WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.600 The Proverbs kind of stand on their own, all of them. 00:00:04.600 --> 00:00:08.640 They're not necessarily related to any of the ones before them or any ones after them. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:12.880 Sometimes they're repeated, sometimes they just are individual. 00:00:12.880 --> 00:00:16.839 And I'm going to look, as I'll explain a little bit more as we go on why I'm doing 00:00:16.839 --> 00:00:24.519 this, but I'm going to look at the third Proverb in Proverbs chapter 16, which will 00:00:24.519 --> 00:00:28.439 be the theme of this week and the next number of weeks. 00:00:28.439 --> 00:00:35.799 Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. 00:00:35.799 --> 00:00:41.719 Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. 00:00:41.719 --> 00:00:44.200 We're going to look at that in a minute. 00:00:44.200 --> 00:00:51.320 In 1978, there was a very famous World Cup song, World Cup for those of you who are visiting, 00:00:51.320 --> 00:00:56.520 maybe from other parts of the world, I'm talking about football, soccer. 00:00:56.520 --> 00:01:02.159 And Scotland, I think it's probably the last time just about Scotland, qualified for a 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:03.159 World Cup finals. 00:01:03.159 --> 00:01:08.640 But there was a very famous song by a very famous artist called Rod Stewart and it was 00:01:08.640 --> 00:01:12.359 called Que Sera Sera. 00:01:12.359 --> 00:01:14.519 We're off to the Argentine. 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:23.239 It was an ignominious song and an even more ignominious performance by the team when they 00:01:23.239 --> 00:01:24.239 got there. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.119 It wasn't one of Rod Stewart's finest moments. 00:01:27.119 --> 00:01:30.959 But Scotland fans have been singing that ever since, Que Sera Sera, whatever will be 00:01:30.959 --> 00:01:33.319 will be. 00:01:33.319 --> 00:01:38.759 And sometimes I think we have taken that and we apply it into our thinking as Christians, 00:01:38.759 --> 00:01:40.079 whatever will be will be. 00:01:40.079 --> 00:01:45.400 And I think within that there's a great danger of theological imbalance in our thinking. 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:52.679 I think sometimes we use that kind of philosophy to have an imbalanced understanding of who 00:01:52.679 --> 00:01:59.759 God is and who we are and our responsibility and our relationship with Him. 00:01:59.759 --> 00:02:01.079 We believe in God's sovereignty. 00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:02.680 I've prayed about that. 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:07.039 We understand that, that God knows the end from the beginning, He's the sovereign King 00:02:07.039 --> 00:02:08.159 of Kings. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:15.599 But I think we can sometimes use that knowledge of God to excuse laziness or justify a kind 00:02:15.599 --> 00:02:22.439 of spiritual fatalism that, you know, well, whatever will be will be, you know, because 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:24.359 God has ordained it. 00:02:24.359 --> 00:02:28.439 You know, that's not a biblical text, whatever will be will be. 00:02:28.439 --> 00:02:32.079 You don't find it anywhere in the Bible. 00:02:32.079 --> 00:02:36.759 Or you know, I'm not sure if this is a worldwide one but it's certainly a Scottish one which 00:02:36.759 --> 00:02:41.840 we hear sometimes is, what's for you will not pass by you. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:44.719 It's theological nonsense. 00:02:44.719 --> 00:02:49.639 But it has a half truth about it, even if it's God's will it will happen. 00:02:49.639 --> 00:02:54.719 Now that's true at one level but it's kind of a half truth. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:03:00.359 You know, if you're applying for a job or you want a new job and you see that you're 00:03:00.359 --> 00:03:06.120 dream job, you don't just sit back and say, well, if it's God's will it will happen. 00:03:06.120 --> 00:03:11.680 You may recognize the importance of God in it but you will apply. 00:03:11.680 --> 00:03:13.159 You will fill in a CV. 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:17.840 You will give your best account of yourself because it's not simply just that if it's 00:03:17.840 --> 00:03:19.680 God's will it will happen. 00:03:19.680 --> 00:03:26.439 We have a responsibility as people, as believers who trust in God to recognize our responsibility 00:03:26.439 --> 00:03:27.439 as well. 00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:35.000 And on the other side, sometimes I think people, Christians are in danger of saying, oh, planning 00:03:35.000 --> 00:03:39.159 things, planning the future is unspiritual. 00:03:39.159 --> 00:03:41.120 It's taking undue control of your life. 00:03:41.120 --> 00:03:47.039 It's not recognizing that every day is God's gift and in God's hands and we can't make 00:03:47.039 --> 00:03:48.039 plans. 00:03:48.039 --> 00:03:52.199 That too, I think, is a half truth. 