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 Pastor's
Message
Whose Choice Was It?
Volunteer or Chosen?
Do you remember the childhood activity of choosing sides? For some this may be a
painful memory, for others it will be a delightful recollection. Do you remember
being part of a neighborhood gang down on the street, at the empty lot, or in
some field? You may have been part of a class at recess or a gym class. You are
about to play a game – tag, hide-and-seek, baseball, or touch . . . but first we
must choose up sides! For those chosen last or rejected entirely, this may be a
painful recollection. Others will happily recall how everyone wanted them on
their side or team. They may even remember, with some satisfaction, being chosen
as “captain”.
It was not a case of volunteering but a case of being chosen. No matter how much
one might “volunteer” to be part of the team, it did not come to fruition until
the group confirmed one’s “volunteering” by their “choosing”!
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew
casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus
said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and
followed him.
When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother
John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay he called them, and they
left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him. (Mark
1:16-20)
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one
than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you
do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not
know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything
that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me,
but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.
Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command:
Love each other. (John 15:12-17)
Today we live in an “I want it my way / Have it your way” society. In the ‘50's
and ‘60, those living in the New York City metropolitan area had the
unbelievable opportunity to choose from seven TV channels; 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, &
13! Most people, living in other areas, had to settle for 3 or 4 channels! Now
there are several hundred channels, and we still hear people say they cannot
find anything they want to watch!
No matter what we consider; cars, ice cream flavors, magazines, food choices,
even churches, where there was once a limited number of choices, today there are
ten, twenty, or more times the choices. In some cases the choices have increased
100 times! This trend was documented about 25 years ago by John Naisbitt in his
book, Megatrends, especially in Chapter Ten: “Either/Or Multiple Option”
Pages 239-240 specifically discuss the “National Revival” in religion and note
that the growth is not in the older mainline denominations. Rather in has
occurred and continues to occur in the myriad independent or free churches that
are “bottom-up, made-in-America churches, representing a checkered variety of
beliefs and preferences” (page 240)
The relevance of this multiplicity of faith expressions to the passage quoted
above in Mark 1:16-20 should not be surprising. Jesus called (chose) each
disciple individually. In our Christian faith the relationship between Jesus and
each of us is unique and significant. This unique individuality of faith coupled
with the Multiple Option – I want it my way / Have it your way cultural outlook
tends to produce a strongly independent, “I’m-in-control-of-my-own-life”
attitude. We forget that “You did not choose me, but I chose you . . . !” John
15:16 We forget that Jesus moves us in our discipleship and faith journey from
“servant” to “friend”. We move from a servant/master or child/parent
relationship to one of equals. Even though Jesus is by far the greater, we are
chosen by Jesus to be treated as an equal, as a “friend” . . . and appointed . .
. to go and bear fruit John 15:16
How wonderful, how exciting, how fulfilling it is to be chosen to be part of the
team and play the game! In the sense that we made ourselves available to play,
we volunteered but we were not part of the game until we were chosen! Once
chosen we do not want to quit! We are chosen, we are special and we are not
about to give that up!
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and
bear fruit – fruit that will last. It is not what we want. It is what God has
done! It is not what we demand. It is what God offers!
John 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you
and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.
The irony is that when we forget about searching for what we want
and celebrate the reality that we have been chosen by Jesus
and begin to bear fruit - fruit that will last,
that is when we find that for which we have been truly looking all the time!
In Christ’s Peace, your pastor, Frank W. Kowar
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