The Benefits of Being Christians
A Five Part Sermon Series From Romans 8
Part IV: "Connections"
By Dave Redick
Sometimes, though we want to pray about a certain situation, we don't know what to ask for. We don't know what would be the best thing to ask God to do. We don't know exactly what God's will is. The Holy Spirit knows the will of God, though.
Most of us, at one time or another, have probably learned the truthfulness of the old adage: "It's not what you know that counts as much as it is who you know." While that saying may not be true in every case, it is certainly true enough times to keep the phrase familiar in our minds. There is even a new 90's term that describes the concept of having the right connections. It's called "networking" and while the word may be new, the concept is very old. The theory behind the concept of networking is that if you know the right people, you can get nearly anything done.
I have a book on the subject of Networking in my library that I read few years ago. In its introduction is a story that points out the benefits of having the right connections. Let me read it to you...
"Peter, a newspaper reporter, is driving down the interstate on a mid-summer evening taking a trip with his family - a combination vacation and research venture for a story about new vacation stops two days from the city. He's pretty sure he knows this part of his route, so he planned to drive through the night and start his real work in the morning. But when his children and wife fall asleep, the drone of the tires, the late hour and the steady motion of the car cause Peter's head to nod in that familiar way that means Sleep! Now! Peter's fatigue makes his plans go awry, so he exits the freeway and looks for a hotel. The clerk at the first hotel tells Peter there are two conventions in town and all the hotels are full. He's momentarily at a loss, but a woman who's just checked in looks interested in Peter's plight, and she tells him about a hotel 20 miles away where some friends found rooms at the last moment. Peter calls the woman's friends, who report that their hotel is full, but that outside their window they see a brightly lit Vacancy sign on a small motel up the street. They tell him the name of the motel and the clerk looks up the number, Peter places a call, reserves a room and gets directions. Two minutes later he's back on the road - and 30 minutes later he'safely in bed, falling asleep and thinking how lucky he's been to find this place. But Peter is not quite right. This wasn't just luck. This was networking - accomplishing objectives by connections with and through people."
While networking is an important concept in business, it is a vital concept when it comes to eternity and the things of the spirit. If you don't have the right connections, you can lose your soul!
In this message I want to show you how the Christian is connected to the greatest being in existence.
This lesson is the fourth in a five part series from Romans 8 that we're calling The Benefits of Being Christians. If you are a Christian you have some tremendous privileges that no one else on this earth has. We've seen so far in Romans 8 that Christians have: (1) A Freedom That Takes Away Condemnation (2) An Indwelling Companion Who Gives Us Life (3) A Hope That is Worth A Wait. In this message we see (4) Connections With The Greatest Being in Existence.
Please join me in your Bible at Romans 8:26-30.
(Read Romans 8:26-30)
The Christian's primary important connection in this passage is to God, and Paul indicates we are connected in at least three ways: (1) In Prayer (2) In Providence (3) In Purpose. Let's consider each one.
I. The Christian is Connected In Prayer.
To simply tell you that the Christian is connected in prayer would be dwelling on the obvious. Everybody knows that! These verses go beyond the obvious by informing us of a special aspect of the Christian's prayer connection - the intercession of the Holy Spirit.
( Read v.26)
Paul speaks of the Holy Spirit helping in "our weakness." What weakness does he mean? Well, he says "for we do not know how to pray as we should." Wuest, in his Word Studies points out that the literal rendering of this passage says, "We do now know the what we should pray for, the particular what."
What is this verse saying? I believe it is saying this: Sometimes, though we want to pray about a certain situation, we don't know what to ask for. We don't know what would be the best thing to ask God to do. We don't know exactly what God's will is. The Holy Spirit knows the will of God, though. That's what Paul says in verse 27.
(Read v. 27)
So we give it our best shot in what we ask, and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us according to the will of God because He knows the will of God.
With that in mind, it might be good to note also what this verse isn't saying. It isn't saying what some Pentecostal friends have told me. It isn't saying that we just start babbling in some unknown "prayer language" that we don't understand and the Holy Spirit takes it and makes up a prayer list. I say that because of the word "helps" in verse 26: "the Spirit also helps our weakness." The word in Greek signifies the taking hold of opposite ends of something. The idea is one of mutuality.
The other day Kimberly helped me move a large heavy package that I couldn't lift myself. She got on one end, I on the other, and together we moved it. My point is that it took the effort of both of us to move the package. I couldn't pick it up myself and Kim didn't carry it off either. It took both of us. Sometimes that is the way prayer is. After we've tried and failed to pray for what is necessary, the Holy Spirit "takes hold of the opposite end" and together we accomplish it. This isn't a prescription for a lazy, unintelligible "prayer language" where I have no idea what I'm praying for. Effective prayer is hard work, even with the Spirit's intercession. I must do my part.
