0619 CHOSEN!

JUNE 19 = EPHESIANS 1

CHOSEN

Some things just happen. Other things are a conscious choice. I wake up in the morning. It just happens. But I choose whether or not to get out of bed.

Some of us grew up in a home of faith, and the path of least resistance for us is to go to church, believe the words being said, and follow the church’s cultural norms. But then there is the choice, where we knowingly become a wholehearted follower of Jesus Christ. We repent, change our path, and walk in a new way. As Joshua challenged the people of Israel, “Choose this day whom you will serve.” And the people all shouted back, “We will serve the Lord!” And then they didn’t. Not really.

As the book of Hebrews says, now is the appointed time; today is the day of salvation. We cannot decide today that tomorrow we will repent, when we get good and convicted. No, if the conviction comes today, then this is the appointed time to act on that conviction.

So far, we’ve talked here about us making a choice, today, to say yes to the Spirit’s nudging and make a change. But what about God? Does God make a choice? It’s hard to limit God to our vocabulary of finite mental decisions, but God tells us that he makes choices. Choices that involve you and me! Take a look at the concept of “chosen by God” found in Ephesians 1:

“This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.” 

Thinking about the wording of this, he seems to be saying that it was not a matter of Paul choosing to be an apostle, but of God choosing Paul for him to be an apostle. The word “apostle” means someone who is sent. So implied by this verse, Paul is saying that it’s not so much Paul making the decision to do this with his life, as it is that God is the one who is calling him, having already determined what his will was for Paul. 

How about you? Where have you felt the clear guidance of God for your life? Paul goes on,

“Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” 

There it is again: God chose us! He loved us! In Christ we are chosen to be holy and without fault in his eyes! All we have to do is to Say yes!

“God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ.”

Some people come into our families by birth. Like it or not, we have one another for life. But others come into our families by choice–adoption, foster, marriage, friends–and that gives them a certain advantage. They were chosen. Loved. At least by someone in the family. And so, we all who are in Christ have been adopted. Chosen. Wanted.

“This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.” 

 This is the part that blows me away: God made the choice He made to adopt me, because he wanted to do so, and it gave him great pleasure. I please God by saying yes to Jesus! There was joy in heaven the day that I gave my life to Christ. 

“Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan.” 

You know what? You are not God’s Plan B. You were chosen in advance! And then God worked everything out according to his plan. And his plan was that Jew and Gentile would become one in his Son. His plan was to rescue you and me. And it was not an inconvenience to him to rescue us–it was his good pleasure! 

As you and I were driving down the road of life, we saw a billboard. Jesus was beckoning and saying, “Whosoever will may come…” We thought about it. And , at the last second, we both swerved off of the broad downward-sloping highway, and headed onto the Exit ramp, up and away onto the ages.

The thing is, as we take that exit ramp, we glance back at that road sign and do a double-take. There is also a message on the back of the sign! The front invites “whosoever will” to come. And so we came. But on the back of the giant billboard is this message: “Chosen from the foundation of the world.”

Chosen. You are. Can you believe it? Amen.