reFocus 08: Bruce Ware (part 2)

We start off this morning with Bruce Ware's second session, on Universal Authority: The Authority of the Creator. (See the notes for yesterday's session on The Basis for Authority: Authority in the Godhead.)

Worship Pastor Ron Clark started us off, then Senior Pastor John Neufeld introduced Dr. Ware again and opened with a prayer.

As with yesterday's session, what follows is a combination of Dr. Ware's own copious notes, direct quotes from what he said, and in some cases my own paraphrases. Incidentally, Dr. Ware is an NASB guy, by the way.

I. Introduction

The most fundamental principle of all is that God is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

I-A. Genesis 1:1

To create is to own, and to own is to rule. The Creator of heaven and earth owns all that he has made, and he alone has rightful rulership, therefore, over it all. This passage declared in a polytheistic world that there is One God Who is over all of creation, and therefore the rightful owner and ruler of all that he has made. There is no portion of creation that stands outside of God's rightful jurisdiction, because he created all of it. To create is to own, and to own is to rule. Monotheism is a revealed truth: had the ancient Jews followed their neighbours, they would not have come up with a monotheistic doctrine. Yahweh is God over all, and all are accountable to him. This is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Universal Creatorship and hence universal Lordship over all.

I-B. Acts 17:24-25

Summary of a Theology of God as Creator. The Creator of heaven and earth is thereby shown to be both Sovereign Lord over all, and Self-sufficient Provider for all. Dr. Ware brings up a passage that has been discussed recently on another blog. Dr. Ware's approach is that the one God the Greeks knew nothing about (the "Unknown God") is precisely the only true God. God needs nothing from creation, and owes nothing to creation. We receive life and breath and all things from God (verse 25). He is the sovereign Ruler and the independent, self-sufficient Lord of all. God has authority over creation insofar as he is the sovereign Ruler, self-sufficient and independent.

The two remaining sections of Dr. Ware's session (sections II and III below) come directly from the principles stated in Acts 17:24-25.

II. As Creator, God is Lord over All—Sovereignty

II-A. Definition of Divine Sovereignty

God plans and carries out his perfect will, as he alone knows is best, and he does so without failure or defeat, accomplishing everything pertaining to the created order, from the smallest details to the entire course of human history, according to the counsel of his will and fulfilling his purposes in all things.

II-B. God's Sovereignty Exhibited—Daniel 4:34-35

Daniel had interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dream to him, on God's bestowing him with riches. Rather than being humble, twelve months later, the king marvelled at what he perceived to be his own achievement, denying the sovereignty of the Lord. The chastening came swiftly, relayed to the king by Daniel, "until [Nebuchadnezzar would] know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will." God has sovereignty over even the rulers of the earth. After seven years of living like a wild animal in the wilderness, he was restored. And in his prayer after being restored to the throne, he prayed:

1. Everlasting Sovereignty—"His dominion is an everlasting dominion" (4:34)

There is one God who rules over all. There is no one—without exception—who does not owe every moment of their lives to the sovereign Lord. Every one of us owes everything to God. He is the everlasting God. Compare Romans 1:21—He exists and is sovereign over all, whether we acknowledge Him or not. We as Christians especially must be thankful to God for everything. There can be fewer things that are more of an affront to God than a grumbling, complaining Christian. From Him come life and breath and all things. There is nothing we have that we deserve. Well, one thing—condemnation. That is the only thing we earn and deserve. Anything else that God bestows upon us is a blessing by His grace alone. (Amen!)

2. Uncontested Sovereignty—"All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing" (4:35a)

..."and [or 'but'] he does according to his will." Nothing can thwart the plans of God.

3. Universal Sovereignty—"the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth" (4:35b)

4. Victorious Sovereignty—"no one can ward off His hand" (4:35c)

5. Righteous Sovereignty—"no one can say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (4:35d).

A humble question before God, e.g., "God, I don't understand why you have ordained this" is one thing. But the accusatory, spiteful crying out to heaven of "What have You done?" is a different thing entirely. No one can question what God does, for all things are ultimately for His glory alone (to paraphrase). He has rightful rulership over all.

III. As Creator, God is Independent of All—Self-Sufficiency

III-A. Definition of Divine Self-Sufficiency

God possesses within himself, intrinsically and eternally, every quality in infinite measure.

What the Puritans meant by perfection: everything that is qualitatively good—all beauty, wisdom, truth, righteousness, justice—are possessed within God intrinsically. Is the qualifier "intrinsically" redundant? No. There can be things within us that are extrinsic to us (like the air we breathe into our lungs). Hence we as humans are beholden to things outside ourselves for things we need. God, however, possesses every quality within Himself. It is impossible for anything outside God to contribute anything to Him that He lacks: He possesses it already. God's "godness," as it were, is His possession of everything that is qualitatively good. There no quality outside Himself that could be added to His being. And He possesses all these qualities eternally. There has never been a time, nor shall there ever be, a time when He did not or will not possess any of these qualities. What does "infinite" mean? Without limit, measure, or boundary. Without end.

