Sunday Sermons

God and Circumstances - Part 2

Mark Dunagan
05/29/05 - Sunday Morning

God

and

Circumstances II

If we are going to properly understand our world, our lives, and our circumstances, then we need to realize that neither we nor others are the passive instruments of sin. James is blunt, “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust” (James 1:14). “He has little use for the notion that we are passive instruments of sin, that it just somehow does itself through us while we look on piously perplexed” (Circumstances and the Role of God, John Boykin, p. 93). Carefully observe that the word “lust” is the same as “desire”, “what I like”, “my pleasure”, or “what I want to do”. In the end, we sin because we “want to”. The heart of our spiritual problems is not merely what we do or don’t do, rather it is what we “want”. We will never be successful against sin unless we change our “wants”. In addition, the Bible always presupposes that we have the capacity to choose what is good as well as what is evil (Matthew 23:37 “and you were unwilling”; Deuteronomy 30:19 “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live”). “If we are slaves to sin, therefore, it is only because we have voluntarily chosen that master: ‘Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?’ (Romans 6:16)” (p. 94).

Priorities determine Wants

This is why Jesus stressed the fact that we need to put Him first (Luke 14:26-27; Matthew 6:33; Matthew 10:37-38). “In other words, don’t imagine that you can blithely add Me to your life, be seen in My company, and come along when its quite convenient. I come first or I don’t come at all. If we make Him first, that decision will have profound impact on every other decision we make in every nook and cranny of our lives. Augustine once said, ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full---there’s nowhere for Him to put it” (p. 96).

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and; upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it” (Matthew 13:45-46). “The treasure, the pearl, takes precedence over every other consideration. The mean reorders his priorities around the most important thing. Whatever else he has held dear suddenly loses its intrinsic appeal and becomes valuable to him only insofar as he can invest it toward the greater treasure. Whatever he might hold back would be just enough to prevent him from possessing the most valuable thing of all. He knows what matters and what doesn’t. He invests all he has in the treasure because it is genuinely important enough to him. He wants to” (p. 98). Robert Geulich observed, “To have one’s treasure in heaven means to submit oneself totally to that which is in heaven” (The Sermon on the Mount, p. 328). We see this equally in Paul’s life, where former “wants” and “desires” now mean nothing to him (Philippians 3:7-8). “He has no complaints about staying alive so he can continue ministering, but considers it much better to be with the Lord. Given that attitude, peripheral issues don’t matter much. He can take them in stride. What’s the worst thing that could happen to him? Be killed? Big deal! He’d rather be with the Lord anyway!” (p. 99). Jesus taught the same truth in Matthew 6:24-33. Note the contrast in this section, the contrast is not between God and sinful things like drugs or living in the fast lane, rather the contrast is between devoting our energy towards God’s kingdom or devoting that energy worrying about material things such as food, clothing, and shelter. The point being made is that worrying and fretting about the things of this life---means that such things are the object of our desires rather than Jesus. To be preoccupied with material things, to allow such desires to prevent our own spiritual growth (Matthew 13:22), is to make the same mistake that the rich young ruler made (Mark 10:17-22).

We always have choices

“One of the most common reasons people give for what they do is that they have to. ‘Why did I go to that meeting this morning? I had to’. We always have choices. No one can force you to do something if you decide to stick to a priority higher than the one their pressure exploits” (p. 152). Even in what one might call extreme situations, we still have a choice. After A.D. 70 when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem, 967 Jewish Zealots made their last stand on the plateau fortress known as Masada. When they realized that they could not hold the Romans back, their leader said, “It is evident that daybreak will end our resistance, but we are free to choose an honorable death with our loved ones (rather than slavery). Let us die unenslaved by our enemies, and leave this world as free men in company with our wives and children”. “In spite of obligations, expectations, traditions, or whatever you think forces you to do something, the principle that you do not have to do anything is absolute: you don’t have to believe in God, obey the law, or be faithful to your spouse. But it cuts both ways: neither do you as a Christian have to laugh politely at dirty jokes, assure someone that you’re praying for them when you’re not, bow to social pressure to drink at a party, or sit through a movie that turns out to be indecent. When someone insults you, you don’t have to strike back. When someone cheats or abuses you, you don’t have to get even” (p. 154). What this means is that sin is never a “have to” situation. If God tells us to abstain from every form of evil (1 Thessalonians 5:21-22), then this means that we have a choice in the matter. One is never forced to sin or compromise with evil. Even when faced with “remain faithful or die”, I still have a choice (Daniel 3:16-18).

· On the one hand, realizing that I have the absolute freedom of choice, even in the most extreme situations, can be terrifying, because it means that God is not going to remove my power to chose, He will not chose for me. “We often ask God or civil authorities to set us free; the most revolutionary thing we can realize, through, is that we are free” (p. 160).

