{"id":43341,"date":"2012-09-24T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/elect-are-called-to-rescue-others\/"},"modified":"2012-09-24T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T00:00:00","slug":"elect-are-called-to-rescue-others","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/elect-are-called-to-rescue-others\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elect Are Called to Rescue Others"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Regarding the doctrine of election, Christopher Wright notes that election isn&#39;t just for our individual benefit and salvation. According to the biblical story, election means that &quot;the elect&quot; become agents of blessings to others.<\/p>\n\n<p>Wright uses the following story:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It is as if a group of trapped cave explorers choose one of their number to squeeze through a narrow flooded passage to get out to the surface and call for help. The point of the choice is not so that she alone gets saved, but that she is able to bring help and equipment to ensure the rest get rescued. &quot;Election&quot; in such a case is an instrumental choice of one for the sake of many.<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3362,3853,4070,4096,4477,4691],"tax_ctp_topics":[],"class_list":["post-43341","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-abraham","tax_ctp_tags-election","tax_ctp_tags-gods-choice","tax_ctp_tags-great-commission","tax_ctp_tags-mission-of-church","tax_ctp_tags-predestination"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Elect Are Called to Rescue Others - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/elect-are-called-to-rescue-others\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Elect Are Called to Rescue Others - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Regarding the doctrine of election, Christopher Wright notes that election isn&#039;t just for our individual benefit and salvation. 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