Ask Pastor Mike Fabarez

Speaker 1

We beg, search, strategize, and hustle. We work all day long and still can't find what we're searching for. Just how is a person supposed to find contentment?

We're about to find out right now on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez. Welcome to Focal Point. Hi, I'm Dave Droue, your host for this special Q and A session we have at the end of every week called Ask Pastor Mike.

Today, Pastor Mike's going to answer a question you might have weighing on your heart about being content during tough times. Now let me ask you, are you feeling content today? What's keeping you from full on, outright bursting from ear to ear joy?

Well, let's join executive director Jay Wortin and Pastor Mike for a sensitive conversation from inside the pastor study.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Dave. I am here with Pastor Mike and Pastor Mike.

We are approaching a time of year when people's focus is on being thankful. But what if it's difficult to be thankful because you might not be in the best of health or just bad circumstances in your life?

What should our mindset be as Christians during these times?

Speaker 3

Well, you know, the Bible does tell us we should be thankful for every good thing that God does. But when there's a lot of things in our lives that are bad, I think we need to start looking at the more profound things that God has done to be thankful for. Because I don't care how bad it may be. You may be Paul in prison and not even sure you're going to get out, but he writes his most joyful book, Philippians, from a jail cell, because he's looking at those things that transcend his current circumstances. And he calls his readers to rejoice in the things that are transcendent as well in the book.

So, you know, I've illustrated this way before, but the idea of maybe being in a really rundown apartment that you're waiting in because your house that you bought and have built is about to be finished and you're going to move into this great palatial house. But you're in this apartment and you're sitting there thinking, I don't have much to be thankful for because this is a terrible little dumpy apartment and the walls need painting and the kitchen is tiny. And, you know, it just doesn't smell good, whatever it might be. You might have a lot to complain about.

But to know where you're heading and to know where you're going and to know that you're here just for a short time on the planet, and God has so many things ahead for us that will blow our minds and our imagination in terms of being fulfilling and pleasurable and gratifying. We have a lot to be thankful for that you qualify for that, not because of your own righteousness, but because Christ has provided the righteousness you need in the life of Christ.

So we are just profoundly blessed in our spiritual lives by being participants of God's grace. And so there's a lot to be thankful for. Shift your thinking from temporal to eternal. If there's not a lot in the temporal world to be thankful for, there's a lot in the eternal realm to be thankful for.

Speaker 2

You know, when someone's going through difficult times, you'll hear Christians often quote Romans 8:28.

And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Is that what Paul is trying to communicate in that verse?

Speaker 3

Well, yeah, that's one aspect of it at least, that he wants us to look beyond the present circumstances, because the broader context of Romans 8 is all the suffering they're going through. He even talks to them about being sheep led to the slaughter. And yet in all these things, we're overcomers. Because even if the Roman leaders throw the Christians into the forum and they get eaten by lions, he's trying to say there's something so much better and transcendent than this life.

Yeah, we can rejoice and we can know that God's working all things together for good, even their own martyrdom, if that's the path that God has for them. So that's part of it. But when you think about the Word at the end of that verse, verse 28 talks about being called according to his purpose. His purpose. Purpose is not only our destination; it's part of the process of who we're becoming in this present life.

God wants useful vessels to be people that can make a difference in other people's lives and in this world. And he refines them by their trials. Even Christ learned obedience through the things that he suffered. Hebrews tells us, we, John 15, are going to bear fruit. And when we do, he's going to prune us so we'll bear even more fruit.

So we know that even the disappointments and the difficulties and the sicknesses in our life, God is going to use those things to change our character, as James 1 says, to perfect us, get us mature, and ready to be more useful for God. So God is going to conform our lives to the image of Christ, and he's going to use suffering to get that done.

Speaker 2

I've heard some people say that when they're going through tough times, they've had people quote that verse to them and it just sort of rings a little hollow to them. What do you think they're reacting to when they're thinking or feeling that way?

Speaker 3

Yeah, certainly this verse can be just tritely thrown out to people like, hey.

Speaker 4

It'S bad, you're hurting.

