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Romans Lesson 16 (2008)

THE NEW LIFE OF THE JUSTIFIED – VII
(The Ultimate Security)

“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)

Happy Father’s Day! My father, Mr. Baik, was from North Korea. I was his eighth child out of nine children, three sons and six daughters. I have good memories of him. We used to play sports together, like table tennis and badminton. He often took me around when he went to meet his friends. He would introduce me to them as his youngest son. I could tell that my dad loved me and was very proud me. During the summer, he would often take me and my sisters to small streams in the valleys near Seoul, where we could swim and have a lot of fun together. My father tried his best to provide us with whatever he could. Yet, because of his many failures in business, our family had to go through many traumatic experiences. He was a man of few words. Often I saw him sighing deeply in his room, looking out the window. At that time, I didn’t fully understand what troubled him so much. In retrospect, I can now see that he had so much burden, sadness and pain due to the separation from his parents who were left in North Korea for several decades. They were never able to meet or communicate to their son until they died. Now, 27 years has passed since my father went to heaven. Yet I remember one thing he told me as I was about to leave for America in 1981. He told me, “Don’t forget God’s grace. And love your wife.” I know this is what I really need to remember day to day in my entire life. I thank God for giving me the best father to bring me into this world, raise me up, providing shelter, food, clothing, education and wonderful advice.

We all have two fathers, a human father and a heavenly Father. Do you know how to say “father” in Mandarin? It’s “baba.” In Japanese, “otosan.” Spanish “papa,” French ‘papa.” Portugese “pai.” In Korean, “appa, abunim or aboji.” No matter what different languages we use, when we say “dad!”, there is such a great sense of security. In fact, Christians, who have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ, can call God “Abba! Father!” It’s not a small blessing to be able to call Him “Abba, Father!” We know that human fathers, no matter how good they may be, are not perfect. Yet, our heavenly Father is perfect.

Romans 8:28 is one of the best known and most loved verses in Scripture. It contains the most glorious promise of our Father God for the ultimate security of His beloved children on earth. Obviously, our Father in heaven doesn’t want His children to suffer in fear and uncertainty of their salvation. So even though we have to groan along with the entire creation until the final day due to our imperfections, we have a guarantee of salvation from God. First of all, as mentioned in verse 25, we have the guarantee of salvation through the interceding work of the Holy Spirit in us. Even if we don’t even know what to pray for, the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. We have Christ in heaven who is praying for us and the Holy Spirt in us who is also interceding for us. In verse 28, Paul again convinces us that our salvation is guaranteed no matter what happens to us because God our Father Himself works in our lives. Let’s think about how God works in our lives. Read verse 28 again. “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.” This is a remarkable promise.

Verse 28 starts with the phrase, “And we know.” This is a familiar phrase in Paul’s letter to the Romans. Paul often uses the phrase “we know” or a similar phrase, like “don’t you know”, in order to remind his readers of the important truths of God, which they should never forget. Why should we never forget the truth of God? It’s because when we know and believe the truth of God, it will set us free. Of course, when we believe in Christ Jesus, we are set free from condemnation and the power of sin and death. However, it does not mean that we are completely free from fear, doubt, unnecessary worries and anxieties in this troubled world. Often our faith becomes weak, and we fall into doubt and fear. We can also struggle with the sense of powerlessness and hopelessness. We can feel insecure. Recently, I read an article that a great number of US soldiers in Iraq are taking antidepressants because of their constant life-threatening circumstances. No matter where we live, life in this world is very challenging.

A sense of insecurity has a destructive power and effect on our lives. Christians are not an exception. Once we feel insecure, we can also begin to break down. Where do you find true security and confidence? In your performance? In your social position? In your success or wealth? Truly we can trust in nothing. But we can say, “I trust in God.” In reality, many people are not really experiencing true peace and confidence in God Almighty all the time. There are times when we are frustrated, depressed and cannot resolve our inner conflicts. We all have to deal with disappointment, failures and depression. Martin Lloyd Jones, a famous Christian writer and a great pastor in England, wrote a book called “Spiritual Depression.” This book was written not for unbelievers but for believers in Christ. Why? It’s because this kind of struggle is not something unusual among believers in Christ. In fact, most great men and women of faith in the Bible experienced some kind of spiritual depression at some point in their lives. We all walk through the valley of death at least once, King David described in Psalm 23, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

Look at verse 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.” Paul said “in all things” God works for the good. When he said “in all things,” he meant everything, both good and evil. In verses 35 and 38, Paul mentions “trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, demons, the present, the future, the power of hell, height, depth, any anything in all creation.” In all things God works for the good. How can good come out of evil? Impossible. Yet, God can work for the good both in good things and bad things. Of course, this will not happen to everyone on earth. It will happen only to those who love God and who have been called according to his purpose. In other words, God works for the ultimate good in His children’s lives while good things and bad things are happening to them in this world.

