St. Paul's United Methodist Church

Rev. Richard W. Gray

“Our Sovereign God”

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

September 11, 2005

    I noticed this past week that the Boston Globe is running Calvin and Hobbes again in its daily comic strip. In one of the past comic strips Calvin came into the living room early one morning. His mother is seated in her favorite chair sipping coffee. She looked at Calvin and found his attire to be amusing. Calvin is wearing a space helmet, with a cape draped around his neck and shoulders and going all the way to the floor. In one hand he is holding a flashlight and in the other hand is a baseball bat.

    His mother asked, “What's up?” Calvin responded, “Nothing, so far.”

    “So far?” she questioned.

    “Well, you never know. Something could happen today. And if anything does, I'm going to be ready for it.”

    Wouldn't it be nice to be ready for anything that happens? We can be.

    We are now hearing that the people along the Gulf Coast and government leaders and agencies were not prepared for the devastation of hurricane Katrina, even though they were warned well in advance that such a hurricane would one day occur.

    The events of September 11, 2001, have shaken us and the events of that day are still reverberating. The day began as a normal day. Suddenly everything changed. The security of every man, woman, and child in this nation is now threatened. Security is the focus at every airport and large public gathering.

    We should not be surprised when we see the events of our day unfold. The Bible predicted what

what our time would be like.

    The Bible predicted that in the last days men would rush to and fro with rapid discovery and speeds.

     A man asked a clerk at Memphis International Airport how long it would take to fly from Memphis to Dallas. The busy clerk replied, “Just a minute.” The man thanked him and walked away. We now travel at speeds of 24,000 miles per hour in spacecraft. We travel across the country in a few hours. The longest part of travel is waiting in the airport.

    We have left footprints on the moon. We are exploring our solar system.

    Many people are traveling faster, but do not know where they are going in life.

    Things are changing so quickly. We are seeing a breakdown in morality and in society. We are seeing rapid changes in world governments. We are seeing rapid changes in technology and medicine. It is believed that this century, if we make it to the end of it, will see more changes in science and technology than in all the years leading up to this present time. The Bible says this will happen.

    This is one reason why there is such interest in the book of Revelation. We want to know the future.

    At the turn of the last century from the 19th to the 20th century, it was believed that the world was going to be a much better and safer place. It is not. We became more efficient in knowing how to kill people, and kill them the world did. Now we have weapons of mass destruction possibly in the hands of a few fanatical terrorists.

    This can be a scary time in which to live. This is why we need to know our Bible. The Bible gives us hope, comfort, and stability in the days in which we live.

    God knows what to do. He is not in heaven wringing

wringing His hands. Adrian Rogers has said the holy trinity never meets in emergency session.

    God is in control. He is sovereign. The word sovereign can be used as a verb or as a noun. As a verb, it means to rule. As a noun it means absolute ruler. God is sovereign ruler. He is in complete control of the universe at all times.

    It is sad that so many Christians have little or no knowledge of the sovereignty of God. It is no wonder people today are so fearful of the future.    

    When we accept the sovereignty of God, it will bring sense to our suffering. God says to us in our suffering, “This is not my final plan.”

    God has a plan for everything. President Bush raised some eyebrows recently when he said he believes in intelligent design. A master designer designed and created the universe, God. He is a planner, and He carries out His plans.

    Leading scientists now believe that the universe is so delicately balanced that it could not have happened by chance.

    Do you know that if you removed one molecule of water from a glass of water every second for fifteen billion years you would not be able to notice any change in the water level? Each molecule is like a universe all by itself.

    Skeptics are falling rapidly when they begin to see the intricacies and design of DNA. DNA has been called the language of God.

    Atheists and agnostics ask the question, “If God truly exists why doesn't He send us an intelligent message that no one else could possibly have sent?” God has sent two clear messages: the Bible and Jesus. But some people want more. DNA is more. Author Grant Jeffrey states we now have a very clear information-filled message that is so staggering in its complexity that it cannot possibly have been produced without a supernatural intelligence.

