Chosen and Called
The Nature of Discipleship • Sermon • Submitted
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· 22 viewsThere are no degrees of discipleship; you either are or are not. Yet, disciples know themselves to be called and chosen, which brings joy, peace and purpose to our hearts in the midst of struggle and uncertainty.
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
During the month of August, we are exploring together the theme, Discover Discipleship. My sermons will describe the nature of discipleship and a complementary seminar series will provide tools and skills for making disciples. I hope you have the interest and time to participate in both.
Last week, we explored the distinction between two words, hearing and doing, to discover how discples of Jesus hear his commands and do his commands. Today I want to explore two more words to discipleship: chosen and called.
One Has a Choice
One Has a Choice
To introduce the theme of choice, let me share with you a story included by G. Curtis Jones in an anthology:
Arguing politicians pic
Many years ago two [American] state senators wound up in an angry debate, in which one told the other he could “go to [H-E Double Hockey Sticks].” The man thus consigned protested to Governor Calvin Coolidge and asked him to intervene over the outrage. To which Coolidge replied: “I’ve looked up the law, Senator, and you don’t have to go there.”[G. Curtis Jones, "One Has a Choice", 1000 Illustrations for Preaching and Teaching (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1986), pg 154.]
It appears this great American politician thought one could choose his or her ultimate destination.
Pilot Makes Fatal Choice
Pilot Makes Fatal Choice
While I agree this is true, one can still make many mistakes along the way, even fatal ones.
Alan Cooper, in his 2004 novel, The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, described this disastrous true story:
Mountainside plane crash pic
American Airlines Flight 965 left Miami for Cali, Columbia, in December 1995. Before landing, the pilot of the 757 needed to select the next radio navigation fix, named Rozo. He entered an R into his navigation computer. The computer returned a list of nearby navigation fixes starting with R, and the pilot selected the first of these, whose latitude and longitude appeared to be correct.
Unfortunately, the pilot selected Romeo, 132 miles to the northeast. Following indications on the flight computer, the pilots began an easterly turn and slammed into a granite peak at ten thousand feet. Only 4 of the 156 passengers survived; 152 plus all the crew perished.
The National Transportation Safety Board declared that the crash was due to human error. The navigational aid the pilots were following was valid but not for the landing procedure at Cali. In the literal definition of the phrase, this was indeed human error, because the pilot selected the wrong radio beacon.
The computer told the pilot he was tracking precisely to the beacon he had selected. Unfortunately, it neglected to tell him the beacon he selected was a fatal choice.[Craig Brian Larson and Phyllis Ten Elshof, "Pilot Makes Fatal Choice", 1001 Illustrations That Connect (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2008), pg 391.]
Right Hook (What am I talking about & why should they care?)
Right Hook (What am I talking about & why should they care?)
Insofar as we have the capacity to make choices in our lives, it goes without saying making the right choices is pretty important. The most important choice of all is to become a disciple of Jesus the Christ.
Among the many benefits of being a disciple of Jesus, we know ourselves to be called and chosen, which brings joy, peace and purpose to our hearts in the midst of struggle and uncertainty.
I hope you have decided to be a disciple of Jesus too.
Explanation
Explanation
As we have begun to understand, to be a disciple is to make disciples. Besides hearing and doing, there are two more words we need to understand better if we are going to understand discipleship in its fullest sense.
Chosen
Chosen
There is no avoiding the fact the key twelve disciples were chosen by Jesus.
When we read the Gospels, Jesus called very specific men to be his disciples. For example,
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As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. “Follow me,” he told them, “and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
Peter and his brother Andrew were the first called by Jesus to become his disciples.
If anyone wants any more proof that making disciples is inherent in the very definition of discipleship, note here Jesus called Peter and Andrew with the promise, “I will make you fish for people”. This is most definitely a command and it is a call to become not just a disciple but a disciple who makes disciples.
That Jesus chose his key disciples is remarkable when we consider the culture and educational system of his time.
Jewish children were first taught in the home, by their fathers and mothers. Depending on the relative affluence of their town, village or city, Jewish families might send their children to the local synagogue for more formal religious and rudimentary education.
Between the ages of 10 and 15, boys were taught the traditional law. If the family could afford more, older boys could then be taught the Jewish law, with an eye to become a religious scholar or lawyer (i.e. scribe).
According to commentators,
The New Manners and Customs of Bible Times The Pharisees
The brightest of the boys, such as Paul, could go to Jerusalem to one of the law schools. They would sit at the feet of the great teachers (Acts 22:3) when they attended meetings of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews.
Note that only the most promising of boys, with families who could afford it, would receive advanced education.
The family of Paul were of what we would today call “the middle class”, so Paul would likely have supported himself in his education with work at the trade of tent-making. Yet, as a bright young man, Paul was promising enough as a student to be allowed to learn under the celebrated teacher Gamaliel (Ac 22:3).
What is important here to appreciate is that students sought out teachers and teachers could pick out the best students for themselves, if they were themselves the best teachers. The situation then was not unlike our current university enrolment system.
