Who's Really in Charge?
July 7, 2013
Introduction
My pathway to become the lead
pastor of this church was very convoluted.
And I’m grateful for each and every twist and turn. For the first ten years of my professional
career, my full-time job was as a music specialist for kindergarten through
middle-school aged children. Later I
would also teach first and fourth grades in the public schools during a season
of disillusionment with the church.
Though teaching is one of my
natural gifts, I had never intended to become a school teacher. In fact, during the first seven years of my
teaching career, I never signed a contract because I wanted to be in full-time
church ministry. I’m amazed now that my
principal put up with me. His patience
is all the more amazing because for the first two years I could not control a
classroom. Everyone who has taught pre-school
through high school knows that classroom control will make or break a
teacher. Many leave the profession
because they cannot control their children.
It was a tough journey for me. It
was when my principal assigned lunch duty to me alone with ninety kids that I
finally gained the confidence to make them do what I expected. It was “sink or swim, baby.” It was a turning point in my teaching career.
Every effective teacher is the
unquestioned sovereign in their classroom.
Nothing happens without a consequence unless the teacher wants it to
happen. It is in that kind of
environment – where there is unquestioned authority – that children thrive and
learning takes place.
The perfect classroom environment is
a very poor reflection of God’s rule and sovereignty over his entire
Creation. But the effect is instructive
for us. When heaven and earth submit to
God’s good rule, there is peace and blessing.
It is when God’s authority is refused that everything falls apart. The sovereignty of God runs through both the
Old and New Testaments like a golden thread.
We read this morning what is repeated throughout the Hebrew Scriptures,
“The
Lord is king! Let the earth
rejoice!” After his resurrection, Jesus
claims the sovereign scepter before giving his final commission, “All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given unto me…” (Matt. 28:18). Indeed, the assertion that “Jesus is Lord!”
is the first creed of the church. At the
unveiling and conclusion of time, Jesus is called the “King of kings and Lord
of lords.” The sovereignty of God – the
idea that he is the unquestioned authority in the whole cosmos - is the re-bar
that ties the whole foundation of our faith together.
The Book of Job stands as a
masterpiece in the ancient annals of writings about wisdom and suffering. Job probably lived around the same time as
Abraham. He loved God and lived a
righteous life. He was blessed with a large
family and many material possessions.
You may know the story. In a
great cosmic drama of good vs. evil, God allows Job to be severely tested by
Satan. All of his possessions are
destroyed and his children are killed. His
dignity dissolves with oozing boils that cover his skin. His wife emotionally deserts him, telling Job
to “curse God and die.” But in all of
this, he is a man of integrity. He
refuses to curse God and still praises God in the depth of his loss. Most of the book is a dialogue with his
so-called friends who insist that Job must have sinned to have experienced such
difficult suffering. Along the way, Job
becomes increasingly embittered and begins to accuse God of treating him
unjustly. When all have had their say,
God confronts Job. Here is just a
portion:
Then the Lord answered Job from the
whirlwind:
2 “Who is this that questions my wisdom
with such ignorant
words?
3 Brace yourself like a man,
because I have
some questions for you,
and you must
answer them.
4 “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Tell me, if you
know so much.
5 Who determined its dimensions
and stretched out
the surveying line?
6 What supports its foundations,
and who laid its
cornerstone
7 as the morning stars sang together
and all the angels
shouted for joy?
8 “Who kept the sea inside its boundaries
as it burst from
the womb,
9 and as I clothed it with clouds
and wrapped it in
thick darkness?
10 For I locked it behind barred gates,
limiting its
shores.
11 I said, ‘This far and no farther will you come.
Here your proud
waves must stop!’
12 “Have you ever commanded the morning to appear
and caused the
dawn to rise in the east?
13 Have you made daylight spread to the ends of the earth,
to bring an end to
the night’s wickedness?
14 As the light approaches,
the earth takes
shape like clay pressed beneath a seal;
it is robed in
brilliant colors.
15 The light disturbs the wicked
and stops the arm
that is raised in violence.
16 “Have you explored the springs from which the seas come?
Have you explored
their depths?
17 Do you know where the gates of death are located?
Have you seen the
gates of utter gloom?
18 Do you realize the extent of the earth?
Tell me about it
if you know!
19 “Where does light come from,
and where does
darkness go?
20 Can you take each to its home?
Do you know how to
get there?
21 But of course you know all this!
For you were born before it was all created,
and you are so
very experienced!
22 “Have you visited the storehouses of the snow
or seen the
storehouses of hail?
23 (I have reserved them as weapons for the time of trouble,
for the day of
battle and war.)
24 Where is the path to the source of light?
Where is the home
of the east wind?
25 “Who created a channel for the torrents of rain?
Who laid out the
path for the lightning?
26 Who makes the rain fall on barren land,
in a desert where
no one lives?
27 Who sends rain to satisfy the parched ground
and make the
tender grass spring up?
