The Plan or The Package

There's an intriguing parable in the Bible that Jesus Christ gave about the sower and the soil. And in that parable, it says this, Now he who received the seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

This theme is actually repeated through several of Christ's parables, and it's crucial to your success. However you determine and define success. You may have a particular personal definition of success and an idea of what success is. But whatever your definition of success is, that theme is constant throughout the teachings of Jesus Christ, and it is crucial to your success. This parable speaks of a rivalry that humans wage between what I will call the plan and the package. There's the plan and there's the package, and there's a rivalry between the two, and that rivalry goes on within every human being. And Jesus Christ in the Bible, and throughout the Bible, in fact, has inspired many writers to speak to this conflict, to this rivalry, to this intense passion that one individual may have for the plan, and may also try to have for the package. Well, today I want to talk to you about the plan and the package, introduce you to these two concepts.

The two can seem similar. The plan we're used to, the plan, the idea, the plan of God, we can roll ourselves into that and our ambitions into that, and then there's the package. These two begin with the word P. Some try to pursue both. Quite oftentimes, people think they're pursuing one when they're actually pursuing the other, because you can confuse them.

But both you and I have a choice to make. You have to choose. Do you want the plan, or do you want the package? Now, if you think already you know, well, you may be a little bit confused just by the terminology that I've chosen. You have to choose. Which do you want? Do you want the plan, or do you want the package? Which are you pushing for in your life? I want to talk to you today about the plan and the package. You know, adults are not born with the mentality that we have as adults. They're actually born with a fairly open mind. The mentality that we have comes through a process. Babies grow into children, and children observe. Then they want, and then they dream, and then they begin to chase their dreams, and they begin to work out a system. And as they mature, the dreams refine. No longer do they necessarily want to be a fireman, but those dreams get refined more and more according to certain opportunities or certain internal passions. They prioritize, then, how they will seek those goals and dreams, how they will obtain them. This is their plan. And the plan evolves, and the plan grows. It's basic, and it's straightforward. Somewhere along the line of planning for the plan, developing, getting education for the plan, resources for the plan, God made it where romance pops in. This unexpected person looks across the room, or you see them, and there's this heart flutter. And the plan gets a little interruption. It's impacted. Romance can impact education. A person who is working on the plan and looking for education, and perhaps higher training in education, can pursue that vigorously on their own, and yet, when romance pops up, there's an impedance in the preparation for the success and the growth of the plan. There's a reduction in time, a reduction in energy. There's a reduction in money for the plan when romance comes along. But adjustments are made, and eventually you get back to pursuing the plan.

And the plan is further refined. The children come along. And the plan gets interrupted a little bit again, gets impeded, gets adjusted, gets reduced, because time and energy and money are once again diverted from the plan to the children. Marriage and family strains the plan. The time that is needed to focus and pursue the plan requires some decisions to be made. Do you unload the plan and save the marriage is often the extreme decision, or do you unload the marriage to save the plan? And many people decide this throughout their lives, sometimes several times. Which is more important? There's compromise. There are further adjustments. There's a reduction of the ambitions for the plan. Employment issues often impact the plan. Employment sometimes comes, sometimes it goes. The plan then experiences recurring setbacks. And then at some point in a person's life, God's calling comes to them. And once again, there is an impact on the plan. Suddenly, one-seventh of one's time to devote to the plan is removed. Twenty percent of the funds available for the plan are removed. Serving others takes time from the plan, takes focus and funds away from the plan.

