CHOSEN RACE, ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, PECULIAR PEOPLE July 22, 2009

This morning as I was doing my bible study I was meditating on these verses…
1 Peter 2:9 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.
John 15:15-16 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16YOU DID NOT CHOOSE ME, BUT I CHOSE YOU and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

I often wonder what it is about God “choosing” us that is so scary to some people. What is that makes men back away from the idea that they played no part in their conversion. Is it the need to make ourselves greater than God? These verses are a huge humbling experience for me. The idea that I played no part in his calling me means that I am indebted to him all the more. If I could say that I chose to come to him then it would only make ME look good. not him. In fact, it would in essence seem almost “works based.” I love this quote by RC Sproul.

Accept Jesus? How arrogant! “Yes, Jesus, I accept you.” Ha! Who are you to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of Kings?…The problem is that none of us thinks as critically as we should about who God is when we say things like that. We have unintentionally adopted the ‘little God” view of our age. When going home to the Father, t is time to get rid of thought patterns born of rebellion. You are doing Jesus no favors by finding him acceptable. Anyone who accepts Jesus in the sense of, “Oh yeah, I’ll take Jesus. I’ll tolerate him,” has not received Jesus. That person is still in the pigpen, spiritually and morally dead. David got past the biggest of all lies, the lie that God owes us a better life, or that God owes us a rescue. Don’t ever ask God for what he owes you; you might get it. If he deals with you according to merit, you’re finished.
-R.C. Sproul

The only way that God can be Glorified in the transforming work in my life is if he did it and not me. Isn’t that our purpose, to bring HIM Glory?

Oh the peace and freedom in knowing that I was chosen to be a child of God. I was chosen to be a part of his chosen race, royal priesthood, and peculiar people.

I was so unworthy of the call of Christ! I still am! There are many days when my sin seem to outnumber my pursuits of Holiness and I wonder Why Me? Why did he choose me? What have I to offer to him the King?

I think that when we remove “ourselves” from the equation then we can truly see the purpose God has for our lives. Against popular culture and against what the majority of churches are teaching, it is not about you or me. It is only about him, the one who died to allow me to stand before the great High Priest. How will my life bring him the most Glory? When I seek to align myself to his word and people see that HE has brought me from darkness to light. When people can see that HE has appointed me to go and produce lasting fruit.

I challenge anyone who reads this today to really ponder what it means to be CHOSEN by him. Forget doctrine and theology for a minute and where you stand on certain issues and just chew on the idea of him CHOOSING YOU! Ephesians 1 says”… before he made the world, he loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”

Oh Lord, I am so unworthy of your calling. May I today and and everyday remember who I am in You! May I seek only to bring Glory to YOU and not to myself. May I rest in the knowing that you loved me and chose me before you created this world. Father, help me to not “try” to work for your favor. Thank you for the Cross and for giving me right standing in your presence. Remind me of my calling as a Royal Priesthood that I may live as a King and Priest for YOU. Remove from me any false idols of tradition or deception that cloud my view of you. Please Father, give me the eyes to see you as “I AM.” Help me to place these sacred words into my heart, burn your WORD into my heart that I may not only have a knowledge of you but that I may instead “KNOW YOU.”