Messages
from the Bible
A Sermon by Dr. Neil Chadwick
There are many things spoken or written in our present day media which are too easily accepted at face value. Take for example what has been popularly called the “Butterfly Effect.”
There are several versions - here are a couple of examples:
The flap of a butterfly's wings in New York City causes an earthquake in China.
A butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil sets off a tornado in Texas.
A butterfly in Java waves its wings and, as a result, the weather in Chicago turns nasty.
Are we so gullible as to believe such nonsense?
This fantastic notion began over thirty years ago with an MIT meteorologist by the name of Edward Lorenz. One day, while analyzing weather patterns, Lorenz left his computer to get a cup of coffee. When he returned, he saw that his data points had gone haywire. A small change in his calculations had produced a major swing in the weather forecasts he was preparing. That got him to thinking. So in 1972, during a speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, he posed this rhetorical question, "Does the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?"
When Lorenz ever learned that his comment was taken seriously, he laughed; "I was just trying to determine why we didn't have better luck with our weather forecasts.”
Not only do meteorologists not believe that butterflies can so affect the weather, but the popular version of the Butterfly Effect has it all backward. A butterfly is more affected by the weather than the weather is by a butterfly – because they're cold-blooded creatures, butterflies need the sun to flap their wings and fly.
Julian P. Donahue, of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, says, "The idea of a butterfly causing a tornado is baloney. If all the members of a particular species of butterfly were to get coordinated and line up on a particular plane, that would have an effect, but it would take a level of social organization that butterflies just don't have."
However, even though the butterfly’s flap isn’t all that powerful, there is something about this that makes us want to believe in this myth. That is, small, unknown actions occurring far away may end up having a great affect on our lives, and there’s nothing we can do about it - we believe we are at the mercy of such random occurrences.
The other day on my car radio, I heard a sports commentator make one of those statements that at first makes you want to respond with, "Well - - - Duh!" It had to do with a particular basketball game that was about to start. The excited commentator, with the roar of the crowd in the background, said, "This is a place where anything can happen, and it probably will."
My first thought was, “What's so profound about that? Isn't that true everyday, everywhere - anything can happen, and probably will?”
But turning this over in my mind as I drove, I realized that whether intended or not, this statement betrayed a way of thinking that is very predominant in our culture, an underlining philosophy of randomness.
First, let me point out that this is the extreme opposite of fatalism, which says that everything is already set - nothing we do or say can alter the inevitable outcome. The children of fatalism include such things as belief in astrological signs that tell us that our destiny is in the stars. There's also biological and psychological determinism that tries to convince us that our personalities, dispositions and even behaviors are established in our genes and conditioned irrevocably by the treatment we receive in our earliest, innocent years. There’s nothing to do but let the river of “nature and nurture” carry us down stream.
According to fatalism, there’s absolutely nothing we can do – whatever happens was meant to happen, so it will happen. And please note that one almost certain consequence of fatalism is despair. What’s the use of thinking, planning, preparing, working hard or even praying? It’s all vanity, because all outcomes have been predetermined.
The same consequence can be said about the other extreme, randomism - anything can happen, and it probably will. The message is, “Don’t even think about it - it’s useless to engage in purposeful planning because ‘anything can happen’ - no intentionality can alter the chaos of the universe.”
Many may recall that back in 7th or 8th grade they were required to read what had become the first popular book by American author, John Steinbeck. It was the fictional story of Lennie and George, two very different men who were friends and farm workers, and who nurtured a dream of one day owning their own ranch and raising rabbits and chickens. It never happened, and thus the title, "Of Mice and Men."
Perhaps you also are aware that Steinbeck’s book title was based on a line in a poem by the 18th century Scottish poet, Robert Burns (1759-1796). The subject matter for much of Burns' work was taken from very common occurrences. In this poem, he sees himself as a farmer, who when plowing up his fields after the fall harvest, notices a mouse scurrying away as its nest is destroyed by the plow. Burns titled the poem, "To a Mouse." (Some words are altered from the original old Scottish to allow for contemporary understanding.)
