Groaning With Hope And Help (Romans 8:22-26) - Ben Hacker

As we stand on the threshold of a new year, brimming with the promise of fresh beginnings and shared journeys, join me in embracing the transformative experiences that await. This episode is a beacon of hope, weaving the excitement and uncertainties of stepping into the unknown with the power of community and courage. Together, we embark on an inspiring exploration of the Gospel of John under the theme "Come and See," a pathway that promises to deepen our understanding of our collective mission and the larger narrative of divine stories.

Ever felt a deep connection to the groaning of creation amidst life's struggles? You're not alone. We delve into the shared human experience of suffering and how it unites us, providing a fertile ground for building authentic community within the church. Empathy becomes our guide as we navigate these waters, fostering spiritual growth and a deeper engagement with God's redemptive work. This conversation is a call to embrace our shared personal groaning not as a reason to retreat, but as a catalyst for transformative communal power and hope.

Wrapping up, we cast our gaze upon the active nature of hope and the promise of renewal through Jesus, as told in Romans 8:24-26. This episode is an invitation to reflect on the potent combination of hope, help, and the Holy Spirit as we seek to deepen our relationship with Jesus. We explore the profound impact of choosing Jesus over worldly distractions and the call to live out the gospel in impactful ways. Let's embark on this journey of reorienting our lives to be with Jesus, become like Him, and do as He did, aspiring for the eternal joy that far outweighs the fleeting pleasures of this world.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:35

Good morning Eastside. How are you? Yes, agreed, first Sunday of the new year. My name is Ben, pastor here at Eastside Church. I don't know about you, but getting settled in to the new year after a great Christmas season is something that I'm hoping you're experiencing.

Speaker 1: 0:57

This first week always feels a little crazy, right, kind of coming off whatever the travel plans were for the holidays. And as we are here at the beginning of a new year, I can't help but think that in a room this size, there's probably a mixed bag of emotions as we process the things we've experienced, like getting a gift box filled with both excitement and uncertainty, something we no doubt experienced over the last couple of weeks. My mom's a bit of a wild card. You never really know what you're going to get. You may have requested things, but her whims may have taken her somewhere else. It ended up well, don't worry. On the other hand, we might feel some apprehension, kind of unknowns, challenges that might lie ahead in this year. I don't know about you, but I have a practice of kind of coming out of the new year and trying to look ahead, trying to see what is this new year going to bring? What did this last year hold? What am I hopeful for? What am I fearful of? What is this kind of time when our resolutions and our hesitations sit side by side? But there's good news that, even in this kind of attention, we are not alone. We step into this new year together, as a community, ready to embrace whatever comes our way, with faith, with courage, togetherness. And so, before we jump into the Gospel of John, which we will do next week, houston and Kinsey have been enjoying time with their family down in Virginia. They come back this afternoon and Houston will be starting us off on a new series through the Gospel of John, called Come and See. Jesus invites people to come and to see who he is, and John does a great job of displaying Jesus. And so we're going to walk through kind of some selected passages leading up to Easter in the Gospel of John.

Speaker 1: 2:59

But this morning I want to take the opportunity to build on this kind of spirit of togetherness that we have Kind of you can't say a little bit of the warmth of the holiday season, the anticipation of the new year, and kind of cast a vision for what Eastside Church is and why we exist and what we might want to be looking forward to in 2024. There's some moment to realign our vision, to realign our spirits, to ensure that we're all on the same page, together, fully engaged in the journey that God has called us on and empowers us to walk by the spirit. My hope is that our vision as a church is not just a statement that sits nicely on our website, but that it's a compass guiding us in a living, a life of mission as we sincerely follow Jesus. That it's about re-energizing our commitment, refreshing our purpose, reigniting our passion for this path that we walk together. And so, as we step into the new year, let's embrace this vision with renewed vigor, ready to live out our faith boldly and serve as a beacon of Christ's love in our community and beyond. Are you with me?