00:03:52.199 --> 00:03:53.199 It's a half truth. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:03:54.439 It's not biblical. 00:03:54.439 --> 00:03:59.080 So what I want to do over the next five weeks today and the next four weeks is have a short 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:09.360 series where we're going to look at the plans we make and praying about them and praying 00:04:09.360 --> 00:04:13.080 in a planned way for certain things, specific things. 00:04:13.080 --> 00:04:18.560 I want us to think about praying as a people together, as a congregation praying in certain 00:04:18.560 --> 00:04:25.639 focused ways to motivate our lives and the action and the responsibilities we take. 00:04:25.639 --> 00:04:31.560 Praying prayer as an indisputable foundation for the positive planning we need to make in 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:32.560 our lives. 00:04:32.560 --> 00:04:39.199 We need to be planning because we all do it, but we need to be doing it. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:43.680 Independence on God, commit to the work, commit your work to the Lord and your plans will 00:04:43.680 --> 00:04:44.680 be established. 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:48.639 And the question, you know, when asking the plans that you're making in your life, what 00:04:48.639 --> 00:04:52.240 are you praying about and planning in your life? 00:04:52.240 --> 00:04:57.680 We're going to be looking at the gospel and Jesus Christ and the part He plays. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:05:02.240 We're going to look at your involvement within the church and also within society. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:08.040 I'm going to be asking you to pray in a planned way about certain things in the world in which 00:05:08.040 --> 00:05:09.040 you live. 00:05:09.040 --> 00:05:10.519 So we're going to do four. 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.319 Next week will be my, this is introductory, next week will be my life in Christ. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:20.199 In other words, where's the gospel and Jesus Christ in my plans? 00:05:20.199 --> 00:05:23.839 Is He an extra or is He central to my plans? 00:05:23.839 --> 00:05:27.079 And does His mind matter to my plans? 00:05:27.079 --> 00:05:30.719 Then the second one, we're going to look at my city and Christ. 00:05:30.719 --> 00:05:34.079 What's my part in God's plans for this city, Edinburgh? 00:05:34.079 --> 00:05:36.560 The city that we're right in the center of. 00:05:36.560 --> 00:05:40.759 Increasingly they're closing all the streets so we can't get here, but we're still here. 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:43.399 Okay, and that's great. 00:05:43.399 --> 00:05:47.800 The third week, we're going to look at the wee ones and Christ. 00:05:47.800 --> 00:05:53.000 It's our prayerful response to the reality of abortion in our society. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.520 And how do we respond to that in a loving and gracious and yet strong way defending 00:05:57.520 --> 00:06:01.520 the rights of the most vulnerable in our society? 00:06:01.520 --> 00:06:07.720 And the last one I want to do in terms of focus planned prayer is a community to be 00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:09.840 reached for Christ. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:18.159 How do we pray for prayerfully longing for the LGBT community to have Christ's love 00:06:18.159 --> 00:06:21.479 broken into their society and their community? 00:06:21.479 --> 00:06:30.599 How can we best pray for that community which seems to be so defensive against any Christians 00:06:30.599 --> 00:06:34.559 and the gospel and yet their need like ours is just as great? 00:06:34.560 --> 00:06:41.879 Because I live with two fears, generally speaking, in my life and generally, I guess. 00:06:41.879 --> 00:06:44.480 First is that prayer is marginal for us. 00:06:44.480 --> 00:06:46.000 That's one of my great fears. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:53.439 It's not a priority that we pray sometimes superstitiously, almost in vague generalities, 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:59.199 that it's not sacrificial either individually or it's not sacrificial as we live in community 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:03.319 as a church, that prayer together doesn't really matter that much. 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:10.839 Because it's our pathway, our daily pathway to God and it's absolutely our lifeblood. 00:07:10.839 --> 00:07:13.959 So that would be one concern that I have in my own life. 00:07:13.959 --> 00:07:17.279 John 15 says, you know, remain in me as I remain in you. 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:18.959 No branch can bear fruit by itself. 00:07:18.959 --> 00:07:22.480 I am the vine, you're the branches, if you remain in me and I in you, you'll bear much 00:07:22.480 --> 00:07:23.480 fruit. 00:07:23.480 --> 00:07:25.360 Apart from me, you can do nothing. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:28.879 That would really be a great logo for the church, wouldn't it? 00:07:28.879 --> 00:07:34.439 Apart from me, you can do nothing and a great logo for our own lives that we recognize the 00:07:34.439 --> 00:07:39.639 importance of being connected to God in prayer through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. 00:07:39.639 --> 00:07:42.879 So that's my first fear, I guess, and my prayer is marginal. 00:07:42.879 --> 00:07:49.680 And my second fear in my own life and maybe generally is that the gospel is largely irrelevant 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:52.639 to us beyond these walls. 00:07:52.639 --> 00:07:56.920 That as you leave here on a Sunday, that in your day to day life and in my day to day life 00:07:56.920 --> 00:08:03.600 and in our plans and in our future thoughts, the gospel in Jesus Christ is kind of irrelevant. 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:07.520 It's just like the spiritual fix that we plug into on a Sunday but really doesn't really 00:08:07.520 --> 00:08:12.600 affect our relationships and our life generally throughout the week. 00:08:12.600 --> 00:08:17.560 We have no intentional plan towards holiness and growth. 00:08:17.560 --> 00:08:22.759 We live and plan with God on a kind of distant horizon. 00:08:22.759 --> 00:08:27.959 It occasionally turns up like a bad penny. 00:08:27.959 --> 00:08:30.680 Besties our insurance policy for when we die. 00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:36.159 Well, when we die, it's okay because I trust in Jesus, I'm going to go to heaven. 00:08:36.159 --> 00:08:41.360 But we're relying on a past experience of coming to faith in Jesus Christ, not a living 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:43.360 transformation in Him. 00:08:43.360 --> 00:08:46.960 So it's not real, is really what I'm saying. 00:08:46.960 --> 00:08:53.400 And planning and the gospel don't seem to go together because I'm just getting on with 00:08:53.400 --> 00:08:54.400 my life. 00:08:54.400 --> 00:08:56.000 So why do we make plans? 00:08:56.000 --> 00:09:00.240 Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. 00:09:00.240 --> 00:09:03.240 Why do we make plans at all? 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:09.440 Well, we make plans because God makes plans and we are made in His image. 00:09:09.440 --> 00:09:15.560 We reflect the character of God by many of the things we do say and think. 00:09:15.559 --> 00:09:17.159 And so He's a planning God. 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:23.199 We know that the Bible is a clear revelation of God's purposes and God's plan. 00:09:23.199 --> 00:09:31.319 And so as Christians we have a biblical worldview, not just salvific view about salvation. 00:09:31.319 --> 00:09:37.119 We have a worldview about the environment, about the world that we live in, about society, 00:09:37.119 --> 00:09:39.399 about people, about community. 00:09:39.399 --> 00:09:45.279 It's based on, you know, when Cody was with us, it was one of his favorite phrases, creation, 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:47.279 all redemption, renewal. 00:09:47.279 --> 00:09:55.199 It was that pattern that the Bible tells us who we are made by, where our identity comes 00:09:55.199 --> 00:10:00.399 from, how that identity has been lost because of sin, how it is renewed through Jesus Christ 00:10:00.399 --> 00:10:06.079 and His grace and love for us and His work on our behalf, and how that transforms us now 00:10:06.079 --> 00:10:10.519 and will transform the universe in which we live in the future. 00:10:10.519 --> 00:10:12.439 So God is our purpose. 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:17.160 You know, Christ says that He had a plan from before the foundation of the world. 00:10:17.160 --> 00:10:20.640 He knows He has a purpose and a plan. 00:10:20.640 --> 00:10:26.280 Everything He does, nothing He does is random and meaningless and reactive. 00:10:26.280 --> 00:10:30.160 Everything is purposely and perfectly planned. 00:10:30.160 --> 00:10:34.000 We have biblical examples of lives that were planned. 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:38.640 You know what they was, what we've got, we've got Adam, we've got Abraham and David, Solomon, 00:10:38.640 --> 00:10:40.840 Paul and the New Testament apostles. 00:10:40.840 --> 00:10:50.600 Their lives, evidence, thoughtful, responsible planning, independence on the living God. 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:52.840 And God has plans not just for the world but for us. 00:10:52.840 --> 00:10:56.240 You know that great verse in Jeremiah, I know the plans I have for you, plans to do you 00:10:56.240 --> 00:11:00.320 good not to harm you, plans to give you a future and hope. 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:06.800 This is the great God that we trust in, transcendent in that amazing knowledge of the universe 00:11:06.799 --> 00:11:13.599 and imminent, close in the personal individual plans He has for your life and my life. 00:11:13.599 --> 00:11:15.799 That's the kind of God we have. 00:11:15.799 --> 00:11:24.719 And the text, which is God's word, presumes that we live in a world that is a world governed 00:11:24.719 --> 00:11:33.120 by work and plans, commit your work to the Lord, your plans will be established. 