God’s Perfect Plan?
Scripture: John 1:6-8, 19-28
Scripture Reading: Matthew 1:18-25
There’s something special about Christmas pageants, even those in which everything seems to go wrong.
I think you’ll like this story:
A church tried to outdo the previous years Christmas pageants, so they decided to rent a donkey for Mary to ride on. It seemed like a great idea at the time.
Have you ever noticed that a lot of things "sound like a good idea at the time?" The day of Christmas pageant arrived.
The congregation sang beautifully some Christmas carols and the angel choir, complete with haloes, got through their first big number "almost on key and in unison." The time came for the grand entrance of Joseph and Mary, with Mary riding on the donkey.
She was "carrying what later proved to be a Raggedy Andy doll." Then it happened.
The donkey made two hesitant steps through the door of the church sanctuary. He took a look at the whole scene and then locked his legs. The donkey would not move and the entire procession came to a halt. Jerking on the halter had no effect on the locked legged donkey. The donkey would not move.
Just then the Trustee chairman seated in the front row and dressed in his Sundays best, came to the rescue. The floor of the sanctuary was polished cement. With another man pulling on the halter, the trustee chairman got behind the donkey, now picture this in your mind. Crouched and the behind the donkey and pushed. Slowly sliding the rigid donkey across the floor, inch by inch. They moved towards the front.
The Choir director chose at that moment to turn on a tape recorder, which blared forth the Hallelujah Chorus sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
This scared the already bewildered donkey. The donkey wanted out of the church and unseated Mary onto the floor.
By this time the whole congregation was in a uproar of laughter. And the Organizers of the Christmas pageant decided never again to put on a Christmas play.
They had what they thought to be a perfect plan, not anticipating things to go wrong. I certainly hope the church didn’t keep their decision not to put on another Christmas play.
Let me tell you another story about a little town in South Dakota. Cliff Thomas says it is the custom in their town to give a Christmas gift of a few dollars to the trash collector.
Just this last week I received a "Holiday" card inside my Dispatch and I asked my wife if that was a signal that we were suppose to respond in some way. We’re still trying to decide.
Well, back to my story, "Some collectors," Cliff says in his town remind their customers by taping a card to the trash can: It would say something like this: "Seasons Greetings from your trash collector."
He said, "Last year I forgot to respond to the first greeting card and just a day or two before Christmas, there appeared a second card on my trash can that said, "Seasons Greetings from your trash collector. SECOND NOTICE."
Now - that’s funny!
Let me share one more:
One of the members invited his brother’s family to their church for a special Christmas service. During the service, a 4 year old boy began to squirm in the pew and whispered to his dad that he had to go to the potty. The father took the boy’s hand and led him out of his seat into the aisle toward the rest room. About halfway down the aisle, the little 4 year old boy stopped, turned around and said loud and clear: "I have go to the potty, God, but I’ll be right back."
Introduction:
Hey guy’s, do you remember the days of your engagement? You had fallen in love with the dream of your life. And what was even better, SHE HAD FALLEN IN LOVE WITH YOU TOO!
There came that time when you made up your mind to ask her to marry you. You were nervous and wondered if she would say "Yes." What if she said, "No?"
And then you thought it through and said, "She’ll say "Yes." And you popped the question, "Will you marry me?" And she said "Yes, I’ll marry you."
Just this morning, my neighbor knocked on my door and she had a poinsettia for my wife and me for Christmas.
Then Julie showed me her engagement ring. I had talked to Matt about getting married and what a good "catch" he had in Julie. It was just a few weeks later I learned of their engagement to be married.
Julie said, "Matt called me home and asked me to turn around and close my eyes. And then he asked me to turn towards him and Matt was on his knees with an engagement ring." She told me she ran around the inside of the house so happy and she said, "Yes, I’ll marry you. I’ll be your wife."
Wow! What a feeling. She said "Yes." Weren’t you the happiest guy in town? By the way I’m still the happiest guy in town. And you went everywhere telling people you were engaged to be married.
I received a text with a picture from Matt showing me the engagement ring on Julies’ finger and it simply said, "I’m engaged!" Matt.
I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU A VERY SPECIAL ENGAGEMENT FOUND IN OUR SCRIPTURE TODAY FOUND IN MATTHEW 1:18-25
The title of my sermon is in the form of a question: "God’s Perfect Plan?"
Engagements in the days of Joseph and Mary were a lot different than our engagements today.
