by Clint Archer

I witnessed something interesting at Johannesburg International Airport. Our flight to LA via Atlanta was grounded for some reason. I was instructed to wait at ticketing. I was sixth in line. The guy at the front of the queue was in the same predicament and he was livid. I couldn’t help but overhear his voluminous ranting.

The lady behind the counter had politely explained to him that the flight was grounded, but that the airline had made an alternative arrangement with another airline to take him via another route to Los Angeles – his final destination. The man wanted nothing to do with it. He was objecting loudly: “I don’t want to catch a plane to another destination, my connecting flight is in Atlanta. If I miss that flight, I won’t get to LA. I have to be on that plane!” “But Sir,” she explained patiently (again), this new route will get you to LA on time.” “I don’t want to go another route. I want the route I paid for.”

Eventually she said, “Hold on a minute.” He continued grumbling, possibly to me, or someone else in line, because there was no one at the counter now. A few minutes later the lady returned, and without a word, she just slid a ticket over the counter and before he could object she pointed to something on the ticket. The man stopped mid-sentence and smiled. His entire demeanor changed. He was grateful and courteous. What changed?

Later I heard him on his cell phone expressing how lucky he was that his plane was grounded. What had happened? The man had been bumped up from economy class to first class, on Air France, via Paris, to LA.

Many people misunderstand the doctrine of election. They think it teaches that people who want to get a ticket to Heaven can’t. When actually the Bible tells us people who are certain they are heading in the right direction, are then powerfully acted upon to change their minds and wills so that they enjoy their new destination.

Paul is writing to the Ephesians. They were entrenched in superstition, occult practices, pagan worship, and polytheism, and yet they suddenly start believing in a dead Jewish carpenter who allegedly rose from the dead. How did this happen? God appointed them to believe, and Paul rejoiced in God’s sovereign election.

5 ASPECTS OF ELECTION SO THAT WE WILL REGARD IT WITH THE SAME PASSION THAT PAUL DOES

1. GOODNESS

Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…

Paul isn’t serving the Ephesians soup as an appetizer. He just serves up a slab of tough theological meat. Bon Appetite!

Election means choosing – God chooses whom to save, and it is not based on our merit.

This teaching excites Paul. Notice from the text that Paul calls election a spiritual blessing – something good and worthy of praise that comes from the Holy Spirit.

You might not be able to get your mind around this. That’s fine. There is nothing wrong with admitting that our thimble-sized brains can’t contain God’s ocean of wisdom.

2. METHOD

Ephesians 1:3-4 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…

From these verses it is clear that everyone must believe that God chooses. But Arminians say that God chooses those who have believed, and Calvinists say that those whom God chooses – will believe.

How do you know which view you take?

If you pray for someone to be saved, you are Calvinist.

If you think God wishes he could save your friend, but he is not able to save him until he believes, then you are Arminian.

So which view is correct?

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world,

Paul says clearly – if you are saved then you were chosen before you believed, before you heard the gospel, before you were born, before the world was created.

I’m not saying you are saved before you believe. You get saved when you believe.

Of course, you might remember choosing God, but why did you choose God? Because you believed. Why did you believe? Because God gave you faith. Why did he give you faith? Because he chose to. When did he choose to? Before you were born.

John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.

Christ’s selection of his apostles is an example of his unilateral choice in action. The Bible teaches from cover to cover that man never initiates a choice of God, God always initiates, including Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, John the Baptizer, Paul, and you.

3. PRODUCT OF ELECTION

Ephesians 1:4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him…

The reason God chose us was because he wanted someone to be holy before him and no one could be holy on their own.

Ephesians 5:27  Christ gave himself up] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.

4. MOTIVE

Ephesians 1:4-5… In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

God chose us because God loved us and wanted a relationship with us…not because we were worthy. Election is a doctrine rooted deeply in the fertile soil of God’s rich love for us.

The word predestined means to determine beforehand. Like writing a script. My life is a novel written by God, planned in eternity and worked out by him day by day, and he knows exactly how it ends: with me as his adopted son in glory, no matter what. I am a son of God, because, in love, he willed it to be so.

5. GOAL

Ephesians 1:5-6 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

This doctrine ascribes all the glory to one source: God.

There is no explanation for my salvation except God and his grace. It wasn’t because I was a bit better than the guy who rejected him. It wasn’t because he saw something in me that made him like me more than others. There is nothing in me that deserves Jesus. But I am saved by his death for me, because he loved me. And so there is no glory left for me to bask in.

CONCLUSION

You might ask – how do I know if I am elect?

It’s simple. If you want to be saved, then you can be. Only those God is working in want to be saved. If you love God, if you believe in Jesus, that means he put that faith in your heart. That means you are elect.

Anyone can be saved at any moment. All you need to do is believe.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Like the disgruntled man at the airport, God booked you your ticket while you were protesting. But when you receive it, you smile in appreciation. Express that to him for the praise of his glorious grace in Christ Jesus.

I challenge you to think of this glorious doctrine the same way Paul did: with joy.

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Clint Archer was born and raised in South Africa. After pastoring there for 14 years he now serves as pastor of Christ Fellowship Baptist in Mobile, Alabama. He and his wife Kim have four children and a Jeep.