"In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” Daniel 1:1-2 ESV
Today the school where our church is located has made a decision that has put allot of pressure on the church that I pastor. The beginning of the book of Daniel brought me comfort today in regard to this trial. Perhaps it will bring you comfort as well.
The beginning of the Book of Daniel describes a historical situation. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it." Daniel begins by relating the events of the book to the deliverance of King Jehoiakim into Nebuchadnezzar's hands. The interesting thing about this beginning of the book of the book of Daniel is as in so many other historical situations, appearances were deceiving.
We read in verse 2, “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God. And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” There is something stupendous here. Actually, God Himself was as in charge of the overthrow of Jerusalem. In fact, it was Jehovah who had brought on the destruction, sending it as a punishment for his people's sins. It says that "the Lord gave Jehoiakim into his [Nebuchadnezzar's] hand." Behind all that is happening in verses 1-2 is the Lord who “gave.” Or to say it another way, the Lord was controlling all the events that took place. It was not so much Nebuchadnezzar took as the Lord gave.
The opening verses, you see, give us a picture of history from two perspectives. There is history and there is HIS STORY. There what is going on in the horizontal level of time and space and there is what is going on in the vertical level in eternity. There is man working and there is God working. The first verse gives you a blow-by-blow account of the event, but the first words of the second verse explains to you the meaning behind and under the events. The first verse may look like the God of Israel has fallen prey to the false gods of Babylon. The second verse makes it clear that even the exile itself has been done by the determinant counsel of God. Nebuchadnezzar really wanted to take over Jerusalem. God determined from the very beginning of the world that Nebuchadnezzar would take over Jerusalem. There is a God in heaven and He is in complete control. We read in Daniel 4:17, 25,32 that “the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will”
The name of God used here is the name “Adonai” which speaks of God being master, owner, and in control. That revelation should cause us to change our views about how we see people, circumstances, governments, environments, and how God does things through us. We tend to focus on cultural, environmental, political, personal barriers to be able to get anything done. God is still in control even when everything around us seems to argue otherwise! Whenever events look bleak and hopeless it's always important to remember that two stories are being told at the same time in any set of circumstances. There's the story in front of the curtain. And there's the story behind the curtain. There's what I see and feel right now in the trial over our church's use of the school where we meet. Then there is what God has yet to unfold in this situation. There is more than meets the eye!
Dear friend, who you see in control of your life has everything to do with how you respond to the circumstances of life. When you see God behind the curtain ruling over your circumstances it becomes, as John Piper puts it, “The strong wood of the tree that keeps our lives from being blown over by the winds of adversity. It is the rock that rises for us out of the flood of uncertainty and confusion. It is the eye of the hurricane where we stand with God and look up into the blue sky of his mastery when everything is being destroyed. ‘When all around gives my soul gives sway, this is all my hope and my stay’.”
IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM DANIEL 1:1-2
1. There are no interruptions for God. The Westminster Confession says in its opening lines of Chapter III: “God, from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” Since that is true, Daniel will see that there is opportunity in what we think are interruptions that is all part of the plan of God. No matter how big the problem God's power, grace and sovereignty are bigger. Daniel moved out of the realm of interruption and walked through the door of opportunity. Read on in Daniel and you will see how God uses this captivity to work thin and through this young man named Daniel. We can too! The apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:16 to be “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” Jonathan Edwards asked the question frequently in his resolutions that he would see every situation and circumstance as an opportunity to glorify God. The God of Daniel 1 teaches us that there is nothing incidental in human life and there is nothing accidental in human life. As Warren Wiersbe said, “There are no accidents, only appointments.”
2. God provides the supernatural environment For Daniel and for us, our life situation is not too big for God’s power. They do not paralyze him. He is available for every situation from Babylonian captivity to schools restricting you.
3. Your circumstances have great potential The question of my life is not how difficult things are, how many barriers there are, or how many things or forces seem to be working against us. Life’s problems and detours are God’s interstate highways. He is using your present to glorify and show Himself even as He did in Daniels time. .
