​The First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes (Sunday, November 26, 2023)
Rev. William Gaskill, Guest Preacher
 
 
“Christ the King”
Ephesians 1:15-23; Matthew 25:31-46
 
 
            I’ve known my wife’s brother Steve for as long as I’ve known her, now well over 50 years.  He is an avid Phillies fan.  In any given April, if you asked him how the team would do, no matter how dismal a team they had, he’d say they were going to win the World Series.  He now works with a team of realtors and shows houses to their clients.  If the Phillies play while he is at work, he DVRs the game.  If another member of the family watches the game in real time he commands with some degree of urgency, “Don’t tell me the score.  I’m going to watch it later.”
 
            Spoiler alert!  That’s what we warn people with when we are about to tell the end before the beginning. I guess people want to enjoy the journey and to experience the surprises that happen along the way to the conclusion. That’s fine where sports or movies are concerned, but spiritually, it is really helpful to know the end from the beginning.  It helps keep hope alive and ward off despair.
 
Next week is the beginning of the church year in liturgy.  We call it Advent. In just a few short weeks we’ll all be gathered around the manger trying to recover our childlike wonder.  Spoiler alert!  Today we celebrate the outcome of a wonderful, sometimes difficult life.  Since last year, we have traced that life all the way from Bethlehem to Golgotha and onward through the resurrection to Jesus’ ascension and session at the Father’s right hand where his Kingship begins, or should I say continues.  Jesus was king even when he was the suffering servant whom precious few people accepted.
 
 Today we find out how the story turns out before we even go through the year considering all that leads up to this Holy denouement.  So here we go.  Today we acknowledge that Christ is King.  His rule and reign is what the whole creation has been groaning and lurching toward since the fall of Adam and Eve. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  All of us need saving; there are no exceptions. The central affirmation of Jesus is that at his coming the Kingdom of God has come near; the Kingdom of God is among you.
 
If all you have to go on is what your eyes see, your ears hear, your mind is able to grasp, if you get all your information about the meaning of life through your fleshly abilities, from our cultural scions and our media, you are not going to believe in the Lordship and Sovereignty of Jesus Christ.  When you consider what’s going on in our world, honestly, does it lead you to the conclusion that God is in charge of the events swirling around us? Or if God is in charge, does God seem like a cruel task master punishing everyone for each mistake they make. Or conversely, does it seem to you that God is simply no longer paying attention to human affairs?  That’s not the God of the Bible, but then few people really read the Bible anymore.
 
 To really see the deeper truth of God’s rule and reign through Jesus Christ, to understand spiritually what’s going on in the world, you are going to need a faith that looks through the violent, demonic surface presented by the world and have a muscular faith that perceives the activity of God that is constantly going on amidst the crime and chaos of our perpetually prodigal humanity. You are going to need a lot of help from beyond yourself and from beyond other people’s arrogant intellectual pride which pretends to know what’s what and what to do about it when they don’t. This has always been so and still is. Somehow we must go deeper. What we need to recover is a biblical world view.  We need the conviction that God has not abandoned us.
 
Let’s go to the end of our passage and see how Paul describes Jesus. First Paul says that God put his power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead. Belief in the resurrection truly is at the heart of the matter.  Elsewhere, Paul taught that if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.
 
 You and I cannot prove the resurrection.  If you trace your faith back to your beginning in the Christian life, your faith and mine relies upon the testimony of the eyewitnesses who had numerous bodily encounters with the One who was dead, but behold, is alive forevermore. The witness they provided is now 2,000 years old and counting. Their testimony has been confirmed within the hearts of countless believers including us who have come along afterward.
 
We read about the resurrection in God’s word, and once our faith comes to life, we begin to experience our own life in the light of that defining event in all of human history.  He is Risen!  Hallelujah! We begin to live beyond guilt and shame.  We begin to live in the conviction that we are not only forgiven by God; we are loved by God.  We begin to experience God’s loving care through the Holy Spirit who has come along with the Father and the Son to take up residence deep inside of our lives.  Our life begins to change in many, often surprising ways.  Our faith grows.  Our faith deepens.
 
These realities grow directly out of the revelation that our Savior is our King, or as the Confession of 1967 puts it, “Our judge is our redeemer.”  This is what is indicated by the words, “Christ is seated at God’s right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.” In other words, the sovereignty of Christ is at work now and will continue throughout all eternity.
 
I take all this personally and I hope you do too.  But I must confess, as I look with my eyes out upon the world which is full of people drunk on power, corrupt in the use of money, as I hear with my ears from people who are violent, divisive, and hateful, and as I feel with my heart that there are many who don’t think twice about trampling on other people so that they can get ahead, so that they can satisfy their lustful desires, I know I’m going to need divine help to maintain a clear spiritual perspective on the world.  Christ the King?  I believe, help thou mine unbelief.
 
That’s the help Paul prays for the Ephesians to receive, and through them for us as well.  The first motive for Paul’s prayer is that he “has heard of your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you in my prayers.” 
 
May I help you notice the immediate battle line here?  Do we really have love toward all the saints, or just the saints that have the intelligence to agree with us on every point? The love that is rooted and grounded only in our flesh, in our natural proclivities tends to be very selective.  Fleshly love just can’t help itself; it tends to be judgmental when the going gets rough.  It is easily infected with bitterness and unforgiveness.
 
Christians through the ages have had much trouble with the urge to support schism.  Flesh and spirit clash.  I found a quote by Alduous Huxley where he said, “Thy will be done is a phrase repeated daily by millions, who have not the slightest intention of letting any will be done, except their own.”  May we be honest enough to admit that there are some saints we find to be more lovable than others?  Is it time for another prayer of confession?
 
Let’s not get bogged down. Moving on into Paul’s prayer for us, he asks God to give us the things we need in order for us to live well under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ.
 
First, Paul prays that we will be given a spirit of wisdom and revelation as we come to know him.  As I think back to the time when I first met Jesus and gave him my heart, I must confess I didn’t really know him all that well. My earliest confession was, “God, if you are out there, take my life.  Please just make it real.  I’ve had enough deception already.” I’ve been coming to know him ever since.
 
  I’ve needed the gift of wisdom from God to learn how to follow him.  I’ve needed revelation through scripture and prayer to learn about his character, his desires for me, his mercy, his kindness, and yes, often, his correction.  As the cliché goes, Jesus loves you the way he finds you but he loves you too much to leave you that way.
 
 The process of what the theologians call sanctification goes on for the rest of our lives.  Is anybody here done yet?  Neither am I. Lord, give me a wise heart to choose you who have first chosen me.  And give me revelation so I might know you more and more as long as I live.
 
 Paul’s petitions for us continue with the request that the eyes of our hearts be enlightened and that we may know three things.
 
One: that we may know the hope to which he has called us. I hope you realize that Christian hope is not the flesh indulged in wishful thinking.  We all wish that wars would cease.  We all wish for peace and prosperity.  We all wish that human stewardship of creation would improve. We all wish we would be loved. We wish for a lot of things that are good in themselves.
 
But our Christian hope comes from a deeper source and transports us to a far more expansive place.  Our hope is born as a response to the call of God through Jesus Christ.  That call is the source of a full life, full of purpose and meaning, a life that is comprised of far more than we can ask or imagine. And as we respond to that call, the promise of eternity opens up before us. 
 
The knowledge of the hope to which we have been called leads us to the second petition, which asks that we may know of his glorious inheritance among the saints.
 
 My sister Mary died in May of 2020.  I had agreed to serve as her executor.  She had 19 beneficiaries.  It was a complicated mess in many ways.  I’ve said sometimes, though not totally in earnest, that if you want to get even with someone after you die, make them your executor.  I finally got all the heirs their due rewards but it was a long process.
 
