Connect the Dots
TCF Sermon
March 27, 2011
There are a lot of skills we need in life to cope with the realities of our daily existence. For example, we need to learn to get along with people, because without that skill, almost anything we do in life will be difficult if not impossible.
We need to learn to care for our basic health needs. In most cases, no one’s going to do that for us. More and more, we need to know some of the basics of how to use a computer, because we need that skill in school, in the workplace, and beyond.
There’s another skill I want to focus on this morning, one we don’t always think of as a needed skill. When we’re thinking about how and why some things happen in life, a critical skill to develop is to learn to connect the dots.
Now, you know the old game – you have a picture made partially or entirely of dots, and you have to draw connecting lines, usually in the correct order, to see the whole picture.
Once you do that, in the metaphorical connecting of the dots, you begin to understand how things fit together, cause and effect, relationships between events in your life.
To help us think about how this skill looks in real life, I’ve devised a little quiz.
Gordon drives his sporty little Mazda 3 at 90 miles per hour on the interstate and is pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper gives Gordon a:
• friendly greeting
• cookie
• speeding ticket
Maren prefers sleeping late to showing up at work on time. After arriving at the office two to three hours late for two weeks in a row, Maren’s boss tells her to:
• get to bed a little earlier
• take some vacation time to rest up
• look for another job
As a result of their choices, Gordon and Maren will likely both experience unpleasant consequences. But, if they learn to connect the dots, between their behavior, and what happens as a result of their behavior, Gordon will be a safer driver, and Maren will be a better employee. And maybe even keep her job.
We learn to connect the dots every day in little things and big things.
Eat too much – gain weight
Sit too much – gain weight
Eat ice cream for breakfast lunch and dinner – gain weight
Beat your head against the wall – headache
Other dots take longer to connect – in other words, it’s a longer, more circuitous route to get from point a to point z. And I think this is where we sometimes struggle in our spiritual lives, perhaps because the connections aren’t as apparent, though with some thought and insight, sometimes they may really be just as clear as these simple examples.
When you connect the dots, you understand the connections and relationships between the things you do and the things that happen.
Sometimes those things that happen may be far removed from your own experience, but there are still dots connecting them, if you can follow them far enough.
There are several ways we could examine this idea and gain from understanding it, but this morning, I’d like to focus on two specific ways that connecting the dots relates to our relationship with Christ.
First, I’d like us to explore how to connect the dots in our daily choices of what we do, how we serve Him, and in our prayers, and our giving, and what that means as we follow Jesus.
Secondly, I’d like us to consider how to connect the dots in God’s advancement of His Kingdom, and His perfect plans and purposes, for us as individuals, as well as human history.
The best way to look at connecting the dots when it comes to our service to God as believers is to review Paul’s wonderful word picture of the body of Christ at work.
1 Cor. 12:12-27 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
You may be a big toe in the body of Christ, and think that because of this fact, your service is somehow less important than the lungs or the heart. But Paul’s telling us that’s just not true. If you’ve ever hurt your big toe and had trouble walking because of it, you know how interconnected the parts of your body are, and how indispensible your big toe really is.
Our body parts are interconnected for vital purposes. Remember the old song?
The toe bone connected to the heel bone,
The heel bone connected to the foot bone,
The foot bone connected to the leg bone,
The leg bone connected to the knee bone,
Oh, hear the word of the Lord!
Let me illustrate using Grace McEndarfer and Doris Eason as examples. Did you know Grace and Doris are missionaries in China? Well, they both live in Tulsa, and have never been to China, but it’s true. It’s true in a figurative sense, if you connect the dots.
A few weeks ago, Grace and Doris along with Jody and Karl Eason and Shirley McWilliams, went with me to the Places house to clean it, before the Places returned from China to Tulsa a few days later. So Grace dusted, mopped and swept. Doris cleaned toilets. How does that make them missionaries in China?
Well, it doesn’t, literally. But it does, nevertheless, make them participants in a very significant way when you connect the dots. Follow along as I do just that.