4. Look beyond your limitations The real question is “Are you willing to be used of God where He has planted you?” “Are you willing to believe him and depend upon him?” "There is a God in heaven..."Daniel tells King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 2:28, and it was that God in heaven who sustained Daniel and the people while in captivity that He planned and purposed. Daniel could not have imagined the plans God had for him: from prime minister of the court; to interpreter of dreams; to prophet, teacher; and a lifelong voice for God among pagan people.
My Prayer In Response to my trial and the God of Daniel 1:
Oh sovereign God. You rule the heavens, the earth, time, and eternity. There is nothing that happens that You don’t turn for Your glory and our good. Thank You that no matter how bad things are, no matter how foolish my choices, You can turn them all for good. Thank You that You have plans and purposes far beyond my comprehension for my good and Your exceeding glory. Help us to see behind the most frowning providence's your smiling face. Enable us to trust that nothing will thwart Your purposes. So we pray, Father, let Your kingdom come, May Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus Christ’s sovereign name. Amen!
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
THE HAPPY DUTY OF THE CHRISTIAN
“Delight yourself in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4); “Serve the Lord with gladness" (Psalm 100:2);
“Rejoice in the Lord always" (Philippians 4:4)
My favorite place in the whole world is the tropical island of Kauai in the Hawaiian Islands. I was fortunate to have lived there for a year from 1972-1973 and have been a regular visitor ever since. I never get tired of the sights, smells, and sounds of this little island paradise. When the plane approaches the airport, I cannot help but notice the deep greens (my favorite color) and the amazing contours of Kauai’s landscape. Then there is cool breeze of the trade winds that bring the tropical smell of Plumeria flowers greeting me as I step off of the airplane. The ocean is so warm and deep blue bursting with sea life. I can never get enough of surfing Hanalei Bay, sitting on my surfboard letting my eyes survey its breathtaking beauty and grandeur. Drive to the end of the road on the North Shore and you cannot help but be captivated by what is known as “Bali Hai” and the majestic Napali Coast.
But my favorite thing of all about Kauai is to watch the glory of the Hawaiian sunset at the end of the day. When the sun goes down and reaches the horizon you can for a split second see a green flash of light before the sun disappears. The after sunset is amazing with its palette of color and beauty that goes on until the darkness steals its glory. I have witnessed many sunsets alone but my greatest joy has been when I have been able to watch the sunset at Tunnels Beach with my wife. As we sit together on the white sand beach surrounded by palm trees overlooking the blue ocean stretching out to the horizon, the sun begins its descent at the end of a wonderful day spent together. As the sun sets over the horizon we say to one another, “Wow! Isn’t this awesome? This is so beautiful. Can you believe the colors? Look, it’s getting more colorful by the minute. Praise God!” Somehow the joy of our experience is enriched and completed by expressing it one to another.
In our sharing the experience of that sunset, neither of us had to talk or coach or persuade ourselves into appreciating the view. We have never once said, “We ought to enjoy this" or "Shouldn't we appreciate this and say something about it?” There was absolutely no sense of duty in our enjoyment and communicating its worth to one another. All we had to do is see it and savor it for what a Kauai sunset is: beautiful, breathtaking, and glorious! And the greatest joy was expressing our joy one to another!
How much more joyful is a life lived before the face of the beautiful living God! To see Him is to savor Him and to savor Him is enjoy him by glorifying and praising Him. That is why the key to Christian living is being happy in God. It is God’s aim and it is my duty to be supremely happy in God! Psalm 144:15 says, “Happy are the people who are in such a state; Happy are the people whose God is the LORD!”
The duty of Christian living is a “peculiar” duty. Webster’s dictionary describes “duty” as “obligatory tasks, conduct, service, or functions that arise from ones position as in life or a group. The service required or a moral or legal obligation”. But God looks at duty in a different way. Tragically most of us have been taught that duty, not delight, is the way that we serve and honor God. But we have not been taught that delight in God is our duty! John Piper calls it “the dangerous duty of delight”. Being satisfied in God is not an optional add-on to the real stuff of Christian duty. It is the most basic demand of all. It is the foundation of living in God’s world.
"Delight yourself in the Lord" (Psalm 37:4) is not a suggestion but a command. So are: "Serve the Lord with gladness" (Psalm 100:2); and "Rejoice in the Lord always" (Phil. 4:4).
