God’s great grace, His magnificent mercy, and His powerful peace are yours, now and always, from God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In Christ Jesus:

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes in anticipation of something?

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes in order to watch a 4^th of July parade as it passed by in front of you?

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes straining to catch a glimpse of someone famous or important as he or she walked by in a crowd in front of you?

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes during an exciting play at a football game as everyone stood up and cheered as the play happened in front of you?

SURE YOU HAVE! So have I.

We have stood on our tiptoes to do all those things!

Why?

Because we were excited about the parade and we didn’t want to miss a thing as it passed by.

Because we were thrilled at the chance to see a famous and important person as they walked by in a crowd in front of us.

Because we didn’t want to miss the exciting play of the football game as it happened before our eyes.

But…

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes…so to speak …waiting for the glory that is going to be revealed to you as a Christian?

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes eagerly watching for the glory that is coming to you because you belong to God?

Have you ever stood on your tiptoes eagerly anticipating the glory that is coming to you because you believe in Jesus Christ?

Probably not. But that’s exactly what the Apostle Paul

tells us to do…reminds us to do…and encourages us to do in the First Scripture lesson for today.

St. Paul tells us to wait, almost as if on tiptoes, in eager anticipation of God’s glory to be revealed to us.

St. Paul says we are to do that because the glory that is going to be revealed to us is going to make

all the pain of our lives

all the problems of our lives

all the sufferings of our lives right now seem insignificant…minor…and trivial.

St. Paul says that that glory, which is coming to us, is going to make all the suffering in our lives right now pale in comparison.

That glory which is coming to us…

That glory which shall be ours…

That glory which is certain for us…

cannot be compared at all with what is happening to us right now.

And suddenly, with this passage from Romans Chapter 8, there are linked together the two things that we would never link together. And

They are the suffering and glory.

They are the hurts and the hallelujahs.

They are the problems and the joys.

But they belong together.

The sufferings we endure and the glory we shall know…

The hurts we experience and the hallelujahs we shout…

The joy that we have and the pain that we feel----are linked together!

You see, there is absolutely nothing in this world which will help you endure suffering and pain more than a clear view of the glory that is linked to it. Nothing.

You are going to suffer in this world.

I am going to suffer in this world.

We are all going to suffer…physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

To live life is to suffer. Suffering comes to everyone.

And

Sometimes we forget that.

Sometimes we think because we belong to God in heaven through Jesus
Christ, we are not going to suffer nor should we suffer.

Sometime we feel the frustration of being Christians and still having to suffer.

Today, St. Paul addresses our feelings in Romans, Chapter 8.

And as he writes, Paul is painfully aware of the troubled state of the present world in which he is living.

He looks around his world and

he sees the decay and the violence,

he sees the cruelty and the corruption,

he sees the deceits of people and the broken relationships of life.

But then Paul remembers who he is and Who his God is…and that changes everything. He looks at life and he writes: “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will give us later.”

Paul says we should not try comparing the two, because they cannot be
compared.

Paul reminds us that there is no comparison between what we suffer now and
the glory that is going to be ours later.

Paul tells us that the glory we are going to experience, at some point in our
future, will far overshadow any suffering we must endure now, because
suffering is only temporary.

Now these words would be just so much hot air if they came from anyone else. But Paul knew what it meant to suffer.

Paul was beaten.

Paul was stoned.

Paul was chained up and left to die in prison.

Paul was ship wrecked, bitten by poisonous snakes, hungry, naked and cold.

And yet this man of God could write to the Christians in Rome and to the Christians in Shalimar, Florida, in Ft. Walton Beach, in Niceville---to everyone everywhere and say: “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will give us later.”

As we sit here today, you and I are painfully aware of the troubled state of the present world in which we are living. We look around our world and

we see the decay and the violence,

we see the cruelty and the corruption,

we see the deceits of people and the broken relationship of life.

We see people we love suffer from physical, emotional, and psychological pain.

We even see and feel ourselves dying.

We have members of our congregation right now who are suffering physical pain.

It is real pain,

It is intense pain

It is never ending pain. I do not make light of that pain.

We have members of our congregation right now who are suffering emotional pain.

It is real pain,

It is intense pain,

It is never ending pain. I do not make light of that pain.

We have members of our congregation right now who are suffering psychological pain.

It is real pain,

It is intense pain

It is never ending pain. I do not make light of that pain.

We have members of our congregation right now who are suffering spiritual pain.

It is real pain,

It is intense pain

It is never ending pain. I do not make light of that pain.

But like Paul, we, who are suffering pain, must remember who we are, and Who our God is! And that changes everything! And with Paul we too must say with all the confidence in the world. : “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will give us later.” Like St. Paul we must see our suffering and struggles in this life as being very temporary.

We do that because we have a God who knows all about suffering.

