Are You Chosen or Called?

A Series on God’s Call to Ministry

Deuteronomy 7:6-9

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%207%3A6-9&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: How do you know what your calling in life is? Will you know from a big bang experience? Or will it come quietly, almost imperceptible? Will you be inspired by the stories of a visiting missionary; or a book that opens your eyes to the needs of a specific people group; or from your own life experience? This series is about God’s call to ministry for your life; what it means or doesn’t mean.]

Choosing sides for a baseball game was pretty much a rite of passage for boys when I was growing up. If you were chosen first, or near the beginning, you felt pretty good about yourself. However, if you were chosen towards the bottom, or especially last, you wished that you could run and hide.

⁶ For you are a holy people, who belong to the Lord your God. Of all the people on earth, the Lord your God has chosen you to be his own special treasure.  NLT

Quite unlike my experience of choosing teams for a pickup baseball game, Israel was chosen, not because it was big and powerful, but because the LORD loved them. In fact, Israel was one of the smallest and weakest of all nations. But the LORD had made a covenant with Abram, and the LORD was faithful.

In my New Living Testament Bible, the preface for Deuteronomy states the following:

“Deuteronomy summarizes the events that led up to that moment in Israel’s history; the eve of Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. Moses exhorted the Israelites to remain faithful and obedient and called them to rededicate their lives to the task God had given them.

Clearly, Israel was not only a chosen nation, but they were also a called nation. They were called to be a “kingdom of priests”. They were called to enter the Promised Land. They were called to be a blessing.

So, are you chosen by God, or called? The answer is yes!

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”             1 Peter 2:9 NIV

 

It feels good to be chosen first for a pickup baseball game. It feels even better to be chosen by the LORD as his own. But the LORD also calls you to action. He calls you to be a priest; holy and obedient. He calls you to be a blessing to others. He calls you to be a light in the darkness.

Band of Brothers

Reaching Higher: A Series on My Journey of Discipleship

Luke 6:12-13; Mark 6:7-13

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%206%3A12-13%3B%20Mark%206%3A7-13&version=NIV;NLT

[Preface: This series is autobiographical to the extent that it is loosely based on my spiritual journey. In some ways, you could compare it to the stock market with a gradual overall increase, but many ups and downs; even a crash or two. Through it all though, the Lord has loved me and been with me the whole time. I hope you find my journey encouraging, but also, that the Lord might speak to you through it.]

 

At the end of the summer of 1971, when I decided to drop out of college and stay in East Lansing, I didn’t have a clue what I was going to do, or where I would even live. Thankfully though, the church I attended owned a house that they rented out to young men.

 

 

This house became known as the Hagadorn House because it was… well… on Hagadorn Road. The other guys in that house, and in our college fellowship group, soon became my closest friends.

 

We lived together, ate together, worshiped together, prayed together and played together. In fact, our softball team was called… The Hagadorn Brothers. We became a Band of Brothers.

 

¹² One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night. ¹³ At daybreak he called together all of his disciples and chose twelve of them to be apostles.        NLT

 

Even though this was early in Jesus’ ministry, he had a large following; possibly as many as the 120 disciples that are mentioned in Acts 1:15. From this group, Jesus chose, and appointed, his apostles. Apostle means “one who is sent with a special mission”.

 

⁷ Calling the Twelve to him, he began to send them out two by two and gave them authority over impure spirits… ¹² They went out and preached that people should repent. ¹³ They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.            NIV

 

These men became a Band of Brothers who spent all their time together, day and night, for three years. They experienced highs like, healing the sick and driving out demons; as well as lows like arguing over who was the greatest, and completely rejecting Jesus at his hour of greatest need.

 

We all need a Band of Brothers, or Sisters, to laugh and cry with; to support one another in the good times and in the bad; to do the work of the Lord together. Like the Apostles, we have also been chosen and sent on a mission; a mission to love and serve others, and to share the love of Christ.

 

Who is in your Band?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chosen

1 Peter 2:4-12

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Peter%202%3A4-12&version=NIV;MSG

  

What defines you? What is your identity? Is it your career or what you do such as being a parent a student or an athlete? Is it where you live? Is it some great accomplishment; or something shameful that you did? Is it a physical trait like the shape of your body or how attractive you are?

 

Whatever it is, one thing is for sure; your identity sets the course of your life. It gives direction to your attitudes, your beliefs, and your decisions.

 

In Peter’s letter, he wrote to believers that were living in a precarious time. Followers of Christ were being persecuted daily, sometimes at the cost of their lives. Peter speaks to the core of their condition… their identity. Their identity will define them because it will determine how they respond and live their lives of faith.

 

⁹ But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. ¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.     NIV

 

^9-10 But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God’s instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted.           MSG

 

These two translations of the same verses give you insights into who you are as a believer; into what, or who defines you.

 

You have been chosen by God to tell others about the difference that God has made in your life.

       You have been chosen not because you are holy, but to be holy through God’s mercy.

        You have been chosen to be a part of the people of God; not a lone ranger.

         You have been chosen because God has a plan and a purpose for your life.

 

You are a child of God, chosen by Him to serve and to love Him. That is your identity. That is what defines you.