Chosen by Grace

OT Lesson: 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (CEB)

The Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to grieve over Saul? I have rejected him as king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and get going. I’m sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem because I have found my next king among his sons.”

“How can I do that?” Samuel asked. “When Saul hears of it he’ll kill me!”

“Take a heifer with you,” the Lord replied, “and say, ‘I have come to make a sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will make clear to you what you should do. You will anoint for me the person I point out to you.”

Samuel did what the Lord instructed. When he came to Bethlehem, the city elders came to meet him. They were shaking with fear. “Do you come in peace?” they asked.

“Yes,” Samuel answered. “I’ve come to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Now make yourselves holy, then come with me to the sacrifice.” Samuel made Jesse and his sons holy and invited them to the sacrifice as well.

When they arrived, Samuel looked at Eliab and thought, That must be the Lord’s anointed right in front.

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Have no regard for his appearance or stature, because I haven’t selected him. God doesn’t look at things like humans do. Humans see only what is visible to the eyes, but the Lord sees into the heart.”

Next Jesse called for Abinadab, who presented himself to Samuel, but he said, “The Lord hasn’t chosen this one either.” So Jesse presented Shammah, but Samuel said, “No, the Lord hasn’t chosen this one.” Jesse presented seven of his sons to Samuel, but Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord hasn’t picked any of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Is that all of your boys?”

“There is still the youngest one,” Jesse answered, “but he’s out keeping the sheep.”

“Send for him,” Samuel told Jesse, “because we can’t proceed until he gets here.”

So Jesse sent and brought him in. He was reddish brown, had beautiful eyes, and was good-looking. The Lord said, “That’s the one. Go anoint him.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him right there in front of his brothers. The Lord’s spirit came over David from that point forward.

Then Samuel left and went to Ramah.

NT Lesson: John 9 (NRSV)

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, saying to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbours and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’ Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ He kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ But they kept asking him, ‘Then how were your eyes opened?’ He answered, ‘The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, “Go to Siloam and wash.” Then I went and washed and received my sight.’ They said to him, ‘Where is he?’ He said, ‘I do not know.’

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, ‘He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.’ Some of the Pharisees said, ‘This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.’ But others said, ‘How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?’ And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, ‘What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.’ He said, ‘He is a prophet.’

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’

So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’ He answered, ‘And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ He said, ‘Lord, I believe.’ And he worshipped him. Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. The weather is kind of crazy. We had a big snow fall yesterday. Because of the snow, I had to cancel the Bible Study. It is late March and I think it is supposed to be the time to get warmer. I guess the nature does not agree with me. Before I begin, I thank you all for helping us last Sunday’s monthly lunch with mission kick-off, and Wednesday’s Community Lent Soup & Supper. The most difficult thing of preparing the irregular weekday service is that I need to write a very short message. My message on regular Sunday is about six pages, but for those irregular services, one page is recommended. Last Tuesday when I was writing the Wednesday message, I realised that I was in the middle of fourth page. Then I started over like five times. In the movie, Lincoln 2012—there were two Lincoln movies in 2012. One was Lincoln as a vampire hunter. Not that one, but the other normal Lincoln movie, Abraham Lincoln talks about a lazy preacher who is too lazy to stop writing or preaching. Well, according to Abraham Lincoln, I guess I am a lazy preacher too.

Punishment

When I was a hospital chaplain in Chicago suburb, I went around all the rooms in the sixth floor of which I was in charge. Some people who were not accustomed to chaplains were freaked out when they saw me. To them, there is no difference between the hospital chaplains and grim reaper. They thought I came to get the last minute confession or something like that. But some other people liked the visitation by the chaplains and pastors. One day, I knocked and went into a room. There was a woman in her late fifties. Then she told me, “Reverend. I have sinned.” That was a very interesting ice breaker, and I have never met a person who began the conversation like that. So I asked out of curiosity, “Okay… What have you done?” Then she replied, “I don’t know. But I must have done something bad that I am sick. My pastor told me that I got sick because I am a sinner. He said God is punishing me.” Then I had a long conversation with her to find out what was her so called deadly sin which made her sick. As far as I found, she was a pious and faithful Christian who attends the Sunday morning service religiously—well, this is a religion, so it has to be religious—I mean, she goes to church every Sunday, and never misses the tithes and other offerings, volunteers at the church and other charity organisations very actively. I couldn’t really find any big and deadly sin which would make God so angry at her. I told her that not every bad thing is a punishment, and that sometimes things just happen because that is the life. But she would not take my word. I had hard time to convince her. Finally she was comforted by my words and believed that not everything is her fault. The disciples of Jesus in today’s NT lesson asks Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered them, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned.” I am not denying the punishments. Sometimes God punishes the good people and also the bad people. So in you life when a bad thing or S-H-I-T happens, it is a good habit to reflect on yourself if there is something to repent. If so, repent, and know that you are a true child of God. Hebrews 12 says that the Lord disciplines those whom He loves and chastises every child whom He accepts.1 If you have something to repent, that means God loves you as His true child. But if there is nothing to repent after examining yourself, don’t worry. It just proves that the world we live in is not perfect because S-word happens in life.

