Sunday Sermon - Not One Scrap Wasted
Not One Scrap Wasted
“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.” Romans 8-28
There are some verses in the Bible that look beautiful when they are printed on a greeting card.
They sound wonderful when they are framed and hung on the wall.
They are comforting when someone quotes them during an easy season of life.
But some Scriptures were not written merely to be admired. They were written to be held onto when the winds begin to blow, when the night becomes long, and when life does not make sense.
Romans 8:28 is one of those verses.
“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.”
This is not a shallow promise.
This is not the Bible telling us that nothing painful will ever happen.
This is not God promising that every circumstance will turn out exactly the way we want it to turn out.
This is a deep, stubborn, unshakable promise that no matter what enters the life of a child of God, the Lord is able to take it and work through it for our ultimate good and for His eternal purpose.
Have you ever looked closely at an old handmade quilt?
Not one of those quilts that comes from a department store, where every piece of fabric is new and every square was cut from the same bolt of cloth.
I mean an old-fashioned quilt made by the hands of a mother or grandmother.
Every patch had a story.
One square might have come from an old work shirt worn by a husband who spent his days laboring in the fields.
Another might have come from a child’s dress that had been outgrown many years earlier.
Another piece might have been cut from an old apron, a faded curtain, or a blanket that had become too worn to use.
Individually, those pieces did not look like much.
Some were faded.
Some were torn around the edges.
Some were stained.
Some were leftovers that other people would have thrown away.
But the woman making the quilt could see something that no one else could see.
She could look at a pile of scraps and already see the finished covering.
She knew where every piece belonged.
She knew how the dark patches would fit beside the lighter ones.
She knew how the rough material would strengthen the softer cloth.
She knew that, once the pieces were placed in her hands, not one of them had to be wasted.
That is a picture of what God does with our lives.
We see scraps.
God sees the finished quilt.
We see isolated moments of pain.
God sees how every moment will fit within His eternal purpose.
We see the diagnosis, the disappointment, the rejection, the failure, and the loss.
God sees the work He is doing through all of it.
And the message of Romans 8:28 is this:
Not one scrap of your life is wasted when it is placed in the hands of God.
We Know God Is Working
Paul begins this verse with three powerful words:
“And we know.”
He does not say, “We imagine.”
He does not say, “We suppose.”
He does not say, “We hope this might possibly be true.”
He says, “We know.”
That is the language of confidence.
That is the language of faith.
That is the testimony of a man who had been beaten, imprisoned, rejected, shipwrecked, misunderstood, and persecuted.
Paul did not write Romans 8:28 while sitting in comfort, untouched by suffering.
He knew what it was to have scars on his back.
He knew what it was to spend a night in jail.
He knew what it was to have people turn against him.
He knew what it was to pray for relief and not receive the answer he wanted.
Yet Paul could still say, “We know.”
His confidence was not based on the goodness of his circumstances.
His confidence was based on the goodness of his God.
There is an important difference.
When your faith depends on your circumstances, your faith will rise and fall with every change in the weather.
When things are going well, you will say, “God is good.”
When things become difficult, you will begin to wonder where God went.
But mature faith does not rest on circumstances.
Mature faith rests on the character of God.
God is still good when the report is bad.
God is still faithful when the door closes.
God is still present when the room feels empty.
God is still sovereign when life appears to be out of control.
God is still working when we cannot see what He is doing.
There are times when God works openly, where we can recognize His hand immediately.
Then there are times when He works behind the scenes.
Think about the story of Joseph.
Joseph was loved by his father, hated by his brothers, thrown into a pit, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and forgotten in prison.
For years, Joseph’s life looked like a pile of scraps.
The coat his father gave him was torn.
His dreams appeared to be broken.
His reputation was damaged by a lie.
His freedom was taken away.
Everything seemed to be going in the wrong direction.
But God was working.
God was working in the pit.
God was working in Potiphar’s house.
God was working in the prison.
God was working while Joseph waited.
Eventually, Joseph was elevated to a position of authority in Egypt, and God used him to save many lives during a famine.
When Joseph later stood before the brothers who had betrayed him, he said:
“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good.”
Joseph did not say what his brothers did was good.
Their jealousy was not good.
Their hatred was not good.
Their cruelty was not good.
Selling their brother into slavery was not good.
But God was so sovereign that He could take what evil men intended for harm and work through it to accomplish something good.
That is the God we serve.
God does not need evil in order to accomplish His will, but evil is not powerful enough to prevent Him from accomplishing His will.
