Introduction

Today our topic is "Duty Based on Providence." We can state this duty in a single statement: based on Romans 8:28 our duty is to work for good in all circumstances, including times of suffering. Suffering is included within the astounding fact that all things are working for our good because the Lord is working. Knowledge of God’s working is extremely reassuring. There are no chance facts. Nothing slips past the keeper of the gate of human history and destiny. Jesus is the one who is worthy to open the book of history and rule over it (cf. Rev. 5:1-5). The things working for good include suffering in general and suffering due to sin, our own sin and the sin of others around us and against us (cf. we groan in hope of glory, we suffer in the present, as we struggle with sin to the death, 8:22-23; 8:13). Sometimes all we can do is hold on by our fingernails. No one likes to suffer; we do not welcome suffering like a friend. Yet we are told that it is through much tribulation that we enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22; the fact of very difficult trials is associated with the need of elders in the church, cf. v. 23).

To get to our duty from Romans 8:28, we can each think like this, if God designs my good in all things then I must make the development of good my design also. If He is working toward my ultimate good, the good of His people, and His glory and if He is doing so with respect to all things, then I must work hard in all things for my ultimate good, the good of God’s people, and for the glory of God.

Knowing this doctrine of providence prompts at least five things in the way of duty. We can summarize them with five words: attachment, acknowledgment, acceptance, work, and rest. Each duty will begin with the phrase, "if we know Romans 8:28" because that is how the verse begins:

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.

1A. If we know Romans 8:28 then we will actively attach ourselves to the church

We will recognize that we need each other in the household of God. Remember, the promise of Romans 8:28 is personal but not individualistic; it is "to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose," to the family (cf. Christ is the firstborn among many brothers and sisters, 8:29). Our good, good coming to us is bound up with others in the family of God. The church is like a human body, when the toe suffers the whole body suffers.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." ²² On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, ²⁴ which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, ²⁵ that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. ²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it (1 Cor. 12:21-27).

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ (1 Cor. 12:12).

When we suffer we must swallow our pride and receive support, help, advice, counsel, and words of encouragement (countering in ourselves the "I know all that" response; we need to hear things we already know but need to come to know more fully). We cannot conduct ourselves autonomously as if we do not need the help of other Christians, as if their prayers are meaningless (so we do not ask for prayer). How we pray and seek intercession by the prayers of the church indicates our dependence on the Lord.

We are asking for more complexity in our suffering if we isolate ourselves from others, withdraw, and keep silent about our difficulties in life. There are many good things that we will not have because we do not seek them by prayer, including the wisdom to know what the good really is.

On the giving side, when we see the struggles of others, we must consider what it is that we can do concretely about it. We must pray, listen, and speak with sensitive hearts. Our focus must be on the purposes God is orchestrating in our lives. We must think in family terms.

Speaking with one another demonstrates reverence and honor to God. It esteems the name of the Lord and the Lord pays attention to this kind of one anothering. "Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name" (Mal. 3:16). In the roles of husband/wife, member/member, and pastor/flock, we are to engage in one anothering in which we esteem God’s name.

2A. Acknowledgment: if we know Romans 8:28, then we will acknowledge that good is behind, beneath, above, beside, and in front of every detail of our lives. We will not be glib or unrealistic. Down deep, we will recognize that God is behind the scenes working everything that befalls us for our good. We will acknowledge the universal negative and the universal positive: nothing can separate us from our Father's providential care; everything that comes our way comes from His hand and He directs it all for our good. We will cling to Romans 8:28 as we cling to Jesus Christ our risen Lord because it is in and through Him that good is ours to keep.

This applies to the details. You and I can say, "This thing in front of me, pressing in on me, especially suffering is working for my good." We tell this to ourselves and to others as an aspect of giving a good confession of faith. Count it so! Here we acknowledge the hand of God, that it is His hand indeed, that His hand may in a sense be lifted against us in discipline or training with His heart always set lovingly upon us and working these difficult seasons for our good.

3A.Acceptance: if we know Romans 8:28, then we will prayerfully accept the details of life that befall us. We will accept all the circumstances, trials, sufferings from the hand of the Father. We will accept them from the hand of God and we will voice our acceptance to our Father in heaven.

Say with the Psalmist, "you have set me behind and before, you have encircled my path, you know my down sitting and my rising up, you know, you care, you plan, you work, and you uphold me with your right hand" (Ps. 139). With the Psalmist we can each say, "it is God who performs all things for me, who fulfills His purpose for me" therefore, "I will cry out to God Most High" (Ps. 57:2) and we will heed Paul’s exhortation, "in everything give thanks for this is the will of God concerning you" (1 Thess. 5:18).

