Chosen
Romans Series
CCCAG August 23rd, 2020
Scripture- Romans 8:28-39
When I went to mechanic school in the military, it was at Ft. Jackson SC in the summer. We took a bus from the reception area to our barracks, but we couldn’t pull right up to them because the roads in front of the barracks we're under construction. We ended up being about ¾ of a mile away.
What that meant for us is that we had to carry both our personal bags and our military bags from the drop off spot into our barracks. For a 19 or 20 year old it's not a big deal. You'll work up a little bit of a sweat but otherwise it's no factor.
Before we had driven over, they had given us our room assignments and our buddy assignments. One of the things they drill into you in the military is teamwork and one of the ways they do that is by assigning you another person that while you are in training- you do everything with this person. You rise and you fall on each other’s achievements and are largely graded together when it comes to the more practical areas of whatever your training to be. They call them battle buddy’s, and like it or not, that’s your best friend for the duration of the training. My battle buddy was named Chuck, and on the ride over I had discovered that he grew up working on cars and trucks, so this school would be a breeze for him, which was lucky for me because I barely knew how to change a tire.
Unfortunately, Chuck had twisted his knee and was on medical profile- meaning couldn’t carry more than 10 pounds or walk/march/run for more than 50 yards. Chuck and his personal bag was getting a ride in a golf cart to the barracks, and it fell to me as his battle buddy to carry his military gear along with my own. All told, it was probably about 130 pounds of stuff to carry, for a guy who weighed 150 pounds soaking wet.
We started out, and I’m struggling under the weight of all this gear. I’ve always been more of a weightlifter than a runner, so cardio wasn’t my strongest attribute and I started to fall behind a little.
Of course, that got the attention of a drill sergeant who began profanely reeducate me about the importance of keeping up, even if, as he said, “I just have a couple of extra pounds to carry”
I’m not going to lie- it got me mad. My pride welled up and I got a little “Rocky” snarl-the Rocky theme song playing in my head and pushed myself almost to a run and passed the formation, leading them toward the barracks. I ran past the barracks before the drill sergeant, who was now laughing, called me back.
We got into formation in front of the barracks, all breathing heavy, and soaked with sweat from the march over in the South Carolina summer.
The drill sergeant went to the front of the formation, and called out, “PFC Oscar, drop your stuff and get up here”
I’m thinking, now what? I’m going to get smoked for being obstinate and passing the formation…which I kind of deserved.
Instead, I felt him take my arm and wrap something around it. I looked down and saw a black armband with staff sergeant insignia on it.
The drill sergeant informed everyone I was now the platoon leader, and informed me I was directly in command and responsible for everyone in my platoon, and I was to select the squad leaders over the next 24hrs and report back to him.
I was chosen. There were bigger, stronger, and more experienced people in my platoon, but I was singled out and chosen to lead them.
Today we are going to finish our study of Romans chapter 8.
One of the big ideas we get from this part of scripture is the fact that you and I were Chosen by God. Chosen to receive adoption, chosen to receive forgiveness, chosen to participate in His Kingdom here on earth, and chosen to receive the Holy Spirit as a deposit for the things to come.
With that in mind, let’s read our scripture for this morning, Romans 8:28-39.
Sarah Reading-
Rom 8:28-39
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31 What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
NIV
Prayer
I. Chosen
A. Chosen because of God’s foreknowledge
There are two basic understandings in the Bible of what it means to be chosen. Much of this argument circles around the word election or to be elected.
This isn't the way that we think of this right now.
In our experience, if you are elected to something that means you decide to try and get a position within an organization or a government that is dependent upon getting enough votes to win it. We're in the middle of an election season right now where we will be deciding who our elected leaders will be for the next several years.
But that's not what the Bible means when it uses the word election or elected.
A better way of understanding this would be to use the word chosen.
So how does God make this choice? The big, meaty word for that is Soteriology- the study of how God saves humanity.
This is probably one of the biggest arguments within the church and why so many denominations exist.
There are two basics understandings that are put forward, and the form two different camps if you will within Christianity-
The first camp would will say that God made a sovereign Choice who he was going to save. If you are not in that group God elected to save, you are doomed. That's a very very condensed and very simplified version of what Calvinism would teach. I know anyone who may be listening to this it's a Calvinist say that's not what we believe but it is the end result of what they believe.
