2434AFC082324 – Choose to Be Chosen – ← 😊 PODCAST LINK
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Johsua 24:1-18 {excerpts only} – Joshua gathered together all the tribes of Israel at Shechem … Joshua addressed all the people: “If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide [choose*] today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. … But the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. … Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
* : bachar choose, choice, chosen, selected from the choice ones
Psalm 34:16-17 –
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.
Ephesians 5:21 – 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
John 6:63-69 – 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Ah, Belovéd, my heart is harking back to those days of grade school at what was then called Charles A. Bradley Elementary School. There were some great times there. I remember one of the really “coveted” distinctions was to be selected to be on the Honor Guard. There were about a dozen kids chosen to march shuffle-style from the Office to the flag pole and to raise the flag and then lead in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. At the end of the day we marched out and respectfully lowered the flag, properly folded it, and took it back to the office. There were other episodes of choosing that were not so honorable – like standing in a circle and waiting to be chosen to play on one of the two Kick Ball Teams during Recess. Great athlete that I have never been, I was usually among the last – or often the last. When my name was finally called, one of the guys in my class usually said, “God Todd! What a clod!” Sometimes being chosen is pretty gratifying; sometimes it is not. In many instances being chosen requires having to do or be something or someone that serves another – like kickball for example – you have to be able to kick, to run, to score, to catch, and to throw accurately so that your team wins the contest (which to me always seemed mainly pointless anyway). Being chosen in a Covenant Relationship is a lot more complicated and demanding. Consider the history of Israel.
You will recall that God chose Abram and sent him off on a very long trek through very hostile territory. The purpose of the sojourn was to acquaint Abram with the land God had set aside for a group of earthlings that wouldn’t even be identifiable for hundreds of years later – about 400 years, actually. That was when God chose Moses to go to Egypt where his chosen earthlings had been multiplying and – well, let’s call it “incubating” – for that 400 years. Once Moses had gotten them out of the clutches of Pharoah and their slavery there, the Lord chose Moses to convey this message: Deuteronomy 14:2 – 2 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession. Why did God do that? it might sound trite or flippant, but “God only knows.” He did what he did because he wanted to do it. He chose the weakest, the most abused, the most fickle descendants of the first decent man (Abram) he found after the Great Deluge and called them to be “a light to the nations,” the singular Nation that would show how God as the source of Perfect Integrity, Endless Mercy, Everlasting Love, And Eternal Salvation. EVERY nation would be able to see how great El Shaddai-Olam is by how blessed Israel became. All they had to do was love and obey him so that they, and everyone in the World, would know as in Isaiah 44:6 –
6 Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no God.
Now, let’s take a look at the chopped-up Key Verse selection from Joshua 24. Here are the People of God’s Own Choosing, and Joshua is telling them they have already proven themselves to be fickle, selfish, and prone to do whatever their wicked neighbors do so that The Chosen will be more like the eliminated Nations: If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide [choose*] today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD. And what did the people reply? “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD for the service of other gods. … Therefore we also will serve the LORD, for he is our God.” Of course we cannot know, but I do believe that God himself said quietly, “We’ll see about that,” because he knew full well they would betray him over, and over, and over again.
Now, aren’t we also like that? do we not profess to know him, to love him, to serve him in his perpetual, deep-and-wide (↔ Music Link) Conventional Love and Grace? When I contemplate that, I rejoice because How can I keep from singing? (↔ Music Link) I say again How can I keep from singing? (↔ ANOTHER Music Link) And still, I know that even as I choose God to give Primacy to, I will fail and betray him through disobedience, and the desiring of no-gods, idolatry that is adultery in the Eyes of the Lord.
Most of the time this happens when we selfishly put our own wants ahead of other’s needs: “I want what I want when I want it,” and, “I know what you want, Lord, but I don’t want that because I’d rather have something (or perhaps someone) of my own choosing.” In the writing of the Prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Ezekiel (and in hundreds of other place in the B.I.B.L.E.) God addresses the topic of idols and idolatry. He calls them “no-gods,” and says through the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44:14-17 – 14 He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. 15 Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. 16 Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm, I can feel the fire!” 17 The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!” We, who claim to Love and serve the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our Fathers, (↔ Music Link) [1]
[1] “God of our Fathers” is the National Hymn. Daniel C. Roberts wrote the lyrics in 1876, the Centennial of the United States. The accompaniment in this version was written later by George W. Warren in 1892. It has invoked strong sentiments of Patriotism ever since. Would to God that “We, The People of The United States of America” would learn to sing, take up, and live the lyrics in this majestic poem! **↓
[1] the God who emptied himself and came to be with us as Emmanuel, we take cars, drugs, celebrities, gizmos and doodads, makeup, toothpaste, garments, and any other material or temporal thing we value and we make them into our gods, saying, “This will make my life so-o-o-o much better.” All the while we are saying, “God does not see, he does not care, I can get back to him and he’ll forgive me, but right now … yeah, I’m good with all these things and persons I have acquired.” Don’t we often choose what is the worst of us instead of choosing God Who Is the Best of us?
