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It is funny the extremes one will find when talking with others about their righteousness or right standing before God. You will run into some people who are highly conscious of their sinfulness and failures. Such people often doubt whether God could ever forgive them or use them in his kingdom. Or you will run into folks who are supremely confident that they must be pleasing to God. They have no doubt about their standing and are highly sure of themselves.

 

Either group mentioned above can be hard to talk to about spiritual things. And both groups are making an error in judgment. In our society, we often hear that we are not to judge others. Of course, that is a very incorrect handling of Matthew 7:1. But I wonder how many of us make the mistake of thinking we can rightly judge ourselves. How many of us think we know who we are deep down and thus can rightly assess our actions and motives? Let me present to us this for consideration: We are not capable on our own to judge our own lives.

 

1 Corinthians 4:3-5 – 3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. 4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. 5 Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.

 

When the apostle Paul was writing to the Corinthian church, he made sure that the church knew that he was inadequate to judge his own life. Paul, the man who wrote nearly half of the New Testament books, said that he was unqualified to declare himself to be anything before the Lord. Paul would not judge himself. Instead, he left the proper judging of his life to the Lord.

 

Notice as well that Paul said that the judgment of God on our lives would come when the Lord Jesus returns. When Jesus makes his way back to the earth, he will bring to light what is hidden in our lives. He will expose not only our deeds but the motives and purposes of our hearts. Jesus will not simply look at a record book of our actions, but he will see clearer than we have ever seen the exact reasons behind everything we have ever done. He will know when we have done a right thing so that others would be impressed by us. He will know when we have given out of guilt instead of out of joy. He will know when we have tried to make ourselves look good, to gain position, or to put down others.

 

The point, dear friends, is that we must find ourselves under the grace of Jesus and then leave all assessment of our worth up to him. Alone, we cannot please the Lord. We must believe in Jesus and turn from our sin to be saved. But even when we are saved, we must not think highly of ourselves as if we can see through our own motives. The truth is, we cannot see into our own hearts very well. We may give ourselves too much credit. We may be too hard on ourselves. But either way, our judgment of our own lives and actions will be far from perfect. So may we stop assessing ourselves by our standards, get under the grace of Jesus, and trust him to make us into what he wants us to be.

It is interesting to note the different ways that our weaknesses manifest. In some churches, it is like pulling teeth to get people to want to study the word of God in depth. In others, the body has such a strong desire to believe that they are going deeper and deeper in their understanding that they may miss the value of simple grace. But neither the one who ignores doctrine nor the one who thinks only of being deep is really honoring the Lord without other things being central to his or her life.

 

1 Corinthians 3:1-4 – 1 But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? 4 For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?

 

As Paul opens 1 Corinthians 3, he is chastising the church at Corinth for their shallowness. This reminds us that we do not want to be shallow Christians. None of us want to be the people who are only fed on spiritual milk. We need to grow up into maturity. We need to grow to be able to follow the Lord and handle the deeper truths of Scripture.

 

But notice what Paul has to say to this group about why they are shallow. He is not saying that they require milk because of their lack of study. Nor does Paul indicate that they are disinterested in deep doctrine. In fact, from what he writes in this chapter, it looks like the people are all about steaking out their positions. But, somehow, in the midst of their wrangling, the church is still not mature.

 

What is the issue? Paul points out that this body of believers is shallow, not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of a lack of love and spiritual kindness. Inside the church, there appears to be a factionalism arising. Some love one teacher and some another. Some have their favorite leader while some follow another. And instead of learning from each other, the church has gotten to a point where they are being nasty to each other because of whom they follow or whom they do not.

 

Can you imagine that in our churches today? I would think so. Even in churches that are united on tough doctrinal things such as reformed theology, how often do you see people measure each other by their favorite? I follow Piper. I follow MacArthur. I follow Mohler. I follow Washer. I follow Lawson. I follow Platt. I follow Chandler. You can get the picture.

Could you imagine, however, a group in which one person in the body looks down on another or poorly treats another because of how they feel about another’s choice of favorite teacher or author? I surely can. And, you can probably also imagine that such a person, when they feel the need to let you know why they don’t like your favorite author or teacher, might end up hurting your feelings or putting you down in one way or another.

