While listening to a sermon from a loved and respected minister that I know, my ears perked up as he made a seemingly small pit-stop aside the road of the message he was preaching. He threw in a personal note about a common Christian-cliché’ that was especially irritating to him. “My God can do anything but fail.” As he explained his irritation with the phrase, I agreed with his point. As with similar phrases, this particular phrase is often abused and misused by people who desire to have God do something that is outside of His Will. But I didn’t expect to hear what came next. In explaining his displeasure with the abused phrase, he dropped a bomb that I couldn’t ignore. “God has failed tremendously with the Black Church in America.” The entire congregation fell silent, and everyone was absolutely still. It was as if everyone knew something had gone wrong, but no one knew exactly what. After an extremely long five-second pause, he made his way off the side of the road back into the heart of his sermon. He didn't dress the statement, as though the points of God's failure in the Black Church were obvious. The attention of the congregation seemed to shift back into the original message as he continued away from the statement. But I could not let go of what I had just heard. The dangerous potential of the phrase led me to contact the minister after the service. I sent him an email concerning the matter. Without a specific point of failure to address, I tried to give it an overall cover. After a greeting of love and humility that stated the intention of my email, I proceeded to deal with the statement in the following fashion:
The word “fail” according to webster’s dictionary is defined as “falling short of one’s goal or duty,” “to be, or become inadequate,” “to be unsuccessful,” “to disappoint the trust of others,” “to be deficient, or in lack,” or “to leave something undone.” In a plain sense, we can define failure in three ways:
1. Not having done something well enough.
2. Not having done enough of something.
3. Not having completed a work in an acceptable period of time.
According to Scripture, none of the dictionary definitions, nor the plain explanations of the word “fail” apply to God anywhere; and certainly not in the black church.
Point 1:
In the black Church, is there something God has not done well enough that we should not ultimately accomplish His Purpose for us? The Sovereignty of God dispatches any argument that He has not done anything “well enough”. God’s ultimate plan from the beginning has been to rescue a people that He has Chosen from the foundation of the world from their sins by His Son, for His Son. The plan to bring this to pass is the Father’s Plan. It is a perfect plan; that even utilizes that which is imperfect to bring about the Father’s pre-determined ending. If His plan is indeed “not good enough,” then opposing forces can mortally wound and totally derail His plan. Yet, Proverbs 21:30 tells us clearly, “There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD.” What is anything that cannot be defeated? Perfect! And if His plan is perfect, there is nothing that can be improved, nothing that can be done better, and nothing that should be changed. A perfect God is executing a perfect plan, despite our imperfection. In Malachi 3:6, God tells us, “I the LORD do not change.” Thus, at no point has He ceased to do less than well in bringing about the fullness of His plan. If we say He has, then the rebuke of Malachi chapter 1 is not only for Israel, but for us as modern Christians. Certainly God has loved us perfectly, but we have not loved Him. The blame is not on Him, but on us. And He will Judge us accordingly.
Point 2:
Has God not done enough for the black Church? Has he not Saved us from Sin & Death? (Ephesians 2:1-5) Has he not blessed us with every spiritual blessing? (Ephesians 1:3) Has He not sent us the Comforter, who leads us into all Truth? (John 16:13) Has He not given us the Word, which thoroughly equips God’s Children for every good work? (Ephesians 3:16-17) Has He not promised to give us the Wisdom we lack if only we ask? (James 1:5) Has He not promised to grant us whatever we ask if only we remain in His Word? (John 15:7) And most importantly, has He not given Himself to us, and in that, all things? (Romans 8:32) What more can we ask of the Father? Nothing! To say He has not done enough for His elect is simply untrue. It is a lie that slanders the character of our God. There has never been a time where problems have resulted for man by way of God inadequately equipping us for what He called us to. Rather, they result from man inadequately availing himself of the abundant grace and provision of the God who loves him.
Point 3:
Has God not completed His work in a satisfactory period of time? Has the Plan of Salvation not fully manifested in an acceptable time-frame? Has the window of opportunity closed on God in some area, leaving Him on the outside looking in? Has He somehow lost track of the time He set by His own authority? By no means! His plan was finished before it started. And though we see it at an incomplete stage today, it already stands as completed. Revelation 13:8 declares Christ as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world; giving us an illustration of the work of Christ having been finished before it ever started. Timing doesn’t get better than that. Because of this, God extended Grace to his servants before Christ’s day. His blood justified God’s elect even before His death as it justifies those who would and will come to live after His death. The redemption of God’s elect is not “being secured,” but it has already “been secured.” Matthew 1:21 tells us “His name shall be called Jesus, because He WILL Save His people from their sins.” Not try, or make Salvation possible; but it will actually Save. It’s a definite atonement. Our Lord assures us of this Himself in saying that it is The Father’s will that none who have been given to Him should be lost. (John 6:39) Though we don’t see the full manifestation of this accomplished work today, it is already done! And the day in which we will see it done, no man knows but the Father. (Matthew 24:36) It is a time He has set by His own authority. Thus, He is the only one who can hold Himself accountable to it. There is no failure to be found for God in this area.
I believe Scripture communicates clearly that “Failure is impossible for God.” Sovereignty and failure are incompatible. If God did fail, it would mean that He ordained the failure. Thus, the failure would be a success, because it was in His plan. Expressing that “God has failed” at anything diminishes His character. It takes away from His perfection and allows room for doubt in the mind of believers. Our God doesn’t “try” or “attempt” anything. That which He decides to do, He does. And He is successful 100% of the time in that. Believing that God can fail opens the door for some to reason that their trust in God may not yield the result that others have had in trusting God. It validates the arguments of God not being consistent in His effort, and not regarding all men equally. These ideas make God altogether different from who He is. Thus, they are blasphemous and most dangerous.
I closed the letter in the way it began, with suggestions based in love and humility. I was pleased to hear from this minister a short time later. He expressed his thankfulness for my email, and he agreed with my points. I was grateful to God that things didn’t go in a different direction, as they easily can in matters where two men don’t agree. But the blessing in our exchange was that this didn't end up as a disagreement between two mere men, but a disagreement between two "Christian Men." The Word of God was esteemed over both our personal feelings and egos. Thus, God was glorified. For anyone who may be facing a similar situation, I pray your courage and strength in the Lord to stand up and speak the truth where the comfortable response of silence is common and expected. Operate in love! Examine your heart. If your motive is anything less than honoring God out of love for Christ and His bride, you may need to deal with the beam in your own eye before you attempt to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.(Matthew 7:5) But there are situations, as the above mentioned, where the potential of a statement, even by a minister, is so harmful that we must say something. Anything that makes paints our God as less than perfect, paints our Christ as less than perfect. And if our Christ is less than perfect, then so is our Salvation. This is the foundation of what we stand on as Christians. And we must not accept anything less than Christ preached as accurately as Scripture gives testimony of Him. Though I'm bothered as much as the next saint by abused Christian-Cliches, we can't allow are annoyance to make us run so far away from them that we deny even the truth within them, for the sake of denouncing what's false about them. If we know nothing else, we can be sure that our God has not, cannot, and will not fail. Ever.
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