Speaker 1: 4:24

Well, in CS Lewis's enchanting sequel to the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, prince Caspian, we're once again transported to the mystical land of Narnia, brimming with talking animals, mythical beings and epic moral conflicts. This world serves as more than just a backdrop for adventure. It's a realm that very much mirrors our own, filled with allegories and spiritual lessons that resonate deeply with the human experience. And in this second book, prince Caspian is the rightful heir to the throne. He's born into a world where the true magic, the true history of Narnia has been suppressed, cast aside as mere myths Under the reign of the Telmarines. The real essence of Narnia is hidden, much like the truth can be obscured in our own world. Guided by his wise tutor, dr Cornelius, caspian discovers the authentic stories of Narnia. These tales rich with truth, with wonder. They awaken something profound within him. He starts to believe in a Narnia that is beyond his immediate reality, a belief that becomes active and transformative, reshaping his understanding of the world and his place in it.

Speaker 1: 5:39

I want to submit that this story very much parallels our faith journey. Like Caspian, we're often confronted with differing narratives about reality. For us as Christians, the teaching of Jesus and the stories of the Bible aren't just mere historical records. They are living, breathing narratives that shape our beliefs and our actions. And, much like Caspian's belief in the old Narnia, our faith is nurtured through these divine stories and the work of the Holy Spirit within us, from the pages of Scripture. Being a Christian starts with recognizing that we are a part of God's larger narrative. It starts with the recognition that we are not commanding our own story, that we are not writing our own way, but that God is.

Speaker 1: 6:37

Human beings are born with this desire to do, to accomplish, to have purpose. We all feel it in us, don't we? Well, alastair McIntyre says this. He says I can only answer the question of what am I supposed to do? What is my purpose? If I can answer the prior question, of what story do I find myself apart? We think of some of these epic stories that we know Star Wars, harry Potter. We recently watched Trolls 3 as a family.

Speaker 1: 7:16

Now, if you were to take one of these characters and put them in the other story, take Poppy from Trolls and drop her into Lord of the Rings in place of Frodo, that's going to be a very different outcome, right, very different story, because each storyteller is trying to do something very specific. They're trying to accomplish a vision. They're trying to put in our minds and in our hearts a vision to follow as we read them. And so what I want us to do this morning is to be curious, to stay open-hearted. Often, I think open-mindedness is what we seek, but I want us open-hearted this morning, curious about where God is leading us.

Speaker 1: 8:05

For those of you who grew up in a church tradition, sometimes when familiar passages of Scripture are opened, we're inundated by all the previous teachings that we've had on that topic right, and I want the Spirit to use those things in your life. But this morning I want you to ask new and fresh God, would you show me you, would you show me Jesus this morning? I want to follow Him and so, as we prepare to dive into Romans 8, 20 through to 26, let's open our hearts, ready to receive and reflect on the Word of God, guided by the Spirit. So I want to just give you a moment of silence. I want you to just have a chance to just kind of center yourselves in this moment.

Speaker 1: 9:39

One of the things that we say is that this gathering is unique. It's not like the gathering last week, it's not like the gathering next week, and we believe that none of us are here in this moment together by accident, that God wants to do something. So I want to take you, just give you a moment to kind of present yourself, center yourself, and then I'll pray for us, father. I admit that this morning I'm very aware of my own humanity, the humanity of my brothers and sisters, and the precariousness of standing up and saying here's where we're going, this is what we're gonna do, this is what we're gonna be about, and so I pray that you would show yourself this morning to us through Scripture, through these words of mine, that we would see Jesus more clearly, be able to follow Him, empowered and dependent on the Spirit. I pray all of this in Jesus' name, and my brothers and sisters said with me Amen. Well, I encourage you.

