Sovereignty and Responsbility

February 28, 2008

In last Sunday’s sermon text, Malachi 1:1-5, God proves His love for the returned Israelite exiles in a strange way. “Is not Esau Jacob’s brother? . . . Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated.” There was nothing to choose between Esau and Jacob. Both were horrible sons; both were disobedient to God; the descendants of both were stiff-necked and rebellious. Both deserve judgment. Both deserve condemnation. Both peoples deserve hell. But God chooses to destroy Esau’s descendants and to love Jacob/Israel and his descendants. This is His sovereign choice. Only because He loves them are they not cut off.
We too need to see ourselves as deserving of hell, as undeserving of His mercy, and thus to bow before Him, asking for that mercy only on the basis of Jesus’ death on the cross. That is the clear message of the passage.

But a question remains: How can God say He hates Esau when God is said to love the world (John 3:16)? Doesn’t God love everyone? Doesn’t God desire all to be saved?

Whenever we face a conundrum like this, it is important for us to identify the clear biblical teaching on the issue, and to ensure that our understanding conforms to that teaching. Let me highlight the clear biblical principles that are relevant:

1) God is sovereign: That is, He has the right and the power to do whatever He desires at any time. “All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35; see also Psalm 115:3, 135:6, and Romans 9:14-21). Consider also examples from biblical narrative: God prevents Abimelech from having sexual relations with Sarah after taking her into his harem (Genesis 20:6); Jesus calms the wind and the waves (Mark 4:39); God sends horrible disaster (Lamentations 3:1-20, Isaiah 45:7, Amos 3:6, Revelation 6-20). If God can prevent a man from sinning sexually in Genesis 20, He can stop any man from sinning in any way at any time. If Jesus can calm Lake Galilee’s wind, He can stop any wind, any wave, at any time. The Bible presents God as completely in control.

2) God desires the salvation of all. “[God] desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4; see also 2 Peter 3:9 and Ezekiel 18:23). While some understand this verse to mean, “God desires all kinds of people to be saved,” (arguing that, given verse 2, the phrase “all people” in 1 Timothy 2:1 refers to “all kinds of people”), the other supporting Scriptures lead me to believe the straightforward reading of the text is correct.

3) God does not sin, nor does He tempt anyone to sin. “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13).

4) God does not save all. God will inflict “vengeance on those who do not know [Him] and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might” (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9; see also Revelation 21:8, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Matthew 13:40-42, 25:41).

5) Man is responsible and accountable for his sins. The Scriptures under item 4 imply this truth; see also Romans 1:18-21, Galatians 6:7-8, and James 1:14-15.

6) In His sovereignty, God chooses before the foundation of the world those individuals who are His, and He brings them to Himself. “Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son. . . . And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified (Romans 8:29-30; see also Isaiah 49:14-16, John 10:24-29, Romans 9:22-23, Ephesians 1:3-6, and Revelation 13:8).

7) All who repent and believe in the Gospel are saved. The Philippian jailer asks, “‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ And [Paul and Silas] said, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’” (Acts 16:30-31; see also Mark 1:15, John 3:14-16, Acts 16:30-31, and Romans 3:21-24, 10:9).

Any biblical understanding of salvation must take account of all seven of these principles. God is sovereign; and man is responsible. God is in control of all events, including disasters; and God does not sin. God chooses us; and we choose Him.

We are tempted to move directly from these truths to the question: How are all these truths consistent with each other? I’ll give some references below to help you explore that question. But first, check your response. Our first response should not be a desire to figure God out. Instead, we should bow down in wonder and amazement; our first response should be worship. As Paul says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33).

Or in the words of Joseph Addison, which we sang in closing on Sunday,

When all Thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.

Marvel at the grace, wisdom, and mercy of God. Fall down before Him. Acknowledge His goodness. Confess that you can never comprehend Him.

May we together strive to know God and understand His ways, all the while responding to the truths of His Word in wonder, love, and praise.

Delighting to learn more and more of our great God with you,

Coty

Here are three suggestions for books that help us to understand how these truths are consistent with each other:

Posted by Coty Pinckney | Filed Under Blog, Devotions, Sermons | Leave a Comment 

What is Your Task?

February 22, 2008

What has God called you to do? What should be the aim of your life?

  • Not to have an easy life: As Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it (Luke 9:23-24).
  • Not to amass earthly wealth: As Paul says, “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Tim 6:9).

Surely one aim of your life should be to become holy, to be sanctified, to become like Christ: “This is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).

But while our sanctification, our becoming like Christ, begins with change inside us by the power of the Spirit, it does not end there. For as Paul says, “We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

What are these good works? Some are clear, given the roles and relationships in our lives:

  • Husbands are to love their wives as Christ loved the church, and to give themselves to that end (Eph 5:25).
  • Wives are to submit to their husbands and to respect them (Eph 5:24, 33).
  • Children are to obey their parents (Eph 6:1).
  • Fathers are to bring up their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Eph 6:4).
  • Employees are to work honestly and hard, whether they are under observation or not, laboring “with a good will as to the Lord” (Eph 6:6,7).

Thus, our roles and relationships define many of the good works God prepares beforehand for us.

But not all. Jesus Himself was called to a task; Paul was called to a task; each of us, also, is called to a task or tasks.

So what is your task? What has God called you to do? What is your “holy ambition”? (See this sermon by John Piper with that title.)

Ask God that question. Search the Scriptures and allow your heart to be stirred. Imagine what God might choose to do through your life. Then get up and go after it – for His glory, not yours.

