GROANING AND HOPING

The following video transcript has been lightly edited

  Hi,what's wrong with the world? A quick survey of the headlines or perhaps a review of your past week or a look at the injustice in the world will tell you that there's certainly something wrong with it. And by something wrong with it. I mean, there is a repeated experience of pain and hardship, things that detract from human life rather than give human life.

And so for each of us as a person, we have to figure out, well, what do we believe about that? If the world is not right, what is going to set it right? And how are we gonna get there from here? And then in fact, how do we live now knowing that it is not quite right and what are we living for and towards?

Well, that's the topic we're gonna talk to about today because in Romans 8:18-25 Paul lays out his vision for what's wrong with the world, what the future holds, and how to live right now. And simply, Paul says this, he says, the world is groaning, all of creation the - physical creation and us as people we're groaning. But a future is coming that is beyond our imagination, that is wonderful and good and beautiful, that's worth hoping for. And so we live with this sense of hope towards that future that is on its way.

So let me point out just a couple things. One, this idea that the world is groaning. So Paul has a vision that the world was designed by God to live in right relationship with God and one another, but humanity chose to not live in healthy relationship or harmony with God and each other. Again, I don't think it takes much to sort of, have a sense of this is indeed what's wrong. There's a lot of strife, pain, brokenness, enmity, poverty. All of these things are because we aren't being good stewards, we aren't loving our neighbor, we aren't collectively finding unity in kindness, patience, peace, goodness, gentleness, self-control, these kind of things that Paul says, this is the way we are to live. So what Paul believes is that the world is groaning that it is in bondage. He uses the word to decay and corruption. The the things around us, they though good are decaying and corrupting. And again, when I survey the world, I'm like, oh, whether it's my body that I feel decay in, whether it's my house that I watch, whether it's the corruption in the world that keeps in places of, of, of hurt and poverty, even though there's plenty of resources. These are all things I'm like, okay, well that makes sense. And so Paul's belief is that the whole creation is in bondage to decay and corruption because human beings failed as good, stewards as good landlords as good vice regents of the creation that God set up human beings to be stewards of life and goodness.

Now that's been restored in the person of Christ because Jesus has come and in his humanity, has restored human beings in Christ to be these good vice regions. And so we're waiting for this future to be fully revealed. We have a sense of it, an inkling of it, a promise of it in Jesus' life, death, and resurrection. But we're waiting for it to fully unfold. And so between now and then the world ourselves, creation will be groaning. There will be good, but it'll groan because it is still in bondage to decay and corruption. But what Paul says is that our present situation, these challenges that we experience pale in comparison to the future, that awaits us.

And that future is a future of restoration and redemption of all of the physical creation and all of ourselves. And so the goodness and love and beauty and joy we experience in this life will be fully restored and will no longer be in bondage to decay and corruption. And so we will have the fullest experience of it.

And so I like to imagine what that might look like. And one of the things for me that helps me imagine that future is to consider beauty. When I think about the pieces of art or an incredible landscape or amazing architecture that you would find in France, these things I think speak to our experience of transcendence or those deep moments of resonance in which we are connected to other human beings and we say, okay, there is something good, something beyond what we can imagine in this world and the restored world will be those things, but now uninhibited. And so it'll be beyond our imagination. And so I look forward to that.

And so finally, Paul says, Hey, the world is groaning, but a future is on its way that is beyond your imagination. And it's worth waiting for, waiting for in hope. And Paul reminds us that something we hope for is not something we have. You don't hope for something you have. You hope for something that is still a little bit far out. And so Paul is teaching the church. And the same goes for you and I in the midst of this groaning world that is in bondage to decay and corruption our move is to wait in hope. Now this waiting is an active waiting, so I started a new job and in this new job, I'm most excited for the future for what potential could be by myself joining with some of my teammates to create something in which leaders around all of Central New York lead healthy cultures that is good for our community.

And so I'm excited about that, but that is still to come. There's a lot of work to be done to get there. And so I'm waiting with hope. And so that's an active waiting. I'm engaging now, and that's true for our life. We accept the groaning, we wrestle against it. We believe in this amazing future that's coming and we wait with hope, meaning we engage every day.

We allow the future hope to empower our present so we engage with love and joy and kindness, and courage and anticipate the redemption and restoration that's to come.

So, hey, I hope that this week in the midst of these hard moments for yourself, you say, Hey, the world is groaning. This isn't a surprise to me, but a future is on its way, and in fact, even breaks in that is beyond our imagination and it's not something I have to wonder if it's going to come about. It has been guaranteed that it's going to come about because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and so we wait with hope by engaging now in anticipation of restoration to come. I hope you have a great week. I look forward to seeing you soon.