God's sovereignty

It's funny how the word sovereignty has almost become a curse word in certain circles depending on who you talk to. How is it that an attribute of God would bring about such disdain and difficult feelings in the hearts of so many people. Why is it that "Calvinism" feels almost as naughty of a word among Christians, as the word "Christian" does among the world. Why do I feel increasingly isolated by what I see to be the only way to view the Bible accurately.

Now, with all of that said, I must say that I have had my own struggles with the sovereignty of God, just as the biggest supporters of it did, such as John Edwards. In fact, for literally 2 years, I became what felt like an insane Christian. I literally lost everything I felt like I knew about God. I remember it so vividly. I had just come home from literally one of the most amazing, goldy experiences of my life. I was talking to one of my Christian brothers, and it was one of those conversations where you knew that God was a third person in the conversation. It was like he was speaking through us. The Holy Spirit was present in that conversation in a way like never before in my life. I was saying things that caught me off guard, and my friend as well. As I drove home that night, I praised God thanking him for all the blessings he gave me. And all of a sudden, it hit me. "Why me?" "Why did God choose me and not any other Joe out there as undeserving as me?" And literally, on that night, I felt like I lost my perception of God. From that point on God seemed unfair to me.

I went on for two years in college in red hot pursuit of answers. I talked to pastors, mentors, parents, friends, anyone I could to get some clarity on the topic. I read every verse supporting both sides. I read books. I read sermons. I listened to sermons. I did everything I could think of. I laid in bed on many nights, unable to sleep, wanting to scream, pleading with God to give me peace about the situation. I just wanted to see God in the right way. For me, I just couldn't see him as loving anymore in his exclusiveness. For 2 years I went to church and felt foreign there. I felt like I was missing something that everyone else was experiencing.

But the reason I just didn't turn "Arminian" as it were, was because I couldn't escape what the Bible said. What the Bible says pretty much everywhere. I mean, most people will point to Romans 9 and use that as their baseboard (and a good one it is) as their argument, but when I look at the Bible, it's in the very nature, the air of the Bible. The Bible oozes the sovereignty of God. From the very beginning, God sovereignly at work in everything. He hardens Pharoh's heart, again and again and again. What others meant for evil towards Joseph, GOD meant for good. He is clearly sovereign over the entire story of Job, and when Job questions God's motives and sovereignty, God lectures him for 3 chapters saying, "Where were you...? Who are you...?" In John 3:8, Jesus says referring to the Holy Spirit, "The wind blows wherever it pleases." And of course, Romans 9, which I will leave to you to read and see for yourself how plain things are. Just the entire feel of the Bible attributes EVERYTHING, good or bad, to the sovereign ordaining of God. Even the very presence of sin itself is because God ordained it. Everything that lead up to the cross is because God willed it. If God didn't ordain each sin involved in the crucifixion of Jesus, we wouldn't have the gospel, because it would no longer be God punishing his son for our sins. It would merely be coincidence that he died, not by the hand of God. If you want, now would be a good time to go to the bottom to watch the Piper clip on this, it's really really powerful.

With all of that said, in my 2 years of turmoil over this issue, I couldn't escape the truth of God's sovereignty, and the fact that the Bible has no qualms about it. It doesn't try to apologize for God's sovereignty, it just excepts it. And no one in the Bible complains about it either. Job says, "Shall I accept good from God, and not trouble?" Job's saying, it's all from God. The good and the bad. And he accepts it.

So for 2 years I labored, but I never gave up, because I knew that God was doing this for a reason, and I knew he would lead me out of the pit eventually. I saw a light at the end of the tunnel, it was just very dim. But I trusted that if this was true, and if I was a true Christian, that eventually God would reconcile my heart to this issue. And honestly, I don't know how, or when it happened. But I can say that after 2 years, I have come from fearing this doctrine, to embracing and loving it with my very essence. Now this doesn't mean that I have forgotten the qualms I had against it, but I now know why I had those qualms, and I know how to argue against them if they arise in my soul.

