LOST AND FOUND
I read a story not long ago about a five—year old boy who was lost in the forests of the northwest. Rangers and volunteers conducted a frantic search. Night came, snow began to fall. Still this little boy was lost. The next morning, the boy’s father, stumbling through the woods, exhausted from an all—night search, kicked against what seemed to be a log in the path. When the snow fell loose, a little boy sat up, stretched, and said, “Daddy! I’ve found you at last!“ The boy’s father might have a different perspective on what was happening during that long night. Who found whom, we might ask.
EXPERIENCING SALVATION
Who finds whom—when it comes to finding God? Who finds whom—when it comes to ‘finding Jesus’ as we sometimes say. If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ, how did you come to declare Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Perhaps you’ve noticed in your search for God a rather surprising dynamic. It’s the dynamic expressed well by a former Muslim, now a Christian, who once said: “For thirty years I sought God. But when I looked carefully, I saw that in reality God was the Seeker and I was the sought.“
That pretty much wraps up my own experience too. When I headed off to college, I planned to study the sciences, and spend my life teaching students about all things mathematical. But in my life, I found that God was the Seeker—and I was the one he sought. God would not leave me alone—even when I was tempted to leave him alone. God just kept coming, and coming. That’s why I’m a Christian. And that’s the reason I’m a minister of the gospel. God was the Seeker. And he wouldn’t let me escape his grip. I experienced in my own life the truth of the classic hymn:
I sought the Lord,
And afterward I knew,
He moved my soul to seek him,
Seeking me.
If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, I wonder whether you relate to that hymn too. Maybe you would say: “That’s EXACTLY the way it was for me too! I thought I was seeking God. Instead, I discovered that God was seeking me.“ If so, then you can relate to the Apostle Paul. Paul, the Pharisee of Pharisees, the Hebrew of Hebrews, was driven to pursue spiritual greatness. And then on a Damascus Road he discovers that Jesus Christ is really pursuing him!
Years later, Paul writes in Ephesians 1 about the kind of God who goes out to pursue his own. Paul writes: Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given to us in the One he loves.
TAKING OFFENSE
Now, frankly, a lot of people get offended when they read a passage like this. They get turned off by words like ‘chose“ and “predestined.“ Christians have often called this strand of Biblical teaching ‘election.’ Election teaches that the first move when it comes to salvation is made by God. Election teaches that salvation begins with God’s choosing—that the first word in my salvation was spoken not by me—but by my Heavenly Father.
Now to some people, this idea that our God is the “God of the First Move“ rather puts them off. “But that’s fatalism,“ people say. “It makes God too controlling. It doesn’t give enough room for human responsibility.“ People say: “Look, I’m not a puppet on a string—I am the master of my own soul—I control my own future—if I’m a believer, it’s because I chose God, not because he chose me.“
And so some folks try to wiggle out from what Ephesians 1 teaches. In fact, even some Christians have tried to turn Paul’s teaching on its head. They say that God’s choosing is based already on my choosing. “Look“ these people say, “election simply means God looked down the corridors of time with his all—seeing spyglass and saw I was going to believe in Jesus. And then he chose me, he elected me to eternal life.“
Now, what do you think of that explanation? It’s certainly has a logical sense to it. It gets us off the hook when it comes to some hard problems about divine sovereignty and human responsibility. But it doesn’t square with what Paul taught in Ephesians 1. Listen again:
“God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will.“
BEFORE THE FOUNDATION
Now, Paul says two very important things in this passage. First, he says quite literally that God chose us before the FOUNDATION of the world. The word FOUNDATION is the word used in everyday Greek for the foundation of a building. Paul says that before God laid the first building blocks of this world—before he even created that primordial matter from which creation was called forth—before all that he CHOSE us. God didn’t wait to see how his unique creatures would turn out. He didn’t wait to see what kind of moral and ethical moves we intended to make. Before the foundation of the world he CHOSE.
But someone says—sure he chose. He chose those who were going to believe anyway. Well, Paul says something different. He chose us IN ACCORDANCE WITH HIS GOOD PLEASURE AND WILL. He didn’t choose us on the basis of our healthy belief systems. He didn’t choose us on the basis of our moral potential. HE didn’t choose us on the basis of our kingdom usefulness. He chose us on the basis of GRACE.
