Wednesday, July 28, 2010
God"s Will: question
I already know the next two posts, first we will deal with faithfulness: the outworking of faith and then Gospel as worldview, but I wanted to open up some time to answer questions or at least hear any question that you may have. So, let me just welcome and invite your questions and comments, and if I can attempt to answer them I will. Hope that so far you have enjoyed reading, thanks for your time.
God's Will: Faith (part 2)
God’s Will: Faith (part 2)
God’s will is faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel. This is certain and undeniable. But what is faith? I’ll start with what its not.
Faith is not only knowledge. Faith cannot be void of knowledge but merely knowing is not faith. Knowing what? The content of the gospel. The gospel proclaims and announces the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only way to reconciliation with God. The gospel commands repentance and faith in its hearers, repentance from sin and faith in Christ. The gospel makes known the riches of God’s grace and mercy and reveals His wrath and hatred against sin. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Knowledge of these things do not save. Many have a knowledge of the historic events surrounding the life and death of Jesus, even the resurrection but this does not save for this is not faith. Everyone living at the time of Jesus, even His greatest enemies, testified to His life and death. History makes plain the historic reality of Jesus. Knowledge about Jesus cannot save for anybody at anytime can have knowledge about Jesus.
Faith is not only knowledge but it cannot be void of knowledge. Faith must have an object, and the object of saving faith is Jesus, you cannot have saving faith if you do not know the gospel. What of the gospel must be known to be saved? How much content must one have? I am convinced, though I would not argue this point, that any knowledge of the gospel, no matter how small, is enough to save. We do not need to have a theological degree from a seminary to be saved nor do we need to read countless authors or go to seminars and lectures. Faith trusts Jesus not knowledge. Ultimately faith is a gift of God not an intellectual consent from man. Faith is not merely knowledge nor is knowledge alone faith.
Faith is not only believing that what the gospel proclaims about the death of Christ is true. This is essential to faith but it is not faith. This differs from knowledge. Knowledge recognizes the historic reality of Jesus, this goes a step further and believes the testimony of the gospel. This is a tricky place and I hope I make sense of it. The knowledge I wrote about above is a knowledge of a historic reality, now I am talking about what cannot be measured historically. Now I am speaking about the truth revealed from the gospel, that what took place in the historic objective past accomplishes all that God has testified concerning that event. This is close to saving faith, even essential to saving faith, but still not saving faith. This speaks in this way, “I know that what Jesus did is enough to save me from my sin, I believe that what Jesus did is the only way to heaven.” This is not saving faith.
Faith is not only knowledge of historic fact nor assent to what the gospel proclaims about salvation. Saving faith goes still further for it not only believes the historic facts and not only assents to salvation in Christ but it then looks to Christ for that salvation. Example: If I put a chair in front of you, you could know that it is a chair (this would be knowledge), you could believe my testimony that the chair can support you (this is assent), but you are still not in the chair (this is looking to Christ). Faith has knowledge, assent and then trust.
Continuing with the chair: faith rests in the chair (Jesus). Faith is primarily a trusting and receiving. It is more then knowledge and more then assenting to propositions. Saving faith rests in its object, it sits in the chair. Jesus, however, is far more complex than a chair. For we turn to chairs for comfort and rest and not a lot else. But we do not turn to Jesus only for comfort and rest, if these are all that we look to Jesus to provide we will not be in Jesus; He will surely provide these things but Jesus is not only about our rest and comfort. Jesus is about our salvation (and all that it entails: sanctification, glorification, etc). When we look to Jesus with a saving faith we look for far more then comfort, we look to escape the wrath to come, the wrath that is treasuring up against our sin. We look for forgiveness and reconciliation. If Jesus is a chair it is a chair surrounded by fire and imminent danger. This is a chair that will cost you everything to sit in. This chair is small and confined, even difficult to sit in. Yet, the fire and danger all around us strongly urge and even comfort us in this chair.
Faith sees. Faith is amazing for it sees what others do not see. Faith believes God and therefore understands what is really happening. Faith knows that God is true and His word is true and therefore rests in Him as the only hope. Faith sees sin as sin. Faith sees God as God. Faith knows that apart from Jesus it is condemned. Faith looks at the current circumstance and says, “I believe a Day of fire and judgment is coming. I believe I am an evil and fallen sinner. I believe that nothing I can ever do will cover my sin. I believe that for all my sins, even one sin, I am deserving of wrath. I believe I am guilty before a holy God. What shall I do? Nothing. I will rest in Jesus’ work on my behalf. I will not try harder or work more, no, I will trust Jesus to save me.” Faith receives salvation. Faith closes with Christ. It does not rest in knowledge or feelings, but in Jesus. Jesus has promised to save those who believe, if you believe you will be saved.
The great danger is that we rest in our knowledge of the gospel or even our agreement with the gospel, but have we trusted the gospel to save us? Do we now rest in Christ’s work or do we still look for other ways to please God. Are we seeking merit with God or do we return to Jesus at every doubt and question and worry? Faith has a certain certainty to it. That does not mean that saving faith is perfect faith but merely a believing faith. “I believe I am saved for Jesus tells me that if I believe in Him I will be saved therefore I am saved because I believe.”
Let me distinguish now or even split a fine hair. We are saved by grace through faith, faith is not what saves, but it is Jesus that saves through faith. If we get that backwards we end up looking to our faith. Faith is only as good as its object in which its place. When doubt arises, do not look at your faith, but at Jesus. Is He sufficient? Is He able? Is He true? Not you! There is great danger in looking at your faith as the cause of salvation, it’s not, Jesus saves through faith. Faith merely receives what He has done, faith does not do anything to cause salvation. Jesus is the one to be looked to, for it is His life and death in your place that saves you. We have undervalued the work of the cross and look at it as merely a potential for salvation as if Jesus almost did enough but now it is up to you. This view of Jesus’ cross makes faith into the one thing that we need to treasure more then Jesus, it makes faith the work that finalizes salvation. It is not. His blood shed for your sins was enough to save you, He has applied His finished work on your behalf through the gift of faith.
Faith is a gift, as much a gift as was the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf. God completed salvation on the cross, by faith we come to rest in what He has done for us, but we do not add to it. This is easy to examine in your life. Is your greatest strength your faith or the truth of the cross? What calms your soul? Looking at your faith or at the finished work of Jesus on your behalf? Ephesians 2 tells us that salvation is by grace through faith and that, (faith,) not of yourselves.
So much of the problem consists in the fact that our understanding of the work of Jesus is weak. We look at the cross not as a finalized transaction but as a pending charge. We have weakened the object of our faith. When Jesus cried out, “it is finished,” we wonder if it really was. We are not sure of what was really accomplished on that day. I cannot begin to set before you every scripture that tells of what was accomplished but I will a few, the ones that have held the most sway in my life, (because I am partial.)
Matthew 1:18-25, the story of the birth of Christ. An angel is speaking to Joseph about Mary’s pregnancy and telling him what he must do, including, what he must name the baby, verse 21, “And she will conceive and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Before the sacrifice of Christ on the cross it is prophesied what will take place: He will save His people from their sins. Note, it does not say try to save, make salvation possible, open a way for people to save themselves, but, that He will save His people. It is a definite thing that will happen, He will save His people from their sins. Your choices are to believe that He saves His people from their sins or that He failed. Those are the two options.
Hebrews 9:12, “He (Jesus) entered once and for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
Colossians 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, by His blood.” Note, it is past tense, “He has delivered, has transferred,” and how was this done, how were our sins forgiven, but by His blood. You will not find scripture speaking of the lack of Christ’s sacrifice or the need for more or the nearly complete salvation that is waiting on us.
The gospel is the proclamation of what is true in regards to Jesus, it announces what has taken place and then commands us to repent and believe, not to make it true but to receive its truth. When we degrade the work of Jesus, we automatically exalt the work of man. If what Jesus did was not enough, which it was, then we are left with something to boast of. No matter how small a role you may a sign faith in salvation you exalt it far beyond what it is.
How do I picture the difference in these two gospels? What does the gospel proclaiming faith as the agent of salvation look like compared to the gospel proclaiming Christ’s death as the agent of salvation? I think the best picture is this. The false gospel says we are drowning in sin, but we are thrown a life preserver in Jesus and when we take hold of that preserver by faith we are saved. The true gospel says we are face down and dead in the flood of our sins, we have been floating in this filth so long we are dead and bloated, but Jesus swims out to us in all our filth on the cross and drags our dead bodies back to land where He supernaturally resuscitates us with His very life. He came to where we were to save us, we did not go to where He is. The depths of what happens when we degrade the death of Christ is amazing, suddenly sin is not quite so sinful, man not so wicked, Jesus not so glorious, grace is easy and mercy is passive and the love of God does nothing but sit and wait on us. Away with this nonsense. Jesus accomplished on the cross all that the word ascribes to Him.
Does your faith save you? No more then a dead man is saved by “accepting” the charge from the defibrillator paddle. Yes, we are saved by faith but that faith merely receives what Christ has done, it does not complete it nor add to it. The easiest way and most helpful way for me to understand this is like this, “Jesus saves, through faith.” We are saved by Jesus through faith. Jesus remains the object and focus, faith is merely the eyes to see what He has done. Faith looks up on the shore of God, into the face of Jesus, coughs the last of the filth from its lungs, and knows that it was rescued, saved, apart from it doing anything. Faith rests looking up into the face of the One Whom saved you.
(I am not denying that faith is necessary to salvation, scripture makes it clear and certain, I am merely trying to keep faith in its place. We as wicked man look to have some place, some boast in our salvation. Let faith be what it is, childlike trust and receiving. Faith, like the whole of salvation, is a gift from God. Salvation is by grace through faith.)
God’s will is faith in Jesus Christ as revealed in the gospel. This is certain and undeniable. But what is faith? I’ll start with what its not.
Faith is not only knowledge. Faith cannot be void of knowledge but merely knowing is not faith. Knowing what? The content of the gospel. The gospel proclaims and announces the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as the only way to reconciliation with God. The gospel commands repentance and faith in its hearers, repentance from sin and faith in Christ. The gospel makes known the riches of God’s grace and mercy and reveals His wrath and hatred against sin. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Knowledge of these things do not save. Many have a knowledge of the historic events surrounding the life and death of Jesus, even the resurrection but this does not save for this is not faith. Everyone living at the time of Jesus, even His greatest enemies, testified to His life and death. History makes plain the historic reality of Jesus. Knowledge about Jesus cannot save for anybody at anytime can have knowledge about Jesus.
Faith is not only knowledge but it cannot be void of knowledge. Faith must have an object, and the object of saving faith is Jesus, you cannot have saving faith if you do not know the gospel. What of the gospel must be known to be saved? How much content must one have? I am convinced, though I would not argue this point, that any knowledge of the gospel, no matter how small, is enough to save. We do not need to have a theological degree from a seminary to be saved nor do we need to read countless authors or go to seminars and lectures. Faith trusts Jesus not knowledge. Ultimately faith is a gift of God not an intellectual consent from man. Faith is not merely knowledge nor is knowledge alone faith.
