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Romans 8 .28, God is working all things together for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. But we really gotta stop using that verse as the Christian version of, hey dude, just grin and bear it when we understand the text.
You're listening to When We Understand the Text, committed to the sound teaching of the word of God. For questions and comments, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. And don't forget our website, www .utt .com.
Here's our host, Pastor Gabe.
Thank you, Becky. We get to the oh-so-famous Romans 8 .28 today. Perhaps you can even quote it for me. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
That's the ESV version anyway. I once knew it in NIV. It used to be there was a time when all the scriptures I knew were pretty much either NIV or King James. But I think since I've become a preacher regularly, speaking from a specific translation, and that translation being the ESV, that seems to be the only translation I can remember anymore.
But anyway, okay, so it's from the ESV that I am reading. As you've been following along with these devotionals, surely you've picked that up. But you're free to read from the translation that you have as I go to Romans 8, verses 26 through 30.
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. Those whom he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified. So we get today to Romans 8, 28, and I'm going to cheat because I'm gonna go ahead and play the what video that we've done on this particular verse.
Do the pressures of life have you down? Are you struggling in your finances, your job, your marriage? Why not try a dose of Romans 8, 28? And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose.
So the next time you're having a bad day, cheer up and remind yourself that God is working this out for something better. Fired from your job, Romans 8, 28? Been stabbed in the back, Romans 8, 28? Do you have cancer, Romans 8, 28?
Good things are coming, you just gotta believe. So smile your cares away with Romans 8, 28. And if you think that's the meaning of that verse, you're gonna be disappointed when things don't work out the way you believed they would.
The explanation for Romans 8, 28 comes in the very next verse. 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.
So the good mentioned in verse 28 is being conformed to the image of Christ mentioned in verse 29. It's not a new job, vindication, or better health. It's Christ. It's God working in all things for his glory.
That's the meaning. If you know someone who's going through a tough time, don't quote Romans 8, 28 and tell them to cheer up. One, that's not the proper meaning, and two, it's insensitive. You're saying God wants to do something better for them, but first they have to have a good attitude.
God is sovereign, working even through suffering to make us more like Christ. We get to share in his glory, those whom he placed his affection on before time began and will keep for all eternity. That's the promise of Romans 8, 28 and 29 when we understand the text.
So the good that is being talked about in verse 28 is being conformed to the image of Christ talked about in verse 29. That's how you use scripture to interpret scripture. For those who love God, all things work together to be conformed to the image of Christ, those who are called according to his purpose.
That's how we should understand Romans 8, 28. But how do we tend to use it? Yeah, it's that catch-all verse that we'll sometimes use to even try to explain to somebody, hey, all things happen for a reason, right?
This is like the Christian version of that, which everybody says, but when it comes to a biblical reference, this is the verse that we use to try to explain this. All things happen for a reason. A few years ago, my dad lost his job at the hands of a corrupt board of directors.
My dad built this ministry. He was at the height of success in his field at the time. The company was experiencing some of its best years, yet he was being stabbed in the back and no one on the board even cared to tell him why he was being dismissed from his job.
Now, during that last board meeting when my dad was being let go, one of the board members actually quoted to him, Romans 8, 28. They said to him something to the effect of, God is working this for your good.
Something better is on the way. What a horrible statement to make in the middle of losing your job. It also kind of took the blame off of the board. See, we're not really doing this. This is God. It's all in God's hands.
You're losing your job because of God, not because of us. Now, can God use a situation like losing your job to make you more like Christ? Of course he can. But here's the thing about using that verse to encourage someone going through a difficult situation.
Rather than offering them relief, it actually makes the circumstance more burdensome. It places on them an onus of responsibility to just grin and bear it. And if they don't, then it might keep somebody from seeing a certain witness in them that might lead them to Christ.
Do you kind of understand what I'm saying? Let me give a better example of this. I think the way that this verse commonly gets thrown around the most often probably pertains to a person who gets cancer, right?
