FROM GROANS TO GLORY

Because of Jesus our groans will be as nothing to what will be revealed on the last day of all history on that day Jesus will return all of creation is groaning We see it in our families in our world in ourselves and yet in Christ We have the certain hope that it will not always be that way. Dr. Glenn Nielsen is our guest speaker today on the Lutheran hour I Mark, I sure glad to be with you once again Thanks for making the Lutheran hour part of your day Your gifts and prayers help in bringing Christ to the nations and the nation's to the church learn more at Lutheran hour org The Reverend dr. Glenn Nielsen recently retired after 33 years teaching practical theology at Concordia Seminary in st Louis he also served as director of placement and the vicarage and deaconess internship programs Now with a message titled from groans to glory here is dr. Nielsen In 2014 the congregation my family and I belong to in st. Louis received a beautiful Golden retriever named Noah comfort dog from Lutheran Church charities Since then he has made thousands of visits bringing his calm and comforting presence in times of heartache and pain Noah was a little over a year old when he arrived he had a beautiful golden coat and a regal stance and He could run zoomies in our backyard with what seemed like boundless energy He would go on walks for miles that visits Declared him to be an excellent health last May Noah comfort dog celebrated his 13th birthday Now his face and

Coat are mostly white And when you rub your hand underneath his fur Small growths can be felt He lies down most of the time because sitting is uncomfortable for him He no longer does zoomies Walks are maybe a half mile. Oh He still goes on visits his tail wags when he puts on his vest and he gets into the car But age has taken its toll Recent vet visit simply mentioned arthritis What we see happening to Noah brings the Apostle Paul's words in Romans close to home Paul was a leader in the early church Started congregations wrote some of the books of the New Testament in Romans he writes For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly But because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to decay and Obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now Until now These words ring true for us with Noah If you have had a pet that has grown old or you've had to say goodbye They've come home to you as well Suffering groaning decay futility They run throughout all of creation A wildfire runs through a habitat teeming with life

Plants die and what was living there either dies or is left homeless Last year in St. Louis a tornado tore through the city Those strong winds Made the trees grown Branches fell down other trees had to be cut down and they began to decay When I was young I enjoyed watching westerns on tv Occasionally a rider would be going through a desert area And you would see the skull of a steer horn And you would see orange sticking up from the sandy soil. Drought had claimed it as a victim. It's not just natural disasters either, like floods and drought and fires and earthquakes, tornadoes. No, creation turns in on itself. Burmese pythons have wiped out most of the small animal life in the Florida Everglades. Insects burrow into trees and soon the leaves fall and decay. A hungry leopard runs down an aging impala. We as people haven't done creation much good at times either. I was driving home one day. I saw along the side of the road a deer had been hit by a car. Blood oozed from its mouth. And the body had already stiffened into a grotesque shape. Paul says it well.

All creation has been groaning, subject to futility and decay, suffering. But he also says it's not just creation that's groaning. We too groan. Listen, Paul writes, and not only the creation, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the spirit groan inwardly. Now, what makes us groan inwardly is often personal. In 1994, my mother died of complications from Alzheimer's. That disease stole her mind and her health, piece by piece, over a 10-year period. At the end, she could not remember any of her children. She had nine of them, except for one. My sister Joy took care of her day after day. That caregiving brought suffering and a sense of futility to my sister as well. I wonder if the forms of dementia that we see in our country right now haven't brought fear to our aging population. Now, I have a short list of reasons why people groan. It goes like this. Anxiety, broken homes. Cancer, debt, fatigue. Grief, hate, injustice. MRI reports, PTSD, sexual harassment, abuse. Trafficking, watching a loved one die. You can add to that list your own personal times of suffering and groaning. The apostle Paul names the experience we live that we go through, and he uses those words,

decay, futility, suffering, and groaning. Yet, that's not all the apostle Paul writes in this letter to the Romans. He also says this. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. We wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies, for in this hope we were saved. Paul doesn't consider the sufferings to be compared with what's to come. He talks about the hope in which we are saved. Now, Paul does suffer. He has been run out of town, hunted down, rejected, thrown into prison, beaten up, shipwrecked. So, somebody who goes through that kind of suffering, how can he say that it's not worth comparing with what's to come, or that he has hope in the midst of that groaning? He does so by looking back to Jesus. In the hallway at our house, I have collected dozens of crosses. I took one of those. those crosses down and had it before me as I prepared the sermon. It's a small cross, five inches tall, three inches wide. The edges are beveled and smooth.

The surface is colored with happy greens and pinks. A word is printed in the middle of the cross beam in a joyous font. It says hope. How can Paul talk about hope and what's to come? By looking at Jesus on the cross. Yes, Jesus hung on a cross, but it was not one with pinks and greens and happy lettering. No, what you would have seen on that cross was bloodied wood that reeked of death. You would have heard the gasp of those hanging on that means of execution as they groaned their last gasp of air. Jesus hung on that cross. And what he did, he spoke a word that took all of the groans of all creation onto himself. He said, I thirst. His very body is groaning with the suffering. And with that, he takes all suffering, every moment of suffering onto himself. All the futility, all the decay becomes his. So that as Paul says, to adopt us as his own, to give us the redemption of our bodies, to save us. Yet death could not hold him. On Easter morning, his tomb was empty. He had risen from the dead in a body glorified with lungs breathing, heart beating, and nail scarred hands. My little cross shows it beautifully. With death comes new life,

