Why We’re Desperate for Control | Romans 9 | Crossroads Daily

Pick a deep tragedy play, Macbeth. Sure. Right? I'm guessing that if I walked into Macbeth as a actor that was kind of subbing for another actor and I start like cracking jokes and trying to make people laugh, pretty soon the audience is gonna say, he doesn't know what play he's in. Sure. Right? And I think sometimes to your point, when I respond to suffering the way I do, it's almost like I gotta remember the play that I'm in. The play that I'm in is one with loss and tragedy and pain. It's also one with a rescuer. It's also one that has a powerful ending, but I gotta remember the kind of story I'm in. This is the Crossroads Daily. No experts, no perfect people, just honest conversations about what happens when the Bible shows up in real life. Hey, I'm Chuck. I'm Jamie. I'm Josh. I'm Alex. We are the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch. Wait, I just, did I just join? That's the way we became the Brady Bunch.

Sorry. Thank you for that. That delighted me. So we are, how about this, how about this for a strong transition? Hard left turn. From the Brady Bunch to the sovereignty of God and free will, because that's what Paul gets into in Romans nine. Oh gosh. I think like, you know, for many of us, if I think about over my life, what are the questions that really cause people to say, I'm not in on the God thing. I'm not in on the Jesus thing. This is a core one. This is a core one. You're telling me God is good and God is all powerful, and yet I look at this world around me and I see all kinds of things that don't look like that. That's true. Sure. And so the tension that Paul is even sitting in as he's thinking about the nation of Israel and all they've been through and the fact that like God found him. I mean, think about Paul's perspective. Paul's like, God literally knocked me off of a horse or whatever he was riding and met me on the road to Damascus,

a Jew deeply steeped in Judaism so that I would find the risen Jesus. And yet when I go to all these cities, my first stop is a synagogues. And I get rejected over and over again by my fellow brothers and sisters, the people that I share a nationality with, that I share an ethnicity with. They're not open to the gospel of Jesus. And yet when I go to these Gentile pagan people, that's where I'm getting the most fruit. And Paul is lamenting on that and saying like, what's up with that, God? These are your chosen people, but yet I don't see this happening. So I think there's a real question around how do you reconcile God's sovereignty with free will? I think define sovereignty first. So do we all have a, what is our, what's your, what do you believe sovereignty is? I mean, there is a definition term for it, but I think. Sure, yeah. But I hear you saying like, what's it mean to me? Like, what do I believe? I do, oh gosh, I think that's hard. I think I believe that God is over everything. I believe that he is all knowing and all powerful. And so like, what's my part to play in it? I think is the answer to your question of how free will plays into that.

But I do think that that's, I think that that's what I believe sovereignty is, is all powerful, all knowing. It's a tough one. In control. Yeah, it's a tough one to define. I would say sovereignty is what, to what degree do you believe God gets his way? That's how I think about it. Like some people say 100% in every circumstance, God is getting his way. Some people say, I think there's a lot more choice involved and God doesn't always get his way. I think, and there's a lot in between, but like for me, when I think about sovereignty, like someone who says I believe in the sovereignty of God is saying I believe God gets his way. Yeah. And oh, by the way, I do believe in the sovereignty of God. But I also recognize that free will is a real thing. Sure. And somehow that works in God's sovereign plan. Sure. Well, I think people can use God's sovereignty as an excuse to use their free will in a bad way and make bad choices of like, well, yeah, I can do this, whatever, it's a sin, but God is sovereign and he will forgive me and he's in control so I can do whatever I want. And they have to work together.

Like I still have to, because I have free will, I have to do my part in that, right? Yes. Yeah. I think the, well, what I think sovereignty is, is perfection, God's perfection. I mean, that's not the definition of it, but that's what I think of. And if something is perfect, it is worthy of whatever. whatever it wants from me. I think the other side of the sovereignty thing is not just, I get to do what I want because there's free will, I think God's sovereignty is a barrier to people. Because how, to what you said earlier, how can a good God exist and a child die? Yes. That's like simple. Or go hungry, or any of the things we look at in the world and we go, jeez, and I... That's not perfect. That's not perfect. And I don't think there's a simple answer except to say there was perfection. Yeah. God is redeeming it. Yes. And there will be perfection again. But it's the in-between. It's the in-between. Yeah. We live in the in-between. And even in that, owning that part of God, I mean this is the thing that's hard to wrestle with, but like part of God's perfect will was to create free will agents. Yeah. And that's not just humans. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the story of the Bible is angels are free will agents. One has said angels, a guy named Lucifer, right? I mean like that's all part of the story. And again, not to be trite about it, but I think that, you know, what Paul kind of brings us to is there is always gonna be a place with which we just have to say, I'm not sovereign. And so there's gonna be mystery here. I'm not gonna be able to answer every question or even give people, you know, I mean, lots of times the pastor people come to me and they're like, you're supposed to have the answer. And I'm like, yeah, I can't, you know, I don't have an answer on why your child died. I can't give you chapter and verse on like, you know, and even if I could

