• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Church Leadership Discipleship What are the decrees of God?

What are the decrees of God?

Posted on October 28, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment


Question 7 - The Decrees of GodQuestion 7 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What are the decrees of God?”

The answer given is, “The decrees of God are his eternal plan, based on the purpose of His will, by which, for His own glory, He has foreordained everything that happens.”

Four things jump out at me when I read this question and answer.

First, there is nothing that happens in the world that takes God by surprise. When our first parents rebelled against God by eating the fruit, God had a plan already in place to send Jesus to fix the resulting mess.

Fast forward to 2016. We are nearing a presidential election in the United States. God knows who will win the election and how he will use the resulting government to build the church. I find that I can so easily lose sight of this truth and get caught up in the hysteria surrounding the political climate. Good theology reminds us that God remains in control.

Secondly, knowledge that God is totally in control should not resign us to a passive fatalism. A search using my Bible software counts 563 imperatives in the New Testament epistles. We are called to live in a certain way and our wills are to be engaged in living out those commands. We are not pre-programmed automatons.

Thirdly, what God decrees is for his own glory. From Question 1 of this catechism, we learn that man’s purpose is to glorify God. So when we are participating in the fulfillment of our purpose, we are also fulfilling the purpose of God.

Fourthly, I am encouraged that I cannot mess up God’s plan through weakness or rebellion. I take great comfort in that fact. Because if the plan of God was up to me, it would certainly result in a train wreck. In Matthew 16:18, Jesus said to Peter, “I will build my church.” Jesus is the builder, I am merely a laborer.


Filed Under: Discipleship

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

Glory

What is the source of your glory?

What would the church look like if all of us were more responsive to God and less concerned about what others think of us? Let’s be honest, we care about what other people think.

Mask

Character, darkness and secrets revealed

Character is doing the right thing even when no-one is looking, yet God always sees and eventually the truth will win out. Stay the course and victory is assured.

Angry

A lesson learned from angry atheists

A recent post for bravefaith.org got a response from several angry atheists. I share the lesson I learned from this exchange in this post.

Question 4

What is God?

But Jesus, on many occasions, showed them that they missed the point. Holiness is not attained through rule keeping. Holiness is more about heart and attitude than about external action. Rule keeping cannot change my heart. Legalism always results in failure. That is the bad news.

Unseen Reality

An unseen reality

When I see Jesus, it is less difficult to think that God really cares for me as an individual. When I see Jesus, the unseen reality begins to make itself almost tangible.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2022 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in