Ministry | Old Dilemma

Which old dilemma? Sovereignty, Freedom & the Incarnation

As I continue to assemble the manuscript to my School of Ministry book, I’m not sure that the following 2500 words will find a relevant chapter or subheading. Nevertheless, their contents do seek to question our theological view of God, and call us to a renewed biblical assignment. See what you think.

A doctrine is a set of beliefs, and it comes from the Latin word for teaching. So sound doctrine is the same as sound teaching. On the other hand, theology (literally, words about God) is more of a discipline of study, than a specific area of teaching. Personally, I find Christian theology fascinating. Firstly, biblical theology, how we seek to discover God truths from His inspired words. Historical theology, how others across differing cultures and with varying educational prowess sought to capture God thoughts from their limited Scriptural exegesis and discussions. Nowadays we have contemporary theology, the discipline of ‘doing theology’ around subjects that are not directly (or even indirectly) mentioned within the Bible; perhaps in regards to medical ethics, the use of leisure time, and the theological implications of modern psychology; personhood, self-awareness, sexual identities. Finally (for this article at least), we have the growing discipline of applied theology. It’s been argued that for the past forty or more years most evangelical writings have fallen into this fourth category, as we seek biblical models for worship teams, church planting, leadership development, counselling, deliverance ministry, and children’s spirituality.

So here’s a theological question.

Do you want to live in a world of sovereignty or freedom?

This isn’t the old chestnut of predestination versus personal freewill, it goes far beyond that into the very way we may well be restrained by our worldview. Previous teaching probably placed sovereignty and freedom as the extremes on the same spectrum, whereas in actual fact they are the same thing, it’s just about who has the control. An external force, divinity, government, democracy, law, or in contrast your personal autonomy, where your own freedom is simply your sovereignty over your own life. Though politically there’s a world of difference between living in a totalitarian state and having your own autonomy, the actual paradigm of thinking remains the same; both are worlds governed by a form of sovereignty.

Literal freedom removes that constraint. But take care, all systems and ideologies run the risk of serious dangers. External sovereignty leads to rebellions – the masses become unhappy and restless. History shows this repeatedly, and to quote Pete Townsend of The Who, ‘meet the new boss, same as the old boss.’ Radical change rarely changes our default worldview. The European Reformation of the sixteenth century brought change. It also brought much violence and conflict. Both sides now had their ruthless ‘theology police’ leading to imprisonments and executions. On many levels this new Protestantism was simply Catholicism 2.0, doctrines had changed, but the overall theology had remained the same – a disappointed wrathful God requiring appeasement. God had been deemed sovereign before, and now Luther and Calvin and the rest of the gang declared Him - sovereign too! Or should that be, Sovereign 2.0?    

Yet, be careful in attempting to change sides, for the perception of personal freedom can lead to selfishness and self-harm – if the two are not already the same thing. True freedom, outside of the paradigm of the need for some recognised sovereignty, can lead to broken societies. Just as the pulpit preacher states repeatedly, the freedom we have in Christ, is not the freedom to do anything - that’s anarchy! Our Christ-won freedom is linked to being no longer held captive to the enemy’s schemes and values. Technically, it is a freedom to love God, a freedom to serve others, a freedom to operate within the dynamics of the Kingdom of God – a place of proclamation, reformation and transformation. Which means, we have a message of Good News to share, an ethic to assist and value all in our society, and access to divine power to bring about miraculous change. If that doesn’t excite you, then I don’t know what will?!

A sovereignty paradigm, I suggest, limits, hinders, and even works against the fullness of the capacity of God’s Kingdom agenda. Sovereignty structures create laws, set boundaries, behavioural objectives and the disciplines, punishments and emotional stress such structures inevitably produce. The ‘greater good’ of the Kingdom mission is always secondary to each individual’s personal sanctification. I say, ‘sanctification’, as a recognisable Bible and church word, but sovereignty doesn’t really encourage such a noble pursuit. In most cases, goodness is questioned as some misplaced arrogance, and is stripped away by an emphasis on our inescapable depravity. External sovereignty needs subjects, so freedom is either deliberately denied or illusionary. We engage in projects and programmes that keep us slaves to the controlling power.

