Finding Hope and Purpose in Our Suffering

### Summary

Good morning, Menlo Church. Today, we continue our summer series, "Beyond the Basics," by diving into Romans 8. We are living in turbulent times, and it's easy to let fear drive our conversations and actions. However, we must remember that God is in control, even when the world feels chaotic. Just like children on a long road trip asking, "Are we there yet?" we often find ourselves impatient and questioning God's timing. But God sees the whole plan, and He is working in our waiting.

Romans 8 teaches us that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed. This chapter reminds us that we are in a state of "already and not yet"—we have a future hope that is certain, but we are not there yet. Our sufferings and challenges are part of the journey, and they shape us for a deeper relationship with God. Paul, who endured immense suffering, assures us that these trials are insignificant compared to the future glory awaiting us.

We also discussed the concept of "finding belonging in longing." In our curated, airbrushed lives, we often hide our true struggles. But Paul encourages us to be vulnerable and honest about our pain, as this leads to deeper connections and a more authentic community. Our longing for a better world is a sign of our deeper need for God and His ultimate restoration.

We contrasted this biblical teaching with the prosperity gospel, which falsely claims that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and happy all the time. This teaching is far from the truth of Scripture, which tells us that suffering is a part of our faith journey. True hope is found in God's eternal promise, not in temporary, worldly gains.

Finally, we are reminded that our hope in Jesus requires patience and trust. We are ambassadors of a kingdom that is here and not yet. Even in our pain and suffering, we can find purpose and hope, knowing that God is working in our waiting.

### Key Takeaways

1. **God is in Control**: In times of turbulence and fear, it's crucial to remember that God is in control. Our circumstances may feel overwhelming, but they are not a surprise to God. He has a bigger plan, and we can trust Him to guide us through our challenges. [27:54]

2. **Suffering Shapes Us**: Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the future glory that awaits us. Paul endured immense suffering but considered it insignificant compared to the eternal reward. This perspective helps us understand that our trials are shaping us for a deeper relationship with God. [35:51]

3. **Belonging in Longing**: We often hide our true struggles, presenting airbrushed versions of our lives. However, being vulnerable and honest about our pain leads to deeper connections and a more authentic community. Our longing for a better world is a sign of our deeper need for God. [33:22]

4. **Rejecting the Prosperity Gospel**: The prosperity gospel falsely claims that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and happy all the time. True biblical teaching tells us that suffering is a part of our faith journey. Our hope should be rooted in God's eternal promise, not in temporary, worldly gains. [43:05]

5. **Hope Requires Patience**: Our hope in Jesus requires patience and trust. We are ambassadors of a kingdom that is here and not yet. Even in our pain and suffering, we can find purpose and hope, knowing that God is working in our waiting. This eternal perspective helps us endure present challenges. [50:04]

### YouTube Chapters

[0:00] - Welcome
[26:51] - Turbulent Times and Fear
[29:00] - Road Trip Analogy
[30:46] - God's Plan in Our Waiting
[33:22] - Finding Belonging in Longing
[35:51] - Suffering and Future Glory
[38:47] - Creation's Futility and Hope
[41:43] - Prosperity Gospel vs. Biblical Teaching
[44:24] - Trusting God in Painful Waiting
[47:11] - Groaning and Future Adoption
[50:04] - Durable Hope in Jesus
[53:01] - Living in Anticipation of Christ's Return
[54:26] - God's Love for Lost Causes
[55:53] - Personal Story of Hope
[57:06] - Closing Prayer

### Bible Reading
- Romans 8:18-25 (ESV): "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

### Observation Questions
1. What does Paul say about the sufferings of the present time in Romans 8:18?
2. How does Paul describe the state of creation in Romans 8:19-22?
3. According to Romans 8:23, what are believers waiting for, and how does Paul describe this waiting?
4. What is the significance of hope in Romans 8:24-25, and how does it relate to what we do not see?

