Dave Hentschel: Well, good morning.
Dave Hentschel: Please turn with me to Romans chapter eight.
Dave Hentschel: We'll be starting there today.
Dave Hentschel: And as you do that, let me just share with you this perhaps common experience.
Dave Hentschel: If you've ever been in a hospital late at night, you know the sound.
Dave Hentschel: It's not loud, it's not dramatic.
Dave Hentschel: It's the sound of groaning, machines humming, footsteps in the hall, somebody coughing behind a curtain.
Dave Hentschel: No one is pretending everything is fine.
Dave Hentschel: My daughter Felicity is working as a certified nursing assistant while she's in college on the weekends, and she'll come home on Saturdays and tell me about the suffering that she sees there and the groaning that she hears during the day.
Dave Hentschel: I've been in those rooms many times myself.
Dave Hentschel: I find it difficult to see that level of suffering.
Dave Hentschel: If I visit someone, the Lord has wired me in such a way that I'd like to be helpful.
Dave Hentschel: I'd like to be useful.
Dave Hentschel: And those scenarios remind me of how helpless I really am.
Dave Hentschel: And so I have to sit back and allow the Lord to just be present there in the discomfort.
Dave Hentschel: The groaning.
Dave Hentschel: The Bible tells us that all of creation is groaning.
Dave Hentschel: The church is groaning as well.
Dave Hentschel: Not because we lack faith, but because we are a people in waiting and we are waiting for something.
Dave Hentschel: We groan and we suffer, and this is especially true for those who may have a disability.
Dave Hentschel: This morning I assert that the problem isn't just that we suffer, it's that we suffer alone.
Dave Hentschel: And so the title of my message for today is The Body That Suffers Together.
Dave Hentschel: And I want to talk to you about three things in this message this morning, starting in Romans 8 and then landing over in 1 Corinthians.
Dave Hentschel: First, we'll talk about the reality we share, and then secondly, we'll talk about the hope that sustains us, and then we will finally finish up talking about the way God cares.
Dave Hentschel: We're in our series on upside down glory talking about disability and the church, and we've talked about a lot of different topics.
Dave Hentschel: We've talked about the topic of identity, the topic of advocacy, the topic of theology.
Dave Hentschel: Today we're talking about the topic of suffering, specifically tied to the role of the local church.
Dave Hentschel: And so that's our plan for this morning.
Dave Hentschel: Let's pray and then we'll dive into God's word together.
Dave Hentschel: Heavenly Father, we come before you as your people gathered, but not all the same.
Dave Hentschel: We're united, yet each of us carry our own burdens in here today.
Dave Hentschel: And you know every story in the room.
Dave Hentschel: You hear every quiet grief, you know every hidden fear, you know every weary heart that's come into this place today, longing to hear from you.
Dave Hentschel: Thank you that you are not distant.
Dave Hentschel: You see all suffering, you hear it all, you enter into it, and through your spirit you meet us.
Dave Hentschel: You meet us in your word, you meet us through your people.
Dave Hentschel: Even when we don't have words, you meet us in our prayers.
Dave Hentschel: Today we pause for a second to pray for our dear sister in Christ Palma, who lost her husband Fred last week.
Dave Hentschel: We ask for a peace.
Dave Hentschel: We pray for our brother Steve Gunderson, who continues to fight multiple myeloma.
Dave Hentschel: We would ask for healing.
Dave Hentschel: We pray for our sister Betty Gallagher, who's recovering from hip surgery.
Dave Hentschel: Would you grant her strength?
Dave Hentschel: Open our hearts now to your word.
Dave Hentschel: Help us to hear, not just with our minds and uh but hear with our truest souls.
Dave Hentschel: Give us humility before your word.
Dave Hentschel: Give us faith, give us tenderness toward what you have to say here.
Dave Hentschel: And Lord, where there is groaning, would you plant hope?
Dave Hentschel: And where there is isolation, would you build some connections?
Dave Hentschel: And then when there's weariness, would you renew our strength?
Dave Hentschel: We offer our time to you.
Dave Hentschel: Uh we're here to listen.
Dave Hentschel: Shape us and comfort us and renew our minds, draw us closer to you and to each other.
Dave Hentschel: We pray it all in Jesus' name.
Dave Hentschel: And everyone said, Amen.
Dave Hentschel: So the first thing we want to talk about is the reality that we share.
Dave Hentschel: Um suffering.
Dave Hentschel: It's inevitable.
Dave Hentschel: Romans chapter 8, uh, picking it up with verse 18.
Dave Hentschel: If you're there with me, say amen.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says this I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Dave Hentschel: Pause right there.
Dave Hentschel: Notice, Paul does not minimize suffering, he normalizes suffering.
Dave Hentschel: We know from history, Paul himself is not a stranger to suffering.
Dave Hentschel: He was shipwrecked, he was persecuted, he was stoned, he was even left for dead at one point.
Dave Hentschel: But here in verse 18, this is Paul talking, and he says, I consider something.
Dave Hentschel: Notice those words, I consider.
Dave Hentschel: What that means is he's been thinking about something and thinking over something very carefully and weighing the evidence.
Dave Hentschel: And this is his conclusion.
Dave Hentschel: As I consider, no matter what I go through, I consider that the sum total of all this suffering is not even worth comparing to the glory that awaits me one day.
Dave Hentschel: This is the great Christian hope that one day this universe will be transformed.
Dave Hentschel: One day, even our bodies will be made new, and we will be like Christ.
Dave Hentschel: We will feast with him and reign with him and shine like the sun.
Dave Hentschel: When we lift our eyes toward that hope, toward that future glory, when we set our minds on things above, where Christ is, when we think about feasting with him and reigning with him, then we will find that there's simply no comparison with our pain that we experience now compared to the glory that will be revealed in the future.