GRACE. What we are talking about here in this passage is GRACE, God’s undeserved favor. Grace. It’s the message that echoes through Scripture:
Ephesians 2:8 “By grace you are saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.“
Romans 9:15,16 “Salvation is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that has mercy.“
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.“
Grace is just another way of saying that we have so messed up that God needs to make the first move. Grace is another way of saying that we are so deep in over our heads because of our sin that God needs to reach out to us before we can reach out to him.
AND YET . . .
OK, you say, I’m all for grace. But this whole idea that God chooses by sheer grace—doesn’t that raise a lot of problems? There’s some troubling questions here.“ And there are. I don’t want to evade them. They are tough questions—and they are born not out of a desire to defend our last shreds of self—esteem. They are born out of deep concern to be faithful to the whole gospel. You and I have a deep burden for a family member or friend who isn’t yet walking with Jesus. We have a deep commitment to seeing God’s kingdom realized in the world. We want to take God’s call to obedience seriously. What about these issues? This teaching that God chooses,—election, if you want to call it that—how does it square with faith, evangelism, and obedience?
QUESTION #1: WHAT ABOUT FAITH?
First, does God’s choosing eliminate the need for faith? If God has chosen me, why do I need to think about Jesus at all? Why do I need to believe?
Well, let’s go back to those verses in Ephesians. In a passage that keeps talking about God’s choosing, we keep hearing about Jesus. Paul says: “For he chose us in Christ.“ IN CHRIST! That same idea comes out in verse 9, “he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure WHICH HE PURPOSED IN CHRIST.“ And II Timothy 1:9, “God saves us . . . not in virtue of our works, but in virtue of his own purpose and the grace which he gave us IN CHRIST JESUS ages ago.“
You know why we have such a hard time understanding God’s choosing? It’s because we split talk about God’s choosing off from Jesus Christ. We put Jesus Christ in one corner and God’s choosing to salvation in another. But the Bible doesn’t do that.
The truth is Jesus is the center of God’s redemptive plan. Everything about our salvation revolves around him. That means even our choosing by God is anchored in Jesus. God chose us in Christ. And it is through Christ—through his death and resurrection—that God’s electing purposes are unfolded. Christ is the one according to Revelation 6 who cracks open the book of divine history and unfolds God’s future.
But that means we can only discover our own choosing as we find ourselves IN CHRIST. No wonder John Calvin called Christ the MIRROR of our election. So if we want to know about our own choosing by God, we don’t sit in a corner and mutter whether we’re elect or not. We turn to Jesus and contemplate the One whom the Father has chosen to fulfill his redemptive plans.
CHRIST is the one, then, who carries out God’s electing purposes. The truth of election takes away NOTHING—absolutely NOTHING—from Jesus. There is no wedge that can be driven between election and the gospel. How do you know whether you are elect, my friends? I will tell you. BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ! BELIEVE in him! Let your life be woven into his. You want to know the reality of your election? Don’t contemplate abstract questions of your eternal choosing. But pray the prayer of the Jewish tax collector: “Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner.“ Pray the prayer of the centurion, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.“
But that leads to a second question.
QUESTION #2: WHAT ABOUT EVANGELISM?
If God does the choosing, why bother with evangelism? Why should I step out on a limb and witness to my neighbor? Why give my hard earned cash to support mission efforts that reach out to the world with the gospel of Jesus? Why do all those things, if God saves whom he will? Now the interesting thing is, we think evangelism is at cross—purposes with election. But Paul doesn’t have that same problem. In fact, Paul brings up God’s choosing precisely in Ephesians 1 precisely because he is talking about the MISSION of the church. Consider verses 9 and 10:
And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.
Now, that passage talks about a mystery. And of course, we say—if something is a mystery we don’t know what it is. Ah, but when it comes to this mystery, we do. In Christ, the mystery has been revealed! The mystery that is put on display in Christ is the formation of one church—a church that bridges both Jew and Gentile.
Paul brings up the whole matter of God’s choosing right here, because he sees that choosing of God is the very foundation of God’s world—wide mission to the world. Far from destroying the need to evangelize, Paul sees the grace of God’s choosing as the impetus that pushes us out of our safety zones into the world with the gospel—because God is already running before us to prepare those whom he has chosen for salvation. God already has those who need to hear about Jesus in every nation under heaven!
