All things work together
Romans 8:28-39
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
I have a confession to make to you all. Over the past two weeks, I have been laboring over this first sermon because I wanted to wow this congregation with my ability to deliver to you a great sermon. I wanted you all to think that your new vicar had great ability in delivering a sermon. One problem with this thinking is that it is not my words I must deliver to you, but God’s word. I can’t be worried about what I will say, but rather my duty is to tell you what God wants to say to you. So I went through everything I had written and deleted it from my manuscript. I then stopped and said a prayer.
I prayed that God would whisper the words in my ear. Words he wants you to hear and ponder in your hearts. Words, which will give you reassurance that God is on your side no matter what your circumstances in life are now. He knows that we are not perfect. He knows that we sin much daily; that we have not loved him with our whole heart or for that matter or neighbors as ourselves. Because of this we cannot be on his side. But HE LOVES US DESPITE ALL THIS! He loves us despite how much we hate our job and our boss. He loves us despite our anger or frustration with our brother, sister, spouse, or children.
- The first verse of our text is the same as in the Epistle lesson, verse 28 which says, “And we know that for those who love God, all things work together, for those who are called according to his purpose.” By a show of hands, how many of us have heard this passage at least 10 times in the past? Good. This verse is probably one of the most used verses in the bible in regards to reassurance. However, this verse is also used a little too glibly. Paul is writing this Epistle to the Christians in Rome. It is not a simple reassurance to just anyone. An example of this is:
· Romans 8:28 reveals God’s will in his ultimate plan for all believers that they will be with him in heaven and share in the feast for which we soon be getting a foretaste. However, while we are here we will suffer the repercussions of sin in this world for, which no one is immune.
· Many years ago, Rabbi Harold Kushner wrote a book he titled, “When bad things happen to Good people.” This book was the result of some of his own personal suffering. He and his wife suffered the loss of a child with progeria; a disease, which causes advanced aging in children. Rabbi Kushner concluded bad things happen because the God who created the world, is no longer in control of what happens in it.
· Is this true? Has God lost control over his creation? Romans chapter one where it says in verse 24, “Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,” He allows man to do as he pleases because He is not a puppeteer who desires to control us, nor does he want to be.
· God created man to have fellowship with Him. Before the fall from grace in the Garden, we were given free will to choose God and have a relationship with him, but when man sinned; he forfeited his free will to choose the things of God. Now through Christ, the Son of God, we are able to conquer the evil, which befalls us in this world.
· Based on what we know from scripture, Rabbi Kushner’s premise is flawed. Holy Scripture proves throughout that bad things do not happen to good people. Based on the scriptural definition of GOOD, we fall short, just as Paul writes in the third chapter of Romans verse 23, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” If all human beings have sinned, how can they be good? I would like to submit the correct title of Rabbi Kusher’s book should be, “When good things happen to bad people.”
· Good things happen to bad people because of God’s love for his ultimate creation, you and me. In verse 32 of Romans 8, Paul repeats the Gospel message heard in John 3:16, which says, “God did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. How will he then not give to us all that he has given to his Son? Through Christ’s sacrifice, we gain salvation by grace through faith.
· In our Old Testament lesson, God called the Israelites to be a people “Holy “unto the Lord their God. At that time, they were His chosen people. They were because their forefather Abraham believed and his belief was credited as righteousness. God promised Abraham that the messiah would come through his descendants. When Jesus began his ministry, he chose his disciples they did not choose him and it is they who became the elect of God.
· To seal the deal, he gave himself over to the enemy, which includes all those born into this world through Adam. The Pharisees, Sadducees, High Priests, Roman Soldiers, Pontius Pilate and even you and me. We crucified him, but as Romans 5:8 says. While we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us. On the third day he rose again from the dead. So those that love him are the chosen and called of God. They are the one predestined beforehand to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, the firstborn among many brothers.
· Jesus gave us justification through his death and in his resurrection we were given the promise of his glory on the last day.
· If God is for us, who can be against us? We have already said that we cannot be on God’s side because of our sinful nature. But because of Jesus, God is on our Side. As Paul wrote 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! In all these things we are MORE than conquerors through him who loved us. We win! Break out the ticker tape because we are going to have a humdinger of a parade in heaven on the last day.
· Finally Paul writes, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, not height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is our reassurance policy. This policy will give a complete 100% payout on the day of Judgment. Hallelujah Amen!
