Rev. David Holwick ZF
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
October 1, 1995
Romans 8:29-31
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I. Affirmative action in turmoil.
A. Personal memory of civil rights era:
A sea of New York construction workers is protesting against
new hiring laws being forced on their union.
They pull a black member to the front and have him pull out
his union card.
"See - we are integrated."
B. Ideally, it means positively seeking out qualified people.
1) We often make choices based on limited input.
a) Narrow criteria used.
b) We think qualified people are exactly like us.
2) Affirmative action does not require quotas.
a) Laziness leads to this.
b) Quotas focus on results, affirmative action focuses
on opening up the means.
II. God is in the affirmative action business.
A. He is certainly affirming, and active.
1) The gospel has a positive basis - "God so loved..."
a) Not just a feeling, but actions for our good.
b) Extends even to the ungodly - rain on just & unjust.
2) All his promises are "Yes!" in Jesus Christ. 2 Cor 1:20
a) (TV ad: smiling banker says, "Champion says 'yes!'")
But God won't foreclose on you.
B. By our standards, God goes about it all wrong, too!
1) He does not seek qualified people. Matt 9:13
2) Some would say he operates on a quota system!
3) But we should be grateful he does.
III. We are not qualified.
A. Serial killers are not the only sinners.
1) Easy to focus on extreme cases - Charles Manson, Hitler.
2) Decent people are also in trouble. Rom 3:23
B. God demands perfection, not decency.
1) He is holy and cannot tolerate sin in his presence.
2) Since "all have sinned and fall short," all are deserving
of damnation.
C. If God demanded qualifications, you wouldn't have a prayer.
IV. God chooses us anyway.
A. He accepts only unqualified applicants.
1) "While we were still sinners..." Rom 5:8
2) We are chosen even BEFORE we are sinners. (predestination)
a) Grace is the key.
b) God chooses out of love, not rolling of dice.
B. He actively pursues us.
1) When God seeks us, he eventually catches us. Rom 8:30
a) Many people resist, thinking God wants to enslave them.
b) The truth is, God wants us to be free and happy.
A few years ago an East Coast newspaper reported this story:
One evening a woman was driving home when she noticed a huge
truck behind her that was driving uncomfortably close.
She stepped on the gas to gain some distance from the truck,
but when she sped up, the truck did too.
The faster she drove, the faster the truck did.
Now scared, she exited the freeway, but the truck stayed
with her.
The woman then turned up a main street, hoping to lose her
pursuer in traffic.
But the truck ran a red light and continued the chase.
Reaching the point of panic, the woman whipped her car into a
service station and bolted out of her auto screaming for help.
The truck driver sprang from his truck and ran toward her car.
Yanking the back door open, the driver pulled out a man hidden
in the back of her seat.
The woman was running from the wrong person.
From his high vantage point, the truck driver had spotted a
would-be rapist in the woman's car.
The chase was not his effort to harm her but to save her even
at the cost of his own safety.
Likewise, many people run from God, fearing what he might do to
them or require of them.
But his plans are for good not evil - to rescue us from the
things that will tear us down rather than build us up.
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2) God wants us so bad, even our desire to seek him (faith)
is a gift from heaven. Eph 2:8
3) When we surrender to him, he actively molds us.
V. God seeks diversity.
A. Heaven will be filled with lots of different groups. Rev 5:9...
1) They may have only one thing in common with you -
they recognized their need for a Savior from sin.
2) God seeks out others even when we are satisfied.
a) Jonah and foreigners in Nineveh.
b) Jesus and Samaritan woman.
c) Philip and Ethiopian eunuch.
d) Paul and pagans in Lystra.
3) God's overriding concern - all world to be blessed. Gen 12:3
B. Mission should be important to us.
1) What are we doing to actively seek out the lost?
a) Go to the hinterlands, compel them.
b) Start in your neighborhood. (own family?)
2) "World Mission Offering" goes completely for missions.
3) Any human is potentially our brother.
VI. Has God actively affirmed you?
A. Paradox of being chosen from foundation of world.
B. We seal our chosenness by accepting God's grace.
Copyright © 2024 by Rev. David Holwick
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