This sermon was given by Rev. Dr. Oliver Wood on August 26, 2001.

On April 19^th, 2009, Dr. Wood gave a talk to the Alpha Study Group on Predestination. You can watch that video here.

Psalm 98 (Reading #23) Romans 8:28-39

Over the years, the most famous Presbyterian doctrine has been predestination.  We don’t talk about this as much as in past generations. Still predestination is built into the very foundation of our Reformed theology.

Predestination in essence means that human life is rooted in the will and intention of God. God is the creator and sustainer of the universe. God has created it all and is in control of it all. Predestination then adds, God has a purpose for us humans, and he will surely accomplish that purpose. God has a kingdom of love and justice to give us, and God will surely give it.

The sovereignty of God and predestination are the warp and woof of the cloth of our tradition. Our forebears believed that behind everything is the will and purpose of God. No human life is ever the result simply of biology and history. Every human life has its first source in God’s intention. God thought of each person before he made her, and called her into being, giving her individuality, identity as God’s child, and dignity that no one dare abuse.

God is active, alive and purposeful, deeply involved in each and all human lives. Predestination says God will get us and his universe where he wants us to be. God is sovereign now and forever. God has pre-determined a high and holy destiny for us, and he will see that we arrive there.

So far, so good. In this general sense, most Christians would agree, though they might not use the word predestination. The problems with predestination come not from its general meaning but rather its specific application.

For instance, some in our tradition have interpreted predestination to mean a very rigid determinism. In this form, predestination means that God has determined in advance everything that will happen. Reformed theologians used to speak of the eternal decrees of God. Our Westminster Confession says: “God from all eternity did by the most wise and holy counsel of his own will, free and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.”

That certainly magnifies the sovereignty of God, but at considerable theological expense. Hard determinism seems to imply two horrible ideas: first, if God has predetermined everything that has been and will happen, God is apparently the author of sin and evil. Second, if determinism is true it seems to erase human freedom and responsibility.

Now the Westminster Confession hastens to deny these implications. It states that God is not the author of evil and that humans are free and responsible; leaving us with at worst a serious contradiction and at best an unsolvable paradox. And unfortunately many of our ancestors solved the paradox by leaving everything up to God.

William Carey, the father of the modern Christian missionary movement, felt called by God to go as a missionary to India. However, when he consulted a group of Calvinist ministers for support they showed no interest. And one said: “Sit down, young man. When God wishes to convert the heathen, he will do so without your help.”

Hard determinism leaves us with little motivation. If all that is and is to be is fixed in concrete, then why bother to send missionaries or share the gospel with anyone? If both saved and unsaved are pre-determined, why fight the eternal decrees?

There’s an old story of a Methodist preacher and a Presbyterian preacher who decided to exchange pulpits in their town one Sunday. The Presbyterian believed in full predestination. The Methodist did not. On that Sunday morning, each was riding his horse to the other’s church and they happened to meet. The Presbyterian said: “It has been decreed from all eternity that we should exchange pulpits today.” The Methodist replied: “Oh, really! Then I won’t do it.” With that he turned, rode to his own church and preached there.

Cast iron determinism, it seems to me, is inadequate to convey the riches of Christian theology and the complexities of life. And the meaning of predestination has long been debated within our tradition. The Westminster Confession says that God’s eternal decrees have set from all eternity the exact number of people to be saved and the exact number to be lost. But the Scots Confession states that because of God’s great love we must hope well for all people, and not judge anyone as beyond salvation.

So a rigid determinism, despite its frequent popularity in our tradition, is not necessary to express the Biblical idea of predestination. In fact determinism seems to violate two other great Biblical truths: The freedom of humans and the love of God. Determinism suggests that we are little more than sophisticated robots. However, Biblical writers seem to assume our freedom and responsibility. Then too the Bible sees God not only in control of us but loving us as persons. It is certainly God’s right as our Creator to use us as he pleases. But God has revealed that he is like a father to us, a parent who loves each of her children deeply and everlastingly, and would share all good things with us.

