Yep

Thanks Tim.

On Misunderstanding God's Sovereignty and the Resulting Loss of Hope

Most Christ-followers believe that God is sovereign. I know I do, and I imagine you do as well.

How we define and understand the sovereignty of God are important. If we make an error in this it can lead to a deep sense of hopelessness.

God is indeed sovereign. The Bible shows us that God controls all things. Nothing happens that is outside his divine omnipotence. This wonderful truth ought to give us both hope and peace. It would be an awful and terrifying thing to think of something beyond God's control. If that could happen, then God would not in fact be God at all.

It is easy to cherish the sovereignty of God when things are generally going well in our lives. However, when the trials come (problems related to family, job, money, etc.) doubts may begin to creep in. This is where the danger exists. If we define God's sovereignty as God answering our prayers in the way we want him to, then we are in trouble. This is because God knows much better than we do what we need. We generally desire for God to take away various unpleasant things in our lives. After all, we like comfort. God, however, often uses discomfort to both train us and draw us closer to him.

When God answers differently from what we ask for this does not mean that he has failed to be sovereign. He cannot do that because his sovereignty is one of his unchanging attributes. God applies his sovereignty according to his omniscience. He knows all things, including what is best for us. We are the ones who fail to fully understand how God works out his sovereignty in our lives for his glory. While he may apply it one way, we sometimes think that bad things that happen to us mean God failed in his sovereignty. We are incorrect.

In Romans 8:28 we read, "And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose." God works to bring about what we need, not necessarily what we want. We must not make the mistake of over applying God's sovereignty to areas of our lives in such a way that limits God; we must avoid putting God in a box. More specifically, we have to avoid thinking, "God has to answer my prayer in such-and-such a way or he is not sovereign after all." That simply shows ignorance on our part.

God is fully sovereign. He will act according to his perfect character, will, and goodness. When he responds to our prayers in ways we do not like, let's not fall into hopelessness. God has not abandoned us. Rather, he is helping our sanctification process.

God's sovereignty is a reason for great hope. Let's avoid defining and comprehending that sovereignty in ways that God has not.

Difficult to Reconcile: Sovereign God & Impotent Church

I am a big believer in the sovereignty of God over all of life. I believe the bible teaches about a God who is actively engaged with every nuance of what occurs in his universe. He created it, and he sustains it. Paul described this during his speech in Athens in Acts 17:24-25, "The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything."

God made humanity in such a way that we are responsible for our actions (we are not pre-programmed robots). What we do each day has real consequences. For example, if I choose to run a red light, there's a good chance I will get a much-deserved ticket.

In a way that is at least somewhat difficult for most of us to understand (myself included), God's sovereignty goes hand-in-hand with man's responsibility. This is the manner in which God designed it. These two truths may seem like opposites to us, but they are not. The fault is with our limited minds, not with God's design.

Sometimes God overrides man's plans with his own sovereign goals. Actually, this happens all the time, but we likely are not aware of it. When we look in the bible we see it again and again. For example, Abraham tried to come up with his own offspring (Ishmael), but God intervened with Isaac. Later, Pharaoh attempted to kill the Hebrews, but God freed them and then drowned the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. King Saul attempted to murder David repeatedly, but God stopped him every time. Later, the Babylonians took most of the Israelites away from Jerusalem and into captivity. God intervened by using the Persians of all people to enable the restoration of the temple.

In God's ultimate act of sovereignty, he directed the execution of his son to bring about salvation for humanity. While the religious leaders just wanted Jesus dead (as did Satan), the Father directed the actions to bring about redemption for his people. God was ultimately in charge. Peter said the following at Pentecost in Acts 2:23-24, "...this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it."

God is sovereign.

In light of his sovereignty I have trouble in my mind reconciling the impotency of his church. I'm referring specifically here to today's church in the West. Due in large part to man's traditions, the church does little more today than perpetuate itself (and it's not even very good at that). The entrenched professional pastors, worship services, and expensive church buildings have done much to stifle the vibrancy and life of the saved. Each Sunday millions of Christians attend a religious ceremony (or two) in order to hear a religious expert give a lecture. Most of these believers see this as the most important part of their religious week. Ugh.

Quite honestly, I just don't understand it. Why would sovereign God allow his church to become so impotent? Part of the answer to this question certainly has to do with man's responsibility for his own actions. We know, for example, that the church in Laodicea had all sorts of problems. And yet, God has a history of overriding man's sinfulness to accomplish his own goals and desires. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus says, "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."

Despite this, it often seems like the "gates of hell" are prevailing against the church. I have a deep desire to see a church here in the West that stands for truth, loves the poor and needy, shares the gospel unashamedly, and lives holy lives that stand out to the world. Instead we see a church that looks largely like the world and generally does little of significance.

Why would God allow this to happen? I do not understand.

Pendulum Swinging on God's Sovereignty

God's sovereignty is a wonderful thing. It would be horrid if God didn't have control over His own universe. In fact, if He did not He wouldn't be God at all. As far as I know, all Christians take comfort in God's omnipotence.