At the Desiring God Pastors Conference early this month, in discussing how God used him to begin a missions agency, Greg Livingstone exhorted us to step out, not fearing failure. Indeed, he told us to aim high, endeavoring to do something worth failing at. For, as Crawford Loritts reminded the conference, when we follow God’s assignment, God promises His presence (Joshua 1:5-6). As the 19th century pastor Phillips Brooks put it,

Do not pray for easy lives. Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers. Pray for powers equal to your tasks. I bid you clearly know that if the life which you have chosen to be your life is really worthy of you, it involves self-sacrifice and pain. If your Jerusalem really is your sacred city there is certainly a cross in it. What then? Shall you flinch and draw back? Shall you ask for yourself another life? Oh, no - not another life, but another self. Ask to be born again. Ask God to fill you with Himself and then calmly look up and go on. Go up to Jerusalem expecting all things that are written concerning you to be fulfilled. Disappointment, mortification, misconception, enmity, pain, death - these may come to you but if they come to you in doing your [task] it is all right.

Have your prayers basically been requests for an easy life? Have you assessed your abilities and skills and asked God to do something consistent with those? Are you afraid of failure? Are you afraid of pain?

Look higher! See the God who is filling the earth with the knowledge of His glory as the waters cover the sea (Habakkuk 2:14)! See the One who has all authority in heaven and on earth! Ask Him: “What is my task? Oh, give me a holy ambition!”

Do that. And let’s dream together about how God will use us individually and corporately to fulfill His purposes in this world.

Praying that we would spur one another on to love and good works to the glory of our Lord and Savior,

Coty

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Where is Your God?

February 15, 2008

Who is in control?

Last week, we saw a tornado rip through Tennessee, killing dozens and causing dormitories to collapse on students at Union University; then yesterday, a former student walked into a classroom at Northern Illinois University and opened fire with a shotgun. At least six are dead.

We know there are daily tragedies in the world. We know of ethnic violence in Kenya, of refugees in Darfur, of AIDS orphans and malaria deaths. Yes, yes, these are horrible; we don’t expect such problems to end – for those who live far away from us. But when young students face death at seemingly safe universities within the US, we ask, “What is going on? Who is in control?” And the skeptics around us – including, at times, our own doubting hearts – ask, “Where is your supposedly all-powerful God?”

“The nations” ask a similar question in Psalm 115:2: “Where is your God?” Verse 3 answers the question: “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.”

Note four ways that this verse refutes the skeptic:

1) There is a God. He exists. He doesn’t act how we would if we were gods, but who are we to counsel Him (Romans 11:34)? Yes, He is confusing; certainly, He is far beyond our comprehension; He would hardly be God if it were otherwise. But He exists. He is God.

2) He is indeed our God. By His grace and mercy, He has reached out to sinful mankind to create a treasured possession for Himself (Deuteronomy 7:6; Malachi 3:17). Again and again, from Exodus to Revelation, God promises to His redeemed, “You will be my people, and I will be your God.” Through the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, God covers the sins of His redeemed, and brings them in Christ into His intimate family. 1 John 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God” (1 John 3:1). If we are part of that family, clearly He is for us and not against us. So the psalmist continues,

You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. . . . he will bless those who fear the LORD, both the small and the great. (Psalm 115:11, 13)

3) Our God is in the heavens. For many of us today, this may not sound comforting, as we think, “God is far away, in heaven. I need Him to be right here with me!” When we think that way, we are setting up a false dichotomy: God is in heaven or He is here; He can’t be in both places.

That was not the attitude of the psalmist. Because God is in the heavens, He is not limited by an earthly perspective. Mountains, rocks, towers, walls don’t obstruct His view. He sees all that happens; He knows all that goes on. So, in Psalm 2, when the kings of the earth conspire together against God, thinking that they are keeping counsel to themselves, “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision (Psalm 2:4).” God is in heaven. He sees all and knows all.

Furthermore, because God is in the heavens, He is not limited by earthly constraints of distance and time. He can reach into this world at any place, at any time to provide help to His people. “He will send from heaven and save me (Psalm 57:3).”

4) Finally, our God in the heavens does all that he pleases. Or put that another way: There are no binding constraints on God. No other power limits God. No other being — natural or unnatural, human or demonic, angelic or earthly — keeps God from doing what He most wants to do. He is not limited by His energy level, by illness, by sleep, or by mood. He knows what will work out best to His glory, and He chooses to do that. He never looks back to the past and says, “If I had only known how things would work out, I would have acted differently.”

So when something happens that we don’t understand, we must never say, “God was caught off guard” or “God tried to stop it, but couldn’t” or “God doesn’t care about the details of this life.” Instead, we must say, “Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.”

So did God send the Tennessee tornado? Did He direct the NIU killings?

We know that “God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one” (James 1:13). God does not sin, and does not tempt others to sin. He governs the world in such a way that we humans are responsible for our actions, even as He guides, directs, and ordains all things. So He planned the greatest injustice the world has ever seen – the crucifixion of His Son – and brought about all the details, just as prophesied (Acts 4:24-28) – all for the glory of his Name (John 12:27-28). In bringing this injustice about, He tempted no one and sinned not at all.

Just so with tornados and murders. Our God is in the heavens. He knows all. He can stop wind and waves. He can halt bullets. Sometimes He does. Other times He does not. And He is always good. Always wise. Always working all things together for the good of His people and the glory of His Name.

So ponder our great God who does all that He pleases. And say with the psalmist, “We will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the LORD!” (Psalm 115:18).

Coty

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