Is God fair?

Something that has just occurred to me as I am sitting here in the Science Library. Hopefully it is not something outright heretical or blasphemous, but I hope to write it down lest I forget about it later.

It is often heard against those who hold to a more Calvinistic or Reformed leaning of Christianity, terms which are definitely loaded and much debated upon, that God is being inherently "unfair" or "unjust" or "unloving" by decreeing by His Sovereign Will that some should be saved and some should be damned. Or to put it more positively, that God should predestine some to salvation, but otherwise leave the rest of mankind in spiritual darkness.

However, the question that then comes to my mind is this. Is it even "fair" that God should save anyone in the first place. Was it "fair" that "He(God the Father) made Him(God the Son, Jesus) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor. 5:21) In my understanding, if God wanted to be "fair", He could have, should have, simply condemned all of mankind to eternal destruction. As to the charge of being "unloving", if God had simply saved a single fallen human being in the entire history of mankind, it would be an infinite testament to His Love and Mercy that He would even save that one man. And I would go even further then that, if God had chosen not to save a single man, He would still be God and still be Loving.

Is this not where the whole idea of grace comes in? Since grace is unmerited favour, does it not stand to reason that grace is in essence fundamentally "unfair"? Does not God choose to "have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” (Romans 9:15) How then can one demand for God to be "fair"? Would that not lead to one's eternal condemnation and separation from God? Is salvation a right or a privilege?

How then does this translate into our evangelism and personal walk with God? With regards to evangelism, I am in no way advocating or promoting the idea of let's sit back and twiddle our thumbs because God will save His elect anyway. God uses the preaching of the Gospel and the work of personal evangelism as a means to save sinful men.

"How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" (Romans 10:14-15a)

If anything, the very idea that God has chosen some men unto salvation should give us the utmost encouragement to preach the Gospel, the scandalous Gospel (cf. Romans 1:16), to the world. For if our Gospel is a scandal to the unregenerate man, "to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor. 1:23b), how then would anyone believe our message unless God so worked in their hearts to remove their spiritual blindness?

"Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, “Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.” And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them." (Acts 18:9-11, emphasis added)

If God had not sovereignly saved for Himself a people, then our work as evangelists would be of utmost despair and uncertainty. For who would believe a message that a carpenter's son, who was born in dubious circumstances, claimed that he was the immortal Son of God, did many miraculous things, even raising a man from the dead, out-taught the greatest teachers of his day without any formal education, and ultimately died a criminal's death on a cross condemned by both the religious and secular establishment; Was resurrected on the third day and appeared to a number of common people, commanding them to proclaim his death and resurrection to all the world before being taken up bodily into heaven. How could such a message have perpetuated for the past two thousand years unless indeed God is the one who moves men by his divine election to believe it. Unless the Holy Spirit moves and convicts men of their sin and their need of a saviour, unless a man is regenerated and his heart of stone replaced with a heart of flesh, all our evangelistic efforts will fail and be of no eternal consequence.

As for our own personal walk, the Sovereignty of God's election is no excuse for complacency, as the derogatory term "Once saved, always saved" seems to have become. Of course the key question to the above is how do you know you are saved, but that isn't quite the point of this post. The point is, should not the very fact of God's unmerited favour being poured upon us be the foundation of our continuous pursuit of Him and a growing desire to know Him, in every sense of the word. How anyone can take God's election as a license to continue in sin and unbelief remains a mystery to me. Should not the fact that God has chosen us unto salvation lead us into a greater and greater expression of praise and worship for the One, who out of the abundance of His Love and Mercy, chose to reveal Himself to us and rescue us in spite of our falleness and sin. What do you have that God needs? If God had a need of anything then He's not God. If Man could somehow work their way back to God then grace wouldn't be grace.

"Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." (Romans 11:5-6)

In a church that has been compromised by humanism, a man-centered theology (an oxymoron), the doctrine of election continues to hurt Man's pride, that he can somehow work his way into salvation or that he is not as bad as the Apostle Paul makes him out to be in the first three chapters of Romans. While other much much more capable men have debated and written on the points above, I hope that even this short post might reveal even the tiniest bit of His Magnificence and Glory.

All praise be to Him
Amen

Quote of the Day

Christianity at any given time is strong or weak depending upon her concept of God... the basic trouble with the Church today is her unworthy conception of God....

A local church will only be as great as its conception of God. An individual Christian will be a success or failure depending upon what he or she thinks of God. It is critically important that we have a knowledge of the Holy One, that we know what God is like.

A. W. Tozer

From his book, "The Attributes of God, Vol. 1"

On Preaching (II)

A post over at Pyromaniacs that pretty much sums up my feelings after church on most(all?) Sundays.

