LETTING GOD BE GOD
Getting to Know God - Part 6 of 8 06-19-11 Sermon
I Chronicles 29:11
Well, happy Father’s Day!
A first grader asked his mother why Dad brought home a briefcase full of material from work each night. She explained that he had so much work to do that he couldn’t get it all done at the office. The youngster pondered this for a while and then asked, Then why don’t they put him in a slower group?
A father stopped in the grocery store to pick up a couple things for his wife. He wandered around aimlessly for a while searching for the needed items. As is often the case, he kept passing a particular shopper in almost every aisle. It was another father trying to shop with a totally uncooperative 3 year old boy in the cart.
The first time they passed, the 3 year old was asking over and over for a candy bar. The observer did not hear the entire conversation, he just heard Dad say, now, Billy, this won’t take long. As they passed in the next aisle, the 3 year old’s pleas had increased several octaves. Now Dad was quietly saying, Billy, just calm down. We will be done in a minute.
When they passed near the dairy case, the kid was screaming uncontrollably. Dad was still keeping his cool. In a low voice he was saying, Billy, settle down, We are almost out of here. The Dad and his son reached the check-out counter just ahead of the observer. The Dad still gave no evidence of losing control. The boy was screaming and kicking. Dad was very calmly saying over and over, Billy, we will be in the car in just a minute and then everything will be OK.
The bystander was impressed beyond words. After paying for his groceries, he hurried to catch up with this amazing example of patience and self-control just in time to hear him say again, Billy, we’re done. It’s going to be OK. He tapped the patient father on the shoulder and said, Sir, I couldn’t help but watch how you handled little Billy. You were amazing!”
The Dad replied, His name is Wesley. I’m Billy!
Today I want us to look at God's Sovereignty. In I Chronicles 29:11 David prays: "Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything." Sovereignty simply means that God is in control. He's in control of everything because He created everything. He's in control. He created nature. He sustains nature. When He wants to overrule it and do a miracle, He overrules it. It's His prerogative. God is in control of history. The Bible says everything is moving toward a focus, that there is a plan, a purpose, a climax that history is moving toward.
God is in control of our lives. Scripture says that God's sovereignty decided when you were going to be born. And God decided already how long you are going to live. The Bible says God has decided already which natural abilities and gifts you were going to have. You didn't deserve or earn them. You were not just born with certain talents. God gave them to you in His sovereignty.
If God is in control of everything, do I even have a choice? Is there really any freedom? Yes, there is freedom. But it is limited. There are boundaries, parameters which you cannot go beyond. You do not have total freedom. Because you're a human being you have freedom of choice, but it's not totally free. It's like you were to play a chess game with God. You would have the freedom to make many, many different moves in that game. But since you are playing God there would never be any doubt as to who would be the winner -- because He knows the game a little bit better than you do. Or you were to get on an ocean liner and you were to go to China. While you're on the trip you could get on the first deck, the second deck, or the third deck. You could watch movies, sleep, eat food, play shuffleboard, swim. You could do many different things -- lots of freedom on the boat but there is nothing you could do that would alter the ultimate destination of that ocean liner.
The Bible says God gives you freedom to choose the way you want to live, the way you want to act, but once you make those choices you are no longer free. You are not free to choose the consequences. God says if you do certain things then certain things are going to be the result. You reap what you sow. If you do A then B is going to result in your life. Because God is in control.
I want us to take this idea -- that God is in control -- and talk about three practical ways this applies to your life. How does it make an impact on my life that He is in control? Let's look at your plans, your problems, and your prayers.
I. MY PLANS
The Bible says that since God is in control, my plans have a limit. There is a limitation. They are tentative. You've heard the phrase, "The sky's the limit" but the fact is the sky isn't the limit. God is. He decides what are the limitations in your life.
