Tag: Sovereign

Faith

God is NOT Running for Office

Michelle Lesley

Originally published October 1, 2008

Everybody seems to have an opinion about God. Some love Him. Some hate Him. Some will swear He doesn’t exist, while others seem to have Him confused with Santa Claus. Many complain that He isn’t doing His job.

If you were to ask a hundred people who they think God is you’d get a hundred different answers. We all want God to be who we think He is. We want Him to fit neatly into the little box we’ve designed for Him so that—like the perfect purse or pair of shoes to our favorite dress—He doesn’t clash with our lifestyles, but rather, fits right in and complements what we’ve already got going.

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve heard or read statements similar to these:

  • I think Jesus was a liberal because He did X, Y, and Z.
  • I’m homosexual. God wouldn’t create me this way and then send me to hell because of it.
  • I think God is much less concerned with (insert sin being defended here) than He is with people being nice to each other.
  • Please pray that God will bless me as I move in with my boyfriend.
  • I’ve decided _______ isn’t a sin.
  • We shouldn’t be preaching about this or that Biblical principle at church, because people might get offended and stop attending.

I’ve got news for all of us, myself included:

Who God is is not determined by opinion polls.

Who God is is not determined by opinion polls.

He’s not a politician who will change His personality or his stance on the issues to please us, because we are not His constituents—we’re His creation.

So just who is this God anyway? Moses had the same question when he was first starting out. In Exodus 3:13-15, God has just told Moses that He wants him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses, trying to wrap his brain around this unforeseen turn of events, says to God in verse 13 (my paraphrase here), “Ok, when I get there and tell the Israelites that God has sent me to them, and they say ‘Who is this God you’re talking about? What is His name?’ What am I supposed to say?”

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (14a)

This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. (15b)

God is who He is. Not who we think He is. Not what’s convenient and palatable to us. Not who we want Him to be. He has always been that way, still is, and always will be, as we see at the end of verse 15.

God is who He is. Not who we think He is. Not what’s convenient and palatable to us. Not who we want Him to be. He has always been that way, still is, and always will be.

Alright, so we know that God is who He is. How do we go about finding out what “is” is? Well, if we want to know who a human being is, we spend a lot of time with that person, we talk to him, we listen to what he has to say, and we watch him in action.

It’s the same with God. We spend time with Him. We talk to Him in prayer. We listen to what He has to say about Himself in His Word, the Bible. We observe the way He acted in the Bible and the way He acts around us today.

As we get to know a person better, we may discover some things about him that we don’t like or don’t understand. Maybe he puts ketchup on his eggs (ick!), or roots for the wrong football team (anybody who plays against LSU), or—horror of horrors—puts the toilet paper on the roll so that it comes out from the bottom rather than over the top (We all know that’s the wrong way, right? It goes over the top. :0)

As we discover things we don’t like about a human being, does our dislike or lack of understanding about one of his particular quirks or habits change said quirk or habit? No.

Again, it’s the same way with God, and even more so, because while a person might be willing to change some of his ways to please another person, God is not. And if we think about it, why should He? And would we really want Him to bend to suit our fancies even if He were willing to do so?

Would we really want God to bend to suit our fancies even if He were willing to do so?

Imagine you bought an over the top, fantastic new car and had the opportunity to meet the car’s designer. At this meeting, he tells you all of the things you should do and not do to keep the car running in tip top shape. He even gives you a detailed owner’s manual reiterating everything he’s just told you. Would you believe what he says about taking care of the car?

How much more should we believe and obey what God has to say about the way we should live? He designed us. He knows exactly how we work and what is good for us and what isn’t good for us. Moreover, He loves us and always wants what is best for us. We didn’t design us or anything in our environment. We don’t know everything. Lots of times we don’t even want what’s best for ourselves because we don’t know what’s best for ourselves. Who are we to tell God how He ought to run things?

When God says something is a sin–harmful to us and an affront to Him– it is. When He says something is good and holy, it is. End of story, no discussion, period. You and I don’t get to change those things to suit ourselves. When we try to, what we’re ultimately saying is that God is wrong and doesn’t know what He’s doing. That we know how to handle things better than He does. That we are more qualified for the job of being God than He is.

When God says something is a sin–harmful to us and an affront to Him– it is. When He says something is good and holy, it is. End of story, no discussion, period.

This is the absolute antithesis of Christianity. Jesus said, “…If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” There is no such thing as a “Christian” who willfully, purposefully, and continuously decides to immerse himself in, and pursue, a lifestyle of anything God calls sin. Becoming a Christian requires that we put ourselves, our opinions, our feelings and our impulses aside and submit to the authority of Christ. Salvation does not take place until we embrace the fact that He is God and we are not.

