bargaining God

[john14_20]

Hello all. I am posting this question on behalf of a new user.

Blessings to all, Pete.

Here is the question:

Hi.
Here is my question:
"Is God a bargaining God?
God's freely given, unconditional grace, love and forgiveness, seem to be against bargaining. They are distributed equally amongst all people.
But the church often portrays God as a bargaining God, with Scripture to back them up. Eg If you have faith, you will receive. Without faith it is impossible to please God, Heb 11. If you judged it will be judged unto you, a good measure, pressed down, running over Luke/Mt. Malachai says something about testing God's faithfulness with our tithe.

It also seems clear that our sin can limit God's blessing (though this is entirely our fault not Gods) eg if God tells me to apply for a specific job and I disobey, I will never receive the blessing linked to that God, even though I may still be blessed in other jobs, but not in the same way.
However, this does not necessarily indicate that God is a bargaining God - does it?

Liss.

 

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings John 14_20,

If you are asking does God compromise with us, I would say absolutely not. We are told that "If we ask of God anything, according to His will, that He will do it for us." Jesus once said that we should ask of God "in His Name". What that means is like the special envoy of the King who has received the King's signet ring as a sign of the King's authority. When the envoy went out and did something "in the Name of the King", he was doing what the King had asked him to do. If the envoy were to overstep his bounds, he might find himself without a head when he got back, because he would have falsely represented the King.

Does that help?

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

 

[ChrisB]

The only Biblical instance of anyone bargaining with God that I can think of is Abraham pleading for the people of Sodom - Genesis 18:20-32

 

[Dad Ernie]

Greetings John14_20,

This morning (Feb 5) R.C. Sproul on his radio show did some teaching on this subject. If you can catch his message today sometime, it should be repeated again. It is well worth listening to.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

P.S. Sproul runs Ligonear(sp?) Ministeries and he also posts his sermons to a server where later on after his shows you can go back and catch up on any you might have missed.

 

[john14_20]

Thanks Dad Ernie.
In case you don't realise, I posted the question on behalf of a new user who didn't know how to begin a new thread.

Her name is 'Unconditional' aka 'Liss'.

Thanks again and blessings in Christ, Pete (john14_20)