Hope in Romans 8

 Hope  ( Romans 8)

"There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. "- Clare Boothe Luce

The Dying Boy

Bits and Pieces, July, 1991

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind."

The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much. But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live."

Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"

1.But as Charles Erdman said in his little book reflecting the Scriptures, " Those who are to share the glory of Christ must first share his sufferings..the path to glory lies through pain:

vs. 18  " For I reckon ( greek- count , logical ) that the sufferings ( a suffering, a passion

(a) suffering, affliction, (b) passion, emotion, (c) an undergoing, an enduring.

 páthēma (from  /pásxō, "the capacity to feel strong emotion, like suffering") – properly, the capacity and privilege of experiencing strong feeling; felt, deep emotion, like agony, passion (ardent desire), suffering---

of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us"  /páthēma ("strong feeling") is redemptive, preparing us to know the Lord better now and forever in glory (cf. Ro 8:18; Phil 3:10; 1 Pet 5:1).  (páthēma) is not inherently negative; indeed, it is only negative when experienced outside of (apart from) faith.  (pasxō).

2.  " the coming glory which shall be revealed in us"  Ro. 8:18

A positive encouragment.. This time is God's time.  I note the "present time" is kairos." ---"the suitable time, the right moment , a favorable moment" (..in other words God's clock, not ours, but we live in it expectantly and with hope.)

Glory-doxas.  We sing the Doxology every Sunday , OT word for this means heavy.  We attribute weight to God and His glory.  We are not here to give glory to anyone else , but to God alone.  We are His, and He is ours by our claim to His Son through our own faith.  Nothing else matters really if we want to absolutely authentic Christians here as we wait for the glory which is now, and is to come.

3.  Lastly we are saved through hope . v. 24 In past tense, passive but indicative, in other words continuous and pointed. The indicative tense indicates something real or certain.

WE have been saved through hope and will be saved presently and in the future through hope.

 Not, I hope to go to church, or I hope to go to visit my family, but a sure happening.---I hope.  It means it will really make it happen/ God does that for us,  in this context.   Much like Hebrews 6:18 " we have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and that which enters into that within the veil"  This is a reference to Jesus who did all that---on the Cross , our High Priest.

Conclusion---- Christianity is not a pie in the sky, as some imagine, or a leap off the cliff with faith. No, it is a hope grounded, in the real world and the world to come, heaven.  We hope .  We long for our redemption when our bodies will be resurrected and we will have the gracious privilege of seeing Him face to face.  Now we wait with patience , expectantly, not without sure signs and signals along the way of this journey through our short lives however.  We look forward to the heavenly places to come with God's hope which we carry with us in this life. Now it says in vs. 25, " But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it."

Amen.