We Are The Chosen

We Are the Chosen

Ephesians 1:1-14

“When I was a boy, my father, a baker, introduced me to the wonders of song,” tenor Luciano Pavarotti relates. “He urged me to work very hard to develop my voice. Arrigo Pola, a professional tenor in my hometown of Modena, Italy, took me as a pupil. I also enrolled in a teachers college. On graduating, I asked my father, “Shall I be a teacher or singer?”

“’Luciano,’ my father replied,’ if you try to sit on two chairs, you will fall between them. For life, you must choose one chair.’

“I chose one. It took seven years of study and frustration before I made my first professional appearance. It took another seven years to reach the Metropolitan Opera. And now I think whether it’s laying bricks, writing a book --whatever we choose-- we should give ourselves to it. Commitment, that’s the key. Choose one chair.”

Every day we are faced with choices. We have do decide what to wear. We choose between Coke and Pepsi. Choices are everywhere.

When I was in Elementary school, we always played kick ball at every recess. Before we began playing, two captains were chosen. From the group that gathered, each captain chose what person would fit best on their team. The first ones picked were the “best” players. The worst ones, or the ones with the least amount of friends, were chosen last.

The key factors in choosing for kick ball had been determined by previous games. Some people kicked further than others did. Some could catch better. Others were faster runners. People were chosen by their strengths and weaknesses. We played to win.

The same can be said about God. He has chosen each and every one of us here this morning. We are told in John 3:16 that because of His love for a lost world, each one of u shave been chosen to inherit eternal life. But just because He picks us doesn’t mean we’re automatically in. We still have a choice to make.

Eric Lindros, currently playing for the Dallas Stars in the NHL, was selected first overall by the, then, Quebec Nordiques in the 1991 NHL entry draft. Lindros did not want to play for the Nordiques, later known as the Colorado Avalanche, and was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers. He was chosen by the Nordiques, but played for the Flyers.

What does it mean to be chosen by God? What were we chosen for? What is He looking for from us?

There are four separate things that He has chosen us for!

1. Chosen to be Holy (Ephesians 1:4)

“…to be holy and blameless in his sight…”

What does it mean to be “holy and blameless?”

As Christians, we are called to be separate from this world. We should not live a life like the world lives. We live according to God’s Word. We live a life that is blameless in others sights, and most importantly in His sight.

In a sense, we are the clay in the Master Potter’s hand. In order to be the men and women He wants us to be, we, like the clay, surrender ourselves to the craftsmanship of the Master’s hands. We are nothing but the material He uses. It is He who makes us into who He wants us to be.

This is not accomplished by our wills and efforts, but only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, and the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 3:24 tells us that we are justified by our faith in Christ Jesus. It is through the power and guidance of the Holy Spirit that helps us to be blameless in the sight of God: “ In the same way the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with words that cannot be expressed.” (Romans 8:26)

2. Chosen to be His Children (Ephesians 1:5)

“…to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ…”

I do not want you to get hung up on the word “predestined” in this passage. Some denominations have translated this word to mean that God has already chosen the ones who are going to heaven, so there’s nothing to be done. You are either going to heaven or you are not.

Predestined, to me, means that God knew His plans long before you and I ever cast a shadow on this planet. After the fall of Adam and Eve, God put the plan in place to redeem His lost world by sending His only Son, born of a woman, to be the means of salvation for any person, regardless of age, race or gender. Galatians 4:4-5 say it better than I can: “But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we may receive the full rights of sons.”