Sept 7th: Romans 8:26-39

What Can Separate Us?
by Carrie Finch
A Sermon for Cheharya Presbyterian Church
September 7, 2008

(note: this sermon was actually first preached (with some changes) at Davie St. Presbyterian in Raleigh, NC on July 27, 2008- I had just moved up to OK the day before)...

For a lot of churches, the first Sunday after Labor Day is the beginning of the new church school year, also known as rally day. The children have returned back to school, the weather is starting to give glimpses of the fall, and vacation times have been spent. So it is this Sunday that churches start gearing up for "business as usual"- moving rapidly towards the seasons of stewardship and advent. It seems appropriate in some ways then, to turn to this passage in Romans as we seek support and affirmation for our calling as Christians and our calling to serve God's people. Today, as we delve into Paul’s rhetorical questions we might in turn, also address some of our own. Listen again, to the questions that Paul writes…
31 What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? 33 Who will bring any charge against God's elect? 34 Who is to condemn? And finally, Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Seven questions. Seven questions that challenged the Roman church and challenges us today to wrestle with this whole idea of grace, redemption and our inter-relatedness to Christ and God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. This is a very rich text that we have before us so let’s take a few minutes and look at these questions.
Paul asks, what are we to say about these things? Then he immediately asks, if God is for us, who is against us? What do you think Paul means by these two questions? If we are the elect, if we are chosen by God, then, our God, who is the creator of every thing, every life past, present and future, then, who, who in this world, what mere mortal, can truly be against us? And while Paul is framing these as rhetorical questions, he is however trying to address the concerns of the early church. Now, I don’t mean to bore you with a history lesson, but for the first 300 plus years of Christianity, the church existed on the margins of society. It was not the organized machine that it is today with the power and recognition and security that we are offered by it. No, if you claimed to be a Christ follower in the beginning of the church, then you were choosing to be ostracized by your community, and sometimes your family, you were meeting in secret, in homes, nothing fancy, nothing advertised. If you were caught, you were either made to swear allegiance to some pagan deity or suffer the consequence. The early believers then, had very real external forces battling them for their faith and witness. They needed encouragement and hope to continue to believe, to persevere despite persecution. That is why I think Paul reminds them of their God, our God, this is the one they can stand with, because ours is a God that stands for something bigger than any man made trap.
Which leads us to our third question. God who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Now, before we all leave here and go home and start praying for a Wii gaming system or new cars, perhaps we might want to think about what “everything else” really means. Do you think that any of these material possessions that we have or that we covet in any way, equate to the life of Jesus Christ? So, if it’s not a possession based “everything” that Paul is talking about, then, what do you think he means? There is this concept in theology that talks about the term, common grace. This common grace is God's universal, non-saving grace in which blessings are given to humanity for physical sustenance, pleasure, learning, beauty, etc., as expressions of God's goodness. For example, the sun shines on everybody, believer and non-believers alike, therefore the blessings of God are for the common good[1]. To me, this, and more, is what Paul is writing about with this question. God who gives us everything else, is giving us our lives, and our natural world, the pleasures derived from the beauty of the earth and it’s inhabitants.
The next two questions, Who will bring any charge against God's elect? 34 Who is to condemn? point us to God’s saving grace. They also point us once again, to the supremacy of God. While there is persecution on earth by humans to other humans, and while there are murders, executions, trials, courts and judges, while all of these things exist, at the end of it all, none of these people have any authority on life eternal. No one here can look at the one sitting beside him or her and say I condemn you to an eternal life of damnation and hellfire. No one here can say to the one sitting beside him or her I forgive you of your sins, or I don’t forgive you of your sins and have these words mean anything that will make a hill of beans difference to what happens when our time in this life is up. You see, we are accountable to God alone, for God alone has the power to condemn, and God alone has the power to forgive. We are better served if we spend our time lifting each other up, working together to build up the body of Christ than to spend our time judging and persecuting others, for that right, belongs to God.
And what does the Scripture say about that? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Paul reminds us that Christ who has the power to condemn, instead gives us grace. Christ, who has the power to forgive, not only forgives, but intercedes on our behalf through the Holy Spirit to God the Father for us. And that grace, and that love Christ has for us, is saving grace. That grace gives us all the assurances we need that no matter the persecution we may face here on earth, that our God above has already judged us and sealed our fate on the day that Christ rose from the ground. Death lost its final sting.
Which leads us to the last two questions put forth in this chapter of Romans. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Which of these things keep you away from God? God, who calls us to care for one another, to free the oppressed, to feed the hungry, the clothe the naked, to live just lives, to turn the other cheek, is most certainly with us in these times of great distress and hurt. So, if God is present with us in our times of greatest need, if God is with us in our times when we are utterly alone, then can any of these things separate us from the love of Jesus?
We are not promised a life that is freed from these things happening to us, no, we have borne sin in this world since we left the garden, and our bodies suffer because they are mortal and finite, but what we are promised that we are freed to no longer be defined only by sin, nor only by suffering, but rather, that we are defined as loved, that we are defined as children of a God who walks with us, who carries us, who bares our pain beside us and for us, so that we can be free to do likewise for others.
38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. No external force can break the love of Redeemer to us, no creature or human can tear us away from the arms of our Beloved. No, we are told none of these things can separate us. Not even our sin has that power. Even if we try to convince ourselves we have no need for God, even in those times when we pull away, when we say we refuse and reject the Lord, I believe that God is still with us, and that God is still holding us in love as creator to created. Our God, is a God who is for us, our God is a God who saves us and gives us grace and love and mercy, and our God is an awesome God, who even in our darkest moments of doubt and confusion, hurt, pain and persecution, is one that bares all, loves all and gives us everything we need and nothing is going to take that away. Nothing. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. And that’s all we ever need.
[1] From sys one notes from nikki