The Christian is "chosen in Him before the foundation of the world" with a Divine sovereign, personal and particular election which infuses purpose and meaning into the Christian life.
Just as God's choice and election is personal and particular of each believer so too His purpose is personal and particular. God's electing Grace is not corporate, God not only chooses the means of salvation, but just as God personally chose Jeremiah, John the baptist and the apostle Paul in Acts 9, by His sovereign will so too God choses the believer today. This infuses meaning and purpose into the Christian life.
Allow me to remind you of what God can do with a handful of dust!
From a handful of dust God brought:
- Abraham – the father of the faithful
- Solomon – the wisest man on the earth
- Samson – the mightiest man
- Kings, prophets, poets
- Men of science and understanding
From that handful of dust emerged a:
- Saviour – Joseph
- Deliverer – Moses
- Wise man – Solomon
- King – David
Men who turned the world upside down!
In the secular sphere from that handful of dust came men whose mind penetrated the depths of the universe – Einstein and the details of the cell – Kreb, the miracle of life - Watson and Crick, the physics of the creation – Newton, Farraday.
A flavour of what God can do with a handful of dust!
Yet all of that pales into relative insignificance with what God WILL do with a handful of dust!
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:” Ephesians 1:4
What God has done with a handful of dust is nothing compared to what God will do with a handful of dust!
In Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 we see that for the believer the Christian life comes with purpose built it! The Christian life is better by design! The Christian life has destiny built in!
It is today part of secular ideology to encourage men and women to find a purpose or a meaning for their life, to set out a route to get there. It is different for the believer!
Ephesians 1:4 “chosen … that”
Chosen with a purpose. The purpose of the believer precedes their conscience, life and capacity. The believer is not a life looking for a purpose, the believer is a purpose looking for a life! As believers we come with purpose built in!
Believers are men and women with a sense of purpose, we see this so often in the pages of scripture; people who fit like a jigsaw piece into the great:
- Drama of redemption
- Story of the bible
- Pages of history
Men and women like:
- Abraham
- Sarah
- Isaac
- Rebekah
- Joseph
- Moses
- Rahab
- Ruth
- Esther
- Joshua
- David
- Samuel
- Mary
- John baptist
- Paul
- Apostles
“He hath chosen us in Him” (Ephesians 1:4)
A text misunderstood or perhaps misrepresented!
Misunderstood to perhaps indicate that as believers we were not actually personally chosen at all! Some have used a text like this to teach ‘corporate election’ that God appoints merely the means of salvation ie the Lord Jesus and we find our way to Christ!
This idea of group or corporate election, or election of the means of salvation rather than personal, individual and sovereign election to salvation is quite false and of course fails to resolve the problem which it sets out to tackle ie the perceived unfairness of God sovereignly choosing men to salvation, instead it abandons men to the luck of the draw, the capriciousness of circumstances, the opportunities of life and temperament.
We don’t need the whole of the bible to see the fallacy of this idea, we only need:
- One book – Ephesians
No only
- One chapter – chapter 1
No infact only
- One verse Ephesians chapter 1 verse 1
“Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:1)
Did Paul find his own way to the means of salvation?
Is that seriously your understanding of Acts chapter 9?
What is your testimony Paul?
“Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the WILL of God” (Ephesians 1:4)
Paul’s conversion to Christ was whilst he was spiritually going in the opposite direction, actively attacking persecuting Christ and Christians, attacking the gospel and the church! His conversion was Divine, sovereign, and personal!
Consider also the sovereign hand of God on:
- John the Baptist (Luke 1:15)
- Jeremiah (Jer 1:5)
- Esau and Jacob (Rom 9:11)
What does it mean to be “chosen in Him” (Eph 1:4)?
This is the only way God could chose you or I. How else would God make that choice? Would it be the same way that you and I make choices in life?
Is that the way God chooses? Does He choose the better option?
“9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one” Romans 3:9-10
God choses us for the only reason He can choose us, not because of the raw material but because of the finished product! It wasn’t that the handful of dust from which God formed Adam was any less dirty than any other handful of dirt!
It is not because of what we are but rather it is because of what God can do with us! It is not that one handful of dust is any better than any other handful of dust!
We are chosen with a purpose (Ephesians 1:4).
It is important to appreciate that God’s choice is personal in the first half of this verse, so that we might appreciate that God’s purpose in the second half of this verse is also personal! If His choice is personal, then His purpose is personal! Holiness, blamelessness, and love are not simply general aspirations for all believers. These are personal, particular and tailored destinies. The path for my life is different from the path which another believer will travel, that path is different by design! That path to:
- Holiness
- Blamelessness
- Love
Is particular, tailored and personal for you and I. It is not valid for me to look at the life of another believer and ask the question, why is my life, my path not easier? Why can I not have fewer problems, less of a challenge and lighter burdens? We cannot compare and we cannot complain! To achieve these goals of:
- Holiness
- Harmlessness
- Love
God has a path uniquely tailored for my life and yours. That path may not be easy but it is designed to bring us to the intended destination, wither that be by means of:
- 40 days in the ark
- 40 years in the wilderness
- 400 years in captivity
- 40 chapters of suffering for Job
Love isn’t easy, love grows in adversity!
Love is that ‘together glue of perfectness’ (Col 3:14) – the most succinct description of love in bible.
For the disciples that love grows in adversity (John 6:66ff), Peter and the disciples stay with the Lord!
Bible teaching from the book of Ephesians Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4.
Dr J Stewart Gillespie www.graceinchrist.org