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Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
From the sermon series: The Mystery of God’s Sovereign Grace
Text: Esther 4:14
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
August 23, 1987
Transcription of the spoken sermon
…if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise…from
another quarter, but…who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom
for such a time as this? Esther 4:14
To have a sense that one's life is caught up in a larger purpose, a drama of cosmic
proportion and eternal significance must be one of life's greatest gifts. To have a
sense that one's life makes a difference, has a meaning and purpose, is to be
energized, to be fulfilled, to find happiness. To have a sense that one's life plays a
role in the gracious purpose of God must be the ultimate satisfaction. It is a
source of peace and wellbeing; it conveys a sense of worth and value, enabling
one to live with self-esteem and confidence.
God's purpose is not accessible to human reason. It may even sound
presumptuous to speak of finding our destiny in God's gracious purpose. Yet, the
Scriptures are replete with stories of those who had a sense that God had a
mission for them to execute through which He would effect His purposes. God
does reveal Himself; He does move in and through the structures of history and
the circumstances of our lives as He moves the created order toward the
realization of His purposes.
To believe that is an act of trust. It is trust in God, in God's sovereign, gracious
purpose. It is trust in the midst of conflicting evidence and ambiguity. It is trust
in the face of mystery. But it is trust which confirms itself in the assurance
worked in the hearts of God's children by God's Spirit.
Biblical faith affirms that God is active in history, that history will be brought
finally to the goal God has established and that God will realize that goal through
the free and responsible agency of those who make themselves available to be the
instruments of His purpose. That is saying a great deal; it is a statement of faith trust in the providence of God.
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
That providence is not self-evident; it is not easy to trace; it can never be verified
with anything like scientific proof. Providence operates in a provisional and guilty
world, a world full of capricious events which we call chance and full of
determinism, which we call fate. The purpose of God will be effected through the
agency of free and responsible persons who can say "no" as well as "yes" to God's
purpose; He will not crush nor coerce. Still, our faith affirms, He will accomplish
His purpose -a purpose of salvation - working all things together for our good.
That is our confidence. In all of life's circumstances, in light and shadow, in
success and failure, in heights and depths, we are securely in the hand of God
and, whether the way is plain or full of confusion, we trust God's sovereign grace
to accomplish His goal; even more, as we open our lives to God we have a sense of
destiny, of being a partner in the great drama of redemption.
There has been so much argument and debate, so much confusion and conflict
over the question of the will and purpose of God and finding God's will for one's
life that it may seem futile to try once more to discern that purpose and discover
one's destiny. Yet we do so not to engage in speculation, not to play theological
games. Our purpose is rather to gain that sense of being in the will of God, of
finding our destiny in His gracious purpose.
A story is better than philosophical discourse and the Bible is full of narratives
from which we gain insight into the trust that has characterized the People of
God. Such a story is the Old Testament book of Esther. It was probably the most
contested book to enter the Old Testament canon. It has always had its
detractors, even among Jewish scholars. Martin Luther disliked it intensely. It
has been much debated but finally it is part of the Jewish canon, part of our Old
Testament and it witnesses to the theme of our present series, affirming in a
powerful way faith in God's sovereign gracious purpose at work in the arena of
human history.
The story probably has an historical core, although it is probably also an
adaptation of a Persian story about the origin of a festival – perhaps a Festival of
the New Year. It tells of the origin of the Feast of Purim on the Jewish calendar.
Just as the early Christians adapted pagan feasts, which lie behind our Christmas
and Easter festivals, but filled them with Christian meaning, so the Jews in the
story of Esther gave a "historical" setting for the origin of the Feast of Purim.
The story itself is full of drama and intrigue. Carey A. Moore gives a concise
resumé of the story in The Anchor Bible Commentary on Esther. He writes,
Before going further, we should summarize the story which has raised so
much controversy.
One day, during one of his lavish drinking parties, King Xerxes was feeling
high and ordered Queen Vashti to appear before his guests, so that he
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
might show off her much rumored beauty. When she refused, the king
deposed her immediately (ch. i). Later he launched a large-scale search
throughout the kingdom to find someone suitable to replace her. Among
the many attractive candidates taken to his bed - but only after a year of
extensive beauty preparations - was the Jewess Esther, the niece and
adopted daughter of Mordecai the Jew. A beautiful and shapely girl,
Esther was quite popular among all who knew her at the palace, and not
surprisingly, the king chose her as his queen.
