Manslick Road church of Christ » 2006 » October
Samuel went to Jesse’s house to anoint Israel’s next king. Eliab, Jesse’s oldest son, surely looked the part. But God said, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7 ).
“The Lord looks at the heart.” What a refreshing thought. Our society puts such a premium on looks. How many millions do we spend on makeup, hairdos, tints, lotions, diet plans, clothes, jewelry, and the like, all trying to look better? And with all that, most of us achieve mediocrity at best. There is only so much one can do! Aren’t you glad to know that God is much more interested in character, something over which you have far greater control?
“The Lord looks at the heart.” What a reassuring thought. Men at times misinterpret our actions. You intervene, trying only to reconcile quarreling brethren, and are told to quit being nosy and mind your own business. You lovingly attempt to warn one overtaken in a trespass, but you are castigated as mean and self-righteous. Like Mary anointing Jesus’ feet, you try to do your best for the Lord yet meet criticism from thoughtless brethren (Mt. 26:6-13 ). Take comfort: God knows you heart.
“The Lord looks at the heart.” What a sobering thought. Our excuses for failure to act may satisfy men, but the Lord knows the real story. He sees right through the noble-sounding “spin” we put on our side of a dispute. When worship is a sham, He is aware of it. When selfishness or lust or pride or envy drives us, He recognizes it. “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do” (Heb 4:13 ).
Calvinists teach that salvation is wholly a matter of God’s doing; man is totally passive in the process. That conclusion rests on two premises. (1) The foundation of their system is that we are totally depraved by nature, neither desirous nor capable of doing anything good. (2) They reason that if man is required to do anything, salvation is no longer a matter of grace; it becomes works-based.
What are we to do with all the passages which unquestionably require something of us � repentance, for example? The Calvinist answers that these things are not our responses to the gospel but gifts from God. The Holy Spirit operates on our hearts in some direct, miraculous way, enabling us to repent.
Let’s assume for argument’s sake that repentance is a gift from God. That raises some tough questions.
Why do not all repent? God is on record that He wants everyone to repent. “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Therefore, repent and live’” (Ezek. 18:32 ). “The Lord…is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9 ). If repentance is a gift from God, and God wants all to repent, why does He not give the gift to everyone?
Why does God command men to repent? He does. Peter commanded the Jews on Pentecost to repent (Acts 2:38 ). It was his inspired answer to their question, “What shall we do?” Paul taught, “God is now declaring to man that all everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:31 ). It is absurd to command one to do something you know he cannot do. Why command us to repent if repentance is something God does?
Why does God hold men responsible for not repenting? He does. See Jeremiah 15:6-7 for an Old Testament illustration, and Matthew 11:20 , Luke 13:1-5 , and Revelation 2:20-23 for some New Testament examples. If repentance is a gift from God and God withholds the gift, how can He find fault with man for not repenting?
What would you say about a man who claimed he wanted all his children to succeed, none to fail; he then commanded them all to do something he knew full well they could not do; they could succeed only with his help, yet he refused to help most of them; and when they failed, he punished them? Friend, that is exactly what Calvinism says about God!
God promised through Ezekiel that He would give a new heart and spirit to His ancient people (Ezek. 11:19 ). Shortly after that, He commanded them to “make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit” (Ezek. 18:31 ). Which is it? Both. God gives the command, the “how-to” instruction, the incentive, and the opportunity to repent. But He does not force us. Man must use these things God provides and make the change.
No family in history has gone through life without facing some measure of hardship. No family in history has faced more adversity than did Job’s. We can all learn something from them.
Job was a godly man who evidently lived sometime around Abraham’s day. God prospered him abundantly. He was the greatest of all the men of the east (Job 1:5 ). Job also had a sizable family: seven sons and three daughters.
In a single disastrous day, Job lost just about everything. The Sabeans, from southern Arabia, captured Job’s oxen and donkeys, killing his servants who attended them. Fire of God (lightening?) burned up Job’s sheep and the servants watching them. The Chaldeans captured Job’s camels, killing more servants. Then a desert wind caved in the oldest brother’s house. All of Job’s children were feasting inside and were killed (Job 1:13-19 ). Can you even begin to imagine such a day?
Some time later, Job lost his health when he was smitten with boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. What a pitiful sight this one great man was, sitting in ashes, scraping himself with a broken piece of pottery (Job 2:1-8 ).
What lay behind this tragedy was Satan’s challenge to God: What kind of man have You created, one who serves You only out of self-interest? God envisioned that this testing of Job would prove otherwise. Job, of course, could not see this background. To him, Satan’s challenge was: What kind of God do you serve, one who allows you to suffer?
How did Job and his wife fare on Satan’s test? Unfortunately, Job’s wife, who lost as much as he did except for health, adopted an all-too-common stance: curse God and die (Job 2:9 ). Did she view this as the easy way out, or did she think that a God who would allow such things to happen was not worth serving? How sad it is that so many give up on the Lord when adversity strikes.
Job knew better. “Shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity?” (Job 2:10 ). “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 2:21 ).
Job’s noble stance was by no means easy. He struggled mightily with both the pain and the why of his affliction. Friends who came to comfort only added to his burden with their ignorant premises and baseless accusations — “sorry comforters are you all” (Job 16:2 ). But Job stayed the course and in the end was blessed (Job 42).
Life is not always fair. There is much we do not understand. Let that remind you that heaven, not earth, is home. Do not give up. “You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome of the Lord’s dealings, that the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (Jas. 5:11 ).
Gregory A. Boyd is pastor of the Woodland Hills Church, a megachurch in St. Paul, MN. Unlike other “evangelical” preachers, Boyd preaches that the church should stay out of politics and give up moralizing on sexual issues. Boyd is correct in saying that Christianity is advanced by winning hearts, not elections or military conflicts. But he errs greatly if he thinks one can preach Jesus while ignoring what the Savior said about right and wrong.
Was not Jesus “moralizing” about sexual issues when He said, “But I say to you, that everyone who looks on a woman to lust for her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Mt. 5:28 )? Or when He added, “Everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of fornication, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced women commits adultery” (v. 32)? Or when He observed, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man…” (Mt. 15:18-19 )?
Boyd says homosexuality is not God’s “ideal.” That’s for sure! It is as far from ideal as one can get! It is sin (Rom. 1:26-32 ), right along with lust, adultery, and fornication, about which Jesus “moralized.”
Jesus came to save us from sin. One of His requirements of salvation is that we repent, that we put sin away (Lk. 24:47 ). How can we do that if we ignore what the Savior said about what is sin?