Title: The Chosen / Colossians 3:12-14
Contents Chosen People
Col 3:12-14
In verse 12 of today's text, we see the phrase "the chosen one of God." The idea of God's election is a consistent idea that runs throughout the Old and New Testaments. In other words, God chooses people and does what He wants to do through them. Let's check some facts centering on God's choice.
First: Why did you choose?
1) Because the number is small.
In Deuteronomy, the reason for choosing Israel is revealed. “I have chosen you, not because you are more numerous than other peoples, but because you are small.”
A small number here means a small number or a small nation. However, due to their small size, not everything is weak. Conventional bombs are big, nuclear bombs are small. But its power is greater with small things. In the case of semiconductors, the smaller they are, the higher their value and utility.
God chooses the little ones. Big people are arrogant. Even big countries are arrogant. But the little ones cannot be arrogant because they know their reality.
There is an art activity that collects and puts together scraps that are scattered around on a daily basis. It is also called avant-garde art, but the process of collecting useless discarded objects to create a single sculpture is called assembly.
If you think about it, we were like scraps of junk thrown away here and there. However, the Bible teaches that it is God's choice to collect them, make useful works, and give them the meaning of existence.
In the New Testament, it is said that God chose us because we are sinners. It is a touching event for us who were chosen to be chosen because we are small and sinners.
2) You have chosen to glorify God.
Of all the things that God has created, not one thing is meaningless. The sun and the moon and the stars in the sky, the land and the sea and all living things there, from a single piece of grass to a ephemera, nothing is unnecessary. Even the fluff that grows on the human body is necessary and meaningful.
It is said to have happened on a ranch in Australia. The eagle was taking the sheep and the rancher got angry and shot the eagle to death. After that, the sheep died in droves from the plague. When they found out the cause, they found that almost all of the sheep the eagle took were sick sheep.
It should be noted that God chose me, like useless waste, to glorify God.
All instruments have their own sound. Wind instruments produce sound through tubes, and string instruments produce sound through strings. And a percussion instrument makes a sound by hitting it. All instruments sound different depending on their size and shape. And when the different sounds come together to form harmony, the culmination of musical art is achieved.
We are all instruments to glorify God. Each one can make their own sound. There are loud sounds and there are small sounds. There are high sounds and there are low sounds. There are strong sounds and there are weak ones. This is the sound everyone needs. The important thing is to praise God. North Korea had to change the hymn of Kim Il-sung into the hymn of Kim Jong-il overnight. It is not right for humans to praise humans. We are chosen for the praise of God.
3) He chose you because you love him.
Of course, this love is temporary. When we turned away from God and lived our lives in our own way, He confirmed God's love by sending His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Temporary encounters do not require love. But the longer the meeting time, the more love there must be. You don't need love to share a cup of tea with people you meet on the way. But if you want to be friends or if you want to become a married couple and spend your whole life together, you must have love. God chose us because He loves us.
Love always has the attribute of wanting to be close together. And because we love God, He is always near. And if we truly love God, we must be close to God. The church, prayers, hymns, and thanksgiving should always be nearby.
4) He was chosen to be saved.
The decisive reason for God's choice is salvation. He chose us, like discarded waste, to deliver us from our sins and to give us eternal life.
It reminds me of an article in a certain daily newspaper. There lived an old black man named [Leon Graves] in Los Angeles. One day in 1981, there was a baby crying in the room next to the old man's apartment for three days. I was thinking of sending him to an orphanage, but he looked like an angel, so I decided to raise him and raised him until now. Had it not been for Mr. Graves, an old black man, the child might have died of choking while crying.
As I read this article, I was reminded of myself. If God had not delivered me from my sins, I thought... My soul would have already died under the pressure of sin, and I would have gone to hell without being able to live my life as an idiot in the world.
But what grace? what love? what a blessing Why did you love me so much? It reminds me of the gospel song lyrics. "Jesus died for me. Why do you love me? You ordered Calvary. Why do you love me? Why do you love me? Jesus had to go to Calvary. Why do you love me?" Amen.
