Working For Good

 August 20 2023

Romans 8:28-39

         The whole social media phenomenon is just so hard to figure out. I mean, which platform is a person supposed to spend endless hours being obsessed with? I have just stuck with Facebook mostly as a way to keep contact with people that I know. I also use Facebook as a means to see just what is happening in the world. If I see news releases I might look over them if they sound interesting. This past week I began to notice that Russell Moore, the former leader in the Southern Baptist Convention, was making the media rounds. It seems that he has written a new book, entitled, “Losing Our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical America”. Well, being a pastor in an evangelical denomination and one that knows all about altar calls, I was rather intrigued by what he had to say. It turns out that quite a lot of people wondered what he had to say after he explained just why he felt that evangelical Christianity was in trouble. Moore, said that, “It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — "turn the other cheek" — [and] to have someone come up after to say, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?" And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, "I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ," the response would not be, "I apologize." The response would be, "Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak.’And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis.” So needless to say such a quote caught the attention of those on social media.

Not so long ago, I  preached a message series from the Sermon on the Mount, including the teaching of Jesus on turning the other cheek, so I could relate to what was said here. Yes, what Jesus teaches is far more radical than people can imagine, there is no argument there. Yet the bottom line is that this whole, ‘turning the other cheek”, business is part of the very core teachings on how we, his disciples, are to live. As I pondered on this resistance to these core teachings, I kept coming back to this notion that these teachings of Jesus are considered to be too weak, that they no longer work anymore. This made me wonder just what is this work that needs done, a work that the teachings of Jesus, apparently, are no longer able to get done . I wondered if folks who believe and say such things know exactly just what is the work that we who follow Jesus are to be doing. Perhaps the real issue is that most of the followers of Jesus just no longer know just what is this work that Jesus calls us to do. 

         In this letter to the Romans, we have already been told by Paul about some of the work that we are to be doing, this bearing of fruit. Paul teaches us in the seventh chapter of Romans, that once we have been raised to new life in our baptism, joining Christ in his resurrection, we are then supposed to get on being people who bear fruit for God. This bearing fruit, if you think about it, is about life, growing  and overflowing. This abundant life is exactly what Paul is writing about in the eighth chapter of this letter to the church at Rome. Upon hearing that there were those in this little church who were judging and condemning their fellow members, Paul knew that these were people still enamored with the ways of death because when you condemn someone you seek to control them through the power of death. Perhaps the people doing this condemning thought the ways of life, the ways of the Spirit, appeared to be too weak to bring about order. Yet, it is the Spirit who is the power of the resurrection, the one who has defeated death because he is the very living presence of the holy love of God. This holy love of God, this is the power that consumes our fear, our anxiety and our worry so that death no longer controls us. This holy love of God, this is the power that breaks down the barrier of hostilities that stand between people so that they can come together in prayer. This holy love of God, this is the power which moves us to go to the suffering, to go and bring the holy love of God to bear upon their situation. This is the victory of the holy love of God that brings life where once only death reigned. And be very certain, there is nothing weak about the holy love of God yet it is a power which is the power of life and peace, never death. 

         You see, the only weakness that is to be found is the weakness in us, those who long for life to come and swallow up death, those who long for the victory of God’s holy love over the power of death, his glory, to cover the whole earth. Our weakness is knowing just how to pray for a world that is held in a death grip. Yet it is here in our weakness that the Spirit, the living  power of God’s holy love, reaches in, groaning with us, interceding for us. You see, when we know that this time of prayer that Paul records here in the scriptures that precede the verses that we just read, then we can also know that we need a better way to read this 28^th verse then we normally find in most translations. A more appropriate way to read this verse is found in the Revised Standard Version where we find, “We know that in all things, God works with those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”. You see, it is not all things that are working; that is rather non-sensical if you think about it. No, it is God who is working and perhaps this idea of God being at work seemed so strange that it caused problems in translating this verse from the original Greek. Yet, listen to how Jesus speaks of his relationship with his Heavenly Father, as found in the fifth chapter of John,“My Father is working until now, and I am working with him.”  And further in that same chapter of John, Jesus tells us, “…I say to you the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he is doing.” As those who are united with Christ in his resurrection, we too are to watch for where our Father is working. Our Heavenly Father will show us what he is doing and he invites us to come and join him there in his work. And just what is this work that our Heavenly Father is doing? Jesus tells us in the fifth chapter of John that, “…the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will.” The Father is at work raising the dead, giving them life and we are to join him in this work. This then is the work the church is to be about, searching for those in whom their Heavenly Father is drawing to his side, loving them, bringing about in them, resurrection faith so that they too might obtain his grace, the Father’s welcome into his life of love. This is God’s working in all things to bring about the triumph of good over evil. This working with God is how we let, “ our light shine before others, so they might see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.” You see, the God who cannot be seen is made visible in the good works that we are doing together with him. In this way, these good works are like a light shining on a dark night.