At some point in time, there will be health issues that impede the plan and affect it. There will be aging issues. The plan is a challenge. There's a big, big challenge. Sometimes those challenges cause us to despair. And we call them trials. And there's a huge problem. Something was taken from the plan. There's something that impeded the plan. There's a terrible thing that took place. And it's taken a chunk out of the plan. And we must call upon God and say, God, help me! Save the plan! You've got to help! Help! If you'll turn with me to Proverbs 1, verse 28, we'll see the response that God always gives to this type of request. And why? Proverbs 1, verse 28. God says, then they will call upon me, but I will not answer. They will seek me diligently, but will not find me. People tend to see God as a helper with the plan. After all, it says in the Scriptures, whatever you ask, I'll give you. Just ask in faith. I'll get on my knees like David three times a day. I'll rub my little genie and say, come out and help me with my plan. But God says, I will not answer. Verse 29, because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord. We're going to read and understand what that means in a little bit. Knowledge. They didn't want knowledge, and they didn't want to choose the fear of the Lord. They would have none of my counsel and despised all of my reproof. I don't want correction. I don't want discounts. I've got the plan. Therefore, they shall eat the fruit of the plan and be sated with their own devices. The keys that we've just read here are given to us by God that would unlock a solution for us as human beings. Because there is a problem with the plan, there's a huge problem with the plan. No matter how ambitious the plan is of any human being, no matter how grandiose, no matter how talented the people are, no matter how the opportunities may flourish, there is one fatal flaw to the plan. Jesus defines it for us back in Luke 16 and verse 13. Luke 16 will begin in verse 13. Jesus here is going to show us very clearly the fatal flaw to your plan and my plan. He says, no servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he'll be loyal to the one and then despise the other. You know, you can't have two minds. You can't pursue two goals and two directions. You have what's very, very important to you, and then you have what's very important to someone else. But you can't do both. You'll either shortchange yourself or you'll shortchange the other person. You cannot serve God and mammon. And Jesus now will give us some statements here that are shocking. And they've troubled people for years, and Christians tend not to even go through this section of the Bible. It doesn't make a lot of sense, because it doesn't fit the plan at all. He said to them in verse 14, chapter 16, you are those who justify yourselves. Well, let's start in verse 14. Now, the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, so you have religious people, but they loved money for what it could do for their plan. They heard these things and they derided him. In the margin it says that they turned up their nose at him. Here's the most godly man who ever walked, but the religious elite turned up their nose at him.

And he said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. The plan that you and I have, that you devise in life, that you create, that is your ambition, that propels you each day, is an abomination to God.

And when we get on our knees and say, God, help the plan, his ears are stopped. He's not going to answer. If we drop down to verse 19, it gives us an example of this. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen. Now, purple was a very rare color, and fine linen was the finest of clothes. And it says he was rich and he fared, he ate sumptuously every day. Now, in this parable, what he's describing here is ultimate wealth. This is what we're talking about here. Ultimate riches. In other words, here is the plan working at its best.

This is the best that anybody can come up with. You've got the perfect version of the plan, and it's all going well. Verse 20, but there was a certain beggar. That tells you something, doesn't it? Beggar. The plan's not going too good with the beggar named Lazarus. In other words, he doesn't have any money. All of his plan is failing. But we go on.

He was full of sores. Not only was his financial dreams failing, his health was failing. His body even was letting him down. And he was in pain. You talk about a plan gone bad. He was poor, he was in pain, and his health was shot. He didn't have any place to live. He had no home, and he slept out on the street at the gate. Instead of being respected and honored, he was the laughingstock. People would look at him and say, Ooh, ooh, look at the sores.

You know, a man wants to feel respected and honored. The whole point here is the contrast between one who is the ultimate poverty, the ultimate failure, as it was, in pursuing anything in his physical life. And it says, Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. You know, add insult to injury. Now you've got the mangy dogs, not somebody's pets, but just the ones that run around in the trash. You're going to come over and have a little dinner on your sores.

So ultimate poverty. So it was that Jesus Christ now tells us the fatal flaw of the plan. And that's what this parable is about. The fatal flaw of any plan. So it was the beggar died. He died. And his plan, whatever it was, terminated. Death is the fatal flaw of the plan, any plan. The rich man also died and was buried. His plan had a fatal flaw, too. They both died. And that was it. You know, people can come up with a whole life full of ambition. And their plan can be as grandiose as Solomon's.

But in the end, you realize, as you're getting towards the grave, as you're getting towards the completion, that this is going to end. And like Solomon said, and who is this going to be left to? It's only temporary. In verse 23, they were both buried, you notice. And being in torments in Hades, or the grave, as this symbolic story goes, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus and his bosom. So this is referring to the resurrection, not a time when they were dead and somehow were living while they were dead, but rather Abraham is going to be in the resurrection.

Everybody's going to be resurrected, the Bible tells us. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented, the Greek word means mental pain in anguish, not physical, but I'm seeing here that I'm in the wrong place, and I'm tormented by this flame. Revelation 20, verse 15, shows that the incorrigible and the wicked are going to die in the lake of fire, which is the second death. And he is tormented by that thought, by the flame that is going to come and get him. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus, his evil things, but now he is comforted, and you are tormented.

There's something about the life of Lazarus that's not described here. He was pursuing something other than physical riches at the same time while trying to live and not doing a very good job at it. But he says, and besides this, between us and you there is fixed a great gulf, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. You are in the physical world that's about to be inflamed.

Indeed, the flames are starting. We're in the spirit world, and you can't pass to us, and we can't pass to you. He says, verse 27, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him to my Father's house, for I have five brothers that he may testify them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Oh, please, that you would do that. That would certainly wake them up. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets.

