             |
"Doctrine Matters:
God - Showing Us His Glory (2)"
October 28, 2007
Pastor Phil Stevenson
Date: Oct. 28, 2007
Sermon Title: Doctrine Matters: God—Showing Us His Plan for His Glory
Text: Selected Texts: Ephesians 3:8-12
Whidbey Island Evangelical Free Church, 874 Plantation Drive, Greenbank, WA 98253, 360-678-4612, office, Pastor Phil Stevenson
Introduction:
For the past 2 weeks I have been appealing to you to consider the significance of Doctrine and its effect upon the way we live. The word doctrine can often scare people away. For some it stirs up fears of conflict and division. Their tendency is to say, “We don’t want to talk about doctrine. Doctrine divides. Let’s just focus on what the Bible says.” Well that is true. Issues of doctrine can divide, but it can also unite. It all depends on what your overall objective is. This is why I have greatly appreciated what’s been happening in our denomination for the past couple of years. Probably unbeknownst to most of you, a long and meticulous process has been taking place to clarify and articulate a better expression of our statement of faith. In a culture that is so bent on moral relativism I find it greatly refreshing to be a part of a movement of faith that is trying to be more solid and precise in its beliefs. The position of the Evangelical Free Church since its inception has always been: Unity in the Essentials; Charity in the Non-Essentials; But in all things Jesus Christ. When it comes to the essential doctrines let’s be clear; let’s be precise; and let’s be unified. And yes that may mean we divide with some who do not hold to what is essentially true. But in the non-essentials let’s be gracious and humble. Let’s give room for differing views while maintaining a teachable attitude. In all things the goal is to elevate Jesus Christ. This should be the point of all discussions and conclusions concerning doctrine, not proving how right we are but leading all to the exaltation of Jesus Christ.
This is one reason that we have felt it an appropriate time to discuss these significant and essential truths of doctrine. But even more importantly than introducing to you the proposed revision of our doctrinal statement, and perhaps an even greater reason for a more zealous motivation to study doctrine, is my desire to elevate the importance of understanding and applying biblical, doctrinal truths to our lives today. As I have mentioned before, I believe it is only going to become more and more critical that we are a people of sound biblical doctrine. Given our culture’s pervasive elevation of every individuals’ perception of what is true and real, without this anchor of doctrinal truth, we will become like ships tossed too and fro by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14) as the Apostle Paul once warned would happen. It should be no surprise to you that we live in the last days “when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.…” (2 Tim. 4:3-5) Paul’s exhortation to Timothy applies to us as well. Our responsibility is to be sober-minded. Intellectual and spiritual sobriety, even though it is becoming more and more difficult as the world we participate in strays further and further away from absolute doctrinal truth.
Let me give you two brief examples that I hope will lead us into our discussion of the Doctrine of God: Showing Us His Plan for His Glory.
This week I was given a Starbuck’s coffee cup. On Starbucks’ disposable cups, they have printed comments submitted by people. This feature of their cup is meant to stimulate discussion and interaction, over coffee no doubt. Here’s the kind of topics that our culture is grappling with. “Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.” This comes from Bill Scheel, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario, who describes himself as a ‘modern day nobody.’ (The Way I See It #247)
Here we see Starbucks highlighting the climate of our culture. Do you see the conflict between this and a biblical worldview? According to this ‘modern day nobody’ God is a creation of our own minds. Being a cognitive being means that our reason should be elevated above revelation. Imagine what it would be like if we cognitive beings simply relied on ourselves to determine truth and doctrine. This is quintessential post-modernity.
Let me give you another example: This comes from a radio talk show program I heard this week and was able to pick up off the web. Listen to these final comments that were aired on Monday morning on KIRO Radio. The discussion is regarding where do the values come from that are instilled in children today. Are they from the family or from “the village?” My point in having you listen to this is not to answer that question but for you to hear the few final comments that are made about the Bible. This is Dave Ross and a caller named Mike from Tukwilla.
