Even the Bad, for Your Good
By John Piper
And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to
those who love God, to those who are called according to his
purpose. For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to become
conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn
among many brethren; and these whom he predestined, he also called;
and these whom he called, he also justified; and these whom he
justified, he also glorified. What then shall we say to these
things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare
his own Son, but delivered him over for us all, how will he not also
with him freely give us all things? (Romans 8:28–32)
The banner hanging on the side of the building is from Romans 8:31:
“If God is for us who can be against us?” What is the answer to that
question? Be careful. Notice verse 36: “For your sake we are being
killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.” I presume that those who kill us are against us. I
assume that those who slaughter us are against us.
Was Anyone Against Martin Burnham?
Martin Burnham’s funeral was on Friday in Kansas. He had been a
missionary hostage in control of the Abu Sayyaf Group for a year,
and was killed in crossfire on June 7th. The last words to the Rose
Hill Bible Church where he spoke on May 23, 2001 — just days before
his return to the Philippines and his capture — were printed on the
funeral program: “I wasn’t called to be a missionary; I wasn’t
called to the Philippines; I was just called to follow Christ; and
that is what I’m doing.”
Yes, Martin Burnham, and you knew that Jesus said, “If anyone would
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew And we know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he
foreknew, he also predestined to become conformed to the image of
his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brethren; and
these whom he predestined, he also called; and these whom he called,
he also justified; and these whom he justified, he also glorified.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is
against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but delivered him over
for us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?
(Romans 8:28–32)
The banner hanging on the side of the building is from Romans 8:31:
“If God is for us who can be against us?” What is the answer to that
question? Be careful. Notice verse 36: “For your sake we are being
killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be
slaughtered.” I presume that those who kill us are against us. I
assume that those who slaughter us are against us.
Was Anyone Against Martin Burnham?
Martin Burnham’s funeral was on Friday in Kansas. He had been a
missionary hostage in control of the Abu Sayyaf Group for a year,
and was killed in crossfire on June 7th. The last words to the Rose
Hill Bible Church where he spoke on May 23, 2001 — just days before
his return to the Philippines and his capture — were printed on the
funeral program: “I wasn’t called to be a missionary; I wasn’t
called to the Philippines; I was just called to follow Christ; and
that is what I’m doing.”
Yes, Martin Burnham, and you knew that Jesus said, “If anyone would
come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake will find it” (Matthew 16:24–25). Martin
Burnham lost his life following Christ. And he found it. No
surprises here. Paul said it would happen. Peter said it would
happen. Jesus said it would happen.
They will lay their hands on you and persecute you . . . I will give
you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able
to withstand or contradict . . . and some of you they will put to
death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair
of your head will perish. (Luke 21:12–18)
You will be hated. You will be killed. And not a hair of your head
will perish! So, if God was for Martin Burnham, was anyone against
him? Yes, but not with final success. They killed him. But not a
hair of his head will perish.
“All Things” Includes the “Bad Things”
So when Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together
for good for those who love God, those who are called according to
his purpose,” we have a taste of the kinds of things that are
included in the “all things.” It is not all good things. It is all
things — including all the bad things. In fact, the whole context
before and after Romans 8:28 is painful. That’s why Romans 8:28 is
here. We need encouragement and hope, because before and after this
verse, the prospect of the Christian life on this earth is bleak.
Romans 8:17 says we will be glorified with Christ if we suffer with
him. Verse 18 says that the sufferings of this present time are not
worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed to us. Verse 20
says that the creation — including us — is subjected to futility.
Verse 21 says that creation is in bondage to decay. Verse 23 says
that even Spirit-filled Christians groan with the fallen creation
awaiting our adoption, the redemption of our weak, sick, and dying
bodies. Verse 24 says we have been saved “in hope” and you can’t see
hope, otherwise it wouldn’t be hope, so most of our salvation is
invisible and still in the future. No wonder we groan. And then,
verse 35 says there are tribulation and distress and persecution and
famine and nakedness and danger and sword.
And in the middle of all this, to give us strength and hope and
courage, verse 28 says, “Yes, all this is true!” And “We know that
all things — all this suffering and futility and bondage to decay
and groaning and tribulation and distress and persecution and famine
and nakedness and peril and sword — all these things work together
for good for those who love God and are called according to his
purpose.”