Yet the Gospels tell us Jesus chose his disciples —specifically, his key twelve disciples— and he did not choose from among the best and the brightest teenaged students of his time. Instead, he chose adults from among the lower, working classes. He chose fishermen, he chose revolutionaries, he chose hated tax collectors.
In being chosen by Jesus, these men could only respond to Jesus’ invitation to become his disciple. Yet not all who were invited accepted Jesus’ invitation. For example,
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Luke 18:22–23 (CSB)
When Jesus heard this, he told [the rich young ruler], “You still lack one thing: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” After he heard this, he became extremely sad, because he was very rich.
The rich young ruler had no reason at all to reject Jesus’ invitation to become his disciple. He wanted to inherit eternal life, after all, and Jesus’ had “the words of eternal life”. Yet, the lifestyle Jesus required of this young man was more than he could bear. He would have to give up too much of his affluence and his influence, those things which he clearly took too much pleasure in.
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Jesus replied to them, “Didn’t I choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”
We know too that among Jesus’ key twelve disciples, even though he chose them specifically, Judas eventually betrayed Jesus.
It seems then that when Jesus chose disciples this invitation was not irresistable nor irrevocable.
In noting that Jesus chose his disciples, this brings to mind God’s choice of the descendants of Sarah and Abraham. They were chosen to be a blessed people AND to be a blessing for others (Gen 12:1-3). Yet they were not chosen because of anything that distinguished them from anyone else (Dt 7:7-8). They were chosen because of God’s grace alone.
And not all among the descendants of Abraham were saved by faith (Rom 9:6–8).
Yet before we take this sense of being chosen too far, may I draw your attention to verses 67-69:
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So Jesus said to the Twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?” Simon Peter answered, “Lord, to whom will we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Clearly, the Twelve were chosen by Jesus to be his key disciples and yet he acknowledged they had the freedom to walk away from him and his ministry, as many others did.
Called
Called
No, the sense of being chosen has nothing to do with one’s faith or salvation, yet has everything to do with another important word for understanding discipleship: Called.
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You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
That any one of us is a disciple of Jesus, enjoying all the benefits and privileges thereof, is not due to our choice of him but his choice of us. In this we do not boast, but are thankful for the opportunity to respond to his invitation.
However, the choosing of disciples is also a call to “go and bear fruit”, “to be a blessing” for all the people and nations on earth. To respond to Jesus’ invitation is to accept also his appointment. Those who would be a disciple of Jesus are called to make disciples.
Supporters
Supporters
If the rich young ruler did not accept Jesus’ invitation to become a disciple, this then draws to our attention the many others in Jesus’ orbit.
During the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, there were those who were his disciples in the narrow sense of literally following him everywhere for 3 years. Yet there was also a broader group of adherents, sympathisers and supporters.
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Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this household.’ If a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they offer, for the worker is worthy of his wages. Don’t move from house to house.
When Jesus’ sent out the 72, this group may have included the key disciples but necessarily —if my math is correct— included many others. They were not the twelve “Disciples” (with a capital “D”), but they were disciples (with a lowercase “d”) nonetheless —I believe I got myself into trouble the last time I used this method of distinguishing between two states.
Identified as “messengers” in Luke 9:52, this larger group of unnamed disciples proclaimed the good news about Jesus and performed deeds of power in his name. Those who offered hospitality to them did not themselves join the twelve Disciples, but they became part of a wider group of the supporters of Jesus, who also, because of placing their faith in Jesus and learning to live a Christian lifestyle, we consider as disciples.
For example,
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Luke 8:3 (CSB)
Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting [Jesus and his disciples] from their possessions.
There were in fact many supporters of Jesus, who believed in his message, likely supported him financially, yet who did not follow him in the same literal sense as the twelve Disciples. Lazarus, Martha and Mary were in this group (Jn 11:5); Zacchaeus joined this group (Lk 19:2ff); Joseph of Arimathea (Mk 15:43), Nicodemus (Jn 3:1ff., Jn 19:39), and many of those who experienced the healing power of Jesus and his disciples, belonged to this broader group of supporters.
They were disciples without being the Disciples.
No Distinctions
No Distinctions
In the Gospels, most of the attention is given to the central 12 and even to the inner circle of 3 —Peter, James and John. Those Disciples, in the narrow sense, were by no means the only disciples of Jesus. Yet, in the early church, they alone and their example of ‘following’ Jesus, were the models for being a Christian.
In the New Testament writings, the word “disciples” is used of all the followers of Jesus, with no distinction nor separation. While the Disciples were models and exemplars, they did not represent a class of ‘higher quality’ Christians among other Christians.
Therefore, the supporters of Jesus were just as much disciples even though they could not follow him as he travelled the countryside.
To be "chosen" to be a disciple of Jesus was not about being chosen to be saved. True, no one can respond to Christ’s invitation without God’s grace affording us the opportunity —God does not treat us as our sin deserves, after all (Ps 103:10). It is by God’s grace alone that anyone is rescued, redeemed and restored (Eph 2:8-9).
The Bible teaches that God is love (1 John 4:8, 16), that God loves all people (John 3:16) and that he does not willing afflict anyone (Lam. 3:33) nor does he desire their damnation (Ezek. 18:30–32; 33:11; 1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet 3:9).