### Interpretation Questions
1. How does the concept of "already and not yet" help us understand our current sufferings in light of future glory? [31:39]
2. In what ways does Paul suggest that our sufferings shape us for a deeper relationship with God? [35:51]
3. How does being vulnerable and honest about our struggles lead to deeper connections and a more authentic community? [33:22]
4. Why is it important to reject the prosperity gospel, and how does true biblical teaching about suffering provide a more solid foundation for our faith? [43:05]

### Application Questions
1. Reflect on a time when you felt impatient with God's timing. How can you remind yourself that God sees the whole plan and is working in your waiting? [30:46]
2. Think about a current struggle or suffering you are facing. How can you view this challenge as something that shapes you for a deeper relationship with God? [35:51]
3. In what ways can you be more vulnerable and honest about your struggles with your small group or community? How might this lead to deeper connections? [33:22]
4. Have you ever been influenced by the prosperity gospel? How can you refocus your hope on God's eternal promise rather than temporary, worldly gains? [43:05]
5. What is one area of your life where you need to practice more patience and trust in God's plan? How can you actively work on this in the coming week? [50:04]
6. How can you be an ambassador of God's kingdom in your daily life, even in the midst of pain and suffering? What specific actions can you take to bring hope to others? [40:07]
7. Identify a person in your life who might be struggling with the concept of hope. How can you share the message of Romans 8 with them to encourage and uplift their spirit? [54:26]

Day 1: Trusting God's Sovereignty in Turbulent Times
In times of turbulence and fear, it's crucial to remember that God is in control. Our circumstances may feel overwhelming, but they are not a surprise to God. He has a bigger plan, and we can trust Him to guide us through our challenges. Just as children on a long road trip ask, "Are we there yet?" we often find ourselves impatient and questioning God's timing. However, God sees the whole plan and is working in our waiting. This perspective helps us to remain calm and trustful, knowing that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed. [27:54]

Isaiah 46:10 (ESV): "Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.’"

Reflection: Think of a current situation in your life that feels chaotic or out of control. How can you remind yourself today that God is sovereign and has a bigger plan for you?


Day 2: Suffering as a Pathway to Deeper Relationship with God
Our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the future glory that awaits us. Paul endured immense suffering but considered it insignificant compared to the eternal reward. This perspective helps us understand that our trials are shaping us for a deeper relationship with God. Our sufferings and challenges are part of the journey, and they shape us for a deeper relationship with God. This eternal perspective helps us endure present challenges, knowing that God is working in our waiting. [35:51]

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (ESV): "For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

Reflection: Reflect on a recent trial or suffering you have experienced. How has this experience shaped your relationship with God? What eternal perspective can you gain from it?


Day 3: Authentic Community Through Vulnerability
We often hide our true struggles, presenting airbrushed versions of our lives. However, being vulnerable and honest about our pain leads to deeper connections and a more authentic community. Our longing for a better world is a sign of our deeper need for God. Paul encourages us to be vulnerable and honest about our pain, as this leads to deeper connections and a more authentic community. This vulnerability allows us to find belonging in our longing and to build a community that supports and uplifts each other. [33:22]

James 5:16 (ESV): "Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

Reflection: Think of a struggle or pain you have been hiding. How can you share this with a trusted friend or community member to build a deeper, more authentic connection?


Day 4: Rejecting the Prosperity Gospel
The prosperity gospel falsely claims that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and happy all the time. True biblical teaching tells us that suffering is a part of our faith journey. Our hope should be rooted in God's eternal promise, not in temporary, worldly gains. This teaching is far from the truth of Scripture, which tells us that suffering is a part of our faith journey. True hope is found in God's eternal promise, not in temporary, worldly gains. [43:05]

1 Peter 4:12-13 (ESV): "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed."

Reflection: Reflect on your understanding of God's blessings. How can you shift your focus from seeking temporary, worldly gains to finding true hope in God's eternal promise?


Day 5: Patience and Trust in God's Timing
Our hope in Jesus requires patience and trust. We are ambassadors of a kingdom that is here and not yet. Even in our pain and suffering, we can find purpose and hope, knowing that God is working in our waiting. This eternal perspective helps us endure present challenges. We are reminded that our hope in Jesus requires patience and trust. We are ambassadors of a kingdom that is here and not yet. [50:04]

Romans 12:12 (ESV): "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

Reflection: Identify an area of your life where you are struggling to be patient. How can you practice trusting God's timing and finding hope in His eternal promise today?

Well, good morning, Menlo Church. Welcome back to our summer series, Beyond the Basics, as we dive into this profound chapter in the book of Romans. If you've missed some of the weeks in this series, traveling, doing all kinds of things, I would encourage you to check up online. That's what I did. I caught up online from Scott's message last week. You'd be blessed by it.

