A Consistent Paradox

“Bryan, its time to go,” yells my sister from the bottom of the stairs. “We have to leave now if we are going to get there on time.”
“I’m not moving,” I answer, folding my arms determinedly, “God has set the time that we will arrive at our destination; when we get there is His business. So I am not moving.”

Absurd? What I said was true. God had set the time of our arrival. But I had neglected the fact that God uses means. This is the paradox of Christianity. God authors and carries out His purposes, but He uses us to accomplish them. It is all of God, but it is our responsibility. This is a difficult concept that our finite minds can only barely grasp. But, if grasped, it will be found, as all the ways of God, to be altogether perfect.

This idea is seen in nearly every one of God’s purposes on earth. The sanctification of believers is an example. Throughout Scripture we see that God sanctifies us largely through our own efforts. Paul tells us in Philippians to “work out your salvation . . . for it is God who works in you.” And the first chapter of 2 Peter implies that God makes us “become partakers of the divine nature” through what we do. There is a sense, then, in which we will not become more holy unless we pursue it. Though the extent of holiness that we will achieve on earth is decreed, it depends on us to achieve it. And you could almost say that the decree depends upon our efforts. Think back to the illustration. It is almost as though the time I would arrive at my destination was set for earlier if I had left earlier, and later if I had left later. I say “almost” because this is not quite the way it works; by definition, a decree cannot change. But it is the way we should think. We work toward the goal and rest in the decree.

It is important to remember that we think this way all the time without realizing it. We eat because we do not believe that we will be full unless we do. We take showers because we know that our cleanliness depends on it. But I want us to apply this to the large things as well as the small. And I especially want to apply it to the work of redemption.

The gathering of the chosen people of God depends upon us. I firmly believe that God will accomplish this work. And he does not need us to do it. But he has chosen that we be the instruments that carry out His redemptive plan. It is accomplished just as our sanctification is accomplished: through our efforts, through the preaching of the gospel to all nations.

In 2 Peter 3:12 we are told to be “hastening the day of God.” How do we hasten the day of God? It has been decreed from eternity past. How can we hasten it? I believe the answer is found three verses earlier when Peter gives the reason that God has already delayed so long in coming.

“The Lord is not slow about His promise [the promise of His coming], as some count slowness, but is patient toward you [or us], not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

I am convinced that this refers to the elect. God is in a sense waiting, though actively, until he brings all of us (the chosen of God) to salvation. He will not return until that is finished. So how do we hasten the day of God? We do so by hastening the completion of this work; by earnest and diligent proclamation of the gospel. Because the day for which we so much long will not arrive until all of God’s elect have heard and believed.

And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached to all the nations, and then the end shall come.
~Matthew 24:14

  

  

"Your Face, O Lord, I Seek"

Through the Bible, and sermons by Paul Washer and Jonathan Edwards, I have become increasingly cognizant of the importance and necessity of true knowledge of God.
It is my purpose to show 1) that this knowledge is intellectual, 2) that it is experiential, and 3) that it is productive.

1. A true knowledge of God is intellectual. The nature of God must be sought after with the mind, and it must be sought after diligently through what is given to all men: Scripture. Why was the Bible given to men? What is its purpose? It is to teach us, through various means, the nature of the One who gave us life. It was not given as simply interesting reading or helpful advice on morality and religion; it was given so that the glory and surpassing excellence of God might be known by us and by all nations. And only through long hours before that book, searching diligently, can our finite minds even begin to chase down the marvelous character of an infinite God. But surely no more desirable task has ever been given.

2. This knowledge is much more than intellectual, it is experiential. Though it often flows from truths grasped with our mind, is far above that type of knowledge; it is an experience of God. It is God overwhelming you with His power and revealing to you the beauty of His character. Jonathan Edward, in his sermon A Divine and Supernatural Light, said: “There is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness. A man may have the former, that knows not how honey tastes; but a man cannot have the latter unless he has an idea of the taste of honey in his mind.” You may believe in God’s power and His grace, but there is an experience of them that is supernatural and a knowledge that sees Him as awesome. We can never truly know God unless we taste Him. And the little that I have tasted out of this jar leaves me with an insatiable desire to drain it to the bottom.

We can have this knowledge only from God. His glory is His to reveal, and He reveals it when and to whom He chooses. The subjects of that revelation are merely subjects of the unmerited grace of God. But do not despair of ever receiving this gift; He “will not forsake those who seek Him.” Indeed God delights to give it to His children. He did not deliver you from His wrath and your sin so that you could serve Him; God does not rely your efforts to accomplish His purposes. But He saved you in order to display His glory to you and make known to you the riches of His grace. And then, as He does that, you can do nothing but serve Him, and be used to proclaim that glory to the ends of the earth.

3. True knowledge produces those things that should be most earnestly sought after by the Christian. Worship is the highest goal of the church and of every believer. Because God’s chief end is to glorify Himself, it should be ours as well. And this end is best accomplished in authentic worship. But authentic worship comes only from true knowledge. If we really knew God for who he is, our only rational response would to spend the rest of our lives in attempt to bring Him honor. But because our knowledge is weak, our worship is also. Likewise, love for God increases with knowledge of God. We can only love to the extent that we know loveliness. You cannot love some one any more than you think that they are worthy of being loved. And you will not love God any more than you know Him to be worthy of it. But, as more and more of His loveliness is discovered to you, you will be unable to prevent yourself from loving Him to the degree that you know His excellence. And again, with knowledge of God comes a desire to proclaim what you have found. If we really knew the depth and beauty of His character, we could not but herald it to the ends of the earth so that all nations will worship Him.

The best thing we can do is fall on our faces before God and plead with Him to show us His.

Write This Inscription in Its Place

Appealing to Your character
O God, I fall before Your face
In hopes that, in persistent prayer,
I may receive Your grace.
To bless Your children, You delight
And by your mercy, show Your might.

I have the sin of arrogance
Which rots in every joint and bone
I pilfer glory from Your name
And praise, instead, my own.
It is, perhaps, the greatest sin
Which robs the honor that You win.

But, worse, this pride is in my love
For You, which I pretend is great.
Thus says my heart, “Come, all, and see
My righteous, fervent state!”
Oh make me see that any love
Though mine, is all of grace above.

How well this vice does hinder all
That I attempt to do for You,
For every time You work through me
I must fight it anew.
I long for cleansing from pride’s stains
But more, for freedom from its chains

Excise with knife this hateful sin
And when that bloody work is through
Write this inscription in its place:
“I have all things from You.”
That man is blessed who has believed
That all he has, he has received.