The benefit of the Spirit's intercession is that He makes our prayer connection effective when it wouldn't be otherwise. Of course, all this works rather seamlessly, behind the scenes from our perspective. The intercessory "groanings"of the Spirit go on in the courts of heaven. We don't hear them here.
Perhaps there is an additional application of this as well. Have you ever felt strongly about something - perhaps you were sorrowful about the waywardness of a beloved son or daughter or a close friend. You got on your knees and started to pray, but you just couldn't put your feelings and desires into words. Perhaps you said, "Father, I just don't know what to say. You know what I want. You know what this loved one needs. Please, hear me and do what is best!" At that point the Spirit intercedes according to the will of God.
I might add one more thing. The Holy Spirit doesn't do this by proxy. Verse 26 says "but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us." He does it in person! Wow! What a thought! The prayers of a sincere saint of God actually invoke the personal activity of the Third Person of the Godhead. Now that is connections!
OK. There is the Christian's prayer connection. This passage also teaches that
II. The Christian is Connected in Providence.
Most of us at one time or another have probably been familiar with Ivory soap. (If not, well, I guess you've lived a sheltered life!) Ivory is one of oldest of the best-selling bar soaps today. For a long time it's unique selling point was the fact that it floats. But it wasn't always that way. Years ago, Ivory soap was just another brand among many. Then a factory foreman blundered by leaving a batch of new soap unwatched in the cooking vat during his lunch break. His lunch was delayed and the soap overcooked. Rather than report the mistake and run the risk of being fired, the foreman decided to make the best of it. He shipped out this new batch anyway. It seemed to clean just as well -- although now much lighter. The results surprised everyone. Rather than complaints the company was deluged with orders for this new floating soap. The foreman was not fired but promoted when he cooperated with company chemists to revise and modify the old formula for Ivory.
Those difficult circumstances really worked for good in the life of that foreman, and while it was ultimately probably just a coincidental happening, such things when God is involved in the life of a believer are not coincidental. They are providential.
(Read v. 28)
While this verse doesn't promise that a bad batch of soap will always net a profit, it does indicate that God is at work in the lives of His people ("the saints" back in verse 27), causing all things to ultimately work out for good.
Let's look more closely at this very important promise. First, notice what it says about the magnitude of the promise. It says "all things." The Greek is no different than the English. The word "all" means "all, any, every, the whole." Every thing that happens in our lives, good or bad, contributes to God's ultimate good that He has planned for us.
Where we usually doubt that is when things come into our lives that appear to be bad. How could loosing my job or a death in the family or being mistreated by someone possibly be working for good? Certainly Paul didn't mean that! Did he intend to include bad things like suffering in his word "all?" Yes, he did! You can see it right here in the passage. Look back at verses 18.
(Read v. 18)
Yes, the promise of "all things" working together for good even includes suffering. "All" means all! It even takes in your and my current difficulties. It is a wide ranging promise!
The verse also speaks of the means of this happening. It says all things "work together." The idea is one of teamwork. Just as on a football team, there are at least eleven players who contribute to the big win and no one player could do it alone, so it takes the "all things" (good and bad!) working together to produce God's good for us.
There is an Arabian proverb that states "all sunshine makes a desert." Likewise, in the life of one of God's people, our life would be barren of the good things God has in mind for us if things always went smoothly for us. The promise is that "all things work together" for good in the lives of God's true people.
We can see also what I have called the morality of the promise mentioned here. I am using the word "morality" to signify the difference between good and bad and I tell you, morally, there is no bad in this verse! Said another way, there is no "bad" in the "good" that this verse promises. The word translated "good" here agathos and it is the same word used in Matthew 19:16-17 to describe God's character. That verse says,
"And behold, one came to Him and said, ‘Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?' And He said to him, ‘Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good [he was referring to God - DR]; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments."
Now there is not one speck of evil in the character of God and Jesus describes that perfect character with the word "good," the same word agathos in our Roman's passage.
You see, there is not one speck of evil in this word "good" when we are told that "God causes all things to work together for good." You can trust God on that as surely as you can trust the goodness of His moral character. When God looked back on the six-day creation, the Bible says "He saw that it was good." Likewise, when you and I ultimately look back upon our lives in the end, we will say, "I see that it was good. All of it!"
Can you see that happening when in the midst of life? Usually not. But you and I have this promise to cling to - this promise that we are connected to God's providence.
We are connected to God in prayer. We are connected in providence. Finally,
III. We Are Connected in Purpose.
Notice with me the last few words of verse 28 that we have been looking at. The promise that connects us to His providence is given "to those who are called according to His purpose."
If we are His children, we are connected to His grand purpose. And what is that purpose? I'll let Paul tell you.
