God's Plan for Your Life

God has a plan for your life.  It is a good plan, but, I am sorry to say, God’s plan will probably disrupt your plan that you have for your own life.  Let me put it more bluntly, if you seek to follow God, He will disrupt your life and lead you to places you never thought you would want to go.  He will take you down pathways that you didn’t expect.

It’s actually an old, old story that runs throughout scripture.  Noah never expected to build an ark.  Abraham never expected to be called away from his homeland to travel to a land far, far away.  Moses never expected to be called by God from a burning bush.  Gideon never expected to be called from his farm to lead Israel’s army.  Samuel never expected to be called by God as a boy to become a prophet.  This thread runs all throughout the Old and New Testaments, and it runs square through our text from the book of Romans today.

Paul is working towards the closing of his letter to the church in Rome, and as he does so, he lays out what he would have liked to have done and what he now hopes to do.  He says that he has been delayed in coming to visit the church in Rome because he had been spreading the Gospel throughout Asia Minor–establishing churches, converting the Gentiles, and making Christ known.  He has wanted to come to Rome desperately, but he hadn’t made it yet.  This is what he would like to have done.  Now, he shares his hopes: verse 23 and 24, “23But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you 24when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while.”  This is Paul’s plan.  This is what Paul wants.  He wants to go to Spain, and on his way to Spain, he wants to stop in Rome to enjoy their company for a while.

BUT...

But Paul’s plan is disrupted by God’s plan.  Before Paul can make his plan happen, God has called him to another task.  “25At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints; 26for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things.”

Paul is taking an offering from the Gentile churches in Asia to the saints in Jerusalem who are in poverty.  This is not exactly a risk-free endeavor.  Remember, in those days, there was no such things as wire transfers.  There were no such things as checks.  Paul would have been carrying gold or silver coins along the way.  He would have had to worry about bandits and brigands.  He would have had to keep careful guard to make sure this money was not stolen.  He was taking a risk to deliver these funds to Jerusalem.

But he knew that this was part of his calling as an apostle.  He knew that he was called to facilitate generosity.  He knew he was called to help these congregations stay in touch with each other and work together.  He knew that he was called to build relationships between both Jew and Gentile.  Bringing this offering would help do exactly that, and at this particular point and time, building those relationships was more important than traveling to Rome and then to Spain.

Remember, in the ancient world, Jews and Gentiles oftentimes did not get along.  Before the start of Christianity, Jews and Gentiles kept separate.  They did not associate with each other.  Oftentimes, there was animosity between these two groups.  Yet, Paul knows that through the Gospel, these two groups have now been brought together in Jesus Christ.  In fact, the Gentiles now owe their salvation to the fact that the Messiah came through the Jewish people.  Paul says that in this regard, the Gentiles owe the Jews a debt.  The Gentiles are actually repaying part of this debt through this generosity.

Perhaps it is good to take a moment to think about this in light of the fact that today we celebrate the Women’s Thankoffering.  This tradition “goes back to the 1800s or even earlier. Then, when it seemed that there was not enough money to carry out the work of the church, the women would take action. Gathering in groups called “cent” or
“mite” societies, each woman would set aside offerings at home throughout the year, in thanksgiving for blessings received. And on occasion, the women would come together as we do today, joining their offerings together to support ministry of many kinds.” (ELCA Thankoffering service)

This tradition is rooted and grounded in remembering what God has first done for us.  It is rooted and grounded in the fact that Jesus canceled our debt of sin and offered his life in payment for our sins.  Christian generosity flows from a heart that is deeply moved by Christ’s sacrifice.  For a Christian, our financial plans are disrupted by God’s generosity toward us.  When we understand the Gospel, we cannot help but respond in generous giving toward the church and toward the world.  We cannot help but want to share with others our treasures.  Jesus’ love poured out on the cross leads us to pour out our love upon others.  Our offerings, the Women’s Thankoffering, the giving of the Gentiles toward the poor saints in Jerusalem are all examples of our love for God.  We don’t give because we are required or compelled.  We give because of a deep seated gratitude for what God has done for us.

Paul reminds the church in Rome of this as an explanation of why this ministry is so important and why he will be delayed even further from visiting them.  And then Paul asks for prayer.  And I want you to notice something very peculiar about what Paul asks for.  Paul asks for three things: 1) that he may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea.  2) That the offerings he is bringing from the Gentile churches might be acceptable to the Jewish saints in Jerusalem.  And 3) That he might finally be able to make it to Rome and be refreshed by their company.  Now, the reason I asked you to look at those prayer requests carefully is this: does it sound like there is a bit of uncertainty in Paul when he asks these things?  I mean, why would you pray that you might be rescued from unbelievers?  You pray this because there is a good possibility that you will be harmed by unbelievers!  God’s plan is leading Paul into dangerous territory!! 