“Some day I’ll write my own Bible and then I’ll know.” That’s what our culture thinks about the Bible. It’s a book that’s been generated by human beings, and can be regenerated by anyone who wants to. What will life be like when every person takes it upon themselves to write their own bible?
My whole point last week was that is exactly what we’re experiencing and seeing. The more we suppress the truth, the less we ask God to show us His glory and the more we exchange the truth of God for a lie the more God hands us over to our own desires and the more we spiral downward into mental and spiritual darkness. Claiming to be wise we become fools. (Rom. 1:18-32)
But there is hope in the midst of this dismal picture. If we will listen to God, if we will pursue Him asking Him to show us His glory, He will redeem what is lost. This has been his plan from eternity. This is His plan to show the greatness of His own glory.
This is the focus of the last sentence of our church’s doctrinal statement on the person of God. It is an attempt at expressing the plan by which God will show us and all the world His glory. This I believe is what Dave Ross and the modern day nobody, Bill Scheel are missing. It’s my desire that you and I don’t miss it, so let’s look at it for a few moments together and see if we can’t get a glimpse of God’s plan to show us His glory.
The statement starts of by saying Having Limitless Knowledge and Sovereign Power…. Understanding this about God’s character is critical because this highlights the reality that…
1. The Plan to show us His glory Flows from God’s Supremacy.
God is supreme in both his knowledge and his power. No one and nothing can compare to the infinite, limitless knowledge of God.
Isaiah 46:8-10 “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors, (NIV-you rebels. God the holy one is challenging those who rebel against him.) remember the former things of old; for I am God and the is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, (Here He shows the limitless nature of his knowledge) declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.” God’s plan to show His glory flows from His supremacy in knowledge.
Psalm 139:17-18a “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.” Here’s a jar of sand. How many grains of sand exist even in this jar. Just think of all the beaches in the world. Often sand is used as a metaphor for an infinite number. God’s thoughts are beyond our ability to comprehend. Or another metaphor that is used often in scripture in this same way are the stars.
Isaiah 40:25-26 “To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them by name. God has a mind that is capable of naming the millions and millions of stars that exist in our galaxy alone. Not only is He limitless in knowledge but listen as the verses continue. “by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power not one is missing.” God’s power is what keeps the stars from falling out of the heavens. And when they do it is because God is sovereign over them.
Psalm 147:4-5 “He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure.”
Paul writes that God does far more than we could ever ask or imagine and that in all that takes place He uses it for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
God is supreme in limitless knowledge and in sovereign power and because of this He is able to display His glory in accordance with His will. “Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.” And what pleases Him most is to show us His glory.
But what is His plan to show us His glory. According to our statement it is the plan of redemption that most displays his glory. Here’s how it reads:
God Has Graciously Purposed from Eternity to Redeem a People for Himself and Make All Things New:
2. The Plan to show us His glory Focuses on Redemption.
Notice that the statement says from eternity God has graciously purposed to redeem. There was probably no one who understood this better than the Apostle Paul. Again let me refer you to several passages.
1 Cor. 2:7 “But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory.” In Ephesians 1:4 he says, God “chose us before the foundation of the world” that we should experience redemption. In chapter 3 he calls it a mystery. “To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given me, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things…. This was according to the eternal purpose…” (Eph. 3:8-9, 10) Paul understood that he was given insight into a secret and hidden wisdom of God which was decreed before the ages, an eternal purpose. And that purpose was for God to redeem a people to himself and to make all things new through the work of His Son Jesus Christ.
Now this is critical to understanding that sin did not catch God off guard. Sin as we’ll see in a minute does not ultimately diminish God’s glory but in fact enhances it. God the Father, infinite in knowledge, knew before the foundations of the world that He would send his Son into the world to be our representative. From the moment that Adam and Eve sinned God began to implement His plan of redemption.