Some time after this Mordecai learned about a court intrigue against the
king; he told Esther, who in turn warned the king in Mordecai's name but
without revealing that she herself was a Jewess. As it turned out,
Moedecai's good deed was officially recorded although he was not
rewarded at the time (ch. ii). Later on, Mordecai refused to bow down to
the king's prime minister, Hainan, because he was an Amalekite and thus
the mortal enemy of all Jews. In revenge for this disrespect, Haman
persuaded the king to approve a pogrom against the people who were the
principal obstacle to the.success of all his plans for the empire. These
"enemies" were, of course, the Jews. Nevertheless, Haman succeeded in
getting the pogrom accepted without identifying them by name. Thus an
edict was sent throughout the empire, declaring that on the thirteenth day
of the month of Adar, all Jews, including women and children, were to be
wiped out and their possessions plundered. Dictated by Haman but
written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet, the edict was
irrevocable (ch. iii).
As soon as Mordecai heard about the edict, he ordered Esther to intercede
for her people. Reluctant to approach the king unsummoned, for fear of
being summarily executed, Esther was finally persuaded by Mordecai to
take the risk. To improve her chances of success, she insisted that all the
Jews in Susa, herself included, observe a strenuous three-day fast, after
which she would appear, unsummoned, before the king in her most
fetching attire (ch. iv).
When Esther approached the throne three days later, the king received her
most cordially, assuring her that her request would be granted no matter
what it was. But instead of interceding for her people then and there,
Esther invited the king and Haman, her greatest enemy, to dinner. At that
time the king repeated his sweeping promise to grant her almost any
request, but she asked only that the king and Haman come again for
dinner the next day; then, she assured him, she would ask her favor.
Haman, of course, went away jubilant, flattered that only he had been
invited to the queen's dinner with the king. The taste of victory and joy
turned to ashes in his mouth, however, when he noticed Mordecai sitting
at the gate, acting as if nothing had happened to him or his people, and
still refusing to bow down! Haman controlled himself until he got home,
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
where. after boasting to his wife Zeresh and friends of all his
accomplishments and honors, he admitted to being robbed of any joy and
self-respect by Mordecai's continuing contempt for him. When someone
suggested he ask the king's permission to hang Mordecai, the idea struck
him as perfect; and he ordered a seventy-five-foot gallows constructed
outside his home (ch. v).
That night, when the king could not sleep, he had his journal read aloud.
In this way he was reminded of how Mordecai had saved his life by
uncovering the assassination plot against him. Embarrassed to realize that
Mordecai had never been rewarded, the king determined to remedy the
matter right away and, on learning that his prime minister was waiting in
the outer court, asked that he come in. Without indicating the particular
person he had in mind, the king asked Haman what should be done for
someone he especially wanted to honor. Unable to recognize anyone's
merits but his own, Haman assumed that the king wanted to honor him;
he therefore advised that a royal robe and horse be given to that man, and
that a high-ranking official of the court go before him throughout the city,
crying, "This is what is done for the man whom the king especially wants
to honor!" One can imagine Haman's surprise and dismay on learning that
Mordecai was the man to be so honored and that he, Haman, would be the
high-ranking official to wait on Mordecai and walk before him. Returning
to his home mortified and seeking solace, Haman was cautioned by his
wife and friends that if Mordecai really was Jewish, then Haman would
never get the better of him (ch. vi).
If Haman left home for the queen's party hoping to forget his humiliating
experience and have his ego bolstered, he was rudely disappointed. During
the party the king reaffirmed, for the third time in two days, that he would
grant Esther virtually any request. Realizing that it was now or never,
Esther asked that she and her people be saved from destruction, arguing
that she would not have bothered the king if they were only to be made
slaves. When the king demanded that she identify her enemy, she pointed
to Haman as the one who had abused his position of power and the king's
friendship. So surprised and incensed was the king that he bolted from the
room. Haman, left behind, begged Esther to intercede with the king on his
behalf. As Haman begged Esther for his life, and possibly even touched her
as she lay upon her dinner couch, the king returned. For this serious
violation of decency and harem etiquette Haman was sentenced to death
on the spot. When Harbonah, one of the eunuchs attending the king,
informed him that Haman had constructed a gallows for Mordecai, the
king ordered Haman to be hanged on it himself (ch. vii).
