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The Feast of Pentecost, 05/27/2012
Sermon on Romans 8:22-27, by Samuel D. Zumwalt
A lesson from Romans: 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. 26 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. 27 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.
THE SPIRIT WORKS
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Paul writes: "22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. 23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
If you know somebody that says life is easy, you can be sure somebody else is carrying that person's weight. That doesn't mean that we don't have good or really happy times in our lives, and it doesn't mean we need to walk around looking grim and being in a lousy mood all the time. But life is not easy no matter how old you are, and some of us have to deal with a lot more than others. And, curiously, some of the people that have the toughest lives never let others know the half of what they're dealing with.
Abraham Lincoln didn't have an easy life. He started with very little, struggled to develop his gifts and talents, and eventually became the President of the United States at a time when it may have been the worst job in the country. Lincoln's life was filled with tragedies, and he presided over the worst war the US has ever known. Then, when he was on the verge of being able to enjoy his greatest triumph, Lincoln was assassinated. One of my favorite Lincoln quotes is: "People are about as happy as they decide to be."
If you know somebody that says life is easy, you can be sure somebody else is carrying that person's weight. I actually feel sorry for somebody that says life is easy, because I know that payday is coming - the day they have to pay up for all those easy times - and frankly such a person may not have the character to handle payday.
Perhaps you know somebody that is really bitter about life. Chances are no one ever trained that person for life. Chances are somebody else was always carrying that person's weight. Chances are that person is mad at God and everybody else, because she or he never learned that being responsible for your own life means life won't be easy. A former parishioner used to say about dealing with difficult people: "Thank God we only have to deal with them for a little bit. They have to live with themselves 24 hours a day."
I hope all of you have learned that life is hard sooner rather than later. I don't wish tragedies on anyone. I don't wish for any to grow up with irresponsible parents that are making their children pay for the childhood they wish they'd had. I don't wish for anyone to have to deal with alcoholism in themselves or in their families. I don't wish for anyone to receive mean text messages from their sick relatives that say: "You're dead to me" or "You're a little weasel." No Christian should even think like that much less say it.
A spouse or a parent often thinks he or she is doing the rest of the family a favor by not letting everyone else know how hard life is. I've heard the widowed say, "I never had to deal with any of this before." I've heard children say, "I've never had to handle stuff like this." Was it a martyr complex or a God complex that led a spouse or a parent to create this false little world, this safe little bubble for everyone else? Don't do that. Don't carry someone else's weight. Don't give anyone the illusion that life is a sweet fairy tale.
If you know somebody that says life is easy, you can be sure somebody else is carrying that person's weight. Life is hard, and life is not fair. There's a young man named Tim that works in a local convenience store full-time. He is also going to school full-time. He is polite and has a good sense of humor. His appearance is always clean cut. He works, goes to school, studies, makes good grades, and doesn't have much fun. On the other hand, everyday I see a lot of kids his age whose folks are paying for everything, and they're snotty, irresponsible, and will probably go through life thinking somebody else is going to carry their weight. Sadly, some of them will end up in high paying jobs where somebody else making less money will still carry their weight. Life isn't fair.
Confirmands, you know that middle school, for most kids, is the worst time of life. At that age, we're still growing and changing. Other kids don't like themselves and so they can be really mean. Some kids think they're little princes and princesses that, like their parents, are supposed to be living the good life. But go behind the doors of their houses, and you'll often find some really sordid, evil lives. Life is hard. Life isn't fair.
When terrible struggles come, when we feel really weak, sometimes we're tempted to give up. Near the end of a particularly bad time in my life, someone asked: "Did you ever feel suicidal?" I said, "No. My grandfather handled it that way, and I've seen what that does to others. No, at my lowest point, I felt homicidal, but then I thought why should I go to jail because somebody else behaved so abysmally?" I lived through it.
When we get at the end of a rope, when we hit bottom, it's time to look up not time to give up. If you give up on God, hopelessness and despair won't work either. If you give up on life, then you'll just make somebody else carry your weight for you then.
When we hit tough times or even the hardest times of all, we Christians learn again why we practice the faith...say it with me...so it will be there when we need it!
