By J.D. Walt

Prayer of Consecration

Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Jesus, I belong to you.

I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body as a holy and living sacrifice to you.

Jesus, We belong to you.

Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Scripture

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

Romans 8:18–25 (NIV)

Consider This

I want us to notice something interesting today. Romans 8 is not the resolution of Romans 7. In fact, they have in common a struggle of epic proportions. Yet the struggles could not be more different. Romans 7 fleshes out the struggle with sin. (See what I just did there?) Romans 8 is the struggle of redemption. Sin is waging the war in Romans 7. The Holy Spirit is waging the war of redemption in Romans 8. In other words, the movement from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit (see v.9) is not the move from struggle to ease. Far from it, the move is from the struggle of losing to the struggle of winning. The struggle actually intensifies:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

The word is groaning. The word is travail. The word is Spirit-empowered suffering becoming physically embodied redemption. When we finally make the move from the realm of the flesh to the realm of the Spirit we cease to be part of the problem and we become part of the actual solution to the redemption of the whole world. It begins with our heart, moves to our home, grows into church, and moves into village, town, city, state, nation, yes world. But note, the minute—no the second—it happens in your heart it has happened in the world. It comes not from trying harder but yielding more; not higher commitment but deeper consecration; not more activity but more abandonment. We will notice tomorrow who the real laborer is. 

I learned a new song last week in England at the Wildfires festival. It’s called “Foundations” and comes out of the Gas Street Church in Birmingham UK, led by our friend, Tim Hughes. You can listen to it here and I hope you will. It is a truly move-mental song freighting the weight of Romans 8. Here’s the chorus:

When I feel like ruins
You see foundations
You see foundations
To build Your Kingdom here

That, my friends, is the move from the struggle of losing to the struggle of winning—”when I feel like ruins, you see foundations.” And this is where he builds his kingdom. 

So how about it? Where is the struggle boiling over in your life right now (even with sin)? Where is the suffering red hot right now? Where does it feel like ruins right now? 

This is where the blueprints are being drawn up for the building of his kingdom. Say yes to that. More on how Jesus does that tomorrow. 

 

Prayer

Abba Father, it is so good to let the Spirit cry out those words in and through my heart and mind. Thank you for Jesus, for the way he walked into the ruins of the ancient promised land and saw the foundations of your kingdom rising up. Thank you for the way Jesus allowed his very body to become broken for us and lay like ruins in the tomb. Thank you for the way you saw the eternal foundations of a kingdom that will never fail. I choose this story, Jesus, your story, as my story too. And I feel this hope rising up in me; a durable hope that will not disappoint. And I sense the patient love of the Spirit settling upon me. Yes, Holy Spirit, and more. Praying in Jesus’s name, amen.