As compensation for Esther's suffering, the king awarded her Haman's
estate, which she, in turn, gave to Mordecai; the king also appointed
Mordecai Haman's successor. Unable to revoke Haman's letter instituting
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
the pogrom against the Jews on the thirteenth of Adar, the king did the
next best thing: he granted Mordecai full authority to compose a letter, in
the king's name and sealed with the king's signet, granting Jews the right
to defend themselves that day and, more importantly, encouraging all
public officials to aid them. Mordecai hoped that this letter, copies of
which were sent throughout the empire, might counteract the potential
evil of Haman's letter; but although the letter may have had its intended
effect on many, it did not deter all (ch. viii).
When the thirteenth of Adar arrived, the enemies of the Jews were still so
numerous that the Jews that day killed five hundred men in Susa and
seventy-five thousand elsewhere. But although granted specific permission
to plunder, the Jews did not do so. Throughout the empire they celebrated
their victory on the fourteenth of Adar with feasting and the exchanging of
gifts, but their enemies were still sufficiently strong in Susa for Esther to
request permission to fight there the next day as well, and to expose the
corpses of Haman's ten sons killed the day before. Permission was
granted, and so the Jews in Susa fought also on the fourteenth, killing
three hundred people but not taking any plunder. Thus they celebrated
their victory on the fifteenth of Adar, instead of on the fourteenth with the
rest of the Jews throughout the empire (ix 1-19).
Mordecai kept a record of these things, and later wrote to all the Jews,
commanding them to continue to observe Purim on the fourteenth and
fifteenth of Adar (the holiday being named after the pur, or "lots," which
Haman had cast to determine the propitious day for the pogrom) as the
days of salvation and deliverance, and to observe them with feasting and
gladness. Later on, to re-enforce Mordecai’s command, Esther used her
authority as queen and as the people's heroine to write a letter to the Jews
throughout the empire, encouraging them to observe forever both days of
Purim (ix, 20-32). With Mordecai as his prime minister, the king's
fortunes and programs prospered; Mordecai himself grew in power and
influence among the Persians and in the affections of the Jews (ch. x).
Esther, like Ecclesiastes that provided our text for the first message in this series,
is an Old Testament Wisdom book; it is probably neither pure fiction nor pure
fact. It may be characterized as an historical novel. It has more in it of
nationalistic passion than religious devotion; yet it witnesses to a profoundly held
conviction which has always characterized the faith of Israel and thus of the
Christian Church - namely - God is working His purpose out in the history of the
world and He uses persons open to His call to be the instruments of His
purposes. Esther found her destiny in the gracious purposes of God to rescue His
people.
This conviction is rooted in faith in God's sovereign gracious purpose to redeem
the world. We can use the term predestination - God is a God of covenant. He
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
wills to be the God of us human persons and He created us to live in covenant
community with Him. This is His predestinating will. That term scares us. It has
been terribly abused, entangled with speculative philosophical notions that have
made God too often a monster and the human person a puppet. Yet, rightly
understood, predestination is the source of our confidence and our peace. God is
for us - God will redeem the world, renew the whole cosmic order, gather His
children, rebellious, guilty, anxious and untrusting though they be, to Himself
and we shall dwell in the brightness of God's eternal kingdom. Predestination
simply points to God's decision, God's intention that precedes everything.
Predestination speaks of pre-decision, not pre-determination, as though
everything is mapped out and set in ironclad mechanical fashion ahead of time.
Everything that happens is not pre-determined. Everything that happens is not
the will of God.
God deals with us in a gracious personal relationship. God created us in His
image endowing us with freedom and responsibility. He invites us to join in the
movement of His Kingdom and the adventure of realizing the world's salvation,
but God is not a divine bulldozer cutting a swath through all cosmic, historical
and human obstacles; God is not a divine steamroller crushing and squashing all
in His path. God invites cooperation, but tolerates opposition. And yet, and here
is the mystery, His children who have come to trust Him live in the confidence
that finally His purposes of love, of sovereign grace will be realized.
All of this is evident in the words of Mordecai to Esther:
…deliverance for the Jews will appear…
The question in Mordecai's mind was not whether God would come to the aid of
His people; it was only when and where and by whom. Mordecai confronted
Esther in a calm and deliberate manner. He was confident under pressure.
Disaster loomed in the near future; yet there is no panic; he is not biting his
fingernails. He simply sets forth the situation inviting Esther to act, to put herself
at God's disposal for the salvation of His people. Mordecai is not paralyzed by
fear or overcome with anxiety.
