2. Who Is In Control?
Notes
Transcript
Welcome to part two of our sermon series, The Bottom Line. In this series, we are focusing in on four core, bottom line statements that Jesus says when it comes to following him. I would really encourage you to work through this entire series, as it’s a challenging one and helps us all evaluate where we are in our relationship with Jesus. Remember, if you ever miss a sermon you can catch up by going to our web page and clicking on the Teaching page. You can also find us on our podcasting app under Iowa City Church Podcast or just go to YouTube and subscribe to Iowa City Church.
So what if I told you that our universe is currently being controlled by a teenager eating potato chips, drinking Mountain Dew, while typing on their computer keyboard? If you get a few minutes this afternoon, do an internet search on this question: Are we living in a simulated universe? Trust me, you will not be disappointed in what you will find. There are countless articles on the topic. Think of simulated universe theory as this: What if everything around us—the people, the stars overhead, the ground beneath our feet, even our bodies and minds—were an elaborate illusion? What if our world were simply a hyper-realistic simulation, with all of us merely characters in some kind of sophisticated video game? For example, think of the 1999 movie, The Matrix.
This brings up an important philosophical question: if there is no God, then who is in control of the universe? This is an important question isn’t it? Where did we come from? Why are we here? What am I supposed to be doing? Who is in control of the universe? If it’s not God, your options are the universe it’s self. Aliens. Karma. No one. Or my personal favorite, Nathan Coker playing a video game. Those are your options. I’m honestly not fond of any of them.
Since this is church, and we study the Bible, we are going to go with a Creator God who put the entire universe together. Not only did he create it, he sustains it. We believe that God is in control. However, this raises an important question:
What is God’s plan and what role do I play in that plan?
God:
God:
Thankfully, God has revealed himself to us in a variety of ways…one of which is the Bible. Let’s do a quick drive through what God says about his plan…and then land on what Jesus says about our role in that plan. So, if you have a Bible or device, we are going to start at the beginning, Genesis chapter one. If you are using the YouVersion Bible app, make go to the bottom left hand corner where it says “More”. Click on those lines. In the new menu look for the word, “Events”. Click on Events, then look for Iowa City Church. All of the sermon notes, Scriptures and details will be available for you there.
The Bible opens with the Creator God building the universe and everything in it out of scratch. His final creative touch is found in Genesis 1.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
He creates humans, in his likeness. If you remember this sermon from the beginning of our Core52 journey, you will recall that the purpose of humans is to serve in a partnership with God. Humans are to be God’s representatives here on earth. God has a plan for humans, and you could say that he cares for them…they are his crowning achievement in all of creation. However, this relationship with people isn’t one sided; humans aren’t robots. Look at Genesis chapter 2.
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”
Your key word there is free. God has a plan, a purpose, but he gives these humans free will. They have a choice to choose God or not choose him. So as we see God cares for people and wants them to care about him…and that’s the problem: people don’t care for God.
Adam and Eve break their relationship with God by making their own free will decision: We want to define good and evil on our own terms.
This leads to a rebellion against God…and there is a massive rift created in the relationship between God and all of Creation. It seems as if things are falling a part . Which then forces us to ask this question: If God is all knowing, why did he create humans? This is a really good question isn’t it? So let me ask the parents out there this question: Why did you decide to have children knowing full well that they would make messes, keep you up at night and cause you to worry so much? The trade off is when they throw their arms around you and choose to love you. Why do we seek out relationships, knowing full well that their is a risk of hurt and abandonment? Because the trade off is when that person says they love you is one of the most amazing experiences in the universe. God gave humans free will, even though there was the risk of rejection because there is nothing greater in the universe then a love relationship between God and people.
So even though Adam and Eve wanted to break off their relationship with God, and even though things begin to fall apart…God has a plan. Look at Genesis 3.
And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
It feels like everything is falling apart, but then God steps in and confronts the deceiver who tempted Adam and Eve into eating the fruit of the tree, he says that one day there will be a descendant of the woman who will crush your head, while the deceiver strikes his heal. This is our first glimpse at God’s plan…God has a plan.