· On the other hand, it is liberating. No longer does one have to let circumstances or other people control how you feel, what you think, or how you live. You do not have to give time to everyone who demands it; you do not have to live up to the expectations of the culture or your peers. You do not have to keep doing things the same old way. You do not have to remain in bondage to sin. You have the freedom to choose other, more satisfying, and more godly options.

· “The test of a person’s character is what one does with what one perceives to be absolute freedom. Though we usually sense such freedom only in situations outside of normal (such as being alone in a strange city), the fact is that we do have absolute freedom to choose at all times and in all circumstances” (p. 159). See Hebrews 11:24-25 “choosing rather”.

· “We often get lulled into attributing our own or other people’s behavior to upbringing: ‘Oh, well, what do you expect of someone from a broken home?’” (p. 155). Yet nothing forces one to perpetuate their childhood (1 Peter 1:18).

Of course you can

Paul noted, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens Me” (Philippians 4:13), and Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Yet we need to keep such expressions in context. Jesus was not saying that apart from Him one cannot accomplish anything, because 95 percent of the world’s population everyday does 100 percent of their activity, but good and bad, moral and immoral, completely apart from any reliance upon or relationship with Christ. Men build cities, cars, houses, nations, economies, networks, businesses, and religious organizations---apart from Christ. What Christ was teaching is that true spirituality cannot be achieved apart from Him (John 15:4). “Many Christians feel more comfortable with the idea that apart from Christ they can do nothing, than they do with the other side of that coin: that they can do all things through Him who strengthens them. ‘I can do nothing’ lets me off the hook; ‘I can do all things’ makes me wonder why I’m not doing anything. It’s easier to piddle around wondering whether it’s God’s will that you rent this apartment or that one, than it is to face up to God’s ultimate will for you: that you become conformed to the image of His Son” (p. 168).

An individual “will” for my life?

Many people in the denominational world believe and have been taught that God has a detailed plan for the life of each individual, that includes career, spouse, number of children, and so on. “The custom of seeking God’s individual will is one of the most frequently abused in Christendom. You’ve no doubt known some believers like my job-hopping friend who seem all too eager to pronounce their own ideas to be God’s will. Women used to come up to gospel singer Andrae’ Crouch all the time and say that God had told them they were to be his wife. Crouch always marveled that God was telling so many women that—while neglecting to fill him in on the plan” (p. 180).

· The only “will” that I read about in the Bible is God’s moral or doctrinal will that includes everyone, and is revealed in Scripture (1 Thessalonians 4:3; Ephesians 5:17; 1 Peter 5:2; 2:15).

· “God does not have an ideal, detailed life-plan uniquely designed for each believer that must be discovered in order to make correct decisions. Not only is the individual will of God not found in Scripture, but the suggested process for finding it is absent as well” (p. 184). This is an excellent point, seeing that all truth is revealed in Scripture (John 16:13; Jude 3; 2 Peter 1:3), since God does not directly communicate with men today, and feelings are completely undependable (Proverbs 16:25), we must conclude that such an “individual will” does not exist seeing that it is not revealed in Scripture.

· “One of the purposes in life is to become spiritually mature (Hebrews 5:14); asking God to relieve us of the need to make decisions by making things happen without us or to make our decisions for us is antithetical to growth. It is indeed the hallmark of spiritual immaturity” (p. 185). Too often professed Christians operate more on superstition (like attempting to “read” circumstances and opened or closed doors), than in understanding what how God wants us to live and then making decisions that are in harmony with His teachings (Colossians 1:9-10).

· There are many dangers is relying upon impressions and seeking to discover some hidden message in circumstances: First, we waste valuable time (Ephesians 5:16). Secondly, it permits believers to justify unwise or selfish decisions on the grounds that “I felt that this was God’s will”. “I have a number of friends who are seeking God’s leading in finding a house. I hope they all get one; I’d like one myself. But I have a hard time believing that God’s will for us involves things like finding a nice house while millions of people live in tumble-down shacks, they would love an apartment as grand as the one I consider inadequate. We live in an affluent society that so easily slips into a pattern of seeking God’s leading about whether He wants us to have, in effect, lobster tails or baked salmon, when about the only biblical support we’ll find is for daily bread. Do we really have any business involving God to justify our own preferences?” (p. 189). Third, it leads us to unhappiness and frustration, because the “individual will” theory often advocates that there is always only one right choice, instead of realizing that many choices are equal, and God does allow us to exercise some personal preference in areas of moral neutrality. Fourth, we find ourselves controlled by circumstances or waiting for the outcome, rather than rolling up our sleeves and influencing the outcome for good.