The Greatest Verse Ever Misunderstood

Pray

Introduction

Whether you’ve grown up in church or even just spent any amount of time taking in modern cultural media like TV, sporting events, commercials, movies, art, or more, you have probably seen a common phenomenon when the Bible is mentioned. You’ve seen a bible verse or a truth taken out of context and totally misunderstood. We can think of famous examples, like when football players used to write Philippians 4:13 in the eyes black because they knew that with Jesus all things were possible, especially winning their upcoming game. We’ve seen coffee cups with Jeremiah 29:11 on them that give us the sense that we are about to live lives of abundant material prosperity because God has a plan to prosper us. We’ve heard people say things like, “God won’t give you more than you can handle” or other false truths from the Scriptures. We’ve heard preachers we could all probably name that have taken passages to Israel from the Old Testament out of context to make their congregations believe God only wants them to be healthy, wealthy, and wise. These are just a few of the many examples of verses and truths misunderstood from the Bible. Merle just preached a whole series on misunderstood verses. For our first table talk question tonight, I want to recruit your help.

Group Question 1:

For 2-3 minutes at your tables, I want you to talk about examples of verses or truths from the Bible that are often misunderstood. Take 2-3 minutes and then we’ll get some answers.

As we continue on in our series on the Love of God in Romans 8, we’re going to look at one of the most misunderstood verses in all of the Bible. In fact, I’ve titled this message “The Greatest Verse Ever Misunderstood.” The misunderstanding of this verse has caused more hurt and pain and loss of faith than almost any in Scripture. It’s caused people to believe God is unfaithful and a liar. Yet, I believe that when we understand this verse correctly, it changes everything. Rather than extinguishing faith, it turns our spark of faith into a raging fire. At this point, you may have already guessed the verse I’m talking about. It’s Romans 8:28. Many of you could probably recite it yourselves. It says:

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”- Romans 8:28

Our Subtle, But Common Misinterpretation

Before we discuss what I believe the correct interpretation of this verse is, I want to talk about how we often misunderstand this verse, even in subtle ways.

Here’s how I believe we often miss understand this passage. When we read this verse we often take it to mean that just around the corner, everything will get better; that just around the corner, any moment now, all of our pain and suffering and hardship will cease in this life. Sometimes we’ll throw out the vague phrase, “God has a plan” when tragedy comes as a cheap way to make ourselves feel better as we wait for everything to get better in the next instant. I’ve absolutely done this myself. I’ve even seen non-Christians do this.

Here’s why this is a misunderstanding of Romans 8:28. It’s a practical misunderstanding because so many of us, myself included, can live lives where we sit on the throne of our reality. We go throughout our days essentially living without any serious thought of God’s sovereignty or control over our lives. We live prayerless lives and pursue our pleasure and comfort each and every day. Then when tragedy hits that’s outside of our control, we just want our comfort back so we say, “God has a plan.” It sounds pious and faithful, but what we really mean is, “God I just want my comfort back. Your Word says you turn all things for good, so can you please do that now? I’m uncomfortable” Of course we would never say that out loud, but it’s what we often think deep down, even subconsciously. With so many of us living with this subconscious interpretation of this verse, it’s no wonder that we struggle to have faith in God and His goodness when our pain doesn’t quickly go away. It’s no wonder why we struggle to believe God deeply when the floor crumbles beneath us and we’re consumed with hardship that never seems to end.

My goal in the remainder of our time together is to correct the common misinterpretation by answering one single question: How is it that God actually turns all things for the good of those who love Him?

In order to do this we need to see the surrounding context of Romans 8:28 so we can actually see what it means. Without its context, our verse can’t be truly understood. With that said, if you have your bibles with you turn or tap with me to Romans 8:26.

While you’re turning there, let me lay out for you how we’re going to look at the context of Romans 8:28 so we can answer our question of how God actually turns all things for good for those who love Him. We’re going to break the surrounding context or passages up into two parts. Part one consists of the verses immediately before our main passage. Part 1, which is verses 26-27 represents the on the ground perspective for how God turns things for our good. Part 2 consists of verses 29-30 and this passage represents the eternal perspective for how God turns all things for our good. As we bring these two parts together, we’ll actually be able to make sense of verse 28 and see how God turns all things for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. Let’s dive into Part 1 starting in verse 26.

Part 1 | On the Ground Perspective | Romans 8:26-27

Romans 8:26-27

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

How is it that we can have comfort amidst the hardship and pain in life? Verse 26 tells us right away. We can first be comforted because we can rest in the fact that we’re not not alone. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness!” If you are a Christian, you have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of you which means you are never alone. What a comfort! No matter how alone or neglected you may feel in the darkest seasons, take heart because you can know that you aren’t actually alone! God Spirit is with you!

