“The story is told of a group of theologians who were discussing the tension between predestination and free will. Things became so heated that the group broke up into two opposing factions. But one man, not knowing which to join, stood for a moment trying to decide. At last he joined the predestination group. ‘Who sent you here?’ they asked. ‘No one sent me,’ he replied. ‘I came of my own free will.’ ‘Free will!’ they exclaimed. ‘You can’t join us! You belong with the other group!’ So he followed their orders and went to the other clique. There someone asked, ‘When did you decide to join us?’ The young man replied, ‘Well, I didn’t really decide–I was sent here.’ ‘Sent here!’ they shouted. ‘You can’t join us unless you have decided by your own free will!’”

This morning we are looking at the question of “Are we predestined for salvation?” This is a question that has plagued theologians for centuries. The Bible presents God as an all-knowing, omnipotent God. Now, if you are not familiar with the word ‘omnipotent,’ it means that God has the power to do whatever God wants. At the same time, Scripture spends far more time talking about our responsibility to live the way God desires for us to live and about how we so often choose to live in other ways. In fact, this dichotomy presents itself already in the first few chapters of Scripture. In chapter one of Genesis, God creates the heavens and the earth, and it was all good. In chapter 2, God creates the first humans in God’s image. Then in chapter 3, those first humans rebel against God. It went from everything being good..and just as God had created it…to humans choosing to rebel against God. So, what does that tell us about free will and predestination?

In our Bible passages for this morning, we first read about the call of Jeremiah. And God says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” We could say that God predestined Jeremiah to be a prophet. Yet Jeremiah talks later about God as the potter who sometimes changes his mind about the things he has declared to his people. In Ephesians, Paul writes, “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will.” Again we see God choosing us…this time before we were even created. He chose us to be holy and blameless and destined us to be his children. So what does this all mean?

Well, let’s start with some of the theological arguments regarding this controversy. The idea of predestination that most people know or talk about is what’s often called “double predestination.” This idea stems from the writings of theologian John Calvin. Calvin, in his Institutes on the Christian Religion, presents predestination as “the eternal decree of God, by which he determined with himself whatever he wished to happen with regard to every man. All are not created on equal terms, but some are preordained to eternal life, others to eternal damnation; and, accordingly, as each has been created for one or other of these ends, we say that he has been predestined to life or to death.” This is double predestination..that some are predestined for salvation, while others are predestined for eternal damnation. As you might imagine, this did not sit well with a lot of people. And it led many Christians to begin attempting to judge who was in and who was out. It also led to many Christians feeling as though they could just do whatever they want because they’ve already been predestined for salvation. Many call those who exhibit this phenomenon, the frozen chosen. But the biggest question people ask regarding this doctrine is “how can a good God create people just to send them to hell?”

This concern led to the rise of Arminianism, which was named after theologian Jacobus Arminius. This doctrine says that God has known before creation who would have faith and who would not. And this foreknowledge is how God has determined who will go to heaven and who will go to hell. So, then God has chosen us based upon our faith. God simply can look into the future and see whether we will have faith or not, and those who have faith will be destined for eternal life. And those who do not, will be destined for eternal damnation. God died for everyone, but humans can choose not to accept it. Everyone CAN be saved, but not everyone WILL be saved. But this made people ask how we could believe in God’s sovereignty, God’s power to do whatever God chooses to do, if God can’t save everyone? Is God all-powerful? Or is God’s power limited with regards to salvation?

This concern led to the idea of universal salvation. This doctrine states that all people will eventually turn back to God and be saved. A movement for Christian universalism in the United States began in the 18th century. There are four main varieties of universalism that exist. The first view is that Jesus’ death reconciled all of humanity to God, end of story. The second view is that God continues to threaten punishment in this life but will ultimately relent and forgive everyone. The third view is that at some point in the future all things will be restored to the state of perfection that existed when God first created the world. And when that happens, all will receive full salvation, even if through cycles of reincarnation or some purgatorial waiting room where all our chaff is burned away. The fourth variety of universalism is that all people will be given another chance after death to put their faith in Jesus. And, of course, being in his presence, everyone will choose that. This led to a similar question as we saw with the doctrine of double predestination. If our actions in this life don’t ultimately matter for our eternal salvation, then does faith and faithfulness really matter? Why follow Scripture’s calls to discipleship?

In response to all three of these doctrines, theologian Karl Barth proposed a fourth alternative. Barth saw in Scripture only the talk of us being predestined for life. And Barth says that there is no talk of predestination to damnation, nor is there a definition of who will be included in the ‘us.’ But Barth also believes that the Bible is clear that we are saved by God’s choice and not by God’s foreknowledge of our faith. But Barth also pushes against the idea that our attempts to live a holy and blameless life are optional and completely irrelevant to salvation. In this view, we are left not knowing what the final outcome will be. Will we be a part of the ‘us’ that is predestined for salvation? Or will we not be? Until we know that, we are fueled toward holy living. We are inspired to grow within ourselves the fruits of the spirit. Under Barth’s view, we must live with love and grace for we do not know what the end ultimately holds for us.

I’ll admit that I like Barth’s idea quite a bit. Somehow God chose us…chose us to be adopted as God’s children, to be sons and daughters of God. But God chose us for that blessing, not as individuals, but all together. And WE do not know who God is part of that family and who is not. So we must live like EVERYONE is a brother or a sister in Christ. We must treat them like family. We must love people and treat them with dignity and respect. We must love them even when they do not love us back. We must show compassion and care to those that others reject. That was how Jesus lived his life.

In talking about the doctrine of predestination, Scottish minister Robert Murray McCheyne once wrote, “No one ever came to Christ because they knew themselves to be of the elect. It is quite true that God has of his mere good pleasure elected some to everlasting life, but they never knew it until they came to Christ. Christ nowhere invites the elect to come to Him. The question for you is not, Am I one of the elect? But, Am I one of the human race?” I particularly like that last part. “The question for you is not, Am I one of the elect? But, Am I one of the human race?” Christians should spend less time trying to determine for themselves who is predestined for salvation and who is not and spend more time connecting with others in our shared humanity. Loving one another, caring for one another, being kind and merciful.

All of this leads us to three pieces of hope for us as we think about being predestined by God. First, we have been chosen. There are many times in life where we aren’t chosen. We aren’t chosen for a team. We aren’t chosen to be a cast member in the play. We aren’t chosen to be part of a particular friend group. But God chose us before the foundation of the world. That is comforting. Second, God’s purpose will be fulfilled. If we believe that God is good, as the Bible says God is, then knowing that God’s purposes will be fulfilled tells us that ultimately good will prevail over evil. And that is something to rejoice about. And finally, we are not God. This is hopeful for us because it means that ultimately we don’t make the decision about eternity. God does. And knowing that God is good and loving and gracious, we can trust that however the future plays out, it will be good and loving and gracious. So, whether or not you (or I) are destiny’s child, you (and I) are most certainly God’s child. AMEN!