3 Myths Refuted (some thoughts from today’s sermon passage in Romans 8:18-25)
1. If I am a Christian I won’t have to suffer. FALSE. Actually, you will suffer in this life (Rom 8:18), but what is coming after this life makes it all worth. Our suffering is not worthy of comparing with what is coming, which is incomparably better and glorious beyond description.
2. Following Jesus and doing good things for him will be free from frustration. FALSE. Although it is right and good to follow Jesus and we ought to do the good works he has called us to do, because of the sin in our hearts and the sin in this world, we will often experience a type of “groaning,” frustration, and disappointment. Knowing this helps us not to lose heart. We keep on going because we love God and love others; but we labor on with the knowledge that we will groan in this life and experience pain and frustration; we walk by faith and know that God is sovereign even in our failures.
3. What is coming after we die has little relevance to life today. FALSE. The glorious reality of the resurrection of the dead and life on the new Earth injects hope into our everyday life. It fills us afresh with wonder and delight at what is coming and at our gracious God who gives it to us as gift. When a fellow Christian dies, we rejoice that they are really are in FAR BETTER place. As we age and our bodies and minds break down, we take hope that something better is coming on the new Earth, where we will have glorified bodies free from sin and death.
