GraceLife Ministry Update

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Since the beginning of Lighthouse Bible Church, we have known that there needed to be a great investment made in the families and married couples of the church. This group in some ways would provide much of the stability that the church needed to grow. Throughout the years, GraceLife has undergone several structural changes as the leaders sought to best minister to this group. This past term, we decided to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays to discuss the Sunday sermons and it was a huge encouragement!

From various interactions with different members, I have found that not too many people interact with their sermon notes after Sunday. Most people do not remember what the previous Sunday’s message was about, and if they do, they have not really thought through the importance of the message to their life. The purpose of the GraceLife homework was to provide a catalyst to get people to reflect more on the Sunday messages. As a result, most of the members in GraceLife said they thought more about the sermons than ever before. By completing the homework each week and having the large group discussions, the hope was that it would make it easier to discuss the Sunday messages with others in different contexts and casual conversations. We wanted to not just facilitate a discussion time within GraceLife, but to influence the greater practice of the church.

This was to begin in the home. Since the men and women of GraceLife met on separate evenings, our hope was that married couples and families would come together sometime during the week to discuss the homework. Even in casual conversations, perhaps one person could comment about something interesting that was said on Sunday that they did not really think much about before.

I was glad to hear that the single adults were also completing these sermon worksheets for their small groups, and that the discussions that stemmed from the homework were greatly helpful each week. This is one of the reasons why we have decided to continue with the worksheets in the fall when we meet together in our monthly flocks. Again, the purpose is not simply to give an assignment to complete, but to get the church to the point where having spiritual conversations reflecting upon the Sunday sermons is normal, everyday, and routine.

The leaders of GraceLife were also really encouraged to see the turnout each week. Seeing so many men and women come out shows a desire to grow spiritually and to enjoy godly fellowship. Through our small groups, we were also able to provide much needed accountability. One vital lesson we wanted every member to realize was that spiritual growth came not only from what was learned each week, but also from the investment that was made in others. As people participated in the weekly discussions and small group times, the group (and in turn the church as a whole) was strengthened.

In the fall, the plan is to move GraceLife to Sunday mornings as a Sunday School class. Certainly this will be difficult for some, but for most of the group it will be helpful. Instead of meeting separately, couples will be able to worship and study together. Meeting on Sunday will also free up the rest of the week for small groups. The format should really be beneficial in the end and the leaders are really excited for it. As we walk through the book of Mark together, I am confident that examining the life of Christ will be truly edifying and a blessing.

Living Theology #30 – The Gospel Call and Effectual Calling

by Garrett Glende

Last week we studied what it means that God has elected some people to be saved. This was the initial step in what theologians have deemed the ordo salutis, or order of salvation. The next cluster of chapters in Grudem’s book walk through this process, ending with glorification and union with Christ. This week we will look at the gospel call and see how this doctrine is applicable to our lives today.

Most (if not all) Christians remember the moment when they heard the gospel for the first time and it pierced their heart. Maybe some had grown up in the church or in a Christian environment and listened to many preachers proclaim the good news, but it never really sunk in. Perhaps others were staunch atheists, always boldly and publically renouncing Christ. Most Christians did not accept the gospel the first time they heard it, in fact, many continue on in their unbelief for decades before God calls them to faith and repentance. How can this be? Why does it take so long for some to come to Christ? While there are many answers to these questions, one response that can be offered is that God had not called them yet. Before things get too confused, let’s take a look at the two types of callings that Grudem outlines in this chapter.

General Call

The general call (otherwise known as the external or gospel call) is when the gospel in preached to unbelievers. It is a universal appeal for all sinners to come to Christ for the forgiveness of sins. Included in this proclamation are the basic fundamentals of the gospel message (sin and its penalty, Christ’s atoning death on our behalf), an invitation to respond in faith and repentance, and the promise of eternal life. This call is routinely rejected, as men’s hearts are unable to respond without God’s quickening.

