What is the "Good" in Romans 6:28 ?

Romans 8:28–29

²⁸ 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. ²⁹ 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. (NIV)

Romans 8:28 is one of the most beloved and reassuring verses in all of Scripture. Most Christians can quote the words from memory: “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who^[a] have been called according to his purpose. ” These words of comfort have application in just about every circumstance of life; that God can take any situation that may come our way, whether positive, negative, or even the things in our routine, and make it all to work for our good.

However, verse 28 raises a question that begs an answer. It is so versatile What is the “good” Paul is talking about? He wouldn’t use such a generalized term for an action he attributes to God himself. We find the answer in verse 29. It begins with the word “for”. Webster’s dictionary describes the use of this word as being: “a function word to indicate an intended goal”. Leaving aside any thorny theological implications, one might find that Paul’s intention in this verse is to define for us the ultimate purpose the word, “good”, in verse 28. What is it?

The answer to that question is transformative. God’s goal for those who love him is, “to be conformed to the image of his Son.” As we journey through life, everything that happens to us: whether good or bad, delightful or painful, gain or loss, and even life or death, all work toward that end. It is promised to those who love Him, and who have responded to His call. Those of us who have lived beyond our “formal” productivity (that is retirement) have the privilege of looking back and appreciating how true this has been. We have also experienced the saintliness of people who, in their later years, have demonstrated a winsome Christlikeness. It matters not which denomination of Christianity they may call their spiritual home. The image of Christ becomes increasingly visible to those around them, and ultimately to the world.

You and I are still in that school. It is the ongoing process of “becoming.” The only thing that God requires of us is that we live our lives in unconditional and complete surrender to his wisdom and his will in our lives. Paul expresses this thought in different ways throughout his writing. One example is:

1 Thess. 5:23-24, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”

Sometimes the pain we are experiencing seems to be unbearable, and the last thing we feel like doing is to rejoice, give thanks, or even to pray. And that is okay. We can express our inner frustration and pain to God, be it circumstantial, physical, or emotional.

The psalmist, who after expressing to God all of his pain and frustration in the book of Psalms, always came back to taking comfort in his faith that God was protecting him and working out His ultimate purpose in his life. The same is true of Job. He acknowledged his pain, but he also never wavered in his trust in God. In the same way, even in our agony, God is faithfully using “all things,” day by day, to continue the transformation of our lives to make us more like Christ.

Perhaps that is what Paul meant when he wrote, “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus,” ( I Thess. 5:16-18). It may be why he could write to his readers to rejoice, pray, and give thanks in all circumstances; he was instructing them, and us, to focus on the ultimate goal, not the immediate situation. I believe for most of us, it is in the tough wrenching times in our lives that we find it most difficult to rejoice, pray, and be continually thankful.

Paul is not telling me to deny pain, disappointment, or loss. Rather, it is to shift my focus in the midst of my suffering, and realize that the “good” God is also being used, even this situation, to form me into Christ’s likeness. I can take comfort in that. My prayer is that you will also.

For more information and practical projects you can do to discover the make-up of the complex culture in your community, I would refer you to: Kauffman, J. Timothy. Reconnecting the Church: Finding Our Place in Complex Culture. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2010. It can be purchased at Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble.com, the iBooks Store, and Xlibris.com; it is also in Kindle and Nook format. Check it out.

A VERSE WE TEND TO MISS – JOHN 3:17

A VERSE WE TEND TO MISS – JOHN 3:17

John 3:16 – 17

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16 is the most quoted verse in the Bible. It represents God’s agenda in our world in very concise form. This verse underscores humanity’s own powerlessness to avoid destruction; and how God’s love is so great, that He sent his Son on a rescue mission to save anyone who believes in Him from that certain fate.

But what Jesus is telling Nicodemus does not end with verse 16. Verse 17 continues his thought, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” The word “for” connects these verses into one thought or concept. Combined, both of these verses tell us: a) love is the motivation, b) sending Jesus is the action, c) saving the world is the outcome, and d) the means is not condemnation but saving the world through him.

True, Jesus did a bit of condemning himself. Indeed he saved His strongest censure for calling out prideful Pharisees. Interestingly, Jesus has a Pharisee in front of him, whom we believe to be a seeker. He had sought out Jesus at night, presumably so he would not be seen. He says, “God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” He seems to be reassuring Nicodemus that His message is not one of condemnation; rather it is through Him that God intended to accomplish a rescue operation.

Jesus expected his disciples to follow his example. He spent so much of his time in the skid rows of the Jewish cities that he was accused of being a drunk himself. He was criticized for spending time with the rich tax collectors for Rome, who were considered traitors. He ministered to the prostitutes, many of whom had lost their husbands, and had no other means of support. The alcoholics were addicted; the tax collectors were corrupt; and the prostitutes were victims of their circumstances. They all belonged to the “other” in their society, and knew they needed help. Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love, came alongside them and freed them from their bonds.