The enemy may weave a thread of hatred.
God can take it and weave redemption.
People may weave betrayal.
God can weave restoration.
The world may weave suffering.
God can weave perseverance, character, hope, and testimony.
We may not always understand what God is doing, but we can know that He is working.
God Works in All Things
The verse says:
“In all things God works.”
Notice that it does not say some things.
It does not say only the pleasant things.
It does not say only the events we understand.
It says all things.
That includes the good days and the bad days.
It includes celebrations and funerals.
It includes open doors and closed doors.
It includes gains and losses.
It includes prayers answered immediately and prayers that seem to remain unanswered.
It includes victories we celebrate and failures that humble us.
God is at work in all things.
However, we need to understand carefully what this verse does and does not say.
Romans 8:28 does not say that all things are good.
There are things in this world that are not good.
Cancer is not good.
Abuse is not good.
Betrayal is not good.
Death is not good.
Sin is not good.
God does not ask grieving people to look at tragedy and pretend it is beautiful.
He does not ask us to call darkness light.
He does not ask us to deny the pain.
Even Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus.
Jesus knew Lazarus would soon be raised from the dead, yet He still wept with Mary and Martha.
That tells us something important about the heart of God.
God is not distant from our sorrow.
He is not impatient with our tears.
He does not stand over the brokenhearted and say, “Stop crying. Everything is fine.”
Everything is not always fine.
Sometimes life hurts.
Sometimes people fail us.
Sometimes bodies become sick.
Sometimes relationships break.
Sometimes plans collapse.
Sometimes people we love are taken from us, and an empty place remains that no one else can fill.
God knows that.
The promise is not that every patch is good.
The promise is that every patch can be worked into something good by the hands of God.
A needle by itself can hurt.
Thread by itself can tangle.
A scrap of fabric by itself may appear useless.
But in the hands of someone who knows what she is making, each part has a purpose.
In the same way, we often judge the work of God while He is still stitching the pieces together.
We look at one painful moment and say, “This does not make sense.”
And sometimes it does not make sense because we are looking at one patch rather than the whole quilt.
Imagine walking into a room where someone is making a quilt.
You see a dark brown patch and say, “That is ugly. It does not belong there.”
The quilter says, “Step back.”
When you step back, you see that the dark patch forms part of a tree trunk.
Then you notice green patches becoming leaves.
Blue patches become the sky.
White patches become clouds.
What looked strange by itself made sense within the larger design.
We are often standing too close to our own lives.
We see today.
God sees eternity.
We see one chapter.
God sees the entire story.
We see the underside of the quilt, with its knots, loose threads, and unfinished seams.
God sees the completed pattern.
That is why Proverbs tells us:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
Our understanding is limited.
God’s wisdom is perfect.
Our sight is short.
God sees the end from the beginning.
Our emotions change.
God’s character never changes.
Faith is not pretending we understand everything.
Faith is trusting God when we do not understand.
God Is the One Doing the Work
The verse says:
“God works.”
That matters because some of us are trying to carry responsibilities that belong only to God.
We are trying to solve every problem.
We are trying to understand every mystery.
We are trying to force every door open.
We are trying to fix every person.
We are trying to control outcomes that are beyond our control.
There is work that God has given us to do.
We should pray.
We should obey.
We should forgive.
We should serve.
We should speak the truth.
We should make wise decisions.
We should remain faithful.
But there comes a point when we must place the situation in the hands of God and trust Him to do what only He can do.
The quilter does not ask the scraps to arrange themselves.
The scraps simply surrender to the hands of the one making the quilt.
Some of our greatest frustration comes from trying to be the quilter instead of being the cloth.
We want to tell God where every patch belongs.
We say, “Lord, this is how my life ought to look.”
“This is the door You should open.”
“This is the person You should change.”
“This is the prayer You should answer.”
“This is the timetable You should follow.”
Then when God does not follow our pattern, we become discouraged.
But God is not working from our pattern.
He is working according to His purpose.
His purpose is larger than our comfort.
His purpose is deeper than our immediate happiness.
His purpose includes shaping us into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
The next verse, Romans 8:29, helps us understand the good God is working toward:
“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son.”
The “good” of Romans 8:28 is not simply that we will always receive more money, better health, easier circumstances, or immediate success.
Sometimes God changes our circumstances.
Sometimes God uses our circumstances to change us.
Sometimes we pray, “Lord, get me out of this.”
