For the first part of this series, click here.
Read Romans 8:26-30.
“This is the Word of the Lord, thanks be to God for His Word.”
Introduction: We are continuing a series this morning that was begun on Easter: The Odyssey through Theodicy. That is, the journey through the question: why is there evil in a world with a good and all-powerful God?
The word “theodicy” means to “justify God.” It is an attempt to figure out how a good and powerful God can justify the existence of evil in the world He created and sustains.
On Easter morning, we looked at the book of Job for an answer to this ever-present, ever-dangerous conundrum. We said: The existence of evil in a world ruled by a good and all-powerful God is to glorify Christ. (repeat) We call this “Christological Theodicy.”
What Christological theodicy means is that God is working everything in this world towards the glory of Christ. Earlier in Romans 8 Paul says that even creation groans under the curse of sin. We can look at the evil all around us and trace it back to the fall of mankind in Genesis 3. God did not create plan B when Adam and Eve ate the fruit. God’s plan from before time was to purpose everything for the glory of Christ. Ephesians 1 says, “God made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.”
So why does a world ruled by a good and powerful God have evil? To glorify Christ.
Need: But I’m afraid one sermon is insufficient to explain the whole of theodicy. I’m afraid I wasn’t able to fully satisfy all of our doubts and questions regarding evil in a world with a good and powerful God. We said on Easter morning that evil exists to glorify Christ. But since then, more evil has occurred, more people getting diagnosed with cancer, more martyrs, more tragedy, more pain. Evil still exists and evil still hurts. And that is how it will be until our Lord returns. But the way we talked about it last time is in more of a corporate or cosmic sense. It’s as though we’re all only a big ship through turbulent waters and I’ve told you that the seas might be rough but the destination is worth it. This is excellent news because we can look at a world that is full of evil and say may Christ be glorified as Savior and King. We can watch the evening news with its stories of pain and wickedness and say God is still good.
But this is like looking over the side of the ship and seeing the rough waters and the scary storm. What happens when evil comes upon you or your family? That’s like turning around on the ship and seeing two people fighting or a person dying of illness or a food shortage. We recognize that we have to go through rough waters to get to the safe and blissful shore of Christ’s glory, but what about all the evil happening on the ship? Is that really necessary? Is Christ still glorified? What about when it happens to you or me? Today we are using Romans 8:28, a very popular verse, to look at a more personal theodicy.
We are asking the question...
Question: Why do all things happen? We are asking this question not in the cosmic and corporate sense of all things, but more so on the personal and daily level. So “all things,” not collectively, but all things as in each and every. Why do all things happen?
Let’s pull our answer right from our passage this morning:
Thesis: All things work together for our good, which is Christ’s glory. (repeat)
With this thesis, I have set before me a weighty and serious task: to prove to you that our greatest good is the glory of Jesus Christ.
Text:
If we look at our passage in Romans 8, I think this truth is clear. We all have heard verse 28. Many of you probably have it memorized. But do not ignore the profound truth contained within it. “In all things (each and every thing) God works for the good.” This is the most grand of promises. Whose good? “The good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” If you are in Christ, God is working all things for YOUR good!
Let’s continue into verse 29: “For those God foreknew (those who have been called) he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” So let’s ask the question, what is “his purpose”? His purpose is to choose some before time to become like His Son. Let’s broaden God’s purpose: God created man in His own image for His own glory. That image was tarnished by the fall. It takes the perfect image of God to restore the image of God in man. That perfect image of God is Christ. So before creation, God predestined certain people to have the image of God restored so that Christ would be glorified.
Let’s go to Ephesians 1 for another look at this truth. “For God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, (why?) in accordance with his pleasure and will (or purpose)-- (what purpose?) to the praise of his glorious grace.”
So what I am trying to say here is this: God’s purpose for Christians is to glorify Christ.
So if we put that back into Romans 8:28, we have: “In all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called to glorify Christ.” I think this makes the truth “God works for our good” so much clearer. Because if God’s purpose for our life is to glorify Christ, then our greatest good is the glory of Christ. There’s the truth of this passage and the hope of this sermon: Our good is Christ’s glory.
The implications of this truth are so incredibly profound and so many! This truth can unlock our hearts to see the wonder of God’s plan for our lives. It offers us so much joy and hope. I could go on and on about the implications of this truth, but I will only share a few.
