Do you know what Paul is suggesting here? He's saying God's in control and we're going to skin up our knees and we're going to get water on our noses and on our lungs and we're going to be scared. We're going to be beaten by the waves and by the wind.
We're going to think we can't make it. But Paul would say with the hymn writer, God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm. Not he gets rid of the storm. He manages.
He is sovereign over the storm. If you open your Bible to Romans 828, you read this, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. You know that verse, right? Perhaps you've read it several times. Perhaps people have used it to try to encourage you when you were facing a difficulty. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey is going to begin a two part series on this verse. He's going to help you understand what it means and what it does not mean. Today, we start with a message called Romans 828, what it is not.
Stay with us. We arrived at perhaps the most familiar verse in the book of Romans, perhaps for many of you in the entire New Testament. Romans 828 is a verse we tend to stick in our hip pocket and pull out whenever we need a sense of God's purpose for us, a sense of meaning or maybe even an answer from God.
Paul very clearly states this wonderful truth. He says, And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose. What an incredible verse. This verse has a way of coloring the perspective of our entire lives. Unfortunately, however, many use this verse to color outside the lines of what God originally intended to communicate. We hear of some difficulty in the life of a believer and we quickly quote, Well, all things work together for good.
Don't forget that. We hear stories of bad things with good endings and we say, There you have it. Romans 828. Isn't that just like God said it there? I can remember being in a funeral home, standing near a grieving widow, listening as people walk by, hearing one woman who patted this widow on the shoulder and then said, Remember, Romans 828.
We use this verse a lot, don't we? We use it in hospital rooms. We use it in emergency rooms. We use it in funeral homes. We use it when clouds sweep over our lives.
I fear we use it in ways because we misunderstand it. I have been slowly reading through the biography of George Whitefield. It's two volumes, well over a thousand pages. A man of God used by God to bring about the Great Awakening both in England and America during the mid 17 hundreds.
One event recorded by another individual in his journal and inserted into this biography is worth reading to you. Whitfield, this man wrote, learned of a widow with a large family whose landlord recently had taken all her furniture away because she couldn't make rent. Whitfield heard about it and immediately went and gave her five guineas. I don't know what guineas are. They sound like furry animals to me, but he gave her five of them. He gave her five guineas that made her rent and got her furniture back. The friend who was traveling with him hinted that the sum was more than he could reasonably afford, to which he replied, When God brings a case of need before us, it is that we may relieve it. The two travelers proceeded on their journey.
They were on horseback. And before long, a robber accosted them demanding their money, which they gave. After the robber left, Whitfield turned the tables on his friend and reminded him how much better it was for the poor widow to have his money than the thief who had taken his friends. They had not long resumed their travel before the robber returned and demanded Whitfield's coat. The request was granted only after Whitfield asked for the robber's tattered old coat in exchange since it was very cold. The robber agreed, and after trading coats, he fled away on horseback. After some time, they saw the robber galloping towards them again as fast as he could.
And now, fearing for their lives, believing they were threatened, they also spurred on their horses and fortunately arrived at some cottages before the robber reached them. The thief was stopped and no doubt intensely mortified, for when Whitfield took off the man's tattered coat, he found in one of the pockets his five guineas and nearly a hundred more. Now that's my kind of story. That's Romans 8.28.
Without a doubt, it is. But what if Whitfield had not asked for the man's coat? What if that had been the story? What if Whitfield had not only lost his coat and his money but his horse too? Would we upon reading that in his journal say that's Romans 8.28 for sure?
What if the robber had taken the life of Whitfield's friend or hurt Whitfield himself? What about those times as I have read where Whitfield preached while people hurled rocks through the church windows? The times he feared for his life and arrived eventually rescued though beaten nearly to death. What about the times when he dealt with the severe debt of his orphanage?
He carried the burden of his orphan house his entire life, never getting out from under it. That's Romans 8.28. Or is it? What about the Asian believer that I read about active in her church, serving Christ while she attended graduate school, planning for the mission field, working a part-time job at a jewelry store to pay her school and living bills and two young thugs came into the store, stole some jewelry and then shot and killed her? Do you tell her family, just remember Romans 8.28? What about terminal illness? What about divorce?
Does it work for bankruptcy? What do you tell a woman who is persistently propositioned by her boss who also happens to be a leader in her church? What do you say to an elderly couple who have been defrauded out of their life's savings? Can you use this verse for the victim of sexual abuse or rape?