They have the Bible. They have the Word of God. And he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. Somebody who is ambitiously pursuing the plan, if somebody comes back from the dead and says, Boo! Hey! You know, you! You need to quit that. You need to change your pursuit. You need to live by the law of God. They'd say, oh, no, the plan is working. Oh, no, I have a passion for this. He says, verse 31, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.

In other words, it has to be something from the heart. It has to be something from within. So the plan that we develop as people, each one has your own individual, unique concept and version of the plan, eventually comes to nothing. Eventually it comes to nothing. We see in 1 John 2 and verse 15 a warning about this. 1 John 2 and verse 15. Do not love the world or the things in the world.

Don't get into the human nature, workings and desires of the flesh. If anyone loves the world, if you're passionate about the plan, the love of the Father is not in him. Remember, the plan is an abomination to God. Why? For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh for yourself, the lust of the eyes for yourself, and the pride of life for yourself, whether it's fame or beauty or prestige or respect or honor or getting your name in some statue somewhere, all of this is not of the Father, but it is of the world.

And the world is dying. The world is passing away. And the lust of it. But he who does the will of God abides forever. So now we're introduced to something else. We have the plan of man, which is quest filled with a lifelong mentality of ambitions and goals for oneself. And as we have seen, all those plans end at death.

But there's an alternative to the plan. It's called the package. It's very beneficial. It's different, though. It is not really logical. It is not really something that people get passionate about, like you can for something to really enhance your own life, your own status, your own thrills, your own joys. But this one is not nearly so alluring to human nature.

It doesn't have the same pulls. And people don't usually just get too emotional about the package. God designed the package for us. It's good for us. You have been invited to participate in the package. If you would like to receive it, the package is a nice gift. It's wrapped up. It's got good things inside. It's got your name on it. What is the package? And do you want the package?

The package is a package of life, and it includes several things. It includes being created in the image of God, showing that we have a value and a purpose that's far above anything in the physical. It also includes a physical life here on earth that involves being alive, staying alive, pursuing food and clothing, pursuing the various necessities of life, of being involved in family and being involved in jobs and careers.

It involves personal choices, like Deuteronomy 28, the whole chapter points out. It involves a calling, a calling, Hey, you're invited, but then how do we respond? If we respond, it involves repentance, repentance of the plan, repentance and rejection of the plan, which is hard because it is really a good-sounding plan. It has a lot of potential for me. You know? But if the response is right, then comes forgiveness and growth and maturity, physical growth, physical maturity, spiritual growth, spiritual maturity.

Matthew 6, 33 tells us to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. It's a spiritual maturity that focuses on something away from self, something away from the plan, something away from all the ambitions and the empire and all the building and the things that can be your potential. It's a focus on God's plan, which is part of a package that He has for you and me. It includes His righteousness. And the package also has a reward ceremony along the way.

And that reward ceremony is really special for those who are winners. It's a winner's circle. You could call it the winner's circle. It will be at the award ceremony. They're victorious. That's what the term overcome means. It means to be a winner. It means to be victorious. They will be given eternal life, while the losers will have eternal death. The package is defined very simply for us in John 3, verse 16. I'm sure you know the verse where it says, For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him with associated works shall not perish but have everlasting life.

That is the package. Very simple. If we want to pursue that in the direction that that will take us. I'd like to read you a passage here that Jesus Christ gave, and ask you to analyze what He's talking about. He says various things in this passage. What do they refer to in this passage? Do they refer to the plan of you and me? Or do they refer to the package that God is offering us?

This may shake you up a little bit. Let's go to Luke 6, verse 27. Because once again, here's a passage that seems unclear to people, that we tend to steer away from. If we're pursuing our plan, this makes no sense at all. You wonder sometimes what Jesus Christ had in mind. Luke 6, verse 27. Again, what do these words relate to? The plan or the package?

But I say to you who hear, not everybody's going to hear, but those who hear, those who are listening to what He wants, He's speaking to us. Love your enemies. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold it right there. The plan, this ambitious plan that's laid out, now has enemies that are fighting it and are trying to take chunks of it away from us. These are not good people, and we are to love those people. Love those who come and fight against your plan, its progress, and steal things, just like an enemy will come and fight and take your land.

Do good to those who hate you. Whoa, whoa, whoa. The plan has respect and honor and admonition. It's got one of those big old statues there, a bronze that's going to last for thousands of years, people remember you, and now we have people who hate us. They don't respect us, it's the opposite, really. They hate you, and you are to do good to them. You're encouraging enemies, and you're encouraging defamation of character. Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. You know, spitefully use you. You're trying to enhance the plan, you're working the deals, and people take advantage of you in spite.

