February 4 - Do we have free will?

You’re listening to OKY. The place where we discuss what we believe and why we believe it to be true! So excited to answer a question for one of our listeners. So this is for Nancy who asked the question, “Should we believe in Predestination?” let me reverse the questions a little and ask it this way. we will ask the discussing - today we will be asking, “Do we have free will?”

 

Let me start by saying that this is a complicated question, and one that has no perfect answer. In fact, theologians continue to wrestle the depths of this question over and over again. So let’s talk about some of the things we can deduce. 

 

First of all, this question doesn’t sit in a neat, clean box that we put it in when looking for a yes or no answer. First of all, we have to acknowledge a level of predetermined outcome when God formed us. First Jeremiah was told by God “before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” This is Jeremiah 1:5. God was telling Jeremiah that he had purposed him to be in a specific place at a specific time for a specific purpose.

 

If we are honest, we all believe that God has a specific plan for our life. This would need us to believe a level of predestination in order for us to fully accept this. If God knew the plans for us and formed us specifically for a purpose, then he would have predestined us to be in this time and space. 

 

In fact, you didn’t decide where to be born did you? 

 

You didn’t decide what family to be born into, or in what birth order you would be in with your siblings. This was out of your hands completely. Yet we all love David’s words in Psalm 139 when he says, 

 

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God!” (13-17)

When it comes to those type of words, we love the idea of predestination. God foreknew us and had a plan for us. God knit us together and placed our specific gifts and talents into us. We had no choice in the matter. God did it out of his goodness and divine understanding. So first acknowledge that there is a level of predestination that is necessary for this to be reality. God did have a specific design for us. 

 

Can we agree with this? Hopefully so. I can’t hear your answer right now. . . But hopefully you can agree that God predetermined a path that he would hope you would be on so that you could fulfill his will for your life. 

 

With this notion in mind, listen to what Paul says in Ephesians 1:3-14

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will-to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment-to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. 

 

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of this will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked win him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession-to the praise of his glory. 

 

Here Paul is making some big claims. He is declaring that he is part of a group that has been predestined to represent Christ and bring his glory to this earth. But listen closely to his claim. He wasn’t saying he was predestined to be in heaven. He wasn’t predestined to be saved. He was predestined to be in a position where he would have the chance to believe. He even admits that he was among the fist to do what? PUT HIS HOPE in Christ. There was a decision for him to put his hope in Christ. 

 

Now some might say I am stretching this to say he wasn’t talking about being predestined to believe and have eternal life. But listen to the rest of what he said. Talking to the people of Ephesus he said, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” Listen to the timing of what he said. He isn’t saying that they also were included before the beginning of time. He didn’t say they were predestined to believe, and so they were included. No - they were included in Christ WHEN YOU HEARD THE MESSAGE OF TRUTH. Once they heard the message, they received eternal life. 

 

So Paul isn’t talking about people being predestined to be the ones saved for eternity. He is referring to what we already agreed on. That God predetermined each of us to have a specific role at a specific time in the timeline of the world. Yes, God predetermined a time when Paul and the apostles would live and walk the earth with Jesus. Again, if you believe Jeremiah, or David’s words about being fearfully and wonderfully made, you have to also accept that God determined the best time for you to be on this earth. 

 

But not only that, God predestined that those who would accept him would have a specific outcome. Paul tells us about this in Romans 8:28-30

 

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. 

 

What is Paul saying? 

 

Well, that God foreknew he would have a group of believers who would carry this message forward. This is the predestination of God. That he would send Jesus into this world, and then Jesus would invest this message into others who would carry the message forward. The word predestined might be scary in this context, but think about it this way. God wasn’t going to send Jesus into this world to give up his life without there being a solid plan on how the message would go forward from there. So God made sure Jesus would spend 33 1/2 years on this earth building relationships and coworkers in the gospel message so that when Jesus left, the message wouldn’t just stop and fall flat. Now over 2000 years later we are still talking about this message because God planned out how to keep the message moving. It’s like having a business plan before opening a small business. You go and raise up a team, invest in them, and do the hard work to make sure it succeeds. But if you are that small business owner, did you predestine the team to work for you? No! You just knew what it would take to succeed, so you did the work that you needed to do. 

 

For instance, kristi and I are going to plant a church. We know we need a team with us. So we are looking for the right people to go with us and carry out different parts of the mission. We will go, when the timing is right to have those people along side of us. Jesus did the same thing. Again, God predetermined when Jesus would enter into the world. Then he predetermined that Jesus would leave a legacy of followers who would carry on the message. 

 

So does all of this mean we don’t have free will? 

 

Not exactly. 

 

While God determined the time and space in which each of us would be born, and he also determined that those who call on his name will be saved and brought into sonship with him, he still is waiting for us to make the decision to accept this grace he is handing us. 

 

Now it has already been predetermined that every knee shall bow. Listen to Philippians 2:5-11

In your relationship with one another, have the same mindset of Christ Jesus: 

Who, being in very nature God, 

Did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 

Rather, he made himself nothing 

By taking the very nature of a servant, 

Being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, 

He humbled himself

By becoming obedient to death-

Even death on a cross! 

 

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

And gave him the name that is above every name, 

That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 

In heaven and on earth and under the earth, 

And every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, 

Tot he glory of God the Father. 

 

This was another predestined outcome set in motion by God. There is a way for people to be saved. They must confess that Jesus is Lord. And every person will come to that understanding. The question is, will they come to that understanding before they stand before him and see him in his glory? 

 

Well, God is not forcing anyone to do that now. In the end, they will see his glory and accept this. But until then, he is leaving space for us to make that decision. 

 

Listen to what Peter said in his second letter’

“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”

 

God is longing that everyone comes to repentance. He is patiently waiting to restore the earth for more people to come to him. Because once he starts restoring the earth, he is getting rid of everything that is evil. So those that haven’t accepted him yet, they will not make the cut. But he is patiently waiting. 

 

If you weren’t able to listen last year as we read through Revelation, we read about the end times. In Revelation we have the events that lead up to the destruction of the earth in order for God to bring about the new heaven and the new earth. And what you see when you read Revelation, is that God is slowly destroying all things. He wipes out a huge portion by a place, then waits before wiping out another portion with famine, then another with some other disease. . . He doesn’t do it all at once - because he is waiting for them to repent and turn to him so he doesn’t have to destroy them. 

 

See, We have the free will to make pursue God. All people have the right to become children of God by accepting Jesus. It is our choice. Listen to the choice given us as Paul describes in Romans 10:9-13

If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.” For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

 

Ok, so here is my conclusion . . Nancy, get back to me if this doesn’t answer your question. 

 

God predestined that every knee should bow.. . One day everyone will bow before Jesus as Lord. He also predetermines who you are, where you will be born, what gifts you have, what timeframe you were born in, and even what part of the redemption story you are to be part of. But then, you have to make the decision to accept his free gift of love. 

 

So there is a level of predetermined set up, with a hopeful outcome. But everyone is free to make this decision as Adam and Eve were in the garden when they disobeyed God. This is why it is so important to preach the gospel. God predetermined that he would utilize mankind to help spread the word. And since people still have the choice to accept him or not, they need someone to bring the gospel message to them. Listen to the rest of what Paul says in Romans 10:14-15

 

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

 

Because people have the opportunity to accept Christ out of their own free will, we must preach the gospel to them. For if we don’t go, who knows if they ever will get the chance to hear the gospel message. So with your free will, go, preach the gospel to all nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit. And when you do this, surely God will be with you always, until the end of the ages. . . .