Speaker 1: 11:14

If they're not already open, open your Bibles or scroll to the app. It didn't make the bulletin this week, but the passage of Scripture is Romans 8, 22 through 26. And I chose this passage because, as we think back on the last six months that we've been through as a church where our preaching life has been, we spent early September preaching through our vision, which followed a series that we preach with our sister churches in Madison Multiply the Vine, our sending church, in Redeemer City, our sister church, and that series was about God sending laborers into His harvest, the praying that God would be at work in our city. We followed it up with a short series on our vision and then we jumped into Ecclesiastes. Do you remember? Really bright and sunny book, right? No, hard Look at the, the avelle, the vaporous nature of life and yet the hope that someday all would be made right. But in doing that, we had to acknowledge the brokenness of this world, acknowledge the reality that we're living in, a world that often feels fractured, filled with pain, filled with despair. And then from there we went into Advent, a season of hope, a season that looks back on Christ's birth, celebrates His death and resurrection and hangs all of our hope on that. His resurrection has made it possible for us to be restored, that someday he will restore all things as they were intended to be.

Speaker 1: 13:02

At the core of our belief has to be the recognition that this world is broken. We see it every day, don't we? It's not just something we talk about, it's a reality that deeply affects us all. Paul speaks to this in Romans, which he wrote during a time of great turmoil for the church. His words then are as relevant now, calling us to see beyond the surface of this world to the deeper spiritual truths of our existence Family. We have to put aside the pull towards a neat kind of religiosity, a neat kind of like package of here's what it looks like to be a Christian. I come here, I go there, I'm in my house, I'm doing these things, I'm checking it off. We have to put that aside and make space to entertain the reality of this world being broken, not, as it should be, to see beyond the surface to these deeper spiritual truths of our existence.

Speaker 1: 14:11

So today we're going to focus on three key realities from Romans 8, 22 through 26. The first reality is that creation groans. The second reality is that we groan, and the third is that there is hope and help. Creation groans. Paul is describing the world in agony, when creation itself is groaning in expectation. It's not just about the physical world, it's also about these societal, personal struggles, these deep and anguish filled emotional pains that we have in our lives, acknowledging this groaning we're not given to despair, but recognizing this call to action to respond with Christ's love. And so we'll unpack that further.

Speaker 1: 14:58

The second one we groan is about experiencing this groaning personally, not only recognizing but engaging with the brokenness in ourselves as we await what Paul calls our full adoption as God's children. And the shared experience binds us together in community. We'll unpack that some more. And third, and this is our destination, there's hope, there's help. In the midst of all of the groaning, we're introduced to the hope that we have in Christ and the help that we have through the Holy Spirit. This unseen yet steadfast hope derives us to be active in our faith, to be Christ's hands and feet in a world that needs Him. So we're just going to work through this together and I want to pray just one more time before we start. Our Father, I come to you again. You never tire of us coming. I love that about you. We need your help now, god. We ask in the name of Jesus, amen. We'll take a look at Romans 8, 22.

Speaker 1: 16:10

Paul's introducing this foundational truth when he says for we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and we can't just let this be a poetic verse, right. It's a profound theological statement about the state of our world. The imagery that Paul uses here is evocative, it's intentional. The whole creation is groaning, akin to the pains of a woman giving birth. I have never given birth, but I have stood in the room, court side for the event. It's intense. It's a groaning that encapsulates both the intense pain, of which a fraction of, I am sure, would kill me, with the expectancy of hope, new life, a healthy baby.

Speaker 1: 17:12

And reflecting on this, I think we see the parallel between our current world and the proper world, don't we? The groaning of creation brings about this idea that what we're witnessing is the wrong state, the deteriorated state of the natural environment around us. The clear waters murky. The once lush and green forests now struggle, invasive species all over the place. Skies once a canvas of just pure beauty, now tainted with pollution and other kind of naturally occurring problems. We hear this groaning and the cries for justice that echo through our streets, a society grappling with the chains of inequality, of oppression, racial and social divide. We feel it in the pervasive pain and suffering that afflicts humanity. I don't know about you, but cancer sucks, degenerative disease brings down disaster and pain.