 

Now, go back to Paul’s point. If you are lining up and choosing sides based on your favorite teacher or leader, you are immature. You are babies still on milk. It does not matter how many conferences you have been to. It does not matter how well you can spout catechism. It does not matter whose systematic theology you can quote verbatim. If you are divisive, nasty, and unloving toward others in the body, you are not mature. If you are someone who puts people off and cannot keep friends in the church because of your positions on doctrines or leaders, you are an infant in the faith.

 

I think this lesson is needed in every church in a different form. For some believers, you need to mature by actually starting to care about biblical doctrine. If you do not know enough Scripture to have a position on sovereignty, election, end times, baptism, divorce, remarriage, eldership, or other such things, you need to grow. There is no biblical excuse for remaining ignorant of the things that the church has wrestled through for centuries.

 

At the same time, if you are doctrinally well-educated, but your education somehow impacts your personality so that people do not like you, it is your responsibility to grow toward love. No person is spiritually mature who cannot be lovingly connected to a local church body. Even if the people around you land differently on some doctrinal positions, you should be able to be gracious and to show kindness and to keep friendships so long as we are not here talking about doctrines essential for salvation. If you are a deep thinker, a heavy learner, a voracious reader, but if you cannot be friends with an average believer, you are not mature. In fact, Paul would tell you that you are on just as much of a baby bottle diet as is the immature believer you keep offending.

 

May we learn, therefore, to desire maturity. And may we understand that spiritual maturity always includes loving others in the body and showing the kindness of Christ. Learn the truth, but do so with grace. Tell the truth, but do not break the body in the process.

Have you noticed how many Christians turn up their noses at certain discussions relating to the faith? For example, have you talked with believers who are happy to discuss certain moral issues with you, but consider a topic like eschatology, the study of the end times, to be not worth their while? Why do you think this happens?

 

Of course, we cannot be surprised that so many are disinterested in a discussion of end times things. Too many have been over-exposed to the Left Behind sort of teaching and have turned away from that book series’ claims. Too many have found that the bickering among believers about the timing of the rapture, the coming of a possible millennium, or the rise of the antichrist is just far too speculative and divisive to be any good for anybody. And, since the topic is hard, it should be ignored.

 

Of course, other believers are not over-exposed to one brand of eschatology. Instead, they have been abused by teachers who became so fascinated with a novel way of handling the end times that they forced their point of view into every teaching they gave. Thus, the Christians who were subjected to a regular attack of passionate proclamation about how the end times already took place or some other sort of system have no interest in ever being dragged down that road again.

 

But what do we lose when we lose the ability to study eschatology together? Is there a loss at all? Should we just ignore it altogether?

 

Consider what Paul writes to the Corinthian church about a particular hope that they have in Christ.

 

1 Corinthians 1:7-9 – 7 so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

 

Paul is hear giving God thanks for the Corinthians and expressing his confidence in the gifts that the Lord has given his church. Of course, the Corinthians were blessed with some spectacular spiritual gifts. But Paul’s focus actually goes further. The Corinthians are going to be sustained by their faithful God as they await the revealing of the Lord Jesus. They are actively, passionately, insistently waiting on the unveiling of Jesus.

 

What is that about? The unveiling or revealing of Jesus Christ is a reference to Jesus’ return. The hope of the Corinthians is not in their present position. Their hope is not in their miraculous spiritual gifting. No, their hope is in the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their hope is in the return of Jesus. That is where they can place their hope for life in the presence of their faithful God.

 

What I fear, if we are not careful, is that we will give up the sustaining hope that the Corinthian church had if we let go of any conversations about the return of Christ. If we assume that this stuff all does not matter, I wonder how much hope we ignore. I don’t know about you, but I can’t afford to ignore any sort of sustaining Scriptural hope. I need it. And so I must take seriously the call to know the word of God, including what the word of God has revealed about the return of Jesus.