When we refuse to bow to who God really is, who He says He is in the Bible, and start redesigning Him according to our own opinions, according to what’s popular, or according to what is politically correct, what we have done is to set up an idol, a false god, to worship. Take a look at Exodus 20:1-4, and notice that in the middle of verse 4, it says we are not to “make for [ourselves] … any likeness of what is in heaven above“. While we may not be carving a literal statue of stars or planets to worship, which is the context of this passage, we frequently figuratively carve out our own likeness of heaven’s God.

God is who He is. We can take Him or leave Him, but we can’t re-make Him. We were made in His image, not He in ours. He isn’t going to formulate a platform we’ll like so He can earn our vote. He already holds the office of King, and even though He’s frequently opposed, He’s not going to be deposed.

Wednesday's Word

Wednesday’s Word ~ James 4

Michelle Lesley

james 4 4

James 4

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Questions to Consider:

1. Who wrote the book of James? What was his purpose in writing the book? To whom was it written? What type of literature (historical narrative, epistle, poetry, prophecy, etc.) is this book? Is James a mostly descriptive or prescriptive book?

2. In verses 1-10, what sin(s) does James indicate is at the root of our conflicts with others (1-2), problems in our prayer life (2-3), and rifts in our relationship with God (4-10)? How would you summarize this passage in one sentence?

3. What is “friendship with the world”? (4) Does this mean we can’t associate with lost people? Why does James call his audience “adulterous people”? (4) What Old Testament events or Scriptures might this term have brought to mind for James’ Jewish readers? Why does God make such a big deal about worldliness?

4. How do verses 11-12 fit with other New Testament passages on judging? Is it “speaking evil” of someone to lovingly call her to repentance?

5. In verses 13-16, is James saying we can never make plans in advance? What does this passage teach us about God’s sovereign control over the universe and our lives? What perspective should we have about our lives in relationship to God’s sovereignty, and how should this lead us to greater humility? How does verse 17 define the concept of a “sin of omission”?

Sanctification, Sovereignty of God, Sunday School

Ishmael and El Roi ~ Sunday School Lesson ~ 1-19-14

Michelle Lesley

sunday school

These are my notes from my ladies’ Sunday School class this morning. I’ll be posting the notes from my class here each week. Click here for last week’s lesson.

Through the Bible in 2014 ~ Week 3 ~ Jan. 12-18
Job 32-42, Genesis 12-21
Ishmael and El Roi

What does “Ishmael” (Genesis 16:11) mean? El Roi (16:13)? Ishmael means “God hears.” El Roi means “the God who sees me.” Today, we’re looking at God’s sovereignty as displayed in the passages we read this week.

What do we mean when we say God is “sovereign”? Omnipotent? Omniscient? “Sovereignty” the way we use the word in the church today, means that God has authority and control over all things, people, and circumstances. He is omnipotent (all powerful) and omniscient (all knowing). Nothing in the universe happens without His knowledge, causation, or permission. We’ll see how God defines His sovereignty towards the end of today’s lesson. Because God is sovereign, we can TRUST Him.

Elihu (Job 32-34, Focal Passage- 33:29-30): God’s knowledge is perfect and complete. Ours is not. Elihu (as well as Job’s other three friends) thought he had God’s reasons for Job’s suffering all figured out: God brings suffering in order to lead men to repentance. Since Job was still suffering, he must still be in unrepentant sin. Elihu (and the others) were partly right. Sometimes, that is why God allows us to suffer. But not in Job’s situation. Each of them had a small piece of the puzzle, but none of them had the whole picture. Job wisely trusted God, who was the only one in this situation who knew the whole story, instead of his friends’ counsel.

42:7-9– Because our knowledge is incomplete, we must be extremely careful what we say about, or on behalf of, God. (Acts 20:26-27; Revelation 22:18-19, 2 Timothy 2:15) We are not to go farther than Scripture, nor stop short of declaring the full counsel of God. We are not to add to nor take away from God’s word. We are to handle God’s word rightly. We are to believe what God’s word says in context. Otherwise, we risk slandering the character of God.

Abram (Genesis 12-21): God isn’t just sovereign over the “big” things. He’s sovereign over the “small” things, too. He can be trusted in all things.

Abram trusted God’s sovereignty in the “big” things (Genesis 12:1-4; 15:1ff; 17:1-14)… Abram trusted God in a lot of “big” things. When God came to him and told him to leave his comfortable home and surroundings for a life of being a nomad, and didn’t even tell him where he was going, Abram went without question. When God told Abram He would give him innumerable descendants even though Sarai was barren, and that He would give Canaan to those descendants hundreds of years later, “he believed the Lord, and [God] counted it to him as righteousness.” (15:6) When God introduced the idea of circumcision to this 99 year old man, Abram didn’t try to talk God out of it or suggest a different way, he trusted God and obeyed.

