“Sometimes
It’s Just Nice To Be A Guest”
John
14:1-6
2
Thessalonians 2:13-17
Reformation
Sunday
Today we join
with Reformed churches all over the world in celebrating Reformation Sunday as
we remember the event, which not only changed the church, but also changed how
the church thinks about who God is and what God is doing.
On
In some
respects, it is difficult for the average church member to fully grasp the enormity of what took place in Wittenburg nearly
500 years ago, and the impact it had on our way of thinking about God. Much has happened over the last 500 years to
the church both on the Catholic side of the aisle and the Reformed side of the
aisle. The Protestant church has divided
numerous times into multiple denominations with differing beliefs and
theologies all seeking a new way of being, doing, and thinking as they are lead
by the Spirit. Even the Catholic Church
has changed a great deal over the last 500 years seeking to more closely align
itself with the Biblical witness, but not as far as claiming that Luther was
right.
So today, as
we look back and remember the Reformation, I want to take some time to reflect
with you upon one of our Reformed tenets that developed out of the Reformation,
a Reformed tenet that for some, like me, brings with it an enormous sense of
joy, relief, and freedom, but for many, many others it brings a sense of
trepidation and anxiety. What is this
one Reformed tenet that has become the third rail in theology that no one likes
to talk about? What is this one Reformed
tenet that is not spoken about much and is most of the time avoided like a
person with chicken pox? This one
Reformed tenet is the doctrine of Predestination – the theological belief taken
from the Biblical witness, which says that God has chosen or elected, before
the foundations of the world, those whom God saves. Now before you go screaming out the door, let
me set the record straight about this troublesome belief by first talking about
what predestination is not.
Predestination
is not the belief that every good thing or every bad thing that happens to us and
in the world is predetermined by God, and therefore we should just accept
everything that happens as the foreordained will of God. Certainly, we as Christians try to understand
all the events, whether small or big, that happens in our lives and in the
world in light of God’s loving and just rule over God’s good creation. But this is not predestination - this is
providence. Predestination is not an
attempt to explain all the ways in which God is related to everything that
happens. Predestination is specifically
about the question of salvation. It is
not about us at all, it is solely about God – that God and God alone is the one
who saves.
The concept
of predestination comes from scripture, but the doctrine of predestination was
developed by
The first is
called double-predestination. In this
view, some are elected for salvation and everyone else is elected not to be
saved. Some are in and others are out. Calvin defended this view and it is strongly
affirmed in the Westminster Confession.
Double-predestination affirms the sovereignty of God, that God’s love is
not earned or deserved, but freely given, that God is loving
but just, and that salvation comes from God alone. However, the whole Biblical witness reminds
us that God’s justice can never be separated from God’s love, that God’s plan
of salvation is for the whole world, and that there is no scripture which says
that there is a divine, eternal decree by which from the beginning to the end
some people are rejected.
We may look at some people and
conclude that they are not in a relationship with Jesus Christ, but it would be
an arrogant presumption to conclude that God’s choosing or rejecting them
corresponds to the differences we see in people. The God we know in Jesus Christ is a living
and active God who desires all people to be free, who even now is at work in
the world and in individual lives to bring people into right relationship with
Him, who demands and makes possible real human decisions, and who brings new
things to pass.
In the end, double predestination
turns the good news of Jesus Christ into bad news – at least for some. God loves you – maybe. Christ died for you – maybe. You may believe and have newness of life now
and forever – if you are one of the elect.
It would be a terrible tragedy if some people were rejected from the
beginning, doomed, and lost forever even if they didn’t want to be, which is
why double predestination is neither the Biblical nor the Christian answer to
predestination.
The second view is universalism,
which says that everyone is saved, that God is gracious and loving to everyone,
chooses all people, and rejects none.
Everyone is included and no one is excluded. Universalism also defends the sovereignty of
God and maybe even more so than double predestination, since God’s power to
save is stronger than the power of sin and unbelief. How could God be sovereign if in the end
anyone is lost? Universalism also
emphasizes the biblical and Reformation insistence on salvation by grace alone,
that no one can be saved by works, and that God’s love is freely given to all
people.
However, if double predestination
has trouble with God’s love, universalism has trouble with God’s justice. With double predestination, God looks too
much like an arbitrary tyrant, and with universalism God looks too much like a
sentimental grand-parent. It’s not good
news to say that God loves you – maybe, but neither is it good news to say that
God will bless you anyway regardless what you do.
God wants a two-way relationship
with us. God speaks to us and wants an
answer from us. God loves us and wants
us to love in return. God commands and
wants our thankful obedience. We must
never forget the biblical witness which warns us that our own rebellion against
God and our indifference to other people do have eternal consequences. The Gospels are full of just such examples of
biblical warnings; warnings not to those who are on the outside, but to those
on the inside, who claim to know and believe in God.
In the end, universalism turns
God’s love into God’s indifference, and it turns the good news of the Gospel
into a divine edict that says you will love God whether you want to or not,
that you will be in a relationship with God whether you want to or not, that
you will love and serve others whether you want to or not. This, too, is neither the Biblical nor the
Christian answer to predestination.
The third
view is called Pelagianism because it was first developed by a British monk
named Pelagius, who spoke out against Augustines’ double-predestination. Pelagianism says that God’s election depends
on whether or not we choose or reject God.
Extreme Pelagians do not believe in the grace of God, but in the belief
that we are saved by our works. Keep in
mind that both Reformation Protestantism and Roman Catholicism reject this
belief. However, there is a milder form
of Pelagianism that has become the official doctrine of the Roman Catholic
Church and is highly believed by many people in the Protestant church as well,
including devote Presbyterians.
