Life, Love, Faith, Reviews, Whatever comes to Mind to write about.
"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" - John Piper, Desiring God.
We are currently working through 1 Corinthians in our Sunday Sermon series at church and last Sunday we hit 1 Corinthians 12:10-11. You can listen HERE.
10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
The focus was working miracles and distinguishing between spirits and then on v11. Prophecy and tongues etc will be dealt with in a different sermon later in the series. We also had a lively debate, last night, in our small group. This is not uncommon when the spiritual gifts are being discussed.
(Please note the dove picture representing the Holy Spirit is posted slightly tongue in cheek)
Where do I stand on Spiritual Gifts?
For the record I will lay out where I stand on what are often called ‘The Charismatic Gifts’. That is the supernatural gifts given in scripture by The Holy Spirit:
I believe the gifts of the spirit are for today and did not cease at the end of the Apostolic age. Therefore I am NOT a Cessasionist at all. The best term to use would be ‘Reformed Charismatic’.
I believe God can and indeed does heal people today and know people who have been miraculously healed.
I believe in prophecy (as in words of knowledge from God about others as well as words from God including pictures etc.. Also words for specific people or the church that are from God about what God wants to do in the future. By way of some examples) I have operated in these gifts myself. NB: With the Caveat the prophecy is always subject to Scripture and is in NO way equivalent to it!
I believe speaking in tongues is valid, as is interpretation of tongues. I however do not speak in tongues myself.
There are many other gifts mentioned in scripture and I do not have any issues with them being a normal part of the Christian life and experience.
The greatest spiritual gift is the gift of Regeneration of the unbeliever to being a believer. The creation of a new Christian life. The must surely be the greatest miracle of them all!
I became a Christian at 18 and have always attended churches where the spiritual gifts were practiced. It has always been part of my Christian experience. I was witness first hand to what became known as ‘The Toronto Blessing’ (look it up). I have seen some pretty whacky stuff over the years it has to be said.
With that being said why did I find Sundays sermon challenging? I’ll come on to that!
On one hand we have the above on the other, I am a self confessed cynic . I very rarely just accept what people tell me without question. If people claim to have been healed I want proof. Very often one must just accept the word of the person and trust their integrity. However I do sometimes wonder why God does not heal more obvious problems rather than the obligatory back ache, arm ache, head ache’s etc… All those are great and fantastic to be healed from. I suffer back problems and would love to not have to worry about it recurring again. We do have testimonies of more obvious physical symptoms being healed. Like legs growing, backs straightening, the deaf hearing. Those I get more excited over as they baffle doctors and are clear undeniable miracles. In my previous Church in Crawley there was a wheelchair bound lady with ME and other disabilities, dependant on medical and financial help, who had been in her chair for years. One night she was healed and to this day I believe is now walking about. A walking talking miracle! So I am constantly in this tension between cynic vs believer. It is certainly not a helpful place to be and is often lack of faith or just plain unbelief on my part.
I certainly have issues with some of the more wacky things people are claiming and much of this comes from Bethel mania among others, see below. Gold dust and Angel feathers for example just say to me distraction from God rather than glorifying God which ultimately all spiritual gifts must do. I know the bible does not list in exhaustive detail all spiritual gifts or miracles but I find such things unhelpful.
So what was so challenging in Sundays message? The following passage was cited:
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil. 1 Thessalonians 5:16–22 (ESV)
Now v21 is often used as a defence against some of the more out there spiritual manifestations and rightly so. However preceding it is v19. We are often in danger of quenching the spirit when we throw out everything, if we detect even one thing that may set off our alarm bells. I find this is exactly what I do. As soon as I detect the slightest hint of theology that I would consider ‘off’ then I switch off.
My biggest example of this is in the case of Bill Johnson from Bethel Church in Redding California. Now there seems to be little doubt that God is moving spiritually in that church in some amazing and miraculous ways. The long list of testimonies of healing is amazing. However I cannot listen to Bill Johnson preach. I have tried and cannot get through an entire ‘sermon’ of his without being very annoyed by it. I certainly have theological differences with him and with his use of scripture and these create a huge barrier. Yet God is using him in ways that are undeniably amazing.
Main two Tension Points!
What I massively struggle with is the tension between the fully realised Kingdom of God in the new creation of Jesus return and the now, cursed fallen world that God’s kingdom breaks into occasionally. The already and not yet of the Kingdom. How much can we expect of the miraculous in this age?
The other is the line between how much a part faith plays vs the absolute sovereignty of God. V11 of 1 Corinthians 12 says:
All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
The spirit decides who gets what, when, where and how much.
Conclusion
So on the one hand we MUST ‘test everything’ as I believe there is much counterfeit faux spirituality out there within the Christian church. One example of which I heard recently was an event where the preacher/teacher didn’t once open his bible and it was all about the ‘experience’. Run away, run a mile and don’t look back at that sort of thing. If Gods word is not taught and supporting what is experienced or lip sevice is paid to the word then at least question what you are seeing. Be a Berean (Acts 17:10-11)!
Yet on the other hand we must NOT let our own prejudices and fears of the supernatural ‘quench’ what God is doing even through people I may disagree with theologically. I need to be open to God using me for the miraculous. I need more faith to be honest as I struggle to believe supernatural things will happen when I pray. My struggle with the tension points mentioned above often causes me to choose safe faith over stepping out and taking risks. I must learn to be humble realising how little I understand and trust God always that whatever happens He is Sovereign and works all things together for Good (Romans 8:28).
I was reading 1 Corinthians 12 today and a few things jumped out at me:
29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30 Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? 31 But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.
http://esv.to/1Cor12.29-31
No is the answer to those statements. Not everyone gets each gift since all gifts are given according to Gods sovereign will (see v18).
We are to seek the higher gifts that build up the body of Christ!
The issue Paul is dealing with here and one that is still quite prevalent in the Charismatic church is the gift of tongues or rather it's over emphasis. Clearly from this text not everyone has the gift. The higher gifts are those that build up the body. Since tongues is largely a personal gift unless brought publicly with interpretation it should not be considered a higher gift here.
Paul of course then goes on to explain that ALL of them without a spirit of Love motivating their use are worthless and that is the most important issue to consider.
It is so easy for us to get carried away with certain gifts we see as more important that it can make people with less obvious gifts feel second rate. This chapter 12 stands against that and we should always check ourselves against both chapters 12 & 13 regularly to see if we are in line with scripture.
Most of all remember that it is God we seek first and foremost not His gifts. God is our ultimate treasure to be sought after!
Ok, I know that is a provocative Title and of course it is intended to be ;-). Last week I attended an evening where a well-ish known Christian was speaking, who has a ‘Healing Ministry’. This was the second of Two evenings put on by a local church.
Firstly this Blog post is not meant in any way to personally criticise a fellow brother in Christ. This is simply me trying to work my faith out and when I come up against something that I find a contradiction I need to get my head round it.
The evening consisted of a singing time of Worship. Then a ‘talk’ followed eventually by what I am going to call ‘doing the stuff’. Sadly just as the ‘doing the stuff’ started I had to leave, as it was 9:40 and the car park I was in shuts at 10:00, but I digress. The ‘talk’ consisted of stories where this person had been used by God in various situations for miraculous healing of others, interspersed with ‘teaching’ from the Bible. Herein lies the issue. It is good to hear stories of God healing people as this builds faith and that is not where I had a problem. It was the ‘teaching’ that was brought that I was, to put it mildly, astonished to hear.
There was one important thing that the person said that I totally agreed with. That when praying for healing you don’t have to tell God what to heal and you don’t need to convince God to do so by many words. A simple ‘be healed in the name of Jesus’ is all that is needed, the rest is up to God. This is largely what Jesus did and what the Bible records the Apostles doing. Great we can agree on that! The whole issue of how ones faith interacts with God’s sovereignty and the resulting healing or lack thereof is another issue entirely. I am not going to go into that here as I don’t have any semblance of a coherent understanding of it theologically.