Today’s engagements are something like this:
A guy meets a girl.
They begin to date.
They fall in love.
He asks her to marry him.
He goes to the father and asks if he can have the hand of his daughter in marriage.
At least I think they still ask the father.
Illus.
I’ll never forget after I asked Drusilla to marry me and she said, "Yes."
Dru said, "Now, you’ve got to go and ask my Dad for permission to marry me."
I said, "I’ve got to go to your Dad."
And she said, "Yes!"
So I rehearsed going to Her Dad, George.
I remember going to her home at 330 Maplewood Ave. in Whitehall, Ohio.
George was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper.
I sat down and said "Hi George, can I talk to you for a minute?"
He said, "Hi, Dan how are you?" putting the paper down.
I cleared my throat and said, "George could I talk to you about something important?"
"Ya’ll, Dan, what is it?"
"The sweat started on my brow.
I said, "George, I’d like for you to let me marry your daughter, Drusilla?"
And I waited for a minute while he looked at me.
I didn’t know what he was going to say.
"Do you really love her Dan? Does she really love you?"
"Yes I do and Yes, she says she loves me."
And he George replied with a little laugh, "Well, Okay!"
Back then engagements were handled so much differently than today in our society. In those days, engagements were pre-arranged by the parents.
It could have been when the child was born. Or it could have been when they were children. But there came a point when the couple were engaged and began to make plans for their marriage.
Can imagine with me this morning, Joseph.
The wedding date is approaching.
-He is making plans to see Mary.
-His engagement to Mary is going to last for one year.
-During this engagement it just like being married.
-History tells us the engagement was as binding as marriage.
-They didn’t live together during this time.
-But Joseph was known as Mary’s husband during their time of engagement.
-The only thing that could end it was a formal divorce.
-And an act of infidelity during this engagement was considered adultery.
Can you imagine how Mary felt about this all important day?
-The date that every young girl lives for is just about to arrive.
-She dreams as she and her parents make wedding plans.
-She loved Joseph although Joseph was quite older than her.
-The engagement had already been set when the Angel Gabriel appeared to her.
Mary and Joseph had PLANS. I’m sure they couldn’t imagine God changing their Plans.
They lived together as husband and wife. And then Gabriel, the Angel of God appeared.
Application: Let me reason with us this morning: Think about this: It was never in their plans for Mary to become pregnant before their wedding day. And certainly, the idea of becoming pregnant miraculously and giving birth without knowing a man added to their perplexity.
She even asked in Luke 1:34 "How can this be, seeing I know not a man?"
What was Joseph’s reaction?
Quite different than Mary’s reaction! Wouldn’t you say? When he finds out that Mary’s pregnant and he knows it wasn’t him and let me put it this way, he has to make a decision, I mean, wouldn’t you?
Is there any way that he can believe that Mary has been faithful to him? No!
I mean how can she become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and she is going to give birth to the Son of God. The baby Mary is carrying is the Messiah?
Can Joseph really believe this?
Or is he going to have to break off the engagement? Of course, you and I know the rest of the story. They did go ahead and they did get married. And Mary gave birth to the Messiah and the rest is history. That’s why every December we have what we call The Advent, preparing us for the birth of the Christ Child.
LET ME SHARE WITH YOU THREE OBSERVATIONS BASED UPON THIS BIBLICAL SCENE:
1. Would it have been nice for God to approach Joseph and Mary and ask them if they were alright if it came down differently than they had planned?
GOD DIDN’T APPROACH THEM AND NEITHER DID GOD ASK JOSEPH AND MARY FOR PERMISSION -- GOD TOLD THEM THE PLAN!
God simply told them His plan and His will for their lives.
Application:
Doesn’t God still do that today with us? I mean -- nowhere in the Scripture do I find where the angel announces God’s plan, and then asks Mary or Joseph, "Is this okay with both of you?"
God simply said, This is my plan! This is my Will!
Let me ask you this question:
How many of you are doing what you planned on doing when you were in the 7th or 8th grade of school? As I think back, I had no plans to become a pastor. I thought I would have liked to become a fireman. I thought I would have liked to have become a farmer. I even thought I would have liked to have become a truck driver like my dad.
You see, most of us aren’t doing what we thought we would be doing when we graduated from High School! It has been my experience that the majority of the plans I had as a young person became different than what has really come to pass in my life.