In the other camp, they would say that yes indeed, God made a choice, but it wasn’t arbitrary- it was based from His foreknowledge of who would accept Christ. Since God created this thing called time that he exists at every point within this timeline and therefore has ultimate knowledge of who will accept Christ as Lord God savior and King and therefore be elected to Salvation.
Most of us don’t think of time as part of God’s creation. You might think of it as a consequence of creating finite being, but we know from Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, that time is a created thing.
Time can be twisted, sped up, slowed down, warped, warped and even stopped dependent on variables like relative velocity and gravity.
So, God is sovereign over time as its creator, and therefore uses time to pre-know those who will accept salvation.
Those are the two beliefs on how God decided who will be saved.
The second one is what our fellowship and this church would believe- that we are Chosen based from God’s foreknowledge of who would accept His free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. This theory is called Arminianism.
That was the teaching part of the sermon, let’s get to the practical side of it.
Whichever you decide you want to believe, the fact still remains- you were chosen.
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers
That leaves us with the question- “What does that mean for me?”
II. Benefits of being Chosen
Going back to my original illustration from the military, being chosen to be the platoon leader had certain benefits.
For one, it looks great in your record that your leadership abilities were recognized early, so later when you want a promotion, that would be a consideration as you compete with every other soldier in the Army to get those higher ranks.
A more immediate benefit for me was-
1. I got a 2-person room- just me and Chuck. Much easier to clean, and much easier to maintain than a 4 to 6-person room. Chuck and I were both pretty disciplined in keeping the floor clean, so that was less time having to strip and rewax it every few weeks. I assigned Chuck as the assistant platoon leader so we were always on the same page with everything.
2. I didn’t have to do the extra duties like KP which I hated- I assigned that to Chuck to divvy out those duties.
There were a few downsides- I was also responsible for the actions of every single person in my platoon, and I had a few problem children.
Being chosen means that you and I also have certain privileges and responsibilities. We are chosen to become adopted sons and daughter of God.
That in itself is an incredible thought. We are royalty and not just hired hands.
God adopted us directly into His family. We are joint sons and daughters of the King of Kings, and therefore have all the privileges and responsibilities of that position.
The privileges are listed-
30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
Let’s break that down. We covered predestined a few moments ago, so lets look at being chosen-
1. You were called or chosen- if that was the only thing, it would be enough. God loved you so much that He chose you. There were probably people more qualified, more talented, and more intelligent people.
But He chose you.
That fact, all by itself, should be enough to fill our hearts forever with gratitude.
After he called you, he also
2. Justified You
That word means to be made innocent. You are I are under the sentence of eternal death for our rebellion and sin, but God made us innocent through the cross of Jesus Christ.
There is a great scripture that shows this in Zechariah chapter 3 if you want to turn there in your bibles.
Let me give you a little backstory to this-
The year is about 520 BC. 70 years prior, Israel and Judah had been conquered by Babylon and most of the survivors of that war had been taken 700 miles away into what is now modern-day Iraq. Toward the end of that 70 years, Babylon was conquered by Persia (modern day Iran), and now God moved in the heart of the Persian Emperor Cyrus to allow the Jewish people to return and reclaim their homeland.
Joshua was the first high priest of the people returning back to Israel. The high priest stood before the people and represented them before God. In this case, Joshua is representing a people who had sinned so badly that God drove them out of the land that he promised them through Abraham.
I would imagine Joshua was feeling pretty inadequate about taking on this role. There has not been a high priest in his entire lifetime, so he would be the first one in almost 2 generations.
That’s what Zechariah is prophesying about here.
Zech 3:1-7
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel (Jesus- Angel of the LORD). 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."
Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."
5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.
6 The angel of the Lord gave this charge to Joshua: 7 "This is what the Lord Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
NIV
What a picture! Every time I read this, I realize that this is a perfect description of what Jesus did for me, tears come to my eyes. It’s the best description I know of what it means to be justified and redeemed.
God has removed our filthy clothes of sin, dressed us in royal robes, and rebuked satans influence in our lives.