However apart from that one point, what was taught as being from scripture seemed to me wrong on so many levels and I have not heard a mangling of scripture like that in quite a while. However what is clear is that after I left there were several medically verifiable miraculous healings that I am certainly not going to credit to any power apart from God Himself.
So what do you do with that? Clearly incorrect biblical interpretation yet God powerfully using this person in the area of healing. My approach to these things is always to measure anything I see by the plumb line of scripture. Or be a Berean (Acts 17:10-11). For me if I don’t see it in scripture at least in principal then I do not accept it. I absolutely, 100% believe that God can and does heal today miraculously, I have seen it.
My theological view point is most definitely Reformed and I truly believe it most accurately reflects what scripture teaches. But clinging so close to the importance of right doctrine can have the effect of quenching the spirit. This is possibly why churches that hold to reformed doctrine tend to be very conservative and not actively move in the power of the spirit. New Frontiers churches seem to be fairly unique in this area. NFI is rooted in Reformed doctrine yet is clearly charismatic in its expression of the gifts and power of the Holy Spirit.
I totally believe in the absolute sovereignty of God. I totally believe that the gifts through the Holy Spirit seen in the New Testament are for today's church in whatever measure God sees fit to pour out and on whomever He desires. I would even go as far to say that holding a reformed view of scripture does not contradict or stand against the active gifts of Holy Spirit in healing, prophecy, tongues etc.. and actually supports it. It is the holding to certain traditions, viewpoints or teachings of the Reformed Giants of the faith so tight that possibly quenches the spirit.
Therefore whilst I may disagree with much of the teaching and emphasis that comes out of the likes of Bill Johnsons ministry at Bethel Church who this person speaking was certainly related, God is clearly using the ministry to perform amazingly miraculous healings. So I give God the Glory for that!
So where does this leave us? Someone wiser than myself offered these points:
Miracles only endorse the power of God not the man.
Miracles only endorse the power of God not the mans teaching.
Miracles only endorse the power of God not the mans life or lifestyle.
All I can say again is that God is sovereign and who am I to question who He chooses to use as part of His divine redemptive plan. I will continue to hold to the closed handed issues that the Bible is very clear on and I will endeavour to passionately seek and treasure God alone as my ultimate and only source of true joy and only way to salvation. I most definitely want to have a far deeper experience of knowing God more intimately and being open to the working of the Holy Spirit in as yet unimaginable ways, but without throwing my intellect and brain out the window. I repeat we must always measure any and all spiritual experience we may have against the unmoveable benchmark of Gods word. Let none of us, whatever doctrinal position or tradition we hail from, just believe what we have seen or heard without testing the spirits (1 John 4:1-3) and examining the scriptures daily (Acts 17:11).
I know I have only scratched the surface of what it means to be a follower of Jesus and I pray we never become satisfied with where we are in all God has for us and all He wants to do through us. Let us remain humble, bearing with one another in Love (Ephesians 4:2) while we work out our salvation with fear and trembling (Phil 2:12-13).
The question of what we treasure most in this life is probably the single most important question that any person can ask! What/who is the person, object or activity that for you is the most important thing in your life?
This is another post prompted by my reading of John Piper’s Desiring God. He refers to Matthew 13:44 at one point and that verse stuck with me:
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding a one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
I include verse 45 and 46 as it also makes the same point that struck and challenged me. I have heard and read that verse many times over the years but the full meaning of it has never really jumped out at me before. What is Jesus saying here? What is this kingdom of heaven that he is referring to? Why should it be our ultimate treasure that we would give up everything else to gain it?
So what is the Kingdom of Heaven that Jesus is referring to here? As I would understand it the Kingdom of Heaven is where the King resides. A desire for the Kingdom here is not a desire to just live there and enjoy the benefits, but a desire to be with the King himself. The Treasure therefore in the Kingdom is intimate fellowship with God in Christ. The thing that is worth giving up everything else in the the world for to have that treasure is Christ Himself. Not His gifts, blessings or any of the other benefits lavished on us by God, but Christ alone.
Paul put it brilliantly in Philippians 3:7-11:
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
The translation in the King James of ‘rubbish’ in verse 8 is ‘dung’. This to me is a more powerful image of the comparison between what he has gained in Christ to what he had before.
But going back to Jesus’ words. Notice another word used here describing the way in which the man sells all that he has in order to gain the treasure. In ‘Joy’ he does it. I had never noticed that word before. Or rather it had never jumped out at me. To gain Christ is a Joy. Not only that, I would suggest the greatest Joy any human can ever know. The joy of fellowship, relationship, intimacy and being fully known by our wonderful Creator God is comparable to nothing else. It was what we were created for and is what was broken by the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. From then on we settled for treasure that was under our control. Our thirsts and desires became corrupted. Instead of desiring intimacy with God as our greatest source of pleasure, joy and satisfaction we turn to created things to satisfy that longing for what only God can provide. Be it sex, money, power, recognition, relationships, kids, drugs, pornography, alcohol, religion. Whatever becomes the central thing in our lives that fills that gap.
The trouble is these are dung. Some in and of themselves are not sinful. It is not wrong to want friendship, to do well at work, to have a happy marriage etc… but when those things become primary or pre-eminent then they have become idols. Something created in the place of God the creator. This is a bad thing indeed and far more insidious than many realise. Satan's greatest achievement is to get us to worship and idolise anything apart from God. That is the root of Sin in our lives, idolatry!
Our desires have become so corrupted and weak that we no longer desire God. Our thinking has become foolish Jeremiah 4:22, Jeremiah 5:21 and Romans 1:21:
For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Also Psalm 14:3
They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
So left in our sinful states we will never seek God for satisfaction. We in fact are incapable of doing so since we are in darkness because of Sin and actually prefer to stay that way given the choice.
John 3:18-20
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20 For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
So left to our own devices we will never choose God as our treasure. Like in the film Wall-E he finds a box with a diamond ring in it. He does not know that the diamond ring is beautiful and valuable, so throws the ring out being more enamoured by the box that contained the treasure. It is a work of God to open our eyes to the beauty of Christ by the process called regeneration. Our dead hearts are made alive and we, for the first time, see Christ for who He really is. The most important and beautiful treasure we have ever seen. Our hearts can do nothing but respond in repentance and faith and with Holy Joy trust in Christ. What once seemed boring and irrelevant becomes the greatest desire of the heart. Not health, wealth, prosperity but God. This is the new birth of a person passing from death to life. From Hell bound to Heaven bound. From a heart of stone to a heart of flesh, Ezekiel 36:26 and Jeremiah 24:7. The birth of a new Christian!
To quote John Piper from Desiring God, page 73, Chapter 2 – Conversion (see link below):
Saving faith is the confidence that if you sell all you have and forsake all sinful pleasures, the hidden treasure of holy joy will satisfy your deepest desires. Saving faith is the heartfelt conviction not only that Christ is reliable, but also that He is desirable. It is the confidence that He will come through with His promises and that what He promises is more to be desired than all the world.
So is that you? Would you say that you treasure Christ in this way? It is easy to say you believe in Jesus. Many people ‘believe’ in Jesus. But unless you have and know Christ as your ultimate treasure then you just know facts and your ‘faith’ may not be a saving faith. For when we are converted we gain a new taste, a new desire. That of knowing Christ Crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2). Worship and praise becomes a natural response to this new desire for we praise what we find glorious. Gratitude for what Christ did for us on the Cross and through the resurrection. Only a true believer can understand and experience what Matthew 13:44 is really talking about.
