Sermons for the Month
The Hope of Glory
DATE: July 18, 1999
SERVICE: Pentecost VIII
TEXT: Romans 8:12-25"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN Tribulus Terrestris: dramatically increases testosterone levels. Tribulus Terrestris: imported directly from Bulgaria. Tribulus Terrestris: helped Mark McGwire with his 70 homeruns.
Say what?
Note: Ask if anyone knows what Tribulus Terrestris is. Ask for a show of hands. Tribulus Terrestris is a steroid, used by weight lifters. A "Safe Anabolic Replacement With No Side Effects!" says an ad in the back of a rock-and-roll magazine. "No prescription needed -- anything stronger would be illegal!" Hmmm ... are you sure you want to order anything that is almost illegal? (advertisement in Rolling Stone, February 18, 1999, 78). In our quest for bulging biceps, curvaceous calves and washboard abs, we have entered the dietary supplement generation. Across the country, people are looking for all kinds of natural drugs to enhance their athletic performance and physical appearance. Home-run king Mark McGwire created a minor controversy when he announced that he took a legal all-natural drug called "Androstene" -- one that boosted his testosterone level and helped him to hit those 70 home runs. These days, it seems that there is a wide variety of supplements available, designed to do most anything under the sun: * Chromium Picolate helps burn fat. * Whey Protein, added to shakes, gel caps and food bars, claims to build and repair muscle. * Creatine helps build muscle, and according to USA Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans are using it (see GNC ad in Muscle and Fitness magazine, February 1999 issue). * Amino Acids are building blocks for muscle growth. * Caffeine is a stimulant that gives energy. So is Ma Huang (Ephedrine). * Androstene, for serious muscle builders, provides building blocks for testosterone. * Nutritional Food Bars, with a combination of nutrients, give energy and boost performance. One word of warning: Most of these nutritional supplements aren't recognized by the FDA. So let the buyer beware. Americans are now putting their hope in dietary supplements, the latest fad in a 20 year obsession with weight loss and body sculpting. The fitness craze started in the '80s with the health club boom, but people quickly found that they didn't like being locked into two- or three-year club memberships that they never used. Sitting on an unused gym membership made them feel guilty both for being fat and wasting money. Then the '90s brought hundreds of pieces of home health equipment that promised easy ways to get in shape: Ab Roller, Easy Rider, Soloflex, Life Cycle, Easy Glider, Bow- flex, Thighmaster, Gazelle Glider, Stairmaster, Total Gym, 5-minute ab workout video, Sweating to the Oldies. You know what happened to these promising products: They ended up in the basement, hardly ever used. Abandoned body-shaping machines are a testimony to both our pursuit of fitness and our willingness to deceive ourselves when imagined results are to our liking. This all started with NordicTrack's cross-country skier -- a device that popped up in big budget television campaigns inviting us to work out in the comfort and privacy of our own homes. Then a flood of look-alikes and knockoffs came, promising better results and easier workouts. We bought and bought and bought, and hoped and hoped and hoped. Each successive generation of workout machines promised more fun, quicker results and greater benefits, and we fell for many a gimmicky pitch, everything from diets to get-rich-quick schemes to getting in shape. Hope springs eternal. Why do we invest in Ab Rollers and Androstene? Why do we pin our hope of glory on dusty exercise devices and suspicious dietary supplements? Because we want to look hot, if not hot, at least healthy! That's why. But a quick reality check quickly reminds us that improving physical appearance still boils down to one thing: exerting energy and producing sweat for 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Anything else is a false hope. A big part of the fitness problem is that people get discouraged when they don't see results in one or two weeks. People get bored with exercise, and they give up before they lose any weight or gain any muscle. A similar impatience was being felt by the Christians of the first century to whom the apostle Paul wrote his letters. They, like each of us, wanted quick results and clear benefits, but Paul challenges them to take a long-term view. "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us," he says in Romans 8:18. "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved" (vv. 22-24). You've heard the fitness mantra, "No Pain, No Gain." Paul takes it a step further: "No Groan, No Gain." Before we can see the glory of God, we have to endure the anxiety, stress and sufferings of the present time. Before we can receive our complete adoption as children of God, we have to groan in sometimes excruciating labor pains. Before