MELVIN NEWLAND, MINISTER
RIDGE CHAPEL, KANSAS, OK
(REVISED: 2017)
(PowerPoints used with this sermon are available free. Just e-mail mnewland@sstelco.com and ask for #270.)
TEXT: Romans 8:28-29; Luke 15:11-20
There are so many great passages of Scripture. And when I first began preparing this sermon I considered & prayed about some that I hoped would be of help to those who would be hearing this message.
While doing that, one verse kept pushing its way into my thoughts – & that verse is Romans 8:28, where the apostle Paul writes, "… we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
That is a wonderful verse of Scripture, but I think that sometimes we don’t really understand what it is saying. Some people seem to think that it tells us that God has promised those who love Him that everything that happens to them will be good. But that is not true. That is not what God is promising at all.
ILL. Back in 1921, a missionary couple named David & Svea Flood went with their 2-year-old son from Sweden to the heart of Africa – to what was then called the Belgian Congo.
They met another Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, & soon the 4 of them felt led by the Lord to move away from the central mission station to one of the more remote areas of the Congo.
At the village of N’dolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his village for fear of alienating the local gods. So the two couples decided to go half a mile away & build their own huts.
They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. Their only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens & eggs twice a week.
Svea Flood – a tiny woman only 4 feet, 8 inches tall – decided that if this boy was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead him to Jesus. And over a period of time she succeeded.
But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria struck one member of their little group after another. In time the Ericksons decided they had enough suffering & went back to the security of the central mission station.
Then, in the middle of this primitive wilderness, Svea found herself pregnant. When the time came for her to give birth, the village chief softened enough to allow a midwife to help her. A little girl was born, whom they named Aina.
The delivery, however, was difficult, & Svea was already weak from malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to her stamina. She lasted only another 17 days, & then she died.
Inside David Flood, something snapped. He dug a crude grave, buried his 27-year-old wife, & then took his children back to the central mission station.
Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he snarled, “I’m going back to Sweden. I’ve lost my wife, & I obviously can’t take care of this baby. God has ruined my life.” With that, he left, rejecting not only his mission, but God Himself.
It’s true. Sometimes tragic things happen, even in the lives of those who seek to walk close to Him. Bad things do happen to good people.
And that is just where this passage of scripture comes in – as a message of encouragement & hope – to assure us that "… in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
And the very next verse tells us what His purpose is. It says, “For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son…"
Do you understand what that means? It means that God is working through everything that happens in the lives of those who love Him to help us become more like Jesus.
No matter what the problem or heartache may be, if we love Him, & if we let Him, even the problems we face in life can be a glorious part of this process.
PROP. For example, let’s look at 3 specific blessings that come into our lives through our problems. And as we see how God has used problems in the past to bring about great blessings, it will help us in the problems we face today.
I. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO DIRECT & SHAPE US
The difficult things we experience in life, big & small, are not random freak accidents or streaks of bad luck. They are allowed by God to direct us - to shape us into the image of Jesus.
Picture a large rock in the middle of a field. Sitting there by itself, it is ordinary, overlooked, & without much use. But in the hands of a master sculptor, it can become a masterpiece. Your life, & mine, is a lot like that rock.
Even though you can’t see it right now, God has been busy creating some-thing awesome in you through everything you’ve endured - through that confusing situation you’re facing right now.
The problem is that we can’t see what He’s doing while it’s happening. All we see are the chips flying. The chisel’s blow isn’t evidence that God has left us or is angry with us, but rather that God is right in front of us: eyeing our progress, smoothing the rough edges, patiently bringing the image of Jesus out in us.
The Bible says in James 1:2-4, “Count it pure joy,… whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature & complete, not lacking anything.”
“Trials of many kinds.” That’s specifically what we’re talking about – events allowed or orchestrated by God. That’s what God uses to shape us into the image of Jesus. In fact, James says, those things “complete” us.
II. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO CORRECT US
Secondly, God can also use problems to correct us. Sometimes we may be stuck in a rut & God uses problems to change our direction in life. It isn't that we're doing anything wrong - it's just that we need a new direction.
But there are other times when we're definitely wrong. We have strayed into sin, & we need God's correction, His discipline, in order to have our fellowship restored with Him. So God will use some problem in our life to stimulate us to think about the sin that we have fallen into & to correct our behavior.
One of the most familiar parables in the Bible is found in Luke 15:11-20, & we call it "The parable of the prodigal son."
It tells of a son who “…set off for a distant country & there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, & he began to be in need.
"So he went & hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
"When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, & here I am starving to death! I will set out & go back to my father & say to him:
'Father, I have sinned against heaven & against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' So he got up & went to his father."
Now it just doesn't get any worse for a Jew than to end up feeding pigs. And the pigs were better off than he was, for it says that he longed just to be able to eat the food that was being given to the pigs.
Finally, the problems got to be too much for him, & he began to correct his attitude & his actions. He admitted his sins, repented of them, & turned his steps toward home once again.
