Is that biblical? If you deny true free will, yes. But if you are truly biblical, a BIG FAT NO!
God does not routinely find us. We have to seek him first. In fact, we have to seek him with ALL OUR HEARTS! The mindset, the heart condition, energies and efforts have to be initiated by us.
Jeremiah 29:12-14a
12 "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord..."
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
The Greek word for seek (underscored in the above quoted verse) is explained by Strongs as
1567 ekzētéō (from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2212 /zētéō, "seek") – properly, seek out, emphasizing the personal intent of the seeker, i.e. the outcome intensely and personally desired by the seeker. This seeking is only as valuable (viable) as the motive which drives it.
God calls primarily, if not only, those who seek him, in fact those who diligently seek him or those who seek him with all their heart.
One of the best examples of seeking versus choosing, which comes first, is Zacchaeus is Luke 19. It was Zacchaeus who sought Jesus first. In fact, Christ was biding his time through the crowds. If Zacchaeus was never determined and climbed that tree, it would have been life as usual for him. However, Jesus senses faith in the same way that he sensed power going out of him because this sick woman touched the hem of his garment in order to be healed while going to heal Jairus' daughter. So with that faith-sense, as soon as Jesus was underneath the tree where Zacchaeus was, he looked up AND CHOSE to dine with him that night. Zaccheaus was never the same after that. The seeking came first before the choosing. Christ called Zaccheus because the tax collector even had to climb a tree to seek him.
Then there's the story of blind man Bartimaeus. He had to shout to get the attention of Jesus! And like Zacchaeus, determination to seek was what got the attention of the Messiah and the Ancient of Days. There are thousands, even millions in this world who will never be "found" because they did not shout a seeking shout.
Christ explained what it is to be "born again" to Nicodemus because the Jewish teacher sought him at night.
Jesus healed the Blind men because they both cried out to him after seeking him out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us!"
Christ called Paul to be a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles because he was actively, aggressively seeking to please God by persecuting the Christians. We all know he was going the wrong way but Christ corrected him because he honored his heart although Christ censured his actions.
Jesus chose his disciples but is it because he found them or did they find him?
These poor fishermen were indeed God-seekers before Jesus found them. Andrew, who came from John the Baptizer, told Peter, "We have found the Messiah ("found" is the result of seeking)". Peter followed Andrew to Jesus confirming the fact that Peter was seeking God too. Philip said virtually the same thing as Andrew, "we have found him..." The first words of Christ to Nathaniel recognized that this man was a God-seeker. Yet, the Christ says in John 15:16, "You did not chose me, I chose you" and many preachers ignore the history of seeking and choosing and interpret the passage wrongly because they look only on that passage and not the history of the choosing as we have discussed. Christ chose because he knew their hearts, whether they were God-seekers or not.
Moses, being a prince in Egypt killed an Egyptian that beat a Hebrew slave. This was not premeditated but it betrays the fact that he already had the mindset of seeking the true God of Israel. In fact, Hebrews 11:23-28 portrays him clearly as a God-seeker.
Abraham, the father of all faiths, his story was not as obvious. Tradition has it that he was the son of an idol maker. Now the fact that he immediately responded to the call of God by faith reveals that he too was a God-seeker. Perhaps he did not see any sense in idol making but it definitely could have stimulated his thinking mind to focus on finding the one true God. Hebrews 11:8-16 especially verse 14 even declares that Abraham was clearly seeking a heavenly homeland.
Noah found favor in the eyes of God! Enoch walked with God!
Samson was a God-seeker although he was often overruled by his hormones, which probably comes with the package of super strength. This physiological tandem seems to be scientifically proven. Even Judas was a God-seeker but like the disciples, he wrongly searched for a conquering Messiah and was not patient enough to wait for the Suffering Savior to be realized as the other disciples did. David was definitely a habitual God-seeker. Just read his Psalms despite his sin of murder and adultery.
God does not routinely find us. We have to seek him first. In fact, we have to seek him with ALL OUR HEARTS! The mindset, the heart condition, energies and efforts have to be initiated by us.
Jeremiah 29:12-14a
12 "Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord..."
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
The Greek word for seek (underscored in the above quoted verse) is explained by Strongs as
1567 ekzētéō (from 1537 /ek, "out from and to" and 2212 /zētéō, "seek") – properly, seek out, emphasizing the personal intent of the seeker, i.e. the outcome intensely and personally desired by the seeker. This seeking is only as valuable (viable) as the motive which drives it.
God calls primarily, if not only, those who seek him, in fact those who diligently seek him or those who seek him with all their heart.