You've got a friend who's just been diagnosed with cancer and you slap them on the back and you say, hey, God works all things together for good. So you're pointing out to them by using Romans 8 .28 that God is gonna use this disease to witness to doctors and residents and nutritionists, care coordinators, an abundance of nurses, janitors, sharps collectors, all the people that are going to be working around them during the time that they are fighting this disease.
You're saying to them, God's working all things together for good. God is using your disease to bring somebody to Christ. Now, by you saying that, surely your intentions are good. And you might even have an eternal perspective in mind when you give them that encouragement.
But you're actually communicating to your friend that the eternal wellbeing of everyone that they come in contact with, while they are fighting this disease that is ravaging their bodies, while they are going through the suffering of chemotherapy and all these other kinds of things, the salvation of the people that is around them is dependent on them having a cheery disposition through a debilitating disease.
That does not make their battle more hopeful. I think that people throw the verse around that way because they don't wanna face the reality of suffering. But suffering is something that we need to walk through with a person, not help them to ignore.
If we're trying to say to a person that you just need to grin and bear it or else somebody might not be led to Christ, that's just idle speculation. And again, you're placing a burden upon somebody that it's just not helpful.
It's not compassionate and it's not empathetic to the suffering that they are going through, which they need a friend alongside of them to grieve with them as they go through this process. Paul said to us in Romans 12, weep with those who weep, rejoice with those who rejoice.
Courtney Reisig wrote an article for the Gospel Coalition and I pulled the notes out on this article to read this to you here. Here's what she says in the ways that we use Romans 8 .28 or how we should understand this passage.
She says, God is not in the business of making the best of it when things don't go our way. He doesn't just sweep in and pick up the pieces after our best laid plans fall apart. He is always working, even in our disappointments and using those trials for a greater purpose.
So we don't deal with disappointing circumstances by picking ourselves up by our bootstraps or turning our frown upside down, or I would add in making lemonade out of lemons, all right? Rather, we trust in the God who is always working things out for our good.
And what is that good? According to Romans 8 .29, it's being conformed to the likeness of Christ. This is sanctification. It's that process of growing in holiness, growing in the holiness and righteousness of God.
It is for every Christian to undergo so that we might be presented before him on the day of glory, mature and without blemish. As it says in Colossians 1 .28. Let's remember something else the apostle Paul wrote to the Roman Christians, okay?
Which we read earlier, Romans 5 .3 -5. We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
If you have a friend who is going through a difficult situation, rather than slapping them on the back and giving them a Romans 8 .28 quote, why don't you instead remind them of the hope that we have in Christ?
That we have been rescued from sin and death. By his sacrifice, our wounds have been healed. We have peace with God, right standing before the father. We've been adopted as sons and daughters of God because of Christ.
So what can man do to us? What can anything in this world do to us? Because as we'll read going on here in Romans 8, that there is nothing, not death, nor life, angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation that can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God. Let us remind our friends who struggle of those truths, of that hope that we have in Christ, rather than misusing Romans 8 .28 to be the Christian version of, hey man, just grin and bear it.
All things happen for a reason. Dear Lord, we know that all things happen for a reason. They happen for your glory. And I pray that when difficult situations hit, that we would be able to give you glory and give you praise and thanksgiving in even those difficult circumstances.
But when it comes to watching a friend go through a difficult trial, let's not try to burden them with something that is not really meant for them to carry, but instead remind them of the hope that we have in Christ Jesus.
That all things that have been subjected to futility, this world that we inhabit right now, are waiting the deliverance of Christ when he returns, restoring all things to their former glory, the perfection by which all things were made when you first spoke it into existence and said, it is good.
There is a day when it is gonna be restored back to that place again. And we look forward to that day. If we are in Christ, we're gonna be participants in that day. When our lowly bodies will be made to be like your glorious body, and then we will see you as you are because we will be like you, as it says in 1 John 3, 2.
Remind us of these things so we might remind the saints of these things, encouraging one another as we grow in this process of sanctification, being shaped more and more into the image of Christ our Lord.
Amen.
You've been listening to When We Understand The Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. We hope you are a part of the church family committed to gospel teaching, and we thank you for including us in your Bible learning.
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