Dave Hentschel: Verse 19 continues.
Dave Hentschel: Here, Paul is poetically describing inanimate creation as if it can wait eagerly.
Dave Hentschel: The term eager expectation is the idea of someone craning their neck and looking to see what's coming around the corner.
Dave Hentschel: What Paul is saying here in sort of a word picture, if you will, is that this whole world is like up on its tiptoes, waiting to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into our own.
Dave Hentschel: Why?
Dave Hentschel: Why is that?
Dave Hentschel: Verse 20 tells us the problem.
Dave Hentschel: For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
Dave Hentschel: Right here, Paul is saying that creation itself is waiting.
Dave Hentschel: It has been subjected to something, and he calls it here, it's been subjected to frustration.
Dave Hentschel: Now, why is that?
Dave Hentschel: It was subjected because God subjected it, and the reason God subjected it to frustration is because of something called the curse.
Dave Hentschel: In Genesis chapter 3, we're told that humanity broke away from God, we fell into sin, we rebelled against our Creator, and then at that point, creation itself began to experience this groaning, things like deadly diseases and decay and even death.
Dave Hentschel: All of creation knows this, Paul says.
Dave Hentschel: All of creation is waiting eagerly for the future.
Dave Hentschel: All of creation also knows that the reason why they're waiting is because of us.
Dave Hentschel: George Whitfield, the great Puritan preacher, used to say, haven't you ever noticed that when you come near to the animals, they growl at us, they bark at us, the birds screech at us and fly away.
Dave Hentschel: Do you know why?
Dave Hentschel: They know that we have a quarrel with their master.
Dave Hentschel: Just think of that the next time you're chased by your neighbor's dog or a bird messes on your car.
Dave Hentschel: Creation is frustrated with you.
Dave Hentschel: Even the loveliest scenes of nature will still witness the fury of the elements, floods and hurricanes and tornadoes and droughts and earthquakes.
Dave Hentschel: We see at times the forces of nature are almost fighting against themselves.
Dave Hentschel: Can you feel the gears of this world grinding?
Dave Hentschel: Do you hear the sound of the groaning?
Dave Hentschel: Verse 22.
Dave Hentschel: We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
Dave Hentschel: The illustration that he chose to use here is the illustration of childbirth.
Dave Hentschel: In case you don't know this, the moms in the room will tell you, childbirth hurts.
Dave Hentschel: I do not know about this firsthand, but secondhand, I have seen this pain not once, not twice, but three different times in my life with my three daughters.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says, when you see pain like that, that is an echo of the larger story.
Dave Hentschel: Now, as I said, though I've never experienced that kind of pain firsthand, I have had three kidney stones in my life.
Dave Hentschel: Just please raise your hand if you can relate to me on this.
Dave Hentschel: A couple of you.
Dave Hentschel: I am so sorry.
Dave Hentschel: I feel you guys, it's rough.
Dave Hentschel: It's rough.
Dave Hentschel: My body likes to create these stones like every seven years or so.
Dave Hentschel: I don't know why.
Dave Hentschel: It's horrible.
Dave Hentschel: But one of the things I know about kidney stones is it's very different from the pain of childbirth.
Dave Hentschel: There is no comparison.
Dave Hentschel: You know why?
Dave Hentschel: Because I never hear people sitting around going, you should see that kidney stone, man.
Dave Hentschel: It was all worth it.
Dave Hentschel: Now that I got to see this stone, I forgot about all the pain.
Dave Hentschel: No, we don't talk about it like that.
Dave Hentschel: We only sit around and talk about the pain.
Dave Hentschel: We only sit around and talk about the suffering.
Dave Hentschel: We only sit around and talk about the excruciating tragedy of it all.
Dave Hentschel: Why?
Dave Hentschel: Because there's no glory afterwards.
Dave Hentschel: There is no glory like there's glory after the birth of a child.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says the groaning of this world is not like the groaning of the kidney stone.
Dave Hentschel: The groaning of this world, rather, is more like the pain of a woman who's bearing a beautiful child.
Dave Hentschel: The groaning of this world is more like the kind of groaning that's followed by beauty and joy for the people of God.
Dave Hentschel: One day there's this great hope in front of us after the groaning.
Dave Hentschel: Until then, creation is groaning.
Dave Hentschel: Almost as if it could speak, saying, This is not the way it's supposed to be.
Dave Hentschel: The whole creation groans.
Dave Hentschel: Suffering, Paul says, is cosmic.
Dave Hentschel: And suffering is quite personal.
Dave Hentschel: Let me give you an example.
Dave Hentschel: In 1982, Nick Voyczych was born in Brisbane, Australia, with Tetraamilia syndrome.
Dave Hentschel: It's a rare genetic disorder where Nick was born with no arms and no legs.
Dave Hentschel: Although he has two small feet attached to the bottom of his torso.
Dave Hentschel: Growing up, Nick understandably struggled emotionally and physically to accept his condition.
Dave Hentschel: When he was ten years old, Nick actually attempted to drown himself.
Dave Hentschel: He tried to commit suicide.
Dave Hentschel: He gave up.
Dave Hentschel: He did not see any hope.
Dave Hentschel: You know, one of the reasons I like the Bible is because it deals with the hardest issues of life.
Dave Hentschel: It does not sweep the painful things under the rug, or the complex things, or the confusing things, or the provoking things, or the shocking things, or the controversial things.
Dave Hentschel: And one of the hardest things in life is suffering, and one of the hardest kinds of suffering is the suffering experienced by a child.
Dave Hentschel: Especially when that early suffering turns into a lifetime of living with a profound loss.
Dave Hentschel: But the Bible is not silent on these things at all.
Dave Hentschel: In fact, I found the opposite.
Dave Hentschel: Rather, that the scriptures are permeated with stories of suffering and sorrow.
