“What’s Wrong with my Life?” – Romans 8:28

I got a letter from a friend of mine in prison last week and I would like to read a small section of it to you.  He starts off by saying, “I know this correspondence will encounter your congregation in the best of hands.  For we know who has it under control, the mighty right hand of God.” 

He goes on to say what has happened to him since he has been in prison.  He has enrolled in Bible College, working on his Bachelors in Theology, looking to take master’s studies to be a Christian counselor.  So, that’s pretty cool.  But then he continues by saying, “I may be in prison but I’m free and it took prison and the grace and mercy of God to deliver this wretched soul.”

What do you think about that?  Maybe he’s lying.  Maybe he’s just saying that to sound spiritual and be all holier-than-thou.  Do you think that?  No.  He’s not.  He really means that.  I have no doubt.  In fact, I visit the local jail a couple of times a month and it’s a rare visit that somebody doesn’t tell me that they are glad to be in jail because it has saved them from where they would surely have been otherwise.

“It took prison and God to save this wretched soul.”  Now, do you think that when the cops busted him for whatever it is that he did and they were putting him in handcuffs and putting him in the squad car, do you think he was rejoicing and saying, “Thank you, Lord! I’m about to be free!”?  I doubt it.  I bet he thought that was the worst day of his life and he may have been right.

Some of you have similar testimonies.  Maybe it was when you got fired or maybe it was when the doctor gave you bad news or when a loved one died or when you woke up poor, addicted or incarcerated and you realized that God had, in fact, given you more than you could handle and in despair you cried out to God for Him to please help you.  Somebody tell me what happened when you did that.  Real quickly.

Most people who have that kind of testimony say they felt a great weight lifted off as if God just simply said, “Thank you.  That’s right where I want you to be.”  Some of you may be in that dark place right now at the lowest of the low, in great despair, with nothing behind you but burnt bridges and nothing ahead of you but scorched earth and you can’t help but wonder, “What’s wrong with my life?”

Lately, we have looked at what the Bible says about prayer, marriage, and church and looking at what they really are and what they are not; how to make them better and how to make them worse.  At some point in everyone’s life, if they are honest, they will ask what is wrong with my prayers, what’s wrong with my marriage and what’s wrong with my church and we have seen truth from scripture to help us in those situations. 

Today, we ask, “What’s wrong with my life?”  It’s a question some people never have answered and that is a shame because God wants us to know and has told us in His Word what is wrong with our lives.  One of those passages may well be your favorite verse in all the Bible.  Romans 8 is one of the most powerful chapters in the Bible and the crown jewel of that chapter is the beloved verse 28.  Please turn there if you haven’t already and let’s see what God says through the Apostle Paul.

In this letter to the Christians in Rome, the apostle stands up like a great attorney and makes the case for the Gospel.  He lays it out plainly and clearly, stating the bad news that we are all sinners and what we deserve for that sin is eternal death (3:23 and 6:23) building an airtight case for the lostness of mankind and the necessity of God’s grace which is the good news.  Now, the good news about this Good News is that in this relationship with God through His Son Jesus, we start to see the providence of God.  We start to see that God is in control and that He loves us.

So, let’s read just that one verse.  Romans 8:28 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.” 

That is one of the most loved verses in all the Bible but also one of the most misunderstood as well and when you misunderstand it, it’s hard to believe but when you do understand it, it brings great peace and joy to our lives.

So, I want to tear it apart and get a closer look at it to see just how this works.  I did that with a small piece of machinery the other day.  I took it apart and wound up having to send the pieces of it in multiple baggies to a professional to have it repaired.  I hope this works out better.

Paul says, “We know…”  Who is “we”?  “We” is Christians; true believers, people who have a relationship with Jesus.  He tells us more about that in just a minute but just know that this verse, like this whole book of Romans, is written to Christians, not unbelievers; not just church members or those whose mamas were Sunday School teachers.  There is a credit card with the slogan, “Membership has privileges”.  Well, so does true Christianity and one of the perks is this verse.

There are certain things that we can know in this life and certain things that we will never know.  I don’t know how prayer works.  I don’t know how God the Father can know when He is coming again and Jesus doesn’t know.  I don’t know why bad things happen to good people (although I have some answers).  I don’t know what happened to the dinosaurs.  I bet Paul could say the same thing.

But Paul did know some things.  In 2 timothy 1:12 he said, “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”  In 2 Corinthians 5:1 he said, “We know that if the earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens".  Philippians 1:19 says, "For I know that this shall turn out for my salvation through your prayers, and through the supply of the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus".  Here in Romans, Paul says, “We know…”

We can’t prove it scientifically or mathematically but we know because God said it and God has proven Himself from the Old Testament into the New Testament into our lives that He is trustworthy.  So…we know.

“We know that in all things…”  “All things” means what?  I looked this phrase up in my big concordance like I did several other words in this verse just so I could know exactly what Paul meant when he wrote this and do you know what it said?  I looked it up and it said, “Why are you looking this up, Goober?  Don’t you know what “all” means?”  I was kind of offended but it’s true.  We all know what “all” means.  It means the good, the bad, the ugly, the indifferent, the funny, the sad, the big, small, important and the terrible.  God works everything for our good.