Why would you pray that the offering that you are bringing be found acceptable by those who are receiving it?  Well, because there is a chance that the offering might be rejected!  This might sound far-fetched to us today, but in that time, it was not.  Jews were not always open to accepting offerings that came from Gentiles.  They might have been gotten by impure means.  The coins might have been used at one time for temple sacrifices.  The coins might be bearing the image and likeness of Caesar.  These were all things that were unacceptable to Jews, and even though some Jews had converted to Christianity, these things were still roadblocks to many.  There was a possibility that the Jews would reject the offering!!!  God’s plan has some uncertainty in it!!

Finally, why would Paul pray that he might finally get to Rome and visit?  Well, there was a possibility that it wouldn’t happen after all, that’s why!!  As God’s plan continued to unfold for Paul; as the Spirit led Paul in his work, it could very well lead him away from Rome again!  There was still much uncertainty in the air!!

What does this all mean for you and for me? 

I think that oftentimes we believe that a life of faith brings absolute security and safety.  I think that oftentimes we are led to believe that if I just pray enough; if I just believe enough; if I just give enough; then everything will work out according to the way I see it.  Life will run smoothly.  There will be no hiccups.  There will be no detours.  Everything will be good.

This is not what we see happening in the least in Scripture.  This is not what we see happening in the least when we see what Paul reveals to us about his life in this text.  In fact, we see quite a bit of uncertainty.  We see quite a bit of wonder about what the future holds.  We see potential pit falls.  We see potential danger.  We see that living out God’s plan–living with the Spirit leading us–takes us to places we might not want to go.  It causes us to do things that we wouldn’t normally want to do.  It causes us to take risks we normally wouldn’t want to take.  Who would want to face persecution by unbelievers?  Who would want to potentially have their ministry rejected?  Who would want to think that they wouldn’t be able to travel to a place they wanted to go?  We like to have certainty.

But in living a life of faith, there is no certainty in the journey.  There is only certainty in the destination.  Let me say that again.  When living a life of faith, there is no certainty in the journey.  There is only certainty in the destination.  God has a plan.  We don’t know what that plan is, but in the end it will be good.  In fact, it will be more fantastic than we could ever imagine.  And to hold firm to this, we need to hold firm to our trust in Jesus.

For in Jesus, we see that a life of faith does not always lead us to the best of times.  In fact, in Jesus, we see a life that leads us to the cross.  We see a life that leads to self-sacrifice.  We see a life that leads to pain and even death. If we as Christians are molded into the image and likeness of Jesus, we can expect nothing less in our lives as well.  We can expect nothing less than pain and sorrow and death in our lives as well.

But fortunately, the story does not end with death.  The story ends with resurrection.  The story ends with all evil being reversed. The story ends in triumph.  The glory comes after the cross.  The joy comes after the sorrow.  The light shines after the darkness.  The ending is good. 

Paul trusted in that ending.  For his final prayer lifts this up.  “33The God of peace be with all of you. Amen.”  The God of peace.  Not peace in a calm, tranquil life.  But peace in God.  Peace in one’s heart.  Peace in knowing that no matter what happens and befalls you; no matter that you are knocked away from your wishes and desires and outcomes; no matter that you face pain and sorrow and grief; that God is at work in our lives.  God is at work to bring us to the fullness of faith.  God is at work to bring transformation and joy.  God is at work to bring His plan to fruition–a plan that wildly exceeds our greatest dreams–a plan to make us into His image and likeness.  No matter what troubles befall you, rest your hope in Jesus.  He has a plan for your life, and it is good.  Amen.

Your Offerings are Worthless!!

    As I begin, I can’t help but wonder how many folks looked at the sermon title this morning and then thought to themselves, “Well, I might as well just put my offering envelope up and save the money I was going to give to the church this morning.  How dare anyone put such a title as their sermon?”  Before you actually void or tear up that check or put that cash back into your pocket, I hope you will bear with me as we work our way through my sermon this morning.  Perhaps you will understand and then, at the end, be even more willing to give than before.

    Just over 100 years ago, philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche helped lay the groundwork for many of the ways our current culture acts.  I can hear a few of you moaning in your heads right now. “Pastor’s going to get all philosophical and stuff.  We will never be able to understand this stuff.  We might as well go to sleep right now.”  Believe me, I understand.  You see, they didn’t have a Nietzsche for dummies book, so I actually had to wade through some of his writings.  More than a few times, my eyelids had to work double time to stay open!!