Dave Hentschel: And I'm so thankful that we have more than just a human opinion on these matters.
Dave Hentschel: Left to ourselves, where would we go?
Dave Hentschel: Where would we turn?
Dave Hentschel: Left to ourselves, we would be completely lost.
Dave Hentschel: Left to ourselves, we would be like this piece of graffiti that I saw one time that just said this: life is hard and then you die.
Dave Hentschel: Now, in some ways, that's true.
Dave Hentschel: But that's way too cynical.
Dave Hentschel: The Bible's much more complicated than that.
Dave Hentschel: And it's much more nuanced than that, and it's much more hopeful than that.
Dave Hentschel: May I ask you, do you hear the groan of creation around you?
Dave Hentschel: It's not just creation that groans.
Dave Hentschel: Verse 23 continues, where Paul says, it's not only so, but we ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.
Dave Hentschel: What do we groan for?
Dave Hentschel: I want to draw your attention to that phrase.
Dave Hentschel: We groan for the redemption of our bodies.
Dave Hentschel: Meaning we will one day trade in our old vessels for a body that will not decay, will not age, will not ache, will not have kidney stones, will not break, and will not sin.
Dave Hentschel: This is good news.
Dave Hentschel: We're going to talk much more about this good news in an elaborate way next week and next Sunday's sermon.
Dave Hentschel: There is good news for our bodies coming.
Dave Hentschel: Until then, we groan.
Dave Hentschel: You may remember the Lord Jesus, when he took on flesh and walked in ministry on this earth, approached the grave of his dear friend Lazarus, and at that grave, even Jesus groaned in sorrow because he knows this is not the way he created things to be.
Dave Hentschel: We groan for a positive reason, also.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says, we groan because we have the first fruits of the Spirit.
Dave Hentschel: That word first fruits referred to the first batch of an incoming harvest.
Dave Hentschel: It's a first installment of what's going to come later.
Dave Hentschel: It's a down payment, if you will.
Dave Hentschel: Have you ever wanted to buy something and you had to put a deposit on it to reserve it for yourself later?
Dave Hentschel: That's the idea here.
Dave Hentschel: This is what God has done for us as a deposit.
Dave Hentschel: He's given us his very Holy Spirit to live on the inside, telling us we have a wonderful inheritance that we look forward to.
Dave Hentschel: And so we are a people that are waiting eagerly.
Dave Hentschel: Here's the point of this first section.
Dave Hentschel: You and I have an inconsolable longing for our heart's deepest desire that will not be satisfied by anything in this world.
Dave Hentschel: We have a desire for our greater joy, and that joy is not going to be found in this creation because God has subjected this creation to frustration on purpose, so that you will not be able to find your joy here.
Dave Hentschel: You will have to wait for your greatest joy in the world to come.
Dave Hentschel: The faith of Christianity doesn't deny pain, it gives it context.
Dave Hentschel: Christianity both explains best the pain and the beauty that we find in this fallen world.
Dave Hentschel: There is real suffering in the world.
Dave Hentschel: There's real suffering in this room.
Dave Hentschel: Chronic illness, disabilities, grief, caregiver fatigue, loneliness.
Dave Hentschel: This isn't to be minimized.
Dave Hentschel: We need to hear the groaning.
Dave Hentschel: So if you're groaning today, the scripture says you're not weak, you're human.
Dave Hentschel: And you're not alone.
Dave Hentschel: But remember this believers always groan with hope, not despair.
Dave Hentschel: That leads us to our second section today.
Dave Hentschel: The hope that sustains us.
Dave Hentschel: God is actively redeeming.
Dave Hentschel: We have to look forward and wait patiently for what God has for us, because when we see what He has for us, it puts the pain in a different kind of perspective, if you will.
Dave Hentschel: Paul continues in verse 24.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says, For in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is no hope at all.
Dave Hentschel: Who hopes for what they already have?
Dave Hentschel: But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Dave Hentschel: So here, Paul is saying, Yes, I know you are suffering, but hang on, it will one day come to an end.
Dave Hentschel: That's why our great hope is important.
Dave Hentschel: This world is not your home.
Dave Hentschel: Your best days are still ahead of you.
Dave Hentschel: Yes, in this life, our experiences will be tainted by pain and sorrow and suffering, but none of that is the last word.
Dave Hentschel: Friends, we can't even comprehend how good it is going to be.
Dave Hentschel: Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, nor has it even entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.
Dave Hentschel: Therefore, we can suffer now with patience and dignity and hope.
Dave Hentschel: Why?
Dave Hentschel: Because we know what's coming.
Dave Hentschel: Verse 26.
Dave Hentschel: In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.
Dave Hentschel: We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us through wordless what?
Dave Hentschel: Groans.
Dave Hentschel: Notice that word weakness there.
Dave Hentschel: There is weakness in our lives.
Dave Hentschel: And when that weakness occurs, we feel our flesh is weak and our spirit is weak.
Dave Hentschel: Our faith can even be weak.
Dave Hentschel: And if we're honest with ourselves, there are moments where we're so weak it's difficult to even pray.
Dave Hentschel: I can attest to that.
Dave Hentschel: Even as a pastor, I find it sometimes it's difficult to pray.
Dave Hentschel: Thankfully, in those moments, Paul says the Spirit Himself intercedes for you.
Dave Hentschel: So as Christians, we suffer and we groan and we look forward, but we also can look inward.
Dave Hentschel: I'm so thankful that we have a God who doesn't sit back and just tell us what to do.
Dave Hentschel: I'm so thankful we have a God that just doesn't sit back and give us some good advice.
Dave Hentschel: I'm so thankful that instead we have a God that enters into our suffering with us and groans alongside of us and has sent his spirit to live in our very hearts to help us to bear this sorrow.
Dave Hentschel: He is God Himself.
