God's Choosing

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. (Ephesians 1:4) The next verb we meet in Paul's long run-on sentence running from verse 3-14 is the verb "chose."  As in, "God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight."   Peterson quips that "everyone he has ever become acquainted with has a story, usually from childhood, of not being chosen: not chosen for the glee club, not chosen for the hockey team, being chosen last for the sandlot softball team, not chosen for a job, not chosen as a spouse." All of us probably have a story like that somewhere in our past or present—the story of being left out, ignored, and counted as worthless.  In fact, I know this is true.  So many members of our church have told me over the years how they have this feeling of just not quite ever belonging to this church.  It is one of the most consistent and pervasive feelings that describes our congregation.  A group of people who don't feel like they quite belong to each other.  Ironically, I think this sense of "not belonging to the group" is part of the secret sauce that makes Immanuel such a hospitable and welcoming congregation to newcomers, that like us, don't yet belong. But against that story of our not-belonging, God's story speaks a different word.  God chose us.  And not like two captains picking the best for their teams or like the last-minute sympathy rescue of a stray mutt at the pound.  No, God chose us before the creation of the world—before we had done anything good or bad, indeed before we had done anything at all.   This is a significant point.  Against the backdrop of concerns over human sexuality and whose in and out of the church because of the bad things they have done or believed about it—the Canons of Dort with its so-called five points of Calvinism reminds us together with Paul here in Ephesians that before the Creation of the world God chose us.  That is—before we existed, before we were sinners, and before we were saints—God, in Christ, chose us.  Our place in the Church of Jesus Christ does not depend on our faithfulness, but on God's choosing.  In the Reformed tradition, we have called this—to go back to those five points of Calvinism—the doctrine of "Unconditional Election."  Without any conditions—without any thought to our own worthiness or unworthiness—God chose us. Another couple points of Calvinism are important to remember here too: "Irresistible Grace" and the "Perseverance of the Saints."  Having been chosen by God before the Creation of the world, we are unable to wriggle our way out of God's hand.  His grace is irresistible and his preservation of his people complete, such that every one of those who he chooses, he is able to save by drawing them into and keeping them in, his grace.  Every one that God has chosen becomes "holy and blameless in his sight."  Not because they stop sinning, but because Christ has become sin for them such that God sees—not our sin—but the holiness and blamelessness of Christ that has been given us.  To anyone who would suggest that a habitual, unrepentant life of sexual sin puts someone out of the church has not yet grappled sufficiently with the Canons of Dort, nor the strength of the Covenant established by the Sovereignty of a God who choses without conditions, and who through the utterly effective work of Christ is able to make his church holy despite their sins.  The Gospel is good news—stronger than any secular culture, more powerful than any sin.  Dare you believe it? If so, then it is also good news for those of us who feel we just don't belong.  God's sovereign choosing is not just for the worst of the sinners that we can currently imagine in our culture today.  It is for all his chosen people.  And the gift that comes through God's choosing is the assurance that despite all our feelings to the contrary, we do belong: body and soul, in life and in death, to our faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ—and so also to his church.  To this church, where together, in faith we learn ever so slowly what it means to belong truly to one another in love, as fellow members of God's holy and blameless, chosen covenant people. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).