Faith is not only believing that what the gospel proclaims about the death of Christ is true. This is essential to faith but it is not faith. This differs from knowledge. Knowledge recognizes the historic reality of Jesus, this goes a step further and believes the testimony of the gospel. This is a tricky place and I hope I make sense of it. The knowledge I wrote about above is a knowledge of a historic reality, now I am talking about what cannot be measured historically. Now I am speaking about the truth revealed from the gospel, that what took place in the historic objective past accomplishes all that God has testified concerning that event. This is close to saving faith, even essential to saving faith, but still not saving faith. This speaks in this way, “I know that what Jesus did is enough to save me from my sin, I believe that what Jesus did is the only way to heaven.” This is not saving faith.
Faith is not only knowledge of historic fact nor assent to what the gospel proclaims about salvation. Saving faith goes still further for it not only believes the historic facts and not only assents to salvation in Christ but it then looks to Christ for that salvation. Example: If I put a chair in front of you, you could know that it is a chair (this would be knowledge), you could believe my testimony that the chair can support you (this is assent), but you are still not in the chair (this is looking to Christ). Faith has knowledge, assent and then trust.
Continuing with the chair: faith rests in the chair (Jesus). Faith is primarily a trusting and receiving. It is more then knowledge and more then assenting to propositions. Saving faith rests in its object, it sits in the chair. Jesus, however, is far more complex than a chair. For we turn to chairs for comfort and rest and not a lot else. But we do not turn to Jesus only for comfort and rest, if these are all that we look to Jesus to provide we will not be in Jesus; He will surely provide these things but Jesus is not only about our rest and comfort. Jesus is about our salvation (and all that it entails: sanctification, glorification, etc). When we look to Jesus with a saving faith we look for far more then comfort, we look to escape the wrath to come, the wrath that is treasuring up against our sin. We look for forgiveness and reconciliation. If Jesus is a chair it is a chair surrounded by fire and imminent danger. This is a chair that will cost you everything to sit in. This chair is small and confined, even difficult to sit in. Yet, the fire and danger all around us strongly urge and even comfort us in this chair.
Faith sees. Faith is amazing for it sees what others do not see. Faith believes God and therefore understands what is really happening. Faith knows that God is true and His word is true and therefore rests in Him as the only hope. Faith sees sin as sin. Faith sees God as God. Faith knows that apart from Jesus it is condemned. Faith looks at the current circumstance and says, “I believe a Day of fire and judgment is coming. I believe I am an evil and fallen sinner. I believe that nothing I can ever do will cover my sin. I believe that for all my sins, even one sin, I am deserving of wrath. I believe I am guilty before a holy God. What shall I do? Nothing. I will rest in Jesus’ work on my behalf. I will not try harder or work more, no, I will trust Jesus to save me.” Faith receives salvation. Faith closes with Christ. It does not rest in knowledge or feelings, but in Jesus. Jesus has promised to save those who believe, if you believe you will be saved.
The great danger is that we rest in our knowledge of the gospel or even our agreement with the gospel, but have we trusted the gospel to save us? Do we now rest in Christ’s work or do we still look for other ways to please God. Are we seeking merit with God or do we return to Jesus at every doubt and question and worry? Faith has a certain certainty to it. That does not mean that saving faith is perfect faith but merely a believing faith. “I believe I am saved for Jesus tells me that if I believe in Him I will be saved therefore I am saved because I believe.”
Let me distinguish now or even split a fine hair. We are saved by grace through faith, faith is not what saves, but it is Jesus that saves through faith. If we get that backwards we end up looking to our faith. Faith is only as good as its object in which its place. When doubt arises, do not look at your faith, but at Jesus. Is He sufficient? Is He able? Is He true? Not you! There is great danger in looking at your faith as the cause of salvation, it’s not, Jesus saves through faith. Faith merely receives what He has done, faith does not do anything to cause salvation. Jesus is the one to be looked to, for it is His life and death in your place that saves you. We have undervalued the work of the cross and look at it as merely a potential for salvation as if Jesus almost did enough but now it is up to you. This view of Jesus’ cross makes faith into the one thing that we need to treasure more then Jesus, it makes faith the work that finalizes salvation. It is not. His blood shed for your sins was enough to save you, He has applied His finished work on your behalf through the gift of faith.
Faith is a gift, as much a gift as was the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf. God completed salvation on the cross, by faith we come to rest in what He has done for us, but we do not add to it. This is easy to examine in your life. Is your greatest strength your faith or the truth of the cross? What calms your soul? Looking at your faith or at the finished work of Jesus on your behalf? Ephesians 2 tells us that salvation is by grace through faith and that, (faith,) not of yourselves.
So much of the problem consists in the fact that our understanding of the work of Jesus is weak. We look at the cross not as a finalized transaction but as a pending charge. We have weakened the object of our faith. When Jesus cried out, “it is finished,” we wonder if it really was. We are not sure of what was really accomplished on that day. I cannot begin to set before you every scripture that tells of what was accomplished but I will a few, the ones that have held the most sway in my life, (because I am partial.)
Matthew 1:18-25, the story of the birth of Christ. An angel is speaking to Joseph about Mary’s pregnancy and telling him what he must do, including, what he must name the baby, verse 21, “And she will conceive and bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Before the sacrifice of Christ on the cross it is prophesied what will take place: He will save His people from their sins. Note, it does not say try to save, make salvation possible, open a way for people to save themselves, but, that He will save His people. It is a definite thing that will happen, He will save His people from their sins. Your choices are to believe that He saves His people from their sins or that He failed. Those are the two options.
Hebrews 9:12, “He (Jesus) entered once and for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of His own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.”
Colossians 1:13-14, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in Whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins, by His blood.” Note, it is past tense, “He has delivered, has transferred,” and how was this done, how were our sins forgiven, but by His blood. You will not find scripture speaking of the lack of Christ’s sacrifice or the need for more or the nearly complete salvation that is waiting on us.
The gospel is the proclamation of what is true in regards to Jesus, it announces what has taken place and then commands us to repent and believe, not to make it true but to receive its truth. When we degrade the work of Jesus, we automatically exalt the work of man. If what Jesus did was not enough, which it was, then we are left with something to boast of. No matter how small a role you may a sign faith in salvation you exalt it far beyond what it is.
How do I picture the difference in these two gospels? What does the gospel proclaiming faith as the agent of salvation look like compared to the gospel proclaiming Christ’s death as the agent of salvation? I think the best picture is this. The false gospel says we are drowning in sin, but we are thrown a life preserver in Jesus and when we take hold of that preserver by faith we are saved. The true gospel says we are face down and dead in the flood of our sins, we have been floating in this filth so long we are dead and bloated, but Jesus swims out to us in all our filth on the cross and drags our dead bodies back to land where He supernaturally resuscitates us with His very life. He came to where we were to save us, we did not go to where He is. The depths of what happens when we degrade the death of Christ is amazing, suddenly sin is not quite so sinful, man not so wicked, Jesus not so glorious, grace is easy and mercy is passive and the love of God does nothing but sit and wait on us. Away with this nonsense. Jesus accomplished on the cross all that the word ascribes to Him.
Does your faith save you? No more then a dead man is saved by “accepting” the charge from the defibrillator paddle. Yes, we are saved by faith but that faith merely receives what Christ has done, it does not complete it nor add to it. The easiest way and most helpful way for me to understand this is like this, “Jesus saves, through faith.” We are saved by Jesus through faith. Jesus remains the object and focus, faith is merely the eyes to see what He has done. Faith looks up on the shore of God, into the face of Jesus, coughs the last of the filth from its lungs, and knows that it was rescued, saved, apart from it doing anything. Faith rests looking up into the face of the One Whom saved you.
(I am not denying that faith is necessary to salvation, scripture makes it clear and certain, I am merely trying to keep faith in its place. We as wicked man look to have some place, some boast in our salvation. Let faith be what it is, childlike trust and receiving. Faith, like the whole of salvation, is a gift from God. Salvation is by grace through faith.)
Monday, July 26, 2010
God's Will: Suffering (Part II)
God’s Will: Suffering (part II)
“It really pisses me off that you would insinuate that God has willed my circumstances. If you had any idea how hard I have it, what I have been through, you would be a lot slower to speak. And if this God of yours wills suffering for His glory, then I don’t agree with that God or think that it is possible for God to be glorified by my life. No loving, kind father would ever put his children through what I have been through. There is no glory in suffering, period!”
Let me tell you a story.
There was a man born into the worst possible scenario. His parents were poor, very poor. They also were very young. There is even “doubt” as to if his father is really his father, some even called him a bastard. His mother was looked upon as a harlot. Truly, their poverty was so great that he was not born in a hospital or under medical care, no, he was born even as a stray cat.
Shortly after his birth his family had to flee. They were in a sense homeless, run out of their town. He grew up in obscurity, in a small town that most had never heard of. He had brothers and sisters, many of which despised him, even ridiculed him. From a young age, he was hated. Trouble licked at his heels from his birth.
He learned a trade and worked with his hands. He was respectful, kind, gentle and wise and he feared God. At a certain time in his life, after learning a trade, he knew the Lord was calling him to ministry. He moved forward, in pursuit of God. Everywhere he went preaching he was antagonized. The government of his time was harshly opposed to him as were the religious leaders of his day, even his own family had put distance between them. He was even called a man of sorrow. Though no one could convict him of sin yet he was despised. He did many good works and taught many great things but it seemed that in spite of his life he only drew criticism.
He formed a small church of mostly outcasts and nobodies, nobody of any dignity or social value ever followed him. He drew large crowds but not to hear him teach as much as to see the spectacle of this man and to see whether they would be impressed with him. Many of those that would join his church would later leave. Even the highest in leadership would eventually abandon him, even being betrayed by one of the original members of his church.
Eventually the religious and political leaders would have him arrested and tried for false crimes. He would be given no legal trial. He was quickly moved from jail to execution in only a matter of days. Once arrested, he was completely alone, literally no one stayed with him, even those closest to him would later deny him.
His life from birth was poor. He was from birth despised. He was alone most of his life, and those that seemed close, weren’t. He left this world the way he came into, under suspicion, doubt and ridicule. He was not understood. His ministry stood alone but never grew, it was not what we would consider a “success” by today’s standard.
He never accumulated wealth. He never married or had children and his life was ended in his early thirties. Truly, his life was a life of suffering, continual unending, suffering. Yet…
Was God glorified in this life, this sad little pathetic life lived out in some no name region, in poverty and persecution, dying the death of a common criminal, not even having a grave to be buried in? Was God glorified in some person born into a “questionable” family? Was God glorified in a life that never “made it?” Was God glorified in a faithful servant dying as a common criminal?
Yes. For by now I hope you see that this was the life of Jesus. The only man that has the title of God’s Only Begotten Son, with Whom God is well pleased, His Beloved Son. His life was only hardship. His pain never new what we would call “victory.” His life was not a life that is envied in circumstance and yet, by that life, God redeemed an innumerable number of people to Himself. By that life and death He purchased to God a people called His Bride. The glory of God shown more brightly in this man then in any man before or since. He was God incarnate, taking flesh upon Himself. Living and dying not as the immortal, incomprehensible God, but as a faithful, humble servant.
Part of the glory of God is that even in His “weakest” and most “foolish” moment He is greater then the strongest man and wiser then the greatest intellect. His glory in the life of Christ is what secured the salvation of man and it is that glory revealed to man that saves man to this day.