Unconditional Election

Anyway, a blind man appears in today’s NT lesson. Jesus opened his eyes with a very unhygienic method—Jesus spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on his eyes, telling him go to the pool of Siloam and wash it off. And then the rest of the NT lesson is about the Pharisees harassing the poor guy to find any fault of Jesus to accuse of. Those are important story but not today. The point is that the guy was not the only blind person in Jerusalem. There were many other blind people. Out of many, only this one guy was chosen. Don’t you want to know why and how?

The prophet Elijah became the federal fugitive after killing four hundred Baal prophets who were hired by the evil queen. So technically Elijah murdered four hundred government officials. Anyway he became a federal fugitive and had to run away. God sent him to a poor widow in the city of Zarephath.2 Because of Elijah, God provided the widow and her family everything they needed. There were so many poor widows in the city because the poverty was a very common thing. Out of many, only this one widow was chosen. Don’t you want to know why and how?

The answer is I don’t know. It is not that this specific blind man did something so good that he deserved the election of the Christ. It is no that this specific widow did something awesome so that she deserved the election of God. They did nothing. It was purely God’s choice. So I have no idea how they were chosen out of many. John Calvin who was million times smarter than I am probably had more pride than I am as well. I have no problem saying ‘I don’t know,’ but he didn’t want to say it. So at the question of how and why those people were chosen, Calvin instead of saying ‘I don’t know,’ he invented a new term “Unconditional Election,” which simply means ‘I don’t know why and how they were elected.’ But I would say chosen by grace. The blind man was chosen by the grace of Jesus Christ. The widow was chosen by the grace of God. By the way, this ‘Unconditional Election’ is part of John Calvin’s TULIP: Total Depravity, Unconditional Election, Limited Atonement, Irresistible Grace, Perseverance of the Saints. Well, speaking of tulip, you can now order the Easter tulips or other Easter flowers. Those flowers will be glorious and beautiful. Guaranteed.

David was Chosen

Today’s OT lesson is when David was chosen and anointed as the next king of Israel. By the way, there are three offices in the OT to be anointed with a special anointing oil. A king had to be anointed. A priest had to be anointed. A prophet had to be anointed. In the NT, there is only one person having all three offices: Jesus Christ. Jesus is the King of kings. Jesus is the eternal high Priest in the order of Mechizedek. Jesus is the true Prophet. The word Christ or Messiah simply means the anointed one. In the OT, there is no one having all three offices, but there is one person kind of having all three offices: Samuel. Samuel was a priest. Samuel was a prophet. And he was not a king but a judge. Anyway, God sent Samuel to Bethlehem, the home town of David. Samuel invited Jesse and all his sons. Jesse was one of the richest in town. Jesse presented the eldest to Samuel, and then other six sons in order of age. They were all strong and healthy boys like high school football team leader. But God did not choose any of them. Instead God chose David, the youngest who was not invited in the first place. David was the least among brothers and yet chosen by God—not because he was the strongest or tallest. It was quite the opposite.

In Deuteronomy, God declares: “The Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.”3 And again made it clear that it is not because of their righteousness.4 This means we cannot be chosen by our human endeavour or earthly conditions. There is nothing we must do to be chosen in the first place. It is purely by God’s grace. Honestly we do not need to know how to be chosen because we are already chosen. All we need to do for now is to be thankful and grateful that we are already chosen and that we do not deserve.

Saul was Unchosen

But there is one thing we need to know. How not to be unchosen. In the very beginning of today’s OT lesson, God says to Samuel that God rejected Saul. Saul was chosen by God, was anointed as a king by Samuel, and was filled with the Holy Spirit. Saul used to be chosen, but now we see that he became unchosen. This is what we need to know because we do not want the same thing to happen to us. I met so many Christians and pastors who say and claim, “Once saved, forever saved. No matter what you do, you go to heaven. Even if you kill people and commit any kind of sins, there is nothing to worry about. Because the game is already over.” Well, this will be a separate sermon topic, but for now, let me say that the game is not over until it is over, that is, when we die. Saul was chosen but now unchosen. Even one of the very twelve disciples of Jesus went to hell. It is rare, but not impossible. So, how not to be unchosen?

Saul followed his own greed and not followed God’s commandments. He twisted the Words of God. He lied to God. When he was given a chance to confess and an opportunity to repent, he refused. He threatened Samuel, the messenger of God, to save his face in front of the people. How not to be unchosen? It is simple: Don’t do any of those things which Saul did.

Conclusion

Friends, we are chosen but that is not by our works but by the grace of God. We were not the smartest people of the world. We were not the richest people in the world. We do not deserve but by God’s unconditional love God chose us. Now we have tasted God’s love and grace, let us obey God’s word not to be unchosen. Let us show the world that we are the Christians by our love. And let us always be thankful and grateful for the unconditional election. Amen.