That being said, Christians have managed to find various ways to argue over this doctrine again and again and again. I've been part of that argument in the past and have been all over the place on the issue. You may have as well.

I was raised in a Wesleyan church in western New York State. I recall fondly discussions of how great God is, how wonderful God is, and how we can trust Him to care for us. However, when it came to salvation it was basically all in my hands. God was waiting for me, of my own free will, to select Him. God was portrayed as a sort of cosmic cheerleader, hoping I would surrender to His Lordship. It was completely up to me.

Many years later, after moving to Georgia and joining a Southern Baptist Church, I went to seminary. While there I swung on the theological pendulum all the way over to the other side. I became firmly entrenched in the Calvinism camp. Somewhat interestingly, this did not occur because of any of my seminary classes. Rather, a few friends of mine leaned in that direction. Upon their suggestion I began reading authors like John Piper and R.C. Sproul. The rest was history. God selected some, didn't select others, and that was it.

In the years since that time I've mellowed. As for the theological pendulum, I've swung back somewhere near the middle. While I believe God is sovereign over salvation, I also believe that each individual has a real responsibility to repent and believe. This is a real choice. It matters. While we do not have complete freedom of the will (how can a sinful person have that?), we also are not robotic in nature. Upon hearing the gospel message, we have what amounts to a real, true choice between God and the world.

As for daily living, I cherish God's care over life. He is active. He is involved. However, He also allows things to happen. What we do impacts the world for better or worse. God controls from behind the scenes, but we are real participants in what occurs in our lives - and the lives of others.

This is an important issue. We should all think it through. However, we should not allow this to divide us as followers of Christ. Sadly, this has through the years been extremely divisive doctrinally. Whole denominations have formed over the issue. Sometimes the opposing sides actually call the salvation of the other into question. This must stop!

I firmly believe that God cares much more about the unity of His body than He does about whether or not any of us knows exactly how sovereign He is. I don't know where you are on the pendulum related to sovereignty/free will. However, I do want us to be united. That is of first importance.

50 Years Later - J.F.K.

President John F. Kennedy was assassinated fifty years ago tomorrow. It was a defining day for many people of that generation. I, however, don't remember where I was when the shooting occurred. That's because I wasn't born until seven years later. I'm told that for many people this assassination marked a loss of innocence for our country. It certainly was the first tragedy in a decade full of them for this nation.

Two events stand out in my lifetime as "you-remember-where-you-were-when-you-heard-about-it" moments. In 1986 I was standing in the hallway of my high school when someone told me that the Space Shuttle Challenger had blown up on takeoff. As a ninth grader it was difficult to believe.

Fast forward fifteen years to a day almost all of us remember - September 11, 2001. I was working as a school psychologist in a public school system here in Georgia at the time. Someone opened my office door and told me that some terrorists had flown planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon. We quickly set up some TV's in the main school office. I remember watching live coverage as the towers collapsed. It was surreal.

When terrible things like this occur it leaves people asking for answers. Secular society tries to come up with reasons to feel better. The false answers usually amount to something like, "We can do it if we stick together!" That's what all the USA Pride bumper stickers amounted to after 9/11.

By the grace of God, we know the only answer that has any substance when these national tragedies occur. This answer is not just a fact; the answer is a person: Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus and his gospel are the only real hope this world has. As his followers, we have been exceedingly blessed to know Who carries us during dark times.

Every fifteen to twenty-five years something absolutely terrible happens in this country. My guess is that before too long something else will happen. I'm not fatalistic about it. I know God is in control. However, because we live in a fallen, sin-ravaged world, terrible things happen. We don't know when or what will occur, but we can be fairly certain it will. The challenge for us as Jesus-followers is to be ready to give an answer when the time comes.

On God’s Total Sovereignty

A couple of years ago I put together the following series of biblical passages which illustrate the total sovereignty of God. These sorts of verses give me great comfort whenever I feel as if life is spinning out of control. Praise be to God for his direction of all things!

Genesis 50:18-20: Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 “But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Job 2:7-10: So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. 9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Psalm 139:13-16: For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. 14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

Isaiah 45:5-7: I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, 6 that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; 7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.'

Isaiah 46:9-10: Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, 10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.’

Acts 2:22-24: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know -- 23 “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 “whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”

Acts 4:27-28: “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.”

Romans 8:28-30: And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Holy Spirit Control

Confession time: I am sort of a control-freak. I don't have to work at it; rather it comes quite naturally. I'm generally pleased in any situation as long as I think I know what is going to happen, when it will happen, and how it will happen.

I've realized that I have been thinking this way even during our church family gatherings. Yesterday as we came together, we began by singing some songs, reading scripture, and praying.  I was comfortable because I could have predicted this. Then something happened that was unexpected (at least for me).