Semi-Pelagianism says that we are
unworthy, undeserving sinners, who fall short of God’s glory, and who are in
dependent upon the saving grace of God in Jesus Christ. We are not free to save ourselves, but we are
free to ask God for the faith that saves.
We are free to receive the grace God offers to us. We are free to turn ourselves toward God and
ask for God’s reconciling love.
Semi-pelagiansim certainly emphasizes the importance of faith, the
saving power of God to all who ask, and the hope that salvation is for all
people.
However, semi-pelagianism also
believes in self-salvation, because everything depends upon us, not on what God
does, but on what we do. God cannot be
the powerful, saving, reconciling God unless we ask God to be. Jesus is not our Lord and Savior unless we
want him to be our Lord and Savior.
Unless we make the first move, God cannot and will do nothing. We cannot be saved until we want to be
saved.
In the end,
even semi-pelagianism ignores the biblical witness, which says that we are not
free, that we are not free to either love God or love one another, that it is
God who frees us for God, for others, and for the world. What kind of loving parent would God be if
God said, “I will love you, if you love me first. I will save you, if you prove that you really
want it, if your faith is good enough.”
What kind of loving and just God would there be if God was dependent
upon our acceptance, permission, and support before our salvation became real
and effective? Semi-pelagianism is
neither the Biblical nor the Christian answer to predestination either.
Okay, now
that you have patiently sat through my summation of 500 years of Christian
theology on predestination, it is time for the big payoff as I share with you
my understanding of and belief in predestination.
My friends,
there are many things in this world we need to be concerned about. We need to be concerned about our own
sinfulness, about the things that we do and the things that we leave undone. We need to be concerned about how we treat
other people, about our alienation with other people, and about how we serve or
not serve Christ and others. We need to
be concerned about our own faithfulness and whether or not we are producing
fruit for God’s kingdom and whether or not we are living in true faith and
obedience to God’s word. We also need to
be concerned about our own calling as God’s chosen people, whether or not we
are living up to God’s calling for us, whether or not we are answering God’s
call through the giving of ourselves, our time, our talents, and even our money
back to God. But the one thing we do
not need to be concerned about is our salvation, because our salvation is a
done deal, because salvation is not about us – salvation is about God.
From the beginning, God chose a
people to be God’s people, a people who are elected not just as a privilege or
for prestige but to be instruments of God’s loving justice and just love in the
world. We have been elected, chosen, and
predestined as God’s people for loving service and faithful witness to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus
Christ who is for us the chosen one of God, and who is the reason and the
assurance of our salvation. We cannot
look for salvation in ourselves, because it belongs to Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus Christ that we have been made
free – free to love God, because God first loved us; free to love one another,
because God has reconciled us; free to be the people of God as God has predestined
and called us to be, because that is God’s promise to us and for us in God’s
Word. One of my favorite sayings is
this, “it’s not predestination or human freedom, it is
predestination, therefore human freedom.”
Do we need to
take seriously the things we should be concerned about? Absolutely, yes! They are the fruits of our salvation, the
visible signs that we are truly living as saved people, the faithful and
obedient response to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. But we do not need to continue to worry about
whether or not we are in or out, whether or not we are one of the elect or one
of the rejected. We do not need to live
our lives of faith under the anxiety and pressure of worrying about whether or
not we are good enough or faithful enough, whether or not we are going to be a
sheep or a goat on the last day. If our
only concern is about ourselves, we will never be able to be free to do the
things God has called us to do, or be the people God has called us to be.
What is
predestination to me? It is like the
difference between being a host and a guest.
All of us, at one time or another, have been a
host, whether for a dinner party, birthday party, or having someone stay over
night at in our home. And we all know
what it is like to be a host. We worry
about the food we are going to have, and whether or not it will be good
enough. We worry about whether or not
people will be made to feel welcome. We
worry whether or not we will have enough room for people who sleep over, or if
they will be comfortable. We worry about
who is going to sit where at the dinner table, especially during Thanksgiving
and Christmas meals. And we worry about
whether or not our house is clean enough for our guests. Many times we worry so much about whether or
not people are having a good time, that we forget to
have a good time ourselves. I bet there
isn’t a person in this sanctuary, who after their company leaves, doesn’t sit
down and say, “Whew!”
This is why
sometimes it is nice just to be a guest, because we don’t have to go through
all the preparation. We don’t have to
worry about having a good time. We can
just enjoy the company of our host and the fruits of their loving and caring
work. Predestination is just like
this.
With
predestination, we do not have to worry about being invited or not, because we
are already there in the household of God.
We don’t have to worry about whether or not the food will be good,
because God has already feed us the bread of life and cup of salvation. We don’t have to worry about where we are
going to lay our head, because God has already given us rest for our souls in
Jesus Christ. We don’t have to worry
about being welcomed, because we have already been called children of God. We don’t have to worry about whether or not
we will have a place at the table, because Jesus has already prepared a place
for us at his table. All we have to do
is enjoy God’s company, and the fruit of God’s loving and caring work in our
lives.
Does this
mean that as a guest we don’t have to be polite, nice, respectful, or thankful? Does this mean that we can do anything we
want, act anyway we want to, or have a total disregard for the rules of the
household? Of course
not. They are part of what it
means to be a guest.
But we can also be glad and
rejoice that the one in whose house we have been invited in, and in whose
kingdom we have been included in, is a loving and gracious host; a host who
lovingly and justly rebukes and corrects us, a host who willingly teaches us
the right way to live, a host who faithfully loves us unconditionally, and a
host who powerfully gives us the freedom and the ability to give our love,
faith, hope, and gratitude in return.
My friends,
predestination is not scary news for us, it is glorious good news for us,
because it truly is joyful, comforting, reassuring, and ever so nice to be a
guest in the kingdom of the God who saves by grace alone. Amen.