Romans 8:22-27

Do you recall the famous Ronco commercials? Did you ever find yourself wishing you had a Mr. Microphone, the Pocket Fisherman, the Dial-O-Matic Food Slicer, or the Smokeless Ashtray? Ron Popeil the inventor revolutionized the ad industry with his sales pitch: It cuts, it slices, it dices — but wait! There’s more!

In the book of Romans, the apostle Paul is not selling gadgets, but as he teaches young Christians how to respond to the ups and downs of this life, he holds them spellbound: Jesus forgives, He transforms, He guides — but wait! There’s more!

On Pentecost Sunday we remember how Jesus returns to dwell among His people in the Person of His Spirit. In this passage, Paul unveils three ways the Holy Spirit impacts our hearts after He comes to live inside us. His Presence causes me to:

Long for the unimaginable. (vv. 22-23)

In the West, we spend enormous amounts of time and money on our health. We go to great lengths to extend the length and quality of our lives. In the United States, we have succeeded in raising our life expectancy a full ten years ahead of the world average (Source: EarthTrends, www.earthtrends.wri.org).

Nevertheless, despite our best efforts to combat our mortality, Paul says all creation “groans” under the weight of sin’s damaging effects (v. 22). Everything and everyone is vulnerable to illness, disease, injury and death.

Can you imagine life in a body free of frailty, weakness, imperfection, or aging processes? Paul can! He explains that when the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside your body, He births in you a desire for God to hurry up and finish the process of adoption: setting you completely free from everything that interferes or impedes your relationship to God as His child.

Throughout your lifetime, God wants to free you from the guilt and dominance of sin — but wait! There’s more! He also wants to free you from the destructive effects of sin on your physical body (v. 23). This is the unimaginable final act of redemption that occurs after this life: when God provides every believer with a new body unstained and free from the presence of sin.

Hope for the unseen. (vv. 24-25)

An ad for a small business consultant reads: You work long hours, have no time to relax, no time for your family, you're often stressed and disillusioned that your dream has turned into a nightmare, and you feel more like a prisoner than a king!

Unfortunately, that describes what often happens when we pursue earthly dreams — they rarely deliver what we expected. It is normal to dream of a place or situation or relationship that could fulfill the deepest longings. We need dreams. They keep us going and they give us a reason to live.

Paul uses a different word to describe our dreams: hope.

The Holy Spirit forms in us a desire to be free from sin’s awful effects in this life. But wait! There’s more! When we were saved, Paul says we were infused with a new hope for ultimate fulfillment (v. 24) — not here — but there with Jesus in an unseen place and time (v. 25).