Effectual Call

A verse we looked at last week demonstrates the effectual gospel call. Romans 8:30 reads, “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” The difference between the effectual call of God and the general gospel call is that the effectual call always results in justification. There will be salvation for all those whom God calls in this way. Grudem defines it as follows: “effective calling is an act of God the Father, speaking through the human proclamation of the gospel, in which he summons people to himself in such a way that they respond in saving faith.” Notice that God uses the general call as an integral aspect of bringing rebels to himself, for “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14). Even still, God remains sovereign over those He brings to himself as Jesus testifies that “no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44). The conversion of Lydia in Acts 16:14 is an example of God effectively calling a sinner to repentance, as it says that “the Lord opened her heart to give heed to what was said by Paul.” Paul was faithful to proclaim the gospel and God used this teaching to work in Lydia’s heart so that she would turn to Him in faith. The effectual call is not some mechanical working that is absent of any emotion or human response, as some critics of the doctrine have suggested. There is always a call for each individual person to come to Christ for rest and they must have faith and repent to be saved. Grudem writes, “He does not save us ‘automatically’ without seeking for a response from us as whole persons. Rather, he addresses the gospel call to our intellects, our emotions, and our wills.” As a demonstration of His love and mercy, this invitation includes the glorious truths of the gospel and speaks directly to our hearts.

Application

There is immediate clear application of this doctrine for all Christians today. “How are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” The answer that Paul implies with this verse is obvious – they will not believe. For sinners to be saved, Christians must preach the gospel. It is the means by which God has chosen to bring the lost back to Himself and it is one of the primary reasons why we are still here on earth. A man will not wake up one day and place his faith in the atoning death of Christ having never heard the gospel ever before. Everyone we meet – every roommate, every co-worker, every classmate – must hear the good news of Jesus Christ. The timing and nature in which we share is to be decided on with wisdom and discernment, but we must have a sense of urgency and a love for the lost. The church, as God’s proxy on earth, has been granted the responsibility to spread the news of the gospel and each individual member must take part in this privilege. And we should see it as such. What an honor to be able to speak forth the wonderful truths of Christ dying as a substitute for our sins. I’m encouraged by the members of LBC who take on this responsibility with joy and as the church plant draws ever nearer, may we all proclaim the gospel more boldly than we ever have before.

Farewell College Life

by Pastor Patrick Cho

The leaders at Lighthouse have always seen the importance of having a college ministry so that the collegians could be involved in the life of the church and maintain their identity as college students. One of the goals of College Life has been to establish an on-campus presence so that the gospel could be more effectively preached to other students and faculty. In the past twelve years at LBC, the collegians have always added refreshing excitement and youthful zeal to the life of the church. It has been a great joy seeing collegians that love the Lord and want to grow in their knowledge of Him. Many of these collegians maximized their efforts to make use of every opportunity to be equipped and trained in the faith. This is why it has been such a great privilege and joy shepherding the college ministry all these years.

One of the transitions at Lighthouse with the upcoming church plant is that I will be stepping out of college ministry. It was a great privilege being able to serve as the college pastor for the past ten years. Some of my best memories have come from the context of College Life. Back in 2005, we had a car rally event with a Harry Potter theme. I’ll never forget having the collegians drive all around town looking for the “Golden Snitch” (a.k.a. Beverly Chan, nee Kang) while “bludgers” (a.k.a. College Life staff) hunted them down to steal away their points. A year later, we had another car rally, but this time with the theme of Pirates of the Caribbean, where the collegians needed to unearth a buried treasure somewhere in San Diego by deciphering cryptic clues. Some complained that it was too difficult and even tried to head home early in defeat, but the winning team naturally boasted that the difficulty level was just right.

The retreats for College Life have also been a huge highlight. In 2004, we actually took the entire college group up to Fresno. Virl Tait, who was a good friend from seminary, graciously agreed to come along with us to be our retreat speaker. He covered the theme of “What’s Your Direction?” and discussed the importance of living a life of purpose. During this trip, we tried to visit Yosemite, but came to find that the roads were closed due to the snow. Still it was a great trip and a wonderful time having the staff and collegians all in Fresno. Throughout the years, we have been fortunate to have some really great speakers for our retreats. In 2005, we had Pastor Nam Park from Immanuel Bible Church. In 2008, Pastor Peter Kim from Berean Community Church was our speaker. And 2009 was memorable because Pastor Chris Mueller came and addressed the topic of dating.

In all the years of College Life, I was only able to teach through two books of the Bible (and didn’t complete either of them!). I started off teaching through 1 Corinthians with the collegians, and this was a hugely helpful study. But this eventually became a Sunday morning series because I felt as though the church in general could benefit from the lessons within. This led me to start a series in the book of Mark. Studying the life of Christ is always going to be a great blessing, and certainly it was wonderful opening Mark with the collegians. But unfortunately, since I’ll be stepping out of College Life, we won’t be able to finish. This is going to become a GraceLife study instead, and I’m hoping to actually make it to the end with the married couples and parents. It is the shortest of the Gospels after all!

As I am thankful for all the collegians and the wonderful memories we have had together, I am also very thankful for the staff I’ve been able to work with. Some of them have been serving in college ministry for a long time. We’ve seen collegian student staff become senior staff members, we’ve seen single adult staff get married, and we’ve seen married couples on staff have children. It really has been a remarkable journey together. I know it isn’t like everything is coming to a close. We’re still serving in the same church and will still enjoy great fellowship and ministry together. But I wanted to appreciate the staff for all the hard work, dedication, and love they have shown in College Life. As I step out, they will continue the work on the campuses and I have all the confidence in the world that they’ll do a fantastic job!

If there was one message that I tried to consistently convey to the collegians, it’s to not be collegians. I know it sounds unfair, but it is a valuable lesson to learn. The message is simple. Don’t use your collegian status as an excuse to be immature and irresponsible. The typical collegian is undependable, lazy, a time waster, silly, etc. Biblically, there is no warrant for it. The Bible doesn’t tell us that while we are students we can live foolish lives. Actually, the Bible treats college-aged individuals as adults, so my exhortation to the collegians has been and will continue to be: Be adult in your thinking, living, and speech. Again, I know it doesn’t sound fair, but don’t be “collegians” even though you are in college. All around you, you will see collegians acting like collegians. You ought not to do the same.

This is the stage in life where you will be making some of the most important decisions in your life. It is therefore vital that you make those decisions from a position of spiritual strength. I know what a blessing your college years can be. They are some of the best years of your life. Make sure your main purpose and goal will be to come away from college having grown closer to the Lord than ever before, deeper in your devotion, having sweeter times in the Word and in prayer, and having enjoyed God-honoring, encouraging, soul-satisfying, biblical fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ. This will make your years in college memorable in a way that truly matters.

Life After LBC #2 – Tia Han

by Tia Han

Hello Lighthouse Family!

Before I begin, I just wanted to say that a few LBC members agreed to do a few things should I write this article: Jinny agreed to perform an interpretive dance at the next member’s meeting (Jinny, please read Exodus 20:13), and the Cho-los agreed to stop teaching Eden bad words like “hobbit.” :]

Dreaming aside (haha), it’s been four years since I’ve graduated and moved back to San Jose, but I still love this church family. Like Paul says to the church in Philippi, “I hold you in my heart” (Phil 1:7) and “yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:8). I think of you, church family, and can still think of many among you who are like Pauls, Loises, Eunices, Barnabases, and Epaphrases to me. I’m now 300-something miles away and four years out of regular fellowship with all of you; but your teaching, love, encouragement, equipping, and friendship continue to bless me to this day. How good He is.

What have I been up to? Well, aside from finishing grad school (God-willing, one more year to go), work, and traveling for all things weddings-related, church planting and family have been two of the biggest fish in this pond.

I began church planting with City Church last fall. Initially, it was a little rough with the lack of stability, but we now have three Gospel Groups (Bible studies) going and had our service launch on June 6! Most of my time in church planting is spent in meeting up with people, most of whom are not yet believers, and in discipleship relationships. How has it been? Exhausting, humbling, and a joy. God is building His church, and I’ve been a front-row observer of His work of salvation in the lives of a few individuals since the inception of this church, one of whom was my best friend from the fourth grade. Her husband has been attending Gospel Group as well, and a couple weeks ago, they gave birth to their first son. Months ago, when she first found out about her pregnancy, she hinted to me something along the lines of, “Had God not brought me to this church when He did, I might have thought nothing of abortion.” (She had been making plans to go to law school and did not plan to have children for a few years yet.) Seeing their new family of three at the hospital a couple weeks ago was such a testimony to His sovereign grace.

