"Quiet God Working" RUMC sermon 7/24

 “Seeing God’s vision”

RUMC 7/24/11

Life just is not fair… who ever promised that it would be?

But don’t worry.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

•A little baby is born with no brain, only a brain stem. The doctors tell the parents that she has no chance of surviving. Somehow she stays alive for sixteen months. The parents struggle to take care of her. When she gets sick, the doctors tell the parents “Don’t bring her to the hospital. There is nothing we can do for her.”

Someone said, don’t worry.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

•A young youth went with his church youth group on a Saturday outing. That night he came down with a fever. The next morning he had trouble breathing and his mother called the doctor. By the time the ambulance got there, he has stopped breathing. The doctor did everything he can but the boy was dead on arrival. He died from a strange bacterial infection.

Someone said, don’t worry.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

•A man felt the call of God to go into the ministry. He left his good job and moved to a distant city to enter seminary. His wife took a job to help him make it through. He was in his last year.  Soon he would take a church and become the pastor God had called him to be. But one day his wife came in to announce, “I’m leaving you. I don’t want to be a pastor’s wife.” She walked out and never came back.

Someone said, don’t worry.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

• One day a policeman stopped a man known to be a drug dealer. It happened on a busy downtown street and a crowd gathered to watch the unfolding drama. There was a struggle and somehow the drug dealer grabbed the officer’s gun. Someone in the crowd yells, “Shoot him, man.” And he did, at point-blank range, in the face. The officer was in his early twenties.

Someone said, don’t worry.  “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

We have all heard it; most of us have said it. 

In the face of tragedy- in the times when we are dealt the cruelest blows, in the times when we hurt the most and understand the least, someone inevitably says “All things work together for good to them that love God.”

Most people hear this in one of two ways.

1.       Some feel discounted.  Like their sufferings are not important- it will all work out.    

2.      Others feel condemned- they hear “If you loved God,” as the verse says, all this would have turned out differently.  In other words, it is their fault.

Even though people who say this are always well intentioned, I have to wonder if we could be any crueler.  To tell a suffering parent that their suffering is not important?  A grieving parent that if they or their son had loved God more their son would still be alive. To tell the seminary student that being abandoned by his wife is not all that important to tell the police man’s family that if he had loved God more, it would have worked out better. . .  I can hardly think of many things crueler than minimizing or blaming the victim.

This great verse that in what I think might be the greatest chapter in the bible can be the softest most comforting pillow in times of trial.  I am afraid that the way it has sometimes been used and interpreted can also be the hardest kick in the stomach we’ve ever had.

I don’t have to tell you that this is one of the most beloved passages in Scripture. We are certainly not going to abandon it.  So let us examine it in a better light and see what treasures it holds.

FIRST: Compare two translations of this beloved passage.

The King James Version on your left is the one that is usually cited.   “All things work together.”   Where is God in that translation?  At the very end. Now there is nothing wrong with that translation.  When you translate from one language to another, there are often choices to be made about word order and grammar.  For technical reasons having to do with Greek grammar, Theon - or God can be placed in a couple of different places in the sentence.

I notice, however that in the Greek the word Theon is the 7^th word out of 17.  It is much closer to the beginning of the sentence than it is to the end.   I also think that in this context Paul is placing the emphasis on God and Spirit, as opposed to the trials of the world.  Just 10 verses earlier Paul wrote “I consider the sufferings of the present age are nothing compared to the glory to come.”

I think the New International version on your right does that a little better than the King James or the New Revised standard that we usually read in worship.  It says “And we know that in all things God works. . .   IN ALL THINGS GOD.

In all things God.  Not in some things, not in most things.  Not just in the good things.  Not just in bad things.  In all things. All things good and bad; bright and dark; sweet and bitter; easy and hard; happy and sad; prosperity and poverty; health and sickness; calm and storm; comfort and suffering; life and death.” (McGee, J V)  God is in all things.  The truth is, rather than being at the beginning or the end of the sentence, the message of this chapter is that God is at the beginning AND the end AND the middle AND everywhere else.  IN ALL THINGS GOD.

In the 139^th Psalm we read this same truth

Where can I go from your Spirit? 
   Where can I flee from your presence? 
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; 
   if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 

IN ALL THINGS GOD.

And Paul continues in the 8th chapter to reiterate this same truth IN ALL THINGS GOD.

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

There is nothing that can separate us from Christ because Christ is in all things.  There is nothing beyond God’s reach, there is nothing beyond God’s care, and there is nothing beyond God’s love.

IN ALL THINGS GOD.  That is the first thing we need to hear in this passage. IN ALL THINGS GOD.  If that was all we said or heard wouldn’t that be enough?  IN ALL THINGS GOD. 

But let’s keep going. . .

IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD.

Notice God works for the good.  Paul does not say that everything is good.  He does not say that everything will be OK.  He does not promise that we won’t have bad times.

Where is the good then in the death of that baby I told you about?

Where is the good in the death of the youth, the police officer or the breakup of the marriage?