Proverbs 19:21 "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 16:1 (Good News) "We may make our plans, but God has the last word." Circle "God has the last word". Have you discovered that things do not always go the way you planned them? At best your plans are tentative because you can't see ahead. You make plans but they really are changeable. Many times God has a better idea. How many of you did not marry the first person you intended to marry? How many of you didn’t go into the first career you intended to go into? God changed your plans.
There was a time in my life that my first plan was to be a computer scientist. I never wanted to be a pastor. But God changed my plans. Then I wasn’t going to be a solo pastor I was going to be an associate pastor on a large church staff. But God changed my plans. Then I wasn’t ever going to be a pastor in Philadelphia. But God changed my plans, and I can testify that God’s plans were better than my plans. We need to be tentative in our plans. We need to be flexible in our plans. Now I’ve been telling God that I never want to go to Hawaii!
There’s a wrong attitude we can have: Presumption. When I say, “I don't need God and I can figure it all out. I know exactly what I'm going to do. I'm not going to pray about anything." I just assume that everything is going to go the way it's intended to go, that's presumption. The Bible says that since life is uncertain we should not presume on it. James 4:13-15 "Now listen, you who say `Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make money. Why, you don't even know what will happen tomorrow! Instead, you ought to say, `If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'" It's OK to make plans as long as you understand that they are tentative. A mature person makes his plans flexible. Some people make plans and if anything varies in the plan they get an ulcer. Mature faith is changeable. I make plans but I realize ultimately God calls the shots in my life.
The Right Attitude: Cooperation. I include God in my goal setting. How? You pray. Anything without prayer is presumption. Instead of saying, "God, I want You to bless what I'm doing" we should say, "God, help me to do what You're blessing." People used to write at the end of letters "DV" which stands for Deo Vilente -- "God Willing." "I'm going to come see you, Lord willing. I realize that ultimately my plans may be changed." That's the right attitude. Proverbs 16:9 (Living Bible) "We should make plans counting on God to direct us." That's cooperation. Make plans but realize they are tentative. God, what do You want me to do? Pray about your plans. Ask Him for wisdom.
Since God is in control my plans have a limit. What about my problems?
II. MY PROBLEMS HAVE A PURPOSE
I Peter 1:6-7 (Phillips) "At present, you may be temporarily harassed by all kinds of trials. This is no accident [circle this -- It is not an accident, the problems that you're facing.] It happens to prove your faith which is infinitely more valuable than gold." He's saying that life is not a series of random events that have no meaning. If you are a child of God, nothing can come into your life without the heavenly father's permission. Nothing. Because God is in control. Everything that happens to you is Father-filtered. It's not an accident these problems that you've had.
I am not saying that everything that happens is God's will. It isn't. There are many things that happen in life that are not God's will. Sin is not God's will. Someone get's cancer -- "Must be God's will". Who said? Someone's in an accident and dies -- "Must be God's will". Who said? We are to pray "Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven" because God's will is not always done. I'm not saying that everything is God's will or that He causes everything. He doesn't. He doesn't cause sin. He doesn't even cause all your problems. He doesn't have to. You bring enough problems on yourself. And other people bring enough problems on to you. He doesn't have to cause problems in your life.
What I am saying is this: God allows problems; He permits problems. And then He uses them for a greater purpose. God is a pro at turning bad things into good things. He's the expert at taking problems and bringing the greater purpose out of them. God could have kept Paul out of prison at Philippi, but He let him go to prison. He allowed it. As a result the jailer became a Christian. God could have had Pharaoh say Yes when Moses said, "Let my people go" but instead He let him say No so He could do all of His miracles and the ten plagues to show that he was more powerful than the gods of Egypt. God could have kept Jesus from going to the cross, and not have the crucifixion. But He allowed the crucifixion so He could do a resurrection. God allows problems in your life. He doesn't have to cause them. We cause them. We bring them on ourselves and other people cause them. Don't blame God for all the evil in the world. He allows it and then He brings it into focus to help us.