Speaker 3

But you know what? It's all good because God's going to work it together for good. That's not the kind of comfort we would want to receive when we're hurting. Certainly not the kind of comfort we should try to give just to tritely throw out that God's got a good plan and so it's okay.

I mean, certainly God wants us to be comforters and be sympathetic and to come alongside people and help walk them through their trial, or as Paul put it, to help bear their burdens. So we never want to be trite with the quoting of scripture. And yet there's truth in this that the pain and the difficulty and the disappointment is going to work out for those who are called according to God's purpose, which includes not only our destination, but what he's going to do with us between now and the time we get there. He's going to work those for good.

So there's a balance there. I mean, if it's properly understood, then it can be encouragement, but it can't be this kind of detached, unfeeling, you know, here, I'll just throw you out this verse and I hope that makes your bad times feel better. We need to walk with people through their trials. We need to empathize with them.

And I find Christians that do tritely quote these verses. Eventually God will put them through their own trial and they start to learn. Maybe I need to be much more caring about my comfort and my verse quoting next time I'm in that situation.

Speaker 2

Well, thank you, Pastor Mike. I trust this will be an encouragement to people who are dealing with tough times. And we're going to continue with a message you preached called Looking for the good when things go bad.

Speaker 4

**Romans 8:28.** Six words in English, three words in Greek. Very powerful concept, huge, all-encompassing, superlative language. Here it comes: "And we know that for those who love God, those called according to his purpose, all things." How many things? All things work together for good. If you love God and are called according to his purpose, notice that it doesn't say all things are good.

Are all things good? Context is key. I mean, look at the context. Look back at verse 17, which states, "provided that we suffer with Him." Verse 18 speaks of "the sufferings of the present time." Verse 20 mentions groaning—the creation's groaning. We're groaning, right? Just glance through the context. Of course, all things aren't good. As a matter of fact, that's the problem with the passage. I'm a Christian, and bad things are happening. It's going to end with a long laundry list here, verses 31 to the end of the chapter, about all the terrible things that happen to us as Christians.

All things are not good, but all things work together for good. With an implied subject here, God is obviously doing this because God is the one who, even in my salvation, starts with foreknowledge, predestination, calling, justification, and glorification. Can we just circle the word "good," though, for a second in verse number 28 and go to verse 29 to try and define what the good is? Make sure you put the good in quotes.

Understand the good that God is working toward. That's what I need to know because I'm going to expect the wrong thing if I don't know how good is defined. Understand the good that God is working toward. Because here's the misunderstanding of Romans chapter 8, verse 28, that we need to completely avoid and wipe completely out of our minds.

And here's how it goes in the youth group. Let's start there. A girl gets dumped by her boyfriend, and all her little Christian friends go up to her. "It's okay. Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28." What does that mean? Well, that means that guy dumped you. But here's the thing: God's got a hunkier guy for you if that guy dumps you because all things work together for good.

And then you laugh. But it happens out here by the coffee pot when you get laid off from your job, and some old sage Christian goes, "Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28. Romans 8:28." What does that mean? Well, that means you got fired from that job. Here's the thing: God is closing doors to open a window. And here's the deal: you're going to get a better job; it's going to pay better, better rent, better defense. It's going to be great for you because all things work together for good.

I mean, I've heard this logic my entire life in the church. Something bad happens to you, and it's okay. All that means is it's going to be better. "Oh, your house got foreclosed on? Don't worry; your next house will be so much bigger. It's going to be great because all things work together for good." Let's just trust and claim Romans 8:28: all things work together for good.

It's not what good means in this context. Good in verse 28 is defined by the purpose of God in verse 29. "For those he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son in order that he, that is Christ, might be the firstborn, the Prototokos, the prototype among many brothers, the captain, the great leader of this band of people that are just like him."

So he predestined; he had this plan ahead of time that we would be conformed to the image of His Son. It does not mean that if you encounter some pain, it's okay because that pain is only going to open up for you more pleasure, more peace, or more prosperity. It does not mean that.

In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul prays for the thorn in the flesh to go away. He's got a physical problem, and God says, "Absolutely." Is that what God says?

Speaker 3

No.

