The Chosen Ones

     I was mad!  Why?  I don't rightly recall.  I was fifteen.  I probably got mad at my sister...or received a poor grade on a math assignment...or something else that might offend a fifteen-year-old.  At any rate, I was in a foul mood.  Who knew I was about to do something I would henceforth deem as unforgivable?

     My mom had sent me outside to do some chore.  As I went out the door and down the walkway in front of the house, I was startled by a cat dashing out of the hedges, almost tripping me in the process.  Already in a horrible mood, I snapped, "Some idiot let their cat out!"

     Immediately, I heard the familiar voice of our next door neighbor (a bitter old woman) yelling "Maggie!"  The can went running to its house.  The neighbor opened her door long enough for Maggie to get in, and then slammed it shut again.

     I was struck with immediate regret about my angry comment.  Our neighbor had so many pets I couldn't keep track of them all.  I didn't know it was her cat.  I hadn't said what I did in any passive-aggressive way.  Plus, she seldom came outside, and when she did, she wasn't very sociable.  Sometimes she didn't answer when spoken to.  It depended on her mood.  My parents had been trying to witness to her for many years.  She knew we were Christians (as did our whole neighborhood).  Sometimes, I felt overly pressured to make my walk match my talk...because otherwise, people would reject Jesus because of me.  If they burned in hell, it was my fault (so I thought back then.)  I stood there in my front yard that day, the shame consuming me.  I had undone all the evangelism efforts of many years by my careless comment.  Why had I said that?  I needed to make it right.

     I went and knocked on her front door, but she refused to answer.  I wasn't offended by this.  I thought it was her right to hate me so much that she wouldn't answer.  I had said that rude comment (even though it wasn't directed at her or in any way intentional).

     This neighbor passed away a short time later.  I felt sick inside.  I had sinned against her, and never been able to make it right.  If she was burning in hell, it was all my fault.  I didn't feel like I could ever forgive myself.

     I struggled in my life for many years, until I was in my early 20's at Bible college.  I was introduced to a doctrine I had never heard of.  A doctrine taught all through scripture.  I was very well-versed in scripture.  I had read through the Bible in its entirety, more than once.  I read my Bible daily.  Being a good Baptist, I knew all about the Rapture and the tribulation, and could defend the position of "once saved always saved" to my dying breath (still can😉).  In spite of all of that, I don't know why I hadn't come across this particular doctrine.

     Before I actually state this doctrine, I'm going to tell a story I was told at Bible college, and have heard many times since.  I tried to find out where it originated, but was unable.  Here's the story.  The gospel was likened to a room, and people were being invited in.  A sign over the door said, "Whosoever will come."  The invitation was open to all.  However, once people got inside, they looked back at the door through which they had come, and saw a different sign on this side of the door.  This sign said, "Chosen from the Foundation of the World."

     This was my introduction to the doctrine of election.  That is, God choosing believers.  There is debate about how this works exactly.  Some Christians would say God unconditionally chose to save some fallen humans, by His Sovereign choice.  He chose these individuals, and the proof is that they do become Christians.  Another position on this is that God chose to save us based on who He knew would respond favorably to the gospel.  For never having heard of any of this prior to Bible college, I was caught up in the discussions once I was introduced to it.  This was the most debated subject at Bible college.  Regardless of which side a Christian finds himself (whether he believes God chose us based on His Sovereignty, or whether one believes God chose us based on knowing we would say yes to Him), no one can biblically deny the doctrine of election--God's choosing.  And regardless of how it worked, it changed EVERYTHING for me...and my guilt complex.  It meant that I hadn't sent our neighbor to hell.  God was the powerful one who had it sorted out.  That wasn't on me.  I had sinned in my grumpiness that day when I snapped about the cat...but that was my sin in it.  I had confessed it (actually, I had confessed it to the Lord dozens of time in hopes of finding relief from the guilt).  It was over as far as I was concerned.