By the way, do you realize that when we deliberately stray from what we know is right, God has promised to correct us?
Hebrews 12:5,6 says: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, & do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves…"
SUM. God knows how devastating sin can be. And He has promised to correct us. So when we're having problem after problem, maybe we need to ask our-selves & God if there is some area of our life that God is trying to correct. Not all problems are allowed for the purpose of correcting us - but some are.
III. GOD USES PROBLEMS TO PROTECT US.
Finally, sometimes God uses problems to protect us. We can see that in the life of Joseph in the Old Testament. You know his story, don't you?
Joseph was his father's favorite son. And as a result of this favoritism, his brothers were filled with hatred & bitterness towards him. Then one day their hatred boiled over & they sold him as a slave to a caravan travelling to Egypt.
It all happened so quickly. One moment he was the favorite son, getting anything he wanted. And the next, he was in chains & sold into slavery.
Life couldn't seem to be any worse for Joseph, but God had a purpose & a plan for his life, & He was watching over him, protecting him, even though Joseph didn't realize it then.
The story of Joseph's life is a remarkable one, & only the miraculous hand of God could have accomplished it, taking him out of slavery & making him a ruler in Egypt, second only in power to Pharaoh himself.
Years later, during the time of severe famine, Joseph saw his brothers once again when they came to Egypt to beg for the privilege of buying food. And, of course, you know that at first they had no idea that this Egyptian ruler standing before them was Joseph.
But finally, Joseph revealed himself to them. When that happened his brothers were petrified with fear & begged Joseph not to kill them. Joseph knew how much his brothers had hated him, but he also saw the hand of God working in his own life, & how God had protected him through it all.
So listen to what Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 45:4-8. "… do not be distressed & do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.…
"So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household & ruler of all Egypt."
So we must learn to trust God - even when problems come. He will direct & shape us, correct us, & protect us, for He has promised to work out all things for the good of those who love Him.
ILL. Now let me continue on with the story of David & Svea Flood: 8 months after the death of Svea Flood & after David had left their baby with the Ericksons, both of the Ericksons became ill & died within days of each other.
The baby was then taken by some American missionaries, who adjusted her Swedish name to “Aggie” & eventually took her with them back to America.
As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible College in Minneapolis. There she met & married a young man named Dewey Hurst.
Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful ministry. In time her husband became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area.
One day a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who had sent it, & she couldn’t read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold.
There, in a primitive setting was a grave with a white cross - & on the cross were the words “Svea Flood.”
Aggie jumped in her car & went straight to a college faculty member who she knew could translate the article. “What does this say?” she asked.
The instructor summarized the story: It was about missionaries who had come to N’dolera long ago … the birth of a white baby … the death of the young mother … the one little African boy who had been led to Christ …
And how, after the whites had all left, the boy had grown up & finally persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village.
The article said that gradually he won all his students to Christ … & the children led their parents to Christ … even the chief had become a Christian. Today there were 600 Christian believers in that one village alone …
All because of the sacrifice of David & Svea Flood. Wow! But that is not the end of the story. Let me continue:
For the Hurst’s 25th wedding anniversary, the college presented them with the gift of a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie sought to find her real father. An old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered 4 more children, & generally dissipated his life with alcohol.
He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: “Never mention the name of God because God took everything from me.”
After an emotional reunion with her half brothers & half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. “You can talk to him,” they replied, “even though he’s very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God, he flies into a rage.”
Aggie was not to be deterred. She walked into the squalid apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, & approached the 73-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed.
“Papa?” she said tentatively. He turned toward her & began to cry. “Aina,” he said. “I never meant to give you away.” “It’s all right, Papa,” she replied, taking him gently in her arms. “God took care of me.”
The man instantly stiffened. The tears stopped. “God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of Him.” He turned his face back to the wall.
Aggie stroked his face & then continued, undaunted. “Papa, I have a story to tell you, & it’s a true one. You didn’t go to Africa in vain. Mama didn’t die in vain. The little boy you won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus.
"The one seed you planted just kept growing & growing. Today there are 600 African people in that village serving the Lord because you were faithful to the call of God in your life ….”
“Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you.” The old man turned back to look into his daughter’s eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end of the day, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many years.
A few years later, the Hursts were attending an evangelism conference in London, England, when a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo).
The leader of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel’s spread in Zaire. Aggie could not help going to ask him afterward if he had ever heard of David & Svea Flood.
“Yes, madam,” the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English. “It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother’s grave & her memory are honored by all of us.”
He embraced her & then he continued, “You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history.”
In time that is exactly what Aggie & her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mother’s white cross for herself. She knelt in the soil to pray & give thanks.
Later that day, in the church, the pastor read from John 12:24, “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground & dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
He then followed with Psalm 126:5, “Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.”
(The story of Svea Flood was adapted from the book, “Fresh Power” by Jim Cymbala of
the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, MI)
INVITATION