They want you to fail, and so they use you, and you don't get paid, you don't get rewarded. Hmm. You're to pray for them. To him who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other also. From him who takes away your cloak, don't withhold your tunic either. Wait a minute. Part of this plan had a good wardrobe in it. We just lost the cloak, and now I'm giving away the tunic.

I'm disrespected, I'm hated, and I'm encouraging people to rob and steal from me. And I'm praying good prayers for those who are not... who are using me. This plan could really get derailed with this kind of thinking, this kind of action.

Verse 30, give to everyone who asks of you. How can you do that? And be building the plan? How can you be making progress towards your collection and your mountain, and your property and whatever it is, if you're giving it all away to those who ask? And from him who takes away your goods, do not ask for them back.

Wait a minute. With the plan, you need a good attorney if someone takes your goods, or any of these other things. But here, if someone takes away your goods, do not ask them back. You see, there's a whole different mindset of the package, isn't there? Whole different mindset. And you can't serve one and the other at the same time. You can't serve the package and also be promoting the plan. God wants us to do these things we've just read, and therefore he detests the plan of building oneself.

And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. Now, there is a judgment along this. It's not just you by yourself doing these things. God is going to grade you. He's grading those who he's invited to participate in the package, and only those who pass and are victorious and are successful will receive eternal life. So he's going to grade you. So he says here, Now, if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? What credit in your score, in your treasure in heaven, in your qualifications, what credit am I going to give you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. Verse 34, If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, Oh, wait a minute, that's part of my plan. It was to lend and get a profit here from any and everybody. That's what the credit card companies do. Throw out a whole bunch of credit cards and get everybody to run them up and then live off the profits. Who cares about whether they can afford the payments? Some of them ran up those things because they had nothing, and that's the only source of money they had to survive on. Well, that's fine. Whatever the problem is, just send me 20-25% credit, and if you get laid on a payment, we can really dig in then. No, if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. But he says, I want you to love your enemies and do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return. How are you going to get anywhere doing that? Lending, hoping for nothing in return, this is not going to help the plan, folks. It is not. But love your enemies, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward will be great and you will be sons of the most high. You can see here the huge disconnect that exists between the plan and the package. And we have a choice to make, don't we?

For he is kind, the unthankful and the evil. Therefore be merciful, just as your father also is merciful. Judge not and you will not be judged. Condemn not, you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and it will be given to you. The plan is not going to get given back to. You can't say, well, okay, I'm going to give so that my plan will flourish and I'll get given back to. No, you're going to get given back to when Christ returns. You're going to get given back to when the rewards are passed out. What your plan is today is nothing in comparison to what being a co-heir with Jesus Christ will be. It will be good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. It will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you in the package from God. That's where God gets involved. You know, when you and I have trials, when somebody comes to you or you go to somebody and say, oh, I had a trial this week. What is that trial usually about? It's usually about the plan. The plan suffered a trial this week. Somebody stole, something broke, something wore out, you know, something damaged. Somebody's health, my health, my... The plan had a setback. Big setback to the plan. Oh! Got a trial. Is a trial just a setback of the plan of personal fulfillment? Or is it a trial aimed at trying to keep us from accepting and using and being achievers in the package? You know, one is a trial. The other is a personal ambition setback that's taken something out of the pile. In Romans 8 and verse 28, there's a very encouraging scripture that's often misapplied, because we all know that all things work together for good. And therefore, when the plan suffers a setback, this must be good for the plan, because all things are going to work together, right? No. Let's read Romans 8, 28, and see what he's talking about. We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. And what is His purpose? His purpose is the package, not the plan. So all things are going to work together for those who are involved in the package, called and are working for this package. Verse 29, For whom he foreknew, he also predestined, what? To be successful in life? No. To be conformed to the image of his Son. That's God's package.

We are to be like His Son. We are to be part of His family, called according to His purpose. So good things will work out to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose, whom He is conforming to the image of His Son, that He, Jesus Christ, might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The package is about the family of God, and it's a package because it involves a lot, a lot of things and a lot of people and a lot of processes.

And it's an entire package.

Moreover, whom He predestined, these He also called, and whom He called, these He justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. These are all package-related processes that are involved in the things that are working together. See, the plan is self-centered. That's the problem with it. That's why God hates it. It's all about me. It's all about my ambitions. I saw a lot of plans in progress as we traveled. It came down part of the coast, the West Coast, and drove along the beach. And there you can see some plans that are really working out well. And some of the nicest plans that are working out well are sitting right on those beautiful cliffs looking out over the infinite distance of the ocean. And it is so beautiful. And right on the side where you are are some of the nicest, strongest walls you'll ever see to keep you out.

You know?