Jonathan Edwards taught that the essence of glorifying God is when He is shown to be most beautiful and valuable by His people enjoying him above all things. “True religion, in great part, consists of holy affections.”
Loving and cherishing and honoring and delighting in God come alive when our affections are fully engaged. The heart of man is a desire factory where the battle rages for joy in all God has for us in Christ. So the peculiar duty of the believer is to pursue maximum joy in God alone.
C. S. Lewis said that "it is a Christian duty, as you know, for everyone to be as happy as he can." The peculiar duty of the Christian is an inward duty to “delight yourself in the Lord” (Psalm 37:4) and to “be glad in the Lord, and rejoice” (Psalm 32:11).
Consider the analogy of a wedding anniversary. Mine is on June 1. Suppose on this day I bring home my wife Debi’s favorite country bouquet. When she meets me at the door I hand her the flowers, and she says, "O Bill, they're beautiful, thank you," and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-fact, "Don't mention it Deb; it's our anniversary, I’m supposed to do this, it is required of me, it’s my duty." What happens? I'm sleeping in another bedroom that night! How does my wife feel? Perhaps she feels like dumping the bouquet on my head! Is this exercise of duty a noble thing? Does my wife feel loved and valued by me? Hardly! Not if my heart’s not in it. Flowers given by duty are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for my precious wife as a person, the flowers do not honor her. In fact they belittle and demean her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection. All I can muster is a calculated expression of marital duty.
But when I bring my wife that bouquet of country flowers, and she asks me why I gave them to her, the answer that honors her most is, “Because nothing makes me happier than to do this for you, I love you so much!” “It is my duty” dishonors her. “It is my joy” honors her. If I take my wife out for the evening on our anniversary and she asks me, "Why do you do this?" the answer that honors her most is, "Because nothing makes me happier tonight than to be with you."
There it is! A peculiar duty. How shall we honor God in worship? By saying, "It's my duty"? Or by saying, "It's my joy"? But for some people -- most people -- the word "duty" is not a happy word. It tends to sound oppressive and burdensome. So it doesn't sound then that God is very loving. That he doesn't have our best interest at heart. How do God’s glory and our duty to delight in Him work together? How do you bring glory to an all-sufficient, perfect, infinitely beautiful, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, overflowing God? Let me give you illustrations from ordinary life.
At the beginning I discussed the experience of my wife and myself observing a Hawaiian sunset. If you want to glorify a beautiful sunset, you don't feel a burden to work to improve it. You simply enjoy it. You love it. You talk about it excitedly to your friends. Or suppose you are hiking at Yosemite in the winter time and arrive at Summit Meadow, a huge, breathtaking, snow covered meadow surrounded by a conifer forest. How do you glorify the excellence of the meadow? By looking intently all around you, taking it all in, by enjoying the view, and by thinking and saying “wow this is awesome!”
In other words if it is your duty to glorify something infinitely beautiful and wonderful, that is no burden. It is a joy and a pleasure. In fact when you take from it pleasure, you demonstrate that it's a treasure. Or suppose your duty was to glorify someones generosity. I recently had someone take me all expenses paid to the Mentawai Islands off of Sumatra in Indonesia. The generosity of this person was overwhelming. How have I glorified that quality in him? Not by trying to pay him back. That would turn his kindness into a business transaction. It would treat his free gift like a trade. Tit for tat. That would not glorify the wealth of his generosity. No, the way to glorify their generosity and their kindness is to be lavish and genuine in my appreciation, gratitude, and thanksgiving. And that is no burden. When I received this generous gift I did not groan under the duty to feel thankful. It was a pleasure not a hardship to profusely thank him and feel such gratitude towards him.
God created us for His glory. Therefore the peculiar duty of every man and woman and child is to live for the glory of God. What a wonderfully peculiar duty it is! And the wonderful thing is that this duty is not a burden. It is freedom and joy. You glorify God's beauty and excellence by loving it and delighting in it. You glorify God's provision for your thirsty souls by drinking and being satisfied in Him alone. You glorify God's bounty and generosity and kindness and grace by overflowing with gratitude. It is there spontaneously. It is not consciously willed. It is not analyzed in terms of an appropriate response. It is not decided upon. It comes from deep within, from a place beneath the conscious will.