00:11:33.120 --> 00:11:37.200 So why do we make plans? 00:11:37.200 --> 00:11:38.200 Because God does. 00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:40.000 And we make plans because everyone does. 00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:43.759 All of you here, all of us here are making plans. 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:45.799 Maybe consciously sometimes, maybe unconsciously. 00:11:45.799 --> 00:11:48.879 But we are planning people. 00:11:48.879 --> 00:11:54.560 And sometimes you will, if you sit back and think about it, you will consider the plans 00:11:54.560 --> 00:11:59.399 you make will reflect the worldview that you actually have, whether God and Christ is the 00:11:59.399 --> 00:12:02.080 center of that worldview or not. 00:12:02.080 --> 00:12:06.920 Many people have a kind of meaningless plan, nihilistic. 00:12:06.920 --> 00:12:12.320 So they are planning, but they're planning into a vacuum of meaninglessness because they 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:16.920 don't believe in any ultimate or bigger purpose in the world. 00:12:16.920 --> 00:12:19.400 I hope nobody here thinks like that. 00:12:19.400 --> 00:12:22.520 Very despairing. 00:12:22.520 --> 00:12:27.560 Many people drift with an unconscious plan, almost no plan, kind of aimless. 00:12:27.559 --> 00:12:33.359 But even the aimlessness is a plan, a plan to be aimless. 00:12:33.359 --> 00:12:35.639 And so it's kind of a bit ironic. 00:12:35.639 --> 00:12:40.359 And I suspect many of us, without really thinking through it or certainly not admitting it, 00:12:40.359 --> 00:12:44.279 especially spiritually, are drifting. 00:12:44.279 --> 00:12:47.279 We just, we'd not get any plans for our spiritual life. 00:12:47.279 --> 00:12:48.279 We're just aimless. 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:54.359 We believed, yep, we accepted Jesus, but well now we're just getting up in the morning and 00:12:54.359 --> 00:12:55.359 going to bed at night. 00:12:55.360 --> 00:13:01.080 We've got no plans really, spiritually, and God is not involved at that personal level 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:02.080 in our lives. 00:13:02.080 --> 00:13:03.080 We're drifting. 00:13:03.080 --> 00:13:07.039 You know, Alison Wonderland, when she meets the Cheshire cat, which way should I go? 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:12.879 She says, he says, depends on a great deal on where you want to go. 00:13:12.879 --> 00:13:15.800 I don't much care of where. 00:13:15.800 --> 00:13:17.879 Then it doesn't matter which way you go, does it? 00:13:17.879 --> 00:13:20.279 And so sometimes that's what we're like. 00:13:20.279 --> 00:13:23.840 It doesn't really matter where we go because we don't care. 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:26.720 We're just drifting in our lives. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:32.800 Then we sometimes have a kind of social plan, traditional plans where we live to do the best 00:13:32.800 --> 00:13:36.600 for us and our families, you know? 00:13:36.600 --> 00:13:39.800 Family and community are important and we plan around that. 00:13:39.800 --> 00:13:43.240 And that's good within that. 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:47.600 Or an individualistic plan, just plan for number one. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:48.600 Number one's all that matters. 00:13:48.600 --> 00:13:51.680 Easy for us to fall into that. 00:13:51.679 --> 00:13:53.919 Generally that can be there for at the expense of other people. 00:13:53.919 --> 00:13:58.879 I don't, as long as my plans go okay, I'm not so concerned about others. 00:13:58.879 --> 00:14:05.879 Or it can be an idealistic plan that you have in your life, maybe environmental or ethical, 00:14:05.879 --> 00:14:13.759 a member of extinction rebellion or green peace where you see humanity as sovereign and 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:19.559 the need to control the world and the universe. 00:14:19.559 --> 00:14:24.239 These are up to us, very much thinking of many of our millennials. 00:14:24.239 --> 00:14:30.679 And there's good elements within that, within that individualistic, social and idealistic 00:14:30.679 --> 00:14:32.479 plans. 00:14:32.479 --> 00:14:38.639 But as believers in Christ, as those who are Christians and profess to be Christians today, 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:44.279 if that is where you are in your life spiritually, what does it mean? 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:49.720 What does life planning look like for the Christian? 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.720 Commit your plans, your work to the Lord, your plans will be established. 00:14:52.720 --> 00:14:57.319 Well the Bible says, lots of things probably, I'll just mention one or two of them. 00:14:57.319 --> 00:15:05.000 First, planning for us as Christians should be transformational, okay? 