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October 18, 2020 A Gospel Shaped Life Romans 8:28-30 To What End? What if We've Been Wrong? Have you ever said or thought one of these statements: I just need [a new phone] to stay in better touch with my family. I just need a vacation to recharge my batteries. I just need that raise to get to a place where I'll feel secure. I just need to lose ten pounds to feel better about myself.* The statements I've quoted above all have a target, an end, a purpose within them. And the purposes - family, rest, economic security, a better understanding of self - are all good things. As a matter of fact if you examined say 50 churches and their calendar of events for a year many of their programs and events would be aimed at meeting one or more of those needs. Are these the targets we are to be about? God's purpose: In the early chapters of Genesis we are given a snapshot of Adam and Eve - living with a clear purpose - to exercise dominion and extend God's presence through the entire earth as they had children who would have children and so on. ENTER SATAN... The relationship between man and woman changed, their relationship with the earth changed, and their relationship with God changed. But the change does not have to be eternal. God has made a way for His creation - particularly you and me - to find our way to restoration and renewal. So back to the original question: To What End? Vs 28 Look at the circumstances of your own life. What is happening here and now? Are you in physical pain? Are you struggling emotionally? Is the pandemic wearing you out in ways you never thought possible? Are the economic changes you've experienced unsettled you? EVERYTHING OCCURING IN YOUR LIFE AND IN THE WORLD AROUND US IS BEING USED BY GOD FOR HIS PURPOSES To What End? Vs 29-30 - Often in 40 years I have been asked, can we know with confidence and certainty the will of God? Paul identifies in vs 29-30 a pattern that God uses as He works. Five words give us in brief God's ultimate will for every believer's life. a). Foreknew - to 'foreknow' as used in this context means 'to enter into relationship with before.' Prior to Israel calling out to Him as recorded in Exodus October 18, 2020 A Gospel Shaped Life Romans 8:28-30 To What End? What if We've Been Wrong? Have you ever said or thought one of these statements: I just need [a new phone] to stay in better touch with my family. I just need a vacation to recharge my batteries. I just need that raise to get to a place where I'll feel secure. I just need to lose ten pounds to feel better about myself.* The statements I've quoted above all have a target, an end, a purpose within them. And the purposes - family, rest, economic security, a better understanding of self - are all good things. As a matter of fact if you examined say 50 churches and their calendar of events for a year many of their programs and events would be aimed at meeting one or more of those needs. Are these the targets we are to be about? God's purpose: In the early chapters of Genesis we are given a snapshot of Adam and Eve - living with a clear purpose - to exercise dominion and extend God's presence through the entire earth as they had children who would have children and so on. ENTER SATAN... The relationship between man and woman changed, their relationship with the earth changed, and their relationship with God changed. But the change does not have to be eternal. God has made a way for His creation - particularly you and me - to find our way to restoration and renewal. So back to the original question: To What End? Vs 28 Look at the circumstances of your own life. What is happening here and now? Are you in physical pain? Are you struggling emotionally? Is the pandemic wearing you out in ways you never thought possible? Are the economic changes you've experienced unsettled you? EVERYTHING OCCURING IN YOUR LIFE AND IN THE WORLD AROUND US IS BEING USED BY GOD FOR HIS PURPOSES To What End? Vs 29-30 - Often in 40 years I have been asked, can we know with confidence and certainty the will of God? Paul identifies in vs 29-30 a pattern that God uses as He works. Five words give us in brief God's ultimate will for every believer's life. a). Foreknew - to 'foreknow' as used in this context means 'to enter into relationship with before.' Prior to Israel calling out to Him as recorded in Exodus 1-2 'knew' them - He had a relationship with them.. We can celebrate that God chose - before the foundation of the world - to create a way in which humans could live in a close, personal, and intimate relationship with Him b). Predestine - a compound Greek word meaning to mark[ing] out a boundary beforehand ... Rather, God has foreordained that believers be brought into "moral conformity to the likeness of his Son." What is predestined is that we become like Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:18). The supremacy of Christ is reflected in the designation "firstborn" (cf. Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; Rev 1:5). It speaks both of his priority in time and of his primacy of rank. * c). Called - When God speaks things happen.