 

Now, I am not here to promote any system that you need to buy into. But what I would say is that you probably need to be careful turning your nose up at the topic of the return of Jesus just because some have overemphasized it or because you find it confusing or because some argue about it or because you are not good at it. God has promised us that Jesus will return. We should be fascinated by that. We should long to look into that topic as much as the Lord has revealed. We should be gracious with those who disagree with us on the order of future events or the literal or figurative understanding of a thousand year reign of Christ. But, friends, let us not hide from the topic. Why? The topic of the return of Christ is a source of sustaining hope for believers, and we need all the hope we can get.

 

The word church is an interesting word, because it means more than one thing when people say or hear it. Some people think of a building. Some people think of a local gathering. Some think of a group gathering in a home. Some people think of a structure of authority spanning the globe. Some understand it to mean all believers everywhere. Some think of an underground movement of believers worshipping secretly, out of sight of the oppressive government. Some think of a place they were forced to go as children. Some think of a social organization, a good place to go with good people to do good deeds.

 

But what do we actually see God say about the church? I think we can learn three important truths about the church in the greeting that Paul sends to the church in Corinth.

 

1 Corinthians 1:2 – To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

 

What do we learn about the church in this verse? First, it is the church of God. God is over the church. The church belongs to the Lord. He is the one who created the church, and the very existence of the church is for his honor. That removes so many false pictures of the church. We cannot be a social club, a political expedient, or a man-centered gathering of do-gooders who come to make themselves feel better as they shape the world into their own image.

 

The church is a local gathering of believers. If this were not the case, then the greeting that Paul gave, “To the church of God that is in Corinth,” would not have made any sense. The church is a gathering of geographically connected believers who come together for the purposes of the worship of God and obedience to his word.

 

Consider the potential failure in our Christian lives if we miss the concept of the local church. There are some believers who never connect to a local body. They bounce around from gathering to gathering, enjoying the novelty of different groups of people and styles of worship from Sunday to Sunday. Such people miss the fact that God has designed church life to be experienced in connected units, groups that gather in different places and demonstrate commitment to the Lord by their commitment to one another. A person who does not connect to a local church simply cannot experience the Christian life the way that the Lord intends.

 

But also notice that the church is a global body. Paul says at the end of this verse that the church consists of people, “called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” `, church is also the proper word for all saints of God everywhere. Every single saved person on earth today and throughout all of human history is part of the church universal. Thus, all Christians must grasp that we are connected to a mass of people from every nation and every people group that exists.

 

Again, consider the problems that come if we miss this truth. If we miss that the church is a global body, we will assume that every Christian group should function exactly as our local body functions. We should assume that Christians sing the songs we sing, sit in the same kind of seats we sit in, and experience the same kind of lives that we lead. But the truth is, the church global is far bigger than any of our cultures. Some churches meet outdoors. Some meet in hiding. Some meet in homes. Some meet in glorious buildings. Some sing without instruments. Some have drums and nothing more. Some have full bands. Some have orchestras. Some have a piano or maybe even an organ. We fail to think well of the church if we do not see that the church is far bigger, far greater, far more diverse than our local gathering. We are a part of a greater whole, the people of God saved by Jesus for the honor of the Lord.

 

When you think church, what do you think? If you only think local, you miss the beautiful mosaic that God is putting together of different clusters of people all over the world. If you only think global, however, you are failing to connect to a local body so as to rightly live out the commands that God has given for us to love and grow together with one another. May we all learn to connect to the church local and global to God’s glory.

While much of Christianity is quite simple to understand, there are elements of the Scriptures and of God’s moral standards that not all agree upon. We know that the word of God is clear about issues related to sexual purity, marriage, drunkenness, violence, gossip, and the like. But there are certainly areas in which well-meaning Christians disagree.

 

High on the list of things over Which good Christians disagree are issues related to the drinking of alcohol and the keeping of a Sabbath day. To some Christians, no believer should ever drink alcohol. To some Christians, no believer should ever eat at a restaurant on a Sunday. To other believers, alcohol in moderation is seen as a gift from God and something that believers are free to partake of in moderation. And some believers understand the Sabbath commands to be a fulfilled pointer to the perfect rest achieved by Christ as we rely fully on him in the gospel. Thus, those believers treat no particular day of the week as sacred even while they may continue to follow the pattern of working 6 days and resting 1.