Today’s society is very similar to the context in which Jesus ministered. There are people in our country who many followers of Jesus consider to be “other”. Alcohol, drug and porn addiction, prostitution, are still with us; but there is also the immigrant, “the stranger within the gate,” who doesn’t look like us. Jesus is telling us in verse 17, that the means of offering His salvation is not through condemning them, but through loving them as he loved.

Let me say, I have great respect and admiration for those Evangelical churches in the United States, who are responding with the love of Christ to the unwanted, the forgotten, the locked out, and the left out. I am also aware of a biased broadcast media, which takes outspoken “Christian” outliers full of condemnation and make headlines out of them, implying that Evangelicals are like them. It is called reductionism. Nevertheless, I also fear that there are all too many congregations that have built firewalls to keep “us” in, and “them,” out. This kind of congregation may not condemn with their words, but they are condemning with their actions. Dare I suggest that such action, whatever the motivation, is not living out John 3:16-17? Do those whom God sent Jesus to save see us as condemning and not loving them like Christ? Have we earned that label?

We often hear people say, “I can’t believe in a God who says that if I don’t do what he wants he will send me to hell.” Where did that statement come from? Could it be that it comes from their experience with us? The question is, what can the Church do to earn back the image of being the place where love for all people and acceptance abounds; where believing in Christ as Savior and Lord is attractive and something to be desired? Words will not be enough!

ANGRY AND VULNERABLE: IS AMERICA LOOKING FOR A STRONGMAN?

I wrote this piece about three weeks ago, and was a bit hesitant to post it because I was afraid it was too far out there. Today, March 21, I was listening to the Diane Rehm show on NPR. Much of what you will be reading was being discussed openly. What is happening in the Republican primaries? Although there is much reason for optimism in our country as a whole, there are some troubling signs we overlook at our own peril.

Some Historical Background

History is littered with great nations and empires in which, at some point, circumstances intervened and the system that had given them their growth and power, became unworkable. Ultimately, they lost their supremacy: Greece, Egypt, Rome, Great Britain, Germany, all the colonial powers, and many more.

What our nation has been going through since 2001, has many in our country feeling vulnerable and angry. One reason I may be a little more sensitive to these influences, is because I lived, pastored, and was immersed in the German language and culture for 12 years in West Berlin and Frankfurt in the 70s and 80s.

One doesn’t need to be a historian to understand what brought National Socialism into power in 1933. While the circumstances then might have been different in substance, they seem, to me, to be similar in kind. Let me explain.

Please don’t hear what I am not saying. We are not in danger of becoming another Germany. Nor am I, even remotely impugning the motives or the genuine good will of all the candidates running for president.

What I am saying is that we need to look critically for possible historical parallels, in order to avoid falling into a similar pattern. My concern is that what we are experiencing today is eerily similar to the circumstances surrounding the rise of National Socialism.

Granted, the political climate after World War I in Germany was different. However, the features of what we are experiencing today do bear a similarity to the events of the early 1930s. These components converged to create a climate in which the message of a strong, decisive unconventional leader, and a political outsider, became attractive.

·      Once the world’s strongest military power, Germany had been humiliated by the Versailles Treaty, rendering it militarily impotent,

·      Failing businesses,

·      High unemployment,

·      Runaway inflation,

·      A lower standard of living,

·      The many small factions in the Weimar Parliament could not agree on any meaningful legislation, rendering it virtually powerless.

How Does That Pertain To the U.S.?

Since 9/11, our country has been experiencing a long period of instability and uncertainty. Any nation in which national leadership is seen to be ineffectual, anger, fear, and insecurity arises, creating a favorable climate to the siren song of a strongman. Please allow me to suggest a few of these circumstances.

·     We are still processing and grieving the national tragedy of 9/11. That’s where it all began. Since then the government is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to make sure it doesn’t happen again.

·      Our economy is in the midst of a major shift from an industrial-based to an information-based economy, creating a period of transition which has changed the economic status of millions of families forever.

·      “White America fights like hell to cling”[1] to a way of life they are afraid will be gone forever.

·      The cavernous economic divide—unimaginable wealth for a few, and a growing percentage of the populace is working for less money, part-time, or have decided to stop looking altogether.

·      Almost every one suffered negative, some massive, economic consequences from the great recession.

·      Both parties, in the House of Representatives and the Senate, have developed factions rendering the legislative branch almost unworkable.

·      A loss of international standing, and the danger of losing its influence in international decisions concerning its sphere of influence.

·      The rise of international and home-grown terrorism, and an the feeling it brings of vulnerability both from within and without.

All of the above subjects are worthy of discussion in themselves. Taken together, however, they have created a long period of economic and personal uncertainty. Major disparity between rich and poor, and a huge number of people are without needed marketable skills. A large segment of the electorate feels as though they are sliding down a hill from the comfortable middle-class to the working poor with nothing they can grab to stop their fall. Things are even worse in the African-American community. For them it feels as though their poverty has become permanent.