Internal sovereignty can be exactly the same! Many of us are very hard on ourselves, and so we set goals and create regimes that lead to stress, failure and disappointment. Do you have a gym membership? And when did you last attend? Are you trying to read through the entire Bible in a year? How’s that going? And if you are successfully disciplined, then how are the three components of the Kingdom (proclamation, reformation and transformation) manifesting in the lives of those around you? Sorry to keep asking annoying questions, but in our sovereignty paradigm we’re sort of used to a life marked out with success and failure. We watch wannabe celebrities on our TVs and have the power through our phones to vote them out. When a keen and disciplined straight ‘A’s student discovers they’re not top of their class at university, they don’t just shrug their shoulders, shed a tear, and refocus, they become mentally ill! They spiral into depression and have bouts of anxiety and panic attacks whenever new course work is set, or an exam is scheduled. I’m a recently retired pastor - I’ve seen it!

Subtle and almost unnoticed sovereignty structures constantly keep us straining for more, or simply to survive. Dare I say our corporate worship environments can carry the same striving. Some of us have learnt to worship God – where there is no agenda apart from His. Others of us feel disappointed with the songs, uninspired by the message, isolated in the fellowship - we’ve brought the world’s values into a sacred space and are suffering the consequences. Plus, and let’s not forget, we’re all exhausted! And not because of an obvious slave owner whipping us from sun up to sun down, but because we’re in a paradigm filled with objectives, goals, successes and failures.

Hang on Simon, but isn't is the truth - isn’t God sovereign? For some of you, absolutely, yet still you find time to worry! For others of you, He’s only sovereign in the important things, hence your indecisions and the anxiety that accompany them in the everyday and non-Kingdom matters – if there are any? What I might be saying is that because someone’s sovereignty nearly always has to manifest in empires and present governments, we’ve automatically added it to our theology. Like the chicken and the egg, do our structures model heaven, or has our notion of God, Kingdom and church been modelled by empire?         

What if you jump ship? Go off grid? Quit the rat race? On the whole the results aren’t great. Cultures are hard to break. So even if you attempt to change the goal posts, failure and self-hatred can all to easily become your everyday companions. Within the UK, the system is broken when it comes to mental health care, the needs far out strip the resources. Whether you’re stressed within the structure or self-destructing on the outside of it, neither external controls nor reliance on self-control seem to be healthy for us.

The alternative? Well, call me naïve, but it was for freedom that Christ has set us free (Galatians 5:1). Now, this is not the freedom that leads to anarchy, nor is it personal autonomy that leads to individualism, a trait hostile to the Kingdom of God, as it generally destroys the values and priorities of the corporate. And now let me add to my possible naivety another concept – love. The greatest of all God’s commandments, holding both the number 1 and number 2 positions in importance. Loving God with the whole of our being inevitably leads to us loving others. If it doesn’t, then our love for God needs to be questioned and seriously examined. Our salvation, whether you see yourself as a flawed human or a totally depraved human, was motivated by love (John 3:16). Out of the following three attributes, faith, hope and love, which do you think is the greatest? And at a time when most of our Bible (Old and New Testaments) had been written, in a letter to the ever expanding church, how would you choose to describe God? The apostle John went with, ‘God is love’ – too simple? Weak? Trite? Or, just simply, true! Don’t underestimate the power of truth – it can set you free! And finally, if you were the second person of the Trinity, the Word from the beginning that spoke light and life into the whole of creation and wanted at your very last meal to say something… hmm? Perhaps something new or at least newish, a final and memorable parting instruction… what would it be? What paradigm shifting, earth shattering, divinely wise imparting word could you say? ‘Love’, ‘love one another’, in order that others will know you’re followers of Christ. Would that really cut it? An instruction to love that both strengthens the church, and operates as an act of evangelism - an act of Kingdom expansion.