A special welcome to our Bay Area camp. We're so glad that you're here. We are one church in multiple locations because we believe that hope is for everyone. And we want you to know that today.

I also know that we are continuing to live through an increasingly turbulent season in our nation. And while I hope our series from last month, Smear Campaign, was and continues to be helpful, I also wanted to recommend an additional resource for you called Learning to Disagree by J.J. It's a great book. It could really be helpful. The pace and really the structure of the book may be exactly what you need as you prepare for the elections this fall and the conversations that will surround them.

Remember, for lots of us, it's not just about who we vote for or don't vote for. It's going to be how we show up in the spaces, places, and conversations with people that we disagree. I also know how easy it is for fear to drive a lot of our conversations in times like this. And so I'm going to take just a moment to pray as we begin.

And if you've never been here before or never heard me speak, before I speak, I pray kneeling. And I do that in part because of the kinds of things that we are all concerned about today. The reason that they feel bigger than our capacity, the reason that it can feel out of control is because it is. Because ultimately, we were designed to bring them before God and ask for His intervention. Would you join me in doing that right now?

God, thank you so much. Thank you that when the world feels out of control, we can turn to you. That what feels like we have no way to see a way out, you do. That this bigger plan we're going to dive back into in a minute is a plan that is not a surprise to you. The events of the last several days and weeks, they are not a surprise to you. They haven't thrown you off course.

So help it, God, because of that. By your peace reigning and ruling in our life, not to throw us off course either. It's in Jesus' name. Amen.

So our family moved to California. A lot of us moved a little over a year and a half ago. And one of the benefits of living here is that we don't take 14-hour road trips to go see my in-laws in Wisconsin anymore. Praise the Lord. We fly instead.

And I grew up doing road trips basically all the time, almost never getting on an airplane. And we did road trips in an era with no technology to entertain us, unless you counted my parents' murder mystery books on tape, which I did not count as entertainment. But if you've been on a road trip like that, or maybe you've been a kid or you have a grandkid, you have some experience of being on a road trip like that.

And at some point on this very long road trip, you're in the middle of nowhere. It's quiet. There's something maybe on the radio. And you're going to hear a sound. If there are children in the back seat, you're going to hear a question. You know the question. Finish it with me. Are we there yet? Right. We've all said that. We've all heard that. We've all rolled our eyes at that. Right?

Now, our kids, they say it out of a mixture of trust and impatience. They actually believe that we know the way. We know the steps that are necessary to get there. That we have the snacks that will sustain their little bodies. That we know the rest stops that are required. But they also want the trip to be shorter. They want to get where we are going.

And as a parent, I can be irritated by that. I can be impatient about that. I can be frustrated about that. But the thing I can forget about is, I have a screen showing me the route, showing me the exact time of our arrival. And they don't. It's easy for me to trust the process because I see the entire process. But they don't.

And so, as a result, really each time, they're growing in their trust based on our past performance. We've been studying Romans chapter 8. And today, we'll feel a little bit like asking God collectively, are we there yet? And Him showing us some of what waiting will look like. Because it turns out, we aren't there yet.

See, He sees the whole plan. He knows that you need the circumstances of your life to change. Or at least we believe we do. And yet, we aren't there yet. Whether you're waiting for the healing of a condition that you've been battling, or you're waiting for the break that you've been praying for at work, or you're waiting for the acceptance letter to the program or the school that you're attending, or maybe you're just waiting for a return to normal life and routine in community.

No matter how you define that, God sees you. God loves you. God knows the hurt that we carry in our seasons of waiting. Even if you aren't a follower of Jesus, God loves you. He made you. And this road trip throughout human history is not without hope, even for you.

See, what I hope we walk out with is a greater confidence that God is working in our waiting. That whatever you wish would change, whatever you wish to accelerate, whatever you wish you could stop, whatever you wish you could change, God is using even that circumstance. It can be hard to believe that. It can feel like God is just maybe wasting our waiting or disinterested in our discouragement.

But we will see that there is way more at play in our pain. That we have an already and not yet kind of hope. In my marriage, we don't always have the same taste in life. We don't always have the same taste in movies. Let me say that differently. In my marriage, we almost never have the same taste in our movies. Both of us pick out the absurdity of the things that we see in the other's favorite genre.

And when I watch romantic comedies, I'm the worst about this. Now, if that's your favorite genre, go nuts. More power to you. But one of the things that we see happen a lot in romantic movies is that the couple goes through something really difficult, really painful. And that's what forms their chemistry. And the problem is that's called trauma bonding. And it's generally considered a bad thing.

