The Apostle Paul and the Doctrine of Sovereignty

 (Photo courtesy of St Paul's)

¹² I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

¹⁵ Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. ¹⁶ The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. ¹⁸ What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. 
Philippians 1:12-18 ESV

I recently preached a sermon (a video of this sermon can be viewed here) over the above text. In it, I discussed how the Apostle Paul was in prison when he wrote these words. What, then, is the reason for his great optimism? Paul was convinced that God was sovereign and had a plan of redemption that transcended any trial or circumstance. Moreover, Paul, though his situation was bleak, actively embraced the theological truth of God’s sovereignty and sought to be a willing participant in God’s plan of redemption.

What does sovereignty mean? The dictionary defines it as follows: “having supreme rank, power, or authority.” This seems to be correct with respect to God. Certainly, the Bible (and reason for that matter) teaches that God—the creator of all things, infinite in knowledge and power, eternal in being—is sovereign. God has supreme rank, power and authority. We can also conclude from this truth that this great God is intentional and has a plan. 

The passage listed above is a fine example of this. Paul clearly recognized this truth. This is why he was able to rejoice even though his circumstances were poor by earthly standards. As one writer notes: “Paul had been bound but the word of God could not be bound.” Yet, these poor circumstances were the means by which God furthered His redemptive plan. God is sovereign over all, God was sovereign in Paul’s circumstances, and God is sovereign in your life. 

We want to be careful when we discuss God’s sovereignty. Some, unfortunately, speak of God’s sovereignty as though it were sheer power or omnipotence. We must always remember that God’s sovereignty can never be separate from His moral goodness. Theologians very often organize God’s various attributes into two categories: natural and moral. Natural attributes are things such as omnipotence, omniscience, immutability, etc. God’s moral attributes are things such as his faithfulness, goodness, holiness, etc. Andrew Fuller once said that God’s natural attributes are those that evoke respect and the moral attributes are those that evoke love. In the end, however, we must never compartmentalize God and his attributes. People sometimes think of God as an all-powerful ruler, or, perhaps, only as a loving but impotent deity. Whenever we compartmentalize God in this way, we misunderstand Him altogether. God is a unity and all of His attributes work together in harmony. Everything that God does as the sovereign king of the universe is done from the perspective of perfect moral goodness. If all of this is true, then be a willing participant in God’s sovereign plan of redemption. 

   

View the sermon here.          

Salvation: Not an Escape from the Material

I recently preached a sermon dealing with two competing doctrinal orientations from the first-century: sensualism and the biblical Pauline model. We are often implored, from the broader community, to consider the brevity of life, and that we should, as a result, live our lives to the fullest. Of course, this is true, but not in the sense that we ought to embrace a gluttonous lifestyle, morally speaking. Rather, we must make the most of the short time we have by focusing on our hope in Christ—on our hope for a glorified physical (i.e., material) eternal existence in the presence of God. Salvation is not an escape from the material, as many (e.g., Plato) have supposed; instead, it is an escape from sin and death. We should, then, make the most of our material existence (laboring for the gospel) in the here and now, as we look forward to the material existence that awaits us in eternity. Video for the sermon may be viewed HERE.

Everybody Believes in God?

I spoke for the FBCLC D-Now this last weekend. It was a great time, and the students were a blast. Since the theme was about living your whole life for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31), I thought I would start by laying some spiritual groundwork. I began with Hebrews 11:6: “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Honoring God with your life starts with drawing near to God. As a result, we must believe in God! I exposed the students to a number of philosophical arguments that support theism (the Cosmological argument, Teleological argument, Ontological argument, Anthropological argument, and the Moral argument—we were loving God with our minds). But in the end, I asked if we really need these kinds of arguments to justify belief in God. In other words (as Alvin Plantinga supposes), it seems right to consider belief in God as a basic belief. In the same way that we do not need arguments to justify our belief in a past (it is possible that everything came into being 10 seconds ago, complete with aged material and all of our memories) or our belief in other minds (everyone around me might just be figments of my imagination), we do not need arguments to justify our belief in God. It is natural for humans to acknowledge a transcendent creator.

          But what about the fact that some humans disbelieve that there is a God? The Apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:18-20 that “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Romans teaches us here that we know God exists, but because of our sin we suppress the truth that he is real. God has made it perfectly clear that he is real to everyone.

But, consider, as a result of our sin, our position before God. God’s wrath (vs. 18) is looming over us. You see God is a good judge, and he always punishes sin. What would we think of an earthly judge if he let criminals go? Well, God does not exemplify the worst traits in earthly judges; rather, he is perfectly just and always punishes sin. Notice Hebrews 9:27: “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” This is a problem for us, because we have all sinned. Because of our sin, we are separated from God—separated from our maker! But God loves us, and he has made a way for us to be reconciled back to him. God sent Jesus (God the Son) to die for our sins. Jesus paid the penalty for sin on the cross. 1 Peter 3:18a says “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.”

For these students, I challenged them to not just know that God is real, but, to confront this knowledge and to reach out to Christ.

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”