My wife and I pulled up at a little pullout, and there was even a field, just a field with a barbed wire fence. And out in the middle of the field were signs. No trespassing. Keep out. Another sign, handwritten. Keep out of this property.

You know, it's just a field, a pasture. There's nothing in it. A beautiful view, 100 yards away, where you could walk out there and people could actually enjoy the coast. But no, you cannot come into my field. This is my plan. You keep out.

You know, those walled fortresses of people who have plans that are working well, smack in the face of Jesus Christ, who's talking about giving and serving and helping and giving to any and everybody.

The plan is very self-centered. The components involve human logic, the misunderstandings that humans have.

It gets us into conflicts and setbacks. It's a life filled with aches and pains of trying to pursue the plan. But the package is very God-centered. It is God-centered. Not human, not self-centered, but God-centered. Let's go back to that concept that we heard of before about the knowledge and the fear of God. Proverbs 9 and verse 10 states, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. The components that are involved in God's package are knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and the fear of God, the deep respect of God. It's away from the self. It's coming to know that there is a God being awed by Him, coming to know what His purpose is for you, what His will is, what His mind is. And repenting of the plan and going for the package. The beginning of that is to really come to love and understand and deeply respect God. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 17 and see this defined a little more clearly for us by the Apostle Paul. Ephesians chapter 1 beginning in verse 17.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and the revelation in the knowledge of Him. So there we find that the knowledge, the understanding, the revelation of Him comes through the Holy Spirit. And this is a gift. Verse 18, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, coming out of this self-centered dream and passion to be enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of His calling for you, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe according to the working of His mighty power. God has a massive plan, and He has projects for us, and He has systems, and it is a huge package that He invites you to receive as a gift, which He worked in Christ when He was raised from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in heavenly places. Far above, far above, all that you and I could ever see or perceive or want, all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this age but in the age which is to come. He has put all things under His feet. He has given Jesus Christ everything, and He's made you and me, if we're involved in the package, co-heirs of everything.

Forget the little plan that you and I ever devised. Imagine the immensity of what God is offering you in the package.

And He gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Do we want to grow up into Jesus Christ? Do we want to fulfill the desire and the will and the purpose that God has created us for? Or do we want to divert into a selfish little plan that we have and pursue that plan for our life with great vigor and ambition and try to also get the benefits of being God's children in His church and get Him to come along with our plan?

Proverbs 2, verse 6, tells us about wisdom and understanding.

And the end result of this that comes from God through His Spirit, Proverbs 2, verse 6, For the Lord gives wisdom, and from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

All of this concept that is true wisdom and knowledge and understanding comes from God. Otherwise, without Him, we think that our plan is it, and it's nothing. It is nothing. It has fatal flaws and conflict all along the way. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk uprightly. He guards the paths of justice and preserves the way of His saints. Imagine that. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity in every good path.

When wisdom enters your heart and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, when you buy into the package and that becomes your passion, then discretion will preserve you, understanding will keep you. Dropping down to verse 20. So you may walk in the way of goodness and keep to the paths of righteousness. For the upright will dwell in the land and the blameless will remain in it.

But the wicked will be cut off from the earth and the unfaithful will be uprooted from it. There is no future for the plan.

Now we talk about the plan and we talk about the package and we see the contrast. We now can see very clearly why God cannot buy into our plan, and we must repent of it and get away from selfishness and go for the mentality that Jesus Christ describes, even though it's foreign to us as humans. But the reality is that there will be a constant contest within us between the plan that we have created and the package that God has offered, because we are human, because we have human nature, we have mortal passions, we have mortal thoughts.

Some examples of this are in John 12, verse 42. It says, Nevertheless, even among the rulers, many believed in Jesus Christ. The powerful rulers of the day, they believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue. Here, your plan is working so well, you're a ruler in Jerusalem. That's pretty good. You're in the synagogue. You know, the synagogue, you come with the other nobles and the rulers and the leaders. Oh, wouldn't you love to belong to that synagogue? It was the synagogue, you see. Now, in the synagogue, you don't just have one speaker like me, or two like myself and Joel Cox for the day. You would have several individuals who wanted to speak, and they would give short talks and readings from the Bible, and they would be able to get up and be noted among the leadership. Wow, look at that person. And then afterward, others could get up and they could discuss what was discussed. I mean, this is a room you want to be in. A lot of respect and honor there. Some people, it says, believed in him, but they did not confess him because they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. See what happens. You can be of the package, but you can't sacrifice the plan. Oh, we can't do that. That would do damage to a chunk of my plan. Luke 14.1, now what happened is he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath that they watched him closely. Let's go further down here in Luke chapter 14, and we'll drop down to verse 7. Notice what happened. He goes into the house of one of the rulers. Wow, this must be quite a pad. You know, you're talking about some really nice real estate. Maybe one of the little palaces there. He's going to eat bread on the Sabbath, and the Pharisees are going to watch him closely. Verse 7, so he told a parable to those who were invited. Now, these are some pretty powerful people. Jesus Christ is going to speak to them. He talked to those who were invited when he noted how they chose the best places, saying to them, When you were invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place.

