What Can We Expect From God in 2008?
Introduction
A period of time has slipped away, one year marked on our calendars as the year 2007. 365 24 hour periods of time, working days, holidays, Sabbath days, errand running days, birthdays, hurried days, relaxed days, shopping days, family days, fishing days, 365 days in a year a few memorable most forgotten.
The duration of your life and my life is measured in hours, days, months, and years. I have lived 13,140 days and if I live to be 76 I have 14,600 days left to live.
Every day ordained for us before one of them came to be according to Psalm 139.
Charles Schultz, in a peanuts comic strip showed a conversation between Lucy and Charlie Brown. Lucy said that life is like a deck chair. Some place it so they can see where they are going; some place it so they can see where they have been; and some place it so they can see where they are at present. Charlie Brown's reply: "I can't even get mine unfolded."
And so we can relate to Moses when he prays in Psalm 90:12 "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." "Help us to use wisely all the time we have." "Teach us to realize the brevity of life that we might grow in wisdom."
Oh, how we need wisdom!!
We do not need wisdom on how to live according to God's principles. We need wisdom to desire to live according to God's principles.
Heavenly wisdom is not theoretical and practical how tos based on experience. Heavenly wisdom is a disposition.
The wisdom that God gives is as J.I Packer says " a disposition to confess that He is wise, and to cleave to Him and live for Him in the light of His word through thick and thin."
We all need as J.I Packer continues in his book "Knowing God"
"the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it.'
And so God, "Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
A New Year brings with it the opportunity for a fresh start. To get our chair unfolded so to speak. To again, make an attempt at a lifestyle change, to drop old habits and form new ones, to set new goals or recommit to the ones we didn't meet last year.
Here is the question I want to answer this morning: "What can we expect from God in 2008?"
The reason I feel we must answer this question at the start of 2008 is this:
Behavioral scientists have discovered that we usually see things that we are prepared to see. This is all centered in a network of nerve cells called the "Reticular Activating System." Everybody has this system.
The "Reticular Activating System." works like this: Once something has been brought to our attention, and we have been prepared to see it, we'll see it virtually everywhere we go.
For example, you decide to buy a new car. You make up your mind that you are going to buy a certain brand, a certain body style, and a certain color. Now, you'll see those cars everywhere. You'll see them on the roads, in TV advertisements, in newspapers and magazines. They're everywhere.
Now what has happened? They were always there, but the moment you were prepared to see them, your Reticular Activating System kicked in, and suddenly you saw them everywhere.
It happens in other areas of life, too. We see what we are prepared to see. If we are prepared to see doom & gloom this year, then that's what we'll see. If, on the other hand, we have prepared ourselves to see sunshine & opportunities, then that's what we are going to see.
My prayer for each of you and for myself in 2008 and in the number of days God chooses to give us, is that we will be prepared to see what God is doing in our lives and in joining Him in that we will see and make the most of every opportunity and gain a heart of wisdom, a disposition to confess that He is wise, and to cleave to Him and live for Him in the light of His word through thick and thin."
But here is the rub: For us to join God in what He wants to do in our lives in 2008 an easy life, or a more comfortable life cannot be our goal.
For our lives to be more manageable and risk-free cannot be our goal.
For us to have everything in our lives organized, quantified and controlled cannot be our goal.
What can we expect from God in 2008 that we can be prepared to see and adjust to?
How do we make sense of the hours of demanding training every day, the strict diet, the grueling travel schedule, the limited social life, and the many sacrifices of an Olympic athlete? The end they have in mind: An Olympic medal.
How do we make sense of or understand anyone's lifestyle. Let's say a businessman who travels 1000s of miles in a year spending weeks away from family, taking endless phone calls, responding to countless emails and attending 100s of meetings? The end he has in mind: more sales, more money, more recognition, early retirement maybe.
How do we understand the activity of God in our lives? What can we expect from God in 2008? We must know the end He has in mind for His children.
Here it is: Listen to Rom 8:28-29
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[a] who[b] have been called according to his purpose." 29For those God foreknew[Here it is, here is the end] he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
What these verse tell us is that what we can expect from God in 2008 is that He will use the circumstances, people and events we will experience to conform us to the image of His Son Jesus Christ.
To understand how this is possible we must understand the sovereignty of God.
Rom 11:33-36
33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
34 "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?"
35 "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"
36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Col 1:16-17
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
God is sovereign over everything and in Him everything holds together.
How are we to understand God's sovereignty within the context of our own lives?
I love the illustration A. W. Tozer uses to shed some light on this.
An ocean liner leaves New York bound for Liverpool. Its destination has been determined by proper authorities. Nothing can change it. This is at least a faint picture of sovereignty. On board the liner are scores of passengers. These are not in chains, neither are their activities determined for them by decree. They are completely free to move about as they will. They eat, sleep, play, lounge about on the deck, read, talk,
altogether as they please; but all the while the great liner is carrying them steadily onward toward a predetermined port. Both freedom and sovereignty are present here, and they do not contradict. So it is, I believe, with man's freedom and the sovereignty of God. The mighty liner of God's sovereign design keeps its steady course over the sea of history."
