Romans
Dear Friends in Christ,
Question: What is one of the most important items we bring on a trip or a vacation or to anything we personally designate as an “event?” Answer: a camera. Why? Because pictures (or videos) help us remember where we’ve been, what we’ve done and the ground we’ve covered. When birthdays begin to mount and memories of even the most outstanding things we’ve seen or done begin to fade, pictures remind us of the significant places we’ve been.
We are at about the half way point in our “Summer in
THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
in our lives as God’s Children. Specifically how
1. He helps us in our weakness
2. He helps us in our prayers
Before we launch forward into this new lesson from the Book of Romans, however, it may be beneficial to look back at snapshots of the ground we’ve already covered. Doing so provides us not only with a worthwhile review of where we’ve been the last several weeks, but also sets the stage for where we are today.
So where have we been? We have been to Romans chapter three where in clear, concise and unable-to-be-misunderstood words God through Paul tells us that our eternal salvation does not depend on what we do for God (not performance-based), but entirely on what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Our salvation rests completely in His perfect life lived in our place, His sacrificial death as the substitute for our sin, and His glorious resurrection, which proved that He had successfully completed the work of our redemption…
All of which is personally applied to us through faith – that is, through trusting in Him as the One who saves us from our sins. This doctrine, referred to as “justification (or forgiveness) by (or through) faith” is the bedrock teaching of Scripture. It is the reason we as Christians can say without a hint of boastfulness or arrogance that when we die we will be in heaven.
But the benefits of this bedrock doctrine are not reserved only for the hour of our death. Each and every day it fills us with comfort and confidence as God’s Children, because we know that if God has taken care of the most pressing need in our life – the forgiveness of our sins – He will surely meet every other lesser need as well.
In chapter four the message of justification by faith was reinforced through the example of Old Testament Abraham. At a time in his life when he was old and his wife was well past her child-bearing years, God promised Abraham he would have a son and eventually become a great nation. Abraham trusted in God’s promise even when the evidence didn’t seem to support it, and we were reminded that we, too, walk by faith, not by sight.
Romans chapter five speaks of the peace and joy that accompanies this walk of faith in Christ. Because of what our Savior has done and continues to do for us, we find strength to persevere even through the difficulties of life.
In Romans chapter six Paul takes us back to the blessings of our baptism and puts to rest a misguided idea about forgiveness. Rather than being viewed as a license to sin (“I can do what I want and later ask for forgiveness”), the high cost of our forgiveness moves us to not want to sin. Christ is our Master whom we want to please, not take advantage of.
But sin continues to be an influence in our lives, and in chapter seven Paul speaks of the personal confusion this causes as he takes up the subject of the Christian’s dual nature. Even though our “new nature” in Christ is our predominant nature and even though we desire not to, we still sin because we still retain a “sinful nature.” As a result, we find ourselves doing things we don’t want to do, and we feel badly about this.
What is the answer to this conundrum? It is not in thinking that by doing the right cosmetic things we can somehow rise above sin. No, sinfulness is part of the “old nature” we’ll carry with us till our dying day. You can dress up a pig in a tuxedo and outwardly make him look real nice, but that’s not going to change his nature. Eventually he’s still going to head for the mud.
So Paul takes us away from our own efforts and points us to the
only solution for our sin: Jesus Christ.
Daily we return to the cross in
confession and repentance, and daily we are reminded that, in the words of
Now we come to chapter eight. Because we had a guest preacher, last week’s reading did not serve as our text. Paul assures us that through the work of Jesus Christ we have been adopted into the family of God. Therefore, we find our identity in the fact that we are nothing less than sons and daughters of God. Nevertheless, we still contend with our sinful nature, so Paul encourages us to remember who and what we are.
