As we loudly proclaimed together on Easter Sunday, the death and resurrection of Jesus is what makes him Lord and King over everything. Paul emphatically makes this point in Philippians 2:10-11: “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Earlier in the chapter, he was confronting our pride, selfishness, and divisiveness. And he doesn’t give us a 5-step plan for conquering selfishness. He doesn’t give us 7 easy steps to get rid of pride. He gives us one thing: Jesus the Lord.
That’s his answer to all the problems we have in life. Recognize Jesus’ sovereignty over everything, including the minute details of our lives.
As Hebrews 2:7-8 says, God has crowned Jesus “with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet. And in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.”
Recognizing Jesus as Lord is what will give us peace, joy, and contentment. But there are some dangers of emphasizing his sovereignty in the wrong way.
In his excellent book Trusting God, Jerry Bridges offers three cautions in this area:
First, we should never use the doctrine as an excuse for our own shortcomings. If you failed to get the promotion you had hoped for, or worse yet, you are fired from your job or fail an important exam, you need to first examine your life to see if perhaps the reason lay in your own performance. Though God rescued Abraham and Sarah from the folly of Abraham’s sin, He had not obligated Himself to do so. God has not promised to work in the heart of another individual just to make up for our shortcomings.
Second, we should not allow the doctrine of God’s sovereignty to cause us to respond passively to the actions of other people that affect us. We should take all reasonable steps within the will of God to protect and advance our situation. I say within the will of God because there maybe other reasons, for the sake of God’s kingdom, why we should not take those steps. But the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, considered by itself, should never be used to promote passivity.
Third, we must never use the doctrine of God’s sovereignty to excuse our own sinful actions or decisions that hurt another person. We must never say, “Well, I made a mistake, but it’s okay because God is sovereign.” God is indeed sovereign in that other person’s life, and He may choose to use our sinful actions to accomplish His will. But He will still hold us accountable for our harmful decisions and sinful actions.
He offers this healthy approach to the Lordship of Christ:
A Scripture passage that can help us keep the doctrine of God’s sovereignty in perspective is Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” We do not know what God’s sovereign will is. We do not know how He will work in the heart of another individual, whether favorably or unfavorably from our viewpoint. That is in the realm of the “secret things” that are not revealed to us. We do know He will work to accomplish His purpose, which is ultimately for our good.