This sermon was preached at Christ United Methodist Church in East Moline, IL on Sunday, July 16, 2023.

Romans 8:28-39

Introduction

Thank you for that warm welcome. It is a treat to be here with you this morning. I’m grateful to share the Word of God with you today. And I also want to share a little bit about myself. When I meet new people, I always like to let them know that I am one of the few people in the world who is a true Christian. My name is Tim Christian, and I can say that I am a Christian…in more than one way, because I was born a Christian, and I was also born at a very young age. But enough about me. Let’s hear from God this morning.

Scripture Reading

Love Is a One-Way Street?

Romans 8 is, hands down, the greatest chapter in the whole Bible. It has inspired and comforted so many people throughout the past 2,000 years. And the end of Romans 8, especially verses 37-39, is considered to be the greatest words ever penned.

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 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” (Rom 8:37-39).

Do you feel encouraged already here this morning? Most Christians and Bible scholars today read and interpret this passage as speaking about God’s love for us. Nothing can separate us from God loving us through Jesus. Isn’t that amazing? Can I get an Amen?

Now while I don’t want to take away from this marvelous truth, I want to suggest that there is another, fuller way to interpret these amazing words that goes all the way back to St. Augustine in 400s and was later echoed by Martin Luther in the 1500s, yet for some reason many today seem to have lost this meaning altogether.

The overwhelming interpretation of these verses today by so many can be summarized as such: love is a one-way street. They think that this passage is only talking about God loving us. And again God does love us, but when we consider the whole context of Romans chapter 8, another, fuller story emerges, again one that Augustine and Luther emphasized—that love is a two-way street, that this passage speaks about God’s love for us and our love for God. Nothing can separate us from God’s love for us and nothing can get in the way of our love for God. Love is a two-way street.

So let’s take a closer look and see why, in fact, Romans 8 tells us that love is a two-way street.

Question and Answer

Verse 37 immediately tips us off that we need to go backwards, because it starts with an answer, “No!” Well, what was the question? What is Paul saying “no” to? We can’t get the answer from verse 37. We have to go back to the previous paragraph.

The previous paragraphs are full of questions, but the ones that Paul is answering “No!” to come in v. 35:

“[What] shall separate us from the love of Christ?” (v. 35)

“Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword [separate us from the love of Christ]?” (v. 35)

If we skip over v. 36, Paul gives his answer: “No!” These things will not separate us from the love of God. But you know what? A lot of people today think that if bad things are happening to you that God doesn’t like you or that he’s mad at you or that you’re being punished for your bad behavior and sin. They think that hardships and troubles are proof that God doesn’t love them.

But friends, Paul tells us a different story. Hardships don’t mean that God doesn’t love you. Stressful times don’t equal that God’s not there for you: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Rom 8:31). Having food or clothing insecurities doesn’t mean that God doesn’t love you. Friends, our Christian brothers and sisters around the world who are right now being persecuted, who are in danger, who are experiencing the sword; that is not a sign that God has abandoned them. God is with those who are in trouble; He is an ever-present help in time of need.

“The Love of Christ” – God’s Love for Us

So don’t give in to the lies of the enemy that say that hard times mean that God is mad at you. Nothing can separate you from God’s love. As Hebrews says, “…the Lord disciplines those he loves…Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you like sons” (Heb 12:6-7). Sometimes we pray, “Lord, can you love me a little less?” Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). Or as Paul says here in Rom 8:17, “…we share in [Christ’s] sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Friends, whatever you may be going through this morning or whatever you came through this week or whatever you are going to go through in the coming days, know that your suffering does not mean that God has left you or abandoned you or forsaken you. Because nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing can separate you from God’s love in Jesus.

So let us hear the fullness of all of Paul’s questions in v. 35. I want to invite you to help me by responding to each question with “No!”

Shall trouble separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall hardship separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall persecution separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall famine separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall nakedness separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall danger separate us from the love of Christ? No!

Shall sword separate us from the love of Christ? No!

And so, in v. 37, when it says, “in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us,” it means all these things listed here:

In trouble, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In hardship, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In persecution, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In famine, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In nakedness, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In danger, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In sword, we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us.

In all our sufferings in life, we are more than conquerors through Jesus and his love.

So friends, this is one side of the street—that Christ loves us and helps us be victorious through our darkest, most challenging moments. Amen?

“The Love of Christ” – Our Love for God

Well, Romans 8 isn’t done with us yet. There is another way, another street, another side of the coin, another part to the story. Because when Paul asks in v. 35, “What shall separate us from the love of Christ?” he’s not just talking about Christ’s love for us on the cross, his death and resurrection, conquering sin and death for our sake to bring us back to God and give us life eternal in the resurrection. No, friends, there’s even more for us here, because the phrase “love of Christ” here also means our love for Christ. It is a double meaning, both-and. God’s love and our love: “What shall separate us from loving Christ?”

We just read it from the perspective of God is with us in our trials and helps us through them. But that’s the tricky thing about trials and hardships; they first tempt us to think that God has forsaken us and that there is separation between us and God. Thank God that’s not true. But the other tricky thing about trials and hardships is that they also tempt us to forsake the One who loves us so, and the matter becomes, “Will we love God in the midst of adversity? Or will we give up and throw in the towel? What can get you to stop loving God?”

Throughout Romans 8, we see Paul talk about our love for God. Romans 8:28 sets the precedent: “And we know that in all things God works for the good” of whom? He works all things out for the good “of those who love him” (8:28).

And then, in v. 36, Paul throws some Scripture at us, Psalm 44:22:

“Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Psalm 44:22).

We read this Psalm earlier in the service. It parallels perfectly the hardships and persecutions that the Christians in Rome were experiencing when Paul wrote to them. In Psalm 44, the Psalmist recounts how God always came through for his people in the past whenever they were in trouble. Now they are in trouble again, the enemy has surrounded them, and they are being slaughtered. It seems as if God isn’t helping them. Yet the Psalmist says that it is not because of their sin. We haven’t done anything wrong. Where are you, God? Why are these bad things happening to us, your good people? But the Psalmist shows resolve and trust in God and says, “[O God] For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” Put another way, “we’ll go through this for you, Lord, because we love you and know that you’ve got the best for us in mind.” We know that in all things—hardships included—God works everything out for those who love him.

One way that the Psalmist here demonstrates his love for God is by enduring terrible hardship, even death all around him. But he refuses to give in to the tempting thought that God had abandoned him. God hadn’t abandoned him, and he wasn’t going to abandon God.

And the same pressure was on the Roman Christians who were facing persecution during Paul’s day, and the same pressure is on us today who are also enduring similar troubles and hardships. The question is, “Will those things stop you from loving Christ? Will we love God? Will I love God even during the hard times?” Hard times come. It came for the Psalmist and the Christians in Rome; it’s here for us now. And the question is, “Are you going to love God no matter what happens to you?”

Verse 35 could be translated: “[What] shall separate us from loving Christ?” I’m going to invite you again to answer “No!” to these questions that Paul asks:

Will troubles get you to stop loving God? No!

Will hardships get you to stop loving God? No!

Will persecution get you to stop loving God? No!

Will famine stop you from loving God? No!

Will nakedness stop you from loving God? No!

Will danger stop you from loving God? No!

Will the sword stop you from loving God? No!

Paul’s answer is a definitive “No!” In all these things, we are not just conquerors, but more than conquerors—super-conquerors (meaning absolute victory, winning by a landslide). How? How are we conquerors? We are super-conquerors through Christ who loved us.

Love Is a Two-Way Street

You see, love is a two-way street; it goes both ways. We conquer through hardships by Christ’s love for us, and we love Christ no matter what hardships come our way. It’s as John says, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

“[What] can separate us from the love of Christ?” (8:35). Paul believed—and we should too—that death, life, angels, demons, present time, future time, powers, heights, depths, and all created things are unable to separate us from loving God and from God loving us.

Application

Now it’s really easy for me to stand up here and say this. And it’s another thing to live it out and do it. Easier said than done. It won’t be perfect. It’s not clean cut. Life is messy. Our hearts get tangled up pretty easily. And when those hard times come, we’ve got to be completely honest with God. No holds barred. Don’t hold back. God can handle it. The Psalmists did this all the time: “Where are you, God? Why don’t you answer? Why have you forsaken us?”

The hardest thing that my family ever went through that tempted me to think God didn’t love us and tempted me to stop loving God was when my mother-in-law passed away. I’ve been so blessed with the best in-laws anyone could ask for. My father-in-law is one of my closest friends. But my mother-in-law passed away in 2015 after a two-year battle with cancer. She fought hard, and we got two extra years with her. She got to meet two of her four grandkids. And she was the glue that held my wife’s family together. She was large and in charge. And without her, it’s been rough. Death and grief have changed us all. It’s earth shattering to care for your spouse who’s grieving and just had their world turned upside down and lost her best friend and biggest cheerleader and support. She was such an amazing woman.

And even through the tears and heartache, there was a worship song that carried us through that time, a song written by Jeremy Camp, a song that he wrote after his wife died, called “I Still Believe.” The chorus says,

‘Cause I still believe in Your faithfulness
‘Cause I still believe in Your truth
‘Cause I still believe in Your holy word
Even when I don’t see, I still believe

I still believe. I still love. I still love you, God. Even in the hardest time of my life, “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4). “For your sake, we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered” (Psa 44:22; Rom 8:36). In other words, I still believe. I still love you, God. Even though it doesn’t make sense and you haven’t answered my questions of why. Death won’t get me to stop loving you, Lord.

Friends, don’t let the tough times make you think that God doesn’t love you, and don’t let the tough times stop you from loving the Lord whatever comes your way, because we’ve got to take up our crosses and follow Jesus. Being a Christian isn’t easy. It’s tough. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Be tough. Be unmovable in your resolve. Be firmly convinced like Paul that nothing can keep you from God’s love. Let’s not let anything keep God from our love. Would you pray with me?

Prayer

The Prayer of Richard, Bishop of Chichester

“Day by day, dear Lord, of thee three things I pray: to see thee more clearly, [to] love thee more dearly, [and to] follow thee more nearly, day by day.”