Eric Liddell, the great Christian missionary and Olympic athlete, was once asked why he ran. He said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast. And when I run I feel His pleasure." What an amazing duty God has given us! “Delight yourself in the Lord.” Our duty is our very delight! When we fulfill our “peculiar” duty, God gets much glory and we get much joy. We come into His presence with joyful singing from the heart and if someone asks us why we can say like Eric Liddell, “I run to give God pleasure and worship God my treasure because it gives me so much pleasure.”
Pastor Bill
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
THE DIFFICULT DOCTRINE OF THE LOVE OF GOD Part 2
Last week I mentioned that there is much ignorance and misunderstanding about the love of God both outside the church and inside the church. The unbeliever has a very different conception of the love of God than a Christian. If they believe in God, they generally tend to believe that He is a loving, benevolent being; but tend to not believe in his holiness, justice, wrath, sovereignty, or providence. I also mentioned that sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is.
The Bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. So we discussed…
1. The Peculiar Love of God the Father for His Son
2. God’s General and Providential Love for His Creation
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
Finally,
5. God's love is sometimes said to be directed toward his own people in a provisional or conditional way-conditioned on obedience. Often times it is spoken in Christian circles that “God’s love is totally and always unconditional.” Is that statement true? In one sense yes, but in another sense no. You might say, “It depends”. How does God love unconditionally?
We saw last week that there are at least two ways or contexts that God loves unconditionally:
• He loves His people with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5). He does not base this election on foreseeing anyone’s faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Romans 9:16 says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
• He loves His people with regenerating love before they meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (1John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
So there is one sense in which God’s love is totally unconditional but there is another sense that scriptures teach God’s love is sometimes conditional. In short, there is a context to God’s unconditional love and there is a context to God’s conditional love. Unconditional love is not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46). It’s not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1). It’s not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens “to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). It’s not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21). And James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Not unconditional. It depends upon certain things. This means that there is a precious experience of peace, assurance, harmony, and intimacy that is It’s not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.
D.A. Carson says, “It is part of the relational structure of knowing God; it does not have to do with how we become true followers of the Irving God, but with our relationship with him once we do know him.” Jude exhorts us to "keep yourselves in God's love," (v. 21), leaving the unmistakable impression that someone might not keep himself or herself in the love of God. Now this is different than God’s providential love; God's yearning love, nor is it His eternal, elective love. BUT, The Lord commands His disciples to remain in his love (John 15:9), adding, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love" (John 15:10).
Carson draws an analogy,
Although there is a sense in which my love for my children is immutable, so help me God, regardless of what they do, there is another sense in which they know well enough that they must remain in my love. If for no good reason my teenagers do not get home by the time I have prescribed, the least they will experience is a bawling out, and they may come under some restrictive sanctions. There is no use reminding them that I am doing this because I love them. That is true, but the manifestation of my love for them when I ground them and when I take them out for a meal or attend one of their concerts or take my son fishing or my daughter on an excursion of some sort is rather different in the two cases. Only the latter will feel much more like remaining in my love than falling under my wrath.
This conditional love is taught throughout the scriptures. God says that He shows His love "to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). “From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him . . . with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts" (Psalm 103:9-11, 13, 17-18). This is the language of relationship between God and His covenant people.
So is God’s love conditional, unconditional, or both? Carson says, "God's love is unconditional in the fourth sense, with respect to God's elective love. But it is certainly not true in the fifth sense: God's discipline of his children means that he may turn upon us with the divine equivalent of the "wrath" of a parent on a wayward teenager. Indeed, to cite the cliché "God's love is unconditional" to a Christian who is drifting toward sin may convey the wrong impression and do a lot of damage. Such Christians need to be told that they will remain in God's love only if they do what he says."
We must declare that God loves all men in his providence and in His saving stance towards the whole world. But we also must declare that God particularly loves His elect in a way that is different than the whole of mankind. God's election and calling are totally unconditional (Romans 9:11; 11:5-6; Ephesians 2:5). Finally, we must say that the enjoyment of all the benefits of that election and calling in its effect upon our lives is conditioned upon certain things like forsaking sin, faith, obedience, and pursuing intimacy with Jesus Christ.
