We Have Been Chosen

Text: John 15:16  16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.   INTRODUCTION: My dear friends in Christ, Years ago there was a show on TV called the Wonder Years.  It was about a boy named Kevin growing up in the 60’s and 70’s.  One episode was about choosing a basketball team in Gym class. The teacher chose captains who then picked the rest of their teams. As usual, the poor players were always chosen last which did little to help the self-esteem of those chosen after everyone else. Some of Kevin's friends, who were usually chosen at the bottom of the list, complained to Kevin. Kevin brings their complaint to the teacher, who promptly makes Kevin one of the next captains. He has to choose his team.  Kevin chooses his friend one of the worst players - and he felt good about bolstering his ego. So the next round, he chooses another poor-playing friend. Kevin kept picking the losers - and he felt good about it. How did Kevin's team do?  They were miserable!
I. Like Kevin we have choices to make in our lives.  Yes, life is a series of choices.  Some choices we see as good, don’t always work out so well.
	A. Some are part of everyday life, like: What time to wake up…whether or not to hit the “snooze button”…what clothing to wear…what to eat….  From the time we open our eyes in the morning to the time we close them again at night, life is a series of choices.
		1. Most of these we make without much thought, but some choices demand more of us.
				a. It’s not difficult to choose a box of cereal to open for breakfast, but choosing a spouse can be quite a process.  b. Deciding which television show to watch is no big deal, but deciding what career to pursue can be.
		2. Did you ever stop to consider why we make the choices we do?  Many times we decide matters based upon what we like and don’t like.  We make decisions according to what we enjoy doing.
					a. If you did not enjoy a particular television show, you wouldn’t choose to watch it anyway?  No, you would watch a show you did enjoy.  If you didn’t like spinach, you would eat something else.  b. Sometimes we even make choices with what we think are good motives, but often even then things don’t work out as we hope, again like Kevin.
	B. So what is the final result of a lifetime of choices?  In the end, what do all of our decisions do for us?  We die.  We draw our last breath and we die.  And everything we chose to work so hard for is given to another.  All the choices we make through our entire life come to a final, end in the grave.
		1. Kind of depressing, isn’t it?  We live day after day making decisions according to what we like and what we think is best for us, like Kevin,  but in the end, we can’t take any of it to the grave.
			a. The clothing we enjoyed wearing, the food we liked, the memories of fun vacations will all stay behind when we die.  We have no choice.  We cannot continue to choose living.  b. Because we are sinners, we are unable to choose life over death.  We all must die.  And because we are sinful people, every day we choose the wrong course…the wrong plan of action.  We choose to disobey.  We choose to be selfish.  We choose to be self-serving.
		2. We inherited this from our parents.  And we die because our first parents (Adam and Eve) chose to eat the forbidden fruit, and their choice sealed our fate.  Their decision to disobey God infected us with sin, so that you and I live as sinners who make sinful choices our entire life, and then we die.
II. And now we can only wonder: “Is there any good news for us?”  Yes, there is.  Jesus says in John 15, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you...”  Our hope is not in the choices we make, but in the choices God makes.
	A. Our choices end in death, but Jesus chooses life for us.  Our choices show our sinful disobedience, but Jesus chooses to forgive our sins.  We choose according to what we like and enjoy doing, Jesus’ choices are based on love.
		1. We choose what we think is right.  But our choosing power is corrupted by sin, so in the end we choose death.  2. That’s not Jesus’ way.  He chose love and life for us!
			a. He chose to take our place.  A bit Like this: He chose to suffer in our place.  He chose to be brutally beaten for you.  He chose to bear your sins.  He chose to go to the cross to be punished in your place.  b. Jesus did not choose what was best for Himself, He chose what was best for you and me.  He chose to earn salvation for you and me.