We are in a time of transition between the Industrial Age and the Information Age. In many ways it is similar to the shift between Feudalism and the Industrial Age. When human suffering was at its greatest, Karl Marx wrote Das Kapital.

All of these triggers of trepidation, taken together over a relatively short period of time, have created a sense of fear and vulnerability in our society. They have generated an underlying anger and frustration that seems to have rendered a large segment of our society suckers for the siren song of a “Someone” who promises to “right the ship”.

So, What Do We Have?

It seems to me that this underlying sense of powerlessness and vulnerability is a major factor in driving our primary process at this point. The electorate has lost faith in the establishment to solve our problems.

Could this be part of the attractiveness of Donald Trump? His off-the-cuff bluntness, his decisiveness, his declarative statements, his strongman image, and generalized promises, seem to resonate with the voters:

·      “I will make America great again.”

·      “I’ll make better deals with other nations.”

·      “The world no longer respects us.”

·      “I will rebuild the middle class.”

·      “I will bring good jobs back again,” etc.

Can you see the parallels? The pundits are talking about a crisis in the Republican Party, but it seems to me that our political process, indeed, even our very Republic is in crisis. I plead with you to look and to think before you make your choice in the ballot box.

Those of you, who are my Facebook friends, bathe this election and your vote in prayer. Our future is in the balance. As I am writing this, I feel like a voice crying in the wilderness (well I guess I am living in a desert). Only a few people may read this, but I had to get it off my chest. God bless.

---

[1] Jim Wallis at: https://sojo.net/articles/donald-trump-and-death-knell-white-supremacy

Emanuel African American Methodist Episcopal Church

Emanuel African American Methodist Episcopal Church—Charleston, SC

The Black Church—A Welcoming Community

We celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day this week, and my thoughts returned to the nine brothers and sisters in Christ who were murdered in Emanuel African American Methodist Episcopal Church. Please allow me give you some context.

One of the highest privileges in my teaching career, was to be asked to teach a class of 24 black pastors in the Black Studies Program at Azusa Pacific University’s graduate school of theology. I learned more from them than I was able to impart. Later, as a pastor in Cambridge Massachusetts, and an adjunct professor in Gordon-Conwell Seminary’s urban campus CUME (an educational institution created to make graduate studies affordable for pastors of color) for 10 years, I was privileged to stand in front of classes, where the same principle applied. My experience has always been one of acceptance and welcome. I have been invited to preach and participate in their church services. Every step I took toward the black community, it seemed as though they took at least two steps toward me.

The editor of the Explorer, David Rupkalvis, a local Oro Valley and Marana, Arizona newspaper, wrote an editorial about the tragic shooting of the black congregants in Charleston, South Carolina under the title, “Love the Real Story in South Carolina.” He gave me his permission to include these excerpts in this post.

“A local (black) church in Sierra Vista, started in the pastor’s home and eventually bought land and built a church on the outskirts of Sierra Vista. That church happened to be a few blocks from the home of my wife’s aunt and uncle… They enjoyed it so much, my in-laws started attending and then my family followed

“For several years, we were members of the “black” church and not one time did anyone question it. At that church, I was as welcome as anyone. My family eventually had leadership positions, we were welcomed at every level. Skin color was irrelevant.

“My story and my memories came flooding back as I write this, not because members of a black church were killed in a heinous crime. No, it was the way those members in one of their last acts on earth welcomed a lone white man into their midst in their final minutes on earth, they showed the love of God, loving a man who was planning to kill them. It’s that love that resonates with me and that love that offers hope even in this time of tragedy.”

To hear the story of these beautiful people in Charleston, South Carolina, and how welcoming they were of this young man, based on our own experiences, was very true to form. These church leaders were having a private Bible study and prayer time together. It would have been normal for them to have said to him that he should return later during office hours and they would be glad to speak with him then. But they opened their circle, placed a chair beside the pastor, and welcomed him as one of their own. And then after the dastardly deed was done, and members of the family were able to address this young man, to a person they said to him, “I forgive you.” Such grace—such a demonstration of the power of the gospel in the lives of people, only enhances the grace of God found in the people of this church.

The beauty and grace of these people was such a powerful testimony of true Christianity, that the broadcast media had nothing more to say. Yes, they refer to it, but to my knowledge there has been almost no extensive reporting since forgiveness was offered. Why is that? The shooter, I believe, told the police that he wanted to start a race war. And yet, the power of forgiveness stopped him and the broadcast media in their tracks.

Keep in mind, the black church is virtually the only institution in our country where they are fully in charge. Yet, the black church is completely welcoming of anyone who enters the “sanctuary” of its walls. There must be something we can learn from their story, my story, and David’s story. If only the white church could become just as welcoming. Might this be a seed from which the flower of reconciliation can emerge?