More than Conquerors
This was one of the first Sermons I preached at St Peter’s Stanley on 27 July 1999
-
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
More Than Conquerors
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
-
More than Conquerors
Setting the Scene
Sussing Out. When a new minister comes to a church I am sure there is an element of sussing each other out - What am I like, what are you like?
Let us leave it to one side and find answers to those questions over the years that follow.
Let us instead, engage with the word of God, and invite the Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds, to teach us, to challenge us and I hope when we leave this passage this morning we will want to go home and read it again and secondly that we will have a clearer idea of who we are in Christ.
It is useful to set up this passage with a bit of background to this letter to the Romans. It would seem from Romans 15:24 that Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome (a people who he had never met) before he embarked on a mission to Spain. In this letter he is asking them for support and he is spelling out the gospel message he will be taking to Spain. This letter would have been read and re-read in many house churches in Rome in those early risky days of following Christ just twenty-five years after the cross and the resurrection.
Isn’t it exciting that these early New Testament Christians, read, digested, taught, copied and kept these letters and handed them down from one generation to the next? Here we are today embarking on our own ventures and adventures such as community work, Parish Church building work, Young People’s work even the Parish Weekend and the Holy Spirit through this letter of St Paul is speaking to us today saying in Christ we can be ‘More than conquerors.’
As I read and re-read Romans 8, I began to see within the passage that Paul was laying down THREE STEPS that we must take constantly in our own journey of Faith - from weakness to strength to more than conquerors (in his strength).
I would like to go through these steps and apply them to ourselves(yes, to own them)
Step 1 understanding our own weakness,
Step 2 is stepping into the great strength we have in the love of Christ and
Step 3 is stepping out into that wonderland of being more than Conquerors.
Weakness
Some of you may be thinking of the Mud song, ‘3 steps to heaven’
Step 1. Romans 8:26 says ‘The Spirit helps us in our weakness’ and the way we usually speak of weakness is negative - ‘he was a weak person’ ‘or a weakling’ they are negative pictures and yet Paul says here the Spirit helps us in our weakness,
2 Corinthians 12:9 ‘his strength is made perfect in our weakness’.
These are positive pictures of weakness, pictures of the Holy Spirit ministering to us and healing us in struggles, whatever the need, whatever the crisis and often the need or the crisis seems so huge ‘we don’t know what to pray for’ and that seems like a failing, a weakness on our part but when we acknowledge our inadequacy we are rebuking our pride and to admit we have no words and nothing more to offer we are abandoning ourselves to God and the Holy Spirit ‘kicks in’ looking beyond the appearance, beyond the words and groans - interceding for us ‘in our weakness.’
The place of weakness is a place of encounter with God(repeat), maybe you’re angry with God about something, maybe you’re riddled with guilt over something, maybe you need healing for something or have a life limiting illness and you don’t know what to pray and the best you can do is to be silent or cry out ‘where are you God.’ You may think it’s more of an emotional outburst than a prayer - but believe me it is a place of engaging with God. If you allow yourself the space and time to weep or be angry, time to own your shame and guilt - in that time and space you are in the presence of a holy God and you don’t know what to pray - what a privilege to be weak before the almighty God and Romans 8:26 & 27 says that the Holy Spirit is on our case - through Christ, the Holy Spirit knows our weakness and struggles and intercedes for us.
How I wish we could stop being strong sometimes and we would find the Spirit is at work guiding us, giving us peace, giving us strength to endure. And that takes us on to Step 2, knowing the strength we have in Christ.
Step one was to know we are weak, Step 2 is to know our strength is in Christ alone, Romans 8:34 says he is at the right hand of the father interceding for is which means, Jesus is on our case.
Strength in Christ
For step two, Paul takes us to the courtroom [It’s a place I know very well, I received a Parking Ticket and Challenged it. I was relieved to find that the Magistrate was on my side and gave an absolute discharge. No debt to pay. Paul takes us to a courtroom scene for Step 2- Our strength in Christ and like a barrister in a courtroom drama he asks FIVE unanswerable questions to the jury and we are in the dock.
1>If God for us who can be against us?
2>If the Godhead gave up Jesus, will God not graciously give us all things?
3>Who can bring a charge against those who God has chosen? Imagine yourself in the dock and the lawyer says ‘it is God who justifies’ - makes us innocent.
4>Who is it who condemns - when Jesus is at the right hand of the father saying you are not guilty [Parking Ticket Judge on my side] ……… Then imagine he closes his file, walks over to the jury and looks at them to deliver his final unanswerable question
5> who can separate us from the love of Christ… There you are in the dock, you’ve just stood on that first step of knowing you are weak, acknowledging your struggles and hurts and Paul says who can separate us from the love of Christ. Then he goes thro’ a list (v35) can trouble, hardship, persecution/ famine/nakedness or danger or sword - it’s the height of our courtroom drama and Paul shouts ‘NO’ in all these threats and struggles we are more than conquerors through Christ.
More than Conquerors
And that’s step three.
In these very struggles and weaknesses and ventures whether it’s the list Paul gives in v35 or to interpret it for us whether it’s the building project, the Moorhouse community or just on a day-to-day level as we mix with FRANC and these can be struggles in a real sense But if it is God’s vision it means Almighty God is on our case (v13 ‘who can be against us’) and as + is our strength we can be more than conquerors because God is more than mighty he is Almighty.
I’ll finish with a story of Colin who I met on a plane going to Crete 2 weeks ago. It’s a story about a friendship, I think it’s good to see the things we are involved in (I have mentioned) Moorhouse, Ark, Building, your work scene, leisure scene, even inviting people to the Parish Weekend - it’s good to see these things in terms of the relationships we can form with friends and neighbours.
Colin is a school teacher in Derby and as we sat together we God talking about God and he said “Strangely enough I read my bible this week for the first time in years”.. he said a Christian friend at work, had been going through a difficult time and unknown to her - as she was coming to terms with her own struggle and weakness - it was having an effect on Colin - so much so that he was keen to know more about this Jesus which made such a difference to her. I’ll be keeping in touch with Colin, hopefully, to help him find Jesus for himself. It started with a friend turning to God in her weakness - that’s what it means to be more than conquerors, that’s the story of the parable of yeast today - a little bit of yeast in a load of flour or a little bit of you mixed with your freinds and the whole caboodle is influenced for Jesus.
That’s what it means to be more than Conquerors - God taking our frailty/transforming it into victory - not because we are strong in our selves but because we are strong in + who is more than mighty, he is almighty and thro him we are more than conquerors.
Close with the final verse of our reading today.. (v38-39)
