Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
Only God can change a life, but he never chooses
to change it alone. There's a God part and there's
a your part. The question is, how do those fit
together? What's your part? What's his part?
That's today. What can you expect from God? And
what does God expect from you? These aren't just
theological questions. They powerfully shape
how we live and love. I'm Dave Drewy, and today
on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram tackles one
of the most misunderstood tensions in Christianity,
God's sovereignty versus human responsibility.
In our series, Choosing Love, we're learning
that love requires both God's grace and our obedience
working together, and why being a grateful servant
is the key to transformation. So if you've got
your Bible handy, open to Philippians chapter
2, starting in verse 12. Here's Chip Ingram with
his message, Love Obeys. I want to share a leadership
lesson that I learned many, many years ago that
really reshaped my life, and it's one that I
have to keep on learning. On the very front of
your notes, you'll notice I've written, our expectations
powerfully shape our relationships and our responses.
Circle the word expectations. Our expectations,
they're so subtle. We have them often we don't
even know what they are. I grew up in a home,
and no ladies feel guilty, but my mom was really
into breakfast. At about 6 .15 or 6 .30, I could
smell bacon and eggs every single morning, and
our whole family ate breakfast together. It was
really wonderful. Well, I got married, and I
don't know why, but I just expected that we would
have breakfast every morning. And I, early in
our marriage, after our honeymoon, I came home
and said, breakfast. And she goes, well, the
cereal's up there. I think there's some milk
in the refrigerator. Go to it. It was like, what?
I mean, you don't understand. It was just like,
no, we never talked about, now when we get married,
you got to fix breakfast. Safe to say, we don't
do breakfast in our house quite like my mom.
By contrast, my wife had a father who was very
handy. He could fix just about anything. the
car, the gas, the motor. And so she actually
had this expectation that me being a man and
her father being a man, that the car would be
filled with gas. If it didn't work, I could fix
it. And so there's a carburetor in here somewhere.
You know, I knew nothing. And she was like, now
I could give you a hundred other expectations
that aren't trivial, that have caused really
painful issues. But here's what I want you to
get. Notice in your notes. Our personal history
is paramount in forming our expectations. She
thinks every husband can fix cars because her
dad did. I thought every woman cooks breakfast
because my mom did. Your personal history, it
just loads you up with a set of expectations.
Now, if we do that in our relationships with
people, imagine how we do that in our relationships
with God. Two critical questions emerge when
we think about God and expectations. The first
is, what can we expect of God? And the second,
what does God expect of us? I mean, what can
we expect of God? Some people come from backgrounds
that we can expect that God will make life happy
and wonderful, will be healthy, wealthy, wise,
if we just believe, that just love Jesus, and
your life is going to be great and trouble -free.
And so, when trouble comes, they really wonder,
where's God? There's another group of people
that are really super sober and it's going to
be hard and it's all about suffering and like
God brings blessing into their life and it's
like they feel guilty when good things happen.
So the question I want to ask you is, what's
your expectations of God? What do you expect
of Him? And are you ready to flip it over? Have
you ever thought seriously about what God expects
of you? And just like our personal history shapes
our expectations with one another, history itself
shapes our expectations, depending on our backgrounds,
of how we think God's going to respond. What
does he want? What does he give? How do we receive
it? How do you know when you're okay with God?
What's God's part in this relationship and what's
my part? And then notice on the bottom of your
notes, I want you to write this word in. Remember,
our history always shapes. our expectations,
and historically, people have answered those
two questions very, very differently. With that,
open your notes if you would, and I'm going to
give you a very brief history lesson that if
you are strong in either one of these camps,
you'll be frustrated. I'm purposely going to
sort of push or polarize to the extremes of two
historical positions. In the 16th century, John
Calvin was a great, great theologian. In Geneva,
he began to teach and there was a whole goal
of what would be like for a Christian city. And
he had a very strong view of God and about his
sovereignty and his power. But it was pushed
to extremes by some of his followers. And so
about 80 or 90 years later, a fellow named Jacob
Arminius came along and he said, Boy, you know,
we've strayed beyond the Bible. And so he began
to teach some things. And so what you have is
two basic camps. And I'm going to push the extremes.
So if you are a Calvinist, you'll say he's not
representing us well. I understand that. If you're
more Arminian, you're going to say he's not representing
us well either. Good. Both will be unhappy with
me. What I want to do is show you the extremes
because you have been impacted historically.
