In his first letter, the apostle Peter wrote, “…you are a chosen race, ….” (1 Peter 2:9). There are many situations when people are chosen for something. It might be to play in a neighborhood ball game or serve in a government position. To my amazement, I was chosen with others to act in my high school senior play. Few, if any, like to be left out — not chosen for something important to them. Of course, nothing is more important than God’s will.
I want us to consider three examples of people chosen by God to do his will and accomplish his purposes.
First, God chose Israel to be his special people.
Moses said to the descendants of Abraham, Issac and Jacob as he prepared them to go into the promised land, “The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:6-8).
Despite their constant disobedience, God worked throughout their history to fulfill the promise made to Abraham. to bring them back to him.
A second example is that of Jesus choosing twelve men for the work of apostleship.
An apostle was literally “one sent” to do the work for which they were commissioned. The original twelve are named as a group in Matthew 10:2-4,Mark 3:13-19 and Luke 6:12-19.
Shortly before his death, Jesus said to eleven of these men (Judas Iscariot busy preparing to betray the son of God to a mob). “...you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).
Paul wrote that "Love must be sincere" (Romans12:9). The sincerity of Jesus' love for these men is demonstrated in John 13 as he washed their feet. He chose them from widely varied backgrounds to be his ambassadors of grace to an undeserving world. One of the last things he did was to send them to the world with the “good news” of his mission of mercy to earth. “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).
Third, every Christian disciple has been chosen by the Lord.
Paul said, "...he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight" (Ephesians 1:4). He also wrote to the Christians in Thessalonica, “...from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13). Our obedient faith is essential to benefitting from God’s choosing.
God's choosing of people for salvation is "by grace through faith" (Ephesians 2:8). Is there any greater blessing for those whom God created? I don’t believe so.