Speaker 1: 18:32

We can't reduce this groaning to just abstract theological concept, can we? Sooner or later we will encounter it in some form. It's the lived reality of our world. Yet in the midst of this groaning, there's a profound sense of anticipation, and this is where this metaphor of childbirth becomes really insightful. In childbirth, pain and hope are intertwined. The pain of labor precedes the joy of the new life. This is the nature of the hope that we have. Family. We cling to this. It's a hope that acknowledges the pain, the brokenness of the world, but sees beyond it to the hoped for promised rebirth and renewal, the restoration of all things. It's a hope that believes that God's transformative power to bring beauty from ashes is stronger than the problem of sin and pain and death.

Speaker 1: 19:32

Each one of us experiences personal trials, challenges, moments where the groaning of creation touches our lives in a very personal way. In a world obsessed with individualism, we need to see these experiences, however different from one another that they might seem, do not actually isolate us from one another. How often do we interact with someone and hear a phrase come back and maybe it starts in our own mind first? Well, their experience is different than mine. How often do we catch ourselves even saying that I haven't actually been through exactly what you're going through? And that divides us, isolates us?

Speaker 1: 20:18

But instead, I want to call us to see that the groanings that we experience, these external groanings and the problems that they create like ripples through the waters of this world, actually provide a common ground, because they all flow from the same source. That actually this is a moment of shared suffering, that things are not as they should be with the created world, that God made good and that was broken by our rebellion against him, the rebellion of our first parents, and that all of humanity has been collectively in the same boat since that moment. And so we have the opportunity to come together, not to escape the reality, not to shut it out of lapham elementary school, but to confront it head on. This is why we gather here on Sunday mornings To confront it head on, with the hope and the love of Christ. And I think that if we would see our gatherings that way, it becomes more than just a ritual, more than just a checking of the box, that our times together take the shape of this unique communal expression of faith, of hope, of resistance against the brokenness of this world.

Speaker 1: 21:44

Our worship, our prayer, our fellowship acknowledges that the groaning of creation is real, but it is diminished in its power. It is less than the redemptive work of Jesus Christ at work in us, at work in the world around us. This is the power of the gospel. And when we do this, when we recognize together that we are part of a larger story, a narrative of redemption and renewal, we acknowledge that God is the author, that he is determining our steps, that he is calling us together as a family, sending us out on mission. Tell me, the groaning of creation is a call to action for believers. It's a call to engage with the world, not to withdraw. It's a call to not be passive observers but active participants in God's redemptive plan. It's what it means to be the church we get to be a community that not only hears the groaning but responds. It doesn't walk by.

Speaker 1: 22:59

The image of the good Samaritan comes in the groanings of this man lying on the side of the road, freshly beaten within an inch of his life, and the two people who should represent God the most get as far away from him as possible as they move past. And his enemy is the one who stops and enters into the brokenness. I wonder if the ways that the brokenness works itself out in our communities makes it feel like we're enemies with certain people because of the way that they practice their religion, because of the way that they practice relationship, because of the way that they practice sexuality and gender ethics. But if we would rightly recognize that the brokenness of this world is something that affects us all, I think it begins to change our perspective on things. It's kind of like Bears fans and collective groaning as the Packers identify and groom yet another potential Hall of Fame quarterback. Three in a row. The Bears are bound together by this. The Bear fans have the same plight in life. Thank you for laughing at that Go Pack.

Speaker 1: 24:50

Creation around us is grown and we have an opportunity to enter in, but this has to come through the second reality that we're going to look at together this morning, in verse 23, that we grow as we continue. Paul invites us to reflect on another physical and spiritual reality. Look at verse 23, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruit to the spirit grown inwardly as we await eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. This verse communicates a deeply personal aspect of our spiritual journey. It reminds us that the groaning that we witness in creation is also mirrored within us. Even as believers, even with the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit, we are not insulated from the trials and the tribulations of life. Can I get an amen to that? Our journey is often marked by challenges, difficulties that at time they seem insurmountable. Yet in the midst of these struggles there's profound sense of hope. This groaning within us is not a sign of despair, but a yearning for something greater the full realization of our identity as children of God, the ultimate redemption that awaits us Family. We embrace this truth as a central aspect of our faith and as our identity.