I have had all of them sit before me. Do I give them Romans 8.28? Is God working all things together for good when we do not see the good? Was God at work when Isaac carried the wood up that hillside on his back? Was God at work during David's years of running after being anointed king? Was God at work through those times of unfaithfulness in Hosea's wife's life? Was God at work in the prison sentence of Joseph? Would you have encountered him in the dungeon and said, don't forget, was he at work when John the Baptist unexplainably to our human logic was beheaded for something so trite as a man filled with lust? Would any of them have understood Romans 8.28 the way contemporary Christianity wants to understand it today?
I do not believe so. Listen, though, a correct interpretation of any verse of scripture means it is correct for any condition with any Christian in any culture at any time in any circumstance. So it's best that we reevaluate the way we use this verse. If it doesn't work when the sun's out and when the clouds roll over our lives, then we've probably missed its true meaning, which would lead me to say then that this verse is probably not only the most quoted, but it is one of the most misused verses in all of the New Testament.
And here's the danger. If we understand what God is saying and we misuse it and misapply it, it can distort our perspective and it can lead us down paths that open us up to the enemy of our soul who seeks daily some believer that he can discredit, devour, destroy. And more Christians are discredited and destroyed in their intimate walk with Christ, not by external activity, but by an internal attitude. And perhaps Romans 8.28 has been used above all others to pave the path to disillusionment. So before we proceed with what this verse means, I want to tell you what it doesn't mean.
And I want to give you four things. Number one, Romans 8.28 is not a precise explanation for suffering. Paul does not provide some quick answer for the grieving. This verse is not a Band-Aid that you casually, unfeelingly stick on somebody's pain and hurt. It doesn't even pretend to solve the riddles of life.
It doesn't further even attempt to answer the questions that begin with the word, why? Why does it bother you to read verses like these? It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. Proverbs 25 to truly, you are a God who hides himself as a 45 15. The secret things belong to the Lord, our God, Deuteronomy 29 as you do not know the path of the wind or how the body is formed in a mother's womb. So you cannot understand the work of God, the maker of all things. Is that one we've memorized?
Is that one we would share? It's in the word of God. God also spoke further to his prophet Isaiah as he announced for my thoughts are not your what thoughts neither are your ways. My ways declares the Lord for as the heavens are higher than the earth. So are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55 verses eight to nine. In other words, we want the answers to all the riddles of life, but on closer inspection of the word of God, we discover we lack the capacity to grasp fully the infinite ways and thoughts and measures of God's management and his movement as he controls the events of life. The wonder Paul wrote further in Romans, God's judgments are unsearchable and his ways are beyond finding out. No wonder he wrote to the Corinthian believers for who's known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him.
In other words, the mark of a growing believer may not be found in someone having all the answers and may be found in someone who less and less demands from God the answer. We all need to practice saying things even though we might have believed it would be a mark of immaturity or lack of scholarship. We ought to know how to say something like, I don't know why. Why don't you practice that with me? It's a rare sentence. Say it with me. I don't know why. Some of you that's the first time you've said it in your life. It's not my favorite expression. I guarantee you ask my wife.
I want the answer. I want to tell you what I think God's doing. I want to tell you how I think I figured it out. Besides, that's my job, isn't it? I'm in the profession that's supposed to know that kind of stuff. You call me up. Can you imagine calling me up, telling me your story and I say, I don't have a clue. I'm stumped. I don't know what God's doing in your life.
Wow. You probably look for another pastor. The older we get in the Lord, we find ourselves saying, I do not know why, but I do know what, who. When Job demanded an explanation from God, God responded. You remember, not with an answer, but with a review of his attributes.
Let me remind you, he said, of who I am and who you are. The trouble is we would most often rather have an explanation. Romans 828 is not an explanation for suffering. And it is secondly, not a prohibition against sorrow. This isn't the verse that's supposed to act as some divine handkerchief to wipe away tears. Have you ever heard a Christian say to another believer, now don't cry. Remember Romans 828. The motto of many, I believe, or fear in the church is deep Christians never cry. Well, if that's the case, then Jesus Christ failed miserably outside of Lazarus's tomb where he approached even knowing what he would do. He still openly wept to the point that the Jewish people gathered around said in John 11, look how much he loved Lazarus. There is no biblical prohibition in this text for grieving.
Have you ever shared some challenge and the person handed back to you like a doctor hands you a prescription. Romans 828, you take this in the morning and with a glass of water and this will take care of everything. Church then becomes sort of a masquerade, doesn't it? Believers afraid to show how they feel, especially if they feel sorrow or frustration or confusion or doubt or loss. And I fear this verse may be leading the way as we misunderstand it and we miss apply it. It is not a precise explanation for suffering. It is not a prohibition against sorrow. Thirdly, this verse is not a pretext for avoiding the challenges of life. You don't hide behind this verse.
