Rev. David Holwick Y
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
July 25, 1999
1 Samuel 6:1-12
COINCIDENCE OR PROVIDENCE?
SERMON SUMMARY: Many people trust in luck but the Bible sees only the hand
of God. God's providence is best seen in hindsight but God's care
for us in the past gives us confidence in the future.
I. How lucky are you?
A. Casinos in Atlantic City are bigger than any churches in state.
1) Some of you have made pilgrimages there.
2) Casinos don't believe in luck - they know the exact odds.
B. "Luck" never appears in the Bible.
1) Closest is Eccles. 9:11 - "time and chance happen to all."
a) "Under the sun" reveals this is a this-worldly
perspective.
b) Not God's perspective.
2) God's perspective shown in story about cows.
II. Philistine cows. 1 Samuel 6:1-12
A. A bad time for the Philistines.
1) Two decisive victories over their foe, Israel.
2) They had even captured the ark.
3) But they hadn't captured God.
B. Unforeseen problems.
1) Ark placed next to their god Dagon.
a) In morning, their god was flat on his face.
2) Tumors appear on people in cities.
3) Move ark from city to city.
a) Death and calamity moved with it.
C. A test of fate.
1) The Philistines decide to send the ark back. Sort of.
a) Maybe all the troubles were only flukes of nature.
b) They worked out a test to see if it was bad luck
or an angry God.
2) Travel arrangements to test the sovereignty of God.
a) Ark placed on a cart.
b) Cart yoked to two mother cows.
1> Neither cow had ever been yoked to something.
2> Their calves were still drinking mom's milk.
c) Cart sent on its way.
1> If the cart went straight to Israel, it was GOD.
2> If it wandered aimlessly, troubles were coincidence.
A> Foolproof - deck is stacked against God.
III. Is God really in control?
A. Most Christians don't really believe God is sovereign.
1) Theologian R. C. Sproul said,
"I have never in my life met a Christian who said that he
did not believe that God is sovereign....
But as soon as we probe the understanding of sovereignty,
it takes about five minutes to realize that the way many
Christians define sovereignty could be better described
as non-sovereignty...
a God who is like the king of England, who reigns but
does not rule." #2940
2) We believe in sovereignty until storms of life hit us.
a) Then we send out our "cows."
b) Tough to accept that God makes both prosperity and
disaster. Ecclesiastes 7:14
B. Bible has no reservations about it.
1) The biblical view is that there is no such thing as luck,
chance, random happenstance.
2) What there is, is providence -- the care and guidance
God gives his creatures. Matthew 10:29-31
a) Sometimes it is obvious, usually it is behind the scenes.
b) Providence is the quiet conviction that our world is
moving toward some good end predetermined by God.
Rev. William Willimon
IV. How God's providence works.
A. God's sovereign rule orchestrates circumstances.
1) He uses the ordinary and the commonplace (even cows) to
accomplish extraordinary feats against insurmountable
odds.
2) Even the smallest details matter.
A group of men were carrying on a friendly conversation.
One of them remarked that he had learned to be especially
careful about small things.
"Would you believe," he said, "that a little thing like a
pair of socks changed the entire course of my life?"
"I can hardly believe that," replied another man.
"Well, it's true!
Once I planned to take a trip with some of my friends on
a canal boat, but two days before we intended to leave,
I injured my foot while chopping wood.
It was only a small cut, but the blue dye in the homemade
socks I wore poisoned the wound, and I was compelled
to stay at home.
While my friends were on their journey, a powerful preacher
came to our town to hold revival meetings.
Since I didn't have anything else to do, I decided to
attend.
The message touched me deeply, and as a result, I
surrendered my heart to the Lord.
Afterward I saw that I needed to change my life in many
ways.
I also decided to get an education, for I felt that
this would enable me to live more usefully for my Lord."
The man who made these comments was none other than the
former President of the United States--James A. Garfield!
Don't treat lightly the "little things" in life.
God can use them to produce great and important
consequences.
#1043 Roddy Chestnut
B. God can turn lemons into lemonade.
1) Joseph and his murderous brothers. Genesis 50:20
In an emotional story, he toys with them, then reveals
himself.
They are terrified.
But Joseph tells them not to be afraid because
"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to
accomplish what is now being doing, the saving of many
lives."
See? All the while his brothers thought they were
doing in Joseph.
But theirs' was not the only doing.
They were meaning it for evil but, surprise, God was
meaning it for good.
God was working behind the scenes weaving even their
evil into his good purposes.
They sold Joseph to slavery which, as the story turned out,
was used by God to preserve God's special family,
to enable Israel to survive and bless the whole world.
2) God can work anything out for our good. Romans 8:28
V. Seeing God's hand.
A. God's sovereignty is best seen in hindsight.
1) Rev. William Willimon says,
I believe that providence can be discerned in this life, but
usually only in the backward view, never in the forward.
That is, it is difficult to speak of God's guiding in terms
of what happens to us at this moment or what will happen
to us tomorrow.
But we are more able to discern the loving hand of God in
that which has happened to us in the past.
2) As Augustine said, when you first consider your life, it
looks like nothing but a bunch of chicken tracks in the
mud of a barnyard, going this way and that.
But through the eyes of faith, we begin to discern pattern,
meaning, direction. Providence.
Rev. William Willimon
B. Sovereignty does not always give us answers, but teaches us
dependence on God.
1) "The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me." Ps 138:8
#3341
VI. God's providence is at work today.
A. God's hand in our church this Thursday:
1) Brian Cherry's girlfriend Amy is told her job is over.
Came out of the blue.
The business is closing, and tomorrow is last day.
That same day, a nursing position is offered to her.
Carol tells her - God is in this.
2) Helen Zubeck asks our Thursday Bible study to pray for
her son, Chris.
He is in the Marines and had not called her in a long time.
She was worried, like a typical mom.
Yesterday Helen calls me and says, Guess what?
My son called me!
His unit has been confined to base because they are trained for
a possible mission to Kosovo.
He had not be able to get in touch with her until now.
B. Keep the faith.
1) Archbishop William Temple once said,
"When we pray, coincidences happen;
when we don't pray, the coincidences stop happening."
http:/www.allsaints.netLent1999.html
Father Jarvis [and other sources]
2) Discern the hand of God in your life and have confidence
in his mercy.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
#1043 Illustration collected by Rev. Roddy Chestnut but no source given.
His Access 97 database with 1,650 illustrations can be found at:
http://users.nac.net/wdh2000/illust.html
#2940 "Cows And The Sovereignty Of God," by Curtis W. Anderson,
Discipleship Journal #89, September/October 1995, page 102.
This article is the main basis for this sermon.
#3341 [see "Cows..." above]
[no #] "Good Luck!", a sermon by Rev. Dr. William H. Willimon, Duke
University Chapel, April 25, 1999, http://www.chapel.duke.edu
This sermon can be found in the sermon database at
http://members.xoom.com/dholwick/serm-dat.html
These and 4,500 others are part of a database that can be downloaded,
absolutely free, at http://users.nac.net/wdh2000/illust.html
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