Brown's Daily Word 4-13-11

Good morning, Praise the Lord for this Wednesday. We will gather for mid-week service this evening at 6 PM for food, fellowship, and study, followed by choir practice. The Epistle Reading for last Sunday was taken from Romans 8. We don’t have to be a very astute observer to notice that we live in a world that struggles against hopelessness. If you talk to people at all, you are going to get in a conversation with someone who is going to tell you that they are discouraged. Listen to any of the radio talk shows or watch the news and you are going to hear people who are cynical about life. They think the world is going down the tubes. On a world scale, it seems that we go from crisis to crisis. In our personal lives there is pain. We have physical problems that afflict our bodies. We endure emotional turmoil and turbulence. As Paul talked about life, he did not want to "sugar coat" the pain and struggles that we go through. Instead, he wanted to put them into perspective. Romans 8:18 states, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." Paul used language that helps us see life with an eternal perspective. We live here on earth for a little while, but we live forever when we leave this earth. Paul wanted to make sure that we don’t get so discouraged with the difficulties of this life that we lose sight of the bigger picture of eternity. He said, "Don’t forget, there will be a time when there won’t be any more struggles, pain, death or tears. For those who are in Christ, there will be only joy and happiness." Romans 8: 19-21 convinces us that right now we live in a world that is less than perfect. This world is subject to the second law of thermodynamics, which states that everything in this universe is decaying. What seems fresh and new one day will some day be old and broken down. Something that is growing and vibrant will some day shrivel up and die. To use Paul’s language, this world is in "bondage to decay." The second law of thermodynamics doesn’t offer any hope for anything on this earth. A philosopher of earlier renown was Bertrand Russell, an outspoken atheist. He even wrote a book entitled, "Why I Am Not A Christian". When Russell was 81 years old, he was interviewed on a BBC radio talk show. The interviewer asked him what he had to hang onto when death was obviously so close. Russell responded, "I have nothing to hang onto but grim, unyielding despair." What an honest yet hopeless response! When you live only for this life, when you invest your life in the flesh, when you think that this is all there is, you cannot help but live in despair. For those of us who are in Christ Jesus there is hope, because we anticipate a time when death and decay will no longer exist. In verse 19 Paul wrote, "The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed." That phrase "eager expectation" is picturesque, meaning to stretch the neck in anticipation." Have you ever waited for someone to come home on a plane? As the people come off the ramp you stretch and strain to see them. According to Paul, creation is in that type of existence, longing to see what God is going to do. Paul continues in verses 22-23, "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." I have been around people who groan outwardly because of their physical pain. It is difficult to hear their moans and groans. But I have also been around more people who groan inwardly. Though it might not be an audible groan, but more of an internal groan, it demonstrates a sense longing for perfection. For Paul, the groan occurs when we recognize that there is a huge gap between what is and what ought to be. Every one of us has experienced the fallen-ness of this world and let out a groan. Paul indicated that groaning is a sign of our hope. We long for something better. If we are in Christ, we have the promise that there is something better. The Biblical world view points us to a hope that is greater than the world we live in. For the Christian, there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Verses 24-25, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." Paul expounded on this idea a little more in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, "Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." In Christ, Brown http://youtu.be/CYTQ6gpcuYA Saturday evening worship service. Location: First United Methodist Church 53 McKinley Avenue Endicott Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott Saturday, April 16, 2011 6 PM Coffee Fellowship 6:30 PM Worship Service Worship Music:Laureen Naik Speaker: Rev Earle Cowden