Paul was a great man of faith, an exemplary Christian. Yet he himself went through all kinds of persecution, danger, disappoint-ment, sickness, rejection and depression. He shared a lot of his experiences in his letters, especially in 2 Corinthians 11 and 12. While he was struggling to preach the gospel, he had been in prison, flogged not just once but five times, faced death again and again. He was shipwrecked three times and spent a night and a day in the open sea. He never had a secure home. He had no family of his own. All his life, he lived as a single, unmarried man while others were getting married and having children. Humanly speaking, he was a very lonely guy. That was not all. He was constantly on the move. He was misunderstood by his own people who accused and threatened to kill him. Even many Christians discredited him, saying that he was not a true apostle because he was not one of the Twelve. He labored and toiled. Sometimes he went without food because he had no money. I don’t think Paul felt great about what had happened to his life all the time. He also might have gone through some kind of mental and spiritual depression, falling into doubt, fear and experiencing a sense of insecurity. But how could he overcome them? How could he maintain his sanity? It’s because he believed in God’s providence. As he mentioned in Romans 8:28, he knew and believed that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

However, it’s hard to believe that God works for our good when bad things happen to us. A man felt the call of God to go into ministry. So he left his high paying job and moved to a distant city to enter a seminary. His wife took a job to help him to make it through. He was in his last year. In just a few months he was going to start his new ministry. But one day his wife, who had been very supportive of him, came in and said, “I’m leaving you. I don’t want to be a pastor’s wife.” She walked out and never came back. What a disaster it was! A faithful man of God got married to a medical doctor. God blessed their marriage with a wonderful child. But when the boy was four years old, he got hit by a car and died. The couple was devastated. A little baby was born with no brain, only a brain stem. The doctors told the parents, who were Christians, that she had no chance of surviving. Yet, the parents took care of her and the baby stayed alive for sixteen months. Some stories are happy endings and some aren’t. There are so many stories like these around us. Can we still say that in all things God works for the good of His children? What does it mean that in all things God works for the good of those who love him? It’s not that simple to explain what it means. It’s hard to understand. However, we know that we only see things in part, but God has the whole picture of what he is trying to do. God is capable of working together for our good through good and bad things.

In fact, the Greek translation for the English word “work” here is “sunergeo”, from which the English term, “synergism” is derived. It means working together. God in his almighty power and wisdom is capable of working together various elements to produce an effect better than, or completely different from, the sum of their individual effects acting separately. For example, ordinary table salt is called “Sodium Chloride”, NACL – the chemical formula. CL comes from chlorine. NA comes from natrium, which is Latin word for sodium. Salt is good for our body, yet, it is composed of two poisons, sodium and chlorine. When these poisonous chemicals are combined, something good comes out.

However, it does not mean that when good things and bad things combine together, good things will naturally come out. It rather means that God, in His almighty power and wisdom, can cause them to work together for our good. It’s God’s providence. We find many beautiful stories of God’s providence. For example, Joseph in Genesis was sold as a slave in Egypt by his brother’s sin of jealousy and hatred. Although he was very faithful, he was put in prison because he was falsely accused by Mrs. Potiphar. It seems that Joseph was a very lucky guy. But against all odds, by God’s providence, Joseph became the prime-minister of Egypt. Amazing thing is that Joseph didn’t harbor bitterness or grudge against those who harmed him. He was not a man of victim mentality. When he met his brothers, he told them his conviction even though they intended to harm him, God intended it for the good, for the saving of many lives. (Gen 50:20) He was saying that in all things God works for the good of His loving children.

God’s providence is the whole process of salvation, which we will study in the following passage. However, I like the illustration of an automobile factory. Suppose we visit one of the automobile factories in Detroit, Michigan. What we will see is an enormous building that covers many acres. At one end they bring in the raw materials and various component parts of an automobile – the engine, the wheels, the frame, the windshield, the instrument panel, the seats, and so on. There are so many of them. Some of the parts we recognize and others are unfamiliar. All of it is constantly being unloaded and brought inside. At the other end of the building – a vast distance away – a new car rolls out. From the outside, we see only one end and a dim glimpse of the other. What happens in between? From the outside we cannot tell. We hear the noise from within, but we cannot see the process. But we know this much. That new car does not happen by chance. Inside the building intelligent minds and capable hands take the raw material and the component parts and from it they fashion a new car. Paul is saying that our experience is like that. God beings with the raw materials of life, including some parts that seem to serve no good purpose. But over time something beautiful is created, not by accident, but by a divine design. That’s synergy – the combination of many elements to produce a positive result.

When Paul said that in all things God works for the good, he didn’t mean that the tragedies and sufferings of life will always produce a better result in our lifetime. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. We can experience terrible failures in our life and die in tragedy. But God is not committed to making us healthy, rich and successful in the world. He is committed to making us like his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, the ultimate good, which will occur in the last day.

What is God doing in our lives? He is making us into the image of Jesus Christ through everything that is happening to us – the sad and painful things, the things that are not easy to explain and even the mistakes and wrong choices we make. God is working diligently for the ultimate good of us. It is God who began his good work in us and will carry it onto completion until the day of our Lord Jesus’ second coming. (Phil 1:6) We are chosen to be His treasured possessions. Each of us is very precious and important to Him. In order to save us from sin, He sent His Son Jesus who suffered and died for our sins on the cross. However, God our Father disciplines those He loves. When painful things happen, we groan a lot. Yet, we know that in all things God works for the good in us. God our Father is like a great sculptor who carves out a rough chunk of marble and chips away sharp edges. He does not intentionally hurt us. He is molding us and making us into the image of our Lord Jesus. He wants to make us His masterpiece. He knows exactly what he is doing and what we need. Therefore, we don’t need to worry about anything. We are in the master’s hand. He will not fail us. We have the ultimate security in His providence. God our Father is trustworthy. Praise God our Father, who in all things works for the ultimate good of His beloved children and for the saving of many lives through us. That’s why we say “God is good all the time!” Happy Father’s Day!

 
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