Section 1 – Tribes
Bible follows God’s tribe – Israel
Back in the day – tribes = family, bloodline, home, identity, everything.
Everyone belonged to a tribe.
Worked for well being of tribe
Everyone did.
Fought battles, built things, made alliances – preserve your tribe.
For Protection
Brutal time
Without protection of tribe
Enslaved or killed by another tribe.
Tribes Had God’s/Godesses Worshipped
Protected them
Blessed them
Guided them
Went to battle – your God battling their God
(Think David and Goliath)
…Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” (1 Samuel 17:26)
Not for cattle
About their God vs our God
Genesis 12 – God Called Abraham (Abram) – Father Of A New Tribe.
and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.
The story follows Abraham’s tribe (Israel) in their journey.
The Ot Isn’t About God’s Relationship With A Person. It’s A Relationship With A Tribe.
In OT, when God’s talking: mainly to a tribe
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10)
Who’s he talking to? A person? Nope. A tribe. All tribes? Nope. A specific tribe. Called Israel.
Section 2 – Calvinism, Armenianism, Predestination, And Wasting Time.
Predestination
One of the most polarizing points in Christianity
It’s Mainly Religious People Who Get Caught Up Theological Arguments
Crazy – that we’ll have huge meeting debating who’s in, who’s out, who elect, predestined.
Argue about predestination just like we can argue about fish swallowing guys, giants arks,
Missing the part of the bible that can change our hearts.
Why I’m Bringing This Up
Not to argue with you
Not to help you argue with other people
Predestination is important to understanding bible
Predestination
Good word
Bible word
Shouldn’t be afraid
Shouldn’t give up
What Is Predestination?
The idea that: Someone or somethings destination is decided before hand.
Problem
Many people think
God has chosen who he will save and who he will NOT save.
6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6)
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…. (Ephesians 1:4–5)
In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” (Romans 9:13)
Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! (Romans 9:14)
For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” (Romans 9:15)
So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. (Romans 9:16)
So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. (Romans 9:18)
“Before you were born or had done anything good or bad God decided whether to save you or not.” John Piper
“We call predestination God’s eternal decree, by which he compacted with himself what he willed to become of each man. For all are not created in equal condition; rather, eternal life is fore-ordained for some, eternal damnation for others.” – John Calvin – Institutes of the Christian religion – Bk 3, ch 21, s. 5
I don’t believe in this kind of pre-destination.
Section 3 – You means ‘yall
Trains
If you want to go to the right place, you’ve got to get on that right train.
Trains are predestined
Their destination was planned out beforehand.
Schedule
Not predestined: wether or not you’ll get on the train.
When you get on the train, what’s predesinted for the train, becomes predestined for you.
Old Testament Chosen People – Israel
Tribe, not individuals.
How Did You Become An Israrelite?
Born into it
Was that the only way?
Nope.
Genesis 17 onwards – God told Abraham anytime anyone wants in, let them come in.
Embracing the jewish faith
Circumcised
Was there any way out?
Anyone can come in, anyone can leave.
Certain laws in Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
Break them – “Cut Off” from the tribe.
Renouncing their faith
New Testament Chosen People – The Church
God has chosen a “bride”
Once you’re ‘in’. A lot of things become predestinated for you.
How do you become a part of the new tribe?
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. (Romans 3:21)
This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, (Romans 3:22)
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, (Romans 3:23)
and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood —to be received by faith. (Romans 3:25)
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7)
The train is still predestined
You get on the train by faith
Let’s Go Through Some Of The Classic Predestination Scriptures.
Romans 9
For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” (Romans 9:15)
So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. (Romans 9:16)
For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” (Romans 9:17)
So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. (Romans 9:18)
Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” (Romans 9:19)
No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” (Romans 9:20)
When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? (Romans 9:21)
In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. (Romans 9:22)
“Look! God chooses to love and save some people and he chooses to not save others!”
Hopefully – you have the tools
If not, give me 2 minutes
Understand, Paul’s talking about how God is choosing a new tribe.
Not about nationality, race. Faith
What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. (Romans 9:30)
But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. (Romans 9:31)
“Hey jews, it’s not about you anymore. God has a new tribe.”
“That’s so messed up! How could he do that to us?!”
“He made all of us! He has the right to choose whoever he wants!”
Through faith
Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. (Galatians 3:7)
If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)
Ephesians 1 – predesinted since before world
He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will…. (Ephesians 1:4–5)
Paul – first century jew – understands – we’re chosen
We shouldn’t read it as these individuals as opposed to these individuals. But tribes.
Notice that Paul doesn’t say that God chose us to be in or not in Christ. He rather says God chose us who are in Christ to be holy and blameless. What God chose from the foundation of the world was that whoever is in Christ will be holy and blameless and adopted into sonship.
It’s predestined who gets on the train, it’s predestined that all who board the train will be Holy and blameless.
Example: me teaching on Ephesians 1
“When?”
Once you show up, what’s predestined for the group applies to you.
But you’re free to choose.
Of course God has to work in us.
Awaken our hearts
Tear down the walls of resistance
Breathe life into us.
God empowers us to have faith
But he will not force us to.
Wants everyone to come
The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, (Ephesians 1:13)
This is a picture of a God who wants everyone to come
Loves everyone.
Do everything possible so that they’ll believe in Him
But he will not force them
If you are one who’s put your faith in Jesus Christ
you’re in His tribe.
You’re on the train.
You’re predestined – Holy, Blameless, live eternally through Christ. – Everything that’s in His kingdom is predestined for us.
Promises
“Pre” destination is important, b/c this life can be crazy.
Walking in a super crowded downtown area.
- Confused
- Dizzy
- Lost
- Discouraged
- Afraid
- Empty
- Pointless
- “What can you really trust?”
- World can seem – hopeless, broken, stupid.
If our hope is in
- Our goodness
- Our government
- Religion
From this crazy hopeless world, Paul comes and says I’ve got good news
1 train – that’s been predestined – settled ahead of time.
Ephesians 1 – Things that are predestined for you. – You are predestined to:
- 3 – be placed in the heavenly realms
- 3 – be blessed with every spiritual blessing
- 4 – be holy and blameless
- 5 – be lovingly adopted into Christ’s own sonship
- 6 – be one who magnifies God’s glorious grace
- 7- be completely redeemed and entirely forgiven
- 8 – have God’s grace lavished on you
- 9 – receive the revelation of his will in Christ
- 10 – experience all things brought to harmony under Christ
- 11 – have God work out everything in your life according to His will.
- 12 – exist for ‘the praise of his glory’
- 13 – be marked with the ownership seal of the Holy Spirit
- 14 – enjoy the guarantee of an inheritance as one who is ‘God’s possession’.
Everything that’s true for the son becomes true for you
The fathers perfect love
Every spiritual blessing
The kingdom
Doesn’t make life perfect.
But it makes it harder to stay depressed for a long time.
You’re in HIS tribe
Closing
To properly understand the bible, we need to remember that God deals with tribes. The bible is the unfolding story of God’s tribe. In the Old Testament, Israel was God’s tribe. But since Jesus, God’s tribe is a community known as the church. You become a part of this new tribe by receiving Jesus through faith. It’s not about nationality, gender, upbringing, skin color, circumcision, or anything else. And when you become a part of the tribe, what’s predestined for the tribe becomes predestined for you. God loves everyone and wants everyone to get on the train. But we know that there will be people who choose to stay off. But don’t let that confuse you about God’s incredible love, patience & kindness towards every single one of us. So when you see your friends and family who are far from God, rest assured that God has his arms open wide for them. There’s space for them on the train. God’s love in never ending.