All Things Work Together for Good

*Notes prepared for Bible study 1/18/12-2/8/12*

Like many a biblical proverb whose origin is purposely obscured so that it may be applied without offence in general society, the idea that "all things will work out for good" is one which society will not find so palatable when it is presented in its proper, conditional context. Romans 8:26-28 contains the promise to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. This is assuredly NOT a one-size-fits-all prediction that everyone who is in a car accident or receives a troubling diagnosis will eventually reap a benefit from it. It is a promise to those who love God (Jehovah), who have joined His program, if you will, that He will bring good to us even while we walk through the valley of the shadow of death.

-->consider: Them That Love God
Romans 8:26-28 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. 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.

The indwelling of the Holy Spirit means that something of the very essence of God is now resident in us, and so our will, even our will to pray (that doesn't know just what to pray) can still be joined to God's will: it seems that the Holy Spirit relays the yearnings we cannot put into words, on a whole other 'frequency' that we cannot even hear or utter. There is no better "interpreter" or "transmitter" than the Holy Spirit, since He is wholly in tune with the Father (v.27). Considering v.28 in the specific light of the two preceding verses, I take from it the assurance that a) my unprayed prayers are still heard, and b) God's desire is to carry me in my areas of weakness, to perfect my imperfections, and to bless me by including me in the working out of His larger purpose.

Luke 6:43-44 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.

Good fruit, healthy fruit, indicates the presence of the Holy Spirit, God's seal on the believer.
If we are developing as "trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord" (Isaiah 61:3), we producer a crop of good fruit - the fruits of the Spirit mentioned in Gal. 5:22-23 are evident in our care for and consideration of others.
Good fruit is proof of a love for God, demonstrating as it does, that there is emulation of God taking place.

The next two readings look at corrupt fruit that belies the love for God that may be declared, but is not walked out:

I John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
I John 4:20 If a man say, I love, God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar; for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

Every tree, every planting, produces fruit, because that is its nature - and every tree produces fruit according to the seed in itself. "Actions speak louder than words" is the maxim that has come down to us, expressing this truth: to say what you believe, to declare your stance, but not walk it out...not only cheapens 'your word', but possibly may damage the testimony of others, in the ears of non-believers. Looking at the corrupt fruit that a false testimony can produce, it is hard to escape the effects of our words-at-odds-with-our-actions, on the world we are commissioned to evangelize. (How eager are you to emulate someone who says, "Do as I say, not as I do?") How many people abused by the revealed sins of famous evangelical ministries, in particular, are twice shy about listening to another preacher who may be absolutely genuine? To walk, to do, to perform, "speaks" volumes that anyone with eyes can hear.
The Pharisees of Jesus' day, He blasted for out-and-out hypocrites, and they had asked for it, in putting the rules on the pedestal, leaving the Spirit of the covenant to languish. They had brought death out of what God had meant as a schoolmaster to show them the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
...Now, the Church, risen out of the New Covenant, is founded in the simple-but-not-simplistic formula: "love God, love your neighbor as yourself." This is life, this loving, as much as anything can be.

-->consider: Choose Life

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.

The second book of the law, "Deuteronomy," lays out several sets of battle lines. God, wielding as his weapon the people that bears His name, against Satan, embodied in the nations of the world. The battle is more than a power struggle for land, it is the battle for each human soul. With the hindsight of the New Testament, we see that God has already foreknown who will come to Him (Romans 8:29)...here in the Old, the camera pans to show us heaven and earth as witnesses, the first being God's throne and the second the surrendered haunt of the devil. It is God, the righteous judge, who lays out the choice of life or death (the devil can not offer life!), blessing or cursing. And God, the righteous and the holy, whose essence is a being in community (one-in-three), offers an added motivation for us to make the right choice - "think of your children, too," to paraphrase. Out of love, He gives each human being the choice, and He urges us to make the choice out of love, with the wellbeing of someone else born in mind.

-->consider: Religious Counterpart
Why 'counterpart'? Relationship is both a product of and a catalyst to love. Religion is a stance that avoids trust, a course of action that wants to keep separate while hoping to mollify God (or Whomever) by a prescribed regimen. Religion is a counterpart to relationship, because it is based on self-reliance, not love.

I John 3:8 He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

Is it not an incontrovertible proof of true love, that God Almighty would sculpt His love in humble flesh...(John 1:14) and enter His creation to pay for it all - foreknowing that He will get only part of it back for eternity? (Romans 8:29) Love wins out, not because Rob Bell has said so, but because God has revealed it in His inspired Word, both through the written pages, and through the Resurrection of the Son. God warns us that the Enemy comes in to kill and destroy...this destruction pales, I think, compared to the everlasting destruction God has planned for the devil himself. Unfortunately, all who refuse God, choose to share the devil's lot, whether or not they will believe it.
Things will work out, as planned, for everybody. But no matter what things happen, good will be the end product, for those who love God.