“Nothing!”
Romans 8:28-39
There are certain
events in our lives that we will always remember. For example, you often here people say that
you can remember where you were when you first heard the news about some
important event. This past week marked
an anniversary of the first manned landing on the moon. I can remember watching that on television in
our living room on Wayside in Decatur ,
Illinois Olmsted Falls , right where it goes by Hopkins Airport
Another
significant event for me was the first pastors’ conference I attended when I
was a vicar in the Michigan District.
The first official event of the conference was a communion service at a
local congregation, Mt.
Hope
You have to
remember that Paul was writing to a small group of Christians living in Rome . Being a Christian in Rome was not easy. They were living in a culture that honored
many gods, greatest of whom was the Emperor himself. To worship another god above the Emperor was
consider treason. The Christians in Rome needed
encouragement They needed to know that
when the world seemed to be against them and they were suffering because of
their faith, the love of God in Christ Jesus would always be with them. Nothing could separate them from that love. Does that sound familiar? Do you ever find yourself feeling alone in
godless world? Are you ever tempted to
give up because everything seems to be working against you? Do you ever wonder if God really cares about
you when you have to put up with disappointments, health problems, losses, or
perhaps subtle persecution because you are a Christian? Things haven’t changed too much in our
world. Circumstances may be different
but the feelings of frustration can still get you down. You need to hear the words of encouragement
that Paul has for the Romans and for all Christians of all time.
Our section of
chapter 8 begins with one of the more comforting statements that Paul makes in
his writings. In verse 28 we hear, “We
know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those
who are called according to his purpose.”
What a wonderful promise from the Lord!
Like many of the Lord’s promises, you have to understand that you may
not see the good right away. When you
are struggling with health problems or the health problems of a loved one, you
may want to see the good as soon as possible but in God’s good time and in His
wisdom, He will keep His promises. It
may even mean that the good thing that He promises will not be realized in this
life but when He calls you home to be with Him forever. That is the ultimate good.
With that in mind
then, Paul turns to our circumstances in this life that we face from time to
time. When you think that everything is
against you and you start to wonder why God is allowing all of these problems
to mess up all of your plans for your life, Paul reminds you in verse 31, “If
God is for us, who can be against us?” You
have God on your side. When you have the
almighty, all-knowing God on your side, what do you have to worry about? But still you do. The example of the depth of God’s love and
care for you is found in the next statement.
If you have any doubts about God’s love for you remember this, “He did
not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him
graciously give us all things?” There
you have all the evidence that you need to be convinced that God loves you and
will give you what is best for you. He gave up His own Son so that you might be
rescued from the greatest problem that you have, the problem of sin and its
eternal consequences.
To further
explain his point, Paul takes us to a courtroom setting. There you stand before the God the Judge. On
the one side is the prosecutor, ready to bring charges against you because of
your sin. He has a long list of
transgressions and trespasses against the will of God. It would seem that you don’t have a chance
against all the charges. But Paul goes
on to say, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” The final decision rests with the judge and
that is none other than God Himself and He is ready to justify, in other words
to declare you righteous. Also present
is the defense attorney. It is Christ
Jesus, who not only died for you, but was raised by the will of the judge and
is now interceding for you. He is
speaking to the judge on your behalf. We
can guess what He is saying. “Remember,
You sent me into the world to do for them what they could not do for
themselves. I kept the Law in their place. I died then as the punishment for their
sins. Their debt has been paid. You can declare them not guilty, Father.”
That’s a pretty
convincing argument. It is not necessarily
to convince the Judge. It is to help
convince you that nothing can separate you from God’s love. Paul then brings us back to our own
problems. Knowing what you know now
after that brilliant presentation, he asks, “Who can separate us from the love
of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword.?” Paul can speak from experience because he
faced them all. It is so easy for us to
despair when we face even minor inconveniences on our lives. He quotes a lament from Psalm 44, “For your
sake we are being killed all the day long, we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.” It’s another way of
saying, “Oh poor me. Why does everything
happen to me. Is there a sign on my back
that says ‘Kick me’?”
In response to
that lament, we hear an emphatic, “NO!
In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved
us.” Not only are we winners but we have
the enduring protection and love of God, our Father. To make that point even stronger, Paul lists
ten potential sources of trouble that would try and separate us from the love
of God: Death nor life, angels nor rulers,
things present nor things to come, powers, height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation. A list of ten is
significant because, in the Bible, ten is a number of completeness. What Paul is saying is that nothing can
separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing!
Again I will give
credit to Pastor Arle back in 1980 at the Fall Pastors’ Conference in Grayling,
Michigan and tell you that there is only one thing that I want you to remember
from this sermon and that is “Nothing!”
If you don’t remember any other sermons that you have heard from me over
the past eight and a half years, remember “Nothing!” Nothing can separate you from the love of God
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing! All kinds of things will try but when you
are strengthened in your faith through the power of the Holy Spirit working in
you through the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace, you can be assured
that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus our
Lord. Amen.
Rev. Gerald Matzke
Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
The Seventh Sunday after Pentecost
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