The Places had to travel more than 24 hours to get to Tulsa. They returned home exhausted. Their return home is supposed to include some time for rest and renewal. Rest and renewal are an important component in keeping physically and spiritually sharp, enabling you to be effective in your work as a missionary.
So when you come home after a long trip, you’re ready to begin resting and renewing. The last thing you want is to have to worry about cleaning up. So, the Places were able to begin their eight month furlough, designed for rest and renewal, by actually resting, and being free of at least that one care or responsibility.
Let’s connect the dots some more. Because their furlough was, in that small way, begun on a good note, it set the tone for what will hopefully be a time of refreshing for the family, meaning that when they return to China in November, they’ll feel emotionally, spiritually and physically ready for the challenges that face them.
What’s more, they’re no doubt encouraged by the love of the body at TCF. So when Annette and the kids minister in the orphanage, they’ll be ready and equipped to minister the love of Christ to those children. When Chris returns to the clinic and residency, he’ll be renewed and ready to teach and disciple.
And perhaps a little girl at the orphanage will receive Jesus into her heart. And perhaps one of Chris’s resident doctors will be so well-trained in merging medical care and Christian compassion, that many will come to Christ. And we can trace a piece of that back to Grace, and Doris.
And of course, we can also trace that back to you who have given to TCF missions. And we can trace that back to those of you who pray for the Places.
Obviously, this is just one example, and it happens to be missions-related. We could just as easily connect the dots in any other kind of service. It helps me sometimes to connect the dots between my small acts of obedience and service and the many ways God can use these things. Scripture doesn’t use that phrase, connect the dots, but the relationship between what we do, and what happens as a result, is clear.
Psalms 128:1-2 (NIV) 1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in his ways. 2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours.
Hebrews 6:10 (NIV) 10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.
Isaiah 32:17 (NIV) 17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
What this means in real life is that every act of service or obedience to God, no matter how small or seemingly unimportant or supposedly insignificant, can ultimately bear fruit in God’s Kingdom. Just because we can’t always witness it firsthand, does not mean there’s no fruit.
In fact, if you think about it, it’s probably more common than not that we don’t witness the outcomes of our service and our obedience immediately. Sometimes we never see it. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t happening.
We’ve mentioned before that there’s no hierarchy of service in the Kingdom of God. Missionaries are not more important than pastors, and pastors are not more important than children’s church teachers,and teachers are not more important than custodians, and custodians are not more important than those who have a ministry of prayer, and those who are in, quote unquote, “full time Christian ministry” are not more important in the Kingdom of God than those who work a secular job.
Here’s how Paul put it in his letter to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:5-9 (NIV) 5 What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe--as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6 I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
We all have an important and vital role in the Great Commission, as well as simply being God’s agents, His fellow workers, of mercy, grace and compassion. Paul told the Corinthians here that the Lord has assigned to each his task. Whatever your task, no matter how important or unimportant it seems, it’s a part of the team effort, whether you’re Grace McEndarfer or Chris Place.
God is the one who brings results from the team effort. Paul tells us that whatever we do, whatever role we fill, in the Kingdom of God, we have but one purpose.
Verse 8: The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose…
Paul also tells us that we cannot sit back and say, well, this or that ministry is not my job. We shouldn’t ask whether or not we fit into God’s purposes, but how we fit into God’s plans.
That can sometimes be difficult to visualize. It’s a little easier to see what Chris does as Kingdom work, than to see what Grace did a few weeks ago as being in China missions. That’s why it’s good to occasionally connect the dots.
When we do, we can see that things like cleaning the toilets of a missionary’s house, or giving to missions, or praying, are all vital tasks in the whole enterprise.
Back to the letter to the Corinthians.
In verse 8: Paul says, “each will be rewarded according to his own labor.”
And then in verse 9: for we are God’s fellow workers.
Now here’s Paul, a church-planting missionary, telling those Christians in Corinth that they are part of the mission, part of the outworking of the purpose. My guess is that many if not most of those Corinthians never left Corinth their entire lives. Just like Grace and Doris never went to China. At least not yet.
