Louie Giglio - In All Things, God Works
Romans 8:28. It’s gonna come up on the screen for us. And I just want us to sit in it for a moment, maybe we can all say it together. «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». Now, there are four big things in this verse that I want us to see and then we’re gonna break these down. The first one is we’re coming obviously to the 28th verse, so there’s been a lot of real estate leading us to this point. And so, we’re gonna go back and look at some of that today because you can’t just parachute into verse 28 and really, deeply, with conviction say, «I’m onboard with this particular promise». But I love the way that Paul is writing this. He says, «And we know, and we know».
There’s a certainty and there’s a subtleness to this reality. We know this. We’re confident in this. We’re convinced of this. We have come to fully understand and onboard the reality of this, of what? «That in all things God works. In all things God works». And we’re gonna ask the question, what are the, «All things that God works in»? But the short of it is today no matter what situation happens, we know that God works in everything, and He works for this purpose, for the good. And we’re gonna have to ask the question, what is good in all things? What can God do that’s good in all things? How is that possible? And then, there’s another big question, «Of those who love Him». So, who are the, «Those who love Him»? And is that something that I know that I can be confident in today so that I can say, «And I know, that in all things God works. And He works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose».
So, let’s just ask those questions. What are the all things that we are looking for here? He says, «I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us». And then, a little bit above that in verse 17, «Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in the order that we may also share in His glory». So, then He says, «I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us». And we really dug into this last week. And the idea of it is that we’re not gonna get to heaven and say, «Man, that was really hard, but this is really great. That made no sense at all, but this makes complete sense. That was totally injustice, but this is a place where everything’s been made right».
Now, the moment that we share in His glory, we’re not gonna be looking back and going, «Man, this is amazing. That was so hard. This is so far beyond what we’re experiencing in our present sufferings that they can’t even be compared». There is something so great ahead of the believer, so transforming, so mind-blowing, so stunning ahead of us, that once we walk into the fullness of glory, and we are in glory with the King of glory, we’re not gonna be looking back and going, «Man, I tell you, that few months where we didn’t have a job and we were in between paychecks and we couldn’t pay that one bill». No, we’ll just be looking back going, «Thank God. Look at this». It doesn’t mean that the present isn’t suffering. It just means that what’s coming doesn’t compare with where we are now. So, the all things is pretty sure are the present sufferings. So, in the present sufferings God works.
Now, He works in the present blessings too. So, if you get a big bonus at work, God can work in that. If you pray for a child and all of a sudden, you have a child, God can totally work in that for the good. But the focus of this passage isn’t all the great things that are happening around us. The focus of this whole Romans 8 is the fact that the whole creation is groaning as if in the pains of childbirth. The whole world knows this thing is gone off the rails, but something is coming. Childbirth is coming. A new earth is coming. A new heaven is coming. A new glory is coming. And so, in all things in the present sufferings we know that God works. «And so, we know that in the present sufferings God works, and He works for the good of those who love Him».
So, let’s take that question on for a moment. Who are those who love Him? And the those who love Him are the ones who have been, He describes it here, «Have been called according to His purpose». And then, He expounds on that a little bit in the next verse. «For those God foreknew He also predestined». Now, let’s just take that one head on today. «To be conformed to the image or to the likeness of His Son, that He, His Son, might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He,» here it comes again in case you missed it last night, «Predestined, He also called. And those He called, He also justified. And those He justified, He also glorified».
Now, obviously, I’m not gonna be able to put to rest once and for all the question today of, «are we predestined and chosen and called by God»? Which I would say, «Amen,» to because it’s right here in the text. Or do we have the opportunity to hear the grace of God, and to respond to the grace of God, and to be saved by the grace of God? Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. So, that’s a yes and this is a yes. And so, it’s a yes. But what you can glean from this particular passage is is that God beforehand knows everything. And what God knows beforehand is in what He has predetermined. And so, using the language from the text, God is calling. «Well, how do I know if I’m one of the ones that have been predetermined to be in the calling»?
I would say, the best way you can know is, did you answer the call? So, obviously, that leaves a pretty massive question out there for someone in this gathering who says, «I don’t know if I’ve responded to His call». Well, I wanna invite you to do that today. Well, can I do that? Well, the scripture once again says, «Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved». So, I invite you today if you hear God saying the price has been paid, I invite you to respond to that call today and don’t live in this deception over her saying, «Hey, I think this is all sort of on a sliding scale and I’m doing my best. And I think I’m pretty good and I’m not as bad as some people. I might not be as good as some people, but I’m somewhere definitely in the middle of this thing».
I wanna invite you out of that deception and into the gospel, which is that we can’t do anything to be righteous on our own to satisfy the full righteous requirements of the law, which is perfection. But Christ did that for us so that we can be saved. So, what is the good? What is the good that can happen in your life and in my life? And the good that can come out of our present suffering is future glory. And we see this in verse 17 again. «Now, if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings,» that’s the all things, «In order that we may also share in His glory. I consider that our present sufferings,» that’s the all things that He’s working in, «Are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us».
