Maranatha Messenger

WHAT TO DO
WHEN YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO
(Believe God Pt.2)

God has one ultimate goal for the believer. Christ likeness! By faith I must believe that God is working behind the scenes through the circumstances of my life to mold me in the image of His Son. This is what Paul meant when he said, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:28-29). Notice the process of Christ likeness; there are four elements:

First of all, we have the element of faith. Notice the first three words of our text says, “and we know.” This is faith! Everything in the Christian life revolves around faith! You cannot proceed in the text until you embrace faith. Without faith it is impossible to apply the principles of this passage. This is why Paul used the Greek word eido {know} in this verse. This term means to look, behold or perceive with the eyes. Paul was speaking of the eye of faith. How do you view the circumstances that take place in your life? Do you view them with an eternal perspective or do you view them with an earthly perspective? Your answer to this question will make all the difference in the world. The faith viewpoint says, “I believe that the sovereign God of the universe is orchestrating the events of my life to conform me to the image of Christ. Therefore, I surrender my life to His eternal purpose for the glory of God.” How you view the activity of God in your personal life is crucial! This is why God begins with faith.

Secondly, we have the element of frustration. Notice the text says, and we know that “all things” work together for good. We enter the door of faith by knowing. This determines our outlook. How do you perceive your problems? How do you view the circumstances of life? Now we must carry our faith into our frustrations. By the way, the best way to describe the “all things” are with the words struggles, difficulties and hardships. Mark it down; these frustrations will be a part of your Christian life. However, should you bring your faith into your frustrations God will conform you to Christ.

Thirdly, we have the element of formula. We begin with faith because the text says, “we know.” We proceed to frustration which is described as “all things” or all events. Now we must examine God’s divine formula “work together for good.” God takes the ingredients of our faith, our frustrations and creates a spiritual formula. By the way, He does this through the process of time. There is no such thing as instant spirituality. Let me illustrate. Suppose I decide to bake a carrot cake from scratch. I get all the ingredients to perform this amazing feat. I get eggs, sugar, vegetable oil, all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and carrots. To make the frosting I get butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, milk and walnuts. After I gather all the ingredients I mix them together in order to bake the cake. Should I leave out one ingredient the cake won’t taste the same. I put the mix in the oven and this blend of components turn into a delicious cake. Have you ever taken a shortcut in baking? You discover you are out of eggs and you try to make the recipe anyway. Anybody ever tried this? It just doesn’t work! I know by experience! Or suppose I decide to eat a handful of all purpose flour or maybe a cup of cinnamon. I’m pretty sure these spices won’t taste good alone. Imagine in your minds reaching in the refrigerator and eating a stick of butter. Doesn’t sound too good! What about eating a quart of ground nutmeg? I don’t think my mouth or stomach could handle this ingredient alone! By this time you are probably asking, “What’s you point?” The point is, eating one of the various ingredients alone may not taste too good. But when you mix them “all together” they make a superb cake. You must work all the ingredients together!
Herein lies the problem. We view one event in our life and we judge that occasion as not being particularly good. We begin with the wrong outlook! We must begin with faith “and we know” by perceiving that God is working behind the scenes for my good. Unless we begin with faith we cannot approach our frustrations (all things or events) as a God formula to mature me (work together for good). God works from the perspective of foreknowledge and predestination (v.29). When He examines my life He has the ability to see the entire picture. However, you and I can only see individual events as we journey through life. God’s has the ability to see the whole! He says that all the events in my life blended together work for my good. God has a divine formula for my life! When you mix all the events together God considers them as good. The outcome of this divine recipe is Christ likeness. Let me illustrate this truth for you. Myra and I frequently travel to Myrtle Beach. The drive normally takes eight and half to ten hours depending on who is driving. If Myra drives we can make it in eight hours! Nonetheless, I ordinarily do the driving. We talk, listen to music, preaching or listen to preaching. Very seldom do we ever take the same route. Sometimes this is by design and sometimes, well, I get lost. As we journey south, Myra will normally work on her needlepoint. As I drive I will occasionally look over and examine her progress. Typically, I will see a wooden frame holding the material in place as she creates her design. From my angle the needlepoint looks like a mess! All I can see are endless strands of thread tangled together. I must admit the further we drive the backside of this project looks even more snarled and scrambled. From my viewpoint her stitching looks like chaos! I am looking from the bottom side up. After several hours of driving my curiosity gets the best of me. I ask her to flip over the wooden frame so I can see this creation from her point of view. I must confess I am absolutely amazed at her beautiful work. This magnificently illustrates the life of a child of God. From our perspective things seem to be unraveling around us. Our life appears to be twisted and tangled. However, we are viewing life from the bottom side up. On the
other hand, our heavenly Father is viewing our life from the top side down. Through eyes of omniscience He can see the completed plan from a different perspective. God has the advantage of an eternal position. Therefore, we must believe that all events that come into our lives work together for the good or the purpose of Christ-likeness.

Fourthly, we have the element of forming. God the Father proorizo {predestinate} predetermined that you and I should be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (v.29). Notice two keys words: The first important word is summorphos {conformed}. This Greek term is found only two times in the New Testament and is translated “fashioned like unto” in Philippians 3:21. In other words, our vile bodies will be transformed and “fashioned like unto” Christ’s glorious body (Philippians 3:21). God uses the frustrations of life to mold me and fashion me into the image of Jesus Christ.
The second key word is eikon {image} or likeness. Our heavenly Father’s ultimate goal in the life of a believer is to conform him “to the image of his son” (v.29b). The predetermined purpose is Christ likeness!

Let me see if I can summarize what Paul is saying in Romans 8:28-29. The apostle is explaining to the believer that by faith we should accept our frustrations as a divine formula that will form us into the image of Christ. What’s the big deal? Our dilemma is how we view our disappointments (frustrations). This is a faith problem! Perhaps some unpleasant event enters my life. I will either believe or become bitter! I call this the crossroad to spiritual maturity! Should you take the faith route into your frustrations you will embrace God’s formula for forming you. Or should you take the fussing route into your frustrations you will become bitter and question God. The person who chooses the faith route views his frustrations as a means to maturity. In other words, God is doing something for me! On the other hand, the individual who chooses the fussing route believes that God is doing something to me. He begins to question God. He blames God for all of his misfortunes. He accuses God of being unjust. He begins to say in his heart,
“hey God, how could you let this happen to me.” Therefore, through the process of “self-imposed idolatry” he becomes bitter and he gives up on God!

Study Questions

1. Why is the element of faith so important?
2. How does God use frustrations in the Christian life?
3. What does it mean when we say that God looks at my life from the perspective of foreknowledge?
4. What is the outcome of all things working together for my good?