You have certain expectations about what God
is asking of you. If you come from a, let me
just call it a hyper -Calvinistic background,
you believe God is sovereign and in control.
You believe that he's predestined and predetermined
just about everything in life. You focus on verse
13 of Philippians 2. It is God who is at work.
In extreme Calvinism, God not only chooses people
for heaven, he chooses people for hell. So, it's
called double predestination. And so, you actually
had people in churches going, I believe I've
been chosen by God to honor his name to hell.
I mean, it was crazy. But it was this idea that
since we can have no part in our salvation, it
is all of God with no sense of our responsibility.
It was this extreme that turned into fatalism.
You were eternally secure and a hyper, hyper
Calvinist would say in terms of our responsibility,
just let go and let God. In essence, whatever's
going to happen is going to happen. The joke
when you tease hyper Calvinists is when they
trip, they get up and say, I'm glad that's over.
Think about it. It'll come to you. Arminius,
by contrast, said, no, no, no, no. Yeah, God
is sovereign, but we're responsible. We have
a free will. We make choices. He emphasizes the
verse 12. Work out your salvation. Our choices
have consequences. Therefore, as a result of
it, if you came from this side, eternity's not
certain. You know, you might be a good Christian
for a while, but if you mess up, you're out.
Finally, the idea is let's go and let's get with
it. I jotted down a couple thoughts. If you're
a Presbyterian, Anglican, mini -Baptist, a lot
of Bible churches are reformed in your tradition,
strong Calvinistic roots. If you are Methodist,
Wesleyan, Nazarene, charismatic, four -square,
assembly of God, church of Christ, strong Arminian.
roots. Notice in your notes, here's what I want
to get. God's Word rejects both extremes and
holds God's sovereignty and man's responsibility
in biblical tension and balance. In other words,
if you read through the Scriptures, what you
find is the Bible's really clear. God is sovereign.
God is in control. The Bible's really clear.
You are absolutely responsible and will be held
accountable for your choices. And you say, well,
how can that be? The answer is, I don't know.
But what I'm going to go on record and say is,
no one else knows either. But what happens is
people tend to go one direction or another. And
so, if you're reading through the book of Acts,
if you're a strong Calvinist, it says, and as
many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
And you say, see, they were appointed. Except
if you read the next chapter, it says, and Paul
spoke so persuasively, a great number believed.
Which is true, both. Here's the tension I want
you to get. You can develop systems that can
remove one or the other, but both are true. Imagine,
if you will, a telephone pole, and imagine guide
wires into those cables, pulling on each end,
and there's deep stakes. And this is the sovereignty
of God, and this is the responsibility of man.
And if there's slack or you move one of those
cords, you go to extremes. And push to its practical
end, you become passive, let go, let God. Whatever
it's going to be, it's going to be. Or the other
way, you get guilt ridden and no matter how much
you do, God's not in control. If I forgot one
time to share my faith, that person may go to
hell because I didn't do my part. The whole world
is on me. What I want you to know is the Apostle
Paul, interestingly, he did this in chapter 1,
remember? He said, I'm confident. He's going
to be executed. I'm confident of this. This is
what's going to turn out for my deliverance.
Your prayers. Oh, man's responsibility. And the
provision of the Spirit of God. God's sovereignty.
He now in verse 12 says, so then, my beloved,
just as you always circle the word obeyed. The
word obeyed in the New Testament, sometimes we
feel like, I think our English and our background,
obey is like ought, should, gotta. And it certainly
has that thrust, but the word is hupo, to be
under, akuo, to hear. Like you have an acoustic
guitar, that's where we get our word. To obey
is... To be under the hearing of God. Lord, what
would you have me to do? It's a relationship
I want to follow. And when you speak about any
area, I want to listen in order not to just know,
but to obey. So he says to them, my beloved,
just as you always obeyed, not just in my presence,
but now much more in my absence, work out your
salvation. Would you circle that phrase with
fear and trembling? Work out is a mining term.
It's literally like if you owned a gold mine,
it's work your claim. Continue mining the riches
of what God has done. When the Spirit of God
came into your life, when you turned from your
sin and received Christ, all the spiritual blessings
in heaven were deposited in you. You were sealed
with the Spirit. You have an inheritance. He's
saying, okay, now what I want you to do is I
want you to work out what God has worked in.
Notice it doesn't say work for your salvation.
