“The Blueprint: God’s Plan”
Learning from Life Series
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Jeremiah, 29:11-13; Ephesians 2:8-10

Introduction: In the movie Pinocchio, Geppetto is a toy maker who has just made a little wooden puppet called Pinocchio, whom he loves dearly, so much so that he calls Pinocchio his ("Little Wooden Puppet"). One night before he goes to bed he sees a star, and decides to wish upon this star that Pinocchio would become a real boy. As Geppetto sleeps, the Blue Fairy arrives and grants the wish, partially; Pinocchio has come to life, but he must prove himself worthy before becoming a real boy. The rest of the movie is about Pinocchio constantly getting in trouble as he tries to learn and understand how to live in this crazy, mixed up world.
This movie has some similarities to our life. God has created us and has a plan for our lives. But we struggle every day to learn how to live in this crazy, mixed up world. Today we begin a new sermon series, “Learning from Life.” In this series I want to start by looking at how God has a blueprint for life. If we are to live this life to the full, we need to first understand God’s general blueprint for life, and then his specific blueprint for you and me!

I. The Designer-
A couple of weeks ago my family and I were at California Adventure, at
Disneyland…In the California Adventure Park is the new Concept Development building. This building is only open to Season ticket holders, and what it allows you to do is to see the proposed changes of the “new” California Adventure. Ever since California Adventure opened, they have struggled to attract people the way Disneyland has. This is largely because they didn’t make it as kid friendly, and as “Disney” oriented as Disneyland was.
So, they have now decided to revamp the park in hopes that this will lead to it being more attractive. To do this, there is a process. They first start with the design. There are many who brainstorm ideas together until they come up with the ideas that will be put into creation. Once these ideas are decided upon, they then are drawn out on a blueprint to see what the new rides will look like. After this idea is drawn successfully and approved, the drawing then becomes built to miniature scale. These miniature scale rides are what are housed in the Concept Development building, and this is what the season ticket holders get to see (along with a video).
As we think about our world, and our lives, let us think for a moment about God as “Designer.” At some point in God’s existence, there was the thinking of creating a world. These thoughts then became more specific ideas, and a design was drawn up (I’m not sure if it was a literal drawing, but definitely a drawing in the mind of God).
As we think about our world, it is so incredibly complex. God had to work out all the details before He began to create it all. He had to design how the stars would exist, and what their purpose would be. He had to design the sun, and its place for life to exist. He had to design the planets, and how Earth would be different so that it could sustain life. He had to design how our energy needs would be provided. And in all of this, He gave us the ability to learn and be able to utilize the many aspects of our planet to meet our needs as well.
We talk about God as the Creator, but before He was the Creator, He was the designer. This is important, because the design is what allows what is created to function as it should. As the Designer, we remember that God isn’t just the One who built the world, who put the world together, but also the One who thought it up and had the wisdom to know how everything would fit together. This includes you and me!

II. The Creator- (Genesis 1:1-31; Job 38:4-11; Jeremiah 29:11-13; Psalm 139:13-16; Ephesians 2:8-10)
1. Creation of the world- We know God to be the creator of the world.
This is well known. All you have to do is go to Genesis 1, and read about God creating the world. But what you might not realize is the immensity of this work, and yet the personalness of it.
To get an idea of the immensity of it, listen to God’s words to Job in chapter 38. At this point of the story, Job has questioned God about many things. God wants Job to understand the difference between Job and God. Listen to verses 4-11:
“Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone- 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? 8 "Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, 'This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt'?” In this passage we hear about a little of what ordering the world is all about: marking off dimensions; laying the conrnerstone; keeping the waters from bursting forth; fixing the limits… but it is also personal, because God cares enough to create this world for us, and to make it special and just right. And then it is personal because He chooses to create people.
2. Creation of people- In Genesis, chapter 1, God spends much of the
time creating trees, and plants, and sky, and water, and then animals. But ultimately we are told that this is for His last creation; people. God creates man and woman; in the image of God He creates them. People are the ONLY part of creation that is like God.
So, why does God create people? First and foremost so that we could be in relationship with God. I know that the most important aspect of having children is the relationship I have with them. More than anything else, I love to relate to them, and be with them, and love them, and have them love me. I believe this is true of our existence with God. But secondly, we are to bring worship and honor to God. God is not a god who creates and then disappears. God wants us to have a spiritual connection with Him, and this happens when we worship God.
3. God’s call to people- But there is a third aspect to our being created,
and that is that God has given us a call; a purpose. We discover this in our scripture passages for the morning. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has a plan, and a purpose for us. A plan that is hopeful and successful. The psalmist reminds us that God knows this plan well, as we are told in Psalm 139:13-16, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
And Ephesians 2:10 tells us, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” God created us to do “good works.” These works are God’s will for our lives; a fulfillment of the blueprint that God drew up before the beginning of time.