Dave Hentschel: He is the one who has created you.
Dave Hentschel: He is the one who loves you.
Dave Hentschel: And there is no pit so deep, Corey Temboon used to say, whereas God's love is not deeper still.
Dave Hentschel: God is on the inside to help us.
Dave Hentschel: And this is the help we need.
Dave Hentschel: Verse 27 continues the same thought.
Dave Hentschel: Paul continues saying, And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people.
Dave Hentschel: That's us, in accordance with the will of God.
Dave Hentschel: So here he's saying that the Holy Spirit intercedes for you, meaning he says those things that you want to say, but you can't quite articulate those things in the moment.
Dave Hentschel: He comes alongside of you, like your lawyer.
Dave Hentschel: He's advocating for you, he's speaking for you, he's interceding on your behalf.
Dave Hentschel: You and I are not alone.
Dave Hentschel: We're surrounded on the outside by our loving brothers and sisters in Christ.
Dave Hentschel: And we also have God the Holy Spirit living on the inside who is comforting us even in our suffering and groaning within.
Dave Hentschel: In the meantime, while we groan, while we wait, we are also given one of the most amazing promises in the whole Bible.
Dave Hentschel: Romans 8, 28.
Dave Hentschel: Look at this.
Dave Hentschel: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who may who have been called according to his purpose.
Dave Hentschel: This is such, I know you know this verse, this is such a powerful promise from God to you, who's always working in difficult circumstances for your good if you love God.
Dave Hentschel: This is a promise that God will literally, somehow, providentially, sovereignly, work out all everything, our circumstances, our failures, our victories, our desires, even suffering, for your good.
Dave Hentschel: All things, Chuck Swindah used to say to us, the promise is not partial, it's total.
Dave Hentschel: All things.
Dave Hentschel: Notice, Paul is very confident here.
Dave Hentschel: He says, we know, circle that.
Dave Hentschel: We know.
Dave Hentschel: He doesn't say we suppose.
Dave Hentschel: He doesn't say we hope.
Dave Hentschel: He doesn't say we wish.
Dave Hentschel: He says we know God is working all things together for the good.
Dave Hentschel: Amen?
Dave Hentschel: It's like that song that we sing.
Dave Hentschel: Even when we don't see it, he's working.
Dave Hentschel: Even when we don't feel it, he's working.
Dave Hentschel: He never stops.
Dave Hentschel: He never stops working.
Dave Hentschel: We the reason we gather and sing those kinds of songs is because we need to be reminded of the promises that are right here in God's word.
Dave Hentschel: And so we come week after week to reinforce the promises of God's word into our hearts.
Dave Hentschel: All things.
Dave Hentschel: Notice this verse doesn't mean that we won't experience pain.
Dave Hentschel: It doesn't mean that we won't experience difficulty.
Dave Hentschel: Rather, what it means is that even in our pain, there's a purpose.
Dave Hentschel: So yeah, it's hard, but it is never senseless.
Dave Hentschel: Never senseless.
Dave Hentschel: There is always a purpose.
Dave Hentschel: And it is all under the control of a sovereign, perfect, wise, omnipotent, omniscient God.
Dave Hentschel: And in the meantime, what is the main thing that this God is doing in my life and in yours?
Dave Hentschel: What's the main thing?
Dave Hentschel: Because I'm pretty sure he's not as concerned about alleviating my suffering as I am.
Dave Hentschel: What is the main thing that God is doing in this world?
Dave Hentschel: It tells us in verse 29.
Dave Hentschel: For those God foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
Dave Hentschel: This is what God is doing, He's making us.
Dave Hentschel: More into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect one.
Dave Hentschel: So when Romans 8.28 says God is working all things together for the good, this is the primary good that he has in mind here.
Dave Hentschel: Meaning God is working all things together for the good in order to conform you to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dave Hentschel: This is good.
Dave Hentschel: And this requires some remodeling.
Dave Hentschel: Have you ever seen a home remodel?
Dave Hentschel: Sometimes it's messy.
Dave Hentschel: Sometimes you got to tear that thing down to the studs.
Dave Hentschel: It doesn't look comfortable or good at the time, but God is working to remodel us into something beautiful.
Dave Hentschel: We are all a work in progress.
Dave Hentschel: And sometimes that work involves groaning.
Dave Hentschel: Amen?
Dave Hentschel: But Chuck Swindah used to tell us the greater the groan, the greater the glory.
Dave Hentschel: Amen.
Dave Hentschel: Going back to Nick Vojacich.
Dave Hentschel: On the inside, he was wrestling with all this.
Dave Hentschel: He was wrestling with this crushing question.
Dave Hentschel: And the question that he couldn't figure out was, why would God make me like this?
Dave Hentschel: By age eight, he believed God intellectually, but emotionally he felt totally abandoned by God.
Dave Hentschel: As a child in an early teen, he started to battle depression.
Dave Hentschel: As I mentioned, he once contemplated ending his life.
Dave Hentschel: The theology he knew in his head had not yet become the hope that he trusted with his heart.
Dave Hentschel: The turning point came when he was 15 years old and heard a sermon on John chapter 9, the same text that we looked at last Sunday.
Dave Hentschel: The story of the man born blind.
Dave Hentschel: You remember that story, right?
Dave Hentschel: Nick hears this story for the first time, and there's a verse in that story that lands on him and like is like a key that unlocks a door in his heart.
Dave Hentschel: And the verse was John 9 3 that says, Oh, this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in this man.
Dave Hentschel: That verse changed Nick's life.
Dave Hentschel: In that moment, all of his perspective pivoted.
Dave Hentschel: He realized his disability was not a cosmic mistake.
Dave Hentschel: Rather, he could be a canvas that God could use to paint something meaningful.
Dave Hentschel: So in that moment, instead of asking why me, he started asking a different question.
