No Reserve, No Retreat, No Regrets

       I can understand why some people expressed concern when we led a tour group to Turkey last summer.  Turkey lives in a rough neighborhood.  The republics of the former Soviet Union border Turkey on the north.  Terrorist Syria and war torn, Hezbollah dominated Lebanon are to the south.  Iraq is on the east.  Worst of all from the Turk’s point-of-view is the west.  That’s where the Greeks live.  

       I can understand why some people were concerned.  But our experience was totally peaceful.  We were traveling “in the footsteps of Paul” but we weren’t doing it the way Paul did it.  We followed Paul’s footsteps in an air-conditioned coach.

      We entered Turkey at Kusadasi on the west coast. We went to our beautiful hotel.  We waited until the heat died down and the crowds disappeared before we went to see the magnificent runs of Ephesus . 

       Paul and Barnabas entered Turkey at Perga on the south coast in the region of Pamphylia. There was no tour bus waiting for them.  There was illness and danger.  Paul had planned to preach in Pamphylia but he didn’t stay. 

       Some writers think that Paul contracted malarial blindness in Perga.  It was epidemic there.  This would be accompanied by severe headaches that impacted him for the rest of his life -- the “thorn in the flesh” Paul prays about in 1 Corinthians.  Paul later writes to the Galatians that they know that he preached to them because of a bodily illness.  Paul writes that the Galatian Christians “would have torn out their own eyes” and given them to him.

       That’s rough!  Why don’t Paul and Barnabas just quit?  Well Jesus had told Paul that he must suffer many things.  Malarial headaches are just a start. If he quits because of the blinding pain, he will never get going. 

       In 1909 a young wealthy graduate of Yale University stunned his millionaire family by dedicating his life to spreading the gospel.  He was the heir to the Borden Milk fortune.  None of his family could understand why he would set aside the comforts of affluence for the rigors of the mission in China . Yet William Borden believed that there was nothing more important than sharing the love of Jesus Christ.  He died of meningitis in Egypt on his way to China but on his deathbed still found joy in the path he had taken.  He wrote in the notepad next to his bed, “No reserve, no retreat, no regrets.” 

       Paul and Barnabas won’t retreat.  But they can’t stay where they are.  They head inland to the healthier climate of the mountains. They come to Antioch of Pisadia which sits at 3,600 feet.  This is another of the sixteen cities one of Alexander the Great’s generals had founded and named for his father Antiochus. This first missionary journey started at Antioch on the Orontes in Syria .  Now it has moved to Antioch of Pisadia in south central Turkey .

       In Antioch , Paul and Barnabas go first to the Jewish synagogue.  Paul is recognized as a rabbi.   He is invited to speak.

       Luke devotes most of this chapter to Paul’s speech.  I hope that you take the time to read this.  Paul gives a masterful summary of gospel as it grows out of the story of Israel .  But today I want to move quickly to what happens because of the speech.  I especially want us to focus on one very important verse toward the last part of the chapter. 

      Some of the Jews the synagogue become believers.  Paul and Barnabas encourage them to continue in the grace of God.  The synagogue leaders invite God’s messengers to return the following Sabbath for another teaching time.

      That’s where things get hard.  The next Sabbath, the synagogue is filled with the wring kind of people/  Not only do Jews show up.  Not only do the cleaned-up God-fearing Gentles who are already connected to the synagogue show up.   A bunch of hard-core pagan Gentiles also show up.  They are there sitting in the regular attenders favorite seats.   Paul has been preaching in town all week and everyone is eager to hear more.   

       This causes a crisis in the synagogue.  These pagans are defiling the devout Jews who are there. They are defiling the synagogue itself.  But Luke singles out another fact.  He writes in verse 45 that “they were filled with jealousy.” 

       They did not care if the Gentiles sat in the back of their synagogues, paid attention, and perhaps in time became good Jews though circumcision.  That was all right. They were glad to have that -- just as good Christians are glad to have down-and-outers come to church and eventfully become good Presbyterians or Baptists or Episcopalians.  But they did not want the Gentiles coming as Gentiles and being welcomed by God in their Gentileness.   They begin to contradict Paul and revile him.

      Paul reminds the angry Jews that God had always intended to use them to reach the pagans.  Isaiah had declared in our Old Testament reading that one reason for Israel ’s existence was to be “a light to the Gentiles.”  That’s why Paul always starts with the synagogue.  But if they refuse the job because of jealousy or racial hatred well, God can do it without them.”  So Paul says, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you But since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we turn to the Gentiles.”  

