Jesus Christ: The Model
Romans 8: 28 – 30.
Introduction
One
year ago, in July 2011, evangelical Christianity lost one of our greatest
heroes. Perhaps you have heard of John
Stott. He was the pastor of an Anglican
church in London —All Souls Church
When
John Stott died, he was 90 years old.
But, he retired from public ministry four years earlier and preached his
last sermon at 86 years old. In his last
sermon, Stott gave a wonderful summary of what he had committed his life to—Bible
study, preaching, pastoring a church, and evangelism… Everything Stott did came down to one central
idea. “God wants his people to become
like Christ. Christlikeness is the will
of God for the people of God.”[2]
A
friend of mine told me about Stott’s final sermon, and since then, I have read
through it several times over the past few weeks. While I don’t really want to just steal his
sermon and preach it in our church, I do think this is a message we need to
hear and apply to our lives. “God wants
his people to become like Christ.”
Instead
of preaching Stott’s sermon, I am going to break it into five parts and preach
about Christlikeness over the next five weeks.
(After all, I don’t think I am as smart as John Stott. So, it will take me five sermons to say what
he said in one sermon!)
We
begin today with the underlying concept of Christlikeness. Does the Bible really tell us God wants his
people to become like Christ?
Romans 8: 28 – 30.
Most
of us associate these verses with some sort of crisis in our lives. When bad things happen to us, either we
remind ourselves or someone else quotes Romans 8: 28 to us. “And we know that in all things God works
together for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to
his purpose.”
A
crisis is a good time to remember these words.
After all, that seems to fit the context of the entire chapter of Romans
8.
In
Romans 8, Paul tells us that we are not alone in our suffering. In fact, the entire creation is experiencing
suffering. The creation is “groaning”
because it has been subjected to frustration.
This frustration is the result of the fact that creation cannot fulfill
its God-given purpose. Of course, there
was a time when the creation fulfilled its purpose. That was in the Garden of Eden.
God
created a world in which all creatures lived together in perfect harmony. God placed a man and a woman in the center of
that perfect creation to be stewards and caretakers of creation. As long as the man and woman took care of
creation, the creation would provide all that they needed to live a peaceful
and blessed life. There was plenty of
food and water to support their lives.
There was beauty all around them for their enjoyment. There was shelter to protect them from
anything they might perceive as a threat.
This
Paradise did not last very long. It only lasted until the man and woman
decided it was not enough for them. They
were not satisfied in being creatures in God’s creation. They wanted to be their own gods. The creatures wanted to take the place of
their Creator.
And,
Romans 8 teaches us that humanity was not the only casualty when sin entered
into God’s creation. Even creation
itself has been subjected to frustration.
The creation is not living up to its God-given potential. In fact, the creation cannot fulfill its God-given
purpose until human beings have been formed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus.
When
Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden, it affected three things. Their sin changed their relationship with
God. Their sin changed our relationship
with God by handing down “original sin” to every human who followed them. Their sin affected God’s creation. As a result of their sin, all humans are
fallen creatures living in a fallen creation.
But,
Romans 8 also gives us some Good News.
Creation will be restored to its God-given purpose when humanity is
restored to our God-given purpose. When
we become “sons of God”—conformed into the image of God’s Son, Jesus—creation
will be restored. This can only happen
when we experience the Resurrection.
Until then, “(T)he creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of
God to be revealed (Romans 8: 19, NIV).”
Verse 28, “And we know
that in all things God works together for the good of those who love him, who
have been called according to his purpose.”
I
think we need to notice this verse refers to a specific group of people. It is written only about people who love
God. I think this is important for a
couple of reasons. First, this is
something of a rarity for the Apostle Paul.
Most of the time, he writes about how much God loves us and holds us in
his love. Here he is writing about our
love for God and acknowledging that it is important for us to love God. Secondly, Paul is not teaching that all
things turn out good in the end for all people.
No. This is an exclusive claim
only available for people who love God—or have a personal relationship with
God. This is because God is the one who
is at work behind the scenes in our lives.
God
wants each of us to have a relationship with God that is defined by love. We are to express our love for God in our
worship—by worshipping God alone and not worshipping any false gods like self,
money, possessions or any of the false gods of false religions. We are to love God in the ways we live our
lives—by committing ourselves to hearing God’s word in the Bible and applying
God’s words in obedience.
When
that kind of love for God is a part of our lives, we can experience the promise
of Romans 8: 28. God is at work to bring
good from evil. God redeems all the bad
things that happen in our lives and uses them to accomplish his purposes in our
lives.
Of
course, we need to keep in mind that Romans 8: 28 does not say God causes all
things to happen. Again, we are fallen
humans living in a fallen creation. We
are frustrated that we cannot fulfill God’s purposes for our lives. We live in a creation which is also
frustrated that it cannot fulfill God’s purpose. But, God is not frustrated. God can use whatever circumstances we face to
bring about his good purposes.
Verse 29, “For those God
foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he
might be the firstborn among many brothers.”
I
realize that I am treading into dangerous territory by reading a verse about
God’s foreknowledge and the word “predestined.”
