1 Timothy 6:15-16 (ESV)
15
which he will display at the proper time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
16
who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.
I live in a republic. A republic elects representatives who enact the law. The laws are followed by all the people (except sometimes by the representatives who enacted the law). Most people living here think we are a democracy but that would bring us abject chaos. This would mean that no law would have any value unless those present enacted it. In other words, the law could be changed at any moment by those assembled to consider that law. So, a person who is disliked by the community will go to jail for jaywalking and the one who is liked by the community can rob the bank with impunity if the community doesn't like the bank.
However, the people can elect their own representatives. The generally do so sentimentally rather than objectively. Candidates who speak well and look the part have a much better chance of being elected. Many people do not look at experience or what the candidate has done in the past. They simply elect with popular opinion. Even a pro-wrestler with no evidence of knowing anything about governing can be elected governor of a state. The people often threaten to throw out all the elected people and start over but they rarely do. They were sentimental in electing this person before and that sentiment is still there as long as the public opinion remains the same.
Many people try to apply this freedom to God. They think that they can simply do what they want and tell God that He better straighten up or He won't be elected God again. Many in this country have no concept of a Sovereign God who must be obeyed. They don't understand that obeying God is like obeying the law of gravity. You can jump up but you will return to earth.
Paul breaks into a doxology as he speaks of God in the above scripture. The verses are not less important because it is a doxology. They tell the truth about God. He is the Sovereign, King of kings and Lord of lords. He has immortality embedded within Himself. (We inherit our immortality from Him.) He dwells in a glory that cannot be comprehended. That isn't going to change no matter how many people say that they have decided not to follow Him because they don't like His holiness. They want to continue to support immorality and decided for themselves what is right.
Most of these people don't live outside the law in this country. They obey the laws as long as there is a fear that they won't get caught. They want others to obey the laws that they obey. They cannot understand that God's sovereignty extends beyond whether or not the get "caught." God's sovereignty allows Him to know all. He has the right. Everyone is caught in their sins. Right and wrong doesn't change simply because they want it to change. He is always sovereign even if everyone disobeys Him. He will judge perfectly because He has perfect knowledge. He will know because He has always seen. His permit to judge is given to Himself because He is sovereign.
Maybe this was understood better when monarchs ruled. The king could do as he pleased. The subjects understood this. They may have whined when they heard what their king had done but they always bowed low when he passed by.
Our King has set the law of morality. It is not subject to debate. It is not ours to judge. Our only responsibility is obedience. Fortunately, every law of God is for our own benefit. Those who love His law have great strength and nothing causes them to stumble.
How do I tell people that the sentimentality of the world is not a valid reason for determining the laws of God as unjust?
2 comments:
It is amen all the way.
The first para. after the entry text, was "cute", but it is so true, isn't it!
How to tell people? You can tell, but whether or NOT they accept it, is another matter. Central to all existence is a point of reference. For gravity, the reference point is the ground. We can jump all we want, and we still can't run away from the ground. So long as you stay within scope, you can run from it, or should I say, run but you cannot hide?! Maybe in country A, if you litter, you don't get fined, but in Singapore, be careful, you will be poorer by $2,000 (can be as high as $10,000). While in Singapore, the littering law is a reference point. We need reference points, or chaos will reign. But why? Because constancy is necessary.
As parents, we know that, when we deal with kids. If we deal win our kids in a shifting sand kinda of ways, the kids will mature in a highly "unpredictive" fashion and be savage, even. Think, how we domesticate or train animals. But the sad thing is that we think it is good for the kids, and for the animals, but we do NOT think it needs to apply to us! How good or bad the reference points or plains are another matter, altogether.
Haven't we heard this lament, "how to continue playing, they keep changing rules?!" Yet, people do it themselves, "all the time", when it suits them (hee, hee)! My retired senior pastor, of late, lamented along the line: how do you counsel people when black is no more black, and white is no more white?! He was saying believers (many believers) are NOT accepting the Bible as the yardstick, as the Authority.
Then, to make matter worse, we interpret the reference points ourselves, too casually. I mean if you want to think gravity's reference point is to be one storey or floor down, you can jump from a 20 storey building, and expect to float after one storey's fall, good luck to you!
I said everything has a reference point. What about God? The reference point of the entire universe is God; what about God Himself? He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. He is The Reference Point, and, I believe His reference point is His holiness.
I am telling you, you, and you, but will you choose to accept it. How many pastors would preach the last point fervently; for that matter, even believing His reference point is His holiness? Too many believers are believing His reference point is love.
People need to choose to accept God is a holy God; He (God) cannot have it any other way. The gravity example is a metaphor, but you can see there is consequence to getting the reference point wrong, regardless you believe it or NOT. That is how truth is framed. You jumped from the 20 storey building, regardless you believe the reference point is one floor down or no reference point, you will fall to the ground, 20 floors down. I have heard people saying "you reap what you sow" is not part of the principles of God. No, it is in the Word, and it is preceded with "God is NOT mocked". "No one will eventually go to Hell, because God is love-man" No, God is love and God is holiness. And God's kinda of love is love unto righteousness, i.e. demands of holiness still come first.
He is the potter, we, the clay; He is the Creator, we, the created, is the potsherd to question the potter? Is not the potsherd to accept his potter? Has not the potter the right to fashion the clay to that which pleases him? The potsherd ought to be thankful to the potter for its existence and the potter's workmanship. I can say, will you, you and you, choose to accept it?
Nonetheless, tell it, say it, the words of God, according to the grace given you by God, for He neither sleep nor slumber; He is at work, through His Spirit, to bring conviction of the truths of God, according to His holiness, wisdom, and timing. He accounts to no one, but to His own holiness; we, we account to Him, always, regardless. He is forever and ever sovereign.
Anthony Chia, high.expressions
Amen to what you said too.
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