Storms of Providence

I was speaking with a friend tonight about someone weathering a difficult storm of life. This raises all kinds of questions as to purpose and why certain things happen, some of which we know right away and others we may never know this side of eternity. Storms are sure to come, it's part of being human, the question is over what one sees above the rain clouds.

In a sermon on taking refuge in Christ, Robert Murray M'Cheyne devotes a significant portion of his sermon to the subject of what he calls 'storms of providence.' Surely these storms of life would cause one to despair if there were no providential hand behind them, guiding and directing them. Living near numerous universities I don't think I've ever seen the topic of evil and suffering addressed so often as I have in the last 2 years. Maybe it is not the easiest answer to swallow, but like many difficult doctrines of God's word it is quite clear and easy to understand. Not many people wondering about the problem of joy and prosperity. It seems to all come down to one's view of man and what he deserves.

Back to M'Cheyne, following in the godly heritage of Job and Joseph he has no problem seeing God's sovereign hand of providence behind suffering and affliction. Job's response was that the Lord had given and taken away, it was the Lord's hand that had afflicted him. Joseph's response was that it was the Lord who had sent him to Egypt as a slave. And M'Cheyne himself would be visited by numerous storms of providence from the Lord's hand in regards to his health, ultimately being taken home at the tender age of 29. M'Cheyne's counsel and plea with his hearers was that they seek refuge in the only sufficient shelter, the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the common aspects of these storms of providence is that they are all and always temporary. It is 'one dark, dark cloud, and eternal sunshine beyond; one wild wave of vengeance, and an unbounded ocean of glory.' It is Christ alone who can shelter us from the storm. A poem by M'Cheyne from 1837 expresses this sentiment of hope in Christ and expresses his dying hope. M'Cheyne writes:

Do you ask me for pleasure?
Then lean on His breast,
For there the sin-laden
And weary find rest.
In the valley of death
You will triumphantly cry-
'If this be called dying,
Tis pleasant to die!'

Kept by the power of God

Last week we considered the reality of God sustaining His creation, both physical and spiritual (the Christian and his or her faith). What we didn't necessarily consider or deal with (at least before 10pm) was what this meant in relation to the Christian's responsibility in not falling away, and the general question of "If someone can't loose their salvation, what of those who fall away?"

Thinking briefly upon the Christian's responsibility in persevering the question arises "If no one can be snatched or taken out of the hand of God and Christ (John 10.28-29), do I have any role at all then in salvation, sanctification, and perseverance?" Like so many things in scripture we can describe and explain what the scriptures say, but our fallen finite human intellect cannot adequately grasp them. I'd suggest that is the case here. It is God who saves and God who preserves, but we are commanded to work and repeatedly warned (Hebrews 6.1-8, 10.26-31 for example) against falling away as if things ultimately depended upon us.

It is a mystery to understand the way God's sovereignty works with, not against, the will of man. The entire Christian message is one that is impossible for every single person. In calling someone to believe upon Christ, we are calling them to do something they are incapable of without the working and grace of God. Going one step further, to call the Christian to persevere in the faith and to grow in holiness is to call them to do something that they are incapable of doing apart from the power and grace of God. And yet, we are to be faithful in proclaiming these messages to men and women in the midst of their inability. Paul gives us some idea of the right perspective in 1 Corinthians 15.10 where he writes: But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

So, you may ask, no one can be snatched from God's hand, but what if someone wants out? Can God stop me from wiggling free from His grasp? At one level, to ask if man is more powerful than God may sound silly, but let's consider this idea as there appear to be examples that we probably all know of. What of the person who at one time made a profession of faith, was involved in church, even involved in evangelism, and now does not want anything to do with Christ or His church? Did this person slip through the cracks in God's hand? The question can really be answered at two levels, only one of which I'll consider. The one I will leave you to consider is thinking about the whole idea of salvation, redemption, and the work of Christ. Is God able to finish what He started or can man hinder and terminate the work of God? What did God intend in the death of Christ? The track I do want to go down in answering this question is to seek to answer it based upon the biblical data we have already more or less considered. What is that, well: no one can be taken out of the hand of God (John 10.28-29), it is God's power that keeps or preserves the Christian and his or her faith (1 Peter 1.5), and God will complete what He has started (Phil 1.6). With these as givens, how do we answer the question of the person we know or heard about who fell away? I think the only way we can answer it, and the way scripture answers it is to say that what this person appeared to be he or she was not. There was a profession of faith and the appearance of faith, but it was merely man's work and not God's. In John's first epistle he writes: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us (2.19). People were once a part of the church (visible) but in time the reality of their faith was shown to be empty. Now, ultimately God knows people's hearts and will judge them justly, but from a human perspective all we have to go on is the evidence we see. In Matthew 7.21-23 we are even told that some people who appear to be Christians, even to the very end, are in reality unknown to God and will have no part in heaven.

