“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” Romans 8:28
“And we know…”
Hmmm...do you ever get the feeling that you just don't know if everything you're going through is working together for good? Oh, you're fine with the good things; it's easy to see how they lead to good because the good things are good in and of themselves, and even the indifferent things seem to have some promise, some hope. But occasionally the bad things have persisted for too long; they are simply becoming a little too much, unbearably uncomfortable, or completely intolerable...to the point where we wonder if we've read the text correctly!
But we have; Paul's message is clear...
“all things”
And isn't this exactly what we want to hear—that we can be certain beyond a shadow of a doubt, that in everything that happens to us, God is overruling things in such a way that they turn out for the good and the benefit of His people…for us?
With everything that has happened over the last three years, and believe me, we've seen and experienced things we've never seen or experienced before, we need this reassuring statement, this assurance from Paul to sustain us as we enter this new year.
Paul had touched on something similar a few chapters earlier in Romans 5; how such an assertion was true for earthly matters, and in verses 29 and 30 of this chapter, Paul will elaborate on how we can be certain it is true from an eternal perspective.
But firstly, this is such an incredible statement that we must ascertain who is it for, and who can benefit from it.
“Those who love God and are called according to His purpose.”
Paul is saying that this assurance is for those who God has called to Himself, to Christians, those who love God because He first loved us.
“No man comes unto Me except the Father draw him.” John 6:44
All things work together for good for the ones who love God because He first loved us and called us to Himself….and that’s clearly “all things” so it’s not just all good things but all things.
We all have bad things going on in our lives; wherever we go, whether in church or out, people are fighting a battle, and some battles are more difficult than others. There is pain and suffering everywhere you look; this is being physical in a physical world, being fallen in a fallen world, and we will have suffering in this fallen world. You'll have it, and we'll all have it; it comes with the territory. But miraculously, God works for good even amid suffering and perhaps now is a good time to look at Paul's words in Romans 5
Romans 5:3-4 “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”
Paul was not unaware of the hardships and struggles that Christians were going through at that time, but he was stating that rather than endangering their peace and security, these struggles would increase it—they would provide hope:
As Christians, they were already secure, they had peace with God, and they had a relationship in which they were no longer threatened by God’s wrath.
Now Paul was telling them that God was using suffering to produce in them the ability to endure, to develop experience, and the ability to endure was producing character; a strength that comes from dealing with severe situations, and this character would, in turn, produce hope. Paul knew this because this was the same hope that Paul himself had because he saw how adversity was conforming him to Christ.
The closest analogy I can think of is the well-known story of a soon-to-be butterfly struggling to break free from its cocoon. According to the story, someone seeing this struggle wants to help and gently peels open the cocoon not realising that the effort the chrysalis makes is what causes fluids to be pumped into their wings, helping the wings expand so that the insect can come to full strength, mature, and complete the transition into a butterfly.
It seems this is the same with us: we so often want to view our hardships as nothing but an obstacle toward growth and maturity, but in truth, they are working to produce the very thing we desire, the strength of character that will lead not only to hope but to conformity with Christ.
The question we must ask ourselves is do we want to develop the kind of character and hope that Paul had. Do we want to develop the way God wants us to develop?
If so, it would seem we should indeed rejoice in our suffering knowing what is being built within us, knowing we are being conformed to the image of Christ.
Thing after thing after thing, that affects us, whether they be good or bad, is working to conform us to the image of Christ.
Today we’re more like Christ than we were yesterday, and tomorrow we will be more like Christ than we are today…and so on, on some days we might not notice but over the years, if we look back, we will realise that we have changed, our thoughts, actions, speech has changed, it’s become more Christ-like.
Suffering and struggles will also teach us to see what is bad in us, they will pull us up. It can be dangerous when everything goes well for us, and although our human nature tells us that’s a good place to be, we can become complacent; we’re okay, we think we have it all together, we're doing fine, then something goes wrong, and we see the ugly flesh come to the surface. Our hearts and temper boil up with impatience, doubt, and bitterness and it manifests itself when things aren't going well.