Every time we act in ways that show we are attempting to exalt ourselves at the expense of others, we are making ourselves to be our idols, making ourselves to be no-gods. No-gods our powerless. They cannot breathe because no Breath is within them, they cannot walk, or move, they cannot speak and so cannot answer, they have to Life, and so cannot give anything to satisfy our wants, much less our needs. When we make other persons (including us), places, things, ideas, or even spirits more important than the One, True, Only, Eternal God Almighty who created us and the entire universe (but is not the Universe), then we have manufactured one (or more) of those no-gods. Here is a little caveat about those no-gods: The usually are inhabited by demonic spirits – yep, persons, places, things, and ideas (I’m thinking politics at this very moment) can be the intermediary for demons. Recall the words of The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy 4:1-2 – 1 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later [or last] times some will renounce the faith by paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared with a hot iron. THESE earthlings should be easily and clearly recognizable as not-gods, and yet our country, founded on Christian principles, is divided over two people with very different claims to the power and integrity of their Christian faith. isn’t just possible that neither one of them is right? Who among us sees a leader who can be said is compliant with Ephesians 5:21 – 21 Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ? And not just in America, but in any government anywhere in the World? Can any such leader be the one chosen by God?
The stunning answer is yes. Throughout the history of the People of Israel, God chose Nations who had violent opposition to Israel. He chose them to correct their apostasy – their total rejection of their heritage at the chosen people, or as The Apostle Peter put it in 1 Peter 2:9 – 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people**, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
**Greek a people for his possession peripoiēsin preservation, acquisition, acquiring, obtaining, possessing, possession, ownership; ” ‘a making to remain over and above‘; hence, ‘preservation; preservation for one’s self; acquisition; the thing acquired, or a possession’ “
Now we here in America are looking at a situation where there will be even deeper division among our citizens, where too few of us will be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ. In the past, God has given The Chosen great blessings for their Love and Obedience. When “humanity” chosen or not, failed to honor his Primacy, this is the sort of message he gave us – all of us!
Proverbs 1:25-29 –
25 and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
26 I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
27 when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
29 Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord
ʻŌmea, please, choose to be The Chosen People, remember the Word the Lord has given us in Jeremiah 9:23-24 – 23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast, boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord. The wise, the mighty, the wealthy – and all the other no-gods – are like the fakey fans in Proverbs 15:12 –
12 Scoffers do not like to be rebuked;
they will not go to the wise. It is so simple to remember because our Lord God tells us so many times, like this time: Psalm 34:16-17 –
16 The face of the Lord is against evildoers,
to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears,
and rescues them from all their troubles.
NO no-gods can do that, absolutely none. And here is the result of when the Righteous call out: John 6:63-69 – 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”
Choose to be chosen by the Lord, God of Hosts, the first, the last, the only God who deposes all the no-gods with a single breath of his mouth. For this we are joyfully inspired to give Praise to the Lord (↔ Music Link) because of his Absolutely Perfect Plan! Blesséd be God in all his Angels and his Saints chose in righteousness “before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (See Ephesians 1:3-14 – seriously Adelphos, read it). we must understand that God will give you what we ask for but will base it on our actions, not our words. And this is why I close every message with my pledge to be subject to each and all of you in, and through, and because of being chosen in Christ Jesus for a life of Full-Time Christian Service. I tell you each time …
Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!
Please pray for me that I can choose to be your servant. (↔ Music Link)
Please pray with us here at Share-a-Prayer.
**↑
I choose “one Nation under God”
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com
Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License
[1] “God of our Fathers” is the National Hymn. Daniel C. Roberts wrote the lyrics in 1876, the Centennial of the United States. The accompaniment in this version was written later by George W. Warren in 1892. It has invoked strong sentiments of Patriotism ever since. Would to God that “We, The People of The United States of America” would learn to sing, take up, and live the lyrics in this majestic poem!