What about you? What did you have plans to be or to become?
Some of the plans have changed because I have changed my decisions and decided on another plan. But other plans were changed because of the circumstances beyond my control. And God has never asked me when He has chosen to put those circumstances into my life.
God has A Plan For Your Life.
He made that plan before you ever were born into this world. Listen friend, God has no intention of asking you for your permission to proceed on with His plan for your life. How you react to His plan for your life is entirely up to your reception of His plan.
I remember as a young boy listening to my pastors as they preached their sermons. I remember one pastor preaching as saying that God has a plan for your life. I remember vividly one Sunday evening sitting in the Antioch community church and Pastor Don Carter preaching and prophesied that there was a young man sitting in the service that night that God was going to call to preach. And I felt strange all over. And I looked all around and the only young guy in the church that night was me.
I couldn’t think of me doing such a thing. I was terrified at the thought of speaking in front of any size of crowd. But God didn’t come down and ask me permission to call me into full-time ministry.
God said, "Dan, this is my calling for your life."
Listen friend, God has no intention of asking your permission to proceed with His plan for your life!
But you could choose not to obey His will. In my life, I have known of those who would not be obedient to God’s call and back in college days, some referred to it as "settling for God’s second best." if there is such a thing.
But you cannot change His will for your life.
2. NOTICE WITH ME -- GOD’S PLAN FOR MARY AND JOSEPH WAS NOT VERY EASY.
Sometimes we have a wrong idea of God’s will for us. Sometimes we think if we are in the will of God, then everything will be "pie in the sky." Everything will be easy. Why life will be without any trial. Life will be without any difficulty. Life will be without any hardship. But this was not the case for Joseph and Mary and neither will it be the case for you and me when we follow God’s plan for us.
Consider the Following with me:
First: Why didn’t God work it out so the Tax was collected either before Joseph and Mary were married, or after the Baby was born? Why put them through all that hardship?
God could have done that! God could have caused Mary to have Baby Jesus before the tax was collected. Think about the hardship. Think about the trial they had to go through, the discomfort, the anxiety. Why she was so pregnant that she barely arrived at Bethlehem before the baby was born.
Think about it. Traveling on foot, by camel, or a donkey, THAT IS NOT AN EASY THING FOR A PREGNANT GIRL TO DO. Riding on a donkey is not very comfortable. I know because when I was growing up we had close to us donkeys that were used for Donkey basketball. I’ve rode them - they are terribly bony and uncomfortable. Surely God could have worked things out better than that!
Secondly, the Baby was born in a Manger because there was No Room for them in the Inn.
Have you ever been out late driving on the freeway looking for a place to stay at a hotel and you couldn’t find one because they all were full? Dru and I had that happen to us one year on vacation. We’ve gotten a lot smarter since then and always make reservations now. Both the kids were young and small. I kept saying. Dru, we’ll just drive a little further and than get a place. Well, I drove too far and too late. It was well after midnight when we finally found a room. You talking about frustration.
See with me the frustrations of Joseph.
He had brought his pregnant wife a long distance.
Mary is about to give birth. She is ready to deliver the baby Jesus. AND THEY CANNOT EVEN FIND A PLACE THAT IS COMFORTABLE.
Now, listen, reason with me, God is a soverign God! Amen!
He could have on His own reserved a room for Joseph and Mary. God is able to do anything He wants to do! God is able to do things that look impossible! It was obvious that it was NOT HIS WILL for there to be a room in the Inn. God isn’t making it easy for them. All He wants is that they are willing to obey His plan for their lives.
The Third Consideration is -- Why were they forced to flee Bethlehem to Egypt because of the threat of King Herod?
Again, see the Hand of God at work. God sent an angel messenger to them to warn them of the danger so they could flee. But why didn’t God just make the king’s heart soften so they would have no danger at all? Why did all the babies 2 years old and younger have to be killed especially after Mary and Joseph were gone? You see, understand this, the Baby Jesus was about 2 years old when his parents left to flee to Egypt.
And that wouldn’t have been an easy trip either.
The Fourth Consideration is -- After all of this, somewhere between when Joseph took his family back home and when Jesus was 30 years, Joseph died.
Jesus had to become the head of the family being the oldest. He had to take care of his mother and his half brothers and sisters.