 

How are we to resolve these issues? I’d guess that, if you have read this far, you have an opinion. You probably even have a strong opinion as to what is acceptable for Christians. You probably have a pretty clear idea in your mind as to where all good Christians should fall on the scale of Christian liberty.

 

But, can I ask you to consider something that Paul wrote to the church at Rome to help us in, not what to think about these issues, but how to talk about and treat each other regarding these issues?

 

Romans 14:1-4 – 1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

 

In case you are not thinking about drinking or the Sabbath here, recognize that the remainder of Romans 14 will walk down those particular paths. But, before we go down that road, Paul gives us some very strong counsel. He commands us to understand that each child of God will stand before the Lord and account to God for his or her behavior in these sometimes controversial areas. And Paul then tells us not to pass judgment on one another in these areas if we find ourselves disagreeing. He will certainly call us to be convinced in our own minds of the position that we personally live out. But we are not to be so foolish as to attempt to forcibly apply our standards to others or look down on others who disagree with us.

 

Please also notice that Paul addresses both sides of the issue. The one who eats and the one who abstains are both called not to look down on the other. That would also apply to drinking or Sabbath regulations.

 

We have a bent toward judging those who hold to different standards than we do. But Paul is clear that we should not do so. There are areas in which, if we hold ourselves to a stricter standard than do others, we are to be careful not to let ourselves judge others for not holding to our particular choices. 

 

Some Christians are apt to try to tell those who are judging others for their freedoms to lay off. We like to use romans 14 as a tool to say to those who have standards that we think are the legalistic side of moralism to stop judging others in their freedoms. I’m guessing that you’ve seen that from time to time in blog posts or on social media.

 

But notice that Paul also says that the one who exercises his or her freedom in these areas has no right, none at all, to look down on or judge the one who disagrees. And for many in the modern church, this has been overlooked. There is no room for nasty condescension on either side.

 

So, let’s apply this practically. Are you convinced that no Christian should ever drink alcohol because of what you perceive as a bad social witness? Fine. But do not look down on or judge believers who disagree with you. There are believers who have come to a different conclusion, and have done so thoughtfully. Do not attempt to hold them to your standard.

 

Are you one who feels free to drink in moderation. Fine. But do not look down on or judge the believer who disagrees with your choices. Certainly do not try to talk someone into drinking alcohol who has personal qualms about the issue. Do not consider yourself superior to another because of your grasp of freedom. And, for goodness’ sake, do not flaunt your freedom by waving it in the faces of those who disagree with you. Live peaceably, not allowing others to restrict your freedom or judge you as you do not intentionally go out of your way to put down others or flaunt your freedom.

 

Friends, we are to live lovingly in the church. That means that we will have to learn to be kind to those who disagree with us. We need to be gracious enough to understand that not all issues are as cut and dried as we are given to think. We need to have godly kindness for those servants of the Lord who cannot see the issues as we see them. We need to be merciful and gracious, not quick to see ourselves as superior for our superior grasp of the issues at hand. Perhaps we are right. That is fine. But we must leave the hearts and consciences of others in the hands of the Lord to shape by his word for his glory.

 

Does this mean that we should never talk with each other about Sabbath keeping or social drinking? No, it does not. But our conversations must be kind and gracious. And both sides must understand the biblical mandate not to look down on the other side for a difference of opinion in these issues. May we honor the Lord by being gracious toward other servants of the Master, because, as Paul told us, they will stand, for the Lord is able to make them stand. 

#en

Sometimes we read the word of God, and we make everything into a mystery. We act as though the commands of God are hard to understand. But, if we are really honest, if we strip everything bare, we will find that obedience to the commands of god is a struggle for us, not because of our understanding, but because of our sinful hearts.

 

The truth is, Christianity is not complicated. God has not given a mass of indecipherable commandments that are just beyond our intellect to know how to follow. Instead, God has given us only a few commands, a few simple things, that, if we obey them under grace, we honor the Lord.