Speaker 4

God says, no, because my power is perfected in weakness. Did it get better for Paul with this chronic illness? No, the pain stayed. But in light of our passage, did he become more like Christ when the pain stayed? Yes. See, when you have your house foreclosed on, right, and you stay in an apartment for the rest of your life, right, the question isn't, are you going to have more good in terms of square footage? The question is, is there more good in terms of Christlikeness in your life? And I find that a lot of people are more Christlike in an apartment than a house. Just like God found that Paul would be much more Christlike with a chronic illness than without it.

And some people do better in terms of Christlikeness with a job that's not as prestigious or doesn't pay as much. Some people become much more godly when they're unemployed. See what I'm saying? And can't find a job for six months. My point is this. The good that God is working out is found clearly spelled out for us in verse 29. And it is to be conformed to the image of His Son. Now you real purists and exegetes are going to say, well, wait a minute, this is really going to end in verse 30 with glorified good observation. Thanks for pointing that out.

And earlier it talks about the whole point of our groaning is to be adopted as sons. The Redemption of the body. Isn't conformity to Christ the ultimate glorification of you and I? And the answer is yes, you're absolutely right. And in the big scheme of things, the good and the bad and the indifferent that comes into our lives is all going to work towards something that in the very end, when I stand in the presence of Christ, is going to work for good in an eschatological sense at the end of all things. And it will be good even if it never improves in this life.

But also I find that throughout the Scripture we become increasingly conformed to the image of God through the good and the bad in our lives. As a matter of fact, you look at a lot of the pain God brings into our lives to mature us. You got to understand that the good God is working toward is Christlikeness both in this life and the next. And what will he use? What does it say? All things. All things. That can't mean all things. It means all things. All things work together for that good. All things, all things, all things.

When people do evil to us. And I couldn't be a have a pastor card in my wallet if I didn't quote Genesis 50, verse 20, right? 50, 20. This guy named Joe is. There's an attempted murder on his life, and then he gets involved in human trafficking. How's that? That sound relevant? Very 21st century. But Genesis 50:20, we learned it as kids. You know it now, he said, though now he's looking his brothers in the eye after all the ordeal. Though you meant it for evil. Do you remember the verse? God meant it as though he were doing it? No. That's weird. I thought the brothers did it. This is the mystery of it all. While the brothers meant it for evil, here's God somehow mysteriously intertwined in the same events, working this whole thing and meaning it. God meant it for good.

Have you been sinned against in this life? This morning? Absolutely. Every time evil was foisted upon you or people sinned against you, even those things are working towards some good that God has planned that will ultimately lead in his glory and in your Christlikeness. When people sin against me, when God sentences me to bad and painful things, and even when I stumble and fail, God, if I love him and if called according to his purpose, is going to even work those shameful episodes of my life for his glory and my ultimate good.

How does that work? Ephesians 1:3. Let's just read this paragraph. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It's all judicially done, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.

Speaker 3

We'll see.

Speaker 4

There. That's what he wants me to be. I understand that. But you're never going to be holy and blameless before God unless He makes you so. First of all, by the imputation of the righteousness of Christ, He has to present you before Him holy and blameless because of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Now He wants you to live holy. I get that. But in love.

Bottom of verse 4. Beginning of verse 5. He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the fact that we would do more good than bad. And we are kind of cute after all. And He wants to pinch our little chubby cheeks because He thinks we make pretty good Christians. Underline all that. Is that there? No, that's not there. Well, then I must be missing it. In love, He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. What's that? Not because I'm good. Not because I was a great Christian. To the praise of His glorious grace.

Whose glorious anything? God's. His salvation and adoption and the consummation of my adoption follow this now is all ultimately to the praise of His glorious grace. Would it be good to praise His glorious grace? That sounds good. I don't know what it all means, but I would want to be. I would want to be. Yes, I'll say yes. Let's praise His glorious grace. Our adoption is to the praise of His glorious grace.

What is grace? You don't deserve it, right? You don't live up to it. You don't earn it. You can't be good enough for it. And when you sit on the mantle of God in heaven as a trophy of His grace, and you bring glory to God, the glory you bring to God in part is the glory you bring to His grace. And the grace is put on display because you are a sinner and because you've sinned. I know that's mind-blowing, but the point is this.