Here they had all come in, and they were trying to find the best place that would advance themselves and get them around the right people. Jesus, now he's telling them, offending them. Don't do that. Lest one more honorable than you be invited by him. And he who invited you and him come and say to you, Give place to this man. And then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. Now, Jesus is not giving some human carnal advice here to carnal people who are of the elite as to how to work this out. But when you were invited, go and sit down in the lowest place.

So that when he who invited you comes, he may say to you, Friend, go up higher. Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. That didn't sound very logical. Why should I go sit in the lowest place? But the head of the house never comes by and asks me to move up. I'm not going to sit in the lowest place. That wouldn't advance me.

This is not good logic. Now notice what he says. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. He's talking about a mentality of humbling oneself, and later receiving a reward for that. Then he also said to him who invited him, he turns to the ruler, the impressive ruler of the house, and says, When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, which you have done, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.

I bet the man's jaw dropped open. Why wouldn't I do that? Because I do want to be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maim, the lame, and the blind. I bet that ran over like a lead balloon in that group. And you will be blessed because they cannot repay you. There's nothing in it for you. For you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just. So we can see here the mentality that Christ has in this package of offering you and me is totally different than what we have.

And it has a repaid or it has a prize at the resurrection of the just. Now when those who were at the table sitting there with him heard these things, one of those heard these things, and he said, Well, now is my chance to make a statement in front of all these people. And so he says, Blessed is he who shall eat bread in the kingdom of God. There's a noble statement. You're waiting for that little window of silence just to be able to be heard by all these impressive people. And Jesus then said to him, A certain man gave a great supper and invited many.

And he sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come for all things are now ready. Yeah, you think those were great words? You think what I said were great words? Okay. You're being invited. You're being invited to participate in the package. What are you going to do with the invitation? But they all, with one accord, began to make excuses. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, and the plan is about to take off.

I've got some land, and I must go see to it. I ask that you have me be excused. And another said, I have bought five yolks of oxen, and my plan is really going to prosper. Now I have five yolks of oxen. I guess that's probably ten oxen. I have five plows. My fields are going to start burying crops. I'm going to have storehouses. I beg that you'll excuse me. Still another said, I have married a wife, and she is really, really good. My plan is just mind-excusing me, he says. Well, so that servant came and reported these things to his master.

Then the master of the house being angry, I offered you a package. I offered you co-heirs of the universe, of the kingdom of God. I offered you all these things, but all you can focus on is your plan. And I am offended. I came, I lived, and I died so that you could have the package. But you want your plan and want to be excused. Every day, sorry, I can't really query, I can't really study, can't really do this, do this. I've got to push the plan. And he's offended and angry.

And he said to the servant, Go out quickly into the streets and the lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. All those Lazarus types who were getting their sores licked, and their plans aren't working. In other words, they're not focusing on their plans.

And the servant said, Master, it's done as you commanded, and still there is room. Master then said to the servant, Go out into the highways and even the hedges. Those whose plans aren't working well, because, as you can see, they're not pursuing them all that vigorously. And you bring them in here, compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.

For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper. If God offers us the package and we opt for the plan, we will not be in the kingdom of God.

It's a real big deal that you and I have been invited to. Trials arise along the way, and you and I sometimes say, Why did God let that happen to me? Why did God let that happen to my plan? We desperately call out, God save the plan! Trials can impede the plan.

In Luke 12 and 16, just back a page or so, here we see Jesus Christ addressing this. There are some terrible things that happen in life. This week, a child in the church, in a different church area, died. A young child died. It's a huge, huge, huge impact to that family.

Massive impact. You probably know of other tragedies, and things will happen to you, and there are just massive problems and impacts, especially where a person dies. And we think, Oh, this is... I mean, how can you go on? The plan has just been impeded.

It's just taken away all the oomph. Yet from God's perspective, is that how He sees it? God created life, and God will resurrect life. And God owns everything, and God is able to give everything to anyone, whenever He chooses. And these things that so consume us at any given time are immaterial to God in the sense that He can recreate life. He can resurrect life. He can kill, He can resurrect, kill, resurrect, kill, resurrect, kill, resurrect.

