Sermon Cloud

Mission Statement and Discipleship process We believe this is why God has placed us here in Gardner and this is how God wants us all to be growing. Before we get into today's FAQ, I want to use these 5 marks of a Christ-follower to demonstrate something about belief. Explain It's not your belief until you're acting upon it.
Today we ask the question, "Does God really know the future?" We're going to back up past our beliefs in how God wants us to live to the question what is God really like. "A right conception of God is basic, not only to systematic theology, but to practical living as well." - A.W. Tozer What is God like? The most basic question that all of us must deal with on our journey of faith. Our answer to that question is the most important belief in our lives.
We're going to watch a dramatic clip from Deal or No Deal and I want you to ask yourself two questions as you watch this. Does God know what she's going to choose? If so, does God's foreknowledge predetermine her choice? Video Clip
Who wouldn't the chance to answer that question for themselves on that game show?
Let's do a poll. Who by a show of hands votes that God already knew what she was going to decide? Who thinks there's a chance God did not know? Who here can already tell where I may be going with this message and you're ready to hang me as a heretic? You're getting out your rope...
Those of you who vote "yes", God knew - you stand in good company. The vast majority of all Christians throughout history would vote ‘yes.'
The traditional view of God describes him as one who is above it all. Although God is creator, he transcends his created world. He stays above it. God exists outside the bounds of time. God looks down and sees past, present and future all as one continual reality. We worry about how the future will turn out. Not only does God not worry, God is already there.
Even most people who aren't Christians but are open to the idea of God, would say "yes, if there's a God, he would have to know. Otherwise he wouldn't be God."
We rarely ever stop and think about it, but out thought-processes, the way we decide whether or not something is valid and logical, is based upon the philosophical system of ancient Greek culture. Anyone ever heard of Aristotle and Plato? Your kids may have recently had plato as an afternoon snack. Not that plato. The philosophers.
In the Plato's Republic, Plato defined God as a "Perfect Being". (put these on the same slide). Since he's perfect, God must know all. Nothing can surprise him and nothing can change him. If there was something outside the realm of his knowledge or if new circumstances were to cause him to change, then he would no longer be the Perfect Being.
Aristotle - "Unmoved Mover" He moves other things but he never moves himself. That God would've known her decision and would've been the only one in the audience not jumping all around and having a cow.
That pretty well describes the God of the Bible, right? That's the God we've committed our lives to. We can trust him because he never changes and he knows the future because he's already there. He's like I was watching that video a few minutes ago. I'd already seen it, so there was no drama for me.
Aristotle and Plato were pretty smart, pretty influential, but remember they were pagan; which simply means they didn't know God as he's revealed to us in our Bible. But their philosophies had a huge influence on how even second generation Christians interpreted scriptures and they're still influencing us today.
But maybe Aristotle and Plato were on to something. I want you to hear a few verses. Malachi 3:6 (just the first sentence) Isaiah 46:9-10 Isaiah 48:3-5 Jeremiah 29:11 Jeremiah 1:5 Romans 8:29-30 Convinced yet? God knows the future and has already determined what he's going to do. All you've gotta do is simply take a literal, straight-forward reading of the words on the page and it's really obvious.
Let me clue you in on something. Some Christians love to throw around the phrase, "If you'd just read the Bible literally..." What they're actually saying is "if you'd just read it my way." None of us read the Bible literally, just the words on the page, face value. It's impossible. Every single one of us read a biblical passage through the lens our own ideas, our own outlook on life and our own views of God. We take ourselves into the passage, we can't get out of our own way. This is why some people differ on how certain passages in the Bible are to be interpreted.
Christians agree on the main stuff; the Trinity, Jesus dying for our sins and the Bible being the inspired word of God. But there are a lot of other things Christians about which Christians have varying perspectives. Let me remind you of a quote with which we started this sermon series, from a medieval monk, "In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity" - unknown. Because we interpret passages differently, we disagree on certain nonessentials. No one can perfectly interpret the Bible. And when you meet the person who thinks they can (and I have) look out, they're not pleasant to be around.
But the key to discovering the best interpretation of Scripture is to work to find the original author's intent. Which means you've gotta ask questions like, who was the author, to whom were they writing, and what was going on in their lives, what were they trying to communicate about God? We can study and study and study and never know the final answer to these questions, but our desire to know God prompts us to seek his truth as revealed to us through his word.
And the Bible acts as the final authority for the question "what is God like?" Philosophy informs us, our own experiences influence what we believe, but this is our foundation. God has chosen to reveal himself to humanity through the stories and writings of this book. Let's be people of this book.
In scripture God has revealed important things about himself. Both of which inform this discussion: 1) God is Relational Isn't it so cool that God, the center of all reality, exists as a relationship? At the heart of the universe you'll find shared life. Trinity Family Logo Father, Son and Spirit unique but united into one. 2) God is love 1 John 4:8 Plain as day, right, God is love - just read it literally and you'll know. Just checking But it has been revealed to us that God is relationship and God is love.
If God is all about loving relationships, then it makes sense that he would give creation the choice to turn toward him or away from him. That God created us with the possibility of having a genuine, authentic relationship with our Creator; one based not on coercion, but love.
There are some committed Christians who believe differently than this. They believe the Bible teaches that God chooses some for salvation and some for damnation. That's a shared belief among some Christian churches. But our church's theological traditions says "no." The God revealed to us in the Bible would not force salvation upon some while withholding it from others. He offers grace to all, while not determining who will accept and who will reject.