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:09.839 We should allow the gospel and Jesus Christ to influence what we think and how we plan, 00:15:09.840 --> 00:15:14.600 rather than the other way round. 00:15:14.600 --> 00:15:19.240 Romans 12, chapter 1, you know, do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by what? 00:15:19.240 --> 00:15:20.720 By the renewing of your mind. 00:15:20.720 --> 00:15:22.120 And that's what you do, the planning, isn't it? 00:15:22.120 --> 00:15:24.280 In your mind. 00:15:24.280 --> 00:15:26.200 By the renewing of your mind. 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:30.240 And that's the biblical pattern, that you know, don't let the world squeeze you into 00:15:30.240 --> 00:15:34.080 its mold but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:39.400 So we have to plan, but it's planning in a way that takes Christ into the center and 00:15:39.399 --> 00:15:40.799 is therefore transformational. 00:15:40.799 --> 00:15:41.799 It's gospel cent... 00:15:41.799 --> 00:15:46.439 It's transformational, it's gospel centered. 00:15:46.439 --> 00:15:50.919 And that is because as Christians we have a relationship with Jesus Christ, a relationship 00:15:50.919 --> 00:15:56.840 of love with Him and of debt because He is freely offered as salvation and we've accepted 00:15:56.840 --> 00:15:57.840 that. 00:15:57.840 --> 00:16:00.240 We don't earn it, it's nothing good in ourselves. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.199 He has done that great work on the cross for us. 00:16:03.200 --> 00:16:14.879 Our death is the great foghorn that reminds us that we are one day to be separated from 00:16:14.879 --> 00:16:19.320 life and life is God's gift and God is the author of life. 00:16:19.320 --> 00:16:24.560 And so it speaks of a separation from God and that has come about because of our sin. 00:16:24.560 --> 00:16:30.160 But Jesus on the cross has paid that, we'll remember that at the Lord's Supper shortly. 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:37.079 And therefore our love for Christ and our debt to Christ makes our planning gospel centered. 00:16:37.079 --> 00:16:44.360 It's very easy to be stagnant, to have no vision, to have no goals, spiritually some 00:16:44.360 --> 00:16:48.439 people think spiritual goals are a kind of dirty phrase. 00:16:48.439 --> 00:16:53.959 But it's easy for us spiritually to have no reflection, to have no measurement of whether 00:16:53.959 --> 00:16:57.919 we're growing spiritually because we've got no real purpose, we don't really know what 00:16:57.919 --> 00:16:59.120 we're doing. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:05.200 And we're just imbibing the philosophy of the world around us and living sometimes without 00:17:05.200 --> 00:17:08.720 God in our hearts and our lives and in our perspective. 00:17:08.720 --> 00:17:12.359 What does it look like to glorify God? 00:17:12.359 --> 00:17:14.400 How do we plan to do that? 00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:16.440 What does it mean to enjoy Him? 00:17:16.440 --> 00:17:20.799 How do we plan to put on the armor of God every day, to clothe ourselves daily with 00:17:20.799 --> 00:17:23.079 Christ, to live in the light? 00:17:23.079 --> 00:17:24.400 Does that just happen? 00:17:24.400 --> 00:17:30.640 Do we just rumble on and get up in the morning and all of a sudden we're clothed with Christ? 00:17:30.640 --> 00:17:33.920 And all of a sudden we're wearing His armor. 00:17:33.920 --> 00:17:37.160 Is it just something that we're passive about? 00:17:37.160 --> 00:17:42.920 Or do we plan our lives in such a way that is gospel centered and our behavior? 00:17:42.920 --> 00:17:47.519 Where, as we ask the questions, where in my life do I need to change direction? 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:49.000 What attitudes need to change? 00:17:49.000 --> 00:17:50.000 What behavior? 00:17:50.000 --> 00:17:51.000 What choices? 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:53.519 What do I need to do? 00:17:53.519 --> 00:17:55.480 What resources do I need? 00:17:55.480 --> 00:17:58.440 To whom am I accountable? 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.079 Who will help me in this? 00:18:02.079 --> 00:18:08.000 How do I allow God to speak into my ambitions, my relationships, my attitude to drink, and 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:11.519 to entertainment, and to money, and to parenting? 00:18:11.519 --> 00:18:14.279 Is the gospel at the center of these things? 00:18:14.279 --> 00:18:21.480 Or do we just rumble on our own way and somehow passively expect God to bless us or to enable 00:18:21.480 --> 00:18:22.720 us to live? 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:29.720 So it should be transformational, it should be gospel centered, it should be growth focused, 00:18:29.720 --> 00:18:32.200 our plans and our prayer lives. 00:18:32.200 --> 00:18:34.920 It involves intentionality, doesn't it? 00:18:34.920 --> 00:18:37.279 And mystery. 00:18:37.279 --> 00:18:44.600 The parable of the sore, it involved a great deal of work in order to see and long for that 00:18:44.600 --> 00:18:51.319 growth to happen, but it also involved the mystery of the seed in the ground and coming 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:52.680 to fruition. 