On the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, the people of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Joplin, Missouri gathered around Word and Sacrament to hear a promise large enough to carry every groan we bring with us: our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that is coming. With Pastor Christopher Ramstad away at the LCMS convention in Phoenix, we welcomed guest preacher the Rev. Ronnie Backs, who preached the Epistle from Romans 8 — and from the opening hymn to the closing blessing the whole morning pointed to a creation groaning for redemption and a God who is making all things new.
Rev. Ronnie Backs’s Sermon on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost: Groaning Now, Glory Coming
Pastor Backs began by putting Paul’s own word in our mouths. Three times in the text the apostle uses the word groan, so — on the count of three — the whole congregation let out one deep, gut-wrenching groan together. We know that groan well: the sigh of disappointment and frustration, the weight of asking, “What is going to go wrong next?” Living in a sinful and broken world, we will meet all kinds of suffering. And yet Paul’s good news is that these troubles are only momentary. “For I consider,” he writes, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Creation itself groans, Pastor Backs reminded us, trapped in a “bondage to decay” that entered the world when our first parents fell into sin. We do not have to look far to see it — drought in one place and flooding in another, storms and wildfires and hurricane season, and bodies that simply do not work the way they once did (he got a knowing laugh over how long it takes just to get a doctor’s appointment). We groan too, having inherited a sinful nature all the way back from Adam and Eve, and compounding the brokenness by the selfish choices we make. Yet even here God shows mercy: He did not destroy His creation, but limited how far sin’s ruin could go, and He still reveals His almighty power in what He has made. Pastor Backs marveled at a Milky Way of roughly 100 billion stars, so vast that a beam of light — fast enough to circle the earth seven times in a single second — would take 100,000 years to cross it. To this little dot in that immense galaxy, God sent His Son.
That is the heart of what we believe as confessional Lutherans: God reveals Himself most fully in His Word and in Jesus, who left His glory in heaven to be born in Bethlehem, to live a perfect life, to die as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world, and to rise again on the first Easter — proof that death and decay are not the final answer. Now the Holy Spirit intercedes for us “with groanings too deep for words” when we do not even know what to pray. And on the Last Day, Christ will return in glory, raise our bodies as His own was raised, and make all things new — new heavens and a new earth where the former things are not even remembered, and there is no more weeping, no more suffering, no more death. So we do not wait as people who have lost hope. We wait, as Paul says, with eager expectation — and we let that joy show, so a decaying world can see there is a future worth being excited about.
“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.”
Romans 8:18–21 (ESV)
The Children’s Message: Jesus Sees the Finished Picture
For the children’s message, Mr. Jason Glaskey brought up a jigsaw puzzle with all the pieces jumbled and the box turned so no one could see the picture. What is the secret to working a puzzle? The kids knew: build the outline first — but you are hopelessly lost unless you can see what it is supposed to become. Our lives can feel just like that pile of pieces. In the Gospel for the day, a man’s good field grows up thick with weeds sown by an enemy, and the wheat and the weeds are left to grow together until the harvest. It is messy, and we cannot see how any of it ends.
But the one who made the puzzle already knows the finished picture — and so does Jesus. He sees exactly how our lives turn out, and He promises that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” The Holy Spirit even helps us pray when the day is too hard for words, because our heavenly Father sees the whole picture and can be trusted to hear us. That same confidence carries into our ministry with children and families and at Martin Luther School, where the Word is planted in the youngest among us week after week.
The Readings and Hymns for the Day
As a Communion Sunday, we gathered at the Lord’s Table around the appointed readings — and the sermon, the hymns, and the children’s message all met at the same harvest field where wheat and weeds grow together until the day of glory.
- Old Testament: Isaiah 44:6–8
- Epistle: Romans 8:18–27 (the sermon text)
- Holy Gospel: Matthew 13:24–30, 36–43 (the Parable of the Weeds)
We opened with Come, Ye Thankful People, Come (LSB 892), whose harvest imagery lands squarely on the day’s Gospel of the wheat and the weeds, and closed the morning with the doxology, Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow (LSB 805).
“All the world is God’s own field, / Fruit unto His praise to yield; / Wheat and tares together sown, / Unto joy or sorrow grown; / First the blade and then the ear, / Then the full corn shall appear. / Lord of harvest, grant that we / Wholesome grain and pure may be.”
Lutheran Service Book 892, st. 2 — Come, Ye Thankful People, Come
Frequently Asked Questions
Who preached at Immanuel on the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost?
Our guest preacher was the Rev. Ronnie Backs, who filled the pulpit while Pastor Christopher Ramstad was at the LCMS convention in Phoenix. Pastor Backs preached the Epistle from Romans 8. You can find more messages anytime in our Services and Sermons archive, including last week’s Seventh Sunday after Pentecost.
What does Romans 8 mean when it says creation is “groaning”?
Paul pictures the whole created world as subjected to decay because of humanity’s fall into sin — and longing, like a mother in childbirth, for the day it will be set free. Believers groan along with it, but not without hope: the same Spirit who intercedes for us guarantees the coming glory, when our bodies are raised and creation itself is made new.
What time are summer worship services at Immanuel Lutheran Church?
Through the summer we gather for one service at 9:00 a.m., with the Christian Education hour following at 10:15 a.m. Our fall schedule — services at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. with Bible classes at 9:15 — resumes after Labor Day. New to Immanuel? Here is what to expect when you visit.
How can I listen to the sermon as a podcast?
Each week’s sermon is published as Word & Sacrament, the sermon podcast of Immanuel Lutheran Church, on Spotify and Apple Podcasts — a simple way to keep the Gospel close in the car, on a walk, or at the kitchen table. Growing in the Word continues through the week in our LifeLight Bible study and Youth Ministry.
About Immanuel Lutheran Church
Immanuel Lutheran Church is a confessional LCMS congregation in Joplin, Missouri, and the home of Martin Luther School (PK–8). We are part of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Jesus brings life — meet Him here. Join us Sunday mornings at 2616 S Connecticut Ave, Joplin, MO 64804. Questions? Reach out through our contact card, or learn how you can give to support this ministry.
Summer Worship at Immanuel: One service each Sunday at 9:00 a.m., with the Christian Education hour at 10:15 a.m. We would love to have you join us this week.