So as we work through the Bible God surprisingly doesn’t give up on people. He continues to work with them, partner with them in carrying out his plan. In fact, sometimes God will specifically choose or elect a person or persons for a particular job or role to play. One example that you are very familiar with is Abraham. God chose or elected him to be this father of a great nation. We know very little about why Abraham, what made him better…but God had the foreknowledge and knew that Abraham was the right person for the job. Just because Abraham was chosen by God for this task it doesn’t mean that he was always good or right or even just…in fact sometimes he failed miserably…yet God was patient and worked with him and his family because God was working out his plan. What was the plan? God promised Abraham that through him and his family God would bless world.
This plan to bless the world continued with Abraham’s family, Israel. As you read through the OT you see how this family, turned nation responds to this mission. Sometimes they do well, but often times they do poorly. Sometimes they are just plain evil, God continues to work with them. There are even times when God demonstrates his foreknowledge that these people will reject him and do horrible things…yet he doesn’t give up and he continues to work with them because God has a plan and he made a promise. So the theme throughout the OT is simple this: God has a plan to repair the broken relationship God has with people. The problem is that people are so hard to work with!
All of this brings us to Jesus. The fulfillment of God’s promise. The one who is best summarized with this verse:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God’s plan has come into fruition through Jesus. God loves the world so much that his plan is to send Jesus to die an atoning death on the cross only to be resurrected from the dead…to in turn restore the relationship between God and people. This is an amazing plan, that is carried out perfectly! The problem is that not everyone is fond of God’s plan. Not everyone is so excited about Jesus. Near the end of Jesus’ ministry, in the days leading up to his arrest and execution Jesus is talking with religious leaders, people who have been privy to God’s plan to be a blessing to the world. These religious leaders are insiders, they have had special information about God’s plan and who Jesus. Here is the story Jesus tells them.
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.
“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’
“But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. He asked, ‘How did you get in here without wedding clothes, friend?’ The man was speechless.
“Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
“For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
So this king is throwing this massive party for his son who is getting married. He naturally invites all of his friends, family and close associates. Shockingly they ignore the invitation. The king sends the invitation again and they beat up and and kill his messengers. The king is outraged at this act of injustice and he in turn brings justice and destroys their towns.
Here’s the problem; he’s throwing a party and the insiders have declined the invitation. So the king sends out his servants to go everywhere, to the street corners, the crossroads and invite the good and the bad until the wedding hall was filled. The king invites outsiders, and the outsiders come to the party.
However, there is one guy who is at the party, however he is not wearing wedding clothes. Some commentators suggest that there were kings who actually provided wedding clothes for their guests. Never the less, the guy gets the invitation and shows up on his own terms. In fact, his silence betrays his guilt and disrespect by not adequately preparing to come to the king. This man is cast out into a miserable place, not because he was unworthy (all the guests were unworthy), but because he viewed the king as being unworthy or wearing the proper attire.
This brings us to our Core verse of the day and Jesus’ bottom line. Let’s break it down into two parts:
“For many are invited” - The invitation to God’s wedding banquet, his plan, goes out to insiders and outsiders. Those near and far. The tells us that God desires everyone to be saved. So the call goes out, the invitation is sent in many different ways, through people, through the Bible, through dreams and visions, through the internet, through the radio and podcasts…to the ends of the earth the message is going out.
“But few are chosen” - Are few chosen because God is arbitrary? Is it dependent about your religion, your goodness? According to Jesus the chosen are those who respond to the call of God on his terms.
So the question I opened with was this: What is God’s plan and what role do I play in that plan?
From our brief summary of the Biblical story here is what we can attest:
From the beginning God has been working a predetermined plan to invite people back into a relationship with him.
God has invited people to be a part of this predetermined planned.
Through the atoning death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection from the dead the center piece of God’s plan has become a reality.
Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, an invitation is in the process of being sent out to every person to join God in a eternal partnership.
Every person must decide how they will respond to the invitation; ultimately God already knows their decision.
So, let me ask you a question: God has chosen you to attend an eternal party he has intricately planned. Will you humbly attend? Or decline the invitation?