"This sermon is a pheasant, not a chicken."

Once in a graduate-level class we were given an assignment to present an oral analysis of an assigned sermon. There was a Korean fellow in this class — not a Korean-American, but a man who actually lived in Korea and was in the United States to study for the ministry. When it was time for his presentation, he stood up and announced: "This sermon is a pheasant, not a chicken." We all looked at him, somewhat puzzled by this odd pronouncement, but he quickly went on to explain that there is a Korean folk tale about a man who had a craving for pheasant one day. He went out and hunted all day, but was unsuccessful in his search for a pheasant. So, he came home and his wife fixed chicken for dinner. "You see," said the Korean student, "He settled for chicken, even though he really had his heart set on pheasant."

Apparently, this is a Korean cultural reference which everyone there understands. When a person has their heart set on one thing, yet they have to "settle" for something less, or something different, they say that the person in question "had chicken instead of pheasant." Even though we don’t share that story with the Korean culture, we all know exactly what it is referring to, don’t we?

Maybe you dream of holding elected office some day, but in high school you start your political career by running for a student body office and you lose to some clown who didn’t even go to "Boy’s State." Or maybe you dream of playing professional sports some day, only at some point you realize that you are merely "good" at your chosen sport, not excelling far above your peers as you would need to be to play professionally. Possibly you pursue a certain job or career, but find that you are lacking something fundamentally necessary for the profession you’ve chosen— maybe you just don’t have what it takes to excel. Perhaps you envision your life unfolding a certain way — marriage, children, living and growing old with Mr. or Mrs. "Right" — but, for any number of reasons, things don’t work out that way. Maybe: find self alone, or bitterly disappointed w/your life. These types of things — whether insignificant or major — happen to all of us: We desire pheasant, but get chicken. We are then left to deal with life’s second best, or maybe even third of fourth best.

Let’s look at a defining moment in the life of the Apostle Paul. He was once faced with the type of thing we’re talking about — getting chicken when what he really wanted was pheasant. Acts 16 relates a series of events where Paul was forced to live not with his second choice, but with his third choice at the time.

Paul’s "Second Best."

Acts 16:6–10:

Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. ⁸So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

This account is full of place-names most likely unknown to many of us and it may be a little difficult to get a handle on all the action and details of the story. So, let me run down what happened in this passage.

Paul and his friends were on what has come to be known as the "Second Missionary Journey." They had started several churches on the "First Missionary Journey" and were going go back to check on the churches, and maybe start some more congregations. Paul, apparently, wanted to go Southwest to Asia (which was not a continent at the time, but a Roman province. Remember, most of the known world was ruled by the Roman Empire back then). Many scholars believe that Paul had his sights set on the city of Ephesus, the capital of Asia. Ephesus was a big city. It was at a major crossroads, was a trading center and a seat of some prominent pagan religions. We can easily imagine it was Paul’s dream to preach the Gospel there.

However, it was not to be at this time. We’re simply told that the Holy Spirit kept them from going to Asia. We’re not told exactly how, so probably we shouldn’t try and guess — it could’ve been a miraculous communication, or simply a case of "closed doors." We’re just told that they could not go to Asia.

So, Paul then set his sights on Bithynia, another Roman province to the North. However, Luke tells us that the "Spirit of Jesus" prevented them from going there. Again, we’re not told how, but somehow it happened. I imagine that Paul was wondering what was going on by this time. He’s set his sights on one place, then on another, and now he was probably unsure of what God wanted him to do.

When they reached the coastal town of Troas, Paul had a dream. In this dream, a man from Macedonia (what we would now call Northern Greece) was begging him to come over there and help them by preaching the Gospel in Macedonia.

Someone has said: "True success does not lie in securing your first choice but making the best of your second, or third." This is exactly what Paul did. The text tells us that after Paul told his traveling companions about his dream, they got ready and left on a boat for Macedonia right away. God had given them direction, they believed, so they whole-heartedly followed it.

This moment defines the kind of person Paul was. Notice that we do not read of him agonizing about what God wanted Him to do. He did not say, "God, I was sure You wanted me go to Ephesus, but You closed that door. So, then I figured you wanted me go to Bithynia. Now that door is closed. What now, God? Where do you want me to go now?"

No, Paul’s example shows us how to deal with those times in our lives when we don’t get our first choice, but must "settle" for our second or third choices. It reminds us that real success in life consists of what you do with your second or third best choices. Very few of us will consistently get our first choices in life. We need to learn how to deal with this fact and do the best we can with what we do get.

Handling Life’s Second Best.

Towards that end, I want to submit 3 principles from Scripture to you that speak directly to the issue of dealing with disappointments in life, with handling life’s second best.

The first principle is simply to Stop Second-guessing God! What I mean by this is that some people are of the mindset that they always need to go around examining their lives with a spiritual fine-toothed comb looking for "God’s Will" or for signs of God’s interaction with their lives.

For example, once my sister told me about a friend of hers who drives her crazy by always attributing everything that happens in her life to the direct, specific action of God and then looking for some deep spiritual meaning in the smallest, insignificant details of her life. The two of them were driving to Seattle once to attend a "Women of Faith" conference and they missed their exit off the freeway. My sister’s friend said, "I wonder what God was trying tell us by making us miss the exit?"

My sister rolled her eyes when relating the story to us. She wanted to say, "He’s telling us to pay closer attention to what we’re doing!" But, she held her tongue and waited for better opportunity to make the point. This is exactly the kind of nonsense that many Christians waste huge amounts of time and energy on every day of their lives.

Before you object to what I’m saying, let me say that I know Scripture clearly teaches that God does interact with us, our world, and our lives. I know the truth of Proverbs 16:9 — "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." However, the biblical examples of Jesus, Peter, Paul, etc., show us that we are to do God’s will that we are expressly told of in Scripture, and not obsess about every little thing being a possible "sign," or having some deep theological meaning behind it.

