Perhaps you’ve known a kid like this. His name was Eric Von Fange and he lived in the same neighborhood I did in Virginia. He had an inquisitive mind. When his father bought a new car and brought it home, Eric stayed up for forty-eight hours taking the engine apart to see how it worked. Imagine that! His father buys a car, drives it home and within hours he and his wife are on a plane to California. At the same time Eric’s in the garage ripping the engine from its mounts.
Years ago I read of another boy who tore into a grandfather clock to see what made it tick. When he tried to put it together, however, it seemed to have enough wheels and springs to make two clocks. In the process he discovered that all of the parts must move in their proper sequence – certain wheels must move forward and certain ones backward. There are wheels that move quickly, and there are wheels that move slowly. There are large mainsprings and tiny hairsprings. All of the parts need to work together to make the clock go.
So it is with the life of a Christian. When events move forward we are pleased with the progress. If events move backward, we are inclined to be impatient; we want them to move in the direction of our own will, not understanding the purpose that God has in our lives. There are matters that are great and very important to us – mainspring events like births, marriages, deaths, triumphs, and tragedies. There are matters as fine as a hairspring like petty annoyances and trivial happenings that seem little and unimportant at times. Yet, both mainspring events and hairspring events regulate the course of our lives. There are events that move smoothly and rapidly and we rejoice at their action. Some things lag and incite our impatience as we seek to speed them up to the tempo of our own wills. Some events are welcomed and cherished. Others are dreaded and rip at our hearts.
But when all of these events – backward, forward; fast, slow; great, small – are seen in their relationship to each other, we Christians must conclude with the Apostle Paul that to those who love God and who are called according to His purpose and plan, everything that happens fits into a pattern for good that brings Him glory.
As I write this morning it’s only thirty-eight hours after the discovery that 22-year-old Sara Walendziewicz’s earthly life has been cut short. For Sue and Dave, David and Ashley, and so many of us, this event is a mainspring that conjures up a myriad of questions that strike at the very heart of the plan of God. How could Sara’s final breath be a part of a perfect pattern of good that brings God glory? How can her life and death speak of a loving God who works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose?
Paul’s words in Romans 6:23 help. Paul says, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now many think Paul is speaking of sins and their consequences. They think of sins like the seven deadly ones, or the ten chronicled in the Ten Commandments, or any other list of actions that are in opposition to God’s law and reap the wage of death. Yet nothing could be further from the truth.
Paul is not talking here about acts of sin. (He talks about sin elsewhere.) But here he’s talking about the state of sin. As we will note on Sunday, the sin of which Paul speaks is like poison in the bloodstream and acts of sin are like the resulting boils. Paul is speaking about our natural state in Adam. Before the finished work of Christ is applied, every one of us has a death sentence hanging over our head. Indeed, we are already dead spiritually and on our way to the same end to which Lucifer is destined. But that’s not the end of the story for the believer. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. It’s a gift that He has already bestowed on you and me and Sara. We are the recipients of that gift. Unlike Lucifer and his armada of demons, our destiny is not death, but eternity – everlasting life with the One to Whom we belong.
We are going to talk about one of the giant mainsprings of existence this Sunday as we look at two great texts: II Peter 3:1-7 and Romans 1:18-23. In a message entitled “The First Judgment” we will look at God’s judgment of Lucifer. We will see in II Peter – the PAST, the PRONOUNCEMENT, and the PLAN of God as we continue to establish a biblical context for our life in Christ and our purpose therein.
In preparation for Sunday you may wish to consider the following:
1. In what ways is Romans 6:23 not an evangelism text?
2. What is the difference between sin and sins?
3. Of whom is Paul writing in Romans 1:21?
4. How were God’s words in Genesis 2:17 fulfilled in Genesis 3:19?
5. What do you make of the Eden described in Ezekiel 28:13f?
6. How does it compare to the garden in Genesis 2? Revelation 21:15-21?
7. What waters is Peter referring to in II Peter 3:5-6?
8. How are they different from the floodwaters Noah endured? (See Jeremiah 4:23-26; Job 9:5-10; Psalm 18:7.)
9. How does God deal with Lucifer’s rebellion?
10. What is God’s word to us in the face of judgment? (See II Peter 3:1-2.)
11. What is the message for Sue and Dave Walendziewicz and you?
See you Sunday!