Like, these movies don't have... Anyway, I'm going to let that one be aside. There, though, is a fine line I think that we can acknowledge between unhealthy emotional attachment because of shared pain and a kind of connection that we can discover when we are honest about what we are really thinking, about how we are really doing.

Our passage begins with this in mind. By finding belonging in longing. Finding belonging in longing. This is a challenging idea to consider because we are simultaneously aware of the longing for something that's greater and deeper in our lives. We feel this need, all of us, even if you aren't a follower of Jesus.

We are also living in a moment where we are curating our experiences and presenting them to others in the most airbrushed way as possible. We know it's not true, but we're trying to communicate it as though it is. See, there's a vulnerability to admitting what Paul is about to share with us. And he provides some purpose to our pain.

He begins our passage today this way. He says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God."

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. The reaches temperature. Now we're talking about this for a while, if you've been with us, you can see a word like that. You know, it's therefore, and it's pointing back to something as a result of this, as a result of some other ideas he's about to build on, he's talking about.

This idea, it can stop. Sitter, which is really wrecking. How do I think about that? But he's pointing to some stuff I want to get to. This word glory is one we haven't spent a lot of time talking about. And this word glory is really important because it doesn't just mean good things about God. It doesn't just mean God's great, God's powerful.

What he's saying is there is a future reality in which God's reign and rule will be perfect and complete. That when we think about the day-to-day, well, God is ultimately in control. The world is not put back right the way that Paul is talking about that it one day will be. And so, you know, Scott, he preached the passage immediately before this one last week. If you missed it, you can catch up with it online.

And he talked about the suffering that is an implication of choosing to follow Jesus. It's inseparable. It gets called different things throughout the scriptures, but whether it's suffering or carrying your cross or enduring hardship, when we see these ideas, we're not going to be able to do that.

These are not for varsity-level Christians. These are not for, like, you know, super Christians, professional Christians. This is just what the Bible says. Christian Christians, men and women who choose to follow Jesus will experience challenges in their life because you are a Christian.

This does not mean that every difficult thing in your life is because you are a Christian. Some of what we call trials in our life, some of what we try to co-sign God on are actually the consequences of our choices. Sometimes those things are not the consequences of our choices. Sometimes those things are just a result of living in a broken world.

Paul is saying there are things that I'm not even going to compare to the glory that's waiting that are the costs of what it's meant for me to follow Jesus. And for Paul, he had a huge list of sufferings that he had endured as a result of following Jesus. For Paul, he'd been whipped with 39 lashes five different times that we know about, beaten with rods three different times, pummeled with stones to kill him, shipwrecked three different times, adrift at sea one day and one night, danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from his own people.

The list for Paul just feels unending. And Paul is saying, I don't consider any of that worth comparing to the glory that I have confidence is coming. But I'm like, what would your list look like? See, I think there's a problem for a lot of us, which is the way we think about following Jesus is we think, I will follow Jesus until suffering.

That the ceiling of my pursuit of Jesus is until following Jesus is going to cost me something. And this is a really intimidating list. This is an intimidating list because when he says not worth comparing, I'm not sure that, like, as I think about it, he's pointing to this foreshadowing reality of a new heaven and a new earth of all creation being put back to a better than humanity founded.

It's so good that Paul, who had likely already had this vision of heaven that he writes to the church at Corinth about, is saying it's not worth comparing. I think if I had a list like this, I'm not sure I would say it's not worth comparing. I think I'd be like, let me show you my list. Isn't this impressive? I did all this to follow Jesus.

No, no, no. He's saying when I think about, even with all of this as a backdrop, the glory that's coming, it's not worth comparing. In fact, he goes on to describe creation itself is waiting and longing for this kind of glory that he said is going to be revealed.

It's easy to look at a passage like this and blame the futility of creation, right? This idea right here, the creation was subjected to futility, and it's saying there's agency being applied to creation. Creation didn't want to be subjected to futility, says, but because of him who subjected it.

And when we see it, it's not worth comparing. It's not worth comparing. It's not worth comparing. We go, who is him? And if you're a good Christian, you want to say the devil, right? Like, that's probably the answer there, right? But actually, God is the one that subjected creation to futility and corruption because of what would ultimately come as a result, because there is no glory without this story, because the ultimate new heavens and new earth require this.

