Sovereignty: At Just the Right Time

Introduction

Time is the one thing we never seem to have enough of. We just finished Christmas. How many of you completed your shopping during this past week? Most would say that more time was needed to get everything in. We rush to and fro trying to get everything done. We cram a full 16 hours of activity into each day. We stay tired, frustrated, and determined to slow down, but rarely do we find the time to say ‘no.’ Sometimes the present doesn’t seem like a gift.

We fill our days and use our time, but we cannot control time itself. We can control what we jam into the time given to us, but we cannot control time. Stopping activity doesn’t stop the ticking of the clock. Attempts to make time stand still fail. Making a day last longer or to be shorter is not possible. Our perception of time can be altered. “Time flies when you’re having fun” we say. Having fun can make time seem swift just as going through a difficult situation can make it seem that time just drags on. The tyranny of time is real. We are tied into clocks and watches. Even retirement doesn’t keep us away from the importance of knowing days, dates, and hours. We are bound by time and there is nothing we can do about it. In fact it is hard for us to imagine life without time. Those who have completely lost track of time generally have some mental problems. We are bound by time.

It is because of time that we make plans. How far in advance have you made plans? This past weekend my family was in Kentucky visiting family. I made a hotel reservation a year in advance. We plan further in advance than that. We plan for college. We plan for retirement and both of those may be years in advance. Can you imagine planning for generations to come? Some have. Corporations plan for others to run the company. But few of us can envision planning for something a thousand years from now. But God can and did. This morning let’s try to appreciate the planning of God in sending us Jesus. Let’s celebrate God’s ability to see more than we can see and whose plans are perfect.

Perfect Timing

Tucked away in Paul’s short letter to the churches in Galatia is a text which tells us something about God. Christians in these churches have been taught by Jewish teachers that they are going to have to begin practicing some Jewish laws in order to be pleasing to God. Jesus is fine, but some other things are going to have to be added in order to be pleasing to God. Paul writes this letter to combat the false teaching and to persuade his readers to practice their freedom in Christ rather than to be tied again to laws which cannot bring freedom at all. This letter pulls no punches. It is direct and terse.

Throughout chapter three, Paul has been explaining the purpose of the law. It was designed to lead us to Christ. The law was given to show us our sin and to lead us to Christ. But when Christ came, we are to place our faith in him rather than the law. Expressing our faith in baptism, we become God’s children. We, thus, become heirs of God’s blessings. But Paul begins chapter 4 with an analogy about God’s planning and how his planning affects those who trust in Jesus.

Some of you have set up trust funds for your children and grandchildren. Such an idea is not new. Even in Paul’s day there were such things. Paul’s illustration is such an analogy. The child is going to inherit a great deal of money and property, but he cannot claim the benefits until he reaches a certain age which the father has preset. Until that age, the child has a series of guardians and trustees who oversee him. Until that age, the child is no different than a slave. He cannot make his own decisions. He has others who tell him what to do. That is what the law was all about. It was our guardian and trustee to tell us what to do until the right time. Then at just the right time—“when the time had fully come”—it is the idea of a well conceived plan operating in sequenced time. God did something. He sent Jesus into the world.

It wasn’t a sudden appearance. He was born into this world—as all are born; he was subject to the law—as all were subject to the law. Why? So that in his perfection he could redeem or pay the price for the law. The law has consequences and those consequences must be paid. Jesus paid the price. And when he paid the price, then we could claim the inheritance. Without Jesus we would still be subject to the law. Without Jesus we would still have the law telling us what to do; correcting us; demanding payment for our sins. With the Spirit living in us, we have a special relationship to God. We can now call him “Father or Daddy.” The term “abba” is a term of intimacy. No longer a slave we are now heirs to God’s blessings.

God

This is what God has done for us. He sent Jesus. He sent his Spirit. He made us his children. He made us heirs to his blessings. Read the text carefully. There was nothing we did to deserve such treatment. We did nothing to make God act on our behalf. God acted because he had a plan. “When the time had fully come” or at just the right time. God’s timing is not our timing. But God has a plan. Jesus is proof of that plan. At just the right time, God sent Jesus. At just the right time, God made us his children and heirs. At just the right time, God gave us his Spirit. At just the right time, God acted on our behalf.

How do we know he had a plan? Look at Ephesians 1:4-5. Before the creation of the world, before time was made, God had a plan which included Jesus coming to this earth. When Jesus was born, lived, died, and was resurrected was planned before time ever began. This was not a mystery to God. It was planned and executed by the will and purpose of God. What does this mean?

First, it means that God is sovereign. The word sovereign means to have absolute control over something. God has absolute control over the planning of this world. He knows what is going to happen before it happens. He knows the outcomes when it is all a mystery to us. Nothing escapes his attention. Nothing surprises him. Nothing catches him off guard. To say that God is sovereign and to accept that means that we believe in one who is not perplexed by the events of this world. As each event unfolds, it falls into the purpose of God. We may not understand the event and what it means, but our God does. Just as he understood what the birth of Jesus meant, so he understands what each event means and how it fits into his will and purpose.

Second, the plan of God means that God knows what is going to happen in the next week. The plan of God is moving from beginning to a definite end. What will happen on December 31, 1999 is unknown to us, but God already knows. Do you think that one who planned for his son to come into this world before time itself was ever made has no plan for the changing of years? Do you think that Y2K is perplexing to God? Do you think that God quit planning after Jesus was born? I don’t know what is going to happen when our calendars move to the year 2000, but our God does. If our God could so carefully count days before days were ever created, then he can certainly handle the passage of one year into another.

Beyond a new year, our God has counted all the days that this earth will exist. His plan has an end. His will and purpose will be carried out. The question is are you trusting in the one who is sovereign? Here is a significant truth: God sent his son. God, no less, sent, no less, his son. God acted on your behalf in a profoundly undeserving way—he sent his son, at just the right time. Will you begin your walk with him today?

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