Not just revealed in heaven, not just revealed in the future, not just revealed in Christ, but revealed in us. Your future is not a slightly upgraded version of you. Your future is all the glory that is in Christ. Not that you will be Christ, but that you will share in the glory of Christ. And it’s so powerful and so great that in the all things we do not lose heart. We may lose a friend. We may lose a loved one. We may lose our riches and fortune. We may lose a job. We may lose a friendship. We may lose a… who knows what on planet earth, but we won’t lose heart. «Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day».
So, there’s sort of a dual thing happening in you and me that the broken planet we’re on is taking it’s toll on the outward, but the inward is getting closer and closer to glory. «For our light and momentary troubles». And I’m so glad Paul wrote this because if one of us did, it would be hard to swallow that phrase. But when you’ve got someone who was a leader in the system, but cashed all of that out to be a follower of Jesus, who was beaten, shipwrecked, flogged, crushed with stones to the point where they thought he was dead, ultimately imprisoned. He can say that these things compared to these things are light and momentary trouble. Because they are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary the all things are temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. So, that’s good that there’s a future glory, but is there any present good that can come? Is God great enough to work in all things for good right now, not just in the great future glory that is ours in Christ? Because I think a lot of us want the confidence that God’s working right now. Just to restate again and underline, this verse isn’t saying that all things are good. This text is saying that in all things God works for good. All things are not good, but in all things, even the worst things, God can work for good. How can He do that? Well, we’re gonna move pretty quickly through these and you’re gonna need to write them down.
Number one, what can be good about the all things, our present sufferings? Number one, our suffering allows us to experience the nearness of God in an amplified manner. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted. It doesn’t mean He’s not close on the day you get your bonus. But rarely do you hear the testimony, «You’re not gonna believe it. The email came through this afternoon. I got the full 100% bonus this quarter. And I tell you, I’m feel so close to God». But 100% of the time when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, we feel and sense the nearness of God, the closeness of God, different. That’s because, «The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and He saved those,» another translation said, «He draws near to those who are crushed in spirit». In suffering, we have a realization of the sustaining grace of God, not just the saving grace of God. And I have heard hundreds of people say, «I’ve always believed in God, and I’ve always believed in the grace of God. I knew that I was saved by the grace of God. But now, I know the sustaining power of the grace of God».
Number two, our suffering is an undeniable platform by which we can boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus to a lost world. And I know these are a mouthful, so I’ll say it one more time. Our suffering is an undeniable platform by which we can, we don’t always do, but we can if we choose to, boldly proclaim the good news of Jesus to a lost world. That person that came to my mind around this second point was Francis Collins who was a part of the group of people that for the first time ever decoded the human genome. This guy is a brilliant geneticist, atheist, doctor, but now a Jesus follower. And in his book at the very end, he’s telling the story of his faith.
And when he’s telling the story of his faith, he’s talking about how he had a patient of cancer who was a follower of Jesus. And he said, «The way she died convinced me that Christ is real,» and he put his faith in Jesus and became a follower of Jesus. Because suffering is an undeniable platform. I’m sure he had met many people who told him the gospel of Jesus. But it was someone in the all things who was proclaiming the gospel of Jesus that had different weight to it, and he put his faith in Jesus. Some people, I’m telling you, I can name three of four of them who at Passion City church have come to faith in Jesus because of the death of someone very close to them. And some people only get saved because of suffering. The third and there’s a couple more of these, so I gotta hurry. I’m surprised they’re not playing music already.
Our suffering, number three, this is the good. This is how God works for good to those who love Him in the all things. That our suffering helps clarify what is truly important in life and in eternity. And we don’t get that on a regular Thursday. But when suffering comes, the clarity comes. And we go, «Oh, my word. I need to focus on the things that matter and stop focusing on the things that don’t. I need to share the gospel with my friends, and I need to take a step of faith in obedience here». Now, sadly, on a broken planet all that clarity weans overtime. But fortunately, there’s another all things around the corner. But without the all things, I wonder how much clarity we would all have.
Number four, our suffering equips us to share with others in their suffering. And that’s one of the good results that God works in the all things. You’re like, «Well, I don’t really wanna help other people in their suffering». Or, «I’m willing to help other people in their suffering without suffering». Well, here’s the thing. When people are suffering, they wanna hear from people who have suffered what they’re suffering. Comfort one another with the same comfort by which you have been comforted, the scripture says. And there’s something that resonates when someone who’s in the darkest place in life knows that the person who’s got their arm around them has also been in the darkest place in life. It doesn’t mean that we all can’t go. It doesn’t mean that we all can’t show up. It doesn’t mean that we all can’t be there for them. But I’m telling you what they’re looking for is somebody who knows what they’re going through.