Love is self-giving. In a warped anxious world emotionally abused by differing structures built around sovereignty, now ‘love’ has been hi-jacked by the broken with memes all over social media telling you to love yourself, be kind to yourself, take care of yourself. I’m sure the message is needed, because we’ve got our worldview completely wrong. But it’s not the long term solution, it will only add to the problem. Love by definition is about someone else. And when true love is activated, the blessings of kindness and goodness start to feed your own soul. 1 John 1:4, the apostle wants people to find joy in finding God, and realises that his own joy will be increased in such an environment too - that’s a mental health win-win! Love begets love, joy increases joy. To sound naïve again, but it really is true, it’s good to be good and it’s kind to be kind.

I don’t want a Christian sovereignty. Please no! I don’t want Calvin’s Geneva, or even (much earlier) Constantine’s Christendom. Sure, before AD 314, the church was heavily persecuted, but sadly, a few decades later legislation persecuted everyone who wasn’t a Christian! Why pursue a sovereignty paradigm that judges, alienates, and condemns, when God seemed (explicitly) to favour love, even toward our enemies? We went wrong a long long time ago.     

Don’t give me a Christian political party, because humanity is still flawed and all our governing systems are incomplete and self-seeking, nationalistic, or unhealthily patriotic. I don’t want to be deliberately non-patriotic, I just don’t want to prioritise my key life values around land, language, or traditions.

What if we loved each other, and were moved by compassion? Let’s celebrate those Christian social reformers of the nineteenth century, who influenced the abolition of slavery, removed child labour and gave access to education to all. They didn’t need to become president, or the next prime minister, they sought to tackle with integrity an area of injustice and brought about lasting results. They were probably flawed, even morally inconsistent, but for the slave, the five-old chimney-sweep and the illiterate, these imperfect Christian ambassadors heralded in an aspect of God’s Kingdom.

Stop pursuing some acceptable model of sovereignty, I'm sure any model in the hands of humans will never work. Instead, think - incarnation. Ponder the wonder of Christ and the mystery of Christ. It’s been said, it took the church more than 300 years to find acceptable language to explain the Trinity and the personhood of Jesus. Or, is the truth actually, for 300 years such a doctrine wasn’t deemed important. The reality, explicitly announced in the Scriptures, was that God took on flesh, and ministered mercy, grace, love, forgiveness, healing and transformations in a fallen and hostile world governed by the then corrupt priestly order, the ‘puppet king’ Herod, and the ruling pagan Romans. He did this in love, through sacrifice and even unto death.. The Twelve were told to do the same. And later when Paul comes along, he too speaks of Christ and His Kingdom, whilst facing angry mobs, imprisonments, the 39-lashes, and eventually a beheading. Freedom doesn’t always look pretty. Jesus warned us of persecution. The old paradigm is about conquest, usurping the previous powers, getting elected and changing the legislation. Our calling is not the same, we’re called to be incarnational; while stuck in Babylon to pray for the peace of that city. We’re not looking for a title or a crown (well, not in this life); our King washes filthy feet, eats with 'sinners', and restores the marginalised into families.

We’re not here to bring about an alternative empire, we’re here to model the Kingdom of God. And the structure? There is no structure, or hierarchy, just love the one in front of you - the one God may well have divinely placed in front of you today. And please don’t wait until you’re whole – much of your healing is in exercising your God-faith toward others. That’s the value of corporate life, being part of an active family, a faith community, a Christ-centred church, this is God’s new society, we, the priests and kings of God’s eternal Kingdom.

Don’t go, ‘Wow!’, pray! Please pray, and put your hand to the plough again.

• Father God, within the next seven days I want to speak light into someone’s darkness.

• Father God, within the next seven days I want to be generous, so show me where I can invest my time, or money, or energy.

• Father God may I love as You love, within the next seven days show me where I can pour Your love into a hurting situation.

• Continue to teach me to be Your light, to show Your generosity and to manifest Your love.  

• As an Ambassador of Christ, an agent of your Kingdom, an anointed prophet, priest and king, envision me to be a glory-carrier and a living invitation to draw others into Your presence.

• Amen and amen.

Oh well, I tried. You can either discuss the legitimacy of my woolly theology, or alternatively, make a real difference by being a true disciple of Christ.  

Until next time.

©Simon Rennie, March 2025.