Chosen By God - A Huge Responsibility

Memory Verse: John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last”

We began our lesson today by filling out a card with all the labels with which we identify ourselves. Then we took the cards, mixed them up, and you tried to guess which of you matched these labels. How did you feel being reduced to a list of labels such as “American”, “female”, “male”, “teen”, “student”, “left-handed”, “loves to play video games”, “shopaholic”, “loves to read”, “hard- working”, “hates to wash dishes”, “horse-crazy”, etc.? Did any of those labels by themselves identify you? No. You are more than the sum total of the labels you give yourself or others.

Are you guilty of identifying others by the labels you hang on them? How? What labels are you guilty of hanging on others? (racial, religious, ethnic, social level, clothing style, hairstyle, etc.)

Why do you think you hang labels on each other? (We want to quantify and qualify people in nice neat little boxes)

Is it a good thing for you to label others? No. It reduces them in your minds to the status given the label whether or not the label is good or bad.

People are more than the labels they wear, just as you are more than the labels given to you by others and those you give yourself. Labeling limits your growth and limits growth in relationships with others.

Many of the labels you give yourselves are not good ones. (Fat, lazy, weak, dumb, stupid, worthless, etc.) They limit your growth and what you can achieve in life. The labels you hang on others can cause that same damage. God did not intend that we identify ourselves and others by the labels that we hang on them.

In your book, Karen was overweight and crippled by polio, so she limped. No boy voluntarily chose her for a dance partner. In their eyes she was a cripple and fat. None of the boys wanted to be seen with her. No one gave her a chance. She carried a label given to her by others by how she looked and how she walked. Only after the teacher talked to Nate did he even consider asking her to dance. Even then he really didn’t want to. He was afraid of how he would look to the other boys. He thought “Why me? The guys sure won’t think I look cool dancing with an overweight girl who is handicapped.” He thought of her by the labels he had given her – overweight, handicapped. He didn’t even think of her by name, only by her labels.

When Nate finally asked Karen to dance, she smiled at him with the brilliance of the sun. He thought she looked like a princess. When she began to dance with him, he was surprised at how good a dancer she was. The labels he had given her fell away and he finally saw Karen as a person who was more than the labels he had given her. The book doesn’t say, but I imagine that after he saw her as a person rather than a label, he may have even become a friend to her. He saw her differently than he had before. He saw her as a person, not as a fat crippled girl.

What is leprosy? Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines leprosy as a chronic infectious disease caused by a mycobacterium (Mycobacterium leprae) affecting the skin and peripheral nerves, characterized by the formation of nodules or macules that enlarge and spread accompanied by loss of sensation with eventual paralysis, wasting of muscle, and production of deformities.

These people become deformed, some horribly so. Back in Jesus’ day, they were isolated from society in separate leper colonies. Any leper entering a town or approaching healthy people was required to shout “unclean, unclean” so those approaching could avoid touching the “unclean” person. The leper’s label was “unclean”. Society would shun them and have nothing to do with them. They were frequently mistreated and verbally abused. They were seen by the label they wore – not as people.

Jesus didn’t label others. He treated them all the same – with respect and love. When the “untouchables” – those that had the horrible disease leprosy approached Him, He did not abhor them or abuse them or think less of them as did society. He had compassion on them and touched them and healed them.

Matthew 8:1-4 “1 Large crowds followed Jesus as he came down the mountainside. 2 Suddenly, a man with leprosy approached him and knelt before him. “Lord,” the man said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 4 Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about this. Instead, go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.”

Luke 5:12-15 “12 In one of the villages, Jesus met a man with an advanced case of leprosy. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground, begging to be healed. “Lord,” he said, “if you are willing, you can heal me and make me clean.” 13 Jesus reached out and touched him. “I am willing,” he said. “Be healed!” And instantly the leprosy disappeared. 14 Then Jesus instructed him not to tell anyone what had happened. He said, “Go to the priest and let him examine you. Take along the offering required in the law of Moses for those who have been healed of leprosy. This will be a public testimony that you have been cleansed.” 15 But despite Jesus’ instructions, the report of his power spread even faster, and vast crowds came to hear him preach and to be healed of their diseases.”