It's just like Jesus, the night that he was betrayed, as he's in the garden of Gethsemane, praying to the Father, God the Son, praying to God the Father, saying, God, if it's possible, would you take this from me? If there's another plan to save humanity other than my death, let's do that one. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.

Just like God subjected his own Son for your and my sake, he subjected creation for your and my sake, for the ultimate restoration of the new heavens and the new earth. See, eventually, there is freedom. Eventually, there is glory. Eventually, there is restoration. But in the meantime, in the right now time, there is pain and suffering.

There is cancer and heartbreak. There is poverty and estrangement. There is a deeper belonging that we can discover when we acknowledge this longing for a world that was designed to be a way that it isn't yet. When we're honest about that, we can find something more true in one another than when we try to pretend it isn't.

We can see that Paul is not just trying to help us think about heaven as a place that we get to escape earth. But rather, that we are representatives of a kingdom that is here and not yet. A kingdom that God is bringing to earth. He talks about creation being set free from the corruption and bondage that it is in right now.

Can you think of any area where this is not self-evident? One area where we aren't seeing the entropy of sin-decaying systems and structures around the world. Anything in the world that if we just left it alone, it would just flourish on its own. From natural disasters to violence and war, we don't grieve these things without hope, but we grieve them. We feel them. We live through them.

Followers of Jesus, we can find belonging in our interconnected longing for eternity. Not a kingdom we escape to, but a kingdom we are ambassadors of today and forever. Now, this isn't an excuse to treat the world poorly, to be poor stewards of the environment or the world around us, or to discard the underserved and disenfranchised.

On the contrary, when we pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven," we are asking God for immediate intervention. That even in a creation longing for restoration, even in a creation that we know will ultimately face pain before that restoration takes place, we are still agents of reconciliation, agents of hope, agents of this new kingdom everywhere we go.

Over the course of this series, I've been trying to highlight specific ways of studying the Bible in hopes that it can increase our collective understanding of biblical interpretation. Today, I want to juxtapose the teaching that we just received from the Apostle Paul with something called the prosperity gospel.

Now, we just learned that suffering is a part of our faith and that God uses it to shape us and build us for a deeper awareness and a deeper appetite for eternal fulfillment that can only be found and satisfied fully in him. Now, there is a popular teaching today called the prosperity gospel that can sound very attractive, very attractive.

The prosperity gospel teaches that you can speak your way out of pain, that God has given you co-creating agency in your words, that if you are experiencing pain and suffering, God wants you to be healthy, wealthy, and happy all of the time, including right now. And if you aren't, it's simply because you aren't asking for it or believing deeply enough in God to deliver it.

Hopefully, you can see how far from the text of scripture this is and how, when we root our faith in the teachings of the early church, we can understand God's plan more fully, more honestly. For some of you, this kind of false teaching in the prosperity gospel, it's the thing that's kept you away from church. Somebody manipulated this, they told you something like this, and it just didn't work out to be true because it's not, and I'm sorry.

A friend of mine shared a quote from C.S. Lewis recently that highlights this reality. C.S. Lewis said, "We ought to give thanks for all fortune, if it is good because it is good, if it is bad because it works in us, patience, humility, and the contempt of this world and the hope of our eternal country."

We want to be the best citizens that we can be wherever God has placed us. If you are a follower of Jesus, to your citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Most of us are not naming it and claiming it, but we embrace a more subtle version of this distortion where we feel the pressure to pretend that we aren't suffering or that the pain that we're going through doesn't really hurt. It's not a big deal.

When in reality, there are deeper relationships available if we just be honest. If we said what was really going on, what our hang-ups really were, we would be in a state of panic. We would be in a state of panic. We would be in a state of panic.

If you were to believe that God is working in our waiting, if you really believed that, then the question that maybe I'd ask you to consider is what is the most painful thing that you're waiting for? What's the thing in your life that if you thought about, you know what, I can believe this about this area of my life and this area of my life and this area of my life, but you know what, Phil, that treatment that hasn't come through, that job opportunity that I thought would be solved by now and isn't, that relationship that I hoped for but isn't here, that marriage that I wanted to see put back together, that relationship that I wanted to see put back together, but it isn't.

