I guess it’s fitting to say for all of us the past few weeks have been fairly traumatic. Two hurricanes, flooding, surge, rain, wind, downed trees, power outages, gas shortages, and devastation for so many. How quickly life can change. How quickly our confidence can erode. Most of us are physically, emotionally, and spiritually in need of rest and refreshing. And here we are today, gathered for worship seeking that very thing, seeking the Lord.
Normally it is my pattern to just continue on preaching where we are in our current sermon series. But because these past weeks have been so distressing, I have decided to press pause on the Sermon on the Mount in order to remind us and encourage us of God’s greatness, God’s sovereign power, and God’s goodness to us in all of life. So today we turn to Paul’s letter to the Romans, specifically, Romans 8:28.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is a masterpiece. Chapters 1-11 are stuffed full with the most concentrated collection of doctrine in the entire Bible. This deep doctrine of God leads Paul to a glad eruption of praise to God in 11:33-36 for who God is and what God has done. Both of these together then, the doctrine and the praise, lead to chapters 12-16 where Paul lays out how wonderfully practical all this doctrine truly is. That’s the letter to the Romans in a nutshell.
It is my opinion that the brightest gem in Romans is chapter 8. Beginning with no condemnation and ending with no separation from the love of Christ, this chapter has made firm countless feeble saints! Among all its riches, I think the most famous verse of chapter 8 is v28. Why? Because it’s one of the greatest promises God makes to His people in the Bible. It’s not surprising, then, to find that throughout the ages, whether under threat of persecution or at peace, Christians have found rich comfort in troubles and robust courage to endure sufferings of all kinds in Romans 8:28.
Thus, taking into account these past few weeks we’ve had, it’s fitting to linger on this together.
Let’s begin with the context, and ask the question ‘why is v28 placed where it is in Romans 8?’ Specifically, why does it come after v18-27? Well, look back at v18. There we’re told we live in ‘this present time.’ A time in which we will experience suffering of many kinds. But even though this is true, this present age is not all there is. See that? We who are in this present age groan inwardly and long eagerly for…what? For the age to come! When Christ returns, and our adoption and redemption will be full and final. We long for this, and so does all creation. As v18-27 continues on we also learn that in our suffering we’re not left alone but have the great help of the Holy Spirit who groans within us, interceding to the Father, on our behalf, according to God’s will. And not only so! As v26-27 give way to v28 we learn more that encourages us in this present age. Yes, we look forward eagerly to the age to come when sin and suffering will be gone. Yes, we love the help of the Spirit in our weakness as He groans within us. And, see it Church, in this v18 world where suffering plagues us so often, v28 teaches that God sovereignly works all things together for our good.[1] This is a great promise indeed!
So why does v28 come after v18-27? I think v28 exists, where it does, in our Bibles, to give more firmness to our feet as we walk through this fallen world. How does it encourage and give firmness to our feet? By showing God to us. Not a God subject to change or chance or circumstance or the will of man, but a God who is over all things, working all things, so that in all things we receive the greatest possible good. Why does God do this? For His greatest possible glory.
Now that we’ve seen the verse in its context, we can began unpacking it. 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.”
Let’s take this a phrase at a time.
“And we know…” That Paul speaks like this, saying this great promise is something ‘we know’ means, for Paul, this is no theory, this is no positive thinking, or optimistic notion he subscribes to. To him, this is fact.[2] He had just admitted in v26 that there are times in his own weakness when he does not know and must rely on the help of the Spirit to see him through those times, however long they last. But here in v28, we find something he knows. He knows from his own experience, its proven true in his own life as he has lived through great suffering and seen the sovereign hand of God work it all toward his good. Paul not only knew this, he wants us to know it too. So he says, “And we know…” Church, as we go through the rest of this verse I’d like you to be asking yourself some questions. Do I know this? Have I known this to be true? Do I love the truth that the God in His sovereign grace so rules over all the affairs of my life that all things now work toward my good? Or is this just a theory to me?
Before he states the great promise do you see Paul defines who this promise is for? See it as the verse continues…
“And we know that for those who love God…” Before the promise is given we learn the promise only belongs to a certain group of people, “…those who love God…” The promise discriminates, and is only in operation for some people, not all people. Only for those who love God, do all things work together for good. Do you wonder at this? Couldn’t Paul have put it differently and said something like, ‘All things work together for good to them who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?’[3] He could’ve said that, but he didn’t. Why is that so? Why does he frame this in terms of love toward God? There are probably loads of reasons why he does it, but one of them is that many describe their Christianity solely in terms of the mind, regarding Christianity as only a matter of believing the right things. This was an issue in Paul’s day, it has been an issue throughout Church history. Paul’s eager to show us that the Christian faith, while it does have much to do with the mind and has much to do with what we believe, it goes beyond the mind to the center of who we are, to the heart. It’s one thing to believe in God and to agree with certain doctrines about God, it’s another thing to love God with the heart. Right? Is there not a great difference between ‘I believe in God’ and ‘I love God’? This is piercing. Do we desire God, yearn for His nearness, and long for His presence? Do we love Him?
