What Does It Mean: Everything Works for Good?

Romans 8:28

INTRODUCTION

One of the most often quoted verses in the Bible is Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good for those who love God.”

But when you think about it, it is one of those Bible verses that leaves you scratching your head.

There is so much evil in the world.

Maybe when things are going well for you, you can repeat this verse glibly.

But when we are weighed down by sorrow, we can’t imagine how what we are experiencing could be part of something that will ever be good.

That is why pastors who visit the sick and dying seldom quote this verse. It just rings hollow when you are in the grip of intense pain or anxiety or despondency.

When we are weighed down with sorrow, it is hard to believe that any good can come from our trouble.

A couple of weeks ago our pastor told us that a youngster who was at church camp the week before came home and took his life.

Babies are born with terrible birth defects.

A young woman is raped and murdered.

An airplane crashes, taking the lives of all on board.

In Scotland a few years ago a landslide in the mountains buried a school full of children under tons of rock.

We read of wars, famines, earthquakes, tsunamis, and floods that take the lives of thousands.

Some people think that the troubles of the world prove that there is no God.

Let’s put the verse in its context.

Paul is writing in Romans 8 of how God works by the power of the Spirit in the midst of suffering and pain.

Paul writes about suffering with Jesus.

He says that we “groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as God’s children.”

Now let me read the whole paragraph as it is printed in my Bible: “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, 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 first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

I. The Bible nowhere teaches that everything that happens is good—or that everything that happens is God’s will—or that “everything happens for a purpose.”

A. God made a good world, but the world has become a world of sin and darkness.

God looks down on his world and grieves.

Do you remember the story about how Jesus wept over the fate that awaited Jerusalem?

He grieves when children die...

The sorrow of the world is not part of God’s plan.

B. And God came into our world of sin and misery and darkness.

In Jesus Christ, God himself experienced the tragedy of human life.

In Jesus Christ, God absorbed the evil of the world into himself to gain a victory over sin and death.

As believers—because we are one with Christ—we bear with Christ the burden of the sorrows of the world.

We believers don’t lead charmed lives just because we love God.

We get cancer. We have strokes. Our memories fail. Sometimes our much-loved grandchildren die before it is their time.

We are in the world to share its sorrows and to share God’s victory in the cross of Christ.

II. This verse teaches us that God, in his power and wisdom, can weave both the good and bad things in the world into his purposes of grace.

A. An illustration:

Salt is made up of two elements, sodium and chlorine.

Sodium is a metal, so reactive that it has to be kept in a jar or oil.

If it is exposed to air it can burst into flame.

If you ate a bit of sodium, you would die.

Chlorine is a greenish gas. It is so deadly that in World War I it was used as a weapon to kill people.

But ordinary table salt is a compound composed of sodium—a poisonous metal—and chlorine—a poisonous gas.

And salt is necessary for life.

Something necessary for life made of a combination of deadly things.

So God is able to use even bad things to bring about good.

B. But our verse doesn’t say that God is able to make all things work together for good for everybody. The promise is for those who love God. “We know that in everything God works for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.”

C. If we love God, even our sorrows can become blessings.

As I was preparing this message I was assaulted by severe back pain. I had to stop and lie down on the floor, hoping the pain would go away.

I thought to myself. Well, what good is coming out of this?

I considered, Some of the people who hear this message will also be in pain.

Now I am experiencing something of what they experience. It helps me understand.

If we love God, we will cling to him, even when things don’t go well.

If we love God, we will experience God in our sorrows in a more profound way than we can experience him in our pleasures.

If we love God, we will remember the sorrows Jesus bore for us.

III. “God works all things together for those who love him, and are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son...”

A. We are called by God. Salvation is not our doing. Salvation is something God invites us into.

If God had not drawn us to himself we would have remained outside—strangers to God.

But God has called us to Jesus to be blessed forever.

That is what it means that God has called us.

It is not that God chose you and me and not others.

God calls everyone, but not everyone responds.

B. This scripture tells us that the purpose of God’s calling and predestinating is not simply to bless us but that we might be conformed to the image of his Son.

