Study 42 – God's Choice – The Unlikely

Society places a lot of importance on family background and associations. People like to be in with the crowd and have friends in high places. But what if you’re ashamed of your upbringing? What if you were born on the wrong side of the track? Then you probably try to hide your past failures, learn the art of name-dropping and strive to climb the ladder that will bring you acceptance and success.

The ignoble
Paul says, ‘Not many were of noble birth’ (1 Cor. 1:26). Strange to say, God seems to overlook noble individuals in favour of the base, the outsiders, the ones whom nobody else wants to befriend. The Jews hated tax collectors but Jesus ate with them and even chose one in his band of disciples. So beware the danger of trying to find your ultimate security and identity in anything other than the wonder that Jesus loves you and has chosen you for himself.

The lowly and despised
As if to take us even deeper down the spiral of hopelessness, Paul he continues, God ‘chose the lowly … and the despised things‘ (1 Cor. 1:27). Some of us are despised in our own eyes, let alone in the eyes of anyone else. We’ve given up hope. Maybe you feel like that. You’ve been used and dumped – not valued for yourself but treated like a commodity, now well past your sell-by date. One commentary describes the word ‘despised’ as ‘expressly branded with contempt’. The same word is used in Luke 23:11 where we read that the soldiers ‘ridiculed and mocked’ (Jesus). They viewed him as a stupid fool and despised and crucified him.

The things that are not
At last we arrive at the end of Paul’s list. ‘He chose … the things that are not’ (1 Cor. 1:28). Who are these ‘things’? Surely they’re the people who are totally overlooked and don’t figure in anyone’s thinking. You can’t get any lower than a ‘not’!

Maybe that’s exactly how you feel. The regular Sunday meeting finishes and everybody else seems to have their friend or group of associates. You feel embarrassed, isolated and fearful as you look around for someone to talk to. They’re all engaged in conversation and you stand on the fringe questioning whether anyone really cares about you. Then you begin to wonder whether you should bother to attend at all on Sundays since no one seems to notice whether you’re there or not.

If you’re not careful you’ll become vulnerable to Satan who delights in tempting you to believe that you’re a totally hopeless case. God chooses the ‘are nots’ so if you’re one of them why are you listening to the enemy? The devil drags you down into earthly insignificance; God raises you up into heavenly realms (Eph. 2:6). Think how privileged you are. You’ve been hand picked by the creator of the world.

To Meditate On

We are immensely privileged

‘There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1).

‘He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come’ (2 Cor. 1:21,22).

‘Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory’ (Col. 3:3,4).

‘How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!’ (1 John 3:1).

To Consider

What could you do to make people feel more welcome on Sundays?

Food For Thought

Read Judges 11:1-40 – 12:7

Jephthah didn’t have a good start in life.

How could he have reacted to rejection?

How did he respond? (Note some of the characteristics of his life)

To Pray

Pray for the people whom the world tends to reject (e.g. refugees, asylum seekers, ex-prisoners, prostitutes, homosexuals, transvestites, the unattractive).

Ask God to give the church such love for them that they might be drawn into a relationship with Jesus.

Be Inspired

‘Where proud men and women parade their mighty intellects, God chooses the simple; where wealthy people assess each other on the basis of their respective holdings, God chooses the poor; where self-centred leaders lust for power, God chooses the nobodies.’
D.A. Carson, The Cross and Christian Ministry, Baker 1993