And he’s not just merely with you, but that He actually helps you! When you feel weak in pain and hardship, the Holy Spirit comes to your aid.

But how does He actually help us? It think He helps us primarily in a couple of different ways.

The Spirit Intercedes When We Can’t Pray

First, the Spirit draws us to pray and to cry out to God. He draws us to go to God in prayer in all situations.

But what about the times when we can’t even bring ourselves to pray because we can’t even articulate our need. We are so drowned in darkness and despair that we can’t even bring our prayer to words. Sometimes, we are so confused and despondent that we don’t even know what to pray for in pain. Even in those moments God hears us as the Spirit intercedes for us to the Father.

This is exactly what verse 26 says.

“For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.”- Romans 8:26

Puritan Preacher Richard Sibbes describes it like this.

“God can make sense out of a confused prayer. Our desires cry louder in His ears than Our sins.”

God hears our cries like a parent hears the cry of a child. A parent can know what a child is crying for even if the child isn’t using words. That cry beckons the parent to come to the aid of their child. The same is true of us. We have a Heavenly Father who hears our cries, even our unspoken and confused cries, and He comes to our aid.

What a comfort that is!

The Spirit Intercedes For Us According to the Will of God

But when the Spirit intercedes for us, what is it that He’s actually saying? The answer might surprise you.

Does the Spirit intercedes for us by just repeating back to God what we just said? No.

Look at what 27 says:

“And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”- Romans 8:27

The Holy Spirit doesn’t just intercede for us by repeating our words back to the Father. He does something far better. He intercedes for us according to the will of the Father.

God knows what we need far better than we do. God’s will for us is far greater than our own, so this is great news! But, God’s will for our lives, even though it’s better than our own will for our lives, doesn’t always manifest itself as easier or more comfortable in the moment. In fact, it may be incredibly painful and challenging in the here and now.

God knows that it is often times through pain and testing that we grow the most. If you’re trying to get in shape, you don’t get stronger by taking things easy. You get stronger by pushing it and giving it your all. As they say, “no pain, no gain.” When you lift, you actually tear muscles at a controlled pace so that they regrow stronger than before. That’s what God often does in our lives through hard circumstances. They are opportunities for us to grow and draw near to Him. This is particularly true in times where we are given more than we can handle and are forced to rely wholly on God’s strength. God knows how to use pain to grow us and turn things for good.

Vaccination Example

It can feel as if God is standing back doing nothing as you suffer. Quite frankly it can seem cruel. But it’s because you don’t know what He knows. You don’t know how God will turn this pain for good. God may actually be doing the loving thing by allowing you to endure pain in this moment because you will be far better for it in the end.

Group Question 2:

In light of this discussion of how pain can grow us and be used for good, I want to make this personal and real. I want you to think of times in your life where you endured pain or hardship and it was for the best in the end; it grew you and shaped you for the better. Maybe it was the way you were forced to rely on God in a situation where you felt helpless. Maybe it was growing through the death of a loved one and trusting God in that. Maybe it was the way a hard break up prepared you for another relationship or showed you that you had made your significant other your idol. Maybe it was getting turned down for a job that prepared you for a better job that was to come. Whatever it is, talk about that situation at your tables. So talk about times in your life where you endured pain or hardship and it was for the best in the end; it grew you and shaped you for the better and then we’ll continue on.

Think about Jesus in the Garden. Jesus is there praying to the Father to ask if there is any other way besides the crucifixion. Obviously, Jesus still asks that God’s will be done, but think about how the Spirit would be interceding at that monet. We don’t have a verse we can point to for this, but I feel confident in saying that as the Spirit interceded according to the Father’s will on Jesus’ behalf, He would be asking the Father to ensure that the crucifixion took place. The Spirit know that in order for salvation to be accomplished and for Jesus to be specially glorified, Jesus would have to endure the unspeakable pain of the cross, but that it would be worth it.

Have you ever considered that the Spirit might be interceding a prayer for you that you don’t want Him to, but will be good for you? Have you ever considered that the very thing the Spirit may be interceding for on your behalf may cause you a great deal of pain in the here and now?

But we can trust that no matter how much pain comes, it will be worth it. God is wise. God is good. And good will use all things for our good, even if we can’t see it or understand it right now. That’s the hope given to us in Romans 8:18 that we talked about a few weeks ago:

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”- Romans 8:18

God’s perspective is eternal. He has far more than this present moment in view, and He knows what’s best for us not just now, but in eternity.

