| Whatsoever
Things Are True
by Dan Coburn Pastor, Emmanuel Baptist Church pastordan@mtida.net So much confusion. In 2nd Peter 1:10, we are admonished to: "give diligence to make your calling and election sure:". Romans 10:13 says: "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the lord shall be saved". We are repeatedly invited to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The consequences for refusing to do so are replete and staggering. "And with all deceivableness of unright-eousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved." - 2nd Thes. 2:10 "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." - John 3:36 This is a fraction of the verses which charge us with the responsibility to make a conscious choice for God (yield the throne of our heart/life to the one true Lord, Jesus Christ), followed by the seemingly impossible task of living a Godly life. The reverse side of this Theological coin espouses only the sovereignty of God in your salvation. "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whim he justified, them he also glorified." Romans 8:29-30 In Eph. 1:4, we learn when this "choosing" took place - "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,". Clear as mud? Nugget: The problem is never God's word, but rather our understanding. Either extreme is dangerous. Ponder this. The Sovereignty of God as well as the Responsibility of man are both clearly taught in the Bible, and the Bible NEVER attempts to reconcile the two, and neither should we. When we do, we butcher it. It effects our doctrinal view in one of two ways. Extreme one = Things of the flesh are flesh, and things of the Spirit are Spirit. Since I am saved (because of something I did, belong to or just because someone told me I was), it doesn't matter what I do in the flesh, cause my spirit is saved and I am good to go. Or, --- Since I am called, I'm in, and no further action is required on my part, - It's all Him. Extreme two = I have to live perfectly. I have to be holy as He is holy. This is a train wreck waiting to happen. We not only put an impossible standard on ourselves, but it manifests itself externally by unachievable standards we subject others to. Peter addressed this in Acts 15, the Jerusalem Council where the Jewish converts were trying to make the Gentile converts into good little Jews before they could be saved. Peter asks them: "Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" - vs 10 Let's sort it out. If you make it to heaven, it's all about God and His Grace manifested through the substitutionary atonement provided in Christ Jesus. Is there then responsibility on my part? Yes. Nugget: If God hasn't changed you, He hasn't saved you. If you end up in hell, it's all on you. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and the wages (payment) for sin is death. The verse in 2nd Peter at the top of this article isn't even talking about your salvation. Here it is presumed. The "calling" you are making sure, is the work here and now that Jesus has given you. If you seek to be closer to Him, hunger for His word, do justly, love mercy, walk humbly and have a sincere burden for the lost, you will never fail at your calling which is to "bear fruit". He didn't call you to go to heaven; that's a bi-product. He called you to be His body in His absence (Colo. 1:18). You are an ambassador. All the "working" is to perfect you unto every good work, which is never for you, but for others. Ponder this and pick up an oar. God bless. |
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