Speaker 1: 26:19

As a church, we understand that acknowledging our brokenness, our need for redemption, is crucial to our spiritual growth and community life. Right Humility is the way we start and the way that we continue to follow Jesus, admitting we're not enough but Christ is. And it's in this acknowledgement that we find genuine communion with each other and with God. And again, this is where our Sunday gatherings come in this shared life and community. It's where our daily walk with Jesus becomes expression of this inner growth, or grown. Rather, it's where these things come out of the range of just religious activities to become a living, out of our faith, where we find solace and strength in our shared experiences.

Speaker 1: 27:09

This personal groaning is not a solitary experience. It's communal, just like the experience of the creation. Groaning outside of us can be communal. We all experience the inward grown together and as we navigate through our own challenges, we gain a deeper understanding and empathy for the struggles of others. And this empathy is at the core of our mission. It drives us to share life in a community that's authentic, where we support one another in our spiritual journeys wherever we are at. You don't have to get it all together to be a decent church. It's about growing together, not just in numbers, but in depth of faith, of understanding, service. And that's where this groaning compels us into action Compassion for those that we live in and among. Action towards those who desperately and obviously need our help, ready to lend a hand.

Speaker 1: 28:16

As we become more attuned to our own struggles and the grace that we receive in Christ, we are moved to extend that grace to others. We learn to have the love of Jesus for every person that we meet, recognizing that each one is grappling with their own inner groanings, despite what their Instagram feed looks like, despite what their house is decorated like. And this is where we start to recognize we're the hands and feet of Jesus, reaching out to those that we meet, offering comfort, support and love, because he first loved us. This love demonstrates and declares the power of the gospel, and this understanding of our shared groaning fosters a culture of vulnerability and authenticity inside of our missional communities, inside of our DNA groups, which leads us then to go to those who need. Do you see? It loops back on itself. We seek to create these spaces where people feel safe, knowing they'll be met with understanding and compassion, and by doing this we reflect the heart of Christ.

Speaker 1: 29:32

Do you remember Jesus teaching in Matthew, chapter 11? I love the way that Pastor Peterson sums this up in the message when he says, when he writes this of what Jesus says in Matthew 11, 28 through 30, are you tired, are you worn out, are you burned out on religious tasks? Come to me, get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me, work with me, watch how I do it, learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly. That sounds really good, doesn't it? It does to me. Jesus invites all who are heavy, weary and burdened to find rest in him.

Speaker 1: 30:28

The groaning that we experience is a very important part of our journey of faith, and when we seek to minimize it, we distance ourselves from Christ. The groaning that we experience is a very important part of our journey of faith. When we distance ourselves from it, we distance ourselves from Christ. It reminds us of our humanity, reminds us how much we need God. It reminds us of how much we need one another. Do you remember during the pandemic, we wrote to you saying fight against the thinking poorly of one another. Why did we do that? Is it because we thought that you were just actively thinking poorly of one another? We said fight for unity, because we don't naturally drift there. We have to work to get there, we have to spend time together, we have to have conversations. How often maybe even this morning have you wondered hey, I wonder what he or she thinks of me? And it's simply because you haven't talked to them in a while. Proximity breeds unity. A recognition of our brokenness and seeing it others helps us to connect in Christ together.

