Let's walk through our passage, one of the most popular and misunderstood statements in all the New Testament.

Paul begins: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him" (v. 28a).  "We know" is a traditional Jewish formula for introducing conventional wisdom.  What follows is a certainty for all believers, no matter our circumstances or difficulties.  This passage applies to every one of us today.

Once before, Paul used this phrase: "we know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time" (v. 22).  There are two certainties in Romans 8: suffering and redemption.  We all suffer, and God will redeem that suffering for his purposes.

"In all things God works for the good of those who love him," we're promised. "In all things," the apostle promises.  No exceptions are listed.  Paul does not claim that all things are good, but that God works for good in all things. 

Jesus wept at Lazarus' grave because his death was not good, but God used it for good when he raised him back to life.  Our Savior cried out in pain and abandonment from the cross because his separation from his Father was not good, but God used it for the good of our salvation.

In "all things God works."  It is not our responsibility to redeem our situation, but God's.  The Greek for "works" is sunergei, meaning "to work together" or "make something in combination."  The events themselves are not good, but when God works them together they produce a good we could never have imagined.

Pike Wisner and I discussed this week an analogy for Paul's claim.  Imagine baking a cake.  You wouldn't want to eat flour, or shortening, or raw eggs.  In fact, you couldn't imagine that they would ever be edible.  Only someone who knows about baking would see the way they could "work together" for something good.  When a pastry chef takes these disparate and unappetizing ingredients and mixes them in the right way, in the right proportions, for the right time, then bakes them in the right temperature, a cake emerges from the oven.  That's what God is doing with the flour and raw eggs of your life.

In all things God is working "for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."

He works "for the good" because he must.  Our God is "holy, holy, holy" (Revelation 4:8; Isaiah 6:3).  This is how we know that he redeems all he allows--his character requires it.  He never makes a mistake.  He must always do the right thing.  He must always work for our glory and his good.  

He does this for "those who love him."  It is not that he likes Christians better than non-Christians, but that he can give only what we will receive.  If we will not accept his forgiving grace by trusting Christ as our Lord, he cannot forgive us and save us.  If we will not accept his Spirit into our lives by becoming Christians, his Spirit cannot redeem and transform us.

I can do things for my children that I cannot do for yours.  I can discipline my sons in ways I cannot discipline yours.  I can teach and mentor and help mold their character in ways I cannot with yours, or you with mine.  So it is with the Father and his children.

When we "love him" as his children, we are "called according to his purpose."  "Purpose" translates the Greek word for "design" or "plan."  What is this plan, toward which God is redeeming all that he allows?

Verse 29: "For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers."

"Those God foreknew" points to the fact that God is not bound by time.  He knows what we will do before we do.  This doesn't mean that he chooses for us.  I watched you sit in your pews this morning, but I didn't assign them to you.  God is the Great I Am (Exodus 3:14), and is able to see tomorrow as we are to see today.  He "foreknows" all that we will do, for he sees us do it.

Those he foreknew "he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son."  "Predestined" means to choose, to plan, to purpose beforehand.  He has always wanted all of us to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4), for he is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

In this case, his plan for our lives is that we "be conformed to the likeness of his Son."  "Conform" means to "make with" or "mold."  He wants us to be like Jesus.  He wants us to manifest the character of Christ.  What does this mean?

It means that we obey our Father like the One who prayed, "Not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).  

It means that we commune with our Father like the One who got up "very early in the morning, while it was still dark" and "went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" (Mark 1:35). 

It means that we refuse sin like the One who said, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only'" (Matthew 4:10).

It means that we forgive our enemies like the One who prayed from the cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34).

It means that we serve our friends like the One who washed his disciples' feet and told us, "I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you" (John 13:15).

God wants Jesus to be "the firstborn among many brothers" (Romans 8:29).  "Firstborn" in the Jewish culture meant the preeminent one; we are to imitate him as members of his family, showing the world Christ in us.  How are you measuring up?