Where is the good in Grant Schellhorn’s struggles, or anyone else struggling with cancer? 

Where is the good is the tragedy of war- the calamity of natural disaster the heartbreak of an embattled and broken family- the suffering of a long sickness?

Here we come to an interesting theological question.  Is God the chess player, moving this piece, and that piece, strategizing and setting us up for failure or success?  Many people think of God micromanaging every event of every day.  That’s where we get in trouble with this passage. Our vision is too small.    Our vision of God’s vision is too small.  For Paul and for me, God is not the chess player that manipulates us like pawns.  NO. . . God is not just the player.  Make your vision bigger.  Bigger than the player, bigger than the board, bigger than anything you can imagine--- Because is the owner of the chessboard, all the pieces, the table on which the board sits, the chairs on which the players sit and the players themselves.  God is master of each of our chess boards, master of all of creation, master of the galaxy, and master of all the universe.  God is not the micromanager that causes good and bad.  God is the God of creation that makes everything out of nothing, brings, light out of darkness, and life out of death.

The word Paul uses that we translate “works”-  as in all things God “works” is a compound word made up of the Greek word for “with” and the Greek word for “work.” I think the best word is that in all things ---in all things God synergizes. In other words works with.  Brings his goodness to work with all the circumstances of our lives.  It In other words Paul is not saying God makes everything good, but God works with the circumstances of our lives-  good or bad, caused by us or caused by others, manmade or natural, God works with all those circumstances seeking to bring about God ultimate goodness.

He does not say everything will be OK, it isn’t always true.

He doesn’t say bad things won’t happen, or happen again, that isn’t true.

He doesn’t say that God gives us these things in order to turn them around; that would just be cruel.

He doesn’t say that God will fix our problems, or rescue us from our problems, but that God will work with the circumstances; work with us to try to bring about ultimate goodness of God’s vision for us, our lives and the world.

IN ALL THINGS GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD.

Remember, that good is not necessarily short term.  Remember God is eternal, God is forever, God is ultimately good even if we don’t see the good today, tomorrow, this year, or in 20 years doesn’t mean that God is not working for good.

  The kingdom of God is like a cake.  Cakes don’t just appear on the counter beautiful, frosted and ready to eat.  They take time, starting with the growing of the ingredients, the measuring and mixing and baking and frosting.  No one looks at the eggs and says “mmm” good cake.  No one licks the measuring cup after the oil is poured out.  It takes time and all of the ingredients working together with the baker and the heat of the oven in order for the goodness of the cake to become evident.  The same is true for God’s kingdom.  What happens today, or tomorrow.  The tragedies of this week or the chaos of any of our individual lives may not be good.  But God works with all those ingredients, and his son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in order to reach ultimate and eternal, divine good.  

Is Paul saying, "Whatever happens is good?" No.

Is he saying that suffering and evil and tragedy are good? No.

Is he saying everything will work out if we just have enough faith? No.

Is he saying that we will be able to understand why God allowed tragedy to come? No.

What, then, is he saying? Paul is erecting a sign over the unexplainable mysteries of life— a sign which reads "Quiet. God working”

How? We're not always sure. To what end? We are not always sure, but we know that God is seeking good, and not evil. That's what Romans 8:28 is saying...

Quiet. God working

It’s not fair we cry- as our call to worship said- we cry because we don’t get what we want, we cry because we don’t get what we think we need.  We cry because we don’t get what other people get.  It’s not fair!! We cry.

We weep It’s not fair. Because young people die in war. 

We weep It is not fair. Because good people die young. 

We grumble it’s not fair. Because God’s ways are not our ways. 

We ask where was God when I needed him?

Where was God when I felt so alone?

Where was God when I didn’t know where to turn?

Where was God when the doctors ran out of treatments?

Where was God when that child was being abused and assaulted?

Where was God when spouse was sneaking around behind my back and stashing away money preparing to leave me?

Where was God… it isn’t fair!!!

Ray Pritchard tells the story of a father whose son was killed in a terrible accident. He came to his pastor and in great anger said, "Where was God when my son died?"

The pastor thought for a moment and said, "The same place he was when his Son died."

That's the final piece of the puzzle. God knows what we are going through for God, too, has been there. He watched his own Son die.  God has watched his children kill one another.  God has watched his creation ignore his teachings.  God has been rejected and denied and forgotten and blasphemed, and mocked, and cursed.  Do you hear God crying it’s not fair?

NO- God says” in all things . . . in all things. . . . In all things I work for Good for those who love me.”

Through thick and thin and sin-- “in all things I work for Good for those who love me.”

Through good and sad and bad --- “in all things I work for Good for those who love me.”

Through highs and lows and the lowest of the low-- “in all things I work for Good for those who love me.”

When you see me and when you don’t… when you understand and when you won’t… ”in all things I work for Good for those who love me.”

“In all things I work for Good …for good for you.   And you.  And you.  And you.

Quiet-- whatever today or tomorrow may bring, God is working.  God is working here and now for good. 

Reverend Terry Plocher 7/24/2011