MAKING PLANS THAT HONOR THE MASTER – 1 Corinthians 16:5-9
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 26, 2020 under 2020 |
Bethany Bible Church Sunday Message; April 26, 2020 from 1 Corinthians 16:5-9
Theme: We should make our personal plans in such a way as to always honor to the sovereignty of our Master.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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After all, you can’t get much more ‘ordinary’ than an announcement of travel plans.
In 1 Corinthians 16:5-9, Paul wrote to the Corinthian Christians and told them,
Now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia (for I am passing through Macedonia). And it may be that I will remain, or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now on the way; but I hope to stay awhile with you, if the Lord permits. But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries (1 Corinthians 16:5-9).
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Now; we might be tempted to pass by this very ordinary passage and move on to something else that might seem more ‘relevant’—especially since, right now, most of us can’t do any traveling at all. But we shouldn’t ignore this passage. We shouldn’t ignore any passage of Scripture. We should remember that the whole Bible is given to us by God; and everything in it is necessary for our growth in the Lord Jesus Christ. As the Bible tells us of itself;
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
And that would even include even this seemingly ordinary passage—a brief report of the apostle Paul’s missionary travel plans as they related to the Corinthian church. God the Holy Spirit has seen fit to preserve this passage for us—along with all of the other portions of this chapter—for a reason. It’s to help equip us in our relationship with Jesus and our service to Him. It might be that we have to dig a bit deeper to grab hold of how such a passage would be profitable to us; but we can be absolutely sure that the profitability is there.
We really don’t have to work too hard, however, to find the benefit of this passage. As we discovered last week, all of the seemingly-ordinary reports and instructions in this chapter are made very significant by verses 13-14. It’s there that Paul gave his readers an important five-fold exhortation:
Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong. Let all that you do be done with love (vv. 13-14).
We discovered that it’s that five-fold exhortation—located right in the middle of this chapter—that gives profound meaning and significance to all of the other seemingly-ordinary things Paul wrote in it. In all of the ordinary things we do in life and as a church family, we’re to do them with an attitude of reverent watchfulness to what’s going on around us—and to the things that God might be doing in them. We’re to make sure that we are steadfast and unmovable in our commitment to Jesus Christ and in our hold on to the truths of the faith. We’re to be brave in our obedience to and witness for our Lord in the ordinary matters of life; and to be strong in our endurance through the times of pressure and trial that we may encounter along the way. And on top of it all, we’re to make sure that we do all that we do from out of the motive of self-sacrificial agape love—the kind of love that Jesus showed toward us when He died on the cross for us.
If we keep faithful to those five pieces of instruction, then we will be doing the seemingly-common things of life with a deep reverence toward God. We will be doing ordinary things in an extraordinary way. It’s really the means by which we do what the apostle Paul said elsewhere in this letter; when he wrote, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (10:31).
It’s how the apostle Paul even made his ‘missionary travel plans’ to God’s glory.
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Now; I’m going to make a confession to you. I’m not a particularly good planner. (For some of you who know me well, that doesn’t come as a stunning revelation.) But in spite of my own failings in this area, I certainly recognize the need for good planning—and I appreciate it very much when I benefit from it in the lives of others. I praise God for those folks who have a gift for making, and organizing, and executing good plans—especially in the area of ministry.
There might be some people who think that you shouldn’t make plans for your life or for your work in ministry—that making plans, somehow, expresses a lack of trust in God. There are perhaps even some folks who are thinking that it’s impossible to make plans for the future in times such as the ones that we’re living in today. But that would be an extreme view of things. The Bible encourages us to use wisdom, get good council, and make plans for our life and our work.
But the Bible also warns us to avoid the other extreme; and that would be to make plans strictly in our own wisdom and power, and without a reverent trust in and a dependency upon God. It says in Proverbs 16:9;
A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps (Proverbs 16:9).
