What I’ve Learned Preaching Through Romans 8

Our church has been working through Romans 8 in our worship gatherings for several months. I originally anticipated moving through this chapter in five or six sermons by covering five to ten verses per sermon. The anticipated speed died down after covering only one verse in one sermon and only three in another. Romans 8 ministered to me and taught me many things throughout my Christian life, but years of life and difficulties brought new life to this chapter as I studied it. By soaking in this passage for the last several months, several old lessons came back to me with a new force.

Our Identity Must Be Rooted in Who We are In Christ
Christians often wrestle with finding our identity in something that is fleeting and shallow. We look to our accomplishments, relationships, and possessions for meaning when they can all be gone in a moment. They were never meant to bear the weight of our personal significance and identity. Instead Romans 8 reminds the Christian of who we are Jesus Christ. The first verse declares that God no longer condemns those who are found in Christ. For the one who trusts in Jesus, God forgives us because of Jesus’ death for us and reckons us righteous because of Jesus’ perfect life. We stand before God fully accepted and justified in his sight. Nothing can make us more or less justified before God. Paul also reminds us that through Christ God adopts us as his children. Though we once were hostile towards God and strangers to him, he brought us into his family and is our Father.

Recognizing our newfound identity in Christ changes something in us. We begin to realize that we do not need to earn God’s approval or anyone else’s. We can get off the treadmill of trying to impress people and simply be who we are because of Jesus. Knowing we are justified by God and adopted by God also leads us to walk with humility towards other people. We know we aren’t defined by what we have accomplished or accumulated but because of what Jesus has done, so we now have no grounds to act like we are a big deal. We are who we are by grace alone, so now our lives should be characterized by grace and humility.

Our Future Inheritance Helps Us Face Difficulties Here
Paul moves from our adoption to the inheritance we will share as “fellow heirs with Christ.” The adopted children of God receive the same inheritance as the perfect Son of God. Because Christ’s perfect life has been credited to us, we get the same future he has. Those who belong to Christ will reign with him in the new heavens and new earth. Our bodies will be characterized by glory and immortality instead of pain and futility. Paul speaks so certainly of our future glorification in verse 30 that he uses the past tense.

Paul uses the hope of our future glorification to encourage us to persevere through trials and difficulty. He says the present sufferings we face are not worth comparing the glory we will experience when Christ returns. We need to hear this because our present trails do not feel light or momentary. They feel crushing and overwhelming. Paul tells us that these are real sufferings and real difficulties, but they cannot compare with what will come to those who believe. We should therefore endure our obstacles with patience, fixing our eyes on Jesus who will transform us when he returns. From the perspective of eternity, our trials here only last a moment, so we endure them with patience, prayer, and humility.

Related Posts:
“Your Worst Days and Best Days Don’t Define You”
“Planning to Pray“

For Further Reading:
Prayer by Timothy Keller