So the answer to the question on the side of the building from
Romans 8:31 is, Yes, there will be many enemies. Yes, there will be
many adversaries and obstacles and miseries and distresses and
opposition and seemingly pointless delays and breakdowns and all
manner of futility. But, No, in all these things we are more than
conquerors because of the sovereign love of God in Christ. Nothing
will finally succeed against us.
If you hear the call of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ;
if you come to God, loving him through Jesus Christ;
if you trust God for the forgiveness of your sins because of the
death of Christ;
if you receive from him the free gift of righteousness by faith
alone;
then all things — from the sweetest to the most severe and bitter
and painful — will work together for your good. God will be for you
with all of his omnipotent wisdom and power. And if God is for you,
no one can successfully be against you.
Over and over in the Bible and in history, the truth of Romans 8:28
is witnessed by the people of God. Let’s look at some examples and
pray as we do that God will put solid ground under our feet when the
waves of trouble break over us and when we follow Jesus outside the
gate of security and comfort.
Joseph
One of the most familiar examples is the story of Joseph in the Old
Testament. His brothers hate him because he has had a dream that
some day he will reign over them. So they throw him into a pit, and
then sell him into slavery in Egypt, and then lie to his father
about his coat so the old man will believe that his boy was killed
by a wild animal.
Then, Joseph seems to prosper in Potiphar’s house until Potiphar’s
wife lies about him and accuses him of attempted rape. So he is put
in prison. And there, things seem to go well after a while because
the jailer trusts him. But then his hopes that Pharaoh’s butler will
get him out are dashed as the butler forgets about Joseph for two
more years.
Finally, after about seventeen years of nothing apparently working
together for any lasting good for Joseph or his poor old father, he
interprets a dream for Pharaoh and Pharaoh rewards him by making him
a kind of vice president in charge of all the food in the land as a
seven-year famine comes.
The famine is threatening his family in Canaan and so the brothers
who hated him and tried to get rid of him come to Egypt. Who is the
one ready to help them, but their brother Joseph, whom they don’t
recognize? The point of the story is given in three texts.
One is Genesis 45:7: “God sent me before you to preserve for you a
remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.” Notice
the word “sent.” You see it again in Psalm 105:16–17: “When he
summoned a famine on the land and broke all supply of bread, he had
sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.” This
word “sent” is important for interpreting the main text of the
story, namely, Genesis 50:20. Joseph says to his brothers, “As for
you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring
it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are
today.”
This is an Old Testament version of Romans 8:28. All things work
together for good for God’s people, all things — including all the
evil done to Joseph and to Jacob, his father. But notice carefully
the way all three of these texts talk about the “all things.” These
are things that God “meant” to work together for good. God did not
just watch evil events unfold with no design and no purpose, and
then bring good out of them. No, just as Joseph’s brothers meant it
(purposed it, designed it) for evil, so also God meant it (purposed
it, designed it) for good.
That is why I said the word “sent” in Genesis 45:7 and Psalm 105:17
was important. The brother’s selling Joseph into slavery was God’s
“sending” for salvation. God does not just bring good out of all
things. He ordains what happens to us for our good and then
infallibly brings good from it according to his purpose. God “sent”
Joseph to save his brothers, even though this sending involved the
sin of his brothers.
The Cross of Christ
This is a picture of what God did for us in sending Jesus to the
cross to save us. In Acts 4:27–28, the disciples say:
In this city there were gathered together against your holy servant
Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with
the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and
your plan had predestined to take place.
In other words, even though Jesus’s going to the cross involved the
sins of Herod, Pilate, Gentiles, and Jews, it was God’s sending.
They meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.
God didn’t just bring good out of the evil and pain of the cross and
out of the slavery of Joseph; he planned it for our good. God plans,
purposes, and works all things together for our good. Some may ask,
“What does it add to our hope to believe this, rather than to
believe that God has no purpose for the particular evils that come
into our lives but only uses them once they happen?”