 

Of course, the first command is that we will worship God. That must include the call of God that we turn from our sins and trust in Jesus for salvation. If you have not let go of the concept of leading your own life and turned to Jesus in faith, the only real command of God on you is that you do so. Trust in Jesus. Surrender to his lordship. Ask him for salvation.

 

But then, what about the commands of God is so easy? Consider the simplicity of Romans chapter 13. The first 7 verses of the chapter are all about obeying the laws of the land in which we live. We do not break the law unless the law calls us to sin against God. We respect authority. We pay taxes. We live simple and good lives to the glory of God. That is how to obey.

 

At the end of the chapter, God calls us to look forward to the return of Christ by living out lives of purity. We are to put away things that bring us to sinful impurity and prepare our lives to meet our Lord. Nothing here is complicated.

 

And, for an example of simple Christianity, look at the commands in the middle of the chapter.

 

Romans 13:8-10 – 8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

 

How complicated is that? All the moral law is summed up in a command that we love our neighbor as ourselves. We commit ourselves to do others good rather than doing them harm. We seek the benefit of others, even to our own cost and discomfort. As an example, we do not kill, steal, or commit adultery because none of those things fits with a commitment to Godly love.

 

Friends, none of this is hard to understand. None of it is complicated. Not one little bit makes you scratch your head and say, “I wonder what in the world God is talking about here.” It is easy.

 

No, it is not easy to do. We are not naturally a loving people. We are naturally selfish. We naturally grumble and complain because we want our own way. We naturally squash others because we want to put ourselves forward. But the truth is, the trouble, the difficult part, in obeying these commands is in our hearts, not our heads. We are natural sinners. We have a natural evil in our very skin. We naturally rebel against the Lord. But make no mistake, we do not do this because the law of God is hard to grasp.

 

So, may we never pretend we do not know what the Lord wants of us. May we instead submit ourselves to doing what God commands Christians to Do. We are to worship the Lord. We are to love him and his word. We are to live peaceable, obedient, quiet lives in the world. We are to show kindness and love toward others. We are never to compromise God’s clear commands. We are to tell others about Jesus, especially when they want to know how we can live with the hope of God within us. We are to love the church especially, and do good to believers. We are to live in our homes to the glory of God as parents, children, spouses, and the rest. May we pray for the help of God’s Holy Spirit to do the simple things that the Lord has called us to do so that we might have the joy of honoring his name.

As many know, the letter of Paul to the romans is a glorious book, chapter after chapter of gospel truth. When we read it, we see amazing, deep, lovely truths of how we are saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. We see the sovereign hand of God behind our salvation. We see God’s plan to bless the entire world through his Son who came through the nation of Israel.

 

For the first 11 chapters, Romans is nearly all gospel. Most of the beginning ¾ of the book is about how we are saved and the beauty and glory of the gospel. But, once we turn into chapter 12, we see that God also will then help us to apply the gospel. Because we are saved by his grace in Christ, there are ways that are proper to live. There are things to be and to do that will honor Christ. No, they will not buy us salvation—Christ bought our salvation. But the obedient Christian life is the only proper response to the good news.

 

So, in chapter 12, Paul begins to talk to us about life in the local church. We are to give ourselves completely to the Lord as living sacrifices. We are to recognize that we belong in the body of Christ and our lives are to be lived together as we serve the Lord as a unit. Each of us is to use the special spiritual gifting and shaping we have received from the Lord to benefit the body as a whole.

 

Thus, it is a surprise when we see a call to competition arising so early in all this talk of body life and humility. In fact, to me, competing is the last thing I would think Paul would tell us to do. But he does.

 

Romans 12:9-10 – 9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

 

Paul calls us, under the inspiration of God, to love one another. We are to hate evil, love good, and live with familial affection toward one another. Then it comes, the competition.

 

God commands us, “Outdo one another in showing honor.” Now, I can tell you that I have been in several churches all over the globe. I’ve been in big ones and little ones, in formal ones and contemporary ones, young ones and old ones, urban ones, suburban ones, and rural ones. But I have never been in a church where I saw this competition take hold. I cannot recall a time or a place where I thought to myself that the local body of Christ had its members striving to outdo one another in showing honor.