The incredible thing is that in love God is the initiator and the enabler of our ability to meet these very conditions (Philippians 2; 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:19). So the conditions are there and real and we are responsible, but we do them with God’s enabling. We must understand this or our faith will be fragile, shallow, and weak.
So there is a sense that God loves everyone the same and another sense that it is not true. There is a sense that God’s love is unconditional and there is another sense that His love is totally conditional. Obviously, then, it is very important for us “to know and to understand what passages and themes to apply to which people at any given time.”
Basking in the depth and wisdom of God’s love,
Pastor Bill
The Bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. So we discussed…
1. The Peculiar Love of God the Father for His Son
2. God’s General and Providential Love for His Creation
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
Finally,
5. God's love is sometimes said to be directed toward his own people in a provisional or conditional way-conditioned on obedience. Often times it is spoken in Christian circles that “God’s love is totally and always unconditional.” Is that statement true? In one sense yes, but in another sense no. You might say, “It depends”. How does God love unconditionally?
We saw last week that there are at least two ways or contexts that God loves unconditionally:
• He loves His people with electing love unconditionally. “He chose us in him before the foundation of the world . . . for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4-5). He does not base this election on foreseeing anyone’s faith. On the contrary, our faith is the result of being chosen and appointed to believe, as Acts 13:48 says, “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” Romans 9:16 says, "It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy."
• He loves His people with regenerating love before they meet any condition. The new birth is not God’s response to our meeting the condition of faith. On the contrary, the new birth enables us to believe. “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been [already!] born of God,” (1John 5:1). “[We] were born, not . . . of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
So there is one sense in which God’s love is totally unconditional but there is another sense that scriptures teach God’s love is sometimes conditional. In short, there is a context to God’s unconditional love and there is a context to God’s conditional love. Unconditional love is not a saving love that he has for everybody. Else everybody would be saved, since they would not have to meet any conditions, not even faith. But Jesus said everybody is not saved (Matthew 25:46). It’s not the love that justifies sinners since the Bible says we are justified by faith, and faith is a condition (Romans 5:1). It’s not the love of working all things together for our good because Paul says that happens “to those who love God” (Romans 8:28). It’s not the love of the most intimate fellowship with the Father because Jesus said, “He who loves me will be loved by my Father” (John 14:21). And James said, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Not unconditional. It depends upon certain things. This means that there is a precious experience of peace, assurance, harmony, and intimacy that is It’s not the love that will admit us into heaven when we die because John says, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). And faithfulness is a condition.
D.A. Carson says, “It is part of the relational structure of knowing God; it does not have to do with how we become true followers of the Irving God, but with our relationship with him once we do know him.” Jude exhorts us to "keep yourselves in God's love," (v. 21), leaving the unmistakable impression that someone might not keep himself or herself in the love of God. Now this is different than God’s providential love; God's yearning love, nor is it His eternal, elective love. BUT, The Lord commands His disciples to remain in his love (John 15:9), adding, "If you obey my commands, you will remain in my just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love" (John 15:10).
Carson draws an analogy,
Although there is a sense in which my love for my children is immutable, so help me God, regardless of what they do, there is another sense in which they know well enough that they must remain in my love. If for no good reason my teenagers do not get home by the time I have prescribed, the least they will experience is a bawling out, and they may come under some restrictive sanctions. There is no use reminding them that I am doing this because I love them. That is true, but the manifestation of my love for them when I ground them and when I take them out for a meal or attend one of their concerts or take my son fishing or my daughter on an excursion of some sort is rather different in the two cases. Only the latter will feel much more like remaining in my love than falling under my wrath.
This conditional love is taught throughout the scriptures. God says that He shows His love "to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exodus 20:6). “From everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear him . . . with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts" (Psalm 103:9-11, 13, 17-18). This is the language of relationship between God and His covenant people.
