GOD’S ERRANDS
Who runs most of the errands at your house?
Who is the one most likely to take that “short journey” to deliver something or pick up something?
It seems as if a number of the errands one might run are often for someone else.
We can spend more than half of our free time out running errands.
The overwhelming amount of time we spend running errands is seldom ever fun.
We take on those tasks mostly by necessity.
The errands are like trials.
Sometimes, however, we have a great reason to be happy about our errands.
Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “Difficulties are God’s errands and when we are sent upon them, we should esteem it a proof of God’s confidence.”
WHAT?? ESTEEM DIFFICULTIES??
Yep. That’s the key.
God has work for us to do.
If we think that work is going to be easy and trouble-free, think again.
Anyone who has ever tried to fix anything knows how that 10-minute job can become an all-day headache.
The only relief comes from making those three trips to Home Depot or Auto Zone!
God has sent His people on errands since the beginning.
When God set Adam and Eve in the garden He gave them the errand of tending the garden.
Things were going well till Satan decided he’d “help”, and the rest is history.
God spoke to Abraham about taking a road trip.
Along the way, there were some adventures, but Abraham was up to the task.
If ever someone was entitled to ask, “Are we there yet?” it was Abraham.
In Genesis 12 we find the accounts of Abraham’s errands.
In verse 17 is the adventure of God plaguing Pharaoh’s house because of a “misunderstanding”.
Abraham asked Sarah to tell Pharaoh she was Abraham’s sister.
The difficulties created from that situation caused Pharaoh to return Sarah to Abraham and send him on his way.
Then there is the difficulty caused when Abraham and Lot decided to part company.
Each had many animals and servants and money, and the land where they were couldn’t support them both.
Lot chose to head east toward the cities of the plains and Abraham stayed in Canaan.
Lot had more errands waiting for him in Sodom and Gomorrah, but that’s another difficulty.
I mentioned to you before about how God works.
He provides us with the tools we need to do the job He calls us to do.
God says go and do.
If He says, go and do, we either have or He will give us the tools to use.
Sometimes, however, we have to look for them.
The tools are right there in plain sight, but we don’t see them.
God told Abraham to go and explore the land He gave to Abraham.
It was all part of the errand God designed for Abraham and his seed.
GENESIS 13:15 – 16
15 FOR ALL THE LAND WHICH THOU SEEST, TO THEE WILL I GIVE IT, AND TO THY SEED FOREVER.
16 AND I WILL MAKE THY SEED AS THE DUST OF THE EARTH; SO THAT IF A MAN CAN NUMBER THE DUST OF THE EARTH, THEN SHALL THY SEED ALSO BE NUMBERED.
Abraham had God’s promise that he would live in the land forever.
Not Abraham only, but all of Abraham’s seed, forever.
This was a huge errand, but Abraham knew that if God promised, God delivered.
When we are running God’s errands, we can be sure of the same thing.
We look by faith to see beyond anything that is causing us issues now, to see how we will complete God’s tasks.
There are many others who God sent to run errands.
We can name Noah and Jeremiah.
There is Isaiah and David.
But of any that God sent to do errands, the one with the largest list was His Son Jesus.
And that stands to reason.
We have friends and neighbors who might help us from time to time.
We may have them pick up a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.
When the list is long, however, if we don’t or can’t go ourselves, we send the kids.
After all, we feed them, clothe them, and give them a warm place to live.
It’s not too much to ask of our kids that they drive our car, burn our gas, and spend our money on things we need for the family, of which they share, right?
With God and Jesus, it’s a little more complicated than that.
But the principle is the same.
God the Father needed something done.
To accomplish the task, God needed the perfect runner.
The perfect errand runner was Jesus.
Ever since the garden, God was preparing His Son for this trip.
GENESIS 3:15
15 AND I WILL PUT ENMITY BETWEEN THEE AND THE WOMAN, AND BETWEEN THY SEED AND HER SEED; IT SHALL BRUISE THY HEAD, AND THOU SHALT BRUISE HIS HEEL.
Christ came to earth, suffered on the cross, and even died.
He arose from the dead, victorious over sin, hell, and Satan.
And God said it would happen long before it did.
When the time came, Jesus was ready to go.
HE HAD HIS LIST.
HE HAD HIS TOOLS.
HE HAD HIS INSTRUCTIONS.
THE MISSION, WITH ALL ITS DIFFICULTIES AND COMPLICATIONS, WAS READY FOR EXECUTION.
JOHN 3:16 – 17
16 FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD, THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH, BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.
