All Things, These Things, All These Things

In one paragraph

This message was a close reading of Romans 8:28-39, organized around three phrases: "all things," "these things," and "all these things." The pastor walked the congregation through one of the most encouraging passages in the Bible and left them with a benediction drawn from 1 Thessalonians. He had covered Romans 1-8 in the weeks before, and this sermon brought that run of preaching to its high...

Read together

1. Romans 1:1-7 described as the gospel prescript where Paul introduces himself and gives the basics of the gospel
2. Romans 1:16 quoted as the theme of Romans: not ashamed of the gospel, the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes
3. Romans 1:18-3:20 described as God's general and specific indictment of humanity, Jews and Gentiles declared guilty
4. Romans 3:20 cited as explicit statement that no flesh will be justified by works
5. Romans 3:21-31 described as where justification by faith is spelled out and defined
6. Romans 4 justification illustrated with Old Testament examples, Abraham and David
7. Romans 5 described as covering the results of justification: peace with God and standing in grace
8. Romans 6 discussed in terms of three imperatives: know, reckon, and yield; believer dead to sin but alive to Christ
9. Romans 7:14-25 described as the conflict with indwelling sin at war with the Spirit of God in believers
10. Romans 8:1 cited as there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
11. Romans 8:28 quoted: God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose
12. Romans 8:29 quoted regarding foreknowledge and predestination to be conformed to the image of his Son
13. Romans 8:30 quoted: those he predestined he called, justified, and glorified
14. Romans 8:31 quoted: if God is for us, who is against us
15. Romans 8:32 quoted: he who did not spare his own Son will also freely give us all things
16. Romans 8:33-34 quoted: who will bring a charge against God's elect; Christ intercedes at the right hand of God
17. Romans 8:35 quoted: who will separate us from the love of Christ, listing tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword
18. Romans 8:36 quoted as it is written: for your sake we are killed all day long, counted as sheep for the slaughter
19. Romans 8:37 quoted: in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through him who loved us
20. Romans 8:38-39 quoted: neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor any created thing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus
21. Psalm 44 read in full as the source of the sheep for the slaughter quotation Paul uses in Romans 8:36
22. John 3:16 paraphrased: God gave his only Son so that whoever believes would not perish but have everlasting life
23. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 cited as the benediction: rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in all things give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus

Talk about it

1. The pastor described Romans 8:28 in its fuller form as 'he is working all things together for good' rather than simply 'God causes all things.' How does that shift in emphasis change the way you think about difficult things that happen in your life?
2. The sermon described God as 'Mysterium Tremendum et Fascinans,' a mystery that is at once terrifying and attractive. When you think about who God is, which of those two pulls do you feel more strongly, and why?
3. The pastor said that the predestining God has done is specifically predestining believers to be conformed to the image of His Son, not predestining people to heaven or hell. How does that understanding of predestination sit with you, and does it change how you think about your own growth as a Christian?
4. The sermon walked through Psalm 44, where the writer holds fast to God even while lamenting that things are hard and God seems absent. Have you ever been in a season where that psalm felt like your own prayer? What did holding on look like for you in that time?
5. The team in Mexico found 'in all things give thanks' written at the very bottom of the septic tank. The pastor closed with that same idea from 1 Thessalonians, saying it is God's will for us in Christ Jesus. What is one specific hard thing in your life right now where you could practice giving thanks in it, not necessarily for it?