So is God’s love conditional, unconditional, or both? Carson says, "God's love is unconditional in the fourth sense, with respect to God's elective love. But it is certainly not true in the fifth sense: God's discipline of his children means that he may turn upon us with the divine equivalent of the "wrath" of a parent on a wayward teenager. Indeed, to cite the cliché "God's love is unconditional" to a Christian who is drifting toward sin may convey the wrong impression and do a lot of damage. Such Christians need to be told that they will remain in God's love only if they do what he says."
We must declare that God loves all men in his providence and in His saving stance towards the whole world. But we also must declare that God particularly loves His elect in a way that is different than the whole of mankind. God's election and calling are totally unconditional (Romans 9:11; 11:5-6; Ephesians 2:5). Finally, we must say that the enjoyment of all the benefits of that election and calling in its effect upon our lives is conditioned upon certain things like forsaking sin, faith, obedience, and pursuing intimacy with Jesus Christ.
The incredible thing is that in love God is the initiator and the enabler of our ability to meet these very conditions (Philippians 2; 12-13; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 4:19). So the conditions are there and real and we are responsible, but we do them with God’s enabling. We must understand this or our faith will be fragile, shallow, and weak.
So there is a sense that God loves everyone the same and another sense that it is not true. There is a sense that God’s love is unconditional and there is another sense that His love is totally conditional. Obviously, then, it is very important for us “to know and to understand what passages and themes to apply to which people at any given time.”
Basking in the depth and wisdom of God’s love,
Pastor Bill
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
THOUGHTS ON THE DIFFICULT DOCTRINE OF THE LOVE OF GOD
I have recently read D.A Carson’s profound little book called The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God. The title might surprise you because almost everyone believes in God that God is a loving God. He says that what makes it difficult is that when a bible believing Christians speaks of the love of God, they mean something very different than what is meant in our surrounding culture. They may believe in a God of love but not in justice, sovereignty, holiness, wrath, or providence. In short, the love of God is purged of anything that seems uncomfortable. It has been sanitized, democratized, and sentimentalized.
Sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is. Christian culture makes statements that misrepresent or reduce God’s love with declarations that are only half or partially true or true in a particular context such as “God’s love is totally unconditional” or “God loves everybody the same”. I have found that some Christians can get really upset when these particular platitudes are challenged.
But the fact is that the bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. John Piper says, “It is so important that we let the Bible define what it means by love in any given passage. We should not bring all our assumptions about love and make the Bible mean what we think love must be.”
1. The Peculiar Love of God the father for His Son
First, there is God’s love for his Son and the Son’s love for the Father. John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” In John 14:31, Jesus says, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”
God’s love for the other members of the Trinity is different from his love for us because there is no sin to be overcome. If God loves us, he loves us in spite of our sin. God the Father does not love the Son in spite of anything. Everything about the Son is infinitely worthy of love.
2. God’s Providential Love for His Creation
Second, God loves his creation and sustains it with his care, even for the use of his enemies. For example, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalms 145:9). Or in Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus commands us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So God’s love moves him to provide rain and sunshine where it is not deserved. Jesus calls it an example of love for his enemies, and an example of how we should love our enemies.
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World The apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loves the world by sending his Son and opening the door of eternal life to anyone who believes on him. So, we can say to every human being “God loves you. And this is how he loves you: He gave his Son to die, so that if you would believe, your sins would be forgiven and you would have eternal life.”
John Piper says, “There are no limits to this offer: It goes out to all people of every ethnic group and every age and every socio-economic category and, best of all, to every degree of sinner—from the bad to the worst. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever”—indiscriminate and universal—“believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
But this is where the love of God becomes difficult. When we try to use this expression of God’s love to cancel or negate another expression of the love God—which is what many people do with this verse. This is a great sadness and robs the church of one of her great treasures.
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
But the most precious experience of the love of God has not yet been described. This is the love of God that moves him to go beyond the free offer of the gospel and choose a people for himself, bring them to himself in faith, and make with them personal everlasting covenant. In each case, God loves his chosen ones in a way that He does not love others. You could call this God’s electing love, or God’s regenerating love, or God’s covenant love. With this love, God does more than offer. He overcomes rebellion and resistance so that these loved ones receive the offer. This can be seen in several ways.
A. God’s Love Shown in Choosing of Israel
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:14-15).