To be like Jesus is the “good thing” that God purposes for us.

Our true “good” is to be like Jesus—gracious, kind, generous, obedient, trusting.

Romans 8:28 is not telling us that God arranges everything for our comfort…or our pleasure…or for our convenience. God is arranging everything for our good, and what is good for us is to be like Christ.

C. In Romans 5, Paul writes: “Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”

This verse teaches us that suffering is a necessary part of our training in godliness. Suffering can make us stronger in our faith.

D. A few weeks ago we considered the words in 1 Peter in which Peter tells us that we must, for a while, suffer various trials “so that the genuineness of our faith, more precious than gold which though perishable is tested by fire, may redound to the praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

This is why I insist that old age is the most important part of life.

Maybe in our younger days—when we were healthy and good-looking and strong—we did great things for God.

Now, in our weakness and pain and limitations, we can’t do great things.

But we can do the most important thing God asks of anyone. We can love God and keep believing. We can prove that God is real and prove that our faith is real.

The world expects us to just give up and wait to die, but when we keep trusting and holding onto God and serving him in the ways we are able—then we become witnesses to the power of God in a life—even to the end.

CONCLUSION

There is a statue down in New Orleans, a figure of a woman seated in a rocking chair, holding a child in her arms. The only carved word on that monument is the single name: Margaret. But to those who lived in New Orleans at that time, the name was all that was necessary. For Margaret was a familiar figure throughout the city, known for one great passion, her love of children.

As a young immigrant girl she had come to New Orleans to find a new home and life. In a few years she had achieved her highest dream. She married a fine man and together they had a lovely daughter. Then in a brief span of time she lost them both to illness. After a time of bereavement, she first began to work in orphanages where she could help care for other children.

Then, because of her skills in baking, she began to sell her goods, peddling them from a cart through the streets of New Orleans. She prospered in this, and was able to open a bakery, which in time became a successful chain of bakeries.

Yet Margaret never changed her basic style of life. Most of the proceeds from her business were used to establish and maintain orphanages where children could find refuge. She explained what happened by saying, “I put into my work all the compassion of my old grief.”

It is not “good” Margaret lost her husband and daughter. It was tragic.

What is good is that God brought something good out of that tragedy—a good that would not have happened if Margaret had lived to an old age with her husband and enjoyed grandchildren.

A few weeks ago Dorotha shared with me the story of a man named Nicholas James Vujicic (pronounced: voy-chich).

Nicholas Vujicic was born without arms or legs. He has only a body, a head, and a tiny foot with two toes.

Vujiicic was born in Australia, of parents from Serbia.

As a child he was mocked and ridiculed by his classmates.

He fell into severe depression.

He tried to drown himself in a bathtub.

He prayed that God would give him arms and legs like other people.

One day his mother showed him an article about a man who dealt with a severe disability.

Vujicic realized that he was not unique in his struggles.

He realized that he could inspire others and became grateful for his life.

He began to learn to do things. He graduated from college.

He can write with his two toes. He can use a computer. He can get a glass of water, comb his hair, brush his teeth, answer the phone and shave.

If you have a computer you can watch a UTube video and see him diving into a swimming pool.

When he was 17 he began to give talks to his prayer group.

Now he travels over the world speaking to congregations, schools and corporate audiences. He has spoken before 3 million people in over 24 countries on five continents.

He helps other people who have handicaps not to give up, but to live for God.

It is not good that this child was born with such a terrible handicap.

But if Vujicuc had been a normal baby, we would never have heard of him.

He would never have had the ministry he has had.

He would not have been a blessing and an inspiration to so many people.

Because Vujicuc is a lover of Jesus, God has woven his handicap into a pattern for good.

Can you believe that in your life too, those things that seem most hard to bear, may be being woven by God into a plan for your good?

Remember, God has all eternity to make things right.

In v18 of the same chapter Paul writes: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

If we believe that nothing can separate us from the love of God—then we can take heart and keep trusting in the goodness of God.

If we take that attitude, we will be able to believe that all things will work together for good because we love God and God loves us.