I’ve really been challenged over the course of this year to consider the bride and body of Christ more carefully – what makes a church, what makes for a biblical church, and what it means in terms of my love and commitment toward the church that Christ gave up His life for her, broken and not-quite-spotless as she may currently be. This past winter, when I struggled with hard doubts about my involvement with our church plant, it was actually those among you, Lighthouse, who encouraged me to stay committed and persevere in love (thank you).

Family, too, has had its difficulties and joys. As some of you may remember, the primary reason I moved back home four years ago was to spend more time with my family, as half of my immediate family and all of my extended family, except for a few, do not know or love Christ. When I first came home, despite knowing that salvation is “the power of God for salvation” (Romans 1:16), I honestly grew frustrated when they weren’t “getting” it (as if sin and the gospel could be reduced to an intellectual issue). But my frustration and discouragement didn’t just stem from lack of immediate fruit. Perhaps my greatest source of discouragement was what I found in my own heart. I really did desire to adorn the gospel with an obedient life and display gospel-adorning love towards my family, but whenever I examined my life, I only saw failure (and more failure). I only saw a heart stubbornly entrenched in self-love and sin – a heart so small in love for Jesus.

But it’s been something of a broken but joyful process learning more sincerely that this gospel is not only for those who have never submitted to Christ as Lord and Savior. This gospel is also still for me, an embattled child who is striving to please her Father (not for His acceptance but for His delight) and do His work. Four years later, I still grow discouraged, and I’m not immune to the hard temptations that come with ministering to family. I still want to give up sometimes, especially when circumstances and sin become unbearable, humanly speaking. But herein lies my hope: “He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption are found in the person of Jesus Christ – not me, not the individuals of my family, not the convincing arguments of a theologian or “saint”…Jesus Christ.

Piper got it right; life really is war. And with both church planting and family, He’s teaching me to love Him with my chief love, fight for souls like I really believe the gospel is true, and pray fervently.

Please pray with me, that I might stand firm and give honor to the Savior as I continue to sow and labor, trusting that He will bring gospel transformation where I can’t even imagine it. Pray I would be a rejoicer, not a grumbler, as I wait with faith. In fact, let’s stand firm and persevere in love and gospel ministry together, Lighthouse.

I love you, Lighthouse Family! Shine the light!

Editor’s Note: Tia may have been too humble to mention it, but she also maintains a blog that consistently puts out great gospel-centered content. If you’re looking for something more to read, it’s a great place to start.

My Sister, My Spouse…

by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

From Song of Solomon 4:12

Observe the sweet titles with which the heavenly Solomon with intense affection addresses His bride the church. ‘My sister, one near to me by ties of nature, partaker of the same sympathies. My spouse, nearest and dearest, united to me by the tenderest bands of love; my sweet companion, part of my own self. My sister, by my Incarnation, which makes me bone of thy bone and flesh of thy flesh; my spouse, by heavenly betrothal, in which I have espoused thee unto myself in righteousness. My sister, whom I knew of old, and over whom I watched from her earliest infancy; my spouse, taken from among the daughters, embraced by arms of love, and affianced unto me for ever.

See how true it is that our royal Kinsman is not ashamed of us, for He dwells with manifest delight upon this two-fold relationship. We have the word ‘my’ twice in our version; as if Christ dwelt with rapture on His possession of His Church. ‘His delights were with the sons of men,’ because those sons of men were His own chosen ones. He, the Shepherd, sought the sheep, because they were His sheep; He has gone about ‘to seek and to save that which was lost,’ because that which was lost was His long before it was lost to itself or lost to Him. The church is the exclusive portion of her Lord; none else may claim a partnership, or pretend to share her love. Jesus, thy church delights to have it so!

Let every believing soul drink solace out of these wells. Soul! Christ is near to thee in ties of relationship; Christ is dear to thee in bonds of marriage union, and thou art dear to Him; behold He grasps both of thy hands with both His own, saying, ‘My sister, my spouse.’ Mark the two sacred holdfasts by which thy Lord gets such a double hold of thee that He neither can nor will ever let thee go. Be not, O beloved, slow to return the hallowed flame of His love.

1.7p

Weekly Links (7/2/2010)

by Stephen Rodgers

One of the things I’ve noticed as I’ve done this segment is that people benefit from different forms of media, well, differently. Me, I’m a words guy. I love articles. I really love long PDF files with footnootes. I really, really love even longer books with footnootes. But to some people, that’s like kryptonite.

This post is for you.

Today, I just wanted to briefly highlight a few places where as a Christian you can find resources in audio format. Now, readers with memories better than mine will remember that there was an article on good resources for a Christian that included links to several sermon repositories. Along those lines:

  • In case you didn’t notice, the LBC sermon archive recently started uploading sermons going all the way back to 2004. Paul is still working through those, but there’s a lot more up than there used to be. So high-five Paul when you see him next.

But what if you aren’t looking for a full-length sermon? What if you just were hoping for something to fill the time during your morning commute? I’ve got you covered. These resources will either let you download the programs for free, or subscribe to them so that you are automatically notified when a new one comes out.

  • Al Mohler has a daily radio program where he discusses current issues from a Christian perspective. He’s always worth listening to.
  • Apologist James White does a twice-a-week segment called The Dividing Line where he discusses current events and takes calls. The older shows cost money, but the program has been free for a couple of years now.
  • Of course there’s also Grace to You, the radio arm of John MacArthur’s ministry.
  • No Compromise Radio maintains an archive of all of their episodes that you could definitely benefit from.
  • And last but not least, so does Stand to Reason, the ministry of apologist Greg Koukle. You’ll need to scroll down to see all the archives, but it’s always interesting and thought-provoking to hear what he has to say.

“Alright” you say. “That’s all well and good. But what if I only have five minutes? I just want something to think about and I need it delivered in less time than it takes to microwave a pot pie.”

  • Well, I would heartily recommend Ask Pastor John, which are the freely available Q&A sessions that John Piper has done over the years. Each one is usually 2-5 minutes long, and focuses on the Biblical answer to a specific problem.

Any or all of those would be a great addition to your week. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

See you Sunday!

Pro Rege

Skit Team Update

by Randy Tsuchiyama

It always amazes me to see how faithful God is. Though we have had a couple of members of the skit team step down, it has been a great encouragement to see several people commit to joining the skit team. Over the past couple of months, the skit team has been blessed to make several different skits for the DTR series and the annual banquet. It is always fun to be able to collaborate as a group to come up with creative ways of reinforcing biblical principles to the church in ways that have allowed our skit team to challenge all of us as actors.

One very new thing to the skit team is the introduction of our use of videos. This is something that we, as a skit team, have not had an opportunity to do. Though there are new challenges, using videos allows for people with “stage fright” to be a lot more comfortable during their acting. Thankfully, several members of the video team have worked very closely with us to be able to produce really great videos.

One need that the Skit team seems to need frequently is that we could use more actors. We will be meeting from 7:00-9:00 PM on Thursday nights. People from all affinity groups are welcome to join. It continues to amaze me how God can work through this ministry. If you are interested in joining, please email me at dabigtsuchie@gmail.com.

LBC Weekly SPARK – July 1, 2010

by Pastor Patrick Cho

Greetings to all our LBC family and friends!

I hope you are doing well and walking in the Lord! Perhaps your week has been following the normal routine, but the church has been super busy and active this week due to the Vacation Bible School going on. There are about thirty staff members who have had the opportunity to work with over forty kids, and the time has been amazing! When you come to church this Sunday, you’ll be able to see much of the decorations that have gone up for VBS. You’ll also have a chance to sing some of the songs and get some of the VBS experience, so it should be an amazing time of family worship! Please continue to pray for the staff as we wrap up the week. It has been tiring but it has also been greatly rewarding being able to pass on our knowledge of the glory of God to the next generation.