Psalm 63:1-8 gives us a feel for what it means to thirst after and be satisfied in God:
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as ina dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholdingyour power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; in your name I will a lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips, 6 when I remember you upon my bed, and meditate on you in the watches of the night; 7 for you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy. 8 My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
Is that the depth of feeling you have when you open your heart and allow it the freedom to cry out its deepest desire? For God is most Glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him (John Piper). God’s first and foremost desire is that He is Glorified above all things. Our purpose in this life is to Glorify God by enjoying Him forever as the Westminster Catechism states, slightly altered by JP. So we are satisfied and God is Glorified. In fact God commands that we be satisfied in him:
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4
Where those desires are the renewed desires post conversion. I don’t believe this means God just gives us what we ‘want’. He may do out of His divine goodness and has certainly promised to give us what we ‘need’. However I believe the desires of our heart that the Psalm is talking about are in fact God himself in Christ. If God is our supreme treasure then it follows that the desires of our heart will be Him. Our Joy is found in delighting ourselves in Christ where He responds by giving Himself to us as our hearts deepest desire.
If this is something Alien to you then may I suggest you ask God to reveal who He is to you. You need to be saved from, to be blunt, an Eternity in Hell. This is not an eternity away from God, or Annihilation, it is a conscious and justified eternity of punishment and torment. However to just want to avoid that is not enough. I am sure everyone would want to avoid that but apart from Christ where doesn’t become you saving treasure. In order to enter Heaven for eternity you need to desire Christ as your ultimate saving treasure and want to spend eternity with Him. Ask God to renew your heart and enable you to see Christ fully. Get a Bible and read it. Join a church of like minded believers who treasure Christ and live to Glorify Him.
This is a journey I have only just begun. At the beginning of the year I stated my goal was to learn what it means to find Joy in God. Now, in December, I am starting to see the faint embers of understanding what that actually means. It is an exciting journey to start. After 20 years of being a Christian God is calling me to a deeper level with Him that I could not have imagined 20 years ago when I first placed my trust in Christ as my saviour. I pray, God willing, that the next 20 years see me cling to God and fight for Joy in a way that Glorifies Him and deeply satisfies the cry of my heart.
Ok long title but this is some of the best and straightforward teaching I have heard on what Theologians call Divine Election. Basically regarding why do some people come to Christ and others do not. All this is taught from John 6:41-51 without dipping into the more obvious verses on Election in Ephesians and Romans.
This is such a difficult and controversial subject in Christianity. Whichever side of the argument you fall it has consequences for how you view what God’s Sovereignty means practically and how you interpret free will. I think he deals fairly and clearly with the issue.
In the sermon JP deals with what would be termed the Calvinistic viewpoint and why he thinks it is the correct biblical interpretation, as do I and next week will deal with the alternative viewpoint, often referred to as Arminianism. Whichever view you have I would so recommend you take the time to listen to this teaching. If only to hear a different viewpoint if you disagree which is always a good thing to do anyway.
Click HERE for the website with the notes and link.
The title of this blog post is taken from the song ‘Jesus hold me Now’ on the latest Casting Crowns album ‘Until the Whole World Hears’. The lyrics are as follows:
Living on my own, thinking for myself Castles in the sand, temporary wealth Now the walls are falling down Now the storms are closing in And here I am again
Jesus, hold me now I need to feel You in this place To know You’re by my side And hear Your voice tonight Jesus, hold me now I long for Your embrace I’m beat and broken down I can’t find my way out Jesus, hold me now
Curse this morning sun, drags me into one more day Of reaping what I’ve sown, living with my shame Welcome to my world, and the life that I have made One day you’re a prince, and the next day you’re a slave
Lord, I just looked up today And realized how far away I am from where You are I don’t know what else to pray Broken at Your feet I lay The life I’ve torn apart Jesus, hold me now Jesus, hold me now Jesus, hold me now Jesus, hold me now
It is the first two lines of the bridge that really struck me. ‘Lord, I just looked up today And realized how far away I am from where You are’. Lately I have been realising that the Christianity we live out here in the UK is so far from what Biblical Christianity is that it may as well be a different faith. Two recent things have opened my eyes to this fact:
We recently had a series of sermons in church on ‘The Sermon on the Mount’ (SOTM) from Matthews Gospel.
I have been listening to the Audio recording of John Piper’s book ‘Desiring God’
The Christianity that Jesus presented in the SOTM is so far removed from the safe, comfortable, unoffending, unassuming, often confused, sometimes very liberal Christianity that the Church presents to the world. John Piper’s book is so challenging and cuts right to the heart in reference to our walk with God. Both these together have made me see just how far I am from what Jesus calls us to be. How small my passion for worship of the only one we should worship and how my desire for prayer and reading the Bible is really quite pathetic. JP’s favourite phrase is ‘God is most Glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in Him’ and is in the title of my Blog. That is the heart of the matter. Where do we look to find satisfaction? Is it in worship of the one true God who is the only one who can satisfy our hears desires or is it in the temporary ‘comforts’ or ‘vices’ of this world?
I wish I could say that as a Christian it is in God. However that would be a lie. Of course I do look to God for my security, value etc… but not nearly as much as I should. I settle for storing up treasures on Earth to feel better instead of seeking the rewards of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 6:19-20). Those earthly treasures are any things that bring relief from the wounds caused by living in this fallen world. TV, money, buying stuff, relationships etc… Not all bad in themselves but when placed above finding satisfaction in God become idols to be torn down and destroyed or risk the discipline of God who doesn’t care for His children worshipping at the feet of false Gods.
Or as was preached this Sunday in Church ‘How clean is our Temple?’. Jesus turned over the money changers dealing in the temple and drove out the animals. All were defiling the Temple of God. Since that temple is now any believer in Christ where the Holy Spirit dwells what would Jesus come in and overturn in his Zeal for the House of His Father, (John 2:17)?
For too long Western Christianity has settled for so much less than what God intended for His bride. So much compromise has crept in. Tolerance for behaviours that we are explicitly warned against. Adultery, Homosexuality, greed, prosperity teaching, idolatry to name a few. Are we so self absorbed with our own little life that we have no time for Gods purposes? When people you come into contact with don’t see any difference in your behaviours, goals, choice of words then something is very wrong with the way you live out your Christianity. If you are not drawing some to you and offending others then the faith you profess is nothing like that which Paul, the Apostles and Jesus Himself demonstrated.
These external demonstrations are all fruit from what is going on in the heart. Are we passionately devoted to seeking God daily in the Word, in prayer and Worship? Is He our ultimate source of satisfaction that is so superior to all other desires that everything else just loses its hold and taste? Is the Holy Spirit so filling us that our Love and passion for glorifying Jesus just flows out into and affects every facet of our lives? Does this lead us to hear the Holy Spirits revelations in words for people, to have the confidence and security to pray for Healing? To demonstrate selfless love and generosity that seeks no reward. Compassion for the less fortunate and downtrodden and a zeal for Justice in the World.
So this goes back to the line in that song. How far am I from where He is!!! I am only just starting to work through the consequences of this challenge. I know much repentance, humility and brokenness will be required. I know I desperately need to cling my Father in Heaven and can do nothing on my own. I want to move nearer to where God is and for there to be more of Him and less of me, I challenge you to do the same!
I have been reading, on and off, ‘Desiring God’ by John Piper. It is one of those books that I can only read short bits of because there is so much to take in. Re-reading sections is often necessary to grasp what JP is trying to communicate. Not because he is a bad communicator, but because the concepts are so deep to grasp.
The chapter I want to look at here is on Worship. It start with the story of the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4:7-26
A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
After engaging with the woman Jesus, in a series of leads tries to draw the woman towards who He is. She is very slow to grasp what he is saying and sees only the practical and not the spiritual. So Jesus goes for the heart and addresses her adultery. Not out of cruelty but because often the only way into a persons heart is through a wound. Backed into a corner the woman responds in a common way, by changing the subject. As Piper puts it “Why, yes as long as we are talking about my adultery, what is your stance on the issue of where people should worship?”. Amazing isn’t it how we can try to so easily take the focus off ourselves, when the light is shined upon us and place it on something totally unconnected. However Jesus follows her rationale and takes us to the heart of the issue. The issue is not where we worship but far more important is how and whom we worship.
The Samaritan woman did not ‘know’ the One she worshipped. Worship must be based on having a true understanding of who God is as well as being deep and passionate in the heart.