* d) Justified - "all who believe" are justified by faith without works (Rom 3:24-25, 28). In other words, believers are reckoned as righteous by God not on the basis of their good works but because of what Christ has achieved for them, received by faith ... because faith unites believers with Christ, in whom and because of whom they are accepted. So faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone, it never exists without love and good works.* e). Glorified - Yet when God looks at those of us He has called, foreknew, predestined, and justified through Christ He sees a glorious people being prepared for the ultimate event in God's purpose - to bring all of creation back into the type of relationship He intended. * What is the most challenging circumstance in your life today? How might God be using the pain, the suffering, the hurt, the fear, the anxiety in a way to conform us more closely to the image of Jesus Christ? * What are the most boring things that have to be done day in and day out - those tasks you often wish would just disappear? God is using those repetitive tasks to shape you in ways for service you may not even be aware of yet. * What is the most vexing problem in your life - a family relationship; a difficult co-worker; an irritating neighbor; an unending financial maze; a difficulty I haven't mentioned...? To what end? The grace of God is adequate to meet: the guilt of sin (8:2-4) the downward drag of indwelling sin (8:5-13) the death and corruption of the world order that sin has brought about (8:16-23) the paralyzing inadequacy that we sometimes feel in prayer (8:26-27) [Derek W.H. Thomas. How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home (Kindle Locations 779-781). Kindle Edition.]  1-2 'knew' them - He had a relationship with them.. We can celebrate that God chose - before the foundation of the world - to create a way in which humans could live in a close, personal, and intimate relationship with Him b). Predestine - a compound Greek word meaning to mark[ing] out a boundary beforehand ... Rather, God has foreordained that believers be brought into "moral conformity to the likeness of his Son." What is predestined is that we become like Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:18). The supremacy of Christ is reflected in the designation "firstborn" (cf. Col 1:15, 18; Heb 1:6; Rev 1:5). It speaks both of his priority in time and of his primacy of rank. * c). Called - When God speaks things happen.* d) Justified - "all who believe" are justified by faith without works (Rom 3:24-25, 28). In other words, believers are reckoned as righteous by God not on the basis of their good works but because of what Christ has achieved for them, received by faith ... because faith unites believers with Christ, in whom and because of whom they are accepted. So faith alone justifies, but the faith that justifies is never alone, it never exists without love and good works.* e). Glorified - Yet when God looks at those of us He has called, foreknew, predestined, and justified through Christ He sees a glorious people being prepared for the ultimate event in God's purpose - to bring all of creation back into the type of relationship He intended. * What is the most challenging circumstance in your life today? How might God be using the pain, the suffering, the hurt, the fear, the anxiety in a way to conform us more closely to the image of Jesus Christ? * What are the most boring things that have to be done day in and day out - those tasks you often wish would just disappear? God is using those repetitive tasks to shape you in ways for service you may not even be aware of yet. * What is the most vexing problem in your life - a family relationship; a difficult co-worker; an irritating neighbor; an unending financial maze; a difficulty I haven't mentioned...? To what end? The grace of God is adequate to meet: the guilt of sin (8:2-4) the downward drag of indwelling sin (8:5-13) the death and corruption of the world order that sin has brought about (8:16-23) the paralyzing inadequacy that we sometimes feel in prayer (8:26-27) [Derek W.H. Thomas. How the Gospel Brings Us All the Way Home (Kindle Locations 779-781). Kindle Edition.]  * DeGroat, Chuck. Wholeheartedness (p. 18). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition. * DeGroat, Chuck. Wholeheartedness (p. 18). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition. * Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, pp. 188-189). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. * See additional documentation available on the table in the back of the audtorium. * Lane, T. (2018). Justification. In M. Ward, J. Parks, B. Ellis, & T. Hains (Eds.), Lexham Survey of Theology. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. * Mounce, R. H. (1995). Romans (Vol. 27, pp. 188-189). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers. * See additional documentation available on the table in the back of the audtorium. * Lane, T. (2018). Justification. In M. Ward, J. Parks, B. Ellis, & T. Hains (Eds.), Lexham Survey of Theology. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------
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