Now here’s something you might have missed.  The glorious inheritance in this second petition is not due to us, it is Christ’s.  It is his glorious inheritance.  Who; me, you, us together?  We are his glorious inheritance? We together are the reward given to Christ for his sacrifice of love offered up on the Cross.  We are viewed as his glory and crown. 
 
This is mind boggling stuff. Read Romans 8 over and over, and notice verse 29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.”  We are adopted sons and daughters in whom Christ the King takes great delight and satisfaction.  We are the fruit of his labor on Calvary.  We are his crowning achievement! That insight ought to both humble us and exhilarate us!  Look what your value is to Christ the King.
 
Is that all?  No, there is more.  The third petition is that we may know the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe.   If we are going to live with confidence and serenity in a world gone mad like ours has, we are going to need the power of God.  The Bible teaches us that the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power that is at work in those of us who believe.  Do you need any more power than that?  No!  What we need is the faith to believe that what the Bible says is true.  And that faith, just as every other spiritual gift given to human beings, has its source in the heart of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
What I’m trying to see and to help you see with me is that history at its deepest level is God’s salvation history.  All the imperialists, all the terrorists, all the corrupt politicians, even all the backslidden Christians are subject to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.  As the earliest Christian hymn found in Philippians 2 concludes, “Every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
 
We get to be among those who willingly bow the knee to our King before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives, when every tear will be wiped from our eyes, when all things will be made new, when death will be no more, when the former things will have passed away, making way for the reign of Jesus Christ, un-enshrouded by the ravages of sin. We get to worship King Jesus even before many people don’t even know there is a King.  Come quickly King Jesus.

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ November 19 2023)
Rev. Dwayne M. Doyle, Guest Preacher
 
 
Getting Ready for Christ’s Return
I Thessalonians 5:1-22; Matthew 25:14-30; Psalm 90:9-11,12
Have you ever missed a flight, were late to a theater performance, forgot you had an appointment, or overslept?  If you have then you may be able to not being prepared for something or being caught off  guard.
We may not know the actual day that Jesus will return but there are some indicators from scripture. But even if we could figure out if we are in the last days, today’s scripture warns us that we should always be prepared.  Like a homeowner who doesn’t suspect a thief coming to burglar his or her house, we may get caught off guard. Jesus will come like a thief in the night. What kinds of things ought we to do to be prepared for his coming?

1. Get your ducks in order!

Is there anyone you haven’t asked forgiveness of?
Is there anything you have left undone that needs to be done?
Are you right vertically with God and horizontally with man and woman?
Don’t wait until tomorrow and call that person that you have a disagreement with, to make every effort for peace and reconciliation.
You are only responsible for your end, they are responsible for their reactions. Let you conscience be clear.
If you are sinning, stop whatever you are doing that you know is wrong. Get help, if need be, counseling. Cleanup your act.
If you confess your sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we say we haven’t sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.
I John 1:9-10.

1. Make sure you have given your life to Jesus Christ. Today is the day of salvation. We don’t have tomorrow promised to us.  Our very life could be asked of us tomorrow.

Being ready to meet our maker means we need to be right with God.
 
Jesus’s death on the cross for the sins of the world is the only way that you can be acceptable in God’s sight to enter into the Kingdom of God. Have you been clothed with the raiment of Christ’s sacrificial blood that cleanses us forever? While the animals that were sacrificed during time of the time of the Jewish sacrificial system temporarily helped with the jews sins, Christ’s sacrifice  satisfies the wrath of God that will be carried out on all who have not put their trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. He died once for all.  There is no longer need for anymore sacrifices.
 
For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and you believe in your heart that God rose him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with the mouth that we confess and with the heart we believe. (Romans 10:9-10) Have you made a public commitment and put your faith in Jesus Christ? Jesus said if you are ashamed of me before men, I will be ashamed of you before my Father in Heaven.  (Luke 9:26) We need to publicly take a stand for Jesus Christ.

