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The Irreplaceable Love of God
Romans 8:31-39
Mari Ikeda
We’ve been reading Romans from the beginning of this year, and now we have finally got to the halfway point today. Today’s part – Chap 8 verse 31-39 is the praise to God as a closing of the first half of Romans. We will hear Paul’s words of excitement to God repeatedly. Verse 31-34 talks about how God loves us so much, and 35-39 talks about how we can never go astray from God now that we know His such love for us. We will read the scriptures little by little as usual. Let’s start with 31-32.
A. A God who never stops loving us
1. Crying out to the Lord as we wander (4-9)
31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
This is a part we need to read carefully, or we could misinterpret. “God is for us” means not that God will agree with everything we do, and that He would beat anyone that’s against us. Rather, it means that God is the one who will always forgive and love us, regardless of how sinful we are, or how we make him sad or angry. We could also say He is the one who never sees us as His enemy and will never stop to be our friend, when we have always been against Him. Verse 32 explains it, as well as 33 and 34 which clarifies it even further. God is the one who “did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all.” God gave up his own life as Jesus for us. That was in order to forgive our sin.
Therefore, he “graciously give(s) us all things” has more meaning than he simply gives us everything we need. It means He gives us all of this world – to us, as His own children. He longed that we would rule this world with Him, as His children and His partners. We are definitely not worthy to meet His such expectations and trust, but His big love made us appropriate.
Let’s continue to 33 -34.
2. He intercedes for us (33-34)
33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died —more than that, who was raised to life —is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
God is the only one who can judge us fairly. And there is no one who can be admitted perfectly righteous by God. God is the judge, but he also became our lawyer, and he even came down to be a defendant. Furthermore, he died on behalf of us, carrying our sin. Who should have died on the cross was us, but Jesus died instead. God was determined to forgive our sin, through Jesus’ cross, and to declare us innocent. That was because, again, He is the one who never cease to love us.
Jesus, who died for our sin, has resurrected and is with us today. He is interceding for us, so that we would not die among our own sin and weakness, and so that we would not be despaired for our physical death. It is in order for us to feel God’s love with confidence, and to believe the hope we cannot see.
Let’s continue to the second half – start with verse 35-37.
B. We cannot be separated from God
1. Even if we suffer for our belief in God (35-37)
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
What we heard in verse 35 are all personal experiences of Paul, the author of this letter. Paul also says this in another scripture.
I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. (2Corinthians 11:26-27)
We would all go though some sort of experiences similar to that, though it would probably not be as extreme as what Paul did. When we live believing in Jesus, we would surely interact deeply with variety of people, and we would definitely have times of conflicts or being taken advantage of. And that would happen even when the other person has no bad intentions. That is because that is the humans’ limitation.
Meanwhile, among those who actually live loving God and people with all of their heart, there are those who runs around to help others by cutting down their own household expenses, and even by making debt. To live loving God and people is to share sufferings with others, and that requires effort and strength and time and money. That is no surprise, as Paul quoted from Psalms that “for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” It is not something to be surprised about – that to live following Jesus is accompanied with suffering.
”No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” – our battle is not to win a competition against others and achieve many things, but to deliver love and hope to where there is no love and hope. We do that because we want to do that, because we love Jesus. So, we don’t lose hope and joy even when others make us suffer or don’t understand us.
We’ll read the last part, 38-39.
2. He intercedes for us (33-34)
38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 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.
Paul declared that there is nothing that can “separate us from the love of God”. He could say that because he is assured that God’s love is the most valuable thing that cannot be replaced with anything. Are we assured like him? Are we fearing to be separated from God than fearing death? Are we longing to live with God more than to live with anyone else? Do we acknowledge that God’s love will never change both in good times and bad times, both when we feel as if angels protect us and when we are in situation like Satan is attacking us? God knows our past, present, and future, and He has guided us so far, and will guild us now on. God is the one who will follow us forever, and call us back close to Him, whether we go to Heaven or hell. We are the irreplaceable loving children of God that He would even give his life. No matter how weak we may be, no matter how many times we repeat mistakes, God will never cease to love us. Even if we forgot or denied God, He still died on the cross as Jesus, exactly for us. We have times when we feel overwhelmed by worries and sorrows, but no one, including us, can ever erase the love of God that Jesus showed on the cross.
We would like to conclude this message with a prayer – the prayer of Paul on Ephesians Chapter 3, by replacing “you” with “we, our, us”.
I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen (us) with power through his Spirit in our inner being, so that Christ may dwell in (our) hearts through faith. And I pray that (we), being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge —that (we) may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Summary
God loves us unrelentingly. The love that God pours out on us does not change despite our sinfulness or our tendency to grieve and anger God. This is because God himself died on our behalf, taking on all of our sin and suffering. Nothing can take away the love of God that is revealed to us in the cross of Jesus, no matter how sad or troubled we are and despite our sin and weakness.
For Discussion
- What does it mean that God is for us and that he will give us all things?
- Have you ever wanted to walk away from Jesus?