GOD HAS CHOSEN US!
a sermon based on 1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
(Stewardship Commitment Emphasis)
by Rev. Rick Thompson
 
Phil was just minding his own business at work. He held a routine, humdrum job in a large company. He spent his days in distribution-or something like that. He was dependable and hard-working, but he labored in obscurity-or so it seemed.

Then, one day, Phil was summoned to the company president's dreaded "front office". He was horrified! Phil had only barely met the president twice. This couldn't be good. With fear and trepidation, Phil ambled off to the front office.

The president got right to the point. Phil was flabbergasted to hear what he heard.
"I want you to take charge of a big project of ours," the president announced. "We're developing a new market in the Midwest, and I'm counting on you to make it happen."
"Me? Why me?" Phil asked in stunned amusement. He couldn't imagine why he would be qualified to take on this important assignment.

"People tell me that you are honest, that you can be trusted, that you think more about the good of the company than you think about yourself. You are just the sort of guy we need for this job," the president assured him.

Phil was delighted, but when it sunk into his brain how much he had to learn, the complexity of the assignment, all that had to be done, he nearly gave up before he began. But then he reminded himself, "The boss chose me-me-for this job! He must see things in me that I haven't seen in myself. The boss is not a fool…He knows what he's doing…So, if he thinks I can do this job-well, maybe I can!"

Thought he didn't seem qualified, Phil had been chosen for a key, challenging assignment.
That was the experience, too, of the first readers of Paul's letter to the Thessalonians.
It was a tiny little Christian community, almost brand-new, in the heart of a bustling pagan city-a port city on a major highway in ancient Greece. All kinds of people passed through Thessalonica: sailors and merchants, Romans and Egyptians and others from all over the Mediterranean world. There was worship of Greek gods, and Roman gods-including the Emperor-and Egyptian gods. There was a Jewish community.
And there was a small group of Christians. The gospel had been brought there by Paul and Silvanus and Timothy, who weren't there for very long before Jewish opponents ran them out of town.

There was a small group of Christians-the Thessalonians addressed in the letter. They were struggling to remain viable, challenged to find their voice in the larger culture, virtually unnoticed by those around them, striving to hold on to their identity and their mission in the midst of an indifferent, even hostile setting.

It hardly seemed worth the price of the postage, but Paul and his companions wrote the Thessalonians a letter. And in that letter, we read about God's attitude toward that motley, rag-tag collection of early Christians. We discover that they are not at all unimportant, that they do matter, that their existence and purpose is crucial to God! Why? Well, Paul reminds them, it's because "God…has chosen you."

God had chosen the Thessalonians!
And do you think it could be possible that God has also chosen us?
In spite of the fact that, if we're noticed at all, it's only because thousands of people drive past our building each day. In spite of the fact that we're not a wealthy and prominent church made up of wealthy and prominent citizens. In spite of the fact that only several hundred people in a city of 160,000, in a major metro area, gather here on a weekend. In spite of the fact that being an active member of a local church is seen as less and less prestigious. In spite of all that-all that we seem to not have in our favor-God has chosen US!

God has chosen us to live and speak God's Word in a setting that is not readily receptive to our message. God has chosen us as God's own people.
Isn't that remarkable!?

Like the Thessalonians, we've been chosen by the message of good news centered in Jesus Christ. We've been chosen by God. We've been chosen to do the work of faith-that is, to live as faithful people live, serving God and others. We've been chosen to do the labor of love-that is, to keep on loving God and others, even when we don't feel like it, as Christ has first loved us. And we've been chosen to live in steadfast hope-holding firm, even when appearances tell us it's ludicrous to do so, to the promises of God made real in Christ. We've been chosen to live in the power of Christ's death and resurrection, and in anticipation of his final return, when we and all the dead in Christ will be joined to Christ forever.

We've been chosen for that; isn't it amazing!
We've been chosen to live in God's love and forgiveness, and to announce and share that love and forgiveness day after day after day!
We've been chosen, as Paul reminded the Thessalonians, to live as an example. We've been chosen to speak God's Word and live God's Word in our life together, and in our daily lives, in our community and to the ends of the earth.

This weekend we celebrate God's choice, and our response to it. This weekend we celebrate as we present tangible signs of our faith in God, our trust in God's promises and purposes, and our commitment to the mission of God as we strive to live it out at Holy Shepherd.

In a short while, you will be invited to come forward. You will be invited to come forward with your offering for this week. At the same time, financial commitments for next year will be brought forward as well. With these offerings and commitments, we express what God means to us in a real and tangible way-by returning for the support of God's mission a generous portion of all that we've worked so hard to acquire. What an example! In a world that pressures us to accumulate and hoard for ourselves, what an example that is when we give some of it away!

Do you remember when this congregation did that in a special way a few years ago? Do you remember when we had guests here from the bishop's office and from Rejoice Lutheran Church in Erie? Do you remember what we did? We GAVE AWAY to our new sister congregation $20,000! And we gave it joyfully, in celebration!
Now, why would we do such a thing as that?
It's because God has chosen us!

Those who have contributed toward that $20,000 would likely say they could easily find something else to spend the money on. So could Holy Shepherd; $20,000 would nearly finish our improvements in the office building, or buy us video screens and projectors for worship, or give us some breathing room in our general fund, or make a nice dent in our mortgage principal.

But instead, we gave $20,000 away, so the good news that formed us 50+ years ago can be heard and proclaimed in Erie, so that others can hear the same announcement: "God has chosen you!"

God has chosen US! God has chosen us to serve God and serve God's world, to spread the news by word and example that God has chosen all people, and God desires the love and trust of all people, through the marvelous work God has done in Christ.
What good news that is!

What good news it is, to know that God has chosen us!
Thanks be to God that we've been chosen!
And thanks be to God when we respond with faith and generosity!

AMEN!