1. Witnessing- When was the last time that you ever told someone about Jesus?
2. Join a local church.  God didn’t want us to be lone ranger Christians.  He calls us to live in Christian community.  Find a bible believing church and join it. Get involved in your church.  God through his Spirit has given each of us abilities, skills, talents and gifts.  How we use these gifts is important to God.

 
Parable of the Talents
The church is spoken of as the Body of Christ of which he is the head.  Each of us plays an important part of the Body’s function. When one of us is missing, we miss that part.  When one of us is hurting, we all hurt. Ask people what they things your gifts might be.  Use these gifts to edify the boy of Christ. If it is encouragement, then encourage.  If it is service, then serve.  If it is in leadership, then lead.  If it is in teaching, then teach.  If it is in administration, then administer.  If it is in following, then follow.  Just don’t be like the servant who buried his talent in the sand.  If we don’t use it we may lose it eventually.

1. Study God’s Word- Study yourself to be approved by God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. II Timothy 2:15
2. Be open to whatever it is that God has for you.  Don’t limit God.  Ask and you shall receive. Seek and you shall find.  Knock and the door shall be opened.  We have not because we ask not.  (Matthew 7:7-8) The Book of James reports that if any of you lacks wisdom, let him or her ask of God who gives to all people generously.  But if he or she asks let them not doubt lest they be like a wave on the sea that is tossed to and fro by the winds. James 1:5
3. Pray- Pray for those in your family, your friends, your church, for those that are hurting in our world. Actually, do more than just pray for people, go out and help people. Faith without works is dead.  We can’t earn our way into heaven, but our good works are an extension of our love for Christ.  Jesus had compassion on all who came to him for help.  We too should have compassion for the lost and needy.
4. Live as though Christ could come back at any moment but build like Christ isn’t coming back for a million years. Billy Graham

Some of the Thessalonians thought that maybe Jesus would forget about those that had already died who were believers. Paul corrected this misunderstanding. We will know when Jesus returned.  There will be no question.  I Thessalonians 4:13-18
Are you ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ? Amen.
 
When, Where, Why, What, How?  These are the questions we ask when trying to understand any situation.
Why is Jesus coming back?
To take his bride, the church, to be with him, both the living and the dead, for all eternity. (Rev. 19:7-8; Ephesians 5:22-33)
John 14:1-5- “I go to prepare a place for you so that where I am, you may be also.  In my house there are many dwelling places.”
Jesus is coming to judge the nations.  The first time he came as an innocent infant born in in a manger.  His second coming portrays him as riding on a white horse with the words ‘King of Kings & Lord or Lords´ written on his thigh.  He has a fiery sword coming out of his mouth. “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that he is Lord.” (Philippians 2:10-11; Isaiah 45:23)
There will also be a terrible judgment upon the world. Romans 2:5
Passages that talk about the Second Coming of Christ or ‘parousia’ (I Peter 4:7;Matthew 24:42,44; Rev. 1:7; II Peter 3:10;Matthew 24:30-31; Acts 1:10-11; Luke 21:34-36; Rev. 22:12; Matthew 16:27;Johon 6:39-40; Matthew 24:27)
When will Jesus Return?
Jesus will come at an unexpected time.  When Noah built the ark and the flood came and water from the depths swept all the people and animals away who were below the highest mountain tops. People were eating and drinking and being given in marriage. Genesis 6:17-21
The parable of the ten Virgins. Five prepared for the wedding banquet by having enough oil in their lamps.  The other five Virgins didn’t have enough oil and asked to borrow from the other five, but they couldn’t give it to them.  She was outside and couldn’t be let into the ceremony.
The Son of God will come at an hour we do not know. No one knows the day or the time, not the angles in heaven, not the Son of God, only the Father in heaven knows the day and the hour. Matthew 24:36
Where?
As lightening comes so will it be when the son of Man returns. Many will be saying that they are the Messiah, but these will not be the Messiah.
As Jesus ascended to heaven after his resurrection, so he will descend from heaven out of the clouds.
It is ok to look for the signs of his coming, but don’t fooled into thinking we will know the day or hour.
Don’t be caught doing ungodly things.  Be about the work of the Kingdom.  The Kingdom of God has come in the person of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God is coming.
And finally, the last enemy to be put under the feet of Jesus will be death.
The reality is that for each of us whether Jesus returns while we are living or we meet him when we died we will be with Jesus.
Absent from the body, present with the Lord. We will not know anything after until we see Jesus face to face.
What a glorious day that will be.
Let’s review some of the things we have said to prepare ourselves for Jesus’s Return:

