WAITING PATIENTLY1

(Romans 8:18-27)

We concluded last Friday’s exposition with verse seventeen with Paul saying, “And since
we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God's glory.
But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”(8:17)
In our exposition tonight entitled “WAITING PATIENTLY,” Paul continues his theme on
sharing Christ’s glory and suffering. Paul has to emphasize that being children of God doesn’t
spare us from the troubles of this world. We are in the midst of pain and suffering. We are still
subject to suffering even if we have pledged loyalty to Christ. The moment we were saved by
grace through faith the circumstances around us did not change. We are still faced with trials
and testing every day. In fact, when we committed our lives to the Lord, if you observe, the
challenges and testing became more intensified. There is a misconception that once we are
saved we will be spared from all the troubles of life. This is a fallacy because the Scriptures tell
us that even our Lord Jesus Christ had to face the Cross of Calvary and Paul and the rest of the
disciples had to hurdle the severe tests of being faithful to their Lord and Master. Let us pray…
There was a time when Evangelical Christians are labeled as “too heavenly that they are no
earthly good.” This particular criticism points to the fact that our forerunners, the Early
Evangelicals and Pentecostals groups, placed more emphasis with the salvation of the soul and
remained blind and unconcerned with the sufferings of this world.
Today, there are still Christian groups who are good at talking about Scriptures but lack
the integrity to show their concern for the suffering world. But before we point our accusing
finger to other people, we must admit that, in one way or the other, we have been guilty of
apathy and indifference. We need to repent from this attitude and start reaching out to our
world of suffering and pain. I praise God that our church, in partnership with other institutions,
has actively expressed her concern in concrete ways through our Social Concern Foundation,
Hospitals, Community Development and Ecological Protection/Preservation advocacies. As
Christians we should continually support these advocacies.
In Exposition 9, based on Romans 8:18-27, we will learn the right attitudes as we wait
for our future glorification but before we proceed with Paul’s discussion on suffering let us
listen to this modern day commentary:

It should be obvious that the God of the Bible would create

everything complete and good right from the start. The wastefulness
and randomness and cruelty which now are so evident in the world
(both in the groaning creation of the present and in the fossilized
world of the past) must represent an intrusion into His creation, not a

1
Ptr. Jun Hernani, Berean Fellowship Expo 9. UCCP Davao City. September 6, 2010.
1
 mechanism for its accomplishment. God would never do a thing like
that, except in judgment of sin!2

This, my friends, is our current situation. The perfect Creation of God presented in the
first two chapters of Genesis has been intruded. Chapter three of Genesis tells us that the
intruder is SIN. Since that fall of our first parents, all became subject to decay and death. In
between the ‘Fall’ and ‘Glorification’ is the experience of suffering. As people of God, we don’t
deny the reality of pain and suffering around us. But this does not cause us to despair, like
hopeless people because this is not our final lot. This evening let’s check Paul’s perspective on
suffering. In verses 18-19 he says, “18Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory
he will reveal to us later. 19For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will
reveal who his children really are.” In relation to our present condition, Paul reveals four facts
(1) As children of God we face suffering now; (2) This suffering has an end; (3) This suffering is
not comparable to the future glory that will be revealed to us; (4) All creation is eagerly
waiting for the future revelation of God.
What then should be our attitude as we wait patiently for that future glorification?
Paul provides the answer. First, we must wait patiently with joyful anticipation, vv.20-25.
20
Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. But with
eager hope,21the creation looks forward to the day when it will join
God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay.22For we
know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth
right up to the present time. 23And we believers also groan, even
though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future
glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.
We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our
full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has
promised us.24We were given this hope when we were saved. (If we
already have something, we don't need to hope for it.25But if we look
forward to something we don't yet have, we must wait patiently and
confidently.)

