Misused and Misapplied Lesson Three: Romans 8:28
Misused and Misapplied • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Greeting:
Greeting:
Good morning its good to see everyone
Welcome visitors
Make plans to come back and be with us
I want to thank dad for filling in last week for me
We made our first trip to Dickson with Lane to visit some family…
It’s good to be back.
Before we begin let’s have a special prayer
Teresa Mccury this is Joan’s sister
Lesson Text:
Lesson Text:
Romans 8:28
Opening:
Opening:
This morning we are continuing on in our series we began a couple weeks ago.
We’ve titled this series Misused and Misapplied.
In this series we are taking a look at commonly used scripture by in the correct context.
We know that unfortunately today so many people take scripture and pull it out of context, twist it, sculpt it, in order that it can fit a teaching they want.
So many people today unfortunately today take scripture and misuse it and misapply it.
This morning our hope is to continue on as we look at our third passage in the series.
Growing up many of you may can relate to this but there are all sorts of knock off products out there.
Specifically one I remember is instead of having named brand cokes we got some of the others.
Mountain lightning instead of Mountain Dew
Dr Thunder instead of Dr Pepper.
And I am sure there are more.
But each of these were a lot like our lesson series…
They sort of resembled the real thing, they aye were pretty close in taste, but something was just different…
It just wasn’t the real thing…
This morning the verse we are going to study is much like this.
I am afraid today so many people have took this idea and ran with it, again misapplying and misusing scripture…
An interesting question to ask yourself this morning and maybe a starting point of a conversation sometime is asking the question…
“Where in the Bible does it say everything happens for a reason…”
Did Jesus or God or His word ever truly day that?
Ever thought about that or heard that? I know you’ve heard that saying and maybe used it for yourself sometimes…
It’s gotta be a verse in there somewhere right?
Interestingly enough… it’s not.
Scripture doesn’t explicitly state that anywhere…
However our lesson text this morning is sometimes where people will pull that idea from and take it, twist it and fit it into their lives and conversations…
So this morning lets do as we have with the others and truly look at our passage in context…
Lesson:
Lesson:
Let’s read…
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Many times people take this saying of “Everything happens for a reason” from this verse.
They take it and fit it into their lives at different times.
I was running late for work, got a flat tire, my water heater not out…
Maybe a more serious note, a health issue, passing of a family member, losing our job, whatever it may be people will often take this idea to support their situation.
This idea will lead us to believe that God has automatically predetermined every single little tiny detail of all our lives…
And that he is responsible for making these things happen for this grand plan of his…
Is that the case?
Is that truly what his plan is?
We hope to find out this morning…
Our goal this morning is to take a look at what Gods plan truly is…
When we back up for a moment and take a look at the context of Romans it is important to understand Pauls message.
To quickly summarize it…
Paul is telling us in this book that through Jesus, God is fulfilling his perfect plan he has aways had.
He is uniting and offering to both Jews and Gentiles Jesus and salvation, hope for heaven.
Jesus is bringing all of these things and Gods ultimate plan to fruition.
And it’s available to all!
This is the context…
It wasn’t the Law. Paul discusses this at great length in this book.
It wasn’t going to be through the Law that God would fulfill his plan and promises…
Because if it was dependent upon the Law and our ability to keep it, it would fail.
We could never keep that plan, we could never keep the Law perfectly.
Why? Because we are of the flesh, we are sinful…
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
We have to recognize this that those who are of the flesh, obeying the flesh and living how the flesh wants us to live, are living hostile to God…
That doesn’t sound like God is pleased with that does it?
Being hostile towards something doesn’t sound good
God isn't pleased when we have our mind set on the flesh and do fleshly things…
So is it fair for us to convince ourselves that when something happens in our lives due to either us or someone else living in accordance to the flesh, that Gods happy with it?
That God wanted that to happen and made it happen for a reason?
That’s not his plan…
God despises the things of the flesh, he’s not pleased with any of the things that result from following the flesh…
So our saying doesn’t really fit here…
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Paul now contrasts this idea of the flesh with those who aren’t in the flesh but in the Spirit…
Paul tells us God is pleased with that.
God is happy when we are in Christ, we walk by the Spirit not by the flesh…
Because this is fulfilling Gods plan, this is fulfilling the master plan He has had for us…
This plan of going from a fleshly life to a spiritual life is Gods plan for us…
This is the plan Paul is speaking of…
Us doing something as results of our obedience to the flesh or someone else doing it to us that’s not Gods plan, that’s not what we should be teaching
What we should be teaching is that this context is about Gods providence and promise.
Not that every little tiny detail happens for a reason but that God is working, no matter what happens in our lives, on his grand plan for us.
Nothing is going to change that.
Thats why our verse talks about all things working together for good
Now this isn’t to say that we wont face difficulties or sufferings in this world though…
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
There’s going to be things that happen in this life, there are going to be sufferings come our way…
That’s the world we live in
In the midst of those things there most certainly are hard lessons we can learn but these sufferings are not Gods master plan..
