Essential Tenet #8: God chooses us for himself from before the foundation of the world.

Essential Tenet #8 captures one of the unique characteristics of the Presbyterian/Reformed heritage within the Christian family. The language of choosing, election, and predestination are distinct but interrelated expressions of God's prior work of divine grace extended to us in order to salvation. This doctrine has been the subject of countless hours of discussion and pages of writing. 

It’s important to understand when discussing this tenet that for the first 1500 years of the church’s history, predestination was considered orthodoxy. Augustine is likely the most widely referenced source for understanding the church’s position during this time period. Though much more could be said, a brief summary of Augustine’s teachings on predestination will suffice our needs here:  (1) The fall of Adam brought all his posterity into a state of corruption from which we are utterly unable to deliver ourselves. (2) From among the fallen, an unknown number were elected to eternal life. (3) By logical extension, he left the rest to the just penalty of Adam’s sin. (4) The basis of election is not foreknowledge, but the pleasure and mercy of his will. (5) Jesus fulfilled the necessary work to justify us before God. (6) Through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, we experience spiritual rebirth in order to exercise faith and persevere in holy living.

As I have noted in previous posts, the utter corruption that resulted from the sin of Adam left us spiritually dead. Since spiritually dead people do not have the freedom to save themselves, something or someone needs to save us. Fortunately, God acted. He chose us. As Paul writes in Eph. 1:4, our choosing was from before the foundation of the world. Long before we could do anything to earn it, we were chosen. Do not think that we were chosen because God foreknew how well we would turn out. The inner life of even the most mature Christians is enough to condemn them, and falls short of earning any merit in God’s eyes. God's prior election of us is profoundly encouraging and humbling. We may at times doubt our worthiness of this choosing, but we do not doubt God’s divine grace. And, to know that our faith is solely a gift from God should defeat within us any inclination towards spiritual pride.

Our understanding of this doctrine is incomplete unless we understand that Scripture talks about our choosing, election, or predestination as “for” a purpose or call. Peter says, we are chosen or elected, “according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ … (1 Peter 1:2 ESV)" Paul says, we are chosen so “that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:4 ESV)” In Ephesians 1:5, he adds that we were predestined for “adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will. (Ephesians 1:5 ESV)” I particularly like the imagery of being chosen for adoption into God’s family.

While some fear that predestination or election removes any responsibility for the Christian life, our choosing means that we have a responsibility to uphold the family tradition. Every family has its predictable patterns, beliefs, and stories. In the Harper house, there rules about how you act at the dinner table. Everybody has chores they are expected to do. There are expectations about how you treat one another. There are expectations about what you do when you mistreat someone. There are distinctively Harper quirks that even make us laugh. There are family stories we regularly retell because its history that express who we are. For better or worse, we have a family tradition that defines us, and shapes how we act.

To be Christian is not that different. Scripture defines for us what it means to be called Christian. It gives us our stories. It defines how we should act. It delivers the promises that sustain us. The evidence of faith is our carrying on the family tradition. The family tradition of the Christian means in part the willingness to bear the family name. It means that we clearly understand that we belong to God because there is only one Savior, or one Mediator, whose name is Jesus the Christ. It means demonstrating the life of one who is growing in holiness daily. It means practicing the goodness and mercy of God for all the world to see. It means a willingness to share the good news of this family to others in hopes that God will adopt them as well. None of these things earn or repay God’s divine grace. They are simply an expression of gratitude for the privilege of membership in the family of God.

Essential Tenet #7: The Holy Spirit regenerates and sanctifies us through faith.

The 7^th tenet of the 12 adopted by the leadership of First Presbyterian Church is about the “shy” member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The tenet reads, “The Holy Spirit regenerates and sanctifies us through faith.” There is a good deal written about the work of the Holy Spirit, but two of his chief works is the initial work of regeneration and the subsequent work of sanctification. Philippians 1:6 is a helpful passage that brings these two works together.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6 ESV)

Paul makes it clear that neither you nor I initiate the good work of reconciliation and restoration. After all, as Adam introduced sin into the world, we died spiritually. Spiritually dead people are slaves to death. We are not free to act for ourselves. Someone with power over death must act on us from the outside. The Holy Spirit is the one who acts first. Holy Spirit regenerates us.  Charles Hodge writes,

Regeneration is… the instantaneous change from spiritual death to spiritual life. Regeneration, therefore, is a spiritual resurrection; the beginning of a new life. Sometimes the word expresses the act of God. God regenerates. Sometimes it designates the subjective effect of his act. The sinner is regenerated. He becomes a new creature. He is born again. And this is his regeneration.” (Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology: Vol III, p. 5)

Faith then is a gift. It is not due to our initiative. Thanks be to God for such gracious work. We are fickle, temperamental, irrational beings. If our salvation were up to us, we would have no hope.

The second work of the Holy Spirit is captured in the second half of the verse. Not only does God begin a good work in us, but Paul promises that he will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. Regeneration is an instantaneous episode. We are reconciled to God in that moment. We are far from being made whole, however. Even though Paul says we are new creations in Christ, most of us recognize that this vision is a long-term process. God’s good work continues beyond our regeneration by slowly, daily taking the broken pieces of our lives, and gradually restoring us to wholeness. This work is called sanctification.

