Chosen to Choose

Introduction

As we pick up our next few verses, we see here that we are chosen by God. It is good, especially here, to look at various translations. For example, I think the New Living Translation is a great interpretation of these verses.

1 Thessalonians 1:4–7 NLT

4 We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people. 5 For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. 6 So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord. 7 As a result, you have become an example to all the believers in Greece—throughout both Macedonia and Achaia.

I love the phrase, “God loves you and has chosen you to be His own people.”

What an understanding that is of the Gospel! The Gospel is simply the glad tidings of salvation through Christ. The Gospel is not found in other false teachings. In fact, there is a stern warning about this is other passages.

For example, Galatians 1:6-7 states:

Galatians 1:6–7 NIV84

6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

There is one Gospel that will help you in your relationship with God. The WHO of the Gospel is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Paul makes this clear in Romans 1:8-9:

Romans 1:8–9 NIV84

8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world. 9 God, whom I serve with my whole heart in preaching the gospel of his Son, is my witness how constantly I remember you

Paul indicates that he is preaching the gospel of God’s Son. I believe this is quite important for us as well. It is not Mitch’s gospel I preach or teach, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You and I should not ever stop doing that as we see it was the example of the apostles.

Acts 5:42 NIV84

42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

So who do we proclaim this Gospel to? The whomever of the gospel is anyone that chooses to receive it. I again love the New Living Translation because it tells us that the gospel is adelphoi, which means “brothers and sisters loved by God.” God so loved the WORLD means that the whomever of the gospel is everyone. Everyone potentially can receive the gospel. However, not everyone will choose to accept the gospel,

Paul is writing the Thessalonians in these short verses to reiterate that being chosen means we also have the capacity to choose. As we are chose, we are, as the title of the message implies, chosen to choose. We can say yes to the Lord Jesus Christ, or we can say no. We should understand what it means to be chosen to choose.

Chosen By Christ (vs. 4)

First, we see that we are chosen by Christ. The word translated chosen means “the are of being picked out or God’s elect.” Now there is a whole other discussion about what it means to be God’s elect. There are theologians that have argued over the centuries about this. However, this is what you need to know: we are all chosen by God. We are all God’s elect. However, some simply to not choose to be chosen. In other words, some will flat out reject the gospel.

So what exactly does it mean to be chosen by Christ? I believe the first thing we can do is to celebrate that we are chosen by Christ for salvation. The Bible tells us that we are sinners by nature. Because we are, we are subject to receive the punishment of sin which is death. However, we do not have to experience that wrath because of salvation.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 NIV84

9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.

We are also chose in our salvation to be part of the royal priesthood.

1 Peter 2:9 NIV84

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Dear friend, you have been called out of darkness into His wonderful light of salvation. As one chosen by Christ, you and I must realize that our lives should be different. We are chosen for salvation which means we are also chosen for sanctification.

The concept of sanctification is the ongoing work of God to rescue justified sinners from the disease of sin and conform them to the image of His Son.

It is the process of becoming holy, Christlike and empowered to do good works.

Romans 6:19–20 NIV84

19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

We should strive to be people that are changed and no longer give in to the ways of the world, but we are different and becoming more like the image of Christ. For some of us, sanctification is a tough process. We should strive to become more sanctified. We should become more personally dedicated to God especially by becoming more distinct, devoted and morally pure. In other words, we allow ourselves to not just hear the words but live the life.

This is the concept of saturation. When the gospel becomes more than words, we are practicing saturation. Saturation is the theological concept that is also called fulness. Fulness is that which is filled, that which fills up, and that which is brought to fulness or completion.

Colossians 1:19–20 NIV84

19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

From our salvation and the processes of sanctification and saturation, we are chosen to live by conviction.

Chosen to Live by Conviction (vs. 5)

Conviction is a word that seems to get a bad rap. When a criminal goes before a judge, if he or she is convicted, they are punished accordingly. Perhaps you can remember the old church meetings where people testified that they were convicted of sin and they decided to live their lives differently. In our text today, conviction is not a term that makes us feel guilty, but rather it is the full assurance and most certain confidence.