The two paragraphs at the bottom of page 81 in my version are brilliantly insightful and I will quote them:
Worshipping in spirit is the opposite of worshipping in merely external ways. it is the opposite of empty formalism and traditionalism. Worshipping in truth is the opposite of worship based on an inadequate view of God. Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought.
Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full of artificial admirers. On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship.(page 81-82, Desiring God, John Piper, Inter-Varsity Press)
Piper then lays out the following picture: The Fuel of worship is the truth of God. A true understanding of who God is as revealed in scripture. The furnace of worship being the regenerated human spirit. The heat of worship being the stuff of the heart. Like the joy, gratitude, trust, reverence etc… One thing is missing in that picture. The fire! This is where the Holy Spirit comes in. Until the Holy Spirit turns an unregenerate soul, which is dead in spirit and unable to worship God, into a living spirit there is no true worship. ‘That which is born of the Spirit is spirit’.
So our vision of God’s true greatness, fired by the flame of the Holy Spirit in the furnace of the renewed human spirit brings the resulting outpouring of our affections in worship with song, tears, longings and obedient lives.
What is then pointed out is that all things can be done in vain.
Piper then quotes Isaiah 29:13
Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men
Worship here is seen as Honouring God. Not increasing God’s honour since that is impossible. It is rightly reflecting the honour He already has. But the core point is that it must be done with gladness or else it is not worship. It is more than just willing the heart to try and worship. For without real desire there can be no real worship.
We can outwardly go through all the ‘acts’ of worship however they are performed in the church by an act of the will. This is dead worship where the heart is not engaged.
So what makes worship authentic?
The psalms give a whole array of reasons to worship God. From stunned silence at the holiness of God, Psalm 46:10, Habakkuk 2:20, Psalm 33:8
Or in reverence at our sinfulness faced with Gods power. Isaiah 8:13, Psalm 5:7
This leads to brokenness and grief for out sinfulness, Psalm 51:17, Isaiah 57:15
Then a longing for God in the brokenness. Psalm 42:1-2, Psalm 73:25-26, Psalm 63:1
God brings relief from the burden of sin and lifts our hearts Psalm 30:11-12 and turns our gratitude into Hope Psalm 42:5-6 and Psalm 130:5
Our heart will, in the end, long not for God’s gifts but for God himself. Psalm 27:4, Psalm 16:11, Psalm 37:4
These are the things that turn worship in vain to true worship. A heart captured by God which responds in the only way it can. Worship becomes an end in itself. John Calvin puts it like this: “If God contains the fullness of all good things in himself like an inexhaustible fountain, nothing beyond him is to be sought by those who strike after the highest good and all the elements of happiness” (John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion)
If we see the reality of God arrayed in front of us through His word and His world and our hearts do not respond with any grief, longing, hope, fear, awe, joy or thankfulness then any outward act of worship is dead. We cannot honour God if our ‘heart is far from him’.
We must worship God! This is not a ritualistic must, out of duty, but one of deep heartfelt desire to worship. For instance, I must tell my wife I Love her. Not out of duty, or I think it the right thing to do, but because deep in my heart I feel passionately in love with her and that causes me to want to say it. If I say it out of duty then it is meaningless. So it is with the worship of God. It is utterly meaningless unless motivated by a heart captivated by God alone. We come to God humbly recognising our desperate need of Him knowing that He alone can satisfy the deep heartfelt longing to be happy.
Piper then goes on to describe three stages of worship that I found to be terribly helpful. The above could leave us feeling like we are, either not Christians, or that we have such dead spirits that we cannot worship God truly.
The first stage is where it all starts. A barrenness of soul that can scarcely feel any longing but yet feels that sorrow for having so little love. Psalm 73:21-22
I think we would all recognise this stage and is one I certainly seem to return to far too often.
The second stage is where we feel deep longing and desire yet are not feeling the fullness of the banquet. We can recall, maybe, times when we did and felt Gods goodness close.
I would say this stage is where most of us end up. In this world, where God’s kingdom has come yet is not yet we are caught between two realities. No matter our satisfaction in God in this life we will still lack fullness and therefore will feel that deep longing having tasted yet not been sated. The more we taste, the more insatiably we will feel our thirst and longings for that which can only be fully satisfied in heaven.
The third stage Piper describes as being one where we feel unencumbered joy in Gods perfection. Being satisfied with Gods excellency and overflowing with the joy of fellowship.
I am not sure if JP is hinting that this is possible in this life or that it is the ultimate goal of the Christian yet is only achieved in heaven. I personally would err on the side of heaven, but with the caveat that God could break into our reality in such a way as to bring a temporary taste of this third stage.
God is glorified even by a spark of longing in our hearts. Again this spark can not be manufactured or willed into existence. It only comes from a heart renewed and touched by the Holy Spirit.
The chapter then moves on to look at how we are too easily pleased and settle for far less than could be achieved. He quotes a brilliantly insightful sermon by C. S. Lewis that talks about how our thinking has been influenced too much by the stoics and Kant. That enjoyment or worship is a bad thing. Lewis points out that if we look at the rewards promised in the Gospels it would indicate our desire is too weak not too strong. Half heartedly fooling about with drink, drugs, sex when infinite joy is offered. As Jeremiah 2:11-13 puts it. We walk past a spring of living water and dig about in muddy cesspools looking for satisfaction.
Finally Piper takes us back to the ‘Truth’ part of the worship in ‘spirit and in truth’. There must be a balance between spirit which much of the above tackles and truth. He makes the point that the only affection that honour God are those rooted in the rock of biblical truth.
Without the revealed word of God in scripture we can know nothing of the true nature of who God is. Without the word we cannot know the whom we worship. As the Samaritan woman did not know.
Without the heat of the Holy Spirit our worship will be dead and lifeless. Without the light of the word then worship becomes a fervent, corrupt out of control mess leading wholly in the wrong direction. A deep passion for truth and sound doctrine need not create dead lifeless worship as is often said by those who are unwilling to see this connection. If the feast of worship is rare in the land, it is because there is a famine of the word of God (Amos 8:11-12)
So worship should engage both the mind to grasp the truths of God’s reality and for the heart to respond to the beauty of that truth. This is why I like worship songs that declare wonderful truths about God and take our eyes off ourselves and focus them on Him. Then my heart responds to the truth with a longing to draw closer and experience the satisfaction of honouring God in worship. For in doing so ones soul finds the only source of true lasting joy in the universe. To know God and be known by Him.
The Shack is ‘only Fiction’ I have been told by several people when questioning its representation of Christianity and God. ‘Don’t take it seriously’, you can’t compare it to scripture. Why does it bother me that it grossly misrepresents God and truth? Mainly because a lot of people seem to take it very seriously given its ‘copies sold’ stats. I know it’s fiction. I have a copy given to me, I will read it eventually. But many Christians and certainly non-Christians don’t seem to be very discerning, when it comes to Christian truth, in my experience and take things too much at face value. The writer of the Shack could have made the book just as emotionally provocative without mullering biblical truth.
Anyway a good article that ask some good questions when it is pointed out it is just fiction. Click HERE!
If you click the following link there is a brilliant summary and introduction to Calvinism from John Piper. If you have ever wondered what it is, who Calvin was and why it makes sense for many people then click HERE.
Also just cam acrossthis PDF book on the 'Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World'. Contains some arguments against the emergent church view of theology.
The following is one of the clearest explanations of the Sovereign free will of God in salvation that I have heard. Taken from John 3:1-10 is explains the process of how God the Spirit enables a person to come to saving faith in Christ. Outstanding teaching from Jon Piper here, enjoy!
I recently had a fleeting visit to the city of York. This city has a very long history over many centuries which I don’t claim to know much about. However I recently became aware of an incident that happened in 1190. The outline of which can be seen in the photo below.
This anti-Semitism partly stemmed from the utterly incomprehensible idea that all Jews were responsible for Killing Jesus. This has been a recurring theme of anti-Semitic behaviour from people who claim to be Christian through the centuries.