But also see it in another light. Paul doesn’t say, ‘And we know that as long as we love God…’ or ‘And we know that for those who love God deep and true enough…’ no. The love in view in v28 is not a love rooted in our ability or capacity to love God. Paul states it simply, as if it were an identity marker. Who is this promise for? It’s for Christians. Who are Christians? Those who love God.[4]
Let’s move on and see the next phrase.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good…” There it is (!) the promise that’s so grand we wouldn’t believe it to be true unless the Bible said it. “…all things work together for good…” Remember this isn’t just positive thinking, or a kind of general optimism available to us in the universe that we can tap into to live our best lives. This is a promise, a great promise from God to those who love Him. A promise clearly stating that God, in His sovereign and wise rule over all things, causes all things to work toward one goal: our good. Theologically, we call this the doctrine of God’s providence, which describes how God governs over and ordains whatsoever comes to pass.
Now, that God does this means not one detail of the Christian’s life works ultimately for evil, God works it all for good.[5] All of it. All really does mean all here. Every single event in our lives, every single relationship, every single event, every single encounter, of every single day, down to every single millisecond is in view in this word all. Think about what that means. Is there a square inch, or a rogue molecule out there somewhere doing whatever it wants to do outside of God’s sovereign rule? No. God is truly sovereign over all.
While that is true, there are a few cautions to remember. First, Paul certainly doesn’t mean that everything that happens to us in life or everything we do in life is good, not at all. There are all kinds of hard and evil occurrences in life, all kinds of sinful things we do to others as well as all kinds of sinful things others do to us. So whatever kind of suffering or sinning has happened to you or been done by you, we ought to see these things as always regrettable and always unwelcome. The promise here is that God is so great and so big and so sovereign that He works all things, even all evil and all sin and all suffering to our good. Again, this doesn’t ever excuse sin committed, nor should it cause us to treat suffering lightly. But it ought to give us pause and prompt us to look for God’s purpose in our sin and suffering.[6]
[7]In the closing chapters of Genesis when Joseph was abandoned for dead, sold into slavery, falsely accused, sent to prison, and forgotten he probably wondered what God was up to. But when all these events played out and Joseph was exalted to the right hand of Pharaoh and his father and his brothers came to him for food during the famine do you know what Joseph told them? Did he say, ‘Wow, what a coincidence! I just happen to be in the right place at the right time to help you!’ No, he didn’t say that. He confidently told them in Genesis 50:20, “As for you, you meant evil toward me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” What the brothers did was really evil, but what God was doing in it all was really good.
When Job faced the loss of all he owned and the death of his ten children he said, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). And when sickness and sores racked his body and his wife told him to curse God and die Job said, “Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10).
When Paul faced all manner of sufferings, stoning, and imprisonments he told the Church in Philippi, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel” (Phil. 1:12).
Did all these saints believe that all things come to pass by chance? No. Joseph, Job, and Paul knew who God was and God’s sovereignty was the pillow they rested their souls on.
Now, we should admit, in the midst suffering we rarely see the grand purpose of God. It’s like trying to make sense of a whole puzzle by just looking at one puzzle piece. But once you finish the puzzle and step back to see whole of it you can see how each piece not only fits into it but how each piece was needed in order to complete the image. So too for the Christian. In Romans 8:28 God makes great promises to us. He promises that None of what occurs in our lives is meaningless or random. He promises that even though we might not be able to see the big picture in the moment, we can trust Him. That He not only can see the big picture going on but that He’s the One who planned the whole thing out. And I think we can confidently conclude that one day we will be able to look back and see how each moment of life, painful or pleasant, not only fits into the whole but was needed in order to bring us good and God glory.
Look how v28 ends.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.”
Once again those who receive this great promise are defined. Earlier we saw it’s those who love God, now we see it’s those who are called according to His purpose. But ask, called to what purpose? v29 shows us. God is working all things toward is also the very purpose God has called us to: to grow us further into the image of Christ.
But this brings us into v29-30 which, is beyond our scope for now. Perhaps I can just put it all like this. In all our times we have. Our times that are good, times that are bad, for any times we have at all, God is doing a great work in those who love Him, a great work that is good and for our good, to shape us into the image of His Son.
Conclusion:
Romans 8:28 enables us to say something and to believe something. Regardless of how many deep and prolonged minor keys there are in your life, God is working it all into a grand symphony culminating in our good, and resounding to the great glory of his name. So we can say in it all, ‘God is working for my good.’
But, there are two sides to the coin of this great promise. On one side is the truth that God, for the Christian, will work everything in life toward our good. But the other side is that for those who reject the gospel and reject Jesus Christ, everything in life will ultimately work toward their condemnation.
Conclusion? Come to Christ! If you come, you’ll find this promise to be true in your own life as well.
[1] Douglas Moo, Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2018), 549.
[2] Charles Spurgeon, Morning & Evening, morning of August 5.
[3] Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Romans - The Perseverance of the Saints (Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth, 1985), 184.
[4] Moo, Romans, 551–552.
[5] John Murray, Romans, NICNT (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1968), 314.
[6] Timothy Keller, Romans 8-16 For You, God’s Word For You (The Good Book Company, 2015), 44.
[7] Derek Thomas, How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home, 96-97.