It is literally a critical moment, a moment of crisis, of judgment. Angels attend! The Triune God is there! Endless ages will reverberate with the impact of what happens next. These people are accountable, you are accountable. All eyes are on you.

What do you do? What do you do with that priceless, pivotal, unbearably freighted opportunity?

Click the above link to read on

Current Sentiment

I asked the Lord that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek more earnestly his face.

I thought that in some favoured hour
At once he'd answer my request;
And by his love's constraining power,
Subdue my sins and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart,
And let the angry power of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

"Lord why is this?" I trembling cried.
"Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?"
"Tis in this way," the Lord replied,
"I answer prayer for grace and faith."

"These inward trials I employ
From self and pride to set thee free,
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may'st seek thy all in me!"

- Anonymous

Taken from D. A. Carson's "A Call to Spiritual Reformation"

The hardest thing you're ever gonna have to do as a Christian is this, to look into the mirror of God's Word and see your failures, and believe that God loves you as much as He says He does.

- Paul Washer

Scripture: Support or Source?

We need to draw our messages directly from Scripture rather than set a message and scour the Bible for verses to support it... and we will be on more secure foundations.

- Charles Ng

Okay okay, it isn't really an exact quote, but today as we sat and talked about NS and BB, the planning for the forthcoming Gospel Series for 12th Coy led to the above remark.

And it is true that so often today we plan and preach sermons by setting a topic or agenda and then justifying the topic or message by using a verse here and a verse there. Now I am in no way against topical sermons or messages per se. However, you can see the potential pitfall here. By building Scripture around our message rather than our message around Scripture, we run the risk of relegating Scripture to that of a support rather than the source of our messages or worse, wrenching verses out of context to the detriment of both ourselves and our hearers. One only has to look at the Prosperity or Health and Wealth "gospel", that is slowly and insidiously creeping into many churches in Singapore, to see the danger posed by interpreting Scripture outside of its proper context.

It does not mean of course that messages have to be based on a single text with no other additional supporting texts included. But the issue is always context, context, context. For many of us who do not have the breadth and depth of knowledge of the Word of God that comes with much study and years of walking with Christ, it is definitely much safer to stick close to a particular text and preach from it, rather than attempt to cast our nets far and wide and potentially lead people away from Christ.

FYP Update

Just had my half-time project presentation today and it is in such times as these that one truly clings on tightly to the hope that God will do what He wills, and that it is always for our good. Is it then an excuse against human responsibility? No, no. A man reaps what he sows.

One more semester to go.......


------------------------------------
Found two more sermon excerpts on Youtube today. Highly recommended for all who desire Christ above all else.

A Question of Obedience

"...[A lot of] you don't need more light, this will only make it worse for you at the judgment, what you need is more obedience. Some of you have known for years what you should do and you hold back... "

- Leonard Ravenill
1907 - 1994

Then He began to rebuke the cities in which most of His mighty works had been done, because they did not repent: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you.”

- Matthew 11: 20 - 24

Hope in the midst of Death

Then He said to another, “Follow Me.”
But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”

- Luke 9:59-60

There is a Hope - Stuart Townsend
There is a Hope that burns within my heart,
That gives me strength for every passing day.
A glimpse of Glory now revealed in meager part,
Yet drives all doubt away.

I stand in Christ, with sins forgiven,
And Christ in me, the Hope of heaven.
My highest calling and my deepest joy,
To make His Will my own.

There is a Hope that lifts my weary head,
A consummation strong against despair.
But when the world has plunged me in its deepest pit,
I find the Saviour there.

Through present sufferings, future fears,
He whispers courage in my ear.
For I am safe in everlasting arms,
And they will lead me home.

There is a Hope that stands the test of time,
That lifts my eyes beyond the beckoning grave.
To see the matchless beauty of a day divine,
When I behold His Face.

When sufferings cease and sorrows die,
And every longing satisfied.
Then Joy unspeakable will flood my soul,
For I am truly Home.

*Edit* An excellent article about evangelism by Arthur Pink over at this website (Possessing the Treasure). A must-read.

A Psalm for the new year

A Psalm of David.
Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
In Your faithfulness answer me,
And in Your righteousness.
Do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no one living is righteous.

For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in darkness,
Like those who have long been dead.
Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart within me is distressed.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your works;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
I spread out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah

Answer me speedily, O LORD;
My spirit fails!
Do not hide Your face from me,
Lest I be like those who go down into the pit.
Cause me to hear Your lovingkindness in the morning,
For in You do I trust;
Cause me to know the way in which I should walk,
For I lift up my soul to You.

Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
In You I take shelter.
Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Your Spirit is good.
Lead me in the land of uprightness.

Revive me, O LORD, for Your name’s sake!
For Your righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.
In Your mercy cut off my enemies,
And destroy all those who afflict my soul;
For I am Your servant.

- Psalm 143