Intentional... | Let Grace Be Grace

and hope and pray that we can give to such a great cause.

As I said in the very beginning of our series,

I'm using a book by Jim Osterhaus,

where he just kind of put a refreshed look

and writing or so, and if you want a copy of the book,

let me know, I bought about two dozen,

because some people have been asking.

It's a short read, but he's looking at the doctrine of grace

that in the reform circles we know is the canons of Dorp,

but he, which uses the acronym TULIP,

he uses the word faith.

Two weeks ago, Fallen Humanity, last week adopted by God.

This week is the intentional atonement.

So I'm gonna start by reading from his book, page 24.

Jesus died as God's appointed sacrifice for sin

nearly 2,000 years ago.

What does that mean for us today?

He accomplished the atonement on the cross.

Atonement means to make satisfaction

or reparation for our wrong, or to make a payment.

Some people divide this word,

some people divide the word, this, as atonement,

intending to say that we become at one with God once again.

That's not quite right.

As it describes, reconciliation with God, not atonement.

Reconciliation with God must follow the act of atonement

or payment for our sins,

and that is exactly what Jesus did on the cross.

We hear these words in John six.

All that the Father gives me will come to me,

and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my own will,

but the will of him who set me.

And this is the will of him who set me,

that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me,

but raise it up on the last day.

For this is the will of my Father,

that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him

shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up

on the last day.

It's important that we balance this issue of atonement,

because like I said in the beginning of service,

people have debated this, right?

The reform circles and what I would say is,

in more of your, I never want to say conservative or liberal

because that's not the right thing,

but if you really dive into the depth of that theology,

of the intentional atonement, is this idea of the elect.

Now we talked about that the last two weeks,

actually talked about it in whose sermon is it anyway,

right, that God is the one doing the choosing,

God is the one doing the elect,

and there are, unfortunately,

people that are going to go to hell.

That we do not believe here at the church

that everybody will be saved, though that's the hope.

We take God's word very seriously,

where it says that some will call on God

and he will say, I never knew you.

Now whether or not they were part of the elect,

I would think they weren't if they didn't,

if they're not gonna be in eternity with God.

This idea of atonement, this idea of God, of Christ dying,

we need to kind of clarify where we go with that.

How do we believe it?

What do we have to kind of balance in this conversation?

Because like we've said about a month ago

in whose sermon is it anyway,

some people look at Christ's atonement

meaning you and I don't have to do anything.

That there's really no reason for mission work,

there's no reason for outreach

because God has already determined on the cross

who is saved and who is not.

There's tension in that doctrine,

there's tension in that theology.

But the thing that I wanna help us understand today

is that there's a relationship between God's sovereignty

and human responsibility when it comes to the atonement.

Real quick, when I say human responsibility,

I am not at all ever saying that we had a role

in Jesus dying on the cross.

The only thing that you bring to your salvation

that I bring to mine is our sin.

And so understand that if you or I

were to have died on the cross,

it would not have meant anything.

And yet there is a human responsibility

because of the atonement in all of our lives.

That if you are claiming Jesus is Lord,

Hope Schleicher today,

even though she did that a couple weeks ago,

but this means something for her.

It means something for me.

It means something for everybody

that claims Jesus as Lord and Savior,

that we have responsibility.

A lot of us think that that,

oh, you're gonna teeter on works righteousness.

No, I'm not because we don't work in righteousness

because our righteousness means nothing.

Okay, so let's throw that slant out

because what we have to understand

is the first argument that we get

is the world versus the world.

Okay, that is, there is a,

the word world gets convoluted.

You can put that, Hannah, you can put that,

the world versus the world up for John 3.16

and we get all of these critiques.

And again, a lot of theologians love to major and minors.

It's one reason why I don't know

if I'll ever be known as one,

and I'm not that smart, so it helps,

is the fact that what does the world mean?

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son

that whoever believes in him should not perish

but have eternal life.

We all know that verse, right?

You've seen it at NASCAR races, you've seen it at WWE,

you see it all over the place, right?

I never got the WWE thing, not going there,

but it's the most famous verse in all the Bible,

for the most part, that we see.

But then 17 is just as important

for God to not send his son into the world

to condemn the world,

but in order that the world might be saved through him.

So the word world here means something.

What does it mean?

Traditionally seen as an indication

of a universally extended divine love and Christ sacrifice,

the intentional atonement perspective

offers a different interpretation.

The world in this passage can be understood

not as every individual without exception,

but as a representation of the diversity of God's love

across various peoples and nations.

This view suggests that while the offer of salvation

through Christ is extended universally,

the atonement, the work on the cross,

is actually specifically effective for the elect.

A third of you are like,

what in the world are you talking about?

I get it.

Not having grown up in reform circles,

I did not, I wasn't taught this.

I was taught that the world means everybody.

And I had a great reform theologian and friend

walk me through this early on in my seminary education,

that for a human being,

having the understanding in praxis

of how to love the world,

you can look at the world.

And the reason why you can look at it this way

is because you and I don't get to determine

who's saved and who's not.

