“Our Present Sufferings”
Romans 8:18

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost—July 20, 2014

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

In 1986, Dick Rutan and Jeanne Yeager piloted the experimental aircraft Voyager in the first non-stop flight around the world.  Staying aloft for over 25,000 miles over 11 grueling days, they were crammed together in a tiny space about the size of a coffin.  And many times they did come close to death, especially when the main fuel pump broke down in the middle of the ocean, and they had the misfortune to pilot their small, fragile aircraft directly into the path of a hurricane.

Why did they do it? Why did these pilots spend five years preparing for this flight?  Why did they endure almost unbearable discomfort, and get almost no sleep for hundreds of hours, crammed together in that cold, cramped, coffin of a cockpit?  Why did they literally risk their lives for a mission that had a high probability of fatal failure?  Could anything be worth all that suffering?

But, it was all worth it when their historic, record-setting flight ended, and their plane touched down safely in California.  It was all worth it when those pilots were hailed as heroes around the world.  It was all worth it when President Ronald Reagan awarded them the prestigious Presidential Citizen’s Medal.  It was all worth it when their Voyager aircraft was enshrined in a place of special honor at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., right next to Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St. Louis, the first plane to cross the Atlantic, and a replica of the Apollo Lunar Module, which first landed on the moon. 

Why did Dick Rutan and Jeanne Yaeger do it?  Because the sufferings they endured were far outweighed by the glory they received.  That made it all worth it. 

The Apostle Paul writes in today’s Epistle Reading, in the eighth chapter of Romans: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.” 

Our journey through life can be a lot like that grueling trip of the Voyager aircraft and its pilots.  The hardships and struggles of our lives are often agonizing, unbearable.  How can we have hope to carry on?  How can we have strength to bear “Our Present Sufferings”?

Only one way—the hope of glory at the end of life’s journey: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  That makes it all worth it.

Jesus knows firsthand what “Our Present Sufferings” are all about.  For, he “came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary, and was made man.”  His earthly sufferings began at his birth, for, though he was the King of Kings, he was born not in a palace but a smelly stable, with scratchy straw in a feed trough as his baby bed.  The earthly persecutions he suffered also began as a baby, as Jesus was viciously pursued by Herod, and the Holy Family escaped to Egypt as homeless refugees, fleeing for their lives.

As the King of Kings, he should have been a pampered prince in his earthly life.  We usually think of him as a preacher.  But, actually, after his family returned from Egypt to their hometown of Nazareth, for almost all of his earthly life, about the first 30 years until he began his ministry, Jesus worked hard with his hands.  Not the soft hands of a prince or a preacher, but the rough, calloused hands of a country carpenter.  The early church father Justin Martyr reports that in 120 A.D. there were still in existence wooden plows and yokes that had been made by Jesus during his decades working in the carpentry shop at Nazareth.

The Gospel of John says sadly, “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  When Jesus began the ministry of salvation for which he came into the world, he was rejected, even in his hometown, even by most of his own family.  His half-brothers say in the Gospel of Mark, “He is out of his mind.”  

The Apostle Peter says in Acts, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him . . . but you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”  The Gospel of Matthew says, “From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed . . .”  

Scorned by the ruling elite, he was also rejected by the crowds of common people, who on Good Friday cried out “Crucify him!”  Betrayed by one of his own disciples; whipped, slapped, beaten, stripped, spat upon; a painful crown of thorns pressed down upon his head; mocked and made fun of, even in his greatest agony.

Deserted by all his disciples; carrying his own cross to Calvary, suffering there the most cruel, painful form of death ever conceived by the mind of sinful man: crucified dead, and buried in a borrowed tomb.

Why did he do it?  Why did Jesus suffer so?  For you and me, to pay for our sins, “and not only ours, but also for the sins of the whole world,” “that everyone who believes in him may receive forgiveness of sins in his name.”

“And the third day he rose again . . . from the dead. . . and ascended into heaven.”    “Because I live,” Jesus promises, you also shall live. . .  For everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”  Trust in Jesus; he is your Savior; he forgives all your sin. 

As Martin Luther says in the Small Catechism, “[He] has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death, that I may be his own and live under him in his kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness . . . on the last day he will raise me and all the dead, and give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. . . just as he is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.  This is most certainly true.”

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  That makes it all worth it.  All our present sufferings, all the hardships and struggles of this life.  They are but a tiny drop of temporary bitterness, swallowed up in a vast ocean of eternal glory.

“Therefore,” Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, “we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are preparing us for an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

“I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home.”  When the hardships and struggles of your life are unbearable, fix your eyes on the unseen glories of heaven.  “For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.” 

What will the glory of heaven be like?  Twenty-five years ago Ted Turner, the bombastic founder of CNN, famously said in a speech that he did not believe in heaven because, “They tell you to spend all your life preparing to get there, but then they won’t tell you what it will be like when you do.”  By the way, an interesting development is that in a recent interview Turner said he is no longer an atheist, he now prays, and believes in God, and he hopes to go heaven, which he imagines will be like, “Montana in the summer.”

It is true that Scripture doesn’t give many details about what heaven will be like.  Heaven is described in the Bible mostly in terms of what it will not be like: no more of the hardships and struggles of this life; only the never-ending glory, and peace, and bliss of the life to come.   For us still in this world, it is beyond our comprehension.  As Isaiah says, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him.”

How do you describe the indescribable?  Imagine you are transported from Paola, Kansas to the starving people in part of the world plagued by famine.  How would you describe to them our life here in America?  Could they even begin to comprehend that our stores have unlimited supplies of food?  Could they really understand a land where there is too much food, and instead of starving many of us have the opposite problem of being tempted to eat too much?  How would you explain to those people who may eat only the same tasteless gruel day after day that a typical American supermarket carries a selection of over 40,000 different items, and that our big problem is trying to decide which of the 16 different flavors of Cheerios to buy?  Wouldn’t it be easiest to simply describe our land to them in terms of what most of us here do not suffer?  No more hunger, no more thirst, no more starvation. 

And, that is exactly the way in the Bible our heavenly Father describes for us here on earth our heavenly home: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  Perhaps the best word to describe our future glory in heaven is the word Jesus uses when he comforts the believing thief who was crucified alongside him: “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

“Gladness and joy will overtake them,” Isaiah says, “and sorrow and sighing will flee away.”  Psalm 126 says, “Then will our mouths be filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy . . .  The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”  “And so,” Paul says in 1st Thessalonians, “we shall be forever with the Lord.  Therefore comfort one another with these words.”  Paradise!

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”  The pilots of the Voyager aircraft endured great sufferings because they looked forward to even greater glory that far outweighed them all.

The book of Hebrews puts it this way: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

Our Lord Jesus endured the greatest sufferings of all, for you, to earn you forgiveness, to earn you the eternal glory of heaven.  When the hardships and struggles of this life make you grow weary and lose heart, fix your eyes on the glory of heaven; with God’s help and comfort, patiently endure “Our Present Sufferings” by looking forward to an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 

“Therefore,” Paul says in 2nd Corinthians, “we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”

Through many dangers, toils, and snares I have already come;

His grace has brought me safe so far, his grace will see me home.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease,

Amazing grace shall then prevail in heaven’s joy and peace.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.”