Romans 8:12-39

Romans 8:12-39

¹²Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation -- but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. ¹³For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, ¹⁴because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." ¹⁶The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. ¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

¹⁸I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. ¹⁹The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. ²³Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. ²⁷And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will.

²⁸And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

³¹What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all -- how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died -- more than that, who was raised to life -- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. ³⁵Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." ³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

²⁸And

This is not a verse in isolation. And we need to know what else is connected to this promise.

First scan back to verse 26

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.

So this verse is not about strength but it is in the context of praying in the Spirit.

Secondly in 22

²²We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

This verse is in the context of the pain creation is suffering. It is about hope and groaning as we wait for our adoption to be complete in heaven.

Thirdly it is about suffering in verse 17.

¹⁷Now if we are children, then we are heirs -- heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

Too often verse 28 is seen as a promise to make everything comfortable. That somehow God is going to make everything easy and we will receive all the temporal blessings that we want. But that is because we wrench this verse out of its context. We want to nice bits but the suffering, the pain and the weakness are our idea of in all things God works for the good of those who love him

But it is about sonship in verse 15

¹⁵For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father."

This verse is in the context of new birth. You who have put your faith and trust in Jesus are born again as Sons and daughters of the living God. You have been adopted into the family of God. You have the Holy Spirit enabling you to communicate with God, a Savour who is representing you and who offered himself as sacrifice for all the evil things and thoughts you have and a God who loves you with an everlasting love.

So Paul says

we know

Do we? What do you know? Do you know Paul has just said that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

That is something David Attenborough and Steven Hawking never bother about. To them this beautiful creation is all there is. But to you who have put your faith and trust in Jesus it is the backdrop to a new and greater creation. You are a new creation, with eternal life, peace with God, while the Buddhist is wandering around seeking it you have Nirvana already bubbling up inside you. The problem is that we listen to the tempter and he robs us of our peace. Instead of knowing in all things God works for the good of those who love him we are persuaded that the setbacks and difficulties and struggles are evidence that God has lost his grip, that he is a fictional figure where nice things and nice feelings reside but the reality is much grimmer than that.

Don’t you believe it!

Our God is a great big God. It is an uncomfortable fact that the suffering and the pain are part of his plan to perfect us. That God works for good does not mean a walk in the park.

This morning is all about getting this promise, this fact back on your agenda, into your thinking - that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The Holy Spirit work this morning is to bring knowledge and understanding and wisdom so that we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

in all things

Now here is the difficulty of this verse. It depends on your history and grasp of God whether this seems either irrelevant or blatantly wrong or worse, makes God to be a monster. Many of us have experiences where it is impossible for us to believe God was in control without him being the most appalling God. But the danger is that we reject the promise because our experience does not fit. Terrible things happen to us but we need to know that God still has not failed or worse been in the evil that happened to us. That is why it is important for us to understand that creation is groaning. This world is a mess because of sin. Appalling things happen that cannot be explained. Don’t think Paul was unaware of this. Around the time he was writing Vesuvius had erupted destroying a huge swath of the bay of Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum and other towns. The Roman war machine was bloody, violent and there was no War crimes commission in the Hague. In Rome, where he is writing, the entire Jewish population, Christians included, had been deported. The Christians he wrote to knew all about abuse and suffering. And yet he still says

that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Why when the evidence was that Christians got the worse deal does he say that? Because it is true. The evil we suffer is not from God, but he is at work bringing life out of death, peace out of the horror of our world.

those who love God

Following the Greek text the next part of this verse is about on who’s behalf God works. It is to those who love him. This sentence is not about those who do not love God. Things do not necessarily work out for them because they have rejected God’s definition of good. The non-believer wants to do it ‘my way’ My feelings, my rights, my interests are all that matters. But for those who love him, he has got it all worked out for your good.

works

This is the core of this sentence. And unfortunately the greek text is a bit confusing . First the verb translated here as ‘works’ means ‘working together’. So who or what is working together? It could be either ‘God’ or ‘all things’. The AV puts it “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

The message says “That's why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good”