First, I was desperately helped by a Mark Driscoll sermon in a series on "Religion Saves: and Nine other misconceptions." He published a book based on that series by the same title. He described everything so well. He described our sin, our responsibility, God's will and his intervention in such a good, simple, easy to understand way. And it just reaffirmed so much for me, and from then on, it's been a healing process for me.

From there, I went on to hear a sermon by John MacArthur about the existence of Sin in the world, and God's hand in that. And after that sermon, I knew it was either all the way embracing of this doctrine, or I have to get out of Christianity all-together. It's either embrace the God that these men are showing me in the Bible, or go athiest. And so I embraced this God, and WORLDS of truth, grace, and comfort have opened up to me.

Here is I think, the biggest problem and obstacle I had to accepting this biblical view of God. First and formost is that I was sitting in the judgment seat, and I was judging God. We all do this. We see something and we blame God for it. We see something, and we accuse God of doing wrong. This is straight up blasphemy, but it's all too common. We are basically accusing a Holy God of sinning. But that's what I was doing. And as John Piper has pointed out, he thinks one of the main reasons that God has allowed us to know about God's sovereignty is so that we would get out of the judgment seat and let God take his rightful place as judge. I mean think about it. God didn't have to let us know he's in control. He could have kept that hidden. And then in the end reveal that it was him all along. But he chose to reveal that aspect of his nature to us. Why? Well for one reason, so that we would learn to trust completely in his revealed nature, and stop questioning him. That like Job, we would be quiet, and repentantly say, "Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know."

And another reason why God chose to reveal this to us, is because if we embrace this, we embrace a centrally God-focused view of the world. If God is in complete control of the world, you have to have a God centered view of everything. Anything else begins to slip into deism in one form or another. The reason an Arminian will be so difficult to win over to "Calvinism" as it were (which I believe is just another word for saying, "seeing the Bible correctly") is because it requires a change of their lense that they see the world through. It is the biggest worldview shift you can make as a Christian. You go from an individualistic culture like America, where it's all about me me me, and you say, it's not about me AT ALL. It's all about Christ. The very reason I'm alive is to glorify Christ. And I will either glorify God in my accepting Christ and glorifying his mercy, or I will glorify Christ in God's righteous justice and judgment of sin being served. But either way, every single person on the earth was born to glorify God, and every single person, whether they like it or not, will glorify God. Pharoh did. Pilote did. God even said countless times, "I'm hardening Pharoh's heart for my glory." Pharoh sinned, and God was glorified in his judgment of Pharoh's sin. If that's not a worldview shift, I don't know what is.

So with that said, I am trying at least, to be gracious to those who might not like this doctrine of grace at first glance. Looking at my own history, it took me two years to settle the matter with any kind of peace. Then thinking about the actual weight of what it means to accept these truths is another big issue. As John Piper says, we've gotta take our eyes, and soak them in some gospel acid for us to see the world correctly.

And this is really the other big thing. With guys like Piper, Driscoll, Chandler, Mahaney, Mason, MacArthur, Spurgeon, Edwards, Lewis, Calvin, and many others, I just gotta be on this team. And this team is totally all about the sovereignty of God. They breath it in their sermons. They live by it. It's Piper's main mission in life. To spread a passion for the glory of God!!!!! You can't spread a passion for the glory of God without worshiping him for his sovereignty. You can't worship a God you can't rely on. You can't worship a God you can't say works ALL THINGS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM. That means the good the bad, and the ugly, it all worked, by God, sovereignly, for our good. And upon embracing this doctrine, wave after wave after wave of comfort, enligtenment, strength, worship, and Christ-centered satisfaction have fallen upon my life. I live by this doctrine. I love this doctrine of grace. I live each day affirming it. Knowing that nothing I bring to the table gets me anywhere. The very faith in which I possess, is a gift given to me, by God.

Now I am not saying that if you don't embrace this, that you're not a Christian. I know many Christians that argue very strongly with me. But I would say that I think they are missing a huge piece to who God is, and that their lives would be totally, radically changed if they could embrace this.

With that said, here is one of just literally 1000s of amazing sermons that I've heard that affirm this truth, and make me love it all the more. It's only two minutes long, but you see Piper's passion for God's sovereignty, and it echoes the growing passion that has been welling up in me!