Maybe even it's something on the global stage. We're all holding our breath for a date in November right now, right? What is the thing that you're waiting for that feels the most difficult to believe and trust that God is working in your waiting? God may be trying to help you see that even right. Start by acknowledging to God, this is really painful. This is really difficult. This is really uncertain. And acknowledge that God has placed that longing in you.

Once we've done this, we can see Paul's hope that we would begin discovering delight in the delay. We can really genuinely acknowledge, you know what, God, if I believe that there is this future glory, if I believe that you're going to put everything back better than we ever found it, there is something beautiful that can happen even in the waiting, even if I don't always understand it, even if I can't comprehend it in the moment.

I remember when Alyssa was pregnant with our oldest and we had no family nearby and having never had a child, it was all brand new. The big thing early on was that she got really terrible morning sickness in the first trimester. Actually, it was more than morning sickness. It was like afternoon sickness. It was evening sickness. It was pretty rough.

And as first-time parents, we were scared and regularly checked to make sure that everything was okay. But this weird thing happened along the way. As we were checking and everything was okay, when she got through the sickness started to subside, we actually got worried. See, we had grown accustomed to the idea that that illness was an indicator of a child that we were waiting for. We could delight in the pain of it.

Way easier for me to delight in the pain of it, by the way, because I wasn't, you get it. I always tell this story a little different when Alyssa isn't in the room, you know. But we could trust that there was a purpose to the pain. We believed that we could see what it would eventually produce. And that metaphor actually is exactly what we're talking about.

It's not just a what the Apostle Paul builds on in the next passage together. He says this, he says, "For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, we have the first fruits of the Spirit grown inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience."

So, you know, when we look at this, we can see Paul continuing to build on where we've been. We can see this confidence in future certainty. You can see him building on the idea of this idea of longing, right? When we think about what God is doing inside of us. What he's calling out from us. But then we see these ideas that there is something he is building and doing inside of us in real time, not for what we're experiencing right now, but for what's coming.

Even if you aren't a Christian, you can feel what Paul is talking about here. Things are clearly not the way that they are supposed to be. That there is this pain that he's pointing out to the problem of the sin in our world. And how we have regularly fallen short of God's standard. And how we've fallen short of even the standard of how we love and care about people around us.

But he's saying, look, there's this beautiful reality. If you've been with us, we've been talking about the followers of Jesus now have the spirit of God living inside of us because of what Jesus has done for us. That every person who decides to follow Jesus gets sort of this deposit, this down payment of the future kingdom that the spirit of God is living inside of you.

What was reserved for kings is now, you know, the spirit of God is living out in the royalty of followers of Jesus, every single one of us. So that first fruit, that down payment, that early small growth of what will eventually be everywhere. We may groan, we may agonize with the delay, but it's because we are eagerly waiting for the adoption that Scott talked about last week.

See, the moment that you decide to follow Jesus, you are in the family of God. But here, Paul talked last week about adoption as this thing that's promised. Here he talks about future promise. It can feel strange, but he's using a piece of grammar called metonymy. And he tells us what it means in the verses that follow it right afterwards.

That this idea of adoption is ultimately fulfilled when God brings about a new heaven and a new earth. Now, I know this is tricky because of the way we talk about this. Sometimes we say, well, we're all God's children. We're all in the family of God. I understand why we say that. And we are all created in the image of God with infinite dignity, value, and worth, regardless of what you think about God.

But in order to be in the family of God, we must be grafted in. We must be adopted by the work that Jesus did on our behalf. It's available to anyone, but we must choose to follow Jesus in order to experience it. And Menlo, we talk a lot about hope and for good reason. It's become increasingly elusive in our moment, in our culture, and in our region.

And for lots of people, it can be easy to place hope in people and things that are not worthy of your hope. Leaders who disappoint you, possessions that ultimately only momentarily satisfy you, success that quickly fades. See, the kind of hope that really helps can only come from an eternal promise that God offers.

Our culture may not want to admit it, but we have an entire category for it. We call them deaths of despair. We can live for a little while without a lot of different things in our life, but we all run on hope every single moment of every single day. The problem is that for many of us, that hope is misplaced.

And when you realize you have placed your hope in something that is not trustworthy, it can take us to a very dark place. The hope that we have in Jesus, it requires patience. It requires trusting a kingdom we can't always see with our eyes, because it points to an eternity. But it's well worth the wait.

