Facing life with confidence

Hey everyone, my name's Aidan and I'm a long-time sermon listener and a first-time sermon giver.

As I said earlier, I've been coming to St. Paul since the beginning of 2021 and this is my first

time preaching here. And if you've ever heard of my thoughts on preaching before, you know that I

really like slides, so I get ready for a lot of that today. But if we haven't met before, I would

love to get to know you. Feel free to come and chat to me after the service. I'd love to hear

what you think of my second sermon ever. But we've got an excellent passage to get into today, as Gary

just said. So how about we start by praying. So if you'd like to pray with me. Lord, in an uncertain

world, you have an unstoppable plan. Please reveal that plan to us in all its glory today. Amen.

All right, I wanted to start today by us having a chat. I reckon sermons are actually a group

activity. So I want you to find a person nearby, could be the same person you chatted to earlier,

or someone different. Or if you're at home, turn to the people next to you or sit and have a think.

I want you to have a chat about where do you think you'll be in five years. You can share as much or as

little as you would like, doesn't have to be deep. But I want you to think about what you plus five years

will look like. What will you be doing? Where will you be living? Still around here? What version

iPhone will we be up to? What do you think your life will look like in 2027? You've got two and a

half minutes, and then we'll come back together. So have a chat. All right, we might start coming

back together. I hope you've been having some interesting chats. I reckon that's a really

interesting question because it shows something about our attitudes to plans, and specifically

plans for the future. We're going to talk a lot about plans today because the passage we just read

is all about God's good plan for life. And the first point this passage makes about God's plan

is that it is for good. Have a look at verse 28 with me. And we know that in all things,

God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

If you've been with us for the last few weeks, you know that in the last couple of chapters,

Paul has been constructing a framework for how Christians should think about the sin, the law,

and God. And specifically, Paul's argument in these chapters has had momentum, a directed energy

and emotion to it, as if it's been building to something. It's as if Paul's been building a tower,

starting with the theological foundations and then working its way up. He starts with...

Oh, don't look. There you go. He starts with,

So if you're just joining us for the first time, know that you've joined us at a fantastic moment,

just as we see the conclusion of all of Paul's reasoning and logic, just as we get to the pointy

end of the tower and the end to the first half of Romans. And the first building block in Paul's

logical capstone here is God's purpose for a Christian's new spirit-filled life. And that purpose

is for good. Let's look back at verse 28. And we know that in all things, God works for the good

of those who love him. As Christians, I think we understand the idea that we'll end up in a good

place. Like if you imagine the timeline of your life, we look forward when we get to heaven,

where life will finally be good. But I'm not sure we really grasp the idea that God is using

every single moment of our lives now for good. And I think there's two parts of this plan that we

don't really get. Firstly, we don't feel the true scale and depth of this plan. Every day, every minute,

every hour, every second, every feeling, every word, every breath. What would it mean for God to use

every one of your breaths for good? If all, and feel the weight of that word with me, if all things are to

be used by God for good, then there is no exception. There is nothing that God cannot, will not, and has

not used for his plan. Secondly, with the massive scale of this plan, how can it be that all of a

Christian's life is used for good? Given the incredible range of experiences we have, how can we truthfully

say that both holidays and heartbreak lead to the same result? What a claim. And I think we struggle

with this because the concept of good for us is so firmly rooted in the present. To have a good day

means that you are happy today, or at least happier today than you were yesterday. To try and understand

this, I spent the last month listening to a bunch of music, all songs with the same name,

The Good Life. Now, if you're a musician trying to name a song, please don't name it The Good Life.

There's at least 30 other songs with that title. Anyway, so I've been listening to The Good Life

by various artists, and an interesting theme I found amongst many of them, and especially those

released in the last 20 years, is that the good life is now. Here's a line from Kanye, and I won't sing it

for you. A, this is The Good Life. This is The Good Life. One Republic says, oh, this has got to be The

Good Life. This has got to be The Good Life. Summer Kennedy says, it feels like the world is ours. Oh,

yeah, this is The Good Life. And then there's my favourite lyricist, Ben Soule, who writes,

yeah, The Good Life. Yeah, The Good Life. Oh, The Good Life. Yeah, The Good Life. And then finally,

there's the voice of a generation, Hannah Montana. This is The Good Life. Take a look. Have anything you want.

