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The Three Groans

Sunday, 8thFebruary, 2009

18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.


We are exploring the way of holiness. We have found it starts with Jesus and it is about receiving salvation as a free gift by believing in Jesus who died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that we can enter into this new life.

This new life in Jesus means that we are free from sin from the Law and from death.

Last week, can you remember the three points that were made?

1.     You have a certain hope because the Spirit set us free from condemnation

2.     You have a certain hope because the Spirit enables us to obey God

3.     You have a certain hope because the Spirit will give us a glorious future.


This week we also have a three point sermon, except the three points are three groans! Can you pick them out from the passage?

 First we have a groaning creation.

You wont find this in the secular press. Our world is considered a scientific object where everything is a consequence of cause and effect. A very considerate Richard Dawkins thinks God may have been around at the beginning of time but that is the limit. From then on we live in a mechanistic universe and we are what we are because of evolutionary forces and nothing else. Our gospel is that this is world is not a random planet in the cosmos but the place where God is intimately involved with his most special creation, you. And when sin entered in, it caused such dramatic damage that we live in the wreckage of the consequences of sin. But the good news is that new life in Jesus changes all that. The world is waiting for us!

So what are today's groans?


A world recession. We are suffering from the selfish greed of the last two generations of the ‘I must have’ society at whatever cost. A complex economy built on trust has collapsed because we can no longer trust one another.


A world of war. Jesus said:

Matthew 24: 6-8 You will hear of wars and rumours of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth-pains. Gaza, Dafur, Congo, Ossetia, Pakistan/India, Afganistan, Iraq, the list goes on. The people are groaning in the agony of power struggles and we unable to stop them. Hatred infuses our world.


A world of famine.In many parts of the world there is never enough. We complain if we cant get what we want in Sainsbury whatever the rest of the world is going without. There is enough food in the world to feed the hungry. Just not enough love.


A world of disease. We stopped Small pox. But we unleashed HIV largely because we cannot stick to God’s pattern for human relationships.  We have ways of preventing Measles but we refuse to take the medicine because we do not trust the research. Sin is a terrible cause of so much suffering. Creation groans.


A world of death. Everyone of us is affected by the loss of family and friends in whatever circumstances. But in many parts of the world that death is the death of the breadwinner, the parent, the means of survival and hope for the future. And the children groan and the old do not have the strength to groan. It may be part of life as we know it but it was not God’s plan. And this is where we have to set out of our 'cycle of life' mentality and understand that God had a better plan. Sin brought death.


A world of disasters. It is unlikely that Paul understood plate tectonics and how the continents move and change. But God does. I have difficulty equating this passage with earthquakes, gales, floods, Tsunami and other natural disasters. But I understand from both Paul and Jesus that these also are not God’s purpose, they are the consequences of a creation in which sin has infected even the molten core of the earth. And creation groans waiting for us to be revealed. Elsewhere this glorious freedom is described as a new heaven and a new earth or heaven. One day there will be no more of the groaning because all that is evil will be swept away. And if you cling on to evil and do not receive the free gift of eternal life, you will be swept away with it into the place reserved for all that is evil, which we call Hell.


The second groan is our bodies groan. But our groans are that of a woman having a baby, more painful but full of hope. As our bodies grow older our visits to the doctor and hospital become more frequent, we know we are nearer to heaven than we were! Death is the gateway to the full realisation of the new life and when the body starts falling apart, you know that you are closer to that than before. If we only knew the day of our death we could celebrate how much closer we are to heaven each year. Well, maybe we should do that each birthday, because age has always been a struggle. But Paul says we are waiting for adoption! We must be careful here. In our world a child put up for adoption is in a fearful moment in their lives, who knows how it will work out? But for us we know that God is good, that he loves us and has sent his Son to die for us, that he implants the Holy Spirit to grow himself in each one of us, so we know who is adopting us, the papers are all in order, signed sealed in the covenant of grace by the blood of Jesus. It is not a hope as we know hope it is a certainty! Enjoy it today because the Holy Spirit wants you to enjoy heaven today. He wants you to get your spirit in touch with glory and to live the new life today.