He can do it a hundred times a day. I mean, people in the Bible who read died, they came back to life again. But from God's perspective, trials are... trials are something that tend to impact us as humans and impact our plan more than impacts Him and those involved in the package.

Let's take a look in Luke 12 here in verse 16. Then Christ spoke a parable to them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. Oh, the plan is going well. I'm going to look at this again. The plan is going well. This man is rich and the ground, it's a great year. Now, you and I aren't too familiar with this concept because you and I aren't used to having a lot of food stored up. This morning, or yesterday, I guess it was, one of our members came home from a long trip and they went to unplug the microwave oven before they left and they accidentally unplugged the fridge and freezer.

So when they got home, things weren't real good in the house. There are challenges, but you didn't lose a year's supply of food in that situation. You go to the grocery store and you restock. But there are certain cultures and certain times where you only get that one crop a year. The wheat just comes in at one time during the summer and you get in your wheat harvest and that's going to be what you get. Now, some people actually have a lot of land and thousands of acres and people and workers, and this rich man got a great big crop and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do?

Since I have no room to store my crops. See where this is going? It's pretty clear. Jesus devises this parable and this individual is saying, wow, look at, if I can store all of this, those people who don't have food the rest of the year, I can sell it to them, I can have all the food I want. You know, this is just my plan is going well this year. Verse 18, so he said, I will do this.

I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry. So this guy's all set up.

The plan's working very well. But God said to him, you fool, this night, your life will be required of you. Your life will be required of you. That is the ultimate disaster to the plan. The ultimate disaster. That's the trial of trials, as it were. And yet what kind of a trial is that to God? Okay, the man died. So what? God can resurrect. God will resurrect. And yet that's the ultimate disaster. And then whose things will those be which you have provided? Trials, you see, diminish.

Trials impede plans. Whenever a trial comes along, it diminishes, it impedes, it causes problems for the plan. Think of any trial you can imagine, and think of your plan. A trial hammers the plan, and death being the ultimate hammer to your plan. However, trials enhance the package. Think of any trial that comes along. There is no trial that you can think of that wouldn't enhance the package.

And so you see from God's perspective how good trials are. I'd like to read from James 1, beginning in verse 2. I'll do this from the New International Version. I think it makes it in just stark English, as it were. James 1, beginning in verse 2. Remembering that trials enhance the package that God is offering you, notice how this is worded. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.

Now, hasn't that always seemed just a little odd to you and me? I counted all joy, brethren, when you faced trials. We're like, what? What are you talking about? Give away this, give away that, don't want that back, don't do that. Pray for your enemies, bless those who take chunks out of your plan. And now, whenever there's trials, count it, consider it, pure joy. When you get various kinds of trials, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

Trials actually enhance the package. Trials enhance what you will receive when God gives you your gifts and your rewards at the resurrection. The more trials that you have that you're successful in, the more victorious, the more you grow because of trials, the bigger the reward, the more the cities, the greater the joy, the greater the happiness. Perseverance, verse 4, must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

If you don't have trials, you won't have the maturity to receive as much as you can receive. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault. You notice we came back to that wisdom again, didn't we? Knowledge, understanding, wisdom, fear, the Lord. If you ask from God anything to do with the package, He will give it to you.

If you ask God anything to do with the plan, don't count on getting an answer. But anything, Jesus said, you ask in faith, you will receive if it has to do with the package. If you lack wisdom, ask God who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to Him. But when He asks, He must believe. Believe what? Believe that God's going to give you something for the plan?

Well, forget that. He's not. We'll see in just a minute. God will not give you anything for your plan. He's not in that business. But when He asks, He must believe. He must have the faith of God, and not doubt, because He who doubts is like a wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. What He's saying here is if you're saying you're of the package, but you're asking for things for the plan, you're unstable.

You're being tossed around. Don't think you're going to get anything from God. You have to be rock solid in the package that God is offering you.

That man, verse 7, should not think he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man. Why is he double-minded? He's pursuing the package, supposedly, and pursuing the plan, and trying to confuse the two.

And he's a double-minded man, and he should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord, because he is unstable in all that he does. Notice verse 9. The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position in the package.

The brother who is in humble circumstances, the Lazarus who is pursuing the package, and he is doing well, but he is poor in his life. He should take pride in his high position within the package, within God, in the eyes of God.

Verse 10. But the one who is rich in his plan, and things are going well, should take pride in his low position in the family of God, in the package, because he will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat, and withers the plant. Its blossom falls, and its beauty is destroyed. That's where we're going whenever we're pursuing the plan. No matter how successful we are, it doesn't matter how successful you are at the plan, if that's what you're pursuing, you can be failing miserably, but still in that package.