But what is redemption? What does it mean to be redeemed?
I remember when we first met our 3 new children in Ethiopia and we were trying to understand what their Ethiopian names meant. We asked Getihun, Libby’s Ethiopian friend, if he could help us. One of the names he stumbled over. He didn’t quite know the English equivalent so he chose to describe it this way. The name means that if I were to go to prison and you chose to take my place so I could go free then you would be called by this name. Lisa, Libby, and I all looked at each other and said wow, what a great name it means my redeemer.
And this is exactly what God has done for us in His Son, Jesus Christ. Remember what God said as a part of his judgment to the serpent in the garden? “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen. 3:15) From that moment on God through his infinite knowledge and sovereign power was orchestrating a plan to redeem us from the bondage of sin and death. The pinnacle of that plan came when God’s Son was sent into the world as a human being. The incarnation, the crucifixion, the resurrection, these were always a part of the plan and purpose of God to set our souls free from our spiritual imprisonment.
The cross and the resurrection became the culmination of this plan of redemption, at least the first phase of this plan, and this is why Paul can say in Romans 5:18, “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” (Eph. 1:7) And through His resurrection we have been set free from the condemnation of death and given eternal life (1 Cor. 15).
Because of Christ, meaning is restored to life. Without the work of redemption and the reality of resurrection, Paul’s conclusion is that we might as well eat and drink for tomorrow we die. (1 Cor. 15:32) Which is exactly where much of our world lives today. Once again this is why doctrine matters so much. Without an understanding of God’s plan of redemption, the world lives in a hopeless and meaningless present.
But this is where God desires to magnify the greatness of his glory. Which leads me to my final point.
3. The Plan to show us His glory Magnifies His Glory.
I know that this sounds redundant but this is what For His own Glory is intended to communicate at the end of the statement. God Has Graciously Purposed from Eternity to Redeem a People for Himself and Make All Things New for His own glory. This is where our culture often clouds our thinking. We like to think that this plan of redemption is about us, about our freedom, and about our eternal future. Though the Bible does teach that we as God’s creation are the recipients and the benefactors of God’s plan, we are not the end. We are the means to an end and that end is to magnify and display the greatness of God. The plan of redemption magnifies the glory of God. It magnifies the brightness and weightiness of God’s supreme character. The primary purpose of redemption is not about us or about this creation. The primary purpose of redemption is to display the magnificence of God’s grace, the splendor of God’s power, the immensity of God’s mercy, the rightness of God’s holiness and justice. For in redeeming us and making all things new He demonstrates that even sin and death are powerless before Him. Romans 9:22-23: “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy which he has prepared beforehand for glory?” The redemption that comes through God’s mercy is the means by which God displays the greatness of His glory. Making all that is broken in this world new, taking lives like yours and mine and rescuing them from the power of sin and death magnifies the greatness of God. The whole point of the Bible is to reveal this reality.
Let me close with one last quote from Paul and then wrap this up with a concluding comment about why this matters so much.
This is Ephesians 3:8-10: “To me, though I am the very least of all he saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”
Herein lays our mandate and our answer to the “modern day nobodies” of our day. The reason we look to God in moments of crisis for strength and help… the reason we do not search within ourselves to find power to overcome is because this life and all its crises are not about us. Ultimately they are about God displaying His glory. Our lives become the opportunities for God to display through his limitless knowledge and sovereign power a plan of redeeming a people to himself and making all things new for His own glory. Not for ours.
The great wonder of all this for us is that we get to participate in the great Plan and be a part of shoing His glory. As we embrace God through faith in His glorious plan of redemption through Jesus Christ we become a part of the demonstration of His glory. We move beyond ourselves into someone who is far bigger, far more glorious than ourselves. This becomes the true meaning of life. Once again we see that Doctrine Matters.
We are located at
3770 Highway 525
Greenbank, Washington
That is 2 miles south of Greenbank
and 6 miles north of Freeland by MAP.