There is a wise observation about teachers. They say that the best ones were not the star pupils. The thinking is that people who always excel may not be able to help someone who is struggling with a concept. This gives hope of course to those of us who did not make straight A’s. It might fly in the face of what common sense might suggest.
Jesus did a lot of things that might seem to fly in the face of common sense. Some of them were contrary to common practice as well. As one example from today’s reading we hear:
“You did not choose me but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last.”
Jesus was talking to his disciples. They were ordinary men and not ones who had distinguished themselves as scholars or unusually holy people. They were just regular people Jesus chose to be his disciples. Jesus invited them to follow Him.
That isn’t how it was supposed to work. Rabbis didn’t go around soliciting young men to study with them. No rabbi worth his salt would stoop to such a thing. A young man who aspired to be a rabbi would have to ask a rabbi to take him on as a student. The greater the rabbi, the more young men would be seeking his assistance.
Jesus had become famous because of his teachings and his miracles. Crowds came from everywhere to hear him and to let their children see him. I’m sure that were probably hundreds of young men who would gladly have put aside whatever they were doing just to have a chance to study with Jesus. Some of those young men would have been really bright and might have had some formal training. They would have been expected to excel, if Jesus had chosen them to be his disciples.
But Jesus didn’t do that. Jesus chose twelve rather ordinary men to be his disciples. The Gospels present them to us as slow. They have moments where they are weak of faith. They deny Jesus. They doubt. One even went so far as to betray Jesus to the men who wanted to kill him. Jesus knew all this would happen, but he picked them anyway.
“You did not choose me but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last.”
We wonder what Jesus was thinking when he chose these very ordinary disciples. His choices seem so odd. And yet, the growth of the first-century church shows that Jesus chose well. These disciples would do great things, not because they were great, but because Jesus was great and He gave them the power to do great things.
There’s an important lesson here. God chooses whoever He chooses. Most Godly work is done by ordinary people.
That should encourage us. The star athlete and the valedictorian might be too full of themselves to be much heavenly good. The ordinary person might be more likely to be the one that God chooses to transform the world. Jesus worked that way for sure.
Here is the thing you have heard me say before. It bears repeating though. Christ has chosen you. God has a plan for your life, and has chosen you to carry out that plan. God’s plan for your life is important. His plan might not cause your name to go down in history. It might not make you rich. But God’s plan for you is important. He has work for you to do that no one else can do.
I can’t tell you what God’s plan for your life is, and it is OK if you don’t have a clue. But the plan is there. God has put it there. I am always praying for the wisdom to discern God’s will and the strength to do it. I claim this is a good thing to be praying for.
After he came down from Mount Sinai, Moses spoke these words to the people of Israel. He said, “You are a holy people to… God: …God has chosen you…for his own possession” (Deuteronomy 7:6).
Maybe I should put on my Moses costume from Vacation Bible School now for effect. “St. Thomas: you are a holy people to God. God has chosen you for his own possession.”
That happens to be true. Every person here today is a holy person to God.
Some people hear this sort of thing, and they are thinking to themselves, “That doesn’t apply to me. I’m not a holy person. I am totally unworthy.” If that’s how you are feeling right now, it does not change the fact that God has plans for you. It is not about how worthy we are. We may not be great, but God is.
What does that mean? What does it mean that you are holy? In the Bible, to be holy meant to be set aside for a Godly purpose. The Sabbath day was holy, because God set it aside as a day of rest and worship. The tabernacle and temple were holy, because God set them apart for worship. Priests and Levites were holy, because God designated them for his service. God in His wisdom has chosen us for a Godly purpose.
In his first letter to the Corinthian church, Paul was talking to the Christians in Corinth about their calling. He is talking to us as well. Paul wrote, “Not many are wise…. Not many mighty, and not many noble.”
Maybe that makes us feel a little better. “Not wise, not mighty and not noble” is a little more easily reached than holy and set aside.
Paul goes on to say:
“God chose the lowly things of the world …
that he might bring to nothing the things that are:
that no flesh should boast before God”
God specializes in getting his work done through unlikely people. If you don’t believe that, read through the stories in the Bible and you will see it time and again.
- God chose people like Jacob, who was a cheater.
- God chose Joseph, who was a really was full of himself.
- God chose Moses, who begged God to pick someone else.
- God chose Peter, who denied Jesus three times.
- God chose Paul, who at that time was persecuting Christians.
So if you think you are an unlikely candidate for Godly work, think again. God has a purpose for your life. He has important work for you to do.
I’m going to repeat a verse I have repeated twice so far in this sermon. Jesus was talking to his disciples, and he is also talking us too. He says,
“You did not choose me but I chose you.
And I appointed you to go and bear fruit,
fruit that will last.”
God appointed us to bear fruit. What does this fruit look like? Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God. But then he said that a second commandment is “like unto it.” That commandment is that we love our neighbor.
If we will do those two things, the rest will fall into place. I’m not suggesting that it will be easy. We may not even want to love our neighbor. Our neighbor might be hard to love or do irritating things. It is not about what we want or what is easy though. If we love God and neighbor, God will bring Godly fruit from our lives.
Let me close with these words by Philips Brooks, a great preacher who was ordained in the Episcopal Church the year St. Thomas had its first service. These are my takeaways.
- “Do not pray for easy lives; pray to be stronger men and women.
- Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers, but pray for powers equal to your tasks.[If we can do these things,]
- Then the doing of your work shall be no miracle, but you shall be a miracle.
- Every day you shall wonder at yourself – at the richness of life which has come to you by the grace of God.”
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
May 10, 2015; Sixth Sunday of Easter
Acts 10:44-48
Psalm 98
1 John 5:1-6
John 15:9-17