Second: How should the elect live?
1) You must live in the place of your choice.
In Genesis, God chose Abraham. And after choosing the land of Canaan, He told Abraham's descendants to live there. That Canaan is now the holy land of Israel. Abraham went down to Egypt and then returned to Canaan. The people of Israel who had lived in Egypt for 430 years returned to Canaan after 40 years of their journey, and Naomi from the book of Ruth also immigrated to the land of Moab and returned to Canaan.
Even today, Jews continue to live in the Holy Land according to that tradition. Just as we were deprived of all the vast land in Manchuria, they too have all of the land taken away, and although they now occupy a land the size of Gangwon-do, there are only Jews in the world who call their land the Holy Land.
So, in our case, which place did we choose?
First, it is the arms of the Lord.
You must not leave that place. The poet sang, "I will take refuge under the shadow of your wings." The Lord's arms are my eternal dwelling place and holy land. If you go out of the Lord's arms, you will die.
Second, the church.
We must not abandon the church, turn our backs on it, and turn away from it for any reason. The Old Testament temple is today's church. Just as the Jewish people lived centered on the temple, we must live centered on the church.
Sometimes there are people who attack and criticize the church, saying that it is sick or rotten, but it is not the church itself that is sick, but the people who are gathered in that church are sick. And even if the church is sick and damaged, you must not throw it away. There is no other place with so many sick people and so many germs as hospitals. If you leave the hospital because of that, you will not be able to cure the disease. It's the same thing.
Please believe that Sungmoon Church is a sanctuary chosen by God.
The members of Sungmun Church must believe in the following things.
First, the Lord exists in Seongmun Church.
Second, Seongmun Church is the best.
Third, Sungmun Church is my church.
Fourth, serve the Seongmun Church to the end.
2) You must live according to the law you have chosen.
He gave the people of Israel a law. They had to keep the law and live, but today he has given us the Bible, the law of love. The chosen people must live by the law.
Various laws necessary for our daily life are called civil laws. And the method of deciding what is right and wrong is called the criminal law.
The legislative branch, the National Assembly, makes the laws, and the judiciary makes the laws. It is said that all people are equal before the law. God's people must keep the laws that God has established.
In today's text, the elect said, "Cloth with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and longsuffering, forbearing one another when accused and forgiving one another, as the Lord has forgiven you, and above all these add love." We find in this passage that the essence of God's law to the elect is love.
Let's take marital relationships as an example. A couple is a kind of contractual relationship, but it is difficult to live according to the terms of the contract. It is love that transcends all things. If you're under the law of love, there's nothing wrong with that.
"Add love on top of all this". It is truly a precious word. The law is condemned, but love is not condemned. So Paul emphasized love.
3) You must live by doing what you have chosen.
During the American Civil War, a man lived in a village on the North-South border. He was a supporter of both the Confederacy and the Union Army. As the war heated up, he decided to wear the pants worn by the Confederate soldiers and the jeogori worn by the Union Army. He thought that if he did, the Confederates or the North would save him. One day during the war, he went out. Then, the Confederate soldiers fired their guns at his Confederate pants, and the Confederates fired their guns at his Confederate jeogori. This is a story that teaches many lessons.
The elect must do what God wants them to do.
I think it's three.
The first is to love.
The saying, “Above all these, add love” explains it. let's love each other Let's live in harmony, give and help.
The second is to preach the gospel.
You must do this until the moment you take your breath away until the time you stand before the Lord. It has to be done in time or out of season.
The third is to support the church.
The church is the body of the Lord. To take up the body is to worship the Lord. Serving the church and being faithful in the work assigned to them is the job of God's chosen people.
The elect are happy people. A person who lives in the chosen place, keeps the chosen law, and does the chosen work Those who live in their chosen places, keep their chosen laws, and do their chosen jobs are the most wonderful and blessed people on this earth.
Congratulations on being the chosen ones. - Amen -