Is God glorified in your suffering? Yes. Is it by His design? Yes. Is there hope beyond hope in the life and death of Christ? Yes. Let me tell you something very alarming. God will be glorified in your suffering. God will be glorified in your suffering. Again, God will be glorified in your suffering. The alarming part is that you can partake of that glory or not, but God will be glorified. The amazing part is that you can partake of that glory too. You can be an active participant in that glory or a passive participant but God will have His glory, and you can have it too.
We are not pawns upon a chess board. We are however vessels. We were created as vessels of glory but due to sin we are now vessels of wrath but due to the sacrifice of Jesus, the gospel, we can be vessels of mercy. Those who refuse the gospel will glorify God in His power, longsuffering and wrath; those that receive the work of Christ on their behalf will be vessels of mercy, glorifying God in His mercy, grace and calling. We are God’s. We will glorify God. The offer of the gospel, the command of the gospel, is to believe and be saved, partake of the glory of God, be an active participant and enjoy eternal life even now.
One question of reflection. Why is it that you so despise the idea that God has willed your difficulty and adversity and suffering? Ultimately it is sin. It is sin to reject His will and ways. It is sin to not trust His judgment. It is sin that rejects His wisdom and providence. It is sin that looks at God and despises Him for not being who you want Him to be. It is sin that you think that you could do things better. It is sin. It is sin, not the thoughts themselves. No, it is much deeper then that. The thoughts come from sin, the thoughts flow from your heart, your heart which is full of sin. The thoughts are merely fruits of the sin that dwells much deeper then just your mind. Sin is your nature and so naturally you reject God. Naturally God’s ways are an offense to you.
Oh the glory of repentance, that you would recognize the depth of your sin and see your sin for the wretched evil that it is and turn to God in despair and cry out for forgiveness. Understand that why you question God and doubt God is not an intellectual issue but a heart issue. If not for the sin that is you, you would love God and welcome His will and rejoice at all that He brings to you for then you would know He was good. But sin blinds and hardens and deceives. But the gospel sheds light and wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Believe the gospel and be saved from your sin and the wrath to come. Believe the gospel and rejoice in the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Be saved, believe.
“It really pisses me off that you would insinuate that God has willed my circumstances. If you had any idea how hard I have it, what I have been through, you would be a lot slower to speak. And if this God of yours wills suffering for His glory, then I don’t agree with that God or think that it is possible for God to be glorified by my life. No loving, kind father would ever put his children through what I have been through. There is no glory in suffering, period!”
Let me tell you a story.
There was a man born into the worst possible scenario. His parents were poor, very poor. They also were very young. There is even “doubt” as to if his father is really his father, some even called him a bastard. His mother was looked upon as a harlot. Truly, their poverty was so great that he was not born in a hospital or under medical care, no, he was born even as a stray cat.
Shortly after his birth his family had to flee. They were in a sense homeless, run out of their town. He grew up in obscurity, in a small town that most had never heard of. He had brothers and sisters, many of which despised him, even ridiculed him. From a young age, he was hated. Trouble licked at his heels from his birth.
He learned a trade and worked with his hands. He was respectful, kind, gentle and wise and he feared God. At a certain time in his life, after learning a trade, he knew the Lord was calling him to ministry. He moved forward, in pursuit of God. Everywhere he went preaching he was antagonized. The government of his time was harshly opposed to him as were the religious leaders of his day, even his own family had put distance between them. He was even called a man of sorrow. Though no one could convict him of sin yet he was despised. He did many good works and taught many great things but it seemed that in spite of his life he only drew criticism.
He formed a small church of mostly outcasts and nobodies, nobody of any dignity or social value ever followed him. He drew large crowds but not to hear him teach as much as to see the spectacle of this man and to see whether they would be impressed with him. Many of those that would join his church would later leave. Even the highest in leadership would eventually abandon him, even being betrayed by one of the original members of his church.
Eventually the religious and political leaders would have him arrested and tried for false crimes. He would be given no legal trial. He was quickly moved from jail to execution in only a matter of days. Once arrested, he was completely alone, literally no one stayed with him, even those closest to him would later deny him.
His life from birth was poor. He was from birth despised. He was alone most of his life, and those that seemed close, weren’t. He left this world the way he came into, under suspicion, doubt and ridicule. He was not understood. His ministry stood alone but never grew, it was not what we would consider a “success” by today’s standard.
He never accumulated wealth. He never married or had children and his life was ended in his early thirties. Truly, his life was a life of suffering, continual unending, suffering. Yet…
Was God glorified in this life, this sad little pathetic life lived out in some no name region, in poverty and persecution, dying the death of a common criminal, not even having a grave to be buried in? Was God glorified in some person born into a “questionable” family? Was God glorified in a life that never “made it?” Was God glorified in a faithful servant dying as a common criminal?
Yes. For by now I hope you see that this was the life of Jesus. The only man that has the title of God’s Only Begotten Son, with Whom God is well pleased, His Beloved Son. His life was only hardship. His pain never new what we would call “victory.” His life was not a life that is envied in circumstance and yet, by that life, God redeemed an innumerable number of people to Himself. By that life and death He purchased to God a people called His Bride. The glory of God shown more brightly in this man then in any man before or since. He was God incarnate, taking flesh upon Himself. Living and dying not as the immortal, incomprehensible God, but as a faithful, humble servant.
Part of the glory of God is that even in His “weakest” and most “foolish” moment He is greater then the strongest man and wiser then the greatest intellect. His glory in the life of Christ is what secured the salvation of man and it is that glory revealed to man that saves man to this day.
Is God glorified in your suffering? Yes. Is it by His design? Yes. Is there hope beyond hope in the life and death of Christ? Yes. Let me tell you something very alarming. God will be glorified in your suffering. God will be glorified in your suffering. Again, God will be glorified in your suffering. The alarming part is that you can partake of that glory or not, but God will be glorified. The amazing part is that you can partake of that glory too. You can be an active participant in that glory or a passive participant but God will have His glory, and you can have it too.
We are not pawns upon a chess board. We are however vessels. We were created as vessels of glory but due to sin we are now vessels of wrath but due to the sacrifice of Jesus, the gospel, we can be vessels of mercy. Those who refuse the gospel will glorify God in His power, longsuffering and wrath; those that receive the work of Christ on their behalf will be vessels of mercy, glorifying God in His mercy, grace and calling. We are God’s. We will glorify God. The offer of the gospel, the command of the gospel, is to believe and be saved, partake of the glory of God, be an active participant and enjoy eternal life even now.
One question of reflection. Why is it that you so despise the idea that God has willed your difficulty and adversity and suffering? Ultimately it is sin. It is sin to reject His will and ways. It is sin to not trust His judgment. It is sin that rejects His wisdom and providence. It is sin that looks at God and despises Him for not being who you want Him to be. It is sin that you think that you could do things better. It is sin. It is sin, not the thoughts themselves. No, it is much deeper then that. The thoughts come from sin, the thoughts flow from your heart, your heart which is full of sin. The thoughts are merely fruits of the sin that dwells much deeper then just your mind. Sin is your nature and so naturally you reject God. Naturally God’s ways are an offense to you.
Oh the glory of repentance, that you would recognize the depth of your sin and see your sin for the wretched evil that it is and turn to God in despair and cry out for forgiveness. Understand that why you question God and doubt God is not an intellectual issue but a heart issue. If not for the sin that is you, you would love God and welcome His will and rejoice at all that He brings to you for then you would know He was good. But sin blinds and hardens and deceives. But the gospel sheds light and wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Believe the gospel and be saved from your sin and the wrath to come. Believe the gospel and rejoice in the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Be saved, believe.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
God’s Will: Faith: the Gospel
I have reiterated the absolute need for us to believe God, to trust Him. That God’s will for you is faith, that all your circumstances are to glorify God by faith, even in suffering. I have called you to believe. But what is it exactly that I am calling you to trust? I have said it is the gospel. I have said have faith in God. I have said trust Jesus. I have also said repent and believe, repentance and faith being inseparable, yet two distinct things. I want to just unpack the gospel for you, so that you can believe.
The Gospel is first and foremost news, and not just news but good news. What does that mean? It means that the gospel is an announcement, a proclamation and that what it is announcing and proclaiming is good. What is the news that is announced in the gospel? It is the news that God has sent His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sins. Why is that good? It is good because our sin separates us from God, creating enmity between us and God, and rightfully bringing God’s wrath upon us. The good news announces that Jesus has done, once and for all, what we could never do, restore us and reconcile us to God. How was this done? Jesus, being God, came in the flesh of man, and lived a perfect life in our place, fulfilling every commandment and all righteousness, in our place. He lived the life we all should have lived but due to sin can never live, and He did it in our place. The perfect for the imperfect, even wicked. He then suffered and died upon a cross for our sin. Why did He have to die for our sin? The wages of sin are death, without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins. He shed His blood, died, in our place. The righteousness and justice and wrath that God demanded as a perfect God were satisfied in Jesus’ life and death, in our place. Jesus took the wrath of God that we deserve and suffered and died in our place. The perfect for the imperfect, even wicked. To show that God was satisfied with the offering of Christ’s life and death, He rose Him from the dead, exalting Him forever at the right hand of God. Jesus is alive.
The gospel announces the finished work of Jesus on our behalf, the good news that Jesus has done what we could never do. The gospel announces the good news not as something that we can believe but as the one thing that we must believe in order to be saved, for no other way to salvation has God appointed. To believe the gospel is to believe God, and to reject the gospel is to reject God. God calls us to faith but that faith must be in the good news of Jesus Christ. There is no way to God, or peace and reconciliation with God except by faith in the gospel, this being the way God has appointed to save His people. Faith in the gospel is simply trusting the work of God in Jesus Christ on your behalf, it is believing God. Faith receives the good news as it is, namely true. Faith looks to Jesus and nothing else for right standing before and with God.
When I say that God’s will for your life is faith and that everything you experience is to bring you to faith, you must understand that what I mean is faith in the good news of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin, even your sin. Believe and be saved.
I have reiterated the absolute need for us to believe God, to trust Him. That God’s will for you is faith, that all your circumstances are to glorify God by faith, even in suffering. I have called you to believe. But what is it exactly that I am calling you to trust? I have said it is the gospel. I have said have faith in God. I have said trust Jesus. I have also said repent and believe, repentance and faith being inseparable, yet two distinct things. I want to just unpack the gospel for you, so that you can believe.
The Gospel is first and foremost news, and not just news but good news. What does that mean? It means that the gospel is an announcement, a proclamation and that what it is announcing and proclaiming is good. What is the news that is announced in the gospel? It is the news that God has sent His Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sins. Why is that good? It is good because our sin separates us from God, creating enmity between us and God, and rightfully bringing God’s wrath upon us. The good news announces that Jesus has done, once and for all, what we could never do, restore us and reconcile us to God. How was this done? Jesus, being God, came in the flesh of man, and lived a perfect life in our place, fulfilling every commandment and all righteousness, in our place. He lived the life we all should have lived but due to sin can never live, and He did it in our place. The perfect for the imperfect, even wicked. He then suffered and died upon a cross for our sin. Why did He have to die for our sin? The wages of sin are death, without the shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins. He shed His blood, died, in our place. The righteousness and justice and wrath that God demanded as a perfect God were satisfied in Jesus’ life and death, in our place. Jesus took the wrath of God that we deserve and suffered and died in our place. The perfect for the imperfect, even wicked. To show that God was satisfied with the offering of Christ’s life and death, He rose Him from the dead, exalting Him forever at the right hand of God. Jesus is alive.