And these leads us to transition to our second and final section, verses 29-30.

We’ve just looked at how God is with us in the here and now, but now we’re going to look at how God turns all things for good from an eternal perspective.

Part 2 | Eternal Perspective | Romans 8:29-30

Look with me at Romans 8:29-30. These verses represent the eternal perspective for how God turn all things for good for those who love Him. Let’s read the verses and then break them down.

Romans 8:29-30- “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Over the years, many pastors and theologians have called this passage “The Golden Chain” because each step represents an unbreakable link in a larger chain.

There’s foreknow, then predestined, then called, then justified, then glorified.

These steps make up the so-called Golden Chain.

For our purposes tonight, I think it would be more helpful to call this passage “The Journey of Salvation.” This passage maps out the journey of salvation for each and every Christian. Some of these steps happened before you were ever born, and some will take place in the future in glory.

In order for us to understand how God turns all things for the good of those who love Him, we have to understand the steps of this chain, so let’s briefly talk about each one.

Foreknew

Verse 29 tells us that the first step in the journey of salvation is “foreknew.” What does it mean that God foreknew those who love Him?

We can see from the surrounding context that foreknew in this instance doesn’t just mean God’s bare knowledge of all people and all things that will exist. Of course we believe God has that kind of knowledge. He knows everything that will happen in the future with total certainty, but that’s not what Paul is talking about here. Why do we know that? Because in this passage, those whom God foreknows are on a journey to salvation, and we know that not all people will be saved. We know that there will be people who reject God’s gracious offer of salvation. So it foreknow can’t just be God’s knowledge of all people. It must mean something different.

In the Bible, the word know, both in Hebrew and Greek, New Testament and Old Testament has different meanings. We often assume that know just means bare knowledge, but sometimes the Bible means something else. The other kind of knowing is a kind of intimate knowledge or love. If we had more time, I could give you close to 20 examples of how the Bible uses the word, but let me just give you a few.

In Amos 3:2 God says to the people of Israel, "You only have I known among all the families of the earth."

He knew about all the families, but only chose Israel.

Matthew 7:23 Jesus said to the hypocrites at the judgment day, "I never knew you; depart from me, you who practice lawlessness."

Psalm 1:6 says, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish."

He knows about the way of the wicked too. But he knows the way of the righteous in the sense of approving and recognizing and loving.

Genesis 4:1 says, "Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain."

That is, he made her his, and knew her intimately and loved her.

So “know” can refer to a special kind of love. And that’s what Paul is talking about in Romans 8:29. Really, “Foreknew” could be rendered as “Fore-loved.”

God knew and loved his children in a special way in eternity past. Yes, God loves everyone, but He has a special love for those who will ultimately become His children through salvation.

Think about that. If you are a Christian, or Lord willing, if you become a Christian one day, rest in the fact that God loved you before the world ever began. He has loved you with all of his heart since longer than we can fathom. And it is only because He first loved us that we can ultimately love Him and place our faith in Him. That’s what 1 John 4:19 tells us.

God’s foreloving of His people is a beautiful thing.

This leads us to the next step in the journey of salvation.

Predestined to Be Conformed to the Image of His Son

Our next step in the journey of salvation is “predestined.”

If you’ve grown up in church, at the sound of this word you might be squirming. All that the word predestination seems to do is cause debate. Sometimes I think that in those debates we can get so carried away that we miss the point of what the Bible is actually saying. Seeing the would predestined in our journey of salvation might make you assume that Paul is referring to election or something like that. But that assumption would be wrong. Look at what Paul says in the following clause in verse 29:

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

Predestination here doesn’t mean you’re determined for heaven or hell with no choice on your part or some false theological dichotomy like that. No, Paul is telling us that God has predestinated that we Christians will be shaped and molded, and formed to look more like Jesus. That is an astonishing truth!

This glorious truth should make us tremble with joy and awe. Do you know what it means to be conformed to the image of God’s Son?

It means that your character and integrity would be shaped and molded over time to look more like Jesus.

It means that you would begin to take delight and pleasure in the very things that Jesus takes delight in; things that cannot ever be taken from you and will never ever pass away.

To be conformed to the image of God’s Son means you are growing in wisdom and understanding of who God is.

It means worshipping God in an ever deeper way.

Being conformed to the image of God’s Son means that over time, you have more and more peace during the storms of this life.

It means that as the waves of reality crash and churn all around you, you can walk upon the water.

