Election
Hosea 11:1–9
Ephesians 2:1–10
Sermon
Last week we dealt with a hot potato, and what I’ve really enjoyed is hearing people passionately talking and sharing views about the doctrine of the Trinity.
This morning we are going to talk about another hot potato, Election, or what used to be called, “pre-destination”.
Just for clarity sake, Election means that God has chosen who will be saved. To go further, God has elected some people to be saved purely according to His will.
This doctrine really took centre stage during the Reformation with John Calvin, and maybe I can take one minute to explain why.
In the 15th century the Roman Catholics were emphasising that people are saved by their good works. Salvation was seen as an act of people according their behaviour.
When we think we can save ourselves, it means we lose the need for Jesus as our saviour, so in effect if we believe we can save ourselves, Jesus died in vain.
In opposition to the Roman Catholic viewpoint, the Reformers declared we are saved by grace through faith, and not because of anything we do.
You don’t choose to be saved any more than the mouse goes looking for the cat.
Paul said to the Ephesians, “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”
God has chosen you, called you, and washed you because He wanted to, and it’s nothing to brag about.
We all like to hear that God has chosen me to be His child.
But what about those who aren’t chosen, who aren’t selected, who are left on the bench? Or worse, sent to the eternal SIN BIN?
Transition
As I have meditated on the doctrine of election this week, I have realised I started from the wrong starting place.
I started from the premise that all people everywhere deserve to be saved, MAYBE “HAVE A RIGHT TO BE SAVED” but that God has chosen to save some and reject others.
SLIDE ONE
But that’s the wrong starting place, because God created us and destined us to live forever in harmony with Him. God’s chosen outcome for you is eternal life with Him. In the words of Jeremiah, “God plan is to prosper you, to give you a hope and a future, and not to harm you.”
Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy but I have come that you may have life, and life in abundance.”
SLIDE TWO
God never rejected us, we rejected HIM.
Karl Barth says “We misplace the blame when we think that God has not chosen us, the reality for millions of people is that they have not chosen HIM.”
No one goes to hell because God has rejected them; they go to hell because they have rejected God.
Paul starts his letter to the Romans by saying God revealed Himself to mankind in nature, but instead of worshipping Him we made idols and worshipped them.
Then God revealed Himself in the Natural Law he wrote into every person, but we broke that Law in defiance of God.
Finally God revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, but instead of worshipping Him we killed Him.
Paul says bluntly, “We are without excuse”.
God has not damned us, we have damned ourselves.
Paul says that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory, the plan, the destiny that God had chosen for us.
SLIDE THREE
Most parents want the best for their children. But the reality is that children have minds of their own, free will, and despite the best laid plans of moms and dads, children become hooligans, thieves, and murderers.
Even excellent parents have children who of their own free will just go off the rails.
God desired the best for mankind, but mankind rejected Him, and the result was that we exchanged God’s plan of life, for our plan of chaos.
When we consider our behaviour, God would have been perfectly justified to abandon us.
But He didn’t.
Throughout human history, God has intervened with grace to stop the slide, to give humanity another chance. This intervention is the very kernel of the doctrine of election.
SLIDE FOUR
Sometimes we have such a poor image of God. We think, “Just when I get on my feet, God knocks me down again.”
But that’s not true!!!
God is not a God of knocking down, He is a God of picking up.
When God chooses or elects people by His grace, He doesn’t just choose them for a day or a week, He establishes a covenant with them.
In the Old Testament, God established a covenant with Abraham and as a result the Jewish people were God’s elect, the chosen nation, the covenant people of God.
As a sign of their election, as a sign of the covenant, every boy at eight days old was circumcised.
It was not because they deserved it, it was because they were chosen by God because of God’s grace.
When God chooses people to save from destruction by grace, He restores them to His original plan of life in abundance.
Because this covenant is restoring God’s original plan, this covenant has never been with just one or two generations, but extends from generation to generation till the end of time.
It’s like every child born into the covenant people of God is born with an invitation made out in their name to be chosen.
They have an inheritance to grow into.
Imagine this; Jewish children were born with an invitation into being God’s chosen people.
But God never usurped the free will He gave people. Even though Jewish children came under the covenant covering of their parents from birth, the day came when every child had to decide for themselves whether they would serve God, whether they would take up the invitation issued at birth, or whether they would reject God.
To a non-Jewish person this may seem unfair, but God’s choosing of Israel was not a plan to exclude other people.
Outsiders were welcome to join the new people of God.
Abraham even circumcised the sons of the slaves who lived with him, because they were included in the covenant.
I love the story of Rahab the Canaanite prostitute who was chosen by God to become a member not only of the Jewish nation, but she became one of the direct ancestors of Jesus.
I love the story of Ruth the Moabitess who married Boaz, the great grandfather of King David and also a forefather of Jesus.
Outsiders were welcome within the chosen people of God.
Israel was blessed to be a blessing to the world. Israel was chosen to live life in abundance so that the world would see and believe in God.
Israel was to be like a light on a dark night which guided other people home.
God chose Israel that the world could be saved.
But just like the rest of humanity, time and time again Israel rejected God,
Jesus said in Matthew 22 that many are invited, but few are chosen.
SLIDE FIVE
In the time of Hosea God said, “Tell them that they are not my people, and I am not their God”
But in Hosea 11 God says, “I cannot give up on them, because I have given them my word and I am not a man that I could lie”.
Some who were invited, who were born into the covenant people of God, failed to respond with faith, and as a result they reject God all over again, but God stayed true to His promise.
As the final act of salvation, God sent Jesus to once and for all establish a covenant people who will be true to Him.
In the New Testament there is a chosen people, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people belonging to God that declare the praises of Him who called and chose them out of darkness.
But in the New Testament the criteria changes. No longer is it because of nationality.
SLIDE SIX
This New Testament chosen people of God is the Church.
God has chosen the Church as He chose Israel to be inclusive, to draw people from death to life.
God has chosen us, called us, elected us as His torch bearers.
In conclusion, God’s election is not an act of Judgement to be feared, on the contrary, God’s election is the ultimate act of grace.
As we sit here today, as those chosen by God, our children too receive an open invitation until the day they choose to confirm their faith for themselves.
The symbol of this invitation, the inclusion into the covenant people of God, is baptism.