For our Good and for his Glory
Two Ways God is Always Working
Aaron Lee | December 1, 2023 | AWANA | Romans 8:28
Introduction
This was a hard week for me coming back to work after our Thanksgiving break. Whenever I am going through a hard time, it makes me wonder what God is doing in my life. Did God have to go back to work, like me?
There’s a story in the Bible about a boy named Joseph. A lot of bad things happened to him. He was loved by his father, and his brothers were jealous. They betrayed him and sold him into slavery. When he was in slavery, he was called a liar and humiliated. Figuratively speaking, he lost his life. What was God doing? Is God doing anything? Is God working?
Two Ways God Works
Christians believe that God is actively doing work in our lives. God does not sit back, relax, and just let the world go on without him. The Bible gets very specific about the ways God is at work in our lives. Let’s read the Bible to see what it says about how God is always working:
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)
1. For our good
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)
The first way God is always working is that he is working all things together for our good. All things means everything that happens to you, everything that happens around you, and even the things that happen that you cannot see. It means the things that have happened in the past, it means that things that are happening to you right now, and it means the things that will happen to you in the future. God is sovereign, and this means that he is in total control of everything. And all of these things that happen are for your good. Even when people plan evil things against you, God plans it for good.
Good does not mean glad. Your good doesn’t mean that you will be happy. For your good means it’s for your growth. Sometimes your parents make you eat things you don’t want to, but they say it’s for your good. Or they make you do your homework or study or practice piano and you don’t want to, but they say it’s for your good. This is the way God works, too. Sometimes we don’t understand everything God does, and sometimes we aren’t happy about it, but we must trust that God is always good. And the greatest good that God can do is for you to see Jesus in your life. It’s for you to taste and see that the Lord is good. You can trust that in the end, you will be happy because you will have grown to be like Jesus.
2. For his glory
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)
The second way God is always working is that he is working for his glory. Our verse says that God is working your life out according to his purpose. This means that God does what he wants. Your life is not random, but God has a distinct plan for you. In all honesty, God’s ultimate purpose is not for you to live a comfortable life. God’s ultimate purpose is not for you to make a lot of money and be rich. God’s biggest purpose for us is to bring him glory. God wants us to worship him and to show others that he is worthy of our worship. And the best way to do that is for you to be like Jesus. It means to be close to God like how Jesus was, it means to do good things for God like how Jesus did, and it means to be holy and loving like Jesus.
God’s purpose does not mean that you will have a perfect life without any difficulty. Jesus actually says that the world will hate us if we love him. How can we be like Jesus when things are hard? How can we give God glory in our darkest days? Like Jesus, we can trust God. We can rely on God’s Word. We can remember to pray. We can ask our Christian friends to come alongside us. Even in the worst thing that can happen to us – when we die – we can say that we trust God to take care of our souls, and we will see him in Heaven.
Big Idea
God is always working for our good and for his glory.
Gospel
Let’s step back and look at the big picture. Our verse talks about those who love God, and those who are called. This is talking about Christians. If you are not a Christian, God is still good, but you will experience different aspects of his goodness – his justice and wrath.
We have all sinned against God. This is unacceptable. We deserve to be punished. For God to be good, he needs to punish it. This would be the right thing to do. It would be wrong if God just let guilty people go free. Jesus, the Son of God came to take the punishment for our sins. He lived a perfect life and died, and he came back to life again. If you believe this, your life gets switched with Jesus’. Your sins are forgiven and you get to be a part of God’s family. And as God’s children, you know that God is working for your good and for his glory.
Sharing
Can you tell us a story about how God worked in your life through a difficult time?
Conclusion
Let me tell you the end of the story about Joseph. Joseph really did go through a hard time. If you read the story, you see that God arranged it so that Joseph found a new job working for the king. And the king put him in a position of power. Joseph actually ended up saving many people, including his family. When he saw his family again, he forgave them, and this is what he said:
You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people. (Genesis 50:20)
Joseph’s story reminds me about Jesus. But we might have to save that for another time! After a hard week, I am encouraged. I pray that you are, too. God never stops working. God is always working for our good and for his glory.