Baptizing Our Hunches

Anthony Bradley has a good piece in the latest issue of World entitled "Calling" vs. choice" in which he challenges the ease with which contemporary Christians spiritualize the choices they make.

Here’s the bottom line: the Bible simply does not generally use “calling” to justify everyday choices or big-life decisions. There are a few notable exceptions for a few biblical characters. The Bible, however, does not generally use “calling” in terms of vocations, college attendance, numbering children, whom to marry, house purchases, which city or neighborhood to live in, and so on. In fact, the Greek word for “calling” is only used in the New Testament around 11 times and its almost always in reference to a divine callings related to salvation or callings to live a holy life. This is what it means to “live in God’s will.” God’s “will” may have nothing to do with whether or not one should move to Seattle instead of Chicago but it does have something to do with what kind of person one will be in either Seattle or Chicago in whatever job one chooses while living in whatever neighborhood one desires.

Until Christians adopt better language we will continue to set people up for disappointment and theological crises when their “callings” don’t work out. You do not have to be “called” in order to choose something good. If your choice turns about out to be a disaster, it’s OK, God is sovereign.

Bradley includes a helpful insight from Dr. James Meek:

Evangelicals have developed an unfortunate habit of seeking and claiming divine direction to a degree that Scripture does not appear to justify. We deceive ourselves by claiming that our wishes and hunches are divine instructions when we have no solid reason (biblical or otherwise) for believing them to be so. But once one person begins talking this way, it’s hard not to want to sound as 'spiritual.’

I think what we actually do is to baptize hunches and wishes in the mistaken belief that these represent divine guidance. It’s a way of thinking (and talking) that has simply become accepted in many evangelical circles.

Read the entire article HERE.

Guidance

Part 3 - "Look to the Word"

Ultimately, everyone knows that God is and yet because of sin this knowledge is distorted so that instead of being led into truth there is a falling away (Rom 1:18-25). Thankfully however God did not abandon the crown of His creation even though it was His right to do so. Because of common grace (the goodness that God sheds upon all humanity) men and women are capable of comprehending profound truths and accomplishing great things. However, the knowledge of which we are most in need, that of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, is beyond our grasp apart from the gracious intervention of God.

Man desires to be in relationship to the divine; to know the mind of God; to possess His wisdom in light of the day’s circumstances. Mankind has always sought to discover the will of his god or gods through means that seem to us sometimes fanciful at other times violent or profane. The dilemma is that outside of Christ the hearts of men and women are darkened. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised” (Rom 1:25). “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor 2:14). So if we are to have any hope of comprehending guidance from God then we must begin with spiritual birth. Unless God raises us to life spiritually (John 3:1-8) then we will be unable to comprehend that which is spiritual as the Scriptures define spiritual.

Where are Christians to look for guidance from God? In ancient times God spoke to His people in various ways through His prophets (Heb 1:1-2). There were even times when God’s people cast lots in order to discern His will. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its decision is from the Lord” (Prov 16:33). In the New Testament the disciples chose Judas Iscariot’s replacement through the casting of lots (Acts 1:15-26). But such things as the casting of lots were temporary means that were used during the church’s infancy. We live in a day of final revelation whereby God has spoken most supremely to His people through His Son Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2). And where do we find all that we need to know about Jesus? Our fullest and only truly reliable witness to Jesus Christ is Holy Scripture where He is anticipated in the Old Testament, revealed in the Gospels, and explained in the epistles.

In these last days (the days between Christ’s first and final advent) God has established His Word as the rule for guiding His people (II Thess 2:15; 3:6). Our problem is that we often want God to provide for us a roadmap that will answer specifically which college to choose, person to marry, job to take, car to buy, etc. People who rarely drink from the well of Scripture wait until the moment of decision to beg answers from God. Their lack of a sense of guidance should not surprise them. Their neglect of God’s Word has left them unfamiliar with His voice.

How then does God use the Scriptures to act as His voice of guidance for His people? In His book Discovering God’s Will Sinclair Ferguson offers three ways:

1. God’s Word directs us through commandments and prohibitions. Certainly the moral law of God answers many of questions for us before we even ask. The Ten Commandments are an example of the timeless expression of God’s character and therefore a clear guide to what He expects from His people. Certain applications of those particular commandments have changed but the principles stand. Scripture provides many other commandments and prohibitions concerning sexual, business, work and family ethics. These are given to us not that we may be justified before God by them but that we may glorify Him in our joyful obedience. What a rich source of guidance God has given us through His precious law (Psalm 119).