    But that is not the point.  The point is much more important, one that I hopefully can give you some time to ponder.  For you have undoubtedly run across more than one of the consequences of what Nietzsche taught.  You have undoubtedly encountered someone who adheres to at least part of his philosophical system.  You have undoubtedly run across someone who says, “There is no absolute truth.  What is true for you is true for you, but it’s not true for me.  That is just your opinion because no one can really know the truth.”  You see, Nietzsche proposed that there is no such thing as absolute truth.  He proposed that since there is no absolute truth, the concept of the ideal is irrational.  There is no such thing as justice.  There is no such thing as ultimate kindness.  There is no such thing as good.  There is no such thing as evil.  It is all a matter of one’s perspective.  Therefore, if something works for me and is good for me, then I can continue to pursue it–because it is good for me.  That it might be bad for you is only a matter of perspective, and it shouldn’t really matter too much to me because there is no ultimate judge of right or wrong.

    Are you with me so far?  I hope so.  I hope you haven’t gotten too lost because the next part is pretty crucial.  If there is no right and no wrong, what then is our motivation for doing things?  Why do we engage in the things we do or think the things we think?  Nietzsche offered up this thought: it is all about power.  It is all about how we obtain what we want.  It’s all about how we further our own position and basically survive in this world.  It’s all about our own self interest, making our self more powerful and ultimately, putting ourselves in the most advantageous position possible.  Chew on this for just a second.  I mean, really chew on this.  Without any sort of transcendence; without any sense of something beyond ourselves; it leads us directly to relativism–no right and no wrong and unbounded self-interest.  Do you see how our society today has been impacted by Nietzsche?  Do you see how such things infest our culture?  If you need any further evidence, I point to this past political cycle and the fallout from this past Tuesday’s election.  Have you noticed all the spin put on the results?  Each side is trying to manipulate what happened to its own advantage with the goal of obtaining more and more power to accomplish its own agenda.  Nietzsche nailed it.

    There is a bit of a quibble I have with Nietzsche; however.  Nietzsche was famous for stating that “God is dead,” and it was from this starting point–the lack of anything transcendent–that he arrived at the conclusion that everything was all about power and self-interest.  I personally don’t believe you need to get rid of God for folks to continue to act in their own self-interest and to engage in all sorts of power plays.  Even if one believes there is a God, that person can still do exactly what Nietzsche proposes and try to manipulate things to his or her own advantage.  What do I mean by that?

    Let’s take a quick walk through our Old Testament reading this morning from the book of Amos.  Here’s a little background.  Amos was a prophet who was called from shepherding to confront the injustice in Israel.  Much like our own situation, the rich were getting richer.  The poor were getting poorer.  But unlike our situation, there were no programs, no initiatives to help the poor and the needy.  They were basically on their own, and they were suffering.  The poor were suffering badly.

    And Amos holds nothing back.  He brings the Word of the Lord with conviction and with words that proved very, very unpopular.  “Alas for you who desire the day of the Lord!  Why do you want the day of the Lord?  It is darkness, not light; 19 as if someone fled from a lion, and was met by a bear; or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall, and was bitten by a snake.  20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?  21 I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.  22 Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings, I will not accept them; and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals I will not look upon.  23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not listen to the melody of your harps.”

    Let’s work our way through these verses.  I will come back to the day of the Lord stuff momentarily because it is important.  But before I do that, let’s concentrate on what Amos says about the peoples’ offerings and their worship.  See, my sermon title doesn’t come from me: it comes directly from Amos.  The Lord says, “I hate your festivals.  I will not accept your offerings–they are worthless.  I do not want to hear your worship.”  Why?  Why is God saying such things?  Some point to the next verse to bring it all to a close.  God doesn’t want offerings.  God doesn’t want worship.  God doesn’t want festivals and assemblies.  Instead God wants justice to flow like a mighty water and righteousness to flow like an ever flowing stream.  This is what really counts.  This what is really important.  So, go out and do justice.  Go out and make righteousness happen.  Sermon is over.  Be happy it is shorter than normal!  (Psyche!)

    Let’s re-think this for a moment.  Because God commanded festivals and solemn assemblies in the Law.  God commanded the people to bring Him offerings.  The Law is explicit about this too.  God also commanded the people to worship Him.  These are things that God wants!!  So why is He rejecting them?  Why does He say He hates them?

    Let me illustrate it this way. I remember vividly growing up as a kid.  More than once I heard one of my friends say, “It doesn’t matter that I am going out drinking this weekend.  I’m going to go to confession, and it will all be forgiven.”  Or, “It doesn’t matter if I’m having sex with this girl.  I’m going to confession, and it will be forgiven.”  Hearing folks say this always bugged me.  It didn’t seem right.  And it’s not.  Why?