The point here is that God did not just offer to be Israel’s covenant God; he chose Israel. He took them from all the people. He didn’t negotiate. He freely and sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
The amazing point here is that when Israel is contrasted with other nations, they are not distinguished because of any merit or loveliness in themselves, but simply on the basis that God loves them! God’s love is directed towards other nations. Obviously, this way of speaking of God’s love is different than the other ways that God’s love is spoken of. They did not choose him. He chose them. And he calls this love. It is a love that goes beyond an offer. In a similar fashion, the apostle Paul says that “Christ loves the church.” (Ephesians 5:25).
B. God’s Love Through the Gift of New Birth
We see this kind of love in God’s raising us from spiritual death and causing us to be born again. In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, being born again happens to us at the Spirit’s will. We don’t control the wind, and we don’t control the Spirit. He comes and goes with his regenerating power as he pleases.
John 1:12-13 puts it this way, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is called love—great love—in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (cf. “great mercy” in 1 Peter 1:3). This is “great love” that goes way beyond offering to spiritually dead people that if they will believe, they will be saved. This love conquers our deadness. It gives new life, and brings us to faith, and unites us to Christ—all in one sovereign instant.
C. Jesus’ Particular Love for His Chosen Sheep
This is clear in John 10:25-26. Jesus says, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” So we don’t first believe in order to be a part of Jesus’ flock; God makes us part of Jesus’ flock in order that we may believe. This means that when Jesus says in John 10:11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” In John 10:16, Jesus looks beyond the present fold of believers and says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” And John 11:51-52 says he died to gather them. He died in order to bring his chosen sheep to faith. John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice [that’s how you can tell they are sheep] and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Why do they come? They come because the Father has chosen them and gives to Jesus. John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” They come because God draws them. John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:65: “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Piper asks the question, Why doesn’t everybody believe the good news of John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”? Why don’t people come? Jesus answers in John 3:19-20, “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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.”
The more amazing question is: Why do any of us come? Why do any of us receive Christ as the supreme Treasure of our lives? And the answer is: There is a greater love than the love of John 3:16. It goes beyond offering eternal life and actually creates it in your heart.
Finally John Piper says, “Those of you who believe on Christ, God wants you to know yourself loved, not only with universal love of John 3:16, but also with his death-conquering, hardness-removing, rebellion-eradicating, sight-imparting, faith-creating, personal, individual, invincible covenant love of which we are absolutely undeserving.
Oh may we become biblical in our understanding of God’s love. More than that, may we savor this Trinitarian love, this providential love, this salvation offering love, and this sovereign, electing, covenant love. It is to be received, absorbed, and felt. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”.
To be continued…
Pastor Bill
Sometimes the love of God is reduced in Christian circles to something that is less and easier and simpler than it really is. Christian culture makes statements that misrepresent or reduce God’s love with declarations that are only half or partially true or true in a particular context such as “God’s love is totally unconditional” or “God loves everybody the same”. I have found that some Christians can get really upset when these particular platitudes are challenged.
But the fact is that the bible speaks of the love of God in several distinguishable ways. John Piper says, “It is so important that we let the Bible define what it means by love in any given passage. We should not bring all our assumptions about love and make the Bible mean what we think love must be.”
1. The Peculiar Love of God the father for His Son
First, there is God’s love for his Son and the Son’s love for the Father. John 3:35: “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” In John 14:31, Jesus says, “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”
God’s love for the other members of the Trinity is different from his love for us because there is no sin to be overcome. If God loves us, he loves us in spite of our sin. God the Father does not love the Son in spite of anything. Everything about the Son is infinitely worthy of love.
2. God’s Providential Love for His Creation
Second, God loves his creation and sustains it with his care, even for the use of his enemies. For example, “The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalms 145:9). Or in Matthew 5:44-45 Jesus commands us, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” So God’s love moves him to provide rain and sunshine where it is not deserved. Jesus calls it an example of love for his enemies, and an example of how we should love our enemies.
3. God’s Love in His Saving Stance to the Whole World The apostle John writes, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God loves the world by sending his Son and opening the door of eternal life to anyone who believes on him. So, we can say to every human being “God loves you. And this is how he loves you: He gave his Son to die, so that if you would believe, your sins would be forgiven and you would have eternal life.”