If God already knows how your life is going to turn out, whether or not you commit your life to him, are you really free? Can you separate Divine foreknowledge from Divine Determinism/Cause?
We never could. June 28th, 1999, I proposed to my wife. I was nervous, but I was 99% sure she'd say yes. We already had a date set, but I was still scared. But if I knew she was going to say no, I'd never ask her. I'd just be humiliating myself.
But God isn't like us. It's possible that even though he knows a person will turn away from him, his love is so strong it overrides any concern about rejection. His love will follow a person right to the doors of hell, never giving up until it's too late. God is bigger than us petty, prideful humans. We may forcing our own limitations upon God in thinking that just because he already knows, he also must've already chosen.
Or there's another possibility. A couple weeks ago, my beloved Hawkeyes were on CBS, which doesn't happen very much. But the game started at noon and we aren't even done tearing down until 1:00 and then we had lunch with some people after that. So I taped the game. But I wanted the thrill of watching the game without knowing the end result. We ate pizza at Gambinos and I soon as I walked in, I made sure their TV was not on CBS. Later that day I watched the tape of the game and I still yelled at the TV.
What if God, from his love and passion for us, out of his commitment to have an authentic relationship with us, chose to live within the rules of the world he created? What if from the time God created humanity until the final judgment when history is no more, God chose to be bound within time? Because he wanted to have a genuine, loving relationship with his creation. One that unfolded over time, like parents giving birth and raising a child, like a man pursuing a woman and then loving her throughout all the stages of life? In fact, these two images of a parent and a spouse are often used in the Bible to describe God's relationship with us.
Would that diminish God? Some people say "yes" that's a shell of the real God. Or would that cause us to love, trust and respect God even more? A loving act of limiting his power serves as a wonderful testimony to his love for us.
But what about those Bible verses I read earlier? They sure don't seem to reveal a God who has chosen not to know the future? Let's look a bit closer at these verses.
Malachi 3:6 (put up entire verse) Amazing what happens when you read an entire verse. God will not destroy the descendants of Jacob, not because his actions will never change, but because his character will never change. Everything God does is out the natural result of his character. His love, compassion and holiness.
Isaiah 46:9-10 God is going to do whatever God wants to do and no one can stop him. He is the all-powerful God. But this could be speaking to his character. Because God is love, he will do this. Because God is holy, he will do this. He has a plan for our lives, it's been determined since before we were born, but that plan will not override our free will. You see the same idea a few verses later, Isaiah 48:3-5 But what prevents God's plans from happening is our own sinful stubbornness, our stiff necks and hard heads.
Which is exactly what's going on in Jeremiah 29:11. People love to quote this verse, but no one ever reads the verse before it or the verses after. Vs. 10. Because of their sin, they're going to spend 70 years in captivity. God's plan was to prosper them, but their sin thwarted God's original plans. And more bad stuff was going to happen vs 17-19. Why doesn't anyone ever claim those verses as promises from God. God has great plans for us, but our sin keeps screwing everything up.
Jeremiah 1:5 God had great plans for Jeremiah. But what if Jeremiah had rejected God? How many potential Jeremiah's could've been in this world, but they chose to disobey God and not follow his calling on their lives?
God extends his call to everyone, but not everyone responds. Romans 8:29-30
What Paul's teaching us here in Romans is this; even before he created the world, God wrote up the plans for salvation. Across the front of these blueprints was one name, "Jesus Christ." Salvation comes to us through Jesus Christ. God doesn't look down and say "you're in, you're out." The invitation has been extended to every person who has ever lived, or will ever live, saying "all who would respond are welcome." But the only way to RSVP to the party is through Jesus. Not necessarily through the formal religion of Christianity, although this movement is supposed to be about Jesus. But God has made a map and the map is Jesus.
God wants everyone to follow that map, but not everyone will. Jeremiah 3:6-7, 19-20 It sure seems that God is surprised by Israel's refusal to turn back to him. I read a great online debate over these verses. On one end was Greg Boyd, a theologial who believes God has chosen not to know the future. On the other end was John Piper; Piper believes not only does God know the future, but God has determined the future.
Boyd believes this demonstrates God has chosen to limit his knowledge to the present. So God waits for and in some ways is dependent upon human decisions.
Piper laughs, if the free will of humans prevented God from knowing something, then we can no longer call him God. The very definition of God means a being who is all-knowing. Piper said God would never make himself that vulnerable.
But the God of the Bible is astonishingly vulnerable. All throughout the Bible, we see God as a betrayed lover. He gave himself completely to us, but our infidelity has caused deep wounds. So much so that Jesus still carries the scars of the nail holes.
I'm convinced the Bible leaves us one of two options. Either God knows the future, but still allows us to make our own decisions. Or God has chosen to limit his knowledge of the future while he passionately pursues us. Neither option limits the power and greatness of God. And both options accentuate God's love for us and desire to live in relationship with us.

