A Higher Plan 1981

I'd like to begin in Genesis chapter 6 today. Genesis 6, 11. Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence.

And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make rooms in the ark and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it.

The length of the ark, 300 cubits. Its breadth, 50 cubits. Its height, 30 cubits.

Make a roof for the ark and finish it to a cubit above. And set the door of the ark in its side. Now, make it with lower, second, and third decks.

For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die, but I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of course it took Noah years and years and years to build that ark.

And to the people who came by every day, and to the people who came for miles around to see the spectacle of a giant ship taking shape on dry land without an ocean for miles around. It was the most absurd thing they had ever seen. Now, these people who laughed at Noah and who sprayed graffiti all over the side of his boat.

Where's the ocean? Give me some water. These people had their plans. They were planning their banquets and their weddings.

They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Noah had his plan. Well, it wasn't really his plan.

It was a higher plan handed down to him. And for the longest time, it appeared that the plans of Noah's detractors were the ones and the only ones that made any sense. After all, what is there to do but to eat and drink and marry and give in marriage? Then the rain began to fall.

The floods came. The waters rose. Now, the only plan that made any sense at all was the plan of crazy Noah and his crazy family.

There will be no more flood. But we are living in an age that's moving toward a crisis every bit as devastating as the flood. And to be able to make any sense out of what's going on at this hour and to be able to keep our sanity and our very souls in the days that lie ahead, it's essential that we have a plan as solid as Noah's Ark, a plan that will continue to float and stay alive even when the floods of another kind begin to descend.

One of Satan's favorite tricks for getting us to misuse Scripture is to inspire us to use Scripture as a justification for living our lives without any plan at all. For instance, Jesus says, take no thought for the morrow. Don't be anxious.

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. But how easy it is for us to take that blazing gem of kingdom truth and put a twist on it so that now we use that as a rationale for a life that just simply drifts. No planning.

No diligence in the way we use our time or our resources. Take no thought for the morrow. The man, for instance, in Jesus' parable who got the one talent and buries it in the ground could have said, I'm living by faith.

I'm taking no thought for the morrow. I'm not going to be anxious. And he could have pointed to the man who took five talents and started trading with them and said, see that guy over there? He's in the flesh.

Look at him hustle and bustle. He's just like Martha in the kitchen. I'm like Mary sitting quietly at Jesus' feet.

But when the master comes back, this man is going to have to give an account of himself. And although he sits there with his talent buried there on the ground under his feet, it's not going to work for him to say, master, I live by faith. I took it a day at a time.

Nowhere in our Lord's teachings does he ever encourage us to live without a plan. Our Lord's teachings and all through scripture call for the servant of God to have some clear idea of which way he's going, what she's trying to do, how it's going to be accomplished. For instance, Luke 14.

For which of you desiring to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it. Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock and say, this man began to build but was not able to finish. Or Proverbs 6. Go to the aunt, O sluggard, and consider her ways and be wise.

Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her food in the summer and gathers her sustenance in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond and want like an armed man. Ephesians 5. Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the most of the time because the days are evil.

Look ahead. Be diligent. Make the most of the time.

You could say that there are two kinds of people in this world. The drifters and the people with a plan. To follow Jesus is never to be a drifter, just sailing along the easiest way, being irresponsible.

But just because we have a plan obviously doesn't make us Christians. There are lots of people who have a plan. Satan has a plan.

The Nazis have a plan. The Marxists have a plan. The oil companies have a plan.

Every false prophet on earth has a plan. You could say that there are two kinds of people with a plan. The people who have their plan and the people who fit into God's plan.

Levi is sitting at the tax office. He's doing very well for himself because he's a man with a plan. He knows where he's going.

Then Jesus calls him and immediately Levi leaves his plan for a higher plan. Peter was fishing all night long, didn't catch a thing. But he's not all bent out of shape because he's a man with a plan.

He knows where he's going. He can take a few things like that. Then Jesus says to him, from now on you're going to be catching men.

And Peter leaves his plan for a higher plan. Now Jesus calls this higher plan the kingdom of God. It's a thing that God decided and planned before the worlds were made.

It's a thing that is at this instant being worked out by God and it will be brought to its completion. It's a thing of which Noah's Ark was one of the earliest signs. The gospel which Jesus proclaimed and which he fulfilled with his death and resurrection is the ultimate ark for the ultimate flood.

