September 30, 2007 Sermon Synopsis

“God’s Planss – Our Plans” Proverbs 16:1-3; Luke 14:27-33

What are your plans?
A young woman brought her fiancée home to meet her parents. After dinner, her father invited the young man out on the front porch for a chat."So, what are your plans?" The Father said."I don’t have anything definite," the young man replied, “but I have some ideas.”A little concerned, the father said, “How do you plan to support my daughter?”
“God will provide," the young man explained.
“Where will you live?” asked the father.
“I’m sure God will provide a place,” said the young man."And how will you afford to raise children?" The Father asked."God’s going to provide for all our needs," said the young man.The men went into the kitchen and the mother asked her husband, "How did it go?""I’m not sure; I like him. But he doesn’t seem to have any money or employment plans," the father said. "But on the other hand, he thinks I'm God."

God will provide, but we need to put in our part . . .

BEING A DISCIPLE OF JESUS IS NOT AN EASY THING
Becoming a Christian has no cost – by grace we are saved – but being a Christian comes at a great commitment.

The scripture tells us that a large crowd was following Jesus (Luke 14:25). How did he encourage them? How did Jesus build the confidence in those who began following him?
Did Jesus say – “It’s not that hard, all you have to do is show up.”
“Don’t worry; most of the work is done by others.”
“There’s really not that much to it.”

NO - He told them the truth about just how difficult it will be.
Jesus told them, “Anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27). Crosses were a fairly common sight in those days.

Being a Christian (follower of Jesus) is a commitment.

AFTER THE COMMITMENT, WE GET TO WORK
Building in God’s Kingdom: Jesus next example is about a building project.

Building is a conscious decision. The church and the Building Committee know that. It doesn’t just happen. We need to decide about the need to build, what to build and where to build. That’s just a few of the thousands of decisions that need to be made in a building project.

The first decision needs to be for Jesus. I had the children sing “The wise man built his house upon the rock.” We need to build on the Rock of Jesus. That’s important!

I had some cardboard blocks and asked the children to construct a tower.

The first time I handed each child a block and asked them to put it on the tower construction. It didn’t work out too well; the tower fell over. We all laughed. We had great resources, but no planning and no coordinated effort.

For the next attempt each child received a block and they were told to build a tower. At the count of three they all started building. The tower construction never really advanced at all. We had a good laugh. Again, we had great resources, good intentions, but no plan.

The third time each child had a block. I directed the project. Those with the larger ones place them to build a base. Each larger block was added to build a strong tower. We had great resources, good intentions, a plan and directions. We also had a tower, nothing to laugh at.

Jesus told a story about building a tower.
Suppose one of you (a follower) wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’

Jesus wants his disciples to do things (like build a tower), but we need to have a plan. Where can we find our plan? God has a plan for this world; sometimes we call it God’s will. Our plans must conform to God’s plan.

The Bible has a really disastrous story about those who wanted to build a tower outside of God’s will in Genesis 11 (Tower of Babel). We need to do much better than that.

When we do things we need to prepare and “count the cost.” We need to realize that it is God’s work, not my work.

WE NEED TO SETTLE CONFLICTS (AND DIFFICULTIES) AS WE SEE THEM COMING

I pointed to the congregation and told the children that these people wanted to take our blocks. What should we do? There were a number of responses: defend our blocks! Hide our blocks! Fight to keep our blocks!

Unfortunately, the odds of keeping our blocks didn’t look very good. These people were much larger than us, and there were lots more of them.

What do you think God wants us to do with our blocks? Maybe we should share our blocks and work together.

Jesus told another story about two kings. (I’m sure he wasn’t talking about any of the Kings we know)
Suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace.

Jesus wants his disciples (followers) to be at peace with each other. Our human nature is to conquer and take what we want. In a conflict, there is usually only one winner. Jesus wants us to be at peace with each other, there’s no other way to follow Jesus.

CONCLUSIONS
Following Jesus is a conscious decision (like building and making major decisions)
It is the first decision we need to make in our Christian lives – we cannot build a life unless we are on the foundation of Jesus.

Step 1 - Proverbs 16:3 tell us to “Commit to the Lord whatever you do.” We need to commit our lives, our desires, our plans – everything.

Step 2 - God has the resources we need – when we count the cost, we need to include God’s resources (Caution: we can only do this if we are fully committed to the Lord). People may make fun of our work, but they shouldn’t make fun of our Lord’s work.

Step 3 - We need to realize that there is only one King (and that is Jesus). In the church, we shouldn’t make ourselves the rulers – or conflict is sure to ensue. In a conflict – there is usually only one winner (usually the one with the most soldiers on his side). As we make our plans, we need to do so as part of one kingdom and under one King

Luke 14:33 tells us, to be a disciple you need to give up what you have:
- It’s not my work, but the Lord’s work
- I’m not the King, but Jesus is my King

Following Jesus takes Commitment!
Proverbs 16:3 “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”