But Paul is also telling them that they’re still part of the team, even though they don’t go to the exotic places he’s been going. And as part of the team, they have a responsibility for which they will be held accountable, and for which they will be rewarded.
That’s because Christianity is a team sport. Church is a team sport. And every member of the team wins or loses together. The truth is, in almost every example you can think of, from business, to sports, to the church of Jesus Christ, everybody’s a role player – even the so-called “superstars” – i.e. the ones who are most visible, who get the most acclaim or attention.
But whether we’re looking at world missions, community outreach, evangelism, or anything else, the message is the same. Paul tells the Corinthians, and us, that what we are, is servants. Servants fulfilling different roles, yes, but servants nonetheless.
And then later, in the passage in chapter 12 which we read earlier, Paul uses a different mental image, to tell us we’re all important, vital parts of the same body.
Sometimes, when we forget that, we must learn to connect the dots. When we do connect the dots, it encourages us, it motivates us to do even the small things, and to be obedient to God.
Of course, Paul also tells us that God’s responsible for it all.
Verse 7 says: So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.
And that brings me to another way we need to remember to, and to learn to, connect the dots.
In his message last Sunday, Jim Garrett talked about God’s sovereignty. That means essentially that God’s in charge. Of everything. In the context of what we’re looking at this morning, God is the ultimate dot-connector.
When we connect the dots in our minds, we’re just recognizing reality – we’re learning and realizing the way things already fit together.
When God connects the dots, He’s creating reality.
Ephesians 1:11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will,
Think about this for a moment, because it’s a truly awesome thought. This passage reveals some amazing truths about our great God.
First of all, we were chosen. As followers of Christ, it says, “in Him,” we were chosen. And that wasn’t an accident – it was part of God’s purpose from before the beginning of time, for me, for you, to be chosen to follow Him.
What’s more, when we make plans, we can only hope they’ll work out as we planned them. We can only do our best. But God’s best is perfect. He doesn’t hope like we hope. He decrees.
Paul wrote to the Ephesians here:
that God “works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” Everything.
Here’s how the New Living Translation puts it:
Ephesians 1:11 (NLT) Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.
The word translated “works” as in “works out” here, is the Greek word en-er-ge-oh. We get our English word energy from this word.
It means: To be at work, to be effective, operative. To work, be active, produce an effect.
It means to produce an effect. God produces a specific outcome. That’s why I like the NLT’s insight here in this passage. “He makes everything work out according to His plan.”
What an amazing thought!
The affirmation here is not merely that God accomplishes the designs of salvation according to the counsel of his own will, but that he does everything. His agency is not confined to one thing, or to one class of objects. Every object and event is under his control, and is in accordance with his eternal plan. The word rendered works—ἐνεργέω—means, to work, to be active, to produce,
It would be impossible to affirm more explicitly, that God's agency is universal, than Paul does in the passage before us. He does not attempt to prove it. It is one of those points on which he does not deem it necessary to pause and reason, but which may be regarded as a conceded point in the discussion of other topics, and which may be employed without hesitation in their illustration. Paul does not state the mode in which this is done. He affirms merely the fact.
Barnes Notes
This idea is reinforced in other verses:
Philippians 2:13 (NASB95) for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.
1 Corinthians 12:11 (NASB95) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Think about this. When we learn to connect the dots, we can sometimes catch just a glimpse of how God is working everywhere, how He’s moving the chess pieces around the board, thinking, knowing, many moves ahead, to accomplish His purposes in our individual lives, and how, as those individual lives intersect in ever-increasing numbers, He actually works out His purposes and plans in human history.
When we think of the power of God, we’re often drawn to physical miracles, because they are quite amazing. Healings, resurrections, parting of seas, things like that.
But when I think of the power of God, I think of His ability to take the free choices of His followers, as well as the free choices of those who are not His followers, without violating anyone’s freedom to choose, and to use those choices to make everything work out according to His plan.