We don't have to build this ark. It's already built. All we have to do is get into it.

The red rain is soon going to fall. So the Lord stands in the doorway of this ark and says, come in before the fire falls. So how do we get into this ark? We get into the ark which Jesus built with his death and resurrection first of all by believing with all our heart, soul, strength and mind that God's plan is the only plan that makes sense.

From Matthew 13 the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who in finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Now as long as we believe in our hearts that our plan apart from God is also worth pursuing we'll never enter into God's plan. Never. We'll dance around the outside we'll think about it and we'll pretend we're doing it but we won't.

It's not until we are absolutely convinced or have decided with all our heart that the only plan that's going to work is his plan. The only plan that's worth losing everything including our own life to get is his plan that we'll enter the kingdom of God. The man in his parable who sold everything he had to get the field with the treasure was convinced that that was the one way to go and it wasn't a sad occasion he didn't cry when he sold off all his assets he was glad it was the most joyful moment of his life when he decided I'm going to get rid of everything and I'm going to get that field.

The decision which has to be settled inside our hearts is do we really believe that God's plan is better than ours? And are we willing to lose everything we have even our own life to get it? To enter into the ark which Jesus built for us with his own death and resurrection is to move from our plan into God's plan every single day. And the process of moving from our plan to God's plan each day is called prayer. It's turning the mind and the spirit and the body away from everything toward God and saying I put myself once more, oh God into your hands to fulfill your purpose in this place where you put me this day.

The passage which Velma read from Romans 12 1 I appeal to you therefore, brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy, acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship and don't be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you can see God's plan that you may be able to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. So we present our bodies daily as a living sacrifice and we turn our minds daily away from this world to God's world. Even though we're still in this world we have things we have to do in this world but we concentrate on God's world and as we do this we begin to see the purpose of God not off in the sky and not somewhere down the road five years ahead but right where we are.

We begin to see the purpose of God as it manifests itself in our daily work in our relationship with our mate our child our enemy in terms of our disappointments our pain our loneliness our frustrations we begin to see that in all these things God is at work manifesting his kingdom showing us what he wants us to do and it's a matter constantly of simply saying I turn it over to you again, Lord I put myself into this situation in your name to fulfill your purpose in this place this day. Finally to get from where we are into the ark which Jesus built with his own death and resurrection is to be responsible with this vision of the kingdom we already have. Maybe it's not totally clear but we have enough light and we're responsible for what we do with that light not to sit there and dream but to begin to act on the insight we have do something Ephesians 5 See then look carefully how you walk not as unwise men but as wise making the most of the time because the days are evil it's exactly what Noah did he was careful how he walked he made the most of the time by building the ark and in building the ark he was proclaiming the kingdom of God we proclaim the kingdom of God by proclaiming Jesus crucified and risen as Lord of this earth now he is the ark now there are people God has put into our lives for whom he has made us responsible I mean we're to care about these people we're to serve them part of God's plan is that we see to it that these people come into the ark if they're at all willing and what happens with us is that we begin to get tired of these people that God put into our lives oh God how about giving me another batch give me somebody else I'm tired of these people give me something fresh and the Lord says do you love me? feed my sheep these people that I've given you are my sheep feed them watch over them serve them carefully get them into the ark so we have three choices no plan our plan God's plan to follow Jesus is to believe that Jesus is central to God's plan he is the way the truth and the life no one comes to the father but by him may God help us to move from our plan if we have any at all to God's plan every day God help us to get into the ark and get others into the ark before the red rain begins to fall let's take some time in silence and then I'll get us going in prayer Lord God you know that one of the weaknesses of many of our lives and one of the weaknesses obviously of our our flock our life together is that we shy away from flames we don't like to be pinned down help us Lord God to see the changes that we need to make personally and corporately that we may be far more responsible and far more effective at fulfilling the purpose of your kingdom than we've been in the past Lord God if we're truly dead to ourselves surely that must mean that we won't be worried about getting pinned down but show us how that works out help us to find a way to do it and help us with all our fears that come with us the minute we begin to even think of such things help us Lord God this day by your spirit we ask it in Jesus name