Sovereignty and Urgency

As finite creatures made by an infinite Creator, paradoxes are something we have to come to grips with. Being an infinite God means you do things…differently. In what way? I have no idea. Being finite excludes the possibility that I can understand what it is like to be infinite. It is like asking a Dixie cup what it feels like to hold the ocean. Therefore, we are told to live in ways that accord with an infinite God, but do not accord with who we are as finite creature. This is what it is to be in a relationship with such a great God. We are simply going to have to get used to it.

There are two examples where these paradoxes can be both seen and felt quite acutely. In them we will see how urgency is shaped and controlled by sovereignty. Though a paradox is always going to feel awkward, seeing them as the infinite and the finite brought together might be enough to help us along.

Sovereignty and the urgency of Christ’s coming

Jesus was emphatically clear when speaking of His return; it is imminent so be ready. What is so fascinating is how Jesus taught about His imminent coming. He used 5 parables, each one teaching us a different way to respond to imminence. In Mark 13:33 slaves are given jobs to work on while they remain alert. In Matt 24:43 the picture is of a thief who breaks in unannounced. In Matt 24:45 the parable speaks of reward for the slave faithfully working and punishment for the slave who thinks the delay is a chance to get drunk. In Matt 25:1-13 ten virgins are ready with lamps, but 5 are foolish by not expecting such a long delay and they run out of oil. The last parable in Matt. 25:14-27 tells of a slave who is punished because he didn’t invest his talent responsibly while he had time.

If you roll those parables into one big ball of teaching, you basically have a paradox. You are to remain alert as if he could come in the next moment, yet you are to invest and prepare as if he could come at the end of your life. This is the interplay between the infinite and the finite, between God’s total knowledge and our dependent knowledge. God has sovereignly set a day of his coming, yet He has sovereignly not told us when it is. But he has told us how to live accordingly. He teaches us to live with a unique kind of urgency. On the one hand, we are to live frugally and circumspectly, being generous and holy and full of anticipation for his coming. But on the other hand we are to work hard at a regular job, save for retirement, make plans for the future, and take investment risks that will only pay returns in the future. These seem contradictory, which is exactly what a paradox is.

So you can’t quit your job to live on a mountain with your eye on the sky, but you also can’t horde all your money with no thought of Jesus’ coming. We must be shaped by his any-moment-coming, and we must be shaped by a possible long delay. He is sovereign in this ordering and our urgency is shaped by His sovereign choice.

Sovereignty and the urgency of evangelism

The second area of paradox is how we do evangelism. A commission rests upon every Christian to make disciples and to teach them God’s word. The urgency of this commission is created by two compelling realities. First, 10 out of 10 people die. Every day approximately 150,000 people will step into eternity, many of them into God’s wrath in hell. Second, if death doesn’t get you, Jesus’ coming will. We noted above that this could happen any moment. The harvest is coming when Jesus will send out His angels to gather up the elect and to cast all rebels into the lake of fire.

If you cannot feel the urgency for lost souls, you very probably are not even saved. Such a cold heart does not have the love of God abiding in it, as is the mark of every Christian. But if you do feel the urgency, then what is that urgency moving you to do? Urgency means action. If you start to look at this myopically, with nothing else in view, extreme things can happen. Why not start running through hospitals with a megaphone for those people about to slip into hell? How about midnight doorknocking for lost souls lying awake with fears of death? All of that money you saved for Christmas could be used for gospel tracts and bibles. Why have a bumper sticker when your whole car could be covered with a gospel message? Ever heard of the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile? Why not a Jesus-fish-mobile.

The reason most people don’t do these things is because they care about respectability more than the souls of people. This is not necessarily a good reason. Respectability is not always a noble goal. We need a sound biblical reason for not do the above. I believe there is a sound biblical reason, and it is the paradox of sovereignty and urgency.

The sovereignty of God in scripture teaches us that God has elected people unto salvation. Election and predestination are clear biblical concepts. John chapter 6 is particularly clear concerning the necessary work of the Father drawing people to Christ. Verse 37, “All that the Father gives to me will come to me…” Verse 44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me drawn him…” Verse 45, “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father, comes to me.” Verse 65, “that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father.”

This sovereign reality shapes the urgency we have in evangelism. God does the effectual work, we do the secondary work. We are called to go and sacrifice and suffer and to “become all things to all men, so that by all means I might save some.” (1 Cor. 9:22) But because God is the one who does the saving, we don’t have to lean toward the unbalanced and absurd. We are urgent without becoming frenetic. We respond to the press of eternity without losing patience and wisdom. There is a fine line here. Some will consider selling everything and becoming a missionary absurd. Yet, we find instances of this in Scripture. And that is the best test. Does Biblical precedent and application give warrant to our evangelism methods? We read of preachers on street corners, but we don’t read of banging on houses at every hour of the day and night. We read of setting up churches in strategic metropolitan centers, but we don’t read of spending massive amounts of money to save one soul.

With these two examples of end times living and evangelism, we see that urgency is necessary. Yet, it is shaped and tempered by sovereignty. God determines how our urgency is to look because He is sovereignly ruling over each situation in ways we can’t see. This means not every urgent action is legitimate. So let us be fervent, zealous, and urgent in ways that show we are resting and trusting in a sovereign God.