Title: The Opposition’s Power
Ever pick teams for Kickball at recess? We used to always make the new kid do it, to load up our team.
v31 Paul essentially asks, “Okay, so what should our attitude be in response to what we have learned thus far?” If God is for us, if God is in control of our salvation, if God holds us in his hand, then who can be against us?
Certainly, Paul is NOT saying there will be no opposition, but what he is saying is that this opposition has no power to destroy faith. Furthermore, this opposition is absolutely nothing to be feared because a sovereign, Holy God has claimed us as his children.
Another way to say it is this: Even this opposition falls under our God’s rule.
Do you, like me, ever get discouraged when you watch the national news? I’m not talking about the war, the famine, the AIDS epidemic in Africa, these things are all terrible and it is our Christian responsibility to not only be praying for these things, but also to be giving our time and money to help relief efforts.
But what I’m speaking of this morning is a bit more subtle. I get discouraged with the constant negative light that Christians as a group are put under. The news seems to only report our hypocrisy, our scandal, our shortcomings. There is a smug arrogance in the way we are portrayed, as if we are the punch line of every inside joke at many of the networks.
After the recent election, I’ve had conversations with many of you, concerned about the peace of our country. It can be so nasty out there, and social media has the power to really get us in a funk if we let it.
When I get this “feeling” I tend to react in one of two ways. Either I burn with anger and want to contact these media outlets to correct them, as if that would ever work, or I get depressed and think, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
Well, neither of those answers or attitudes is correct. The reason we can’t get along is because we have something to say that most of the world doesn’t want to hear. We talk about sin, the world talks about tolerance. We talk about Hell, the world talks about personal spirituality. We talk about the need for a savior, the world talks about the need for better community, cooperation, and compromise, and my favorite “Coexist.”
And my attitude in response to these things should be like Paul’s. If God is for us, who cares who is against us?
Friends, I want to remind you that Truth is NOT Relative. And TRUTH is on our side. We are right. We are not arrogant in saying so. In fact, we are irresponsible to the cause of the cross if we don’t say so.
And Paul’s illustration of just how “safe” we are is furthered when he says in verse 32: Look, this God, this sovereign Lord and Savior didn’t even save his own son, but let him die, for us. He loves us. We are his children. He is the most powerful thing that has ever been and he has gathered us to the winning team.
Paul tells us this God will “give us all things.” Now, this can be a dangerous verse if it is isolated and not considered with the rest of scripture of what “all things” means. It certainly does not mean “all things our heart desires” but rather, “all things that we will need to do the work that he’s setting before us.”
v33-34
Then Paul asks another rhetorical question, but this one with a poignant illustration. He says: Who? Who is this other power that will find us guilty before a sovereign God? God has justified us, what can the world do to condemn us? Can they take away our possessions? Yes. (And for many in the Bible this is just an aid to depend more fully on God anyway.)
Can they take our children? Yes. And this means we must trust God even more.
Can they take our very lives? Yes. And then their power is done. We are all going to die, friends. The only power the world has is to bring our trip to our heavenly father about a bit sooner. And then there is judgment.
And how do you think God will deal with those people who condemned, accused, mocked, beat, and murdered his children? How would you deal with that as a father? I have no desire to experience God’s justice, even though I know I deserve it. And I don’t make a practice of mocking God. I don’t insult him, His word, His Church, His people. There are literally thousands of people in the world today who make their living doing just that. I pity and pray for such ignorance.
So what then shall we conclude?
1. Take heart, you have been chosen to be on the righteous side, you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.
2. Understand the world’s hate of God is out of ignorance. Part of our task as believers is to try to eradicate such ignorance with the Truth of the gospel.
3. Do not hate, but pray for those who persecute you. They do not understand what you understand….pray that they might.