ARE YOU CHOSEN?

This is the most important question of your life. Are you chosen? Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen. I have spent quite some time praying, thinking and seeking wisdom in this area. As usual I am still seeking and do not have a full understanding of this but I have enough faith in the sovereignty of God to trust that He knows what He is doing.
The verse I just read is at the end of the parable of the wedding feast in that many were invited but many were too busy to go, didn’t want to go or outright refused invitation. The verse would indicate that even though you have been called it is not a guarantee that you will be at the wedding. In this parable someone who even came to the wedding that was not properly dressed was bound and thrown out.
This is an area that causes a lot of debate and argument among Christians and non-Christians. It is a not so easy doctrine to believe or follow. People have a hard time believing that God does not call everyone to Him. They see God as all love and no judgment. God cannot be God if He is not just. People take verses like 1 Thessalonians 5:9 and 10 which says God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10: who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with Him and they don’t pay attention to whom this letter was written to. “Us” is the people of the church who have proven their faith and love in Jesus Christ. That is not a blank certificate for the entire world to claim salvation by.
If we read the first few verses of 1 Thessalonians we can see this clearly... 1 Th. 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace. 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1:4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 1:5 because our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. 1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, 1:7 so that you became and example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.
As you can see Paul and his companions were writing to a specific group of people that had proven themselves chosen.
Maybe your thinking that that is only one example that’s not enough for me to believe. Lets look at the character of God throughout the Bible.
In the Old Testament God chose the Israelites as His chosen people, He didn’t choose all people.
He chose the Levites to be the priests, not all the Israelites.
He chose some to be prophets, some to be kings.
In the New Testament God chose His disciples. Only twelve were chosen for this honored rank.
He chose particular men to pen the Bible, not just anyone.
I say all this to show you that the character of God is to have those that are chosen and those that are not. Do I really understand this? No. Why does God choose some and not others? I don’t know. What I do know is that I did not deserve to be chosen. But I believe I am.
So, how can you be 100 percent sure that you are chosen? I don’t believe that you can. I think that if we were 100 percent then we would become haughty, prideful and ungrateful. We read earlier in Thessalonians some characteristics of some who were believed to be chosen. They were faithful in love, steadfast and imitators of Christ. Are you any of those things? Colossians chapter 3 says that if we are chosen we should act a certain way. Verse 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13: bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must forgive. 14: And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Are you compassionate, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, and loving?
We should understand that our flesh does not seek after God. Romans 3:11 tells us “No one understands: no one seeks for God.”
Your flesh does not seek God but the spirit placed in you by God does. If your desire is to seek the righteousness of God then you have the spirit in you and you are amongst the chosen, a royal priesthood, holy, possessed by God that you would proclaim the Excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
If you are indeed chosen then we should hardly be able to contain ourselves. Think of the honor to be considered the elect of God himself. If we intellectually could grasp hold of that then we would live the life that would be evident to those around us like it was to Paul about the Thessalonians. Are you chosen? If your not sure then pray to God He would reveal Himself to you and accept you into His kingdom. If you are sure, are you living a life that is obvious to others that you are? If your not, your position may not be as secure as you thought. Remember the man at the wedding feast that was not dressed properly. He was thrown out forever. You do not have 100 percent surety. Continue to seek God and His righteousness continuously. Never ceasing to give thanks for the Hope that has been placed in you.

JOY AND HAPPINESS

Most of what I write comes from experiences in my life. Sometimes it is conversations with people or just thoughts that I have. Then God and I spend some time together with these ideas and when I begin to understand it I bring it to you and try to teach and share with you these “revelations” that I have had. This topic is similar and yet different because I have not come to a complete understanding of this yet but I am confident that God will grant us wisdom and understanding as we continue to seek after Him and His ways. I have had a difficult time in preparing this but as I prayed and thought about all the people at the nursing home where I sometimes speak I began to realize that some of them were already living this. So I write this with thankfulness in my heart to the elderly who are living the example.