Conviction comes to us powered by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 NIV84

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We see similar verses like this but what exactly does this mean?

Acts 4:31 NIV84

31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

Here, we see that the power of the Holy Spirit helps one to speak the word of God boldly.

Acts 9:31 NIV84

31 Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee and Samaria enjoyed a time of peace. It was strengthened; and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord.

The power of the Holy Spirit helps us to be strengthened and encouraged.

1 Corinthians 3:16 NIV84

16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

The power of the Holy Spirit lives within us to help perfect us.

Psalm 51:10–12 NIV84

10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

Being chosen to live by conviction also means that we are persuaded by the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit helps us persuade others to follow God’s way.

Acts 20:28 NIV84

28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.

We are overseers. This is not just for ministers or pastors, but for everyone that is called Christian.

Acts 15:28–29 NIV84

28 It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: 29 You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell.

In other words, we have instructions on how to live and persuade others how they too should live in Christ. We ought to be different than those that choose not to be chosen.

Chosen to Conform (vs. 6-7)

Because of the fact we are chosen by Christ and convicted in how we live by the Holy Spirit, we must realize that we are chosen to conform. This conforming is not to the pattern of this world as described in Romans 12:2.

Romans 12:2 NIV84

2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Rather, we conform to be a model for others to follow. Notice the last sentence of 1 Thessalonians 1:5: “You know how we lived among you for your sake.” Verses 6-7 use the words “imitators” and “model” to help us understand this concept. Now we are all created uniquely and we are all very different. However, we are chose to conform to the image of Christ. What is the image of Christ? We are to show love, mercy, kindness and gentleness like our Lord.

Ephesians 5:2 NIV84

2 and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

As those who are chosen to conform, we are given a mantra in life. Jesus said it this way:

Matthew 22:37–39 NIV84

37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’

In doing so, we given a ministry that echos throughout the hills and valleys of the land. 1 Thessalonians 1:7 says:

1 Thessalonians 1:7 NIV84

7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.

If you look on the map in your Bible that has Paul’s missionary journeys, you will see the areas of Macedonia and Achaia. It consists of about 175 radius from the city of Thessalonica. Think about it this way, if we were to take a 150 mile radius from our church, we would include areas as far as Charleston, West Virginia to the north, Raleigh-Durham to the East, the outskirts of Columbia, South Carolina to the south, and Knoxville, Tennessee to the west. That is a pretty good influence of a church isn’t it? See what the power of God can do with those whom He has chosen? That is just an example of the territory that this church became an influence to and a model for those believers. Church, who are we modeling our ministry to these days? We don’t have to be greedy and go 150 miles. What if we should love and compassion for a 10 mile radius? What if we showed love and compassion on our block?

This past week we had a bunch of rubber mulch delivered to our church that we can put in the playground. It came on 5 pallets in the back of a tractor trailer truck. The delivery was scheduled and the question was asked, “Do you have access to a forklift?” I went and talked with management of Earth Fare to see if they would be willing to help us. They were more than willing to help out. The truck arrived and I went out to meet the driver. When he got into the back of the truck, he discovered that one of the pallets and been crushed and it could not be unloaded with the forklift. The manager from Earth Fare recognized the problem, gave us a couple of pallets to reload the bags so the could b taken off. A 5-minute job turned into one that was way longer than 5 minutes. The workers from Earth Fare did not complain, just worked to solve the problem. My point in telling you this is that they did not have to help with this situation. They could have said “it is against our regulations” or “we can’t spare the time or resources to help.” However, they chose to help and to do so graciously. What if we thanked them in a unique way. What if we went over and purchased something, and to every employee we came in contact with, we simply say, “Hey I am from the church next door. Thanks to your store crew, we got our mulch off a truck for our playground. I can’t wait see our kids play on that! By the way, I sure would like to invite you to come over some time and worship with us.”

What is we share how gracious they were with our friends. What if we invite our friends to come to this church as a result. What if we took advantage of this and shared the opportunities we have of God at work in our midst? We would become a model to those around us as well.

Colossians 4:5–6 NIV84

5 Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.