This got me thinking about why and how such atrocities can occur and how people claiming to be Christian get it so horribly wrong when it quite clearly goes against anything that is written in the Bible. Then it occurred to me that up until the Bible was translated into normal everyday language, whatever that may be, ‘Christians’ only knew what was taught them from the pulpit of the Church. (From a brief search this site gives an outline of the History of the Bible translations). Not until the 1500’s was an English translation of the Bible available for the common man. The Roman Church tried to suppress any version that was not in Latin and killed many in the process. It became clear that the Latin Vulgate bible that the Catholic church held to was massively corrupt and I am sure the source of much of the error that seeped into the church over the centuries. Satan won a great victory for a time here by blinding the understanding of the common man by using our innate desire for power and corrupting what started as good, the Church!
Not until everyone could read the Bible for themselves could they discern that what was being taught by the Church was far from ‘the Truth’. This kicked off the Reformation and much conflict between the Catholic and for a time Anglican church who wanted to retain tight control and those that Declared the Truth of scripture boldly challenging the established order. I am not about to discuss the Reformation here, Google it if you wish to look that up.
We are encouraged to search the scriptures daily like the Bereans (Acts 17:10-11), finding out if what is being taught us is right. We should never take on face value any teaching that is given. We are to test the spirits to make sure everything is from God and not from the Devil. The only way to do that is to know what is contained in the Bible. Without scripture we will warp God’s word and come up with all sorts of error in our thinking about our Faith for ‘the Heart is Deceitful above all Things, and desperately sick;’ (Jeremiah 17:9-10). A Christian needs to live in the Spirit but from the Word of God. Without both we either end up as ‘Charismaniacs’ and falling into all sort of gross lunatic heresy or we become legalists bound by duty and adherence to the law.
Either being ignorant of scripture or choosing to put your own slant on something, influenced by culture for instance, leads to such errors that Steve Chalke is currently declaring. He has denied the ‘Substitutionary Atonement’ of Jesus calling it cosmic child abuse. The whole of Christian faith pretty much hangs on this doctrine and it is so clearly taught right from the beginning to the end of scripture. The current Emergent church seems to be falling in to this trap of discarding Biblical Doctrine for the sake or being culturally relevant. Taken to its ultimate end is how the Cults that are based on Christianity came about. Where a Man or Men decided to add to what the Bible says and distort what is clearly taught in the Bible alone. Revelation 22:18 clearly warns that God is really not impressed by anyone who adds to scripture along with Other OT passages that command us not to add to God’s Word.
So in conclusion and in answer to my Question that is the Title of this article. How do we get it so wrong in reference to doing things in the name of God that are so in contradiction with God and His commandments. If we do not understand what is in Gods word, about the human condition, our sinful nature, our ultimate destination if we do not accept Jesus Christ and his Substitutionary death on the Cross, ie: Hell. We will invent our own theories and doctrines and be deceived by the Devil who is the great deceiver and father of lies. His very goal is to get us to put ourselves in the place of God and walk in utter darkness while thinking we are in the light.
Hebrews 4:12 says: ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’
If you do not know what the Word says then you will be deceived and are in fact in Darkness and heading for a most horrendous place. This life on earth is the closest you will get to Heaven. Happy to live your own life, your way, for you alone. I plead with all my heart that you would come to know and understand that without surrender and submission to Christ there is no hope. But with Christ there is salvation, Hope, joy, life and unconditional Love for eternity. Living knowing this life is the nearest you will ever get to Hell.
So such atrocities that occurred in York and through the Centuries and up to today in the name of the God of the Bible absolutely inexcusable in the light of the Word of God. The conflicts in the world today are not because of ‘Religion’ even when they are in its name. They are caused by such things as greed, selfishness, pride, desire for power, covetousness, ignorance, false religion, hatred and idolatry. True Christianity speaks against such things because the Bible does and therefore God does. We are to stand up for truth and fight against evil and oppression but only out of a heart to see people brought to Christ and for God’s Kingdom to come on Earth for the Glory of God alone.
Here is another title in the series that we are studying in my home group going through Wayne Grudems Book. This is from Chapter 15 of:
Christian Beliefs 'twenty basics every Christian should know':
All scripture quoted is ESV.
Also please take a look at an earlier post I made on Sanctification here. (NB: This is a paraphrase of the chapter therefore all credit goes to Wayne Grudem and not me.)
Repentance and faith result in Justification but they also play a part in what is sometimes called Sanctification. It ‘is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives’. This is co-operation between God and his children where each has distinct roles. This is a life long process where we will make progress but we will never achieve perfection until the return of Christ.
Sanctification starts at the point we become Christians, or are Regenerated and increases through life. At regeneration Paul says we are ‘set free from sin’ (Romans 6:18) and should consider ourselves:
‘So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.’ (Romans 6:11-14)
This means at rebirth the power of sin is broken and we are no longer ruled and dominated by sin and no longer love to sin. However since Sanctification is a process we will never be completely free from sin in this life. As 1 John 1:8 says, ‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.’ And Ecclesiastes 7:20 ‘Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.’ This is the reason Jesus says pray “Forgive us our sins” (Luke 11:4)
When we die and go to be with God our sanctification is made complete because our souls are set free from indwelling sin and made perfect. Hebrews 12:23 says that when we come into the presence of God to worship we come to ‘... the spirits of the righteous made perfect’, because ‘…nothing unclean will ever enter it’ (Revelation 21:27). In another sense, sanctification will not be complete until the Lord returns and he transforms ‘…our lowly body to be like his glorious body’ (Philippians 3:21). Then our bodies too will be made perfect and free from all the influences of sin.
Though we can never be completely free from sin in this life we should still expect to see a regular increase in our sanctification. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul says, we ‘…are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another’. He also says, ‘…forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’. The picture here is a lifelong and continuous process. There is no indication from scripture as to how much sanctification we can expect and what specifically it will look like. We may defeat one sin only to struggle deeply with another.
However in all this we should never give up our struggle. We should never say any one sin has defeated us and that we cannot change. In the midst of struggle we cling on to the promises of God. For instance Romans 6:14: ‘For sin will have no dominion over you’.
The Role of God in Sanctification
Sanctification is primarily the work of God. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul prays, ‘Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely’. And the writer of Hebrews in 13:20-21 writes ‘Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen’.
God equips us through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is the Spirit that works within us to change and sanctify us towards greater holiness. Peter and Paul in 1 Peter 1:2 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13 respectively refer to the Spirit doing the Sanctification. Galatians 5:22-23 refers to the fruit of the spirit that increase as we are sanctified. As we ‘walk by the spirit’ and are ‘led by the spirit’ (Galatians 5:16-18) we become more and more responsive to the desires and prompting of the Holy Spirit and since the Spirit is a spirit of Holiness then he produces holiness in us.
Our Role in Sanctification
Our role is both Passive and active. Through repentance and faith we are told to present ourselves ‘to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness’ (Romans 6:13). This is our passive involvement. But in Romans 8:13 we are told ‘if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body’. This implies an active role on our part. But Paul is clear that it is also by the spirit.
This same active and passive role is found in Philippians 2:12-13: ‘work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.’ This encouragement to do our part is based on the promise that God will empower our work.
So just as becoming a Christian is a gift from God that requires our involvement; we find the same to be true for sanctification. Progress is a gift of grace and is a gift we can expect to receive. God honours our continual acts of faith and obedience seen through:
· Bible Reading and meditation (Psalm 1:2, Matthew 4:4, John 17:17)
· Prayer (Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:6)
· Worship (Ephesians 5:18-20)
· Witnessing (Matthew 28:19-20)
· Acts of mercy and justice (Mathew 23:23, James 1:27)
· Christian fellowship (Hebrews 10:24-25)
· Self-discipline and self-control (Galatians 5:23, Titus 1:8)
Q: Any questions on the meaning or process of sanctification?
What if the Sanctification Process Ends?
All true Christians should expect growth in sanctification during their lives. What if the process seems to end? If it ends what does that mean? Does it mean that we are no longer Christians? The root of these questions lies in the final question: can we really lose the blessing of our salvation?