My theory is that in 2022, The Good Life has to be right now, because it can't happen anywhere else.

We're more aware than ever that the oppression of minorities and the discrimination of those

outside the mainstream, and the past, frankly, was really bad for significant portions of Australia.

And the future can look pretty grim, with climate change and global conflict brewing that threatens

the world. The only thing we can do is enjoy today. So today has to be The Good Life.

Yet God's plans, and frankly, I'm amazed by this, aren't just counter-cultural, but culturally

fulfilling. If all things are worked by God for good, it means that today isn't the only good day.

Yesterday was used for good, and tomorrow will be used for good as well.

Now, this verse doesn't say that all things are good or will feel good. The guarantee of the Bible

is that, as a Christian, there is a purpose and intent to your days. And that intent is a good one.

And if God uses all our days for good, then Christians can do something truly revolutionary.

Any luck?

We can relax.

Relax.

Christians can relax.

The secular world leaves relaxation for when life is going right.

But for the Christian, even if life isn't going as you expected,

even if today is really hard, even if your life plan has gone completely off track,

we know that God is using everything for good.

We are freed from the pressure of needing things to go right because the universe is not run by chance

or dependent entirely on our own actions or run by a distant, uncaring entity or by some

indifferent system of justice.

We are wrapped in the strong, caring hands of our Father.

When life goes wrong, it can feel like it doesn't matter, but God's plan includes the little things,

the good things, the hard things, the sad things, and all of that plan is for good.

So we can take the pressure off our life and relax by trusting in God's plan.

But God's plan isn't just some vague, general, nice idea of good.

It's actually a very specific, detailed plan that ends in our glorification.

Now, Romans 8 verse 28 is what I like to call a curly font verse.

Romans 8:28

It's something you might see in a Facebook post, in fancy writing, or cross-stitched onto the wall of the house.

It's used as a general encouragement to Christians, a nice and important thing to read in your day.

But here's the thing.

If you just read Romans 8 verse 28, you miss out on the details of God's plan.

Romans 8:28

You know what he's trying to get to, his general aim,

but you don't know how he's actually going to get it done.

That's why you have to read Romans 8 verse 28 with 8, 29, and 30.

Romans 8:28

So let's have a look at it now.

All right.

For those God foreknew, he also predestined,

to be conformed to the image of his Son,

that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And those he predestined, he also called.

Those he called, he also justified.

Those he justified, he also glorified.

In these verses, Paul describes the steps in God's plan.

And he portrays these steps as an inevitable logical progression,

unbreakable chain of actions,

where each step naturally follows into the next,

from foreknowledge all the way to glorification.

So join me as we dive in and have a look at each section of this chain.

Unfortunately, we have to start with the trickiest verb, foreknew.

Now, the dictionary definition foreknew is to be aware of before it happens.

And if you think of God simply being aware of us in advance,

you might think of God in the beginning of time,

looking ahead and seeing whether or not we would freely choose to be a Christian.

But if this were the case,

it presents a tension with the rest of Romans in the last couple of weeks.

How can we choose to be saved if Paul has so fiercely said that we are incapable of our own salvation?

Well, the English word here is foreknew,

but the original work in Greek actually is the sense of a much stronger, more intimate relationship.

It's actually an older Hebrew term that God uses here,

which means a God-initiated relationship.

Rather than God knowing our choices before we make them,

think instead of God reaching out and loving us in a personal, real way before we even existed.

God puts his love on us.

He didn't just foresee what we'll do.

He initiated a relationship with us entirely of his own will.

But there's a problem.

How can God have a relationship with us before we existed?

Well, if it's true that God foreknew us before time,

it must also therefore be true that God predestined us,

a word meaning determined in advance by divine will or fate.

So God, in his complete control over time and space,

determined before the beginning of the universe

that our lives would result in a relationship with him.

Now, this isn't the sermon to go into the complexity of predestination,

but if you have questions about it,

feel free to come up and ask me about them later,

and then we can go to Steve together and he can actually answer them for us.

But this also isn't the passage to interrogate the nitty-gritty of predestination,

God's will and sovereignty.

Paul mentions predestination here not to explain it,

but to show the consequences of it.

Because there's an issue that arises from God having a relationship with us in the here and now.

How can God have a relationship with us if we're stuck on earth

and God's in an entirely separate heavenly realm?