Dr. Ware then quoted the moving last verse of a hymn that his father used to sing: Frederick M. Lehman's The Love of God:

Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were ev'ry stalk on earth a quill,
And ev'ry man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above
Would drain the ocean dry;
Nor could the scroll contain the
Whole, though stretched from sky to sky.

God's love is utterly without bounds. It is infinite, never to be depleted by even the smallest iota. (My paraphrase.)

III-B. God's Self-Sufficiency Exhibited—Isaiah 40:12-17

1. God's Immensity and Power (40:12)

"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span...?" Dr. Ware told a story of taking his daughters to the beach, scooping a handful of water out of the ocean, and asking them if they saw the water level of the ocean go down. "No, Daddy," they replied. But imagine, he told them, that there is Someone big enough Who could dip His hand (as it were) down, and scoop up the entire Pacific Ocean in one fell swoop.

Dr. Ware then launched into a magnificent description of the awesome, incomprehensible dimensions of space. Light travels at hundreds of thousands of miles (or kilometres) a second. There are ten billion stars just in the Milky Way galaxy. There are hundreds of millions of galaxies in the universe, separated by hundreds of millions of light years of space. Who can measure that with a span—a unit measuring the distance between one's thumb and forefinger? Imagine that: God is so much incomprehensibly bigger even than the whole universe.

2. God's Knowledge and Wisdom (40:13-14)

Who has ever been God's adviser. Who taught Him his knowledge? No one. No one has ever taught God. He has no need. What could we possibly tell God that He doesn't know far more thoroughly than we. God could do us such a favour—those of us who have intellectual pride, especially—if in an instant He could reveal to us exactly how much more He knows than we know. It would humble us for eternity! Who are we to pray to Him instructing Him what to do? We must approach Him in our prayers as children praying to our Father who knows best. We should always end our prayers with somethig along the lines of, "Not my will, but Yours be done." Lord, be merciful to me, and do what You know is best. We ought to have that sense of humility (that accompanies boldness) before the Throne of Grace.

3. Implications for Us (40:15-17, 27-31)

The nations—the totality of all humanity—are like a drop in a bucket or a speck of dust on the scales. Trivial, inconsequential, absurdly small. A speck of dust wouldn't even tip a scale. We might respond, "Well, at least we're a speck!" Read on: it gets worse. All the nations are as nothing. Well, it couldn't get any worse, could it? Yup. All the nations are less than nothing and meaningless.

Now, this doesn't mean He doesn't care about the nations: John 3:16. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Or the end of Isaiah 40 (verses 28 to 31). God lifts us up. So what was the point of the earlier verses? To make us realize that we depend upon God for everything, and we can contribute nothing to Him.

IV. Implications and Applications of God as Sovereign and Self-Sufficient Creator

IV-A. Because God as Creator is universally sovereign and infinitely rich and full, i.e., because God is fully sovereign and self-sufficient, consider these implications:

1. God does not need the glorious creation he has made, either in whole or any part, including his creation of human beings. As humbling as it is true, God does not need us (Isaiah 40; Acts 17:25). Because of erroneous thinking here (God created us because He was lonely), Christian service can be so skewed. We're doing work God needs because He can't do it, goes the thinking, which is absolutely blasphemous and so deeply dishonouring of the God Who does not need anything and is not served by human hands as though He needed anything. You must take this truth and make it your own. God does not need me. What is the theological answer to the idea that "God is lonely"? The Holy Trinity. He already has an infinitely rich and full fellowship within Himself, in the three Persons of the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
   
   
2. God does not need anything from us; he needs no help, no gifts, no service, no fellowship (Acts 17:25) Though he commands our obedience and calls us to service, he needs nothing that we are or have to offer. The first thing we ought to think about ministry is privilege: a privilege He bestows upon His according to His sovereign will. (My paraphrase.)
   
   
3. God cannot receive anything from us that is not previously, rightfully, and entirely his and his alone (Acts 17:25; James 1:17). In fact, this is so much the case that God is both dishonoured and offended when we approach him as if he needs that we have to bring him, as if we can give him something that he lacks (Psalm 50). Rather, every good and perfect gift, necessarily, is from him and him alone (Acts 17:25; James 1:17). Imagine this: there is no true thought, no good work, no discerning word, no talent, no ability, no gifting that is not from him. For every quality that exists in creation, and in your lives and mine, is there at all, and is there to the scope and extent that it is, only because God, in his grace and kindness, has granted this to us. While God possesses all that he has—all that there is—intrinsically, in contrast, we have what we have—all that we have—by derivation. We owe him everything for all that we have and enjoy.
   
