5/10/09 - Easter 5 - John 15:9-17

THE LORD CHOSE US

- Because of his love

- So that we would love others

Life is filled with choices. And of course some of those choices end up being good and some end up being bad depending on the outcome. What stock you chose to invest in has now determined the amount of your retirement savings. What line at the grocery store you choose to stand in affects when you’ll be able to get home. The college you choose to attend, the house you decide to buy, the job you decide to take, the car you decide to get, the friends you choose to keep all result in things that either turn out well for you or things that you may have done a little differently if given another chance. Making the right choice is a very important thing, no matter how big the decision is that has to be made.
But when it comes to the most important decision of your life, the choice isn’t even yours. The choice to be a believer in Jesus as your Savior isn’t up to you. It was the Lord’s choice from the beginning. “You did not choose me,” Jesus says, “but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.” You did not choose to believe in Jesus. Jesus chose you to believe in him. He didn’t need your approval. He didn’t wait for your agreement or consent. The choice had already been made before you knew it happened. You are his. There is nothing left for you to decide. He chose you simply because of his love. And he chose you so that you would love others in return. This is the most important decision ever made in your life. And thank the Lord that he made the choice for you.
In my grade school years, I attended a one room school. Children in kindergarten all the way through eighth grade were in that same room and we usually had only 25-30 students total in any given year. In my later grade school years when I was one of the oldest kids there, all of the grades played plenty of team games at recess together. And, of course, with team games come team captains. And any of the captains that happened to be designated by our teacher for a particular game almost always picked the oldest kids first - for obvious reasons. Whenever I happened to be chosen as a captain’s first pick, no matter how young that captain may have been compared to me, I felt a tremendous amount of pressure. This person picked me first because he/she expected me to be the best and to lead the rest of the team to victory. And so whenever I didn’t live up to those expectations, or whenever we lost, or whenever I felt that I had let my team down, I truly felt bad. I felt inadequate to be the number one pick. I felt terrible that the captain who had chosen me had apparently made the wrong choice.
And the only reason I bring this rather trivial detail of my life up this morning is because I still feel that way sometimes. Not because of some game I am playing or because I let a captain down, but because I let the Lord down. Out of all the sinners in this world, Jesus chose me. Jesus chose me along with every other believer to be his own. He chose me because of his love so that I would love others in return. And I do not feel adequate to be his pick! I don’t live up to what he has chosen me for! I do not love others with the same kind of love he has shown me. I do not care for others before I care about myself. I do not treat others with the same respect that I expect from them. I do not serve others as they should be served. I do not talk about others or think about others in a way that would make God proud of me. God chose me to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last! But the fruit that I produce is many times so rotten and spoiled that I wouldn’t want it to last. It cannot last.
Do you ever feel inadequate as one of God’s chosen people? And maybe you’ve never thought about it before like that. And so let me ask you this question: Do you bear the fruit that he has chosen you to produce? Do you love others as he has loved you? Do you care for others as he has cared for you? Do you serve others as he has served you? The reality is: we do not even come close to being worthy of the Lord’s choice. The quality of our love for others is a far cry from that we are supposed to show as Christians. And if we even show any sort of love, it is usually a love that is not a godly kind of love at all, but rather a fickle feeling of affection that can change in an instant if that person does something we don’t like. That is not Christ’s love. In fact, that is not love at all. By all outward appearances, the Lord did not make a good decision by choosing us because we have let him down in so many different ways at so many different times.
So why did the Lord choose us if he knew we wouldn’t measure up? Why did the Lord decide to pick us if we cannot love others as he has called us to do? Jesus chose us because he didn’t base his decision on us. Jesus chose us because his decision didn’t depend on who we were or what we could do. He based his decision on his love. Jesus chose us not because of anything in us, but because of the love that lives in him. That makes his choice unique out of any other choice that is made in this life. His decision to choose you was not motivated by what he would gain from it. His decision to choose you was not influenced by your past behavior or your future potential. His decision to choose you was not contingent on you holding up your end of the bargain. His decision to choose you was solely founded on his eternal love. On his eternal love. It does not change. His love has always been the same and it always will be. And so he will never change his mind about the choice he has made. He will never decide to get rid of you now that he has chosen you. Because the love that he based his decision on does not waver. His love is not swayed by the ups and downs of your life. It is a constant love. It is an unrelenting love.