The gospel announces the finished work of Jesus on our behalf, the good news that Jesus has done what we could never do. The gospel announces the good news not as something that we can believe but as the one thing that we must believe in order to be saved, for no other way to salvation has God appointed. To believe the gospel is to believe God, and to reject the gospel is to reject God. God calls us to faith but that faith must be in the good news of Jesus Christ. There is no way to God, or peace and reconciliation with God except by faith in the gospel, this being the way God has appointed to save His people. Faith in the gospel is simply trusting the work of God in Jesus Christ on your behalf, it is believing God. Faith receives the good news as it is, namely true. Faith looks to Jesus and nothing else for right standing before and with God.
When I say that God’s will for your life is faith and that everything you experience is to bring you to faith, you must understand that what I mean is faith in the good news of Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for sin, even your sin. Believe and be saved.
Monday, July 19, 2010
God's Will: Suffering
God’s Will: Suffering
Let me just start by saying that I enter into this subject with difficulty and hesitation. Suffering is not something to deal with lightly or flippantly, and while I know a little of personal suffering and difficulty I have yet to wrestle with chronic pain or terminal disease, I have not faced persecution to violence nor have I shed a drop of blood for Christ. I am not writing from an overflow of suffering in my life that has equipped me to handle the subject but I am writing as one who has the word of God. For though I have faced relatively little suffering, suffering does not automatically qualify one to speak of suffering. When speaking of suffering the wisest and best thing to do is to allow the scriptures to speak for themselves, this is the high road but more then that, the true road.
Also, as I write, I will by no means even attempt to cover this subject, for suffering has filled volumes and many of those volumes are not satisfactory. I am not gifted or equipped to tackle the full or even partial depth of this matter of suffering. I will try and stay to the point of suffering and God’s will (which is large enough). What I really feel needs to be addressed is our aversion to suffering, I will also attempt to deal with how God wills suffering rightly and then what our right response in the gospel to suffering should be. So three things; our aversion to suffering, God’s willing of suffering and our gospel response to suffering. I am sure those three will supply ample material for many posts but I will try and keep it to a minimum, after all, this is only a blog.
We will start with God’s willing of suffering for starting with God is better then starting with man, and I think will lead to correcting our aversions and responses, three birds with one stone. As we start, let me just reiterate what I was trying to say, by no means am I the definitive answer nor do I expect everyone to agree fully with me but I do believe that I am being true to the scriptures and where you disagree may it only be because of your knowledge of the scriptures. This is an emotional subject and something beyond our intellect as well but with scripture as our guide we can navigate and gain understanding in this subject. So here we go.
God wills suffering. I don’t know how to pause in writing for reflection but here I ask you to pause; God wills suffering, Selah.
‘God wills suffering,’ is a point that I do not think needs to be defended. The scripture to support such a statement are to numerous to even mention so we will take only one, Isaiah 53. If this one scripture shows God wills suffering then we can know that no other scripture will contradict it, scripture is in harmony with itself, it being God’s revelation.
Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest and most popular chapters prophesying the coming life and death of Christ. And the whole of the chapter needs to be read, and I would encourage you to do so for I will only reference parts, namely verse 10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief…” That is all that we need to consider, why is it that Jesus suffered as He did, “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to put Him to grief…” Does the Lord will suffering? Yes. In fact, when Jesus was facing the agony of the cross, when the weight of what was about to come upon Him, all the terror of scourging and crucifixion, nearly crushed Him in the garden, what did He pray, but only for God’s will to be done (Luke 22:42). Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:28 all emphasize the Lord’s purpose and will in determining what would take place with Jesus. Perhaps the most shocking and decisive would be I Peter 1:18-21, which tells us that before the foundation of the world, before even the fall of man or the need for redemption, Christ was already chosen by God to suffer and die for the redemption of His people, a people yet to exist. Does God will suffering? Even from before the foundation of the world.
I think that our initial response to this, especially those who do not know Him, and for some who do know Him, is indignation. As if something evil and wrong is being ascribed to God, that His character is being marred or that a great barrier to faith is being raised, but I could not disagree more. The greatest offense is not to ascribe to God that which He has revealed but to deny that which God has revealed or even to ascribe to God that which is not true (Rom 1:18-32). We are not to conform God to our fallen image but we are to conform our fallen image to God (Rom 12:1-2).
But behind the initial indignation or even confusion is the need for this to be true. We need God to be sovereign even over suffering, we need it to be by His will for the other option (as if there were one) is far bleaker and more terrifying, that God is not in control, that the universe really is spinning out of control. That God’s promises are mere intentions that He has no real ability to fulfill. Now I shy away from this kind of reasoning because truth is not determined by us or by “other options” for truth is true, there is no other option. The question is not what we want to be true, but will we submit to the truth even if it baffles us and complexes us. Can we only trust God in so far as we understand Him? Then we are doomed, for His infiniteness, eternalness and holiness is more then we will ever grasp.
I shared Exodus 17 in the previous post, hoping that it would set God’s Godhood before us as something that we need to reverence and fear, submit to and honor, trust. God is God, He is far greater, more majestic, more glorious then we can comprehend. Truly, if we would have God only in so far as we can look down upon Him, then we will not have God. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts that your thoughts’ (Is 55:8-9).”
So we see clearly that God willed the suffering of Jesus, even the circumstance of His birth, life, death and resurrection. In fact, if we were to say that God did not will the suffering of Jesus, then the gospel falls apart, for the gospel is the good news that God sent His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sinners, if He was not sent for this purpose then we would still be in our sin.
“But just because God sometimes has willed suffering does that mean that all suffering is willed by God?” We can admit that in this case it is obvious that God willed the suffering and death of His Christ but does that mean that across the board all suffering is God’s will? This is a harder question but one that we can attempt to answer. We will consider two or three other passages to answer this.
First, lets consider David and Shimei, II Samuel 16:5-14, recounts the story. Again, for brevity sake I will not write the whole of the passage but certainly encourage you to read it. The passage is set in the context of David fleeing from his kingdom after the revolt of his son Absalom. As David escaped, a distant relative of King Saul comes out and curses David, even throwing stones at him, telling David that the cause of his troubles is God’s retribution for displacing Saul as king. Now I admit that the suffering is little is comparison to the suffering of Christ but it is still affliction (II Sam 16:12).
Now what I want you to see is David’s understanding of this “affliction.” Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, is with David and suggests that they kill Shimei for cursing David but David responds with these words, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David.’ Who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” Again in verse 11, David reiterates saying, “Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him.”
We will return to this passage after we consider two more. Job is the perfect example for us to understand suffering. Job lost everything, his health, his livestock, even his children, and arguably his wife for a time. You need to read the first two chapters of Job to see all that he went through and why, we will consider only his understanding of it. After losing his property and children, Job makes this statement, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 2:21). Now the interesting thing about this statement is that if you read the full account you see Satan taking away everything, using fire, the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans. Yet, Job, in his understanding of suffering ascribes it to God. Now perhaps we think that Job spoke wrongly but the following verse, 22, reads, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”
Lastly, consider Joseph and his brother (Gen 37-50). Joseph has been in sold into slavery, thrown into jail, and finally raised to the right hand of Pharaoh. Now certainly, if you read the whole story, you see that it was at the hands of his brothers that he suffered and then at the hands of Potiphar but never does it mention God’s doing it, yet, much like Job, Joseph recognizes the whole as coming from God. Genesis 50:20 records Joseph’s words to his brothers in light of all that has happened, saying, “you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”
Now, in light of these three passages, many more being readily available, we see that God is sovereign over all these circumstances, not only there to pick up the pieces, but even willing them. The trouble seems for many to be that somehow they think that this compromises God character or in some way ascribes unrighteousness to Him. I understand this argument. What we need to understand is that God never needs us to defend His honor or make Him more appealing by our reasoning. God is glorified by being God, holy, sovereign, majestic and glorious. Scripture clearly portrays God as completely sovereign in all things; again, all things.
I think that what we need to consider and where we get hung up is our understanding of suffering or better our aversion to suffering. We automatically think that suffering is evil and bad and wrong. And in a sense that is true. There is only suffering because of sin, had man not fallen in Adam, there would not be suffering and in the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Kingdom, there will not be suffering. Suffering is a reality because sin is a reality. Our problem is that we forget the sovereignty of God even in suffering. Because we only see suffering with our eyes and understanding we hate it with an idolatrous hatred, paying it a homage that we should not. We avoid it all costs and dread that we would ever be caught in it but we will be caught in it. Rather, if our understanding is in line with scripture, suffering suddenly becomes a privilege and a blessing.
Again, consider scripture, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:10)” Or Acts 5:41, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Perhaps James’ words are the strongest, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials…(James 1:2), ” or Paul, “we glory in tribulations (Rom 5:3), or Peter, “even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed (I Pet 3:14),” or the author of Hebrews, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through sufferings (Heb 2:10).” Scripture does not mince words. We have an aversion to suffering because we do not understand God’s will in suffering. If we but for a moment understood suffering as scripture explains suffering we would rejoice in it. As I said in the previous post, God does not command futility or vanity, when we are told to rejoice in trials, it is because if we understand scripture then we have every reason to rejoice in suffering. We do not rejoice just to rejoice, but we rejoice because if we understand the gospel (the whole bible) there is nothing we can do but rejoice. The fruit of the gospel naturally born forth in our life will be rejoicing.
Paul tells us that they had the sentence of death in themselves, that they should not trust in themselves but in God who raises the dead (II Cor 1:9-10). Why is this good? Because faith in God is what God desires of you for it is right. Faith recognizes His sufficiency and takes shelter and rest and hope only in Him. Why is this good for us? Because if we understand this world correctly, then we know that we are dependent upon God for everything but we tend to forget this and rebel, suffering brings us back to a dependency upon God. Why is dependency upon God good? Because you were made for Him, to reflect His glory. I do not want to get to man focused here but God is man focused, He invites us back to partake of His glory, to share in His glory, as I said before. Our greatest good is wrapped up in His glory, for this we were made. There is no life apart from God. What we so often think of as life is nothing but death. Jesus tells us that He is the life (John 14:6). What does that mean, it means there is no life apart from Him, only death. It is as we live in light of this truth that we depend upon God, but sin causes us to forget God, suffering reminds us of our need and dependency on God.
Suffering also brings with it great promise and hope. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18).” “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ( II Cor 4:17).” The first verse essentially says that those who are now suffering the most understand better than any the glory that awaits us. The greater the suffering here, the greater the expectation there. So many do not long for God and glory because they have created their own heaven here, they have tried to erase any need for God, but they have not succeeded. The second verse goes further still, not only saying that suffering creates a greater longing for glory but actually increases that glory, their expectation will be met. Praise Jesus.
Does this mean that we need to seek suffering so that we can experience more fully the glory of God now and forever after? No. We are not called to seek suffering. We are called to seek the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and to strive to live godly in Christ Jesus (Matt 6:33; II Tim 3:12). God will take care of the rest. What we have to do is follow Jesus even when we see that doing so will bring suffering.
