Sermon

TEXT: Rom. 8:28

Life is a three dimensional phenomenon – the good, the bad & the ugly. Life can present any of these to us at any time. But as Christians, we have to understand that God knows about whatever life presents to us. Thus the saying – “We are nothing but pencils in the hand of the creator.” Imagine parents who lose their only child; imagine a child who was born blind or without limbs; imagine people who went for God’s work and died on the road; imagine a child who is born brilliant into a family that can’t train him in school; imagine “the choice of parenthood”; et al.

Most times, we worry so much about these mishaps. Paul gave an answer in Rom. 9:14-15; 19-21. If you are deeply rooted in Christ, you will accept anything that comes your way, and give thanks. A lot of people question God: Isa. 29:16.

All these things, whether they appear good or bad to us, the hand of God is in them, as nothing happens to a Christian without His knowledge – Jer. 29:11-13.

Sometimes, you experience the different sides of life due to your righteousness or sin. Sometimes, those things happen just to fulfil God’s purpose thus:

• He allows things happen to exhibit His qualities: God created Pharaoh as a tyrant, & used him to exhibit His powers through Moses. 9:17.
• He allows things happen to glorify His name: When Shadarch, Meshach & Abednego ran out of King Nebuchadnezzar’s favour for refusing to worship the god of a golden image raised by the king, they were threatened with furnace of fire. God would have stopped the king’s workers from taking the trio into the fire but He refused to intervene. He only went into the fire to rescue them, just to glorify His name. Daniel 3: 29-30. In the day of Christ, there was a man who was born blind. The Apostles asked if his predicament was because of his sins or that of his parents. Christ said it was to glorify God’s name. 9:1-3
• He allows things happen to express the true faith of men in Him: Remember Job? He was described as being blameless, upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil (Job. 1:1). During a dialogue between God and Satan, Satan attributed those qualities to God’s protection and claimed that Job will deny God if he didn’t have the protection (job. 1:10) but God said he was wrong and allowed Satan tamper with Job. Job proved to Satan that He was faithful to God. Job “shamed’ the devil and made him inferior.

The Beauty of the other side of life:

• The victories of Shadrach, Meshach & Abednego, Moses, etc are evidences that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our capacity. I Cor. 10:12-13.
• Some of these seemingly mishap are a form of training to develop our faith or remind us about God. James 1:2-4. g. is my experience and thought at My Aunt’s burial, yesterday.

N/B:

• These situations exclude the problems we deliberately plunge ourselves into. Like Peter advised, let us not suffer for sins. 4:12-16.
• We are not toeing the path of proponents of predestination. God never predestined anybody to be a thief or Murderer or adulterer, or fornicator, etc, but people do these out of evil intent of their hearts.

Life Examples:

• I have seen a woman barren for years but gives birth to quadruplets
• A man stays without a job for years and ends up getting a job that does in one year what he would have done in 7years
• A man opens a company and stays for 7yrs without a contract; gets a job that could sustain the company for another 7yrs without a job
• Even the present recession could be a lesson for us as per God is taking care of us, or teaching Nigerians a lesson for clamoring for change of leadership.
• A woman/man says if not this man/woman, I can’t marry another, does all his/her best to consummate the marriage but in the end it doesn’t work. He/she feels so heart broken. Maybe, God had seen that the future holds nothing for both of you, and God spares you of a pending future problem.
• Are you battling with admission and it doesn’t work now? God knows why it doesn’t work now. Keep trying – refers to real Christians who have studied well
• The whole results missing? Accept it; God knows why.
• Someone made a promise to you, you had hope but got disappointed. God is teaching you that man can fail but God cannot.
• Have you lost your job without any carelessness from your part? Accept it. God is teaching you He sustained you, not the job; another job is coming; it is just a lesson.
• Have u been struck by a sickness and you begin to ask why you have such? If you check those that had similar sickness, maybe they are dead or live in hospitals. God wants to prove to you that he cares for you despite such a terminal or problematic sickness that others didn’t survive.

God loves His children, and therefore plays a major role in their daily activities. We should always bear in mind that what happens to us, whether good or bad is in God’s agreement because He said not even a strand of hair in our head fall off without His knowledge.

CONCLUSION: God will not tempt you with “evil” (James 1:12-13). Knowing this therefore, should build more confidence in us and give us the strength to go about life and know that we should always accept whatever befalls us as working together for our good. Remember, the context of this sermon is applicable to those who are Christians indeed. IF GOD IS FOR US, NOTHING AND NOBODY CAN BE AGAINST US. ROMANS 8:31.