Invisible Suitcases- "My World Is Out Of Control"

Hope In Tigard

I don’t think anybody comes to the end of their life and says, “Well, that happened just like I thought it would.” I, for one, won’t. A little over two years ago, I had never heard of Tigard. Now it’s my home. (And I wouldn't trade!) Ten years I don’t even think I would’ve guessed that I would be a pastor right now. I could go on and on.

Because life doesn’t lay out just so. It sometimes unfolds in the most unexpected ways and it can feel chaotic and confusing. Or, if you want to use the metaphor we’ve been using in this sermon series, sometimes the idea that’s packed in our invisible suitcase is the idea that my world is out of control.

That’s the world into which Paul steps with our Sunday text- Romans 8:26-30. It’s a world where emotionally sometimes down feels up and up feels down. It’s a world where events can seem so cruelly random and emotions can crest powerfully that even Paul admits that sometimes, “We do not know what we ought to pray for.” (v. 26) And it’s into those times and into those moments that Paul speaks a truth that he says, “We know.” (v. 28)
What do we know? "28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." How can you know that? I mean, really know that? How can you trust that it's true for you- that God has been working your whole life through for your good?
The answer is Christ. Christ, for whom God worked all of history- so that his own Son could die on the cross to take away the sins of the whole world, and your sins in particular. Know this! Trust this! Until you don't have to trust it anymore, because you will se it with your own eyes.