“God chose us in eternity to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Before God said, “Let there be light…” God set his heart on making you his own forever. In order for that to happen, he had to change us to be holy and blameless. We weren’t that way when we were born. We were born sinful by nature. The sinful flesh still clings to us like dog hair on your pant legs. That sinful flesh wants you to see yourself as lost and damned sinner whom God couldn’t possibly love.
God chose us to be his own – not because he looked ahead in time and saw that we would be holy and blameless! No! He chose us first; and he made us holy and blameless in his love! The whole world can condemn you. Your friends can laugh at you. Satan can accuse you. Your conscience can convict you. But God has chosen to make you holy and blameless before him! No other verdict matters. God’s election process is fail proof.
“Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.”
Ephesians 1:3-14
3 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. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9 And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 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.
11 In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Dear Friends,
The founding fathers of the United States created an electoral system in which the American people had the power and responsibility to select their leader. When George Washington was elected the first U.S. president in 1789, only white men who owned property could vote, but the 15th, 19th and 26th Amendments to the Constitution have since expanded the right of suffrage to all citizens over 18. That hasn’t ended the controversies surrounding presidential elections. Elections can be hard fought, emotionally charged, mud-slinging affairs after which the country is supposed to work together for the good of all. That isn’t always the case as you know so well. Dissatisfied voters complain about the process.
God talks about an election process in his kingdom that is fail proof. It isn’t that God’s kingdom elects a leader. We already have the Perfect Leader in Jesus Christ. God elects his citizens. It is an amazing event. It happened before time began. And it is perfect because it is God’s plan of salvation for his church. Let us consider God’s fail proof plan for electing citizens of his kingdom
God’s Election Process Is Fail Proof
God chose his citizens
God redeemed is citizens
God sealed his citizens
God chose you personally to be his own before he created the world. This choice was not a random selection process as though God as though God were calling out numbers for Bingo. Your election was “in Christ” and in harmony with the good news of Christ. That is why St. Paul begins this letter with a message of praise to God for showering “every spiritual blessing on us in Christ.” All the blessings we enjoy are “in Christ.” There are no spiritual blessings to be gained outside of Christ. Spiritual blessings are grasped by faith. Spiritual blessings are in the “heavenly realms” and are therefore pure and safe from all the dust and rust and ruin that marks everything in this sin-infested world. St. Paul urges us to join him in praising God for his grace by which God has showered his spiritual blessings on us.
“God chose us in eternity to be holy and blameless in his sight.” Before God said, “Let there be light…” God set his heart on making you his own forever. In order for that to happen, he had to change us to be holy and blameless. We weren’t that way when we were born. We were born sinful by nature. The sinful flesh still clings to us like dog hair on your pant legs. That sinful flesh wants you to see yourself as lost and damned sinner whom God couldn’t possibly love.
God chose us to be his own – not because he looked ahead in time and saw that we would be holy and blameless! No! He chose us first; and he made us holy and blameless in his love! The whole world can condemn you. Your friends can laugh at you. Satan can accuse you. Your conscience can convict you. But God has chosen to make you holy and blameless before him! No other verdict matters. God’s election process is fail proof.
God chose you “in accordance with his pleasure and will.” In other words, your election by grace was a free act of love on God’s part. God did not look ahead in time and see some good in you. There was nothing about you that caused your election. Your election is not a part of God’s foreknowledge. You were chosen by grace – pure and simple.
God chose us to be his citizens in Christ. Notice how often St. Paul emphasizes that your election is in Christ. He says it in verse 3, in verse 4, in verse 5, in verse 6, in verse 7, in verse 9, in verse 10, in verse 11, and in verse 13. Without Christ, there is no election. God’s grace is poured out on us “in the One he loves” – Jesus Christ! God chose you to be his own, not by going soft on sin. He dealt with sin in Christ. God choose you in Christ who lived for us and died in our place. Your salvation is sure and certain because God chose you in Christ. He died because of your sin and he rose because God has declared you forgiven!
So God adopted you into his family. We were not born into God’s family. God chose to make us his own. He gave us the status of being his full, legal, heirs to his kingdom. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul said, “he redeemed (us) … that we might receive the full rights of sons.” (Ga 4:5) So, he saw to it that we were brought into contact with the message of Christ through which the Holy Spirit worked faith in our hearts. Maybe he caused you to be born into a home in which your parents taught you about Christ. Maybe he brought you into contact with a Christian spouse who taught you about Christ.
Maybe it was a friend or a coworker. But somehow God caused the message of the gospel to touch your heart and life. God elected you by making your salvation not about you, but about his grace to you in Christ. That is why your election is fail proof.
God redeemed us by his own blood. Our election to salvation was not some abstract process which began and ended in the hallowed halls of heaven. It included the shedding of the blood of the eternal Son of God to pay for our sins. Redemption is the act of securing the release of someone who is a slave and whose life is doomed to death.
Redemption sets the slave free and places the punishment of death upon another. We were “objects of wrath” to God. We deserved the consuming fire of God’s anger. We lived our lives like dogs sniffing the scent of every sinful desires for worldly passions that provided no lasting satisfaction. God’s election process is fail proof because he redeemed us through Christ’s blood shed on the cross to pay for the sins of the world.
Now “God has made known to us the mystery of his will.” That mystery is revealed to us by faith in the Word of God.
Through God’s Word he gives to us in time what he planned for us in eternity. The mystery of his will is simply this “to bring all things in heaven and earth together under one head, even Christ.” God planned that Christ would break down the barriers between heaven and earth and eliminate the divisions which sin had brought into the world. Jesus Christ is the one who clears up the confusion of every challenge we face in life.
Christ makes sense of everything. An election process that hinges on Christ cannot fail.
God sealed us as his own with his Spirit. The Holy Spirit brings us to faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit binds the holy Christian church – the sum total of all who believe in Christ - together. In this Church, everyone has the same purpose in life. We live to the praise and glory of God. Everyone waits for the same inheritance in heaven. The Holy Spirit binds the church together with this common hope.
All this happens “according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will.” The plans God makes always materialize. Our plans not so much! If our salvation were at all dependent on our will or our plans, we would have no certainty of salvation. But because God works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, we can be sure that even a sinful world cannot derail God’s plan. Everything that happens must serve for our good. People may make your life miserable, do wicked things to you, but God is still in charge. He will still mold, fashion and shape everything that happens so that it serves his purposes for you!
When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, the Holy Spirit called you to faith in Christ. That same Spirit will keep you in the faith all the days of your life. That gift of salvation is sealed for you by the Holy Spirit who lives in you. St. Paul told the Corinthian Christians, “Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in you.” Just as a seal serves to mark out an object as belonging to an individual, so the Holy Spirit is God’s “seal of ownership” on you! He lives in you as a deposit guaranteed your inheritance in heaven. He has marked you as God’s prized possession. Praise God for his amazing grace!
Sometimes a person is tempted to feel sorry for himself because your life seems to be a little harder than it ought to be – or harder than the lives of others around you. Sometimes a person feels as though the whole world is against you or that no one understands or cares about you. St. Paul urges you here to take another look at the life you are living and just where your life is headed. St. Paul has given you a God’s eye view of your life. God chose you to be his own. He redeemed you with his own blood. He sealed you with his own Spirit. What you are makes all the difference in the world. God chose you to be his child for time and for eternity. God doesn’t fail at anything he does. He certainly will not fail to bring you home to heaven. It is his election process completed in Christ.
Amen.
Comments