So that God’s control is that of a loving parent, not the control of an iron-fisted tyrant. To talk of pre-destination, then, is to ponder what our heavenly Father has planned for us and will give us.

One of my favorite analogies for predestination is to see our world as a gigantic aircraft carrier. On the deck there is much freedom, but the great carrier moves toward the goal set by its captain; and we can depend on this.

Now we Americans are not very interested in predestination of any sort. For the most part we are so caught up in ourselves and our life styles and our personal agenda that
any talk of predestination either gripes us or bores us. We are so convinced of our total freedom and our right to do as we please that nothing must interfere with it.

Did you notice the poem that Timothy McVeigh quoted just before his execution? It was William Ernest Henley’s Invictus. Two of its verses say this.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

It matters not how straight the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

How utterly pathetic! A man apparently guilty of a heinous crime and helpless before his executioners tells us that he is the master of his fate and the captain of his soul. And while this is surely an exaggerated example, it seems to capture the tenor of the times. We are so self-absorbed, so narcissistic that we insist on being the captain of our souls. And in doing so we, like our ancestor Esau, are selling our great Christian heritage for a bowl of pottage.

Consider how predestination runs through the New Testament story. All through it runs a sense of God’s purpose and the working out of his eternal intention. It begins with God’s son being born of a peasant family in an insignificant country. Jesus then chooses common people to serve as his disciples and pillars of his church. The loyalty of those closest to Jesus is at best shaky. In Jesus’ hour of greatest need, one disciple betrays him, another denies him, and the rest all flee to safety.

Yet relentlessly God loves these folks along with every stray and outcast around. And so Jesus is arrested and crucified. And the fearful disciples despair. But then Jesus is resurrected, and he calls his chicken-hearted friends together. He still loves them and encourages them to be his church. And on Pentecost the Holy Spirit engulfs them.

And they begin to be courageous in spreading the gospel; and generous and inclusive. Previously selfish people now make everything they have available to their community. So that , even though they were poor, there was not a needy person among them. And they began to reach out to those they had previously avoided and hated: Samaritans and eunuchs and Gentiles.

These folks felt overwhelmed by God; manipulated and shoved in new and unwanted directions. They talked not so much about choosing God , but rather being chosen; not about loving God but being loved by God. God was using them as a part of his plan to recreate humanity and the whole universe—a plan which antedated creation and would last forever. All the yearnings of Scripture were fulfilled in Christ, and all the needs of humankind. And this was God’s sheer gift, his destiny imposed upon humanity.

Yet in God’s imposition they found not slavery but freedom. They found that to become God’s slave is to become free. God’s predestination did not stifle them or make them puppets, but rather made them whole, healthy, and mature—or at least got them on that road.

Consider the Apostle Paul’s experience. He was blinded by a bright light on the Damascus Road and sharply condemned by Christ for persecuting the church. Then Paul was taken blind into Damascus, where he sat alone in darkness for three days. At last God sent a messenger who informed Paul that God had chosen Paul to be God’s apostle to the Gentiles.

There are no negotiations, and one might think that God has performed a spiritual frontal lobotomy on Paul, and that henceforth Paul would speak with a computer-voiced drone: I am the apostle to the Gentiles. Instead, Paul says over and over again that Christ set him free and came to free us all. This was not Paul’s lifestyle choice, but a gift of God’s grace.

Listen again to his words: “Those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, so that his son might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

In some religions our human personalities are said to have no lasting significance. They say that when we die we are simply absorbed into God. Our Christian faith says that God has eternal use for us, and that God will perfect the persons that we are. God wishes us to be a part of a community with him forever. And God will see that it is so.

Listen to Paul again in Ephesians: “God has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth.” The universe then will be perfected and people will maturely love God and others.