      Luke then writes in verse 48:  “When the Gentiles heard this -- that God was welcoming them in -- they were glad and glorified the word of God.  There was dancing in the streets.  Then comes Luke’s statement, “and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

       That’s the statement I want to focus on for the rest of this sermon.  Luke says of the Gentiles, “as many as were appointed to eternal life believed.” 

        Luke suddenly plunges us into the deepest darkest part of the jungle of predestination.  We are dealing here with some hard ideas. Luke paints in large strokes on what is, for most of us, a very unfamiliar canvas. If you don't understand it all, don't worry. I don't either. All we can do is faithfully say what God's word is saying. And if we will faithfully open ourselves to that Word, the Holy Spirit will help us grasp what this portion of scripture has for us.

       Here’s the question that grows out of verse 48:  “Do people chose to believe in the gospel?”  Or do they only believe because God has already decided that they will believe -- and has already appointed them to eternal life. 

        Calvinist theologians love Acts 13:48.  It is a big predestination keystone.  Arminian theologians like the Methodists hate it.  It seems to violate the place of human choice and freedom.  They would like it to read, “As many as believed were elected or appointed to eternal life.”  That’s makes sense to them. As an evangelist named Dwight Moody used to say, “The elect are whosoever wills and the non-elect are the whosoever won’ts.”  That view makes human choice the crucial thing in salvation.

      But it’s not what Luke says.  He says that those who believe had been appointed to eternal life even before their belief -- and that their faith is simply recognition of God’s call on their lives.   This is similar to what the Holy Spirit later says to Paul in Corinth -- “Don’t be afraid.  I have many people in this city.”  Now they don’t yet know that they belong to God.  They won’t know it until they respond to the message Paul preaches.   But when they hear the gospel, they are already front-loaded to believe the gospel.   “As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.”

       But doesn't predestination simply mean that God, who knows the future, just knows in advance who will believe?  As Paul writes in Romans 8:29-30:  "Those whom God foreknew he also predestined --"

       Now, since the common meaning of 'to foreknow"' is to know something in advance of its happening, some writers conclude that God simply foresees who will believe, and that this foreknowledge is the basis of predestination. But this can't be right for two reasons.

      First, if God predestines people because He knows that are going to believe, then the basis for salvation is in what people do -- believe -- instead of in God's grace and mercy. If that's what predestination comes down to, then salvation depends on people -- not on God's freedom. That contradicts every thing the Bible says.

       It’s like me and my dog, Katie. If I tell Katie: "Chase the Stueck’s cat!," you know  that I’m not really in charge. She is. I am just rubber stamping her choice. I am only telling her to do something that she has every intention of doing anyway.   All the initiative is with her.

       And second, it’s not logical. If God bases salvation on His advance knowledge of those who will believe, where did their saving faith come from.  God’s Word declares that those apart from Him are truly "dead in their trespasses and sins?"   They aren’t slightly sick or under the weather but dead.  If they are dead, how did they develop faith?

       Now God is all-knowing. God is certainly able to look to the end of history and beyond and to know in advance the most minute detail of the most insignificant occurrences. But it is both unbiblical and illogical to say that predestination simply means that God looked ahead and saw who would believe and then chose those particular individuals for salvation.

       For, in fact, the word foreknew in Romans 8 is not a reference to God knowing everything before it happens. He does but that isn't what the word means in Romans 8. The Hebrew verb "to know" expresses a whole lot more than just intellectual awareness. It points to a personal relationship of care and affection. It’s even a sexual term -- as in "Adam knew his wife Eve and she had a son." When God 'knows' people, He watches over them. When it says He"'knew"' the children of Israel in the desert, it means that He cared for them. The Old Testament says that Israel was the only people out of all the families of the earth whom God had 'known', that is, loved.

        Romans 8:29 doesn't say that God just foreknew what certain of His creatures would do -0- like I know with my dog Katie and the Stueck’s cat.  It is not talking about human actions at all. The verse is entirely about what God does. God foreknew, God predestined, God called, God justified, God glorified.

        Paul tells us in Romans 8 that those whom God foreknew or foreloved, He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His beloved Son.”  The verb predestined translates the Greek proortzo, which means to “decide upon in advance.”