2. God’s Word directs us through certain principles. While Jesus does not tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it away there is nevertheless an important principle enshrined in that command. The principle is that Jesus must be Lord of all and that He will not abide our idols. In His Word God has left us with a deep supply of guiding principles that will serve as faithful guides to help us navigate life.

3. God’s Word directs us through illustrations. The many biographical accounts in Scripture show us the ways of God’s working with men and what He “requires of us, does for us, and works out through us.”

Look to the Word of God. Treasure it. Live in its pages. You will find God faithful to give you what you need when you need it. You will find your desires changing as God molds your character to reflect His priorities. As we grow in knowledge of God and of His ways we will see a corresponding growth in our love for Him and His ways. Ferguson writes, “An instinct is created within us by which we know the will of the Lord for our lives.”

“But how then may the Lord’s guidance be expected?...In general, He
guides and directs His people, by affording them, in answer to prayer,
the light of His Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and to
love the Scriptures. The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery;
nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which, detached
from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to
furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions to regulate our
judgments and affections, and thereby influence and direct our
conduct.”
- John Newton

Guidance

Part 2 - "Our Goal, God's Glory"

What a comfort it is to know that God is a Shepherd for His people (Ps 23). The image of God as Shepherd helps us to understand the care He takes in leading His flock. God knows exactly where He is going and He is committed to bringing His people along. Aimless wandering is not something that should mark the lives of Christians. We are given the great gift of purposeful lives in the present as well as a secure destiny for the future. The fuller title of John Bunyan’s classic allegory is appropriate: The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come. Indeed, we are God’s pilgrims traveling purposefully toward that city which is yet to come (I Peter 1:1, 2:11).

When God called a pagan from Ur named Abram, made a covenant with him, and assured him of a great future it became clear that history was not the outworking of random events or the playground of capricious and feuding deities. History had a beginning and an end. It had a deliberate direction that was designed and held secure by God Himself. History is not the slave of man’s sinful will, evolution, or the impersonal power of fate. Rather, history is a canvass upon which God paints His grand purposes with the brush of His gracious providence.

What does all this have to do with the question of God’s will for our lives? Simply this: We cannot begin to rightly ponder the smaller issues concerning God’s will (whom to marry, where to live, etc) until we first settle on the greatest issue of God’s will. In other words, God’s daily guidance is entirely conditioned upon His eternal purpose. Without this understanding we will squander our lives pursuing whatever gives us the most immediate satisfaction. When this happens life becomes a monotonous cycle of craving and gluttony.

The drafters of the Westminster Shorter Catechism were wise to begin with this question:
Q – What is the chief end of man?
A – Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
That brief statement sums up well the central theme of Christian life: above all else we are to live for the glory of God. From Genesis to Revelation Scripture teaches us that the chief reason behind the creation, the fall, and God’s redeeming work through Christ is that God might promote His own glory. The motive behind Jesus’ entire ministry was to promote God’s glory (John 12:28; 14:13; 17:1, 4). Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The essence of the Christian life is that God should be glorified in us. The aim of our evangelism is ‘so that the grace which is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God’” (II Cor 4:15).

The apostle Paul works this truth out through his epistles. Romans is a full doctrine of salvation demonstrating the central concern that God be glorified. The great offensiveness of sin which necessitated the cross work of Christ was based upon the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Ephesians makes plain as well that the movement of salvation is to show forth the glory of God. In saving sinners God shows forth His glory in election, redemption, and adoption (Eph 1:6, 12, 13). Once saved God is determined to show His glory in our growth in holiness. The Bible tells us that God is changing us from one degree of glory to another (II Cor 3:18). That is, as God works to make us resemble Jesus more and more His glory is made increasingly manifest in our lives.

What a blessed rescue that God has saved us from living for ourselves! How small and petty our lives would be without the grand purpose of God’s glory to guide and motivate us. The basic question that must inform our decisions becomes clear: Will this course of action further the glory of God? How our lives would take on more clarity if we simply led with that question. How our spending and relationships and career choices and leisure would be radically altered if we considered God’s glory as of prime importance.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;
My God, my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my great Reward.
- F. Brook

Guidance

Part 1 - "The Lord is My Shepherd"

The question of guidance is an important one for God’s people. Over the years I have been asked more times than I can remember how one knows the will of God in a given circumstance. It is an important question for two reasons. First, it assumes correctly that God does indeed have a will. There are things that God desires for His people and the world He created and rules. Second, the question correctly presupposes that God has made at least portions of His will knowable. But how do we move from knowing that God has a discernable will to knowing how He guides us in making right decisions? In other words the question that simmers within so many of our minds is How does God guide us?