Nor is Mordecai a superficial optimist who simply whistles in the dark, hoping
the evil will be denied by a cheery, if hollow exterior. The crisis is real; the
situation is serious; tragedy may well be the outcome. His word to Esther is that if
she keeps silence she need not think that her privileged position as Queen will
secure her safety; she will be exposed to the same suffering and possible death as
are all of her people. Faith in God's redemptive purpose, confidence in God's
sovereign grace does not mean insulation from the suffering and tragedy of
human existence. There is no safe island free from the ravages of human sin and
the scourge of evil. Is it not paradoxical that precisely the Jewish people who have
suffered so tragically throughout the centuries are the people who give to the
world this faith in the God of history Whose sovereign grace will prevail?
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
In Fiddler On The Roof, the closing scene silhouettes the villagers of Anotevka
and their wagons piled with their worldly possessions, leaving the village, on the
road again seeking some safe oasis in a world that has visited pogroms and
persecution on them, driving them from place to place but seldom giving them
rest for long.
Mordecai is no superficial observer of human existence. He knows he may die. He
knows Esther may die. He knows his generation may be wiped out from the
Persian empire. But he knows something more. God will not die, nor will His
purposes finally be defeated - finally, "deliverance will appear."
And then this, too, is so vividly illustrated in the story: God's sovereign grace
operates, not apart from but precisely through the human agency of His people.
This is the challenge Mordecai puts to Esther:
Who knows whether it is not for such a time as this you have come to
royal estate?
Who knows, Esther, but that your rise to position in the Kingdom might not have
been for just such a moment. In the Greek translation of the Esther story, the
word for time is not chronos, ordinary time, the succession of moments and
minutes and hours and days - the word from which we get chronology. Rather,
the word is translated Kairos - the moment weighted with eternal significance,
the opportune time. The critical moment, the moment which will shape and
determine all succeeding moments of chronological time. The Kairos moment is
the moment in history in which is unleashed the sovereign, gracious power of
God which moves history along toward the goal of God's determining. It is a
"hinge time" on which swings the future. It is the moment of great opportunity
for those who would put themselves at God's disposal to be the instruments of
His purpose.
It may be missed.
Jerusalem missed it and Jesus wept over the city, crying,
If only you had known, on this great day, the way that leads to peace!
But no; it is hidden from your sight…because you did not recognize God’s
moment when it came.
But it may be captured and one may sense that one's life, one's destiny is caught
up in the gracious purpose of God to bring salvation to the world.
Such a view of human existence, historical reality and the sovereign purpose of
God is far removed from a pagan fatalistic view of things. God is not playing chess
with us, moving us about on the board of history. There is genuine human
involvement, sometimes yielding to His gracious will, sometimes resisting His
© Grand Valley State University
�Finding Our Destiny in God’s Gracious Purpose
Richard A. Rhem
Page 8
sovereign purpose. But through it all – and again – this is the mystery – God is
working His purposes out. He has contingency plans.
Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, “Say not we are the children of
Abraham” as though only through them could God's purpose come about, for,
Jesus said, “God can raise up of these stones children to Abraham.”
God will not coerce us. But our stubborn rebellion will never paint God into a
corner.
All does not depend on us; that would be too heavy.
But God will use us if we are willing, and to be caught up in God's great
movement to bring about His kingdom is to find life's highest and best; it is to be
finally satisfied, fulfilled, happy with a joy that will never fade but only grow
through the eons of eternity as we live in the brightness of His eternal presence.
Esther made her choice; she captured the moment; she was used of God as an
instrument of salvation for God's people. She took the risk, saying, "If I perish, I
perish." In total commitment to the purpose of God, she found her destiny.
There is no higher privilege or richer gift.
Reference:
Carey A. Moore, Esther (The Anchor Bible Commentaries). Doubleday, 1971.
© Grand Valley State University
�
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Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
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Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
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Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Interfaith worship
Sermons
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Rhem, Richard A.
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
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Pentecost XII
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The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace
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Esther 4:14
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Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
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Carey A. Moore, Esther (Anchor Bible Commentaries), 1971.
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1987-08-23
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Finding Our Destiny in God's Gracious Purpose
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Richard A. Rhem
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Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
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A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 23, 1987 entitled "Finding Our Destiny in God's Gracious Purpose", as part of the series "The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost XII, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Esther 4:14.
