2:39 For the promise is
to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord
our God will call.”
There is an entire branch of Christianity that teaches that
God only calls some people. The teaching states that some of us were born
created by God to bring honour to His name and essentially there is nothing we
can do about it. The rest of us were created to be evil and there is nothing we
can do about that either. This heresy is called predestination. Your future is
predetermined by God. You are a puppet in His grand drama with only the
illusion of choice.
There is another growing movement in Christianity that says
doctrine does not matter. Doctrine is a technical term that simply means
teaching. This whole notion is absurd because the idea that doctrine does not
matter is itself a doctrine or teaching.
The truth is that doctrine/teaching is both inescapable and
critical because whatever we believe is doctrine and shapes both our world view
and our picture of God. The doctrine that God only created some of us to spend
eternity with Him and intentionally created the rest of us for hell and
destruction makes Him anything but Love. What would you think of a parent who
decided before they had any children which ones they were going to love and
which ones they were going to hate? "We'll love the first and third and
hate the 2nd and 4th."
The whole notion is absurd yet a substantial branch of
Christianity believes this.
Now before I get sounding too harsh let me concede that there
are a few verses which if you ignore the rest of the Story can sound like God
plays favourites. Today we have one of those verses: "... as many as the
Lord our God will call."
"See!" they say. "He only calls some
people".
Maybe. Or maybe this verse is driving another point entirely.
Maybe it's not about God being selective but exactly the opposite. Maybe it's
about God speaking a profoundly inclusive truth/doctrine to a group of people
trained to think exclusively.
It's all about context and knowing your audience. This is a
group of Jews. They may be from all over the globe but wherever they live they
live inside mental walls. God is for the Jews and against everyone else. Jesus
confused his disciples and sometimes drew their criticism every time He crossed
a border or engaged a foreigner. The religious leaders openly attacked Him for
His "heretical inclusiveness".
Do you remember the story Jesus told one day about a man who
had two sons and one wanted his inheritance early and left home with it and
wasted it all living the wild party life? Do you remember why Jesus told that
story? It was in response to the criticism by the Jews that He ate with tax
collectors, prostitutes, and sinners. What people often miss is that the story
is really about the son who stayed home, the son who appeared to be on the
right track. When the wild "sinner" son came home the Father was
overjoyed and immediately reinstated him into the family and threw a party.
When the "faithful" son heard the sound of the party he inquired from
a servant as to what was happening. When he found out it was a party for his
delinquent brother he was angry. He refused to return to the house. What does
the Father do? He leaves the party to find his angry son. Why? Because He loves
him. He loves them both.
There is a passage in 2 Peter where Peter talks about why
Jesus appears to be delayed in his return. What's taking so long? Is He just
slow? Did He forget? Peter says there is one and only one reason for His delay.
"He is long suffering not wanting ANY to perish." That hardly sounds
exclusive. "Whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting
life." That sounds inclusive too.
So what did Peter mean when he said "as many as the Lord
our God will call"? He meant the Lord will give the Promise to and call
many more people than any Jew could conceive of. He will call everyone.


Every. One.
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