We are not sovereign. Only God is. We cannot know the future. Only God does. And so, a wise follower of Jesus takes that into account. He or she works hard to make careful plans for their lives and their labors—and particularly for their work in the Lord’s service. But he or she always does so recognizing that the outcome is ultimately in God’s hands—and not in theirs. They strike a reverent balance in the way they plan—a balance that includes both determined planning and confident trust in our sovereign heavenly Father. Personally, I find comfort and confidence in what it says in Psalm 37:23-24;
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down;
For the Lord upholds him with His hand (Psalm 37:23-24).
We are planning wisely if we keep those words in mind.
And in this seemingly-ordinary passage that we find in 1 Corinthians 16:5-9, we can see some hints of how the apostle Paul practiced that balance of both careful determination in his own plans, and confident dependency upon God for the outcome. This remarkable time in which we’re living requires us—as a church and as individual Christians—to make good plans for future ministry. But it’s also a very good time for us to consider carefully the reverent manner with which we make those plans.
Paul’s own example shows us that if we are being watchful, faithful, brave, strong and loving, we can make our plans such a way as to always honor to the sovereignty of our Master.
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Now; let’s take a moment to think about what was going on in Paul’s mind as he was announcing his travel plans to the Corinthian church.
In verses 1-4, he wrote to his brothers and sisters about a great fund-raising program that was going on. The churches in Macedonia—which included such cities as Philippi, Thessalonica, and Berea, and Lystra—had heard about the struggles that were going among the Jewish Christians in the city of Jerusalem. And so, they felt led to put together a relief program to help them out. Paul was very excited about this; and he encouraged other churches in other parts of the Gentile world to take part in this. He heard that the Christians in Corinth wanted to be a part of this; so he sent instructions to them on how to do so in a way that truly honored God.
And so, Paul was putting plans together for the year with this relief effort in mind. He was planning to stay in the Asian city of Ephesus for the Spring, travel up north along the coast of the Agean Sea through Macedonia for the Summer and Fall, make a trip to all the churches there, and then head down south into the regions of Achaia and spend the Winter in Corinth. Then, from there, he would make his way back to Jerusalem with the hopes of being there in the Spring of the next year—just in time for the Feast of Pentecost. There would be lots of Jewish people in Jerusalem at that time; and he was probably hoping that the gift that the churches had gathered for their fellow Jewish Christians would help open the hearts of his unbelieving kinsman to the love of Jesus.
And this was the plan that he seems to speak of in verse 5 when he wrote, “Now I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia (for I am passing through Macedonia).” But as we read on in the first portions of 2 Corinthians, we discover that it didn’t quite work out that way. He was in Ephesus at the time that he wrote those words; and the troubles in Ephesus got far worse than he had thought they would. Plus, the problems in Corinth were not getting resolved as he had hoped. He had to change his plans somewhat—and it caused resentment in the church in Corinth. They thought he was being unpredictable—that his ‘yes’ or ‘no’ couldn’t be trusted.
Take a look, just a few pages ahead in your Bible, at 2 Corinthians 1 and 2. Starting with verse 15 of Chapter 1, we read this explanation that Paul wrote to them:
And in this confidence I intended to come to you before, that you might have a second benefit—to pass by way of you to Macedonia, to come again from Macedonia to you, and be helped by you on my way to Judea. Therefore, when I was planning this, did I do it lightly? Or the things I plan, do I plan according to the flesh, that with me there should be Yes, Yes, and No, No? But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Moreover, I call God as witness against my soul, that to spare you I came no more to Corinth. Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy; for by faith you stand.
But I determined this within myself, that I would not come again to you in sorrow. For if I make you sorrowful, then who is he who makes me glad but the one who is made sorrowful by me? (2 Corinthians 1:15-2:2).
So; you see that Paul had made his plans carefully and with the best and sincerest intentionality. But the circumstances were such that he had to change his plans. And this leads us to one of the first ways we can plan in such a manner as to honor the sovereignty of God in our lives; and that’s …
1. BY KEEPING OUR OWN PLANS TENTATIVE.
We should plan as best we can. But we should remember that we can’t see the future. We can’t control all circumstances that are involved. We can say an absolute “yes, yes” to the things that God promises; but we can’t say an absolute “yes, yes” to the things we ourselves intend to do. Not even Paul could do that.
