Romans 8: 26-28 “Dealing With Detours” 8/11/2019
Rev. Jerry W. Krueger Boardman United Methodist Church
Driving in Northeast Ohio, we encounter highway detour signs regularly. Detours can add time to our route and we can whine or cry about it, or we can roll with it saying, “this is a part of the landscape I would have never seen.”
When things don’t go as planned, do you get angry, whine and cry, feeling like you didn’t get your way? Detours in life occur, why are we so surprised?
We addressed dealing with adversity last week; this week we address detours in our lives. How do we respond when we don’t get to live out our purpose the way we thought we would? Remember, God calls us to a purpose first, before we are called to a place.
Some parents think their children can only be raised in one home, one school district, one town. It can be life altering when a job requires you to move from the comfort, familiarity, and known of your community to elsewhere.
I’ve moved 6 times as a UM pastor. Every time I’ve moved, I usually find a new doctor, dentist, pharmacy, barber, grocery store, bank, learn new names of people, places, and things. It can be difficult to separate God’s direction from our lives from the actual location of where we find God using us.
When surroundings change, we may query God, “How can I use my gifts here?” I have asked that question in some of my different church appointments.
When I was sent to a rural cotton farming community on the High Plains in Texas, I had no commonality with the people there, or so I thought. When I was sent to Moran, Texas, a town of 500 that had been a thriving with 5,000 people 40 years ago. When I was appointed to Community of Faith UMC in Columbus, Ohio, a predominately African American congregation, I wondered, “How can I connect, how do I use my gifts?” And in downtown Youngstown at Trinity UMC.
Our scripture addresses Paul’s being in Troas, a place he never expected to be. It is a coastal city on the Aegean Sea, located in modern day Turkey. In Paul’s era, Ephesus, Thessalonica, Athens, and Philippi are cities at the end of a spoke-like wheel with the Aegean being the hub.
Paul has returned to Antioch with Barnabas after a successful 1st Missionary Journey. They intend to retrace their steps on a 2nd journey but have a falling out over Barnabas’ cousin, Mark. Paul thinks Mark is a slacker, they separate, then Paul and Silas team up. By the way, Mark the slacker is the writer of the Gospel of Mark, and later in a letter to Timothy, Paul asks for Mark to come to him.
Our expectation is God will send us wherever we’ll encounter success, not where we understand success will be limited.
So, God disallows Paul and Silas’ travel to Bithynia, and instead they’re detoured to Troas. This was a place where the inhabitants were ripe to hear God’s word, and the church flourished after having been instituted by Paul.
Paul believed he was destined to go to Bithynia, yet Christ’s Spirit blocked him. Have any of you strongly desired something, but after many obstacles you begin to wonder if God’s saying, “Go another way!”
If we suddenly decide we need to listen to God at a fork in the road of life, we might believe we have a bad connection.
I tend to be more open to receiving God’s direction when I’m not peppering God with questions, desperate for answers.
What might a detour teach us in finding God’s direction for our lives? God gives Paul a vision, instructing him to go to previously unevangelized Macedonia. Anyone here have a new dream in life? It can be exciting and challenging, but often our challenge is not embracing the new dream, it’s letting go of an old one.
Luke records Jesus saying, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’ (Luke 9:62) I believe this means Jesus is saying, “It’s hard to embrace a new opportunity when we can’t let go of past dreams.” Taking a page from Paul, he didn’t dwell on the past, he merely said, “Lord, how can you use me here?”
We are a faithful people most open to receiving God’s direction when we pray, “Lord, how can you use me here?” There is a need for flexibility in life and in our faith life also. When we stick to a plan unrelentingly, we can miss opportunities for God to use us.
Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church 1 Cor.16: 7-9, said, “I do not want to see you now just in passing, but I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.” Locking down on ideas and attitude in the church, or in life, can have limiting effects. Saying things can only be one way, no matter what, undercuts other possible opportunities.
Paul spent time in prayer and understands he needs to be able to adjust his plans to serve God. Some UM ordained elders tell the DS and Bishop, I “have to stay in this place…” and list the reasons. In doing so, they are not being true to their vows of itineracy and can miss a unique opportunity that presents itself in a short window.
Some detours are doors of opportunity. Reading about Paul, he never agonized over having to have things his way all the time. He was flexible, seeing there was opportunity abundant, and didn’t worry needlessly over whether he was deserving of some position or ministry.
Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken” is a much-interpreted poem. Some claim it means live life freely from others’ expectations. Maybe Frost just acknowledged options, free choice, and free will to pursue a path. Maybe it’s about the reality of struggling with the temptation to relive key choices in life and wonder, “did I make the right choice?”
Paul seems to have lived free of second guessing. As a pastor, I encounter those who second guess me with frequency. But understand, God can guide us on whichever path we choose, when we come to a fork in our spiritual lives, or life in general.
Paul is more concerned about following God, by living a purpose-filled life, being true to God and himself, and living out his identity in Christ; instead of pleasing people, no matter where he lived.
We close with these words from Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
People of God, each of you who profess Jesus Christ have been called to his purpose. Your purpose is not to second guess yourself, or others. Your purpose is to discern the path that Christ has for you so that you will serve Him fully and live a life that glorifies Christ.
Detours can bring new opportunities for us to serve God in new and exciting ways. Welcome the detours and the possibilities.
In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
