Is our life set?
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 1 viewNotes
Transcript
A lot of Christians believe that seasons are set by God and cannot be changed.
A classic example of this is the season of our life’s duration on this earth.
Many Christians believe that the date of our death is already set. And i completely understand this belief.
2 A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
5 “Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And You have set his limits so that he cannot pass.
16 Your eyes have seen my formless substance; And in Your book were written All the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them.
The bible does seem to tell us that my death day is set.
But just think for a moment about the logic with this.
If my death day is truly set, then there is absolutely NOTHING that i can do to change it.
If you really believe this then you should be the most careless and reckless person alive.
If i am set to die tomorrow, then it will not matter if i drive 200km/h or 20km/h.
If i am not set to die then i will not die no matter how reckless i am, and if i am set to die then i will die no matter how careful i am.
No one actually lives consistently with this belief.
Not only that but the bible itself tells us otherwise:
27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
2 Honor your father and mother (which is the first commandment with a promise),
3 so that it may turn out well for you, and that you may live long on the earth.
13 So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of her,
14 and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom over to David, the son of Jesse.
These verses tell us that our death is not set, but it can be pushed back or brought forward.
Now, let us just be sure of one thing:
This is no way suggests open theist! God absolutely has perfect knowledge of all truth and God knows exactly when i will die.
But this is based on the fact that God has perfect foreknowledge.
1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who reside as strangers, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, who are chosen
2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
Let me teach you something about God’s foreknowledge: God foreknowledge has already factored in our choices.
And so God’s foreknowledge is contingent on our choices.
Let me show you this from Scripture:
At this point David is being hunted by king Saul. David and his men just saved the City of Keilah from a philistine attack, news of this eventually reached Saul and so Saul knowing where David was wants to go and kill him.
7 When it was reported to Saul that David had come to Keilah, Saul said, “God has handed him over to me, for he shut himself in by entering a city with double gates and bars.”
8 So Saul summoned all the people for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men.
David found out that Saul was planning on coming to Keilah, so he prays to God, look very closely at his prayer and at God’s reply:
9 But David knew that Saul was plotting evil against him; so he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
10 Then David said, “Lord God of Israel, Your servant has heard for certain that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city on my account.
11 Will the citizens of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down just as Your servant has heard? Lord God of Israel, please, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.”
So David asked God if Saul will come to Keilah. This obviously has not happened yet BUT God knows the answer because of His Foreknowledge.
And what is God’s foreknowledge of Saul coming to David?
“He will come down”.
So If God’s foreknowledge is interdependently set from our choices, then because God said that Saul WILL come down, Saul will come down.
Right?
13 Then David and his men, about six hundred, rose up and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When it was reported to Saul that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the pursuit.
What just happened?
David made a decision: He decided NOT to stay in Keilah. Because David made this choice what did Saul do?
Saul gave up the pursuit and did not go down to Kailah.
But hang on! God just said that Saul would go down, but Saul did not go down.
Was God wrong? Did God make a mistake?
Absolutely not!
God’s foreknowledge of Saul’s actions is contingent on our choices.
If David chose to remain in Kailah, Saul would have come down.
God’s reply to David about what Saul will do was absolutely true if David remained there.
So let me explain:
If David remained in Kailah God’s foreknowledge says that Saul will come down.
But If David chose to leave Kailah, like he did, God’s foreknowledge would have been different.
Our decisions and choices are factored in.
So lets return to our message:
God knows when i will die. But this knowledge of my death is not set irrelevant of our choices, its partially determined by my choices.
Obviously leaving plenty of room for God’s sovergn actions.
So:
27 The fear of the Lord prolongs life, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.
A life that is lived in reverence where life is understood to be sacred, where my body is understood to be a gift, where my mind is understood to be finite and all other factors.
This choice of lifestyle, according to the Word, plays a powerful factor in the length of my season on earth.
If i forsake God and choose to live recklessly that choice of lifestyle will play a powerful factor in shortening my season.
Now again, these are general factors not counting the random influence of evil in this fallen world.
You will always have examples of 20 year old fit people dying of a heart attack while my 87 year old granny finished her first pack of Rothmans before breakfast.
But that aside: here is what we can take away:
In the same way that our choices influence the duration of our life’s season, so to do our choices and decisions influence the duration of life’s seasons of Joy and Sorrow.