God answers, “I am going to walk you through it.”
We pray, “Lord, remove this pressure.”
God says, “I am going to use this pressure to strengthen your faith.”
We pray, “Lord, make life easier.”
God says, “I am making you more like Jesus.”
Gold is refined through fire.
Steel is strengthened through heat.
Muscles grow through resistance.
Faith often deepens through trials.
James wrote:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
James did not say the trial itself feels joyful.
He said we can have joy because of what God is producing through it.
God is making something in us.
Patience may be formed in a season of waiting.
Compassion may be formed through our own suffering.
Humility may grow through failure.
Courage may develop in a frightening season.
Dependence on God may deepen when everything else we depended upon is shaken.
A person who has never been wounded may have sympathy.
A person who has been wounded and healed can often offer understanding.
A person who has never walked through darkness may speak about faith.
A person who has walked through darkness with God can testify that He truly is faithful.
There are ministries that are born in places we never would have chosen.
There are testimonies written in tears.
There are people you will be able to help because you have sat where they are sitting.
Second Corinthians tells us that God comforts us in our troubles so that we can comfort others with the comfort we have received from Him.
God can take your pain and turn it into a place of ministry.
God can take your scar and turn it into evidence of His healing.
God can take the chapter you wanted to erase and use it to help someone else keep going.
That does not mean you will be thankful for everything that happened.
It means you can be thankful that God did not abandon you in what happened.
The Promise Has a People
Romans 8:28 is one of the most quoted promises in the Bible, but it is not a general promise given to everyone regardless of their relationship with God.
The verse says:
“To those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”
This promise belongs to those who belong to God.
It is not saying that every person can live however they choose, reject the Lord, ignore His Word, and then assume everything will somehow work out well in the end.
The promise is for those who love God and have answered His call.
That does not mean they love Him perfectly.
Peter loved Jesus, but Peter denied Him.
David loved God, but David failed terribly.
The disciples loved Jesus, but their faith sometimes became weak.
Loving God does not mean we never struggle.
It means that beneath the struggle, our hearts belong to Him.
We return to Him.
We trust Him.
We seek Him.
We may stumble, but we do not want to walk away from Him.
We may question, but we bring our questions to Him.
We may cry, but we cry in His presence.
We may not understand His hand, but we trust His heart.
There is a great difference between walking through suffering alone and walking through suffering with Jesus.
Without Christ, pain may simply harden us.
With Christ, pain can deepen us.
Without Christ, the grave appears to be the end.
With Christ, the grave is not the final word.
Without Christ, suffering can appear meaningless.
With Christ, even suffering can be redeemed.
The greatest example of Romans 8:28 is the cross of Jesus Christ.
On Friday afternoon, the cross looked like the greatest tragedy in human history.
Jesus was betrayed by Judas.
He was abandoned by His disciples.
He was falsely accused.
He was beaten.
He was mocked.
He was nailed to a cross.
He died between criminals.
His body was placed in a borrowed tomb.
Nothing about the scene looked good.
The religious leaders thought they had silenced Him.
Rome thought it had disposed of another troublemaker.
Satan may have believed he had won.
But God was working.
Through the betrayal, God was working.
Through the false accusations, God was working.
Through the nails, God was working.
Through the blood, God was working.
Through the tomb, God was working.
What men intended for evil, God used to accomplish our salvation.
On Sunday morning, Jesus rose from the dead.
The cross became the place where sin was defeated.
The blood became the payment for our redemption.
The tomb became evidence that death had lost its power.
The darkest day in history became the doorway to eternal life.
If God could take the cross and bring resurrection from it, then He can take the broken pieces of your life and redeem them.
The cross tells us that God’s silence does not mean God’s absence.
Saturday was silent, but Sunday was coming.
The disciples thought the story was over.
God was preparing resurrection.
You may be living through a Saturday season.
The promise has not yet been fulfilled in the way you can see.
The stone has not yet moved.
The answer has not yet arrived.
The situation has not yet changed.
Do not mistake delay for defeat.
Do not mistake silence for abandonment.
God may be doing His deepest work where you can see the least evidence.
Some Good May Not Be Seen in This Life
We should also be honest about something.
Not every painful situation will be neatly resolved before we leave this world.
Some prayers are answered in ways we recognize immediately.
Others are answered differently than we hoped.
Some relationships are restored.
Others remain broken.
Some people experience physical healing.
Others receive grace to endure.
Some mysteries become clear over time.