         When God finished creating the world, he stated that all of it was good and the creation of humanity, was very good. So, with us, God is working at bringing all things back to where they can truly be said to be good. When we know this to be the work that we are to be doing then can we say that the practices of Jesus are too weak as to get this work done? Absolutely not! Listen to what Paul says at the end of the twelfth chapter of Romans, “Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought as to what is honorable in the sight of all.” And further Paul says, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine”, says the Lord. To the contrary, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him a drink…do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” To love our enemies is not at all weakness but is rather the sign of ultimate strength for this is the strength of the one who overcame our evil by doing good for us upon the cross. 

So, God is overcoming the evil of our world through his good work and he invites us to join him so that God can say at last, that what he has created is good. Where in the beginning those who bore the image and likeness of God were Adam and Eve, now those who bear the image of God are those who have been conformed to the image of the Son. The image of the Son is an image of one who is willing to work with their Heavenly Father in working all things for good. As Paul writes, “Those that God predestined, he also called, and those he called he also justified and those he justified, he also glorified.” This means that God knew all along that the love with which he loved the Son would one day be opened up and shared with those who heard his voice calling them into life. Our Heavenly Father knew that the place where these he loved would live is in a creation, redeemed. This is the destination chosen for us by God even before the foundation of the world. God knew that in this redeemed creation all things will at last be good and we will live there in the power of the resurrection, the power of life over death, the victory that Paul calls the glory of God. This is what Christ understood and when this becomes our understanding then we can say that we are indeed formed to the image of Christ.

You see, no matter what some may believe, this way of being conformed to Christ is not weakness but instead, power. When we join God in his work then we can ask with Paul, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” Can you imagine any more powerful position to hold than the one where we know that God is for us? Not only can we be certain that God is with us when we work with him but we also have the certainty that all things are in his hands because as Paul teaches us, “If our Heavenly Father did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, will he not graciously give us all things?” The cross is our assurance that God is able to take all things, and give them to us so we might use these for his good. So if we are certain of the power of God and that all things are subject to him, then, we must wonder why would we ever want to dabble in the power of death. This is what Paul is getting at here in the thirty-third verse, when he asks, “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” Our Father’s work is the raising of the dead so only he knows who he will raise to new life, those who are righteous in his eyes. So if a person judges others and condemns them they are, in effect, placing themselves on par with God, an act of arrogance that will have to be answered for.

The most wonderful promise though is that when we work with God what we discover is that his love is always with us, and there is nothing that can ever separate us from this love. This is an amazing promise Paul holds forth for us. I think he wants us to know, without a doubt, that there are no limits to where the love of God might be found. So, there is no room for any belief that there might be someone who is beyond the reach of the power found in the love of Christ.There is no tribulation, no distress, no persecution, no famine, no nakedness, no danger, no sword, no instrument of the power of death that is so fearful that the love of God can not defeat it. As Paul writes, “No, in  all of these terrifying situations we are super conquerors, we can experience victory of life over death, through Jesus Christ who loves us.” And what a love that Jesus has for us! This is a love that death nor life, nor angels and rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, not height nor depth, absolutely nothing in all of creation that can keep Christ Jesus our Lord from reaching us with the love of God. What a beautiful comfort.Yet this is also a challenge for us because now we know that if we have a source of love which can be ours in any situation and that there is nothing in this world which can stop this love from reaching us, then we have no excuse for refusing to love someone. So, it seems as if Paul turns to this church at Rome and he asks, “If the love of Christ is ever present with us then can we really justify our judging and condemning of one another? Absolutely not! No, the love of Christ poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit empowers us to join our Heavenly Father in his work of bringing his good to life all over the world. This working with God to bring good into this world, this work of raising the dead to life so that all things one day may be said to be, “Good”, this is the work to which God has called us to do. So, our response to those who say that the ways of Jesus, ways such as the turning of the other cheek, ways that appear too weak and will no longer work for the times that we live in, is that this is just a sign that such a person has lost their faith, faith in the resurrection. We must believe that God is able to give life to the dead and then, we must be willing to take this faith and go and join God in his work of raising the dead. When we watch as people are raised to new life, transformed by the power and love of God, this is when we will have no doubt, that one day, God shall declare that all things are, “Good”! We can then rest assured that the ways of God are powerful enough even for times like ours! Amen!