It is dangerous territory because there are so many different opinions
on predestination—even within our church!
But, this is the Bible, so we need to deal with “predestination” as a
biblical concept. We just need to be
careful that we do not allow modern-day human interpreters to influence our
understanding more than the Bible influences us.
For
example, this verse uses the word “predestine,” but it does not say God
“predestines” who will be saved and who will be damned. Instead, it tells us that everyone who loves
God has been “predestined” by God to be conformed into the image of God’s Son,
Jesus. This verse describes Christian discipleship
(or sanctification) and God’s commitment to fulfill his purpose in every
Christian’s life.
Notice
the way Paul describes predestination in this verse. The people God foreknew God predestined to be
conformed into the likeness of his Son.
Paul does not say, “The people God predestined God foreknew.” There is a difference between these two
statements.
If
we reverse the order of “foreknew” and “predestined,” then we are left with an
understanding of God that God has predetermined who will be saved and who will
be damned. God intentionally saves some
people and intentionally passes over some people and thereby sending them to
Hell.
If
we preserve the order of “foreknew” and “predestined,” then we have an
understanding that God’s foreknowledge does not determine who will be saved and
who will be damned. God’s foreknowledge
is not determinative. God simply knows
ahead of time exactly how things will end.
God knows ahead of time who will love him and accept Jesus as Lord. In fact, this is the exact point Paul makes
about Israel Israel Israel
God
knows ahead of time what you will believe about Jesus. God knows whether or not you will love God in
worship and in life. And, for those who
love God, God is at work bringing about his plan in your life. God uses the good times and the bad
times. God uses the easy and the
hard. And in all this, God is making you
and me to look more and more like Jesus.
Jesus is the destination. God has
predestined you and me to look like Jesus.
There
is another important word in verse 29.
The New International Version translates “be conformed.” Paul does not ask us or expect us to conform
ourselves to the life of Jesus. In fact,
none of us is even capable of changing our lives. This is God’s work in us. Our job is to yield ourselves to God…to stop
resisting what God wants to do in us.
God
wants his people to become like Jesus.
In fact, for every person who loves God, this is our destination. God has set the destination ahead of time and
is working within all the circumstances of our lives to accomplish this. Our job is to let God do his work in us. This does not happen in a one-time event of
making a profession of faith or being baptized.
Instead, this is a daily—sometimes even hourly—yielding ourselves to
God. The best thing we could do is to
pray every day, “God, do your work in my life.
Let my thoughts be like Jesus’ thoughts.
Let my actions be what Jesus would do.”
Verse 30, “And those he
predestined he also called; those he called he also justified; those he
justified he also glorified.”
If
we take this verse out of context we can build a case that God has
predetermined who will be saved and who will not be saved. However, it is building on the verse we just
looked at. In that verse, we discovered
that God foreknows who will love him and predestines those who love God to be
conformed (by God’s activity in their lives) to the image of Jesus. Those who are predestined to look like Jesus
are called by God, justified by God and eventually glorified by God.
What
we read here is a little like good news and bad news. The good news is that God wants your life to
look like Jesus and will work in all circumstances to bring about that
purpose. The bad news is that we will
never really look like Jesus until we have been glorified in Heaven.
As
long as we live in this fallen creation, we will face difficulties and
trials. God is working in our trials to
conform us to the image of Jesus. God’s
purpose for us will not be fulfilled until we experience the Resurrection of
our bodies as Jesus was Resurrected.
Then, Jesus will be the firstborn among many brothers—brothers and
sisters who look like Jesus in every way.
This is what we are waiting for.
This is what creation is waiting for—the sons of God to be
revealed. Nothing will be right until
God’s purposes are accomplished in us.
Conclusion
On
Friday night, I watched a Barbara Walters television special on Heaven. In many ways it was a disappointment for me.
I
was disappointed that she tried to interview a cross section of Christian
theologians and pastors. She interviewed
Catholics and mainline Protestants. But
the only person she interviewed to represent the evangelical perspective was
Joel Osteen. (And Joel Osteen does not
reflect my perspective on Scripture or theology.)
I
was disappointed that she seemed to syncretize Christian theology with Buddhism
and Islam by saying everyone believes in Heaven and thinks they are going to
Heaven after they die.
I
was disappointed by the few times she tried to compare Christianity with other
religions. In each case she made Islam
and Buddhism look much more appealing.
But,
what really bothered me was the fact that there was a lot of talk about God but
not enough talk about Jesus.
In
a world where people believe all religions lead to the same God and everyone
thinks they are going to Heaven, we need less talk about God and more talk
about Jesus.
What
is the best way to talk about Jesus? We
start by living like Jesus. This is not
something we can do by our own abilities.
It is simply yielding to God every day and allowing God to accomplish
his purpose in us. It praying daily, “God,
do your work in my life. Let my thoughts
be like Jesus’ thoughts. Let my actions
be what Jesus would do. Help me to
reflect the humility of Jesus…to reflect Jesus’ service to others…to reflect
Jesus’ love…to reflect Jesus’ endurance in suffering…to reflect Jesus’ mission
to the world.”
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