For a long time in America, there was sort of this implicit promise. Depending on your job, that if you would give us your career, we would give you your retirement. That was the trust. And unfortunately, that promise hasn't always been kept. But in Jesus, we have a durable hope for the future. Even though we can't see it, we can sense that this present age isn't forever.

Jesus at one point is talking about the end of the world to his earliest followers. He's describing, here are the things that you're going to see as the end of this age begins. And in this passage, he describes it this way. He says, "You know, so here we have Paul building on the words of Jesus."

And when we read a passage like this, we can think about war and natural disasters. We can think about problems all around the world. And it doesn't take us to a place where we can just say, oh, we're going to die. We're going to die. We're going to take a whole lot of thinking to be able to connect the dots between the problems of our world today and the future promises of Jesus, that these are the kinds of things that we are going to see as problems around us.

Not just morning sickness to the kingdom of heaven, but the idea that the baby is coming. But here's the thing. Every generation since Jesus' earthly ministry has believed that this passage was describing their historic moment. But actually, I think that's part of the point.

We're supposed to live in anticipation of Christ's return when this period of gracious patience that God is extending will end. And I wonder, are you living that way? Or is it easy for you to see a passage like this and go, well, yeah, yeah, I've heard people talk about stuff like this. Everybody's thought that I don't really have to think about. It's not a big deal.

But what if, what if this is the final generation? What if living in light of this today is one of the things that God has a lot of pain, suffering, challenges in our world to push followers of Jesus to live in light of? Do you believe that God has a plan and that we should live in light of it today?

Maybe for you, I just, I just can't see it. Author Madeline L'Engle, author of A Wrinkle in Time, put it this way. She said, "Some things have to be believed to be seen." Maybe for you, your gap of belief is to trust that the future you feel right now, like, oh, this is just miles away from my life. I just don't care. It wasn't. What if tomorrow? What if next week? What if this year?

Someone with us today or watching online believes that they can't live in light of this. They can't believe this, that this kind of adoption and future hope is no longer available to them. They can't find it because they're lost. As a matter of fact, they're more than lost. They consider themselves a lost cause.

The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came for the lost causes. The author of Romans, Paul, we've been reading, he describes God's strategy by saying that he uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Lost causes are God's specialty. If you think that you have this future experience with God or this hope with God, you've already been excluded. You can't possibly be considered a candidate for that. You are a perfect candidate for the grace of God.

See, God loved you so much that he gave his only son to live the life that you can. To die the death that we all deserved and to come back from the grave so that we could turn from our way of life, follow him and experience this relationship with him now and forever. The one that you were designed for as an ambassador of the kingdom now and a citizen of that kingdom forever.

I don't talk a lot about my oldest brother. He's 15 years older than me. So growing up, he felt a little bit more like an uncle. But for his kind of 20s and 30s, I watched this very painful and difficult drift in his life to a place where he was able to live. And he was able to where he felt like he had no options. Some of it was rooted in his decisions and some of it was the result of a broken world.

I remember sitting in my parents' driveway one Easter with my brother as he made a decision to follow Jesus. He didn't know if it would work. He was pretty convinced it wasn't going to change much in his life. But he had placed his hope for decades in things that felt good but couldn't be ultimate. He had placed all of his hope in his marriage, in his family, in his career, in his accomplishments.

And every time he did that and he placed the weight of his hope on those things, they would crumble beneath him because they were never designed to be the place that he put his hope. They're not designed for the place for any of us to put our hope. A couple of decades later, his life isn't perfect, but he has a hope that is so much deeper than his immediate circumstances and a journey that God has continually used to shape him and bless others around him, including his marriage, including his family, including even his career.

Maybe that could be you today. So if today you've decided, I don't think this applies to me. I'm just trying to get through this. I'm trying to survive the weekend. I'm trying to get to that next milestone. I'm trying to achieve the thing I want, get the possession of the thing I want. Maybe today is just a down payment. It's a deposit so that later on when the pain is too great and the thing you are placing your hope in seems insignificant or not enough to hold the hope that God has placed in you.

Maybe God will remind you of Romans 8, that the suffering of this world, it's not worth comparing to the future glory of God's reign and rule of new heavens and new earth and the access to it. The citizenship of it is found only in Jesus. Can I pray for you?

God, thank you so much that for some of us who have been followers of you for many years, a passage like this can remind us that whatever we're going through, you're using it, that you're working in the waiting of the challenges and the pain, the difficulties that we face every day.

