Perspective Matters

The Great Eight
Perspective Matters
Romans 8:18-25

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Understanding my future radically changes the way I view and live my life today!

The Promised Provision of God

1. The Promise of Future Glory (18)

Consider/Reckon – Calculation/Thinking it through

Not worth comparing – “Tip the scales”

“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.” (2 Corinthians 4:8–10)

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

The Current Suffering Differs from the Future Glory in It’s:

• Intensity
• Duration

“But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,” (Philippians 3:20)

2. The Promise of a Renewed Creation (19-22)

Three Truths about the Cosmos

• The world was Intentionally Created by God

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

• The world is Not Now what it was created to be

“And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.” (Genesis 3:17–18)

• The world will one day be Renewed

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” (Revelation 21:1)

“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.” (Revelation 22:3)

“But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:13)

Imagery of childbirth – reminds us that this groaning is:

• Not Endless
• Not Hopeless

“The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own.” (Romans 8:19, J.B. Phillips NT in Modern English)

3. The Promise of a Resurrected Body (23-25)

• Presence of the Holy Spirit a Foretaste of what is to come
• The “Already” and the “Not Yet” of our Adoption
• Resurrected bodies

“knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” (2 Corinthians 4:14)

“who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.” (Philippians 3:21)

In the meantime we:

• Groan inwardly
• Wait eagerly and patiently
• Hope expectantly

Where there is Hope in the future, there is Power in the present!

In light of our future, we are not called to live a life of Passivity, but of purpose, power, passion and purity

“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.”
(2 Corinthians 4:16–18)

The Dot and The Line

What happens in the dot Determines everything that happens on the line!

• My Belief determines my eternal destination
• My Behavior determines my eternal reward

Am I living for the dot or am I living for the line?

Making It Personal

In light of my future that God has promised and provided…

A Truth I Need To Believe and Meditate On:

An Action I Need To Take: