¶ Finding Strength in Weakness
Is there a place in your life where you've dug a hole through the fence and you're running away ? Or there's a situation in your life where you think it's great tribulation and great distress and you're beginning to think to yourself maybe I've done something wrong that has caused God to not look favorably upon me .
Alright , welcome back to the move where we are vibing with the book 10 minutes at a time .
The move is officially on the move as you can tell we're not back in the studio LRT and the move we're here in in Oregon at a church . Y'all can follow us on social media if you want to learn more about that . But with that said , the next 10 minutes on the clock are dedicated to Romans , chapter 8 , verses 31 to 39 .
Let's do this . Well , wait , wait , before we do it , one question have you read it ?
Go read it right now , Check it out 10 minutes on the clock , starting in 3 , 2 , 1 . Let's go .
So um , I do want to talk about verse 26 . Where are we starting verse 31 ? No , we're starting with verse 26 . Okay , go for it , just because what catches my attention is that , likewise , the spirit helps us in our weakness .
What kind of weaknesses are we talking about here ? Well , there's like I can't go to the gym and squat enough .
I can't go to the gym and squat enough .
But this idea of vulnerabilities our vulnerabilities , I think , is the word here for weakness is this idea that in these moments where we are tempted to doubt , or in these moments when we are tempted to not feel confident and secure , or in what God has spoken through his Son not only what he has spoken through his Son , but what he has done through his Son ,
condemning sin and the evidence that we have in , say , the life of Abraham right that the spirit now comes in and helps us in our weakness and the beautiful line . Well , the thing about this line is that we have spirit helping us , even while we experience moments of weakness , vulnerability .
Why do we feel that weakness and vulnerability are so diametrically opposed to the confidence that we could have in God ? Why are they in opposite sides of the spectrum ?
I explain that question to me .
Because where he's going and we'll see this in verse 35 , he talks about , like these , seven things that we could experience that could theoretically separate us from God .
Oh , okay , and . Paul's experience , pretty much all of them except for death , but will experience death , and he's saying none of that can separate us .
He's combating the common understanding that these things do separate us Okay , okay .
So there's this . Okay , I think I understand . So , on the one hand , you have that in my body I will experience doubt , loss of confidence from time to time , that I will experience circumstances in my life that might really challenge my sense of , hey , this thing is absolutely , this thing is absolutely set and secure , right , mm-hmm .
Those moments could open me up , make me vulnerable , to actually lose in , lose confidence in the settled belief that God has accomplished what he said he has accomplished in his son , that it's true and that somehow these circumstances ie the things that are pressing on me and might leave me weak or vulnerable , that these circumstances can somehow speak louder than
truth .
Yeah , isn't that weird how circumstance can speak louder than truth , I mean on paper , I mean , why would that ever make sense ? Like , why would just some whispering and some doubt speak louder than the actual word of God ? And yet in the moment those things do speak so clearly and so loudly ?
And that's what's been going on in Romans 8 . He's like the Spirit is within us and it's groaning and it's trying to get out and it's trying to speak and just speak , this loud voice of our confidence standing that the sons of God will be revealed and that we are this thing . You know , it's just , it's the tree , the sapling breaking through the ground right .
It's this tree growing up into the fullness of its righteousness , its branches , just kind of figuring out what it is , so that it can bear fruit into righteousness . And Paul is saying in that whole experience you might feel weak and vulnerable , but you have the Spirit and the Spirit helps you in those moments . Believe Spirit , don't believe flesh .
Yeah , and that is the guiding principle upon which we are called to live as followers of Jesus .
So then , this is where we can get to 831 , right Go for it . What , then , shall we say to these things , particularly these things that might assail us ? What shall we say to these things that might try to move us from our confidence ? Right , this is what we say if God is for us , who can be against us ? This question ?
God is for us and like well , paul , paul , how ?
do I ? How about the Romans ? Yeah , yeah , how about the Romans ?
They're killing all of us . Look , no , no , no , he's conquered death through the resurrected Messiah . Well , paul , how can I be sure Paul's like ? We saw him , yeah , like he's alive , right . So then , how , he who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all , how will he not also , with him , graciously give us all ?
things . Yeah , paul here is highlighting several different questions that I think manifest themselves in the life of a believer as they experience a moment of doubt , and I think all these questions kind of point us towards one undergirding principle , and it's that God is not against you .
That God is for you .
Evidence . In that text you just read that he wouldn't even give up his own son . But he gave his son for us as the ultimate demonstration that God's heart is towards , not against .