1. If you haven’t already, commit your life to Jesus Christ. Confess that you are a sinner and repent from your sins.  Ask God to forgive you of your sins.

1. Confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is your Savior.  Believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead and you will be saved.
2. Commit yourself to God. Love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.
3. Give of your time, talent, and treasures to God through the church and in any way you feel led.
4. Join a fellowship and get involved.  Study the Word of God the Holy Bible and discover which gifts the Holy Spirit have given you.
5. Witness to others about our newfound faith in Jesus Christ.
6. Be about your Father’s business, i.e., praying, interceding for our world standing up for Jesus Christ.

 
I Peter 3:15 “Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect.”
One way to share your faith with someone is to prepare a testimony and learn some Bible Verses:
Testimony:  Prepare a short testimony of how you came to know the Lord.  It can be 1minute, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or 15 minutes.
Your testimony
Life before you knew the Lord.
How you came to know the Lord.
Bible verse that is important to you
Life after coming to the Lord.
Practice saying your testimony.
Scripture Verses: God’s Simple Plan of Salvation ‘The Roman Road to Salvation’
Romans 3:10 As it is written.  There is none righteous, no, not one;
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:6 But God commended his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 10:9-10 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 
Romans 10:13 For whosever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Salvation Station Ministries 440-355-6593
Charge and Benediction
Friends, go in peace, and be peace
Go in hope, and be hope.
Go in faith, and be faithful.
And as you go, may the grace of God cover you,
The love of Christ shine within you,
And the Spirit’s courage propel your forward,
This day and forevermore. Amen.

 

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ November 12 2023)
Rev. Joel Buckwalter 

​First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood                          
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012                                                                              
Sermon Notes (Sunday ~ October 29 2023)
Rev. Wanda Sevey 

​The First Presbyterian Church of Blackwood
21 E. Church Street
Blackwood, NJ 08012
Sermon Notes (Sunday, November 5, 2023)
Rev. Cliff Jones, Guest Preacher
 
 
“What Makes Us Presbyterians Distinct?”
I Peter 1:1, 2
 
I have this memory. It goes back to elementary school.  My teacher would sometimes organize our class for kick ball or dodge ball during recess.  She’d pick the two best players as captains, and then the captains would take turns choosing their team…. And I would be praying, “Don’t let me be among the last picked, please.”  Sometimes that seemed to work.  Sometimes that didn’t.  This one time, after the captains had been chosen and started picking team mates, one person said out loud, “Don’t choose Cliff. He’s no good.”  Ouch.  To hear that out loud just made me feel doubly no good and humiliated.  To my shock, I heard the captain then say, “That’s not true. Cliff’s good.  I choose Cliff!”  My attitude changed completely, and I walked proudly, proudly over to that team, because I was no longer a left over.  I was chosen.
 
What is it that makes us distinct?  What makes us Presbyterians different from other expressions of Christianity?  Is it food?  Seems like every time we get together we eat, but that’s not true only of us but most churches as well.  Meetings?  Yeah, well, same with most congregations, too.
What makes us different?  There’s more than one answer, but I’d like to highlight in yellow this distinctive:  we know that we are chosen by God.  Let’s take a look at this by reading I Peter 1:1, 2:
 
            Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the temporary exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus,
            Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen by the foreknowledge of God the
            Father through the sanctifying Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of
            Jesus Christ. May grace and peace be multiplied to you.
 
Sounds like a standard opening to a letter written back then… but not so fast.  It’s actually quite astounding!  Let’s look at it again.  The writer is Peter, the disciple, now apostle of Jesus.  He’s writing to congregations in what would be modern day Turkey and names the various areas where they are located:  “Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.  Did you notice he calls them ‘temporary exiles’?  He’s reminding them they don’t have a permanent home in this world; they are ‘exiles’ because they are destined for a greater, true home with God forever.  Then, Peter says this:  “(you are) chosen by the foreknowledge of God.”  There’s the astounding part.  In other words, it tells us that God ahead of time - that’s the meaning of  the word, ’foreknowledge’ in verse 1; knew whom He would choose  - that’s the word, ’chosen’,  in verse 1; to come to the obedience of faith - just as the verse says; in Jesus Christ, whose death on the cross saves them - that’s the  meaning of ‘sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ;  through the working, as it says, of the Holy Spirit.  Now, that’s a mouthful, and I’ll just add to it by saying we have a reference here to the Trinity, without using that word:  Peter speaks of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 
The central idea he is communicating is that these people are chosen by God.  They belong to Jesus.  And this opens up one of the key distinctive of Presbyterianism and reformed theology:  predestination.  Have you heard this term?  I think you have.  Predestination.  What does it mean?
 
Here’s my definition:
God chooses us by foreknowledge before we are born to know and belong to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  It’s pre - meaning ‘before’, and destination - meaning ‘destiny’.  So, ahead of time, God chooses to give us a destiny with Jesus.  This idea goes by many names, ‘the elect’, ’election’, ‘chosen’, ‘called’ or ‘predestined’.  Does this idea of predestination raise questions for you?  It does for me.  Questions like:
Is predestination found in other places in the Bible, or just one or two places?
If God chooses us to belong to him, does that mean God doesn’t choose others?
How does this idea of predestination help me?
Let’s take a look at these questions.
 
- Is the idea of predestination truly biblical?  Let me give you 2-3 examples.
Jeremiah 1:5 - “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you… I appointed you prophet to the nations.”  God foreknew Jeremiah the prophet and picked him.
Deuteronomy 14:2 - “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth.”
Romans 8:33 - “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” - referring to Christians.
Matthew 22:14 - “For many are called, but few are chosen”, says Jesus.
John 6:44 - “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him”, again, Jesus.
Feel free also to check out Colossians 3:12; Ephesians 1:3,4; Revelations 17:14; Acts 4:26; Romans 8:29; Titus 1:1; Luke 18:7.  Predestination is there.  It’s Biblical.  It’s Presbyterian.
God chooses us by foreknowledge before we are born to know and belong to Jesus Christ.
 
Well, how about this question:
- Does predestination mean God chooses ahead of time who will not belong to Jesus Christ?  If God chooses ahead of time who will belong to Jesus, doesn’t that mean He chooses who won’t?
Let’s first acknowledge what we know about God.  As II Peter 3:9 says, “God is not willing that any should perish, but that all may come to repentance.”  God is patient with us all, wants to enfold all of us in his care.  However, God also knows who we are, what kind of person we are, and what our choices will be.  We make our own futures.  That is why the word, ‘foreknowledge’ is important.  God knows ahead of time what choices we will make, and how we will react to his love.  Some will turn towards, others will turn away from, God.  It’s not about who’s in and who’s out.  It’s about God’s love and protective care, holding us, assuring us we belong always to Jesus.
 