You can't earn it. Work out. In other words,
I want you to cooperate. And just like if you
owned a gold mine, that gold does nothing under
the ground. And he says, you cooperate with God,
work out your salvation. And notice with the
sense of reverential awe, this is a precious,
amazing gift, your salvation. Don't let it sit
there. Don't be passive. You're listening to
Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. We'll hear
more from Chip in just a moment. If today's message
is speaking to your heart, Don't keep it to yourself.
Share this teaching with someone who needs to
hear it by visiting livingontheedge .org. While
you're there, be sure to check out all of the
other faith -building resources we have available,
including teaching videos, blogs, and devotionals
from Chip. It's all waiting for you at livingontheedge
.org. Let's continue with Chip's message. Sometimes
when people talk about grace, they think of grace.
is the opposite of effort. The Bible says we
make every effort to walk with God. The Bible
talks about the grace of God teaches us to say
no to all ungodliness and live sober, disciplined
lives. It takes great effort. The opposite of
grace is not effort. The opposite of grace is
merit. Merit is earning something. And Paul is
saying to these people that are having some disunity
issues, people that are being persecuted, he
says, you know, I don't know if I'm going to
live or not. But whether I get to see you and
live or I die, I want you to keep on obeying.
I want you to love one another. I want you to
choose to look up when circumstances are bad.
I want you to care for one another. I want you
to be generous. In persecution, I want you to
be faithful. So work out. Your salvation, God's
worked in. That's your responsibility. Notice
verse 13. The little word for, it means the reason.
Why should you work this out? For God who is
at work in you, both to will and to work for
his good pleasure. Would you circle the word
to work and then underline will and good pleasure?
This word for work is a very interesting word.
I did a word study on it. We get our word energy.
It's never used in the New Testament to describe
human power. 100 % of the time, it is the power
of God. It's a word that means effective action.
It describes action that always achieves its
desired end results or purpose. In ancient Greece,
it was a demonstration of inner character that
always led to an outward virtue. And in summary,
he's saying for God who is at work, he is energizing
by his power working in you in spirit, both to
will, his purpose to create both the desire and
the power. So God's sovereign, I'm responsible.
God has gifted me sheerly by his grace, this
new life in his spirit. It is a riches that I
now live out and I mind my claim. And so to work
out, grace has been given. And I could say, all
the truth of life is in this book. And I could
hand you this book. And you could take this book
and you could set it on your desk and you could
never open it. And you could say, I just don't
know what to do. I don't have any truth. I don't
know what to do about marriage. I don't know
what to do about parenting. I don't know what
to do about my money. I wonder what's going to
happen to the end of the world. And all the while,
all the riches and all the truth is on your desk.
God will not read this for you. Okay? But you
have it. And it's the same. In other words, work
out. So the disciplines of being in God's word,
the discipline of praying, The discipline of
being in community and doing life and being honest
and supportive and accountability. The disciplines
of suffering. The disciplines of some things
take time. And the disciplines of serving one
another. When you, are you ready? When you practice
those things, it's like, imagine tubes coming
from this great lake of heaven. You're accessing
the grace of God. And as you practice those things,
the Apostle Paul says, Christ is being formed
in you. It's a metaphor of a baby growing to
a toddler, to a teenager, to a mature adult.
And he says our part is to utilize the truth,
the word, prayer, the Lord's Supper, relationships
to access the grace to mine this new life that's
been a free gift. Does that make sense? History
lesson is over. But I do want you to know that
it seeps in everywhere because what happens is,
is that I came up around a group, you came up
around a group, and these groups have thoughts
about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility
of men. And I will just say, you know, some of
you struggle with guilt because no matter how
much you do, it's never enough. Because you live
with this, you know, there's never enough, God's
down on you. Now, that's extreme. That's not
what should be taught. Some of you are like laid
back to the point of you're not doing what you
need to, but you have this subtle of God's in
control. He really is in control, but that doesn't
excuse you. And so what you want to do is you
want to say, I don't want what Calvin taught
and I don't want what Jacob Arminius taught.
I want what Jesus taught. I want what the New
Testament says. I want what the Word of God says.
And there's going to be certain times and certain
passages. I've been doing this for quite a while.
I don't fully understand. I don't think anyone
fully understands. But I've got plenty of truth
to know this. I will stand before God as a follower
of Jesus and give an account. for my time, my
energy, my money, and my decisions. And I've
been around long enough to know this, is that
despite my mistakes, my difficulties, the times
even that I've sinned, the times when I knew
what was right and I didn't even do it, there's
this patient, kind, loving, sovereign God that's
working even those difficulties and things that
people have done to me and circumstance I can't
understand because he's such a, are you ready?
