INTRODUCTION
(MULTILINE)
Today’s passage is one of the favorite passages of almost all believers and it contains one of the most memorized verses in the Bible: Romans 8:28.
In the ESV this reads:
Romans 8:28 (ESV)
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
This reads a little differently that the way I memorized, and you might be more familiar with:
Romans 8:28 (KJV)
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.
Either way, the meaning is the same, so we don’t need to get distracted by the difference in word order.
Paul begins this paragraph by referring to our . That weakness is specifically mentioned, a weakness regarding prayer. Then, in verse 28 Paul speaks not about prayer but about how God works in our life to from all that goes on. Perhaps he is speaking about another weakness that sometimes comes up when we experience suffering for his sake, we sometimes have about whether God knows and cares about what is happening to us. We’ll call this a weakness, too, and see how in both weaknesses which arise from our suffering for Christ there is powerful assurance to help us through them. He’ll continue this theme of assurance in the midst of struggles and persecution in the concluding part of Romans 8 which we’ll cover next Sunday.
Weakness #1: Not knowing to pray for, 26-27
Our natural response tp pain and suffering would be to pray for or of the source of pain or struggle. But we know that sometimes God uses pain and trouble for his good purposes in our life.
1 Peter 1:6–7 (ESV)
James 1:2–4 (ESV)
We might not know what God’s will is for the pain or suffering we are experiencing and that would lead us to uncertainty about what to pray for.
If so, Paul assures us that the Holy Spirit takes over and .
Besides giving us the assurance that in our most difficult times someone is praying for us, Paul tells us two more things about this praying of the Holy Spirit:
First, God knows our hearts so he certainly knows of the Spirit. There is miscommunication between them possible.
Second, the Holy Spirit knows the will of God for us in every circumstance so can immediately pray for us according to God’s plan and purpose for our pain or suffering.
So in our prayer weakness, we have God’s assurance that even when we don’t know what to ask the Holy Spirit is praying for us according to God’s will.
Weakness #2: Doubts about God, 28-30
When we struggle and suffer because of our faith in Jesus, doubts about God’s involvement and purpose might arise. In our humanness we are sometimes and we can use some reassurance.
1. Paul tells us that we already know something that should help carry us through: God is working together for , 28
Paul says God i.
He is still using pain and suffering for Christ to produce good in our life, and he is working now to produce positive good for us out of what we may be suffering .
God is at work weaving together our experiences for his good purpose.
(MULTILINE)
Paul says that God is working together for our good.
“All things,” and “together.”
Paul says God is doing this for everyone who and everyone he has .
I am certain Paul doesn’t mean that we have to love God as a for him to be working for good in our lives. Every true child of God loves his heavenly father. The apostle John said so.
1 John 4:19 (ESV)
The second statement about who God is doing this for parallels the first. He is doing it for those according to his purpose. This must mean those who he’s called and who have responded in repentance and faith to his call, since a call alone doesn’t imply the faith God must see in order to grant us his gift of righteousness.
Those who love God and who are called according to his purpose are the genuine children of God, all who have been saved by putting their faith in Jesus and receiving God’s gift of righteousness by faith.
2. Paul tells us what God’s purpose in all that happens to us is: it is to , 29-30
God wants to have sons and daughters, so he is in the business of turning sinful human beings into people who are conformed to the image of his son.
He predestined all of his children to one day fully resemble his Son, Jesus.
The word ‘conformed’ comes from the noun ‘morphe’ (form) and the word meaning “together with”, that is we will share with Jesus the same form or image.
The word ‘image’ refers to the outer form of something.
Put together, Paul is saying that God’s goal is that we one day appear to be just like his Son, Jesus.
This is far more than physical resemblance. It is a matter of character, values, goals, ambitions, responses, reactions, feelings, and obedience to God. It is being like Jesus without being divine.
John said:
1 John 3:2 (ESV)
Paul said:
2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)
2 Corinthians 4:11 (ESV)
God’s goal in all that we go through as his children is to make us like Jesus. He is working all things together for good – for the good of becoming like his Son, Jesus.
He may need to use suffering to bring this about. He used it in his Son’s life.
Hebrews 5:8 (ESV)
As a good father, he may need to use suffering or pain in our life to bring this about.
Hebrews 12:9–11 (ESV)
As Paul closes this paragraph, he uses some words that have engendered much scholarly discussion: foreknowledge, predestine, and called. We’ll encounter these again as we discuss Romans 9-11, but for now we will simply take in the larger picture which they are used to describe, that , God has been and is .
He has been in control of all that led us to our salvation, he is in control of all that is now happening to us, he is in control of what all that we are experiencing is leading to, and he will continue to be in control. We’ll close with that in mind.
CONCLUSION
Suffering for Jesus, whether it is like that experienced by 340 million Christians around the world, or the far less dangerous suffering that those of us in the room suffer, is still a challenge to our walk with Christ. Our weaknesses allow for doubts and uncertainties about God, his care, his involvement, and his purposes to arise in our minds. Paul has just given us the assurance that the Holy Spirit actively intercedes for us when we simply don’t know what to ask. He intercedes and does so according to the will of God. Not only that but Paul assures us God continues to work even in our hard times, bringing all things together to create good. This is in line with his eternal plan to make us like Jesus.