Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Since today is Father’s Day, I have a Father’s Day story to tell. No, it’s not a story about Father’s Day. It’s a story about my Father. No, it’s not a story about my Father. It’s a story with my Father as the chief character. And it’s a story that gets told often, so I know it’s O.K. to tell.

About 31 years ago, soon after our family moved to California, Dad had a great idea. I believe he had been out somewhere and saw a wine rack made out of redwood lumber. It was some astronomical price so Dad decided he could build his own. He took some redwood 4x4s and 2x4s, nailed them together, stained it, and proudly put a few bottles of wine onto the three or four shelves the wine rack contained. Not too long afterward, we heard a tremendous crash. No one saw what happened but we’ve figured that a bottle of wine on the top shelf shifted, falling through the middle of the wine rack, breaking the majority of the bottles. Dad’s famous wine rack was quickly a featured guest in our fireplace.

Dad had two problems. Problem # 1– he’s never been very good building stuff because Grandpa Schaar, brilliant engineer that he was, put his tools off limits to his sons. Problem #2 – he didn’t have a plan to follow. He just grabbed some wood and nailed it together.

Now let me tell you something. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

Think about the creation of the world. None of us can fathom how God created this world in 7 days, but that’s God told us He did and none of us were there to be able to argue that He didn’t. He had some plan in His mind, a logical plan He followed day after day and when He got all done He looked at all He had created and – behold! – it was all very good. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

Even after Adam and Eve fell into sin, God never called His plan bad. He simply came up with a new plan to tweak the old one. He sent Jesus Christ to suffer, to die, to rise again, to forgive that sin and to forgive each of our sins. You can imagine there was quite a party in Heaven that morning when Jesus burst out of that stone-cold rock tomb. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

If you need any other illustration, you need look no further than that little baby we baptized this morning. God’s got plans – and they’re good! God’s plans for Luke are much bigger than just what we saw this morning. No, God’s plans for Luke date back before he was born on 4 May. God’s plans for Luke date back at least 9 months before than, when he was conceived about last August. What Luke didn’t know at that time – or even now – what his birth mother didn’t know at that time – or maybe even now – is that at almost the same time he was conceived, Julie and Greg were completing the process to adopt a baby in California – that’s 2,500 miles away from where Luke was conceived – that’s a long car trip. You and I couldn’t have put this together. God put it together. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

Oh sure, sometimes God’s plans cause us some pain. And we all know that’s the case with Luke. The pain, the tears, the heartbreak, the anger that we all experienced on Mother’s Day, but today, Julie and Greg, you have a wonderful story to tell Luke about just how much his birth mother loved him that she did not want to let him go. Like Jochebed [Exodus 2], Luke’s birth mother did not want to put him in that papyrus basket and send him away down the river to a place called California, trusting that God had bigger and better plans for him. A lot of adopted children go through life believing their birth parents didn’t love them and that’s why they were put up for adoption. That pain is not because God’s plans themselves are painful, but because of the process of unfolding His perfect plans in our sinful world. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

We’ve all got our plans for Luke. I know Julie and Greg are already planning for that day when they can sleep through the night. I know they’re planning for that day when there are no more “poopie diapers” to change. Personally, in 25 years, I’d like to be sitting in the quad at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis to watch Luke receive his Master of Divinity degree and serve a great church like this one. But maybe God’s got other plans. Maybe, in God’s plans, Luke’s feet will touch the moon. Maybe, in God’s plans, Luke’s mind will unravel the mystery of cancer or Alzheimer’s. Maybe, in God’s plans, Luke’s fingers will themselves deliver many babies and place them into the arms of adoptive parents. Whatever it is, we can be sure that God’s got plans – and they’re good!

That’s what the Scripture say – “For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future” [Jeremiah 29:11]. Julie and Greg, I hope you will make that a life verse. I hope you will whisper it in his ear every day. I hope you will teach it to him as soon as he is able to memorize it. I hope you will work with his pastor someday to make it his confirmation verse. God’s got plans – and they’re good!

God’s plans for Luke today included his baptism, his adoption into the family of God. “Let the little children come to Me and do not hinder them” [Matthew 10:14]. “Whoever believes and is baptized shall be saved” [Mark 16:16]. Today the construction process on Luke’s Heavenly mansion [John 14:1-6] has begun as his name has been written in Jesus Christ’s Book of Life. God’s got plans – and they’re good! They’re plans for a hope and a future.

But, of course, God’s plans are much bigger than just to include Luke. God’s plans include you and me. He’s got plans for each of us – and they’re good! God’s got plans for each of us – and they’re good.

To those of us here this morning wiping away tears because of grief, God’s got plans – and they’re good!

To those of us here this morning looking at diminished investment portfolios, God’s got plans – and they’re good!

To those of us here this morning who are unemployed or unemployed, who are ineligible for unemployment benefits or whose benefits will soon be expiring, God’s got plans – and they’re good!

To those of us here this morning dealing with scary medical issues, God’s got plans – and they’re good!

To those of us here this morning struggling with addictions to alcohol or drugs or anything else, God’s got plans – and they’re good!

How do I know that? How can I be confident of that? How can you be confident of that? Because that’s what God has told us – and if we can’t trust God, we’re all in big trouble.

“For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you a hope and a future” [Jeremiah 29:11].

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Pastor Christopher Schaar
Historic First Lutheran Church of Pasadena