…but sometimes he had trouble trusting God’s sovereignty in the “small” things (Genesis 12:11-13, 20:1-3; 16:1-2, 17:15-21; So did Lot’s daughters- 19:1ff; Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4-6) Abram trusted God when He rearranged and relocated his entire life. He trusted God to give him a myriad of descendants when he didn’t even have one child. He trusted that God would give thousands of square miles of land to his greatgreatgreatgreatgreat… grandchildren, yet when it came to protecting him and his wife, Abram gave in to fear and lied not once, but twice, about Sarai being his wife. Then, instead of trusting the God who had made all these great promises to him to cause Sarai to conceive on His timetable, he and Sarai took matters into their own hands with Hagar and violated God’s plan for marriage. Abram “listened to the voice of Sarai,” not the voice of God. (Just because bearing children “through” a handmaid was culturally acceptable at the time and Scripture doesn’t record God’s verbal disapproval of it doesn’t mean it was OK with Him.)

We see the same thing later with Lot’s daughters. Instead of trusting the God who sovereignly protected them from gang rape and the destruction of Sodom to give them husbands and children (or that it was OK with God for them to remain single and childless), they took matters into their own hands in a vile way. It is never God’s will for us to violate God’s word in order to bring about what we think are His purposes.

Hagar (Genesis 16:1ff, 21:8-21): God is sovereign over all circumstances, even the bad ones. His sovereignty brings comfort and shows He is trustworthy. Hagar was a slave. No one asked her if she wanted to sleep with Abram or bear his child. She had no choice. She was a victim of Sarai’s and Abram’s disobedience. But see how tender God is with her in these two passages! God comforts her personally and shows her she can trust Him by telling her a little about how He is going to use her circumstances in the future, and by His provision of the well. She can trust Him because He is sovereign over her situation. He has heard her cry (Ishmael) and is the God who sees her (El Roi).

Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 13:13, 18:22-19:29; Ezekiel 18:23; 2 Peter 3:9): God is gracious and patient, yet sovereign over sin, and sovereign in judgment. We learn as far back as chapter 13 that “the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord,” yet it isn’t until chapter 18 that we learn of God’s imminent plan to destroy the cities. We can’t be sure of the precise timing, but we do learn in chapter 12 (right before chapter 13 when God states that the men of Sodom were wicked) that Abram is 75 years old, and we find in chapter 17 (right before chapter 18 when Abram intercedes for Sodom) that Abraham is 99 years old. If the events are in chronological order, it appears (not knowing how long they had been “wicked” before chapter 13) that God mercifully spared his judgment against Sodom for at least 24 years. We see in other places, such as with Egypt (Exodus 12:40-41) and in our own day (since Christ’s ascension) that God waited hundreds or thousands of years before bringing judgment.

God is kind, gracious, and patient, because of His sovereignty over sin and judgment. He knows the kind of judgment that’s required and what it will be like. Over and over He provides ways for people and nations to repent, escape the penalty for their sin, and turn to Him. But when the time of His patience is fulfilled, He faithfully and righteously executes judgment.

God says, “ Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” and “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” He has provided a way for us to escape judgment- placing our faith in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection to pay the penalty for our sin.

What does God have to say about His sovereignty? (Job 38-42; Focal Passages: 40:1-2,7-14; 42:1-6)

Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Or who shut in the sea with doors?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Have you entered the storehouses of the snow?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?
Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
Do you give the horse his might?

Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

“Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.
Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
Have you an arm like God,
and can you thunder with a voice like his?

“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
and tread down the wicked where they stand.
Hide them all in the dust together;
bind their faces in the world below.
Then will I also acknowledge to you
that your own right hand can save you.

Then Job answered the Lord and said:

“I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”

Faith

God is NOT Running for Office

Michelle Lesley

Everybody seems to have an opinion about God. Some love Him. Some hate Him. Some will swear He doesn’t exist, while others seem to have Him confused with Santa Claus. Many complain that He isn’t doing His job.

If you were to ask a hundred people who they think God is you’d get a hundred different answers. We all want God to be who we think He is. We want Him to fit neatly into the little box we’ve designed for Him so that—like the perfect purse or pair of shoes to our favorite dress—He doesn’t clash with our lifestyles, but rather, fits right in and complements what we’ve already got going.

