All Things Work Together Series

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

According to that translation, God is working in all things for the good of Christians – in other words, for our good. And let’s be honest, we like that don’t we? In our self-centered flesh, we want to believe that God is causing all things to work together for our good.

Now that is certainly a byproduct of what God is doing. We do benefit personally from God working all things for good. But He has a much larger purpose in mind than just what is good for you or me. And that is reflected in the other translations we’ve looked at this morning that all just say that “all things work together for good”. Paul does not implicitly indicate for whose good, but when we look at this verse in context, it is clear that it is for the good of God accomplishing His purposes.

This verse is immediately preceded by the idea that the Holy Spirit is praying for us according to the will of God. In verse 28, we see that this good is for those who have been called “according to His purpose”. And then in verse 29, Paul describes for us what that purpose is. So “good” whatever it is, is primarily about God’s purposes and only secondarily about us.

So the key here is verse 29, where Paul describes the two-fold purpose that God is accomplishing when He works all things together for good.

God’s two-fold purpose:

1. To make us more like Jesus

The verb “conformed” means to create a likeness inside and out. It is a thorough change, not merely a superficial outward resemblance. And as we’ve seen in the last few weeks, that includes one day having a physical resurrection body like Jesus.

In the meantime, it involves us changing internally so that our character becomes more and more like Jesus and because Jesus is more concerned with our character than our comfort and more concerned with our holiness than our happiness, He often brings difficult things into our lives for that purpose.

2. To create a large family

We also see here that the Father desires that Jesus become the “firstborn among many brothers”. Right now the resurrected Jesus is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. And God’s desire is that as many as possible follow in His footsteps.

So God often allows difficulties into our lives so that we can demonstrate the difference that Jesus makes in our lives in the way we handle those trials. When others observe the difference that Jesus makes in our lives, we bring the kingdom of God near to others and make the gospel more attractive. And in turn, more people become part of God’s family.

So the “good” in this verse is primarily about God’s two-fold purpose of making us more like Jesus and increasing the size of His family. In that process, we obviously benefit personally, too. It is beneficial for us to become more like Jesus so that we’re better prepared for the amazing future that God has in store for us. But the “good” here is not all about us.

HOW THE PROCESS WORKS