Matthew 22: 1 – 14 (emphasise v. 14)
Jesus said ‘Many are called but few are chosen’.
This raises three questions,
1. on what basis are people ‘chosen’,
2 why are only a ‘FEW chosen’?
and 3 who does the choosing? God alone, or o we have any free will in the matter?
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In the Commentary to this verse,
in the Study Bible that Professor Glen Zweck
was good enough to give me as a present
when I completed my course at Westfield House Lutheran Seminary in Cambridge,
it says:
‘God’s call, His invitation, goes out to all, every human being good or bad,
but His offer of grace is only taken up by “the few”
whose positive response to God’s invitation
marks them as God’s chosen, God’s elect’.
On the other hand, as I understand the Five Points of Calvinism,
God, because of His sovereign will,
predestined some for salvation and eternal life
and the rest of mankind were predestined for judgement and eternal damnation,
before the beginning of time as we know it,
and because His will is irresistible,
the Elect could not refuse His invitation.
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Without going into the pro's and con's of predestination
and the place in all this for mankind's Free Will,
unless Free Will is just an illusion
because our every move is predestined or foreordained,
I am sure that we all are bemused and worried
by the fact
that the majority of people we know and come in contact with every day
refuse to acknowledge God,
have no time for the Bible or Church,
yet still, for the most part, expect to 'go to heaven' if there is one, when they die!
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The section of Matthew’s Gospel that we read today: chapter 22 verses 1-14
contains a Parable about the Kingdom of Heaven,
and the teaching in it is clear:
The king is God;
The king’s servants are angels;
the wedding banquet is heaven;
the guests are mankind;
and the outer darkness is hell.
Those who were admitted to the king’s wedding banquet
were those who accepted the king’s invitation,
the Elect or Saved;
and those who were thrown into the darkness
where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth
were those who did not accept the king’s invitation,
the Lost or Damned.
Sorry if this is not Politically Correct these days.
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I don’t want to argue against those who believe that grace is Irresistible
but to me,
the message of the Parable is that where a soul spends eternity
does not so much depend on God admitting some to heaven
and condemning others to hell,
but on whether a person accepts God’s invitation, or rejects it.
In other words, how they exercise their God-given free will.
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So who are ‘the chosen’, in the original Greek, the Kletos,
the ‘called’ or the ‘invited’?
They are those,
all who have accepted God’s invitation
and who will therefore benefit from all that God in His graciousness.
wishes us to have.
This is why in St Paul’s words in Philippians 4 verse 4,
Christians should ‘rejoice always’.
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We should rejoice every day,
and regard our rejoicing in this life as practice, a rehearsal,
for the time after we have departed this life,
when through God’s grace,
we will be rejoicing with all the other blood-bought saints
for eternity.
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So, who are ‘the chosen’?
1st all those who are physically alive now – all members of God’s Church;
not a united denomination unfortunately,
but all people, black and white, male and female, rich and poor,
who can sincerely say ‘I believe in Jesus Christ’.
We call this 'the invisible church',
the 'visible church' being buildings and people who attend them
but who do not really believe the Gospel.
2nd all those who have died who are now with the Lord
awaiting the resurrection.
We call this 'the church triumphant' because they are enjoying their reward,
whereas we who are still alive are members of the 'church militant',
involved in the fight against the world, the flesh, and the devil.
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‘The Chosen’ include all the people over the course of time
from the Creation of the world to the Day of Judgment,
who God has chosen, for reasons known only to Him,
and who has made them, us, members of the fellowship of all people
who have been or are being or will be gathered, set apart,
because they belong to Jesus Christ.
All true Christians are ‘the chosen’ and members of God’s “invisible church”
regardless of what branch or denomination of the ‘visible church’
they belong to.
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When we stand before the throne of God, our relationship to Christ, not our labels,
will be the only thing that matters.
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Our local church is important,
but each local Christian church is a part of a larger fellowship,
and I don’t just mean the FIEC or any group or denomination.
By virtue of God’s grace and our faith and repentance,
we belong to the one true church,
the fellowship of all true believers,
and this is what Jesus called ‘the chosen’.
Being a member of ‘the elect’ is more than just being a member of a church,
and having what the Bible calls a form of religion,
if there is no true saving faith in Christ.
Being on the church roll does not of itself make anyone a Christian.