On this Pentecost Sunday, the birthday of the Church, we give our heavenly Father thanks for the gift of the Holy Spirit. Just as God's Son Jesus promised, He has not left us orphaned or abandoned. We have the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter, the One who stands next to us and prays with us and for us especially in tough times.
St. Paul reminds us today that the whole creation is groaning like a woman in labor pains. The creation is groaning to be made completely new and whole again. And when life is hardest, and life is hard, even men and boys groan like women in hard labor. All of us find out, sooner or later, that we can't go back to the way it used to be, and we know we can't fast forward into the future. Like the old summer camp singsong about going on a bear hunt: we can't go around it, we can't go under it, we can't go over it, and so we got to go through it! Life is hard.
Sometimes your spouse lets you down. Sometimes your parents let you down. Sometimes your kids let you down. This is why the Lord Jesus warns us not to love anyone more than God! Even the person who never causes you a day's grief in life cannot be your God. They will fail you sooner or later even if how they fail you is by dying!
It's not just the people in our lives. Sometimes your body lets you down. Sometimes you let yourself down. Paul told us earlier: "...I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (7:19-20). "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death" (24).
If we had to handle a life that is hard by ourselves, we might lose hope. We might despair. We might give up and give in. But we are not alone, that's what Paul reminds us; we are not alone. For Jesus' sake, our heavenly Father has adopted us at Baptism. What we couldn't do, Christ has already done for us. He has lived the life we cannot live and died the death we cannot die. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! And God the Holy Spirit has been given to us in the washing of Holy Baptism with the laying on of hands. The gift of the Holy Spirit is the first fruits of what is coming to God's children. He is the Father's down payment on the life to come. We are never alone especially when life is hardest. The Holy Spirit is praying for us when we are weak and don't know how to pray as we ought.
Later this summer Paul will tell us in 2 Corinthians 12 that when we are weak, Christ's power is made perfect in our weakness. Today Paul says, when we are weak, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us, He prays for us, with sighs too deep for words. And God the Holy Spirit always prays in accordance with the Father's will, because the Triune God is of one mind and one heart!
Think of it this way. Sometimes we pray not in accordance with God's will. Sometimes we pray for what seems to us to be good and godly. But, as Jesus told us in Matthew 6, our Father knows what we need before we ask. And so the Holy Spirit prays with us saying: "No, Father, don't give her that. It wouldn't be good for her." Or "No, Father, don't give him that. You know what he needs is far beyond his imagining."
Life is hard, which is all the more reason why we practice the Christian faith. Why? Say it with me...so it will be there when we need it!
When we gladly hear and learn the Word of God in worship each week, God the Holy Spirit tells us what God the Father's good and gracious will is for us. God the Holy Spirit tells us that God's Son Jesus has suffered and died for us and our salvation. God the Holy Spirit prays for us that God's good Word will be planted deeply in our hearts and minds. And God the Holy Spirit prays for us that what God the Father wills for us and for all will at last come true when we are completely adopted and with God forever.
Life is hard, but we are not alone. And when life is hardest and when we are weakest, that is when the Holy Spirit is working to strengthen our hope in Jesus Christ. This hope in Jesus Christ gives us the power, not just to be patient, but to endure!
Our confirmands learned from Martin Luther's Small Catechism that the Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies us through the Gospel. It's a reminder that God created each of us for worship, because, in worship, the Spirit works in the lives of those who hear the preaching of repentance and forgiveness of sins in Jesus' name.
God made us for worship, and if we do not worship the Triune God, as we ought, then we will worship God's gifts instead of the Giver. And if we worship God's gifts, we will learn again when life is hardest that the gifts are a poor substitute for the Giver. Loved ones die or they leave us. Children grow up and go their own way. Our bodies grow weak before we die. The pleasures of this world are soon gone by, and money has never saved anyone from sin, death, and Satan. Worship the wrong things, and, yes, even churches frequently forget this, God the Holy Spirit will show you how foolish that is!
The Lord Jesus was not being mean when He said: "Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:37). He was warning us not to worship wrongly.
Life is hard, but we are not alone. The Holy Spirit is praying for us with sighs too deep for words. The Holy Spirit is praying for us as we receive Christ's true body and most precious blood today that we may have the power to endure until we are made new!
In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.