Chosen, called, cleansed

Chosen, called, cleansed

Ephesians 1 verses 1 to 14 1 Peter 1 verses 1 to 3

Peter had been close and intimate with Jesus, he was well qualified to write this letter. It was written to Christians in modern day Turkey, they were scattered in little groups. They were part of a large family. They were strangers in the world, loved by God.

Peter writes about the Trinity – verse 2
This is a Trinitarian perspective. There is no apology or attempt to explain it. He just states it. The Trinity are co-equal, of the same substance and each has a role.

Peter writes to those who are chosen
a) It’s planned choice.
The word ‘chosen’ applied to choosing soldiers. The word ‘foreknowledge’ is ‘prognosis’, it means God knew what he intended to do and made sure it happens – see Acts 2 verse 23. God had chosen Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. A prognosis is a prediction of future outcomes as a doctor does, e.g. a sore throat, a doctor makes a fairly accurate guess. You want to know not an uncertain or educated guess as a doctor does. God is not like this, his foreknowledge is linked to fore-ordination. We can see this in the death of Christ, in Acts 2, the death of Jesus was not simply foreknowledge or foreseen but fore-ordained. He planned it that way. God does not just foresee our salvation but planned in advance to save us. What sort of God chops and changes his plans according to man’s decision.
At the back of the loaf is the flour; and back of the flour, the mill; and back of the mill, the sun and shower; and back of it all the Father’s will.
It is God’s weather that makes rain fall, it is all in the plans of God. God had an action plan to save men after the Fall.
b) It’s hard to grasp.
People rebel against it. Like the doctrine of the Trinity, the truth of election must be received with simple, unquestioning faith. We must see that if God is God he has the right and power to decide what he wants to do and he protects his people and brings them to salvation. We believe God’s word by a simple act of faith. We are born the way we are and live our lives the way we do because of God’s grace - 1 Corinthians 4 verse 7, we have received everything we have from God’s hand, where and when we are born, the family to which we are born. Look at Saul’s life, he was the enemy of Christ’s church, he had great intellectual power, then God intervened and he was told that God had chosen him to be his instrument of the Gospel. Likewise God prepared and chose Moses to be a great leader and used him to break Pharaoh’s power. God chose the nation of Israel as his chosen people. He now chooses individual – Ephesians 1, we are chosen according to the purposes of his will. It is Romans, Mark and Matthew, God has chosen a people out of the world.
Romans 9 says a potter has the right to make from clay what he wants, so does God. Jacob and Esau were as bad as each other by nature. God took hold of Jacob, saved him, kept him and changed him but left Esau to suffer the consequences of his bad choices.
Who are we to say that we know more than he does? We must submit to his will.
c) It is not fatalism
It is not the ‘frozen chosen’, we cannot say there is no need to do anything. He has chosen us to change us. If we remain frozen we are not a Christian. It is not a mandate for despair in evangelism. Paul despaired in Corinth, he feared he would never see any saved, the city was so immoral. God said ‘don’t be afraid, keep on speaking; no one will harm you for I have many in this city. They would all come to faith in Christ Jesus – God would make sure it did not depend on Paul.
In Acts 13, all who were appointed to Jesus Christ were saved. If we find him it is because he found us first. ‘All who the father gives me will be saved’. Our relationship with him deepens not according to our weak grasp of him but his sure grasp of us.
d) It’s both exciting and intensely humbling reality.
That means we have responsibility to serve God. Everything that concerns our life is in his hands – our jobs, our housing, everything including our suffering because he has chosen us. God has not finished with us yet, he will take us home to his glory to be with forever.

Peter writes to those who are called
God’s Spirit has opened our ears to hear God’s voice, change us. He is the source of all spiritual growth. Sanctifying means set apart for a holy purpose. Paul said he was set apart from birth as was Abraham who had to leave his family in Ur. If we are a believer it is because the Spirit makes us willing.

Peter writes to those who are cleansed.
The sprinkling of blood meant they were personally entering into the covenant like Israel at Sinai – see Exodus 24. This was one time when the people were sprinkled by Moses, they committed their life to obedience and discipleship.
To be sprinkled means that the blood of Jesus is personally applied to your life. His blood was offered for you. His death is yours, your sin is on him.

Peter writes to those enjoying grace and peace.
Grace always precedes peace in our lives and is God’s work in us, peace is always the result of grace, and can be multiplied. Grace comes first, followed by peace. We are troubled people who need God’s peace, it is the blessing of God’s gospel.

SummaryAll rests on God’s grace to us. We may be strangers in the World but God keeps us. We may be strangers in the world – but we have God’s grace in abundance. We may be misunderstood, but we have God’s peace multiplied to us. We may not be wealthy but God sets no limits on the grace and peace he will give us. To multiplied trials he gives multiplied grace. We cannot do it ourselves, God does it for us, we must come to God just as we are.