The world, of course, completely misses the point of Divine guidance. If the reality of God is accepted He is seen as a benevolent but rather irrelevant part of life to be consulted or blamed in only the most extreme of difficulties. This is the world that demands immediate answers and quick satisfaction. Man imagines himself to be the master of his own destiny; that his will is supreme over any sense of providence. It is little wonder that Jesus was crucified through the supposed wisdom of this world.

Misunderstandings about how God guides His people abound in the church as well. These misunderstandings have led many into error. The Christian TV airwaves are full of preachers who seem to have a direct line to God’s secret plans. They continually announce the fresh revelations that they receive. “God told me...” is the heavenly trump card that they hold out to any doubters. Still other forms of less Pentecostal mysticism promise direct encounters with God through “moving deeper in” or “climbing the inner staircase.” The assumption is that the more we meditate, the more we “center down”, and the more candles we light the greater will be our experience of the voice of God guiding us into His hard to find will.

Sinclair Ferguson addresses the confusion in the church well when he writes, “[The church] may spread before us guidance by intuition, guidance by dreams, guidance by visions, guidance by prophecies, guidance by tongues, guidance by peer-groups, guidance by leaders – and so on, in an apparently never-ending stream of possibilities. We can take one emphasis seriously, and perhaps make shipwreck of our souls. Or, we can bounce from one to another until confusion brings us to a halt.

There are certain decisions we face that seem to set the pattern or at least heavily influence the pattern of our lives. The first is who or what will we worship. Christians understand that this decision rises above all others and influences not only our lives in the here and now but determines the life hereafter. The second is more like a category of decisions – those that revolve around our patterns of behavior. What choices will we make regarding financial and sexual ethics? Will we work hard or be lazy? Will we determine early in life to be honest, gentle, forgiving, and patient? The third big decision we face is what vocation we will pursue. This influences where we go to school, where we live, and what kind of income we can anticipate. The fourth decision that influences the pattern of our lives is whom we marry or do not marry.

Often times we look to God for some sort of direct guidance about where we should attend church, what we should eat or drink, which college to attend, which job to take, and which spouse to choose. What I hope to accomplish in this series of posts is to explore what we can realistically expect from God in regard to these and many other decisions. The question is not does God guide us. The question is how God guides us. The place to begin is by acknowledging that our need to know God is always greater than our need to have certain questions answered. Job found this out in a profound but painful way (42:5) as indeed so many saints have.

Martin Luther said that true Christianity consists in personal pronouns. In other words God is more than a Shepherd, a Guide, a Leader. We must know God well enough to say with confidence:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

In this series of posts my goal is not to answer every question we might raise regarding God’s guidance. I am far too frail and foolish to do that adequately. However, I am confident that Scripture will give us answers we will find to be sufficient in those moments when our seeking can be assuaged by nothing less than the tender guidance of our good Shepherd.

Guidance - Part 1: "The Lord My Shepherd"

The question of guidance is an important one for God’s people. Over the years I have been asked more times than I can remember how one knows the will of God in a given circumstance. It is an important question for two reasons. First, it assumes correctly that God does indeed have a will. There are things that God desires for His people and the world He created and rules. Second, the question correctly presupposes that God has made at least portions of His will knowable. But how do we move from knowing that God has a discernable will to knowing how He guides us in making right decisions? In other words the question that simmers within so many of our minds is How does God guide us?

The world, of course, completely misses the point of Divine guidance. If the reality of God is accepted He is seen as a benevolent but rather irrelevant part of life to be consulted or blamed in only the most extreme of difficulties. This is the world that demands immediate answers and quick satisfaction. Man imagines himself to be the master of his own destiny; that his will is supreme over any sense of providence. It is little wonder that Jesus was crucified through the supposed wisdom of this world.

Misunderstandings about how God guides His people abound in the church as well. These misunderstandings have led many into error. The Christian TV airwaves are full of preachers who seem to have a direct line to God’s secret plans. They continually announce the fresh revelations that they receive. “God told me...” is the heavenly trump card that they hold out to any doubters. Still other forms of less Pentecostal mysticism promise direct encounters with God through “moving deeper in” or “climbing the inner staircase.” The assumption is that the more we meditate, the more we “center down”, and the more candles we light the greater will be our experience of the voice of God guiding us into His hard to find will.

