Loved by God, Therefore Chosen by God
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Point: Because I am loved by God, I am chosen by God.
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,
remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you,
because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything.
For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.
How does you spouse know that you love them? How do your children know that you love them? How do your friends know that you love them? How does Jesus know that you love Him?
When each of my daughters were born a magical thing happend, I took them in my arms and immediately found that I loved them. I didn’t have to think about it, nor weigh my options, or wait for them to coo, cry, or say my name. My love was unconditional…just as any mother and father’s love is unconditional. We choose to love unconditionally, therefore because we love, we choose, we accept.
When you love somebody, and/or something, you choose.
When you choose, someone, or something, they become the choosen. When I loved Lynnette, she became the choosen, and vice versa. How do you feel when you are the choosen? How do you feel when you are loved? The loved are always choosen.
Curious…is there responsibility when you are choosen? Is there to be an expected response? Try it, experiement: say ‘I love you’ to someone maybe your spouse, son or daughter, your friend. Is there a response? An expected response? What if the response does not come? Are you mad, upset, curious as to why or why not?
Lynnette and I play a little game. When I have not been particularly dutiful in expressing my feelings for her she will corner me, usually restrain me in some way, look me in the eyes and say....’I love you’. I usually smile, laugh at her with my eyes, and say nothing. We laugh and then she tells me to ‘put some effort into it’ as she forces me to give her a hug.
Does Lynnette have an expectation? Absolutely! Do I know she has an expectation? Absolutely! Am I going to give it to her? Absolutely not! She is trying to kajol my love! But the message has been sent ‘I want you to choose me, choose me again’ because you love me. How many of us want to be chosen again? How many of us have been chosen again…and again…and again?
What does it mean for God to love? It means God chooses.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
God loved the world, so God choose the world. He willingly choose to delight in that which He made, man and woman. How does the world respond to His love, His delight? To believe or not to believe in Him, His willed love, His delight, His choice of us. That’s what Jesus represents…God the Father’s willed love and choice, His favor toward us.
God’s disposition and will is for all to be saved and come to the saving knowledge of the truth and that no person be lost. God implores us to pray for kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, lawyers and politicians because it is good and pleases God...
who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
We are ‘the Chosen’, the eklektoi, whom the grace of God called, the kletoi, the called ones. No one can be a chosen one (eklektoi) unless he/she is first a called one (kletoi). Have you been called? Yes, by the love of Jesus and therefore you have been choosen by the love of God.
For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Who does not labour? Who of us has not been heavy laden at some point in our lives? Do we need rest? Indeed we do, indeed I do. Then I need to come to Christ, I need to answer yes to His call. But few are chosen, because few answer HIs call.
How did the world respond to being the chosen of God? Disbelief and to love darkness.
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
How do I respond to being ‘the Chosen’? Do I have a responsibility?
Unlike the other gentiles around them and the jewish population, the Thessalonian God-fearers chose to work out their faith, labor in love, and hold steadfast in hope amongst affliction and persecution (v.3, 6). By their love they chose to become imitators of Paul, Barnabas, Timothy, and the Lord Jesus (v.6). They received the Gospel in affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit (v.6). They turned from their false idol worship and false god’s, in the face of persecution, to embrace the truth of Jesus Christ (v.9). They believed and followed the men set before them as examples of the called and chosen, the eklektoi and the kletoi.
How have I responded to God’s love, calling and choice of me to be His? Do I work out my faith as the Apostle Paul and James have called Christ-followers to do?
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
What Paul means is our lives should reflect our reality. We have been called by God, choosen because we are loved by God, and now we need to reflect that love and chosen-ness in our actions, words, and thoughts. Our calling is to represent God - His ways and His love. Does my life reflect reality? Salvation is not just a one-time decision for Paul, it is a life decision, a way of living decision.
The Apostle James says something in the similiar vain,
But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
The reality of a person’s love, the reality of a person’s belief, is revealed in their works. What is my reality of faith? Am I responding to God’s call upon my life appropriately? Does my love for God match my choosen-ness? Does my labor match His love? Do I respond in labor to His love?
In affliction, the Thessalonians responded with labor of love. They worked for the advancement of the Gospel message they had been given and imitated those who had given it (v.3,9). Does my labor match Christ’s love? See, the chosen, the kletoi, are called to advance Christ’s love…and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are enabled to do so.
And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
[Read 1 Cor. 12:4-11]
So, all of this leads us to say that one is without excuse! All have been loved by God, and therefore as a result all have been choosen by God…but how have we responded? Belief or disbelief, love and work, or hate and condemnation? The world chooses to blame God for the condition we are in, but who really is to blame? Who has chosen not to believe and have life? Who has choosen to supress the truth? The world because the world choose to love darkness instead of God. The world refuses to turn from idols and false gods like the Thessalonian God-fearers did.
The teaching of election is not false. It is sufficient, it does hold, it does stand up. John 6:44 says, “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.” All are loved by God, therefore all have been choosen by God, but not all choose to respond to His love, His call, His choosing. God knows who will respond, but that does not mean He does not give an opportunity to all to respond. He desires that all would come to Him and that none would be lost.
As a God-fearer we have the responsibility to conform to our new nature in Christ. 2 Peter 1:10 says,
Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.
What qualities? Suppliment your faith with…2 Peter 1:5-7
2 Peter 1:5–7 (HCSB)
goodness, goodness with knowledge, knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with godliness, godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
His love, His calling, His choosing has responsibility. A true God-fearer responds to God’s love, grace, and mercy with love in return - love in labor, love in service, love in hope empowered by and through the Holy Spirit. We have been loved, chosen, and called, how do you respond?
The doctrine of Election is the understanding that by the benevolent purpose of God, individuals are loved by God, and thus chosen by God to belong to Him.
Sermon in a Sentence
I am loved by God, therefore I have been choosen by God, and I have a responsibility to God.
Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.
God wasn’t attracted to you and didn’t choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you.
He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon. He keeps his covenant of loyal love with those who love him and observe his commandments for a thousand generations.
And this is what will happen: When you, on your part, will obey these directives, keeping and following them, God, on his part, will keep the covenant of loyal love that he made with your ancestors:
He will love you, he will bless you, he will increase you. He will bless the babies from your womb and the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil from your fields; he’ll bless the calves from your herds and lambs from your flocks in the country he promised your ancestors that he’d give you.
Our LORD God is the same today, as yesterday, as He will be tomorrow. Amen.