The answer to that question is no. All who are truly Christians will be kept by God’s power and will persevere to the end of their lives as Christians. But how do we know if we are truly Christians? What if some fall away from any profession of faith and live a life of active rebellion against God? With respect to such cases we have to say that only those who persevere to the end are truly Christians. This two part teaching that all true Christians will persevere and only those who persevere are true Christians is sometimes referred to as the perseverance of the saints.
The Promise of Jesus
There is scriptural evidence that all true Christians will persevere. In John 6:38-40, Jesus says, ‘For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’
Here Jesus is saying that everyone who believe in him will have eternal life and that it is God’s will that he ‘lose nothing’ of all God has given him. A similar promise is made in John 10:27-29. In John 10:28 Jesus specifically says two things about his followers. First, “no one will snatch them out of my hand” and second “they will never perish”. All this together shows the promise that those whom Jesus gives eternal life will never lose it.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
Another piece of evidence that God keeps Christians safe for eternity is in the seal that is placed upon us. This is the seal of the Holy Spirit within us. In Ephesians 1:13-14, Paul writes, ‘In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.’
The seal, or guarantee is God’s very presence, the Holy Spirit, present in every Christian.
The Promise in Perseverance
While those who are truly Christians will persevere to the end, only those who persevere to the end are truly Christians. Jesus, in John 8:31 says, ‘If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples’. So, one evidence of genuine faith is continuing to believe and obey what Jesus said.
Paul, in Colossians 1:22-23, writes ‘in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard’. The condition Paul puts on perseverance indicates that those who don’t truly believe will eventually fall away from the faith they claim to have.
Though the promise in perseverance is that those who continue in the faith are true Christians it does not mean they will live perfect lives. We may have deep struggle with sin at different points in our lives. If we are truly Christians we will fight against sin in repentance and faith. So the promise regarding perseverance gives a warning that those who fall away were never truly believers.
Assurance of Perseverance
Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 3:14, ‘if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end’. However if the only confidence we have of genuine faith is when we have persevered to the end that is little hope for today.
We can have real assurance of salvation from other factors. Eg: A present trust in Christ and his ongoing work in our lives as in John 3:16. If you have confidence in Christ’s work on you behalf, in his ability to take the penalty of your sin and that you will enter heaven based solely on his work and not your own then this is indicative of true faith.
Another evidence of assurance is the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit on your life. 1 John 4:13, Romans 8:14 and Galatians 5:22-23. There should be some evidence of growth in these areas.
Additionally there should be evidence of continuing, present relationship with Jesus Christ.’ ‘Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked’, 1 John 2:4-6. A perfect life is not necessary but a general pattern of obedience to Christ’s commands will be evident in the true Christian.
So this ongoing work of Sanctification will be seen over a long period of time. ‘Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall’, 2 Peter 1:10. If there is a lack of these qualities, do not simply try to put more effort in, instead repent of their lack and ask God to give growth in these areas.
Persevering through the Process
So sanctification is a life long process. At times is will seem to be going very fast and at other times it can seem like there is no life in you at all. In the good times guard against pride and self righteousness. In the slow times you may doubt if you are even truly saved. Take confidence in Jesus’ words in John 6:40, ‘For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’
I listened to this sermon during the week on my way to work and thought it brilliant teaching on what worship is! Listen and learn with an open heart. You can skip the first 8 Minutes as it relates to Mars Hill church information only. It is long, at about an hour, so take the time to hear some great teaching.
Just read this article on Christian Today. This is my view is one of the single biggest mistakes that the Christian Church is making today. I am in now way denying the huge impact and importance of what Darwin wrote. Just not in the way that the secular scientists and humanists would describe it.
I am not going to detail why this is such a tragedy as there are plenty of websites that do that significantly better than I can, eg: Click Here. However I will say that I believe this is one of the reasons why the Church of England and other denominations are in decline. They compromise and undermine the truth and authority of scripture interpreting it in the light of humanistic beliefs. Once you start doing that then no passage of scripture can be taken as an absolute truth. You fall into the modern quagmire that is moral relativism. The compromises on Homosexuality, sex outside of marriage and dare I say it, women priests and Bishops are other examples.
I am sure not all Anglican or other Denomination members are in support of the Darwin Worship and I would not like to make such sweeping statements. However when the Top leadership of such organisations come out in support of placing Darwin on the pedestal he is being placed on then it is a sad indeed. Belief in Theistic Evolution is a compromise and weakens every biblical and moral argument you subsequently make. Darwin knew this and Dawkins knows this and almost has more contempt for those that compromise what scripture teaches, than the Creationists he so violently and unflinchingly opposes.
If you are blown by every change of what society accepts and absorb it into your own worldview then how do you stand out from the world. How are you salt and light to a dark world. If there was no fall as described in Genesis and we evolved from pondscum then there is no sin, there can be no explanation of suffering that doesn’t make God out to be at best uncaring and at worst hateful, mans glorious standing as being made in the image of God is reduced to our existence having no meaning or purpose, there is no need for Christ to have come to redeem and save the lost. There is no Gospel!
This is possibly the most argued over doctrine in the Christian church. The point here is to present what the Bible says and how this can and has been interpreted. I am not about to tell you what you should or should not believe. Nor do I wish to place so much emphasis on this that it causes a stumbling block. Some issues of doctrine must be divisive some don’t need to be, this doesn’t. It is however important to grapple with difficult doctrines when they appear so obviously in scripture.
The debate has raged from the 4th Century to today. Most commonly focussed between French theologian John Calvin (1509 – 1664) and Jacob Arminius (1560 – 1609). The debate is over where you stand on the Doctrine of Divine Election and how a person comes to be saved.
‘No one who believes in the Bible disputes the fact that election is taught there. It isn’t the reality of election, or even its source, author, time, or goal that has elicited so much venom among professing Christians. It is rather the basis of divine election, that is to say, why and on what grounds some are elected to salvation and life and others are not.
Some contend that God elects some, who are bad who, notwithstanding their being bad, choose to exercise faith in Jesus Christ. It is on the basis of this foreseen faith that God elects them. This is the doctrine of Arminianism, named after the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius (1560-1609). It has also been called Wesleyanism because of the influence of John Wesley.
There is another view that God elects some, who are bad who, because of their being bad, are not of themselves able to exercise faith in Christ. It is on the basis of his own sovereign good pleasure that God elects them. This is the doctrine of Calvinism, named after the French theologian John Calvin (1509-1564). ‘
However in looking at this we must recognise our limitations as finite fallen human beings. One web site says it very clearly ‘both systems fail to adequately explain the relationship between God’s sovereignty and mankind’s free will – due to the fact that it is impossible for a finite human mind to discern a concept only God can fully understand.’ (http://www.gotquestions.org/arminianism.html)
So What denominations Subscribe to each?
Faiths leaning at least in part in the Arminian direction include Methodists, Free Will Baptists, General Baptists, Churches of Christ, Disciples of Christ, Church of the Nazarene, Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Pentecostals, and Charismatics. Denominations leaning in the Calvinist direction are grouped as the Reformed churches and include Particular Baptists, Reformed Baptists, Presbyterians, and Congregationalists. The majority of Southern Baptists, including Billy Graham, accept Arminianism with an exception allowing for a doctrine of eternal security. Many see Calvinism as growing in acceptance, and some well-known Southern Baptists such as Albert Mohler and Mark Dever have been trying to lead the Southern Baptist Convention to a Reformed view of faith.
Before I go in to what an actual Definition of Election might be I want to first start with some common ground we should all agree on and then list the Bible references that talk about election.
Common Ground
The common ground I am referring to here is what I believe is taught in Kings Church and what I am certain that the Bible teaches. This does not specifically state which side we adhere to and those who specifically teach one or the other may disagree with what I call our Common Ground.