Dave Hentschel: And the new question was, how could God use me?
Dave Hentschel: That shift didn't immediately erase the hardship, but it ignited something inside of his faith.
Dave Hentschel: He surrendered his life to Christ in a deeper and personal way, choosing to trust that God had a purpose even in his limitations.
Dave Hentschel: And there, the boy who once felt disqualified started to feel commissioned.
Dave Hentschel: From there, this guy's life became a living sermon.
Dave Hentschel: He starts speaking in small settings, in school settings, in small churches.
Dave Hentschel: Then they move him up to larger settings.
Dave Hentschel: And now he's in Colosseums and stadiums.
Dave Hentschel: The very body he once viewed as a barrier became the pulpit that God uses to preach hope.
Dave Hentschel: This guy doesn't stand before hundreds or thousands.
Dave Hentschel: He stands before a hundred thousand people and preaches the message of Jesus.
Dave Hentschel: Huge crowds, millions of people have been impacted by Nick Voychic.
Dave Hentschel: Why?
Dave Hentschel: Because he surrendered his life to God.
Dave Hentschel: Romans 8, 30 concludes this particular section with a great word of hope, as Paul says, and those he predestined, he also called, and those who called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.
Dave Hentschel: The hope that's being seen here in Romans 8 is on the one hand future-oriented, on the other hand, it's present-tense sustaining.
Dave Hentschel: God is not reacting, he's purposefully at work, and our hope does not escape suffering, rather, it finds God redeeming through it.
Dave Hentschel: And sometimes our God does his deepest work through the groaning and through the waiting.
Dave Hentschel: But God never intends us to endure that kind of waiting alone.
Dave Hentschel: He has sent his son who can empathize with our every weakness.
Dave Hentschel: And then his son sent his spirit and lit the flame of the church of Jesus Christ.
Dave Hentschel: And the body is designed to come around those who suffer to care well.
Dave Hentschel: And that's the third section I want to talk to you about today.
Dave Hentschel: The way God cares, it's through his body.
Dave Hentschel: Flip over with me now to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 as I shift gears without a clutch, and I look at a different text, same author.
Dave Hentschel: Paul is speaking again.
Dave Hentschel: This time he's using a different metaphor.
Dave Hentschel: This time he's using the metaphor of a human body.
Dave Hentschel: 1 Corinthians 12, 12 says this just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ.
Dave Hentschel: So here we are, this image of the church that Jesus Christ has founded.
Dave Hentschel: And the image Paul chooses to get into our minds is the image of a body.
Dave Hentschel: And so right here, I think there's a couple of wrong attitudes that can happen when it comes to being part of the body.
Dave Hentschel: And this applies to maybe somebody who has a disability, but also it could apply to somebody who doesn't have a disability.
Dave Hentschel: There are two wrong attitudes when it comes to relating to the body of Christ.
Dave Hentschel: The first one is this the church doesn't need me.
Dave Hentschel: Sometimes people won't say this out loud, but they will think this in their heart.
Dave Hentschel: The church really doesn't need me.
Dave Hentschel: If that's you, if that's your thought, that is a lie.
Dave Hentschel: That is not true.
Dave Hentschel: If you have somehow felt that the church doesn't value you, or the church has no need for you, or hey, it's all taken care of by those professional people up there, that is not true at all.
Dave Hentschel: If we've given you that impression, may I ask for your forgiveness, please.
Dave Hentschel: That is not the way God has set up his church to function.
Dave Hentschel: God has set up his church in such a way to function as it needs you to be a functioning, healthy body.
Dave Hentschel: So if we have communicated somehow that you're not important, that is not a message from God.
Dave Hentschel: God specifically designs his church with a body, and the parts function together.
Dave Hentschel: So if Millington Baptist Church is your church home, we desperately need you here.
Dave Hentschel: That's not true at all.
Dave Hentschel: Paul continues to draw this out in the next paragraph.
Dave Hentschel: Bear with me as I read.
Dave Hentschel: Now, if the foot should say, Because I'm not a hand, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
Dave Hentschel: And if the ear should say, because I'm not an eye, I do not belong to the body, it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.
Dave Hentschel: If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?
Dave Hentschel: If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?
Dave Hentschel: But in fact, God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Dave Hentschel: If they were all one part, where would the body be?
Dave Hentschel: As it is, there are many parts but one body.
Dave Hentschel: So what he's talking about with this body image is that each of us, after we accept the Lord Jesus Christ, have been given gifts to serve the body, spiritual gifts.
Dave Hentschel: A spiritual gift is a supernatural ability given by the Holy Spirit to a believer to empower them to serve the body of Christ with effectiveness.
Dave Hentschel: And can I say that gifts are wonderful?
Dave Hentschel: But if you think that that gift is given for you, you mistake the understanding and the meaning of God's spiritual gifts.
Dave Hentschel: One of my prophets, Michael Spiegel, used to say it this way: spiritual gifts are not what the Spirit gives to you.
Dave Hentschel: They are what the Spirit gives to the church through you.
Dave Hentschel: Spiritual gifts are not what God has given to you, they are what the Spirit has given to the church through you.
Dave Hentschel: That's what a spiritual gift is.
Dave Hentschel: I saw this troubling statistic this week.
Dave Hentschel: And the statistics showed that only a small percentage of church members feel like they have opportunities to use their giftings at church.
Dave Hentschel: The lowest percentage was Gen Z.
Dave Hentschel: Now let me share with you something with you that was a revelation to me as a young Christian, might be a revelation for you today.
Dave Hentschel: I don't know.
Dave Hentschel: Here it is.
Dave Hentschel: You are the ministers of the church.
Dave Hentschel: You may have never thought of yourself as that word minister before, but the Bible very clearly teaches that God gives pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.
