The Tough Doctrine of Election!

A friend sent me a message, asking for my opinion about Calvinism, the idea that God chose some to be saved, and other he did not chose. This was my reply: 

Yo Broo !

Soo Calvinism… Yeah, it’s the big question about God sovereignty vs our freewill. And we have to acknowledge God is sovereign, and we have free will! How do the two work together? Nobody really knows.

So if you remember Joseph’s story in Genesis 37-50, his brothers try to kill him, then they sell him, in slavery, and at the end, Joseph acknowledges that it was God, who had sent him to Egypt in order to save his family (Gen 50:20). So in a mysterious way, the people were free to do what they wanted the whole time, and God was still entirely sovereign!

I see it this way for salvation as well. There is a dilemma, and no one can really solve it! But extremes are dangerous. The Bible teaches that all those who are saved, were chosen before they were born. But for everyone who is alive, we know that all those who believe will be saved! So who was chosen? God knows! Who can believe? Everyone is invited to believe! Extremes say: because God has already chosen, there is no point in telling people about Jesus! (extreme Calvinism), or the other side, I am better than those who are not saved, because I made the right decision! They should have known better!

So I would say: what Calvin holds is in scripture! (John 6:44, Mat 11:27, Ephesians 1:3-6, Romans 9:11-23). But you cannot forget all the verses that seem to leave it open for everyone who believes to be saved! (Romans 10:9,13, Acts 2:38, John 5:24).

When people say: “it is not fair God chose some and not others.” I think what is not fair is that God, chooses to save any at all, since we are all sinners! Grace: getting something you do not deserve.

My big conclusion is: there is a tension in scripture. We need to keep the tension in our theology! (This topic has probably been the one that I’ve struggled with most along the years). Hope this helps! Let me know if you want more! (but sorry if you wanted a smaller answer!)

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.  34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I am going to preach on this text in two days. I am briefly going to describe the process of going around it.

Finding the big idea

The first time was finding the main idea. For this you need to see what the text is talking about. Then you find the complement: what are you saying about the subject.

The subject is: Why you should not be anxious. The complement: Because it reflects your little faith, because God's provision is visible, and because anxiety makes no sense.

The main idea of the text is the subject + the complements. We cannot be anxious because once we choose to follow God, anxiety reveals our little faith, we cannot be anxious because we see God's provisional care in the world,
BeOutline

The classic way to go, is to start with an introduction, then have a body with three main points, and a conclusion with an application. 

Introduction

I like the idea of identifying the main idea with me, trying to connect it with the hearers and then showing that this is something that we must all be concerned about as a community.

In order to do this I will begin with a story, of what my thoughts were about the implications of the Christian faith on how they ought to live. I believed with such a system of beliefs, there was no way they could ever be anxious. Now that I am a Christian, I see that this is far from what I experience. 

Anxiety is part of life, in my own life, I will share some example, and also part of the audience's life, and in is something that we can address as a community, we must be aware of what the Bible says in order to find comfort for ourselves, and in order to comfort others!

I want to read the text, and give the big idea in this text. I am going to point out that the main idea is repeated three times in the text: "Do not be anxious" What I am going to show in this text is that God wants us to make him our priority, we do not need to worry, because worrying makes no sense, if we serve God, our life will not be characterized by anxiety, and we cannot be anxious because God's provisional care is just obvious to us. 

I want to define anxiety - say what it is not, say what it is.

I am going to argue that anxiety here refers to even anxiety about the most basic things, which means that it must extend to all kinds of anxiety.  

Body with my three main points: Why can't I be anxious?

Because if we serve God we cannot be anxious!

25: begins with therefore! So we must look to the previous verses, and the conclusion is that if someone is storing up their treasure in heaven, and not playing a game of trying to serve two masters, they logically will not be anxious. Because they have their mind set on the right things! Which follows later on when Jesus calls those who are anxious "oh you of little faith" in verse 30, and then follows in verses 31-32 by comparing those who are anxious with non-believers. If we serve God out lives are to look different than those who live without God!

Because God's visible provisional Care!

The second argument for not being anxious, is just looking at the reality of how God provides, three elements are given: our own body and life, God has provided which is more important that the other things we normally seek, and then we can look to the birds of the sky, and the flowers of the field. One one hand, we see that we are worth more than birds, remembering our value, our identity in Christ is crucial when we are anxious. If we want to know our value, one way is to look at what someone is willing to pay for something! God gave us his only son! Concerning the flowers who are here today and gone tomorrow, in seeing how God cares for such a transitional area of creation, How Much More Will he Care for us!

Because anxiety does not make sense for anybody!

The third kind of reasons i think are just logical! You do not have to be a Christian to be convinced by these reasons that you should not be anxious. Verse 25: remember what is more important food or life? We we are anxious, it is because we want a better life. If we have food, we believe we will have a better life! If we are anxious about it, though it is the better life that we seek, remember an anxious life makes it worse. Life is more important than food! If you do not have food, remember do not mess up your Life which is more important by being anxious! Second logical reason - Look at verse 27 - who has ever added any time time their life by being anxious? I am going  to give examples to illustrate - stress about preaching this, about Hebrew quizzes, or worrying has never added any money in the bank. Thirdly we have verse 34 - Let tomorrow worry about tomorrow! There is enough to deal with today. I've been worried about this day, and I knew the day would come and it wouldn't even be a big deal! When we worry about the future my experience tells me that nothing ever happens as I think, and most of the time their is nothing I can do to change those things anyway, so there is no point at all!

Conclusion and Application

Do not be anxious, but trust God, because that is how those who trust God live, just look at God's provisional care all around you, and how meaningless is anxiety anyway!

The text states the same negative command three times: "Do not be anxious", to apply this passage I want to use the positive command found in the text - for those who are anxious - Seek First the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added on to you"

That is nonesensical, from Julian Bacon telling you this - but remember who is speaking - I was reading about Jesus treatment before his crucifixion, and it occured to me that have gone through what he did, and being who he is, listen to Him! "Seek my Kingdom, and My Righteousness! and I will take care of you" We do this by remember what Jesus has done for us, we seek to know him more, be changed by him, and preach is Good news to others!