One of the best examples of seeking versus choosing, which comes first, is Zacchaeus is Luke 19. It was Zacchaeus who sought Jesus first. In fact, Christ was biding his time through the crowds. If Zacchaeus was never determined and climbed that tree, it would have been life as usual for him. However, Jesus senses faith in the same way that he sensed power going out of him because this sick woman touched the hem of his garment in order to be healed while going to heal Jairus' daughter. So with that faith-sense, as soon as Jesus was underneath the tree where Zacchaeus was, he looked up AND CHOSE to dine with him that night. Zaccheaus was never the same after that. The seeking came first before the choosing. Christ called Zaccheus because the tax collector even had to climb a tree to seek him.
Then there's the story of blind man Bartimaeus. He had to shout to get the attention of Jesus! And like Zacchaeus, determination to seek was what got the attention of the Messiah and the Ancient of Days. There are thousands, even millions in this world who will never be "found" because they did not shout a seeking shout.
Christ explained what it is to be "born again" to Nicodemus because the Jewish teacher sought him at night.
Jesus healed the Blind men because they both cried out to him after seeking him out, "Jesus, son of David, have mercy on us!"
Christ called Paul to be a minister of the gospel to the Gentiles because he was actively, aggressively seeking to please God by persecuting the Christians. We all know he was going the wrong way but Christ corrected him because he honored his heart although Christ censured his actions.
Jesus chose his disciples but is it because he found them or did they find him?
These poor fishermen were indeed God-seekers before Jesus found them. Andrew, who came from John the Baptizer, told Peter, "We have found the Messiah ("found" is the result of seeking)". Peter followed Andrew to Jesus confirming the fact that Peter was seeking God too. Philip said virtually the same thing as Andrew, "we have found him..." The first words of Christ to Nathaniel recognized that this man was a God-seeker. Yet, the Christ says in John 15:16, "You did not chose me, I chose you" and many preachers ignore the history of seeking and choosing and interpret the passage wrongly because they look only on that passage and not the history of the choosing as we have discussed. Christ chose because he knew their hearts, whether they were God-seekers or not.
Moses, being a prince in Egypt killed an Egyptian that beat a Hebrew slave. This was not premeditated but it betrays the fact that he already had the mindset of seeking the true God of Israel. In fact, Hebrews 11:23-28 portrays him clearly as a God-seeker.
Abraham, the father of all faiths, his story was not as obvious. Tradition has it that he was the son of an idol maker. Now the fact that he immediately responded to the call of God by faith reveals that he too was a God-seeker. Perhaps he did not see any sense in idol making but it definitely could have stimulated his thinking mind to focus on finding the one true God. Hebrews 11:8-16 especially verse 14 even declares that Abraham was clearly seeking a heavenly homeland.
Noah found favor in the eyes of God! Enoch walked with God!
Samson was a God-seeker although he was often overruled by his hormones, which probably comes with the package of super strength. This physiological tandem seems to be scientifically proven. Even Judas was a God-seeker but like the disciples, he wrongly searched for a conquering Messiah and was not patient enough to wait for the Suffering Savior to be realized as the other disciples did. David was definitely a habitual God-seeker. Just read his Psalms despite his sin of murder and adultery.
Let's not look at Saul who became St. Paul. He persecuted Christians and was complicit and guilty of the murder of St. Stephen. But he was doing this because of his passionate zeal for the Torah! He was seeking God indeed and thought that he was doing the right thing by going after these Jewish heretics called Christians. And in the Damascus road, he finally recognized the One he was looking for, no other that his Messiah!
Only the prophet Jeremiah seems to be an "exception to this rule". However, free will is never violated by God. If Jeremiah did not conform to God's calling, God would call a different Jeremiah. If St. Paul did not respond positively to Christ, Christ would have patiently looked for a different person to do the same mission. God definitely forced Jonah to do his bidding but he obviously allowed Jonah to go his own way therefore never violating free will.
God is truly sovereign but the Bible proves that He never exercises His sovereignty at the expense of man's free will. In fact, Jesus Christ's incarnation proves conclusively that God even sacrifices sovereignty for the sake of LOVE!
Only the prophet Jeremiah seems to be an "exception to this rule". However, free will is never violated by God. If Jeremiah did not conform to God's calling, God would call a different Jeremiah. If St. Paul did not respond positively to Christ, Christ would have patiently looked for a different person to do the same mission. God definitely forced Jonah to do his bidding but he obviously allowed Jonah to go his own way therefore never violating free will.
God is truly sovereign but the Bible proves that He never exercises His sovereignty at the expense of man's free will. In fact, Jesus Christ's incarnation proves conclusively that God even sacrifices sovereignty for the sake of LOVE!
No comments:
Post a Comment