John Piper says, “There are no limits to this offer: It goes out to all people of every ethnic group and every age and every socio-economic category and, best of all, to every degree of sinner—from the bad to the worst. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever”—indiscriminate and universal—“believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
But this is where the love of God becomes difficult. When we try to use this expression of God’s love to cancel or negate another expression of the love God—which is what many people do with this verse. This is a great sadness and robs the church of one of her great treasures.
4. God’s Particular, Effective, Selecting Love for His Chosen, Covenant People
But the most precious experience of the love of God has not yet been described. This is the love of God that moves him to go beyond the free offer of the gospel and choose a people for himself, bring them to himself in faith, and make with them personal everlasting covenant. In each case, God loves his chosen ones in a way that He does not love others. You could call this God’s electing love, or God’s regenerating love, or God’s covenant love. With this love, God does more than offer. He overcomes rebellion and resistance so that these loved ones receive the offer. This can be seen in several ways.
A. God’s Love Shown in Choosing of Israel
“Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” (Deuteronomy 10:14-15).
The point here is that God did not just offer to be Israel’s covenant God; he chose Israel. He took them from all the people. He didn’t negotiate. He freely and sovereignly and unconditionally chose Israel.
The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you. (Deuteronomy 7:6-8)
The amazing point here is that when Israel is contrasted with other nations, they are not distinguished because of any merit or loveliness in themselves, but simply on the basis that God loves them! God’s love is directed towards other nations. Obviously, this way of speaking of God’s love is different than the other ways that God’s love is spoken of. They did not choose him. He chose them. And he calls this love. It is a love that goes beyond an offer. In a similar fashion, the apostle Paul says that “Christ loves the church.” (Ephesians 5:25).
B. God’s Love Through the Gift of New Birth
We see this kind of love in God’s raising us from spiritual death and causing us to be born again. In John 3:8, Jesus says, “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” In other words, being born again happens to us at the Spirit’s will. We don’t control the wind, and we don’t control the Spirit. He comes and goes with his regenerating power as he pleases.
John 1:12-13 puts it this way, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”
This is called love—great love—in Ephesians 2:4-5: “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (cf. “great mercy” in 1 Peter 1:3). This is “great love” that goes way beyond offering to spiritually dead people that if they will believe, they will be saved. This love conquers our deadness. It gives new life, and brings us to faith, and unites us to Christ—all in one sovereign instant.
C. Jesus’ Particular Love for His Chosen Sheep
This is clear in John 10:25-26. Jesus says, “The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not part of my flock.” So we don’t first believe in order to be a part of Jesus’ flock; God makes us part of Jesus’ flock in order that we may believe. This means that when Jesus says in John 10:11, “The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep,” In John 10:16, Jesus looks beyond the present fold of believers and says, “I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also.” And John 11:51-52 says he died to gather them. He died in order to bring his chosen sheep to faith. John 10:27-28: “My sheep hear my voice [that’s how you can tell they are sheep] and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Why do they come? They come because the Father has chosen them and gives to Jesus. John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” They come because God draws them. John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.” John 6:65: “No one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”
Piper asks the question, Why doesn’t everybody believe the good news of John 3:16, “Whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life”? Why don’t people come? Jesus answers in John 3:19-20, “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. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light.”
The more amazing question is: Why do any of us come? Why do any of us receive Christ as the supreme Treasure of our lives? And the answer is: There is a greater love than the love of John 3:16. It goes beyond offering eternal life and actually creates it in your heart.
Finally John Piper says, “Those of you who believe on Christ, God wants you to know yourself loved, not only with universal love of John 3:16, but also with his death-conquering, hardness-removing, rebellion-eradicating, sight-imparting, faith-creating, personal, individual, invincible covenant love of which we are absolutely undeserving.
Oh may we become biblical in our understanding of God’s love. More than that, may we savor this Trinitarian love, this providential love, this salvation offering love, and this sovereign, electing, covenant love. It is to be received, absorbed, and felt. Paul writes in Ephesians 3:14-21, “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith- that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”.
To be continued…
Pastor Bill
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