Speaker 1: 31:39

Well, this third reality verses 24 through 26 of Romans 8, is the good news there's hope and there's help, there's hope. So this groaning within us is a powerful reminder of the temporary nature of our earthly existence. I turned 41 this year. Well, last year I turned 42 this year. That's weird, I hadn't thought about that yet. But you, just as you get older and I know this is so cliche time moves faster. You start to feel your mortality, you start to look at people in the next decade and be like man. We do not seem that far apart anymore, and so much of it is associated with physical pain, right Lack of sleep. But this groaning is what keeps us grounded in the reality of our current condition, while Jesus teaches us to lift our eyes to his promised restoration of all things.

Speaker 1: 32:46

The hope that's not just a distant dream. It's an active force in our lives, shaping how we live, how we interact with others, how we engage with the world around us. Look again at verse 24 and 25 of Romans 8 while I read it, for in this hope we were saved. Now, hope that is seen is not hope For who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Our hope as Christians isn't something we see with our eyes. Wouldn't be hope if we could. It's much deeper than that. It's like waiting for the dawn and the darkest part of the night, knowing with certainty that the light will break through eventually.

Speaker 1: 33:36

This hope is what drives us here at East Side Church. It's active, it's alive. It guides us to bring the love of Jesus into every part of Madison. It's not just sitting back and waiting. It's doing, serving, loving, being these hands and feet to a world that desperately needs the touch of Jesus. Paul reminds us of this kind of change. This idea of praying in Madison as in heaven doesn't happen overnight. It needs patience, it needs resilience and a focus on God's promises. It's about keeping faith even when we can't see the immediate results. This kind of patience doesn't come naturally to us, does it For people who invented same day delivery, who have issues with the barista if the coffee is not waiting as we finish up our transaction?

Speaker 1: 34:33

We struggle to read whole chapters of the Bible at one time, not books chapters. Clearly we need outside help. Do you remember Acts 1-8, where Jesus tells his followers you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. And we're gonna see this in John over and over and over again. The Holy Spirit is our outside help Inside, our outside help dwelling inside of us. It's the power that we receive from the Spirit. This is the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. It's the power that enables us to be bold witnesses of Jesus' resurrection. And through his resurrection we have the hope that everything one day will be restored. The Bible talks about it as the down payment that all the brokenness and pain that we see around us will be healed, we put back to right, will be resurrected, like Jesus.

Speaker 1: 35:44

In Romans 8, 26, the final verse in our passage, paul unpacks this other aspect of the Spirit's work in us, this help that he gives in our weakness. Paul acknowledges with us and I think we can join him that sometimes we don't even know what to pray. You convinced prayers, good. You see other people who seem to enjoy prayer. So you come to God and there's just nothing there. Have that happen to you? Well, paul says that the Spirit will help us because he's there, interceding for us, turning these groans into prayers that God hears. That's empowering, isn't it? At the very least, it's incredibly comforting. We're not alone in our struggles. The Spirit is with us in a very intimate and close way, guiding, strengthening us every step of the way.

Speaker 1: 36:45

The ever present help of the Spirit gives us the power that we need to grow in patience. You see, hope and patience are linked together. I always read this verse and I was like, hey, that's great, paul, that's great that you automatically have patience. Nicely done, good job, buddy. It's probably why I got to write half the New Testament.

Speaker 1: 37:06

That's not what he's saying. He's not saying we have hope because we have awesome patience. He's saying we have patience when we have hope. You see, if the hope of the resurrection, that everything will someday be made new, is actively a part of our vision of the world, we will be empowered by the Spirit to wait. And while we wait, to be about the mission of Jesus so important that we see that connection this morning the Spirit gives us the substance of hope which empowers us to be patient as we wait.

Speaker 1: 37:58

All right, well, as we wrap this up this morning and just want to reflect on these truths of Romans 8, 22 and 26, I hope that we've just heard, over and over again, the resounding message of the gospel. It's not just good news, it's transformative news, especially for those like us who find ourselves groaning in a world filled with pain and suffering, in need of hope and help. And it's in this context of longing and expectancy that the gospel shines its brightest, offering not just solace but active engagement in the world's brokenness, the power to do so. The gospel is good news for those who've grown, because it acknowledges our deepest pains and struggles. Yet it points us to the hope that is both steadfast and active, and it's in this hope that we find the strength to embody our vision To see every person in Madison and Dane County have a daily encounter with Jesus in word and deed. We want that, and this vision aligns with our mission to love, live like and speak of Jesus, and we've been talking about this vision now for four years.

