Lutheran Satire: The Original John Calvin

My favorite line in the video is "I think you're confusing God with Megatron."

Here is what I wrote in last Sunday's sermon about the doctrine of Predestination or Election. It is a difficult doctrine to wrap our heads around. That's why it is good to review it again.

Then Jesus gets very specific in His prayer. “I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” This was not the time to pray for the world. The disciples were His special charge and they needed help and strength to face what was coming.

In these words, Jesus is praying for all His elect – all those past, present and future disciples who were chosen by God since the foundations of the world. This is called the doctrine of Predestination or Election. Jesus is praying for those who are His, who are God’s, so they may believe. This is the mystery of Election. It is a doctrine of comfort for believers. But how do you know if you were chosen and elected to salvation? Do you make faithful use of God’s Word and sacraments? Do you believe Jesus as Savior? Have you kept Christ’s Word? Then you are one of the Elect. You are a chosen child of God. You were marked with the cross at your baptism, receive the sign of the cross in worship, and carry your cross through life. You belong to Christ. He prayed for you. He did for you what God needed done.

However, (and this is a difficult teaching) Jesus is not praying for those who are of the world – those not in Christ, those who reject Him, those who by their own reason and strength decide to remain in their rebellion against Him. He doesn’t pray for them. They are the ones who have damned themselves for they have rejected Him who was rejected for them.