Others may not make sense until we stand in the presence of God.
Romans 8:28 is not limited to this present life.
God is working toward an eternal good.
Later in Romans 8, Paul says:
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”
Present suffering is real.
Future glory is greater.
For the Christian, this life is not the whole story.
There is coming a day when God will wipe every tear from the eyes of His people.
There will be no more death.
No more mourning.
No more crying.
No more pain.
No more hospital rooms.
No more gravesides.
No more goodbye.
No more questions without answers.
The same God who is stitching the quilt now will one day turn it over, and we will finally see the completed pattern.
We will see how His grace held us.
We will see how His mercy protected us.
We will see dangers from which He delivered us that we never even knew existed.
We will understand why some doors closed.
We will see how one painful season prepared us for another assignment.
We will see how our testimony encouraged someone we never knew was watching.
We will see that God kept every promise.
Until then, we walk by faith and not by sight.
There was an old illustration about a child sitting beneath her mother’s embroidery.
From beneath, the child saw knots, tangled strings, loose threads, and colors that seemed to have no order.
She asked, “Mother, what are you making? It looks like a mess.”
Her mother said, “You are looking at the wrong side. When I am finished, I will bring you up here and let you see it from my side.”
Right now, we see the underside.
We see knots.
We see tangled threads.
We see colors that do not appear to belong together.
One day, God will allow us to see it from His side.
Until then, we trust the One holding the needle.
Give God Every Scrap
Some of us are willing to give God the beautiful parts of our story, but we try to hide the torn pieces.
We give Him our successes but conceal our failures.
We give Him our public testimony but hide our private regret.
We give Him the parts that look respectable, while holding onto the places filled with shame.
But God already knows every part of your story.
There is no patch hidden from Him.
He knows where you have been.
He knows what was done to you.
He knows what you have done.
He knows the choices you regret.
He knows the words you wish you could take back.
He knows the years you believe were wasted.
And He is not asking you to repair yourself before coming to Him.
He asks you to bring Him the scraps.
Bring Him the broken dream.
Bring Him the wounded heart.
Bring Him the disappointment.
Bring Him the failure.
Bring Him the unanswered question.
Bring Him the memory that still hurts.
Bring Him the sin from which you need forgiveness.
Bring Him the burden you have carried for far too long.
Do not throw away a piece God may still redeem.
Think about Peter.
Peter denied Jesus three times.
Surely Peter believed he had ruined everything.
He had promised to stand with Jesus, yet when the pressure came, Peter failed.
After the denial, Peter went outside and wept bitterly.
That failure became one of the darkest patches in Peter’s life.
But Jesus did not throw Peter away.
After the resurrection, Jesus restored him.
Jesus asked him three times, “Do you love Me?”
Then Jesus told him, “Feed My sheep.”
Peter’s failure was not the end of his calling.
God took a broken disciple and made him a bold preacher.
On the Day of Pentecost, Peter stood publicly and proclaimed the gospel, and about three thousand people were saved.
The man who once denied Jesus before a servant girl later proclaimed Jesus before a multitude.
What changed?
Peter had discovered that the grace of God was greater than his failure.
Your failure does not have to be the final chapter.
Your worst moment does not have to define your entire life.
Your past may explain some things about you, but it does not have the authority to determine what God can still do through you.
In the hands of Jesus, broken people can be restored.
Prodigals can come home.
Marriages can be healed.
Addictions can be broken.
Bitterness can be released.
Guilt can be forgiven.
Purpose can be rediscovered.
God does not waste surrendered pain.
Trust the Pattern Maker
There may be someone listening today who is staring at a pile of scraps.
Nothing seems to fit together.
The future feels uncertain.
The pain is fresh.
The disappointment is heavy.
You may be asking, “Where is God in this?”
The answer of Romans 8:28 is that God is working.
You may not feel it.
You may not see it.
You may not understand it.
But God is working.
He is not careless with your life.
He has not forgotten your name.
He has not misplaced your prayer.
He has not overlooked your tears.
Psalm 56 says that God keeps track of our sorrows and collects our tears.
Not one tear is unnoticed.
Not one prayer is unheard.
Not one act of faithfulness is forgotten.
Not one scrap is wasted.
You may say, “But I cannot see anything good coming from this.”
That is understandable.
Faith does not require you to see the good now.
Faith calls you to trust the God who can see it.
A quilt is not judged while it is still lying in pieces on the table.
A building is not judged while it is surrounded by scaffolding.
