I wasn’t always reformed you know. And as shocking as it may be, I did not always listen to John Piper sermons. My brother was the first person to ever mention Calvinism to me. He brought up Romans 9 and Ephesians 2 and I felt no need to argue. It was clear. It was biblical. It made sense. (It didn’t happen that way with everyone in my family, it took my mom a few days, but now she’s more “reformed” than anyone I know..).
But reformed theology, as I grew to learn, is more than election and predestination. I guess it’s most marked by it because it’s the most controversial point for the american christian. If I were to explain reformed theology to someone (beyond a mere 5 points), I’d probably tell them that reformed theology is viewing God as the Gracious and Sovereign Lord and seeing His grace in what He has done for us.
All this to say that I have noticed in my own life, and in reformed circles, a flaw in my practice. There is a bit of a laid-back-ness in the way that I live because my default motto has become “if it’s meant to be, it’ll be”. I want to challenge that in my own life and maybe in your life too if you’re reading this.
God’s Sovereignty ≠ Passivity.
Passivity means acceptance of what happens, without active response or resistance. I’ve noticed in my own life that there have been times where I am quick to just say, “okay, whatever, God is sovereign so who cares about how things turned out at this point”. Looking back at my time in India,there were so many times where I should have had an active response to God’s sovereignty instead of passive one. God’s sovereignty enables our activity. And our activity is by His grace alone. This is what I see when I look at Scripture.
God’s Sovereignty = Activity.
We see this in Paul. If anyone in the NT advocated God’s Sovereignty, it was Paul. Paul understood God’s sovereignty and it was the fuel for him to be active. We see this in the way he lived and preached and journeyed. Here are some examples:
In the way Paul lived:
1 Corinthians 15:9-11
For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 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.Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
1 Corinthians 9:19-27
For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control,lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
In the way Paul Preached:
Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Ephesians 2:4-10
But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So.
A right view of God’s sovereignty should cause us to be active.
Active in killing sin. Active in working hard and making disciples. Active in resting and abiding. Active in everything. Not passive. Not lazy. Not hopeless.
Remember that just because we can identify the places where we are jacked up and failing, doesn’t mean we are in a place where we are allowing God to help us change in that area. I’ve fallen into that in the past. I easily shrug off killing sin because I’ll hide behind “well, I am a sinner, so.. yeah. I need to be a sinner in order for grace to happen..” And that is so wrong of me. That’s jacked up. And I don’t want to be that way, and biblically, I shouldn’t be okay with being that way.
God meets us where we are at, but He doesn’t want us to stay there. It’s been a year since I’ve been back from India. I’ve had my time of rest and am still healing, but I think that it’s now time to be active again.
I’ve been pondering on this:
1 Peter 4:10-11
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
God Sovereignly and Graciously does everything and we, by His do something.
Don’t get lost in doing nothing. Our Dad is the Sovereign King, therefore be active, serve by the strength that He supplies, in order that you may bring Him glory.
Striving with you,
Pati