(Read v. 29-30)
I have to tell you that there have been whole books written on the meaning of these words, especially those words "foreknew" and "predestined." Obviously, I don't have the time remaining in this message to deal with them in a way that does justice to man's many speculations. Besides, I'm just a simple preacher with a simple mind who is very partial to a simple explanation.
Let's get the obvious meaning out of the passage first. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who Paul is talking about in this passage. He is talking about Christians. We are the called, the justified, and the glorified in these verses. We are also the ones God foreknew and the ones He predestined (whatever that might mean). What I want you to see is the purpose in all this. His purpose is there in verse 29. It is for us to be "conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren."
God wants ultimately to have a whole bunch of brothers and sisters for His Son, Jesus. "That He [Jesus] might be the first-born among many brethren," Paul says. Perhaps it could be said this way: God wants a big family! He wants the members of that family to be like Jesus. Jesus loves and adores the Father and wants to do His will. God wants a houseful of kids like that. He doesn't want a bunch of brats or rebels or self-centered hooligans.
According to this passage, He has done some things to make that houseful of children a future reality. First, He foreknew. I can't explain what all that means because I'm not God. I can't know what is going to happen for sure before it happens. God can and He did, according to this verse. He knew beforehand how all of this was going to work out. I'm sorry if that tweaks your mind. It does mine, too. There's nothing I can do to help you. You're on your own. (Of course, you can't explain how God created something out of nothing, either, so if you have a problem with things you can't explain, it is a faith problem!)
Secondly, according to verse 29, God predestined. I don't know what all that means, but I can tell you what it doesn't mean. It doesn't mean that God created some of us to be saved and some of us to be lost and that there is nothing we can do about it. Such a conclusion flies in the face of passages all over the Bible that say just the opposite. I'll put a list of them up here for you to copy.
(Acts 2:40; John 7:37; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Timothy 2:4; John 3:16; 1 Timothy 4:10; Titus 2:11.)
All of these are passages that teach that man has free will when it comes to choosing to be saved or lost. He is not a pre-programed robot who cannot choose. Because of our time I will pick only one of the verses. II Peter 3:9 says,
"The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance."
If God created some people so they could never repent and be saved, then why would He say here through His Apostle that He does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance? That would be a ridiculous conclusion!
No, this Romans passage doesn't eliminate man's free will. It doesn't teach, as some do today, that God has created some people so He can punish them in Hell forever. What does it mean, then, when it says God predestined men to be conformed to the image of His son?
The word predestined contains the base word, destined. The Random House Webster's Dictionary says of the word destined, "bound for a certain destination, as a freighter destined for Egypt." That freighter sets a course for Egypt. It marks out a route and proceeds on it. Now, does that mean the freighter will always arrive in Egypt? Not necessarily. Suppose the crew members mutiny and decide to go to Los Angeles instead. Could they do that? Sure. They're free to do so if they can pull it off.
A lion is destined to live in the jungle. He was made for jungle living. He does best in the jungle. It's his natural element. But do all lions live in the jungle? No. Some live in cages made of iron and concrete.
Likewise, God created man in His image, destined to live with Him forever. He did it a long time ago, so it's pre-destined. But some men decide they don't want to live with Him. They willingly confine themselves to cages of their own making. They mutiny. They chose to live outside their God-ordained element. Is that hard to understand?
Paul goes on to say those "whom He predestined, He also called." He sends His representatives out into the world with a message called "the Gospel" and he calls them. Paul also says, "whom He called, these He also justified." Those who answer the call, God justifies when they accept the benefits of the death of His Son for their sins. Finally, Paul says, "whom He justified, these He also glorified."
Interesting, isn't it, that word "glorified." Look at it. Do you notice anything strange? It's in the past tense, as though it has already happened! Yet we know it hasn't. (Actually, all these words are in the past tense.) How could it be that God did all these things before they happened? Well, my friends, we're back to that matter of foreknew. I couldn't explain that one, either.
I suggest to you that God isn't limited in time and space as we are. But perhaps the best thing to do is just let God explain it:
Isaiah 46:9-10 says, "Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.'" In short, God doesn't explain how He does it. He just does it.
My point in all this? You, if you are a Christian, are tied up right in the middle of this great purpose. If you are faithful to Him, you are right in the center of His will and his plan! You're connected to Him in Prayer. You're connected to Him in providence. You're connected to Him in purpose! You are networked! You are connected!
Conclusion
You're connected if you're a Christian. If you're not a Christian, not one of the things in this message or the three previous ones is yours. God predestined you to be one of those members of His family of brethren who are like Jesus. But you still must choose. He will not force you to live with Him if you do now want to. You may have a while to make the choice, you may not. So far God has given you time. Why don't you do something about it before the opportunity is gone?
Dave Redick is Minister of the Hwy 20 Church of Christ in Sweet Home, Oregon and Editor of The Preacher's Study. He may be reached at pstudysupport@comcast.net.
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