Think of how unrelenting that love was when Jesus sacrificed himself for our sins. Jesus didn’t change his mind about giving up his life for us when his enemies unnecessarily abused him and scourged him and mocked him. Because his love was unrelenting. Jesus didn’t decide that “enough was enough” when those he came to die for were cruelly pounding the nails into his hands and making fun of him at the same time. Because his love for them was unrelenting. And when his own people shouted at him as he was bleeding to death, when the criminals on either side were insulting him, when his own heavenly Father turned his back on him, Jesus did not finally determine that we just weren’t worth all of the pain and suffering that he was going through - even though that would have been true. He received all of the pain and punishment willingly and made sure that he was taken down from that cross as a corpse because his love for us was unrelenting. Mockery nor beatings nor cruelty nor hell nor death itself could change his love for us in the slightest degree. And his love is still just as strong for us now as it was for us while he was dying on top of that hill outside of Jerusalem’s walls.
This is, in fact, the same love that motivated him to choose you. And so this love is not only our salvation, it is also our motivation. Because once we realize that we don’t have to earn Christ’s love, once we realize that we don’t have to do anything to prove to God that he made the right choice, once we realize that he will not throw us out if we do not live up to expectations, then we can joyfully live the life of love that he has called us to live! We can be happy and excited to produce “fruit that will last” instead of being fearful if we don’t. We can be honored and privileged to have such a responsibility given to us by God himself instead of feeling forced or obligated to somehow fulfill our duty to him. And we can gladly carry out the will of our Lord with gratitude in our hearts. Most importantly the command he gives us here in John 15: “My command is this:” Jesus said, “Love each other as I have loved you.”
“Love each other as I have loved you.” If Jesus’ love simply remains for us a standard that we are required to reach for our salvation, then that will inevitably drive us to despair. But when Jesus’ love becomes for us the ultimate model and example of how we can love others, that will give us the joy and motivation to do so out of thanks. We know that we will never be able to love as fully as Jesus loved us, but it is something we can enthusiastically strive for because we know that makes our Lord happy and please with his children. Not that it is simple to do, of course! To love others with Jesus’ love is hard work. To love others with Jesus’ love takes time and effort and patience and sacrifice. And it’s not the same kind of love with witch you love your spouse or your parents or your children. Because that’s a reciprocal kind of love. That is a mutual love in many respects. When those people love you in return, then it is much more natural to show that love back. But that’s not the kind of love the Lord is talking about. The kind of love the Lord means is the love he showed to the Jewish leaders who mocked him, the kind of love he showed to the soldiers who crucified him, the kind of love he shows to every unbeliever in this world who refuses to trust in him. This kind of love Jesus demonstrated throughout his life was not molded or shaped by his feelings or his reactions or how other people treated him. His love was based on a choice to love.
And our love is to be modeled on the love of Christ. So choose to love. Choose to love others. Don’t wait to see if they deserve it. Do not pull it away if they do or say something unacceptable. Do not give your love in degrees depending on how well you like that person at the moment. Choose to love. Choose to love them no matter what the situation, despite their faults, regardless of their sinful attitudes and actions. Choose to love others because the Lord has chosen to love you.
It probably goes without saying: loving others with that kind of love is usually not all that rewarding. It’s a lot of sacrifice with little thanks. It’s a lot of long hours without hardly any recognition. But as Christians, we don’t love to get something back anyway. We love because of what we’ve already been given. It is a love of response. It is a love of praise, a love of thanksgiving. It is a love we gladly offer to anyone and everyone because it is a love the Lord has already given to us. Rejoice that the Lord gives you the opportunity to thank him in a very real and very important way. And take pride in the fact that he has not only chosen to love you, but that he has also chosen you to show his love to others.
Amen.

“May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” - 2 Cor. 13:14