Sinclair Ferguson addresses the confusion in the church well when he writes, “[The church] may spread before us guidance by intuition, guidance by dreams, guidance by visions, guidance by prophecies, guidance by tongues, guidance by peer-groups, guidance by leaders – and so on, in an apparently never-ending stream of possibilities. We can take one emphasis seriously, and perhaps make shipwreck of our souls. Or, we can bounce from one to another until confusion brings us to a halt.”

There are certain decisions we face that seem to set the pattern or at least heavily influence the pattern of our lives. The first is who or what will we worship. Christians understand that this decision rises above all others and influences not only our lives in the here and now but determines the life hereafter. The second is more like a category of decisions – those that revolve around our patterns of behavior. What choices will we make regarding financial and sexual ethics? Will we work hard or be lazy? Will we determine early in life to be honest, gentle, forgiving, and patient? The third big decision we face is what vocation we will pursue. This influences where we go to school, where we live, and what kind of income we can anticipate. The fourth decision that influences the pattern of our lives is whom we marry or do not marry.

Often times we look to God for some sort of direct guidance about where we should attend church, what we should eat or drink, which college to attend, which job to take, and which spouse to choose. What I hope to accomplish in the months ahead is to explore what we can realistically expect from God in regard to these and many other decisions. The question is not does God guide us. The question is how God guides us. The place to begin is by acknowledging that our need to know God is always greater than our need to have certain questions answered. Job found this out in a profound but painful way (42:5) as indeed so many saints have.

Martin Luther said that true Christianity consists in personal pronouns. In other words God is more than a Shepherd, a Guide, a Leader. We must know God well enough to say with confidence:
The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.
He restores my soul.
He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

In this series of articles my goal is not to answer every question we might raise regarding God’s guidance. I am far too frail and foolish to do that adequately. However, I am confident that Scripture will give us answers we will find to be sufficient in those moments when our seeking can be assuaged by nothing less than the tender guidance of our good Shepherd.

Guidance - Part 2: "Our Goal, God's Glory"

What a comfort it is to know that God is a Shepherd for His people (Ps 23). The image of God as Shepherd helps us to understand the care He takes in leading His flock. God knows exactly where He is going and He is committed to bringing His people along. Aimless wandering is not something that should mark the lives of Christians. We are given the great gift of purposeful lives in the present as well as a secure destiny for the future. The fuller title of John Bunyan’s classic allegory is appropriate: The Pilgrim’s Progress from this world to that which is to come. Indeed, we are God’s pilgrims traveling purposefully toward that city which is yet to come (I Peter 1:1, 2:11).

When God called a pagan from Ur named Abram, made a covenant with him, and assured him of a great future it became clear that history was not the outworking of random events or the playground of capricious and feuding deities. History had a beginning and an end. It had a deliberate direction that was designed and held secure by God Himself. History is not the slave of man’s sinful will, evolution, or the impersonal power of fate. Rather, history is a canvass upon which God paints His grand purposes with the brush of His gracious providence.

What does all this have to do with the question of God’s will for our lives? Simply this: We cannot begin to rightly ponder the smaller issues concerning God’s will (whom to marry, where to live, etc) until we first settle on the greatest issue of God’s will. In other words, God’s daily guidance is entirely conditioned upon His eternal purpose. Without this understanding we will squander our lives pursuing whatever gives us the most immediate satisfaction. When this happens life becomes a monotonous cycle of craving and gluttony.

The drafters of the Westminster Shorter Catechism were wise to begin with the question:
Q – What is the chief end of man?
A – Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him for ever.
That brief statement sums up well the central theme of Christian life: above all else we are to live for the glory of God. From Genesis to Revelation Scripture teaches us that the chief reason behind the creation, the fall, and God’s redeeming work through Christ is that God might promote His own glory. The motive behind Jesus’ entire ministry was to promote God’s glory (John 12:28; 14:13; 17:1, 4). Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The essence of the Christian life is that God should be glorified in us. The aim of our evangelism is ‘so that the grace which is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God’” (II Cor 4:15).

The apostle Paul works this truth out through his epistles. Romans is a full doctrine of salvation demonstrating the central concern that God be glorified. The great offensiveness of sin which necessitated the cross work of Christ was based upon the fact that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23). Ephesians makes plain as well that the movement of salvation is to show forth the glory of God. In saving sinners God shows forth His glory in election, redemption, and adoption (Eph 1:6, 12, 13). Once saved God is determined to show His glory in our growth in holiness. The Bible tells us that God is changing us from one degree of glory to another (II Cor 3:18). That is, as God works to make us resemble Jesus more and more His glory is made increasingly manifest in our lives.