And for some of us, God, we're that group of people. We just go, I don't even know why I'm praying. I don't even believe in this God. And God, you are just chasing them down with love and compassion. God, would you simply remind us today, maybe tell some of us for the very first time in the quietest part of our heart, that you love us, that a path to relationship now and forever is available, that it's not too late, that they haven't gone too far.

And for those of us, God, where we've been following you for a long time, we've been following you for a long time, you until suffering and then we stop. Help us follow you through that path of suffering that we might grow as a result, that others might come to know you as a result. God, we believe you can do all of this and more. We give it all to you in Jesus' name. Amen.

### Quotes for Outreach

1. "Even if you aren't a follower of Jesus, God loves you. He made you. And this road trip throughout human history is not without hope, even for you. See, what I hope we walk out with is a greater confidence that God is working in our waiting. That whatever you wish would change. Whatever you wish to accelerate. Whatever you wish you could stop. Whatever you wish you could change. God is using even that circumstance." [30:46] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "The good news of the gospel is that Jesus came for the lost causes. The author of Romans, Paul, we've been reading, he describes God's strategy by saying that he uses the foolish things of this world to confound the wise. Lost causes are God's specialty. If you think that you have this future experience with God or this hope with God, you've already been excluded. You can't possibly be considered a candidate for that. You are a perfect candidate for the grace of God." [54:26] (32 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "See, God loved you so much that he gave his only son to live the life that you can. To die the death that we all deserved and to come back from the grave so that we could turn from our way of life, follow him and experience this relationship with him now and forever. The one that you were designed for as an ambassador of the kingdom now and a citizen of that kingdom forever." [54:26] (25 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "Maybe today is just a down payment. It's a deposit so that later on when the pain is too great and the thing you are placing your hope in seems insignificant or not enough to hold the hope that God has placed in you. Maybe God will remind you of Romans 8, that the suffering of this world, it's not worth comparing to the future glory of God's reign and rule of new heavens and new earth and the access to it. The citizenship of it is found only in Jesus." [55:53] (30 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


### Quotes for Members

1. "See, I think there's a problem for a lot of us, which is the way we think about following Jesus is we think, I will follow Jesus until suffering. That the ceiling of my pursuit of Jesus is until following Jesus is going to cost me something. And this is a really intimidating list. This is an intimidating list because when he says not worth comparing, I'm not sure that, like, as I think about it, he's pointing to this foreshadowing reality of a new heaven and a new earth of all creation being put back to a better than humanity founded." [37:19] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


2. "We can see that Paul is not just trying to help us think about heaven as a place that we get to escape earth. But rather, that we are representatives of a kingdom that is here and not yet. A kingdom that God is bringing to earth. He talks about creation being set free from the corruption and bondage that it is in right now. Can you think of any area where this is not self-evident? One area where we aren't seeing the entropy of sin-decaying systems and structures around the world." [40:07] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


3. "We want to be the best citizens that we can be wherever God has placed us. If you are a follower of Jesus, to your citizenship in the kingdom of heaven. Most of us are not naming it and claiming it, but we embrace a more subtle version of this distortion where we feel the pressure to pretend that we aren't suffering or that the pain that we're going through doesn't really hurt. It's not a big deal. When in reality, there are deeper relationships available if we just be honest. If we said what was really going on, what our hang-ups really were." [43:05] (35 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


4. "If you really believed that God is working in our waiting, if you really believed that, then the question that maybe I'd ask you to consider is what is the most painful thing that you're waiting for? What's the thing in your life that if you thought about, you know what, I can believe this about this area of my life and this area of my life and this area of my life, but you know what, Phil, that treatment that hasn't come through, that job opportunity that I thought would be solved by now and isn't, that relationship that I hoped for but isn't here, that marriage that I wanted to see put back together, that relationship that I wanted to see put back together, but it isn't." [44:24] (31 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)


5. "We may groan, we may agonize with the delay, but it's because we are eagerly waiting for the adoption that Scott talked about last week. See, the moment that you decide to follow Jesus, you are in the family of God. But here, Paul talked last week about adoption as this thing that's promised. Here he talks about future promise. It can feel strange, but he's using a piece of grammar called metonymy. And he tells us what it means in the verses that follow it right afterwards. That this idea of adoption is ultimately fulfilled when God brings about a new heaven and a new earth." [48:37] (36 seconds) (Download raw clip | Download cropped clip)