There’s No Reason to Be Discouraged!

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/9/20 Romans 8:28-30 There’s No Reason to Be Discouraged! I. God works all things out for your good. II. Your favorable outcome is certain. According to a Gallup poll published this year, 90% of Americans are satisfied with their personal life. That’s an all-time high in the 40 years this poll has been taken, breaking the previous high of 88% in 2003. Two in three Americans state that they are very satisfied with their personal lives. That goes along with a 20-year high in Americans’ confidence in the U.S. economy. Do you believe what this poll is stating? Well, you probably would when I tell you that the poll was taken Jan. 2-15, 2020 and published Feb. 2, 2020. Just 8 months ago 90% of Americans were satisfied with their personal life. The odds are good that you felt the same way. But probably not anymore. What happened? I don’t have to tell you. You’re all too aware of what happened. And you can’t escape what happened. It’s all around you. It’s part of your daily life. The mask you’re wearing is a constant visible reminder of it. And so, we stagger on, trying to get through today. And tomorrow we’ll stagger on, trying to get through the day. And there’s no end in sight. And those of you who are parents of school-aged children—I’m praying for you. Just two months ago you were fairly confident that your children would be going back to school this month. But now you don’t know. And even if your district is still planning on having in-person classes, you might be conflicted. Should I send my child to school? Should I even put her on a school bus? Bottom line for all of us? We don’t know how much more bad news we can take. You’re discouraged, and that might be an understatement. But then you look at your worship folder today at the sermon theme and it declares, “There’s no reason to be discouraged!” Are you reading that correctly? Did the guy who put that theme in your worship folder make a mistake? Is he getting a little delusional? No, I’m not. And that sermon theme is correct—every word of it. There is no reason to be discouraged, not when you know and believe that what your God tells you here in Romans 8 is true. Let’s see what he has to say, shall we? Part I. “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.” Not some things…all things. Really? All things? I’m facing a tough financial time, and that’s working for my good? My uncle, who is a Christian, has been in ICU on a ventilator for two weeks, and that’s working for his good? Our country is a mess, and that’s working out for the good of God’s people? In three months, we’re facing what is shaping up to be the most contentious election in our nation’s history and God is going to work that for my good? I can’t visit my loved ones and they can’t visit me and that’s for my good? I’ll stop there and let you recall some other unfortunate situation in your life. Really? God is working that for your good? He is, indeed! That’s what he tells us, and he wants us to take him at his word. And he points us to his word for multiple examples of how he worked out all things for the good of his people. Joseph’s brothers hate him so much they want to kill him, but decide instead to sell him into slavery. How tragic! But a few years later Joseph assumes the second highest position in Egypt and God uses him to save countless Egyptian lives and the lives of Joseph’s extended family from famine. The Lord causes his rebellious children to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. That wandering ends and now the Lord has a new generation of people who are ready to listen to him and follow him. The Lord sent his wicked people into 70 years of captivity in Babylon. When that tragic situation ends, he has a people who are refined and ready to do his will. In the New Testament, the Christians in Jerusalem select Stephen to serve them and the Lord blessed his service. But his enemies stone him to death, and the Lord brought him home to heaven. Right after that, the church in Jerusalem is persecuted and the Christians are forced to scatter. And what happens? Christians spread the word of God wherever they landed, and the church grew by leaps and bounds. What we think is a tragedy, causing long-lasting detriment to ourselves and the church, God uses for our good and the good of all those who love him. The difficult aspect about the problems and tragedies we face is that God doesn’t allow us to see how they all turn out for our good. That’s because he doesn’t want us to live by sight; he wants us to live by faith—by trusting his word, by trusting that he is doing or will do whatever he states right here as clearly as possible: we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Period. So, there’s no reason to be discouraged. It’s all going to work out for your good. It won’t do me any good to guess how that will happen in our current situation, or to help you make guesses how that will happen in your own personal situation. But it will do all of us good to see the greatest example of how God turned the greatest tragedy in all of history into good for everyone. I’m referring to the sufferings and death of Jesus. The Holy One dies for a world full of sinners. How tragic, but how blessed! The holy God unleashed the fury of hell on his Son. How tragic, but how blessed! Just when it seemed like evil had won—how tragic!—God revealed he was always in control, Jesus rose from the dead and opened the gates of eternal life—how blessed! And he did all that because he loves you. There’s no reason to be discouraged! It’s all going to work out for your good! Part II. Have you ever wanted God to perform a miracle in your life? Most Christians have. We’re facing a tragic situation and we ask God to use his almighty power to end the tragedy. But those miracles usually don’t happen, do they? And we console ourselves by telling ourselves that it wasn’t in keeping with God’s plan for us to have that miracle take place. But that doesn’t mean God hasn’t used his divine activity in your life to avert tragedy. In fact, in the closing verses of this text, Paul lists a string of miracles in your life—some that have already happened and others that surely will. Listen to Paul’s words, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” That’s an astounding list. It speaks about God’s activity from eternity to eternity so that he could bless you. Let’s look at each one briefly. First, God foreknew you. That means God has always known you as one of his people. He has always known you by name as his own dear child, even before he created all things. And so, he predestined you. He marked you out as his own and set you on a course to spend eternity in heaven. Think about it. God has always directed everything that happens in this world so that he accomplishes what he set out in eternity to do—to bring you to heaven. Amazing! In order to accomplish that in your lifetime, Paul says that he called you. That means he used the good news about Jesus in the word and the sacraments to bring you to faith in Jesus and to keep you in your faith in Jesus. By faith in Jesus, he has also justified you. He has declared you not guilty. In spite of the fact that we’re painfully aware of our daily sins, God declares that we’re not guilty through the life and death of Jesus. There’s no greater gift any sinner could have, and it’s yours! Foreknew. Predestined. Called. Justified. God has already done those four amazing things for you. There’s still one more. Glorified. Did you notice the tense of that word? Paul didn’t write that God will glorify you. He wrote “glorified” as if it’s already happened. In the mind of God, it has. It’s so certain that God will glorify you because he promises it to you. Then it must happen. It will happen. It’s as if it’s already happened. You live in eternal glory! In light of all that God has done for you and promises to you, there’s no reason to be discouraged. Your favorable outcome is certain. So, what is it you’re facing right now? If each one of us stated out loud one thing, we’d have quite a daunting list. And we all might feel more than a little overwhelmed. And much of that is due to the fact that we don’t know for sure how or when any one of the items on that list is going to improve. But our God does. And he tells us right now that it all ends right where he always planned it would—with you in eternal glory right next to him. Nothing can change that. That’s what the life, death and resurrection of Jesus were all about. Of course, I realize that things in your life and in our world are difficult right now, maybe more so than ever. But there’s no reason to be discouraged—not with your God working all things out so that you take your place next to him. So, chin up, and find your strength in the confidence that only your God can give. Amen.