III. The Enactor- (John 10:27, 13:34-35; Matthew 6:34; Acts 20:35)
This last week I got a wonderful e-mail from my mom; a link to “The Five
Secrets” movie, by John Izzo. In this 6 minute movie, it talks about what people say are the five secrets to being happy in life. I believe these five secrets help us to enact the blueprint that God has for our lives. The five secrets are as follows:
1. Be true to yourself- The first secret is to “Be True to Yourself.” We
should be constantly asking ourselves: Is this the life I want to be living? To answer this question, we have to know who we are and what really matters. There is an inner voice inside of us telling us what we want. This inner voice is the voice of God. Jesus tells us in John 10:27, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” To hear God’s voice we have to be disciplined and have the courage to act when we hear the voice. To do this, we also have to stop caring about what others think, and we need to pursue the dreams that God gives to us.
2. Leave No Regrets- The second secret is to “Leave No Regrets.” It
seems that what we fear most as we age, is not death, or failure, but rather to come to the end of our life feeling that we never truly lived. The saddest words ever spoken at the end of life are “I wish I had…” One of the truths John Izzo learned from talking to 235 wise people, is that almost no one regretted risks they took that did not work out, and most said they wished they had risked more. Izzo says: “One of the keys to moving towards what we want instead of what we fear is to focus on the best possible result and not the worst. Are you going for what you truly want in your life or acting with fear?” Once we become true to ourselves, by discovering who God created us to be, we then need to take the risks to make it happen.
3. Become Love- “Become Love” is the third secret. Not surprisingly, the
greatest source of happiness for people and the largest place of regret had to do with people. What was discovered is that those who made people a priority in their lives, and who developed deep personal relationships, found true happiness. One way to focus on relationships is to get intentional goals for our personal relationships just like we do in our careers. Yet Izzo says that the most interesting thing he uncovered was that being a loving person, the choice to give love, is even more important in determining happiness than getting it. Jesus said it this way in John 13:34-35, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
When we choose to be a loving person we find a deep sense of meaning in life.
4. Live the Moment- The fourth secret was to “Live the Moment.” Life
goes by so fast, and it is important to enjoy each moment. So we need to live in the present, to fully enjoy whatever experience we are having (and not to wish we were somewhere else), and to live with gratitude focusing on what we are grateful for rather than what we don’t have. Jesus spoke profoundly of this when He said in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In saying this, Jesus was telling us to focus on the present, on what God has for us to know and do today.
Most people realize that they have no power over the past and little power over the future. And yet they end up saying: ‘I will be happy when or I will be happy if”; if we are going to ever be happy, if we are going to ever understand God’s blueprint for our lives, we have to learn to be happy NOW! Focus on enjoying our lives instead of judging it or comparing it to others.
5. Give More Than You Take- The fifth and final secret is to “Give
More Than You Take.” Izzo found time and time again people saying that what gave their life the greatest meaning was being of service and knowing that they made things better. When we discover that we make things better just because we are here, it gives us a great source of meaning. But in those times that we give, we can see that what gives life significant meaning is what we give, not what we take. The truth is that we have little control over what we get, but we have much control over what we can give. In Acts 20:35, Paul is speaking to the leaders of the Ephesian church, and he says to them: “In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Are you focused on giving or getting each day?

Conclusion: God did not make this world haphazardly. God gave specific thought to what He would make, and then drew up a blueprint for it. He then created the world for His people, and then created His people; you and me. As we discover what God has for us, the secrets to this life, we also have to understand that it is not enough to know the secrets, we must live them. Many of us know what is important, but it is not enough to know, we have to put these things into practice.
As we enter life, we don’t know anything. But God has created us to learn as we live. God is more concerned that we are learning, than whether or not we know it all. And as we learn, we need to start putting it into practice. Life teaches us much along the way. This is how God designed it. Let us seek to live our best for God, trying to know what God calls us to do as we hear His voice, and make the most of each day. Let us live out God’s plan for our lives this day, and every day. Amen.