Good, good father. And so, becoming like Jesus
and following him is a cooperative effort. Your
effort and discipline to mine, not earn, but
to mine out the grace that God's given you. Well,
the question then becomes is, how do you work
out what God worked in? I mean, it's nice to
hear that. I kind of gave you the theory and
the history. Well, it practically, how do you
do it? Well, Paul, this is a really amazing thing.
Verse 13, guess what comes? Verse 14 and 15 and
16 and 17. So guess what Paul's going to do?
He says, I want you to obey, to be the kind of
follower of Jesus fully by his grace, even if
I come or I don't come. But the goal is I want
you to be under the hearing. So I'm going to
give you very specific things to obey so that
you have unity. and that God uses you in this
perverse generation. So are you ready? Get your
pen out. Keep your Bible open. Here's command
number one. He says, do everything without complaining
or arguing. So the command is, be a grateful
servant. Be a grateful servant. Not to be overly
technical, but if you had the Greek text in your
hand, you would read it and you would go, oh,
wait, the word order. It's completely out of
order. They took the word everything and do everything
and it belongs in the back of the sentence and
they put it all the way in the front of the sentence
for what? Emphasis. Drive your car. Pay your
bills. Live with your mate. Respond to the government
and pay your taxes. How? Do everything without
complaining or arguing. Word for complaining
here is basically grumbling. It's that infectious
negative attitude. It's really about be a grateful
servant in your speech and your attitude. Don't
whine. Don't complain. Don't talk about your
boss or your supervisor behind their back. Don't
be negative. Don't be critical. Don't be sarcastic.
Don't put people down. This is getting pretty
convicting, just me saying this to myself. This
is Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Today,
Chip revealed the biblical balance between God's
work and our work, how we cooperate with God's
grace through obedience. If you want to hear
more from Chip, stick around. He'll be right
back. And did you know Chip has written a powerful
book that complements our series? It's called
I Choose Love. In this special new resource,
Chip shows you how to work out what God has worked
in, accessing the riches of salvation through
spiritual disciplines like reading God's Word,
prayer, authentic community, and serving others.
I Choose Love gives you practical tools to mine
the grace God has deposited in you, showing you
how Christ is formed in you through consistent
obedience. If you're tired of the extremes of
passivity or performance and want to experience
the freedom of biblical obedience, get I Choose
Love today by going to our website, livingontheedge
.org. And you know, these daily teachings exist
because partners like you believe in this ministry.
When you give to Living on the Edge, you're helping
people discover how to walk in grace -filled
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to the Living on the Edge podcast on your favorite
podcast app. Well, now here's Chip. As we wrap
up today's program, let me ask you, which of
those historical experiences or perspectives
would you honestly say has kind of influenced
the way that you see God the most? I mean, what's
impacted you? We've all grown up around, you
know, people and a view of God and Christian
groups. And what I find honestly is that there's
great strengths in all these different camps
and really good godly people. So here's the issue.
If, in fact, God is sovereign and we are responsible,
what does it look like to be a follower of Christ
that's relational, that's grace -oriented, but
where we're responding? And I would suggest that
the Apostle Paul, who talked more about the sovereignty
of God than anyone else, especially in Romans,
he actually tells us this is who God is and this
is all he's done. And then he flips the script
because he's perfectly divinely balanced and
says, okay, Chapter 12 through the end of the
book is, this is what your life looks like when
you're responding in faith and obedience. And
in verse 1 of chapter 12, he says, it means that
you're fully, completely surrendered to God.
In verse 2, he's going to tell you they're separate
from the world's values. And then in verse 3
through 8, he'll talk about having an honest
or sober self -assessment about who you are,
your strengths, your weaknesses, and how God's
made you to serve him in love. And so the whole
chapter is a snapshot or a picture of what does
it look like to be a mature believer? What is
God's part and what is our part? Could I encourage
you to just as a matter of balance to today,
open Romans chapter 12 and in your heart of hearts
say, Lord, I know that I'm responsible. And I
know that you're absolutely sovereign. And as
I read this chapter, would you help me become
more and more the man or the woman that you want
me to become? I want to reflect the very love
and the character of Jesus. And I think you'll
experience the special grace of God that allows
you not to get too hung up on all that you do
and not be too laid back about all he does. I'm
Dave Drewy, and we'll continue today's lesson
titled Love Obeys Monday on Living on the Edge.
Today's program is produced and sponsored by
Living on the Edge.