To be conformed to the image of God’s Son is to have peace and pleasure that cannot pass away or be shaken no matter what comes. Imagine how incredible that would be. Imagine being able to withstand the torrent of torments in this life. Imagine having joy that never ended. Imagine having perpetual peace. It’s far better than any imagination in a John Lennon song.

This is what we were made for.

But in order for us to be conformed to the image of God’s Son, it means we must experience what God’s Son did. It means we must bear a cross with him. Sure, most of us won’t experience the pains of a literal cross, although some Christians in history have, but when the Bible calls for us to pick up our cross and follow Jesus, what it has in mind is typically something different.

To take up our cross and follow Jesus in order to conformed to His image means that we take up the cross of our envy, our pornography addiction, our shame, our desire to be liked by others that consumes us, our coping with tragedy through eating disorders and cutting, our bouts of gossip, our desire for a spouse above all things, our idolatry of comfort and kids, our bitterness over old wounds, our love of money and materials goods, and anything else we put in the place of God’s peace, pleasure, and provision and put them to death. This is a painful process, but it’s necessary. To be clear, to be conformed to the image of God Son by experiencing what the Son experiences does not mean there will be no tears this side of Heaven. Jesus, the perfect, sinless man, still cried. When he wept before the crowds at his triumphal entry or before the tomb of Lazarus, it wasn’t because of some deficiency in Him. On the contrary, because of his perfection, he was able to see past merely his own pains and troubles to see the world around him more clearly. He was able to see the brokenness and sin of the world far more clearly and be broken over it to the point of actually doing something about it. To be conformed to the image of God’s Son is to be able to see that this world is not just about you. It’s to see the brokenness of the world around you, to see the pain of those in your midst, to see just how lost and in need of Jesus people are and it’s to be driven to do something about it. It’s to be driven to proclaim the Gospel of God to the whole world! It’s to be driven to push back the effects of the fall one day at a time. It’s to be driven to bring the joy and peace of Jesus everywhere you go. It’s to be driven to bring Heaven one step closer to earth as we journey to glory.

Have you ever been around someone who just seemed different because ever conversation made you more joyful, more at peace, and more comforted? Have you been around those people who are different from the rest of those you typically interact with? These are the people who have a peace and joy about them despite their circumstances that seems incredible. These are the people you walk away from talking with who make you feel loved and you are certain they’ve been with Jesus. When you think of these people, you’re thinking of people who have been and are being conformed to the image of God’s Son. And they haven’t become like who they are overnight. It’s taken years and lots of hard and sanctifying experiences. But the more they become like Jesus, the more beautiful they become. And we all get to experience that as Christians. That’s amazing.

Called

The next step in our journey to salvation is the step of calling.

So God foreknows His children in the past. He predestines them to be conformed to the image of His Son and then He calls them.

This is a beautiful step. If you are a Christian you experienced this calling at some point in your life. This calling is God’s drawing you to place your faith in Him.

Really, this calling could be described as romancing. God knows you and I better than we even know ourselves. He knows our longings, our desires, and our pains. He also loves us so much that He knows that what we ultimately need is Him. He romances us by speaking to our desires and longings through key words in sermons, passages of Scripture, conversations with friends, key moments at church camp or during worship, through books that speak truth, through the beauty of nature, and a whole host of other ways. Sometimes He even calls us in painful times where He is able to show us that only He can ultimately satisfy us.

This romancing is how we fall in love with God. We begin to see Him as beautiful. This calling is not against our will. On the contrary, it’s us freely falling in love with God according to His will.

For some of you here tonight, if you’re not a Christian, you may be experiencing the calling of God right now. Seek Him out and watch how He will romance you.

I can look back on my journey and with deep fondness I can see all of the ways God romanced me and drew me to Himself that I might fall in love with Him.

I want us to take a moment and reflect on those experiences within our own lives.

Group Question 3:

if you’re a Christian here tonight, and I assume most of us are, I want you to talk about at your tables the moments of God’s calling you remember in your life. It could have been a sermon you heard, a bible story you read with your parents, a moment of worship, a book, or anything like that where you began to feel your heart drawn towards God. Talk about that at your tables for a couple of minutes and then we’ll continue on.

Justification

Just two more steps in our journey of salvation.

Our next step is “Justification”.

Justification is our being made right with God.

Without Jesus, we are all guilty of sin and the justice of God. We can do nothing in our own might to pay for our sins. We all deserve the punishment of Hell. But Jesus changes everything. A4t the cross, Jesus takes on our sin and pays the price we never could. In exchange, we are given Jesus’ righteousness and are counted right with God. When you accept Christ, the Holy Spirit applies the gift of salvation and justification that Jesus earned on your behalf. When you become a Christian, you are justified and counted right with God.