Adam’s sin not only affected him but is passed on to all of us from birth. ‘for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ (Romans 3:23) and ‘They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.’ (Psalm 14:3) – This is the Doctrine of ‘Total Depravity’
All are guilty before God and as such the right punishment is Death. ‘For the wages of sin is death...’ (Romans 6:23a)
God would still be perfectly just if he saved no one. No one is good enough to measure up to the standard of holiness God requires without intervention.
Bible Verses referring to Election
· Acts 13:48 - And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
· Romans 8:28-30 - And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified
· Romans 9:11-13 - though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, "The older will serve the younger." As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
· Romans 11:7 - What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened
· Ephesians 1:4-6 - even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved
· 1 Thess 1:4-5 - For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.
· 2 Thess 2:13 - But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.
· 2 Tim 1:9 - who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began
· 1 Peter 1:1 -Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia
· 1 Peter 2:9 - But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light
· Rev 13:7-8 - Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain
· Rev 17:8 - The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
· John 6:44 - No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day
Jesus’ Words on Predestination
“For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14).
“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me’” (John 13:18).
“For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Matthew 24:24).
“And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?” (Luke 18:7).
“For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will” (John 5:21).
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:37–39).
“I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen” (John 13:18).
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you” (John 15:16).
“If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:19).
Scriptures on Predestination
The primary texts on predestination are in Romans 9–11 and also Ephesians 1:3–11. The following are also helpful:
“. . . do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place” (Acts 4:28).
“The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it” (Acts 13:17).
“And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed” (Acts 13:48).
“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:29–30).
“Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).
“. . . though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call—she was told, ‘The older will serve the younger.’ As it is written, ‘Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.’ What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills” (Romans 9:11–18).
“So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace” (Romans 11:5).
“What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened” (Romans 11:7).
“God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27–28).
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:3–11).
“For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake” (Philippians 1:29).
“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience” (Colossians 3:12).
“For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:4–5).
“But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).
“Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory” (2 Timothy 2:10).
“Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness” (Titus 1:1).
“As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious” (1 Peter 2:4).
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion” (1 Peter 1:1).
“Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10).
It is quite clear that the bible talks frequently about God choosing/electing his people, us. But it is the basis of the Election that is really at the heart of the debate. So let’s define what we mean by Election.
Definition of Election
According to Wayne Grudem, a Calvinist, it is defined as: ‘an act of God before Creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure!’
Sam Storms, also a Calvinist, differentiates the two views thus: According to Arminianism, election is that act of God whereby he foreordains to eternal life those whom he foresees will respond in faith to the gospel. According to Calvinism, election is that act of God whereby he foreordains to eternal life those who, because of sin, cannot respond in faith to the gospel. (http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/what-is-election/)
Jack W. Cottrell argues from an Arminian point of view in his book ‘Grace Unlimited’ pp. 51-73. that ‘Through his foreknowledge God sees who will believe upon Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord, and become united with him in Christian Baptism; then before the foundation of the world he predestines these believers to share the glory of the risen Christ’ (p. 62)
Hopefully you get the idea and where the differences lie.
Core Beliefs of Each side
I will attempt to define the most common core beliefs of both sides. Note there are also differing views among each camp as well but this is what I understand to be each other’s viewpoint.
According to this doctrine, man in his present condition since the fall is so polluted with a principle of evil that every aspect of his being and personality is affected by it. The term depravity refers to the moral disposition or inclination of fallen man’s nature toward evil and against good. This principle of sin and moral pollution is such that man is by nature opposed to what is true and righteous. The inclination of his heart, the delight of his soul, the orientation of his will is toward wickedness. Nothing compels him to sin. He sins because he loves it. He revels in it. He has no taste for God, but relishes evil and pursues it with voluntary zeal. This may sound grim, but I believe that Scripture affirms it. In a moment we will have occasion to examine the relevant texts.
But man is not only depraved in his nature and will, he is totally depraved. Some have preferred the term pervasive depravity or extensive depravity inasmuch as the term total depravity can be misleading and perhaps say more about man’s sinful condition than Scripture permits. The point of each of these terms, whichever one you prefer, is that man’s depravity is not restricted to just one or several parts of his personality and being. It is not that man’s mind is depraved but not his will. It is not that man’s emotions are touched by sin but his heart is somehow insulated. The moral pollution that sin brings has touched and affected the whole of the person, the totality of his being.
Common Grace – But the doctrine of total depravity is not meant to deny that there are people who can be called ‘good’ in the world. The Calvinist, who affirms total depravity, also affirms common grace, according to which God not only restrains the full manifestation of the evil tendencies of the human heart but also, on a more positive note, enables the non-Christian to perform deeds of relative “good”.
John Murray, on Common grace writes, "is every favour of whatever kind or degree, falling short of salvation, which this undeserving and sin-cursed world enjoys at the hand of God”
God Restrains: Gen. 4:15; 20:6; 2 Kings 19:27-28; 2 Thess. 2:6-12 God Blesses: Psalm 104:10-30; 145:1-16; and 136:25
Consequently, when I speak of total depravity I do not mean that all men are as depraved as they possibly can be, nor that the depravity of their heart will always manifest itself equally in all respects at all times. Total depravity simply means that the whole of the individual, his heart, soul, spirit, and will, is affected by and enslaved to sin, thereby rendering him odious in the sight of God.
The doctrine of unconditional election asserts that God's choice from eternity of those whom he will bring to himself is not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people. Rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God's mercy alone.
(Ephesians 1:4-6 - even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved)
Faith comes from God, as a gift, it does not originate in the unbeliever.
Conditional Election
Arminius defined election as "the decree of God by which, of Himself, from eternity, He decreed to justify in Christ, believers, and to accept them unto eternal life." God alone determines who will be saved and his determination is that all who believe Jesus through faith will be justified. According to Arminius, "God regards no one in Christ unless they are engrafted in him by faith."
Put another way, God's decree to save some and reprobate others is His predetermination to save those who believe (1 Cor. 1.21 - For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe) and His predetermination to reprobate unbelievers (John 3:36 - Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.).
Election is based on the condition of a person Believing the gospel message.
Limited Atonement (5 Point) Atonement Sufficient for All (4 Point)
5 point Calvinist would limit the Atonement to the elect only arguing it would be unjust for God to pay the penalty for some people's sins and then still condemn them for those sins, all those whose sins were atoned for must necessarily be saved.
4 Point Calvinists agree with Arminians that the Atonement is Universal, sufficient for all, but is only effective to the Elect.
Unlimited Atonement
Jesus' death was for all people, Jesus draws all people to himself, and all people have opportunity for salvation through faith.
The Atonement is only effective upon a persons Faith.
Irresistible Grace
When the Gospel call is made man on his own, is not able to respond. For the Elect the Holy Spirit effectively Regenerates a soul so that they can respond to the Gospel call internally and thus respond externally in faith and repentance.
What this means is that whereas everyone is called by God externally in that the gospel is preached to all, only the elect are called by God internally in that they alone are enabled to respond in saving faith.
We see much the same thing in 1 Thessalonians 1:5, in which Paul declares that his gospel did not come to the Thessalonians "in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." Conceivably then, the gospel may indeed come to many in word only, that is to say, externally. They hear it with the ear but there is no response of faith in the heart. To others, the elect, the gospel comes not only in word but also in such a way that the Holy Spirit powerfully and efficaciously effects a saving response.
Resistible Grace (Prevenient Grace)
God takes initiative in the salvation process and His grace comes to all people. This grace (often called prevenient or pre-regenerating grace) acts on all people to convict them of the Gospel, draw them strongly towards salvation, and enable the possibility of sincere faith.
The offer of salvation through grace does not act irresistibly in a purely cause-effect, deterministic method but rather in an influence-and-response fashion that can be both freely accepted and freely denied.
Thus when a person responds in faith then the Holy Spirit regenerates the soul as a consequence.
Perseverance of the Saints
Traditional Calvinists believe in the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, which says that because God chose some unto salvation and actually paid for their particular sins, he keeps them from apostasy and that those who do apostasize were never truly regenerated (that is, born again). Non-traditional Calvinists and other evangelicals advocate the similar but different doctrine of eternal security that teaches if a person was once saved, his or her salvation can never be in jeopardy, even if the person completely apostasizes.