with that, is that really what you're looking for? Yeah. You know? So I do think there's something real where Paul, even in Romans 9, says, look, you are not God. Yeah. And there's got to be a place of releasing this to God's will and believing in his goodness. It goes back to what we said in Romans 8, like we asked the question, like, what does this say about the character of God in Romans 8? And it's like, God is good. God is good. And he wants good things. And if God is good, that means he's good in the slums of African and Haiti nations where people are living in the most squalid conditions we can imagine. And he's good in, let's just call it 2026 Cincinnati, Ohio for the four of us who are probably not going home to squalid conditions. Goodness can't be based on the circumstances. That's hard. Yeah. But true. Have you guys ever played The Sims? Like a computer game? Did you just say The Sims? Is it like Sim City? Yeah, but it's called The Sims. Oh, The Sims. Yeah, right? Not like 20 years ago. No, you're right. It's like older. Whatever. Okay. You guys can tell me if I'm wrong because you guys are smarter than me. But when I was, when I was younger, someone described free will to me using The Sims as an example. So when you're playing, I loved The Sims growing up. And when you're playing The Sims. Real quick, maybe we should explain what The Sims are. So early, early, simple version of a simulation game. Yes. The original Minecraft. The original Minecraft. That's exactly right. This is the millennial Minecraft. Yeah, there were characters and you could like make a world for them. Yeah. You could build a house and then you had these people and you, you controlled them and told them what to do. And so that's how free will was taught to me is if you are in the game, The Sims, and you're a human in there, there is someone who is controlling your every move. You have to tell them when to go to the bathroom and when to walk to make food because their hunger, hunger level is getting red or whatever it is. And so that is the definition of not free will. Like you, there is someone controlling their every move. And those people in The Sims are not capable of love or adoration or real relationship. Wonder. Yes. Surprise. Think about all of the things. Curiosity. All of those things. And they cannot be worshipers because they don't, they can't

choose it for themselves. Something has to be chosen for them. And so I've always thought of that. There's, there has to be some sort of choice for me having free will in choosing God, you are control. God, I want your perfection in my life. God, I believe that you are above all things so that I can have a relationship with him and can worship him and can actually experience love because I have free will. Amen. Amen. So we can debate whether God is sovereign or what that means. I know I try to act sovereign against my, over my own life a lot. And when I do that, it's based on fears. It's based on the fear that I'm going to end up alone. It's based on the fear that I'm going to experience pain and I'm trying avoid pain. What fears do you think tempt you or cause you to act sovereign over your own life? I think it's the big one is the fear of pain, the fear of suffering. We, I'll just say, I'm not gonna say we, I have a fundamental misunderstanding of suffering, or I have had, I have a new understanding. And I think the thing about sovereignty and free will and all of those things, it is never an issue when I'm doing what I want to do. It is never an issue when I'm behaving the way I want to behave. It only becomes an issue, I think, when there's pain and suffering. If, I think, is there free will is the wrong question. It is even the wrong debate. It is, can we suffer well? If we can learn to suffer well, those questions become irrelevant. And I don't, they're not irrelevant questions. But I think when we look, if we can just look at suffering as a gift, some kind of gift, because when we, when we're able to, if we're able to suffer well on the other side of it, there, again, there's so much beauty and possibility that things like sovereignty, things like free will, things like God's goodness, we go, oh, was that, was that a thing? Oh, I guess, sure. On the other side of it, I go, wow, God is good. And those questions, to me, as of right now, they're not as important to me anymore. It doesn't mean they're not important. But to me right now, I just, yeah, I don't care. Right? I think about, John Eldridge asked the question, what kind of story have we fallen into? Well, actually, to be clear, Samwise Gamgee of the Hobbit of the Lord of the Rings asked the question. He's quoting Samwise Gamgee. But I think to your point, Josh, it's easy for us to think that we've fallen into a different kind of story than what is real, when the truth is we are in a war. We've fallen into a story that is about love, but we've also fallen into a story where there is a real

war going on, a spiritual war, and that's what the Bible calls it. And I think when I, you know, it'd be like if there was a stage play, I know you, you know, you've got more experience in this, but I'm guessing that if, you know, pick a deep tragedy play, Macbeth. Right? I'm guessing that if I walked into Macbeth as an actor that was kind of subbing for another actor, and I start, like, cracking jokes and trying to make people laugh, pretty soon the audience is going to say, he doesn't know what play he's in. Right? And I think sometimes to your point, when I respond to suffering the way I do, it's almost like I don't, I got to remember the play that I'm in. Play that I'm in is one with loss and tragedy and pain. It's also one with a rescuer. It's also one that has a powerful ending, but I got to remember the kind of story I'm in. I think that's part of the whole free will, trusting thing. And again, where does, how do I try to act sovereign over my life when I'm trying to act like I'm in another play? That's good. That's what I'm doing. Man, we could just camp on this for a long time. I'm going to, I'll finish with this. So, and Josh knows this guy. There's a guy that used to do ministry in our church around traffic, anti-trafficking efforts. And for a lot of his career, he actually lived in India and was literally part of the team knocking down doors, freeing girls from forced prostitution in these brothels, girls in the worst conditions and situations. And as you know, when you get out of that situation, then you have the whole psychological, social, physical healing that has to happen for these girls. And some of them, they don't ever get to, they certainly don't ever get quote unquote back to good. Even if they're free, there's a whole journey. And I'll never forget what he said. He said, Chuck, I had to wrestle with face. Is God good? Is it worth it? Is the gamble of choice, which creates the opportunity for love, but is also the reason for so much evil, is it worth it? I'll never forget what he said. And I just keep coming back to this. He said, Chuck, here's the thing. Think about what the story of God tells us. God has all of eternity to make it right. He has all of eternity to make it right. We can, and again, if you're hurting, I'm not minimizing your hurt. Please don't hear me minimizing your hurt in this. And yet Paul says, we see us through a glass darkly or dimly. One day we will see fully. And if God is as good as I believe that he is, if the promise he has for life after this life is as good as it is, Paul puts it in powerful words. It is possible that our light and momentary sufferings, which are not light nor momentary, can pale.

in comparison to the beauty of grace that awaits us. And I'll just tell you, I'm not saying you have to believe that. I'm telling you, that's what allows me to put my head on the pillow at night and wake up the next day and follow Jesus. And so I hope that's encouraging to you as you wrestle with these challenging questions that Paul is raising and praise God, we're not done, not done. Paul's not done. There is more coming in Romans to help us understand the powerful character of God and the power of his redemption.