Sanctification describes the process by which the Holy Spirit gradually forms us into the image of Jesus Christ. The Westminster Shorter Catechism describes it this way:

Sanctification is the work of God’s free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin and live unto righteousness. (“Westminster Shorter Catechism”, Q. 35)

It is the reason that someone like John Newton could say about himself, “I am not what I ought to be… I am not what I wish to be… I am not what I hope to be…[yet] I can truly say, I am not what I once was.” God accepts us and loves us as we are, but he loves us too much to leave us that way. We all grow up physically and socially, and the work of the Spirit is to do the same spiritually.

Most of us probably recognize that our growth is not happening at the pace that we desire. The most honest among us might admit that growth does not happen very often. Why is that? Is the Holy Spirit ineffective or inadequate for the task? Likely not! He is more than able to do finish the task. The problem lies with us. We are the most common reason why we don’t grow spiritually. We get in the way. Sanctification takes some cooperation on our part, and too often we are reluctant to cooperate.

I think one of the main culprits in our resistance is a low self-esteem. If we have a low self-esteem, we may feel so badly about ourselves that we are convinced that there is no possible way that we can change or grow so we won’t even bother trying. The self-loathing becomes an obstacle. Interestingly, low self-esteem can also create a very different reaction. For some it can create narcissism. Narcissism is that reaction to low self-esteem in which we construct a wall around us that deceives us into thinking that we are great or that there is nothing wrong with us. If something is wrong, then it is because of someone else. The more we are self-deceived, the more difficult it is for the Holy Spirit to work in us.

By my very unscientific estimation, a large percentage of us carry the burden of a low self-esteem in either of the two ways just discussed. It is the reason that we get offended easily. It is behind our stubbornness. It is often the cause of our pettiness. It is often the source of our anxieties and fears. It is awful hard for the Holy Spirit to work in us when we are made basket cases by our low self-esteem.

The solution lies in developing what I call a God-esteem. When we focus on self-esteem, we are fixated on the “self” – a limited, imperfect, finite, being. We will ultimately disappoint ourselves. If we develop a God-esteem, we evaluate ourselves through the eyes of our unlimited, perfect, eternal God. This way we are not measuring ourselves by the opinions of others or of our successes or failures. We are evaluating ourselves through the eyes of a God who loves us deeply and who wants the best for our lives.

Accepting a God-esteem frees us from ourselves. We are no longer obstacles to the Holy Spirit. We no longer self-loath because we know we are valued by God, and we trust him to make us whole. We no longer deceive ourselves in order to make us feel safe or good. We are free to admit our brokenness and look to God to make us whole. There is much more joy when we develop a God-esteem. We can laugh at ourselves. We can boldly admit our need for help. We can take ourselves a little less seriously and have a little more fun. Then the Holy Spirit has the freedom to bring to completion the work he began in us.

Essential Tenet #6: Jesus Christ is the only Way by which sinners become children of God.

The 6^th tenet of the 12 adopted by the leadership of First Presbyterian Church of Douglasville is: Jesus Christ is the only Way by which sinners become children of God.

The phrase “children of God” is used not in the general sense that all people are children of God, but rather in the specific way that the Bible uses it to indicate those adopted into the family of God through faith in the atoning work of Jesus.

The exclusive claim of Christ for salvation has been the orthodox position of the Christian Church for most of its history. It is a position that seemed audacious to the audiences of the apostles in the New Testament. It is a position that continues to subject Christians to public scorn as being narrow minded and intolerant.

This tenet highlights one of the concerns our leadership has with the Presbyterian Church (USA). While a case can be made that Jesus’ exclusive claim for salvation is the official position of the PC(USA), it is clear that within the denomination there is a diminishing confidence in that belief. The 2011 Presbyterian Panel reported that about two in five pastors (41%) “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that “only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.” It is increasingly common to find pastors unable to articulate their belief in the exclusive claims of Christ as Lord and Savior and to find others who will outright deny it. To compound the problem, presbyteries often condone those positions by not holding pastors accountable for their clear departures from the teaching of the Bible and our confessions.

If we are to make such an exclusive claim for salvation, then we should have a very good, biblical reason. And, we do. The reason we believe that Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and man is simple. We believe it because that is what Jesus believes about himself.

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 ESV)

“So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 10:32-33 ESV)

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

Jesus is the reason the Christian faith exists. Jesus is the Head of the Christian Church. We are named Christians because we follow Jesus the Christ. It would seem to us that Jesus is a really big deal.

With such emphasis on Jesus as the center of our identity, we seem to me to be very foolish or wholly misguided to follow him and yet not believe what he says about himself. If that is the case, you are wasting your time. If I did not believe in what someone believed about himself or herself, I would find another person to follow. I value my time and my credibility too much to do otherwise.

I fully believe, however, that Jesus is exactly who he said he is, “The way, the truth, and the life.” There are many ways that God works in us to extend the saving grace of Christ. I will not bother to judge which experiences are right or wrong. I am confident, though, that the only way any of us will be saved is through the Cross of Calvary. We must understand that as followers of Jesus it is more audacious to doubt his exclusive claims than it is to assert the claim itself.