I’m truly sorry man’s dominion,
I doubt not, sometimes, but you may thieve;
Your wee bit house, too, in ruin!
You saw the fields laid bare and waste,
That wee bit heap of leaves and stubble,
But Mousie, you are not alone,
Still you are blessed, compared with me;
In his poem, Burns clearly sees himself as being in a similar condition as the mouse, totally vulnerable to the unpredictable, chaotic events which are beyond the scope of current awareness.
The message is: life is random; life is chaotic; life is unpredictable. Take it all the way back, and you have the “Big Bang” theory of creation - the whole world we live in came about as the result of randomness, which, if you believe it, becomes the reigning principle.
In its earliest uses, the word “random” meant "at great speed," and then came to mean "carelessly, and haphazardly." Now the dictionary defines random as being “without definite aim, direction, rule or method - haphazard, showing the result of accident rather than design - implies little or no guidance by a governing mind, eye, or objective. Being at the mercy of chance.”
Please allow me to adopt the phrase so often used by our President, “Let me make this perfectly clear . . . .” Biblically informed Christian faith has no relationship with randomness, chaos, chance, happenstance, or coincidence. True, anything can happen, and it probably will - - if it is directed by an all knowing, all wise, all loving God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ.
To us, some events may seem random, but that’s only because we are not “all knowing, all wise, all loving”; in fact we are desperately deficient in all three categories - we don’t know much, we can’t see but a small part of reality, and we are further blinded by our self-centeredness; as Paul said, we see as through a glass darkly, we know only in part, and we consistently lack what he called the greatest virtue of all, love.
This brings us to our verse, one of the most quoted verses in the book of Romans.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Oh, what comfort and hope this sentence has brought to millions of believers throughout all the years since the diverse group of Gentile Christians first opened and read the Apostle’s letter from Corinth!
There is a certainty, a confident "we know." We may not know what is about to happen, and we are prone to either guess or fear, like the farmer in Burns' poem. But this we do know, that because we believe in an all knowing, all wise, all loving God, all things are directed by Him to cooperate to bring about good. Anything can happen, and it probably will; but it will always, eventually, lead to a beneficial outcome. It is never according to chance; it is always according to God's purpose, His intention.
You may remember that previously I have told you that both Jesus and Paul refer often to the Old Testament prophet, Jeremiah. This verse, Romans 8:28, may be such, for it’s easy to see the parallel between this verse and Jeremiah 29:11-13:
“For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (NIV)
The word “know” fundamentally means "to ascertain by seeing." What God knows is both certain and comprehensive. We know little because "we see as through a glass darkly," but God has no such limitation. Can we know what He knows? Obviously not, as indicated in the rhetorical question of Paul in Romans 11:33-36, “who can know the mind of God?” Isaiah also makes this clear when he hears God say, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:8,9)
In the passage we cited from Jeremiah 29, it's a bit unfortunate that the NIV has changed the wording from "thoughts" to "plans." Jeremiah is being assured that God is a God of intentionality. To say He has plans could suggest what we spoke of earlier, fatalism - He has it all mapped out. No. He has an intention to work everything together for our good. Anything can happen, and it probably will - but it will always end up being for our good.
In the same way, changing the KJV word "peace" to "prosper” is also unfortunate. The word is "shalom," and has much more to do with our inner state of mind than with the condition of our economy. This is one of those places where the prosperity preachers get off base telling us, "See? God wants us to be rich - He has a plan for us to prosper."
I’m sure you remember the story of Joseph. As a young man he had a dream. A random dream? I think not. He became like the mouse in Burns’ poem - was run over by the plow of his brothers’ jealousy, was nearly killed, and then sold as a slave. After improving his lot significantly through diligence and intelligence, he received another serious setback when falsely accused by Pharaoh’s wife, and thrown, and nearly forgotten, in jail. Randomness? Chaos? Certainly looks like it.
