BLOG 3/22/15. PREDESTINATION: DO YOU WANNA GO THERE?
OK, I’ve heard a lot dumb sermons in my life (and probably preached a few also), but one of the Biblical passages that comes close to the top of the list of those that are wrenched out of their setting, and bastardized, and totally misused would have to be the one that contains the passage: “And we know that for all those who love God all things work together for good, …”—but right here those ‘dumb’ sermons put a period, when actually there is only a comma—and so the passage continues: “… for those who are called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28). This piece of the larger passage is yanked out and used as some kind of a placebo to explain any kind of difficult or unexpected or unexplainably tragic event. But that kind of cut-and-paste interpretation misses the wonder of this passage
Don’t leave! It begins to get interesting if one is really curious. First of all there should arise in any thinking person: What in the world is the purpose of God? Keep going: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” No question that there is a whole lot of mystery when it comes to God’s design in his dealing with humankind. We humans cannot fathom God’s foreknowledge, and we cannot even figure out why we who embrace Christ have had our eyes opened to the wonder of his love.
But one thing is unmistakable, and that is that the ultimate design of God is his purpose to “create all things new” in and through Jesus Christ. That’s where predestination is going. God is working his purpose out in this broken world. He has invaded his rebel creation, which had rejected him, and in love brings the inauguration of a whole and radically recreated world in which the guilty can be forgiven, and in whom he can display his divine nature and purpose (glory). That is what this passage says. It says that God is working his purpose out, and calls humankind to hear his invitation of love and grace, and to reject and abandon that screwed-up dominion which seeks to be its own god and goddesses.
So here is the reality of Easter. Jesus Christ, who is at the heart of it all, and is the Predestined One, has been declared to be the Son of God with power by his resurrection from the dead. He, then invites us to embrace him and his New Creation, and to become a dynamic part of that predestined reality in which is life, and meaning, and reconciled oneness with the Lord of all and the Creator.
But note: this invitation has consequences. It is not at all a safe and comfortable bit of religion. When one is called into God’s New Creation, it is necessary that they also forsake the old creation with its idols, and false gods, and violated way of life. Jesus never mutes the cost of following him. “Unless a man forsake all that he hath he cannot be my disciple.” “If any one will follow me, then let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” His invitation into his embrace of love also includes chastening: “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every one whom he receives” (Hebrew 12:6). This is necessary simply because we come to him with so much of the crap in our thinking and behavior from our former way of life, that is all inimical to his predestined newness for us.
All that said, the result though demanding and not safe, leads to indescribable new life in the Spirit, and to freedom, and to joy, and to intimacy with God that is unimaginable. This is what predestination is all about—yet the gate is narrow that leads to eternal life, so don’t jump before you look at the consequences, and the demands of the gospel (as well as the promises). This isn’t about ‘church membership’ … it is about radical New Creation for which Christ suffered and bled and died, and all of which was vindicated by his resurrection from the dead.
