SOUL SURFER WORKING ALL THINGS FOR GOOD Show movie trailer Romans 8:18-30 Soul Surfer is based

on the truly inspirational story of Bethany Hamilton, a competitive surfer who at 13 years old had her left arm taken off at almost the shoulder by a 14 foot tiger shark at Hanalei Bay, Kauai. Lets allow Bethany to tell her own story. Amazing isnt it? One of the many things that are accurate in the movie is that Bethany was back in the water a little over three weeks after the attack. By January of 2004 (less than three months) later Bethany was again competing. In the movie, while there are understandable moments of questioning Gods motives and wrestling with this tragic almost fatal attack, Bethany truly did seem to have an optimism and a faith that propeled her forward. The question Bethanys experiences raises is why do we suffer? Why do we experience bad things in life? What does the Bible have to say about this. Let me take you back to the passage of Scripture that was read to us this morning. Verse 18 says, 18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Just think about this with me. Youre going through a terrible time. You want to be a pro surfer. A shark bites off your arm. You want to have a large family. You cant conceive. You dream of being a doctor and helping people. Your average is two percent below admission to medical school. Whats the worst that can happen to you? How does the Bible answer our suffering?There are THREE PRESPECTIVES THIS PASSAGES GIVES US. There is the perspective of the glory that awaits us, the support He promises us and the work he does in us. THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE GLORY THAT AWAITS US. Again verse 18 tells us, Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. Just think about that for a moment. What hope can you offer me when life is awful? When things are so bad that I dont even want to get out of bed in the morning.

Glory is a perfect physical reality. What Paul is doing is he is painting this contrast. Heres the world. Heres the impact of the corrupt influence of sin. Its so bad, its so pervasive the very world that were apart of groans because of it. In other words we not only suffer but the world suffers. This takes us right back to the garden of Eden where the original man and woman was created to love and enjoy God and they were given dominion over the creation that God entrusted to them. When Adam and Eve broke that trust Genesis 3 tells us this 16 To the woman he said, "I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." 17And 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; 18thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.19By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." Before this the world that God had created was literally the Garden of Eden. The original sin literally impacted the very ground that we walk on so that instead of being this life giving place, where actually everyone was at the very least vegetarian, in not vegan, in other words where sharks werent going around chomping off peoples arms, the earth became a place inhabited by thorns and thistles. Let me just say Ive been reminded of this again recently. Some of you know my dad lives in Lantzville in an absolutely gorgeous spot overlooking the ocean. Hes got about a half acre that he bought about 20 years ago from a guy whose life had unraveled. When my dad bought the place it was like a jungle and buried beneath all the weeds were cars and all sorts of junk. But it was really weird because when my dad began to clean out the junk he discovered all this evidence that this place was once beautifully landscaped. My dad loves gardening and soon hed transformed the place with pathways and arbours and imported english roses. It was so beautiful that it was annually included in an annual international rose garden tour. But as some of you know my dads friend of many years developed Alzheimers disease over the past couple of years. She is now in a care home and doesnt even recognize my dad. Yet my dad spends an average of 5 to 6 hours a day caring for her. Over the summer Ive been going over on Long weekends after I preach and its still obviously a beautiful yard but you know whats

unmistakable? If were not careful the thorns and the thistles are going to take over. How does it give us hope in the midst of suffering? How does it make Bethany Hamilton optimistic in the loss of her arm? Easy. Verse 20 and 21 tells us, 20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to Gods curse. But with eager hope, 21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join Gods children in glorious freedom from death and decay. The Bible gives us the perspective, it instills in us the hope that life is not the way it should be and is not the way that it will be. There is the hope of glory, which in this case is pointing towards the day when God will make everything right and everything as it shall be. I love what C.S. Lewis says about this. He writes, They say of some temporal suffering, No future bliss can make up for it, not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and will turn even that agony into a glory. I would say having that perspective makes all the difference in the world in the midst of suffering because you can constantly remind yourself that the best is yet to come and that even the pain of what you suffer will be so radically vanquished that what has happened will only serve to make our future life and joy infinitely greater. And I dont want us to miss the fact that our future glory will be physical. Heaven isnt an ethereal place or just a gathering of souls or spirits. At the end of verse 23 we read, We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us. Yes we can get angry and depressed and go through all the stages of grief when we experience loss and when we suffer but the Bible tells us that a day is coming when our suffering shall be no more and even that all we have suffered will be put right. THE SECOND PERSEPECTIVE IS THE SUPPORT HE OFFERS US. Let me just ask whats so painful about suffering? Read the book of Job if you forget. Isnt it often that we feel so all alone. But notice how Paul encourages us. 26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we dont know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. 27 And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with Gods own will. A literal translation actually uses the word intercedes. When you intercede youre doing something on behalf of someone else. We pray and sometimes we have a sense of what it is that God wants us

to pray for and we pray clearly and powerful. But sometimes, especially those times of suffering God gives us the assurance that He is actually praying for us. That the Holy Spirit who dwells inside of us is actually praying through us and interceding for us. In other words that we can know that were not alone. That even in our darkest moments God the Holy Spirit is praying through us for us. I just want to say that sometimes these prayers dont actually give voice but I also believe that this is talking about a God given prayer language. The same word as is used for the gift of tongues is used here. Its not obviously a public gift of tongues because this is personal and private. But I would encourage you to allow the Spirit to pray through you as you pour your heart out to God especially in those moments when you feel so alone. But there is one last perspective that is literally an entire sermon or series in itself and that is the perspective of GOD COMPLETEING THE WORK HE HAS BEGUN IN US. Heres this amazing verse, this amazing promise from God 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Isnt it interesting how Paul introduces this statement? And we know We know this. I would say it like this if we will look from the perspective that God gives us we know that this statement that Paul makes is absolutely true. What is the statement? God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Let me just ask does this mean that we never suffer or never feel pain? Does it mean that God doesnt love us if we suffer or feel pain. Absolutely not. We may feel that way but this entire section of Scripture is Gods assurance to us through the experience of suffering. Whats going to help you make it through those painful seasons of your life when you suffer? You can know that nothing is going to be wasted. You can know that because God called you Hes going to see you through. In Pauls very own words at the end of this chapter you can knowIf God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, wont he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No onefor God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No onefor Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at Gods right hand, pleading for us.

Can anything ever separate us from Christs love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? 36 (As the Scriptures say, For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.) 37 No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from Gods love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrownot even the powers of hell can separate us from Gods love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth belowindeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. What perspective can bring you hope in suffering? That God will not give up to you. And not only will He not give up on you but He will make good everything that you experience so that you will become and you will experience everything that God desires for you.

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If you can know that, if you can take that perspective then you too can be like Bethany Hamilton and endure the greatest of suffering while shining Gods light in everything you do.