Harbor Church - Mid City

The next 2 weeks we’re going to talk about a question that all of us have asked at some point in our journey and it is this:  “Is God really there?”  Some of you have never experienced God, but you’re curious.  Others have, but it was a long time ago.  And for all of us, sometimes God seems more present than others.  So we’re going to have a 2 part message on this question, “Is God really there?”   This morning we’re going to look at how God is really there in the ordinariness of our lives.  Next week, we’ll look at how God shows up in extraordinary ways.

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  1. The ordinary events of life aren’t random, but are working according to God’s providential purpose

There is a theological word that I need to expose you to.  Some of you are familiar with it, others aren’t.  This word is providence, and here is what it means—God in the ordinary.  Ruling, guiding, providing, shaping--God in and through the ordinary.

Think about what you just heard read.  How could there be anything more ordinary than looking for lost donkeys.  This seemed like just another day in the life of a country boy.  Saul’s dad says, “Something happened Saul and all the donkeys got loose.  Can you go find them?” So off he and his hired hand go through the hills, valleys, and no luck.  They’re gone so long that Saul starts thinking, “Hey, maybe we should go back—Dad is going to start worrying?”  I mean I remember having this conversation when I was sixteen so many times.  You know, you’ve been gone a little longer than you thought and mom and dad are going to worry—we should head back.

His servant interjects—nah, a little more time, because just over there is a prophet, perhaps he can tell us where to go.  Wait, says Saul---we can’t go, I don’t have anything to give him?  The servant digs in his pockets---don’t worry.  I’ve got it—I have a few bucks.  Think about it.  This seems so random.  It seems so unplanned.  They could have gone anywhere wandering through those hills, but they ended up right where this prophet hung out and, oh, by the way, he just arrived that day.  They almost went back to Dad.  They didn’t have money.  How many seemingly random, ordinary decisions factored in.

All the while, the hand of God’s providence was working behind the scenes, shaping their ordinary decisions.  How do I know this?  Look at v15, “Now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed this to Samuel:  “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin.  Anoint him leader over my people Israel.”  See the donkeys got loose for a reason.  God wanted to connect Saul & Samuel.  Saul’s wandering wasn’t random--God even gives him a specific time that he will arrive—it will be just about this time that I am meeting with you now.”  Notice that God says, “I will send you.”  But how does He send Saul?

Most of us think that God works through the beam me up Scotty method.  Yet, most often, God chooses to work in the ordinary and through the ordinary.  He sets some donkeys loose.  And you know what.  I imagine that he did this in an ordinary way as well—maybe the hired hand left a latch loose.  Who knows?  Bottom line—God shapes the ordinariness of our lives and laces it with His purposes.  This is what providence is, my friends.  No verse describes providence better—and our story—than Pr. 16:9, “A man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”  Saul plans his course—I need to go look for the lost donkeys.  But all along the Lord was determining each step with His hand of providence.

Here is why this matters.  All of us are missing out on experiencing God to the fullest.  Some of you are waiting to trust Him with your life b/c you want Him to show up in a burning bush.  Others of us have trusted Him, but we don’t sense his presence, so we grow fearful amid the uncertainty of life. But if we begin to see and experience God in the ordinary, then things change.

(1) The interactions with people that were formerly just a means to an end now become appointments ordained by God.  For example, I have a friend who teaches me this everytime we have lunch together.  He is so kind and genuinely interested in the waiter or waitress.  Why?  B/c they aren’t just there for the end of bringing him his food.  But this is an appointment providentially set up by God.  God in the ordinary.