SOMETIMES WE ERR IN OUR CONCEPT OF CHRISTIANITY THINKING LIFE IS GOING TO BE EASY JUST BECAUSE WE ARE CHRISTIANS. I have endeavored to tell new Christians that just because they give their hearts and lives to Jesus doesn’t mean they will have a life of ease.
Jesus told us in the Word when He said:
"The broad and easy way that almost everyone takes is the way that leads to death.
"The straight and narrow and the more difficult way, is the way that leads to eternal life."
When we choose the Easy Road in Life, we are not necessarily choosing the way that is the Will of God. Jesus choose a path that led to the Old Rugged Cross. The Apostle Paul chose a path that led to imprisonment and execution. Both of them chose paths that were to be God’s plan for them.
Friend, God does not choose nor does He promise to give us an easy path in life. But God does promises us not to put more on us then what we can withstand.
1 Corinthians 10:13
There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
1 Corinthians 10:13 (Amplified Bible)
13For no temptation (no trial regarded as enticing to sin), [no matter how it comes or where it leads] has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man [that is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not [a]adjusted and [b]adapted and belonging to human experience, and such as man can bear]. But God is faithful [to His Word and to His compassionate nature], and He [can be trusted] not to let you be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and strength of resistance and power to endure, but with the temptation He will [always] also provide the way out (the means of escape to [c]a landing place), that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently.
DO YOU NEED A VERSE TO HELP YOU RIGHT NOW? LOOK AT ISAIAH 43:2 with me,
"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, when you pass through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, the flames will not burn you."
MY THIRD POINT IS THIS: THOUGH THINGS WERE DIFFICULT, GOD BLESSED THEM.
Have you found this to be true in your life?
In this thought there are two things:
The first one is: They wondered at the child as He grew.
Look at verses 52 in Luke chapter 2
"And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men."
Luke 2: 49-51
"And He said to them, ’Why were you searching for Me? Didn’t you know I had to be about My Father’s business? But they didn’t understand what He was saying to them."
Luke 2 40
"And the child grew and became strong; He was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him."
"Luke 2:33
"The child’s father and mother marveled at
what was said about Him."
Ultimately, Jesus grew up to be a blessing to the whole world.
Any parent would want their child to grow up to be someone of positive influence. We are blessed if our children grow up to do something that is good for mankind. My wife and I are so proud of our children, Chris and Jessica and their families. I was remarking the other day that God has blessed our children and their spouses, Shell and Jason and we have three beautiful grandsons, Lucas, Isaac and Aiden.
Can you imagine Mary, the mother watching as Jesus visibly, bodily and gradually ascends up into heaven. Can you imagine the excitement as she realized all this had come to fruition when she remembered the words of the angel Gabriel said,
28... Hail, O favored one! The Lord is with you! Blessed are you before all other women! 29But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled and disturbed and confused at what he said and kept revolving in her mind what such a greeting might mean. 30And the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace, free, spontaneous, absolute favor and loving-kindness with God. 31And listen! You will become pregnant and will give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 32He will be great (eminent) and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of His forefather David, 33And He will reign over the house of Jacob throughout the ages; and of His reign there will be no end. 34And Mary said to the angel, How can this be, since I have no [intimacy with any man as a] husband?35Then the angel said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you [like a shining cloud]; and so the holy (pure, sinless) Thing (Offspring) which shall be born of you will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1 Amplified Bible)
Conclusion:
God’s plan for our lives is not always going to be exactly what we think. But God’s Plan will always be Perfect for us! God’s plan for our lives is not always an easy one. But it is a plan that will become a blessing to many if we will obey that calling on our lives from God. Even if His plan is an early death. Or if His plan is for us to suffer.
But if we will agree to follow God’s plan, no matter how difficult, eternity will record a far reaching impact for good because of it.
Are you following God’s perfect plan for your life?
If you are not, if you are holding on to a plan that you insist on and you know it is not God’s perfect plan for your life - would you be willing to open your heart and life to allow Him to lead you starting now?
A suggested Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I come to you today realizing that I have tried to sidestep your perfect plan for my life. I confess to you that I have made a mess in my own efforts; my own plans for my life. I want to have Your peace and joy in my life, so I come to you surrendering my will and plans for my life to Your will and plans for my life.
I come today seeking Jesus and Him only through Your Holy Spirit. You told me in your Word that I needed to become more Christ like, so I present myself to you now asking You to begin this pilgrimage anew.
Thank you for hearing this prayer and I pray it in the name of Jesus your Son and my Savior. Amen.