   
4. As Creator of all that is, his rights of ownership and of rulership are as extensive as the creation itself. We have no claim on our own lives or anything that we call our own. God has absolute rights over our lives, and it is our duty to reverence, honour, and obey him.
   

Dr. Ware mentioned John Piper's teaching on delighting in the Lord, which Dr. Ware embraces as well. He pointed out that in Pastor Piper's teaching, delight and duty always go together. Holiness and happiness are wed: they should never be bifurcated.

What should one do if the offering plate comes around one Sunday morning and one doesn't delight in offering money that day? There are expenses, cash is short.... The answer is that we should give the money, and our confess our sin in the same moment. What is the sin? Lord, forgive me for not delighting in my duty, in not loving to do what I ought to do. More generally, we should pray, "God, move my heart to love to do what I ought to do, to delight in my duty."

IV-B. Questions for Application

1. Why are we here? What is our purpose?

Although God doesn't need us, he loves us, and his purpose in creating and redeeming us is not that we might fill up some lack in him, but that he might fill us up with himself. He made us empty to be filled with his fullness, thirsty to drink of the water of life, weak to receive his strength, foolish to be instructed and corrected by his wisdom. In his love, he longs to give, to share the bounty. He wants us to experience in finite measure the fullness of joy and blessing that he knows infinitely—all to redound to the praise and glory of his name, the Giver and Provider of all the good we enjoy.

C.S. Lewis, in his The Problem of Pain, says that God's love is not like ours, helping another while needing also to be helped. No, God's love, says Lewis, is "bottomlessly selfless, by very definition; it has everything to give and nothing to receive" (p. 50).

2. Why does God demand our obedience?

As Creator and sovereign Lord, God has absolute rights over us, and hence, his command to obey him reflects what is both right and good. But furthermore, even though God is self-sufficient and doesn't need our obedience, he loves us and wants our best. And he knows that our only true joy is found when we follow in his ways. So his demands (yes, demands!) that we obey him are, then, both our duty and our delight.

His commandments lead us to life; they are given as from a Lover. C.S. Lewis, again, says concerning the commandments of God, "Those divine demands, which sound to our natural ears most like those of a despot and least like those of a lover, in fact marshal us where we should wnat to go if we knew what we wanted" (p. 52). As he says in his sermon, "The Weight of Glory," we are far too easily satisfied. God calls us to life, and this is found only in obedience to his will and ways. Obeying God, then, is simultaneously our highest obligation and our greatest satisfaction, our responsibility and our riches, our duty and our delight.

3. Why does God enlist our service?

Psalm 100:2 and Acts 17:25—how to put these together? He doesn't need our service, so his call for us to serve is a call to participate in the privilege and joy of the ministry of grace that flows from him, into us, and then through us into the lives of others. We can take no credit. All we have is a gift from him, and he gives us what we have to be used in service to others. God is so shareful! He is so generous! Rather than just doing the work unilaterally—which he surely could do (!) since he is both sovereign and self-sufficient—he devises a plan by which he intends that some of the work be done in and through others, by calling and equipping and using them. We have absolutely no basis for boasting, either before God or others. Human pride is utterly shattered; it is devasted, when we understand in the depths of our souls the infinite and intrinsic fullness that is God's alone for all eternity. It not only is not about us; it is not of us, or from us, or because of us! All that we are—every quality that we possess; all that we have&mdahs;every good and worthwhile characteristic; and all that we can do&mdahs;every ability, both in its kind and in its degree—all are gifts to us from God. We simply cannot rightfully take credit for anything we ever are or ever do.

4. Why does God call us to pray?

Does God benefit from our prayers? Does he learn new things? Think of it, in Matthew 6, in light of Jesus telling us not to worry since the Father already knows what we need, you might think that he'd teach regarding prayer, "don't bother." But God invented prayer as a tool, a mechanism, for drawing us close to him, in sensed dependency, trust, hope, faith, love, longing, anticipation. It is for relationship—for our relationship with him!

5. Why does he require our worship?

a. It is our highest duty to worship God alone, for in him alone is the fullness of infinite perfection and the authority of absolute sovereignty. Hence, Isaiah 42:8; 1 Corinthians 10:31.

b. It is our greatest delight to worship God alone, for from him alone do we receive the fullness of everlasting joy and satisfaction. Hence, Isaiah 55:1-3; John 15:11.

c. It is our ultimate destiny to worship God alone, for to him alone are we drawn to know the intimacy of his glorious presence. Hence, Isaiah 11:9; John 17:24.

V. Conclusion

Dr. Ware summed up the application this way: Live your days going after, seeking, pursuing, praying for, studying for all that God longs to bring to you, as your heart is drawn to Him with an attitude of loving, willing reception of all that He has to give us. The revelation of Christ poured into our lives.

Amen! The grace of God is good, and we should be thankful to Him every moment of every day. (Those are my words.) Dr. Neufeld finished off with a closing prayer.