What Is Free Will?

The biggest problem that comes up when people argue about election and predestination is they end up pitting man's "free will" up against God's sovereignty. The assumption is that man chooses God by an act of his own free will.

The problem with this assumption is that on his own, man can do nothing but sin:

"For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God." (Rom. 8:7-8)

"The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:14)

"All...are under sin, as it is written: 'No one understands; no one seeks after God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless, no one is good, not even one.'" (Rom. 3:9-12)

So, do we have free will? Of course, but on our own all we will choose is sin, and we certainly will not choose Christ. In other words, free will means I am free to do whatever I want to do, & what I want to do is sin. This is our nature. (Psalm 51:5; Eph. 2:3)

John Calvin put it this way, "[Like Satan, Man], by his fall, was so estranged from goodness (God) that he can do nothing but evil." (Institues II, 3.5)

Without some kind of power to overcome our free will, it will only damn us. It's only when the truth of the Gospel, by way of the Holy Spirit, overcomes our resistance, we will be irresistibly drawn to Him and be saved. (John 3:8; John 6:44, 65; Eph. 2:5, 8-9; 2 Tim. 2:25-26, Rom. 9:15-16; Acts 13:48)

"It is not of man who wills or runs, but of God who shows mercy." (Rom. 9:16)


"For God is the one who is at work both to will and to work for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)

But don't we choose God by faith? Yes, but if "none is righteous" and "no one seeks after God," where does that ability to respond in faith come from?

"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast." (Eph. 2:8)

So, the correct picture of our salvation is not simply, "I chose Christ by walking down the aisle and saying a prayer." 

Instead, it's a picture of a dramatic rescue mission, where we were on the precipice of death, unable to save ourselves, when Christ came, and said, "It will be OK. I've got you." And He snatched us up and saved us.

In the end, if I am going to be damned by my free will, then I need to be rescued and "set free" from the bondage of my will in order to see and savor Christ for who His is (my Savior).

"For freedom Christ has set you free; stand firm therefore; and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery." (Gal. 5:1)

Satisfied In God Alone

God, help me to be more reliant on Your Spirit and less reliant on my flesh. I am far too easily satisfied in it.

I feel like I am wasting myself on things that simply do not satisfy (Isaiah 55:2).

I want to find satisfaction and joy in the things of God alone.

I feel like James 4 is playing out within me and within my life constantly.

Why should I be blessed by the good things of God when I will most likely just squander it all?

I feel more like vs. 1-4:

"What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

But my heart is definitely in vs. 7-10:

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."

I know You are jealous for me (vs. 5). And I want more than anything to be satisfied in You, but my flesh is so weak (Matthew 26:41).

Thank You, God, that You have more grace (James 4:6) than my flesh has strength.

God, please help me to remove cherished sin from my heart (Psalm 66:18).

Thank You for hearing me.

New Relationships

Our relationship with God is very unique. I was thinking about it recently, and it struck me as unusual that, on one hand, we are called "sons and daughters of God" (John 1:12-13), and on the other hand, we are the future "Bride of Christ" (Rev. 19:7-8). That means that He has not only adopted us as sons and daughters, but He also has given us as His Son's Bride.

The reason why that is so important is that means that we are not merely "in-lawed" to God the Father, but we are legally adopted as His very own, AND legally united with Christ as His very own. That is huge!

 I love this picture, because it gives us a clearer understanding of what Jesus really did for us. As the perfect Groom, Jesus rescued and cleansed us by making the ultimate sacrifice and taking upon Himself our sin and wretchedness, absorbing the righteous wrath of God that was piled up against us (propitiation - Eph. 2:13-14).

 Not only that, but He went even further by then purifying His Bride by imputing to us His righteousness (expiation - Eph. 2:4-6). In other words, He loved us so much that He not only gave Himself for us in death (first gift), thereby taking on our sin, which means that He emptied Himself of His righteousness (Phil. 2:5-8), but He then gave us a second gift of grace by filling us with His righteousness (Rom. 3:21-26). We are a part of the greatest love story in history!

 Random thought: Where does the Holy Spirit fit into this picture? Could it be that the Holy Spirit acts as our "pre-marital counselor?" Think about it, as the betrothed to Christ, we have been justified (sanctified) by Him, but as we wait, the bible says we are being sanctified by the Holy Spirit and His word so that we look more and more like Christ (Rom. 15:15-16; Eph. 5:25-27; Heb. 10:13-18).

 I love how these relationships (especially the triune relationship - Father, Son, & Holy Spirit) work together for the good of the Church and the glory of God. It puts a new light on our relationship with God, His love and passionate pursuit of us, and the very nature of our salvation. We are the beneficiaries of God's elaborate plan to glorify Himself. In the end, our salvation is the blood-bought gift of seeing and savoring the glory of Christ. The saving love of God is the gift of Himself.

The True Purpose of Ministry

The following are my thoughts after watching an interview between John Piper and David Platt:

If our ultimate goal as the Church is to see lives transformed by the Gospel among all the nations, how does local ministry (marriage, children's, men's, women's, single parent, homeless, etc.) accomplish that?

In other words, how does doing ministry within a church that is so focused on it's own flock accomplish the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations? Do we have to choose? Does it have to be either/or?
       
          -Either a church focuses on local ministry
       
          -Or a church focuses on bringing the Gospel to the "utmost parts of the earth."

The ultimate goal should be that the Great Commission in Matthew 28 dictates to us how and why we pastor and shepherd our congregation locally.

So, for example, we want to teach and guide couples into a Christ-centered, fulfilling marriage but not just for the sake of having a happy, fulfilling marriage. We lead them to an understanding that marriage, according to Ephesians 5:22-32, is a mirror of the Gospel. Therefore, the goal should be to get couples to see that in light of that, they are to move on and be about something bigger than themselves.

We will shepherd our people and build strong marriages so that the Gospel would be spread among all the nations. A bible-saturated, God-glorifying marriage will then have the resources to be able to care about something bigger than themselves and enter into as a family the work of the Great Commission.

In the end, God's glory among every people group is the reason why we teach everything.

          -We don't teach freedom from sin for the sake of being freed from sin. They will only learn how to manage their behavior.

          -We don't teach tithing and financial stewardship for the sake of mere obedience or to have a "blessed life." They will only learn that God can be please by simple duty or that God's blessing can be bought for price.

          -We don't simply teach our kids to obey their parents or not cuss. They will only learn how to play the game, and we will only make "good little Christian boys and girls."

We teach our people in everything how to look at themselves and others through Gospel lenses so that they can be world changers. What good is our teaching and our ministry if it simply terminates on us?