Jam 1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,

I always thought how could I possibly be happy when all this terrible stuff is happening? My whole world seems to be falling apart around me and I’m supposed to be happy. This whole Christian thing wasn’t going to work for me if I was supposed to be happy that terrible things happen. After a terrible car crash that left two promising 18-year-old girls that had just graduated 4 days prior dead. One of which was my daughter’s best friend and also her boyfriend’s sister. Then on top of it all I have other family situations that, well lets just say its not stuff to be happy about. How could one possibly be happy and count it all joy? But of course being happy and counting it all joy have two totally different meanings. That is why it is important to study, learn and listen. So that is what I started to do.
So I looked into what the word joy meant and what was the lesson or what was the text seeming to say and is it the same thing as happiness.
My deduction... God will give us joy but He never promised us happiness. You may say “Dan you’re splitting hairs, it means the same thing”. No. I don’t believe it does. I think there is a very distinct difference in the joy that the Bible speaks of and the word happy that we use today. When we speak of being happy we think of laughing and as my wife stated “happiness is an outward expression of an emotional feeling”. When I asked my youngest son what happiness was to him it was getting a new skateboard, going to a party, going on vacation. He associated happiness with temporal type things. The word happiness as we use it today is superficial and without depth. It comes and goes depending on surrounding circumstances and is based primarily on feelings.
The unabridged version 1.1 at dictionary .com defines happiness as:
1. The quality or state of being happy.
2. Good fortune; pleasure

Now lets take a look at the word joy. In a majority of the texts that I will be referring to today according to Strongs is translated as...
chara
khar-ah'
From G5463; cheerfulness, that is, calm delight: - gladness, X greatly, (X be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, -fulness, -ous).

I love the phrase “calm delight”. In the midst of any circumstance you can have a calm delight. I wrote earlier that the people at the nursing home helped me with this sermon, I look around at them and I see the smiles and the peace on their faces and it helped me to realize that this concept can be real. Even in the pain some of them are in, even in the heartache and disappointment that some of them are experiencing they are still there every Sunday trying their best to sing and smile for the Lord. In their situation the world would tell them that you have a right to be bitter and mean and curse God for what He has done to you. But most of them are able to have a calm delight or a joy that the world could never understand without the love of Christ in their own hearts. You see it in their faces when we sing the old hymns and they come to life. People who hardly move or even grunt during the week are lifting their feeble arms to praise the Lord. The nurses are hardly able to believe how much they participate and how they are revived.
Let me give you an example that the Bible gives to help understand this concept...
. Joh 16:21 When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
Joh 16:22 So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.
The woman was in pain and was not happy at the moment but she never lost her joy in knowing that she was about to have a baby. It’s worth the pain. You wouldn’t curse God because of the pain; you would thank God for the blessing of the baby.
Of course the ultimate example for us to strive to follow would be that of Christ himself. Lets look at Hebrews chapter 2.
Heb 12:2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God,
I don’t think Jesus was ever not joyful about his purpose on this earth. He knew from the beginning why He was here and although He was not always happy, that joy was always set before Him. A calm delight if you will because He knew what was to come.
Does this mean that we shouldn’t ever be happy and have fun? Of course not.
What it does mean is that when you are going through a time of your life when things don’t seem to be so happy or are downright unhappy you can still keep your chin up and not be bitter toward friends, family or even God. JD Hatfield went over this on Wednesday evening and it applied so well I wanted to go over it with you.
1Co 7:21 Were you a slave when called? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity.
1Co 7:22 For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a slave of Christ.
1Co 7:23 You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men.
1Co 7:24 So, brothers, in whatever condition each was called, there let him remain with God.
This is directly from JD’s notes on these verses. I wanted to be accurate. He wrote...Just because a slave can and should please God doesn’t mean that Paul is teaching that God doesn’t want men to be free. Just because you can glorify God in that dark place doesn’t necessarily mean God wants to leave you there, but your attitude must be that if He does leave you there you will serve Him by serving in that situation anyway. If you can be free, if you can be loosed, if you can be made whole, healed, helped or whatever then praise the Lord. If not, well, then praise the Lord too. In everything give thanks
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
No matter what earthly situation you find yourself in keep yourself in the love of God.
JD also writes... Sometimes the power of God is not to deliver you from a situation but through and in that situation itself, so others, whom are not Christians or who are weak in the faith, they can see what a mature believer would do in the same situation.
Unhappiness is not necessarily a punishment for sinning. It doesn’t mean God has forgotten you, but part of God’s ultimate plan that is for His good and for His glory.
If you have the ability to be happy by all means be happy! But your amount of happiness should never affect the amount of joy you have. I could give you several references in the Bible that give us examples and lessons on having joy in difficult situations. Paul is an excellent example of this as he writes of joy while in prison. His focus was not on his circumstances but on Christ and His Glory. We need to focus on glorifying Christ then happiness is no longer a priority but a bonus.