Word of Salvation – Vol. 44 No.12 – March 1999

 

Blessed Are The Chosen

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Psalm 65:4

Scripture Readings: Matthew 11:20-30; Psalm 65

Suggested Hymns: BoW 65; 135b; 376; 364

Theme: Election from the perspective of prayer and praise.

 

Introd:  My night-school Matric classes in European history
            consisted of Protestants, Catholics, Agnostics and Atheists.

When we came to study John Calvin there were two things we all knew.
First he was the straight-laced reformer from Geneva.
            A rather sombre man who was against a lot of things.
Second he believed everything had already been decreed by God.
            Our eternal destiny was already planned before creation.

We certainly had some very lively discussions on the matter.

I still remember how difficult it was as a Calvinist to give some balance to the subject.
Generally the argument in class went something like this:
            Heaven or hell?  God has already decided what it will be.
            So it really doesn’t matter too much what we do.
            We are powerless to change our destiny.

Others wanted to go even further still.
            Predestination is not just about whether we go to heaven or hell.
            It really affects everything that we do here in this life.
            If you’re poor and unemployed… too bad.  You have to accept it.
            If you are rich and healthy… that too has been predetermined by God.
            So all we can do is just shrug our shoulders.
                        Respond like the Muslims who say, “So what? It’s the will of Allah!”

I have two problems with all this.

First, if we are not very careful how we talk about these things
we are going to distort the biblical picture of God.
Then we will no longer see Him as a God of love whom we can approach as Father.
Instead, an uncaring Deity who toys with us like pawns on a chess-board,
It’s difficult to see any blessing in that.

Second, if we are not very careful how we talk about these things
we are going to finish up with an unbiblical picture of man.
No longer a responsible human being who is accountable to God for his actions.
Instead, a puppet on a string… a robot who moves as God has programmed us.
Again… it’s difficult to see any blessing in that.

True, all of us sometimes have our questions about the teaching of election.
And maybe you are asking:  How can I be sure I belong to the elect?
You may even be worried that maybe God hasn’t chosen you at all.

Well, Psalm 65 is not going to solve all our problems about election.
But it does give us some useful insights to help us and to encourage us;
            because the Psalm talks about it in terms of great blessing.

 

A]        THE FACT OF ELECTION IN THIS PSALM.

1.         Let me begin by saying that election is most definitely taught here.

And that shouldn’t surprise us.  The psalmist was Jewish.
And the Jews had a very strong sense of being the chosen people.

You only have to think of Tevyeh in the musical, ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.
At one point he’s arguing with God about life being so difficult.
That hardship always came to them as God’s chosen people.
And then he asks, “Couldn’t you have chosen someone else?”

David, as a Hebrew, had a strong sense of belonging to the chosen people.
It comes out in a number of the psalms.
But unlike the hero of Fiddler on the Roof, for David it wasn’t a problem.

Notice three ways in which God’s sovereignty comes out in verse 4.

First David sings of ‘the man you choose’.
He implies God chooses some and not others.

Second David adds ‘whom you bring near to live in your courts’.
Here is God taking the initiative and leading some into His presence.

Third he calls such people blessed… to be congratulated.
IOW there is something very, very special in this ‘being chosen’.
And some of the special blessings are then mentioned.
Such as being filled with good things from God’s house.

Some argue that this Psalm is not talking about being saved… not about our eternal destiny.

That it is perhaps talking about those whom God chooses as priests.

And that those chosen to be priests are especially privileged.
Privileged because they are allowed to be in God’s presence constantly.

If we argue that way we lose sight of the context.
This is not a psalm about priests and priestly blessings.
The preceding verses talk very generally about ordinary people.

 – People who worship – or, in David’s terms – fulfil religious vows.
 – People who are troubled by sin.

In that context we hear about people being chosen and brought near to God.

2.         It’s also interesting that this verse is preceded by a confession of sin.

In the overall thrust of the psalm
forgiveness of sin is one of many things for which David is thankful.
            Here too is reason for praise and worship.