In fact, the primary reason why predestination is used in the New Testament is to comfort and strengthen Jesus followers who are facing difficult times.  Just take a look at the letter Peter writes here, as an example.  Peter is writing to Christ followers who are suffering for their faith. How do we know this?  One quick way:  the word, ‘suffer’ is used 6 times as often in I Peter as any other book in the New Testament, except the book of Hebrews, where it’s used 2 times as much as Hebrews.  This tells us something.  These people are suffering, for their faith.  So, it’s no wonder why Peter begins the letter as he does.  “Listen,” he’s saying.  “I know what you are going through, but burn this truth into your minds and into your hearts.  You belong to Jesus.  He has chosen you and He will not let you go.  Do you hear me?  I know it’s tough, but hang on.  Don’t despair.  Jesus will not let you go.  You belong to Jesus.”
 
This leads us to our other question:  How does predestination help me?  The answer is strong.  Having this kind assurance of being chosen can bring deep comfort, calm assurance; peace.
 
A few weeks back, I received an urgent text from a mission agency about a national in a Muslim country whom the police were looking for.  He was raised Muslim, then became a Christ follower and started talking to people in his country about Jesus.  Conversion to Christianity is against the law in that country, and there was real concern what might happen to him and his family.  Three days later, I receive another text, with a picture of the man with 4-5 other men he has led to the Lord.  He said this, “(These men) were fearful, afraid of what the police might do, but after reading Scripture, all declared they would not turn back.  They would remain faithful, no matter what.  When we know that we are chosen; when we know we have been predestined, we know God is for us and God is with us.  We are not left to fate.  God will uphold us, no matter what happens… and even if it leads to death, that is not the end.  There is eternity prepared.  This Presbyterian distinctive from our Reformed Theology changes our way of thinking.  We don’t have to despair.  We don’t have to be caught up in frenetic anxiety.  We have been chosen.  We belong to Jesus and He will uphold us, so we can let go of our fears, and allow the deep comfort of our election to calm us and give us peace.
 
And, there’s another implication as well.  There is evil in our world, injustice and hurt:  on-going divisions and anger in our country, a war in the Middle East, a war in Ukraine, senseless shootings, a tropical storm that too swiftly upgraded to a hurricane, our own chaos and difficulties.  It’s easy to think God is not in charge of our world; or that his love and care is not permanent.  The truth of Predestination helps us see through the chaos of our world to find God not only cares for us individually, but God cares for the whole world.  Predestination not only applies to us but to our world.  God is loving, and God is in control, and is bending the events of our world to his plan, his destination, and his glory.  God has predestined the world to experience his perfect will and He is bringing it about.
 
I remember reading about a teacher in a Christian school in an African country, which had seen its share of suffering.  The teacher was leading them in a Bible lesson that included the passage that speaks about Jesus’ returning with a cry.  One of the high schoolers raises his hand and asks, “Teacher, what do you think Jesus will shout?”  The teacher said, “Enough.  Enough.  When Jesus returns, He will cry out, ‘enough’.”  We are a people of hope.  We know how it all will end.  We don’t need to despair.  We don’t need to be negative.  We know how it all will end.  Praise God!
 
You and I as Presbyterians have a wonderful certainty.  It makes no difference what we face, we have been chosen by God and He will not let us go.  He will uphold us.  When I doubt if I have what it takes; when I feel like a failure, I can hold on to this:  "God has chosen me.”  When I wonder what’s even lovable about me; when I cry out,’why is this happening to me?’, I hold on to this:  “God has chosen me.”  When I feel like I can’t keep going on; when I seem to be helpless against what’s swirling around me, I cling to this:  “God has chosen me.”  When the world seems like it’s crashing down; when my world is falling apart, I claim this:  “God has chosen me and I belong to Jesus.”
 
This truth gives us peace.  This truth gives us hope.  This truth empowers our faith.
We choose to trust our very lives into the care of God through Jesus Christ!
 
Why am I a Presbyterian?  Many reasons, but among them is this:
God has chosen me!