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MORE THAN SURVIVORS Romans 8:28-39
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son that he might be the first born among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Luke tells us in his gospel, On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body f the Lord Jesus. While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!...”
It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that draws us together this Easter morning.
A family received a letter from a neighbor who was visiting the Holy Land. The 6 year old asked I wonder if he saw the rose. What rose? The parent asked. You know, like the Bible women saw. The Bible says that they went to that garden where Jesus was buried and they saw Christ had a rose!
Today we celebrate the holy season of the year when throughout the world Christians are rejoicing in the central fact of our faith that Jesus Christ is risen. Those of you who have come to worship today, because it is Easter Sunday, have chosen to come on an important Christian holiday. Of course Easter would not have happened without Christmas, but if Easter did not happen, nothing else matters. If Jesus did not rise from the dead, nothing else matters. That’s what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. I commend you on your recognizing the importance of this day.
A French thinker once told Thomas Carlyle that he was going to start a new religion that would replace Christianity. That’s fine, replied Carlyle. All you will have to do is to be crucified, rise again the 3rd day, and get the world to believe you are still alive. Then your new religion will have a chance.
It’s Easter Sunday. So What? What does it really matter? How does the fact that Jesus rose from the dead over 2000 years ago have anything to do with my life today? What practical difference does the resurrection make for my everyday life?
Randy Reid, a 34 year old welder, was working near the top of a newly constructed water tower outside Chicago when he slipped and fell 110 feet to the ground below. Barely missing bricks and debris, Reid landed on a 6 foot high, soft pile of dirt near the base of the tower.
Within minutes rescue workers responded to the 911 call made by Reid’s panicked co-workers, who had watched him plummet to the ground. Miraculously, a bruised lung was the only injury the shaken construction worker sustained. Ironically, as he was being carried to the ambulance on a stretcher, approximately 3 feet above the ground, he looked into the faces of the paramedics and nervously pleaded, “Please, don’t drop me!”
Can you imagine! A guy falls eleven stories to the ground and lives, only to be concerned about a stretcher ride a few feet off the pavement? Where was his trust in the ability of those professionally trained paramedics? There is no way they would be careless with their grateful client. And yet here was a man who felt it difficult to trust his care-givers.
But, on second thought, do you realize how much we resemble Randy Reid? How often do we question God’s ability to carry us? There are so many things we are concerned about. The health of our marriage. Our children’s safety. The loneliness of involuntary singleness. The rising cost of health care. Our job security. Investments gone sour. The rejection of friends. The storm clouds of depression. When overwhelmed with the fears of failures and concerns we are inclined to cry out to God, Please, God, don’t drop me!
When we stop and realize all God has done to save us from the ultimate fall, our fear of being dropped from the cot of our concerns and anxieties is unfounded. Because Easter is true, because Jesus was raised from the dead, because he is seated at the right hand of the Father, the seat of power and authority, because he is there praying for us, we are more than survivors! Because Jesus has risen from the grave, we are more than conquerors!
Our scripture passage this morning from Romans 8 rehearses the theme of what it means to be in relationship with a promise-keeping God.
In The Message Eugene Peterson paraphrases the core idea of this passage in this way: So what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?”
In his letter to the first century believers in Rome. Paul wrote to people a lot like us. People whose hopes for living what they say they believed were held hostage by an incomplete understanding of the power of the resurrection in their lives. People who hadn’t fully come to terms with the meaning of the resurrection. Unable to fully embrace with their minds that they had been saved from a fall much worse than one from a water tower, a fall that had been broken by a bloodied corpse at the foot of a Roman cross. A fall with a curse that had been broken as well when that bloodied corpse stood up to death, refusing to take it lying down. In Christ’s death and resurrection, he has not only broken our sure and fatal fall, once alienated from a holy God, we are now guaranteed forgiveness and unbroken fellowship with him when we die. And beyond that, his love will concern itself with the issues that concern me.
In these last several verses of Romans 8, Paul allows us an unrestricted view from the stretchers on which we lay into the face of God himself. And it’s a smiling face. God isn’t mad at you! He loves you. He even likes you! Those loving eyes reassure me that since he spared no expense to break my fall from sin, he will not drop me now. He will not leave me to my own weakness and good intentions. He provides me with his Spirit. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will empower me. He will even help me to pray when I feel overwhelmed and don’t know what to say.
Paul says very clearly--God is for us. We who have trusted in Christ were pre-destined to be conformed to the image of his Son. He called us. He justified us. According to Romans 8:15, God has already given his Spirit and claimed us as his children. In other words, we are not just accidental survivors from our fall into sin. God had our salvation in mind all along. Whereas Ralph, the construction worker, may not fully understand how he survived, we know why we are still here. God saved us to fulfill his purpose in us. All things in our lives are drenched with meaning because God is committed to incorporating them into his master design. He will use everything, even bad things for our growth.