00:18:52.680 --> 00:19:00.480 But you know, if growth is so important to us spiritually, which I hope it is, that 00:19:00.480 --> 00:19:05.560 we're drawing closer to Christ, then isn't it important that we have some way of measuring 00:19:05.560 --> 00:19:06.560 that growth? 00:19:06.560 --> 00:19:11.680 You know, and there's a door frame in the house, the mans that we live in, in the living 00:19:11.680 --> 00:19:17.360 room, some of you will know this, that it's full of notches all the way up the door, because 00:19:17.359 --> 00:19:23.759 we measured all the boys and Amy's height as you know, every year, and so the notches 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:24.759 get higher and higher. 00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.879 We were just marking their growth. 00:19:26.879 --> 00:19:31.679 We knew that they'd move from one place to another, and we registered and measured that 00:19:31.679 --> 00:19:37.759 growth for some, it didn't go quite as high as they wanted, for others it would just be 00:19:37.759 --> 00:19:38.759 too quick. 00:19:38.759 --> 00:19:39.759 But anyway, that's what we had. 00:19:39.759 --> 00:19:43.919 And you know, is there any way that you are able to or have you thought of, or do we think 00:19:43.919 --> 00:19:45.919 about measuring spiritually? 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:51.240 Have I grown as a Christian since this time last year, since last summer? 00:19:51.240 --> 00:19:52.240 Have I developed? 00:19:52.240 --> 00:19:53.240 Have I matured? 00:19:53.240 --> 00:19:55.240 Have I learned lots of the, what have I learned? 00:19:55.240 --> 00:19:56.800 How can I put it into practice? 00:19:56.800 --> 00:19:59.440 What has Jesus taught me? 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:07.400 Because we are planning and praying, transformational gospel-centered, growth-focused, and of course, 00:20:07.400 --> 00:20:12.240 within all of this, embracing it all, prayerful. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:20.599 The life that we live is absolutely key, that the trust that we have in Jesus as our Savior 00:20:20.599 --> 00:20:26.120 is reflected in the way that we allow Him into the center of our plans. 00:20:26.120 --> 00:20:31.200 And that's what this text is all about, commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will 00:20:31.200 --> 00:20:32.279 be established. 00:20:32.279 --> 00:20:35.599 The word for commit there is a great word. 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:43.240 The Hebrew is much, much more illustrative and imaginative than the English language. 00:20:43.240 --> 00:20:49.119 But the word there for Hebrew means just, it describes rolling something over, roll 00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:50.639 it over. 00:20:50.639 --> 00:20:51.639 And that's what commit means. 00:20:51.639 --> 00:20:57.399 It means rolling something completely over to someone else and trusting it to them, pushing, 00:20:57.399 --> 00:21:01.599 giving it into their trust and into their responsibility. 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.119 And we are to, that's what prayer is, isn't it? 00:21:04.119 --> 00:21:07.199 It's just rolling things over into His presence. 00:21:07.199 --> 00:21:13.719 It's committing things to Him, it's praying to Him, and it's praying to Him as our Lord. 00:21:13.719 --> 00:21:21.479 So this is speaking of God as the Redeemer here, the Lord, the Yahweh, the one who redeemed 00:21:21.479 --> 00:21:22.919 His people. 00:21:22.919 --> 00:21:28.839 And the assumption is here that we are praying to the one in whom we trust, whom we know as 00:21:28.839 --> 00:21:30.519 the Redeemer and as the Lord. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:36.960 We know who He is, we know His character, we know His Lordship, we want to know Him more, 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:39.200 we want to trust Him more. 00:21:39.200 --> 00:21:43.960 You know, you can't roll over something into somebody's presence that you don't know. 00:21:43.960 --> 00:21:46.960 It would be a foolish thing to do. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:54.019 You know, if our Bible is closed, if the pathway to heaven is silent in prayer, if we're not 00:21:54.019 --> 00:21:58.119 learning and submitting to the living God, it's going to be very difficult for us to 00:21:58.119 --> 00:22:04.559 roll over our life and our plans and our thinking and our prayers to Him. 00:22:04.559 --> 00:22:09.599 So in St. Columba, we always have the wedding season, and this has been the wedding season. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:16.319 We had six weddings connected with St. Columba over the summer, and at each of these weddings, 00:22:16.319 --> 00:22:20.039 the bride and groom take vows. 00:22:20.039 --> 00:22:21.879 Can you imagine two things? 