One of the common complaints against the doctrine of unconditional election is that it seems to make God out to be capricious. The late great John Gerstner, in trying to emphasize the sovereign grace of God in election once, with his tongue firmly planted in his cheek, described that moment before time when we were chosen as “our lucky day.” The Reformers, however, in arguing for unconditional election were dealing with a particular argument from the other side. That is, they were more interested in denying something than affirming something. The driving motive here was to make sure we understood that election is not done on the basis of any good in those who were chosen. There were no meritorious conditions in the elect that motivated God to make them the elect. He did not peer down the corridor of time to find out which of us were good enough to choose Him, and then on that basis choose us. Total depravity, of course, is sufficient to undo that notion. If He peered down the corridor of time to see who would of themselves choose Him, then none would be elect.
That God looked for nothing good in us before He chose us, however, does not mean that He looked for nothing at all. The goal of the doctrine is not neutrality, but humility. If we look to God’s Word, we find that God just may have used a particular criteria in choosing us. Paul writes about God’s choosing His people, “For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty, and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are” ().
That’s us. Were we more honest, we would give up our dignified church names, like Covenant Church, First Church, Trinity Church, and adopt more honesty in our labeling. We ought to tell our neighbors, “We worship each Lord’s Day with the saints down at First Church of the Ignoble.” We ought to put bumper stickers on our cars advising “Follow me to Base and Despised Community Fellowship.” God did indeed have a reason for choosing you and choosing me- He wanted to choose losers.
Does the church acknowledge this painful reality? Do we embrace our inner loser? No. He chooses us because we are fools, and we, because He was right, think ourselves wise. We come up with elaborate marketing strategies for the kingdom of God. We divide up the congregation by market tastes, setting up the hip, urbane fancy coffee gathering place over here, and the country/western place over there. We’ll serve this group lattes and the other group Mountain Dew, and we’ll send the satellite feed of Pastor Sweater to both. He chooses us in our weakness, and we start flexing our political muscles. He chooses us in our lack of nobility, and we pat Him on the back for choosing such fine fellows such as we are.
This, of course, is one more reason, as if we need another reason, why it is wise to come together at the table each Lord’s Day. How can we go on thinking so highly of ourselves if, each week we see the body we broke, and the blood we shed? How can we persuade ourselves of how much the kingdom of God needs us, when we need our Captain not just to provide for us, but to feed us with His own body? How can we perceive ourselves to be a net gain for the body, when we cannot stay alive without the body? The table, for all the joy and delight that it brings, powerfully reminds us of who we are, the weak, the foolish, the ignoble.
Why would God choose losers like us? Is it because of His compassion? Was it sympathy that drove Him to overlook the stronger, wiser, nobler of His creatures? No, the text tells us how God reasoned this out- “that no flesh should glory in His presence” (verse 29). God’s motive for picking us is the same as His motive for all that He does, that His glory might be made known. When we preen about, thinking too highly of ourselves, therefore, we are not merely showing our foolishness by misunderstanding ourselves, but we fall under the very curse of Malachi, “Will a man rob God?” (3:8). A failure of humility is a failure to render unto God the things that are His, glory.
We’re not, by the way, fooling anyone anyway. The world knows what losers we are. God knows what losers we are. Losers that we are, we’re the only ones that don’t seem to notice. We’re too busy trying to impress each other. May God have mercy on our souls.
The answer, of course, isn’t to get all Puddleglum about ourselves. That we are losers isn’t cause for mourning, but for rejoicing. We should move not only from grace to grace, but from shocked to stunned- ME? He chose ME? But I’m awful. I’m a bundle of dust and rebellion. What did He see in me?
What did He see in us? Losers so awful that He was our only way out. He saw in us an opportunity to make known His glory, to shine forth the riches of His grace by bestowing them upon we the poverty-stricken. We now have no more reason to pretend. We need no more put on a show for others. All we need to do is to repent and believe. And having believed, all we have left to do is rejoice and give thanks. We are losers, every one of us. But by His grace and for His glory, we’re His losers.