Aimed Like an Arrow

Aimed Like An Arrow Easter Series: Thriving, Not Surviving: The Ripple Effect Miracles of Easter Romans 8:28 (Miracle #4: “Purpose”), Easter III, April 26th 11:00 Facebook Live Let me show you a visual parable. We have before us a target and arrows attached to balloons. As we let go of the inflated balloons with the attached arrows, what are the odds these balloons will land on the desired target? Let's try one. Let's try two. Let's try three. It's clear we could attempt these dozens of times, hundreds of times, thousands of times, and we'd be depending on whichever way the wind blows to carry us to where we need to be. We have this one life and our lives are drifting to and fro as we're not even sure we need to aim at anything. Perhaps the first step in the right direction is to realize our lives are like an arrow and that our identity demands an “aim.” Paul's letter to Romans represents the magnum opus of his writings. Anyone who has read it has considered it a spiritual earthquake. This letter has ignited revivals in several episodes of history. The letter of Romans ignited a revival for St. Augustine in the 5th century. The letter of Romans ignited a revival for Martin Luther in the 16th century. John Wesley credits the letter of Romans for igniting a revival for him in the 18th century. Karl Barth one of the great theologians of the 20th century credits the letter of Romans for igniting a revival for him in the 20th century. To pick up this letter is like exposing yourself to spiritual dynamite. There's no coincidence this letter has served over the last 2000 years as the source time and time again of new spiritual eruptions. In this letter Paul will use a particular Greek word as key descriptive term for capturing what our life looks like apart from connection to Christ. The Greek word is Hamartia. This word is literally translated, “Missing the mark.” At least for the letter of Romans, we are well served to consider our lives in terms of identity as an arrow. We have one life and to ensure we are not drifting aimlessly, we need to live as if our lives are sharply guided and definitely directed toward a desired goal. This Easter season we are exploring a series we're calling, “Thriving, Not Surviving.” In this series we are examining the ripple effect miracles which unfolded out of the first Easter. No doubt the supreme miracle is the resurrection but the raising of Jesus from the dead set forth a ripple effect of other miracles. So far we've looked at Proclamation, Praise, and Peace. Today, we turn attention to the fourth great ripple effect miracle, Purpose. If we were to ask a person to name the most recognizable passage in the Bible, chances are they would cite, John 3:16. If we were to ask them to name the second most recognizable passage, chances are they would cite, 1 Romans 8:28. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Contrasted with a life of Hamartia, which is drifting aimlessly, without even knowing life has a target is a Greek word that is the exact opposite. This is the Greek word, “Tugchano.” Do you know what the Greek word, “Tugchano” means? It is literally translated, “Spot-On.” It would seem for Paul, there are only two ways to live and two ways only, We are either living missing the mark or living a life spot-on. Outside of life connected with Christ, we live dependent on whichever way the wind blows. When the wind is pleasant, my life is in turn dependent on the surrounding currents. I need those currents to forever remain favorable. I live when the currents are supposedly favorable as if I'm floating along and in the drift it seems as long as I'm not colliding up against obstacles, that ignorance is bliss. Does your life have a purpose? Never thought about it. What is all this moving toward? Never given a second consideration. Paul says it's not until we run up against undesirable obstacles that I move from ignorance is bliss to a rude awakening. Then, I'm aware that my free floating life is now in a tailspin. I'm going nowhere. The first temptation is shift to panic mode. Paul seemingly had it all as he was floating along never giving a second thought to what might constitute the arrow's aim of his life. He floated along with power, prestige, position, and prominence. It wasn't until the awakening on the Damascus Road he became aware what he thought was his life direction was exposed as hapless, aimless, misdirected, and misguided. It took a tailspin to bring that all to the forefront of his attention. On those good days, hamartia is missing the mark, but falling for a season feels like flying. We're already in a tailspin but we just don't know it yet. The crisis will reveal what has been true long before the crisis ever emerged. We were in a spiritual crisis long before. A crisis of a misguided life. A crisis of aimless life. A crisis of living without even knowing life has an aim. We can spend years of life free floating never ever stopping to consider whether our lives are closer or further away from the “point.” Paul will describe his former life as the “Worst of Sinners.” What made it the worst is that we can live in a way that we think we are guided and yet our trajectory is haphazard and without guidance. The worst form of lost is we're drifting along assuming all the while we're in route to a desired destination, where we have no clue, how we get there, we've never thought about it, what it will take to arrive, hasn't occupied a second of our time. Paul says the moment Easter occurred, history now had the all encompassing failure proof event. For those who saw the implications, for those who discerned what had happened, no matter what was going on, no matter what was happening in the world, imagine 2 the most disadvantages conditions, we are still spot on. By the time Paul is writing this letter to Romans, emperors have already grown long tired of the stubborn behavior of Christians. What frustrated emperors is that no matter what they would do to deter the momentum of Christians, they would always manage to grow more purposeful instead of less purposeful. No matter what life threw at them, they were impervious to disadvantaged conditions. Just when you would think they would throw up their arms and surrender in the face of overwhelming circumstances, Christians planted firm and declared, get ready because here we come. Life would seem pointless, but Christians were unaffected. They weren't dependent on conditions for the point of their purpose. They knew the purpose who represented the point. Whatever was going on around them was incidental. They kept their focus on the point of pleasing Him, glorifying Him. They had everything to gain and nothing to lose. Such a mindset formed an invincible outlook. They were indestructible. Jesus had said as much when He told Pilot you don't hold my life. I lay my life down. In the same way believers knew that by Easter, nothing in this world held our destiny. Jesus' resurrection guaranteed our destiny. Hamartia was missing the mark. Tugchano is a life that is spot on. What life means for evil, that would displace, dislocate, deflect, and derail the unconverted person is now invigorating opportunity for the believer to enter with eyes wide open to see exactly how Tugchano holds true in this particular situation. The challenges will look unique for every historical epoch. What makes it similar is that regardless of what they are, no conditions ultimately dictate our spot on movements. What follows Romans 8:28 is Paul's attempt to go through the most extreme list of possibilities. He lets his imagination run wild. He comes up with the most ridiculous of derailing circumstances. The conclusion is that when we let our imagination envision the most preposterous of events, Paul concludes, “Nothing” can separate the believer from the purposes God has designed through Jesus Christ. What seems ridiculous, meaningless, ludicrous, outrageous, finally gets our attention. For Paul, we were most aimless when things were operating under false comfort. It's when I had illusory power, illusory prominence, illusory prestige, that I was most hapless, misdirected, and free floating with no rhyme or reason. The rude awakening only exposes what was true all along. It's not the crisis that is my problem. It's my false expectations of life that were the problem. It's the false assumption that Jesus isn't the goal of life that's my problem. Once I become aware of what Easter means and how it has reoriented all of history before and after, now I have access to a mindset that undaunted and unrelenting. You might be surprised to know 3 that believers during the time weren't identified as Christians or by the term Christianity. The earliest title of believers was not “Christianity.” Rather they were identified by the “spot-on” image known simply and decisively as “The Way.” We were identified as people who knew despite what was going on around us, our lives had direction, our lives had trajectory, our lives had pin point accuracy.

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