A believer is misguided who might tell another, well, now just settle down, just relax. Not so much zeal or passion for the Lord. He's got to do it. He's got to do anyway. Don't get so worked up about your mission in life.
God's going to work everything out. Ladies and gentlemen, this verse is not an excuse from home for getting out of the great commission. This is not a whole pass from the study of disciplining yourselves in the word of God and in those other disciplines of spiritual living. Paul does not give the believer justification for apathy and complacency to simply say, well, you know, Romans 828. The Thessalonians had that problem. You remember they were saying Jesus is coming.
So we'll just sit here and wait for the rapture. Why get all worked up? In fact, why work?
You remember? And Paul not so subtly responded by reminding them, if you don't work, you don't what? Eat. And they went to work.
They were sitting on their hands. Paul has already said, in effect, that we actively engage in the work of Christ. We face the challenges of life head on and at the same time on our knees. We have been called to bear the cross. We have been called to run the race. We've been called to fight the fight. There's no verse out of that.
Let me give you another. This verse is not a permanent ticket to comfortable living. Paul has already reminded the reader of Romans of this truth that we actively engage and hope with anticipation. Somebody might say, well, you know, I've been asking God for his will in my life.
And, you know, he's really not making it very clear to me. So I'm going to just assume everything's going to work out and not do anything. And I can be assured in the process of not doing anything that God's going to smooth everything out, that life is guaranteed to be comfortable. He said it right there. Everything's going to work out together for good. And I love them. So everything's going to be good.
That isn't what he said. But what do we do while we wait? Well, let me give you a few things. Obey your parents, Ephesians 6.1. If you're single, develop a romantic relationship with a believer only, 1 Corinthians 6.15. If you're married, husbands actively love and lead your wives. Wives actively love and respect your husbands, Ephesians 5.22-25.
Work hard in your occupation. It is your calling from God, 1 Thessalonians 4. Give to the Lord, his church, his cause, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Pray regularly and persistently, 1 Thessalonians 5.17. Develop an attitude of joy and gratitude, 1 Thessalonians 5.16.
Exercise your spiritual gifts for the sake of the body, 1 Peter 4, verse 10. Consistently worship with gathered believers, Hebrews 10.25. Develop and act out biblical convictions, Colossians 3, verse 2. Study the Word of God, 2 Timothy 2. Memorize the Word of God, Psalm 1, 19 and 11. And meditate on the Word of God, Psalm 1 and 2. Start with that. Occupy yourselves with that.
Don't worry so much about tomorrow. Get involved today in following and obeying and serving and worshiping God. See, the problem is not what we don't know of God's will and cannot do. The problem is what we do know of God's will and do not do. Romans 8.28 is not an excuse to just kind of let it all slide.
There's another problem with the misuse of this verse, and I'm going to stick it into this fourth point. There are many who believe that God has obligated himself to providing this pain-free, trouble-free living by mentally inserting this little word now into this text. So their contemporary Christian version would read, and we know that God causes all things to work together for good now, or in the very near future, or certainly while I'm living and cognizant, all the answers will come forth from God. He said it right here.
So they think. You cannot support that view with the reality of Scripture. In fact, the reality of believers who followed after Christ. In Acts chapter 27, you can either turn or just listen, the apostle Paul is giving us an event out of his own personal journal. He says here, or Luke is writing in his own journal about Paul's life. He says this, but before very long, as Paul is on his way to Rome, they're rushed down from the land, a violent wind.
Paul is on board with others, and here comes a Northeaster, literally. And when the ship was caught in it and could not face the wind, we gave way to it and let ourselves be driven along. And running under the shelter of a very small island named Clauda, we were scarcely able to get the ship's boat under control. And after they had hoisted it up, they used supporting cables and undergirding the ship, and fearing that they might run aground on the shallows of Sirtus, they let down the sea anchor, and so let themselves be driven along.
Paul's right in the middle of this, and right in the middle of God's will. The next day, as we were being violently storm tossed, they began to jettison the cargo, and on the third day, they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. And since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was gradually abandoned. So everybody on board, including Paul and Luke, assumed this was the end. And when they had gone a long time without food, then Paul stood up in their midst and said, men, you ought to have followed my advice.
You shouldn't have set sail from Crete, incurring this damage and loss. However, I urge you to keep up your courage, for there shall be no loss of life among you, but only the ship. Well, he's just claiming Romans 8.28, right?
No. For this very night, an angel of God, to whom I belong, came and stood before me, saying, do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.
Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I've been told. But we must run aground on a certain island. In other words, we have to be shipwrecked.