Think of the Apostle Paul, he saw the glory of God but for a moment (Acts 9:1-9 )and then was shown all that he would suffer for his knowledge of this glory (9:15-16) and that small taste of glory was enough pledge and hope to carry him forward even knowing all that awaited him (II Cor 11:23-28 for a short list of those foreknown sufferings). Think, if you but saw the glory of God for a moment, it would sustain you through and even for all kinds of trials. “But,” you say, “I haven’t seen the glory of God shine upon me.” But you have if you have believed upon Christ (II Cor 4:6), He has revealed His most magnificent glory in His Son, look now to Jesus and know His glory, but also know this, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).” Have you seen as did Paul or Thomas, no, probably not, but a greater blessedness awaits those who believe without seeing, for you do know the truth, for God has revealed it to you in His word.
God’s will is faith, right now, where you are, trust Him. His promise to you is glory, His glory. He is sovereign and glorious and He calls you to partake of His gloriousness by faith.
Now, I think two things need to be said to wrap up. First, God’s sovereign will never negates mans responsibility. Never! Again, think of the sufferings of Christ so clearly brought about and willed by God, yet the men that carried out the act are still guilty (Acts 2:23, John 19:11). “And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but to woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! (Luke 22:22)” God wills suffering in a righteous way that we do not understand but the men by whom that suffering is brought about are not therefore innocent, but guilty. Much like Job, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans stole his livestock and killed his children, they were guilty of doing what they did, but God was sovereign over it. God does not allow things contrary to His will but only according to His will, so even if we want to try and make God more passive in the action, yet, it could only be by His will in accordance with His will or it could not be at all. That is hard. We cannot grasp the fullness of it, but surely, our hope is wrapped up in it. But the main point to remember is that God’s sovereignty does not negate man’s responsibility.
And lastly, we have considered some of God’s purpose in suffering, and surely there are more, but I really only wrote from the perspective of the Christian, the one that has faith in Christ, that trusts in Jesus. What are we to make of suffering in the life of a non-believer? This is much harder and I fear quite long but I will again aim at brevity.
God tells us that all His ways towards man are to draw men to Himself in faith, so that is one purpose in suffering for the non-believer, that they would finally be brought to the end of themselves and to faith in their Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer. But a second purpose is put forth in scripture, and this is only true of non-believers, never believers, and that is suffering is a consequence to their sin, meant to harden them and to increase their condemnation. This is very hard for us to hear, it is very hard to say, but it is true. If your sufferings do not lead you to repentance (for that matter, if all the goodness in your life does not lead you to repentance) then they only tend to a greater condemnation. Romans 2:5, says, “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent (unrepentant) heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…” What is a hard and impenitent heart? It is the same as being stiff necked (see previous post): unbelieving. The will of God is for you to turn from your sin and trust Him, have faith in Him, but sin hears this and feels violated, angry, indignant. “What gives God the right to demand this of me?” Everything! He is kind and gracious and patient, giving you opportunity to turn from yourself and sin (repent) and to turn to Him (faith). The wickedness does not rest with God but in man. For it is man that is in rebellion against God not God against man. It is when man is anti-Christ that Christ came and gave His life for man. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom 5:6-10).”
Suffering in the life of a believer is always brought about by a loving Father for the good of His children, always. Never will a true child of God suffer under God’s condemnation or wrath, never (Rom 8:1). In Christ, all of God’s ways towards His children are for their good and brought about in love (Heb 12:5-11). For the non-believer, until you believe the gospel, you are condemned already and the wrath of God weighs upon you (Rom 1:18-2:16; John 3:18-20). Believe and be saved.
I think for lengths sake, I will stop there. Much more could be said and needs to be said, but hopefully your aversion to suffering is halted and your joy in suffering increased and your confidence in your loving sovereign Father greater.
I am adding an appendix to this, “What is the Gospel?” I am hoping some are now asking that great question of life, “what must I do to be saved?”
Let me just start by saying that I enter into this subject with difficulty and hesitation. Suffering is not something to deal with lightly or flippantly, and while I know a little of personal suffering and difficulty I have yet to wrestle with chronic pain or terminal disease, I have not faced persecution to violence nor have I shed a drop of blood for Christ. I am not writing from an overflow of suffering in my life that has equipped me to handle the subject but I am writing as one who has the word of God. For though I have faced relatively little suffering, suffering does not automatically qualify one to speak of suffering. When speaking of suffering the wisest and best thing to do is to allow the scriptures to speak for themselves, this is the high road but more then that, the true road.
Also, as I write, I will by no means even attempt to cover this subject, for suffering has filled volumes and many of those volumes are not satisfactory. I am not gifted or equipped to tackle the full or even partial depth of this matter of suffering. I will try and stay to the point of suffering and God’s will (which is large enough). What I really feel needs to be addressed is our aversion to suffering, I will also attempt to deal with how God wills suffering rightly and then what our right response in the gospel to suffering should be. So three things; our aversion to suffering, God’s willing of suffering and our gospel response to suffering. I am sure those three will supply ample material for many posts but I will try and keep it to a minimum, after all, this is only a blog.
We will start with God’s willing of suffering for starting with God is better then starting with man, and I think will lead to correcting our aversions and responses, three birds with one stone. As we start, let me just reiterate what I was trying to say, by no means am I the definitive answer nor do I expect everyone to agree fully with me but I do believe that I am being true to the scriptures and where you disagree may it only be because of your knowledge of the scriptures. This is an emotional subject and something beyond our intellect as well but with scripture as our guide we can navigate and gain understanding in this subject. So here we go.
God wills suffering. I don’t know how to pause in writing for reflection but here I ask you to pause; God wills suffering, Selah.
‘God wills suffering,’ is a point that I do not think needs to be defended. The scripture to support such a statement are to numerous to even mention so we will take only one, Isaiah 53. If this one scripture shows God wills suffering then we can know that no other scripture will contradict it, scripture is in harmony with itself, it being God’s revelation.
Isaiah 53 is one of the clearest and most popular chapters prophesying the coming life and death of Christ. And the whole of the chapter needs to be read, and I would encourage you to do so for I will only reference parts, namely verse 10, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief…” That is all that we need to consider, why is it that Jesus suffered as He did, “it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, to put Him to grief…” Does the Lord will suffering? Yes. In fact, when Jesus was facing the agony of the cross, when the weight of what was about to come upon Him, all the terror of scourging and crucifixion, nearly crushed Him in the garden, what did He pray, but only for God’s will to be done (Luke 22:42). Acts 2:23; 3:18; 4:28 all emphasize the Lord’s purpose and will in determining what would take place with Jesus. Perhaps the most shocking and decisive would be I Peter 1:18-21, which tells us that before the foundation of the world, before even the fall of man or the need for redemption, Christ was already chosen by God to suffer and die for the redemption of His people, a people yet to exist. Does God will suffering? Even from before the foundation of the world.
I think that our initial response to this, especially those who do not know Him, and for some who do know Him, is indignation. As if something evil and wrong is being ascribed to God, that His character is being marred or that a great barrier to faith is being raised, but I could not disagree more. The greatest offense is not to ascribe to God that which He has revealed but to deny that which God has revealed or even to ascribe to God that which is not true (Rom 1:18-32). We are not to conform God to our fallen image but we are to conform our fallen image to God (Rom 12:1-2).
But behind the initial indignation or even confusion is the need for this to be true. We need God to be sovereign even over suffering, we need it to be by His will for the other option (as if there were one) is far bleaker and more terrifying, that God is not in control, that the universe really is spinning out of control. That God’s promises are mere intentions that He has no real ability to fulfill. Now I shy away from this kind of reasoning because truth is not determined by us or by “other options” for truth is true, there is no other option. The question is not what we want to be true, but will we submit to the truth even if it baffles us and complexes us. Can we only trust God in so far as we understand Him? Then we are doomed, for His infiniteness, eternalness and holiness is more then we will ever grasp.
I shared Exodus 17 in the previous post, hoping that it would set God’s Godhood before us as something that we need to reverence and fear, submit to and honor, trust. God is God, He is far greater, more majestic, more glorious then we can comprehend. Truly, if we would have God only in so far as we can look down upon Him, then we will not have God. “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts that your thoughts’ (Is 55:8-9).”
So we see clearly that God willed the suffering of Jesus, even the circumstance of His birth, life, death and resurrection. In fact, if we were to say that God did not will the suffering of Jesus, then the gospel falls apart, for the gospel is the good news that God sent His only begotten Son as a sacrifice for sinners, if He was not sent for this purpose then we would still be in our sin.
“But just because God sometimes has willed suffering does that mean that all suffering is willed by God?” We can admit that in this case it is obvious that God willed the suffering and death of His Christ but does that mean that across the board all suffering is God’s will? This is a harder question but one that we can attempt to answer. We will consider two or three other passages to answer this.
First, lets consider David and Shimei, II Samuel 16:5-14, recounts the story. Again, for brevity sake I will not write the whole of the passage but certainly encourage you to read it. The passage is set in the context of David fleeing from his kingdom after the revolt of his son Absalom. As David escaped, a distant relative of King Saul comes out and curses David, even throwing stones at him, telling David that the cause of his troubles is God’s retribution for displacing Saul as king. Now I admit that the suffering is little is comparison to the suffering of Christ but it is still affliction (II Sam 16:12).
Now what I want you to see is David’s understanding of this “affliction.” Abishai, the son of Zeruiah, is with David and suggests that they kill Shimei for cursing David but David responds with these words, “What have I to do with you, you sons of Zeruiah? So let him curse, because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David.’ Who then shall say, ‘Why have you done so?’” Again in verse 11, David reiterates saying, “Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him.”
We will return to this passage after we consider two more. Job is the perfect example for us to understand suffering. Job lost everything, his health, his livestock, even his children, and arguably his wife for a time. You need to read the first two chapters of Job to see all that he went through and why, we will consider only his understanding of it. After losing his property and children, Job makes this statement, “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 2:21). Now the interesting thing about this statement is that if you read the full account you see Satan taking away everything, using fire, the Sabeans, and the Chaldeans. Yet, Job, in his understanding of suffering ascribes it to God. Now perhaps we think that Job spoke wrongly but the following verse, 22, reads, “In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.”
Lastly, consider Joseph and his brother (Gen 37-50). Joseph has been in sold into slavery, thrown into jail, and finally raised to the right hand of Pharaoh. Now certainly, if you read the whole story, you see that it was at the hands of his brothers that he suffered and then at the hands of Potiphar but never does it mention God’s doing it, yet, much like Job, Joseph recognizes the whole as coming from God. Genesis 50:20 records Joseph’s words to his brothers in light of all that has happened, saying, “you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good.”
Now, in light of these three passages, many more being readily available, we see that God is sovereign over all these circumstances, not only there to pick up the pieces, but even willing them. The trouble seems for many to be that somehow they think that this compromises God character or in some way ascribes unrighteousness to Him. I understand this argument. What we need to understand is that God never needs us to defend His honor or make Him more appealing by our reasoning. God is glorified by being God, holy, sovereign, majestic and glorious. Scripture clearly portrays God as completely sovereign in all things; again, all things.