Dave Hentschel: You are the ministers of the church.
Dave Hentschel: It can never be done by a couple professional people who are somehow going to figure out how to do all.
Dave Hentschel: Listen, somewhere, like I don't know, 80 years ago or something, we got this idea that we would hire a minister and the minister would do the ministry.
Dave Hentschel: Now that would, first of all, be totally impossible.
Dave Hentschel: Impossible.
Dave Hentschel: Even if I could do all of that, which I can't, even if I could do all that, it wouldn't be good for me to do all that because you would miss out on the opportunity to serve using the gifts that God has given you.
Dave Hentschel: So that is the incorrect model of the church.
Dave Hentschel: Everyone has a gift, and everyone is to serve the church to have an effective body.
Dave Hentschel: It's kind of like if you've been turning on the TV after work this week, it's like Team USA.
Dave Hentschel: We have this Olympic team, and there's all kinds of different athletes on this team.
Dave Hentschel: The country's team needs all these different types of athletes to compete as a country together in the Olympics.
Dave Hentschel: Like that.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says the church is like a body with different parts and different giftings, and you all need each other, and you need each other's gifts to function in a healthy way.
Dave Hentschel: The body metaphor is not just sentimental, it is functional.
Dave Hentschel: You have a gift.
Dave Hentschel: The only question is how has God gifted you and how are you using it?
Dave Hentschel: Today, not ten years ago.
Dave Hentschel: Today.
Dave Hentschel: If you don't know your gift, our director of discipleship, Amy Huber, has put together this incredible discipleship portal.
Dave Hentschel: Inside the portal, there's a lot of spiritual formation resources.
Dave Hentschel: One of those resources is a very easy digital spiritual gifts test.
Dave Hentschel: You can take out your phone right now and just like grab that QR code.
Dave Hentschel: It'll take you to a link where you set up a free account through Millington, and we have an incredible discipleship portal there with all kinds of cool stuff that Amy has put together.
Dave Hentschel: She's worked really hard at this.
Dave Hentschel: It's really pretty awesome.
Dave Hentschel: And it's a good tool to help you understand how God has wired and gifted you to serve the body.
Dave Hentschel: I would encourage you to grab that QR code and just do it later.
Dave Hentschel: And if you don't get it, Amy's in the foyer, she'd be glad to talk to you more about that because we want you to know what your gift is and be free to serve here.
Dave Hentschel: So that's the first wrong attitude.
Dave Hentschel: The first wrong attitude is the church doesn't need me.
Dave Hentschel: Second wrong attitude is the opposite side of that coin.
Dave Hentschel: It's I don't need the church.
Dave Hentschel: That's an equally destructive, corrosive, toxic attitude that sometimes creeps into the body of Christ, too.
Dave Hentschel: Of course you need the church.
Dave Hentschel: There are many things you can successfully do alone.
Dave Hentschel: Growing as a Christian is not one of those things.
Dave Hentschel: 1 Corinthians 12, 21 continues by Paul saying, the eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you.
Dave Hentschel: And the head cannot say to the feet, I don't need you.
Dave Hentschel: On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.
Dave Hentschel: And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor.
Dave Hentschel: And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty.
Dave Hentschel: While our presentable parts need no special treatment, but God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
Dave Hentschel: So see the point he's making?
Dave Hentschel: We need you, you need us.
Dave Hentschel: There are no lone ranger Christians.
Dave Hentschel: There are no lone wolf Christians.
Dave Hentschel: We need you, you need us to function in a healthy way.
Dave Hentschel: The problem, I think, maybe one of the problems is that word weaker.
Dave Hentschel: See that?
Dave Hentschel: We don't want to appear as if we need anything, as if we are weak in any way, shape, or form.
Dave Hentschel: That is uncomfortable.
Dave Hentschel: We don't want to burden people.
Dave Hentschel: We don't want to be weak.
Dave Hentschel: We don't want to have to depend.
Dave Hentschel: We don't want to ask for help.
Dave Hentschel: But yet God has set up his church in such a way that all of us should have the joy of being a giver, and all of us need to have the humility of being a receiver.
Dave Hentschel: And this is the way the body works.
Dave Hentschel: Maybe sometimes we don't think we are like the other people around us, and we compare ourselves with other people, and they think, you know, they got it all together.
Dave Hentschel: Believe me, they don't, but we compare wrongly, and sometimes we misunderstand weakness and what that's supposed to look like in the body of Christ.
Dave Hentschel: But we struggle to ask for what we need.
Dave Hentschel: Some people have disabilities, and their weakness is very visible, very obvious.
Dave Hentschel: And then other kinds of disabilities are more invisible and less obvious.
Dave Hentschel: Sometimes disabilities look like this on the top line, and then sometimes disabilities look like this on the bottom line.
Dave Hentschel: Right?
Dave Hentschel: For some people, it's not obvious.
Dave Hentschel: It may be that they struggle with autism or or Asperger's, or they may have a mental issue.
Dave Hentschel: They may have ADD or ADHD, or they may have anxiety or depression, or they may have PTSD because they've seen some things that no one should have to see.
Dave Hentschel: Or they may have some other mental health issue, or they could have issues like a severe food intolerance that creates a barrier for them to even fellowship sometimes.
Dave Hentschel: And so the list goes on and on and on.
Dave Hentschel: There are visible disabilities, there are invisible disabilities, and we need the church to come around us to help support each other in our time of need.
Dave Hentschel: So you need the church, the church needs you.
Dave Hentschel: Both of those ideas, they're wrong.
Dave Hentschel: 26 kind of wraps up this section, and I'll just finish with this.
Dave Hentschel: Paul says this if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
Dave Hentschel: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.
Dave Hentschel: That verse, I think, is a key verse when thinking about ministry to those who have a disability.