That’s what Justified means- just as if I had never sinned.
That leads us to the last benefit-
Glorified
This is a harder one for us to even want to grasp.
We are so grateful for everything that has been done for us through the cross of Christ, that we want all glory to be given to Jesus, and to Him alone.
That’s a great way to think, but just for a moment consider this-
The bible plainly says that we are glorified. That means we are elevated to a position of authority and rule by the God’s command.
You are royalty. I’m not talking about that drama show over in the UK that they try to pass off as royalty, but you are a prince or princess in the courts of almighty God.
What Royalty is supposed to mean is that due to that birthright, you have equal authority under the king.
As an adopted child of God, you have entered into the royal family.
And, you have a throne of your own. WOW!
In my opinion, the number one reason that Christians don’t live up to their God given potential is that they don’t live up to their glorification. They don’t want to accept it and use a false sense of humility to hide from it.
I’ll be honest, this was the hardest part of this message to craft, because I include myself in that- I don’t want the attention, I don’t want the position, I just want to lay at the feet of Jesus and worship.
But that is not what He has called us to in this time in history. We are to walk in this world as royalty- servant leaders- allowing the glory of Christ that shines through us show this fallen world the way home.
That leads us to the last part of this message-
III. Promises of being Chosen
Let’s read a few of the promises-
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The first promise-
A. You are a more than a conqueror
How can you be more than a conqueror? A conqueror faces a threat, fights, and defeats it on their own.
John Wayne is a conquer. Rambo is a conqueror. Rocky is a conqueror.
I like this idea- I’m more than a conqueror- it appeal to my pugnacious nature. Yeah, let’s be men- Let’s put some gloves on and sort this out.
But that’s not what is being spoken of here. As prince and princesses of the Kingdom of God our default is not to fight back in the traditional way and dominate others. I found a better way of understanding this verse-
As Kingdom royalty, we are more than Conquerors. We are "Transformers of lives and circumstances to glorify God even through suffering of love" resulting in converting enemy into friend and threats into opportunities.
It’s not about using force to crush an enemy, it’s about using love, even at the point of suffering and lose, to elevate others.
That is what conquering means in the Kingdom- first to conquer our own desires for domination and control, and then to sacrifice to see others be saved.
That’s why Paul predicates this more than conquerors statement with-
Rom 8:35-36
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36 As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."
Jesus didn’t come to force people to worship Him. He didn’t call on the legions of angels to save him or force humanity to bow before Him.
Instead, Jesus came as the servant, showing us the way-
That way is this- Humility through modeling Jesus to the word- that is how God’s Kingdom conquers of the kingdom of darkness.
The second promise we can live with is
B. You are secure
Earlier in the message we talked about soteriology- the explanation of God’s plan to save us. There is also another side to that, and it has to do with how we stay saved.
A Calvinist would say once we accept Christ, we are eternally secure- no matter what happens after that, how much we rebel or sin, we are secure.
An Arminian would say- stay holy or else you will lose your salvation.
So how do we understand a verse that seems to say we are eternally secure with others that say we need to be watchful, obedient, and busy about the master’s work?
The answer is- free will.
God does not take away our free will at salvation. From His perspective, once you are saved and your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, it’s there forever.
Unless you chose to walk away.
Free will shows us that you still have a choice. You are indeed eternally secure once you accept Christ, unless you chose to walk away. Salvation is not an on again, off again situation.
But, if you truly walk away to the point of losing your salvation, you have committed blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, and are eternally lost.
That’s the way I understand it, taking into account the entirety of the bible.
Now everyone will have seasons of being on fire for God, going into a coasting mode where God is there but you’re not really paying attention to Him, and even times of sin where you are apathetic at best to the things of God. Sometimes these phases last years.
But, God is working behind the scenes and using everything to mold you, discipline you, grow you, and shape you into that son or daughter He envisioned you to be.
So live according to your station- As royal children of the King of Kings, showing HIS love, mercy, kindness and forgiveness to the world.
I’m going to close today with this thought.
Everyone stand- I want you to receive this promise into your hearts today, because it will help you walk through these next few months with greater peace, greater love, and greater courage to stand up for your faith.
Therefore, we can say that
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Benediction