Yes, a miraculous healing is amazing. To me, this thought is even more amazing.
This ability our sovereign God has to connect the dots – to take what to us is a seemingly random sequence of dots, connect them in order, and in doing that, paint a beautiful picture. A beautiful picture demonstrating His glory. A beautiful picture revealing His mercy and His grace. A beautiful picture illustrating His justice and His power. A beautiful picture of exactly what He’s designed and planned.
And let’s relate this to our learning to connect the dots. God’s already connected the dots in His eternal plans and purposes. But, amazingly, He chooses to use us, His followers, not only to be the pieces of the puzzle, the dots that He connects, but to participate in those connections.
Romans 8:28 (NIV) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Ephesians 2:10 (NIV) For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
We are part of God’s connect the dots puzzle, His workmanship. And He created us to participate in the process, in His perfect plans. When Doris cleans toilets, and Grace dusts furniture, it’s part of the good works that God prepared for them to do. So we can trace those dots all the way back to the beginning of time.
But more than that, we can trace those dots forward, and catch a glimpse of how our acts of service and obedience are some of the “all things” that God works for good.
In the Ephesians passage, the phrase:
Who works all things according to the counsel of his will is best understood to mean that every single event that occurs is in some sense predestined by God. At the same time, Paul emphasizes the importance of human responsibility, as is evident in all of the moral commands later in Ephesians (chs. 4-6) and in all of Paul’s letters. As Paul demonstrated in all of his remarkable efforts in spreading the gospel (Acts 13-28; cf. 2 Cor. 11:23-28), he believed that doing personal evangelism and making conscious choices to obey God are also absolutely essential in fulfilling God’s plan. God uses human means to fulfill what he has ordained. With regard to tragedies and evil, Paul and the other biblical writers never blame God for them (cf. Rom. 5:12; 2 Tim. 4:14; also Job 1:21-22). Rather, they see the doctrine of God’s sovereignty as a means of comfort and assurance (cf. Rom. 8:28-30), confident that evil will not triumph, and that God’s good plans for his people will be fulfilled. How God’s sovereignty and human responsibility work together in the world is a mystery no one can fully understand.
ESV Study Bible, The: English Standard Version.
So, let’s develop this critical skill of connecting the dots. We’ll never develop it perfectly. But let’s recognize this is happening, and it’s happening daily, in the big things and the little things in our lives.
Connecting the dots is like faith. In a connect the dots puzzle, you start with the assumption that there is, in fact, an image there. You believe there is something to see other than just dots. You trust that an artist designed a picture that will be revealed, if you continue to connect the dots, one at a time, in sequence.
If you don’t connect the dots in sequence, or you stop connecting the dots, you’ll never see the picture that the artist has designed.
Think about how this looks in our Christian lives. We don’t always see what God is doing. We don’t always see how He’s using us, or what He’s doing in others, or in the world. That’s because most of the time, we only have part of the picture.
But we do have this – the Word of God. It tells us that God’s in charge. It tells us there are steps we should be following in our lives. It tells us, not completely, but it does tell us, that not only are the dots of life connected, but how to understand the relationships between what we do and what happens. And it tells us that God has designed, and does see the big picture, even when we don’t see it.
As followers of Jesus, we will someday see the final results of the connected dots. We’ll only catch glimpses of it in this life, but I believe we’ll see it revealed in the presence of God in eternity, how the dots are connected.
And I believe, that thinking about how the dots are connected in this life, builds our faith.
In the next life, in God’s presence, seeing the full picture of how the dots are connected, will bring glory to Him, because we’ll see the big picture of His ultimate plans and purposes, and we’ll be amazed at what that shows us of God’s power, His love, His justice, His omnipotence, His omniscience, His holiness, and all the things that make God the sovereign God who loves us and saved us from sin and death.
We’ll only be able to say, WOW GOD – so that’s what you were doing! We’ll fall on our knees, as Paul did at the end of Romans 11:
Romans 11:33-36 (NIV) Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! "Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" "Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
Pray