After a brief period of suffering, everyone, especially those closest to us, finds out what we're really like…and this is a good thing because we all think we’re better than we are, but God knows. It’s no surprise to God when we react that way. Then we realise there is a bit more work to do in our lives, that we need to pay more attention to our witness, to our walk with God, to realise that there’s a bit more sanctifying to do.
Throughout the bible we see people suffering, think about Joseph and his brothers; those whose instincts should have been to protect a younger brother, well, those same brothers sold him into slavery, and he ended up in jail, but God used him to save the Israelites from famine. “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good”.
Job lost everything, disaster after disaster, but through it, he came to a greater, deeper, understanding of God and God rewarded him in the end.
Paul suffered a thorn in his side and yet through it all, he came to know the power of God’s grace in his life.
So, we can perhaps understand the earthly good that Paul says God is working through all things but what is the ultimate good that God is working to produce?
Our problem here is that, more often than not, we define good on our terms when we should define it on God’s terms. God’s goal, His objective for us, for His children, is that we will come to know Him, that we will be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus, and we will enjoy His presence forever.
And Paul here records the assurance that God’s objective, our presence with Him forever, will be attained. Romans 8:29-30
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, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
Paul was aware of the suffering that Christians were under and going back to Romans 8, here Paul celebrates the believer’s security in Christ. Romans 8:31-32
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with Him graciously give us all things?
Paul reminds us that God is for us: in giving his Son, he has at the same time secured for us all that we need to get through this life and attain final salvation.
Now let’s move forward to the great doxology starting in v35
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?
The answer isn’t “no one and nothing, because God won’t let these things affect Christians”…this is a phrase, a teaching we so often heard throughout the Covid pandemic but a phrase without any biblical basis.
Because in the same breath, he goes on to quote Psalm 44:22
As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
But at this point, if Paul could have climbed onto the roof of the tallest building, I think he would have, and he would have shouted the loudest “NO” he could muster.
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39
The reason Paul can say that nothing will separate us from the love of Christ is that as Paul previously stated, God demonstrated His love for us by not sparing His own Son but by delivering Him up for us all. And if God gave up His Son for us all, which was the hardest thing, God will certainly find it very easy to give us all things with him…there is an incredible, reassuring logic in this verse. (Romans 8:32) Christ's crucifixion ensured our salvation and demonstrated God's, gracious love. Similarly, God declared us justified in His sight through Christ's work, so that no one can bring a charge against us. Furthermore, Jesus not only died but he was raised and lives to make continual intercession for us….Christ prays for us. (Romans 8:34).
Because of Jesus' death on the cross for our sins, we say that He loved us. However, His love is not a memory; His death was a once-and-for-all event for the forgiveness of our sins, but His love most definitely wasn't. To bring us everlasting joy is a moment-by-moment action of the omnipotent, living Son of God. For those who love God and are called in accordance with his purpose—those who have placed their complete trust in Christ as Lord and Saviour…. for His Bride.
Sometimes we don’t like how God’s plan looks from our perspective, but if we believe that our destiny lies in the hands of God, that He loves us and that He sees the world from start to finish then, despite how our being human can cloud that truth and fear can threaten to overtake us, we can sometimes, through our “things“ be drawn towards thinking about eternity. When all is well, we tend not to…but when we are feeling weak, sick, and troubled we tend to think about eternity more, to live and think less in the flesh.
It’s hard not to live in the flesh when we have jobs, family, friends etc. Hard to think about God…but it’s certainly easier when we’re weakened. When we’re reminded that we’re only here for a while, this shakes us enough to realise we are pilgrims travelling through.
We think so little about eternity because we are preoccupied with this life, with the life that can be seen, but when deprived of some things, we are reminded that death is not the end, and that glory awaits us…that’s a good thing!!
We are destined for indescribable glory …this is how we are more than conquerors; this is the basis for Paul’s shout of NO!
The truth is that God Almighty is our refuge — all day, every day, in all the ordinary and extraordinary experiences of life.
Nothing but that which He ordains for our good will happen to us.
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