Chosen
Introduction
So far in our study of the Old Testament we have covered the creation, the fall, and the flood. Spiritually we have seen the world go from a perfect relationship with God to absolute depravity. Paul sums up the spiritual history of the world in Romans chapter 1.
Romans 1:18-24 (NLT)
But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles.
So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired.
Adam and Eve started the human existence in a perfect relationship with God. But they exchanged that for the empty promises of Satan. Just a few generations later the thoughts of humanity were only evil all the time. There was only one person who even thought about God and that was Noah. So God sent a flood to wipe out all of humanity except for Noah and his family.
Now I wish the story got better from there, but it doesn’t. God said, “Be fruitful and multiply and spread out over all the earth.” But they didn’t. Instead, they built a city for themselves. They said, “Let’s forget about God and build a name for ourselves. Let’s forget about God, we can reach heaven on our own.” So God mixed up their language and spread them out over the whole earth.
More generations go by and mankind completely forgets about God once again. Instead, they create gods of their own. They form them out of precious metal, wood and stone. They create gods that look like birds, animals, reptiles, men and strange combinations of the four. They worship the sun, the moon, and the stars instead of the creator of the heavens. And by the time of Abraham there is no one left who worships God.
Let me repeat that. By the time of Abraham there is no one left who worships the True and Living God.
At this point it looks like God has failed. Mankind has abandoned Him. God’s plan was for mankind to worship him. God’s plan was for all of mankind to have a close personal relationship with Him. But that plan failed. So God changes His plan. Instead, of waiting for humanity to come to Him, He goes to man. To a specific man. To Abraham. God chooses Abraham. And in the story of Abraham we learn what it means to be called by God.
I. God’s Choice = Grace.
Genesis 12:1-3 (NLT)
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.”
God made a crazy promise to a random nobody who lived in the middle of nowhere. God chose to create a nation of His very own from an absolute nobody. Let me make this absolutely clear. God had absolutely no reason to choose Abraham. There was nothing about Abraham that would show that Abraham was worthy of God’s choosing Him. Scripture does not even tell us that he was a righteous man as it does for Noah. In fact, it tells us that Abraham was the son of a quitter.
Genesis 11:31-32 (NLT)
One day Terah took his son Abram, his daughter-in-law Sarai (his son Abram’s wife), and his grandson Lot (his son Haran’s child) and moved away from Ur of the Chaldeans. He was headed for the land of Canaan, but they stopped at Haran and settled there. Terah lived for 205 years and died while still in Haran.
Terah headed for the land of Canaan, but stopped at Haran. Many scholars believe that Terah had been called by God to go to Canaan, but he never fulfilled his calling. He gave up. He quit. So Abraham was the son of a quitter. Yet, God chose him anyway. God chose to begin his nation with a nobody. The father of the nation of Israel did absolutely nothing to earn that great privilege. That is grace. The same grace that is offered to us.
1 Peter 2:9-10 (NLT)
But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
“Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
Just like Abraham we were nobodies. Just like Abraham we had no identity of our own. Just like Abraham we were lost in darkness. Just like Abraham we did not deserve God’s mercy. But God choose us anyway. God claimed us as His possession. God made us part of His nation. God showed us mercy. That is grace. That call to be part of the people of God is an act of grace.
If we got what we deserved, we would only receive judgment. As Paul said in Romans chapter 9:
Romans 9:22-24
What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
Without grace we would only be objects of God’s wrath. But in His grace God has offered us the chance to be objects of His mercy. We don’t deserve it. We haven’t earned it. It is purely an act of grace. So the first thing to note about God’s call to us is that it starts with Grace.
II. The Challenge.
But there is more to God’s call than grace. God also challenges those whom He calls.
Genesis 12:1 (NLT)
The LORD had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”
Genesis 13:14-17 (NLT)
After Lot had gone, the LORD said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”
God literally tells Abraham, “I will give you everything that you walk upon.” That was the challenge. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation. God promised to give Abraham a country of his own. That was the grace part. But Abraham had to do something in response to the grace in order to receive that land. He had to walk. And he spent the rest of his life doing so. He took one step after another crisscrossing the Land of Canaan because he believed in God. Abraham literally walked by faith. And for that reason he was commended as a great man of faith.
Genesis 15:6 (NLT)
And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith.
Abraham walked by faith and God counted him as righteous and gave Abraham everything He had promised. And we are commanded to do the same.
2 Corinthians 5:6-7 (NKJV)
So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.
Salvation is a free gift. It is a gift of grace. But that does not mean that there is no cost to it. Jesus talks about the cost related to accepted God’s call to salvation.
Luke 14:26-33 (NLT)
If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple.
But don’t begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation before running out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you. They would say, ‘There’s the person who started that building and couldn’t afford to finish it!’
Or what king would go to war against another king without first sitting down with his counselors to discuss whether his army of 10,000 could defeat the 20,000 soldiers marching against him? And if he can’t, he will send a delegation to discuss terms of peace while the enemy is still far away. So you cannot become my disciple without giving up everything you own.
Jesus tells us that we ought to count the cost before accepting God’s gift of grace, because accepting that gift will cost us everything. Jesus says that we should hate everything and everyone in comparison to Him. We need to be willing to carry our cross if we are going to accept God’s gift of grace. And don’t make light of the phrase “carry my cross.” People will often call little inconveniences a cross that they must bear. Carrying a cross is much more than a little inconvenience. The cross was an object of torture and death. Jesus wasn’t saying that we need to be willing to suffer a few minor inconveniences to be a Christian. He was saying that we literally need to be willing to suffer and die for Christ. We need to be willing to give up our very lives in order to follow Christ.
I am sure that there were times when Abraham wanted to give up like his father and just stay in one place. But God had said, “I will make you into a great nation and I will give you every piece of ground that your foot touches.” So Abraham kept walking. We need to follow Abraham’s example and live out our faith. Following God’s call means walking by faith. Following God’s call means following Christ no matter what personal cost we may have to pay.
III. Commissioned.
Finally, being called by God means accepting His mission for our lives. When God called Abraham to be the father of a nation that would belong to God, God gave Abraham a mission.
Genesis 12:2-3 (NLT)
I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.
God told Abraham that if he accepted His gift of grace that he would also have to accept God’s call to be a blessing to the nations. And strangely enough, that is the same exact Commission that God gives us. We call it the Great Commission. The Great Commission in the Gospel of Mark says:
Mark 16:15 (NLT)
“Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.”
We are called to be part of the nation of God. We are challenged to walk by faith by follow Christ. And we are commissioned to be a blessing to the world. And how are we to be a blessing to the world? By telling them how they too can accept God’s call to become part of the nation of God.
Mark 16:16 (NLT)
Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.
We are a blessing to all nations, just as Abraham, by showing others how they can become one of God’s chosen people. All they must do is believe and be baptized and they can become part of God’s nation, God’s family. Then as the Great Commission tells us, we teach them to walk by faith and to follow God’s mission to reach still more.
My question for you today is are you part of God’s nation? Are you one of God’s chosen people? Are you walking by faith? Have you accepted God’s mission for your life? If not, you need to take those steps of faith of declaring Christ to be your Lord and Savior, and by being baptized as your oath of faith. Or you may need to recommit your steps to following Christ. God has called each and every one of us to be His people and to fulfill His mission to offer grace to everyone.
God said to Abraham: “Go to the Land that I will show you.” And Abraham was declared righteous because he went.
God says to us: “Go and make disciples.” And we will only be found righteous if we obey and spread the message of Christ to a lost a dying world.