 

What would this look like? In this picture, the local church members would have a hunger, a desire, to show a deep and genuine love for each other. Because of the grace of God in Christ, these members would love to give love. They would not battle for position. They would not seek to be personally revered. They would not strive to have things shaped according to their liking.

  

Instead of the kinds of selfishness that so often marks groups, the church that took this competitive command seriously would be full of people who were actively looking for ways to show others their value. Can you imagine sitting down with another couple of believers and plotting out just how you might make your Sunday School Teacher feel loved? Can you imagine working for ways to make the pastor feel appreciated in a month not labeled as pastor-appreciation month? Can you imagine a church where people are just used to hearing thanks given for the service of the musicians, the nursery workers, and the prayerful senior adults?

 

Now, I’m not complaining. I love the church that I serve. And, in many ways, I believe we are growing better and better at showing each other honor and doing each other kindness. But I cannot say that we have risen to the level of trying to outdo one another in showing honor. So, though life here is great, we have work to do.

 

What about you? When is the last time you really put forward an effort to show somebody honor in your church? When did you last remind somebody that you all need to do some kindness to someone who is working hard and giving a lot of themselves to the body? Have you taken this challenge seriously? May we learn to outdo one another in showing honor for the sake of the body and the glory of Christ.

You have probably heard the old saying, the end justifies the means. That is a simple definition of pragmatism. Often in our lives, we will be tempted to do whatever it takes to accomplish the plans we have. We assume that a good goal will allow us to bend the rules a bit to get something worthwhile accomplished.

 

A look at Scripture will show us that God is not happy when his people break his laws and ignore his commands, regardless of their reasoning. God does not smile on us when we turn away from his instructions to accomplish a task, even if our intent is to accomplish a big task that he commanded be accomplished.

 

One example of dangerous pragmatism occurs in the book of 1 Samuel. Saul is king over Israel. He finds himself in a bit of a pickle. He knows that the people need to fight a battle against the Philistines. He knows that his army is growing restless. They need to make a particular sacrifice to the Lord before heading out. And the prophet Samuel has not arrived. The whole schedule is being messed up. The army is in danger of falling apart.

 

What does Saul do? Does he wait? Does he obey God’s instruction that only Samuel can make the particular sacrifice? No, he does not. Saul decides to take it upon himself to make the sacrifice. After all, Saul is King. After all, isn’t it better to get the sacrifice done regardless of whether every little rule is observed? Isn’t it better to be sure to keep the people together so they can go fight their enemies?

 

1 Samuel 13:11-14 – 11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.”

 

Samuel asks Saul what he has done. Saul explains his pragmatic decision. The Philistines were coming. Saul didn’t want to break the rules, but he found he had no choice. Surely Samuel will understand.

 

Samuel tells Saul that he has done foolishly. The king has dishonored the Lord God. Saul has refused to keep God’s commands. He most certainly should not have made the sacrifice that he was not called by God to make. Saul most certainly should have waited for the Lord, even if waiting made things tremendously more difficult. Saul found out that the end of keeping the army together did not justify the means of him making the sacrifice rather than waiting on Samuel. And Samuel shows us that the consequences of this decision would be Saul’s eventual loss of dynastic rulership over Israel—a gigantic loss.

 

And we should learn from this as modern Christians. We have things we want to see get done in the church. We have things we want to see accomplished in our lives. We have rules we would prefer not to have to follow. WE have compromises that we see other churches make that we think might draw people to our church. Maybe we can ignore some doctrines? Maybe we can lighten up on our criticism of some sins. Maybe we can remove the preaching of the word from being so central. Maybe we can focus more on application than on content. Maybe we can just cut a few corners to accomplish a bigger goal.

 

God shows us that he is not honored when his people ignore his commands. His word is vital. The Scripture is our authority for life and worship. We dare not compromise our commitment to the word of God for any outcome, not even for evangelistic purposes. We must be faithful enough to the Lord to trust him to work out his will for his glory when we are faithfully committed to the things he has commanded. We must not give in to the temptation toward dangerous pragmatism.

