 Throughout my life, I've increasingly found that reading scripture in public isn't just about feeding our own spirits and minds. It's about rehearsing the mighty acts of God for God's glory. So let's think together about Romans 8, 28. And first, let's have some tea. We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. That may not be the translation that you knew, it certainly isn't the translation that I learnt when I was younger. I learnt, as many of you will have done, the idea that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. Well, I still want to say there is a truth there. God is sovereign, and those who are His people can trust that His will will be done. But I don't think that's what Paul is talking about here, because it isn't actually what the Greek text says. The Greek text has a verb in the middle which is definitely about working with, not for. Sun ergi, erg is the work bit, sun means with. God works all things for good with those who love Him. What is Paul talking about? Well, in the verses immediately before, which in the usual reading feel a bit detached actually, Paul is talking about the prayer life of the people of God, particularly the prayer life at the heart of the darkness of the world. Paul talks about the whole creation, groaning together, like a woman in labour pains, longing for the new creation to be born. And then he talks about us too, groaning as we wait for our adoption as God's sons and daughters, the redemption of our bodies, we are longing for resurrection, and therefore at the heart of the groaning of creation we have the groaning of the church. But then Paul says that actually the spirit groans within us as this is going on. And we have here a Trinitarian theology of prayer that God gives His people His own spirit so that by their wrestling with the problems and pains and sufferings of the world in and through God's spirit they may be part of God's ongoing work in the world and for the world. So we know that God works all things together for good through and with those who love Him. And that idea of loving God, which looks back to the great Hebrew prayer, the Shema, you shall love the Lord your God, which Paul has alluded to in Romans chapter 5 already. This is a picture of God inviting His people to share with Him in the work He is doing in the world. We in the Western theological traditions have been worried about this idea because we have learned to distrust synergism, working with ism, because any idea that I am saved partly by God and partly by my own efforts is anathema to those who have been properly taught justification by faith. But Paul isn't talking about that here. He's talking about people who have come to faith, who do love God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit is working and Paul is saying that's how God works in the world with and through those who love Him who are called according to His purpose. The purpose is not simply I've been called so that I can belong to God. It's I've been called so that I can be part of God's work in the world. And Paul goes on to talk about being conformed to the image of the Son that He might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And the image of God's Son is of the one through whom God does the work that He always intended to do in the world, revealing Himself as the righteous God and above all as the loving God, as God the Redeemer, as God who is accomplishing new creation. This then is the meaning of this astonishing and often misunderstood verse that we are called to play our part as people of prayer, of spirit given prayer, of prayer even when we don't know what to pray for. People who are prepared to stand in the darkness and hold onto the love of God in the middle of the groaning of all creation so that God eventually may be all in all and we will look back and discover perhaps to our amazement that our work of prayer was somehow included in what God was doing in His wider purposes. So may God give you patience, forbearance and hope so that you may become people of prayer, people who will stand in the darkness in the presence of God and will allow God's work to be done through you as well as for you. Amen. How is this passage speaking to you? Let us know in the comments, like and subscribe or check out our other videos.