Here’s a vivid picture of our present state. All creation not just humanity suffers the
consequence of sin. Creation, itself, is subjected to God’s curse, v.20. All around us we see
decay and death. Beautiful grass and flowers soon fade, our favorite pet dies, and even the
500 year old Bonsai I saw at Chin San So Garden in Tokyo will experience decay. The reality is
this: everything that was tainted by sin dies including non-human creation.
Let me cite the ‘groaning’ of creation at the present time: Global warming, endangered
species, species extinction, habitat destruction, air, soil and water pollution, water crisis,

2
Henry M. Morris, Recent Creation is a Vital Theory Published in September 1990.
<http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v12/i4/doctrine.asp> (Cited: Sept. 03, 2010; 7:40am).
2
overpopulation, ozone depletion and resource depletion to name just a few. All of this is
related to the negative aspects of human activities. In other words, ecological crisis is our own
making. The whole scenario is an evidence of irresponsible stewardship. When God
commanded Adam and Eve, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue
it”(Gen.1:28), the word “subdue it” did not mean the destruction of the earth. But with human
sinfulness we are now faced with indescribable and surmounting ecological destruction.
In the text, it is clear, that creation has been subjected to decay and death since the
intrusion of SIN. In spite of its fallen state, Paul compares this groaning to birth pangs. The
Message Translation of the Bible renders it this way, “All around us we observe a pregnant
creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs.” A pregnant
woman who is about to deliver suffers birth pangs but she, nonetheless, joyfully anticipates
the birth of a lovely baby. Paul compares the experience of creation this way. This is the
perfect illustration of a world full of pain and suffering. Christians and all creation wait in joyful
anticipation for the final deliverance from death and decay and from sin and suffering. Paul is
pointing to the fact that God’s redemptive work encompasses the whole creation.3 When God
glorifies us, creation as well will be freed from decay and death. For Paul, human redemption
comes with God’s future plan of bringing “the new heaven and the new earth.”(Rev.21:1)
The waiting in this world of pain and suffering makes us groan like all creation. And so
Paul says,
23
And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit
within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to
be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for
the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children,
including the new bodies he has promised us.24We were given this
hope when we were saved. (If we already have something, we don't
need to hope for it.25But if we look forward to something we don't yet
have, we must wait patiently and confidently.)

Paul gave us the reason why we can wait in joyful anticipation. We have the Holy Spirit,
a foretaste of future glory. The Holy Spirit was given the moment we were saved,v.24.
Ephesians 1:13-14 tell us that the Spirit is the seal of our salvation, a deposit guaranteeing that
we will be included in the final glorification when Christ comes again. But meantime, we groan
with Creation. And so Charles Ringma echoes the words of Paul when he says,

In many ways, there is nothing magically different about

Christian existence. And we need to be careful that we do not cast
the experience of the Christian life in utopian categories. There are
no magic escape routes for the Christian in the human fray.

3
“Romans” in The Living Word Commentary in Theophilos 3, CD-ROM.
3
 Like others, Christians are thrown into the world, are sustained
by it, are shaped by culture, and partake of the pain and beauty of
our world.4

From this statement one thing is clear, Christians, like other people, are not spared from
suffering. But our kind of suffering is not self-inflicted or like the sufferings of criminals. Peter
has this reminder, “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as
though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the
sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”(1 Pet.4:12-13,
NIV) We participate in Christ’s suffering as we obey God’s will in the midst of human
wickedness.
According to Philip Yancey, “suffering offers a general message of warning to all
humanity that something is wrong with this planet, and that we need radical outside
intervention.”5 This intervention will finally happen when the Lord Jesus Christ comes for the
second time. This is our glorious hope. Meantime we wait patiently with joyful anticipation.
The second attitude we must have as we long for our future glorification is this: we wait
patiently with the Holy Spirit alongside us, vv.26-27.
26
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don't
know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us
with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.27And the Father
who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit
pleads for us believers* in harmony with God's own will.