I think that what we need to consider and where we get hung up is our understanding of suffering or better our aversion to suffering. We automatically think that suffering is evil and bad and wrong. And in a sense that is true. There is only suffering because of sin, had man not fallen in Adam, there would not be suffering and in the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Kingdom, there will not be suffering. Suffering is a reality because sin is a reality. Our problem is that we forget the sovereignty of God even in suffering. Because we only see suffering with our eyes and understanding we hate it with an idolatrous hatred, paying it a homage that we should not. We avoid it all costs and dread that we would ever be caught in it but we will be caught in it. Rather, if our understanding is in line with scripture, suffering suddenly becomes a privilege and a blessing.
Again, consider scripture, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:10)” Or Acts 5:41, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Perhaps James’ words are the strongest, “count it all joy when you fall into various trials…(James 1:2), ” or Paul, “we glory in tribulations (Rom 5:3), or Peter, “even if you should suffer for righteousness sake, you are blessed (I Pet 3:14),” or the author of Hebrews, “For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through sufferings (Heb 2:10).” Scripture does not mince words. We have an aversion to suffering because we do not understand God’s will in suffering. If we but for a moment understood suffering as scripture explains suffering we would rejoice in it. As I said in the previous post, God does not command futility or vanity, when we are told to rejoice in trials, it is because if we understand scripture then we have every reason to rejoice in suffering. We do not rejoice just to rejoice, but we rejoice because if we understand the gospel (the whole bible) there is nothing we can do but rejoice. The fruit of the gospel naturally born forth in our life will be rejoicing.
Paul tells us that they had the sentence of death in themselves, that they should not trust in themselves but in God who raises the dead (II Cor 1:9-10). Why is this good? Because faith in God is what God desires of you for it is right. Faith recognizes His sufficiency and takes shelter and rest and hope only in Him. Why is this good for us? Because if we understand this world correctly, then we know that we are dependent upon God for everything but we tend to forget this and rebel, suffering brings us back to a dependency upon God. Why is dependency upon God good? Because you were made for Him, to reflect His glory. I do not want to get to man focused here but God is man focused, He invites us back to partake of His glory, to share in His glory, as I said before. Our greatest good is wrapped up in His glory, for this we were made. There is no life apart from God. What we so often think of as life is nothing but death. Jesus tells us that He is the life (John 14:6). What does that mean, it means there is no life apart from Him, only death. It is as we live in light of this truth that we depend upon God, but sin causes us to forget God, suffering reminds us of our need and dependency on God.
Suffering also brings with it great promise and hope. “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (Rom 8:18).” “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ( II Cor 4:17).” The first verse essentially says that those who are now suffering the most understand better than any the glory that awaits us. The greater the suffering here, the greater the expectation there. So many do not long for God and glory because they have created their own heaven here, they have tried to erase any need for God, but they have not succeeded. The second verse goes further still, not only saying that suffering creates a greater longing for glory but actually increases that glory, their expectation will be met. Praise Jesus.
Does this mean that we need to seek suffering so that we can experience more fully the glory of God now and forever after? No. We are not called to seek suffering. We are called to seek the kingdom of God and all His righteousness and to strive to live godly in Christ Jesus (Matt 6:33; II Tim 3:12). God will take care of the rest. What we have to do is follow Jesus even when we see that doing so will bring suffering.
Think of the Apostle Paul, he saw the glory of God but for a moment (Acts 9:1-9 )and then was shown all that he would suffer for his knowledge of this glory (9:15-16) and that small taste of glory was enough pledge and hope to carry him forward even knowing all that awaited him (II Cor 11:23-28 for a short list of those foreknown sufferings). Think, if you but saw the glory of God for a moment, it would sustain you through and even for all kinds of trials. “But,” you say, “I haven’t seen the glory of God shine upon me.” But you have if you have believed upon Christ (II Cor 4:6), He has revealed His most magnificent glory in His Son, look now to Jesus and know His glory, but also know this, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed (John 20:29).” Have you seen as did Paul or Thomas, no, probably not, but a greater blessedness awaits those who believe without seeing, for you do know the truth, for God has revealed it to you in His word.
God’s will is faith, right now, where you are, trust Him. His promise to you is glory, His glory. He is sovereign and glorious and He calls you to partake of His gloriousness by faith.
Now, I think two things need to be said to wrap up. First, God’s sovereign will never negates mans responsibility. Never! Again, think of the sufferings of Christ so clearly brought about and willed by God, yet the men that carried out the act are still guilty (Acts 2:23, John 19:11). “And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but to woe to that man by whom He is betrayed! (Luke 22:22)” God wills suffering in a righteous way that we do not understand but the men by whom that suffering is brought about are not therefore innocent, but guilty. Much like Job, the Sabeans and the Chaldeans stole his livestock and killed his children, they were guilty of doing what they did, but God was sovereign over it. God does not allow things contrary to His will but only according to His will, so even if we want to try and make God more passive in the action, yet, it could only be by His will in accordance with His will or it could not be at all. That is hard. We cannot grasp the fullness of it, but surely, our hope is wrapped up in it. But the main point to remember is that God’s sovereignty does not negate man’s responsibility.
And lastly, we have considered some of God’s purpose in suffering, and surely there are more, but I really only wrote from the perspective of the Christian, the one that has faith in Christ, that trusts in Jesus. What are we to make of suffering in the life of a non-believer? This is much harder and I fear quite long but I will again aim at brevity.
God tells us that all His ways towards man are to draw men to Himself in faith, so that is one purpose in suffering for the non-believer, that they would finally be brought to the end of themselves and to faith in their Creator and Sustainer and Redeemer. But a second purpose is put forth in scripture, and this is only true of non-believers, never believers, and that is suffering is a consequence to their sin, meant to harden them and to increase their condemnation. This is very hard for us to hear, it is very hard to say, but it is true. If your sufferings do not lead you to repentance (for that matter, if all the goodness in your life does not lead you to repentance) then they only tend to a greater condemnation. Romans 2:5, says, “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent (unrepentant) heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God…” What is a hard and impenitent heart? It is the same as being stiff necked (see previous post): unbelieving. The will of God is for you to turn from your sin and trust Him, have faith in Him, but sin hears this and feels violated, angry, indignant. “What gives God the right to demand this of me?” Everything! He is kind and gracious and patient, giving you opportunity to turn from yourself and sin (repent) and to turn to Him (faith). The wickedness does not rest with God but in man. For it is man that is in rebellion against God not God against man. It is when man is anti-Christ that Christ came and gave His life for man. “For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom 5:6-10).”
Suffering in the life of a believer is always brought about by a loving Father for the good of His children, always. Never will a true child of God suffer under God’s condemnation or wrath, never (Rom 8:1). In Christ, all of God’s ways towards His children are for their good and brought about in love (Heb 12:5-11). For the non-believer, until you believe the gospel, you are condemned already and the wrath of God weighs upon you (Rom 1:18-2:16; John 3:18-20). Believe and be saved.
I think for lengths sake, I will stop there. Much more could be said and needs to be said, but hopefully your aversion to suffering is halted and your joy in suffering increased and your confidence in your loving sovereign Father greater.
I am adding an appendix to this, “What is the Gospel?” I am hoping some are now asking that great question of life, “what must I do to be saved?”
Sunday, July 18, 2010
God's Will: Faith
God’s Will: Faith
The first thing that I want to consider is faith.
As soon as you mention “knowing God’s will,” people’s ears seem to perk up a little. “What does God want of me?” is the question that drives every religion. I wonder how many upon hearing the question asked suddenly have a list of questions that they want an answer to, “What job should I take? Who should I marry? Should I have kids? How much should I give? What church do I attend?” or for some the questions are much deeper, “How can God’s will allow suffering? How does God’s will involve my freedom of will? Can I change God’s will with prayer?” Though I am not going to answer every question, I hope that you will become equipped to answer them yourselves.
I want to make a very bold opening statement and hopefully by the time we are done it will be explained, the statement is: I know God’s will for your life. Is that shocking? I don’t think that it is or that it should be, for if we are to believe the Bible, then we have the full revelation of God’s will for our lives, even being “fully equipped for every good work (II Tim 3:16-17).” The first thing that we need to know about God’s will for us is that: no matter who you are, where you are, or what you are going through, God’s will is for you to trust Him. Faith is God’s will for your life. Simple. Understandable. Faith is what God desires of you, it is His will for you right now.
What do I mean by faith? Trust. God is trustworthy in every sense of the word. He alone is true (and Truth (John 14:6; 17:17)). He alone does not change (Mal 3:6). The whole of the Bible is extolling the excellencies of faith. Chapters like Hebrews 11 or Romans 4 or Ephesians 2 make it plain that faith is God’s will for us. Jesus even says that if we believe (that is have faith) we are not condemned but that if we do not believe (that is not have faith) we are condemned already (John 3:18). The great struggle in the Bible that we see played out is that the people of God do not believe, that they are stiff necked (Ex 32:9; 33:9; 34:9; Acts 7:51 continues the indictment as does Romans 9-11) and what is it to be stiff necked, Hebrews 3 illustrates this better then anywhere else in my opinion.
Hebrews 3 is a chapter encouraging belief (faith) in the One True God, and as a means of illustrating the need for faith, it illustrates the opposite of faith, that which we want to avoid. In verses 16-19, the author uses 4 terms interchangeably, showing why God was not pleased with Israel and why they would not enter His rest, a rest that is now available for us to enter into. I will italicize the words that I want you to hear the most,
“For who having heard, rebelled? Indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
The last line is the most shocking for it is the summary of the proceeding verses. Why is it that the Israelites could not enter into God’s promised rest? Rebellion, sin, disobedience, in a word, scripture’s word: unbelief. That is amazing to consider. Rebellion, sin, disobedience can all be summed up in the single word: unbelief. Believing, faith, is the heart of what God wants for us. Faith is God’s will for your life.
I want to consider for a moment why it is that we are to believe God. We could go about this any number of ways, I was considering just examining some of His attributes, His character, but have decided to look at one passage of scripture and open up what we learn of God from that passage.
Exodus 17 has been a favorite of mine for some time because it is one of the most awesome pictures of God I have seen. Verses 8-13 recount the battle of Israel with the Amalekites. Israel has been delivered from Egypt, and is now in the wilderness on their way to Mount Sinai, where they would receive the Ten Commandments. On their way through the wilderness they encounter the Amalekites, we are not told why the Amalekites want to fight, only that they do.
Exodus 17:8-13, “Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of that hill with the rod of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and His people with the edge of the sword.”
God is sovereign.
Think about what just tool place in this recounting of history. It is not a story for teaching purposes or for a moral, it is not allegorical or fictional, it is factual and historic, true. Men came out and fought with another with swords and weapons. Lives were lost, sons and brothers and husbands died. Wounds were attained. Limbs were surely lost, scars were made. Men came out and fought with every ounce of their being, for men fight no other way. There were no half hearted fighters. When a man charges you with a sword you neither walk away nor limply hold your shield. You fight for your life, even if that means running faster then you ever ran before, but surely, none were relaxing or just standing by. The battle was intense, it was hand to hand and sword to sword. It was real, it happened, we need to put ourselves there, and try to understand what these men saw on the battle field. The screaming, the blood, the death, the sorrow and pain, and finally the victory, the joy, the excitement. These men fought with everything that they had to fight with, and I do not think that they stopped to see if Moses still had his hand in the air. The last thing on their mind was Moses, their concern was Amalek. Put yourself there, on the battle field, imagine the sights, the sounds, even the smells. It was raw, it was real. And on that battle field all that mattered seemed to be the battle. But God is sovereign.