A middle-aged farmer once desired for years to be evangelist. He was out working in the field one day and sat down to rest under tree. As he was resting, he looked up and saw that the clouds seemed to form the letters P and C. Immediately, he hopped up, sold the farm, and went out to P-reach C-hrist, which he felt was God’s leading. Unfortunately, he was a horrible preacher. In fact, after one sermon a neighbor came to him and whispered in his ear, "Are you sure God wasn’t just trying to tell you to P-lant C-orn?"

The problem is that when you try to second-guess God you get so caught up in trying to figure what maybe, possibly, could be that you often forget to deal with what is. I don’t have a specific scripture that says, "Don’t blame every little thing on God," but I do believe that the examples in the Bible lead us deal with reality and take it from there.

I know, some of you might have objections based on specific instances in your life. Just hold them for now, please, because I’ve got two more principles I want give you.

The next one: Dream dreams of your own! Have a vision. I don’t mean everyone ought to seek to have a dream such as Paul had. That doesn’t seem to be God’s modus operandi too much these days. (If God wants to do this, then He’s going to and we will have no choice but to be on the receiving end of His vision — but I do not believe God does this type of thing these days.) What I mean is this: don’t be afraid to make plans — big plans — for what you want do in life, or with your life.

Another thing that I have seen Christians do sometimes is to fail to make any big plans for their lives, or even make any contingency plans. They fail in this for a "good" reason: they are seeking to do what God would have them do, so they end up waiting for a "sign from God" telling them exactly where to go and what to do.

Here in the text, we see Paul and his companions made plans — they wanted to go to Asia, and then to Bithynia. Elsewhere in Paul’s letters, we learn that he had plans some day to visit Spain with the Gospel message. When people came to Jesus with questions about their lives, He didn’t tell them all to give everything up and go do "X." Some even came to Him wanting to be disciples, but He turned them away! He said, "You’ve got to resolve this problem first. Take care of your parents, then worry about the next step." My point is that there is no cookie-cutter "life-plan" for each and every Christian to follow!

God has created each person to be unique. We each have different desires, skills, abilities, and different innate tendencies. I believe that each of us should follow through on these. To a certain extent, we should go "where our hearts lead us" in life, only do so keeping foremost in our minds that wherever we find selves, doing whatever we have chosen to do, we are still serving God with our lives.

While it is true, as someone has said, that "if you don’t have any goals in life, you will never be able to tell if you’re a failure," I prefer to see it different way: We have permission and are encouraged by God to dream dreams, to have a vision for our lives, to make plans for our lives. This frees us from the pitfall of having our first choice fizzle and then being distraught all of our lives because we believe that we missed our big opportunity to do the "one thing" that God had planned for us. Use the resources, desires, and abilities that God has given you, along with the wisdom He has given us in His Word and through the wise words of others; then go out and make some plans for what you want do with your life in service to God!

This leads, conveniently, into the third principle I want to submit to you: Realize that God Has His Timing. As you dream your dreams and make your plans, remember that God has "veto power" on anything we do in life.

James, in his letter, had this to say:

Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that."

While I firmly believe that we should not be paralyzed by worrying about God’s specific will for every little thing in our lives, I also definitely believe that we need to realize that God changes things in our lives to reach His ends and purposes. It is easy to get smug and believe that if we make all the right choices and live our lives in accordance with God’s revealed wisdom as best we can, then we will be able to plot out our lives, to be in control of our little corner of universe. However, God makes it clear that if we believe that, we’re only fooling ourselves.

Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost-right word "is the difference between lightening and a lightening bug." The same can be said about the difference between the right time and the almost right time. I suspect that often when we believe we’re having to settle for second best — for chicken instead of pheasant — we’re just trying do things on our timetable and not God’s. God has His timing and sometimes, for reasons known only to Him at the time, He will throw a monkey wrench into the works of our perfectly-planned lives. We may think we’re getting our second or third choice, but God may be giving us His first choice for our lives.

Conclusion:

In his book, "When I Relax I Feel Guilty," Tim Hansel relates this story:

An American Indian was in downtown New York walking with a friend who lived in that city. Suddenly, he said, "I hear a cricket." "Oh, you’re crazy," his friend replied. "No, I hear a cricket." His friend said, "It’s the noon hour. There are people bustling around, cars are honking, taxis are squealing, other noises are coming from the city. I'm sure you can’t hear it."

"I’m sure I do," said the Indian. He listened attentively, then walked around the cornier, across the street, and looked around. Finally on the corner he found a shrub in a large cement planter. He dug beneath the leaves and found a cricket. His friend was astounded. But the Indian said, "No. My ears are no different from yours. It simply depends on what you are listening to. Here, let me show you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out handful of change, which he dropped onto the concrete. Every head on block turned. "You see what I mean? It all depends on what you are listening for."

In studying for this message, one source I found said that passage calls us to be "submissive visionaries." We’re to have great visions about what we can be with God’s help, but we’re also supposed to be submissive to Him and realize that He may change our plans. Doing this requires us to be able to look and listen for the right things. If we go around convinced that we’re always having to "settle" for our second or third choices, we’re going to have it rough. However, if we try to be attuned to what God can do in our lives, we’re going to be much better off.

The next time you have to settle for chicken instead of pheasant, I hope you’ll look at it a little differently.

Permission is granted to subscribers to use this document in total or in sermon preparation in the context of the local congregation only. Publishing it in a book, on the Internet, or anyplace beyond the local congregation is prohibited.

 

The author of this sermon, Derek Helt,  may be reached at: dphelt@actionnet.net

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