Paul knows that we can get tired in waiting, this is our weakness. And so he assures us
that the Holy Spirit is alongside us to pray on our behalf. Even if there are no words, the Holy
Spirit uses our groanings to plead before God according to His will and purpose. Henri Nouwen
has this to say:

At first God was the God for us, our protector and shield. Then, when
Jesus came, God became the God with us, our companion and friend.
Finally, when Jesus sent his Spirit, God was revealed to us as the God
within us, our very breath and heartbeat.6

Nouwen is right, the Holy Spirit is our very breath and heartbeat who helps us align our
lives with God’s will. Friends, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the expression of
God’s grace. Even if our flesh is weak, we are enabled to hold on and wait patiently because

4
Charles Ringma, Whispers from the edge of Eternity: Reflections on life and faith in a precarious world (Manila: OMF Literature
Inc., 2005), 187-188.
5
Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, c.1990, 1977), 84.
6
Henri J.M. Nouwen, My Sister, My Brother: Life Together In Christ (Maryland: The Word Among Us Press, 2005), 11.
4
we are sustained by the Holy Spirit who is alongside us. The Holy Spirit helps us get connected
with God especially in times that we have no words to say.
Today, waiting is much harder because of how our culture conditions our mindset. In
our fast-paced and high-tech culture it seems that everything we want comes in an instant.
We have ATMs, microwave ovens, fast-food chains, one-minute photos, instant
coffee/noodles, etc. This whole range of ‘get-quick’ and ‘easy-to-have’ methods breeds
impatience in people. Even Christians fall prey with the ‘tyranny of the urgent.’ But everything
that is significant and priceless doesn’t come overnight. Even our hope of final glorification
takes time.
As we wait patiently with joyful anticipation and with the Holy Spirit alongside us for our
future glorification, what should we do now in this world of pain and suffering? Let me
recommend Philip Yancey’s suggestion:7
First, judge the present by the future. We should be forward-looking instead of
backward-looking. We live today with the anticipation of the miracle of that first Easter;
Second, Learn the Pattern of transformed pain. “By taking it on himself, Jesus dignified
pain, showing us how it can be transformed. He gave us a pattern he wants to reproduce in
us.”(p.230);
Third, learn a new level of meaning to suffering. For Yancey, “…suffering can gain
meaning if we consider it as part of the ‘cross’ we take on in following Jesus.”(p.231) and;
Fourth, gain a new confidence that God truly understands our pain. We can affirm that
“…by joining us on earth God gave solid, historical proof that he hears our groans, and even
groans them with us.”(p.233) Through Jesus, God participates in our pain and suffering.
Let me end with a story taken from Max Lucado’s book “No Wonder They Called Him Savior,”

If it is true that a picture paints a thousand words, then there is a

Roman centurian who got a dictionary full. All he did was see Jesus
suffer. He never heard Him preach or saw Him heal or follow Him
through the crowds. He never witnessed Him still the wind, he only
witnessed the day He died. But that was all it took to cause this
weather-worn soldier to take a great giant step of faith. "Surely, this
was a righteous man."(Lk.23:47)

That says a lot doesn't it? It says the rubber of faith meets the road of
reality under hardship. It says the trueness of one's belief is revealed
in pain. Genuineness and character are unveiled in misfortune. Faith
at its best, is not in three-piece suits on Sunday morning, or a
Vacation Bible School or summer days, but at hospital bedsides,
cancer wards and cemeteries.

7
Philip Yancey, Where Is God When It Hurts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, c.1990, 1977), 230-233.
5
 Maybe that's what moved this old, crusty soldier. Serenity in
suffering is a stirring testimony. Anybody can preach a sermon on a
mount surrounded with daisies. But only one with a gut full of faith
can live a sermon on a mountain of pain.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we face various testing and trials in life, let us be like
our Lord who maintained serenity in the midst of suffering. In this world of pain and suffering
our display of faith can lead the lost people to the feet of our Lord. Let us pray…