Well, that's why the next step in the chain is that God calls us to come to him.

He summons us to be close to him,

a spiritual calling to live God's way and to come into his presence,

the source of life, grace, mercy, peace, justice.

Although we are not physically called into God's temple,

the spiritual summons is by no means any less real,

just as God is real and his relationships are real.

But if we are to come into the presence of a perfect God,

how can we come close to him?

If, as Paul's repeated so often,

we are stained by imperfection and sin.

Well then, God justifies.

And if you're looking for details on this step of justification,

listen back to the rest of our Roman series.

But the quick summary of this incredible step

is that God has completely and totally dealt with our sin

in Jesus' death on the cross.

We are no longer considered sinful in God's eyes

and by faith we can receive this incredible gift.

And finally then, at the end of the chain,

if we come into the presence of a perfect God,

what does that mean for us?

Well, it's the simplest step of all.

If we are in the presence of God, we are glorified.

We get to stand in the throne room of the one true God

as brothers and sisters to Jesus Christ.

There is nothing more glorified than that.

So, what can we do with this unbreakable chain?

Well, I feel like we often picture this chain of events

as sort of stretched over the timeline of our life,

as if we're going through life moving from God predestining us

to God calling us to God justifying us

and then eventually to God glorifying us

for some time in the future.

But that's not the case.

Here's a fun activity.

Have a really close look at these verbs in verse 29 and 30.

There's a secret grammatical connection.

Have you picked it up?

They're all in the past tense.

They've all already happened.

So, it's more accurate to view the chain like this,

happening before we even came into being.

There's nothing more to be done.

God has already foreknew, predestined, called, and justified us.

Ah, but then you might ask, what about glorification?

Are we already standing in the throne room of God?

Well, as nice as this building is, no.

We're not currently standing in the presence of God the Father,

at least not yet.

So then why does Paul use the past tense

when talking about glorification?

Well, I think the rest of this passage shows

that he is so sure that this plan will come to pass

that it is as if it has already happened.

He's so confident of God's unbreakable chain finishing

that he depicts it as if it is already over and done.

But okay then.

So we're sitting between the justification that has happened

and the glorification that is sure to happen.

What do we do in the meantime?

Just sit and wait?

Well, no.

Remember that God is working everything for good.

So there must be a purpose and intent for all your days here.

And the answer is in verse 29.

We're being moulded to be like Christ.

All right.

Halfway through the sermon, it's time to talk around,

turn around and have a chat again.

We've already talked about where you think you'll be in five years.

I have a chat with the person next to you.

What's been the biggest change in your life in the last five years?

You've got, we'll say, two minutes this time

and then we'll come back together.

So have a chat.

All right.

Let's come back together.

If you're keen to keep chatting,

please continue those conversations.

Afternoon tea, morning tea.

I think for me, if you're wondering,

the biggest change in the last few years has been a relational one.

I got married just over a year ago to the lovely Emma

and now we live together, as I mentioned,

with a little puppy in Mars Field.

But yeah, I reckon it's interesting

because my answer and I'm guessing your answer

shows something about how we view the narrative of our own lives,

where we've been and where we're going.

And interestingly, the passage we've just read

has something to say about the exact same topics.

Verse 29 says that God has predestined us

to be conformed to the image of his son,

that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

And now here, finally,

is the good that God uses every one of our moments for.

God uses every instant to make us more like Jesus.

Conforming to the image of something

means to take on its character,

its properties, its form.

I like to think of it like an iron mould,

where you pour molten iron into a mould

and as the iron cools,

it takes on the shape and form of the mould.

In the same way, Paul says that God

is making us take the shape of Jesus.

Not physically, I'm not going to say

we're all going to look like a man

from the ancient Middle East,

but instead taking on his character,

his morals, his attitudes, his worldviews.

And if you've read the Gospel,

you know Jesus' traits.

Kindness, forgiveness, mercy, justice.

As we go through life,

Paul is saying that God is making us

more and more like Jesus.

So where does that leave us?

If this is all God's doing,

what are we meant to do?

How are we meant to respond to this?

I think this creates a fundamental shift

in how Christians view the past and the future.

Come on.

There we go.

When was the last time

you sat down and thought about your past?

When was the last time you stopped

and tried to look at how God

has been working in your life?