Implications:
1. First, is this not the crux of the Gospel? Why did Christ come to earth? Why did God incarnate His Son to take on human form to live and die and rise again? What was the purpose? Let’s ask this of Scripture:
Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Christ came for our good.
Hebrews 12:2: “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Christ came for his glory.
Matthew 20:28: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Christ came for our good.
John 1:14: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Christ came for his glory.
Philippians 2:7-8: “Rather, Christ made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a cross!” Christ came for our good.
Philippians 2:9-11: “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.” Christ came for his glory.
Christ came to earth for our good and his glory. These are not mutually exclusive. Instead, they are the same thing! Our good is Christ’s glory. This is why in the Gospel narrative, Jesus is both Savior and King. More so, he is savior because he is king and he is king because he is savior. Awesome.
2. Second, this promise is not for everyone; it is only for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. We often use this verse as though it could apply to anyone because of how we define “our good.” This does not refer to our earthly good. God does not work everything so that you would be blessed with more health, wealth, or prosperity. Because there is a greater good for us than those things. It is to glorify Christ. That is the greatest good for us.
If it is health, wealth, and prosperity that you’re looking for, this is not the promise for you. God graciously gives that to “those who DON’T love God, to those who are not called according to his purpose.” If this is all you want in life, your desires are way too weak. There is a greater good out there and God works everything for that good.
So the truth that our good IS Christ’s glory is only true if we love God and have been called to salvation through the Gospel.
Third, here’s where it might get tricky, but follow along. Next Sunday, Pastor Mark is getting roasted. Mike Zoccoli and I have been preparing jokes for years, I mean weeks, for this occasion. I will probably roast him about his height and his suit button mistakes among other things. But hopefully, he will be laughing through it all. Why? Because he knows my purpose, my intention, is not to put him down, but to honor him for his Christian witness and ministry to me and the church.
Pastor Mark can enjoy it because he knows my purpose, my goal, my end, what they call my “telos.” He has a good grip on my “teleology,” or my purpose through the roast. So when he hears a roasting joke that seems like an insult, he doesn’t think I’m evil or unkind. It doesn’t change his view of my “ontology,” or who I am, my characteristics.
Let’s apply this to our view of God. We often correctly view God through his attributes, his ontology. We know He is good and loving and kind and gracious. And we let this inform our view of God’s purpose, intentions, His teleology. But this must be a two-way street. If we only let our ontology inform our teleology, then we we find ourselves with a bad theodicy. We think, “I know God is love and good and kind and gracious. Therefore, His goal must be to exalt me and make me feel loved and special.” This will not work well in a world full of evil.
We must let our teleology, our knowledge of God’s purposes, inform our ontology, our knowledge of who God is. Here’s what that looks like: “God is working all things to glorify Christ, which is my highest good. Therefore, even in this time of suffering, I know God is good and kind and loving because He working for my greatest good.” This is a theodicy that can withstand all of the evil of this world.
Applications:
Let me close with just a few applications from this truth of Scripture.
1) Immerse yourself in the narrative of Scripture. Don’t let a day go by when you don’t recognize the story of the Gospel in the Bible. From Scripture we see God’s purposes and actions for our good and Christ’s glory. And the truths we glean from Scripture will never fail us. God’s purposes are infallible. If Mark had a legacy here at Bethel, it is a legacy shouting the truth of the Bible’s infallibility. We honor that by daily opening our Bibles.
2) Praying for God’s will to be done. We do this every single Sunday very explicitly. “Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy name, Thy kingdom come, THY WILL BE DONE.” This is a prayer that puts God’s teleology on display. May God’s purposes be accomplished in this world because it is for my greatest good.
3) Practice this attitude in the good times. Holding to a Christological theodicy is not easy. It is something we must continually be putting on and practicing. We do this in the good times. Whatever happens every day, we can practice by reminding ourselves, “God did that for my good and Christ’s glory.” Then when the bad times come, we can say like Job, “Shall we accept good from God and not evil? The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Conclusion: So hold fast to a Christological theodicy. Cling tightly to the truth that your greatest good is Christ’s highest glory. Knowing this, leave with this promise today: God works all things for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
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