A young boy watched as his father walked into the living room. The boy noticed that his younger brother, John, began to cower slightly as his father entered. The older boy sensed that John had done something wrong. Then he saw from a distance what his brother had done. The younger boy had opened his father’s brand new hymnal and scribbled all over the first page with a pen.
Staring at their father fearfully, both boys waited for John’s punishment. The father picked up his prized hymnal, looked at it carefully and then sat down, without saying a word. Books were precious to him; he was a minister with several academic degrees. For him, books were knowledge.
What the father did next was remarkable. Instead of punishing his brother, instead of scolding or yelling, his father took the pen from the little boy’s hand, and then wrote in the book himself, alongside the scribbles that John had made. Here is what the father wrote: John’s work, 1959, age 2. How many times have I looked into your beautiful face and into your warm, alert eyes looking up at me and thanked God for the one who has now scribbled in my new hymnal. You have made the book sacred, as have your brother and sister for so much of my life.
Even when we do bad things and bring problems on ourselves, God loves us and turns a negative into a positive.
Because God is in control my plans have a limit and my problems have a purpose. If that is true, and it is, then how should I respond to my problems knowing that every problem has a purpose behind it and that God hasn't caused it but has permitted it for a reason?
Examples:
Job. Job was the wealthiest man in the world and he lost it all overnight. He went bankrupt and all of his family was killed except his nagging wife. Then he got a dreaded disease and he's miserable. Even Satan couldn't get at Job without God's permission. Satan had to come to God and say, "Can I do this to Job?" and God said, "You can do this and no further." Satan can’t get at your life without God's permission. There are not two god's of equal authority. Satan is a created being like anything else. There is only one God and even Satan has to do what God says. He only allows him here for a short period of time to produce a race of tested individuals and then he will be destroyed. If you lost everything the way Job did, how would you respond?
We read Job’s response in Job 1:21 "The Lord gave me everything I had, and they were His to take away [circle "they were His to take away"]. Blessed be the name of the Lord." Job says, Everything I have comes from God anyway. He gave it to me, He can take it all away. It is His right. The end of the story is that God later restored everything the devil had taken away, twice as much. Job was twice as wealthy, twice as many kids. [But he still had one nagging wife!] God is in control. If He wants to turn off a faucet He can turn it on elsewhere. You lose a job. Big deal! God can give you another one. Bankrupt? Big deal! God can turn it around. Because God is in control. He says "Blessed be the name of the Lord. He is in control." He is a good God and knows what He's doing.
Joseph is an example of how you handle it when people hurt you intentionally. Joseph was his father's favorite son. All of his brothers got very jealous. They decided to sell their brother into slavery. They told their father he had been killed by a beast. They sell him into slavery and he's taken to Egypt. He's sold as a slave in a man's house. The man's wife tries to seduce him. He won't give in so he's accused of rape. He's put in prison and he spends years in prison, dwindling away. I'm sure he was saying, "Where is God in all of this? What did I do to deserve this?" If I were Joseph I'd be saying, "Why me, God?" But he was exactly where God wanted him to be. God was in control and God was working through circumstances and situations. He didn't cause it but he allowed the brothers to sell him in to slavery. Later on, Joseph rose to a position of prominence in Egypt and there was a great famine. Because of his wisdom both Egypt and Israel were saved. Later he came face to face with the very brothers that tried to hurt him. Genesis 50:20, is one of the greatest verses in the Bible. Joseph says to his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good [circle that] to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives."
Some of you may be hurt right now by bosses, brothers, sisters, employees, by other people, even people in the church. They may mean it for bad but God means it for good. There may be people who are out to destroy you or maybe they don't like you and are trying to get your job. They mean it for bad but God is in control and He means it for good and He's got a purpose behind every problem.