28 “Does the rain have a father?
Who gives birth to
the dew?
29 Who is the mother of the ice?
Who gives birth to
the frost from the heavens?
30 For the water turns to ice as hard as rock,
and the surface of
the water freezes.
31 “Can you direct the movement of the stars—
binding the
cluster of the Pleiades
or loosening the
cords of Orion?
32 Can you direct the sequence of the seasons
or guide the Bear
with her cubs across the heavens?
33 Do you know the laws of the universe?
Can you use them
to regulate the earth?
34 “Can you shout to the clouds
and make it rain?
35 Can you make lightning appear
and cause it to
strike as you direct?
36 Who gives intuition to the heart
and instinct to
the mind?
37 Who is wise enough to count all the clouds?
Who can tilt the
water jars of heaven
38 when the parched ground is dry
and the soil has hardened into clods?
(Job
38:1-38 NLT)
God’s challenge goes on for two more
chapters, in eloquent language describing the beauty, power and complexity of
God – the Creator’s – world. Humbled and
overwhelmed, Job replies in our text for this morning…
“I know that you can do all things;
no purpose of
yours can be thwarted.
You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without
knowledge?’
Surely I spoke of
things I did not understand,
things too
wonderful for me to know.
“You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak;
I will question
you,
and you shall
answer me.’
My ears had heard of you
but now my eyes
have seen you.
Therefore I despise myself
and repent in dust and ashes.”
(Job
42:2-6)
The
Nature of God’s Sovereignty
OK.
Put on your thinking hat. We’re
going to contemplate things that must be true about God. Remember what we said last week: “what comes
to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” And this will take some effort on your
part. But let us worship God with our
minds as well as our heart and our bodies.
To say that God is sovereign is to say
that he is the absolute ruler of his entire creation. To be sovereign, God must be all-powerful and
all-knowing. If there was anything that
God could not do, then that thing would be the sovereign ruler of the
universe. Of course, there are things
that God won’t do and those are the actions that would make him inconsistent
with himself. God will not and cannot
lie. He is the source of all truth. God will not and cannot be unjust. He is the righteous judge. God will not and cannot act in an unloving
way. His very nature is love. God cannot condone any sin. He is perfect in his holiness. But within the consistency of his Divine
Character, there is nothing, absolutely nothing that God cannot do. If it were otherwise, he would not be
sovereign.
God must also be all-knowing. If there were some small speck of knowledge
somewhere in the universe that God did not know – in the past, in the present,
or in the future – that bit of knowledge would leverage power against God. He would not be sovereign. A.W. Tozer says it so much better than me:
Were there even one
datum of knowledge, however small, unknown to God, His rule would break down at
that point. To be Lord over all the
creation, He must possess all knowledge.
And were God lacking one infinitesimal modicum of power, that lack would
end His reign and undo His kingdom; that one stray atom of power would belong
to someone else and God would be a limited ruler and hence not sovereign. (Knowledge of the Holy, p. 108.)
To be sovereign, God must also be
totally free, free to do whatever he wills to do in any place at any time to
carry out his eternal purpose without any interference. If that were not so, He would not be the
sovereign Lord. In other words, God
cannot be manipulated or forced to do anything outside of his will.
Of course, none of us possess or can
even fully contemplate that kind of freedom. The most capable classroom teacher
does not command that kind of absolute freedom and power. No military ruler, no president, no king
could ever make that claim. Only God is
absolutely sovereign.
God’s
Sovereignty and the Problem of Evil
But God’s sovereignty presents real
challenges for us as we try and make sense of our world. Like Job, we wonder how a sovereign good God
could allow evil in this world. If he is
the absolute ruler of everything, does that not also mean he must be the author
of evil? The question has existed since
the beginning of time. And the answer
will be the same that Job and his friends received. God, in his eternal decrees, allowed a free
moral choice to men and to angels. That
some have chosen evil rather than good does not invalidate God’s rule and reign
in everything. God is still working out
his purposes. In fact, he will even cause
the evil moral choices that men and angels make to eventually accomplish his
purposes. The power and blood-lust of
ancient nations often brought the discipline necessary to bring the people of
God to repentance. The greed of Caesar
Augustus brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.
The demon-inspired hatred of Jewish religious leaders led Jesus to the
crucifixion hill where he would conquer evil once and for all and purchase our
salvation. God is not flummoxed. God is not frustrated. God always wins. God is sovereign.
God’s
Sovereignty and Free Will
There is another question regarding
this issue that has vexed the church during the last five hundred years. You
know it well. It is the seemingly
contradictory biblical concepts of God’s sovereign election of the saved and
man’s free will. Scripture affirms
both. They must both be held in tension
with each other. When we emphasize one
over the other, we fall into error. Like
Job, we must surrender our efforts and belief in the sovereignty of human reasoning
before the mystery of God’s eternal purpose.
It is not mental laziness. It is
godly wisdom.