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Divine Intention
Hebrew Scriptures
Nature of God
Providence of God
Salvation
Sovereign Grace
Wisdom Literature
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Text
No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
(A Believing Agnostic’s View)
From the sermon series: The Mystery of God’s Sovereign Grace
Text: Ecclesiastes 3: 11, 19
Richard A. Rhem
Christ Community Church
Spring Lake, Michigan
August 16, 1987
Transcription of the spoken sermon
He has made everything beautiful in its time; also he has put eternity into man’s
mind, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to
the end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 ,RSV
For man is a creature of chance and the beasts are creatures of chance, and one
mischance awaits them all: death comes to both alike. Ecclesiastes 3:19, NEB
I begin today a series of messages that will focus on God's purpose in human
history, thus, God's purpose in human life. I entitle the series, "The Mystery of
God's Sovereign Grace," with deliberate intention. I use the word "mystery"
because the truth of God's purpose is not accessible to unaided human reason.
Great minds have speculated and reflected on the purpose of God; volumes have
been written and endless debate has been engaged in. Yet, God's purpose cannot
be discovered by human reason.
Still, the purpose of God is critically important to us all and we all know those
significant junctures in our lives when we have cried out in frustration, "If only I
knew what God's purpose is!" And the Bible says much about the will of God and
God's purpose, but its truth is available only to those who trust that word, those
to whom the Spirit of God addresses the Word.
Mystery as I use it does not deny the possibility of knowing the purpose of God
and acting within it; it only denies that human reason can master that reality by
its own effort.
I use the word “Sovereign.” Sovereign means in its adjectival usage, "standing out
above others, excelling in some respect, supreme, paramount, principal, greatest
or most notable." Sovereignty means “supremacy, pre-eminence in respect to
excellence or in respect to power, authority and rule.”
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 2
Especially the Reformed tradition has been noted for its stress on the Sovereignty
of God – a characterization that has sometimes become a caricature. I do not
speak of the sovereignty of God, although I do not deny it, but, rather, I speak of
the sovereignty of grace; that word, too, is of critical importance as we discuss
the will and purpose of God, because we are speaking not of an absolute Who, by
the use of raw power effects His purposes, but of a God Who exercises His power
in gracious, personal relationship.
God's purpose and will is a mystery; it can be discerned only by revelation,
received by faith. God's purposes will be effected; God is God. God's purposes will
be effected graciously; God's dealing with us is personal, respecting our
personality.
One can trace the debate that has raged over the centuries on the relationship of
God's will and human will. It is an old theological question and in the terms in
which it has been debated, it can never be solved. Theologians on both sides of
the issue have refused to leave it where we begin – in mystery. Rather, the
mystery has been dissolved one way or the other, either by referring everything to
the will of God and reducing the human person to the status of powerlessness, or
by asserting human freedom at the expense of God's sovereign rule. The debate
always ends unsatisfactorily because the two parties are viewed in such a way that
what is gained by one is at the expense of the other.
The whole dogmatic edifice has been challenged in the last three centuries. If we
begin with the Enlightenment, which revolutionized the thinking of the continent
in the 18th century, then we can see how the question has been handled to the
present time with a radical shift from the older understanding of the will of God.
The older orthodoxy was clearly on the side of God's sovereignty. John Oman
writes,
A doctrine both of God and of man of the utmost simplicity and
definiteness was possible on the old dogmatic basis. God was the absolute
and direct might and all He did without error or failure; and man was the
creature of His hand, directly fashioned and needing nothing for his
making but the word of power. Then to deal with the Omniscient was to
have infallible truth, to deal with the Supreme to have absolute legislation,
to deal with the Omnipotent to have irresistible succour. Faith was
acceptance of infallible truth, justification coming to terms with absolute
legislation, regeneration the inpouring of efficacious grace; and the whole
dogmatic edifice stood solid and foursquare. (Grace and Personality, p.
19)
Oman continues,
So long as God's only adequate dealing with man is thought to be by the
might of omnipotence directed in an unswerving line by omniscience, we
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 3
shall be apt to regard the underpinning of the old foundation, at all costs
to facts, as a work of piety;...
But that conception of God's way of working is precisely the assumption
which needs to be challenged.
First, we shall never inquire humbly into the actual way of God's dealing
with His children, if we commence by laying down regulations for it a
priori.
Second, the regulations are much more determined by the idea of how an
absolute force would act than by any notion of God as Father.
Third, either the sphere of direct operation of omnipotence and
omniscience is so restricted to special experience of special persons that
religion ends where our bitterest need of God begins, or, failing that
restriction, is so extended in indifference to good and evil, that God is only
another name for the cosmic process.
