Koinos Pastors' Blog

Earlier in my life I had not learned the importance and pleasure of thinking deeply about God.  I and many of my friends commonly thought, “let’s don’t get all caught up in doctrine, let’s just love Jesus!”  What we didn’t realize is that we were not really loving Jesus very much because we weren’t really getting much of who He is.  So it is important to connect the dots between theological truths and why they matter to God and how they affect us and our worship.

 Bottom line, what we think of God determines if our worship is worship and how pleased God is with our worship.  Jonathan Edwards made this connection plain so that we can learn much from him.

In his book, The End for which God Created the World, he wrote, this.  

“God is glorified not only by His glory’s being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.  When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it.  His glory is then received by the whole soul, both by the understanding and by the heart.  God made the world that He might communicate, and the creature receive, His glory; and that it might [be] received both by the mind and heart.”

Here is the answer to the “so what” question.  God made the world so “that He might communicate” His glory to it and that He loves His glory above all else.  But there is more to it.  He does this so that His creatures will see His glory and ”delight in it” themselves like He does. 

Edwards’ idea was not original.  He saw it in the Scriptures in places like Psalm 96:4 “For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods.”  Our worship of God is to be done “greatly” in a way similar to how “great” He is.

So the question is this.  Is my worship showing that I love God and His glory like He does?

This is a question I had never really pondered although I grew up in church and had been engaged in Bible reading most of my childhood.  I was made to think about it for the first time while reading John Piper’s book, Desiring God, in seminary years.  This thought began a process of rocking my mind and understanding of God and worship.

 Most of us initially answer, something like, “God loves people most of all” or “God loves me” or “His creation”, right?

Ponder what John Piper says, “God is the most God-centered being in the universe” and “God is uppermost in His own affections.”  Or to put it plainly, God loves Himself more than anything else.  That caught me off guard when I first heard it.  I had never had that thought.  Piper reasoned that if God commands us to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to have no other gods before Him, would He violate His own greatest commandment?  He also reasons that if God loves something other than Himself, He is an idolater, loving something else more than God.

This is truly a mind-shifting concept and one that many people may disagree with.  How does this thought impact your mind and understanding of God?

 I want to offer a few more thoughts on the “myth of free will” which I mentioned in today’s sermon.  The biblical teaching on this topic is worth digging into deeper.  At the same time I don’t think all our questions will be answered completely in this post.  We should continue to wrestle with these things and encourage each other to strive to understand the scriptures better.

First of all, here is what I do NOT mean by the “myth of free will”.  I do NOT mean that people cannot make decisions as they please.  Of course we do this daily!  The Bible commands us to make decisions.  I do NOT mean that people cannot choose to disobey God.  We do this regularly though the Bible commands us not to.

 Here is what I DO mean.  We have a will but it is not “free” in some important ways.

1)     Our so-called free will is not free to do anything we might want.  For example our will is not free to choose to be God, fly like a bird (without mechanical assistance), or reach sinless perfection in this life.  We know this from being human and the scriptures.

2)     Our so-called free will is not free to obey God on its own.  We know this from Romans 8:7-8 which says, “the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”  This says the human will “cannot” please God.

3)     Our so-called free will is not free to make decisions without the influence of the curse of sin and the sinful nature according to Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.”

4)     Our so-called free will cannot repent of sin and follow Jesus on its own.  In John 6:44 Jesus said, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”  A person operating on their free will alone cannot come to Jesus.  Something more is needed.  The Father must draw them.

In other words man’s free will is actually not free at all.  It is enslaved to sin and the sinful nature.  Though we have the ability to make decisions as we please, the decisions we make are always in the same direction; away from God and toward rebellion, self-service, and sin.  Our will always operates in the direction of its nature which is to rebel against God.

One question that naturally comes is this.  “But wait didn’t I decide to repent and become a believer in Jesus.  Doesn’t that prove free will?”  Praise God for the fact that many of our friends have turned to Jesus for salvation!  And the reason we praise God is because we know how their salvation happened.  God overcame their free will which was constantly in rebellion and caused them to have a new will.

This cannot be accomplished by man’s free will but only by the work of God’s Spirit within.  Romans 8:2 says, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”  The Holy Spirit sets them free from the bondage of their will and then they are filled with a new power which overcomes free will causing them to desire something they never before desired – to repent and follow Jesus.

There is much more to be said on this topic and much has been written in a far better way than here.  I hope these thoughts will be helpful to you as you continue growing in God’s word!  Your thoughts, comments and questions are always welcome, especially on this one!