Cooperative Providence

Sermon (Romans 8:18-30)

This morning we continue reading Paul’s letter to the house churches in Rome. Now I know Paul can get a little wordy and his logic a little convoluted. All right, maybe more than just a little. But Paul is passionate, and he is trying to describe God at work in his life, in the church, and in the world. Before I read this morning’s text which continues where we left off last week, let me try to recap the journey Paul has taken us on.
Paul begins his letter reminding his audience that the gospel isn’t a story about God’s power. The gospel is power, the power of God for salvation. It is Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection give witness to a God who loves us just the way we are, who loves us too much to leave us powerless and at the mercy of Sin and death, and whose love is stronger even than death. It is the human predicament that we find ourselves unable to do the things we know we should do, or to stop doing the things we know we shouldn’t. And we are helpless to change ourselves.
Paul can declare in Christ there is now no condemnation. Through Christ we have been given the gift of God’s Spirit that frees us from setting our minds on things that are destructive to our relationships and to ourselves. We are able now to set our minds and reorient our whole being on the things that are life-giving. It is the Spirit that makes us children of God who can pray, “Abba,” that is, “Our Father.” But the powers of Sin and death aren’t done yet. As children of God, we who are “joint heirs with Christ” also suffer with him so that we may also look forward to being glorified with him.
That brings us to this morning’s text: Romans 8:18-30, found on page 919 in your pew Bible. Listen for the word of God.
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18I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
26Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. 27And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. 30And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.

The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
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Did you hear all that “creation” language? “Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.” Creation hopes for the day it “will be set free from its bondage to decay.” Creation groans in “labor pains.”
Up to this point in his letter, Paul has been describing the human condition. Christ has come; Sin and death are on their way out. But we still struggle daily to avoid the siren call of the powers of this world which perpetuate fear and tell us to worry only about ourselves. At the same time we long for the day when wars will cease, people will have enough to eat, children will grow up in safe and nurturing families, and broken relationships will be restored.
Now Paul expands our vision. It is not only human beings who are struggling, who are suffering, who know life is not as God intended. It is not only we who long for God’s promised kingdom. All of creation longs for that day as well.
The word Paul uses for this longing comes from the image of one straining the neck in anticipation. Think of a person on a train platform waiting for the arrival of their beloved who has been away for a long time. Maybe you’ve been that person eagerly waiting the time when you will be reunited. Then you hear the train whistle in the distance – you know the train is coming soon. Everyone waiting walks toward the edge of the platform straining their neck to catch of glimpse of the engine. That’s what Paul is describing. Creation is waiting on tiptoes straining its neck for a glimpse of God’s coming kingdom.
Creation is waiting on tiptoes because all of creation is broken. In many places in our world you can see the effects of human presence. Cities are overcrowded, choked with smog, endless suburbs and traffic jams. The folks in the Los Angeles area have been preparing for Carmeggedon – the shutdown of the 405, which is the main thoroughfare from the valley to downtown. The media were even telling folks to stay home rather than risk getting caught in gridlock on alternate routes.
Maybe Paul was ahead of his time or perhaps his friends Priscilla and Aquilla who were from Rome told him about the city. Rome had become a burgeoning metropolis at the center of the empire. It was no longer able to support itself having to import its water through an extensive network of aqueducts, and its food via fleets of cargo ships. Some would say these were Rome’s weaknesses and the cause of its downfall.
Fortunately, we here in the Finger Lakes are somewhat isolated from this. I hear often from folks who visit this area how beautiful this area is. Jim & I love taking walks up Tichenor Rd. The vineyards, the corn fields, the view of the other side of the lake – all of it is so idyllic. But if we’re honest, we face environmental concerns here, as well. And I don’t even have to bring up drilling in the Marcelles Shale or the Liquid Petroleum Gas storage facility.

But creation is not giving up in despair; it waits like Paul, like us, like all who are in Christ, in hope for what God has promised will happen, and already shown in Jesus Christ: our redemption. And that is the first point I want to leave you with: Creation is not once and done; it didn’t just happen “in the beginning.” God is still at work creating.
Yes, there are some in the wider Church who insist it happened just as the Bible said in six days. While folks from the Intelligent Design camp argue that God created the whole universe according to a blueprint established from the very beginning. And there are those who argue it all happened without the need for a god. I look around at the world and I see a Creator behind it, a very great one, to whom I give thanks.
Still, most of the arguments about creation focus on what happened long ago and seem to suggest it was all set in motion and now runs on autopilot. Less attention is given to what God is doing now. Yet, the scientific evidence points to a continually evolving creation with some species dying out and new ones being created. And the biblical witness attests to a God who is still creating, still involved with creation.
One analogy is God as playwright who directs her own play. God gives general direction, but allows the actors the freedom to improvise, or even rewrites part of the script to accommodate the players. God the creative and flexible playwright; a creator who keeps on creating. By the way, the classical word for this is providence.
This evolving, living, God-guided creation is groaning in labor pains. But did you also hear: we, too, who have been given the gift of the Spirit, also groan with creation. And there’s another connection. Paul writes that the Spirit who “helps us in our weakness … intercedes [for us] with sighs too deep for words.” I love the poetry of that phrase and I give the translators kudos for its beauty, but what Paul actually writes is this: the Spirit intercedes for us with inexpressible groans. God’s Spirit is so close to our hearts that words are not necessary.
Creation groans, we groan, the Spirit groans. We’re all connected – that’s the second point. Just as creation’s suffering is in some ways a consequence of human action, so its hope for freedom and renewal is connected to and dependent upon us, the children of God. That is also something science has discovered: life on this planet is interconnected, a web of life. Life in God’s Kingdom is based on relationship. Paul reminds us God’s Spirit helps us to see our connection with creation.

Some see this as a clear call for us to be good stewards of the earth. We can’t turn a blind eye to the problems in creation anymore than we can ignore the needs of people around us. If we as Christians give up on creation, we give up on God, the one has made us and sustained us. It’s the Spirit that nudges us to notice and be sensitive to the groaning of the world. But if that seems too much, Paul also tells us the Spirit is our connection and creation’s connection to God. This is why we along with all of God’s creation can wait eagerly with patience. If God the creator is still creating and guiding, if we have been promised adoption as children of God, if the future of creation is connected to our future, then we and creation can wait with hope.
Here’s the third point. We don’t get to wait with hope by sitting around twiddling our thumbs. We have a part to play aided by the power of God’s Spirit. Here’s what Paul says, “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God.”
Frankly, this is a difficult sentence to translate and too many have wrongly interpreted Paul to mean, “Don’t worry; everything always works out just fine for believers.” A better version of the text says this: “We know that in all things, God is working toward the good … together with those who love God,” together with us.
Paul makes a very strong claim for providence but it is a kind of cooperative providence. We cooperate in providence by working toward what we hope God intends. We cooperate in providence by looking for God’s hand in the beauty and mystery of creation.
What we are not allowed to do as Christians is to say that it’s all up to us and if we can just figure out the right plan, we can solve this problem. Nothing in heaven or on earth is all up to us. We’re too little and it’s too late. What we are allowed to do as Christians is to look for those moments and those places where God is moving the whole creation out of its groaning toward the fulfillment of God’s promises. What we are invited to do is to take our role in God’s great drama.
And Paul, having glimpsed the glory of where this drama is going, can only conclude in doxology, giving praise to the God who will never abandon us.