Urban Reformation

As of late, I have experienced a fair share of trials, well not really but for an American we have gone through a few small things…, and by God’s mercy I am prayerfully still seeking God. He has shown my family much grace and I am thankful to Him for all God has shown us and given us as we have continued to know Christ more. I am still seeking to understand Him more and to yield my will and my life to serve my master Jesus, whom I freely choose, because He first chose me.

Charles H. Spurgeon once said in a sermon, “The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.”

I have been in the reformed “arena” for about three to four years now. Needless to say I’m sure I have just scratched the surface in understanding God’s Holiness, his sovereignty, what grace really means. I now understand with good footing what being “saved” or “being saved” really means. I have a greater understanding of God keeping us; of how Salvation actually occurs and that all of these things begin and end with God and not man. My eyes have been opened when it comes to sharing Christ with the lost and even the granting of “repentance” from God which leads to life. Acts 11:18

There was so much before in my Christian walk where I had so many pieces missing, so many lines that seemingly went back and forth with no real understanding of how God interacts in our daily life yet allows us to make decisions. Realizing now before I was born again, before I repented and believed, all I ever did was sin against my God, even the attempts at good things I now understand to be filthy, thus my need for Jesus Christ. And thus everyone’s need for Jesus Christ.

All of these things are such incredible benefits I have gained from having a deeper understanding of God’s sovereignty, yet with Spurgeon’s line;

“The system of truth is not one straight line, but two. No man will ever get a right view of the gospel until he knows how to look at the two lines at once.”

Sometimes it seems the line of truth that we remain focused upon is God’s sovereignty to the neglect of our responsibility. I have been taught to a great degree from personal experience that I cannot force anyone to live “Christianly” or make people to read their bible or to walk by the spirit in their circumstances, marriages, trials, in such a way as it flows from the inside of their heart, much less my own heart at times to live and do the “right” thing. This is an act of God alone that changes the hearts of men and women. I have learned in my walk that none of these urgings by men compare when they are urged by the Holy Spirit.  Understanding we rest in the Justification of Christ, and we rest there knowing full well there is not one iota we can add to the work of Christ, yet also in scripture we are still commanded by scripture to good works.  We are rightfully afraid of being prideful yet sometimes so afraid of causing disunity we fail to lovingly bring about truth in our responsibility to uphold truth.  We boldly preach truth from our pulpits but if we “do” anything boldly in our doing it is seen as a bit radical, yet is this not what the promise of the Holy Spirit is in His coming that we may be “bold” filled with the spirit, and this kind of preaching should produce, “action”.

Yet in America we are seemingly not compelled to be more involved with the Body of Christ to BE the body of Christ. We have enough going on in our own lives, and often times that is the case, there is a constant tension of the busy of the world, and the busy and business of the Kingdom, yet we sleep often in our Christianity. ( preaching to myself)

Perhaps the greatest single weakness of the contemporary Christian church is that millions of supposed members are not really involved at all, and what is worse, do not think it strange that they are not
— Elton Trueblood

I believe however that the evidence of a greater understanding of God’s sovereignty should have the opposite “actual” effect than it often seemingly has in many “Reformed Circles.” This would mean that if I have a greater understanding of God, then at whatever degree I come to understand the depths of God’s sovereignty, I should be compelled to a greater and greater degree of my responsibility toward God. This does nothing for the fact that I would try to work toward salvation or “works” righteousness to appease a sovereign God but it would be that out of the depths of my understanding toward God I would seek more to go deeper and further with God in all aspects of my life. It would now not be for me to boast whatsoever but purposed so that others might see our good works and Glorify our father in heaven.

My pastor recently gave a sermon on which he called us to stir one another up, in a sermon called “Consider One Another” in our study through Hebrews. In this sermon he said the word to stir was equivalent to the word incite one another, like inciting a riot, or to irritate. We just had a sermon on this however how many people are doing anything near this in REALITY? How many of us are inciting one another stirring each other up? What is our responsibility in doing so? Let’s take some of the other commandments from God’s word such as prayer. We’ve had a several sermons on prayer recently but let me ask you why does this seemingly have little “staying” power in our lives to diligently continue in these things? Why so often do sermons which are great in content, seem as fleeting as Christian summer camp where we learn about Jesus for a week and then depart never to practice anything we professed to believe? I know so many of these disciplines I am guilty of myself, I know that God has transformed me by having to have me go through many life lessons and tribulations in order to come to greater and greater understandings that I MUST seek to obey God and this is my responsibility. Is God sovereign? The answer is absolutely yes; however why does it seem that the teaching of His sovereignty has so many still thinking and walking like a short temporary summer camp sermons which often fade.

So my question in God’s sovereignty and Man’s responsibility is where is the staying power of the Holy Spirit today in our lives?
I have been pondering this question for years and a friend of mine after bible study and prayer this morning had this to say as he’s been doing a study on “The Kingdom of God.”

It is so not what we think of the Kingdom even in today’s age, but points me more toward a type of Lordship of a King. . . . Kevin said something like, “we have been so pre-occupied with “Freedom” from the tyranny of men, that we have forgotten that we have been bought with a price and we are not our own, but we serve a King… yet in our freedom from man we have decided to serve self verses use our freedom to worship God with our lives!

May God allow us to the ability to see the two lines at once, and walk in the tension and understading of this truth.  I pray we may know the incredible beauty of God’s sovereignty and the charge of living being and walking by the spirit in our responsibility that our lives may demonstrate the magnificence of our savior in Heaven!

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