When we are witnessing to others, it may be difficult for them to understand what election is. This devotion looks at the purpose of grace and what part we play in salvation.
Nuggets
- God had to choose to redeem us because salvation is all about redemption.
- The plan of salvation was designed because God knew we wouldn’t do the do’s and we would do the don’ts.
- Election is God chooses us, but we have to choose Him back to become the elect.
- If we don’t choose God, we don’t get the gift of salvation.
This year, we are looking at self-discipline. We are using Vincent’s The Lesson of Ripeness sermon to look at the need to grow in our relationship with God. We morphed learning enough to be a teacher into determining some areas we need to grow so we can be mature disciples.
Resource
We have been looking at solidifying what we believe. When we witness, we need to be prepared to explain what we believe and why we believe it. We looked at the Scriptures, the Trinity (God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit), man and salvation. Now, we are going to look at grace.
I know. We’ve hit grace hard — it is a major component of our relationship with God. So, what else can we say about it? Well, we are going to look at the purpose of grace.
Let's Put It into Context
We have established what grace is. Grace is a free and unmerited gift from Heavenly Father given through His Son, Jesus Christ that enables salvation and spiritual healing to believers.
What is the purpose of the gift? God wanted His relationships with man restored. He wanted sin eliminated. To do that, He designed the plan of salvation.
So, the first place to start on the purpose trail is election. We glossed right over it when we walked through Ephesians, so let’s dig in now.
The Holman Bible Dictionary defines election as “God’s plan to bring salvation to His people and His world.”
Ooo, baby. I like that definition. Usually, people want to make it predestination. The Holman Bible Dictionary defines predestination as “God’s work in ordaining salvation for people without their prior knowledge.”
So, if I am reading it right, election is that God chose to accomplish the plan of salvation to restore His people.
Predestination, to me, doesn’t seem like it meshes with grace. It certainly doesn’t fit with free will.
So, we are going to look at this huge topic a couple of ways. We are going to look at three different passages where Paul hit it hard. Then we will look at some individual verses to see what they have to add.
Devotions in the What I Believe series
Devotions in the Purpose of Grace category
Is Election Really Mercy?
Wrapping Up Election
What Is Election?
“For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him” (Eph. 1: 4 CSB)
We’ve used this verse a lot lately to show how long God had the plan of salvation designed. He had it all mapped out before He even created us. Eadie said it wasn’t an afterthought.
But let’s focus on the “For he chose us …” (Eph. 1: 4 CSB) part. That is election. God chose us to bring His plan of salvation into fruition to fix His people and His world.
We Are the Object
God didn’t choose the angels. He didn’t choose Satan and his demons to fix.
He chose us. Let’s see what that means.
Alves called this election “the cause or fountain of salvation.” God had to choose to redeem us. Salvation is all about redemption.
We needed redeemed because Adam and Eve chose not to obey God. This allowed sin into the world.
God knew He needed a plan of redemption. And remember, He knew He would need this plan “… before the foundation of the world …” (Eph. 1: 4 CSB). It was before we were created. It wasn’t because we didn’t do the do’s and did do the don’ts.
It might be easy to say God chose the Jews to be His people — He did. However, He chose all mankind.
“When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers” (Ac. 13: 48 NLT). I can see why the Gentiles would think they were not elected to be eligible for the plan of salvation. How many times would the Jews have told them they weren’t?
But God chose the Gentiles — a.k.a us — along with the Jews. To me, this makes it evident mankind is elected — not just a certain race, ethnicity, or nationality — we could probably list a lot of qualifiers that God doesn’t even look at.
To take that a step further, God doesn’t even look at specific people. “For God does not show favoritism” (Rom. 2: 11 NLT). So, He didn’t just choose Tom H., Sally D., and Elaine G. He chose every Tom, Sally, and Elaine.
To What Are We Elected?
The plan of salvation was designed because God knew we wouldn’t do the do’s and we would do the don’ts. And still God elected to redeem us anyway.
Alves called it “… the election unto grace …” He elected us to receive the free and unmerited gift that enables salvation and spiritual healing — if we accept it and submit to Him.
Gurnall cautioned us to read the verse as it was written in the King James Version. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Eph. 1: 4 KJV emphasis added).
We should be holy and blameless. He didn’t say we would be holy and blameless.
Paul knew us, didn’t he?
Is Election Free?
"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." (Rom. 5: 15 ESV)
Yes, election is God chose us. But we have to choose Him back to become the elect. The elect is another way of saying children of God.
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
Once we choose God, we have responsibilities to perform. We have a job description.
Submitting to God means imitating Him. It means us working on being “… holy and blameless in love before him” (Eph. 1: 4 CSB). We accomplish this by navigating the sanctification road.
That is the purpose of grace — that we accept the plan of salvation to make us spiritually alive so that we can strive to be like Christ.
Does that make it free or at a cost?
Salvation is free to us. We can’t buy it or earn it.
The only cost was paid by Jesus. He had to die to be the blood sacrifice to redeem us.
To some, the cost to us would be submitting to God’s Will. The benefits we receive, however, far outweigh what we have to give up.
What Happens When We Don’t Choose Him?
“Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mk. 16: 16 NIV)
God brings the plan of salvation to everyone (I Tim. 2: 4). If we don’t choose God, we don’t get the gift. We aren’t the elect.
The elect are only those who have been forgiven of their sins. We only become the elect once we admit our sins, believe in Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer, and confess God as Sovereign Lord. Then, we are given the gift of salvation.
That is our free will — to choose or not to choose.
Grace for Eternity
"so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his grace through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2: 7 ESV)
Eadie made a really good observation. “The eternity of the plan suggests another thought. It is this — salvation is an original thought and resolution.”
God’s grace started before the foundation of the world so it was an original thought. No one else could pull it off.
That same grace is going to be evident even after this world ends. It will be present through eternity.
Pulsford pointed out that the before and after aspects show we are not children of time. “… I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you” (Jer. 31: 3 ESV).
Making the Connections
Grace is all about God. We cannot add to it or detract from it. That makes it all God’s choice.
Election is about God’s choice. He elected to not write us off after Adam and Eve sinned.
Instead, God chose that the purpose of grace would be to restore us. He does that through regeneration.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
Non-believers may have problems wrapping their minds around the fact that God chose us. We see ourselves as unworthy and wonder why God bothers with us.
We’ve been asking these questions all along so we can prepare for when we are asked. Here is the worksheet again. What would you say about election?
- What does the Scriptures say?
- What do I believe?
- Why do I believe the same/differently than the Scriptures?
- What are the talking points when witnessing to a non-believer?
Related Links
I have created a worksheet of the questions above. Click on the button below to access it.
How Do We Apply This?
Spurgeon told us that grace was in the words “for he chose us …” (Eph. 1: 4 CSB). Grace is a gift that we have to accept. We accept it by ABCDing.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Heavenly Father. It amazes us that You knew we would disobey You — and You allowed that to happen. Instead of forcing us to obey You, You designed the plan of salvation to redeem us. This was the purpose of grace — that we accept Your plan and be restored to You. Thank You, Father. Amen.
What do you think?
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