A Chosen
Community – Colossians 3:12-17
Part One
What Does It Mean to
be Chosen?
The thematic question for this section is one that American disciples
must ask ourselves daily. Some sectors
of the Church equate God’s blessing and bestowal of chosen status upon us with
financial and material well-being.
Moreover, they insist that discipleship exempts them from physical
illness and the twists and turns of the volatile and declining global markets
and economy. What a pity that we would
reduce God’s blessing to temporal and earthly items that thieves take and moths
and dust corrupt. What a colossal pity
that followers of Christ would limit His conceptualization of a chosen people
to such meager things as the necessities of life!
The Christian life is not a system moral “Dos” and Don’ts.” It is not possible to establish a list of
ethical regulations, positive and negative, and then quantify one’s
righteousness according to the percentages of the time that one adheres to
these rules. The Christian life, also,
is not a process of demanding things from God and pointing to them as evidence
of being “highly blessed and favored of the Lord.” Instead, the Christian life is a relationship
with the Lord of the universe through the Person of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. It is a matter of realizing that
one is chosen as an instrument of the Lord to spread His gospel and build His
kingdom on the earth. It is the joy of
knowing one’s uniqueness as a child of God.
It is a process of discovering the singular talents, abilities and gifts
that God graciously gives us at birth and illuminates when we respond
positively to His loving appeals. It is
progressing to the spiritual awakening of living in total faith and genuine
reliance upon Christ. This way of life
enables you to live completely free of fear, doubt, anger and hopeless. More significantly, it is a lifelong process
of acquiring the mind, heart and character of Christ in which He gives the very
attributes that He assumed in the Incarnation.
Biblical Background
The word, Church, in Greek is ecclesia,
the called-out and chosen community. As
a consequence, members of the Church have been called out of the world’s
darkness and into the marvelous light of the presence and wisdom of Christ. We are chosen for the express divine purpose
to be instruments of God’s love, messengers of His grace and channels of His
peace.
In the midst of the societal insanity of Rome Roman
Empire . What an amazing
privilege for them! However, with
privilege comes responsibility. They are
not chosen by God to do whatever they want.
However, they must adhere to a greater standard of living as
disciples. Beyond the violation of moral
imperatives, they must meet the ethical principles of love, compassion and
integrity in deed more so than words.
They must adhere to the new law of love which Christ implements in His
preaching, teaching and healing. They
must cultivate the virtues of kindness, meekness, patience and
forgiveness. Being chosen by Christ is
more than a self-congratulatory occurrence because of a few material
possessions. In gratitude for one
“belovedness” as a child of God, one relays His love and forgiveness to others.
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