You’ve Been Chosen

Jn 15:15-16

One of my families favorite shows is American Idol. Yes, I admit it. Every Tuesday we sit down as a family and watch the singers and vote for our favorite. If we can’t be home, you can guarantee I am going to tape it. The fun part is seeing if you agree with the judges or not. Sometimes I think, yep, that’s right those judges know what they are talking about. Other times I listen to their critiques and think that these guys have lost their minds, that person was great or that person was terrible.

I wonder what was going through the angels minds when God said, “I’m going to redeem the human race.” Did they agree or were they thinking God had lost his mind. Let’s face it, when it comes to holiness, mankind has a pretty lousy track record. Yet, Jesus looks at the 12 around the dinner table and says, “You haven’t chosen me, I have chosen you.” The idea that Christ has chosen us rather than the other way around is pretty obvious… Or is it?

How many of us in the back of our minds think that we deserve salvation. We’re good Christians, we work hard, God is lucky to have us in his kingdom. God’s lucky we chose him.

PRAYER

I. God’s Sovereign Choice

A. God can do whatever he chooses

1. There is a children’s riddle that goes like this. Where does a 500 pound canary make his nest? Anywhere he wants to.

2. It’s the same with God.

a) He can do whatever he wants to because he controls everything there is.

b) There isn’t anything we are aware of that is out of his control.

c) that’s why we call him almighty God

B. God has exercised his Sovereign choice

1. He chose Jacob over Esau

2. He chose Joseph over all his older brothers.

3. He replaced Saul’s family with David and his family as kings over Judea.

4. He chose Joseph and Mary to be Jesus’ earthy parents.

5. It’s interesting to note that many of God’s choices would never have been our choice.

a) Skeletons in the closest

b) Character flaws

c) too young, too old

d) Female

e) So many of God’s chosen would have been rejected by us.

C. God continues to exercise his choice

1. Rom 8 God says we have been called

2. Eph 1 tells us we have been chosen

3. 1 Pet 3 tells us the same thing.

4. God has chosen us despite our flaws, our skeletons, our age, our gender or anything else people might hold against us.

5. God has saved us for a purpose and we need to fulfill that purpose as we discover it.

II. Our Free Choice

A. God gives us free will

1. Even though he has chosen us, he has also given us the free will to reject his choice

2. He gave Adam and Eve the choice to sin in the garden or not.

a) But when he did, in his mercy he have them a chance to choose again.

b) We see that played out with man and God throughout the history of man.

B. We can exercise that free will

1. Matt 6:33 says SEEK first his kingdom

2. Col 3:2 say set your minds on things above.

3. All this implies our choice to follow him or reject him.

C. We can even renounce our choice

1. People really like the doctrine of once saved always saved.

2. Once you’re saved, you’re free to do and live however you like.

3. But that just doesn’t match up with scripture

a) Rev 2:4 tells us that some have forsaken their first love.

b) I Tim 1:19 talks about those who have shipwrecked their faith.

c) They willfully chose to walk away from God.

d) As Jeff Walling says, Hell is always an option if we want to choose it.

III. Living with Both Choices

A. Both choices live side by side

1. Trying to explain this is difficult.

2. It means that every tragic loss in the world is as much a decision of God’s as it was man’s.

3. He allows us to choose, but also reserves the right to judge.

B. Focus on the important facts

1. We may not be able to grasp all the theological arguments behind both God and us having a choice in our destinies.

2. But if we focus on what is important, the complexities don’t matter, because we don’t put ourselves in the position to find out whose choice wins.

3. God has chosen to give us salvation. We can chose to reject it, but why in the world would we do that?

C. A tale of two men

1. Maybe the answer lies in the story of two very different men with the same tragedy.

2. Kenneth Wright was a high school football star, avid outdoorsman and athlete until he broke his neck in 1979. He was paralyzed from the chest down. The doctors were confident that one day he would be able to walk again with the use of braces. But that wasn’t good enough for Kenneth. He couldn’t reconcile with what happened to his body. One day he talked two friends into taking out to the wood with his wheelchair and a shotgun. At 24 years of age he ended his life.

3. Jim McGowen has a different story. At age 19 he was stabbed while being robbed and left for dead. Luckily he was found, but was paralyzed from the chest down from his wounds. Jim had a different outlook on life in a wheelchair than Kenneth. Recently he made the news when he made a parachute jump hitting his target perfectly in the middle of a lake. He lives alone, cooks and cares for himself and competes in the wheelchair Olympics. The first picture book on this event was done by Jim.

4. Why were these men so different in the way they handled a similar tragedy?

a) One man felt there was a purpose for his life even with the tragic event that changed everything.

b) Don’t let anyone rob you of your knowledge that God has saved you for a purpose.

c) Fulfill your purpose in Christ and remember God chose you!