of God. One of the greatest privileges is being able to speak to God to relate to him as a good and loving Father. He loves and understands us in ways we cannot really imagine. We have an inheritance in heaven. We have the privilege of being led by the Holy Spirit. We have the privilege of sharing in Jesus’ suffering and glory. Because we have become God’s children we relate to one another as members of a spiritual family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ. As God’s children we are able to imitate our heavenly Father. Have you entered into that faith relationship with God? The Bible tells us that today is the day of salvation.

All scriptures quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001. Wheaton, Ill, Standard Bible Society.