We have a lot to groan about. We call it the emotional baggage of the past. It affects how we are now, You have experiences which colour the way you think, inhibit your reactions. Past relationships make it difficult to form good relationships today and make you cautious or aggressive or abrupt or too talkative or whatever. We groan but we groan as a mother giving birth because we have hope. God has promised to wipe away every tear. He has vowed to restore the years that the locusts have eaten to make good for all the harm that has been done to you. So we have to give him the pain and the hurt and the bitterness and let him transform the way we think and our emotions.


 We groan against depression and weariness. It is part of our fallen nature that we have a bleak outlook on life, seeing no purpose and no future. But God is in the business of changing all that. You have a hope and that hope is Jesus. The Holy Spirit is within each one of us so that we can respond to Jesus and move closer to him.

 We groan in our struggle against temptation and sin. We have been thinking about that in chapter 7.  the constant tension between the Old nature and the new nature. Our desire to be Christ-like and our perverse mental behaviour that gives in so easily to temptation. Too many Christian books seem to imply that follow these steps and you will not have any problems in your spiritual life. Hope is that we know that we have the victory in Christ. The groan is that we will have the battle every day of our lives. The good news is that the Holy Spirit provides the armour. The challenge is to put it on and live through the battle in the strength that God gives.


The third groan is that of the Spirit . Now this is very exciting stuff!

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

Get the drift. Prayer is not about what you say but about the Holy Spirit of God groaning on your behalf. Have you ever thought of such a thing. God, who is three persons, is intimately involved in your prayer. Together they know your heart, speak on your behalf and act as your advocate. In heaven Satan the accuser does not get a hearing Jesus the one entitled to judge is your barrister, The Holy Spirit who is with you expresses the passion of your heart and God the Father knows your heart. This is a place of comfort! This is a place a peace for the struggling saint, daily struggling with all sorts of problems, temptation, depression, anxiety, fear and disappointment. In heaven you are on the business of God himself.


So how does prayer work?

Your words are not the important thing although they help you to form you thinking. God knows your heart. He understands what you really want and what is good for you.

 

The Spirit expresses your innermost thoughts to God. When we talk of speaking in tongues we think it strange but in heaven it is the norm because words can never express fully what we think and feel. The Spirit expresses our hearts fully.

 

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Jesus, we are told in 1John 2:1 speaks on our behalf. When our hearts would condemn us because they are at odds with God, Jesus speaks up for us, our sin is defended by nail pierced hands that declare that we are forgiven and that there is no condemnation because we are in Christ Jesus. Now understand why salvation is in Christ alone. There is no other way that God could be so involved in your life. There is no other way that the answers to prayer could be good for you if it were not that your claim for a hearing is in Jesus, that the Holy Spirit groans on your behalf and that God knows the heart.

 

Does this mean that God always answers prayer. YES! But God answers the prayer of your heart according to his will. If what you ask is coming from wrong motive or evil intent the Lord will not hear you. If what you ask seems good for you or your friend but is not in their best interests God will answer according to his good and perfect will. It may not be the answer you want but it will be for your good.


So let God change we the way you think. Understand that the creation is groaning because it waiting for the new life to infuse the whole world.

Understand that your groans, your struggles with sin are productive pains bringing you into the thrill and joy of adoption as sons of God.

Understand that God is deeply involved in your prayers. That when the skies seem silent, he has his hand on you for good, when you cannot express what you feel, that the Holy Spirit is clearly expresses your deepest emotions and Jesus removes the condemnation because he has taken the punishment on himself. leading you and guiding you through all life’s struggles so that you may have the abundant life welling up inside that one day will burst into full realisation as death or Jesus’ return brings us into a transformed universe when sin and death, pain and suffering are swept away and we join with all heaven in that wonderful relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

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