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"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." (1 Cor. 1:25)

November 23rd, 2005

Foolish Figuring

Posted At: 10:54am by Rev. William M. Cwirla

As we approach the Last Day and the fulfillment of all things, the temptation is great to figure out when and so to gain control. The Thessalonians were a congregation obsessed with the end times and much foolish figuring. 1 Thessalonians 4 addresses these concerns, which Dr. Norman Nagel applies in this sermon excerpt:

"It is a constant temptation of little faith to try to calculate God's scenario. If we can figure out the when and the where, then we have God tied up with our calculations. We can predict where and when He is going to jump. How He may or may not jump. When we have God figured out, then He is really redundant, or at least a possible embarrassment to the way we have taken things in hand and are running them....

Will your dog be with you in heaven? Remember Martin Luther's letter to his little son Hans, telling of all the fun of playmates and ponies and such an orchard in heaven? We are all little Hanses before the words that tell of the fruition of God's promises that are theirs who fall asleep through Jesus. With Him God will bring them, together with those who haven't died, to be with the Lord always.

You too? Absurd, isn't it? Let our Lord do His absurdity of loving you, little you, a speck on a speck of the universe, without cooking up your own absurdities. And this Lord, who will bring you through death as His death, can be relied on to make the necessary arrangements for what we cannot calculate or even say or think. We are given some happy hints, but the center, the heart of it all, we do know and rejoice in. Next Sunday's epistle says, "God has not destined us for wrath" (1 Thess. 5:9). If you want a day of wrath, you can have it, if you insist. Nobody gets whipped in.

God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so whether we wake or sleep we might live with Him. Through Jesus, with Him, with the Lord always. 'Comfort one another with these words.' (1 Thess. 4:18)"

Norman Nagel (from a sermon for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost) quoted from Selected Sermons of Norman Nagel (CPH, 2004)

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November 23rd, 2005

Foolish Figuring