(SAUSAGE ROLL)
There must be real repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord.
We may have a certificate of church membership,
but our true, spiritual credentials, are within, in our hearts or souls,
and while it’s important to belong to a local congregation or body of believers
such as this one,
it is genuine, authentic faith that makes us members of ‘the elect’, God’s Church,
not just members of a local branch of it.
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The Apostles Creed refers to
“the One, Holy, Catholic or worldwide, and Apostolic Church”,
and this is what we are part of, regardless of any church name or denomination,
because God chose us,
He elected us,
not in an election which takes place every 4 years
such as happened in the USA when Donald Trump become President.
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God elected us not because of any merit on our part,
but because of His goodness,
and our election does not only last for 4 years, but for eternity.
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‘The chosen’ are also called ‘the elect’ or ‘children of God’ or “saints”.
Usually when we employ this word, we think of people like St. Patrick and St. Augustine,
St Columba and St. Francis,
yet the Apostle Paul in the opening lines of most of his Letters
uses the word to describe all Christians, ‘the elect’.
The word “saints” literally means people who’ve been made holy,
not people who have achieved holiness, or passed a test in goodness.
We may not think of ourselves in that way,
but because of the shed atoning blood of Christ,
we’ve been cleansed and, in the sight of God, we’re declared spotless.
We’ve been called out and separated for God,
that’s why we are ‘the elect’.
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Why are the chosen, ‘FEW’?
First of all because the human condition is fallen,
and all have sinned,
and as Jeremiah put it, the human heart is full of deceit.
Secondly because there is a devil
and he has blinded the hearts or spirits of many, if not most,
to the things of God.
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Our friends in other churches believe that God has only predestined a FEW for salvation,
The Little Flock,
and the rest, the majority, must logically be predestined for damnation;
but in Peter’s 2nd Letter chapter 3 verse 9
he wrote:
‘God does not want anyone to perish
but desires all to come to repentance’,
and of course we have Jesus’ words in John 3:16,
‘For God so loved THE WORLD
that He gave His only-begotten son,
so that whosoever believeth on Him
will not perish but have eternal life’,
which to me suggests
we have the power, the freedom to accept or refuse God’s invitation.
Why are only a FEW chosen
because as Jesus put it in Matthew 7 verses 13 & 14
sing the illustration of two gates and roads,
one wide
and one narrow;
many CHOOSE the wide one,
the popular one;
ignoring the threat of destruction;
whereas Christians are the FEW who choose to follow
the narrow one,
which is God’s way.
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So Christians, we here,
all of us I hope,
are the Chosen People,
the Few;
the Elect, the people for whom God sent His only begotten Son;
the people for whom Christ died;
and that is why we come to church,
to have our souls fed by the Word of God
and, as we will today, through the sacrament of holy communion;
by praise and worship,
by teaching and instruction,
by fellowship, companionship, friendship,
for service to the community and each other,
and for outreach or witnessing.
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As the ‘chosen few’ we are assured that our sins are forgiven
and that we will spend eternity with God,
but until then we need to praise God,
learn from His word,
encourage one another,
use our time and talents for God,
and reach our community with the Good News.
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We are ‘the chosen few’ not only for this life but for eternity,
which is why we have to get on with each other,
because we are going to spend eternity with each other.
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Story:
An elderly gentleman, who had lost most of his hearing and eyesight,
nonetheless continued attending church faithfully.
It was difficult for him to take part in the worship, but he didn’t stop coming.
One day after church someone asked him,
“It’s obvious you can’t hear or see most of what’s going on,
so why do you bother to come?”
The man replied, “I want to show everybody, Whose side I’m on!”
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I hope those are our words also,
we are here to show Whose side WE are on.
We are here this morning because we belong to God, we are His,
And we want to be His.
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Some like to play Peter against Paul,
but in his First Letter to Timothy chapter 2 verse 4 Paul wrote:
‘God our Saviour desires all men to be saved,
and to come to a knowledge of the truth’.
God desires all to accept His invitation,
but does not force or cajole,
but He knows who will accept the invitation.
As Charles Hadden Spurgeon once said:
God is the only one with Absolute Foreknowledge;
He knows those who are His.
WE don’t know who the chosen few are,
so it is our job to pass on God’s invitation to as many as we can,
and pray that they choose to accept God’s choice of them.
Amen.