Fourth, could we succeed in restricting its sphere to matters of revelation
and personal salvation, we should still be left with the unanswerable
question, why, if this is His only adequate method, the Almighty should
employ the inferior which admits error and follow so extensively, possibly
so exclusively? (p. 24F)
Using a beautiful image, Oman suggests that we have misconceived God's
manner of working with us, His children. Rather than Omnipotence directed by
Omniscience, God deals with us in a gracious personal relationship which takes
seriously the freedom and responsibility with which He endowed us. He writes,
God does not conduct His rivers like arrows, to the sea. The ruler and
compass are only for finite mortals who labour, by taking thought to
overcome their limitation, and are not for the Infinite mind. The
expedition demanded by man's small power and short day produces the
canal, but nature, with a beneficient and picturesque circumambulancy,
the work of a more spacious and less precipitate mind, produces the river.
Why should we assume that, in all the rest of His ways, He rejoices in the
river, but in religion, can use no adequate method save the canal? The
defense of the infallible is the defense of the canal against the river, of the
channel blasted through the rock against the basin dug by an element
which swerves at a pebble or a firmer clay.
Then Oman asks the crucial question:
And the question is whether God ever does override the human spirit in
that direct way, and whether we ought to conceive either of His spirit or of
ours after a fashion that could make it possible. Would such irresistible
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 4
might as would save us from all error and compel us into right action be in
accord either with God's personality or with ours? (p. 25F)
Again, he declares:
All infallibilities presuppose an idea of grace mechanically irresistible. But
a direct force controlling persons as things is no personal relation between
God and man ... (p. 26)
Oman rejects such a mechanically conceived notion of Grace and an idea of God
"that poses Him as omnipotence directed by omniscience, thereby overriding the
personality of the human person. Rather, he affirms that God and the creature He
has fashioned in His own image are bound in a gracious personal relationship.
The old argument always started from the wrong conception of the relationship
of God and His child.
The illuminating fact which makes us persons and not things, is that we
are nothing except what we receive, yet we can receive nothing to profit
except as our own ... (p. 33)
Oman will join an absolute moral independence and an absolute religious
dependence. They are not opposites, but necessarily one and indivisible.
This is the theme we will be focusing upon as we hear the biblical witness from
the Old Testament. We will begin with a rather familiar passage from a rather
obscure Old Testament book, the Book of Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes is a somewhat obscure Old Testament writing. We do not know the
author and we cannot fully endorse every claim made in these chapters. The
writer was a bit of a cynic and he really has no grasp of the grace of God, although
he is a keen analyzer of the human condition. I remember my professor of
preaching warning us to beware of the uninspired sayings of inspired persons. By
that he was pointing out that not every expression from the lips of biblical
characters represents God's truth. Ecclesiastes is a fascinating piece, but it is not
the Gospel.
Ecclesiastes was not soon nor easily accepted into the Jewish canon of scripture.
Tradition points to Solomon as the author, but this is doubtful. Yet the
connection with his name probably helped gain it acceptance into the canon. The
writing ends commending belief in God, obedience to His commandments and
the reality of judgment. But throughout it is a vivid picture of the vanity or
emptiness of human existence. Judaism reads this work on the fourth day of the
Feast of Tabernacles, perhaps on this day of joyous festival, to remind people that
life and its joys are fleeting and everything has its season. This work reminds us
that to whatever heights of hope and faith the soul may rise, the fact remains, as
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 5
the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, that "here have we no
continuing city." (Hebrews 13:14)
There is an attractiveness about this Old Testament writing for, while it does not
share the secret of God's grace as we know it in Jesus and the hope that we have
in light of the resurrection, nevertheless there is a kind of clarity of thought,
honesty of observation and integrity of mind which we cannot help but admire.
His straightforward acknowledgement of the tragic dimension of life is a healthy
corrective to shallow optimism and. superficial piety which is at root a denial of
reality and thus basically unhealthy and unhelpful.
The writer of this book had no doubt about the existence of God, or about His
sovereign sway, but he found no comfort in it. God was in control but the human
creature had no knowledge as to what He was doing or where things would end.
The writer cannot always be believed; he was an agnostic - a person who simply
doesn't know. He never takes a position or makes a commitment because he is
never certain of anything.
