Sermon Tone Analysis

Guidance Core Seminar Week 2

I. Introduction

Good morning!

Welcome to the Guidance class.

We’re in our second week of thinking through how the Bible tells us to make decisions.

As we talked about last week, our goal is to not be anxious decision-makers, but restful.

Resting in God’s good plans for us and his promises to carry out those plans.

A big piece of becoming a restful decision maker is understanding God’s sovereignty over our circumstances and our decisions—and how our responsibility fits into that.

So that’s what we’ll be looking at today.

But before we get any further, I want to open up with a question.

If God were not sovereign, how would that change the way that Christians make decisions?

My prayer is that by the end of this class, you’ll see how glorious the truth of God’s sovereignty is, how it is the bedrock of our trust, and how it gives us peace in decision-making.

We can’t even begin to make a decision in a Biblical way without understanding how it fits with God’s sovereignty.

We’ll start off by thinking through what that means, that God is sovereign.

We’ll consider what goal he is using all his sovereign power to accomplish.

We’ll think through how that fits with our responsibility.

And finally we’ll finish with some practical implications of all of this for our decision making.

So first:

II.

God is Sovereign

What I mean by that is the biblical teaching that all things are under God's rule and control, and that nothing happens without His direction or permission.

God works not just some things but all things according to the counsel of His own will.

Let’s step through a few of these:

First, God is sovereign over our circumstances.

One of the most well-known verses in all of Scripture regards God’s sovereignty over our circumstances, and comes in which says,  “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

The circumstance in question is Joseph’s being sold into slavery by his brothers.

Was God in control of that?

Absolutely—and though it was evil, he meant it for good.

Through Joseph’s time in Egypt, God saved thousands from starvation, including the chosen family of Israel from whom the Messiah would come.

Every circumstance, even hard ones, are within the control of a sovereign God.

Second, God is sovereign over our past and our future.

says, “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come.

I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please”

No random string of events here.

Everything that’s happened in your life has been within God’s control, and everything that’s yet to come.

Third, God is sovereign over our decisions.

says, “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples.”

No matter what we decide, the outcome is entirely in his hand.

Fourth, and finally, God is sovereign even over our hearts.

says, “The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.”

There’s an implicit argument in this verse.

From the greater to the lesser.

If God’s sovereign over the hearts of kings, how much more is he sovereign over our hearts!

We don’t live in a haphazard universe that came into being by chance, or progresses by chance.

No, we live in an ordered universe that was created by God and is actively governed by God.

Now, at first that might seem terrifying.

It feels quite powerless to consider someone so powerful.

Until we remember his good purposes.

He uses all of his power for good.

Which leaves us not terrified but with comfort, peace, and rest.

And that rest has a direct impact on how we make decisions.

But what exactly is the good he’s using his sovereignty to accomplish?

That’s our next point:

II.

God’s Goal of Glorifying Himself

To put it simply, God’s overarching goal behind all he does is to show off how amazing he is.

To glorify himself.

Like a master painter whose canvas is the whole universe, God is sovereignly governing every single event, down to the most minute detail to bring Himself glory.

He made people to show off his glory.

Think of , “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

And with our sovereign God behind it, that is history’s going to end up.

Think of the words of the prophet Habakkuk: “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

You see this all through Scripture.

Why did God rescue his people from the mighty nation of Egypt?

As God tells Pharaoh, “for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth” ().

Why rescue his people from the hand of Babylon after the exile?

, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.”

Why did God send Jesus to earth? , “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

And why did Jesus go to the cross to save us from our sins?

, “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works out all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.”

Unpacking that last verse for a moment: we were predestined for God.

He works out all things according to the counsel of his will.

Why? “To the praise of his glory.”

And why is Jesus coming back?

, “to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed.”

What’s God about?

Himself.

Who is God for?

Himself.

What undergirds all that he does?

The praise of Himself.

But doesn’t that strike you as odd, maybe even offensive?

We’re sitting here, trying to figure out how to make decisions in the context of a God who works out all things to praise himself.

Are we really OK with that?

Is he really that vain and insecure?

Here’s how Oprah Winfrey describes her walk away from traditional Christianity.

She was describing being in a church service where the preacher was talking about the attributes of God, his omnipotence and omnipresence.

Then he said, “The Lord thy God is a jealous God,” I was caught up in the rapture of that moment until he said, “jealous.”

And something struck me.

I was 27 or 28, and I was thinking God is all, God is omnipresent, God is . . .

also jealous?

A jealous God is jealous of me?

And something about that didn’t feel right in my spirit because I believe that God is love, and that God is in all things.

Why would we want to serve a God who is all about Himself?

Because what better thing could he be about?

Here’s how C.S. Lewis put it: “My whole, more general, difficulty about the praise of God depended on my absurdly denying to us, as regards the supremely Valuable, what we delight to do, what indeed we can’t help doing, about everything else we value.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.”

Or listen to John Piper put this truth into the mouth of Jesus, reflecting on Jesus’ prayer in that we see his glory:

If you find your ultimate joy in your most cherished earthly treasure, you will be disappointed in the end, and I will be dishonored.

Because I am offering myself to you as the all-satisfying beauty and greatness and wisdom and strength and love of the universe.