Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness,
or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, "For your sake we are
being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered." 37 No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither
death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor
things to come, nor powers, 39 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.

Five times here in Romans 8 the apostle Paul has asked questions
to draw out the amazing privileges of belonging to Jesus Christ.
Verse 31: "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Verse 32: "How
will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Verse 33:
"Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?" Verse 34:
"Who is to condemn?" And now today verse 35: "Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?"

The answers are so plain and so wonderful, Paul lets us supply
them and rejoice in them. Verse 31: No one can be successfully
against us – not even terrorists. Verse 32: God will supply
everything we need, even when all seems lost. Verse 33: No one can
make a charge stick against us in the court of heaven, no matter
who accuses us. Verse 34: No one can condemn us. And today in verse
35: No one and no-thing can separate us from the love of
Christ.

And what makes this text so relevant near the anniversary of
9/11 is that Paul spells out the kinds of things that cannot
separate us from the love of Christ, and they are the sort of
things that happened that day: "Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" The
reason Paul chose to mention so many terrible things is to make
sure we knew he was not saying: Well, there are some things so
horrible that they really could separate us from the love of
Christ. No. Nothing can separate us from Christ’s love.

Notice three things from verse 35.

1. Christ is loving us now.

A wife might say of her deceased husband: Nothing will separate
me from his love. She might mean that the memory of his love will
be sweet and powerful all her life. But that is not what Paul means
here. In verse 34 it says plainly, "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." The reason Paul can
say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is
because Christ is alive and is still loving us now. He is at the
right hand of God and is therefore ruling for us. And he is
interceding for us, which means he is seeing to it that his
finished work of redemption does in fact save us hour by hour and
bring us safe to eternal joy. His love is not a memory. It is a
moment-by-moment action by the omnipotent, living Son of God, to
bring us to everlasting joy.

2. This love of Christ is effective in protecting us from
separation, and therefore is not a universal love for all, but a
particular love for his people – those who, according to
Romans 8:28, love God and are called according to his purpose.

This is the love of Ephesians 5:25, "Husbands love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave himself for her." It is
Christ’s love for the church, his bride. Christ has a love
for all, and he has a special, saving, preserving love for his
bride. You know you are part of that bride if you trust Christ.
Anyone – no exceptions – anyone who trusts Christ can
say, I am part of his bride, his church, his called and chosen
ones, the ones who verse 35 says are kept and protected forever no
matter what.

3. This omnipotent, effective, protecting love does not spare
us from calamities in this life, but brings us safe to everlasting
joy with God.

Paul makes this crystal clear in verse 35: "Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or
persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?" No. But
someone might say, "O but what he means is that God will not let
these things happen to his bride."

Two things prove that this is not the case.

One is the reference to death in verse 38 ("Neither death nor
life . . . will be able to separate us from the love of God in
Christ Jesus"). Death will happen to us, but it will not separate
us. So when Paul says in verse 5 that the "sword" will not separate
us from the love of Christ, he means: even if we are killed we are
not separated from the love of Christ.

The other is verse 36, where Paul quotes Psalm 44:22 and applies
it to himself and Christians in general, "As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are
regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’" This means that
martyrdom is normal Christianity. It is happening all over the
world. Pakistan, Nepal, Sudan, Indonesia, Vietnam . . . an
estimated 164,000 Christians will die this year because of their
faith(www.gem-werc.org). This
is what Paul has in mind. And it is what Jesus meant when he said,
"Some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for
my name’s sake" (Luke 21:16-17). Our season of peace and
tolerance in America is an anomaly and should drive us to greater
and greater care for the suffering church (Hebrews 13:3). See
http://www.persecution.com.

So the sum of the matter in verse 35 is this: Jesus Christ is mightily loving his people with
omnipotent, moment-by-moment love that does not always rescue us
from calamity but preserves us for everlasting joy in his presence
even through suffering and death.

Now let’s let Lisa Beamer bear witness to this sovereign
love. Her husband Todd was on flight 93 that went down in
Pennsylvania. He was the one who said, "Let’s Roll!" He left
behind Lisa and three small children (one born last January).

Here are ten lessons from Lisa mostly in here own words.

1. Embracing the sovereignty of God brings strength and
hope.

Lisa: "God knew the terrible choices the terrorists would make
and that Todd Beamer would die as a result. He knew my children
would be left without a father and me without a husband . . . Yet
in his sovereignty and in his perspective on the big picture, he
knew it was better to allow the events to unfold as they did rather
than redirect Todd’s plans to avoid death. . . . I
can’t see all the reasons he might have allowed this when I
know he could have stopped it . . . I don’t like how his plan
looks from my perspective right now., but knowing that he loves me
and can see the world from start to finish helps me say,
‘It’s OK.’" (Modern Reformation, 24-25)

"If we believe wholeheartedly, each moment, that our destiny
rests in the hands of Jesus Christ – the one with ultimate
love and ultimate power – what do we have to be concerned
about? Of course, our humanity clouds this truth many times but
hanging on to glimpses of it keeps everything in perspective."
(Modern Reformation, 31)

2. Don’t presume to know better than God how to run the
world. It is pride.

Lisa: "My faith wasn’t rooted in governments, religion,
tall buildings, or frail people. Instead, my faith and my security
were in God. A thought struck me. Who are you to question God and
say that you have a better plan than He does? You don’t have
the same wisdom and knowledge that He has, or the understanding of
the big picture." (World, 25)

"We also aren’t privy to the perspective he has and
shouldn’t claim to know better than he does what should
happen and what shouldn’t. . . . Faith means that, regardless
of circumstances, we take him at his word that he loves us and will
bring us to a good result if we just trust and obey him. Obviously,
the ramifications of this understanding have been tremendous for me
since 9/11." (Modern Reformation, 25)