It's not always obvious in the moment,

but with the benefit of hindsight,

sometimes it can be blazingly clear

about how God has used massive change

in your life to make you more like Jesus.

Other times it can be hard

to see how hardship has grown you

or how a period of difference

or indifference from God

can be worked for good.

But being able to pinpoint

how God has been working in your life

is an enormous encouragement,

whether it's realizing

that hardship grows faith

or that distance helps make clear

the depth of your need for God.

So have you taken a moment

on the bus to work or school

or when you just put the kid down for a nap

or in the shower

in the morning or the evening?

Have you thought about

what's been going on in your life

and seen how it has changed you

and thought about how God

might be working in your life

to make it more like Jesus?

And then there's the flip side of this.

What are you aiming towards?

What does progress look like in your life?

Who are you trying to be?

Where are you trying to get to?

What life are you trying to achieve?

Where do you want to be in five years?

The Bible says that God is using time

to make you more like Jesus.

So set a goal for your future.

It's only a year's time.

On the 10th of June, 2023,

I want to be able to look back and say,

God has made me more patient

than I was a year ago.

Or God has made me kinder

than I was a year ago.

Or more generous.

Or God has made me better

at loving those I find hard to love.

Set a goal such that in a year,

you'll be able to look back and say,

I think I'm more like Jesus

than I was a year ago.

Yeah, with all these changes in growth,

how can Paul be so sure

that God's plan will actually happen?

With all these promises of change,

is there any evidence

that this glorification or progress

will actually happen?

Well, now we come to the top of the tower,

the pinnacle of Romans 8,

and really the climax

of the first half of Romans.

And here at the top of the tower,

we actually see there's a telescope,

and this telescope is showing us

an incredible vision

of God's holy, glorious power,

and we will come away from this vision

certain that nothing and no one

can stop God's plan.

Now, quick warning,

we're about to get to another

curly font verse.

Romans 8, 38 to 39

is a beautiful piece of writing.

An enormous encouragement

to Christians around the world

that I'm sure has been

many people's iPhone wallpaper.

If you haven't read this verse before,

then oh boy,

you're in for a treat.

But you, once again,

you are missing out

on the full significance

and weight of the passage

if you don't read the bits before it.

It's such a good verse,

you've got to build up to it.

So let's quickly go through

Paul's logic for why he's convinced

that God's good plan for glorification

will come to pass.

Think of it as the nails

on which Paul is going to hang

an incredible painting.

So Paul's foundation for this belief

are five unchallengeable questions.

Five questions

for which there is only one answer.

The first one is in verse 31.

If God is for us,

who can be against us?

Now, if the question was

who is against us,

there might be many answers.

The world, the devil,

ourselves even.

But for the question,

if the one true God,

the master of all creation

and Lord of space and time

is for us,

then who can be against us?

Well, then the answer

is obviously no one.

I've been really struck

by the English theologian

John Stott's comment

that perhaps the most terrible words

which human ears will ever hear

are those which God uttered

many times in the Old Testament.

I am against you.

How good then

is the news of the gospel

that God is now

on the side

of those he has chosen?

The next unchallengeable question

is in verse 32.

He who did not spare his own son

but gave him up for us all,

how will he not also,

along with him,

graciously give us all things?

Again, if Paul had asked,

will God give us all things?

Look, we might have ummed and ah'd

and said like,

kinda,

in a big picture

sort of way.

Like,

we have a lot of needs

and there's 8 billion people

out there,

so like,

like,

maybe?

But the way Paul expresses

this question

vanishes any doubt.

This is the God

who has already given us

his most precious possession,

his own indescribable son.

In comparison to Jesus,

all other gifts

are simple to give.

So once again,

there is only one answer.

Of course he will.

Now with the next two questions,

Paul suddenly brings us

into a courtroom.

Have a look at verse 33 and 34

on the screen.

Who will bring any charge

against those

whom God has chosen?

It is God who justifies.

Who then is the one

who condemns?

No one.

Many might accuse us

of misdeeds,

but if God the judge

has declared us innocent,

then there is no charge

that can be brought against us.

Many might try

and condemn us.

But if Jesus has died

and been raised to life,

then he has taken

all our condemnation

and judgment on himself

so that no one

can condemn us.

And with these

unchallengeable nails

in place,

Paul asks one final

unchallengeable question.

But this isn't a nail.

This is the climax

and the conclusion.

