God’s a gentleman. He won’t force himself upon you. He will not do what you do not ask Him to. So, you have to ask. It’s your choice. It’s your decision. God won’t make it for you.
I’ve heard those types of phrases numerous times. This may surprise you, coming from a Calvinist like myself, but theologically I agree with those statements when it comes to the point of repentance and faith. God doesn’t believe for us. God doesn’t repent for us. And He’s not going to take you kicking and screaming into heaven.
So, yeah I guess in some respects I agree with those statements.
Problem is, I honestly don’t know why they are necessary words to say. Is it so that the sinner knows that she has to respond to God’s grace? If so, why not just say what the Bible does and urge her to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus today? Why is it necessary to give Jesus a top-hat and a monocle and turn him into a namby-pamby gentleman that’ll never do anything that we don’t ask him to?
Not a Gentleman But a Warrior
I’ve been dealing with quite a bit lately. The Lord has chosen this season in my life to open up old wounds and to go into deep dark places in my soul that I never wanted light to shine. Yet he’s doing that. He’s tearing me to pieces and making me feel things and think about things and remember things that I never wanted to. He’s…dare I say it…forcing me to be authentic and honest.
And so in the spirit of honesty, I have to say, that if Jesus is such a gentleman I’m in deep trouble. I say that because as He is opening up these dark recesses in my heart there are times when I’m shaking my fist at God and screaming at Him to leave me alone!
And I guess a gentleman would do just that. He’d let me deal with things on my terms and not his. When I scream out “leave me alone” He would listen and just wait for me to heal and wait until I am ready for this barrage of somewhat unwanted emotions. He’d allow me to keep things in the dark and never actually address them.
But Jesus isn’t merely a gentleman. He’s a devoted lover. He’s a faithful friend. He’s the Lord of the universe and He’s staking claim on my soul. I don’t need a gentleman, I need a warrior. I need a warrior that will break my rebellion and will refuse not to have my heart. I need love. I need a God that will overcome my stubborn rebellion with His relentless love.
Yeah, I understand telling unbelievers that they need to respond in repentance and faith and the work of God. And I firmly believe that the Lord is powerful and wise and holy and good and He works in such a way that He changes our desire to be what they ought to be. He woos us in such a way that we do really substantially turn to Him.
I believe whole-heartedly that what God is doing in my own heart is a dedicated and unstopping work of changing my desires to fit what is holy. He’s bringing light where there is darkness.
Just as the Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness I feel that the Lord is leading me into the darkest parts of my being. And what I’m finding there isn’t only death. It’s life. It’s light. It’s not a gentleman Jesus that’s asking my permission before opening every door. It’s a warrior that is the Lord whose saying, “Mike, we’re going to deal with this stuff”. And he’s ripping and tearing. He’s healing and comforting. He’s proving Himself to be both Lord and Savior.
I’m glad Jesus is so much more than gentleman.
Good thoughts, Mike.
And for the record, I am doing grandpa duty with the world’s most wonderful grandson.
I intend to largely ignore this blog the next couple of days. Contributors – if you see a comment that is out of line, work your magic. Especially comments about the Alabama Crimson Crud.
I am already exhausted and the day isn’t even half over. Gpa duty ain’t easy.
Wow, Dave is going to ignore the blog for a few days.
Sounds like it’s time to post my anti-NY Yankees article. As well as edit every comment to somehow make fun of Dave. This should be fun. 🙂
I like the post, Mike. I would offer that the concept of prevenient grace pretty neatly deals with the notion that sin results in depravity and that–depravity–prevents the exercise of free will which is a critical issue that Paul is addressing in Romans (though I stipulate his words don’t come across that way to those that reject the premise of all sinners experiencing full-bore depravity or the part where God hardened the heart of Pharaoh or that he purely “chose whom he will choose” in selecting the younger over the older when he chose AND GROOMED Jacob over Esau as the conduit of promise.)
I think if God is given credit for creating the conditions where we are able to see him for who he is and see ourselves as sinners, then free will is not violated by his act–via prevenient grace or regeneration–to accomplish that result. I take issue with the free will extremists that reject any form of God influencing us to be able to accept him.
Regrettably, the traditionalist statement left me with a certain amount of lack of clarity on whether they saw God’s effort as manipulative and therefore damaging to the concept of free will or not. It isn’t that they came right out and said it was damaging as much as it seemed to me they claimed both sides of the argument with the rejection of original sin and total depravity while then relying on prevenient grace to avoid the necessity of full-bore regeneration.
I think we have constructed a bit of a strawman with respect to God interfering with free will in this sense: if we are perfectly capable of reasoning due to God’s grant of rationality that overcomes the depravity of sin, then I’m not sure that we ever would reject God’s reasoning. And if we do not receive a grant of clarity, then how responsible are we for rejecting God’s plan? But that clearly expresses the thoughts through the lens of someone who agrees with the Doctrines of Grace.
I just intensely dislike emotional pleas from the pulpit or extended altar calls being the explanation for how someone can overcome depravity. And this is my best way of illustrating my distaste for it. Either depravity doesn’t affect all sinners, or all haven’t sinned, or prevenient grace/regeneration is sufficient to overcome the entire effect of depravity. I’m not a big fan of choosing “both and” especially between these positions.
But I am sensitive to believers that place hope in the “God is a gentleman” position. I have argued with them and it is an extremely emotional argument. They truly feel they cannot trust God unless he is a “gentleman” any more than they could trust the King of England to continue ruling the American colonies. It’s a make-or-break issue.
You scared me at first but you came around… Thank Goodness! Just this Sunday I told my church, “And lest any of you think that God is a gentleman let me disabuse of that notion.” I went on to say Gentlemanship is an invention of rennaissance Europe but God is creator and sovereign and does as He pleases. He doesn’t apologize, He forces people against their wills if he chooses too, and he is not a tame lion.
I do find it curious that we call Jesus King, Lord, Master, etc, and at the same time claim that He won’t make a move without our permission. That certainly is unlike any King, Master, or Lord that I have ever heard of or read about.
I believe it was CS Lewis who pointed out that the term “gentleman” has been ruined. In its origin, being a gentleman had nothing to do with a person’s character. The word, according to Lewis, meant someone who owned land and had a coat of arms.
I could get so much more done if I had a coat of arms…provided of course that these were fully functioning arms.
“The word, according to Lewis, meant someone who owned land”
that fits with the term ‘the gentry’ . . . meaning ‘landowners’
Apparently, the manifold grace of God is at work. Such are those who try to resist it. Imagine Paul only saying, “Grace to you” and leaving out peace.
Interestingly enough, within the past year, I read something by Spurgeon in which he stated that John Wesley used language about forcing people to be converted or something to that effect that he would not use. I thought, “Now that is remarkable.”
some verses came to mind from reading your post:
” . . . The officers answered,
“No man ever spoke like this Man!”
(from St. John’s Gospel 7:46)
and
“. . . Jesus was walking ahead of them.
And they were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. . . ”
(from St. Mark’s Gospel 10:32)
and
“Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying,
‘Truly this was the Son of God’.”
(from St. Matthew’s Gospel 27:54)
‘Jesus is Lord’ says St. Paul . . . in Hebrew ‘Lord’ is ‘Elohim’ meaning ‘God’
St. Paul knew the power of Christ . . . and St. Paul spread the Gospel openly declaring Our Lord as the ‘Iesous Kyrios’ . . . St. Paul’s preaching of the Holy Gospel had the effect of dynamite on the world of his day . . . or, as powerful as an earthquake:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qUW7IxapdU