In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who want to live according to God’s purposes for them. In all things God works for the good of those who love him, even when they slip and fall, because we have been rescued and we can trust the one who rescued us.
And knowing that our rescue from the degrading consequences of a life separated from God was God’s idea, we have a reason to believe that he saved us for what he yet desires to do for us and through us.
Bill Gaither wrote a song back in the 70's that describes God’s investment in us of which the cross and empty tomb are but a down payment. He wrote: He didn’t teach us to swim to let us drown. He didn’t build his home in us to move away. He didn’t lift us up to let us down!
According to this chapter in Romans, Christ’s accomplishment on the cross includes more than just a ticket in our name at heaven’s will-call window. In verses 31-39, Paul makes a case for the fact that salvation is more like a whole-life insurance policy than term insurance. It is much more than a death benefit. For Paul, the extent to which God went to save us from sin conveys a father-like interest in our well-being. It’s an interest that touches every area of our daily life. Paul says, He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us ALL things?
God’s love is not limited to a love for the world at-large. He cares for you and your world. King David likens himself to a lamb and pictures God as a shepherd carrying him. But David is not the only lamb for whom the Lord is a shepherd. I too, believe that we are tucked in the crook of his arm. And when he carries me, he carries what I carry in my heart.
Paul must have smiled as he dipped his pen one last time into his ink and visualized what he was about to commit to parchment. Just before he rehearses a great crescendo of human fears and calamities that would seem capable of separating us from God’s love, he boldly announces that those who have been rescued from sin are more than survivors. More than conquerors. Given the purpose of his plan for your lives and the investment he made on the cross to bring about that plan, we are not to view ourselves as having barely escaped. We are, in Paul’s understanding, thoroughly equipped for whatever comes our way.
The context of the passage suggests that we will experience trials and tests and hardships and sorrows. What we fear may very well come to pass. The construction worker survived, but he did have the fearful memory of that fall and he had to heal from a bruised lung. Paul had to endure a thorn in his side from which he suffered for the rest of his life. Easter doesn’t vaccinate us from the problems everyone else faces, but it does promise that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing can strip us of our identity as conquerors. His love will attend to our needs, no matter what. Even when we fail to live what we say we believe, the stretcher of his grace will carry us. His grace will help us stand up again when we fall.
Several hundred years ago a group of German Christians hammered out a catechism with which they hoped to teach their children the basic doctrines of the faith. It was called the Heidelberg Catechism. It reminds us that Jesus will provide us with the necessary resources to live what we say we believe. What he bids us to do he enables us to do.
The Heidelberg Catechism asks, What is your only comfort in life and in death? And the answer declares, That I belong body and soul in life and in death, not to myself, but to Jesus Christ who at the cost of his own blood has fully paid for all my sins and has completely freed me from the dominion of the devil, that he protects me so well that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head. Indeed, that everything must fit his purpose for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.
Is that powerful or what? And it’s true! After saving us from the fall, there is no way God is going to drop us now! That is what Easter guarantees. The resurrection, the empty tomb means that what Christ promised in his death on the cross has been achieved. And by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead on Easter morning, God will enable you to do all that he is calling you to do. What he calls you to do, he empowers you to do with the same power that raised Jesus from the dead.
But for this to be more than just theory, for this to be more than just a vague belief, you need to meet Jesus personally. You can’t just believe Jesus rose from the dead. You have to meet him personally and follow him faithfully.
Even the devil believes that Jesus rose from the dead. You need to come to Jesus and say Jesus, I believe that when you died on the cross, you died for MY sins. And I believe that you also rose from the dead and that you are alive right now. I open my heart and ask you to come in and make me a new person. I give my life to you. Do with it what you want.
Paul’s promise in our scripture is to work all things for the good of those who love him. It is not a general promise to everyone. It is a promise to those who love him. Are you one who loves him? Do you know Jesus and do you love him? Those are very personal terms. And they are supposed to be. Jesus wants a personal relationship with you so he can enable you to fulfill your destiny. He has plans for your life that he wants to fulfill in you. But you have to first come to him and tell him that you want to love him and have him fulfill those plans in you.
But even after you have come to ask Jesus to make you a new person, and to commit your life to him, you have not arrived. That is not the end. That is the beginning of a journey with Jesus. You have changed and you have started a process of changing even more. But life around you has not changed. And you begin the process of the Christian walk. As you read the Scriptures about life in Christ you read words that speak of a process rather than an end result. Words like: walk, run, seek, follow, grow, wrestle, pray, confess, beware, continue, wait, read, fight, endure, persevere, watch. These are words of instruction for the trip, not the destination.