17 FOR GOD SENT NOT HIS SON INTO THE WORLD TO CONDEMN THE WORLD; BUT THAT THE WORLD THROUGH HIM MIGHT BE SAVED.
This is one of the best-known passages in all the Bible.
It states the gospel so clearly and simply.
It summarizes what the Lord Jesus was teaching Nicodemus.
God so loved the world.
The world includes all mankind.
God does not love men’s sins or the wicked world system.
He loves the people and is not willing that any should perish.
The extent of His love is shown by the fact that He gave His only begotten Son.
God has no other Son like the Lord Jesus.
It is an expression of His infinite love that God would be willing to sacrifice His unique Son for sinners.
This does not mean that everyone is saved.
A person must receive what Christ has done before God will give us eternal life.
Therefore, the words are added, “that whoever believes in Him should not perish.”
There is no need for anyone to perish.
A way has been provided by which all might be saved.
A person must accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
When we do this, we have eternal life as a present possession.
God is not a harsh, cruel ruler anxious to pour out His anger on mankind.
His heart is filled with tenderness toward man.
He has gone to the utmost cost in order to save men.
He could have sent His Son into the world to condemn the world, but He did not do so.
He sent Him here to suffer, bleed, and die in order that the world through Him might be saved.
The work of the Lord Jesus on the cross was of such tremendous value.
Sinners everywhere could be saved if they would receive Him.
The acceptance means building a relationship with Christ.
Nicodemus had errands too.
He had questions and Jesus gave him answers.
They talked for a seemingly long time.
That conversation, however, cleared up many details about Jesus’ errands.
As they talked, Nicodemus heard Jesus’ explanation.
That conversation built Nicodemus’ belief in Jesus.
Nicodemus asked in verse 9, “How can these things be?”
Jesus gave him a very detailed answer but concluded with these statements.
JOHN 3:18, 21
18 HE THAT BELIEVETH ON HIM IS NOT CONDEMNED: BUT HE THAT BELIEVETH NOT IS CONDEMNED ALREADY, BECAUSE HE HATH NOT BELIEVED IN THE NAME OF THE ONLY BEGOTTEN SON OF GOD.
21 BUT HE THAT DOETH TRUTH COMETH TO THE LIGHT, THAT HIS DEEDS MAY BE MADE MANIFEST, THAT THEY ARE WROUGHT IN GOD.
With God as our light, we can accomplish any errand list.
What are some of our errands?
Maybe we are living in a family or a marriage that is not what it could or should be.
Maybe we have lost a job, or we are really struggling to make ends meet.
Or worst of all, maybe we have a family member struggling with a body that is not healthy or doesn’t work as it could and should.
June is Brain Health Awareness Month.
May is Brain Cancer Awareness Month.
Together they draw attention to an area of the body we don’t understand.
Brain Health is about many things including diseases affecting brain function and brain cancer.
700,000 people live with a primary brain tumor.
84,000+ people will receive a diagnosis of brain cancer in 2021.
If God gives us the errand of caring for someone in this category, we need to be certain He will give us the tools to accomplish the mission.
Now, we tend to think of cancer as this huge, insurmountable monster.
In some ways, that’s very true.
Many of us here have lost someone to this terrible disease.
It’s a word that can strike fear into almost anyone.
We should realize that this insurmountable monster is limited in what it can do to us as children of the living God.
CANCER CANNOT:
CRIPPLE LOVE,
IT CANNOT SHATTER HOPE,
IT CAN’T CORRODE FAITH
IT CAN’T EAT AWAY PEACE,
IT CAN’T DESTROY CONFIDENCE
IT CANNOT KILL FRIENDSHIP
IT CAN’T SHUT OUT MEMORIES
IT CANNOT SILENCE COURAGE
IT CANNOT INVADE THE SOUL
IT CAN’T REDUCE ETERNAL LIFE
IT CANNOT QUENCH THE SPIRIT
AND FINALLY, IT CANNOT LESSEN THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION.
All mankind is divided into two groups.
They are either believers or unbelievers.
Our eternal destiny is determined by the attitude we take toward the Son of God.
The one who trusts the Savior is not condemned.
The one who does not trust Him is condemned already.
The Lord Jesus has finished the work of salvation.
It is up to each individual to decide whether they will accept Him or reject Him.
It is a terrible thing to reject such a gift of love.
If we will not believe on the Lord Jesus, God can do nothing else but condemn us.
If we are honest before God, we will come to the light, that is, the Lord Jesus.
We will realize our own sinfulness.
Then we will trust the Savior for ourselves, and be born again through faith in Christ.
If we do that we can accomplish the errands God puts in front of us.