Tozer offers this helpful, if limited,
illustration. The sovereign will of God
is like an ocean liner passing from New York City to Liverpool, England. The liner will arrive as scheduled. But along the way, the passengers have the
freedom to rearrange the deck furniture, eat whatever they choose, and set
their own schedule. Though it is only a
feeble attempt to explain, both sovereignty and freedom are present in the
picture. In the same way, in God’s world,
he retains full sovereignty while giving a free choice to man.
Reign
in Me
Like the rule of a classroom teacher,
the sovereignty of God is necessary for order and peace in this world. Someday, when sin has run its course, there
will be no more heartache, no more war.
What is ultimately true in the created order is also true in our
personal lives. Christians find peace
only through surrender to God’s will.
This is the theme of countless songs.
Bill and Gloria Gaither have written:
All
of my conflicts, all my thoughts, Jesus is Lord of all.
His
love wins the battles I could not have fought, Jesus is Lord of all.
Jesus is Lord of All by Bill and Gloria
Gaither
©
1973 by William J. Gaither
Earlier this morning, we sang:
Over
all the earth you reign on high,
Ev’ry
mountain stream, ev’ry sunset sky.
But
my one request, Lord my only aim
Is
that you reign in me again.
Lord,
reign in me, reign in your power,
Over
all my dreams, in my darkest hour;
You
are the Lord of all I am
So
won’t you reign in me again?
Lord, Reign in Me by Brenton Brown
©
1998 Vineyard Songs
It
is always true. The only pathway to
peace is repentance and alignment with God’s will.
Reflections
on America…
Just a few days ago, we celebrated the
237th birthday of our nation.
Independence Day is always a wonderful holiday, full of family
celebrations and good food. It’s also a
time for us to reflect on the founding of our country and the current state of
the nation. I don’t need to tell
you. All is not well with the good ol’
USA. If the Scriptures are right in
asserting that “righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any
people” (Proverbs 14:34), then we are on the wrong path.
The sovereign hand of God has been
very evident in the founding and preservation of our nation. From the beginning of Plymouth Colony in 1620
to the Great Awakenings that stirred and transformed the soul of our nation, we
have been given many spiritual blessings.
We need to be aware of and affirm God’s providence in our nation’s
history.
But we are not Israel. Americans are
not the chosen people of God.
Our founding documents put the power
of governance in our hands. We are a
democratic republic. In our political
system, ultimately, “we, the people” are sovereign. Of course, that truth flies in the face of
what the Bible teaches. Only God is
sovereign.
Along the way, we have been blessed
with some very wise leaders. Though his
admonitions were not specifically Christian – he did not generally invoke the
name of Jesus Christ in his public statements – the “father of our country,”
George Washington warned us that we must rely on God and that religion and
virtue must be promoted among the people or our republic will fail.
During the Civil War, “In God we
trust” was added to our currency. The
phrase, “under God” was added to the pledge to the flag in the 1950’s. These phrases have been instituted in the
spirit of George Washington and our founders and they represent critical wisdom
if our nation is to flourish and survive.
But such notions of reliance and
acknowledgment of God’s sovereignty have come increasingly under attack in our
courts. We are told that we are a
secular nation. We cannot impose our
faith and religion on others. Instead, it seems we are all forced into becoming
practical atheists, except on Sundays, if we choose. Friends, because of the inherent fallen
nature of men, a truly secular democracy – one that will not acknowledge the
sovereignty of God - will implode under the weight of its own sin. As God is increasingly pushed to the
sidelines, that is what we are seeing in our nation today.
The psalmist writes:
Why do the nations conspire
and the peoples
plot in vain?
The kings of the earth rise up
and the rulers
band together
against the Lord
and against his anointed, saying,
“Let us break their chains
and throw off
their shackles.”
The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
the Lord scoffs at
them.
He rebukes them in his anger
and terrifies them
in his wrath, saying,
“I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy
mountain.”
you will dash them
to pieces like pottery.”
…Therefore, you kings, be wise;
be warned, you
rulers of the earth.
Serve the Lord with fear
and celebrate his
rule with trembling.
Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
Psalm
2:1-6, 10-11
Our national folly does not escape God’s notice. He has not lost control. The President is not lord. Neither is the Congress. The Supreme Court does not have the final
word. Even “We, the people” are not
lord. Only God is Lord. Though we loath it, the increasing wickedness
of our culture presents an opportunity for us.
It is in the darkness that light truly shines. We who live under the Lordship of Christ have
the opportunity to demonstrate the power of the life-changing Gospel.
Let us celebrate the many blessings of our land, but pray and
work for repentance. Recognize that it
must begin with us. But do not
despair. God is still on the throne.
Do you remember the words to the great hymn?
This is my Father’s world, I rest me
in the thought:
That though the wrong seems oft so
strong, God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world, the battle
is not done,
Jesus who died shall be satisfied and
earth and heav’n be one.
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