We don’t know the exact shape, size or sequence of God’s kingdom. But Paul is sure that it is wonderful beyond our imagination. Several Biblical writers take a stab at it.

Isaiah sees all nations as coming together in Jerusalem seeking guidance from God, and Isaiah says: They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”

And John in his Revelation wrote: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth…And I saw the holy city the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘See, the home of God is among people.’”

God’s predestination lacks the harshness, the arbitrariness, and the contempt of tyranny. God is not a dictator who demands passive, unquestioning obedience. God rules not to keep us weak, but to set us on our feet, to make us strong and healthy and loving.

One of our favorite Christian songs is Amazing Grace. In the song we celebrate not our wisdom in choosing Christ nor our intelligence in understanding God, and least of all our goodness in deserving God’s favor. Rather we celebrate God’s grace which flows over us, though we are undeserving, and makes us whole.

Dr.Shirley Guthrie of Columbia Seminary suggests what he calls a perichoretic understanding of the trinity. The prefix of that word, peri, means “around” as in perimeter. The suffix choretic means “dancing” as in choreography. This view of the trinity sees Father, Son, and Spirit dancing around in a circle rejoicing in the goodness of existence. This is the God who has constructed our destiny. How can we respond to this grace by seeking to be captains of our souls, by grasping at self-sufficient autonomy, by trying to get God and the world to serve us?

A recent newspaper cartoon depicted a mother tucking her ten- year-old daughter into bed. The daughter asks wistfully: “Mom, will we ever have world peace?” Mom answers: We hope so, Honey. We must put trust in God and our leaders.” Daughter replies: “Our leaders? You mean that bunch of politicians that you and Daddy complain about so much?” Mom answers: “Well, maybe we should put an extra stress on God.” Indeed! If the future of humanity lies only with us, it is hard even to be cautiously optimistic. But our destiny is in God’s hands. One day justice and peace will flow down upon us as a mighty stream. And the call to us is to leave behind our self-fixation and live out our sure destiny.

The story of Joseph and his family from Genesis illustrates. Joseph was a pampered teenager who was regally clothed and protected from work by his doting father, Jacob. This angered his ten older, hard-working brothers. Joseph added to this deteriorating situation grandiose dreams that one day he would rule over his family. This was too much for his brothers, and in grand over-reaction they sold Joseph into slavery, telling their father that Joseph had been killed.

Joseph became a slave in Egypt and through injustice wound up in prison. Then by good fortune, Joseph was asked to interpret pharaoh’s cryptic dreams. Joseph revealed that there would be seven years of bumper crops of grain followed by seven years of famine. For his insight, Joseph was not only freed from prison but promoted to prime minister of Egypt.

Wisely Joseph warehoused the abundance of grain preparatory to the famine, so that all the surrounding world had enough to eat. During the famine Joseph’s brothers in Canaan came to buy grain. They of course did not know Joseph’s whereabouts, and were shocked to find him the second most powerful man in Egypt. And they were totally amazed when Joseph forgave them. So Joseph’s entire family moved to the plenteous land of Egypt.

Now when Jacob their father died, Joseph’s older brothers were alarmed. Perhaps Joseph had been kind to them only for the sake of their father. Joseph might now maim or kill them. In tears and contrition, they ask, like the prodigal son, only to be spared as slaves.

But Joseph viewing the predestination of God says: “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God? You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.”

Here is all manner of human freedom, a panoply of choices, many used foolishly and wickedly. Yet through this tangle of sin, God has relentlessly and marvelously worked out his predestination of justice and peace, of love and mercy. Neither the tyranny of Pharaoh nor the foolishness of Joseph nor the vengeance of Joseph’s brothers are able to overcome God’s plan. In fact, God uses all these destructive forces to bring about his salvation, as God did with the crucifixion of Christ. And God conquers not with sheer power but with sheer goodness. Here is a foretaste of the great kingdom to come. This is God’s predestination for us and his universe.

Thanks be to God!