Today’s epistle reading ends with one of my favorite, and I think one of the most powerful passages in Scripture. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” What a fantastic and forceful statement of faith! What a comforting message about the love of God!
But what made Paul so sure? What made Paul so supremely confident in his faith and standing before God? And how can we live with that same level of supreme, undying confidence in God’s ever-present love for us? To answer that, let’s take a look at the verses at the beginning of this passage.
Paul says here, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” We hear that and it wouldn’t be hard to think about those times that weren’t so good. That Paul didn’t know what he was talking about. That he had no idea what it was like to suffer. Of course, saying that completely ignores everything that Paul went through during the course of his ministry, from receiving the 40 lashes minus one not once, not twice, but FIVE times. To being stoned. To being shipwrecked and spending a day and a night at sea. To being bitten by poisonous snakes. To being arrested time and time again.
Make no mistake, Paul knew suffering. He knew pain. He knew difficulty. Paul recognized Satan’s efforts to try and stop him from proclaiming the good news of Christ. He recognized that being shipwrecked, being imprisoned, and having a crowd of people chuck rocks at his head were NOT good things, or the ideal way to carry out a ministry. But, he was also fully aware of how God worked even through the worst of his situations. While in prison, he was able to witness to both his fellow prisoners and to the guards that kept him in chains. When shipwrecked, he was able to demonstrate God’s love and power to those who were stranded along with him. Paul saw God continue to work in even the bleakest of situations.
When Paul says that God works in all things for the good of those who love him, he’s not using it as an empty platitude, or to say that things aren’t really bad. He says it to encourage. He says it to encourage and to bring hope to people that even in the worst of times, God is at work in the lives of his people.
God doesn’t cause bad things to happen to us. Bad things are a natural result of living in a sinful world. But when bad things do happen, when suffering and struggles do happen, God promises to be there and work in those bad situations so that good may come out of them. It’s a truth that Paul came to know in his own life, and a truth he wants us to always be aware of as well. We might not immediately recognize how, but God is always there. Always working on behalf of those who he calls his own. Even in our struggles, God never abandons his children, never forgets his promises to them, and never stops working on their behalf. And as Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
This is another place where it’s important to look at what Paul is actually saying. He’s not asking “who would ever dream of standing against us?” I’m sure we could all easily think of multiple answers to who or what is against us and seeking to do us harm. Addictions, disease, exhaustion, fires, floods, certain classmates or co-workers…the list could go on and on. But that’s not the question at hand. The question is, “If God is for us….SINCE God is for us, who can possibly hope to defeat us?” God is on our side. Think about that for a second. The creator of the universe, the author of all life, is on our side. Every evil, every enemy we have in the world could come at us at once, and still be no match for God. If God is for us, who can be against us?
Now, Paul wasn’t stupid. He knew what question his readers and maybe even you were going to ask next. How do we know that God is on our side? How do we know for sure that he is working for us? And even if he is on our side now, how do we know he’s going to stay there? How do we know he won’t turn against us later? To answer that, Paul points to what God has already done for us.
Since man’s creation, all we have ever done is sin against the one who created us. When you read through Scripture, it’s one example of man’s failures and falls after another. If we were each given a divine copy of the books of our lives, it would be no different. The dramatic miracles might be missing, but the theme of our constant failure to truly love God with all of our hearts, minds, and souls would still be a constant theme. And yet through it all, despite all of our innumerable shortcomings and stumbles, God’s love stayed true. Through it all, God kept his word. Through it all, God continues to be there for his people. He continues to bless his people.
There was nothing that we did that could have convinced him we were worth or worthy of being saved, but he saved us anyway. Even though we didn’t deserve it, God loved us enough to give up his own Son for our sake. He punished and killed his own perfect Son for the sins that we committed. And he did it of his own grace and mercy. We didn’t deserve it and we can’t pay him back, but still he gave up his Son so that we might have eternal salvation. And the only possible reason that he had for doing that was because of his love for us. Because even though we don’t deserve it, his is a deep and amazing love. Because despite our being sinful creatures, God is on our side. If he loves us enough to give up his Son, what wouldn’t he do for us? With a God who loves us that deeply, that unconditionally, sinful and broken as we are, what do we have to fear?
Any charge that Satan can make of us, God has already answered. Whatever sins he accuses us of and charges us with are already forgiven and wiped away. By the power of the blood of Christ, we are justified and declared innocent by the almighty God. Satan and the forces of this world see us as prey. Paul quotes Psalms and says that we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. But because of what Christ has done for us, because God is on our side, we are instead now more than conquerors. Every foe that would seek to tear us from God’s love has already been overcome. In Christ they have all been conquered for all time. They might harass us, they might seek to do us harm, but they absolutely can not separate us from his love.
Still, you might be wondering, how do I know that this promise is true for me? It’s a question that has plagued more than one believer throughout the ages. One of the myths of Christianity is that our faith is always going to be burning with a white-hot intensity. That a true Christian never has a weak moment. But that’s not just true. When you read through the Psalms, you see that David had moments of weakness. Abraham, the great patriarch of Israel, had moments of weakness. Peter, Paul, the other disciples…all had moments of weakness and discouragement. Satan works constantly at causing God’s children to doubt that he does indeed love them. He works to sow seeds of doubt as to whether all the promises God makes really do apply to me.
And so it happens that even life-long Christians find themselves wondering, “How do I know that it’s talking about me?” Maybe you have even faced that question. Maybe you have had moments that the joy and passion you once felt weren’t as strong as they were before. That you were afraid that maybe God’s love for you was fading away. In those times, God has a message and a promise for you. You…are…his. In Isaiah 43 God says, “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are mine.” And even more this message and this promise have been sealed for us in the waters of Holy Baptism. In our baptism we are sealed with a promise. It is a promise from our heavenly Father who has kept every promise that he has ever made to his people. And it’s a promise that is sealed with more than his already perfect words. It is a promise that God tied also to a real, physical event so that we might have supreme confidence.
We invite others to witness our baptism so that there might be no doubt that that promise was given to you. In this way even a young child who doesn’t remember their baptism can be assured that yes, you have been made a child of God. Your sins have been washed away. You have received the assured hope of eternal salvation in the kingdom of God. By the power of the Water and the Word the Holy Spirit has been poured out upon you and you have been marked as one chosen to be remade in the image of your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. God has called you to be his child, and promises to be with you through every high, low, and in-between.
This message, this promise is the reason Paul was able to so boldly and forcefully preach the gospel. It was a message of hope, and it was a message of comfort. What in all of creation can possibly separate us from the love of God? Nothing. God is on your side, and he is far more powerful than any foe. As a called and redeemed child of God, we can along with Paul confidently proclaim “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” May it be so. Amen.
