"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.' John 17:3
God's truthfulness can be defined like this, He is the only true God, and that all His knowledge and words are both true and the final standard of truth.
God is truth, He does not merely speak it, but He is truth. He is infinitely perfect in all things, in power, in goodness, in spirit, in lordship over all time, from eternity past, into eternity future. He is the standard by which all things are deemed true. The only reason that we say something is true is because God, the source of all truth, has said it is true. 2 + 2 = 4 because God says it would equal that. God is therefore reliable and faithful in His words, and we can put our complete trust in the simple fact that if HE says it, He will accomplish it. He never makes promises that HE will not, or cannot keep, while we may say things we don't really mean, God cannot do that, He is the final standard by which all is judged.
Therefore we can know, that as we discover more and more about science, or the world, or the way things work, we are not discovering anything that God does not and has not already known about. All truth is God's truth, and we can rejoice in Him and glorify His name whenever we find anything that is true, as we grow in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, and as we seek to glorify God in those areas, we are pleasing to Him.
So today may we strive to live lives that are a reflection of this truth, may we strive to be people who's yes is yes and no is no. Not because of consequences that may result from not, but because as we walk in truth and seek after knowledge we are reflecting our God to the world around us, and that is pleasing in His sight.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
About Me
- Fellowship Church Lubbock
- We are not perfect, but we have been saved by the one who is. He did it by grace alone, through faith alone, on the basis of Christ alone, for the glory of God alone, revealed infallibly by the Scripture alone.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
God's Knowledge
So what does God really know? I heard a quote from a well-know author, "In an attempt to secure the sovereignty of God, theologians have overstated their case, and left us with a chest-player God playing both sides of the board, making all His moves and all ours too. But clearly (clearly?) this is not so. God is a person (really) who takes immense risks. No doubt the biggest risk of all was when He gave angels and men free will, including the freedom to reject Him..."
Now there are so many things that I would like to say about God based on that quote, but we will have time for that later on in this series. The one thing that I want to focus on today is "God is a person who takes immense risks."
Does God really take risks, because for that to happen He would have to not know the future, He would have to be limited in His ability, and would be lying when the Bible, says, "all things work out for the good of those who love HIm..." How could HE know that, if He is a risk taker He is just as much in the dark as we are.
That line of thinking leaves us with a deist version of God, a clockmaker, who yes made everything, is a supreme, higher being, but who is not involved our moments, who cannot comfort us with real comfort.
So what does the knowledge of God really mean? Grudem states it like this, "God fully knows Himself (1 Cor. 2:10-11) and all things actual (Hebrews 4:13) and possible (1 Sam. 11-13; Matt. 11:21) in one simple and eternal act.
God is always and forever fully aware of anything that has happened, and will happen, He knows the grains of sand on a seashore, the stars in the sky, the hairs on your head, and He know them all at once. His knowledge is eternal it does not change or grow, nor can it. He does not see new inventions and say, "I never thought of that." He is and for always completely and full aware of what is happening and will happen.
Of course it will be hard to reconcile God's knowledge of everything and the degree of freedom we have in our choices, we will discuss this in more detail in a few weeks. But I will leave you with something that Augustine said, God has given us "reasonable self-determination." We need to not focus on what is beyond our control or knowledge and understand that right now we can trust in an all-knowing God, and that we should in each choice we make, think, choose and act.
I hope that helps to a degree define the knowledge of God, for more information and for a deeper study, please refer to J.I. Packer's classic, Knowing God.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Now there are so many things that I would like to say about God based on that quote, but we will have time for that later on in this series. The one thing that I want to focus on today is "God is a person who takes immense risks."
Does God really take risks, because for that to happen He would have to not know the future, He would have to be limited in His ability, and would be lying when the Bible, says, "all things work out for the good of those who love HIm..." How could HE know that, if He is a risk taker He is just as much in the dark as we are.
That line of thinking leaves us with a deist version of God, a clockmaker, who yes made everything, is a supreme, higher being, but who is not involved our moments, who cannot comfort us with real comfort.
So what does the knowledge of God really mean? Grudem states it like this, "God fully knows Himself (1 Cor. 2:10-11) and all things actual (Hebrews 4:13) and possible (1 Sam. 11-13; Matt. 11:21) in one simple and eternal act.
God is always and forever fully aware of anything that has happened, and will happen, He knows the grains of sand on a seashore, the stars in the sky, the hairs on your head, and He know them all at once. His knowledge is eternal it does not change or grow, nor can it. He does not see new inventions and say, "I never thought of that." He is and for always completely and full aware of what is happening and will happen.
Of course it will be hard to reconcile God's knowledge of everything and the degree of freedom we have in our choices, we will discuss this in more detail in a few weeks. But I will leave you with something that Augustine said, God has given us "reasonable self-determination." We need to not focus on what is beyond our control or knowledge and understand that right now we can trust in an all-knowing God, and that we should in each choice we make, think, choose and act.
I hope that helps to a degree define the knowledge of God, for more information and for a deeper study, please refer to J.I. Packer's classic, Knowing God.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
How Do We Respond to Osama's Death
Well, if you are like me, you have had a few days to process the events of Sunday afternoon, and Monday morning, and maybe you are asking yourself the same questions, how should I, as a Christian, respond to the death of Osama Bin Laden. I turned on the T.V. Monday morning, to the cheers of a massive crowd in time square, and for those first few moments, I was joining in the cheers that an adversary of America, a man that wanted to do harm to my country, my family, and my faith was now dead, but then the more I watched, the more news reports that came out, the more my thoughts were, how should I, as a Christian, be responding to this news.
I was reminded in the Proverbs,"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." Proverbs 24:17 What does that mean for me, because David would say also say, "as for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their overwhelm them, let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire."
It seems that David is crying out from the depths of his heart, for God to be just. And so from that my conclusion, is this, we rejoice in the fact that God is just, that HE will be victorious. So are we happy that Osama is dead, that he cannot harm anyone anymore, yes. Should we we thankful to the men and women that put their lives on the line to defend our freedom, yes. Should we jump up and down and cheer as if our hope and rejoicing is in a country, and not in the Lord, by no means.
Our hope and our rejoicing is in the fact that we serve a righteous, just God, who put His wrath on Christ at the cross. I hope that our response will be sober, that we will rejoice in God, that we will remember the only difference between myself and Osama, as far as eternity is concerned, is that Christ's righteousness as been imparted to me, because of the work at the cross and faith in Him.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
I was reminded in the Proverbs,"Do not gloat when your enemy falls; when they stumble, do not let your heart rejoice, or the Lord will see and disapprove and turn his wrath away from them." Proverbs 24:17 What does that mean for me, because David would say also say, "as for the head of those who surround me, let the mischief of their overwhelm them, let burning coals fall upon them! Let them be cast into fire."
It seems that David is crying out from the depths of his heart, for God to be just. And so from that my conclusion, is this, we rejoice in the fact that God is just, that HE will be victorious. So are we happy that Osama is dead, that he cannot harm anyone anymore, yes. Should we we thankful to the men and women that put their lives on the line to defend our freedom, yes. Should we jump up and down and cheer as if our hope and rejoicing is in a country, and not in the Lord, by no means.
Our hope and our rejoicing is in the fact that we serve a righteous, just God, who put His wrath on Christ at the cross. I hope that our response will be sober, that we will rejoice in God, that we will remember the only difference between myself and Osama, as far as eternity is concerned, is that Christ's righteousness as been imparted to me, because of the work at the cross and faith in Him.
LOVE GOD LOVE PEOPLE
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