Over the course of the past few months, I’ve heard or read statements similar to these:

  • I think Jesus was a liberal because He did X, Y, and Z.
  • I’m homosexual. God wouldn’t create me this way and then send me to hell because of it.
  • I think God is much less concerned with (insert sin being defended here) than He is with people being nice to each other.
  • Please pray that God will bless me as I move in with my boyfriend.
  • I’ve decided _______ isn’t a sin.
  • We shouldn’t be preaching about this or that Biblical principle at church, because people might get offended and stop attending.

I’ve got news for all of us, myself included:

Who God is is not determined by opinion polls.

Who God is is not determined by opinion polls.

He’s not a politician who will change His personality or his stance on the issues to please us, because we are not His constituents—we’re His creation.

So just who is this God anyway? Moses had the same question when he was first starting out. In Exodus 3:13-15, God has just told Moses that He wants him to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses, trying to wrap his brain around this unforeseen turn of events, says to God in verse 13 (my paraphrase here), “Ok, when I get there and tell the Israelites that God has sent me to them, and they say ‘Who is this God you’re talking about? What is His name?’ What am I supposed to say?”

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM” (14a)

This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations. (15b)

God is who He is. Not who we think He is. Not what’s convenient and palatable to us. Not who we want Him to be. He has always been that way, still is, and always will be, as we see at the end of verse 15.

God is who He is. Not who we think He is. Not what’s convenient and palatable to us. Not who we want Him to be. He has always been that way, still is, and always will be.

Alright, so we know that God is who He is. How do we go about finding out what “is” is? Well, if we want to know who a human being is, we spend a lot of time with that person, we talk to him, we listen to what he has to say, and we watch him in action.

It’s the same with God. We spend time with Him. We talk to Him in prayer. We listen to what He has to say about Himself in His Word, the Bible. We observe the way He acted in the Bible and the way He acts around us today.

As we get to know a person better, we may discover some things about him that we don’t like or don’t understand. Maybe he puts ketchup on his eggs (ick!), or roots for the wrong football team (anybody who plays against LSU), or—horror of horrors—puts the toilet paper on the roll so that it comes out from the bottom rather than over the top (We all know that’s the wrong way, right? It goes over the top. :0)

As we discover things we don’t like about a human being, does our dislike or lack of understanding about one of his particular quirks or habits change said quirk or habit? No.

Again, it’s the same way with God, and even more so, because while a person might be willing to change some of his ways to please another person, God is not. And if we think about it, why should He? And would we really want Him to bend to suit our fancies even if He were willing to do so?

Would we really want God to bend to suit our fancies even if He were willing to do so?

Imagine you bought an over the top, fantastic new car and had the opportunity to meet the car’s designer. At this meeting, he tells you all of the things you should do and not do to keep the car running in tip top shape. He even gives you a detailed owner’s manual reiterating everything he’s just told you. Would you believe what he says about taking care of the car?

How much more should we believe and obey what God has to say about the way we should live? He designed us. He knows exactly how we work and what is good for us and what isn’t good for us. Moreover, He loves us and always wants what is best for us. We didn’t design us or anything in our environment. We don’t know everything. Lots of times we don’t even want what’s best for ourselves because we don’t know what’s best for ourselves. Who are we to tell God how He ought to run things?

When God says something is a sin–harmful to us and an affront to Him– it is. When He says something is good and holy, it is. End of story, no discussion, period. You and I don’t get to change those things to suit ourselves. When we try to, what we’re ultimately saying is that God is wrong and doesn’t know what He’s doing. That we know how to handle things better than He does. That we are more qualified for the job of being God than He is.

When God says something is a sin–harmful to us and an affront to Him– it is. When He says something is good and holy, it is. End of story, no discussion, period.

This is the absolute antithesis of Christianity. Jesus said, “…If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” There is no such thing as a “Christian” who willfully, purposefully, and continuously decides to immerse himself in, and pursue, a lifestyle of anything God calls sin. Becoming a Christian requires that we put ourselves, our opinions, our feelings and our impulses aside and submit to the authority of Christ. Salvation does not take place until we embrace the fact that He is God and we are not.

When we refuse to bow to who God really is, who He says He is in the Bible, and start redesigning Him according to our own opinions, according to what’s popular, or according to what is politically correct, what we have done is to set up an idol, a false god, to worship. Take a look at Exodus 20:1-4, and notice that in the middle of verse 4, it says we are not to “make for [ourselves] … any likeness of what is in heaven above“. While we may not be carving a literal statue of stars or planets to worship, which is the context of this passage, we frequently figuratively carve out our own likeness of heaven’s God.

God is who He is. We can take Him or leave Him, but we can’t re-make Him. We were made in His image, not He in ours. He isn’t going to formulate a platform we’ll like so He can earn our vote. He already holds the office of King, and even though He’s frequently opposed, He’s not going to be deposed.