But why is sin here so closely linked to God choosing?

In fact why does Scripture make that link repeatedly?
We see it in Matthew 11.
  Jesus says God chooses to hide things from some and reveal things to others.
  But what is the context?
            It is the terrible wickedness of the people.
            Chorazin and Bethsaida had rejected Him and His message.

We have the same in Psalm 65.
We read this confession of sin and immediately after we read about election.
There is the ‘being overwhelmed by sin…’
Then right after it:  Blessed is the man you choose.
            Why this link?

I believe this is a very meaningful connection.

Verse 3 highlights the problem… and the problem is our guilt.
That isn’t just a minor little problem we can fix ourselves.
Sinful?  Of course I am!  But I’ll make it up.  I’ll sort it out.

Scripture says to us:  Oh no you won’t sort it out or make it up.
The problem is too big for you to deal with and handle.

In fact notice how David talks about sin. There was a being overwhelmed by guilt.

The original Hebrew is even quite telling: “Our sins prevailed over us”.
They were stronger than we were and they won the day.
Or they would have won if God didn’t do something about it.

So that highlights the need for God’s initiative.
Our problem is not just a little difficulty we need to sort out.

Ours is a major problem – Ephesians talks of it in terms of us being dead in sin.
We can’t handle the problem… only God can.
We are unable… He is able.  And He deals with our problem.
But He does that with those whom He chooses.

3.         However let me also add that the issue in verse 3 is not just sin.

It is also forgiveness… or atonement.

Atonement means God covering over that sin so it is no longer seen.

And that is absolutely necessary.
Unless God does that He cannot bring anyone into His presence.
God is holy and sin is a barrier to being in His presence.
But as that sin is covered over we are able to be brought to God.

Let’s think through the implications of this a little further.

We said that some see election in a fatalistic way.
If God has chosen me I’ll make it… and all will be well.
If he hasn’t then there’s not much I can do about it anyway.

It is exactly here that we get a lovely balance brought into the picture.

You can never say:     Whether I make it or not has all been predetermined.
                        And so it really doesn’t matter what I do.

Ask yourself: How did God deal with that overwhelming sin in David’s time?

Atonement… but that was not just something that happened out of the blue.

It was a process God set in motion through O.T. rituals.
   Sacrifices were brought in the temple.
   The lamb was killed and its blood sprinkled on the people.
   And as people came, doing that – in faith – God covered their sins.
   They had to take responsibility and act in faith.

That brings us to the point where we have to face our responsibility.

For us there is the greater sacrifice brought for our atonement.
But you have to come to Jesus in faith…
Believing that His blood is the covering for your sin.

And if you don’t do that don’t ever use election as an excuse.
Don’t say:  What could I do about it?  You’re either chosen or not.
No!  The reality of it is that some people don’t want to come to Jesus.

In that sense the doctrine of election is never God’s last word.
The invitation to come to Jesus is.

In Math.11 our Lord speaks about God hiding things from the wise.
…And revealing them to babes.
But then Jesus ends by saying:
            Come to me all you who are burdened and I will give you rest.

 

B]        ELECTION AND A PRAYER ANSWERING GOD.

1.         There is another matter in our text that is important.

It’s very easy to distort the teaching of God’s decrees of election.
We can treat God as a disinterested controller.

As though He just runs us all from a giant sort of computer in heaven.
And we are like automatons… robots.
We move as God presses the buttons.

In that sort of view there isn’t much room anymore for prayer.
Why pray… when it has all been decided?
Why pray for healing for someone who is sick?
            God has already determined the outcome in any case.
Why pray for success, maybe God has already determined failure.

That becomes a special issue with regard to salvation.

Why pray for your sister or daughter to be saved?
If she has been chosen fine…. but if not she’ll miss out anyway.

Why ask for a brother or son to come to know Jesus?
Maybe God has not chosen that person.