Yes . So then , this is where your faith is grounded .
I'll give you an example . This last weekend I was traveling with a friend to another part of Washington and I get a phone call from Emily and the phone call is Justin . Oh , my goodness , ronan has escaped . Ronan's , my little puppy , less than a year old puppy .
He was hanging out at my mother-in-laws and she went out for a nap because she works nights and she puts them out into the backyard at noon , comes back at two in the afternoon .
He had dug a hole under the fence and escaped , and so they're freaking out , they're running all over the place and Ronan you've met Ronan doesn't like people , so anytime a person's gonna come , he's gonna run the other way and we're like what are we gonna do ? How are we gonna find him ?
And immediately my heart moves towards Ronin , in the sense that I moved so much that I just want him back . Doesn't matter what he's doing . Turns out he's at the park chasing squirrels and birds , like a stupid animal does . But my heart moved towards Ronin in that moment and I thought man , if this is , but what a fraction of God , how God feels towards us .
What does that say about God ?
Sorry , you know , what I just squarely landed is that one . You have this awesome contact point of faith . You have this moment where you're like , oh man , contrast that between our heart at times and God's heart towards us , even when we dig holes for ourselves and flee and we get outside the fence .
We get outside the fence .
We're like oh , we're on the other side and there's a no . No , god is a hundred percent for you but that's hold on .
That's the first thing .
The second thing I just did that really hit me is that you don't have kids talking about your pet yep , it's good .
Oh , I'm thinking about like , even like Ronin . Ronin has no ability to get back home yeah he can't jump that fence back . He can't even find his way back to the house . Yeah , the only way that Ronin makes it back isn't through any effort of Ronin yeah , but it's simply through well , in this case his mother .
Yeah , yeah , that went out looking for him yeah , so let's , let's move here .
35 , right , okay , who shall separate us from the love
¶ Finding Hope
of Christ ? And then this , this , these questions that he has , these categories he presents , right , when you go through tribulation in life , will that separate you from the love of God ? Hmm , I mean , you've been through tribulation , been through some heartache some heart .
I wouldn't .
I don't know if I could accurately describe it as tribulation , but I haven't had always the easiest life in the world yeah , and here's the thing is that your suffering is true suffering , even if it in some sort of scale of objective suffering is a lesson .
Some suffering it's suffering nonetheless .
Sure we know what it is to go to go through that right , right . Does that actually separate you ? Does the moment of tribulation separate ? You pause , like well ? no , no you ever find yourself in distress ? I remember growing up there were times when there wasn't enough food in the fridge .
Right , and thank God , we had godly people that we live by and that we went to church with . And I remember there were times where they would leave bags and bags of groceries . Right , my mother . I would see the distress on her face . And yet , the love of God , do these people manifest so that Paul's asking these questions ?
She'll tribulation will distress , will persecution , famine , nakedness , any of that dangerous ?
sword . Yeah , we have the sense that if I'm doing everything right , then everything in my life should be going right and what he's gonna highlight here in this passage , in verse 36 , as it's written for your sake , we're being killed all the day long . We're regarded as sheep to the slaughtered .
It's interesting that he quotes this specific song , because there's a lot of songs and when people are complaining about suffering or what are the cases , but what's unique about this song is that , at least as we can read , they were doing things right yeah , that's right .
In song 44 and I think it's verse 22 , they're actually doing things the right way and yet there's this tribulation that's happening .
In some 44 , I think verse 17 is like well , we didn't forget the covenant and yet we're being right , we're being killed all the day long that the circumstances of our lives don't determine the truth of his faithfulness towards us and in us .
His faithfulness is revealed in the person of Jesus and in his covenant keeping through Jesus to us , so that anything that we go through tribulation , distress , persecution , famine , sword that does not actually remove us from the love of God .
But because we're so rooted in the love of God , we can go through those things , firmly rooted in who we are , because he has spoken yeah , and that's true when we are doing things right , like the psalmist in that chapter , and that's also true about our life , when we maybe aren't doing things all the way right so then , let me make a point last 24 seconds .
Is there a place in your life where you've dug a hole through the fence and you're running away , or there's a situation in your life where you think is great tribulation and great distress and you're beginning to think to yourself maybe I've done something wrong that has caused God to not look favorably upon ? Me what's the word to that person ?
you've done something wrong , true , but it doesn't mean that God's against you .
No , no nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus . You might have dug a hole through the fence , but the heart of the father longs and is a hundred percent there you go .
That's ten minutes .