Imagine justification like this. Money example

Imagine that you owe more money than you could ever possibly repay. You owe an unspeakable amount that you could never pay back even if you worked constantly for the rest of your life. Without help, you face a punishment you deserve and cannot avoid. But then someone comes along promises to pay your debt and not just pay your debt but give you an unspeakably great amount of money so that you could never possibly go into debt again. In that exchange, your debt is counted to the kind individual and he pays your debt. But then his incredible wealth is given to you and made your’s. That’s a picture of justification. Your sin is given to Jesus and His righteousness is given to you.

Glorification

This is the final step in our journey of salvation.

Glorification is an event that will happen in the future after Jesus’ return when Christians, with resurrected bodies with enjoy perfect and unhindered communion and relationship with God.

Glorification happens when we get to the New Heavens and New Earth and we get to enjoy being with God in peace and pleasure forever. This glorious reality awaits all of us who are Christians.

Concluding Thoughts

So that’s each step of our journey of salvation.

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”- Romans 8:29-30

There’s so much we could say about it, but I just want to point out one thing as a summary. Notice that each step on the journey of salvation relates to pain and hardship in some way.

When God foreknows us, He knows that in order for us to be with him forever, He will have to do something to bridge the gap of the punishment for the sin we deserve and our everlasting relationship with Him. So when He foreknows us, He knows He must send his very own Son to save us. That is an infinitely painful decision. And this ultimately relates to our justification because we are only justified by the painful and bloody sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

When we consider our calling and predestination, both typically involve us experience pain and hardship so that we would both so that God is the only one who saves and satisfies, but also that we would rely on God more in pain so that we would be conformed to the image of Jesus.

At every step in the journey to salvation pain is involved and yet it is totally worth it when we consider the astonishing reward of spending an eternity in perfect love and satisfaction with God. We truly can say along with Paul in Romans 8:18 that

“We consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”

God turns all of that pain and hardship for good and he does it in a way that is more beautiful than anything we could ever imagine

Conclusion

This is the note I want us to end on tonight.

When you put together all that we’ve talked about tonight, we get to see the full answer answer to the question we sought to answer, namely, how does God turn all things for the good of those who love Him?

In Romans 8:26-30, God shows us that He will be with us by His Spirit in everything we encounter right now, and that everything we encounter, no matter how painful will ultimately work for our good in the scope of eternity.

God turns all things for our good, not just by making things comfortable in the present moment. No, He does something far better. He turns all of reality to push us toward an indestructible joy that will last forever. Joy that we beyond anything we could ever imagine.

And God doesn’t just stretch our imagination with the joy He will provide. He stretches our imagination because He turns every single situation, no matter how desperate or dark, for our good. There is no situation you could encounter that would ever be too much for God. He can do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. And that means He can take our deepest and darkest pains and hardship and ultimately turn them for good.

God took the worst evil and pain in all of history, namely the killing of the sinless Son of God, and turned it into the greatest good the universe has ever seen. That means He can take whatever you’re going through right now and turn it for good.

And no matter what you’re going through, you aren’t alone. God’s Spirit is with you every step of the way on your journey of salvation.

Nothing can take away our hope and nothing can take away.

One final note: Notice that Paul says “all things” in verse 28. He doesn’t just say some things, or one thing, or all things in your life, but all things that have ever happened. All of history, every event down to a microscopic level we can’t even fathom is working for your everlasting good and God‘s incomparable glory. God’s plan to lavish his goodness upon you extends far beyond the bounds of this present moment or the incredibly small bit of your life that you can see or understand. His plan for your life is a colossal cosmic plan that involves every square inch of the universe at every moment of history since time began. God’s plan for your life is good and bigger than you could ever imagine. Even when it seems like the whole world is crashing down around us, we can rest in the fact that all things are working for our good and we can lay hold of our hope of eternal joy that can never pass away as we become more like Jesus each and every day until the day we get to gaze upon Him face to face.

Table Prayer:

What is something in your life that you can’t imagine God turning for good right now? What is a situation where you can’t imagine having peace right now? Is it a secret sin that you can’t seem to overcome? Is it a broken relationship in your family? Is it the sense that it feels impossible to be content with your relationship status? Is it the desire for a job that won’t seem to open up? Is it that God feels distant and nowhere to be seen? Whatever it is, I want to give you an opportunity to prayer silently to God about it and then Nick will lead us in one last song.

Pray

Mention how for non-Christians Romans 8:28 applies in a very different way.