00:22:21.879 --> 00:22:27.039 If the bride and groom took vows, but the foolishness of them taking vows to one another, 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:33.519 if they didn't know each other, it would be so difficult for them to vow for the rest 00:22:33.519 --> 00:22:39.359 of their lives to one another and to roll over that great trust and push over everything 00:22:39.359 --> 00:22:43.799 into the life of the other if they didn't know one another. 00:22:43.799 --> 00:22:48.759 It would mean that their relationship was based on a whim, based on maybe an outward 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:51.119 attraction, a lack of knowledge and trust. 00:22:51.119 --> 00:22:58.479 It would be crazy to take these really solemn, joyful, solemn vows, rolling over, committing 00:22:58.479 --> 00:23:01.959 to another without knowing them. 00:23:01.959 --> 00:23:07.599 But at the same time, can you imagine taking and making these vows and making these vows 00:23:07.599 --> 00:23:13.639 in front of everyone and then never spending any time together, never growing and learning 00:23:13.639 --> 00:23:20.159 and sharing that all that mattered was about the actual wedding day and being married, 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:26.720 but then they go their own way, separate lives, separate bedrooms, separate everything, they 00:23:26.720 --> 00:23:27.920 just go their own way. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:33.040 And there's no rolling over at all, not even in a bad double bed. 00:23:33.040 --> 00:23:34.040 There's nothing. 00:23:34.040 --> 00:23:35.200 There's no rolling over. 00:23:35.200 --> 00:23:37.240 There's no entrusting to one another. 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:39.519 They're just living for themselves. 00:23:39.519 --> 00:23:41.040 But they've taken these serious vows. 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:43.320 That would be crazy, wouldn't it? 00:23:43.320 --> 00:23:45.279 But do we sometimes do that spiritually? 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:51.399 Oh, yeah, yeah, I entrusted my life to Jesus 30 years ago, but I never speak to Him now. 00:23:51.399 --> 00:23:53.039 I don't include Him in my plans. 00:23:53.039 --> 00:23:56.960 I'm good enough to just get on with my own plans. 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:01.399 Or saying, well, I trust in Jesus, but I don't need to listen, know Him. 00:24:01.399 --> 00:24:03.480 I don't need to know what He asks of me. 00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:06.319 I don't need to understand Him. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:09.079 Both of these things are irrational, aren't they? 00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:17.039 If we know and love Jesus and have given our lives to Him, then we roll over, we entrust, 00:24:17.039 --> 00:24:26.960 we push into His will and mind, our work and our plans. 00:24:26.960 --> 00:24:34.839 And that's that intentional, planned, focused prayer for specific realities in our lives. 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:36.679 That is where the impossible happens. 00:24:36.680 --> 00:24:44.320 Our Christian lives are really dull and dread filled and distant from Jesus. 00:24:44.320 --> 00:24:49.279 It's maybe because we don't know Him and we don't recognize what He's done and we're 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:52.600 not entrusting our life and our plans and our thinking to Him. 00:24:52.600 --> 00:24:57.400 And so the last thing, before we sing and celebrate the Lord's Supper, is going to be 00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:04.039 gospel-centered, transformational, growth-focused, prayerful and confident. 00:25:04.039 --> 00:25:07.240 Our lives will be as confident as we do so. 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.279 Commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established. 00:25:10.279 --> 00:25:17.200 Now, this is a general principle, as in all the Proverbs, we don't have specific promises, 00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:22.680 but we have general principles that as we root ourselves in the will of God and as we 00:25:22.680 --> 00:25:29.920 commit our ways to Him, we will find that our lives and our thoughts and our plans are 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:36.200 established, they're well-grounded because they link in with what God wants for us. 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:37.200 That's really what He's saying. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:41.519 As you understand and know and trust God and commit to Him, then you'll know the kind 00:25:41.519 --> 00:25:45.480 of things to be asking for and praying for and the plans you do and the work that you're 00:25:45.480 --> 00:25:47.800 engaged in. 00:25:47.800 --> 00:25:51.840 And they will be well-established. 00:25:51.840 --> 00:25:56.759 This isn't kind of a carte blanche statement, where he says, just, you know, doesn't matter 00:25:56.759 --> 00:26:00.759 what you're planning, but just pray about it and God will make sure it happens. 