He also reminds us that, despite our privileged position, we still live – and feel the effects of living – in a sinful world. Just as the world suffers at the hands of evil and heartless people, natural catastrophes, etc., so we as Christians suffer right along with it. The hurricanes and tsunami disaster of this past year; the tragedies and heartaches that come with a poor medical prognosis or changing circumstances – these things do not strategically skip Christians. God is ultimately in control, but He does not always spare His children from being caught in the crossfire of a sinful world…
Nevertheless, because of Christ we have the ability to put everything into perspective. So Paul writes: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Glory will be revealed in us. Yet even though we know this about our future, we sometimes become impatient with our lot in the present. Paul talks about how we at times inwardly “groan” for that time to come when all will be well. As a result, Paul says we live in a state of hope – hope not that our future glory will happen (which we know), but hope that it will happen soon. Kind of like the person who knows he has a big gift or inheritance coming, but doesn’t know just when it will arrive.
We might call this state of being where “we know what’s coming but it’s not here yet” our life of “Christian expectancy.” On our good days, the knowledge of what will be sustains us. On our weak days, however, we may find ourselves a bit unhappy with God’s timetable.
Which leads us to today’s text. Because we live in this state of expectancy that God will work things out – both in the present and for eternity – but we just don’t know exactly when, the Lord provides us with help in the form of the Holy Spirit. Paul writes:
26 In the
same way (as hope sustains us in our life of expectancy, which is the
preceding thought), the Spirit helps us
in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit
himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows
the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in
accordance with God’s will.
We’re told a couple of interesting and comforting things here. First we are told that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. The verse goes on to suggest the particular weakness being referred to is knowing what we ought to pray for, but it’s also certainly a true statement on its own. So let’s talk about it.
“Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so, little ones to him belong, they are weak but he is strong.” Most of us have sung that beloved Bible song sometime in our lives. And most of us would also admit it is an accurate portrayal – at least at times – of our spiritual and emotional state.
There are times when we are weak in our faith. We find ourselves plagued by doubt about the trustworthiness of God’s Word and promises. We worry about things God tells us not to worry about. We get stressed out about things God says are under His control. We get impatient when God doesn’t answer our prayers on demand. We are weak.
But He is strong. And the Holy Spirit, through the words and promises of Scripture brings us the same strength. How? “Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ” is what Paul will tell us in chapter 10. Through spending time in word and sacrament the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our weakness. He leads us to the springs of living water found in the promises of God and we are refreshed. Refreshed we are strengthened. Strengthened, we live out our lives according to our true identity: joyful, confident children of God.
Our text continues by telling us another way the Holy Spirit
helps us: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself
intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows
the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in
accordance with God’s will.
If ever you have been in a situation where you just didn’t know what to pray for, then these words are especially comforting. And I think we’ve all been there. Let me give you some examples.
Maybe you’ve been at the side of a hospital bed of a loved one in the ICU and are being asked to make a decision that could literally mean life or death. Maybe you’ve received a job offer which means better pay but at the same time necessitates relocating your family to a different state and everyone is pretty happy where they are. Maybe you’re a young person with your future ahead of you but you just don’t know which path to follow. Maybe you’re a parent with a child or a child with a parent who is causing you heartache far beyond what he or she will ever know.
In each of these cases, you want to pray. And you want to pray hard. But you just don’t know what to pray for. You just don’t know how to direct your prayers. That’s when the Holy Spirit helps us.
This is our confidence: when we prayerfully, perhaps tearfully, admit we just don’t know what to pray for, the Holy Spirit does. He reads the unexpressed and inexpressible emotions of our hearts, and He intercedes for the saints (that’s us) in accordance with God’s will. And we have the assurance that our Heavenly Father, as He has promised, will provide us with what we need. Then, having unburdened ourselves at the throne of grace by the loving intervention of the Holy Spirit, we are filled with the peace of God that passes all understanding. And that is very, very, very helpful.
We’ve reached the half way point in our series from Romans. Looking back, we’ve learned a lot about God’s grace, God’s love and God’s guidance in our lives. Today we’ve learned how the Holy Spirit extends that grace, guidance and love to us by helping us in our weakness and helping us in our prayers.
Everything we’ve learned from the Book of Romans thus far
leads us to the same ultimate conclusion:
We are blessed beyond measure.
Praise God from all blessings flow.
Amen.