    This is why: because by doing the rites and rituals, the folks who said this believed they were making a claim on God.  They believed that if they just did the proper things–offered the appropriate worship; offerings; or confessions, then God would have to forgive them.  Essentially, they were saying, “God, I know you really don’t want me to do those other things, but you said I would be forgiven if I did x, y, and z. I’ve done x, y, and z, so you cannot be mad at me.  You cannot punish me.  I’ve jumped through your hoops, so you have to forgive me.” 

    Let me stop for just a second and see if you can see how this is a power play.  Can you see how this serves a person’s self interest?  Can you see how this is ultimately about getting the better of God?  Can you see how this is not focused upon God and what God wants but is focused upon what I want and how I can obtain what I want without any consequences? 

    And this stuff was going on long before Nietzsche penned his works.  It’s exactly what the Israelites were doing.  They were disobeying God’s law.  They were not letting justice flow like mighty waters.  They were not letting righteousness flow like ever flowing streams.  They were abusing and using the poor.  They were trampling them underfoot and destroying them.  They were padding their bank accounts at the expense of others and laughing at how blessed they were.  And then they would go to the temple and offer their sacrifices.  They would chant their prayers.  They would sing their songs.  They would make their offerings convinced they had done their duty and God would love them and bless them because they had given God what He wanted.  They’d satisfied Him by their worship and offerings and sacrifices.  They were good to go.  They’d done their duty.

    And God says, “I hate, I despise your assemblies.  I hate, I despise your offerings and do not accept them.  I hate, I despise your singing and your worship.”  Why?  Because the people are trying to make a power play on God.  They are trying to have their cake and eat it too.  They are thinking that by worship and sacrifice and offering, they can excuse their behavior even though they know it’s wrong. 

    And they are looking forward to the Day of the Lord–yes, the day when God comes to restore everything to the way it should be and justice will be meted out.  They are looking forward to this day thinking they will have a grand time because they’ve worshiped; they’ve put their money in the plate; they should be good to go.  But God says, “Think again.  You have not even come close to satisfying my demands.  You have only and have ever only looked out for yourself.  My wrath will burn against you.  Why do you want the Day of the Lord.  It will be darkness not light!”

    Scary stuff.  Very scary stuff.  And so, what do we do about this?  Do we stop here and think, “Wow!  I hear what Amos is saying.  Our offerings; our worship; our singing; all of it is for naught.  We need to stop this stuff right now, and we need to go out and do justice.  We need to work for righteousness.  We need to throw ourselves into these things because the Lord demands this of us.”

    Stop right there.  Stop right there and think about where you are headed with this train of thought.  For if you think that you will satisfy God by doing justice and making righteousness flow like an ever flowing stream, what are you doing?  Or better yet, why are you doing it?  If you are scared that your offerings aren’t satisfying God and that you need to throw yourself at doing justice because that is what God requires, then I’d submit to you that you are attempting your own power play.  You are attempting to satisfy God with your actions once again and save yourself from the coming wrath.  You are not focused on God, you are once again focused on yourself and your own best interests.  I’m doing what God commands because I don’t want to face the darkness on the day of the Lord.  We are right back to Nietzsche. 

    Can anything break us out of this self-centeredness?  Can anything get us away from focusing on ourselves? 

    How about this?

    For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son so that all who believe in Him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world may be saved through Him.

    You knew I was going to get to Jesus somehow.  At least I hope you knew I was going to get to Jesus.  For you see, Jesus is the one who acted completely the opposite of what Nietzsche proposed.  Instead of seeking His own self-interest; instead of seeking His own power; Jesus sought to fulfill the will of the Father.  Jesus sought complete obedience to the one He was equal to.  Jesus sought to become powerless even though He had access to absolute power.  And instead of kingdoms, Jesus found the cross where He endured the wrath meant for us.  He became the blameless offering and sacrifice to end all offerings and sacrifices.  There was no longer any need to offer sacrifices of atonement to get ourselves right with God.  All was accomplished by Jesus.

    And that completely changes things for us.  No longer do we have to worry about a power play
with God.  We do not have to seek to save ourselves and act with self interest.  We can seek God and His righteousness for His sake and not our own.  We can seek to let justice flow like a mighty water and righteousness flow like an ever flowing stream not because this is what God demands lest we be punished, but because we know it is something near and dear to God’s heart, and in thankfulness we wish to please the one who acted on our behalf.  We gladly lift up our voices in praise and worship not because it’s going to affect our salvation, but in joyful thanksgiving that our salvation has already been accomplished.  We give our offerings of time and talent and money not to satisfy the commandment, but to show our gratitude to the God who took on human flesh and died for us.  And we now await the coming Day of the Lord with joyful expectation.  We no longer have to save ourselves.  We no longer have to worry about whether or not we have done enough good; or worshiped enough; or gave enough.  Jesus already gave it all.  Amen.