What a blessed rescue that God has saved us from living for ourselves! How small and petty our lives would be without the grand purpose of God’s glory to guide and motivate us. The basic question that must inform our decisions becomes clear: Will this course of action further the glory of God? How our lives would take on more clarity if we simply led with that question. How our spending and relationships and career choices and leisure would be radically altered if we considered God’s glory as of prime importance.

One thing I know, I cannot say Him nay;
One thing I do, I press towards my Lord;
My God, my glory here, from day to day,
And in the glory there my great Reward.
- F. Brook

Guidance - Part 3: "Look to the Word"

Every culture knows that God is and yet because of sin this knowledge is distorted so that instead of being led into truth there is a further falling away (Rom 1:18-25). Thankfully however God did not abandon the crown of His creation even though it was His right to do so. Because of common grace (the goodness that God sheds upon all humanity) men and women are capable of comprehending profound truths and accomplishing great things. However, the knowledge of which we are most in need, that of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, is beyond our grasp apart from the gracious intervention of God.

Man desires to be in relationship to the divine; to know the mind of God; to possess His wisdom in light of the day’s circumstances. Mankind has always sought to discover the will of his god or gods through means that seem to us sometimes fanciful at other times violent or even profane. The dilemma is that outside of Christ the hearts of men and women are darkened. “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the created things rather than the Creator – who is forever praised” (Rom 1:25). “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (I Cor 2:14). So if we are to have any hope of comprehending guidance from God then we must begin with spiritual birth. Unless God raises us to life spiritually (John 3:1-8) then we will be unable to comprehend that which is spiritual as God defines spiritual.

Where are Christians to look for guidance from God? In ancient times God spoke to His people in various ways through His prophets (Heb 1:1-2). There were even times when God’s people cast lots in order to discern His will. “The lot is cast into the lap, but its decision is from the Lord” (Prov 16:33). In the New Testament the disciples chose Judas Iscariot’s replacement through the casting of lots (Acts 1:15-26). But such things as the casting of lots were temporary means that were used during the church’s infancy. We live in a day of final revelation whereby God has spoken most supremely to His people through His Son Jesus Christ (Heb 1:2). And where do we find all that we need to know about Jesus? Our fullest and only truly reliable witness to Jesus Christ is Holy Scripture where He is foreshadowed in the Old Testament, revealed and explained in the New Testament.

In these last days (the days between Christ’s first and final advent) God has established His Word as the rule for guiding His people (II Thess 2:15; 3:6). Our problem is that we often want God to provide for us a roadmap that will answer specifically which college to choose, person to marry, job to take, car to buy, etc. People who rarely drink from the well of Scripture wait until the moment of decision to beg answers from God. Their lack of a sense of guidance should not surprise them. Their neglect of God’s Word has left them unfamiliar with His voice.

How then does God use the Scriptures to act as His voice of guidance for His people? In His book Discovering God’s Will Sinclair Ferguson offers three ways:
1. God’s Word directs us through commandments and prohibitions. Certainly the moral law of God answers many of questions for us before we even ask. The Ten Commandments are an example of the timeless expression of God’s character and therefore a clear guide to what He expects from His people. Certain applications of those particular commandments have changed but the principles stand. Scripture provides many other commandments and prohibitions concerning sexual, business, work and family ethics. These are given to us not that we may be justified before God by them but that we may glorify Him in our joyful obedience. What a rich source of guidance God has given us through His precious law (Psalm 119).

2. God’s Word directs us through certain principles. While Jesus does not tell everyone to sell everything they have and give it away there is nevertheless an important principle enshrined in that command. The principle is that Jesus must be Lord of all and that He will not abide our idols. In His Word God has left us with a deep supply of guiding principles that will serve as faithful guides to help us navigate life.

3. God’s Word directs us through illustrations. The many biographical accounts in Scripture show us the ways of God’s working with men and what He “requires of us, does for us, and works out through us.”

Look to the Word of God. Treasure it. Live in its pages. You will find God faithful to give you what you need when you need it. You will find your desires changing as God molds your character to reflect His priorities. As we grow in knowledge of God and of His ways we will see a corresponding growth in our love for Him and His ways. Ferguson writes, “An instinct is created within us by which we know the will of the Lord for our lives.”

“But how then may the Lord’s guidance be expected?...In general, He
guides and directs His people, by affording them, in answer to prayer,
the light of His Holy Spirit, which enables them to understand and to
love the Scriptures. The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery;
nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps, which, detached
from their proper places, have no determinate import; but it is to
furnish us with just principles, right apprehensions to regulate our
judgments and affections, and thereby influence and direct our
conduct.”
- John Newton