What is the key to my response then? Look past the pain and try to find God's purpose behind the pain. Some things in life we're never going to know. Why do people die at a certain time? I don't know! We all die eventually. Why now? I don't know! But God has a plan and God is a good God. He's in control. Look past the pain. 2 Cor. 4:16-17 (Phillips) "This is the reason we never lose heart. These troubles (which are temporary) are winning for us a permanent, glorious, and solid reward out of proportion to our pain." God says the temporary problems you are going through right now are minor compared to the reward you're going to be given on the other side for how you handled them. In the very next verse Paul says, "We don't look at the temporary problems we're going through. We keep our eyes on the eternal things. The things that really count. The things that matter." Look past the pain.
Your problems have a purpose. And your plans have a limit. What about your prayers?
III. BECAUSE GOD IS IN CONTROL MY PRAYERS HAVE AN IMPACT
They make a difference. They're worthwhile. It's not a waste of time to pray. Have you ever prayed and felt you were just blowing off steam. Is anybody really hearing this? Is this a waste of time? Are these words just bouncing off the ceiling? If God hears me will He ever answer? The devil whispers in your ear, "What a waste. Who do you think you're kidding? Prayer is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo. Futile! Worthless! Unproductive! Unprofitable! In vain! Irrelevant! What are you doing wasting your time praying?"
The Bible says because God is in control my prayers have an impact. Prayer works. Because God controls everything He has the ability to answer your prayers. If God were not sovereign then prayer would be a waste of time. Who wants to pray to a wimp? Who wants to pray to somebody who can't answer? Can you imagine coming in prayer to God, "I really need this change" and God answers, "I'd like to help you but I can't. I don't have the power to do it. It's not in My job description. I'm sorry! It frustrates Me as much as it does you, but I just can't do anything about it!" God never says, "That's too hard!"
Because He is sovereign then we can pray and it does make an impact. That's the basis of every miracle. God is in charge of everything so He can change things. He can overrule nature and He can heal somebody. He can make time last longer or make it rain or not make it rain, split the Red Sea, turn water into wine, raise people from the dead. He can do anything He wants to do that’s not contrary to his nature.
Ephesians 3:20 (Living Bible) "God is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes." You can pray the greatest prayer request you can ever imagine and God says, "I can top that!" Nothing is too hard, too big, because He is sovereign. He's in control. God says, "Think of the greatest prayer request, the wildest dream you can think of. That's nothing! I can go beyond that!" His resources are available.
The point is, prayer can do whatever God can do. Why don't we then take more advantage of it? It is not just mumbo-jumbo. It is tapping in to the resources of the entire universe. God's power. Over twenty times in the New Testament, the Bible says, "Ask." Ask, Seek, Knock. God says "I want you to ask. I'm in charge. I'm in control. Ask and I'll show you great and mighty things that you don't know. Let me blow your mind!" Prayer does have an impact.
It's encouraging to me that the things that are beyond my control are not beyond God's control. Isn't that good news? Some of you say, "My kids are out of my control!" They're not out of God's control. "My health is out of control! I can't do anything about it." It's not out of God's control. "My finances are falling apart. It's hopeless!" They're not out of God's control. “My marriage is out of control!” It’s not out of God’s control.
There is nothing beyond God's control. That means that in my present situation that I don't have any control over -- the job that I can't control, the decisions that are handed down from the hierarchy--I feel like a pawn in the middle of my job. Whatever you feel helpless in, Pray about it. God can control it. That is the power of prayer.
Let's apply this to your life in a practical way.
First, your plans. Do you include God in your plans? Which of these words best describe your attitude: presumption or cooperation. Do you make your plans about what you're going to do without even consulting God? Or do you get up in the morning and think, this is what I'll do today. Many Christians are practical atheists. They live as if God were not in control. That's why there is so much frustration in your life. When you check in with God and ask, "What is Your will for my life?" you understand and you ask God for wisdom, then life is so much smoother and satisfying and fulfilling instead of frustrating. Do you pray about your problems and plans or are you presumptuous?