Because if you want that job,

then you get to be the judge,

you get to be the jury,

you get to be the defendant,

and you get to be the prosecutor.

Who wants that?

Exactly.

So we are okay in believing

in the way we should live our life

that for God so loved the world,

but understand that though he does,

not all the world is going to be up there.

Not all the world is going to claim Jesus is Lord.

I could sit down with all of you

and you could probably tell me about at least one person

in your either primary or secondary sphere of influence

that don't.

Does that mean God doesn't love that person?

No, of course he does.

But if there is no recognition,

if there is no submission,

if there is no regeneration of the heart,

then they are not a part of the elect.

How can they?

How can they say I'm on the team,

but they've never played the game?

It doesn't work.

That's the human responsibility side.

And again, that doesn't mean we earn our spot on the team,

but understanding that if you're here

and you recognize Jesus is Lord,

you are a part of that.

But what a lot of reformed churches do,

and this is a shot at all of those churches that do it,

is when they start to use it as a positional place.

When all of a sudden I am the elect,

so I'm gonna stand real tall

because the higher I get, the lower you are

if you're not a part of it.

I do not see that at all in the scriptures.

And churches that take that kind of slant,

I do not believe, are putting the right application

on this theology.

That if God is gonna be so intentional in your life

to love you enough to die for you,

then you need to be, and I need to be,

intentional enough to love people like Christ died for them.

Because who are we to say Christ died for me,

na na na na na?

It's terrible, please don't ever do that.

Because that intentionality came with a price.

First John, we hear that he is the propitiation

for our sins and not for ours only,

but for the sins of the whole world.

This is First John, this is John talking to Jews,

reminding them that it's okay for us

to have the world mentality when it comes to our outreach,

when it comes to our evangelism.

Because no evangelist ever starts with going up

to somebody and say, Lisa, you a part of the elect?

She might not have any idea,

and if she doesn't give a good answer, forget you.

No, that's terrible evangelism.

Or if we're gonna try to pre-determine the Holy Spirit

when we're meeting with somebody,

and if I go to the Boersmas in the back

and I have determined in my mind,

yeah, no, I don't think they're a part of the elect,

so I'm not gonna preach Christ to them.

What am I doing?

Who am I to determine that?

I didn't send my son to die for them,

so who am I to determine that?

In our mentality, in the way we walk it out,

having the world mentality is very okay.

Because for some of us, your world is northwest Indiana.

For some of it, your world is Chicagoland area,

some of you it's the Midwest, some of you it's whatever,

could be the whole world.

But understand that there's an intentionality

to why Jesus died.

Romans 9, for he said to Moses,

I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.

I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.

I've been a pastor almost 17 years.

I don't want that job.

I'm called to have mercy and compassion,

just as you're called to have mercy and compassion.

I understand that some people may weigh mine

more than others, I get that comes with the call.

But you're called to have mercy and compassion,

I'm called to have mercy and compassion,

but that's not the mercy and compassion

that people need in their life.

No one has ever said, I'm going to heaven

because Jim Holland owner showed compassion on me.

No one said that I know that I'm going to heaven

because Jim showed me mercy.

But if you take me out and put the right person in,

I have been shown the mercy of Christ

and I recognize him as Lord and Savior.

See how one name changes it?

That is the intentionality of this atonement,

the work on the cross,

because none of us want to be the balance

of judge and jury.

We hear in John, I am the good shepherd,

I know my own and my own know me,

just as the father knows me and I know the father,

I lay my life down for the sheep.

Now I don't want this to sting,

but there's probably a select group I would do that with.

Mainly sitting right over here,

whether or not they spilled water all over Nikki.

That if I knew something was going to happen to them,

I would take their place, would you?

And don't do it for my family, do it for your own.

I said this years ago into,

if there's ever a weak record, greatest hits, if you will,

this one has come back to me now for almost six years.

When I asked the question,

if you knew your best friend was going to get hit by a bus

at 1204 today at the corner of Ridge and Calumet,

and they would be killed instantly,

would you take their place?

I have people to this day that say,

that still keeps me up at night.

And the main reason is because they say I don't know.

Or some of you have gotten so frustrated

by the question and me that you just say no and run away.

That's fine.

But we all have a good shepherd that did that.

He saw the train or the bus,

did I say bus or train for Calumet and Ridge?

Well, soon it can be both.

And understand that he did.

I have three boys that I want them to know my voice.

And yes, there are times they will send Carrie a message

and saying, Dad's voice is scary, I get that.

I've never gotten that from Carrie though,

and that's totally fine.

But understand, they know my voice,

I wanna know their voice.

That when Dad gets loud, right, when Dad gets intense,

what does that usually mean?

That I'm mad, thank you, Joe.

Yeah, could be.

When Dad's quiet and meek, what does that mean?

I'm calm, okay?

I was gonna say that never happens.

But okay, so there's a recognition,

there's only a recognition because I intentionally

love my wife and my boys.

The shepherd is intentional with his sheep.

And if you know the shepherd, you are his sheep,

and you need to understand our role.

