Title The Chosen Apostles (Acts 1:1-2)
Contents
Chosen apostles (Acts 1:1-2)
Abraham's grandson Jacob had 12 sons. God made Judas, the fourth of his sons, inherit the orthodoxy of salvation. He was so immoral that he slept with his daughter-in-law as a prostitute. When it comes to the father-in-law who slept with his daughter-in-law, there is no doubt that he would call him a bastard. How could such a human being be chosen as the ancestor of faith to be named in the genealogy of Christ?
According to Genesis 25:21, when the twins Esau and Jacob were in their mother's womb, God had already chosen Jacob to be his instrument. Even before being born on this earth, before doing any good deeds before God and people, God first chose them.
Two thousand years ago, there were many beautiful virgins in Jerusalem who had both intelligence and culture. Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean world. In Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, there must have been a lot of young and old ladies of a prestigious university that the virgins of Jerusalem could not even dare to surpass. However, God the Son, who came to this earth in a physical body 2,000 years ago, chose Mary of Nazareth, on the outskirts of Israel, as the woman you chose to come in a human body. How could Mary have been chosen? We have no way of knowing.
The curtain at the beginning of the book of Acts, which follows the history of the church, is rising like this.
“In the first writings, O Theophilus, I wrote of all that Jesus did and began to teach, until the day he ascended into heaven, after giving commands to his chosen apostles by the Holy Spirit.”
But if you look at the faces of those who were chosen by Jesus, none of them were born well. They were either fishermen, poor people of Galilee, or publicans who were criticized for their wretched wrath. They were by no means all the fishermen and tax collectors Jesus chose to be disciples. All the men living around Galilee, which were 12 km wide and 21 km long, were fishermen, and there were tax collectors wherever people lived.
But how could only those fishermen and their tax collectors be chosen by the Lord? We have no way of knowing why. Moreover, there is no way of knowing that Paul, who made it his vocation to search for, persecute, and persecute Christians, could be chosen as the protagonist of the book of Acts.
Could this be the case for us too? There are still many people in this world who do not know the Lord, who is the way, the truth, and the life. Nevertheless, we have been chosen to be children of God and are sitting here at this time. Is it because there is a difference between us and the people of the world that we have been chosen by the Lord? It's not like that. Maybe we are living a worse life than the people of the world. Nevertheless, the Lord has chosen us and is leading us to sit here and worship. Who can logically explain this fact?
We can only humbly confess that this is God's grace and God's will. This is because, unless it is the absolute will of God, who is the absolute, human beings like us cannot be chosen by God and be here.
The apostle Paul, who wrote 1 Corinthians, introduces himself as follows in 1 Corinthians 1:1.
“Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus according to the will of God”
It was entirely God's will that Paul, who was the enemy of Jesus, was called to be an apostle of the Lord. Paul also confesses that there can be no other will than God's will for God's choice for him.
Importantly, when Paul spoke of ‘the will of God’, he used the Greek word ‘pelema’, which is derived from the verb ‘pelo’, which means ‘to hope’. ‘Hope’ is inextricably linked with ‘faith’.
Faith begets hope, and hope strengthens faith. Hope and faith are not separate, but like two sides of the same coin. Another expression of hope is faith, and another name of faith is hope. Therefore, God's will in choosing a specific person as His people is God's hope and faith in that person.
Choice is always the result of abandonment. To choose means to give up all the rest. Choosing one out of many is the belief that the one you choose is better than the rest.
So, there are countless clothes hanging in the same store, and some people stop by the store to buy bright clothes, while others do the opposite and buy black. Some people buy expensive clothes, some people buy cheap clothes. In that case, no one can tell why, after all, they bought and bought such clothes. At least because you bought it believing that it was the best fit for you.
God's choice for man also stems from God's faith in man. Why did God choose Judas, an idiot who slept with his daughter-in-law? Why did you choose Jacob, the bloody blood in your mother's womb? Why did God choose Mary from the poor of Nazareth as the Virgin Mary? Why did God choose the ignorant fisherman and the criticized publican to be the Lord's disciples? Why did God choose Paul, the enemy of Jesus Christ, to be the protagonist of the book of Acts? Why did God choose us?
There is only one answer. Because God believed in Jacob, he believed in Judas, he believed in Mary, he believed in his disciples, he believed in Paul, and he believed in us. Isn't it? If God had not believed in us first, how would He send His only begotten Son into this filthy world for us, who are nothing but ugly sinners? If Jesus Christ had not believed in us, how would he have offered his life as a sacrifice on the cross to save us?
Faith in the Trinity, who believed in us before we even believed in God, completed the death of the cross. It was God's hope and faith that we would live as children of God who chose us first and provided for us in spite of being poor sinners.
Then, all we have left is a life that responds to the faith of God who believed in us first. That is the will of God who chose us through your faith. In that sense, through today's text, the Lord has chosen us to be His apostles. The Lord has chosen us to use us as His apostles.
dear god
Please believe in me first because I am sinful and sinful.
Thank you for making me your child and your apostle.
There were many fishermen and tax collectors in Galilee, but only they were your children and your apostles.
He was called only because he believed them first.
We are no different,
A true man of God who does not forsake God's faith and hope anytime, anywhere,
Help me to live as a true apostle of God.
Thus, the kingdom and righteousness of the Lord are revealed in this area.
Let us live as true apostles and true messengers.