His master plan is to provide a solution to the suffering.
Gods master plan is for this glory to come.
His plan is for Jesus
For Him to come and provide us hope through the sufferings so that we wont suffer one day…
For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
There are things that happen on this earth that are results of the brokenness of the world…
Storms, cancers, sicknesses, deaths, all of these things we see happen here Paul tells us that they under bondage of corruption…
Why do all of these things happen?
All of these things that people take and say “Everything happens for a reason..” why do they happen?
Because we live in a broken sinful world where satan is very busy…
If I am a victim of a natural disaster, a health issue, any inconvenience in our lives, we don't need to convince ourselves that this is exactly what God wants to happen and its happening for a reason…
But what we should be convinced of and what we should know for certain that all of these things will one day be no more…
God has promised us that, God has planned that for us…
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
We are eagerly awaiting the adoption, the redemption of our body…
The whole context of this chapter is centered around our groaning…
Asking why is it this way in life, why do these things happen?
When is it going to be fixed…
All of these questions many people ask today…
The context here isn't for us to know why we tripped and fell on the way to work, or why we had a flat tire, or why we are grieving a situation, why any of these things happen that someone looks at us and tells us “Everything happens for a reason…”
The context is much greater…
Paul tells us over and over the Spirit has been given to you, Christians, as part of His master plan…
He is making us free from all of these things.
We have a hope as Christian’s…
When we were baptized and became a Christian we were set free, it was the beginning of the new creation ..
For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
Sometimes we have to realize that good things happen, bad things happen.
Things in this life good and bad happen, but none of those things are what our hope is..
None of those are part of Gods master plan…
Our hope is still to come… it is far greater.
We live in a world that is still groaning, a world living in the flesh…
And because of that things are going to happen…
Things are going to happen that maybe make us scratch our heads.
Things are going to happen that maybe make us look at and question why did that happen to me?
And that’s because we live in a world where our hope isn’t realized yet…
And Paul here in Romans, in context, is telling them that.
He tells them of course you are weak, of course you don't know what to pray for, of course you are groaning, of course you cant keep the Law and it be the key to Gods master plan…
But with all of this, in that context, he tells us the words of our lesson text…
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
Quiet a difference there when we look at this in context verses our generic use of it in our every day life isn’t it?
First off, Paul isn't saying that all things happen because God wants them to happen.
But he’s also saying that absolutely nothing happens that God wasn’t prepared for.
None of these things that can happen will never ever take away from God's master plan.
They will never take him by surprise, nothing can mess it up…
All things work together for good to those who love God…
In the grand scheme of things all things are working, by God, for the good of His people…
But for us to look at our life and say that every single little tiny thing happens for a reason isnt the context of Pauls writings…
God has not predestined out every single tiny detail of our lives, he’s not made every single terrible event happen, does he know it’s gonna happen sure.
He knows everything but that doesn’t mean he makes it happen…
So when we come to a situation in our life and something happens I hope we can stop and truly think is it fair to say that everything happens for a reason?
Because there are dangers with this teaching
It fosters and breeds anger and frustration towards God…
If we pin every single thing that happens on God by saying he made it happen for a reason how could someone end up feeling towards God?
Ever known someone that turned away from God when a bad thing happened because they blamed him?
Also, It can lead to sanitizing sin
If we teach everything that happens is already planned and happens for a reason then it takes away our responsibility of sin.
One may say well it was already planned it happened for a reason wasn’t nothing I could do about it…
I say all this to show us how important it is to always keep scripture in context…
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
As we have studied this verse this morning I hope that we can see that this verse doesn’t teach us God is behind all of the tragedies of life and every single little portion of our life
God doesn’t cause our every single inconvenience or affliction..
Does he allow them, sure, but to say that every tiny detail is purposely pre planned from God to happen for a specific reason, simply isn't true…
I think we all can recognize that in life there are times we struggle to find the right words…
When we have someone go through something unfortunate in life what do we say?
How do we react to certain news of someone losing a family member, a serious health issue, I think we all struggle in those situations to find what to say…
How many times have we thought of saying “Everything happens for a reason..”
Hopefully this morning we can realize that in context scripture never teaches us that…
If we say that we are implying that God is up to it and He is behind it and denying that sometimes things are our on fault.
Denying that Satan is at work, we live in a fallen world, there’s things that happen in this world that are tragic but not caused by God.
This morning I do want us to know and understand that as we looked in context of Romans God does a master plan for us today.
He does have a plan laid out.
He has a plan for you, for me, for everyone, and that is to come to know Christ.
His perfect plan was executed as we studied by Jesus coming and fulfilling his word, dying for our sins, resurrecting to heaven to await his return…
He does most certainly have that plan laid out for us to follow.
This morning will we follow his plan?
Will we make the decision to become a Christian?
Be baptized today for the forgiveness of sins and arise that new man…
If you aren’t a Christian this morning obey Gods plan of salvation today..
If you rare a Christian and have went astray or left the faith come back home as well..
