It’s Not Palatable, Therefore I Default Back to My Tradition

Posted on 04. Jan, 2010 by Roger Servin in Theology

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,  and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”  This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.  For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”  And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,  though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—  she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion,  but on God, who has mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. –Rom. 9:6-18

I recently heard a pastor preach from the above text of scripture.  This pastor is a non-Calvinist and so knowing this I wanted to see how he would handle this very straightforward, very non-negotiable section of scripture as I see it.

I know what he believes theologically but I’ve never heard him preach through this text before so I thought it would be just another rendition of a typical semi-Pelagian or Arminian who would totally mangle the text, miss the context, import the corporate-election view, etc…

Surprisingly, for about 85-90 percent of the sermon he preached it almost just like a Calvinist would preach it… emphasizing God’s sovereignty and God’s right to choose unconditionally whom He would save.  He even said that God actually hated Esau!

But towards the end, with about 10 mins left he totally flipped the track.  He began to emphasize the responsibility of man to choose Christ.  (I do believe in mans responsibility to repent and trust Christ)  He said though God is sovereign and elects whom He will save He still gives us free will to “choose” Christ.  It’s up to you!  You have to make a decision for Christ!

The rest is history.  After this he went in to the giving of the altar call, and the persistent begging of people to come up and dedicate their lives to Him… to accept Jesus into their heart.  (I was completely nauseous at this point.)

I’ll tell you why I was nauseous: Throughout the sermon I actually started to think that the pastor was going to let go of his tradition and faithfully exegete the scriptures as they were laid out.  Like I said before, most of the way through he preached as though God elects some to be saved unconditionally.  So when he made the statement above in bold, my heart grew faint because he chose to go back to his tradition rather than sticking to what the scripture actually tells us.  What he said doesn’t even make logical sense!  If God does it all, then it cannot be up to you!  Either God is sovereign or man is sovereign!

My question is this: Why would he do this?  Why would he interpret scripture according to the authors original intent for 90% of the sermon and then import his own interpretation in order to try and balance it out at the end?  I’ll tell you what, he didn’t balance it out at all.  All he did was put the focus of eternity right back onto man and his sinful, depraved, fallen decision making which cannot please God at all (Rom. 8:8)

Note to pastors everywhere: If you want to be faithful to the text and the authors intended meaning, (exegesis)  you cannot allow potential repercussions, (such as losing members of your congregation)  emotions, palatability, tradition to stand in the way!  The flock that God Almighty has entrusted YOU with will definitely appreciate you and respect you more for it.  Not to mention you will be honoring God by being faithful to your call as a faithful shepherd to His people.  Online Source

Ok… I’m done with my rant for now.  What do you think?

– Roger Servin

Tags: arminian, calvary chapel, calvinist, children of abraham, children of god, children of the promise, flesh, God, injustice, Libertarian Free-Will, moses, pelagian, pharaoh, repentance and faith, salvation, scripture, sovereignty, Theology, unconditional election, word of God