It’s called providence.  Providence is simply God’s divine hand controlling everything.  Psalm 103:19 says, “The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.”  There’s that word “all” again.  I heard the true story of an arrogant young man who made his brothers mad so they threw him in a hole in the ground until they could find somebody to buy him and make him a slave and take him to another country.  They were glad when he was hauled off but the boy was heartbroken to be forced to leave his father and brothers.

Things got worse for the boy in the other country.  He was made a slave, then thrown in prison for years and years where he was basically forgotten by everybody except God.  God then raised him up out of that prison, gave him great wisdom and made him second in command of the whole nation.

Years and years later his brothers came to that country looking for food and would have starved to death if they couldn’t get it but their long-lost brother was in charge of all that now and he had mercy on them and gave the whole family everything they needed and more.  Then in Genesis 50:19 that powerful man, who had once been an arrogant boy, said to his brothers who had sold him into slavery, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”

Maybe you have a similar testimony to that.  Maybe, in hind sight you can see God’s providence has brought you where you are today.  He has brought you where He wants you, not just in spite of bad things and bad choices but because of bad things and bad choices to a place where He wants you and can use you to minister to somebody, making you more like Him and bringing glory to Him.

That’s what is meant by the word “good” in this verse and some people misunderstand that.  They think the word “good” means comfortable, rich, healthy and happy.  The Greek word that Paul uses right there is “agathos” and it’s the same word used in Matthew 19:17 where Jesus says, “Why do you ask me about what is good?  There is only One who is good.”  He is saying that only God is good.  Only God is agathos and when you understand that God is good and everything He does is good; everything He wants for us is good, then you start to understand Romans 8:28.

God works all things together in a synergistic way to put us where we are supposed to be, so we can minister to others and make us more like Him so that He gets the glory.  It is basically what James 1 says.  Turn to the book of James real quick.  James 1:2 starts out by saying, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.”  Now, if James had just stopped there I don’t think I could ever read the Bible again because that is crazy talk.  That’s ridiculous.  Joy when facing trials.

But he continues so let’s hear him out.  “Because you know the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”  Well, big whoop.  I don’t need perseverance.  Gimme fewer trials.  Keep reading though.  “Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature.”  Nope.  Don’t care about maturity.  I’m fine being immature.  Gimme fewer trials.  “So that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”  Okay, I want that.  I want, “not lacking anything.”

How do we get to “not lacking anything”?  “Trials of many kinds.”  It takes trials of many kinds to bring us to where we are supposed to be so we can minister to others and make us more like God so that God gets the glory and we lack nothing.  I’m in.  How about you?

Lois, would you please stand up for just a minute?  I promise I don’t want to embarrass you but I need to ask you a couple of questions.  How long ago were you diagnosed with cancer?  What is the status of your cancer now?  What was involved with treating that cancer?  Chemo, radiation, surgery, etc?  How difficult was that?  Do you want to do it again?  Would you want that for any of us?  Why did God allow you to go through such a trial?  Was it for your good?  How?

I don’t know why exactly God allowed you to go through that and I can’t imagine having to endure that trial but maybe at least part of the reason is so you could stand here today and minister to us right where God wants you as He has obviously made you to be more like Him through all of this and today you are giving Him the glory.  If there is more to His reasoning than that we will probably have to wait until we see Him face to face and that’s okay because we trust Him. Amen?

Now, let’s look at the last part of this verse.  “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.”  Who here loves God?  Everybody loves God, right?  Especially the people sitting here in church with the pastor asking.  In fact, I bet if you went door to door, most people would say they love God so does this verse apply to everybody that says they love God?

Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”  W.A. Criswell said, “The man who is in the will and in the purpose of God, the man who’s on God’s side, the man whose heart is with Christ, to that man in God’s plan and in God’s purpose and in God’s infinite love, whatever comes, whatever happens works together – conspires together – reaches out toward the thing that is blessedly, marvelously good. 

The man who is not in the love of God and in the purpose of God, everything’s against him.  God’s against him, heaven’s against him, life is against him, death is against him – everything is against him.  Over there in the Book of Judges, it says of Sisera who was warring against the children of Israel, ". . . the stars in their courses fought against Sisera" [Judges 5:20].  So with any man outside of the will of God and outside of the purpose of God: everything you do will curse, and damn, and destroy, and ruin.  Outside of the will of God, nothing works together for good!”  https://www.wacriswell.com/sermons/1954/god-s-providential-care/

So, what’s wrong with your life?  If the problems in your life are caused by sin, then repent, turn away from that sin and ask God for forgiveness and do it right now.  Quit fighting God and everything on His side and give up trying to control what you always mess up and will never control anyway.  God is in control and He loves you.  He gave Jesus to be the perfect sacrifice to die for your sins and all you have to do is believe.

That true belief will manifest itself in obedience to God’s Word and will but gives great freedom, peace and joy in this life but also a blessed assurance of eternal life in heaven with Him.  Understand that a true Christian’s life will have much of the same trials and difficulties but we know that those trials are used by God to make us more like Jesus, to bring us to where He wants us so we can minister to others and bring glory to God.

When you understand that, why wouldn’t Romans 8:28 be your favorite verse?  We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.