The sheep will never be greater than the shepherd,

and the shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.

When the wolves come, the shepherd takes action.

The judge and the jury.

The cross is the symbol of the understanding

that there's an intentional ownership

of your life and my life.

And that means something, because there's a purpose to it.

There's an intentional purpose to God's sovereignty

and the election of the sheep.

Second Peter says, the Lord is not slow

to fulfill his promises, as some count slowness,

but is patient towards you,

not wishing that any should perish,

but that all should reach repentance.

There's hope in that.

Remember 10 minutes ago when I said,

I bet you could think of one person in your primary

or secondary sphere of influence that doesn't know Jesus,

as Lord and Savior?

Let me ask, have you written him off?

If you have, you're a terrible evangelist,

and you're not doing the Christian life right.

But we are patient, as he is patient with us,

because here's the thing, we get it.

You're here, you acknowledge, you get it,

you recognize Jesus as Lord, but you still sin.

I still sin.

We still look and go, thank you Jesus, props to you,

I got salvation, but I'm still gonna do this.

I'm still gonna have idols.

I'm still gonna murder people in my mind.

Sorry I said it that way, that's super intense,

I apologize.

It wouldn't make a whole bunch of sense,

I'm like, murder in my mind, sorry.

And so understand that we recognize

the intentionality shown to us is a process.

I love that today we had hope stand here

and profess that faith and get baptized.

But hope, does that mean you're gonna live a perfect life?

Does that mean you're still gonna fall?

Right, and you're gonna sin and you're gonna get

disciplined and all of those kind of things?

Exactly.

But there's an intentional love that she

and the Holy Spirit has been working on

for the past couple weeks and months, maybe even years.

And my hope and my prayers you all have had.

And if not, that maybe you'll have starting today.

But he's patient towards us.

And why is he patient?

Because he knows your end game and he knows our end game.

He knows my end game, he knows Munster Church's end game.

That without the intentional atonement, we sin.

And what are the wages of sin?

The wages of sin is death.

So therefore what do we do about it?

If the wages of sin is death,

then we need to do something.

It's called the gospel.

It's not only the gospel at work in our life,

it's the gospel called to our life

and then the call of the gospel.

Revelations 22 says the spirit and the bride

say come and let the one who hears say come

and let the one who is thirsty come.

Let the one who desires to take the water of life

without price.

The intentional atonement does something

different.

The intentional atonement for your life and my life

is a process of the Lord calling us,

revealing to us salvation and saying

now go reveal it to other people.

Now that doesn't mean we drive by judge.

Hey, you're a sinner.

Right, we don't ring our bell.

The end is nigh unless you repent.

We laugh but people do that.

I think it's terrible evangelism.

Right, it's also, I remember growing up,

I'm not gonna say the name or the church

because it still exists, that I was brought to

where it was kind of a scare tactic to salvation

that instead of a haunted house,

it was called a hell house and you went through

and they depicted their understanding of what hell was.

I didn't sleep for two months

because they thought that was the best way

to be intentional with people is to scare

the living whatever out of them

and then all of a sudden you go to the cemetery

and then all of a sudden you go to this calm room

where I think it was Enya playing on the speakers

and they're like if you don't want that,

come and believe in Jesus.

Well of course, I don't want that.

I think they killed a guy.

I don't really want that to happen to me

so I'll believe.

Then I go to the elders.

Why do you wanna believe in Jesus Christ?

Because I don't wanna die like that guy did in that room.

What?

And I had a conversation with my parents.

No, they didn't.

But understand that that's a terrible way

of being intentional with God's love.

Now that doesn't mean there's not truth and law.

There is definitely truth and law.

There are wrongs.

There are sins.

There are commandments.

There are things that we should not do as believers.

But as I land this plane from a very full day,

there's still something that needs to happen

and the call of the gospel,

we actually find it in one of our confessions.

To me, and I said this to a group of URC seminarians

at Mid-America this past week,

I actually got to work out the whole

I've decided to follow Jesus joke Friday

and they actually laughed which is great

but they won't invite me back.

Won't invite me back.

Is the fact that the Belgian Confession to me

is one of the missional documents that we have

to help us understand a certain thing.

Because the last article talks about

until the elect is complete,

Article 37, the last judgment.

Finally we believe, according to God's word,

that when the time appointed by the Lord is come,

which is unknown to all creatures,

and the number of the elect is complete,

our Lord Jesus Christ will come from heaven.

It's right there.

When that time appointed by the Lord is come,

which is unknown to all creatures,

and the number of the elect is complete.

Friends, we're off the hook in one sense.

We don't need to determine the number.

We just need to point to Jesus.

We just need to talk about His love

intentional to the world.

You don't need to figure it out.

You don't need to dissect Christ's atoning work

on the cross.

It can be this simple.

He died for you.

He loves you.

He wants you to love Him.

He wants you to love others.

Until the elect is complete.

The death was for, He's the one that did it,

intentionally, He rose intentionally.

There goes my time.

But understand, there's still work.