       Clearly a human decision is involved in the process of becoming a Christian. But it is God's decision before it can be ours. We decided for Christ', and freely. But we decided for Him only because he had first 'decided for us'.

       Everyone finds the doctrine of election difficult. Didn't I choose God?" someone will ask indignantly. We must answer 'Yes, you did, and freely, but only because in eternity God had first chosen you.' Jesus said, 'No one can come to me unless my Heavenly Father calls him."

        A man gave a testimony in one of Dwight L. Moody's meetings, about God's sovereign call in his life, and how God had done all the work. God had pursued him, God had called him, God had brought him into the family. He gave a glowing testimony of God's salvation in his life and how it was all God's work.

       After he stepped down, one person came to him rather concerned that he had never said anything about man's responsibility in responding to the call of Christ. He said, "Brother, you have shared a wonderful testimony, but you forgot to tell about man's responsibility, your action, and how you were involved in this process." He said, 'Oh, I'm sorry, brother. My part was running away and God's part was running after me."

       That is really the truth. I find in my own life. After I accepted God’s call, I found that He had made it possible for me to accept. And when you find that all is said and done, you will see that God has found you.

        Now even in Acts 13, we can’t rule out human freedom entirely.  There is a place for human choice.  That’s what Paul says to the angry Jews.  You have judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life.”  That’s been their choice.  But God's gracious initiation of salvation is even more important.  God's choice not only comes before human choice but makes human choice possible.  When people believe, they are simply responding to the activity of God, who is already reaching out to them.

       But isn't this unfair? Isn't it unfair for God to decide before people even have a shot? Does predestination simply mean that some people are created just so they can be damned?

       Some groups have certainly thought so. This belief is called "double predestination." In the mid part of the 19^th Century there was a denomination called the "Two Seed in the Spirit Predestinarian Baptist Church ."   They died out because their name wouldn’t fit on a church sign. They advertised what they believed in their name -- that people were naturally either of God or of Satan. None of those who were of God would fail to be saved. None of those who were of Satan could possibly be saved -- no matter how much they might want it. And this was okay with the "Two Seed in the Spirit" Baptists because they were sure which camp they were in.

       But the Bible doesn't say anywhere that God predestines anyone to go to hell. In 1 Corinthians Paul defends God's right to create "vessels of wrath" if He chooses to -- because being God means that you get to do as you like, But Paul doesn't say that God actually does this. On the contrary, we are told that God wills all to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth."

       If you don’t get anything else from this sermon, please get this.  Remember who God is. God is characterized by love, grace, wisdom, and mercy.  Whatever predestination means, it has to be consistent with God's character. For Paul it is the God of love and mercy acting graciously and wisely, who is the electing God.       

       It is very significant that Luke makes his statement in Acts 13:48 right in the middle of a powerful evangelistic story.  There are people who can’t imagine how anyone can be an evangelist if God decides who will be saved and then saves them.  The argument goes, “If God is going to save certain people He is going to save them. What I do doesn’t matter.”

        But actually, those who have had the greatest faith in God’s electing power are also those who have historically proved to be the most effective evangelists.  Virtually all the missionary pioneers like William Borden were firm believers in election.

       But why did they evangelize?  Why did William Borden lose his life in Egypt ?  Why did they go out at such cost if they believed God was going to save people anyway?

      Well they knew that the God who appoints the end also appoints the method to bring people to  salvation which is the preaching of the Word.  That’s what Paul experienced in Antioch and everywhere he went.    The God who appoints the ends also appoints the method, and the method He has appointed for the evangelization of other people is our witness.

       We are to take the gospel into the entire world.  But as we go, we are to know that it is God is working through our witness to bring faith to those He has called.

       I actually don’t know how you can evangelize any other way.  Suppose it does not depend on God.  Suppose it depends on you.  Suppose people are saved because you are eloquent or on top of your game or happen to have the right answers or because you happen to be in the right place at the right time -- apart from God’s election.   If that is true, it also means that if you don’t have the right answers, if you aren’t eloquent, if you are not in the right place at the right time -- then these people will perish and it will all be your fault.  I don’t know how anybody can live with that.  

      But on the other hand, if you believe that God is already at work in people’s lives before you get there – If you know that as you speak, God will use your testimony to bring them to faith, the burden is removed.  Witnessing will become what it was meant to be -- a joyful place of discovering what God has already done before you got there.