I've studied this idea and am going to keep studying. I can't say for sure what is biblical. I want to believe that God is already in the future, pulling us toward him. But even if he's only walking with us in the present, my faith says God will get us there. He has the power to bring about his ultimate plans. As oldtime preachers used to say, "I've read the end of the book and I know God wins."
But as we seek to follow God in the here and now, let me share with you some biblical principles for following God in the present.

Our Prayers Matter The fact that God has chosen not to determine the future means that our prayers can change the course of history. God certainly doesn't always do what we think he should do, but we can know that some things remain undone, until we pray. God works amazing coincidences in people's lives when we pray.
But because God doesn't do everything for us, sometimes he wants us to answer our own prayers. "God, bring them to Christ." God says, "why don't you invite them to church?" "God, we need money." "Why don't you get a job and stop spending all the money you've got." We're co-laborers with God in bringing about his purposes in this world.
Our Pain Matters God is not aloof. He has entered into our world and has chosen to suffer with us. God knows how it feels when a person you love walks out on you, you've done it to him. God the Father has watched God the Son die, he knows the pain of losing a child. Jesus knew hunger and exhaustion. He knew the worst of human suffering. The word excruciating was developed to describe the terrible pain of a Roman crucifixion. Jesus has been there. God is there with you now.
Our Relationships Matter God is counting on you to share his love with people who do not yet know him. We are God's plan for spreading the Good News of Jesus. Us, we're his only plan. All of us are making positive or negative impacts in another person's eternal destinies. By both the things we do and don't do, by the things we say or fail to say. That sends shivers down my spine.
Our Decision Matters The ultimate decision. Will I give my life to Jesus Christ? God offers you relationship, he offers forgiveness of sins, an eternity with him is on the table, but it's your choice. Are you going to accept or reject? Deal or no deal?
Whether or not God knows your decision in advance doesn't change your responsibility. The decision is yours.

Why did God give humans free will? Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. The happiness which God designs for his higher creatures is the happiness of being freely, voluntarily united to him and to each other in an ecstasy of love and delight compared with which the most rapturous love between a man and woman on earth is mere milk and water. And for that they must be free.
C. S. Lewis

Prayer

Communion and offering