Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (Act 13:1-4)Notice the transition between that second to last sentence and the last. They fasted and prayed, laid on hands, and "they sent them away." The very next verse says, "So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit ..." Interesting, isn't it? Quite clearly the men of Antioch sent out Paul and Barnabas. They did the fasting and praying. They laid the hands on them. They sent them away. So why does it say they were sent out by the Holy Spirit
Too often we tend to be deists. Deism holds that God made the world, spun it all up, and let it go. He's not actually doing anything now; just watching what happens. We all tend to think like that at times. I do the right thing. I lead people to Christ. I be a good husband to my wife or a good wife to my husband. I am doing what I'm supposed to. God's just ... watching. But Paul said, "No one does good, not even one" (Rom 3:12). Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). Scripture says, "From Him and through Him and to Him are all things" (Rpm 11:36). Even in our working out our salvation the Bible says, "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Php 2:13). So from whence comes the good we do? From Him. What is the source of our obedience? Him. He is the source of everything.
We do do good works, obey His commands, love our spouses, all sorts of good things. Oh, not perfectly, but if we are believers, He will say, "Well done good and faithful servant" (Matt 25:23). But let's never forget; whatever good we do, He is the source, the power. the motivation. They sent out Paul and Barnabas, but it was, ultimately, the Holy Spirit that did it. We should keep a sober view here, not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought (Rom 12:3).
2 comments:
The Christian life is a dichotomy. Do good, but know that it is God doing good through us. God is Sovereign over everything, but we are culpable for our actions. We hold many things in tension.
I just finished re-reading R.C. Sproul’s book, What Is Reformed Theology? Understanding the Basics, which, of course, includes an entire chapter about man’s inability to please God without His gracious enabling to do so. Since any commendable thing I do is only by God’s gift of grace to me, there really can be no “I did this or that,” as you say, but only “God did this or that through me.” Holding the notion (deist or otherwise) that the unregenerated person can do any good thing--when his/her sinful heart is completely disinclined towards pleasing Him--or that we take any actions outside of God’s sovereign oversight is definitely not exercising that “sound judgment” Paul promotes.
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