What does all of this mean or do? It magnifies the grace of God that any should be saved and that any should be kept to the end. Let me close by asking a simple question: If you are a Christian, what motivated God to save you? And in answering this be sure to distinguish between what motivated God to offer salvation to you and what motivated God to actually save you.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

He's Got The Hand Speed

You wouldn't imagine that a man famous for stealthy movement which emits no sound would fancy himself as a professional musician, but try telling that to Steven Segal (yes, that Steven Segal) who is launching a 30-plus date UK tour early in the new year. He's already sold-out his Glasgow date, but there are still tickets available for his performance at Edinburgh's Queens Hall (understandably given that it falls on an Index night). What's he like as a guitarist anyway, I hear you ask? No idea to be honest, but I imagine he plays pretty fast. My congratulations to the author of this fabulous press release.

Oh, and by way of a thank you to our many avid readers, the chance to participate in the first-ever (to my knowledge) Index blog competition. Just let me know the answer to this question (any old how, it doesn't have to be on a postcard although that would admittedly be nice) and you could win a spectacular mystery prize!

Q. What links 'the thinking man's action hero' (and lover of pandas) Big Stevo Segal with the 'Sultan of Spoofery' Leslie Nielsen's comedic tour-de-force Wrongfully Accused?

CHRISTOPHOBIC

The University of Edinburgh has officially banned the PURE course that was to be run on campus by the Christian Union (without talking to or telling the CU, but that is beside the point).

University Press Release:
“The university has a clear commitment to ensuring that our students and staff are treated and treat each other with dignity and respect. It also attaches considerable importance to the values of free speech and open debate."
“In this case, the university has looked into the matter, in parallel with an enquiry by the Students Association (EUSA), and has decided that the course is contradictory to our Equality and Diversity values. It was decided that it is not appropriate for this course to run on university or EUSA premises.”
LM 20/10/06

Christians cannot say that homosexual activity is wrong, but anyone is allowed to say that Christians are wrong, bigoted, intolerant, neanderthal, stupid, backwards, dangerous; the list goes on. It is fascinating, though not necessarily surprising, to live in a society where it is wrong for Christians to have free speech, yet to be spoken and written against maliciously with no one stopping to consider the utterly hypocritical nature of 'you must tolerate (meaning accepting, embracing, and not disagreeing with) everyone except Christians.'

If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. - Matt 10.25.

If you haven't read the post below, don't stop here...

God Loves the World

Perhaps the most famous or well known verse is John 3.16 where we read that ‘God so loved the world that…’ Well, what does it mean that God loves the world? This immense love is most evident and clearly expressed in the death of Christ on the cross, but what good is it if not everyone is or gets saved? Perhaps you’ve been asked ‘If God is love, why isn’t everyone saved?’

This can be answered on numerous fronts, we’ll look at two. First, to ask why everyone is not saved is to assume an obligation on God’s part towards man, which cannot be substantiated. There is only one thing that sinful man deserves from God, and that is His wrath. But it can also be answered by noting that there is a different kind or degree of love that God has towards his children and those whom He has chosen. Now, before you revolt against that last sentence, may I suggest that to believe otherwise leaves one trusting in salvation by works and undoes the whole of the grace of God. Consider these words of Iain Murray, our special guest speaker last Sunday night (which, by the way, if you weren’t there was an absolutely brilliant evening looking at the life of and learning from John Knox – Oh that God would raise up men and women like him in the church today, it would make a world of difference…may we be those men and women), he writes

“But if Christians are no more loved than those who will finally be lost, the decisive factor in salvation becomes, not God’s grace and love, but something in them, and their perseverance becomes dependant upon themselves. To widen the atonement (Christ’s death on the cross), and to speak of it only in terms of general love, is to take away is saving power. The believer in Christ needs to know that the love which embraces him is eternal, almighty, and immutable. It does not hang upon his faith for it went before faith.”

In other words, if all people are loved the same by God, then salvation is by works in that all who add a bit to what God has done in Christ will then be saved and grace vanishes.

So how is God’s love of the world seen in the death of Christ? It is seen on numerous fronts. One way God’s love is seen is that the ‘cross is God’s ordinance for the salvation of men, and Christ is dead for you to come to – for you to live by.’ Christ says that He will not turn away any who come to Him for salvation. God’s love in Christ to the world is also seen and heard whenever the gospel is proclaimed to people without distinction. The call of Christ is universal and all are demanded to repent and humble themselves before Christ as their sovereign King and Lord.

And one last way God’s love to the world is seen, which leads us towards what we’ll be looking at this coming Sunday, is in His gracious sustaining of His creation. God sustains even those who blaspheme His glorious name, and His love is seen and experienced each new day, though undeserved. As we will look at God the Sustainer this coming Sunday maybe consider and meditate on the words of Paul in Colossians 1.17. He holds together.