9-1 Divine Ecology A brother much beloved coined (and often uses) the phrase 'Divine
ecology'. The idea is that all aspects of God's purpose somehow work
together for good, even if in the short term it seems there is something
not in order or out of balance in the way God is working. If we over
analyse one aspect of God's purpose or workings with men, we can get an
unbalanced picture; God may seem, e.g., too soft, or too hard. We need
to see the different parts of His purpose in the wider picture and how
they all work together to achieve the complete fulfilment of His purpose
in us. Because we are too finite to comprehend the whole complex system,
there are some aspects of His ways which appear to us unbalanced, but
ultimately, this is not the case. I say all this because I want to focus
on just one aspect of God's dealings with us: the way in which He gives
us unlimited freewill to serve Him. We need to understand this within the context of predestination; the
sovereign will of God at work to achieve His will without the input of
any man. We learn, I suggest, the fact that many things we do which seem
to advance God's purpose, e.g. preaching and prayer, are primarily for
our benefit, rather than being absolutely essential for the fulfilment
of God's will. Consider, in a preaching context, how the faithful
overcome by the blood of the lamb- by what is done for them- and also by
the word of their preaching, as if the act of preaching and witnessing
against a hostile persecuting system was what helped maintain their
faith (Rev. 12:11). And because of this, Paul encouraged Timothy to take
heed " to thy teaching…for in doing this [i.e. preaching] thou shalt
save both thyself, and them that hear thee" (1 Tim. 4:16 RV).
Having true doctrine is related to " speaking the truth" , " dealing
truly" (Eph. 4:13-15 RVmg.) with each other- as if the sensitive,
heartfelt preaching of truth should result in our own truthfulness. We
continue professing / confessing our hope " that it waver not" (Heb.
10:23 RV). It doesn't waver for us, exactly because we preach it. Paul Tournier in The Meaning Of Persons perceptively
comments: " We become fully conscious only of what we are able to
express to someone else. We may already have had a certain intuition
about it, but it must remain vague so long as it is unformulated" (New
York: Harper & Row, 1957, p. 22). This is why anyone involved in prayer,
preaching, public speaking, writing or personal explanation of the
Gospel to someone else will know that they have gained so much
from having to state in so many words what they already 'know'. And in
the course of making the expression, our own understanding is deepened,
our personal consciousness of what we believe is strengthened, and
thereby our potential for a real faith is enhanced. Tournier's
observation is validated by considering the record of the healed blind
man in Jn. 9. Initially he says that he doesn't know whether or not
Jesus is a sinner, all he knows is that Jesus healed him. But the Jews
force him to testify further, and in the course of his witness, the man
explains to them that God doesn't hear sinners, and so for Jesus to have
asked God for his healing and been heard…surely proved that Jesus wasn't
a sinner. He was sinless. The man was as it were thinking out loud,
coming to conclusions himself, as he made his bold witness (Jn.
9:31,33). And by praying out loud or writing out our prayers, we can
come to the same realizations. This said, let me outline the thesis: God can do anything, He is
omnipotent. But He chooses to limit His omnipotence in order to allow
man total freewill. Therefore effectively, how far God will fulfil His
purpose depends upon how far we are obedient to Him. Of course, God can
act quite independently of us; He has the sovereign right and ability to
act as He likes, and achieve His objectives how He likes. But it seems
that God chooses to limit His ability to do this. We have complete
freewill, and God works with us individually in proportion as we work
with Him. We have genuine choice, not only as to whether to serve God,
but how and on what level and to what extent we serve Him,
within the salvation we experience in Christ. Indeed, the world has no
freedom; men are slaves to sin, mastered by their own pride and lies. In
Christ, we have experienced the gift of freedom (Rom. 5:15-18); " where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free" (2 Cor. 3:17).
Indeed, the extent of our liberty is such that we must use it carefully
lest we offend others (1 Cor. 8:8- e.g. the kind of thing we spend our
money on, how far we indulge in 'relaxation'...). This " liberty" in
which the NT so frequently exults (Lk. 4:18; 1 Cor. 10:29; Gal. 2:4;
5:13; James 1:25; 2:12; 1 Pet. 2:16) will be fully revealed in the
freedom of the Kingdom: " the glorious liberty of the children of God"
(Rom. 8:21). As it will be then, so now: we will not be free to do what
we like morally, but within the context of God's covenant, we are free,
totally and utterly free, in our service of Him. God doesn't see us as
robots serving their maker; He sees us as His partners, His sons, His
friends, even the willing, freely persuaded bride of His Son. But as the
Master Chess player He builds our limitations into His total game plan.
For example, God uses our weaknesses and experience of moral failure for
the furtherance of His purpose. Thus a man's marriage out of the Faith
is sometimes used to bring a woman to the Faith (not that this
justifies it). Somehow God is never beaten; man can do nothing against
the Truth, only for it (2 Cor. 13:8). Somehow God's word never returns
unto Him void, somehow the lost sheep is always found. These are not
just expressions of the essential hopefulness of the Father and Son
(although this in itself is something to be truly inspired by); these
are statements which reflect the way in which within God's scheme of
working, everything works out to His glory. The final judgment will be of our works, not because works justify
us, but because our use of the freedom we have had and exercised in our
lives is the basis of the future reward we will be given. Salvation
itself is not on the basis of our works (Rom. 11:6; Gal. 2:16; Tit.
3:5); indeed, the free gift of salvation by pure grace is
contrasted with the wages paid by sin (Rom. 4:4; 6:23). And yet
at the judgment, the preacher receives wages for what he did
(Jn. 4:36), the labourers receive hire (s.w. wages) for their
work in the vineyard (Mt. 20:8; 1 Cor. 3:8). There is a reward
(s.w. wages) for those who rise to the level of loving the totally
unresponsive (Mt. 5:46), or preaching in situations quite against their
natural inclination (1 Cor. 9:18). Salvation itself isn't given
on this basis of works; but the nature of our eternal existence in the
Kingdom will be a reflection of our use of the gift of freedom in this
life. In that sense the judgment will be of our works.
Total Freedom
<Previous Contents Next>