Sunday, January 27, 2008

You Are the Favored Ones!
1 Peter 1:1-2

I. Introduction

A Drum Major For Righteousness

This past week the nation remembered the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. He had his own story to tell about listening to the voice. He had gone into the ministry mostly because his father was a pastor and he always did what Daddy King wanted him to do. Martin wanted a quiet life as a professor, possibly President of Morehouse College in Atlanta someday. He did not intend to be a national civil rights leader.

Through an odd turn of events, as a young pastor he was thrust into the forefront of the Montgomery bus boycott. He
came home late one night, tired, frightened. The phone rang. An angry voice on the other end said, "We're gonna get you, Nigger!" Martin Luther King stood in his kitchen, frozen in fear.

He wanted to call Daddy King for reassurance and advice. But Daddy King was not there. Then he said it was like a
voice. "Martin, you do what's right. You stand up for justice. You be my drum major for righteousness. I will be with
you." He had heard his name called. He knew what God wanted. His life was forever changed and through his life, so
was the world.

Dr. David E. Leininger

Dr. Martin Luther King was a man chosen by God. He did not wake up one day and decide to be a civil rights leader – it was the hand of God that led him there.

The above story came to mind when I was studying our passage for today.

II. The Favored Ones

You are also chosen, but what does that mean?

Let’s see what Peter has to say:

“Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect (favored ones), strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, 2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (1 Peter 1:1-2, NIV)

Listen, if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, received forgiveness and salvation by faith, and surrendered to His
will – you are the favored of God.

You are God’s elect, strangers in this world, but having a home in the next. But although you find yourselves strangers here, you are still called to live here.

How do you do that? You live as the chosen ones of God. You “have been chosen,” Peter says.

But in this introduction, Peter is not satisfied to just say you are chosen; he goes on to explain how all of the Trinity of God is involved in choosing you as His favored one.

A. We have been chosen by the foreknowledge of God the Father.

“…who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.”

This little phrase is both wondrous and confounding.

It is wondrous because it clearly states that we have been chosen by God the Father. We who were not a people are
now the people of God. Hallelujah!

It is confounding because of the phrase “according to the foreknowledge.”

On the one hand, you have those who say that you and I have no choice in the matter. From the beginning of time God has chosen some to be saved and others to be damned for all eternity.

This is a difficult thought for me to swallow and seems to contradict God’s desire that no one should perish, but that all would come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

The other option is just as difficult to me – that God looked into the future and saw everyone who would come to a saving knowledge of the truth and therefore He foreknew them.

While I am not able to fully explain this today, the bottom line is that this statement ends up being just as determinative as the first. In the end I have no choice.

The problem is that over the centuries we have created our own theological categories to help us understand the idea of foreknowledge, election, grace, etc. I think those categories have severely limited the mystery of God and placed Him too neatly into our comfortable little boxes.

We like a God we can understand and “control.”

You may ask yourself why this is even important – who cares if God has predetermined everything or whether he just
knew it ahead of time?

It is vitally important because what we believe radically effects how we will live as Christians.

Both of the above options, I believe, lead us into apathy. If all is predetermined, then what can I do about it? Nothing I
do is going to make any difference, so who cares? Why risk my job, my pride or my reputation to share the Gospel
with another person?

This is a huge subject; I am probably raising more questions than providing answers, but I would like to present a third alternative of how we can understand this verse and particularly the idea of God’s foreknowledge.

First of all, who has been chosen? Is God talking specifically to one individual?

No, God is speaking about a people – a people who “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.” (1 Peter 2:10, NIV)

So what did God foreknow?

“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I
have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6, NIV)

God knew ahead of time that Jesus (the servant) would not just restore Israel, but would be a light unto the
Gentiles (you and me).

Instead of arguing over whether this passage supports man-made theological systems, let us appreciate the beauty
and intent of the passage – that in Christ God has planned from the beginning to bring all the peoples of the world into
His family.

You who once were not a people are now the favored of God! Hallelujah!

B. You have been chosen through the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

What does this mean?

First of all, sanctification as a term refers to three features of our Christian experience:

    1. The initial work of the Spirit separating us from our sin and setting us apart for God.
        (1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:13)

    2. The enabling of the Spirit to grow in holiness throughout this life.
        (Romans 8:13, 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Thessalonians 5:23)

    3. The final act of God when we are made completely holy for eternity.
        (Ephesians 5:25-27)

In our passage for today, Peter is primarily speaking of the first feature.

You were chosen and set aside by the Holy Spirit. While I believe we play a role in this work, it is primarily a passive role.

If God does not “set you apart,” you can do nothing! The Good News here is that God has chosen to set you apart. All you need to do is surrender to the will of Almighty God as He works in your heart through the Spirit.

C. You have been chosen to be obedient to Jesus Christ.

You have not just been chosen to go to heaven – you have been chosen to live NOW.

True life, eternal life is experienced through obedience and that should be our first response once we have come to faith
in Jesus Christ.

Why obedience? Listen to this true story.

In 1992, Hurricane Andrew destroyed thousands of homes in South Florida. Yet in an area where the wreckage looked like a war zone, one house remained standing, still firmly anchored to its foundation.

When a reporter asked the homeowner why his house had not been blown away, he replied, "I built this house myself. I also built it according to the Florida state building code. When the code called for 2" x 6" roof trusses, I used 2" x 6" roof trusses. I was told that a house built according to code could withstand a hurricane-- and it did."

Our Daily Bread, March 2, 1994

God has given us a building code for life – Jesus said that if we abide by that code the storms of life will come, but we
will withstand them.

You have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Holy
Spirit, and to be obedient to Jesus Christ!

III. Application

You were not brought onto His “team” because He had no one else to choose.

If you are here and you know and walk with Jesus, you were not the last person chosen – you are the apple of God’s eye.

If you are here and you are not living for Jesus, you can receive this Good News into your heart and experience what it
is like to be the chosen of Almighty God.