Sovereign Grace (part two)

Yes, I'm finally writing part two. You know, sometimes I don't like it when church makes me think. It usually means God expects me to do something. Admit it. You've had this feeling.

Today I read Galatians. Because I don't know how else to explain it, I'm just going to copy my notes from the sermon (text: I Timothy 4.1-8) and from Galatians.

Galatians reading
Now this is the end of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of men. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12.13&14)

The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself in love. (Galatians 5.6)

Be excellent in what is good; be innocent of evil. And the God of peace will soon crush satan underneath your feet. (forget the reference)

Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6.4)

Love your neighbor as yourself. (Leviticus 19.18)

He has shown thee, O man, what is good and what the Lord requireth of thee: but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. (Micah 6.8)


Live by the Spirit; walk in the Spirit; keep up with the Spirit; live by that which has no law against it. What matters is a new creation.

A new creation.

A child coming into his inheritance. A son, no longer a slave with overseers, with guardians. But a son.

The promise of grace came over four hundred years before the law. Abraham was credited righteousness before he was circumcised, not after. The promise came through the miracle of a son whose birth was impossible. The Law acted as a guardian, an overseer, not as our father. Under the Law we were but children who did not know the ways of the house.

But the Law of Grace is older than the Law of Moses. Far older. Far simpler and far more challenging.

We have this assumption, or, at least, I always have, that somehow the Law came first and then Grace, when Scripture clearly teaches that Grace has always come first. God wasn't startled by the Fall. He wasn't shocked when we traded Grace for Law, and then Law for Self.

But maybe that's what he meant when he said Christ was crucified before the world began: Grace is somehow inherent to the world's existence, this Sovereign Grace we dread and love.

Because under grace we know that every day we live is a day deeper in his debt. Every day our debt increases because Grace exists.

Anyway. It was rather shocking when the sermon tonight was about how godliness has little to do with keeping the Law of Moses. Rather, rather...it's all a matter of the heart. After all, what good is grace if you can repay it?

I'll save the rest for later.

Now faith is the substance...

...of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. For by faith the elders obtained a good report...




Without faith it is impossible to please God. Without a love for God there is no faith in him. And without works faith is dead.

Faith, people. Faith. Though she be as small as a mustard seed, she moves mountains. Though she be weak, the power of the one who created the universe, holds it in place, causes kingdoms to rise and fall, controls the elements, and has the power to make death work backwards is inside her, working through her.

Don't you get it?

We walk by faith, not by sight --- Let us strive to keep up with the Spirit of the Almighty. Keep up. Come on. Let's go. Run. Don't stop; don't pass go; don't collect two hundred dollars.

Run with the Spirit and capture the wind.

Without faith it is impossible to please God.

At some point I really will write the second half to "the sovereignty of God." And post something bit more thoughtful than what I'm planning now. And finish out my prayer chain.


I don't browse the board much (mostly, I scan, not post, not read). But I've run across several interesting titles:

• Once saved always saved, the final proof (a debate on eternal security)
• I have a tattoo; is this unChristian?
• Celebrating Christmas -- Is it wrong? (Easter makes a cameo here)
• When do you think Christ will return?
• The seedy snake-oil salesmen of Christianity: silk suits and mansions and congressional investigations
• Miraculous healings
• Speaking the truth in love
• The mind says to the body (mind over matter thread, I think)
• When all things seem to go wrong: how do you take it?
  
• The hardest question you will ask yourself: Are we becoming closer to God because of this place, becoming better lovers of others, more wise in our love, more strong in our surrender?
• Politics
• Huckabee lied about his theology degree

And I have to admit: I scroll these titles, and even the OSAS one (which I did do a few hit-and-run posts in) doesn't really appeal. At best, they annoy me. Half of them can only be speculated, not answered. The other half, in the end, don't even matter. Of course, you'll probably tell me that whether or not you can lose your salvation in Christ and whether or not Huckabee lied do have some significance, and I'll agree to a point.

Where we'll disagree is on the degree of significance. Honestly, my experience is that OSAS debates usually boil down to an honest but impossible attempt to determine of the debaters themselves or their friends and/or family are actually saved. Problem: Only God knows the heart. And honestly, 'preach the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world' puts no limitation the state of the listener's soul.

I'm a far, far cry from an evangelist (ha!). However, if Jesus told us to 'preach the gospel to everyone,' then he's made absolutely no distinction between the saved and the unsaved. He didn't say "Go find some person you don't think is saved and save them." He said "Go preach to people and let my Spirit do his work."