Dave Hentschel: For this, God's primary instrument of care is not programs, it is people.
Dave Hentschel: The body that reconnects what suffering isolates.
Dave Hentschel: The church is not a crowd that watches suffering, it is a body that absorbs it.
Dave Hentschel: Independence sounds strong, sounds American.
Dave Hentschel: The scripture would call that unnatural.
Dave Hentschel: But the question is, are we willing to step into interdependence?
Dave Hentschel: We have a ministry here called Stephen Ministry.
Dave Hentschel: It provides one-to-one lay care to men or women who are going through a difficult season of life or loss.
Dave Hentschel: If that ministry would bless you, would you please come up and talk to me after the service?
Dave Hentschel: I would love to connect you with someone who would love to meet you and care for you and pray for you along your journey.
Dave Hentschel: I want to show you a graphic that Dr.
Dave Hentschel: Ed Carter, the Executive Director of Baylor University's Center for Disability and Flourishing, created.
Dave Hentschel: This is something that Sarah Bush, the rep from Johnny and Friends who was here last week, showed us, and I think this is really helpful.
Dave Hentschel: And I want to share it with the larger body.
Dave Hentschel: This first circle, where all the tiny circles are the same color, represents exclusion.
Dave Hentschel: This is when a church has become comfortable with everyone who attends on a Sunday morning, but everyone is the same.
Dave Hentschel: There are no drastic differences among them.
Dave Hentschel: And most often this is simply ignorance towards differences in our society.
Dave Hentschel: They simply don't know what they don't know.
Dave Hentschel: It's exclusive.
Dave Hentschel: The second circle is still all white, but you'll notice there's a small group of colored circles just outside of it.
Dave Hentschel: This represents segregation.
Dave Hentschel: The church has become aware that there's a group out there of people who have differences in society, but they're not yet quite comfortable letting them in.
Dave Hentschel: The third circle, still white, but that small group of colored circles has come just inside, but they stay together while they're inside.
Dave Hentschel: This represents integration.
Dave Hentschel: The church has become aware of a service opportunity and joyfully reaches out to serve this one group of people, but they must stay in their group or they must stay in just this one room of the church.
Dave Hentschel: This fourth circle is still mostly white, but you see many colored circles are dispersed throughout it.
Dave Hentschel: This represents inclusion.
Dave Hentschel: Now the church has embraced this community full of differences.
Dave Hentschel: They have a wonderful disability ministry where each person is served in a variety of ways and feels very comfortable at that church, even serving because they're loved.
Dave Hentschel: Now I could stop here, because that's pretty good.
Dave Hentschel: But it's this last circle that I think is the real goal.
Dave Hentschel: This is what belonging looks like.
Dave Hentschel: Now, every single circle is of a different color because the church has embraced the idea that no one person is the same, and each person is a part of the body of Christ.
Dave Hentschel: Not only are they a part of it, but they each have their own role and they each have their own job to fulfill within the body.
Dave Hentschel: Each person brings their own giftings to the church, and each person is encouraged to use their own giftings in the church.
Dave Hentschel: By the way, this vision is not restricted to disability ministry.
Dave Hentschel: This is the vision for everyone who would come to our church and anyone who would find our church to be their church home, right?
Dave Hentschel: A Scottish theologian named John Swinton once said, You don't truly belong until you are missed.
Dave Hentschel: And isn't that what each of us wants?
Dave Hentschel: A place of real belonging?
Dave Hentschel: A place like cheers, everybody knows your name kind of place.
Dave Hentschel: Inclusion is a community that has got it.
Dave Hentschel: As people, I think we long for a place of belonging.
Dave Hentschel: And we have that place of belonging in the kingdom of God in the future.
Dave Hentschel: But while we are here on this earth, the Church of Jesus Christ has the responsibility of reaching out as the hands and feet of the Lord Jesus.
Dave Hentschel: Therefore, the church needs to be a place of belonging too.
Dave Hentschel: Sarah Bush told us last week there's a woman at her church that texts her every time she misses a Sunday.
Dave Hentschel: Her texts are simple.
Dave Hentschel: They just say something like, I pray you had a beautiful and blessed day.
Dave Hentschel: We missed you.
Dave Hentschel: She gets it.
Dave Hentschel: She makes her feel like she has a place of belonging.
Dave Hentschel: If you were to look around today, would you notice who's not here today?
Dave Hentschel: Would you just take a second and just look around?
Dave Hentschel: Let me give you permission to do that for a second.
Dave Hentschel: How many of our friends are not here and we don't even know it?
Dave Hentschel: Now take that to the realm of disability.
Dave Hentschel: How many of our friends who are affected by disability will ever get a text message like that or a call like that?
Dave Hentschel: Their attendance, by definition, will be inconsistent.
Dave Hentschel: But by reaching out to them in that way, just noticing their absence, that's a simple way to communicate.
Dave Hentschel: We're a place of belonging.
Dave Hentschel: It matters that you're not here.
Dave Hentschel: So notice the emphasis in my sermon is not heroic moments.
Dave Hentschel: It's just faithful presence, a care that's mutual, but not one-directional.
Dave Hentschel: It's just friendship, not charity.
Dave Hentschel: This is Romans 8 hope with 1 Corinthians 12 hands.
Dave Hentschel: Nick Voyacic, today as a follower of Christ, has what he calls a ridiculously good life.
Dave Hentschel: Nick has faced the obstacles that living without limbs brings head on.
Dave Hentschel: He has participated in activities that many would say would have been impossible with his limitation.
Dave Hentschel: Soccer, surfing, swimming, boating.
Dave Hentschel: And while Nick has learned not only to enjoy the recreational side of life, which is impressive, it is his passion for encouraging others, which is most remarkable to me.
Dave Hentschel: Nick travels all over the world to share the message of hope in Jesus Christ and encourages thousands through his ministry every year.
