I love action movies: chase 'em around, blow it up, shoot 'em up, generally make a great big mess. I also like it when the ending of the story is NOT what you expected. By the middle of the average flick I've solved the mystery and settle back to enjoy the final ride. Once in a while, the story takes a rather unexpected twist, and then ends, unlike my proposed conclusion.
Quite to the contrary, most of our lives could be written by strangers with only one piece of information about us: we are American Christians. The story line is so predictable. We're born, grow up and settle down. We do church.
And if we like the wild ride, we prefer to enjoy it vicariously through others. Daring travel with Jesus is enjoyed through missionaries. Adventures with witnessing are dreamed of and often admired in the lives of others. Most of us are spectator Christians.
Carol has a way of making this reality an on-the-table concern when she asks the eye-opening questions: What would you do if you knew you could not fail? What would you do if money was not an issue? WHAT WOULD WE DO if we knew for sure we could not lose?
One of Carol's friends got tired of the rat race, liquidated everything, moved to the islands, and started a little business. I spent a day on a bass lake in Connecticut with a man who loves to fish. He was a highly paid corporate psychologist. He tendered his resignation and opened a fishing guide company. He fishes every day.
I always find it interesting when people open up and share dreams from the heart. I want to be the fastest runner. I want to rise up the corporate ladder. I want to own my own business. I don't want anyone to tell me what to do. I want to be rich. I want to see the world. What would happen IF some of us decided that we wanted to be all that God intended us to be?
And before you shout out, "That's what we're doing here in church!" know that you and I understand that is a bold-faced lie. Most of us are here, in this room, because it is the safest place we know that looks like being a good Christian.
Some of you might be in another church, living in another town where God has a plan for you, but you're here, not chasing the dream. Some of you are here because you did chase a dream. Some of you are here because you are not elsewhere. Fear of failure keeps you from relocating. Fear of not succeeded keeps you from trying new things.
I wonder what God might be willing to allow us to experience in order that we might be moved to do new things. I wonder if we could be moved so new beginnings might become our realities.
But we still must deal with the fears that hold us back from the new. Fear is powerful, often finding its strength in what we do not know. I would like to kill fear this morning. There is an amazing promise buried deep within the book of Romans:
Romans 8:28 . . . 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.
Before I show you the power of this verse, I need you to understand a few small, yet important, details.
This promise is ONLY for the Christian. If you are not alive in Christ, the promise is NOT yours to claim. The promise applies to: those who love God as He is, those who have been called by God. The called become the church. And the members of the Church love God.
"....all things...." is actually "all things." God is able to use, because He is God, all the pieces of our lives to achieve His ideals for our lives. "....for the good of...." is tough to grasp because the "good" is what He thinks is good. And we all know that sometimes what God calls "good" might not feel so good right now. Trust is important.
Now we are ready to look at the promise. It's bigger than you think. And it's been around a long time. Notice the promise in its context:
Romans 8:28 . . . 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. {29} For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. {30} And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
God promises that everything will work out according to His perfect plan for the lives of those who love Him more than self.
The called, God's children, those who have truly surrendered their lives to His ultimate Lordship can KNOW that they cannot fail IF they allow God to consume their lives with His best, IF they surrender to His will for their lives.
Fear dies a thousand deaths in the BRILLIANCE OF THE LIGHT of this simple promise. But we must learn to measure daily life through the lens of this promise.
I believe the promise. I want to enjoy the promise. But I'm just like most of you. Fear rules the day. I allow what I see to cloud what I hear when God speaks truth to me. And when I think about our spiritual potential, the good we might accomplish for the Kingdom or the damage we might cause working against the forces of evil . . . I am amazed at what we do not do because we're not sure our dream "for doing" will come to be.
Paul described our certain relationship with God as settled for all time, before any time began. From before the foundation of the world: God foreknew us, knew us before we existed; God predestined our likeness to Christ; God called us to salvation; God justified us in spite of our sins; and God glorified us to be like Christ.
I was not around before the foundation of the world. And eternity has yet to begin. What I am left to understand is NOW. I have been called. This I know: I have been called. God reached into my world, and drew me with His love into His arms. I am saved. I am His child.
I will trust that He knew everything beforehand, and that He sees the coming future. He is God. For now, I'm trying to learn to dream and to live without the burden of fear.
Notice one odd thing about these five words, actually five verbs: they are all past tense. As far as God is concerned, it is all history. There is no reason to wonder or to fear because it is all done, that is, it is all settled for God. What remains is for you and me to live the dream.
I'm not sure that I know all of your dreams. I know some of your dreams. Some of you have been seriously sidetracked. Life is replacing the dreams that keep you alive. Some of you have silenced the dream. And the safe life you now live is less than God's best for your life. Some of you have never dreamed. Your life has been so cluttered that dreaming is a luxury you feel you cannot afford.
You may be wondering how wide your dreams might be and still fit under this amazing promise. I'm not sure. But I suppose if the dream includes being and doing God's will, there are no edges, no fine print under the promise.
I cannot dream your dream. I cannot begin to live your dream. I cannot even make you strive for the dream. But I can offer you words that protect the dream. In light of this promise, that God works all things for good for those who love Him and have been called for His purposes, Paul wrote the following words:
Romans 8:31 . . . What, then, shall we say in response to this? [That is, in response to this amazing promise.] If God is for us, who can be against us? {32} He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? {33} Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. {34} Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. {35} Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? {36} As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." {37} No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. {38} For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Because God has given Jesus, because Jesus has given us His life, we can trust this promise regardless of the circumstances.
There is no one and no thing that can separate us from the love of God. And this promise, that "He will in us" if "we are in Him," accomplish what He intends, is as sure as anything can be sure. And it will all be good, the best, because that is God's way of doing things.
What are your dreams? Are they still alive in your heart? Are you living them? If not, what has happened? What are your dreams? Is God in the middle of the dream? If He is, then you can know He wants to make the dream come true, to show you His best.
What are your dreams? Are your dreams His dreams for you? Stop. Listen. Obey. Allow God to take you to new places in your spiritual adventure.
Romans 8:38 . . . For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, {39} neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