we see the completion of God's plan for us and for all creation, we have to wait with patience, and "hope for what we do not see" (v. 25). By hope we are saved, says Paul. There are no short-term spiritual Ab Rollers or Androstene that will do it. The challenge for us is to turn away from false hope, and turn toward true hope. To put no confidence in ourselves, but to look steadily beyond ourselves to find the fulfillment of our own selves and actions in God (C.K. Barrett, The Epistle to the Romans [New York: Harper & Row, 1957], 168). False hope is life in the flesh, says Paul, a life of salvation by Stairmaster, a life that inevitably leads to death, no matter how well-toned you are. But true hope is life in the Spirit, an approach that puts to death the deeds of the body, and gives new life. True hope is found when we focus on the fact that we are children of God -- people who will surely have to endure some suffering with Christ, but who will also be glorified with him (vv. 13-17). True hope knows the truth of the maxim, "No Groan, No Gain." Paul sees the present age as a training period, a time of exerting energy and producing sweat for 20 minutes a day, three days a week ... at the very least! During this time of hard work, he wants us to take courage, both from the prospect of future glory, and from the assistance already given us by the Holy Spirit. As we look forward to being set free from our bondage to decay -- a goal that should be of interest to exercise addicts across the country -- we have the comfort of knowing that God is with us in the Spirit that "helps us in our weakness" (v. 26), giving us healing and strength and wisdom and courage. We should be thankful that our Lord does not force us to face the sufferings of the present time on our own. As anybody who is into exercise knows, having a partner as you exercise increases commitment and perseverance. One reason people give up after only a couple weeks, is they try to do it alone. The fellowship of the Holy Spirit and the companionship of our fellow Christians can make the workouts of this earthly training period so much more bearable. That is why getting together with others in small groups for mutual encouragement, study, sharing is so important for building spiritual strength. If we try to go it alone, we are like the grim-faced exercisers who endure a solitary routine of weightlifting, treadmill trekking and stair climbing, all in the name of tight tummies and healthy hearts. And like the thousands of people who try to go it alone without God or others, we invariably give up and give in to the tempatations. Let's face it: It's tedious stuff. But as Christians who gain inspiration from the Spirit and from each other, we are more like the new generation of athletes who are participating in workouts that emphasize teamwork, adventure and fun. From sloshing through Miami's surf to lugging around hoses with real New York City firefighters, people discover these workouts are bearable because they contain camaraderie, a community feeling, a sense of shared challenge and accomplishment. Some of these programs are even called "boot camps," and they include running in shallow ocean surf, climbing ropes, and performing basic military drills, like push-ups and sit-ups. "A lot of people go for the social aspect of it," says Robyn Benincasa, who takes such classes at her San Diego gym (Mary Brophy Marcus, "Beyond sit-ups: You haven't sweated till you've drilled like the NFL," U.S. News & World Report, February 8, 1999). Maybe this is our challenge as we pursue the hope of glory: To turn the church into a Christian "boot camp": a place of camaraderie, community, shared challenge and accomplishment. Don't worry. I am not going to ask you to drop to the floor and do 50 before you can leave church this morning! And no one's telling you to run in the surf or climb ropes. But how about this: In our Christian boot camp, we can sympathize with each other as we face the sufferings of this present time. We can encourage each other as we work hard to develop our biblical biceps, our theological triceps, our emotional endurance and our spiritual strength. We can discipline ourselves to meet together on a regular basis for worship and study in small LIFE groups. We can share tips and insights, techniques and fresh ideas, as we seek to get ourselves in shape for the glory that is going to be shown to us. Church was never meant to be a place to relax and get soft -- from its very earliest days, it was designed to be a community of challenge, encouragement and spiritual fitness. So, who needs Tribulus Terrestris? We have God the Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Who needs an Ab Roller? We have worship and education that can get us in shape, as individuals and as a community. And who needs Androstene? We have fellowship and mission projects that can develop the body of Christ in this place. Our hope is not in testosterone levels, but in Spirit levels which alone can bring us to glory!
AMEN