2. Problems. Do you look for God's purpose in your problems or do you throw a pity party? Instead of asking "Why me?" ask "What do you want me to learn from this?" and maybe you won't actually see the purpose at this point. That might come later on. Maybe God just wants you to trust Him. He wants you to trust Him without question, to trust His goodness and graciousness and His control. If you lost everything, like Job, how would you respond? Would you have the maturity of faith to say, "The Lord gave. The Lord took away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. If He wants to restore it He can do it."
3. Prayers. Do you take advantage of the privilege of prayer? It's there and we don't even use it. Instead of complaining about that boss or that job, why don't you try praying about the job? Instead of worrying about your finances, why don't you try praying about your finances? You'll have a lot less to worry about. Instead of giving up on your marriage, why don't you pray about your marriage? The things that are beyond your control are not beyond God's control.
There is no attribute that is more comforting to the Christian than the attribute of God called His sovereignty. He is in control. Some of you are thinking your situation is a mess, totally falling apart and hopeless. How big do you think God is? He's big enough to handle your mess! You can't unscramble an egg but you can make an omelet. God knows how to turn bad into good, how to bring a purpose out of the problem. Don't waste your problems, give them to God.
When you're worried sick, you say "God is in control". When you're defeated, discouraged, fallen flat on your face and feel like a total failure, say, "God is in control!" When you're sick and flat on your back, you say, "God is in control!" When you're standing by the casket and wondering, "Why at this time?" you say "God is in control!" He's a good God and a great God. When you read the headlines about international chaos you say, "But God is in control!" When you face a problem that you cannot handle on your own and it's out of your control, God is in control.
The most intelligent, rational decision you will ever make is to say, "God, You are sovereign. I want to cooperate with that. I recognize that You have a right to call the shots in my life and I want to cooperate with that." You will find so much fulfillment, meaning, purpose, satisfaction. You'll find your niche and all of a sudden find "This is why I was created. This is why I'm here on earth." You're cooperating with the plan of God instead of fighting it. I invite you to do that today.
Prayer:
God is in control, whether you want to admit it or not, whether you think that is fair or not, whether you like it or not, He made you. He decided where you were born. He decided when you were born. He knows how long you're going to live. You can do nothing about that. He loves you and He's a good God. He doesn't take sovereignty and beat you over the head with it. He says this is the way to success, fulfillment, joy, purpose and meaning in life -- cooperate with My plan.
Would you pray these statements in your heart. "God, I admit I made a lot of plans and never consulted You. I know that's probably why I've had a lot of problems in my life. I was presuming rather than cooperating. I want to start planning my life, counting on You to direct me. I realize the problems in my life have a purpose." It doesn't matter whether you cause the problem yourself or the devil caused the problem or whether someone else caused the problem and you're a victim, God will use them all in your life. There's nothing you cannot learn from if you will respond in the right way.
Say, "God, help me to look past the pain and see Your purpose and what You want to teach me. Maybe You just want me to trust You more. Maybe You were just trying to get my attention." Some of you need to say, "Lord, I want to become a praying person. You've given us this resource of prayer and I hardly even use it. I want to commit myself to becoming a person of prayer daily and regularly. The things that are out of my control I want to turn them over to You because they're not beyond Your control and I'm grateful for that. I want to relax in that. When my plans change I want to be flexible because I know that You're in charge."
If you've never opened your life to Christ, do so today. Say, "Jesus Christ, come into my life and be the manager. Help me to see why I'm here on this earth. I want You to call the shots and direct me. Help me to find the purpose for which You've made me. I ask You to save my life. I admit I've done wrong and I ask You to forgive me. Today, I commit myself to You."
Father, thank You that You are in charge. What a comfort that is. We look at the world and it's troubling to see chaos and yet we are glad that there is a grand design above it all. Even the problems that come into our lives are there by Your permission. Help us to learn that our plans have a limit, our problems have a purpose and our prayers have an impact because of You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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