The Greatest Question
July 24, 2011

Romans 8:26-39

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.  And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted 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, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Paul’s letter to the Romans had a huge impact on the Christian faith; how we understand some of its key theological points and how we’re supposed to live our lives in light of that theology. The study, and the recasting of Paul’s words from the traditional way the church had interpreted them in the past, to a new way of understanding their meaning, was the very bedrock of the entire Protestant Reformation – both in Geneva, with Ulrich Zwingli and John Calvin, and in Wittenberg with Martin Luther. The last few weeks’ Lectionary texts have been moving through some of Romans; we’ve read some of them together. Today’s Lectionary text from Romans includes several verses that we’re probably familiar with. Throughout this entire section of Paul’s letter, Paul has been speaking to the experiences of the Christians in Rome, who are suffering in ways small and large because of their faith in Jesus as Lord. And the Roman Christians were beginning to buckle under the pressure and even more importantly, they were questioning why, if Jesus were really the risen and triumphant Lord, he would allow anyone, but especially Christians, to have to go through troubles, discrimination, persecution.

It’s a question, an emotion, a doubt, that we’ve all probably run up against in our own lives. I know I have. I know that when I first came into the Christian faith, I had this kind of belief that Christians were supposed to get a better deal in the poker game of life than other people, in return for our faith in Christ. That we were at least supposed to be happier than other people, as a reward from God for our faithfulness. And you can find all kinds of scriptural support in the Bible to support that idea; that God lifts up his people and blesses them with all kinds of favor, not just in the next life but in this one, and not just spiritual blessings but physical, material ones as well. And that God casts down those who don’t follow him. The Psalms, and other places are full of these kind of comments. Sure, you can find other verses that say the opposite, that God sends rain to the just and the unjust, and that we Christians don’t necessarily get any special perks in this life, but there enough of those other verses to plant that seed in our minds that in some way, we’re deserving of a better deal than others.

And then, of course, real life kicks in, and we realize that we really don’t get any special considerations from God over everyone else when it comes to enduring hardships. We don’t get any golden ticket to avoid life’s problems; in fact, if anything, the people who don’t follow God can seem to get a better deal, and we can seem to get a worse deal than them. Some of the Roman Christians that Paul was writing to, and trying to encourage, were, in the midst of intense suffering – the kind of all-consuming, aching sorrow and even dread that can overwhelm our souls, and that makes a person unable to even put the depth of their feelings into words. Unfortunately, I suspect we’ve all had our encounters with that. The Romans knew the agony that grew out of persecution for their religious faith. Our own agonies typically come from other sources. A personal tragedy, or a death in the family. A financial disaster. An argument or some other situation that threatens to tear the family apart. A very serious medical diagnosis. An intolerable situation at work with a coworker or boss.

But Paul gives the Romans, and us, the assurance that even when we’re so numb that we can’t even come up with words to express it to God, the Holy Spirit steps in and finds the word for us, interceding for us, communing with us, praying for us. And then there’s tht other verse that we’ve all probably heard before, Romans 8:28 – that all things work together for good for those that love the Lord. Personally, I hate that translation of this verse. It makes it sound like either God has nothing to do with things in our lives, that things are just taking their own course, and the things are going to work out for the best of their own accord – which I don’t believe - or even worse, that God is somehow causing all these bad things to happen to us in order to make us better in some way. I don’t really believe that, either. I think it’s inconsistent to think that a God who is all-powerful and the ultimate definition of loving goodness, would ever need to, or agree to, achieve something good by causing pain and misery, especially pain and misery on the scale seen in our world. And in the past, many people have used that verse to shrug their shoulders and not do anything when they saw people suffering. It’s all part of God’s plan, God’s will. God is achieving good things through that suffering, so it would be pointless for me to try to do anything about it. It might even be considered sin, frustrating God’s plans for those suffering people. That is absolutely not the meaning of this verse. I actually think that some of the ancient texts contain slightly different wording of this verse, and some Bible translations translate the verse with the alternative wording: “God makes all things work together for good.” In that translation, it’s more clear that the bad things are really bad, and they aren’t God’s plans. That when they happen, and they break our heart, that God’s heart breaks along with ours. But God is going to work something, weave something good for us out of those bad experiences in spite of themselves. And it makes it clear that it’s God who’s going to do the weaving; things aren’t going to just work to something good all by themselves.

This message of Paul’s has been a powerful message of hope for us Christians for 2,000 years now. It’s the truth that God never – NEVER – leaves us alone to deal with all the madness and pain that we all have to deal with in this life. We are NEVER alone. God is always with us, and caring for us, even in the midst of the darkest, most desperate nights of our souls.

And if that’s the case, Paul says – if God is truly always with us, working for our good, who or what could possibly be against us and have any hope of actually succeeding? Nothing, Paul says. Nothing. Paul says not anything in life or death – not angels. Not the government. Not our current situation, or our past or future one. Not supernatural spiritual or demonic powers in the universe. Not a troublesome child, or parent, or spouse. Not an inoperable tumor. Not people who would use every opportunity handed them to trash you in the eyes of others. Not the rich or the powerful. Nothing in all of creation could ever succeed in separating us from God’s love and care, God’s walking with us, God’s calling and using us for all great things in the Kingdom of God.

That’s what we need to grab onto with both hands, gripping tightly and never letting go, when we endure our times of trouble. It’s one of the greatest promises in the entire Bible. Nothing can separate us from God’s love and acceptance. Coupled with one of the greatest questions in the entire Bible. If God is for us – GOD - who can be against us? I think it’s the greatest question in the Bible because we already know that answer – NO ONE.

Thanks be to God.