The Second problem is that God is not apparently the prime mover and we know that he is. Some early copies of the New Testament actually have God as the subject of the verb ‘God works together’ but this is felt an early attempt to make the text make sense. The point I am making is that we believe that God is manipulating our circumstances for our good. It is not some product of the behaviour of a random universe around us but the conscious plan of a God who loves and cares for you. So it is not all things work together for good in isolation. This is not some new-age concept, it embedded in a God who calls us according to his purpose. So whether you put God in the text as subject or not

in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Good

Now we come to the crux of the verse. As soon as we use this word we are immediately having to ask what do we mean by it. When I was a child, a pint of Pasteurised milk a day was good. White bread was good, vegetables were best well boiled. But no longer. In WW2, killing the enemy was good but when the war ended, keeping them alive was good. It seems good can change around very quickly. Five years ago the Irish economy was good, now it is definitely bad. But the Bible is not about varying good.

God is good

God’s values are eternal values. So when we answer the question what is good we had better have an answer that has a godly dimension. And that is precisely why we have worked our way steadily through the Big Ten. Here we discover the timeless truths of what God considers good thinking leading to good actions.

Jesus was in no doubt about this. Listen to this in Mark 10:17-21.

¹⁷ As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁸ “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good—except God alone. ¹⁹ You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honour your father and mother.’”

²⁰ “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”

²¹ Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

God is good. Jesus said “No one is good—except God alone.”

So our thinking about good has to begin and stay with the revealed characteristics of God. And in the story we see Jesus applying ‘God is good’. It is a matter not only of keeping seven of the Big Ten but giving sacrificially and following Jesus. Jesus touched on the man’s idol – his wealth and ego. And it hurt.

Good is about being transformed into his likeness.

Lets step back a little from the verse to get the bigger picture to what is good.

There is not time to look in detail at these verses but get the broad sense of them. God has called you to HIS purpose and that is to be conformed to the likeness of his son. So the all things working together for good are all things working together to transform you onto being Christ like. And he will let nothing get in the way of that except your resistance to his will. That is why the condition in this verse is ‘to those who love God’ . God is not going to drag you kicking and screaming into his kingdom. But if you are willing to respond to his love in love then your love will be in offering yourself as a living sacrifice. And this promise is that when you do that, God will work all things so that you will achieve the ultimate goal in your life – to become like Christ.

The verses go on to add that God process is to choose you, call you, save you and glorify you. One day you will with Christ in heaven. Now you are his special recreation, which he is transforming into being like Jesus.

When you came to Christ, if you did, then he took the pain for all the sin you had committed and you found that he shared the pain and suffering that was done to you. Now he promises to use all things for good. All things to transform you. Even tragedy and pain and suffering can be for your good when the Holy Spirit transforms you mind and when the presence of Jesus is guaranteed.

Living in the light of the promise.

This life is transformed because instead of fearing the future, we know that God is working for our good. And when things get tough we hang on to the promise that he is working all things for good. Today’s struggles are part of the transforming process, if we allow God to change the way we think. No longer is the pain pointless and the things that happen to us just a confusing kaleidoscope of events. You are God’s child, and he is at work for your good. So you are looking out to se how what is happening to you is drawing you closer to God and therefore choosing to act and think as he wants you to think and act. You want to spend time going over what is happening to you and what you are choosing to do about it with God. Listening to him by reading his word and opening your mind up to him speaking directly to you. We bang on about prayer and Bible reading because it is in the presence of God that we make any sense of this crazy world.

So I want you to open your diary before the Lord and ask him to use the events that you have, whether it is hospital appointments, interviews, going to work, spending time with family or friends and ask how he is going to use them for good. The key purpose he has called you for it to make you like himself so that those around you receive his love and know that God is real and can transform their lives. And at the end of the day, go through the difficulties and trials and disappointments with him. If you like, have a good moan, but then open you mind up to the Holy Spirit for healing and transformation.

This is what the passage before Romans 8:28 is saying

So we accept that we may not know the reason for today’s problems and joys but we know God is working all things together for your good.

“we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

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