(2)  You’re life will seem much less God-less b/c you’ll begin seeing his thumbprints in everything you’re doing.  Let me give you a personal example that reminds me of God’s providence each day and that is how God selected Ford to be our son.  First, consider how his birthparents chose us.  Bethany gave them a batch of prospective parent’s portfolios, and they didn’t like any of the portfolios that were first shown to them, and so they requested more.  When they saw ours, God drew them to us b/c (1) they saw a fun-loving couple that loved each other and had fun together, (2) they connected to the pain of our miscarriages, and (3) they wanted a religious family (I didn’t tell her that I actually hate religion but love Jesus).  But it wasn’t just how God drew them to us, but it was how God ordered both of our steps so that we both ended up going through Bethany.  On our end, just as we start pursuing the adoption process, I get a letter for the first time ever on my desk from an adoption agency named Bethany.  So we check it out.  On their end, the birthmother was drawn to Bethany b/c she thought she remembered that a friend used them years ago, and the way she remembered that was that God put this name in front of her each day on her way to work because there was a church named Bethany that she passed.  When she got pregnant, she said, “I am going to find out if there really is a Bethany that does adoptions.”  Coincidence, to some; God’s providence, to us, ordering her steps and ours, choosing the son that He wanted us to love and be blessed by. 

TRANS:  So, first point:  our ordinary decisions aren’t random, but controlled by providence.  But if that is true, then do our decisions matter, or is everything fatalistically determined.  Well, that is the second point….

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  2. The ordinary events of life aren’t fatalistically determined, but are working according to God’s providential purpose

See there is a big difference between a mechanical world where everything is determined or fated and a world that is controlled by God’s providence—by a God who is involved in the ordinary decisions of our life, but gives us the freedom to make real and authentic choices that matter and shape the course of history.   You see this throughout our story—God wasn’t coercing Saul, but Saul and his hired hand were thinking, wandering, making real decisions.

Or think about what happens in Ch. 10.  Samuel anointed Saul King and then he tells him in v7, “Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”  Here, God is acknowledging, “You’re going to have choices to make, and they matter.  Do what seems best to you, and know that I am with you.”  This is interesting b/c there was a clear choice that God wanted (but didn’t force) Saul to make.  If you look at v5, you see that one of the signs Samuel mentioned was that he was to go down to a Philistine outpost or military stronghold called Gibeah.  Given this and the general commission in 9:16 that Saul was to deliver Israel from the Philistines, the clear implication of this is:  Saul, you should make the choice to attack the Philistine outpost.  Then, in v8, Samuel says, “after you have done what your hand find to do (i.e. attacked this outpost), come to Gilgal and I’ll offer sacrifices—sacrifices to consecrate the battle that certainly would follow him stirring up the hornets nest in Gibeah. Saul went to Gibeah, but made the choice not to attack the Philistines, thus getting his kingship off to a terrible start.  And we’ll see this over and over with Saul’s kingship—he makes real choices of disobedience, and it leads to his demise as a king.  Our decisions matter.

At the very least, this creates a little bit of confusion, particularly for those of you who are here that are skeptical about Christianity.  How can our decisions matter and determine the course of history, and yet God be providentially directing and controlling and getting us where he wants us to be?  How can it be both?  Theologians have tried to explain this through the doctrine of concurrence—that God directs, and works through, the distinctive properties of each created thing, so that these things themselves bring about the results we see.  God, working concurrently with man. Humans act in a way consistent with humans and cause things to happen, while at the same time Eph. 1:11 says, “God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of His will.” 

So is it us or God causing everything.  Wayne Grudem puts it this way, “It is possible to affirm that in one sense events are fully (100 %) caused by God and fully (100%) caused by humans as well.”  And then he goes on to point out God’s causes and our causes work in different way.  God is the “primary” causer, as one who is behind the scenes, directing cause that plans and initiates all that happens.  We are “secondary” causers and we cause things to happen in ways that are consistent with our humanity.

Grudem, CS Lewis, and others try to explain this whole tension between our accountability for making real decisions and God’s role in our decision making process as the primary causer by using the analogy of an author.  For example, in the play Macbeth, the character Macbeth murders King Duncan.  Now, if you were watching the play and I asked you afterwards, “Who killed King Duncan?,” what would you say, “Macbeth.”  But it is also correct to say that Shakespeare killed King Duncan.  As the author, he had complete control over the characters in the play.  Macbeth fully (100%) killed King Duncan, and Shakespeare fully (100%) killed King Duncan.

