Ep. 162 || John Piper’s Encouragement for Moms in Suffering Transcript
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Emily: Hey friends. Welcome back to another episode of Risen Motherhood. Emily here with my sister in law, Laura.
Laura: Hey guys.
Emily: We have a really special treat for you guys today, but we want to tee it up for you because it's a bit of a different show.
Laura: Definitely. I feel like this is one of those shows that we want you guys to grab a cup of coffee and sit down and listen to because we know as moms, it can be really, really difficult to find time to get into the word of God and to be able to read scripture. So, you're in for a bit of a treat today.
Emily: We thought about this show a while back and we wanted to bring someone on who has a really high view of the word of God, who can read and share actual words from scripture with you guys, and then apply it to the season of motherhood and leave you feeling encouraged. To have a whole episode that almost feels like a devotion in and of itself.
Laura: That's right. We invited John Piper from Desiring God to read a portion of scripture, one of his favorites, and then to provide a reflection that is specifically for moms and specifically for the moms of the Risen Motherhood community. He put together this show just for you guys.
Emily: That is so cool.
Laura: It is cool.
Emily: I actually sat down and listen to this with my husband when it came in and we were both silent and so encouraged by it because he really helps us see the greater purpose and meaning behind suffering, both the deep suffering and also just the everyday weariness and trudging through life, as we need to see God's goodness in those hard things. I hope and Laura hopes that this is a similar encouragement to you no matter what season you're in right now.
Laura: That's right. If you are not familiar with John Piper, he is the founder and teacher of desiringgod.org and the Chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For 33 years, he served as the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minnesota. He is the author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God and most recently Why I love the Apostle Paul: 30 reasons. To learn more about Pastor John and his ministry at Desiring God, visit desiringgod.org or visit our show notes at risenmotherhood.com.
Emily: If you enjoy today's episode, we hope you'll join our community and find us on social media at Risen Motherhood, on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Wherever you're at, whether you're doing dishes or you have a minute to, like Laura said, sit down in a chair with a cup of coffee, we hope you enjoy today's show.
John Piper: I think Romans 8 is the greatest chapter in the Bible. I think this is true for mothers as well as everybody else, maybe especially true for mothers, and I'm thinking particularly of those who have walked through deep waters. I don't think there's a greater chapter in all the Bible for numerous reasons, but especially in regard to the issue of suffering and loss and the deep waters that mothers have often had to walk through. I'm going to read this chapter and then when I'm done, I'm going to tell you why I think it's the greatest chapter in the Bible, and how it applies to mothers who have walked through deep waters or may yet have to walk through very deep and turbulent waters.
Romans Chapter 8.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
What a chapter. What a glorious soaring chapter of God's word. I said the other night to my wife, "Romans 8 is the great eight. It's the greatest chapter in the Bible." She surprised me by saying, "Why do you think it's the greatest chapter?" I took off and summarized the chapter.
Here's why it's the greatest chapter in the Bible: It starts with the massive foundation, no condemnation. It moves to the ground of the foundation in that God did what the law couldn't do by condemning sin in the flesh of Christ so that He doesn't have to condemn it in us. Then he moves in verses 4 to 17 to the life of the Spirit, both from it's horrible, horrible absence when we're just people of the flesh and cannot please God, and yet that's not who we are. He brings us up into the life of the Spirit, teaches us how to put to death the deeds of the body by the Spirit, what it means to be led by the Spirit, what it means to have the spirit of adoption, and what it means to move into suffering and then to glory by the Spirit.
Then probably what makes this chapter so extraordinary is that right in the middle of it, from verses 18 to 25, you have the greatest, most penetrating, most amazing statement about global suffering for all of history that exists in the Bible. The understanding of suffering from verses 18 to 25 is amazing. In the middle of it, everything is yearning and stretching forward to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. What strikes me and probably helps me so much is that when you get to verse 23 it says, "Even we who have the Holy Spirit groan inwardly waiting for the redemption of our bodies, our adoption." Even mothers who are filled with the Holy Spirit and doing everything they should do are going to have to groan in the burdens and the hardships and the sufferings and the setbacks and the losses of this life.
There's something that I don't think most people notice when it says the Spirit is going to pray for us, in verses 26 and 27, because we don't know how to pray when our bodies are suffering. We don't know whether to pray in this groaning for healing or not. For example, when you get to verse 28 there's an adversative that says, "But we do know." We don't know how to pray as we ought to pray, but we do know, verse 28, that everything is going to work together for good for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Then he goes down deep into eternity and bases that massive Romans 8:28 promise on election and predestination and calling and justification and glorification. Then the jet goes into these super burners and moves into, “who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”
You think at that point he's going to leave suffering behind. Haven't you said enough to us, about suffering, Paul, in this greatest of all chapters? He says, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" He could have just said, "Nothing." That's not what he says. He says, "Shall tribulation or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword?"
And then he adds this horrible statement, "We are being killed all day long." Some moms have been killed for their faith in places of the world where persecution is strong. “We are being killed all day long.” Then he says, "No, no, no, no. In all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
Then the final soaring out into heaven. Nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, is going to separate us from the love of Christ.
What makes this chapter so great is the absolute realism for mothers of the kinds of hardships and losses and difficulties and setbacks and pain they are all going to have to walk through. It's utterly wide-eyed to the sufferings of the world with its roots sitting unshakably deep into the massive things of God.
It knows when believing mothers walk through the deepest waters, they are not encountering wrath. That was carried away back in verse three on the cross. These are disciplinary acts of God to fit a mother for heaven and for the most fruitful life on earth.
If you're ever going to memorize a chapter, this would be the great one to memorize. The great eight.