Following Judah's Lion

Reflecting God's Sovereignty

God is sovereign. No words can fully encompass that infinite truth. The finite can never capture the infinite and the servant can never define His sovereign. Upon creation God did not set things in motion outside His jurisdiction and relegate Himself to a hapless bystander, no never, woven into every atom of creation is His divine sovereignty which is sometimes hidden and other times revealed but at all times active and intertwined in a unified reign that glorifies Him and His eternal sovereignty. This attribute of Almighty God is one upon which we must dwell and meditate because we are so prone to imagine ourselves as in control and are generating history by the power of our own wills, but that it a mirage of our own imagination.

We who hold to the gift of God’s free will must especially put ourselves in remembrance of this vital truth for it has an impact on how we act and especially the depth of our faith. We sometimes say we believe that the free will of man was given by God completely under the auspices of His sovereign will and then we go to incredible extremes as if our creativeness in methodology can tip the balance and change the will of the Father, but in spiritual reality we cannot. All of us use methodology, whether it be by object lesson or music or drama or books or pictures or testimonies, we all can and should use some methodology that can bridge the understanding and upon which the Spirit can communicate His own truth and not just our interpretation of that same truth.

But our methodology must never shroud the truth and overwhelm it with entertainment, culture, or just an enjoyment of theatrical creativity while the truth is either diluted or wholly obscured by the methodological power of the presentation. That kind of communication reveals how we can sometimes assume that the power lies with us and not in the ministry of God’s Spirit operating completely under the sovereignty of Almighty God. We ourselves should be moving and praying with the fullest of understanding that God is not waiting to see what happens, He is being glorified in everything as it unfolds regardless of the actions of man, including you and me. How glorious is that knowledge!

Now as we contemplate that knowledge and as we cultivate that awareness it should have a direct impact upon the depth of our faith in our Lord. Knowing that we have a free will, and that we can and are used as conduits, and that we can and do sometimes disobey God, and that God desires to reach the world with the gospel through us, and realizing that we fall short in that assignment, but in all of it still knowing and resting in the permeating solace that no matter how it appears to our eyes or our understanding God is still in utter and complete control of every single detail. Should that not enhance our rest in Him? Should that not place our faith in a deeper place even while we labor for His kingdom? And should that not reveal an incredibly more expansive view of the Mighty God we serve and worship? There remains therefore a rest for God’s people and it is found in Him.

With this glorious truth as our foundation, there sometimes comes a tension especially as it pertains to events that happen within the church. How do we address those that teach error and the general doctrinal free for all in the evangelical world today? Here again God’s sovereignty must not only come into play, it must be the platform of our faith. As we Scripturally confront error and false teaching we must season our speech with a tangible revelation that God is in control. It amazes me that among those who claim they espouse a stronger understanding of God’s sovereignty in the affairs of men, they can be so vitriolic in their correction as if God’s will was somehow being abrogated and it was up to them to save the doctrinal day. Our reformed brothers must again receive a revelation of the sovereignty of God and with that they can be released from the frustration that so often packages their correction. And when they enter into the rest that comes with not only believing in God’s sovereign control but also in abiding in that same knowledge, they can be released from the prison of obsession they so often exhibit about others. To be obsessed about individuals and their teachings draws the life out of the devotion we should have to our wonderful Savior, and in the end it renders any theology as wanting.

Speak out for sure, but always in our speech is not only a love for people whether lost or saved, but a humble grace that shines forth a confidence that God is in control and He never needs our chronic emotional vitriol that seems to suggest we have no real rest in the Sovereign Himself.
There is a subtle self aggrandizement that can easily ride with doctrinal correction. It not only lends itself to a feeling of pride about our own doctrinal standing, it secretly inflates our view about the necessity and significance of our calling. If God is in control, then our voice must reflect that in love and faith when speaking correction and even rebuke to a brother or sister. Only God is worthy, not us even when standing for the truth, only God, only God. And if we live and move and have our being under the canopy of His sovereignty, we are free to love and extend grace even while strongly correcting and confronting the ills that may infect the church.

If the goodness of God leads us to repentance, how is it we feel that caustic hyperbole and satirical mocking will lead anyone to see their error and repent? Do we think we are higher than God and His ways? The honest truth is that name calling and pontificating is no more honoring to God than the object of that self righteous methodology, and in fact it becomes an addiction. Searching for error can and has become an addictive narcotic in many corners of the church world. I feel so badly for those who have a genuine heart for God’s Word and a thirst for His truth but have become entangled with a distorted view of how God anoints people to call the wayward sheep back to the safety of the flock. I know personally how easy it is to get caught up in a cloud of our own flesh while still legitimately standing for God’s Word. It is a deeper level of subtlety that requires the devil to join with our flesh and deceive us into thinking we are speaking directly for God just because we are speaking truth. In Acts 16 we see a women who was possessed with a demon and went behind Paul and the other apostles and proclaimed, “These men are the servants of the Most High God,”. You see, she spoke the truth but she was not speaking for God.

And with that example we must continually, I said continually, examine our hearts and our words and our motives before God especially when we are speaking with any authority and correction. Without humility correction is just the voice of the flesh and without love it is worse yet - nothing. Who God loves He corrects, so let that be our example. And before we go riding into the battle with guns blazing and bullets flying, let us first climb down from our great steed of correction, fall on our knees in honor of God’s grace and sovereignty, and beg our voice and heart be His. And as you get up to again mount your steed, you might just hear God instruct you to mount the steed of His choosing not yours. What steed could that be, you think? Well, it just might be the same steed that Jesus mounted as He entered Jerusalem the week before His death. Oh my, with that the wind has been taken from our own sails and we now must depend fully on the wind of the sovereign Spirit which sends us where He desires.

Brothers and sisters, let us all again enter into that glorious and freeing revelation that God is in complete control, and even though God may use us nothing depends upon us. But how then does our obedience matter in God’s panoramic and redemptive plan, and if we must go and tell the world how then can everything depend upon God? You, my friend, have asked a question that will always remain behind a dark glass, only giving some gracious glimpses while still remaining a glorious and majestic mystery. We do know this, when the last breath has been taken, when the last word has been spoken, when the last message has been preached, and when the last prayer has been prayed, God will be revealed exalted and His sovereign power will redound to His own glory, and we will be allowed to understand that from the beginning to the end all things have been accomplished by the power of His will and the glory of His Person.

And upon that truth take your rest, my brethren,

it is already finished in His eyes.