Living Call: Predestined to a Purpose
The Rev. Dr. John Judson
July 24, 2011
Living Call: Predestined to a Purpose
Romans 8:26-39
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 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 within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
‘For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.’
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Genesis 12:1-9
Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Abram took his wife Sarai and his brother’s son Lot, and all the possessions that they had gathered, and the persons whom they had acquired in Haran; and they set forth to go to the land of Canaan. When they had come to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lordappeared to Abram, and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land.’ So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved on to the hill country on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; and there he built an altar to the Lord and invoked the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on by stages towards the Negeb.
I want to begin this morning by asking you to use your imaginations. Close your eyes if you will and see a bright light. It is the end of your life and you are moving toward the light. As you enter the light you see a long line of people waiting in a large lobby. At the far end of the line are two escalators. One escalator is going down and the other is going up. Everyone appears to be lined up for the escalator going down. Without complaining they get on and descend into who knows where. Occasionally however you see someone going on the up escalator. As you get closer to the front of the line you see a guy with long hair, a beard and sandals standing by the front of the line. He ignores most of the people as they go down but will, every once in a while, tap someone on the shoulder and send them up. As you begin to realize where the escalators lead you begin to get a bit nervous and wonder if you will be picked. Finally your time arrives and just as you begin to step on the down escalator, the man taps you on the shoulder and points to the way up. Relieved you turn and ask, “Why was I chosen to go up?” He replies, “Oh, you are a Presbyterian … you are one of the elect.”
What I have described, well without the Presbyterian comment, is the classic understanding of predestination. As Augustine, Luther and Calvin understood it, predestination worked like this. Before the beginning of time God chose some for salvation and some for damnation. Those chosen were not chosen because they were nicer, kinder or better. They were not chosen because God knew that one day they would choose to follow Jesus. They were chosen simply because God, in God’s love and grace chose them not to suffer eternal punishment. Those whom God chose for salvation were the elect. We hear echoes of this in our morning’s passage. “For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…and those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Some have referred to predestination as the most awful of doctrines because it condemns much of humanity to punishment regardless of what they do. Others see it as great comfort in that the elect cannot lose their salvation. Either way, here is what I want you to do with this image, carefully put it under your pew…then scoot it back with your foot so I can give you a second image.
This time you do not have to close your eyes as I offer you another image of being the elect. This is one with which many of you are familiar. It begins like this. “The President of the United States, to Roy Richard Thomas, 14738, Greetings: you are hereby directed to report for preinduction physical at 2958 Jefferson Ave, Detroit at 7:30 am, on the 30th day of January 1945.” Mr. Thomas was one of the elect. He was elected to serve his nation and the world in that great struggle to free the world from the grip of fascism, Nazism and Japanese militarism. He was elected, and being the right age, predestined if you will to be part of this endeavor. In other words he was elected to risk everything, including his life, for a purpose greater than himself. Do you have that image of election in your mind…good because that is, in my understanding, the kind of election Paul is discussing here. He is not talking about who does or does not get into heaven, but is instead reminding his readers that they have been elected by God for a purpose…a purpose which is greater than themselves and will require them to risk everything.
What we need to remember is that God always calls people for a purpose. God called Abraham to be a blessing to all the families of the earth. God called Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. God called the prophets to lead the people back to faithfulness. God called John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus. And God calls us for a purpose as well. That purpose is to show forth the image of God to the world; or as Jesus put it to be light and salt to the world. We are to do this because that is our role in God’s creation reclamation project. I say that because the context of this passage is not about people getting into heaven. The context of this passage is about God’s work of reclaiming and redeeming all of creation, including human beings. So when Paul says that we have been called according to God’s purpose it means we have been called to be part of this reclamation project. As N.T. Wright puts it, “this whole purpose was always designed to be fulfilled through the agency of God’s image bearing children, the human race…those in Christ are the people through whom God intends to accomplish this task. They like Israel, are assured that they have been called for a purpose…bringing to creation the healing, freedom and life for which it longs.”i
This understanding then allows us to make sense of the rest of this passage. I say that because many commentators have struggled with this section of Romans. They have seen it not as a cohesive argument, but as bits and pieces of theological philosophy. Instead it becomes a description of God’s preparation of his people for their purpose. In verses 26 and 27 we read of the Spirit which helps us in our weakness. None of us have the power to accomplish this purpose on our own, but the Spirit intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words that we might know what to do for God.
In verses 28 through 30 we discover that we have been equipped for the task. Not only do we discover that we have been called and elected to this creation reclamation project, but that God has done all that is necessary to make it possible for us to be image bearers into the world. By being justified, meaning brought into right relationship with God, we become capable of being conformed to the image of God’s son. We become capable to being those who show the love, grace and forgiveness of God to a hurting world.
Finally in verses 31 through 39 we are given the assurance that God will never forsake us as we live into being the image bearers of God’s love into the world. He reminds us that because of God’s work, because of God’s adoption, there is no one and no thing that can separate us from God’s love in Christ Jesus. Even though the road will often be difficult, notice he speaks of us facing hardship, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness and sword, that none of those things will have the power to separate us from God and the purpose to which we have been called. This is why Paul can say that all things work together for the good…because all things work together for the good of our participation in God’s purpose…the reclamation of creation, even when they do not appear to be working for our immediate good.
So how did all of these great theologians miss this? They missed it because they brought to all of scripture the singular question of their day, “Who controls salvation?” Was it the church, the Pope, ourselves or God? Their answer was God…which makes sense. Unfortunately they failed to ask the more appropriate question which was, simply put, what is Paul trying to tell us? If we listen carefully to Paul’s unfolding argument in Romans it is that God loved us and creation so much that God called and equipped us to be part of Christ’s image bearing family that is to be God’s agent of showing light and love to the world.
The challenge before us then is to move beyond the induction physical to playing our part in this creation reclamation project. So here is my challenge for you for this week, to ask yourselves, “How am I bearing Christ’s image into the world in order to make a difference for God?”
i N.T. Wright, New Interpreters Bible, Volume 10,(Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2002) pgs. 601, 602