Essential Tenet #5: "The present disordered state of the world is the result of humanity’s free, sinful rebellion against God’s will.

We are studying the essential statement adopted by First Presbyterian Church of Douglasville. The statement relies heavily on the essential tenets statement in the Theology Project of the Fellowship of Presbyterians, in which we are members. The full statement can be found at http://www.faithwebsites.com/fpcdouglasville/whatwebelieve.cfm#167019.

Essential Tenet #5 says, "The present disordered state of the world is the result of humanity’s free, sinful rebellion against God’s will. No part of human life is untouched by sin. Our desires are no longer trustworthy guides to goodness, and what seems natural to us no longer corresponds to God’s design."

This tenet acknowledges that though God created the world good something has gone terribly wrong. The evidence of this problem abounds. It is evident globally in the scourge of slavery, war, starvation, and terrorism. It is evident in the USA in the dehumanizing practices of violence, prostitution, pornography, and child abuse. If we are honest with ourselves, it is also evident in our own lives. It is evident in our thoughts. People might recoil in horror if they heard what we sometimes think. It is evident in our selfish, destructive, greedy behaviors. These only scratch the surface of the evidence.

It is clear that something is terribly wrong with this world. The Christian faith has an answer. It is a two-part answer. Sin is the problem. Jesus is the solution.

Adam introduced sin into creation. Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Romans 5:12 ESV) He really meant we are dead. We are spiritually dead. He writes in Ephesians, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1 ESV) The consequence of the sin of Adam is a thorough-going corruption of every ounce of creation including our lives. John Calvin cogently and succinctly put it this way.

“We believe that man was created pure and perfect in the image of God, and that by his own guilt he fell from the grace which he received, and is thus alienated from God, the fountain of justice and of all good, so that his nature is totally corrupt. And being blinded in mind, and depraved in heart, he has lost all integrity, and there is no good in him.” (French Confession of 1559)

We bear in at least four ways the mark of the absolute condition of our sinful nature.

1. We bear the mark of sin when we do evil things. We really aren’t good naturally. Most of us know that.
   
2. Even when we do a good deed, it is tainted by sin. Our best deeds always have some form of corruption to them. For example, if I help an elderly person across the street, likely there is the slightest motivation to help because it makes me feel good about myself or to congratulate myself when the street is crossed.
   
3. We bear the mark of sin in what we don’t do. These we have called sins of omission. This is driving past the person in need if God puts it on your heart to stop. This is turning a blind eye to ethics violations in school or work. These sins are the sins that frequently no one notices, but nonetheless they alienate us from God.
   
4. We bear the mark of sin in ways we don’t even know. Like our cars have blind spots that make it hard to see over our shoulders, we have spiritual blind spots in which we cannot see our sin. Sin causes us to “see dimly as in a mirror.” If we have ever been told by someone we trust that our behavior is offensive and if it’s an absolute shock, then likely something in our blind spot has been uncovered. Even if we confessed every sin we knew, the ones we don’t know still condemn us. 

As important as it is to understand our sinful nature in order to see the solution, we still try to make a defense of our innocence. Here are some common defenses.

1. The “delusional defense” - We are convinced, “I’m good.” No. We really are not good. Not in the sense of good being a morally pure person. Adam committed one type of sin, only one time, and he was lost. One sin in one lifetime makes us imperfect and unworthy to stand before a Holy, Perfect God. There is no need to delude ourselves.
   
2. The “mostly” defense - In this defense, we say, “I’m mostly good.” When it comes to our standing before God, there is only good, in the sense of perfect moral virtue. Mostly good and or half-good qualifies us to be mostly or almost reconciled to God. Almost or mostly reconciled is still alienation from God.
   
3. The “relativity” defense - We say, “I’m better than most.” The best of humans are so far below the holiness of God that our relative position is insignificant. If God’s holiness is equivalent to an "A" grade, he is unimpressed by the those of us who rely upon the relative success of the "D+" over the "D" or "D-". If we aren't "A" students, then we have no defense.
   
4. The “exceptions” defense - We say, “I know that is a sin, but...” “I know it is a sin to alter accounting books, BUT God wouldn’t want my family to go hungry if my business fails.” “I know it is a sin to cheat, BUT God doesn’t want my parents to bear the shame of me failing this class.” It doesn’t matter how big your “but” is. These rationalizations are futile attempts to look to our own efforts of goodness rather than accepting our desperate struggle with sin. 

All of us are utterly hopeless because of sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God... and the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 3:23 and 6:23)

How do we fix it? We can’t… but God can. Our hope is in Jesus Christ alone. Paul writes, “But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many.” (Romans 5:15 ESV) Our hope is in the Cross of Calvary. The blood of Christ washes away our sin. If you want to be saved from sin, responding in faith to Jesus is the only response that will work. His life ransomed us from eternal death. Our faith in his work frees us to enjoy heaven now as well as for eternity. Do not delay, accept his gift of life today and admit your need for his mercy.