Still, he is a "believing agnostic;" he believes in God's power, rule and control, but
it's all an enigma to him. To be an agnostic is not very satisfying, but it's not
terribly irritating, either. But to be a believing agnostic is to be not satisfied and
constantly agitated. To be a believing agnostic is to believe too much to let it rest,
and not enough to get anything out of it. To be a believing agnostic is one who
surveys life, finds no clue as to its meaning, no sense of its direction, no feeling of
grace, no succour, no sustaining or everlasting arm underneath, no kind of peace
that the Eternal God is one's refuge, but still with kind of a haunting feeling that
God is and God's in charge and God's about something, and God will make it
happen, but God only knows what.
Now, the writer to the Ecclesiastes is really quite a person. Really, I like him. He
is so honest. And when is the last time you ever found any honesty in the Church?
The nice thing about the writer to the Ecclesiastes is that he has intellectual
integrity. He dares raise the tough questions. He believes that God is and God will
get on by Himself all right, without him defending Him, but in the meantime, he's
got some real tough questions before the Almighty. He says, in effect, "You know,
I believe You are, but if You're so smart and so powerful, how come life is such a
mess?" The writer had a candor about him and integrity about him that pious
church people too often lack.
We mask things over; we rationalize on behalf of God; we make excuses for God.
When life is lousy, we don't dare say, “Life is lousy! Where in the world are You?”
With the writer to the Ecclesiastes, it comes right out. He says sorrow and joy,
tears and laughter, building up, tearing down - all of those marvelous things that
he lists in the first eight verses which are so familiar and so popular that people
ask them to be read at funerals and at weddings. The poetry is great. But, what is
the issue of it all? He says, "God has put eternity in my heart - just enough so that
I know there's something going on. But it beats me what it is."
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 6
He observes life and he says there really ought to be some connection between
good conduct and proper reward. If you're a good guy, things ought to come out
right, and if you're a bad guy, things ought to come out badly. But, he says, "Not
the way I see it. I see good guys with bad things happening to them, and I see bad
guys winning the Lotto Jackpot. From what I can observe in human experience,
things don't come out right. Faithfulness and loyalty and steadiness and hard
work and honesty and integrity and all of those good things you preach saying
that things will work out nice - not the way I see it." And he said, "I don't know. I
can't really see a lot of advantage of being human rather than a beast. And who
knows if the human spirit goes up and the spirit of the beast goes down?"
Now, you can read the whole book and you will find a few more positive
statements sprinkled throughout, but by and large the conclusion of this writer is
that all is vanity. He had no doubt about it - God is and God's at work and God's
got a plan and God's got a program - no doubt about it, but no comfort in it,
because as far as he's concerned, it escapes him totally.
Well, for him, there is a mystery of sovereignty, but no grace. I like him. I like his
honesty, and his insight into the human situation is a lot more honest than one
generally hears from the pulpit. But, I'm afraid that his observation has left him
not just patient with the rhythm of life, but caught in the web of fatalism which
has left him weary, living on the edge of cynicism, draining him of energy, leaving
him depressed.
That is where an awful lot of us are an awful lot of the time. I think there is a
whole pack of religion in the land that could be characterized as "No doubt about
it, but no comfort in it." There is a lot of our religion that is just going through
forms, an automatic response, a sense of obligation and duty - the feeling that
maybe there's something in it and if there isn't nothing lost. It probably won't
hurt. There is an awful lot of religion that could be characterized as not a doubtful
kind of response, but certainly a comfortless kind of issue where God is maybe
the center of the great machine, maybe a life force. Perhaps one could simply
resign one's self to whatever will be, as the stoic. "Grin and bear it." A kind of
noble resignation to the inevitable. But, as far as figuring it out is concerned, it's
arbitrary, capricious, chance, no kind of rationale, no movement, no direction, no
discernible goal.
God? Yes. Mr. Gallup comes and says, "Do you believe in God?" "Yes." What?
95%? Maybe 98%. There aren't many good, red-blooded atheists in the world.
Must be something. Takes a lot of faith to believe there's no God, or something
like that!
Now, that's a dismal way to live. Some supreme power putting me on the pan,
testing me to see what's in me. No, thanks. What a dismal kind of Sovereign this
is. Totally lacking in any great, any redemptive purpose, any loving embrace. It's
a biblical witness, though. Ecclesiastes had a hard time getting in the canon, but
© Grand Valley State University
�No Doubt About It; No Comfort In It
Richard A. Rhem
Page 7
it got there. It's there, and there are a lot of us there, too, if we would be honest
enough to admit it and to write it down like this writer did.