3. God has a good purpose in all the hard things that happen to
his people.

"God’s sovereignty has been made clear to me. When I am
tempted to become angry and ask ‘What if?’ and ,
‘Why us?’ God says, ‘I knew on September 10, and
I could have stopped it, but I have a plan for greater good than
you can ever imagine.’ I don’t know God’s plan,
and honestly, right now I don’t like it very much. But I
trust that He is true to His promise in Romans 8:28: ‘We know
that in all things God works for the good of those who love
him.’ My only responsibility is to love God. He’ll work
out the rest." (Decision, 8). Beneath her signature Lisa writes
Genesis 50:20, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God
meant it for good." (Modern Reformation, 30)

4. Death and suffering press in on us the perspective of
eternity.

Lisa: "September 11 has shown me the reality of eternity in a
dynamic way these past few months. When I’m
overwhelmed with
sadness at what I’ve lost in this life, He is quick to give
me His eternal perspective. ‘Lisa, this life is just a blip
on the radar screen compared to your future with Me in
heaven,’ He says. ‘The best thing that you can imagine
on earth is garbage compared to what awaits you.’" (Decision,
8)

5. God’s distribution of suffering is not equal, and one
hard thing may prepare for another.

When Lisa was 15 her father suffered an aneurysm at work and
died the next morning in the hospital. Lisa: "When my father died,
faith wasn’t so easy anymore. . . . I spent five years asking
why, expressing my anger saying it’s not fair, before God
helped me realize that he is who he is all the time – in good
circumstances and bad. He is all-powerful and all-loving, but that
doesn’t mean that as a citizen of this fallen world he
protects us from every ‘bad’ event." (Modern
Reformation, 25)

What a witness to God’s goodness and sovereignty the world
would be missing today if God had not prepared Lisa Beamer for this
loss by the death of her dad!

6. God’s love takes care of us right now in our
suffering, not just later.

Lisa: "He knows that I am a hurting and in need right now. Every
day He provides encouragement and resources just for me. Little
things show me that He is with me: a Scripture with just the words
I need to hear, a call from a friend when I feel lonely, help with
a task that I can’t do alone, or a hug and ‘I love
you’ from one of my children. God’s love is truly
sufficient to meet any need that I have." (Decision, 8-9)

7. Calamity calls for quick practical love like meals and baby
sitting.

Lisa: "The picture of the church as the hands and feet of
Christ, with each person having a special gift, has been well
portrayed to me these last months. In the beginning, it was
immediate and practical help I needed – meals, child care,
managing phone calls, and mail. Now that we’re out of the
crisis mode it is rebuilding help I need – counseling ,
encouragement, prayer." (Modern Reformation, 28)

8. Quiet, confidence in God’s power and goodness through
suffering create occasions for witness.

Marilee Melvin said of Lisa, "Her disarming quiet confidence in
God’s purposes must be the reason Larry King has had her on
his show eleven times." (Modern Reformation, 30)

9. Trusting in God’s sovereign care in all circumstances
frees you from greed and releases love for others.

Money started to flow in to Lisa Beamer. Some letters were
simply addressed, Lisa Beamer, New Jersey, and got to her. Lisa: "I
didn’t feel comfortable keeping this for ourselves when there
were many unknown families who should share." So she started the
Todd M. Beamer Foundation to assist children who lost a parent in
the 9/11 calamity. (Modern Reformation, 30)

Her freedom for others comes out in another way: "My family and
I mourned the loss of Todd deeply that day . . . and we still do.
But because we have a hope in the Lord, we know beyond a doubt that
one day we will see Todd again. I hurt for the people who
don’t have that same hope, and I pray that they will see
something in our family that will encourage them to trust in the
Lord." (World, 26)

Lisa’s way of encouraging people to trust in the Lord is
sometimes so straightforward that Newsweek magazine called it
"stern and even a little grim." She wrote in her memoir, "You think
you deserve a happy life and get angry when it doesn’t always
happen like that. In fact you are a sinner and deserve only death.
The fact that God has offered you hope of eternal life is amazing!
You should be overwhelmed with joy and gratitude." (Newsweek,
42)

10. Without God the world is hopeless.

With hundreds of others she attended the memorial service in
Shanksville, PA at the crash site where her husband died. The
Christ-exalting memorial service for Todd had been on Sunday, the
day before, and had strengthened her. "On Monday," she said, "as I
listened to the well-intentioned speakers, who were doing their
best to comfort but with little if any direct reference to the
power of God to sustain us. I felt I was sliding helplessly down a
high mountain into a deep crevasse. As much as I appreciated the
kindness of the wonderful people who tried to encourage us, that
afternoon was actually one of the lowest points in my grieving. It
wasn’t the people, or event, or the place. Instead, it struck
me how hopeless the world is when God is factored out of the
equation." (World, 26)

So, together with Lisa Beamer and the apostle Paul and Jesus
Christ himself, I plead with you, Don’t factor God out of
your life, or Jesus Christ who died and rose and reigns and
intercedes for all who trust him, that we might have eternal joy
with him in the presence of God.

The quotes are from:

"Let’s Roll [excerpts from her book]," World, Vol. 17, No.
31, August 17, 2002, pp. 20-28.

Lisa Beamer, "The Hope I Know," Decision, Vol. 43, No. 9,
September, 2002, pp. 6-9.

Ann Henderson Hart, "Finding Hope Beyond the Ruins: An Interview
with Lisa Beamer," Modern Reformation, Vol. 11, No. 5,
September/October, 2002, pp. 24-31.

Evan Thomas, "Their Faith and Their Fears," Newsweek, September
11, 2002, pp. 36-48.