comes the promise of the redemption of our bodies. Hope springs forth when Jesus walks out of the grave. You can hear it in a locked room filled with frightened disciples. Jesus appears to them on that first Easter and he speaks a different word this time. He says, peace be with you. And those frightened disciples breathe in the new life of the Holy Spirit. Color that little cross with beautiful colors because it is empty, the tomb is empty, and it has brought the hope of what is to come. In another one of Paul's letters, this time to the church in Corinth, he writes a long chapter about Jesus' resurrection. When he comes to the end of that chapter, he speaks a clear affirmation and belief of Christ's resurrection from the dead and he taunts sin and death. It's like he ridicules all the groaning and futility with a confident refrain of hope. Listen, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus, our groans will be as nothing to what will be revealed on the last day of all history. On that day, Jesus will return.

One day, he will come back for us. One day, he will destroy all the decay and groaning and futility of creation. One day, he will restore all of creation to its beauty and wonder. Oh, it'll be a new creation and we will experience the redemption of our bodies. We in the church have been confessing this confident hope for centuries in the words of the Apostles' Creed. I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Of course, it hasn't happened yet, but I believe we get glimpses of that glory to be revealed even now. In our home, we have a two-year-old golden retriever named Luke. He's been trained to bring a calm and comforting presence to times of heartache and pain too. Luke's coat is a beautiful golden brown. You should see him run zoomies in our backyard and he can walk miles with me in the morning. And when we go on that walk in the spring, I hear the birds singing. Trees and grass are colored in a bright green. Flowers bloom with shrubs with shades of pink and red and purple. Creation arises to new life once again. Oh, it's just a glimpse of the glory that is to come that will last forever. But still we see it a little bit already. And so we groan, but we groan with hope for the glory to come. My wife Sue and I lost our older son Matthew in 2017, suddenly at the age of 33 to a pulmonary embolism. We groaned, often without words. And the Holy Spirit took those sighs and tears of deep grief to the Heavenly Father for us. Years later, those groans may be less intense and not as frequent, but they have not disappeared. They are buried deep within us and they arise on days when we remember. Matthew was cremated, but not before each one of our family said goodbye to him. His body was on a gurney covered with a coarse hospital blanket. Each one of the family went up to him to say their goodbye. I came. The body had already started to

decay. I remember saying to him, rest in peace, Matthew. A few days later was the funeral service. God's word of comfort was read to us and a sermon was spoken that was wonderfully personal. The church was filled with people who gathered together to support us and to console us. His remains are buried in the church's peace garden, where Sue and I can go and sit whenever we decide to do so. But when we do, the groans are accompanied by hope. Yes, a day will come when the grief will end, the groans will be silenced, Jesus will return, and the dead in Christ will arise with bodies glorified. Those we love will be reunited. Creation will be new and filled with beauty and wonder. When you look back at Jesus going from, I thirst to peace be with you. When you look ahead with hope to his return on the last day, then you can say with the Apostle Paul these words, I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us. Amen. You're listening to the Lutheran Hour. For free online resources, archived audio, our mobile app, and more, go to LutheranHour.org. Sing with all the saints in glory, sing the resurrection song. Death and sorrow, earth's large glory, to the former day. below, for among clouds of breaking, soon the storms of time shall cease. In God's likeness we awaken, knowing ever has decreased. Life eternal, ever victorious, Jesus, the true love's most dear. Shout with joy, for his endless voices sound, and lift up your head. Life eternal, all but wondrous, crowned with one true adore. Heav'n on the earth's closing thunders, sage has been defiled through him. To thee, O Lord, who I lended my soul, to thee, O Lord, who I lifted my soul, my God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. To thee, O Lord, who I lended my soul,

my God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. My God, I trust in thee. Looking ahead to next week, the certainty that Jesus offers is not theoretical. It's the certainty of a promise, of a secure relationship, and it's worth the wait. When you think about waiting to see what comes after this life, what kind of waiting is it? Do you wait with a question mark or with a period? To wait with a period doesn't mean that all fear and uncertainty go away immediately. It doesn't mean every question gets answered. It doesn't answer what's next or why or how or where exactly, but it does answer who, because you know, you trust that for better or for worse, this person is your person. Dr. Michael Ziegler, next week. which your son for me won when his life was given. Under burdens of cross-bearing, though the weight may be great, yet I'm not despairing, you designed the cross you gave me. Thus you know all my woe, and how best to save me. Christians, let us be undaunted. Every day burn away that which us once haunted. Is it true that death defeats us? No, rejoice for Christ's voice, then in peace we'll greet us. Savior, Shepherd, my Defender, I belong to the throne, God-bought for that splendor.

Happy you, I want no other. Light of heaven to begin, my dear God and brother. Now Dr. Nielsen leads us in praying the Lord's Prayer. Taught by Jesus and his promises, we are bold to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look upon you with favor and give you his peace. Amen. The Lutheran Hour is made possible through the prayers and gifts of faithful listeners like you. To help us extend the worldwide outreach of the Lutheran Hour, go to LutheranHour.org. I'm Mark Eischer. This has been a presentation of Lutheran Hour Ministries. Lutheran Hour Ministries