These things all in here don't seem to go together. I believe God, but we first must run aground. If God could take the trouble and time to send an angel, by the way, why doesn't he just have the angel take Paul and just deposit him on land?
Wouldn't that be wonderful? But I love the irony of Paul's speech. Keep up your courage, he said in verse 22, and we're going to lose the ship.
I believe God, and we're all going for swim. Do you know what Paul is suggesting here? He's saying God's in control, and we're going to skin up our knees, and we're going to get water on our noses and on our lungs, and we're going to be scared. We're going to be beaten by the waves and by the wind.
We're going to think we can't make it. Paul is suggesting here that God has ordained that he would survive, but that God has also ordained that his boat would sink. Those two things don't quite go together in our contemporary thinking. But Paul would say with the hymn writer, God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the storm. Not he gets rid of the storm, he rides, he manages, he is sovereign over the storm.
I have stood on the rocky hillside of an island called Malta, just above the cove where Paul supposedly swam to shore when he was shipwrecked another time. Who would sign up for this kind of Christianity? Surely God would give his friends good weather, good health, prosperity, good reports from the doctors, good reports from the brokers, smooth sailing on the ocean. Surely the boats of believers do not sink. Deep down that's what we really expect from God, isn't it? And it shows in our response to God as soon as our boats begin to take on water. And if you don't mind me saying it, we really expect God to treat us better than that.
And we have Romans 8.28 to try and prove it. I remember a few years ago traveling to South France on a short term missions trip to one of the servicemen centers that's part of missions to military. I traveled with my parents, with my wife Marsha, my parents oversee the military ministry, others from our church went along with us.
We spent the week in the basement of that center scraping it down, all the plaster off so that they could turn it into an extra room to be used by the sailors in the French Navy. On our way home after that week of work and ministry my wife and I came up to the ticket counter with all the others in Paris, I believe it was, to get our connecting flights over to the States. It's a long flight as many of you have probably taken it. After some delay at the counter they asked my wife and I to be seated and they let everybody else on and evidently there had been some sort of mix up. They had separated Marsha and I on the flight home by accident and after talking about it they pulled some other guy in wearing a suit and they talked it over with him. They informed us that we were going to be moved up to first class because they'd made a mistake in separating us. So we were going to fly first class all the way home.
Let me tell you, there's a world of difference between first class and coach which up to that point had been my only experience. Now I know why they pull that curtain. They don't want you to know how bad you have it back in the cattle car. We hadn't even started taxiing and they were offering us stuff. Everything, everything you can imagine. They were offering us something to drink, free champagne. I don't think they understood why we wanted sweet tea at a time like that. The meal, linen, silverware, the whole thing.
A dessert menu, complimentary this and complimentary that. I mean leather chairs that reclined. We felt bad. I got over it. My wife on the other hand, honey, you know, boy it just doesn't seem right for us to be up here and we ought to go back there and at least ask your mom and dad if they would like to come and exchange seats with us. You know, honey, Romans 828. This is okay.
Okay. I got up, went back, you know, came back in a few minutes. They didn't, they didn't want to.
Of course they were asleep when I asked them and I can get used to this first class travel. Surely God has designed for his friends to live like this, to travel like this, to experience this. This would be proof of his loving purpose, right? Paul, how do you know God's pleased with you and in sovereign control he would respond, I am having to swim for my life, but God has promised I'm going to make it to shore.
Isn't God good? Romans 828 does not offer precise explanations. It does not prohibit the believer from sorrow, nor does it allow the believer to avoid the disciplines and challenges of life, nor does Paul intend to provide some kind of guaranteed first class tickets throughout life. This is not what Romans 828 is.
Then what is it? It is a glimpse into the attribute of God's sovereignty. I'm so glad you took the time to be with us today, here on Wisdom for the Heart.
You've been listening to Stephen Davey. Stephen entitled today's lesson, Romans 828, what it is not. When we come back tomorrow, Stephen will begin the second part of this series.
That lesson will be called Romans 828, what it is. Please be sure and come back tomorrow to hear that important message. In the meantime, we'd enjoy hearing from you.
It's always a delight to get to meet our listening audience, find out who you are, and learn a little bit about you. And we'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to correspond by email, our email address is info at wisdom online dot org. That's info at wisdom online dot org. If you prefer corresponding through the mail, our mailing address is Wisdom International P.O.
Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina 27627. However you prefer communicating, I hope we hear from you. It would be a great joy to our hearts. When you're right, be sure and tell us what station you listen to and share your story of how this broadcast has been used by God to equip and encourage you. I'm Scott Wiley. For Stephen Davey and all of us here at Wisdom International, thanks for listening. Join us tomorrow here on Wisdom for the Hearts.
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