Jesus touched them. Jesus could have just healed the lepers without touching them, but Jesus touched the men. These men had probably not been touched by another human being for years. Jesus knew that the simple act of touching them would tell them that Jesus did not see them by the label “leper”, “unclean”, but as a real people. One of these men had an advanced case of leprosy. He probably didn’t even resemble a human being. When Jesus healed them, He totally restored them. He restored their skin to what it was before they became deformed. What an awesome miracle and act of love! Jesus did not heal them to gain fame for Himself. He told them to say nothing but to go present themselves to the priests as the Law required. Jesus did it because His heart was touched by their suffering. He did it out of love for them.

Those who do not know Jesus or those who have not yet accepted God’s call, repented of their sins, accepted Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for their sins, and have not been baptized yet are like a sort of spiritual lepers. By that I don’t mean they should be shunned or avoided or called names or labeled. I mean that God does not have a complete relationship with them – but He wants a relationship with them too.

You are being called now. God has chosen you to have a complete and whole relationship with Him now if you accept His choice.

1 Corinthians 1:26-29 “26 Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy[g] when God called you. 27 Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. 28 God chose things despised by the world,[h] things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important. 29 As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.”

God did not choose you because you are gifted, or beautiful or smart. He frequently chooses people that aren’t those things. When they accept His call He can work with them because they are not already filled up with self and their own importance. They are willing to be used by Him because they know that they can’t do it themselves. Anything good that comes from the works they do has to come from God because they know they can’t do it on their own. Therefore God gets the glory – not the people He works through. If you are filled up with self and your own importance, you cannot be worked with by God because those things get in the way and may even prevent His work from being done.

1 Peter 2:9 ”9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light.”

God has called you to become His. He has chosen you to show others who He is by what you do, how you treat others and how you live your life. If you accept this calling, you will have a huge responsibility. You must consider all the implications of this choice. He chooses us, but we still have the choice whether or not to accept it.

When you accept that you have been chosen by Him, does that make you better than everyone else? No! It puts a heavier responsibility on you than those He has not yet called or chosen. God holds you to a higher standard than them. God has given you understanding that He has not revealed to them. More is required of you than is required of them.

Luke 12:47-48 “47 “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. 48 But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”

Matthew 22:14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Do you think it is right to say some people are chosen by God and others are not? Why? Do people deserve to be chosen or not?

Psalm 103:10 ”He does not punish us for all our sins; He does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.”

Romans 5:12 ”When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”

Romans 3:23 ”For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”

We are all sinners. None of us deserves to be chosen by God. That choice does not make us any better than others – it makes puts more responsibility on us than others. We are more accountable for the lives we live than others. We are supposed to set the standard – God’s standard — as a beacon of light – a pattern of life for the world to follow – or not—as they choose. As you can also choose. That is our work here on earth -- showing others a better way – making disciples – showing them Jesus Christ by how we live and how we treat others – by our love for them. We can’t make disciples by condemning and pointing fingers. We can’t make disciples by name- calling, making disparaging remarks about them or hanging derogatory labels on them. We can’t make disciples by showing contempt for them. We can only make disciples by attracting them with our love and respectful behavior toward them.

You are not to put labels on people or limit them in your eyes no matter how evil or sinful they are. You don’t have to agree with or accept their lifestyle or sinful activities and you certainly are not to follow their example. But at the same time, you are not to look down on them either or consider them less valuable than others. God created them the same as He did you. God gave them the same freedom of choice as He gave you. God has not given them the understanding that He has given you, but that doesn’t mean He considers them less valuable than you. Look at the example of Paul and what God did with him. Read his story in Acts and his letters later in some of the New Testament books. If God can change Saul to Paul, what can God do with those who now hate Him or who don’t care about Him?

Ephesians 1:3-6 “3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure. 6 So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son”

Romans 8:29-30 “29 For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory."

Chosen by God! What an honor! AND what a responsibility! To whom much is given, much is required. God has given you much.

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