There are some Bible passages that are difficult to interpret. We wonder just how to handle them, especially when they say things that are uncomfortable for us to hear. This, of course, is especially true for those passages that speak of the sovereignty of God over our salvation. For most of us, the first time we see such a thing in Scripture, we will twist and turn and battle against that truth, because it is a very uncomfortable notion the first time you try it on.

 

In my daily readings, I recently ran across one of the passages that did the most to convince me of the biblical teaching about God’s sovereignty over our salvation, Romans 9. In that chapter of Scripture, we see that God is moving behind the scenes in human hearts to accomplish his will in a way that shows us that God, not man, is the ultimate decision-maker. This is not at all to remove human responsibility; nor does it relieve us of the command to share the gospel. But it is most certainly something that shows that God is ultimate.

 

What I found most helpful and convincing in Romans 9 regarding sovereignty was the way that Paul handled the argument. You see, Paul makes a declarative statement that, if left to itself, looks like God is fully sovereign over salvation, and I mean sovereign in the way that Augustine and Calvin talked about. But the question is whether or not Paul was trying to say what Calvinists think he was saying.

 

Romans 9:18 – So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

 

In verse 18, it looks as though Paul is saying that God has mercy on some and hardens others according to God’s will. Again, note that this has nothing to do with the question of human responsibility. It has everything to do with who, at bottom, is responsible for our salvation. But how could this be true? How could that hardening and mercy be what God is telling us. That just feels wrong when compared to what I was taught growing up.

 

But then comes verse 19. Paul anticipates the objection to what he was saying. If Paul was not saying that God is ultimately responsible for saving people, then Paul would have been wise to clarify his point.

 

Romans 9:19 – You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

 

Does Paul fix the problem for us? No. Instead, Paul knows that our objection to what he just said would be, “That’s not fair!” Paul knew that what he had said would smack against human autonomy and be terribly off-putting to many. He saw that. We would interpret verse 18 as God being over all and we would not naturally feel it to be appropriate for God to treat us that way.

 

The anticipation of the natural objection is an indication that verse 18 should be, must be, taken at face value. God has mercy on whom he has mercy. God hardens whom he hardens. We object that this seems unfair. We object that our own freedom is not apparently taken into consideration. We object that God seems to be the ultimate decision-maker when it comes to salvation. We object that God seems to be choosing in a final sense. We object that his choice appears ultimate where our choices are secondary.

 

And Paul after seeing that objection, does not do anything to clarify for us and take off of our shoulders the discomfort.  

 

Romans 9:20 – But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

 

Instead of comforting us in our objections to ultimate sovereignty being in God’s hands, Paul responds with a question that puts us in our place. Who are we to question God and his ways? If God is the potter and we are the clay, he is the one who has all the rights. He is the one who shapes us. He is the one who is free, more free than us.

 

Again, I will say that this actually has nothing to do with human free will. God, in his sovereignty, shapes our free will. Thus, those who come to him will feel they are doing so based on their desires. We will not, however, be able to see that it was God who first moved our hearts to desire him. Those who reject the Lord will also do so based on their freedom, a perfect and uninterrupted freedom to continue in the direction they most desire. At no point does Scripture tell us that God pushes people toward sin they do not desire to commit—that is not what hardening is about (see Pharaoh). In fact, Scripture shows us the opposite, that God holds people back from being as sinful as they naturally would be. And, Scripture shows us that God reaches into the hearts of some people to change them so that they will desire to come to him in faith and repentance.

 

Sovereignty in salvation is and has always been a tough issue. Some simply believe this doctrine to be terribly unbiblical. And, most often, the reason for the argument is that it appears to make God unfair and unloving. How could God choose to save some and not all? It must be that God leaves all the decision-making up to us. But that is precisely what Paul refuses to say here in Romans 9. Instead, Paul owns the emotional friction and finally declares the ultimate freedom of God as the potter and our lack of rights to question him as to how and why we were shaped as we are.