Planning

Introduction

Planning is part of life. Some are more intense in planning than others. Rarely does one live life with complete spontaneity. To some degree making plans is the means by which we organize life and have a feeling of control. The irony of spontaneity is that it is difficult to truly be spontaneous. To suggest that you should be more spontaneous is to plan to be spontaneous. Then it isn’t spontaneity but planned. We like control. If you want to have a real spontaneous moment, we could all pitch our car keys in a basket and then one by one reach in and see what car you will drive home today. That would be spontaneous. For some that may be a good deal. For others not so much.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that we would like to know the future. We could plan better if we knew for sure what would happen in advance. We don’t really think about the negative consequences of knowing the future. If we knew the future, we would live in greater fear and less gratitude. We would do all we could to avoid the bad and not appreciate the present. We would focus so much on control that life would be more difficult to live. Jesus knew the future and lived in the moment even while trying to prepare his disciples for what was to come. If you read carefully, you will find that every time Jesus told his disciples what would happen in the future, they denied it; avoided the subject, and argued with Jesus. I doubt we would be any different.

We are coming to the end of our study of Romans. It hasn’t been exhaustive. Too much has been written about the text for us to exhaust it all. Our text this morning has nothing to do with planning or spontaneity or the future or control. But it reminds us all of those things. The text reminds us that we have a mission just like Paul. Here’s the point—while we want control, the believer understands that trusting God includes letting him be in control. Hard lesson.

Paul’s Plans

In some of Paul’s letters, he shares personal thoughts. 2 Timothy is the definitive example of that, but here at the end of Romans 15, Paul shares personally his thoughts about his future plans. In verse 16, he knows that his role in this world is to be a minister to the Gentiles. Trained in the deepest of Jewish education, God called Paul to minister to Gentiles and he did it well. Verse 20 shows that Paul has a heart for missions. He wants to go to a place that others have not yet gone. Verse 24 tells us he wants to go to Spain—the far reaches of the Roman territory. But first Paul has to go to Jerusalem to take the money he collected for famine victims on his third missionary journey. Verse 28 indicates he intends to stop in Rome on his way to Spain. He will spend some time in Rome and then he intends for the church in Rome to financially support his trip.

Plans. No spontaneity here. Let me point out a couple of things. Spain was as far west as a person could go via the Mediterranean Sea. This would have been Paul’s choice for travel. It would have been faster than walking. But Spain was not necessarily the final destination. Paul said he wanted to go where Christ was not known. Rome invaded Spain in the 220 B.C. and continued to expand in that region for the next 200 years. This expansion was in order to secure the Mediterranean Sea ports. My speculation is that once those ports were secure, people traveled to this places long before Paul got there. By the mid-50s A.D. it is possible that believers had already carried the gospel to this area.

However, Rome in 43 A.D. has just taken in a new territory—Brittania (England)—and perhaps it is there that Paul wishes to go. That would be new territory where no one has been before. Remote. Primitive. A real mission. Here’s the part that we know for sure. When Paul got to Jerusalem, he is arrested and he spends the next 3 years in Caesarea prison. His plans were set aside by Roman imprisonment. He eventually makes it to Rome. The writing of Acts tells us that he is in the city under house arrest awaiting his trial with Caesar and he is allowed to have visitors. Paul spends two years under house arrest.

So much for the history. What’s the point? The hard lesson. Paul was hardly spontaneous, except when it came to his mission. At times he didn’t plan when he would preach. It was in Athens that he traveled through the streets and eventually went to the place where the philosophers spoke and presented the gospel. It was at Cyprus that he was given an unplanned opportunity to speak to the governor (proconsul). Paul made plans, but he knew that his plans could be set aside. Remember in Acts 16, Paul had his plans changed. He wanted to go to the province of Asia from Galatia, but the Holy Spirit prevented that. He wanted to go to Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus prevented that. When he got to Troas, the dream about the Macedonian man asking him to come to that province occurred and Paul changed his plans. Acts 16:10 tells us that Paul concluded that God was calling them to go to a province he had no intention of going to.

Paul plans to go to Rome after dropping off the funds for Jerusalem famine victims. But instead of going to Rome, Paul spends three years in prison. During that three years, Jesus appears to Paul and tells him he is going to Rome—that is in Acts 23. Jesus told Paul that soon after he was arrested. He waited for three years for that to happen.

Our Plans

This is the hard lesson for us to learn—trusting God means we let him unfold the future as he sees fit. Trusting God means that we allow him to determine what we need to do. Make plans? Of course. And then what? What if the plans don’t happen? Unless there is a clear indication that Satan is involved, why not attribute those changed plans to the will of God who is working for our good. No hand wringing. Less anxiety. Something happens to our faith and our emotions when we give the change of plans over to God and attribute those changes to him.

You might object. Look at it this way. Unless the change of plans is clearly against the will of God, then why not at least consider that the change is God’s way of protecting you, helping you, guiding you, loving you, or working for you leading you to praise. Knowing the history of what happened to Paul, don’t you find verse 29 revelational? “I know that when I come to you, I will come in the full measure of the blessing of Christ.” Wasn’t that true? Acts 23:11 tells us that Jesus comes to Paul during the night. The Bible says Jesus stood next to him. No dream. “Take courage!” God says those words when his child is discouraged. This is not going to plan. This is not what Paul wanted. “As you testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome.”

There it is. Paul, the man with a clear mission of wanting to go to Rome, is told you will go there, but the plans have changed. Rome is going to pay for the trip. God is going to let you preach to some folks that you never thought you would—soldiers, Roman seal team guys. By the way, you will preach to the Roman elite and the Jewish kings along the way. Jesus told Paul, “your mission just got more interesting than you could ever imagine.” And for the next three years, Paul knew his future. And during his two years of imprisonment in Rome, Paul did some writing—Ephesians, Philippians, Galatians, and Philemon—you know some good stuff.

You know yours, too. You are going to die. You are going to spend an eternity with God. Don’t be discouraged. Make your plans and then trust God to put you in situations you never dreamed of. Because we are on a mission too. A mission to reveal what faith looks like. A mission to reveal the beauty of God. A mission of praise.

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