	B. And it’s not just that Jesus chooses what is good for you, He actually chooses YOU.
		1. It was not a stroke of luck that you were baptized in Christ Jesus.  It was because Jesus chose you.  He chose to make you His child in those waters.  He chose to cleanse you there of your sins.  He chose to give you new life—eternal life.
				a. And it wasn’t mere coincidence that you were then raised in the Christian Faith after your baptism.  Because Jesus chose you, He brought you to where His pure Word is preached and taught.  He instructed you through Christian parents, teaching you that God is your dear Father and you are His dear child. b. You are here today not by chance but because God has led you here.  He wants you to hear and believe the message that no matter how many wrong choices you have made in your life, God, forgives you for Jesus’ sake.  And you are forgiven—not because you choose God, but because Jesus chose you in your Baptism. c. Through His Word and Sacraments He chooses to keep you always near to Himself.  Every good decision you make as a Christian is Christ Jesus in you doing it.
		2. If the grace of God was dependent upon our choosing, upon our decision-making through life, we could never be certain of God’s love for us—we could never know for sure that eternal life is ours.
				a. How comforting that Jesus tells us it’s not up to us?  It’s not dependent on how good a choice we make.  On our own we would live a lifetime of sinful choices and then perish in the grave. b. Thankfully it’s about Jesus.  Be comforted, then, with these words of our Lord, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you.”  You are Jesus’ choice.  No matter how wrong your life has been; no matter how poorly you have followed Him, Jesus forgives you.  Every one of you is forgiven—you have His Word on it.  And in that Word you have His promise to lead you through the grave into eternal life—And the life He gives you is not because you choose Him, but because Jesus chose you.
III. This passage from John reminds us that we've been CHOSEN for a purpose-- TO LOVE as He has loved us.
	A. Jesus’ love comes first. He loves you and He lays down His life for you!
		1. Then He chose you and appointed you to bear fruit --lasting, abiding fruit. Fruit that doesn’t rot, fruit with no expiration date. That fruit is, in one word, LOVE.
					a. Jesus commands His disciples to abide in His love, in order that, they love one another. b. This is the uniqueness of Jesus and of faith in Him. He doesn’t command us to do something, but to remain somewhere, to stick to His love for us, to be on the receiving end of His self-giving love. And the result of that, His love flows through us to others – that’s fruit.   Now we are reflecting His love.
		2. So Love is the fruit of faith. Faith and love are  bound together, yet they are different.
					a. Faith is the relationship, love is the product of that relationship. Faith is trust that clings to the promises of God in Christ, b. When that faith happens then Love happens.
	B. And now Every work of faith is your Savior bearing fruit in and through you.
		1. Every work of faith is God’s love flowing through us to others.  Now God loves the world through us. 2. I need to tell you a story here shared by another pastor.  A lady in his congregation whom we'll call Jessica, had a husband who suffered a terrible accident at work.  He was crushed by a number of heavy pipes.  He worked in an oil field.  He didn't die, but the doctor said it would have been better if he had.  He was in a coma six months and in the hospital for many more months after that. When he came home he wasn't even a shadow of the man he once was.  He could barely speak.  When he did, he told his wife Jessica, over and over again, "Go away; I want you to divorce me."  He loved this woman and pitied her, and he did not want her to be tied down to caring for him, day and night, for the rest of his life.  He wanted her to divorce him and find someone else; someone who could show love to her.  But she didn't.  She committed herself to him.  "In sickness and in health, for better or for worse," she had promised.  And though he could not show love to her, she kept loving him. In spite of that situation, Jessica loved her husband.  God’s love flowed through her to her husband.   And That love flowing from God has the power to change lives–– It changes our love for one another, it changes our love for those in need, it changes our love for Jesus.
CONCLUSION: Yes, Life is full of choices – choices we make for various reasons, like what we like and even because of our selfishness.  But in the end all of our choices are wiped out by death. But Jesus chooses differently.  He chose what was best for us.  He chose to go to the cross for you and me.  Now He chooses us to be His friends.  Now His type of love flows through us to the world.  Amen.
The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Amen
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