00:26:00.759 --> 00:26:07.099 That's not what we have here, because we know that His will for us sometimes is different 00:26:07.099 --> 00:26:11.680 from what our will is for us, because He knows what's good for us. 00:26:11.680 --> 00:26:15.720 We sometimes, what we want is not necessarily for our good. 00:26:15.720 --> 00:26:22.879 So it's not a Janus Joplin prayer, Lord, won't you buy me a mercy to his bands? 00:26:22.879 --> 00:26:25.319 It's not that kind of prayer. 00:26:25.319 --> 00:26:29.439 That's not what we have here, that we just ask for God whatever we want. 00:26:29.439 --> 00:26:33.439 And as long as we ask Him for it and pray about it, then He'll give us it. 00:26:33.439 --> 00:26:34.439 It's not like that. 00:26:34.439 --> 00:26:40.319 It's acknowledging His Lordship that He knows better than us that His will and our will as 00:26:40.319 --> 00:26:48.919 we entrust our lives to knowing Him will be confused and will be established in our lives. 00:26:48.919 --> 00:26:53.720 His good for us might be different, and we recognize that. 00:26:53.720 --> 00:26:59.319 But nonetheless, our lives become secure and solid when we're resting on Him. 00:26:59.319 --> 00:27:05.240 So today, I don't know what's brought you into church today. 00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:08.360 If you're vesting with us, what is your philosophy of life? 00:27:08.360 --> 00:27:10.240 Have you thought about that? 00:27:10.240 --> 00:27:11.240 Do you have a philosophy? 00:27:11.240 --> 00:27:15.079 What's the overarching philosophy of your life? 00:27:15.079 --> 00:27:21.880 Who you are, where you're from, what's the point of living, why you're here? 00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:25.360 Big, big, important questions. 00:27:25.360 --> 00:27:26.360 Who is God? 00:27:26.360 --> 00:27:27.800 Is there God? 00:27:27.800 --> 00:27:29.440 Who is Christ? 00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:31.160 Is Christ real? 00:27:31.160 --> 00:27:32.720 What does the gospel mean? 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:38.240 And if the gospel is real, how does it transform and impact my thinking and my life, and particularly 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.200 my plans and my prayers? 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:45.320 Are you prayerless today as a person? 00:27:45.320 --> 00:27:51.640 Can I say that's the loneliest place to be in the universe? 00:27:51.640 --> 00:27:55.000 Because if you're prayerless, you're saying, I'm on my own. 00:27:55.000 --> 00:28:01.560 There might be other people around us, but you're in this great, big, impersonal universe 00:28:01.560 --> 00:28:04.240 and you don't recognize anyone higher. 00:28:04.240 --> 00:28:12.800 That's a hugely lonely and in many ways meaningless place to be. 00:28:12.800 --> 00:28:17.320 But are you a Christian who doesn't pray? 00:28:17.319 --> 00:28:23.159 Or are you a Christian who doesn't plan prayerfully? 00:28:23.159 --> 00:28:27.319 Can I ask you, as I have to look at myself, to ask you to take a hard look at the kind 00:28:27.319 --> 00:28:32.599 of faith you have, the kind of understanding you have of the living God. 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:38.079 If you're able to go from day to day, week to week, month to month, prayerless, not committing 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:43.399 your plans or your work, and these are two different words, work and plan. 00:28:43.400 --> 00:28:47.600 The work is really the kind of things you're doing every day, your employment, your studies, 00:28:47.600 --> 00:28:49.759 whatever it might be. 00:28:49.759 --> 00:28:55.080 Your plans or your kind of, your vision and your thought process and your dreams, looking 00:28:55.080 --> 00:28:56.080 forward. 00:28:56.080 --> 00:28:58.160 The two might be different. 00:28:58.160 --> 00:29:00.800 But are you committing them prayerfully to the Lord? 00:29:00.800 --> 00:29:06.320 If you're not, I would plead with you as I have to plead with myself that we're missing 00:29:06.320 --> 00:29:10.480 out so much on this relationship with God. 00:29:10.480 --> 00:29:14.599 We're missing out on the impossibilities and the miracles of Godly growth. 00:29:14.599 --> 00:29:19.200 So I'm wanting over the next few weeks to look at specific areas that we can all pray 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:20.200 together about. 00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:23.599 I'm not trying to spoon feed anyone. 00:29:23.599 --> 00:29:28.680 I'm just wanting to direct us to certain areas to think about over the next few weeks, so 00:29:28.680 --> 00:29:30.880 that we're not aimless. 00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:36.920 And it just encourages us not to be aimless, but to be much more thoughtful about planning 00:29:36.920 --> 00:29:40.680 our lives in a gospel-centered way. 00:29:40.680 --> 00:29:41.680 Amen. 00:29:41.680 --> 00:29:44.840 Let's bow our heads and pray. 00:29:44.840 --> 00:29:50.400 Father God, we ask in prayer that you would help us to understand and know who you are 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.080 and understand your grace and your love in our lives. 00:29:56.079 --> 00:30:05.019 Amen.