Speaker 1: 39:19

As a church Through a global pandemic. We've done well at maintaining relationships, seeking to be a people that loves, lives like and speaks of Jesus, because we want everyone in Madison to encounter him at some point in time. But as we come into 2024, I want to draw us deeper. I want to bring us further upstream In order to be people who see Madison saturated with the gospel, in order to be people who love, live like and speak of Jesus. I want to submit that we need to reorganize our lives around three goals Be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what Jesus did.

Speaker 1: 40:18

Practicing the way of Jesus by being with him, becoming like him and doing what he did is the essence of being his disciple. It's about deepening our relationship with him through prayer, worship, study of the scriptures, fellowship, communion with God and as we grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and what he has done for us. These things naturally begin to flow out of our lives and we begin to reflect his love and his grace to those around us. You see, being with Jesus is how we become someone who loves Jesus. And when we do this, we are able to reach out to those growing around us, recognizing their pain as our own, responding with the same compassion that Jesus showed because he first loved us. As we become like Jesus, we live more like him, embracing his teachings. His ways become second nature to us. We resist and begin to reject the ways that our culture calls us in the opposite direction. This involves cultivating Christ-like character humility, service, sacrifice. We become living testimonies of the gospel's power, drawing others to Christ through our transformed lives.

Speaker 1: 41:44

As we demonstrate and declare the good news and this is the speaking of Jesus' part and as we do what Jesus did, think about what Jesus did. He proclaimed the kingdom of God. He displayed it through his miracles, through his teachings, through his relationships. And when we're speaking of Jesus, it's a bold proclamation that there's good news of love, of redemption, of a better way to live, what Jesus calls the abundant life, the good life in John 10.10. The words that we speak to others become a source of hope and encouragement to those who are struggling, pointing them towards the ultimate source of healing and restoration. Pay attention as we go through John as Jesus interacts with people, he often says really hard truths to them, but they receive them because they sense his love, his commitment to God and his deep desire to understand them where they are and call them to be with him. As we embody these aspects of vision, of mission, of discipleship, we become active participants in God's redemptive plan for the world family. The gospel becomes more than a message that we believe. It becomes the very essence of our lives, empowering us to bring Jesus into the brokenness of the world around us, starting with ourselves. So let's commit here at the start of the new year. Let's commit to live out the gospel in practical, impactful ways, ensuring that everyone in Madison and Dane County might someday have a daily encounter with Jesus, in word indeed.

Speaker 1: 43:42

I want to end with a quote and a question, because I imagine you're feeling the gap between that reality and your seat here this morning. That's good. Cs Lewis captures the problem of humanity perfectly when he writes it would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures fooling about with drink and sex and ambition. When infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea, we are far too easily pleased.

Speaker 1: 44:37

The pain that we experience has to be dealt with. The groaning has to be silenced, and if we do not move close to Jesus to deal with the pain, to silence the groaning, we will find something. We need to let an uncomfortable truth hit home this morning Our infatuation with the world around us too often eclipses our love for Jesus. This world offers fleeting pain relief, temporary comfort, things that will dull the roar of the groan inside of us for a short time, or at least appear to. But Jesus offers something more, something satisfying the promise that there is complete and total restoration for anyone who follows him as Lord, as King, as friend. And so here's the question this morning and I'm aiming this at both people who believe in Jesus and people who don't Will you follow Jesus? Will you turn away from everything and everyone that leads you in the opposite direction that he is calling you to come along with him. Is he worthy of being trusted and followed? Let's pray.