Chosen By God
Intro:
This is the last day of our 7-Day Dawn Watch in December and we have heard many exhortations pertaining to our theme this month “I Am Chosen, I Am Prepared for Eternity.
However, I was asking God what is His intention in choosing us? Among all the creations He created, why choose us humans? Well, there is a purpose and a reason for it. He mentioned this purpose on one of His reasons of choosing us found in our text this morning in…
John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
First, I want to emphasize that we know nothing about this purpose, and that God is the One initiated this purpose to be seen in us. His purpose can be seen in 3 parts. He wants us to (1) Go, (2) bear fruit (3) maintain that fruit to last. And what will be the result in living in God’s purpose? Whatever we ask in Jesus’ name, the Father will give it!
Let us look and analyze God’s purpose of choosing us by looking at His intention.
His intention in choosing us is to…
1. Show His Mastery.
God chose us because He wanted to show His works over us for we are His masterpiece!
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Let us compare this verse to…
Ephesians 1:4 “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
This only means that we are being chosen by God before the world began to be His mastery of good works by being holy, blameless in His sight. How can we do this? It’s because we are created according to His own image. This means that as a masterpiece, we are a mastery of His own works, for what purpose? First purpose is to Go and show the whole world that we are His great works within us!
Now if we are a masterpiece, Apostle Peter confirmed this in 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
We are called to go and speak to others the works of God in us since we are His masterpiece!
2. Show His Miracles.
By bringing us from darkness to light is a product of God’s miracle of righteousness over us. How many times in the Bible we saw God chose ordinary men in order to be a vehicle of His supernatural powers?
We saw how Jesus chose His 12 disciples, that from being fishermen they became fishers of men. He has chosen these people in order to bring about in them a purpose – and that purpose is to put their faith in God on whatever miracles they will see. There was about 37 recorded miracles Jesus performed in the Bible from turning water into wine to the second catching of fish in the Sea of Tiberias, all of this purpose is to bear fruit of faith among His disciples.
But one notable miracle I wanted to emphasize is the healing of an invalid man in John 5:1-15.
1 Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. 2 Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. 3 Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. 5 One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. 6 When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” 7 “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” 8 Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.”9 At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.
The miracle of this story is that, Jesus is the one who chose this invalid man to be healed. He saw many of the people who have their own sickness but only this man caught the attention of Jesus. Why? Because according to the customs, since this man is invalid, he can’t go to the pool and stir it in order to get healed while others may be blind but have feet and hands to go there, same with the deaf and the mute. But an invalid man for 38 years would love to get healed and maybe spent most of his life to be on this pool so he can have a chance to get healed.
But Jesus asked the man whom He chose so He can try and ask him if he wanted to get heal in verse 6. The man knew a conventional way of getting healed, a process he already knew for 38 years, yet Jesus for the 1st time seeing this man knew had faith in order to get healed. He simply answered Him with excuses why he did not get healed until now but Jesus is telling him that He is more than an angel who would stir the pool to get healed.
Similarly, we need to be like this invalid man who knew the conventional way of getting our prayers be heard, we knew many processes and activities to stir our hearts and spirit to pray. But what God is looking at us is the ability to bear the fruit of faith! We have to take our own mat, stand and walk! This is the 2nd purpose of choosing us, not just to go and show His mastery but to bear fruit of all the miracles in our lives.
Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.”
3. Show His Mystery.
The 3rd and the last way of showing God’s intention in choosing us is to show His mystery. What is this mystery that He wants us to know?
Ephesians 1:4-9
4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,
According to these verses, what is the mystery of God? It is the mystery of His purpose over us and that is to be saved by redeeming us by His blood and forgive us by His grace and mercy. By then we are being adopted by God as His children allowing us to have His good purpose in us.
This is His 3rd purpose in choosing us, not just to go and show His mastery, to bear fruit of faith because of His miracles, but to know His mystery of saving His beloved people of God. And this fruit of salvation must last until He comes. The theme we have for this month I am chosen means I am chosen to be saved so that I am prepared to face my eternity.
He has chosen us to be saved and to remain saved until He comes and so we are never afraid to face our eternity. Because our eternity is to be with our Lord Jesus!
Conclusion:
God chose us with a purpose: to show His mastery, miracles and mystery. For what purpose? So that whatever we ask in Jesus name, the Father will give.