I know this is hard for you to buy if you’re not yet a Christian.  It seems like a Christian cop-out.  My friend, who is not a Christian, told me that recently.

See, the way that our paths crossed was so extraordinary that, from my view, it was very clear that God wanted us to be together.  While I wouldn’t have told him this early on in our discussions, he is pretty comfortable with me now and so I just told him, “Listen, I know you don’t think this, but I am convinced God orchestrated our friendship, and he did it for a lot of reasons.  One, for what I can learn from you, but two, b/c He loves you and He is using me to communicate that to you.  He said, “I just can’t buy that.  I am a naturalist, to the core, and I have a natural explanation for how we became friends.  And he proceeded to explain it.”  You see, I didn’t disagree with anything that he was saying, but those were all secondary causes.  There was an author to the story, a primary causer, who was behind it all, such that he and I were both 100% responsible for our friendship in the real choices we made to go to a certain coffee shop on a certain day, but God was also 100% responsible as the author and primary causer.

What was interesting was that he looked at me and said, “Stephen, you know why this is the case don’t you.  You’re in a 3 dimensional world and I am stuck in a 2 dimensional world.”  See we have been reading CS Lewis together and he was making reference to Lewis’ discussion of dimensions and he took it in a little different direction.  My friends point was this, “I see only the natural world and the natural explanation, so I have only 2 dimensions—action and reaction.  But for you, he said, there is action, reaction, and this 3^rd dimension of the Holy Spirit—God’s involvement in our world.  And I said, “Precisely.”  And I told him, “What happens is that all of a sudden God’s Spirit comes over you in a supernatural way and it opens up your eyes and your heart to this 3^rd dimension of the spiritual realm that brings depth and meaning and significance to the natural order.”  It involves you pursuing God—making real choices, thinking logically, and at some point His Spirit takes over and you’re realize.  I believe this stuff.  What formerly seemed ludicrous is now the most logical and reasonable thing I could envision.  That is concurrence—God working with & in you. 

Now, please, for those of you who aren’t Christians, please don’t hear me saying that Christians are so much better than you b/c we exist on a higher plane.  We live in high def and you’re stuck with rabbit ears.  No.  But I do believe that when you’re in relationship with a God who is intimately involved in your life, then you’re world becomes richer & more full b/c you’re not alone, left to make sense of life amidst a sea of chance.  STORY

Let me try to explain this with a story.  A story that if you’re in the 2 dimensional world, then you could explain the natural causes, but if God has added another dimension for you, then you’ll see this balancing act between God’s behind the scenes providence and real, authentic choices, and I hope you’ll see how it makes life more rich.  This is a true story that happened in 1948.  2 years after the conclusion of WWII, on Jan. 10, 1948, Marcel Sternberger got on a train in the Brooklyn subway that he had never been on before.  He normally took a different line, but he had changed his schedule in order to visit a sick friend that morning and was now boarding a noon train to get to work.  The train was full.  But just as he stepped in, one many jumped up and ran off, realizing he was about to miss his station.  Sternberger quickly took the seat and sat down.  Next to him was a man reading a Hungarian newspaper.  Sternberger had been born in Hungary and though he wouldnot normally strike up conversation with strangers in the subway, he felt compelled to say something.  He looked over the man’s shoulder and said in Hungarian, “I hope you don’t mind if I glance at your paper.”  The man was surprised to be addressed in his native language, and during the half-hour ride to town, they became aquainted.

Sternberger’s companion voluntarily shared his tragic story.  His name was Paskin, and he had been a law student when the war started.  He was eventually put into a labor battalion and sent to the Ukraine.  Later he was captured by the Russians and put to work burying the German dead.  After the war he covered hundreds of miles on foot, returned to his home in Debrecen, Hungary, and discovered his entire family gone.  Strangers were living in the apartment once occupied by his family.  When he reached the apartment he and his wife had shared, it was also occupied by strangers.  Finally, he located his old friends in Debrecen who had survived the war.  They sadly informed him his entire family was dead.  The Nazis had taken them and his wife to Auschwitz, where they were all presumably killed in the gas chambers.