And the blossom falls, its beauty is destroyed, and in the same way, the person pursuing the plan will fade away even while he goes about his business.

See what all this is about? The trials, the fulfilling of prayer requests. It's about the plan versus the package.

Verse 12, Trials are great. Trials are awesome. Trials are the best thing that can happen to us who are pursuing the package.

Trials are awful, and they're lousy, and there's nothing good about them if you're pursuing the plan, because they will only hurt, diminish, obstruct, and take chunks out of our ambitions, if that's what we're pursuing.

I'd like to assign you a chapter to read, hopefully today, if you can, or tomorrow. It's Romans 12.

I'd like you to read Romans 12 through the eyes of the plan versus the package, and see what the Apostle Paul is telling the church there at Rome.

In conclusion, turn with me to Matthew 6, verse 24.

No one can serve two masters. You can't serve the plan and the package. For he'll either hate the one and love the other, he'll either hate the package and you'll love the plan, or you'll be loyal to the package and despise the other.

It's not going to work out. You can't serve both. You have to choose. You cannot serve God and your own self-pursuits.

Therefore, I say to you, do not worry about your life, your physical life, what you will eat and what you will drink, how much you will eat, how good the food will be, how much you'll drink, how expensive it will be. Don't worry. Don't be concerned about you and what you will have, nor about your body, about how it will look or how it will be or how promoted it will be or whatever, how long it will last, nor what you will put on. It is not life. Eternal life is being spoken of here. The life of the package that is offered to you, is that not more than anything physical, more than what the body can wear or food it can eat?

Verse 28, so why do you worry about your clothing? Why do you worry about your plan, whatever is in that plan? There are individuals all the way down through time whom God has called. Some of them were very rich.

Abraham was the father of the faithful and rich, rich, rich. Job was one of the most righteous people that ever existed, and he was rich and then his riches doubled. There have been other people who have been very, very, very, very poor.

Hosea, I would name among them. And maybe Ezekiel, who spent some time lying out on the street.

And they are all rich and wealthy in the eyes of God, in the sense that they were focusing on the package with a passion.

Now, the Bible tells us that God is able to bless his children with physical things and give us gifts.

And sometimes he does. And when we please him, God likes to give us various perks.

And we just have to give him the credit for those things and those opportunities that come along.

We all have to live our life, also. We all need food, we all need housing, we all need raiment, we all have to get education, we all have to go about the business of life. But where is our heart? Where is our passion?

Is it in those things, the plan? Or is it in the package?

And those things are the incidental things of life that we can use to love and serve others with.

That we can invite and participate and help and share with.

There's a lot to this life.

And God says here in verse 28, why do you worry about these physical things? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.

They neither toil nor spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not a raid like one of these.

Now if God so closed the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown in the oven, and that's what you and I are, really, will he not much more clothe you, oh you a little faith? Will he not give you the bounty of this life?

Therefore, do not worry, say, what shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? Or how shall we grow the plan?

Don't worry about those things. Don't be unduly concerned about those things. It's not saying don't just kind of throw your life to the wind and God will take care of it.

No, no, no. You have to go about life. The Proverbs is all about living a proper life and about being diligent and hardworking, and those are good things.

But put your passion into the package and God will bless you.

Verse 32, For all of the things of the plan the Gentiles seek after, the non-called ones, the people of the world, they're all after those things.

For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, but you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

You seek the package. And then He says, and all these things will be added to you.

You don't have to pursue the plan to receive all the benefits of the plan. Pursue the package. And you get both, really. You'll have a nice life.

Your relationships will work out. You'll be respectable and honorable. People will admire you. People will appreciate you.

You know, that's just a byproduct of being godly and considerate and helpful and loving and serving.

The very things that we would pursue for ourselves, if we do for others, will come our way. We need to each find the balance, and you must go from here today and find the balance.

What will you strive for? We were put here on earth, and God said to Adam and Eve that you are to dress and keep the garden.

There's a lot of work that goes into life. You have to dress and keep yourself and your house and your garden and your lot, and you have to do your work. Things don't grow, and you can't harvest unless you prune and do all the things that it takes in life.

A lot of work here. But we need to remember those who have gone before us, including Jesus Christ, who was fairly well off, evidently, who were focused not on the plan of oneself, but on the package that God is offering to you and to me.

The bottom line, Jesus Christ wants to know, which do you want? Which will you strive for?

Which is really in your mind at the beginning and the end and the middle of each day?

Is it like David, a love for God and God's law? Or is it like Solomon, a love for things and the ambitions that one can get for oneself?

Which do you want to strive for? Your plan or my package? That's the question God asks us, and that's something that each of us must answer individually.