One answer would be: If we say that God could not “use” all the
events prior to the evil to bring about his purpose that evil not
happen, what hope do we have that God can “use” the evil itself for
his purpose to do me good? If God’s purpose was frustrated before
the evil that struck me, why should I believe that his purpose to
turn this evil for good will not be frustrated?
So what we gain in saying that God sent Joseph and sent Christ and
planned the events leading to the salvation of Israel and the church
is (1) that we affirm exactly what the Bible says, and (2) we put
the solid foundation of God’s sovereignty under the promise that he
will work all things for our good. He was sovereign in the past; he
will be sovereign for us in the future.
Job
Another example from the Old Testament is Job. You recall how many
terrible things happened to Job. He lost his wealth, his children,
and his health. In every case, he acknowledged the sovereign hand of
God, even though Satan was the servant of calamity in his life. And
in the last chapter, the writer of the book says his family and
friends gathered “and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for
all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him” (Job 42:11). So the
view of Job and the writer is that God did not just bring good out
of Job’s misery, but that he purposed Job’s misery.
Why? We can give an authoritative answer in James 5:11, “You have
heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of
the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” So James
confirms that God is purposing, not just responding. And his
purpose, as Romans 8:28 says, is Job’s good. In all Job’s pain and
loss, God was aiming at compassion and mercy. He planned, purposed,
and worked all things for Job’s good.
Esther
Another example is the experience of Esther. It was not an easy
thing for a young, beautiful, Jewish girl to be forced into the
harem of an unclean, pagan, Gentile king. It was, in one sense, a
tragedy. Why did it happen? Why would God allow it? Mordecai gives
the answer when the Jews are about to be slaughtered by Haman’s
wicked designs. God has done for his people, through Esther, exactly
what he did for his people through Joseph. Here’s the way Mordecai
puts it in a message to Esther: “And who knows whether you have not
come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14)?
God knows. And now we know because we have seen the end of the
story. She came to the kingdom, through all her humiliation and
defilement, to save God’s people. God works all things together for
good for his people.
Jonah
And let me give an example that the children will understand. This
is a favorite story in the Old Testament. When Jonah finally
admitted that he was doing wrong on the boat going away from
Nineveh, they threw him overboard into the sea. And then something
horrible happened. He was swallowed whole by a huge fish. Now that
is a terrible thing. But did God have good purpose in that terrible
thing? Yes, he did. The horrible experience of being swallowed by a
fish was in fact God’s appointed means of salvation for the
unbelieving Ninevites.
Paul
And what about Paul’s thorn in the flesh? It tormented him, and he
pleaded for God to take it away. But the answer came from Jesus, “My
grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in
weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). In other words, “Paul, I have a
design in this ‘messenger of Satan,’ and it is for your good and my
glory.” All things, even thorns in the flesh, work together for
good. And what about Paul’s imprisonments? Here’s the way Paul
describes the effect of his Roman imprisonment:
I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has
really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known
throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my
imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become
confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to
speak the word without fear.” (Philippians 1:12–14)
All things, including imprisonments, work for our good and God’s
glory.
What Effect Should This Have on You?
I close by asking: What effect should this have on you? If you are
not a believer in Jesus, I pray that the effect will be to make you
long to trust him. Having God on your side and not against you is
infinitely important. Remember the sign on the building: If God is
for you, who can be against you. Trusting Christ is the only way to
have God be for you. He is for all who trust in Jesus. He works
everything for your good, if you trust his Son.
If you are a believer, then you will not respond to this message and
to the truth of Romans 8:28 with passivity toward the devil and
resignation toward evil and a casual attitude toward American
consumerism and materialism. What you will hear in Romans 8:28 is a
battle cry. If all things work together for my good, then I cannot
be ultimately defeated in the cause of Christ.
This is a call to take risks to spread a passion for God’s supremacy
in all things for the joy of all peoples. This is a call to go to a
hard place or do a hard thing in the cause of love. This is call to
spend yourself for Christ and his kingdom. This is a call to do
something radical and crazy in the eyes of the world. Take Operation
World and read the needs of the world. Then, let your heart dream
how you might invest your life to move toward need and not comfort.
Romans 8:28 is a trumpet call to follow Jesus in the risks of love
no matter what it costs, because whatever it costs will work for
your good.
Reprinted with permission DesiringGod.com
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