But all along God was saying, “I will cause all things to cooperate for your good - for I have a plan and a purpose . . . .” After another dream was interpreted, the king’s cupbearer was restored and remembered Joseph when the Pharaoh also had a mysterious dream. Joseph was released from jail, became Prime Minister, and when he finally was able to confront his brothers, he said - “You intended harm, but God intended good. God wins.”
Today you may feel as though you are the victim of chance, randomness and chaos. A butterfly in China has flapped its wings; a plowman has unknowingly destroyed the nest you worked so hard to build. It appears that there's very little around you now that you can call good. In the midst of such apparent chaos, reclaim the certainty of "we know that all things work together for good," and the declaration of God Himself, "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."
And remember Joseph.
However, there’s one more part to Paul’s Roman verse. As with most promises, this one has a limitation - not everyone can rightfully lay claim to it. Specifically, it says that this divine oversight and management of life is guaranteed to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. The first part of this dual requirement is easy – it doesn’t take a theologian to know who it is that loves God. Simply put, to love God is to put into practice what God instructed through Jeremiah; to love God is to call upon Him, and pray to Him, and to seek Him with all your heart.
The second part is a bit more difficult – who are the “called according to His purpose”? We believe they are those who have responded to the call to salvation, those who have responded to the Gospel. Does that include you?
1. What is the so-called “butterfly Effect,” and why is it not believable?
2. Why do you think such a fantastic, unreasonable idea has been so readily believed?
3. How is the philosophy of randomness similar to that of fatalism?
4. In Robert Burns’ poem, “To a Mouse,” what similarities between mice and men was he trying to point out?
5. What is the danger in accepting the “Big Bang” theory of the world’s creation?
6. How could you complete this sentence in order to make it Biblically correct? “Anything can happen, and it probably will . . . . . .”
7. How does Romans 8:28 answer the philosophy of randomness, and in what way is this comforting to us?
8. When Paul, with certainty says, “We Know,” to what was he referring, and what Old Testament Prophet conveyed a similar idea?
9. How does the knowledge we have compare with God’s?
10. What is the problem translating the word “shalom” with the word “prosper” instead of “peace”?
11. How does the Old Testament story of Joseph relate to the idea of God’s inentionality?
12. What are the two requirements associated with the promise of Romans 8:28?
God of Intention - Romans 8:28
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A butterfly flapping its wings in Beijing affects the weather in Corsica.
Little, sleek, cowering, timorous beast,
O, what a panic is in your breast!
You need not run away so hasty,
With bickering brattle!
I would be loath to run and chase you,
With murdering prattle!
Has broken nature’s social union,
And justifies that ill opinion,
Which makes you startle
At me, your poor, earth-born companion,
And fellow mortal!
What then? Poor beast, you must live!
A meager kernel in a bundle,
So small a request;
I’ll get a blessing with the rest,
And never miss it!
Its silly ways the winds are strewin’!
And nothing, now, to build a new one,
Made of moss green!
And bleak December’s winds ensuin’,
Both swift and keen!
And weary winter coming fast,
And cozy here, beneath the blast,
You thought to dwell -
Till crash! The plow cutter passed
Out through your cell.
Has cost you many a weary nibble!
Now you’re turned out, for all your trouble,
From house or hole,
To bear the winter’s sleety dribble,
And hoarfrost cold!
In proving foresight may be vain;
The best-laid schemes of mice and men
Go oft askew,
And leave us naught but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
The present only touches thee;
But ouch! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects drear!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (KJV)
In Paul's verse, he opens with what we know, in Jeremiah's verse, it is God doing the talking, and He opens with, “I know.” God is stating the obvious, “I know the thoughts I think; I know the intentions I intend.”
God of Intention - Romans 8:28
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