A Safe Place to Go

Sermon 08.03.2009: A Safe Place to Go

Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.”
Introduction
If you have a safe place to go where is it?
Maybe with someone you trusted?
Maybe a place you trusted, that you think is secure?
Would it be a place where things worked out for you?
You felt safe there. For some people that place is their childhood because it was safe and good and things did work out and there was someone there to look after them.
Is that how you feel? But you can only go back there in your memory…it is not a place you can live in here and now or in the future.
The whole Sri Lankan Cricket team visiting Pakistan in Lahore last Tuesday, were terrified when they and their guards were fired upon by terrorists and thought they may be killed. They were glad when their bus driver got them away from danger by driving them into the Gaddafi Cricket Stadium and onto a helicopter and then home.
They found their safe place with the help of those who were looking after them. Some cricket officials, such as West Indies Cricket Board president, Julian Hunte, think that all cricketers are now terror targets. (http://tvnz.co.nz/cricket-news/all-players-now-terror-targets-2514184)
Well, the Bible offers us a place where all that happens makes us feel secure and where everything works out - in the end. Of course you feel danger if someone is firing bullets at you or you face some other immediate danger but in the end says Paul it will work out for good.
Some say: “That is just unrealistic wishful thinking that denies reality.”
Well, even if you die, and death is not only a danger but a certainty as a Christian, God promises that it will be a glorious thing. He values it: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.”(Psalm 116:15) The word ‘precious’ indicates costly as precious stones, dear, beloved as relatives and friends, Psa_45:9; honored, respected, Ecc_10:1; splendid, beautiful, Job_31:26; rare, 1Sa_3:1.
Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
Think for a moment of the so called prodigal son, the story Jesus told of ‘The Lost Son.’
If he had not left home, would he have become as selfish and cynical as the brother he left behind?
If he had not splashed his money around and got in with the wrong crowd, would he have begun to see his need?
If he had not tried all that the world had to offer and found it badly wanting, would he have decided to work on a pig farm just so he could eat?
Would he have discovered the truth about himself?
If he had not made a complete mess of his life while away from his father, would he have decided: “I’ve had enough of this, I’m going home!”?
How else would he have come to his senses?
If the pig farmer had given him more suitable work, would he have come to his knees?
If his father did not love him, would he have been drawn back home?
If he had not repented and retuned home, would he have found the welcome his father had waiting for him?
If the Father God did not have an overarching plan for us who believe in Christ would there be any hope for us?
The answer to these questions is: NO!
But all things worked together for good to those called by God so the prodigal son and every believer will find it’s all right in the end.
I am convinced that what everybody wants is a safe place and a place where it all works out well in the end. Even our social security system in NZ was designed to meet that human desire and dream. Sometimes it’s called a social security “safety net.” So what did Paul offer to Christians when he wrote:
Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (?)
There are certain things you can know for sure, but the world does not offer such assurances.
Paul says “we know…” This is not arrogance, or presumption. This is faith. A faith that has matured into hope in God.

Where else do we read of such assurances?
In Gen 9:11 God says to Noah and all people on earth: “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth."
9:12 And God said: "This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations…”
And in 2 Cor 9:7 “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.
9:9 As it is written: ‘He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.’ ”
What sort of Person does this describe? Who are we dealing with here? Clearly someone who is very generous, like the father of the Prodigal/Lost son.
He is the God of “never again” when He promises not to do something: “Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood…” (Gen 9:11) and He is the God of “all grace abounding” to you that you may be sufficient in all things and have an abundance for every good work on His behalf.
He is the righteous One and Provider for all the needs of His people. Rom 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

We know this by faith says Paul. It is not a matter of intelligence or cleverness. You can know a lot of things and not know God. If you do not know God, you do not know His eternal security.
There are many men and women who have great learning but not much wisdom. Jesus called such people “blind guides.” (Mt 23:16)
There is one Solomon who speaks of it when by his own experience he found out:
PROV 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.”
PROV 16:16 “How much better to get wisdom than gold! And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”

