How many of you have March Madness? The middle of March into April is a great time of the year. Spring arrives. The coats, sweaters and all the winter clothes go in the closet or box. The college basketball tournament heats up with all the stories of upsets and everything. And the best part is that baseball season starts up again. I am looking forward to seeing my first minor league baseball game this year.
You will notice that the sportscasters talk to the coaches and managers about their game plan. At half time of a basketball game, the sideline reporter will pull the coach aside and say, “Coach, what is your game plan for the second half? Is there anything you plan to do different?” Managers of baseball teams are asked about their game plan for the upcoming season. Game plans are important in sports.
Twenty years ago, Jim Valvano, the coach of the underdog North Carolina State Wolfpack was asked about his game plan in the upcoming championship game against high-powered number one ranked Houston. He said, “We might not shot the ball till Thursday.” He was saying that his team would play a slow-down game against the high-octane offense of their opponents. But when the game started, NC State came out running up and down the court, which caught Houston off guard. Then in the second half, NC State slowed it down. They wound up winning because their coach had a great game plan, and the players bought into that plan. They were overmatched because their talent was nowhere near the level of Houston, but the players believed in Valvano’s game plan and they executed it and won
God has a plan for us. Turn with to the Old Testament book of Jeremiah, chapter 31.
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34.
God’s plan is not an afterthought.
This plan is not something that God came up with when the Israelites rebelled. This was not a time when God said, “Oh, now what am I going to do?” This was God’s plan from the beginning. In our thinking, it sure seems as though God was terribly slow in implementing his plan. In our thinking, we would have dealt with the issue immediately. When Adam and Eve messed up, we would have finished right then and there. We, as humans, had to realize that we could not save ourselves. We had to come to the understanding that we needed God. All of our knowledge and power were not enough to bring us fulfillment in a relationship with God.
Valvano had a plan in mind all along what he was going to do in the 1983 championship game. He knew exactly what his plan was. He told the media one thing, and he did another. All along, everyone thought that NC State would come out and hold the ball. Those were the days before the shot clock. All the while knowing he would come and run the ball up and down the court. Ultimately, Valvano’s plan was to hold the ball, but it was only after he caught the other team off guard.
That’s not to say that God played a trick on us. It’s just that God had a plan all along. He wasn’t looking to fool anybody or catch anybody off guard. The plan was the plan all the time, and God knew what was going to happen and when.
Similarly, God has a plan for our lives. A lot of times we want God to reveal his whole plan for our lives so we know exactly where we are going and what’s going to happen. We sometimes treat God like he’s a fortuneteller. We expect him to look into his crystal ball and let us now every detail of lives for the next eighty years. I admit that I have had those same types of thoughts. I am glad, however, that God doesn’t do that. Can you imagine if you had known five years ago where you would be today? I would have been scared out of my mind. Five years ago, I had a 1 ½ year old little girl. Joey wasn’t even a thought yet. I was working for a law firm. I had no intention of being a pastor. If God had told me then where I would be today, I would not have believed him. In fact, one year ago I wasn’t sure where I was headed. The pastor of the church where we were at asked if I would consider being his children’s pastor if he got called to a church in Florida. In July, we considered being volunteer missionaries to Haiti. In mid-July, I started sending out resumes. I got some courteous form letters thanking me for my application blah, blah, blah. I had no idea I would wind up in Greenville. God had this planned long before any of us were aware of it.
If you are feeling like you’re not sure where God is taking you, have faith. God has a plan. Often that plan is more than we can imagine. Tammy had never been rejected for a job, until she applied here. She applied a company. She was excited about the opportunity to use her math skills, but it didn’t work out. She was bummed about. She said, “I have never been turned down for a job before.” Through her current job, she has come into contact with several students. She has invited many of them to church. That is probably not an opportunity that she would have been afforded at the other place.
God has a plan for us and for humanity in general.
God’s ethical demands must be in our hearts.
The demands that Jim Valvano placed on his team in the 1983 championship game were huge. They were asked to play a style of basketball that was not customary for them. They were asked to play that style of up-tempo basketball against a team that personified up-tempo basketball. The Houston Cougars had become famous for their up-and-down style of play. They ran up and down the court and seemed to score at will. NC State was a more traditional team. They played a slower form of the game. They made great passes and took good shots. They hadn’t rushed anything all season. Now their coach tells them that they are going to play the best team in the country with the same style that they use. Valvano’s game plan would not have worked if the players had not bought into it with their hearts. They understood that the coach knew what he was talking about. He was the expert. They trusted him. After all, he had gotten them farther than anyone expected to begin with. They bought into his plan, and they came out running up and down the court. They played in a way that caught Houston off guard. It gave them a distinct advantage. In the second half, Valvano told his players to go back to their customary style of basketball. They bought into that as well. They could have said, “Hey, running worked so well in the first half, we’ll just keep doing it in the second half.” It wouldn’t have worked. They were playing a higher altitude with thinner air in Albuquerque. The bought into Valvano’s plan with their whole heart and they won the championship.