Period. End discussion. I'm in the simplifying mode, and don't care to figure out whether or not Joe is saved or was ever saved or has now lost his salvation. But I'll encourage, exhort, and love Joe as best I know how and pray and thank God that our salvation is in His hands.

On Huckabee. I honestly didn't know about this before reading a certain thread and, honestly, in the end I don't care. Yes, there's a difference between a theology and a religion degree. Yes, I care about electing a liar. But, most importantly, I'm thus far unimpressed with any of the current candidates.

Why?

Because none exactly strike me as knights in shining armor. My hero is not some guy in a suit in the White House. Yes, I want good, honest men of integrity holding office. But that I'm not shocked a candidate hasn't been truthful is the part that largely disturbs me.

Come on. Stop slinging mud at each other and saying "Thank God I'm not like that guy!" and look instead to yourselves. There are few certainties in this world, but among them is this: Humble yourself or be humbled. Period. End discussion.

And don't ask me who I'm voting for. I probably won't tell you.

I suppose I'm proving myself a hypocrite by ranting in a blog entry about people going into lengthy discussions on things they don't plan on changing. Which, I suppose, puts another gold star on my Pharisee Membership Card.

But let's simplify things a bit. There is but one God, and his name is Jesus the Christ, lived, died, and came back from the dead. Created everything that is and was and will be, and one day is coming back for a final showdown and to have the godfather of all parties that never ends. Yes, seriously.

And let's simplify this further. This same Jesus alone redeems and changes the heart. This same Jesus alone has the power to make any real difference, and through the sending of the Holy Spirit has granted to us that same power --- through the authority of his name, power of his Spirit, by a very simple faith in him. Trust. Faith. Pick a synonym.

Moreover: Justice and mercy cannot exist without one another. The Law of Grace is far, far more terrifying, more potent, and more glorious than the Law of Moses that could only expose our sin for what it was and condemn us.

That's the good news, people. The bad news is we're totally distracted and prefer mud pies to the beach, according to the beloved C.S. Lewis.


In the end, that's what matters. I no longer care to concern myself with how it all works. Sure, it's fun to try, to pretend I have a clue, to play brain gymnastics in the Circus, but in the end that's all it is--- a show.

For of him and to him and through him and for him are all things; how high and how deep and how long and how wide is the love of Christ; how excellent his mercies and righteous are his ways. So glorious is he, this majesty, this infinite incomprehensible one: Creator, savior, lover, conquering king, friend, counselor, father, brother, great and glorious high priest -- mediator forever before the father and coming again to claim his throne.

That's the prince of peace, my friends, this king of righteousness.

Now if we would only cease to speculate and learn who life really is.

embrace the darkness.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea,
Even there your hand will guide me;
Your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, 'Surely the darkness will hide me,
And light become night around me,'
Even darkness will shine like the day,
For darkness is as light to you.


I pray in the dark. Up through college it's been a habit of mine to wait until everyone is asleep, turn off all the lights, peel off my glasses so that I am blind, and, there, huddled in the dark, pray as best I know how.

When I was small it was always facing my window. As I grew older, often I'd pace in the night. In college I would sit in the floor. Even now...on the floor.

Alone. Out loud, in my journal, in my head. Song or Scripture, or utter still. In the whispers of the night or to the waking of mourning doves. The soft hum of the car on the road, children walking down the street to school. Far away train. Soft music. Candles. The vibrant, hissing flames of a campfire on a cold night, marshmallows smoking. Solitude drives one to contemplation, and, ultimately, to prayer.

As does the darkness.

There's something about being alone in the dark, completely blind, knowing that the only person who can see you is God. And there's no real explaining it; such must be experienced. Void of all distraction, including what the eye can see, there is a strange peace.

I don't embrace the dark nearly enough anymore, and I'm starting to wonder that before I used to embrace these things without question. There was no question, only action. Now, now there are many questions and no action.

As much as it is in our power, we live quiet and peaceful lives (Thessalonians). Between the sovereign terror of grace and the beauty of the law is simple peace.

And in the middle of everything, whether pleasure or pain, joy or sorrow, whether busyness or laziness, whether rain falls or drought comes...

Whether we sleep under a roof or a bridge,
Whether the heights or the depths,
Whether the we dwell in plenty or scarce,
Whether we wake or sleep, breathe or exhale---

In the darkness do we remember what we learned in the light,
For the Lord of light is there.