     Let's take a second to look at what the Bible teaches about this concept.  A verse that has become a favorite of mine is Ephesians 1:4, "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before him in love."  We are chosen.  Before God made the stars and heavens, he knew you and chose you!  Think of that.  I wish someone had shared that verse with me in junior high, when it seemed like no one chose me for anything!  Another passage that speaks of this teaching is Acts 2:47, "...and the Lord was adding to their numbers daily those who were being saved."   There was a revival going on after the Holy Spirit was given in Acts 2.  But God was the one doing the adding of believers to the body.  The King James version even goes a little further.  It says, "...the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."  From my research, though, I lean toward the New American Standard's translation on that one (the first one I quoted).  Either way, God is the one making it happen.  Jesus Himself said in John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them..."  Any person's salvation takes a Sovereign work of God.  Likewise, in John 15:16, Jesus said, "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you..."  Ephesians 2:8 says, "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing.  It is the gift of God."  I used to think the last part, the gift of God, was referring back to salvation itself (which would be a true statement), but it is actually referring to the faith to believe, mentioned in the previous sentence.  We don't conjure it up in ourselves.  Faith to receive the gospel is a gift.  As I said, God has it sorted out.  No human has power over someone else's salvation or eternity.  A missionary once told me, "If you don't take the credit for people you lead to Christ, you don't have to take the blame for those who reject Him."  And he's right.  We can't take credit or blame.  When I share the gospel with another person, I am being obedient, and a tool God is using to bring another person to Himself...but it isn't me.  I can't save them.  Whether they receive the message or not, I'm obedient either way.  Or disobedient if I don't share when God calls me to.

     On the subject of the Sovereignty of God, I was given this scenario.  A man is on his way to the airport to catch a flight.  On the way, his car gets a flat tire, and he has to change it.  This takes a good twenty minutes, and by the time he's on the road again, he's missed his flight and has to get a later flight.  He then finds out the flight he was supposed to be on crashed and there were no survivors.  That flat tire preventing his being on that flight was God's Sovereignty.  However, let's flip the scenario.  The man gets a flat tire on his way to the airport, and misses his flight, having to get on a later flight.  The original flight arrives safely, but the later flight, which he ended up on, crashes, and there are no survivors.  That is also God's Sovereignty.  We tend to only think of God as being Sovereign over things that make us comfortable.  But if He's God, He is Sovereign over all.  We don't choose to believe things simply because they make us happy.  We choose to believe the truth.  We have to believe that God is good in His Sovereignty, and also that we can't fully comprehend it.  One day, we will see the face of God, and it will make sense.  First Corinthians 13:12 says, "...now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."  There is a lot more about election and the Sovereignty of God in scripture, but I'm going to take a quick look at the flip side, man's responsibility.

     Second Peter 3:9 says that the Lord is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."  Throughout the New Testament, we are constantly admonished to urgently share the gospel with all.  John 3:16, an extremely well-known verse, tells us that God so loved the world.  All through the gospels and epistles, an invitation is given for all to believe on Him.  There are never any exclusions.  In fact, after Gentiles start believing in the book of Acts, Peter marvels that "God is no respecter of persons." (Acts 10:34).  People have a responsibility to respond to the gospel message, and there is no excuse for rejecting it.  The only reason anybody will be in hell is because they rejected Jesus Christ.  As a human being, my responsibility in my salvation was to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31).  My responsibility in daily Christian living is to be obedient in my witnessing, but humble in knowing only God can save someone.  When I fail, I confess it and move on.

     I cannot reconcile these things completely--God's Sovereignty and man's responsibility.  But I can't explain the Trinity either.  Some things about God and His workings are beyond our human understanding.  I have a good friend named Nancy.  She is just about my favorite person to discuss Theology with.  She would have done more justice to this subject than I have here.  In any event, we as humans are not capable of sending someone else to hell, nor are we capable of getting them into Heaven.  This doctrine of election...also called the doctrine of grace...has changed my life and relationship with the Lord for the better.  I no longer beat myself up.  I no longer think I'm so powerful.  I no longer think I have anything to do with my salvation, or anyone else's.  I'll close with a verse I love from Philippians 2:13, "for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose."