"Suffering with Christ"
ROMANS 8:17
The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter eight (especially the second half of the chapter) provides us with some intriguing insights into our fallen world and God’s desire to restore and redeem. I cannot delve into each specific verse because there is enough fodder in this chapter for several sermons. But let’s extract a few pertinent points for our discussion.
Romans 8:17 (TLB) “And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
The end of the verse is most interesting for our discussion, “But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” What does that mean exactly? We most certainly want to share in His glory. When we become Christians or “heirs” of God as mentioned at the beginning of this verse (in other translations), we share in the “life” of God with Christ. We are said throughout the Bible to be “in” Christ. As Christians the entirety of our lives (our being) is fully dependent upon Christ. Christ is our lifeline, our source for…anything and everything. We are nothing without Him, but with Him we have everything.
As Jesus suffered while on this earth as one of us (a man), we also will endure a fair amount of suffering during our lifetimes. Again, it is the nature of our fallen world. Even though Jesus was sinless and perfectly followed His Father’s will, He was severely persecuted and experienced the anguish like sorrow, abandonment, loneliness, rejection, and so on affiliated with this fallen world. This is the world we have been handed. This is the world we created due to our sin.
ROMANS 8:18
Romans 8:18 (NKJV) “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The Greek words in this verse are meant for us to envision a balance where the sufferings we endure in this world as children of God are compared to the glory of the future. The Apostle Paul says there is really no comparison at all. When sufferings of this world were loaded on the one side and our future glory on the other, the glory side would immediately and emphatically collapse to the table. The difference between the “weight” of suffering we undergo for a brief time and the “weight” of glory we will experience eternally as children of God is astronomical. It would be similar to the comparison of the weight of an elephant with that of a gnat.
ROMANS 8:17
The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter eight (especially the second half of the chapter) provides us with some intriguing insights into our fallen world and God’s desire to restore and redeem. I cannot delve into each specific verse because there is enough fodder in this chapter for several sermons. But let’s extract a few pertinent points for our discussion.
Romans 8:17 (TLB) “And since we are his children, we will share his treasures—for all God gives to his Son Jesus is now ours too. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.”
The end of the verse is most interesting for our discussion, “But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.” What does that mean exactly? We most certainly want to share in His glory. When we become Christians or “heirs” of God as mentioned at the beginning of this verse (in other translations), we share in the “life” of God with Christ. We are said throughout the Bible to be “in” Christ. As Christians the entirety of our lives (our being) is fully dependent upon Christ. Christ is our lifeline, our source for…anything and everything. We are nothing without Him, but with Him we have everything.
As Jesus suffered while on this earth as one of us (a man), we also will endure a fair amount of suffering during our lifetimes. Again, it is the nature of our fallen world. Even though Jesus was sinless and perfectly followed His Father’s will, He was severely persecuted and experienced the anguish like sorrow, abandonment, loneliness, rejection, and so on affiliated with this fallen world. This is the world we have been handed. This is the world we created due to our sin.
ROMANS 8:18
Romans 8:18 (NKJV) “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” The Greek words in this verse are meant for us to envision a balance where the sufferings we endure in this world as children of God are compared to the glory of the future. The Apostle Paul says there is really no comparison at all. When sufferings of this world were loaded on the one side and our future glory on the other, the glory side would immediately and emphatically collapse to the table. The difference between the “weight” of suffering we undergo for a brief time and the “weight” of glory we will experience eternally as children of God is astronomical. It would be similar to the comparison of the weight of an elephant with that of a gnat.