A painting is not judged after the first brushstroke.
And your life should not be judged while God is still working.
Philippians 1:6 says:
“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
God finishes what He begins.
He is not halfway through your story.
He is not confused about the pattern.
His hands have not lost their skill.
His love has not weakened.
His purpose has not changed.
You can trust Him.
You may not be able to say, “I understand.”
But you can say, “I trust You.”
You may not be able to say, “This does not hurt.”
But you can say, “You are with me in the pain.”
You may not be able to say, “I know what tomorrow holds.”
But you can say, “I know who holds tomorrow.”
That is faith.
Conclusion
An old quilt may contain pieces from many different seasons.
There may be a patch from a wedding dress beside a patch from a work shirt.
A piece associated with celebration may rest beside a piece associated with sorrow.
There are bright colors and dark colors.
There are soft fabrics and rough fabrics.
Yet once they are stitched together, the pieces create one covering.
Your life contains many seasons.
There are days you would gladly live again.
There are days you wish had never happened.
There are memories that make you smile.
There are memories that still bring tears.
There are victories.
There are failures.
There are beginnings.
There are endings.
There are things you understand.
There are things you may never understand on this side of heaven.
But when every part of your life is surrendered to God, He can weave it all into His redemptive purpose.
Not because every piece is good.
Not because every event was God’s desire.
Not because pain does not matter.
But because God is greater than every piece.
He is greater than your past.
He is greater than your disappointment.
He is greater than what people have done to you.
He is greater than what you have done.
He is greater than death.
He is greater than the grave.
He is the God of resurrection.
He is the God who makes beauty from ashes.
He is the God who brings light from darkness.
He is the God who turns crosses into empty tombs.
And today, He says to you:
“Give Me every scrap.”
Do not hold anything back.
Place the entire story in His hands.
The beautiful parts.
The painful parts.
The faithful parts.
The foolish parts.
The joyful parts.
The grieving parts.
Give it all to Him.
You may see scraps.
God sees the quilt.
You may see waste.
God sees redemption.
You may see an ending.
God may be preparing a new beginning.
“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.”
Not one sorrow is beyond His comfort.
Not one failure is beyond His grace.
Not one life is beyond His redemption.
And not one scrap is wasted in the hands of God.
Invitation
Before this promise can truly become your promise, you must belong to the One who gave it.
The greatest need in your life is not for God to change your circumstances.
Your greatest need is to be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ.
Sin has separated us from God, and none of us can repair that separation through good works, religion, or morality.
But Jesus came.
He lived the life we could not live.
He died the death we deserved to die.
He was buried, and on the third day, He rose again.
He offers forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life to everyone who will repent of sin and place their faith in Him.
You do not have to clean up your scraps before coming to Jesus.
Come as you are.
Bring Him the whole story.
Bring Him the guilt.
Bring Him the shame.
Bring Him the brokenness.
He will forgive you.
He will receive you.
He will make you new.
And for the child of God who is walking through a difficult season, today may be the day to place that burden back into the hands of the Lord.
You have carried it long enough.
You have tried to solve it long enough.
You have lost enough sleep over it.
Tell Him:
“Lord, I do not understand the pattern, but I trust Your hands.”
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank You that You are good even when life is hard.
We thank You that You are faithful even when we do not understand what You are doing.
Some of us come before You today with pieces of our lives that seem broken, torn, and useless.
We bring You our grief.
We bring You our disappointment.
We bring You our failures.
We bring You our unanswered questions.
We bring You the seasons we would erase if we could.
Lord, take every scrap and place it within Your purpose.
Help us not to call evil good or pretend that pain does not hurt. But help us to believe that pain does not have the final word.
Remind us that You are working in all things.
When we cannot trace Your hand, help us trust Your heart.
When we cannot understand the pattern, help us trust the One holding the needle.
For those who are grieving, be their comfort.
For those who are waiting, give them patience.
For those who have failed, remind them of Your restoring grace.
For those who feel forgotten, assure them of Your presence.
For those who do not know Jesus Christ as Savior, draw them to repentance and faith today.
Thank You for the cross.
Thank You for the empty tomb.
Thank You that because Jesus lives, no darkness is permanent, no grave is final, and no surrendered life is beyond redemption.
We place our entire story into Your hands.
Make something from it that brings honor and glory to Your name.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray.
Amen.
The sermon title, “Not One Scrap Wasted,” would also work well as the central theme for an invitation hymn or closing graphic.