Jesus suffered the pain of rejection…

Jesus suffered the pain of loneliness…

Jesus suffered the pain of His goodness being trampled into the dirt by those
who would do evil.

Jesus suffered physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual pain.

That is why God can so eagerly identify with our suffering.

He knows all about it.

In Jesus He experienced all of it.

And here, we are reminded that our suffering and pain and problems…whether they are physical, emotional, psychological or spiritual are only temporary, just like they were for Jesus, and for St. Paul, and for every Christian.

St. Paul is telling all of us this morning that there is more to our existence than the here and now.

St. Paul is saying that God has a glorious plan for the future of all believers.

St. Paul reminds us that God had the plan before the creation of the world.

But sin messed up the plan of God. Listen again:

“For all creation is waiting patiently and hopefully for that future day when God will resurrect His children. For on that day thorns and thistles, sin, death, and decay --the things that overcame the world against its will at God's command-will all disappear, and the world around us will share in the glorious freedom from sin which God's children enjoy. For we know that even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer in sickness and death as they await this great event.”

You see, not only do we suffer in sickness and death; even the things of nature, like animals and plants, suffer. All of creation suffers because when Adam and Eve fell from God’s grace back in the Garden of Eden, they brought death not only to themselves, but to the created order of things. All of creation, declared by God to be perfect in God’s sight before sin entered the world, now suffered because of man’s sin.

Not only are we subjected to disease and decay and death.

Creation itself is subjected to disease and decay and death.

Not only are we subjected to futility in this life.

Creation itself is subjected to that same futility.

Not only are our bodies dying and our is life running down.

Creation itself is dying and all of life is running down.

“Even we Christians”, Paul reminds us, “although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as His children, including the new bodies He has promised us-bodies that will never be sick again and will never die.”

We are talking here of Christian hope. This hope we have is a gift of God. It is a hope which reminds us that our suffering is temporary---that our destiny is never ending.

The real glory of your life and mine lies in the fact that even at the end of this life are written the words on everyone of our gravestones and grave markers. And those words are: “To be Continued.”

“To be continued” in heaven forever!

“To be continued” in the glory of God’s eternal presence.

“To be continued” for all eternity!

Over and over again the New Testament makes this crystal clear.

Jesus said, “I am the Resurrection and life; he who believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Shall never die.

Jesus said: “ Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. For in My Father’s House are many rooms. And I go and prepare a place for you…a room for you, so that where I am, there you may also be.”

1 Peter 1:3-9 tells us this. Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. And God has reserved for His children the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.” Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

It doesn’t get any better than this, people of God!

It doesn’t get any more comforting than this!

It doesn’t get any more any more reassuring than this!

It doesn’t get any more any more hopeful than this!

“Now we live in the hope of eternal life because Christ rose again from the dead. And God has reserved for His children (you and me) the priceless gift of eternal life; it is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay. And God, in His mighty power, will make sure that you get there safely to receive it because you are trusting Him. It will be yours in that coming last day for all to see. So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though now for a little while you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.”

Nothing can stop our God.

Not even crucifixion and death and the grave for Him.

Nothing can stop us because of our God.

Not even sickness and death and the grave for us!

The tomb which could not hold the Lord of Life cannot hold those who share in
His eternal life. That’s you and me.

Paul concludes by writing to us this morning and saying:

”We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have-for a person who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn't happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.

Paul and you and I are fellow strugglers in this life.

Paul and you and I are fellow sinners and saints in this life.

Paul and you and I are fellow believers in this life.
Paul and you and I are standing on our tiptoes together this morning!

We are eagerly and patiently and confidently.

waiting for the glory that is going to be revealed to us as a Christian.

We are eagerly patiently and confidently.

watching for the glory that is coming to us because we belong to God.

We are eagerly and patiently and confidently

anticipating the glory that is coming to us because we believe in Jesus

Christ.

You are going to suffer in this world.

I am going to suffer in this world.

We are all going to suffer.

To live life is to suffer.

Suffering comes to everyone. BUT “What we suffer now is nothing
compared to the glory God will give us later.”

Until that glory comes we hang onto the Word of God for the power to face up to the sufferings we encounter in life.

Until that glory comes the Living Jesus Christ dwells in our hearts and minds.

Until that glory comes we claim that eternal hope which is our each day---that hope which is totally real when we remember who we are and Who our God is.

So…

Stand on the tiptoes of your faith, eagerly waiting for the glory that is going to be revealed to you as a Christian!

Stand on the tiptoes of your faith, eagerly watching for the glory that is coming to you because you belong to God!

Stand on the tiptoes of your faith, eagerly anticipating the glory that is coming to you because you believe in Jesus Christ!

For “What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory God will give us later.”

Believe that.

Trust that.

Live that.

Because that is so true!

Amen.