Rom 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
29 Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.
30 And so those whom God set apart, he called; and those he called, he put right with himself, and he shared his glory with them.” (GNB)

Rom 8:29 an alternative trans: “For long ago God recognised His own and marked them out to become like His Son, so that the Son should be the Eldest in a large family.”
(TNT: Translator’s New Testament, The British and Foreign Bible Society, London, 1973, p. 256)
Illustration:
A little boy was in a running race at his school sports day.
On the starting line his little legs were shaking! He was far from sure he could run all that way. He was terrified of coming last.
His Dad, on the other hand, was there too cheering him on:
“Come on Phillip! You can do it! You can run the whole way. Remember what I told you!”
The boy found new strength and his confidence grew as the starter called out: “Ready, get set….go!”
Phillip took off as fast as he could and after what seemed a very long time he did reach the finish line. As it turned out he was not the fastest runner that day but he was a finisher and he believed what his Dad had told him. He gained confidence from his Dad and took him at his word.
Now we do not just have God’s Spirit to cheer us on at the start line and all the way through the race of life, but He has been sent by Jesus to dwell within us forever, to make us like Jesus and to empower us to complete whatever God has called us to do.
Rom 8:28 “We know that in all things God works for good with those who love him, those whom he has called according to his purpose.
29 Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.”
God says we are in a race that we win if we arrive.
We do not need to get there ahead of our brothers and sisters, we just have to persist in order to get there. There is a teaching in Philippians at Ch. 2 v12-13:
“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.”
Because I am trembling and fearful do not judge me too hastily.
It depends why I am trembling and fearful.
Find out before you assess whether I am walking in faith or in foolishness.
Being faithful may involve me doing some scary things. It may mean moving my family to a different country, or going without the things I enjoy and have become attached to. But it also involves taking God seriously. This kind of fear of the Lord cuts through any arrogance or taking God for granted that may dwell within us.
“Working out your own salvation” means to be careful and not carless about our eternal salvation.
We are to concentrate on pleasing God, obeying His commands as Jesus said “This is the new commandment that I give to you that you love on another as I have loved you.” We are to work out all the salvation that God has placed within us by His gracious act of coming to live within us by His Holy Spirit.
[Jn 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."]
This is not easy but we are given all we need to accomplish what God has called us to do.
God is working for us and in us more powerfully than we can imagine. Far better even than the best Dad at the sideline of a school sports day. He has given us His dynamic Holy Spirit.
God is working “for good with those who love Him.” It will work out for good in the end. We must hold on to that.
In all things good or bad that happen to us and to our family members, God has a final end in sight that will be a good end.
For even in the valley of the shadow of death He says: “Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’ ” (Isa 41:10)
God has a purpose for us who love Him. It says “to those whom he has called according to his purpose.”
His purpose for us is much bigger than our purpose for us.
Maybe that’s why we find it difficult to grasp what the purpose is and what the outcome will be, because in our present state we cannot comprehend it all, so we are daunted by it?
Whatever the reason, do not let yourself be daunted by life’s sadness’s and problems because God, El Shaddai, Almighty God who rules the universe, has said: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (28)
One student many of us looked up to at Bible College had the words of God in a framed picture on the wall of his room:
“El Shaddai” is all it said and all it needed to say when Mark Jackson looked up at it every day. That is where Mark got his strength from to be student President, from a humble dependence on the Almighty God who always keeps His promises.

I love these Bible teachings because they teach me that salvation is all of God and that His bigger purposes are always at work in everything that happens to me…
If we thought and prayed about that for a while it would revolutionise our whole church.
I love the Bible’s teaching not because I find it all easy to understand or to obey but because of its challenge.
As President John F. Kennedy said in 1962:
“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon... (interrupted by applause) we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win...”
(http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm )
All the things that we think are working against us are actually working for our good, in the end, under God’s sovereign will.
Such truth should cause us to work and pay and not give up so that we will be assured all is worthwhile and that God will get all the glory. Amen.