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THE CHRISTIAN FAITH ONE WORD AT A TIME!

Longing Romans 7:15-25

18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not 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. 24For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

From the moment I realized I loved her, I longed for the day, the hour, the minute when she would become my wife. From 1955 until 1977, I longed to be done with school and its demands. From early, early on, I longed to enter the public ministry of my Lord as a pastor. I longed, I yearned, I felt an overwhelming desire to do all these things because of the blessings I hoped would with come with them.

For the most part, my longings were all fulfilled. I married a wonderful woman who has given me a lifetime of joy. I have never missed school, although I appreciate what it did for me. And theres nothing else Id rather do with my life than what Ive done. Im positive that I am not the only one to have had longings in my life. Perhaps the longings I mentioned are longings you relate to, perhaps even share, with me.

Like me, maybe you had many longings some big and some small. Perhaps your longings were all met, or were met in better ways than you imagined. Maybe some of your longings have never been fulfilled. But we all have had and we all still all have longings in life. It is a part of our human nature to crave something better for ourselves, something more satisfying,

In fact, it is over this kind of longing that drives us on to do what we do, to get what we want. Longing is the one word summary of our Christian faith for this morning. And the object of our longing to which Paul directs our attention is something he refers to as the glory that will be revealed in us, as the time when the sons of God are revealed.

As the sons of God, we are his children, we are the rightful heirs of everything that is his. No matter how you slice it, that makes us people who are very special! We have known this to be true for as long as we have been Christians. We know that we are so precious to our heavenly Father that he sent his one and only Son to suffer and die as the ransom price for our souls!

In an ironic twist, the Lord twice, on two separate occasions, took steps to make us his own! First he created this universe, this earth, and finally us. He wanted us to live with him in ultimate peace and joy forever in a perfect world. We pretty much blew that idea to bits with our sin! Sin is something God cannot stand and will not tolerate in his presence.

Sinful human beings simply could not live with him. But that didnt stop Gods love for us or quench his desire to have us as his own. So, having first created us, he then went on to redeem us. The price of sin is something that must be paid before we can live at peace with him once more. We can pay that price however it takes us an eternity to pay it off in full! That leaves us no time to live with him!

That isnt satisfactory to the Lord. He wants us to enjoy the fullness of his love immediately upon the death of our bodies. Hence, sin and its effects must be dealt with in another way. The only other way is for the Son of God to take on human flesh and become our Substitute. That is what he must give up if he is to get his way.

If it wasnt a fact, we wouldnt believe it to be true that a holy God would sacrifice his dearly loved Son for the sake of people who already rejected him once. But he did! Now, through faith in Christ Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the penalty for our sin is fully paid! Rebellious traitors to the King can be adopted as dearly loved children.

As I said before, we are very special people to the Lord. He was willing to sacrifice what was most dear to him, to make us his own a second time. We are heirs to all the blessings he wanted to bestow upon us from the very beginning. And with that statement, we might squirm a little, a nagging question might come into our minds.

If we are, indeed, the children of God, then why dont we live like it? Why isnt life better for us? If we are the sons and daughters of God himself, why dont we experience more and better from our heavenly Father? It is often noted that in many cases Christians seem to have a harder life than non-Christians. That doesnt seem right. That doesnt seem fair, if we are his own and they are not.

The problem is our sinful bodies. We are redeemed, but sin is still a part of us. Through no fault of his, we are incapable of fully enjoying Gods love and his loving presence. This brings upon us what Paul refers to as our present sufferings. These are unique hardships involved in being a child of God in this world, not the least of which is this seeming contradiction of Gods children living the way we do! But as Paul told us earlier, this isnt permanent.

A day is coming when it will all change. One day glory will be revealed in us. When we hear those words, we may first think about the glory we will experience. We will be lifted above life on this earth and all its disappointments and dwell with the Lord our God in complete and utter bliss. For us, it will be glorious. But the real glory is the glory of the Lord.

Right now, the holy Christian church the children of God doesnt look like much As a rule not many among us are wise or powerful or wealthy. In fact, the opposite seems true. We are the ordinary, the usual, the so-whats of this world. And as much as that evaluation stings when it comes from others, a far deeper wound comes when we judge ourselves by Gods standards.

We sorrowfully confess that we are sinners in thought, word, and deed. Nothing good lives in us, that is, in our sinful flesh. We admit that we are not worthy of the least of the Lords mercies. And yet, there we will be redeemed children of God about to be exalted to life in the highest realms. On the last day, that will be revealed to one and all. We will live in heaven, knowing that we dont deserve it, that all credit goes to God. Our new life is to his glory, alone!

Forever and ever and ever, we will glorify a God who chose to save wretches like us. At Judgment Day, all will see this. Even the damned will be forced to glorify the righteous God who saved sinners as he did. This will be the culmination of human history and experience. The Lord will come in all his glory and take his own to live with him in a state of perfect harmony.

So grand will be that day and the existence which follows, that Paul says that I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. And that is something to long for, to hope for, to anticipate. Heaven is our true home and we want to be there. Like all the other things in our life that we long for, we cant wait for it to come. Or can we?

When the question is put to Christians Do you long for heaven?, all answer Yes!. But when asked Do you long for heaven now?, the hemming and hawing begins. I know. I do it, too! I wanted to be a part of my childrens lives before I left for heaven.

I wanted to see them confirmed and graduated and married. Then I wanted to see the same cycle repeated in their children! I truly long for heaven but only after this and this and this happen. It shouldnt be that way. To prove that, Paul says, if our world had human emotions, it would be terribly frustrated by life the way it is. It would long for the day when it will be liberated from the decay of sin that is all around us. It would long for the glory that will come on Judgment Day.

He then goes on to compare the pain of a woman in labor to the aching felt by the creation. Now, the world groans, knowing that the end will come and with it, will come an end to all its suffering. It longs for that dayas we should. How do we do that without seeming to be suicidal? How do we avoid living only in a future to come while living in the here and now?

First of all, lets confront the obvious. We like living in this world. We are familiar with it. It is all we know. As bad as it may get, there are many pleasures of life that hinder us from longing to leave it, even for heaven. Heaven, after all, is just a hope, something that lies in the future undescribed and beyond the experience of anyone we know.

At the same time, lets take the Lord at his word. Heaven will be better than this earth! He promises it to be a place without pain or sorrow or loss of any kind. It will be a place of absolute perfection. We will have no wants or disappointments. Best of all, ours will be an existence in the full presence of the Lord. His love will wash over us like a tidal wave. We should take time to imagine what it will be like and the longing will come!

Thirdly, lets take advantage of both phases of our life. While we have life in this world, lets recognize that it is the Lords gift to us, as well as a time he reserves for us to do something needed in his kingdom. Lets devote ourselves to th