Sit, Walk, Stand

You could title this devotion “Togetherness,” although I’m tempted to title it the more provocative title, “Disagreements.” First of all, I loved the message. I learned a lot and was reminded of a lot through the teaching today. It was engaging and because it was done so well, the time seemed to pass really quickly. Pastor Paul has a tendency of doing that.

The main point I took away is how amazing God is to establish our status. It’s not what we’ve done, it’s what He’s done! It’s also what He’s proclaimed! Our adoption as heirs, our position as adopted sons and daughters - this realization should dictate our daily walk and this new thing we now know should guide our enthusiasm as we jump out of bed! It’s a spiritual (which should lead to literal) fairy tale.

However, what I want to do is mention the controversial point he talked about. Predestination! What a topic! Oh my! We don’t touch that, right? But, I’m a firm believer that we shouldn’t shy away from things in Scripture. If it’s in there, God wants us to meditate on it. Heavens, we might be tempted to think this topic is too heavy for “beginners,” but in reality, there’s probably no one doing more leg work to get to know God than beginners. But here’s the thing - once you’re in a mode to search after God, your trust may be in the highest place it’s ever going to be, therefore controversial topics may be in your wheelhouse of wisdom and understanding.

So, I’m not going to get into my theological understanding of certain items, but as Pastor Paul defined the understanding of Predestination, my first instinct was to get a little uncomfortable. But, I want to assure you, THAT'S OK. Good heavens, if you’ve heard every sermon preached at All City and never thought once, “Wow, that just doesn’t jive with my search of the Scriptures,” be careful - You might be letting someone else do your thinking for you. But, also, if All City’s intention was to never offend with good and honest Biblical preaching? Then I can say with some confidence that All City would be an unsafe place to attend service.

When you handle hard topics, people get ruffled. People get uncomfortable. But you might ask, “Doesn’t the Bible want us to be together in all things?” Yes. We’re supposed to have pure doctrine and sound teaching. However, Paul gives us a little order of operations that I cling to when I have my feathers ruffled. 1 Corinthians 15:1-7. Don’t listen to me though, go read it. 1. Christ died for our sins. 2. He was truly dead and was bodily raised to life on the third day. 3. There are witnesses to this, so don’t think you’re alone, or think you’re being convinced of something that is built on sand.

See, I believe one of our biggest temptations is to revert back to our familiar state of trying to earn our way to heaven. But our good works aren’t a merit, or point-scoring, system. They’re prepared in advance for us to do under our “new creation” status given by the Gospel (Eph. 2:8-10). Pure doctrine, or let me put it this way: “Pure clinging to the Gospel and clinging to the work God has done on the cross,” is putting things in the right order. Don’t let anyone convince you of a Gospel that’s different than that.

Honestly, the “how” of Predestination? That’s not a salvific topic. It should be a fun topic, but we can be in places of disagreement and still be one body who loves each other deeply with the love of Jesus.

The “why” of predestination? God’s love for people before the foundations of the world? That’s the reality. It’s your reality. There are questions that come with that fact. Why? Because we can only see the hands in front of our faces and maybe a few hundred feet beyond that. God’s seeing much, much more (understatement of the millennia). There are always questions and those questions should be raised. But we trust that God has worked in us. Our hope, our attitudes, our resilience, our given Light that shines in darkness? Those will have to be our answers as we work through our theological and denominational peculiarities.

I’m praising God for you who read and for you who persevere in times that are tough. May Pastor Paul’s message of your adoptedly- (not a word) established place in the family be a tremendous help to you this week and may we share the overflowing love and kingdom life that has been given to us by adoption.