They fought with everything in them and yet, when Moses, safely removed from the threat of battle, became tired and began to lower his hand with the rod in it, suddenly all their fighting seemed to be as nothing. The tide turned, the men they were defeating were now defeating them. They had been prevailing since the beginning and they were still fighting as hard but now the Amalekites were fighting harder. They fought harder. Moses stretched forth his had and suddenly they prevailed again. Think of the confusion on the battle field. How were the tides changing so dramatically?
These men had wills. They were not puppets or shells, but people. Yet, God is sovereign. I see something in this story of the awful wonder of who God is. I marvel at His power and ways. Wars rage, yet the outcome never rests with the victor. God is all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, and in control of everything. What to us seems like the greatest battle, a fight that we must fight with every ounce of our being, ultimately rests with God. We no more control the outcome then those men on the battle field that day controlled the victory. God is sovereign.
God is not cruel or a ruthless dictator or an indifferent deity that scoffs at man and then destroys him, no, there is something much more wonderful and glorious than this. Yes, God is sovereign, and this we must never forget, for I am persuaded that His sovereignty rests at the foundation of our faith. Yes, God is love. And God is light. Yes, He also is gracious and merciful, just and righteous, even holy but what is the glue that holds it all together? Sovereignty. Love that is not sovereign in everyway and everything is an imperfect love, desiring only the best but unable to guarantee the best. It is merely human and weak and imperfect. Justice that cannot guarantee justice is no better then a human court, erring and lacking. Surely more could be said and should be said for not only is God’s love sovereign but His sovereignty is in love. For all of God’s attributes are essential to the character and essence of God, for if any were lacking He would cease to be God. If He were less then perfectly just or perfectly righteous or if His love were tainted and perverted as is ours or if His mercy compromised His justness then He would cease to be God, so all of His attributes are in perfect balance and harmony with one another, none greater or weaker, better or worse, but perfect in everyway and act and will. When He is merciful He is yet perfectly just (Rom 3:21-26). When gracious, yet always righteous. He is never any attribute to the exclusion of another, He is not pitted against Himself, willing good but bound to evil or vise versa. He was pleased to bruise Jesus for our iniquities, yet He was righteous, just, wrathful and merciful and full of love at the same moment. Is this beyond us? Absolutely, but it can be received by faith.
But what I desire you to see is that God is sovereign or perhaps a better way to say this is that God is God. Yet, let me show you something more of God.
Verse 18 concludes the battle saying, “So Joshua(!) defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” God is sovereign yet God calls us to himself. The battle was undecidedly turned by God (this was the lesson that He was trying to teach Israel, have faith) yet He, God, ascribes the victory to Joshua. Why? We learn later that Joshua was a man of great faith, He believed God, he trusted the revelation of God., even earning a place in the “Hall of Fame” Hebrews 11:30. God was pleased to ascribe the victory to Joshua for Joshua believed, he had faith in God. God is sovereign and calls us to Himself by faith, not that we should be destroyed or used, but glorified. Romans 8:30 makes it clear that “whom He calls…these He also glorifies.”
God is sovereign yet God calls us to Himself. From this we learn that God is merciful, kind, gracious, even loving. He is sovereign and needs nothing yet He chooses to be known by us, revealing Himself to us. Why? That He would be glorified, known as He is, trusted for who He is. Joshua trusted in the Lord, he had faith, and through that faith shared in the glory of God, even having God’s victory ascribe to him. And so too us, when we have faith (I John 4:4).
God is God and that is everything or should be everything if we understand the weight of that statement. To not trust Him is to cut off the branch upon which you sit. To trust Him is to know true life. As Jesus said, “He who believes has eternal life but to those who do not believe, they are condemned already.” Faith in God rests in the fact that God is God.
Who is God? He is the sovereign God of all creation, ruling every moment and molecule in perfection, revealing His glory to all of creation. He is the Beginning and the End. He is the One revealed in the Bible. Consider what it is that God is, His power, His might, His wisdom, His glory and perfections. Consider and tremble, for God is God. Yet, He calls us to Himself. Us, the wicked and depraved, the immoral and indifferent. We, the fallen creation, those in rebellion against their Creator. To us He calls, and what does He call out to us, but believe. Believe that He has sent Jesus, His only Son to rescue us from Satan, redeem us from the curse, and to ransom us to Himself. He calls out, “Believe and be saved! Trust Jesus for I have sent Him to save you from your sin and the wrath that is to come!” Faith does not make Jesus true or give Him His efficacy but faith acknowledges the truth of Jesus, it receives Who Jesus is. Faith does not make true but receives the truth. Faith in God says, “yes, You, Jesus, are God and I trust you .”
To not believe is to ascribe falsehood to God, it is to blaspheme His character. To not believe is to reject your Creator and Sustainer, it is not just a choice or preference, but an act of rebellion and hatred. Why could the Israelites not enter into the rest: unbelief. So with us, we have peace with God through faith in Jesus (Rom 5:1). But we have enmity with God without faith (Rom 8:7).
It is faith that is supremely pleasing to God (Heb 11:6). To have faith is to battle as did Joshua, sharing in the glory and victory of God, to not have faith is to be Amalek, that though he may have been the stronger or more prepared, yet, he fought in vain. God’s will for your life is faith. Whatever you are going through it is that you might learn to trust Jesus (Acts 17:26-31). God’s will right now, in your battle and struggle that you are facing is faith in Jesus.
I told you I knew God’s will for your life and I am sure that some are disappointed or feel that this was a cop out, that you are no better off, but if you will consider God, as revealed in scripture, and then consider your circumstances in light of God, you will see what is taking place. You are engaged in a battle (called life) and all that you can see is what is taking place around you, the battle, the life and death, the blood and carnage yet you have not turned to see the hill, to see Who is upon that hill, you have not yet considered Jesus in your battle, that what matters is not you or your fighting or reasoning or effort but all that matters is Jesus. You can hate this (because of your sin nature) or you can recognize the folly of fighting against God and submit to Him, place your trust in Him, not because you fully understand but because He is God.
He is calling you to trust Him, His will right now is that you would have faith in Christ in whatever circumstance you find yourself. He is patient and good, forbearing and longsuffering, not that you would despise Him, but that His goodness (mercy, grace, patience, kindness) would lead you to repentance (Rom 2:4).
Now, it might seem that this word is to no non-believers, to the lost, the non-Christian, but that would be a mistake. It is a word to the saved, the believer, the Christian, too. For what God wants of His adopted children is their faith in Him as a good, loving, kind Father, sovereign and powerful, able to deliver from all adversity, willing only their good, and that by faith we would rest in His acceptance of us by faith. His will for His children is that they would trust His love on the basis of the work of Jesus on their behalf and never their work on Jesus’ behalf. He wills that we would look at our pain and heartache and not see condemnation or wrath but only love, for it is only love for His children. He wills that we, like Paul, would so believe His love and word, that we too might sit in a jail cell and sing hymns not because it is an exercise in futility but because it makes sense if we believe God (Rom 12:1). When we are told not to worry about food or clothing it is not because worry is bad but because we need not worry. Worry is wrong because it is absent of faith. Singing in jail is not something that we need to manipulate but if we only believe the gospel we will be enabled to sing to God no matter the circumstance of life. Faith is what God desires, it is His will for you, trust Him.
And lastly, this as an after thought, when I say to believe the gospel, that does not only mean the content of 4 books or the New Testament only but the full revelation of God in the Bible, cover to cover. God is the gospel, and His word is the full revelation of His gospel. (I will return to this hopefully later. I think that it is a point that many miss and that may open the word more fully for some.)
I think that next we need to consider, 1) suffering as God’s will and then 2) the nature of saving faith, what it is to believe. Then we will return to 3) knowing God’s will as our response to who God is: faithfulness.
The first thing that I want to consider is faith.
As soon as you mention “knowing God’s will,” people’s ears seem to perk up a little. “What does God want of me?” is the question that drives every religion. I wonder how many upon hearing the question asked suddenly have a list of questions that they want an answer to, “What job should I take? Who should I marry? Should I have kids? How much should I give? What church do I attend?” or for some the questions are much deeper, “How can God’s will allow suffering? How does God’s will involve my freedom of will? Can I change God’s will with prayer?” Though I am not going to answer every question, I hope that you will become equipped to answer them yourselves.
I want to make a very bold opening statement and hopefully by the time we are done it will be explained, the statement is: I know God’s will for your life. Is that shocking? I don’t think that it is or that it should be, for if we are to believe the Bible, then we have the full revelation of God’s will for our lives, even being “fully equipped for every good work (II Tim 3:16-17).” The first thing that we need to know about God’s will for us is that: no matter who you are, where you are, or what you are going through, God’s will is for you to trust Him. Faith is God’s will for your life. Simple. Understandable. Faith is what God desires of you, it is His will for you right now.
What do I mean by faith? Trust. God is trustworthy in every sense of the word. He alone is true (and Truth (John 14:6; 17:17)). He alone does not change (Mal 3:6). The whole of the Bible is extolling the excellencies of faith. Chapters like Hebrews 11 or Romans 4 or Ephesians 2 make it plain that faith is God’s will for us. Jesus even says that if we believe (that is have faith) we are not condemned but that if we do not believe (that is not have faith) we are condemned already (John 3:18). The great struggle in the Bible that we see played out is that the people of God do not believe, that they are stiff necked (Ex 32:9; 33:9; 34:9; Acts 7:51 continues the indictment as does Romans 9-11) and what is it to be stiff necked, Hebrews 3 illustrates this better then anywhere else in my opinion.
Hebrews 3 is a chapter encouraging belief (faith) in the One True God, and as a means of illustrating the need for faith, it illustrates the opposite of faith, that which we want to avoid. In verses 16-19, the author uses 4 terms interchangeably, showing why God was not pleased with Israel and why they would not enter His rest, a rest that is now available for us to enter into. I will italicize the words that I want you to hear the most,
“For who having heard, rebelled? Indeed was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
The last line is the most shocking for it is the summary of the proceeding verses. Why is it that the Israelites could not enter into God’s promised rest? Rebellion, sin, disobedience, in a word, scripture’s word: unbelief. That is amazing to consider. Rebellion, sin, disobedience can all be summed up in the single word: unbelief. Believing, faith, is the heart of what God wants for us. Faith is God’s will for your life.
I want to consider for a moment why it is that we are to believe God. We could go about this any number of ways, I was considering just examining some of His attributes, His character, but have decided to look at one passage of scripture and open up what we learn of God from that passage.
Exodus 17 has been a favorite of mine for some time because it is one of the most awesome pictures of God I have seen. Verses 8-13 recount the battle of Israel with the Amalekites. Israel has been delivered from Egypt, and is now in the wilderness on their way to Mount Sinai, where they would receive the Ten Commandments. On their way through the wilderness they encounter the Amalekites, we are not told why the Amalekites want to fight, only that they do.
Exodus 17:8-13, “Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of that hill with the rod of God in my hand.’ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. So Joshua defeated Amalek and His people with the edge of the sword.”
God is sovereign.