    There is no way that such a complicated genetic

genetic code could have been formed by chance, rather than by God. The DNA blueprint for human beings is so small and so complex that if you took one DNA molecule from each human being on this planet (well over six billion people), the genetic blueprint for every human being on earth could fit into one aspirin tablet.

    To record the genetic instructions found in human DNA would require more than five billion letters that would require up to three thousand volumes to print out. These three thousand volumes would require a bookshelf over one hundred yards long, longer than the length of a football field.

    When people continue to hold onto their evolutionary theories instead of supernatural creation, they do so not because of scientific evidence but because of prejudice against a supernatural creator.

    We have a God who is sovereign over all things. He has wonderfully created all things according to His plan. God is orderly. Look at how the universe runs. God has plans. He works by plans, and the plans God has He is able to carry out. He is sovereign over all things. He controls all things, even what happens in our lives.

    We can more readily accept this when things are going well for us, but what about when we go through tough times? God's plans must have been thwarted when we suffer, right? No!

    Somehow we have come up with the idea that suffering is evil and it should never happen. We treat suffering as if it should be avoided at all costs. When suffering does occur, we want an immediate fix. We are so busy wanting an immediate solution we do not consider what God is going to do in the midst of our trial.

    God allows suffering for a purpose. If God did not have something good in His plans to come out of our suffering, He would not allow it to

to occur. God in His sovereignty allows suffering. This may not seem to be rational to us, but logic tells us that since God is a planning God, suffering somehow fits into His plans for our good.

    How does God use suffering? To show us our spiritual condition. What we are spiritually really comes out when we are tried and tested.

    When the Apostle Paul prayed for the thorn in his flesh to be removed and it was not, God was using that time to show Paul and the world what this man was made out of spiritually. What we are comes out in our suffering. We will discover areas needing transformation.

    God uses suffering to humble us, so we will see our need for God and to draw us to Him.

    God will not always remove the suffering, at least right away, because it is productive.

    Suffering also shows us what God is made of, what He is like. I like the way one person put it. When we are in the midst of some trial, God turns up His grace, He turns up His love. We will come to know God in a way different from the way in which we know Him when all is well with us.

    God puts Himself on display during our tough times. A crucial cornerstone of the Christian faith is we will have tough times. God does not promise to remove them or keep them from us, but He does promise to pour out enough of His grace, His loving care, for us to be able to endure them.

    He promises sufficient grace, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” The word sufficient means enough. God will always give us enough grace for whatever we face.

    I hear some preachers say that God wants everyone to be happy, and comfortable, and prosperous. They then say it is the devil that wants us to go through tough times, not God. that

That is not true. The devil wants us to have it easy and comfortable so we will feel we do not need God. God wants to humble us so we will see our need for Him. God wants us to be intimate with Him so He will use suffering to do this.

    God wants the world to see how true Christians suffer, relying on God and being comforted by God, so the world will be drawn to Him.

    God used Paul's suffering to show the world His love and care. We think just the opposite, that God should keep suffering away to show His love and care. God puts his love on display for the world and for us to see so the world and we will be drawn to Him and worship Him.

    What was Paul's response to His suffering? Did He become angry or feel sorry for himself? He said, “I will boast all the more in my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

    Paul delights in his weaknesses, in his suffering, because they draw him closer to Christ, and the Lord's power and love are put on display for the world to see through him.

    Robert Murray McCheyne, a Scottish preacher who died at the age of twenty-nine, said something is missing in Christians who have not suffered. Some flowers must be broken or bruised before they give off any fragrance.

    How do we view suffering and trials? Are they things to be avoided or are they great opportunities to project the fragrance of God and of a Christian life?

    God is sovereign. God operates through His plans. So we can live our lives with faith, boldness and confidence, without fearing anything or anyone.