Keep reading. Verse 11. Drop down to verse 11. In Him we have obtained an inheritance, right? Not because we earned it, having been predestined according to the purpose of Him who works. Most things are the good things we do after the Council of Israel. No works. How many things? All things according to the counsel of His will, which even includes my failures. So that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of His glory. God is going to look good because He saved a bunch of sinners.

Matter of fact, here's how Paul put it. When he wrote Timothy in First Timothy 1, he said, God saved me, the worst of all sinners. And he gets down to this explanation in order that he might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example to those who would believe. Why didn't He pick a better guy than Paul? Because Paul's sin was going to be to the praise of His glorious grace, including His patience. Do you see the point here?

So let's all go out and sin big this week, right? No. Why? Because sin is bad. So let's do good this week. But when you do bad this week and you stumble and fall this week, right? Repent, cling to the cross, and recognize that even in your failure, God will be glorified on that day as an amazingly gracious person to save and adopt someone like you. And that will be to the praise of His glorious grace. That's a mind-blowing concept. But even my sin will work for good because I'm called according to His purpose.

And part of my purpose is to bring praise to His glorious grace. Isn't that where we started? Everything in your life, everything has been worked together by God's oversight for good. But God is at work. And what should that do for us? It should allow me to rest in the fact that my life is not chaotic, it's not by chance, it's not out of control, and we're not waiting to see what God will do.

And that's moved its way into seminaries now. It's called open theism. And we're kind of looking at God on the sideline who's a great odds maker, and He decides things in prophecy because He's a great guesser, but He doesn't know how things are going to exactly play out. Look it up. That's modern theology. In a lot of modern liberal seminaries today and not so liberal seminaries, it's called open theism. And people think, well, I don't know, see here, I'm going to hold to at least as long as I'm preaching to a God who is sovereign.

Notice I didn't use that word here, but you could have. But for now, can we rest in His management that your life may look like a messed-up stew of bizarreness is really God at work to bring you safely into His presence? And maybe with John Newton you can say this, this old hymn with this I'm done:

"Begone, my unbelief,

My Savior is near,

And for my relief,

He will shortly appear.

By prayer let me wrestle,

And He will perform;

With Christ in the vessel,

I'll smile at the storm.

Though dark be my way,

Since He is my guide,

It's mine to obey,

And it's His to provide.

Though cisterns be broken

And all creatures fail,

The word He has spoken

Will surely prevail.

Since all that I meet

Shall work for my good,

The bitter is sweet,

And the medicine food.

Though painful at present,

'Til cease before long,

And then, oh, how pleasant

The conqueror's song."

It is painful at present for a lot of us, maybe more for one life than the next. But we need to recognize that God is sovereign and He's at work in your life.

Pray with me. God, it is a real mind-blowing concept that You take sinful decisions, like the men that beat up Jesus Christ, jammed a crown of thorns into His brow, and took a stick and beat Him. It's amazing how You take such horrible, sinful, evil decisions and work out Your perfect will, which in that case included the fact that I would never be on the receiving end of the wrath of God. Thank You that Your sovereign plan is directing it all and that everything in our lives, the sin that has been sinned against us, the failures in my own life, painful things that You sovereignly bring into our lives are all a part of Your perfect plan and You're working all things together.

I hope that can be said for the vast majority of people here because they are confident that they do love the God of the Bible and they are called according to His purpose. May today be a day that we examine ourselves to be sure of that. And then we revel in the truth that we are the focus of an infinitely wise God who is working even the painful things out for good in our lives. Thanks for that. Commit ourselves afresh to You now and just revel in that truth. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Speaker 3

Amen.

Speaker 1

You're listening to Pastor Mike Febarez with a comforting focal point message called "Looking for the Good When Things Go Bad." To hear the expanded version of this message, go to focalpointradio.org. You know, sometimes it's hard to believe that hardships can turn out for our good. But that's when we have God's unchanging word to remind us He'll come through. That's why Focal Point is here to refresh your hope in the truth of the Scriptures each day.

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I'm your host, Dave Drewe, inviting you back on Monday when Pastor Mike Frank continues his message "When the World Doesn't Understand Us." That's Monday on Focal Point. Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.

Speaker 4

Sam.