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We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
We should always understand language in the Bible about being chosen as being hand-in-hand with being called. There is a task to be performed, a ministry to which God appoints his people, and this is not limited to the few, even though only a few perform functions in the Church that draw much attention and that require much responsibility.
All of us who are disciples are so because we have placed our faith in Jesus and we live a Christian lifestyle where we are, to the best of our ability, with the guidance and help of the Holy Spirit. And we gladly work with the Spirit to guide and help others be reconciled to our Creator God, as we are.
That is what it means to be chosen and called to be disciples who make disciples.
Application
Application
We considered last week how disciples of Jesus hear his commands and do his commands. We now also understand disciples are chosen and called. How does understanding these words make a difference to placing our faith in Jesus and living a Christian lifestyle —in other words, to our discipleship? How do these words help us to love, trust and obey Jesus in following the Way of Love?
Choose Gratitude Over Understanding
Choose Gratitude Over Understanding
The Office cast pic
In season 6 of the American television comedy series, The Office, characters Jim (played by John Krasinski) and Pam (played by Pam Beesly) become married. In the season 7 episode, “Classy Christmas”, Pam says that her husband Jim always makes her great Christmas gifts, so she wants to make him one too. She therefore creates a hand-drawn comic book about Jim getting attacked by a radioactive bear and taking its powers.
Asking her co-workers’ opinions before giving the comic to Jim turns out disastrous because most of them give her harsh critiques. They do not understand why anyone would want a handmade gift, let alone a comic book. Yet Jim was amazed at the comic book she gave him.
The Office clip
The greatest gifts we receive are those we do not at first understand, yet are given by those who clearly understand us better than we realise. Their careful choices show appreciation and love.
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Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate the loaves and were filled. Don’t work for the food that perishes but for the food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal of approval on him.”
The 72 had just witnessed Jesus perform incredible feats of power. He fed more than 5000 people with a little bread and a few fish. He then walked out to the disciples on the water.
Yet because Jesus described himself in some unusual terms —”Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blook, you do not have life in yourselves” (Jn 6:53)— the 72 deserted him (Jn 6:66).
What the crowd and the 72 so-called disciples did not understand was that Jesus was inviting them into communion with him. If they had just accepted the confusion, in time his last supper would have revealed to them a vivid portrayal of this description of himself.
No, Jesus did not mean to literally eat his body and drink his blood! The remembrance of him offering his tortured body and spilled blood would remind of us his great gift for our salvation.
Therefore, choose gratitude over understanding. You being chosen and called to be his disciple does not depend on you understanding all the nuaces heights of Theology. Do not be put off by the questions that arise or the metaphors used. The only thing required of you is gratitude for the gift.
You may face periods of uncertainty in your faith, but know that in time you will understand more. Until you do, choose to be a disciple of Jesus who loves him because you are grateful for what you do understand of what he has done for us. Then your uncertainty will give way to love.
Choose Courage for Obedience
Choose Courage for Obedience
A Mr. Albert Mygatt recounted the following delightfully true incident:
Robins in a nest pic
A local parks commission had been ordered to remove the trees from a certain street which was to be widened. As they were about to begin, the foreman and his men noticed a robin’s nest in one of the trees and the mother robin sitting on the nest. The foreman ordered the men to leave the tree until later.
Returning, they found the nest occupied by little wide-mouthed robins. Again they left the tree. When they returned at a later date they found the nest empty. The family had grown and flown away. But something at the bottom of the nest caught the eye of one of the workmen —a soiled, little white card. When he had separated it from the mud and sticks, he found that it was a small Sunday school card and on it the words, “We trust in the Lord our God”[Paul Lee Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc., 1996), pg 1527.]
What amount of faith those robins actually had in their Creator God we can only imagine. But in the midst of danger and struggle, they persisted in courageously living as they knew was right for them.
I understand when I talk about disciples making disciples I can give the impression we are worth something to Christ based on what we do for him. That is not my intention.
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“What can we do to perform the works of God?” they asked. Jesus replied, “This is the work of God—that you believe in the one he has sent.”
Jesus cares less about what you do for him and more that you commune with him. That belief in him and what he has done for us will develop into trust and courage for obedience.
The way of the world is to love yourself over all others. Jesus’ Way of Love is to love God, love one another and love others first. To go against the ideologies of this fallen world is to risk suffering. Suffering weakens our convictions.
To be a disciple of Jesus we are grateful for what he has done and therefore love him. Yet this must also lead to trust and obedience. Following the Way of Love despite the pressures to think and act differently requires courage for obedience. Choose courage and suffering will give way to the blessing of living in constant communion with Christ our Lord.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Every friend of Jesus can stay true in the midst of struggle and uncertainty by choosing gratitude and courage.
I know it sounds harsh that there are no degrees of discipleship. You either are or are not a disciple of Jesus. Yet, disciples know themselves to be called and chosen, so we love, trust and obey. This in turn and in time brings joy, peace and purpose to our hearts in the midst of struggle and uncertainty.