Think about what just tool place in this recounting of history. It is not a story for teaching purposes or for a moral, it is not allegorical or fictional, it is factual and historic, true. Men came out and fought with another with swords and weapons. Lives were lost, sons and brothers and husbands died. Wounds were attained. Limbs were surely lost, scars were made. Men came out and fought with every ounce of their being, for men fight no other way. There were no half hearted fighters. When a man charges you with a sword you neither walk away nor limply hold your shield. You fight for your life, even if that means running faster then you ever ran before, but surely, none were relaxing or just standing by. The battle was intense, it was hand to hand and sword to sword. It was real, it happened, we need to put ourselves there, and try to understand what these men saw on the battle field. The screaming, the blood, the death, the sorrow and pain, and finally the victory, the joy, the excitement. These men fought with everything that they had to fight with, and I do not think that they stopped to see if Moses still had his hand in the air. The last thing on their mind was Moses, their concern was Amalek. Put yourself there, on the battle field, imagine the sights, the sounds, even the smells. It was raw, it was real. And on that battle field all that mattered seemed to be the battle. But God is sovereign.
They fought with everything in them and yet, when Moses, safely removed from the threat of battle, became tired and began to lower his hand with the rod in it, suddenly all their fighting seemed to be as nothing. The tide turned, the men they were defeating were now defeating them. They had been prevailing since the beginning and they were still fighting as hard but now the Amalekites were fighting harder. They fought harder. Moses stretched forth his had and suddenly they prevailed again. Think of the confusion on the battle field. How were the tides changing so dramatically?
These men had wills. They were not puppets or shells, but people. Yet, God is sovereign. I see something in this story of the awful wonder of who God is. I marvel at His power and ways. Wars rage, yet the outcome never rests with the victor. God is all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, and in control of everything. What to us seems like the greatest battle, a fight that we must fight with every ounce of our being, ultimately rests with God. We no more control the outcome then those men on the battle field that day controlled the victory. God is sovereign.
God is not cruel or a ruthless dictator or an indifferent deity that scoffs at man and then destroys him, no, there is something much more wonderful and glorious than this. Yes, God is sovereign, and this we must never forget, for I am persuaded that His sovereignty rests at the foundation of our faith. Yes, God is love. And God is light. Yes, He also is gracious and merciful, just and righteous, even holy but what is the glue that holds it all together? Sovereignty. Love that is not sovereign in everyway and everything is an imperfect love, desiring only the best but unable to guarantee the best. It is merely human and weak and imperfect. Justice that cannot guarantee justice is no better then a human court, erring and lacking. Surely more could be said and should be said for not only is God’s love sovereign but His sovereignty is in love. For all of God’s attributes are essential to the character and essence of God, for if any were lacking He would cease to be God. If He were less then perfectly just or perfectly righteous or if His love were tainted and perverted as is ours or if His mercy compromised His justness then He would cease to be God, so all of His attributes are in perfect balance and harmony with one another, none greater or weaker, better or worse, but perfect in everyway and act and will. When He is merciful He is yet perfectly just (Rom 3:21-26). When gracious, yet always righteous. He is never any attribute to the exclusion of another, He is not pitted against Himself, willing good but bound to evil or vise versa. He was pleased to bruise Jesus for our iniquities, yet He was righteous, just, wrathful and merciful and full of love at the same moment. Is this beyond us? Absolutely, but it can be received by faith.
But what I desire you to see is that God is sovereign or perhaps a better way to say this is that God is God. Yet, let me show you something more of God.
Verse 18 concludes the battle saying, “So Joshua(!) defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.” God is sovereign yet God calls us to himself. The battle was undecidedly turned by God (this was the lesson that He was trying to teach Israel, have faith) yet He, God, ascribes the victory to Joshua. Why? We learn later that Joshua was a man of great faith, He believed God, he trusted the revelation of God., even earning a place in the “Hall of Fame” Hebrews 11:30. God was pleased to ascribe the victory to Joshua for Joshua believed, he had faith in God. God is sovereign and calls us to Himself by faith, not that we should be destroyed or used, but glorified. Romans 8:30 makes it clear that “whom He calls…these He also glorifies.”
God is sovereign yet God calls us to Himself. From this we learn that God is merciful, kind, gracious, even loving. He is sovereign and needs nothing yet He chooses to be known by us, revealing Himself to us. Why? That He would be glorified, known as He is, trusted for who He is. Joshua trusted in the Lord, he had faith, and through that faith shared in the glory of God, even having God’s victory ascribe to him. And so too us, when we have faith (I John 4:4).
God is God and that is everything or should be everything if we understand the weight of that statement. To not trust Him is to cut off the branch upon which you sit. To trust Him is to know true life. As Jesus said, “He who believes has eternal life but to those who do not believe, they are condemned already.” Faith in God rests in the fact that God is God.
Who is God? He is the sovereign God of all creation, ruling every moment and molecule in perfection, revealing His glory to all of creation. He is the Beginning and the End. He is the One revealed in the Bible. Consider what it is that God is, His power, His might, His wisdom, His glory and perfections. Consider and tremble, for God is God. Yet, He calls us to Himself. Us, the wicked and depraved, the immoral and indifferent. We, the fallen creation, those in rebellion against their Creator. To us He calls, and what does He call out to us, but believe. Believe that He has sent Jesus, His only Son to rescue us from Satan, redeem us from the curse, and to ransom us to Himself. He calls out, “Believe and be saved! Trust Jesus for I have sent Him to save you from your sin and the wrath that is to come!” Faith does not make Jesus true or give Him His efficacy but faith acknowledges the truth of Jesus, it receives Who Jesus is. Faith does not make true but receives the truth. Faith in God says, “yes, You, Jesus, are God and I trust you .”
To not believe is to ascribe falsehood to God, it is to blaspheme His character. To not believe is to reject your Creator and Sustainer, it is not just a choice or preference, but an act of rebellion and hatred. Why could the Israelites not enter into the rest: unbelief. So with us, we have peace with God through faith in Jesus (Rom 5:1). But we have enmity with God without faith (Rom 8:7).
It is faith that is supremely pleasing to God (Heb 11:6). To have faith is to battle as did Joshua, sharing in the glory and victory of God, to not have faith is to be Amalek, that though he may have been the stronger or more prepared, yet, he fought in vain. God’s will for your life is faith. Whatever you are going through it is that you might learn to trust Jesus (Acts 17:26-31). God’s will right now, in your battle and struggle that you are facing is faith in Jesus.
I told you I knew God’s will for your life and I am sure that some are disappointed or feel that this was a cop out, that you are no better off, but if you will consider God, as revealed in scripture, and then consider your circumstances in light of God, you will see what is taking place. You are engaged in a battle (called life) and all that you can see is what is taking place around you, the battle, the life and death, the blood and carnage yet you have not turned to see the hill, to see Who is upon that hill, you have not yet considered Jesus in your battle, that what matters is not you or your fighting or reasoning or effort but all that matters is Jesus. You can hate this (because of your sin nature) or you can recognize the folly of fighting against God and submit to Him, place your trust in Him, not because you fully understand but because He is God.
He is calling you to trust Him, His will right now is that you would have faith in Christ in whatever circumstance you find yourself. He is patient and good, forbearing and longsuffering, not that you would despise Him, but that His goodness (mercy, grace, patience, kindness) would lead you to repentance (Rom 2:4).
Now, it might seem that this word is to no non-believers, to the lost, the non-Christian, but that would be a mistake. It is a word to the saved, the believer, the Christian, too. For what God wants of His adopted children is their faith in Him as a good, loving, kind Father, sovereign and powerful, able to deliver from all adversity, willing only their good, and that by faith we would rest in His acceptance of us by faith. His will for His children is that they would trust His love on the basis of the work of Jesus on their behalf and never their work on Jesus’ behalf. He wills that we would look at our pain and heartache and not see condemnation or wrath but only love, for it is only love for His children. He wills that we, like Paul, would so believe His love and word, that we too might sit in a jail cell and sing hymns not because it is an exercise in futility but because it makes sense if we believe God (Rom 12:1). When we are told not to worry about food or clothing it is not because worry is bad but because we need not worry. Worry is wrong because it is absent of faith. Singing in jail is not something that we need to manipulate but if we only believe the gospel we will be enabled to sing to God no matter the circumstance of life. Faith is what God desires, it is His will for you, trust Him.
And lastly, this as an after thought, when I say to believe the gospel, that does not only mean the content of 4 books or the New Testament only but the full revelation of God in the Bible, cover to cover. God is the gospel, and His word is the full revelation of His gospel. (I will return to this hopefully later. I think that it is a point that many miss and that may open the word more fully for some.)
I think that next we need to consider, 1) suffering as God’s will and then 2) the nature of saving faith, what it is to believe. Then we will return to 3) knowing God’s will as our response to who God is: faithfulness.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
God's will
This is the first post of several, not sure of how many (or few for that matter). I want to try and answer that age old question that everyone seems to ask, “What is God’s will for my life?” It is a great question and I am hoping to appeal to more people then just Christians in my answer. For surely, the question, “what is God’s will,” is far more then just a Christian question, in fact, I am quite certain that it is a universal question. Since it is universal in scope I am hoping that a few non-Christians will take interest in this series. I hope that in answering the question, it may remove some of the barriers and hindrances that keep people from believing in the God of the Bible, namely Jesus Christ. So the scope of this writing will be evangelical and Christian, with no shame.
I will rest my authority and answers on scripture and not much else, for, only so far as I am faithful to scripture can I be right in my answer. I cannot, nor do I, pretend to have the answer in myself and my understanding, it is, after all a question that I have (and do) wrestle with myself. My only confidence in answering the question will be the confidence of the accuracy, inerrancy and perfection of God’s word, the Bible. I hope that my writing will be saturated in scripture and I hope that does not turn you off from reading. I am being honest about my motives and intentions, I do have an agenda, and that agenda is that men, you and me included, would be drawn to Jesus. Still reading? Good.
The first post will be on the calling to faith. The second post will be on faithfulness. These are two separate things but inseparable. I will start with the calling to faith or to believe, for this must surely come before faithfulness, faithfulness being the outworking of faith and since faith proceeds faithfulness we will start there. Hopefully, over the next week I will have it written and posted. I want to tackle at some point in this series, “suffering,” for how can one explore the will of God without tackling the question of suffering and difficulty.
Well, that pretty much sets up the context of what I want to cover. Thanks for reading, looking forward to exploring this with you.
I will rest my authority and answers on scripture and not much else, for, only so far as I am faithful to scripture can I be right in my answer. I cannot, nor do I, pretend to have the answer in myself and my understanding, it is, after all a question that I have (and do) wrestle with myself. My only confidence in answering the question will be the confidence of the accuracy, inerrancy and perfection of God’s word, the Bible. I hope that my writing will be saturated in scripture and I hope that does not turn you off from reading. I am being honest about my motives and intentions, I do have an agenda, and that agenda is that men, you and me included, would be drawn to Jesus. Still reading? Good.
The first post will be on the calling to faith. The second post will be on faithfulness. These are two separate things but inseparable. I will start with the calling to faith or to believe, for this must surely come before faithfulness, faithfulness being the outworking of faith and since faith proceeds faithfulness we will start there. Hopefully, over the next week I will have it written and posted. I want to tackle at some point in this series, “suffering,” for how can one explore the will of God without tackling the question of suffering and difficulty.
Well, that pretty much sets up the context of what I want to cover. Thanks for reading, looking forward to exploring this with you.
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