God doesn’t promise that once you give your life to him, that all will go well for you. There is no scripture to suggest that. In Hebrews 11:35-38 the Bible says Others were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.
What he does promise is that he will provide you the strength to endure and grow through even the bad. He will go with you all the way. He will not drop you!
The very last thing that John reports Jesus as saying to his disciples at the Last Supper is In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. In this world you will have trouble. Not you MIGHT encounter some problems. Not some trouble MAY come your way. Jesus says to his disciples, those who wanted to follow him, In this world you WILL have trouble—but take heart! I have overcome the world.
And what was to be true for the disciples is true for pastors as well. As some of you know, we struggled with a son in serious trouble for 10 years. How many of you know that 10 years is a long time? In October of 1994 problems started with our oldest son, Luke. It started with getting in with the wrong crowd of people. It progressed to running away from home and involvement with drugs and crime. He was sent by the courts to two different programs to straighten him out. He was in juvenile jails and adult jails and finally was in a state prison for 2 years. So for 10 years, every day we struggled with problems in our family that were like an emotional roller coaster. Signs of hope would appear on the horizon, only to be dashed once again by further problems. It is something that we had to deal with every day of our lives for 10 years.
And I was asked numerous times, How do you do it? How do you keep going? How do you get up each Sunday and preach with all of this painful stuff going on in your life? How can you get up there this Easter Sunday morning and preach, after just going to see your son in jail the day before?
And I have to say first of all, that many people struggle with painful things in their lives every day. Painful abusive marriages. Unemployment and financial struggles to survive. Serious health problems in their own bodies or in that of another family member that they are responsible for. There are many people who struggle with pain more severe than that of our family.
But some of these people don’t make it. Some don’t cope with it. Some are not survivors. Some commit suicide. I had a friend whose wife had pancreatic cancer and whose son had cystic fibrosis and he went up to the mountains, pulled over to the side of the road, and blew his brains out. Others just withdraw and become bitter. Others slip into depression. Others abuse drugs or alcohol to deaden the pain.
And I am basically no different than any of these folks. I hurt just like they do. It’s not much fun to visit your child in prison. I am really no stronger than they are. The difference is, I know and trust a God of awesome power, power enough to raise Jesus from the dead. Power enough to make me more than a survivor. Power enough to make me more than a conqueror. I am able to live one day at a time through the power of the risen Christ.
I know Jesus and I trust Jesus with my life and I trusted him with the life of my son. I trust Jesus with my world and I know he is strong enough to hold it. I know he will not drop me. Jesus is faithful. He gave me all the love and support and encouragement both from the church and outside the church that I needed to see me through, and he revealed to me a bit of what my son was to become, something far different, far better than a convicted felon sitting in prison. Now Luke is totally transformed by the power of the resurrected Christ. He is a trophy of God’s grace.
In this world you Will have trouble. That was true for the disciples. That was true for me as your pastor. That is true for your missionaries in Brazil, Nic and Rachael Billman.
Just this past Friday, Good Friday, our oldest grandson, Christian, who is 10 was sexually molested by a neighbor in Brazil. Being a missionary family does not exempt you from being hurt by others living in this broken world. But there is this promise from our Scripture passage from Romans that when these kinds of things happen, God will not drop us! He will use even terrible situations for his glory by the power of the resurrected Christ.
I want you to know that this stuff really works. It is not just church talk. It is not just preacher talk. It is not just Easter talk. It really works. I know it really works because I have seen it work in my family. I know what the power of God can do to help hurting people overcome their pain.
It worked for me and my family. It can work for you too! If you are hurting, if you are worried that God will drop you, if you don’t have the strength to deal with what you have to deal with, if you don’t think you can be a survivor let alone a conqueror I would like to pray for you.
Jesus will not let you down. The Lord God omnipotent reigneth! That’s why we can be more than survivors. That’s why we can be more than conquerors. That’s why I could get up and preach week in and week out in spite of the pain in my world, because the Lord God omnipotent reigneth, That is why Nic and Rachael can go on in Brazil when their son is molested. Jesus Rules! He will not drop me and he won’t drop you either. Come and join us in celebrating the resurrection power of Jesus Christ this morning.
I thank you all for coming this morning. I hope you will come back next week when I will begin a series of messages on Getting to Know God.
After our closing hymn this morning you will be dismissed and I am going to remain up front at the communion rail to pray for anyone who wants prayer this morning. Maybe you are in an overwhelming situation where you are afraid of being dropped. Maybe you are someone you love needs the resurrection power of Jesus to bring change to a situation. After we sing you come and I will pray for you.
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