"To Die is Gain: The Triumph of John and Betty Stam"

I love biographies of missionaries. It is exciting to see the way God moves in various places all around the world. When we read of missionaries, we see God using regular people to do amazing things through His grace for His kingdom.

I just finished reading another inspiring book about missionaries. To Die is Gain: The Triumph of John and Betty Stam is a gripping tale of a young couple who gave their lives in martyrdom for Christ.

While in their late 20's, the Stams moved to rural China - with China Inland Mission - to share the gospel with the millions of lost there. Despite the dangers of both bandits and communists, they went where it wasn't safe to go. The Stams were willing to do this even though they had an infant girl (Helen).

In God's grand plan, communist revolutionaries suddenly took over the town where they were living in 1934. After a couple of days in captivity, the Stams were marched to a hillside and beheaded.

In God's amazing providence, Helen was spared. Some brave Chinese Christians found Helen and smuggled her over 100 miles to safety.

I encourage you to read this book because it reminds us of what God will do with people completely given over to Him. Both John and Betty abandoned the cares of the world to follow Christ wherever He would lead them.

One of the fascinating aspects of this little book (about 130 pages) is that it contains copies of much original correspondence from both John and Betty to their families and friends. We get to know them both through these original writings.

This book has been through over 30 editions since 1935. In light of that, it seems that it would be easy to find. Unfortunately, I think I purchased one of the last reasonably priced copies from Amazon.com.

It's worth the search. I encourage you to look for it and buy it. Another option is to check your local library. With so many editions, there is a good chance the library has it.

To read about the Stams without getting this book, click here.

Voddie Baucham Asks the Right Question

I love this video from a few years back:

Savannah is Due

This says Savannah is due for a hurricane. I'm glad God controls the weather.

Thrilled to Be in God's Hands

I'm relieved the world doesn't look like this:

I'm thrilled the world does look like this:

Hebrews 1:3 says, "...who (Jesus Christ) being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (emphasis added)

Visiting India After the Tsunami

In God's providence, Alice and I visited India just a few days after the tsunami of December 26, 2004. We traveled to the city of Jaipur (located in northwestern India) as part of a group mission trip with my seminary. The purpose of the trip was for us to see another culture, share the gospel, prayer-walk, and distribute Christian literature. For the two of us in particular, we hoped that God would use the trip to tell us whether or not to serve Him in India (He did). We spent about two weeks in the city and surrounding area.

Since the tsunami had hit the southeastern coast of India just a few days prior to our arrival, it was heavy on the people's minds. Although Jaipur is located several hundred miles from the sites of devastation, most of the city-dwellers had at least heard about the massive loss of life.

The tsunami, as terrible as it was, provided us with a starting point for discussion. As we walked the city, we engaged in conversations with people of all types. Fortunately for us, because India was a British colony, many of the people spoke English. We were eager to talk with them, and they were intrigued by these white foreigners. Because religion is such a dominant aspect of life in India, it was easy to get to that topic.

In discussing the tsunami, we (Indians and Americans) could all easily agree that it was a tragic thing. Interestingly, when asked to explain the tsunami, the Indians we talked to had no answer. Most were Hindus, but some were Muslims. Regardless, they had no good way of dealing with this tragedy. This allowed us to share with them about the God of the bible. Most were interested to hear about the all-powerful God of the universe who sent His Son to save men.

I cannot say that the Indians we talked to were lining up to hear more about the gospel. However, I believe we did honor God by sharing Christ. Who knows? Maybe God will eventually use that to save many residents of Jaipur.

I know this: God used the 2004 tsunami to give us an open door for conversation with lost people. I praise Him for that.

Sovereignty and Responsibility in Two Verses

I've heard people say that if God is sovereign over salvation, then man cannot have real responsibility to come to God. In reverse, others have said that since man has clear biblical responsibility to turn to God, therefore, God cannot be sovereign over salvation.

The above claims, however, do not stem from the teachings of scripture. Instead, they come from what some people believe "makes sense." These people see the issues of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility as mutually exclusive. In other words, if one is true then the other cannot be.

As I've been studying to preach on Matthew chapter 11 this coming Sunday, I came across two verses, which fall back-to-back in the same conversation, where Jesus first discusses His sovereignty over salvation and then gives the gospel call to all people (illustrating clearly man's responsibility).

The passage in context comes from Matthew 11:25-30 (with the key verses in bold font): At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

We can see in 11:27 that the Son (Jesus) chooses to reveal the Father to whomever He chooses. This language demonstrates God's complete sovereignty over salvation. The language is just about as clear as it can be.

In the next verse (11:28), we read Jesus call everyone around Himself to come to Him. This call is directed to all people. It shows that all have the responsibility to turn to Christ in repentance and faith.

These two verses are extremely significant because they fall back-to-back, they are spoken by the same person, and they occur within the same context. Based on these two verses alone, we can see that both God is sovereign over salvation and man is fully responsible to believe. These truths are, therefore, not mutually exclusive. We must embrace them as true even if they do not "make sense" to us.