Stunned by the news, the man fled Hungary, which had become a funeral land for him.  He headed west toward Paris and emigrated to the United States in Oct. 1947.  As Sternberger listened, the story seemed somehow familiar. Suddenly he remembered why.  He had recently met a young woman at the home of friends who had also been from Debrecen.  She had been taken to Auschwitz but was then transferred to work in a German munitions factory.  All her relatives had been killed in the gas chambers.  After she had been liberated by the Americans, she was brought to New York in the first boatload of Displaced Persons in 1946.  Sternberger had been so moved by her story he had written down her address and phone number, hoping to invite her to meet his family in order to help with her terrible loneliness and grief.

Sternberger thought it impossible that there could be a connection between these two people, but when he reached his station, he stayed on the train with his new friend.  He asked as casually as possible, “Is your first name Bela?”  The man went pale as he said, “Yes!  How did you know?”  Sternberger fumbled for his address book, as he asked, “Was your wife’s name Marya?”

Looking as though he might faint, Paskin said, “Yes! Yes!”  Sternberger suggested they get off at the next station without explaining why.  He took Paskin to a nearby phone booth.  While Paskin stood there like a man in a trance, Sternberger dialed the number, and fater a long delay, he had Marya Paskin on the line.  Sternberger reminded her of their recent chance meeting, and she remembered him.  Without explaining why, Sternberger asked Marya where she had lived in Debrecen before the war, and she told him the address.  Sternberger turned to Bela and said, “Did you and your wife live on such-and-such a street?

“Yes!”  Bela exclaimed, as he turned white as a sheet and trembled.  Sternberger urged him to stay calm but then explained that something miraculous was about to happen to him.  Then he handed Bela the phone, saying, “Here, take this telephone and talk to your wife!”  When Paskin realized he was really speaking with his Marya, he broke into uncontrollable crying.  Sternberger sent him by taxi to the address to be reunited with his wife.

The article continues by describing the emotional reunion between the Paskins, each of whom thought the other was dead.  And then it concludes this way, “Skeptical person would no doubt attribute the events of that memorable afternoon to mere chance.  But was it chance that made Sternberger suddenly decide to visit his sick friend, and hence take a subway line that he had never been on before?  Was it chance that caused the man sitting by the door of the car to rush out just as Sternberger came in?  Was it chance that caused Bela Paskin to be sitting beside Sternberger, reading a Hungarian Newspaper?  Was it chance—or did God ride the Brooklyn subway that afternoon?

See, my friends, to view this is as chance, as ordinary, is to live in the 2 dimensional world.  Those living in the first century who dismissed Jesus were living in a 2 dimensional world.  Can’t be the Messiah—he is too ordinary.  Isn’t he Joseph and Mary’s boy?  A King—from them, from Nazareth.  No chance.  A King—riding a donkey.  Too ordinary.  A King—hanging on a cross.  Crosses are for ordinary criminals, not Kings, and certainly not God.  All of these things are ordinary events.  What caused the people to reject Christ as Messiah, as King, was that there is no way God would be this ordinary.

But to save ordinary people, the extraordinary God of the universe had to take on ordinary flesh, and he had to cry like ordinary people, to be burped like ordinary babies, to bleed like ordinary humans.  Why?  B/c if He doesn’t become ordinary and die the ordinary death that ordinary humans deserved to die as a result of our failures, then we have an extraordinary debt with God that we can’t pay.  But thanks be to God, that He was willing to pay that debt on our behalf.  B/c of his extraordinary grace, he offers to pay our debt himself on the cross, so that he can then be so intimately connected with us that he is involved in every detail of our ordinary lives.  My friends, some of you are feeling lead to make this very real choice to put your trust in a seemingly ordinary man named Jesus who died an ordinary death for you.  Be warned, when you do, something extraordinary happens.  You get ripped out of the 2 dimensional world by the Holy Spirit.  

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