Well, obviously, I can't leave it there. But, neither do I want to leave there too
quickly. I can't send you out into the rain that dismally, but I don't want to take
you out of it too quickly until you have felt the question, until you have honestly
asked yourself, "Does that characterize my religious experience - no doubt about
it, but no comfort in it?"
How differently one like the Apostle Paul experienced the whole gamut of the
human situation. He said, "I've learned how to be abased; I've learned how to
abound; I've learned to be content in the whole human situation, with all of its
ups and downs." So he shared with the Church at Philippi. That was in the wake
of looking into the face of the ascended, reigning Christ, who had also lived in the
depths of human darkness, but had been raised by the power of God. The same
apostle writing to the Church at Rome said, "I am convinced that nothing can
separate us from the love of God, the God Who works all things together for the
good of those who love Him." Now, we can't stay with Ecclesiastes in the
Christian Church, but it's good for us to hear the questions, to sense his honesty
and his agony and to admit that a lot of the time we're weary too, drained of
energy, paralyzed by a sense of helplessness and hopelessness, having no doubt
about it, but sustaining no comfort in it.
I point you, rather, to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus who
said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father," the light of the knowledge of the
revelation of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That God, Who has been with us in
the depths, is the One Who is persuasively but ever so gently and always
graciously moving us toward the heights. Stay tuned in. Stay with it, because
there's a lot more to come, and there are a lot more stories here that are filled
with light and glory, so that maybe even we might move from having no doubt
about it, but no comfort in it, to the place where we can honestly rest in the Lord.
Let us pray.
God, our Father, we shuffle through life, too often with our shoulders bent and
our eyes on the road. We lack the energy; we live without a dream; we're not
captivated by a vision; our life is gloomy, at best. God, set us free; encounter us.
May there be a rift in the heavens; may a light break through; may a light surprise
us, the surprise of Grace, that will enable us to lean and to rest and to praise
Thee. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Reference:
John Oman. Grace and Personality, 1917.
© Grand Valley State University
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Richard A. Rhem Collection
Description
An account of the resource
Text and sound recordings of the sermons, prayers, services, and articles of Richard Rhem, pastor emeritus of Christ Community Church in Spring Lake, Michigan, where he served for 37 years. Starting in the mid 1980's, Rhem began to question some of the traditional Christian dogma that he had been espousing from the pulpit. That questioning was a first step in a long and interesting spiritual journey, one that he openly shared with his congregation. His journey is important, in part because it is reflective of the questioning, the yearnings, and the gradual revision of beliefs that many persons in this part of the century have experienced and continue to experience. It is important also because of the affirming and inclusive way his questioning was done and his thinking evolved. His sermons and other written and spoken materials together document the steps in his journey as it took a turn in 1985, yet continued to revolve around the framework and liturgies of the Christian calendar.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Religion
Interfaith worship
Sermons
Sound Recordings
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Rhem, Richard A.
Source
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<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/514">Richard A. Rhem papers (KII-01)</a>
Publisher
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Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives.
Contributor
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Kaufman Interfaith Institute
Rights
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<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Language
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English
Type
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Sound
Text
Identifier
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KII-01
Coverage
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1981-2014
Format
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audio/mp3
text/pdf
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Event
Pentecost XI
Series
The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace
Scripture Text
Ecclesiastes 3: 11, 18
Location
The location of the interview
Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI
References
John Oman, Grace and Personality, 1917.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
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KII-01_RA-0-19870816
Date
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1987-08-16
Title
A name given to the resource
No Doubt About It, No Comfort In it (A Believing Agnostic's View)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Richard A. Rhem
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Subject
The topic of the resource
Clergy--Michigan
Reformed Church in America
Christ Community Church (Spring Lake, Mich.)
Sermons
Relation
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Richard A. Rhem - An Archive of Sermons, Prayers, Talks and Stories: http://richardrhem.org/
Language
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eng
Type
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Sound
Text
Format
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audio/mp3
application/pdf
Description
An account of the resource
A sermon given by Richard A. Rhem (Dick) on August 16, 1987 entitled "No Doubt About It, No Comfort In it (A Believing Agnostic's View)", as part of the series "The Mystery of God's Sovereign Grace", on the occasion of Pentecost XI, at Christ Community Church, Spring Lake, MI. Scripture references: Ecclesiastes 3: 11, 18.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Lemmen Library and Archives
Doubt
Faith
Hebrew Scriptures
Mystery
Nature of God
Sovereign Grace