2 Tim. 4:6-18, Do all things work together for good? (4)

(The third of four truths from Rom. 8:28 that give better understanding.)

DO ALL THINGS REALLY WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD? (4)

Dr. Vernon C. Grounds, President Conservative Baptist Theological Seminary 

WHAT IS GOOD?

Notice, in the third place, just what Paul says in our text.  "All things work together for good."  But the good as we ordinarily conceive it may be entirely different from the good about which the apostle speaks.

We tend to interpret good in terms of animal comfort.  If we are exempt from disease, that we consider good.  If our bodies are never stabbed by pain, that we consider good.  If we always have money in our pockets and a reserve at the bank, that we consider good.  If we can dress well, take long vacations at the seashore, and, in general, exist like the smug bourgeois against who Karl Marx poured out his scorn, that we consider good.  Unfortunately, we find ourselves victimized by a materialistic civilization, and, despite our Christian faith, we subtly equate comfort and goodness.

In the same fashion we tend to equate success with goodness.  If we are always out in the front, a winner in our highly competitive society, that we consider good.  If we own more gadgets than our neighbors, that we consider good.  If politically or ecclesiastically we exercise a considerable influence, that we consider good.  If we are men and women of prestige, that we consider good.

Or, yet again, we tend to equate pleasure with goodness. Or we tend to equate good with power.  Or we tend to equate good with the fulfillment of our fondest dreams, and some of those dreams may indeed be extremely lofty.  And such equations are, of course, a million miles removed from Paul's basic teaching.  And because all of these are false equations, we have trouble with Romans 8:28.  Our failure to grasp Paul's concept of the good changes what ought to be a soft pillow for our hearts into a hard problem for our heads.

You see, according to the New Testament, goodness is not to be interpreted in terms of comfort or success or pleasure or power or even the fulfillment of our fondest and most praiseworthy ambitions.  Goodness is nothing whatever like that.  Goodness, as Romans 8:29 brings out, is Christlikeness, and therefore the goal which God has in view for us is conformity unto the image of His own dear Son.

Perhaps this concept of goodness strikes us as being somewhat novel, and consequently it may prove helpful for us to read the entire twelfth chapter of Hebrews.  The theme of that passage is God's fatherly chastisement.  Why does He discipline us, and do it often so painfully?  Why does He allow not only minor vexations but also major catastrophes in our lives?  He does it - this it the apostle's amazing and illuminating answer - because He loves us.  He longs that we shall be like Himself as He has been revealed in Jesus Christ.  He hurts us for our eternal profit in order that "we might be partakers of his holiness."  He does it all not for our comfort nor for our pleasure nor for any such reason.  He does it all for our good, striving to conform us unto the image of His Son.