God calls us to buy into his plan with our whole heart. He says that he will write his law on our heart. Our heart is where our commitment is. If we are committed with our heart then we will go the distance. If we are not committed with our heart, then we will bail out when things get rough.
Some sports fans are what are called “fair-weather-fans.” They are around when the team is winning, but when the team starts to lose, they disavow ever being a fan of that team. Just look at teams that have recently won championships. Ten years ago, you couldn’t pay someone to take a Cleveland Indians ticket, but in the mid-90s they started to win, and you couldn’t buy a ticket anywhere. Now after a few tough seasons, the fans are starting to find other entertainment on summer nights. The crowds that showed up for the games when the team wasn’t winning were the fans who supported the team in their hearts. Those that came when the team started winning then left when things went bad, didn’t have the support in their hearts.
God calls us to have his law written on our heart. That is one of the problems that the Israelites had. The law wasn’t something in their hearts. It’s easy to follow God when things are going great. It’s easy when no one is challenging you. It’s easy when God is pouring out blessing after blessing on our lives. When the commitment to God is written on our hearts, we can follow him when life gets rough. When something bad happens, we can still say, “I know God is in control, and I am going to follow him no matter what.”
I have known my share of fair-weather Christians. They are constantly up and down. Things are going great and they love God so much. Things start going bad, and they forget who God is. The commitment is not in their hearts.
God doesn’t want us to be fair-weather Christians. God wants us to have his law written on our hearts in a way that there is no doubt whose side we are on. It is impossible to follow God’s will for our life if we try to do it on our own. That is a sure recipe for failure.
But there is hope.
Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise.
The writer of the book of Hebrews writes that Jesus is the fulfillment of this promise. Jesus brought about the possibility of us having a personal relationship with God.
Don’t misinterpret verse 34. It says, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.” That doesn’t mean we don’t witness to others. It doesn’t mean that God is going to have a relationship with everyone just because he’s God. It is still our responsibility to tell others about the wonderful saving, cleansing, healing power of God.
What Jeremiah is talking about here is the fact that before Jesus came, very few people had a relationship with God. The Jewish system was such that God communicated with his people through the priests and prophets. The knowledge of God was very limited on a personal level. People were obligated to follow laws without the opportunity to have a heartfelt reason to do so. The knowledge of God was passed through word of mouth. People weren’t always able to fully understand what was meant about the laws of God.
Jesus made it possible that we could know God in our hearts. We don’t have to communicate with God through a third party. We could go directly to the source.
When we were in Haiti, I had the opportunity to preach during the service we attended. I was very nervous about that. Several people told me, be careful what you say. They told not to use slang or unfamiliar illustrations. It would be ridiculous to use an illustration that included a reference to snow. I scoured my sermon for anything that wouldn’t make sense to a Haitian. That was extremely difficult, since I wasn’t sure what a Haitian’s frame of reference would be. We arrived on a Saturday. The next day was church. I rode to church with the interpreter. I spent about 20 minutes with him before sermon. It was difficult to get a rhythm with him in the beginning. I wasn’t sure how much I should say before I stopped so he could translate. After a couple minutes, we hit a good stride. After the service, I asked the missionary if the translation was good, since he is the only one who spoke both English and Creole. He said it was pretty good, except that on a couple occasions I had used contractions. When I said “didn’t” it was translated “did.” It is very difficult to go through a third party when trying to communicate.
For centuries, the people of Israel had been going to God through a third party. They weren’t sure if the translation was being made. Now Jesus has made direct communication with God possible for everyone. We can talk directly to him, and he can talk directly to us.
Not only has Jesus offered us the opportunity to communicate directly with God, he has also given us the opportunity for our sins to be forgiven. Jeremiah writes that God will remember our sin no more. Forgiveness is a beautiful gift from God. Jesus is the fulfillment of this passage. In Matthew 26:28 he says, “For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus has come to offer us forgiveness from sin and to write God’s law on our heart. This is the culmination of God’s plan of redeeming humanity. No one was sure where God was headed in this matter, but God had a plan all along. His game plan has worked. It can work for us today.
Again, let’s look at our passage today.
Read Jeremiah 31:31-34.
The days that Jeremiah talks about coming were fulfilled with Jesus. Today, we celebrate the covenant that Jesus has made with us through the talking of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper.
