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. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:18-27 ESV)
Just what happened when Adam and Eve sinned against God in the Garden, back at the beginning of history? Sin entered into humankind, certainly, but sin also entered into creation itself. Creation itself has become subject to futility. Things don’t happen they way they should in this world anymore. At the church in Illinois that our family was at last Sunday, the Sunday morning Bible Study was about Genesis 1, the Biblical account of the creation of the world. We were considering just how good things were when God made them, which led, as it inevitably does, into discussions of just how fallen this current world is.
The point is that this world is subjected to futility. It’s messed up. The result of the futility is that this present age, these current days, are also messed up. The whole earth is groaning. It’s impossible these days to not be aware of climate change or global warming or whatever they’re calling it at the moment. It’s impossible to not be aware of the increasing illnesses and allergies and diseases in the world around us. It’s impossible to not have heard something about the forthcoming oil shortage. Signs of a world which is groaning. A world which is subject to futility. A world which God created to be very good but which us, by our actions, have spoiled and ruined time and time again. All the natural disasters and problems and troubles which we see in the natural world can ultimately be chocked up to the fact that the world, through sin, is subject to futility.
It’s for this reason that even the greatest of human accomplishments, over time, turns into ruin. It’s for this reason that the greatest civilizations and their great works of architecture and construction slowly crumble and fall apart. It’s for this reason that regardless of scientific progress and research, the death rate here on this big blue-and-green ball is still, and will remain 100% until the day of our Lord’s return. For the futility that the world is in is the futility of sin, the uselessness and emptiness that results from following sin rather than Jesus.
Perhaps the fact that the whole world is subject to futility is something which you don’t often think about. You can see futility in your own life—you can see how even your best made plans so often fall short in their execution, and how so often you find yourself living out Romans 7, wanting to do what God desires of you but fouling it all up time and time again—but that the world, at its heart, is also subject to futility is a very humbling thought. It means that your sin and my sin matters, as it is part of what causes this core futility. Those hidden sins that nobody else knows about, the sins of thought or hidden deed—they add to the futility. The open sins that you are ashamed to admit—they add to the futility. The sins you don’t even know about—they add to the futility. And this core futility is what leads to the sufferings of this present age.
I don’t really need to list for you the ways in which people suffer in this day and age. Suffice it to say that there is scarcely a person on this earth who has not been touched by suffering in one way or another. Suffering happens because the “very good” of creation has been transformed by human wilfulness into a spoiled, ruinous place, belching pollution and disease. The environmentalists who say that people are the cause of all the climatic and environmental problems in this world are right, so far as that goes. Where they miss out is in their response to how to deal with the fact of a ruined world.
Please be aware that it is important for you and me to take care of what God has given us. When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, He gave them the express command to have dominion over the earth and to take care of it. That role, by virtue of our inheritance, still falls to us today. God has given us this world in which we live, and we need to be faithful to His calling to take care of this world, as best we can. The world doesn’t belong to us, after all, but is a gift from God to His people in order that they might have a place to live.
But this world is in groaning, the labour pains of the birth of the new heavens and new earth. It’s groaning because the end is in sight—Jesus has come to set us free from sin, and with us, all creation—but the fullness is not yet here. We still live in a fallen world, with things not as perfect as God had planned them, as God had made them.
The world is longing for the day when the sons of God will be revealed. That’s an interesting thought, too. We like to think of being visibly Christian and of pointing out who the real Christians are, but according to this, the sons of God have yet to be revealed. You or I can’t look into anyone’s heart and see whether they believe. But on the great day of the revealing—the day of judgment—then we will know who are God’s own. Then we will see what God has been doing. Then there will be no more mystery, no more suffering. Everything will be how it is supposed to be.
As such, not only the world groans but the church groans. The church groans, knowing that she awaits her Lord’s return, too. Jesus, her Saviour, who by His death on the cross redeemed her from this fallen world, who by His resurrection made sure the promise of eternal life, this same Jesus, is coming, and coming soon. Yet for now we groan in expectation, wondering how long until He should come. We want the redemption of our bodies. Our bodies, as things stand now, aren’t anything to write home about. Our bodies, as things stand now, are still subject to futility. As the Scriptures so carefully note, we are forgiven, we are already saved, but we do not yet have the fullness of that saving, the totality of that revealing. We are not yet what we will be. Although our salvation is a completed work in Jesus’ death and resurrection, its application to us is not yet fully realized, not yet complete. The Old Adam still clings firmly to this flesh and tries its best to keep us in the land of futility. The current body is sold to sin, a slave to this world in bondage. Yet, the resurrected body is of Christ alone and remains of Christ alone. The end is coming—and with it, the great new beginning!
This is a thought which truly should bring hope and joy to the Christian’s heart. The story of this world does not end with the despair and destruction which we see both inside our hearts and all around us. This present age will come to an end. This era of futility, of despair, will stop. Jesus is coming, and is coming soon!
This is the hope we have. As those who have been made part of Jesus in the waters of baptism, where He washed your sins away and put His Holy Spirit in you, as those who continue to be part of Jesus by virtue of His Word and His body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, you are called to continue in the hope of Christ. It can be hard to wait, to be patient in Christ. It can be hard to persist in the forgiveness and grace of Christ when you live and breathe in a world of futility, a world which wants to take you down with it. See how many options the devil, the world, and your sinful flesh present to you each waking moment—self-fulfilment, sexual fantasies, wealth, fortune, fame, pride, and the like. See how sin would have you put anything and everything ahead of Christ. So long as we send our kids to VBS or Bible camp, it’s OK if they’re not in church. So long as our kids go to Sunday School, it’s OK for me not to teach them about Jesus at home. It’s summer, so it doesn’t matter if we miss church. That’s what people expect, after all.
So you and I need to repent. To turn from the ways of sin and return to our Saviour who has called and claimed us to be His own. There is a glory to be revealed. For we have not been left to our own devices as we wait for our Lord to return. He has sent us His Spirit to be our guide and advocate. The Spirit helps us in our times of weakness, standing in for us, interceding for us. The Spirit prays for us, making our own faltering and hesitant words perfect before the Lord. The Spirit intercedes even when we don’t have the foggiest what to say or do. The Spirit comes to us through God’s Word, through His grace. And He calls us to be where He is, to receive of His blessings to strengthen and guide us through this futile world. For the Spirit is here to give us freedom instead of futility, hope instead of hopelessness. The Spirit brings us in line with God’s will, making us into the men and women God would have us to be—not because of us but because of what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross and given to us in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
God grant that His Spirit would guide us through His Word and Sacraments and give us His freedom from the futility of sin until these times of groaning are replaced by the cries of joy at our Lord’s return! Amen.
Last updated July 2008 by the webmaster.