Our friend, Courtney Duke, is in California this weekend on a widows retreat there spending a weekend with women of all ages who’ve lost a husband either tragically, suddenly, like Courtney did when her husband and the father of her three children was killed in a biking accident not too far from here and suddenly, everything changed. But Courtney, all these years later, is giving her suffering away. And again, this weekend, inviting women to come. Some watch husbands die of disease. Some, it was a long process. Some, they could see it coming. Some, it was sudden. But for her to be there and to say, «I know». That’s one of the good things.
And then, very close to that, number five, our suffering allows us to speak true hope to those who have lost all hope. If we choose to… Now, there’s, we can choose in every one of these to go the other direction and say, «Lord, I don’t want your closeness. If you’re gonna allow this to happen in life and if somehow you didn’t stop this, then I don’t want anything to do with you for the rest of my life». Or we can understand the whole world is broken and God is in the midst of it, and He is working even in the crazy, broken world that we are in. And He’ll come close to you if you’ll let Him. He’ll come near to you if you let Him. He’ll save you crushed in spirit if you’ll let Him. And He’ll use you if you truly believe it to speak hope to people who’ve lost sight of hope.
I ran all this part of my talk by Jay and Katherine Wolfe. Amazing family in our house. Katherine suffered a massive brain stroke episode that would have killed anyone, and how she survived is a miracle of God. But they have all kinds of massive complications from that. But they’re not somewhere having a pity party today. Katherine traveled to Dallas this weekend to a high school girls gathering to speak hope to them and to challenge them to go on into the things that God has for them. She got her wheelchair and all her brokenness and got on a plane and flew out to another city, and showed up somewhere where she might not have eaten well that day 'cause her swallowing doesn’t work all that great, and her hearing isn’t fantastic, and she can’t see super great all the time.
But instead of sitting around this weekend going, «Man, I just don’t know what’s God’s doing». She said, «Well, I know what God’s doing. I’m alive and I got breath. I’m alive and I got a voice. I’m alive and I have hope. I’m alive and I know that in all thing God works. So, I’m gonna go tell some people about it because they might not really listen to the, you know, all put together person who comes out and everything is exactly perfect and they’re like, 'Well, I’d like to tell everybody about the sustaining power and the grace of God.' 'Oh yeah, I’m sure you would.'» But when Katherine Wolfe rolls her chair out, people go. Their first book was called, «Hope Heals». That’s because one of the good things that God does in our all things, present sufferings, is He gives us the ability to proclaim hope to people who’ve lost hope.
Number six, our suffering tethers us more closely to God and dependence on Him. So many people came to my mind thinking about this and they were always, these people I know always were dependent on God. But not like the dependent on when they woke up in the morning and say, «God, you gotta help me get out of bed today. God, you gotta help me get dressed today. God, you gotta help me get a shower today. God, you gotta help me get something to eat today. God, you gotta help me make it to lunch today. God, you gotta help me make it through this day. God, you gotta help me make it tonight. You gotta help me make it through this night. I am totally and utterly dependent on you».
How beautiful would it be if we woke up that way on Wednesday? But we don’t. We wake up on most days and we are confident in our ability, our strength, our plan, our resource, the way we thought we’d do it, and we just set out to do it until the phone rings and then we hit our knees and say, «Dear God, I need you». He goes, «No, you needed me before the phone rang».
Number seven, our suffering refines us and is often the chisel that makes us more like Christ. «For those God foreknew,» verse 29, «He also predestined, or predetermined, to be conformed to the likeness of His Son». What is God’s will for your life? To be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. What’s God’s will for your life? To be more like Jesus, to look like Jesus, to be like Jesus. You’ve already got this inward change that has happened. God wants to work that out all over you in every area of life for you be conformed to the likeness of Jesus. Ultimately in glory, that is what’s gonna happen. But He’s working in that process right now. He’s got the chisel right now.
And the chisel, I hate to say it, is the all things. And the all things in the hand of a loving God chip away the things that aren’t like Jesus and help shape us to the likeness of Jesus. And this right here, friends, this is the plan. Whether you move to Arizona or not, honestly, probably of low importance on the scale of things that God is super concerned about. And we’re all like, «Are we gonna move to Prescott»? «I don’t know, Babe. We’re praying about it». And God’s like, «Are you praying about being conformed to the likeness of Jesus? 'Cause if you get to Prescott and you’re not conformed to the likeness of Jesus, might as well just lived in Dallas, Georgia. Who cares»?
We are so stressed about taking this job and He’s like, «Are they gonna get somebody conformed to the likeness of Jesus if they hire you? If not, work at Publix. I don’t care». Because this is the plan. No, that does… your Heavenly Father, obviously cares if you move to Prescott or not and all that stuff. He cares about all that, but not like, «Woooo! Prescott»! No, He’s like, «Prescott. Okay. Let’s talk about it». Oh. You being conformed to the likeness of Jesus, that’s what the plan is. And I’m going to promise you something that in all the things I’m gonna do that. I’m gonna use the all things to the plan.