Eternal Security is Conditional
Arminians believe that future salvation and eternal life is secured in Christ and protected from all external forces but is conditional on remaining in Christ and can be lost through apostasy.
All believers have full assurance of salvation with the condition that they remain in Christ. Salvation is conditioned on faith, therefore perseverance is also conditioned. Apostasy (turning from Christ) is only committed through a deliberate, wilful rejection of Jesus and renouncement of belief.
We will now look very, very briefly at some of the questions this raises and some of the defences of both sides.
Objections to the Doctrine of Election
Are we Really Free? – If Unconditional election is really true then we are not really free. We are just puppets, robots, not able to make real choices.
· We must define what we mean by freedom. Total Depravity means we are not free. What is Freedom of the Will? Or are we in Bondage to the will? Only God truly has free will. We do have choices but our will is not free, our choices are limited. The choices we make come from our nature and heart. A fig tree does not bear apples. Proverbs sais Out of the heart, the wellspring of life the decision are made. Romans 5:10. We would only ever choose Sin, death and Satan, we are spiritually dead! God causes us to choose Christ voluntarily!!!
We make real choices every day and God holds us accountable for them. From a human perspective all choices we make are real and felt choices even if in some divine way God has intervened and his will is that we make that choice. I do not pretend to understand it except that I believe God is sovereign over all creation and also that I have a real choice to type this.
Is God really Fair or Just? – If he elects some and passes over others is God’s grace awarded rather unfairly? It means some never had the chance to believe. Calvin used the term “but gives to some what he denies to others” in talking about Election and God (Romans 9:14-29)
It is understandable that people react in horror at this. It’s largely due to the word “denies” – God “gives to some what he denies to others.” For many, the word “denies” says two things, neither of which Calvin intended.
(1) To say God “denies” something to one that he “gives” to another implies that God is withholding what he “owes”. Thus for God to “deny” eternal salvation to some folk suggests he is refusing to give them what they deserve, or what he owes them, or what he as God is obligated to give them. Clearly, for some, this language portrays God as unjust.
(2) Secondly, the word “denies” suggests that people have asked God, pleaded with him, for eternal life and he “denies” it to them or refuses to grant it to them. They envision the scenario as follows: “Oh, God, please save me. I want to believe in Jesus and experience eternal life.” To which God responds: “Sorry. I didn’t elect you. My hands are tied.” In this case God appears mean and unloving.
In other words, unconditional divine election strikes many as portraying God as either unjust or unloving, or both. Clearly, Calvin intended neither of these ideas. His point is that none deserve or are owed anything by God except eternal death. No one can claim God as his or her debtor. Therefore, when God “gives to one what he denies” to another, we are to understand that neither deserves eternal life, but in sovereign mercy God grants eternal life to some but not all. Some receive mercy, the others receive justice, but no one is treated unfairly.
How can anyone object to the reason God elected one instead of another when no one knows what it is? I can tell you what that reason is not. It is not anything having to do with either the elect or non-elect, either foreseen or actual. God chose one instead of another because it was pleasing to God, and that is all the reason he needs. This is the heart and soul of the doctrine of unconditional election, that God sovereignly decided to show love and favour toward some who did not deserve it, but not all, without regard to anything in either. And the bottom line is: we don’t like that! (Sam Storms: http://www.enjoyinggodministries.com/article/divine-election-how-and-why-does-god-choose-part-ii/)
Doesn’t the Bible say God wills everyone to be Saved? Both sides agree that not everyone will be saved!
· 1 Timothy 2:3-4, 2 Peter 3:9, John 3:16-17, Matthew 11:28, Acts 17:30. Yes God does want everyone to be saved as God loves everyone and God invites everyone, all people to salvation and turn from sin trusting in Jesus. However many do not love or desire Jesus! Why? John 5:40, John 12:46-48, Acts 7:51, Romans 3:10-18, Ephesians 2:1-3 God’s desire, heart and invitation is for people to come to Jesus. People chose to reject Jesus and have no one to blame except themselves! (Total Depravity)
· Calvinist would say that God deems his own glory more important than saving everyone and that God’s own glory is also furthered by the fact that some are not saved.
· Arminians would say that the preservation of Man’s Free will is more important to God than salvation.
· So they are different on the nature of God. Reformed is that God’s highest value is his own glory and the Arminian system is that God’s highest value is the free will of man.
How does God’s sovereignty and providence balance against our understanding of Free Will? Does God’s sovereignty mean He is in total control of everything or does His desire to maintain our Absolute Free Will mean He has given up absolute control? (I am not about to answer that here and the references below give detailed responses to this)
Calvinistic View of Election
Calvinists believe that Election in the New Testament is seen as:
1. A comfort to believers that God will act for our good in all circumstances as he has done from eternity to eternity out of Love.
2. A reason to Praise God. Eph 1:5-6 and 2 Thessalonians 2:13. Since our salvation has nothing at all to do with anything in us.
3. An encouragement to Evangelism. 2 Timothy 2:10. Paul knows that God has chosen some to be saved and sees this as an encouragement to preach the Gospel. It is a guarantee of success in preaching.
Defence of the Calvinistic Viewpoint
1) Election is not a fatalistic way to view the world. A Nothing that we do matters view. The New Testament present salvation as something brought about by a personal God in relation to personal creatures. Ephesians 1:5. We make willing choices as real persons and that these choices are real choices because they do affect the course of events in the world.
2) Election is not based on God’s foreknowledge of Our Faith. Looking at Romans 8:29. Firstly because this is a foreknowledge of a person not of a fact about something they would do. Secondly because scripture never speaks about Our faith as the reason God chose us. 2 Timothy 1:9. Thirdly Election based on something good in us (our faith) would be the beginning of salvation by merit. If the ultimate determining factor in whether or not we are saved is our own decision to accept Christ then we may come to think we deserve some credit for doing so. Or that we are somehow more wise than those who chose to reject Christ. Ultimately what makes the difference between someone who does accept Christ and someone who rejects Christ? If you answer that it is based on something God does then at its core it is based on Grace alone. If you answer that the difference is something in man, ie: Faith, then salvation depends on a combination of grace plus human ability. Fourthly Predestination based on Foreknowledge still does not grant absolute freewill. If God looks into the future and sees person A will believe and person B will not then their destinies are still determined and cannot be otherwise. But determined by what? If not God then who or what? Conclusion then that Election is Unconditional!
Defence of an Arminian Perspective
A. Human Free Will (libertarian freedom) is assumed everywhere in the Bible
Definition of Libertarian Freedom: We are free in choosing one thing if, all things being just what they are when we make our choice, we could have chosen differently. That is, libertarian freedom requires the so-called “power of contrary choice” or the “ability to choose otherwise.”
B. The Universal Love of God (e.g., John 3:16) rules out God selecting some and not others
C. The Absolute Justice of God (e.g., Psalm 119:137; Hosea 14:9) means God can have nothing to do with evil
From Me!
This is a very difficult topic to understand let alone come to any conclusion about. Both sides have good arguments for their position and against the other. Certainly historically Calvinist have been less that gracious to the other side of the fence. What is most important is what the Bible actually says and not on what a particular person thinks it says. For this we must approach scripture as open to the Holy Spirit as possible. We must wrestle with difficult passages from the Bible. Ultimately we must trust in Gods Goodness, Love, Grace, Mercy, Justice and that He is Sovereign. Whichever side you eventually come down on it does not mean you are right! Whatever the actual process involved in a person becoming a Christian surely the most important point is that they do respond to the Gospel and give their lives to Christ.
We are currently working through 1 Corinthians in our Sunday Sermon series at church and last Sunday we hit 1 Corinthians 12:10-11. You can listen HERE.
So I am constantly in this tension between cynic vs believer. It is certainly not a helpful place to be and is often lack of faith or just plain unbelief on my part.