What are we to do?  May we pray for someone’s salvation and forgiveness?

2.         That question becomes even more relevant as we read the rest of Psalm 65.

Because it has such a strong understanding of God’s sovereignty.
This God is in absolute control.  Nothing happens unless He does it.
            When it rains, He is watering the furrows.
            When crops grow, He is blessing the land.
            The seas are at his command.
            So are the nations in all their struggles.

Here is a picture of God’s minute control over this world.
People and animals, plants and raindrops.
There is nothing that He doesn’t have in His hand.
Jesus said it goes so far as even the hairs of our head being numbered.
Not even a sparrow can fall to the ground apart from God’s will.

Doesn’t that make us mere pawns on God’s great chessboard?

What’s the point of praying in a situation like that?

3.         Yet the Psalmist doesn’t see God in such a fatalistic sort of way.

Not as someone who just sits pushing buttons on a great galactic computer.

He doesn’t see God as someone who has programmed us to the n’th degree.

Instead this electing God treats us as children who can come and talk to Him.
As people who are allowed to ask for things from Him.

In verse 2 David speaks of a prayer-hearing God… implying that God answers too.
And David says that here in this context of God’s sovereignty.
God has indeed planned all things… He is in absolute control.
Yet He makes room in His plans also for our prayers and requests.

What an encouragement that is for us to pray for an unconverted husband.
   And to pray for success… and for healing… and for much, much more.

In fact precisely because God is sovereign and in control we must pray.

In a sense every Christian on his knees is a Calvinist admitting God is sovereign.

 

C]        ELECTION – A BLESSING TO SING ABOUT.

1.         Now I want to come back to this being a verse from a psalm that pronounces a blessing.

Often the teaching about election and God’s sovereignty is a problem for us.

We are left with lots of questions:
– How do God’s choosing and my responsibility fit together?
– How can I be sure that I really am someone God has chosen?
            We so easily turn it all into a riddle.

For the psalmist, God choosing was a not a problem.  It wasn’t a riddle to puzzle over.
Instead it was yet another thing to sing about.
Remember, this is a psalm… a psalm of praise.

Election should not make us despair it should make us want to sing.

Interestingly, we find the same in the N.T.
For Jesus too it becomes a matter of praise.
Right in the middle of that whole section in Matthew 11 Jesus says:
            Father I praise you…  I praise you Father, Lord of heaven and earth
                     because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned.

In Romans we find the same thing with Paul.

Several chapters of thrashing through the issues of what God has decreed.
But he ends those chapters with a doxology of praise at the end of Romans 11.
God’s choosing is not a problem to trouble us; it’s a blessing to enjoy.

2.         God always intends this matter of Him choosing us to be a comfort.

It’s something to sing about because it comes out of a relationship.
God is no arbitrary and distant Deity, treating us as pawns on a chessboard.
He is a God who relates to us as a Father to His children.
And therein lies the secret to our accepting the doctrine of election.
            We don’t have all the answers so that we can figure it all out.
            But we are children of our heavenly Father.
            So we can accept the blessing pronounced here with child-like faith.

Here then is the very deepest root of our relationship with our God.
That God took the initiative with us when we were dead in sin.
That He has come to us and made us His.

That ought always fill us with assurance and certainty.
It ought to put a song in our hearts and on our lips.

That’s why it’s especially worth looking at this teaching in context of a blessing
and from the perspective of a psalm of praise… as a beatitude God pronounces over us.

3.         In fact – let me go back once more to the psalm as a whole.

Then we see election and predestination were never meant to rob us of joy.
   To make life a painful puzzle.
Because this psalm takes us from an electing God… God choosing us…
   out into the rich meaning of life in all its endless variety.

Life is really worth celebrating when we know God in His electing love.
   That alone makes life really meaningful.
   Because we know that a sovereign God can and will make sense of it all.

Our electing God has chosen us from all eternity in Christ…
but for the praise of His glory.
            That’s a perspective that makes life worth living.  Amen.