Dave Hentschel: Nick wrote this, I want to read this to you.
Dave Hentschel: When I'm asked how I can claim a ridiculously good life when I have no arms or legs, people assume I'm suffering from what I lack.
Dave Hentschel: They inspect my body and wonder how I could possibly give my life to God who allowed me to be born without limbs.
Dave Hentschel: Others have attempted to soothe me by saying that God has all the answers, and then when I'm in heaven, I'll find out his intentions.
Dave Hentschel: Instead, I choose to live by what the Bible says, which is that God is the answer today.
Dave Hentschel: And tomorrow.
Dave Hentschel: And always.
Dave Hentschel: When people read about my life or witness me living it, they're prone to congratulate me for being victorious over my disabilities.
Dave Hentschel: And I tell them, my victory came in surrender.
Dave Hentschel: It comes every day when I acknowledge that I can't do this on my own.
Dave Hentschel: So I say to God, I give it to you.
Dave Hentschel: Once I yield, the Lord takes my pain and turns it into something good.
Dave Hentschel: He gave my life meaning when no one and nothing else could provide it.
Dave Hentschel: And if God can take someone like me, someone without arms and legs, and use me as his hands and his feet, that line.
Dave Hentschel: If God can use this guy as his hands and his feet, isn't that amazing?
Dave Hentschel: He can use anybody, he says, because it's not about ability.
Dave Hentschel: The only thing God needs from you is a willing heart.
Dave Hentschel: So, what made the difference in his life?
Dave Hentschel: I assert this morning that Nick has had a significant number of people to come around him throughout his whole life, and that's what made the difference.
Dave Hentschel: Family, friends, a church community, caretakers, professionals.
Dave Hentschel: His family, despite facing severe bullying and depression as a child, Nick had the strong support of both of his parents and relatives.
Dave Hentschel: His mother played a very key role in advocating for this little guy, including helping to change laws in Australia that initially mandated his segregation from the other students.
Dave Hentschel: A support team.
Dave Hentschel: Due to his physical limitations, as you might guess, Nick has a whole team of people who have to care for him and assist him every day with all of his daily needs.
Dave Hentschel: A professional circle.
Dave Hentschel: He works with an entire team, including a speaking coach and other people who work for his organization, Life Without Limbs.
Dave Hentschel: And even marriage and children.
Dave Hentschel: In 2010, he met his wife.
Dave Hentschel: They married in 2012.
Dave Hentschel: They now have four kids together.
Dave Hentschel: And he has a global community.
Dave Hentschel: As a motivational speaker and evangelist, he's traveled to 57 countries, spoke to crowds of up to 110,000 people, and has engaged with millions worldwide, who he encourages, but also encourages him.
Dave Hentschel: Nick's journey, as he describes it, involved moving from a place of isolation to being surrounded by a loving family and a global community that shares the message of hope with him too.
Dave Hentschel: That's the vision.
Dave Hentschel: A place of Romans 8 hope with 1 Corinthians 12 hands.
Dave Hentschel: How can we bear the load together?
Dave Hentschel: How can we be a church that lives this out, where people aren't suffering alone, where care is shared, where if one part suffers, we suffer together.
Dave Hentschel: Here's how.
Dave Hentschel: Some of you, you're here and you need care.
Dave Hentschel: And I want to give you permission to receive care.
Dave Hentschel: And some of you, you're called to give care right now in this season of your life.
Dave Hentschel: And we're going to give you an invitation to join the team.
Dave Hentschel: In a couple weeks, when this series is over, we're going to talk about who wants to step up and be part of this.
Dave Hentschel: And that will be your opportunity to do that.
Dave Hentschel: Just pray about it.
Dave Hentschel: But I promise you, it's not going to be about we need some volunteers.
Dave Hentschel: It's going to be this is how the body works.
Dave Hentschel: Now you might be thinking, uh, I don't know how to do any of that stuff.
Dave Hentschel: But there's no need to be afraid.
Dave Hentschel: You don't have to be an expert, you don't have to fix anybody, you just have to be present.
Dave Hentschel: Today we've learned a few things.
Dave Hentschel: First, we learned that we have to acknowledge the groaning of this world.
Dave Hentschel: Secondly, we have learned that we thank God for his spirit who intercedes for us and gives us a great hope.
Dave Hentschel: And third, we've learned that we need to ask our God to knit his body together in love.
Dave Hentschel: That's Romans 8, hope, with 1 Corinthians 12, hands.
Dave Hentschel: Amen.
Dave Hentschel: Can we pray as the worship team comes together?
Dave Hentschel: Gracious God, thank you for meeting us here today.
Dave Hentschel: Through your word, through your spirit, through your people, thank you that any suffering here is not unseen.
Dave Hentschel: It's seen by you, and it's never meaningless, and it's never faced alone.
Dave Hentschel: So we praise you that you're a God who sees, and we also praise you that you are redeeming all things, even the pain we do not today understand.
Dave Hentschel: And we thank you for your spirit who intercedes when we're weak, and for the promise that nothing can ever separate us from your love.
Dave Hentschel: Now, would you help us to live out what we read about and what we've heard?
Dave Hentschel: Would you make us more attentive towards those who are hurting?
Dave Hentschel: Would you make us humble enough to receive the care that we need?
Dave Hentschel: And would you make us faithful in presence, willing just to walk with others consistently?
Dave Hentschel: Would you knit this church together in love?
Dave Hentschel: Until the day of redemption is complete and all the groaning gives way to glory.
Dave Hentschel: Would you give us steady hope and rich compassion for your people?
Dave Hentschel: We entrust ourselves to you and our church to you.
Dave Hentschel: You are building your church.
Dave Hentschel: We pray it all in the matchless name of our Lord and our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dave Hentschel: And everyone said, Amen.