4A.Work: if we know Romans, 8:28 then our entire life will be the stage on which we serve God and our neighbor (this is our true work with no sacred/secular mindset). Involvement with others and doing things for others will be driving concerns of prayer: "Lord, how can I serve?" "Lord, what can I do to advance my life along the pathway of spiritual things more than temporal things?"

a) This work is for all seasons

Our seasons of comfort and blessing (seeing the good) will be times of refreshment for service: "comfort is to ease your rigorous labors not erase them." Furthermore, this will give a profound perspective on seasons of calamity. We will see them as a "frowning providence" behind which "He hides a smiling face." He manages all our affairs including the cloudiest days for our good. Since these clouds do not eliminate His working but token it, then they must not eliminate our working either but intensify it. Since God is at work in everything for us, we will be at work in all things for Him. This is our duty at the broadest level.

b) This work is anti-sloth

In light of the knowledge of providence, we will work in every situation for good. This attitude will function like a basic grid through which we will see our lives and by which we will govern our conduct. The fact of His working does not bring us to a standstill. Instead, following His example as His children and image bearers we will also work. We will not take the slothful path come what may. This is a pitfall and it has its tricky aspects. Valleys may follow mountaintops. When discouraged, we tend to give up trying. When "blessed" we may forget about our kingdom work; we may be enticed by the creature more than by the Creator. Whatever our state we need to remember that we are strangers in a foreign land with our citizenship in heaven; we are workers in God's kingdom.

c) This work is spiritual

In doing this regarding our sins, we will work hard at keeping balance between gaining comfort and encouragement from providence without excuse-making and without giving up the battle with sin (cf. the two ropes illustration of paradox). Even our sins are worked for our good as members of the family of God. Of course, we are responsible for our sins and consequences will follow them; therefore, we know that the painful consequences are also worked for our good. Therefore, we will fight with envy, pride, materialism/idolatry, selfishness, and self-centeredness. Providence ought to prompt much spiritual work on our part regarding all things.

5A.Rest: if we know Romans 8:28 (and we should; cf. "and we know…), then we will rest in God Almighty, the Lord of history, the Alpha and Omega, the author and finisher of our faith. As we work, we should rest in the power of God that is at work, expending energy, for us. His call is efficacious (Rom. 8:30). Nothing can thwart His saving work (Job 42:2). In the midst of our work, we should rest in the wisdom of God that puts the fullest information together with its best possible use for the noblest purpose. He works all things after the counsel of His will for our good through Christ. Salvation, restoration, forgiveness, and peace are bestowed through the death and resurrection of Christ. While working for good in all things, we should rest in the will of God for He works powerfully and wisely with determination for the good of His people, for our ultimate, permanent, and abiding good. Salvation is a matter of God’s timing as He works out His purposes for time and eternity. Rest comes by submission to His will and what joy to realize what will it is to which we submit, the will of our Heavenly Father.

We are to learn how to rest our heads on the Father's shoulder. We are like the child who squirms, kicks, cries, and fights in the arms of his father because he is disappointed with expectations, desires, and wants not now, at this very moment, fulfilled. When a sense of love returns, the child will rest, secure in the strong arms of love. Like this child, we should rest our heads on the Father's shoulder, rest at peace in the arms of our heavenly Father. Like Job, we can each say, "He knows the way I take, when He has tried me I shall come forth as gold" (Job 23:10).

I conclude with a question, a summary, and a benediction.

1) What do we do when we feel like we are going backwards?

One significant challenge to our faith in the providence of God is the sense that we may have at times that we are not progressing. It is disturbing to think that we are going backwards. This thought has crossed my mind in a number of ways of late regarding my work. Patricia and I have talked about this sense of going in reverse rather than forward. Then on Friday, my tennis partner apologized after the match saying, "I feel like I am going backwards and that is not what I want to do."

The idea that all things are working for our good is very progressive in tone; it is promising and instills hope. When things crowd in on us and clouds form over us, we may think that the promise of providence has failed, we are on the retreat, and we get discouraged. However, Romans 8:28 (God is working all for our good) tells us that we are not really going backwards; we are never on the path to destruction and we are never off the path that continually leads forward toward the ultimate and permanent good that God is working in us for His glory. The fact does not change. God is faithful. We cannot see how this particular thing and that difficult fact are consistent with progress. Nevertheless, we are never going backwards because our Sabbath king is universal sovereign (He is head of the church as head of all things, Eph. 1:22-23). By His redemptive work in life, death, and resurrection, He has secured our eternal good once, for all, and forever.

My tennis partner went on to say, "I did terrible today but I did learn some things." At that, I replied, "Well then you really did not go backwards." He agreed. We truly need to fix our eyes on our loving heavenly Father in all the circumstances of life however difficult they may be. Not all things are good but the Lord works all things for our good, for the good of those who love God and are His by effectual calling. Therefore, when change and suffering comes and it seems as if we are going backwards, we know that we are actually going forward. Knowing this marvelous truth, we are duty bound to work for the good in suffering. We ought to work in times of suffering because these times are included in the all that is working for good. In all things, we ought to work for good, our good, our neighbor’s good, and the glory of God (the ultimate good). In whatever we do, we ought to work hard. The call to work is clear and direct. We cannot sit back and wait on others. We have to look to our universal king and be active and diligent in working for our good, the good of others, and the glory of God.

2) Summary

Duty arises implicitly from the great promise of providence in Romans 8:28. What we should not do is be ungrateful, prideful, or slothful. What we should do is attach ourselves actively to the church, acknowledge the hand of God (count it so, mark it down), prayerfully accept His dealings, serve others in all things for good, and rest in the power, wisdom, and love of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

God is at work so, in the light of our knowledge of Romans 8:28, we too must work. He is at work in all things; so must we be at work in all things. He works for good; so must we. As we work, we have hope in the suffering and trials. We know that however many troubles are appointed, they will come at last to one, and then to no more when we come to dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

3) Benediction