The Christian View of History -- We Are Hopeful!
Romans 8:18-25
Introduction: We are living in a time, at this present moment, when many people, even Christians, are full of despair and desperation. They believe that America is in grave decline, and about ready to fall apart. Under the influence of Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck and John Hagee they fearfully anticipate a time of chaos and disaster. Survivalists are filling their cellars with water and food and ammunition. You might say they are pessimists. I say they are short-sighted and don't remember the history of America.
There have always been ups and downs. When Joseph ruled Egypt there were seven years of plenty, and then seven years of famine. When Joshua conquered Palestine, there were alternating times of peace and war, depending on whether or not the Israelites worshipped the Lord or chased after the Canaanite gods. When David and Solomon ruled Israel it was a golden age of peace and plenty.
In America there have been many alternating times of poverty and plenty. Up until the latter half of the twentieth century our nation always had millions of poor people with truly raggedy clothing, going barefoot, and going hungry. I myself grew up in poverty, but I didn't know it. My father dug ditches with a shovel for a plumber to put food on our table. When I was born, he sold the family car to pay the doctor bill. We lived in a couple of rooms above my grandfather's garage. My mother sewed patches on my socks and ironed patches on my pants, when I wore holes in them. We didn't get fat when we were kids, because we didn't have that much to eat. We ate a lot of potato soup. Dessert, when we had it, was fruit cocktail from a can (and my sister and I used to fight over who got the cherry!) When I walked to school in the winter I had socks on my hands instead of mittens, because we couldn't afford mittens. I got one new pair of pants each year, at the beginning of school, and those pants hand to last until next year.
There will always be ups and downs, but the long-term general direction is UP! Aren't things better now than they were 2000 years ago? Consider the growth of the Christian Church, and the accompanying advance of Western Civilization. The Christian's world-view is always dominated by hope, not pessimism. Don't go overboard in thinking our present economic crisis is the end of the world, because it's not. Let's get a grip on reality. We are still eating well, still sleeping in beds at night, still air-conditioning our homes, and still putting gas in our cars.
Paul teaches us about hope in these verses from Romans.
I. Our present sufferings pale to invisibility in the light of our future glory.
Romans 8:18 "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."
But Paul had his eyes turned toward the future. He was full of hope, and so are we.
Buddhism says to live wholly in the present. Your past is over and gone, so don't think about it. The future may never come. It is unknown. It is unreal, and hopes are so often dashed, so don't think about the future, either. Think only of the present...today, this hour, this minute, this second; and nothing else. Of course a thorough-going Buddhist can't really live well in this world, because you can't get by without planning, forsight, and goals.
Christianity is different. We look to the past, and study history, so we can learn from both the good examples and the bad examples. We also concentrate on the present. Christ has commanded us to preach the Gospel to every creature. He has commanded us to take dominion over creation. He has ordered us to be good stewards of the money and resources He has put into our hands. We are not to hide them in the ground, but use them. We are here to win the lost, build churches, build communities, start schools and colleges, build hospitals, and so on.
But basically we are future oriented. We are eagerly waiting for the return of our Lord from Heaven. We are filled with hope. Not because of ourselves. Not because we believe in humanity. Our hopes will be dashed, if that is the case. But we have faith in God. We believe in His love and his goodness, and his plan, and his power. And so we are filled with hope. He will make our future glorious! We have seen the Rock cut out without hands strike the feet of the statue representing the kingdoms of this world, and we are watching the kingdom of Christ grow to fill the world. And we are excited about the future, because we are participating in this growth.
There are ups and downs, but the prevailing direction is "onward and upward!"
II. This damaged world is going to be fixed (Romans 8:19-22).
This is not about the political world, but about Nature.
The natural world needs to be fixed. It was severely damaged when Adam and Eve sinned, and the damage has been growing over the centuries, because of the sinfulness of fallen mankind. We have not been good caretakers of the earth.
Christians have read Genesis 3:14-19...
Originally, Adam and Eve lived in Paradise, in the Garden of God. The animals were intelligent, friendly, helpful and harmless. Apparently some of them could even talk! The earth was easy to work, easy to plow, easy to plant, easy to give good crops. Life was a pleasure. There was work to do, but the work was not back-breaking, and the earth rejoiced to give up its fruit. But when Adam and Eve sinned, God put a curse on the world, and the burden of sin fell heavy on mankind. Animals because dangerous. Childbirth became painful and hazardous. Working the soil because a back-breaking struggle.
God cursed the earth then. But now mankind is cursing the earth, too. We cannot drink water directly from streams and rivers, because we have dumped sewage and industrial chemicals into the water. We cannot eat too much fish, because we are afraid of mercury poisoning that we have put in the ocean. We fear to eat too much meat, because we feed hormones and medicines to our cattle and chickens, and sometimes we get cancer because of it. We cannot breathe the air with complete freedom because of automobile exhaust and factory exhaust we put into the atmosphere. We cannot let our toddlers chew on their toys, because sometimes we put lead in the paint. We cut down forests, and remove the tops of mountains, and erode the soil, as we make paper, and as we mine for minerals; and quite often we don't clean up after ourselves. We throw away our trash in landfills; and we put in those landfills things that will never decay, dangerous things that will still be there hundreds of years from now.
Paul says that creation was "subjected to frustration." The word in Greek can also mean "idle, empty, worthless or foolish." The world for you and me is not what God meant it to be from the beginning. God cursed it. And mankind has sinfully polluted it. But God will remodel it. God will restore it. God will someday erase all that sin has done to the world, and you and I will be heirs of all creation. The world will be "liberated from bondage and decay." God will make a new Heaven, and a new earth.
III. Our bodies will be fixed (Romans 8:23).
"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."
Adam and Eve had perfect bodies. They were incorruptible. They were immortal. They were glowing with strength and health. But they sinned, and the principle of death immediately began to work in them. They became weak. They became susceptible to disease and decay. They grew old and feeble and sick. And finally they actually died, and were buried, and returned to dust.
Our bodies are corrupted by sin, and they are mortal, and subject to injury, sickness and death. They are a joy to us in our youth, but as we age they become burdensome and painful. We get to the point where we long for death, in order to be free from the burden of the flesh. God has a remedy for this. God will transform and resurrect our bodies, and make us like Adam and Eve before the fall.
IV. Hope is central to the Christian world-view (Romans 8:24-25).
It is our looking to the future with perfect faith and hope that gives meaning to everything else we think or do.
Conclusion: Are we giving in to gloom, doom and desparation? Or are we trusting in the Lord and filled with hope? What does Paul teach us in these verses?