Think of the situation we’re all dealing with right now. At the beginning of the year, many people had long-term plans. Now, because of completely unexpected circumstances outside our control, all of those plans have had to be scrapped. Almost everything has changed. Let’s remember that God alone controls the circumstances; and with due reverence to His sovereignty—and with due respect to our dependency upon Him—let’s keep our own personal plans ‘tentative’ and ‘provisional’. Let’s keep watchful to the things He might be doing that we didn’t expect; and keep our own plans flexible enough to adapt to His will in the circumstances that He allows to change.
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Another way we can plan in a way that honors our sovereign God has to do with what kind of things we prioritize in those plans. Our Lord and Master cares very much about people. He loves them. That will never change. And so, we plan in accord with His own heart of love …
2. BY ALLOWING TIME FOR RELATIONSHIPS.
Paul said that he was planning to visit when he passed through Macedonia; and in verses 6-7 added, “And it may be that I will remain, or even spend the winter with you, that you may send me on my journey, wherever I go. For I do not wish to see you now on the way; but I hope to stay awhile with you …”
When you read the earlier portions of this letter, you find that Paul would not take any financial support from the Corinthians. There were a lot of false teachers who were making their way into the Corinthian church in order to take money from them; and Paul wanted these Corinthian Christians to see that his preaching was for real—that he wasn’t in it for any personal gain like those false teachers were. But now, he was telling them that he wanted to spend some quality time with them so that—in part—they could help him move forward in his missionary efforts. He didn’t want financial support from them. Rather, he wanted moral and relational support. And I love it how he said that he didn’t want to just see them ‘on the way’, but to stay awhile with them—perhaps even to stay the winter with them. And when you think of all the troubles that Paul had to deal with from the Corinthian church, this truly was an expression of sincere affection. He truly loved them.
When you study the life of our Lord Jesus, you discover that He truly loved people. As busy as He was, He spent lots of time with them. He cared for them. He cherished fellowship with them. He took the time to build into their lives; and He allowed them to draw close to Him. And if we are going to make plans to minister and serve in His name, then we must value what He values. We must allow ample time for relationships. We must not plan in such a way as to cram every minute of every day with non-stop busy-work; and not have any space left over for other people to break in and have time with us.
I learned early on in ministry (and am not perfect at it, but am still learning) to see people in my life as ‘stop signs’. When they come along, I need to stop whatever busywork I’m doing; and, to the best of my ability, give them my undivided time and my attention. I believe that’s what it means to—as Paul puts it—“Let all that you do be done with love.” In making our plans to the glory of God, let’s make sure we allow time for the people that He loves and values.
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Now; in verse 7, Paul wrote, “For I do not wish to see you now on the way; but I hope to stay awhile with you …” And then, he added these very important words: “if the Lord permits.” And this leads us to another way that we honor the sovereign God in our plans …
3. BY ALWAYS SAYING, ‘IF THE LORD PERMITS’.
This isn’t talking about simply adding the words, “if the Lord permits” or “God willing” to the things we intend to do. I believe it’s good to acknowledge it in our words. But it’s more important to bow to the truth of it in our hearts. We don’t honor God in our plans when we make them as if we were the absolute sovereign over what happens. We honor Him when we surrender our plans to His will.
Pastor James wrote about this in his letter. In James 4:13-17, he wrote;
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin (James 4:13-17).
Just think of what James is saying! To know that we should acknowledge God’s will in our plans—and then to not do so—is a sinful thing to do. It’s to be a Christian in our confessions, but an atheist in our actions. Let’s always plan with a humble recognition of God’s sovereignty; and to always say—with the heart and with the mouth—“Here are my plans, dear Lord. But not as I will. Only as You will.”