In His grace,

Pastor Patrick

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

  1. Communion Sunday. Don’t forget that we will be taking communion together this Sunday. Please prepare your hearts for this time and be sure to address any sin issues in your lives with conflict situations in particular (cf. 1 John 1:9; 1 Cor. 11:17-35). We should strive to come to fellowship with our hearts right before the Lord.
  2. Sunday Morning Prayer. There is a group that meets for prayer every Sunday morning at 8:00am in Room 108. This is an informal time to lift up the needs of the church and pray for one another. If you’re looking for a way to serve, this is a great place to start.
  3. San Jose Church Plant. Please continue to pray for the San Jose church plant team as they prepare to depart for the Bay Area. D-Day (Departure Day) is less than two weeks away! Please pray for Pastor John and Angela, and the leaders of the team as they make final preparations and get the team ready. Please also pray for jobs and housing for the team members. Be sure to pick up a church plant brochure and contact card this Sunday if you have not already done so.

UPCOMING EVENTS

  1. Padres Game. For those of you who have signed up for the Padres game, we will be meeting at the church at 5:30pm on Friday, July 2 to carpool to the game. We will be heading to the game in vans so please bring an extra dollar or two for parking. If you are not able to make the carpool, please be sure to get your tickets ahead of time. The tickets are $18 and you can make checks out to “Lighthouse Bible Church.” Contact Pastor Patrick if you have any questions.
  2. Fourth of July Park Day. We are going to be taking a break from our normal Sunday School hour this summer. Since this weekend is a holiday, we’ll be spending the day at the park playing outdoor sports and enjoying a good meal. After first service, we’ll head over to Torrey Hills Community Park at around 11:30am. The GraceLife ministry will be hosting a fundraiser BBQ lunch to help raise money for the church plant. The cost for food is only $5/person and $3/child (ages 3-12). Be sure to bring your sunscreen and a change of clothes this weekend!
  3. Send Off Sunday. As July 11 is “D-Day” for our San Jose church plant team, in order to give us adequate time to send the team off with our love, we will be having an all-day fellowship on that Sunday. The day will begin with a special morning service during our normal worship time from 9:00-11:00am. We will also have an afternoon fellowship at the park from 12:00-4:00pm where lunch will be served. Finally, we will have a special evening service from 6:00-8:30pm at the church with Pastor Chris Mueller as our guest speaker. It is going to be a full day to send off our team and say our goodbyes!

AFFINITY GROUPS

  1. Lumos Youth Retreat. The youth group will be heading out to Lake Morena this weekend from July 2-4. The theme for the retreat is “Stepping Heavenward.” Please have your youth kids at the church by 5:30pm on Friday evening. The group plans to be back by 2:00pm on Sunday afternoon.
  2. Singles Day at the Bay. The singles will be having a Day at the Bay from 9:00am-5:00pm on Saturday, July 3. More information will be coming in a follow up email to the singles. Please mark your calendars and make sure you come to this awesome event!
  3. College/Singles Ministry. The joint College and Singles Friday night Bible study will begin meeting on Friday, July 9 at 7:00pm at the church. This summer, we will be walking through the book of Colossians. Visit the websites for College Life (www.lighthousebc.com/collegelife) and Single Life (www.lighthousebc.com/singlelife) for more information about the respective groups.
  4. GraceLife Summer Small Groups. GraceLife summer small groups will begin meeting on the week of July 4-11. If you signed up for a small group, your leader should be contacting you in the next few days to set up a time to meet. A separate email will be sent out to GraceLife to double check that everyone who signed up got assigned to a group. Please contact Pastor Patrick if you have any questions.
  5. Summer Kids’ Club. Summer Kids’ Club will be starting up on Wednesday, July 14 from 6:30-8:00pm each week. This summer, we will be conducting a series on the Armor of God! Registration forms are available from Joshua Liu (liu.joshuac@gmail.com). The cost is only $30/child. Please sign up your child as soon as possible! If you are interested in serving on staff, please contact Joshua by Tuesday, July 6.

