An old friend of mine I’ll call him ‘T’ occasionally sends me texts by mistake, this happens roughly once every few months. This I think happens because my name will be at the top of his phone list, my name starting with ‘A’. This also happened with another old work mate when I was working in the Electrical industry, but he would ring always at night and every time his voice was strangely slurred.
Back to ‘T’ though, I got a text from him on Tuesday asking if I could do a job for him installing a temporary power supply. My text response was, “sure if you pay mileage”, the job was some four hundred kilometres distant. Next thing was the phone rang and I had a chat with ‘T’. As you do I asked how Christmas and the New Year went for him. The reply was “well not good”; both his parents were in hospital his Dads out now, he went on to say “actually while you are asking 2009 was not a good year as my mother in law passed away and we had a few dramas to sort out, here’s hoping that 2010 lines up to be a better one!”
Yip, some times for all of us, life provides us with some real problems. I can recall times and I’m sure a good number of you can, when life throws more obstacles at you than you can dodge. Already today some of you have mentioned to me some of the obstacles that have hit you during the week.
Those are likely to be the times when some cheery soul will approach you and say with a whooping great smile upon their face, real encouraging like, “It will be OK, all things work together for good, for those who love the Lord.”
It’s great to get such choice words of encouragement, and in reply you could probably think of a few choice words of your own.
This passage that they have spoken forth with such wisdom is similar to that written by the apostle Paul, a man who had encountered many events in his life that would have left him knowing the truth of his own writing. Paul a man who had, five times received forty lashes minus one. Three times was beaten with rods, once he was stoned (which at that time involved stones), three times he was ship wrecked, he spent a night and a day in the open sea. He spent his life constantly on the move, often in danger. If you want to know more of his trials and sufferings, read second Corinthians eleven.
Think of this, if you were to compare two trees, one that had grown straight and true in a forest or one that had grown exposed to the ravishes of the wind on a sea cliff, which one would have the most character?
God is interested in our character and Paul was a man of character!
This man, this man of skin and bone penned these words, “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.” (Romans 8:28)
What Paul understood of his life was that he no longer just lived in the flesh but that he lived in the Spirit also! He was being transformed into the likeness of Christ, no matter what happened in the past, and Paul had a past, he knew that his life was right with God that he was justified with God. You’ve heard Rochelle and I use the statement that Justified means, “Just as if I’d never sinned”. Paul had this assurance he was in a right relationship with God.
When we enter into a relationship with Jesus, when we live for the Christ it is our calling to be like Jesus. God has a reason for this, as Paul states it is so that Jesus “might be the first born among many brothers.” (Romans 8:29b) With the help of the Holy Spirit we are on a journey to become like Jesus.
Please remember that this is not exclusive to the male of the species.
Well over the next few weeks we will look further into what this life in the Spirit is about and how God travels with us on that journey.
In the mean time let’s look at this verse again.
1) Romans 8:28: 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.
You may say, ‘What do you mean by that, what about the broken arm, the sickness over Christmas, the redundancy, the unexpected death?”
Well I don’t want to be a total ball of unhappiness, but the truth of the matter is us humans are mortal – our bodies are totally corruptible, we get sick, we hurt, we fall apart, our emotions are challenged, egos bruised, ideals confused, we get stressed. We have our first ancestors to thank for that!
Remember this though; we were created in the image of God. We are not just our bodies, we are spiritual beings also. God is Spirit and we are created in his image.
The love of God is such that we were created for eternal life, as Paul tells us in 2nd Corinthians 4:18 “Meanwhile our eyes are fixed, not on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen: for what is seen passes away; what is unseen is eternal.” He has also commented in Romans 8:18 “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
As Christians we live in the assurance of eternal life not only that, we are on a journey of becoming Christ like. This is God’s purpose for us!
I don’t know about you, but to me this is the Greatest News!
2) The word called has a different meaning in Greek to what it does in English in this instance when Paul talks about those “called according to” God’s purpose it means ‘being given the attributes of Jesus according to’ Gods purpose. (Repeat)
This is done in the Spirit – as believers take on the attributes of Jesus, the fruits of the Holy Spirit become evident in their lives.
Those fruits are all attributes of Jesus!
God works all things for our good as we take on the attributes of Jesus. (SBI) God has a perfect plan for our lives.
3) This is not to say that Christians will have a perfect wrapped in cotton wool existence. To assume this would be a nonsense, I can see perfectly well that if this was the case, I would not have an illness, developed a food allergy, stress, a couple of broken bones, a failed marriage, crashed my Ute, or burnt my dinner or dropped anything since I gave my life to the Lord as a sixteen year old. We are not immune to those things that are common to everyone; also the laws of physics still count for us.
What of the person who was through no fault of their own is violently assaulted, the child who was abused, what good can come out of this, very likely we will look at a situation like this and say nothing! In the physical, absolutely nothing! These things should not have happened. {[The person who carried out the crime was acting outside of the will of God. His law is clear as to His will.] Repeat. }
We know that some have suffered and will suffer for being Christians, I’m talking about those persecuted for their belief, their faith there have through the ages been Christians who have suffered even martyred for their faith; this too leaves us wondering why, what is the answer maybe it’s worth pondering one word; “Eternity.”
There is a very interesting lesson from the Old Testament about how God uses circumstances. In Genesis we are able to read the story of Joseph the son of Jacob who because he was his Fathers favoured son was sold by his brothers into slavery, after a long journey as a slave and through some amazing events, he ended up the Governor of the whole of Egypt. This was at a time that famine struck the land / and through his family’s need for food he was reunited with them and was able to rescue them from starvation.
The story appears to have finished on a very positive note. However when Jacob Josephs father died, his brothers became concerned,…“What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?” (Genesis 50:15b)
His brothers were terrified. So they approached him, his reply was “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish it for good what has now been done, the saving of many lives.” (Genesis 50:19b-20)
While Joseph’s brothers had acted out of personal anger, while they had intended to kill him, then sold him, God used those events to save life. Joseph even though he was Governor of Egypt realised that God was Sovereign.
Joseph had his eyes focused on God.
What of us, where is our focus, interestingly I have focused on our sufferings, for us in New Zealand we are not a persecuted church like so many Christians. Their belief was and is that God worked all things for their good as they took on the attributes of Jesus. (SBI)
God would have us focus on the attributes of Jesus.
In our every day happens are we focusing on God are we living putting aside the old man or woman and living through the Holy Spirit? Then like Paul though we may be suffering physically we will know that as we take on the attributes of Jesus, we have life in the Spirit.
So when those things happen, those that are outside the will of God, the illness, the accident, the needless suffering. The things that would have us asking why God why? We can say that while it is not his will, God can use such things to have us become more like Jesus.
Lets turn our eyes upon Jesus not just looking but taking on his attributes as we live in the power of the Holy Spirit.
If you have read this sermon please rate it, Ta, Andrew.