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Keeping ourselves humbly submitted to our Master’s will in this manner helps us with another way that we can plan to the glory of God …
4. BY WATCHING FOR ‘OPEN DOORS’.
If we’re submitted to our Lord’s will, then we’ll alert to those times when He opens unexpected doors of opportunity and ministry for us that we wouldn’t have thought possible. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians about his plans, he added this in verses 8 and 9: “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me …” Until ‘Pentecost’ would have meant that he would have stayed in the city of Ephesus for three or four more months. And that was because a great ministry for the gospel had opened up that he had not anticipated.
Acts 19 tells us that when Paul first came to Ephesus, he found a small community of people who had been baptized in the baptism of John the Baptist. That’s quite a group to have found in Ephesus! And when he shared the gospel with them, they all believed and were filled with the Holy Spirit. A new church had begun. It turned out that the gospel had such an impact in that city that the people—who had been very superstitious and paganistic—had gathered up all their books on magic and witchcraft and publicly destroyed them.
A great revival was going on in Ephesus. And so, even though Paul wanted to make his way to Corinth—even though he had made plans to do so—he was willing to hold off for a little bit longer because of the great ‘door’ for the gospel that had opened up to him in Ephesus.
I have learned that, in God’s work, ‘open doors’ are a way of discovering His leading. Rather than trying to set our plans too solidly in concrete and make them happen as we design, it’s wise to look around, as we’re planning, and see where the need currently is—to see what ‘door’ has providentially been ‘opened’ to us—and go through it. When we faithfully plan do to that—and to go through the doors as God opens them to us—we can be confident that He will have the next door opened to us when it’s time; and that nothing in all of His plans for us will be missed.
As we make our plans, let’s be sure that we ‘plan’ to watch for God’s ‘open doors’ of opportunity.
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And let’s remember that ‘open doors’ do not always mean ‘easy entry’. In making plans, Paul’s experience reminds us that we honor God’s sovereignty …
5. BY KEEPING FAITHFUL EVEN WHEN THERE’S OPPOSITION.
Paul said that, in Ephesus, “a great and effective door has opened to me …” But he also added in verse 9, “and there are many adversaries.” And there certainly were!
One of the ways that opposition arose against him in ancient Ephesus was through the unbelieving Jewish people who were there. Whenever Paul would preach in a new city, he would always seek to go first to the Jewish people and present the gospel to them in the synagogue. In Acts 19, 8-9, we’re told;
And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God. But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus (Acts 19:8-9).
He met with strong opposition in the synagogue. But this didn’t stop him. He simply withdrew from the synagogue, and rented a classroom down the road in a school of Greek learning, and ‘reasoned daily’ there. He didn’t stop. He was ‘steadfast in the faith’. And I love what it goes on to tell us in verse 10;
And this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks (v. 10).
And that wasn’t the only opposition he met up with in Ephesus. His preaching was completely destroying the idol-making business; and it caused all of the silversmiths in the city to get together in the arena to ask the city leadership to arrest him. It nearly caused a riot in the city. Paul barely escaped with his life. But he didn’t quit. It was only after all that that he began to make his way to Macedonia.
Paul made plans with a reverent dependency upon God; and he didn’t quit his plans simply because they were hard to fulfill. He didn’t stop because of the adversaries. He made his plans with complete faithfulness to fulfill God’s task for him—even when it meant opposition. That’s how he honored God in those plans. And as a result of his faithful persistence in the face of opposition, the gospel spread even further.
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So, you see; this passage isn’t just a common-place, ordinary description of traveling plans. It’s an example to us of how to make our plans—for life and for ministry—in such a way as to truly give glory and honor to our sovereign Lord and Master. We do so by keeping our own plans tentative and flexible before God, by allowing ample time for the relationships that God values, by always submitting our plans to the Lord’s will, by keeping alert to the doors of opportunity that God may open to us, and by making sure that we don’t quit—even when faced by opposition.
And I wonder if you can see in Paul’s travel plans how he was committed to the five-fold exhortation he gave in verses 13-14. If we—like Paul—will be consistent and obedient to watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong, and let all that we do be done with love, then we too will have the heart attitude to make plans that truly honor our Master.
EA
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