Living Theology #29 – Election and Reprobation

by Garrett Glende

The next portion of Grudem’s Systematic Theology that we’ll be covering is the application of salvation. We’ve just studied the person and work of Jesus Christ and now we will see how His perfect sacrificial death is specifically applied to us. First up is the controversial topic of election and reprobation. Heated discussions are commonplace when dealing with this issue, but instead of fighting over our theological dogmas, we must always go back to the Scriptures and derive our beliefs from there. With this kind of doctrine it is easy to read our preconceived notions into God’s word instead of the other way around. The aim of the rest of this article is to explain election and its application as the Bible teaches it.

Grudem defines election as “an act of God before creation in which he chooses some people to be saved, not on account of any foreseen merit in them, but only because of his sovereign good pleasure.” To build a biblical foundation for this doctrine, let’s look at a few texts.

Ephesians 1:4-6
“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.”

Here Paul states the timing, function, and purpose of God’s act of election. First of all, we have been chosen by God “before the foundation of the world.” This is a particularly important aspect because it places all of the responsibility of election in God’s hands. There was nothing created at the time when God chose to save sinners, making his choice free of any human action that had previously taken place. Next, the result of election is our “adoption as sons.” We will cover this topic in a later chapter, but it is important to point out that there is an outcome resulting from God’s choice, namely our adoption into His family. Finally, the purpose of our being chosen by God is so that we would live holy lives unto the “praise of his glorious grace.” God did not merely save us just so that we would go to heaven when we die. He predestined the elect in order that they might give glory to Him here on earth. We do this by declaring the wonders of His grace, the height of which is the atoning death of the Savior. In this passage, Paul wants believers to know that God has chosen them before creation so that they would be His sons, all the while bringing Him glory while on earth.

Romans 8:28-30
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose. 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 among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”

Again, we see from Paul’s letter to the church in Rome that God’s sovereign choice is the impetus for our ultimate glorification. This passage is known as the golden chain of redemption as it includes many of the vital elements of salvation beginning with predestination and ending with glorification. We see that those whom God predestines are the very same people as those who are glorified in the end, implying that all whom God chooses will be saved. The reverse of this also holds, for all those who are glorified were predestined. There is no other path to heaven but by the sovereign grace of God. There is much more to say about this passage, but for the sake of space we’ll move on.

So it seems pretty clear that God chooses those whom He will save. There really is no getting around that if one is the least bit faithful to the text. But many will propose that God’s choice was not completely His to make. They claim that He must have looked down the corridors of time and seen those who would eventually profess faith in Christ then simply chosen them. This way, we can still say God elects (so that we don’t contradict explicit verses), but also maintain the autonomy of man. After all, “it’s just no loving for God to choose some and not others,” so they claim. The problem with this thinking is that if it were the case that God predestined based on his foreknowledge of man’s faith, then none would be saved! We’ve established in previous articles that man is dead in sin and completely unable to exercise faith on his own. Moreover, it ultimately gives the credit for salvation to the sinner rather than to God. The only difference between those saved in heaven and those perishing in hell would be some sort of superior spiritual awareness or luck, and not the sovereign wisdom and grace of God.

The natural question to ask now would be, “If God chooses who goes to heaven, does he choose those who go to hell?” This is a complicated and touchy theological issue, and I must admit that I have no firm conviction on it. However, there are some things that can be said with confidence, building on past studies and Scripture to make such claims. First, God is sovereign over all things. Having covered this topic in previous articles, we know that there is not one atom out of His control. Thus, at least in a broad sense, God chooses to send people to hell. God is not caught off guard that sinners are in hell, for he knows all things and controls all things. We also can say with confidence that God has a purpose in condemnation of sinners, namely the display of his justice, holiness, and wrath, which would not have otherwise been demonstrated. Along these lines, Paul asks, “What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory…” (Romans 9:22-23). Some theologians support the doctrine of “double predestination,” essentially saying that God elects unconditionally those who are to be condemned. Others would argue that double predestination is unbiblical, and believe that those whom God does not elect are simply left to their own sin and, in a sense, condemn themselves. I honestly cannot say with confidence if God chooses to condemn people in the same way that he chooses to save people, but it is clear from Scripture that He does have the final say.

