It's All Good for You!

10th Sunday after Pentecost, 8/21/11
Romans 8:28-30


It’s All Good for You!
I. Now, because God works it that way
II. Eternally, because God plans it that way


“How’s it going?” We hear and read that question so many times each day that it’s almost cliché. It’s become a form of greeting such as “hello.” And with that being the case, we usually answer quickly with something such as, “I’m fine. How are you?” in order to get this opening formality out of the way so that we can get on to what we really want to talk about.

But today, right now, I sincerely mean it. How’s it going? If you answer that question honestly and fully, you’d probably make a verbal two-column list. Here are the things that are going well for you. Here are the things that are not going well for you. And while the first column might list some great blessings, the second column might list some great difficulties and hardships. Cancer. Debilitating pain or fatigue. Unemployment. Underemployment. The painful end of a relationship with a friend or relative, a son or daughter. How many more items can you add to that short list? And you’re not alone. People throughout our community and our country are hurting with you.

And yet, when I ask you, “How’s it going?” as a child of God you can answer, “Everything’s working out great for me.” Really? Isn’t that a little dishonest? After all, we all have our troubles. In today’s gospel Jesus even mentioned the crosses we must bear as his followers. Everything’s working out great for me? Indeed it is! It’s all good for you! That’s exactly what our Lord declares to us through St. Paul this morning. It’s all good for you! Let’s see how as he shares his word with us this morning.

Part I.

If everything were perfect in your life, where would you be right now? I would think you would be any place but here in church. Think about it. If everything were going just as you wanted it to in your life, why would you need to come to worship? If your life were trouble-free, what need would you have for God? We come to worship because we recognize that we all have a huge problem in our lives called sin and it brings daily troubles into our lives. We come to worship because we realize how deeply we need a Savior. If your life were trouble-free, you’d be out there enjoying it, not here receiving your God’s comfort and guidance. That’s why it’s true that our troubles in life drive us to our Savior-God.

But what are our reactions to life’s difficulties? Well, one of them is blame. When life gets tough we find someone to blame. We blame God. After all, he’s in control of all things, isn’t he? So why did he let it happen? Why doesn’t he do something about it? We blame God.

Or we blame others. And we shoot the arrows of blame all around us—family members, neighbors, co-workers, government officials, social and business contacts. We’re just a victim on all sorts of fronts.

We also tend to react to difficulties in life with self-pity. “I’m the only one who suffers like this. No one has it as bad as I do. Why does this always happen to me? Why can’t my life be like theirs? I try to do what’s right and I suffer. That person surely isn’t a Christian and look how easy they have it.” Sound familiar? It does to me.

Worst of all, when facing life’s difficulties, we despair. Thankfully, it’s only momentarily. We take the attitude that no one and nothing are going to help us. It’s apparent to us that God doesn’t know what we’re going through. And if he does, either he doesn’t care or he can’t do anything about it. That’s despair.

But permit me now to turn your situation completely around. The Lord himself tells you, “It’s all good for you.” Listen to what he says, “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.” All things. Go back to your two verbal columns. Recall those blessings that you listed. “All things” includes every one of them. That sounds obvious. Of course my blessings are working out for my good. But consider this: God gives you those blessings in just the right amount at any particular time in your life to make them work out for your good. Your God gives you just the right amount of health and security and protection and wealth to make all things work out for your good. We often wish we had more of a certain blessing, but God knows that such an amount would not be for our good.

And in your second verbal column, he allows just the right amount of difficulties, challenges, set-backs and even tragedies to come into our lives. The past 7 days might have been really hard for you. Aren’t you glad you’re here listening to God’s comforting promises? The next 7 days might be even more difficult. Aren’t you glad you’re here? The troubles in our lives don’t allow us to get too proud, too self-centered, too complacent, that we forget about our need for our Savior-God.

So, when asked, “How’s it going?” you can honestly say, “It’s all good.” It’s all good for you now because God works it that way.

We just have a hard time seeing it and thus, we don’t trust our God to do so. We complain about today and we worry about tomorrow. We spend too much of our God-given time wishing our situation were different instead of trusting that our situation is what’s best for us now. But how can that be if we’re suffering? Because your God’s love for you isn’t temporary or intermittent. It’s eternal. Yes, he’s concerned about what you’re facing now. He’s so concerned about you that he wants to spend eternity with you and he’s using what you’re facing now to reach that goal. Every one of our troubles in life should remind us that Jesus took on our flesh and blood in order to put an end to them. Without Jesus’ perfect life and his death on a cross, our troubles now would be nothing compared to the eternal suffering we would face. In his eternal love for us, Jesus sacrificed himself for us. And now, in his eternal love for us, he uses everything we’re facing in life to help us reach that goal of eternal life with him. It’s all good for you!

Part II.

Eternal life. That’s really where St. Paul is leading us. He wants us to lift our soul’s eyes from the problems we’re facing here to the glory that awaits us there.

I’ve been told that global businesses have found it necessary to be able to change focus and direction extremely quickly. To cite a fictitious example, when the market for big screen TVs dries up, the manufacturer needs to be able to transition to making chocolate candy bars, if that’s what the global market demands. In other words, they can’t tell you what they’ll be doing 30 years from now.

But your God can. He can tell you exactly where you’ll be not just 30 years from now, but for an eternity. In fact, he’s been planning it already for an eternity. Think about that. It boggles the mind! We get so wrapped up thinking about the problems we face today, but God has been all wrapped up thinking about you from eternity! He’s been planning and acting to assure your eternal future.

Well, what has he been doing? Listen to Paul inform you, “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.”

Paul lists five activities on God’s part to assure your eternal life. Let’s take brief look at each one. First, he foreknew you. The Bible clearly states that God knew you by name as his own child in eternity. He has been thinking of you by name forever. And we’re tempted to think that God has momentarily forgotten about us?! Absurd!

Since he knew you as his own, he predestined you to be with him. The idea here in this Greek word means that God put a boundary around you and marked you off as his own. He didn’t do that just a few years or a few decades ago. He did it back in eternity.

And notice the purpose for that action. He wants you to be like his Son. In what way? Jesus was the first to enter heaven with a glorified body. You and I and all believers will follow Christ’s lead on the Last Day when we enter heaven with glorified bodies. Sure we have troubles now, but look what God has in store for us!

Next, Paul says that God called us. For most of us, the Holy Spirit did that at our baptisms. For others, he did that when he used the spoken good news about Jesus to bring us to faith. That’s when he “called us by the gospel.” Notice that God didn’t do this activity in eternity. He did that during our time here on earth.

Fourthly, he justified us. Having called us by faith in Jesus, God also brought us the holiness of Jesus. He made Christ’s righteousness our righteousness so that we stand before the eyes of God as his holy people.

And lastly, he glorified us. Notice Paul uses the past tense even though it hasn’t happened to us yet. But it’s so certain that it will happen that Paul sees it already as an accomplished fact. And why wouldn’t God glorify us? That’s been his plan from all eternity. That puts our daily troubles into perspective, doesn’t it?

It’s all good for you eternally, because God plans it that way.

Life is full of the unexpected, sometime tragically so. There are many detours, and we don’t understand why. But your God sees your life here on earth and forever with him with omniscient clarity. He has it all planned out. It’s all good for you! So what now? Stay in the word of God. Receive his Holy Supper. Daily recognize your need for forgiveness and daily trust in Christ for that forgiveness. That’s a life that leads to eternal glory. It’s all good for you! God promises that to you. Count on him! Trust him! Amen.