In our own lives God's sovereignty keeps its steady course in each circumstance and event in our lives. Always keeping us on course according to His plan and purpose for our lives.
Like a potter shaping a lump of clay. The end he has in mind that guides his hands is the image of a delicate vase.
God through the circumstances, people, and events in our lives is shaping our character and the end He has in mind that guides His hands is the image of His Son.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Sometimes as we look at life our view of things is so narrow. Within the narrowness of our thinking our problems are overwhelming and solutions seem complicated and impossible.
Sometimes our thinking becomes so narrow that all we see is our problems.
We need to have a broader view of life that includes and I would say that focuses on the reality of the spiritual.
God through our relationships is shaping in us a greater capacity to love.
Through the child that infuriates us God works in us patience, kindness, and self-control.
Through a spouse, a family member who is physically or mentally ill or struggling emotionally God works in us faithfulness and gentleness.
No opportunity is wasted. God allows tragedy in our lives and we are paralyzed with grief, the wound of loneliness raw and God brings to us greater depth and strength to our experience of peace and joy.
An unknown author wrote this poem.
He sat by the fire of seven-fold heat,
As He watched by the precious ore.
And closer He bent with a searching gaze
As He heated it more and more.
He knew He had ore that could stand the test
And He wanted the finest gold,
To mold as a crown for the King to wear,
Set with gems of price untold.
So He laid our gold in the burning fire,
Though we fain would have said Him, "Nay."
And He watched the dross that we had not seen,
As it melted and passed away.
And the gold grew brighter, and yet more bright
And our eyes were so dim with tears,
As we saw the fire, not the Master's hand,
And questioned with anxious fear.
Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,
As it mirrored a Form above
That bent o'er the fire, though unseen by us
With a look of infinite love.
Can we think that it pleases His loving heart
To cause a moment of pain?
Ah, no, but He saw through the present cross
The bliss of eternal gain.
So He waited there with a watchful eye,
With a love that is strong and sure,
And His gold did not suffer a bit more heat
Than was needed to make it pure!
Do you see what God is doing? Do you see what he wants to do?
Job 23:10 "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold."
Conclusion
A boy told his father, "Dad, if three frogs were sitting on a limb that hung over a pool, and one frog decided to jump off into the pool, how many frogs would be left on the limb?"
The dad replied, "Two."
"No," the son replied. "There's three frogs and one decides to jump, how many are left?"
The dad said, "Oh, I get it, if one decides to jump, the others would too. So there are none left."
The boy said, "No dad, the answer is three. The frog only DECIDED to jump."
Have you decided to follow Jesus and to pattern your life after Him? Is the end you have in mind to become like Him?
If it is the activities, the goals, the disciplines and the priorities in your life must reflect this.
Our goal is not comfort but Christ-like character.
In 2008 make it your goal to join God in what He is doing. The activities, the goals, the disciplines and the priorities of your life must have you drawing near to God that His will might be done in your life. That He might continue to conform you to the image of His Son.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Communion
In an article in Moody Monthly, Craig Massey told about being in a restaurant when he heard an angry father say to his 7 year old son, "What good are you?"
The boy, who had just spilled his milk, put his head down and said, "Nothing."
Years later, Massey said he was disgusted with his own son for a minor
infraction. He heard himself ask what he called "the cruelest question a father can ask." He said, "What are you good for anyway?" His son replied, "Nothing."
Immediately he regretted the question. As he thought about this, he realized that the question was all right but the answer was wrong.
A few days later when his son committed another minor offense, he asked, "What are you good for?" But before his son could reply, he hugged him and kissed him and said, "I'll tell you what you're good for. You're good for loving!" Before long, whenever he asked the question, his son would say, "I'm good for loving."
I'm sure you have done some reflecting on the past year and I'm sure there are memorable highlights and also maybe some regret and shame as you realize that far too often you relegated God to the margins of your life.
And the question comes to you mind, "What am I good for anyway?" and in our discouragement we answer "nothing."
When God looks at you He says: You are not perfect; You make mistakes; You do dumb things at times but you are good for loving.
There is no one else who loves us, who delights in us like God does, who has a plan for our lives and the power to bring to bring it about.
Communion reminds us again of this truth. There is no situation, there is no problem in which God's grace will not be sufficient for us.
Communion reminds us that when we sin we do not need to hide from God in shame and guilt. Jesus has paid the price for our sin, we are free and we are forgiven.
Communion reminds us that God is a God of second chances. He is the Father that waits by the road for us to come home.
Distribute Bread You are My King
Distribute Juice Above All
Offering during the song "Son of God."