Application

The doctrine of election is first and foremost a humbling one. When we come to grips with the fact that we did nothing to contribute to God choosing to save us, it should strip away all boasting from our hearts. It wasn’t that God saw a certain degree of goodness in us and decided to place his mercy on us, but rather that God saw people who despised Him and He saved us anyway. Moreover, the doctrine of predestination should give us great confidence in evangelism. We can speak with unbelievers about the grace of God in Christ knowing that God has people in the world that He is going to save. If this weren’t the case then we might figure out some way to coax a profession of faith out of someone using a sugar-coated gospel and flashy language. How depressing would it be for the evangelist who does not see any fruit? He must be doing something wrong! But this is not what the Bible tells us. We can share the gospel with the lost boldly because God has predestined those whom He will save! The burden is off us to save because it’s completely God’s work. We don’t have to worry about how convincing our arguments are or how smooth our speech is. We just need to preach the gospel and love people and watch God do His miraculous work of saving sinners. What a joy and comfort it is, knowing that our God has chosen to impart His grace on unworthy sinners like you and me.

Encouragement of Family (part 1)

by Elder Mike Chon

Who is your family? This question for most people should be easy to answer. Most of us will answer this question by saying who our parents are, who our siblings are, if married, our spouse would be considered family and if you have children they would be your family as well. What may surprise you is that as believers, who we consider family and who actually is our family may be different. Again, we need to start with the Bible as our source of truth to find out who our family truly is. Next time, we will look at the significance of this in how we live our lives.

We will begin by looking at who Jesus considers to be His family. In Matthew 12:48-50, the question of who are His mother and brothers was answered by Jesus Himself. He considers those that do the will of His Father to be His brother and sister and mother. His family are those that are true believers, not just those that are His natural family members. As my last article questioned who your friend is, we must now question who our family is.

So who is your family? Who do you consider your brother and sister? Even though we all grew up with different natural families we were all born under one spiritual father according to the Scriptures. None of us were born as righteous, and Jesus tells us who our father truly was in John 8:44. There are only two spiritual fathers: God and Satan as it written in 1 John 3:10. Before being a believer we were all sons of Satan, because we followed his ways and were disobedient to God (Ephesians 2:1-2). So our family before being a believer included Satan as our father, and all the other unbelievers as our brother and sister.

So who is your family? As a believer our father has changed from being Satan to now being God. You may have heard in the past how a parents’ love for their baby is an example of God’s love for us. Since the baby can’t do anything for the parents but yet the parents love the child unconditionally. But this picture of God’s love falls short of how great His love truly is. A better picture of God’s love, is actually found in a parent-child relationship, but it occurs when a parent adopts a child that is not their own. For the child being adopted are given new parents who they don’t choose but instead the parents choose them. Not only does the child receive new parents they may also receive new brothers and sisters that are part of this new family. As believers we are all adopted into the family of God, when before we were all in the family of Satan. Not only is our sins forgiven, not only are we justified, not only do we receive the gift of salvation, but our relationship with God has completely changed and he becomes our Father (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5-6). So who is your family? As a believer we would consider God as our father. Along with God being our father, we also are given brothers and sisters in general who are all the other believers in the world, but specifically your brothers and sisters are those that are fellow members of your church.

So who is your family? If God is your Father, then your fellow members of your church are your brothers and sisters. Hopefully you have seen a theme in the past few articles that I have written in regards to encouragement. The main theme is that the spiritual aspect of our lives should out weigh the physical aspect of our lives. Even though children may bring physical difficulties they are an encouragement in our spiritual lives. Even through trials are difficult physically, they are an encouragement to our spiritual life. Even though “others” may make life difficult, they are an encouragement to our spiritual lives. And in the last article our friends are those that encourage us spiritually to love God more. So if we continue with this thought, if we consider our natural family and our spiritual family, our spiritual family should and ought to be the priority of our life because through our spiritual family we grow closer to our love for God and for Christ. Our adoption into God’s family and our identity with God as our Father will change the way you live your life and the way you view the church. But you will have to wait for the next article as we consider who our friends and family truly are and how we should live in light of this truth.