This conviction is: Here’s what we need to get us out of out comfort zones into witness and evangelism. God already has his children throughout the world. God intends for them an eternal destiny in his Kingdom. They are his. And when we go and proclaim the gospel, we know they will respond. They will respond—not because our words are so persuasive, but because God’s invincible grace is moving throughout the world by the power of his Spirit.
QUESTION 3: WHAT ABOUT OBEDIENCE?
But, says our critic, I have one more problem. If ultimately salvation depends on God’s choosing, what does it matter if I obey? Why bother with obedience? If God has chosen me for salvation, I don’t have to get serious about the kind of life I live, do I? Well, again Paul has a different perspective. He says in Ephesians 1:4 “He chose us IN CHRIST, before the foundation of the world TO BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS IN HIS SIGHT.“
There it is—the GOAL of election. To be holy is to be set apart. The temple was holy because it was set apart from all other buildings in Jerusalem. The priests were holy because they are set apart from the ordinary laity. And why has God chosen us? In order to set us apart——to be blameless. The word was used in the realm of sacrifice. The offerings brought by God’s people were to be without blemish and defect—blameless sacrifices. Now, as followers of Christ, our own lives, offered as living sacrifices, need to bring similar honor to God——through obedience.
And what empowers that obedience? Why, God, of course. Oh, I know that we still strive and struggle to live as Disciples of Christ. But ultimately we can hear and heed the call to discipleship because God has grabbed hold of us. He has CHOSEN us for this kind of life. He has gripped us by grace—so that we may live a life that honors him.
You see, election answers the question: WHY AM I A CHRISTIAN? Why am I a child of God, a disciple of Jesus? The answer comes—not because I ultimately chose God. It wasn’t because I’m a cut above other people. It’s not because I’ve greater spiritual discernment than my neighbor down the street. No, I was so messed up I wasn’t in any shape to make the first move in his direction. I am who I am because God chose me before I was born. He had his eye on me from all eternity. He called me with a voice that cannot be resisted. I am who I am out of grace.“
WHERE ARE YOU AT?
I am wondering———have I just described you? Perhaps I have. You have walked through the door which above it says, “Whoever will, may come.“ And you turn around and look back, and it reads, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.“ But maybe you aren’t through that door yet. You are still struggling with the claims of Christ. You’ve been listening to this program, and you’ve grown discouraged. You’ve discovered that you don’t have it in you to climb to the pinnacle of some spiritual Mount Everest. And you wonder what God thinks of you. Does God have you in his sights? Or are you forgotten by him? Let me suggest to you that the very fact that you are wrestling with the claims of Jesus Christ testifies to the God who is reaching out to your spirit—who will not leave you alone and forsaken. The grace of God is invincible. It will break down every barrier. God just keeps coming and coming. Give thanks for that. We may throw up roadblocks on his path for a long time. It’s amazing how we can fight the God who pursues us. But God knows his sheep. And he will go out into the wilderness pursuing them for as long as it takes to bring them home.
It’s time to stop running from God. It’s time to turn around and face the God who will not let us go. It’s time to turn around, and drop to our knees in worship of him. And then, it will be time to sing:
Oh, the depths of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable his judgments,
And his paths beyond tracing out!
‘Who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?“
“Who has ever given to God,
That God should repay him?“
For from him and through him and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever! Amen (Romans 11:33— 36)
Robert Heerspink
Rev. Robert Heerspink is a native of west Michigan. He completed his undergraduate studies at Calvin College and holds the degrees of Master of Divinity and Master of Theology from Calvin Theological Seminary. He has also received a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Bob was ordained a minister of the Word in the Christian Reformed Church of North America in 1979, and has 26 years of parish experience, having served four churches throughout west Michigan. He was appointed the Director of The Back to God Hour in 2006. Bob has written several resources related to congregational stewardship, including the book, Becoming a Firstfruits Congregation. He is a regular contributor to TODAY, the monthly devotional of The Back to God Hour. Bob is married to Edith (Miedema) and they have three children. His hobbies include reading fictional and historical works, watersports, and occassional golfing.
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