This is the painting,

the glorious vision

that Paul has been

building up to.

Paul asks,

who then shall separate us

from the love of Christ?

And his answer

is astounding.

He starts off

by suggesting

possible answers.

Trouble,

hardship,

persecution.

Yet the previous questions

have shown us

that no one

can condemn us.

No one can bring

any charge against us.

There is nothing

God will withhold from us

and there is no one

who can stand

against his will.

So then truly,

what can separate us

from the love of God?

And Paul's answer

isn't just nothing.

His answer is nothing.

Paul here is trying

to expand your understanding

of just how certain

God's plan is.

Imagine your sense

of God's power

and control

as a little balloon.

Paul is trying

to inflate that balloon

to push you to think

bigger than you've

ever thought before

and to better grasp

what it means

for God to have

infinite power

and ultimate sovereignty.

Do you think

that running

to the ends

of the earth

will hide you

from God?

Do you think

that if you were

at the bottom

of the ocean,

God wouldn't know you

better than you

know yourself?

Do you think

that if you grew old,

the God who knew you

before you were born

could forget about you?

Do you think

that if the government

outlawed the Christian God,

made church illegal

and you could be jailed

for talking about

Jesus at work,

do you think

his power

would be any less?

Do you think

that when you are

lying in a casket,

God will be any less

able to show

his love for you?

And most of all,

do you think

that anything

you can do

can stop God's love?

If he has the power

to raise a man

from the dead

and to grant

eternal life,

what power

do we little people

have to stop

such incredible love?

Whatever conscious

or unconscious

boundary you put

on God's power,

get rid of it.

God is bigger

and more infinite

than you can imagine.

And what do we

come away with?

We come away

with a certainty.

A certainty

that God's plan

cannot be stopped.

Nothing will

separate us from God,

nothing can stop

God's plan

from coming to fruition.

Not even you.

And you may have noticed,

certainty has been

becoming a bit

of a scarce thing

recently.

Do you feel

like you've had

plans, say,

in the last,

I don't know,

two years

that have been

interrupted?

Holiday plans,

party plans,

even wedding plans.

Frankly,

I think Australian

society is still

grappling with

the two years

of time we've lost.

And I think

it'll be a while

before we really

understand how

so many months

of lockdown

has permanently

changed Australian

culture.

Here's another

question for you.

Do you remember

that week

in March 2020

when we heard

that lockdown

was starting

and we'd have

to start

wearing masks

everywhere?

If we had time,

I would love

to hear your

stories about

that week.

The thing I remember

is just how

sudden it all felt.

One week was

a normal work week

and the next,

suddenly we were

in challenging times.

I think COVID

and lockdowns

attacked one of

the fundamental

beliefs of our

society,

certainty.

It reminded us

just how quickly

our plans and

lives can get

disrupted and

taken away

any confidence

that would happen

tomorrow.

I'm not sure

about you,

but I've been

really uncertain

about the future

over the last

two years.

I didn't know

when lockdowns

would end,

when they would

start up again,

if the plans I had

to see my friends

and family would

happen,

if my wedding

would be able

to go ahead.

Why else did

New South Wales

watch the daily

COVID press conferences

with such dedication

except to try

and establish

some semblance

of control

over the future?

And as COVID

has slowly stopped

being part of

our daily worries

and concerns,

I think we're all

still pretty shaken

from the experience.

We know now

that any certainty

in jobs,

relationships,

schedules,

or lifestyles

is all built

on shaky ground.

Well,

in this uncertain

age,

there is only

one real

certainty

to build your

life on.

God's good

plan for glorification

is so guaranteed

that Paul talks

about it like

it's already

happened.

It is the rock

you can build

your worldview,

your family,

your career,

your identity

on.

God is using

each and every

moment of your

life to make

you more like

Christ.

This is an

unstoppable

plan.

So trust

that it will

happen.

Live with this

knowledge in

your head.

And as you go

out into the

world this week,

this is my

challenge to you

personally.

Every time you

hear a piece

of troubling

news,

any time you

hear a story

that threatens

to overturn

your life,

remember the

unique realness

of God's

plan.

Whenever you're

feeling shaky,

feeling uncertain

about the way

your life or

the world is

going,

remind yourself

of God's

unstoppable

design for

your life.

Put your

trust in His

power and the

certainty that

can only be

found in Him.