Who Does God Choose?
I.
Why did God choose them?
– 1 Samuel 2
A. 28-God honored them by
choosing them OUT OF ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL to be His priest
B. The reason they got
chosen to begin with was because they did honor God and his things
1.
Malachi 2:4-5-And
ye shall know that I have sent this commandment unto you, that my covenant
might be with Levi, saith the LORD of hosts. 5
My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him for the fear
wherewith he feared me, and was afraid before my name. – Fear-Honor, Respect
2.
Numbers
25:10-13-God’s plan was that the priesthood continue in the family of Aaron
forever (Exodus 29:9, 40:15)
a. He got chosen because he
was zealous-Passionate in the
pursuit of anything, Enthusiastic
C. God’s choosing is not
random, those who honor him the most get chosen to have the most and do the
most and be used the most
D. 1 Timothy 3:10-To be
saved all you have to do is believe, but to be chosen and used you have to be
proven and qualified
1.
Proved-Deemed
Worthy
II.
Dishonor disqualifies
you-Through dishonor they judged themselves unworthy of the priesthood –
1 Samuel 2
A. 30-Be it far from me is
an expression of impossibility – God cannot possibly honor those who have
dishonored and despised Him
B. 30-The Lord started off
saying one thing, but now he’s saying something else
1.
Something
changed the plan of God for Levi and His house; The Lord said that Levi’s house
should walk before Him forever and that they priesthood would stay with him and
his sons after him, but now the Lord says Be it far from me and something changed
and something that was theirs from the Lord and should have been their
children’s after them, they lost and it wasn’t God who changed it was them;
God’s plan didn’t change, but they disqualified themselves from it by failing
to honor and value his things
C. Is it fair that they lost
it?
1.
31-His
sons dies and all his posterity died young
2.
33-The
posterity of Eli continued to be high priests until Solomon, then judgment on
Eli was completed-1Kings2:26-27
3.
2
Timothy 2:11-13
D. You can ensure that you
get what God wants you to have and you can ensure that you keep it by honoring
it and treating it as valuable and with great respect
III.
Matthew 22:1-14-What you
make light of you judge yourself unworthy to partake of
A. 3-These people that
didn’t come are people of dishonor and it shows up right away
1.
He
had to send his servants to call them there were invited; You can tell already
that it doesn’t mean much to these people; They were already were invited, but
didn’t come so he had to send his servants to go call them to tell them it’s
ready so come on now; if it was important to you you’d be there before it was
ready
2.
4-AGAIN-He Gave them a third chance (1st
Chance was the invitation, 2nd chance was sending his servants the
first time)
3.
If
they will honor their king and come they are going to partake of some rich
things and this wedding, but because of dishonor/disrespect/despising this
their window of opportunity is closing; God affords us certain opportunities
that won’t last forever
B. 3-Why wouldn’t you come?
You could have come, but you chose not to so why? It’s not important enough to
you and something else was too important to you, more important to you
1.
3-They
WOULD not come; that’s didn’t say they COULD not come, it said they WOULD not
come; So they could have come
2.
5-What
was so important? One’s farm and another’s business was more important to them
than God and His things
C. 5-The made light of it
(Carless, Neglect)-NEVER make light of
something that is important to the Lord, for that is dishonor
1.
The
dinner was no big deal to them and so them not being at the dinner was a no big
deal to them, and they think that them not being there will be no big deal to
the King/the Lord, but it was a big deal to the King/the Lord
a. Luke14:16-Great Supper-Things esteemed highly for
their importance
b. Luke 14:18-20-They made
excuse and asked to be excused and they weren’t excused; It was not okay with
the Lord that they didn’t come and it was a big deal to him that they didn’t
come, but they thought was it’s no big deal
1)
Just
cause you want it to be okay doesn’t mean that it is okay ;
“Oh it’s okay” “Oh it’s not a big deal” “The Lord understands”
2)
There’s
no excuse for God not being first, there’s no excuse for dishonor
2.
You
dishonor the Lord and your things will be lightly esteemed
a. 5-7-In doing this to the
King’s servants they dishonored the King and because they dishonored him their
lives and their stuff was lightly esteemed by him and mean nothing to him
b. This guy’s farm and this
guy’s business now mean little to nothing to the Lord
D. 8-The ones who rejected
this wedding and didn’t esteem and value it were not worthy of it; they
actually judged themselves unworthy to partake of it because they didn’t esteem
it and it wasn’t important to them
1.
What they were going to
partake of at this wedding was too good for them to have; They weren’t worthy
of it
2.
What
made them unworthy of it? It wasn’t their bad conduct or that they were bad
people or that they were substandard people who just didn’t measure up and
weren’t good enough for it; You couldn’t say that because He invited them, He
picked them, He selected them and asked them to come and even when they ignored
him he asked them again-What made them unworthy of it is that they didn’t value
it and it didn’t mean anything to them
a. 10-They might have been
bad, but they valued it enough to come and here there are people whose conduct
wasn’t all that good and yet they partook of it because it meant something to
them
b. 10-With maybe not the
best conduct they judged themselves worthy to partake of it because it means
something to them
3.
10-Do
you think these people in the highways were doing anything, going anywhere, had
plans that day? Do you think maybe some of them had their own business or had
their own farms and were tending to those things when the invitation came? Yet
this wedding and their king meant enough to them that whatever they were doing
it wasn’t as important as their king and this wedding he was having and because
that was their attitude they judged themselves worthy to partake of it
4.
If it’s not worth it to
you, then you are not worthy of it
a. There are billions of people on the planet and God could be
using somebody else and if we stop appreciating it and valuing it then we stop
being qualified for it and when it’s not worth it to us any more, then we are
not worthy of it
b. What you don’t value and appreciate and honor you judge
yourself unworthy to have – Is that fair?
E. 11-His heart was reveled
in how he is was dressed and what he wore
1.
11-The
way he was dressed revealed his heart, that this wedding wasn’t that important
to him
2.
12-He
was speechless b/c he didn’t think that what he wore mattered to the king;
after all HE showed up when others didn’t
3.
13-He
lost the opportunity to be at this wedding because he did not value it and we
saw that in how he dressed
F. 14-Many are invited but
few are chosen; who does God choose? He chooses those that honor him and value
his things
1.
It’s not a mystery or
some type of random thing when it comes to who God chooses; it’s clear and He
makes it clear to us that he choses those that honor him
2.
You don’t have to wonder
if you’ll be chosen or be afraid that you won’t be chosen, you can ensure that
you will be chosen by honoring God and his things the best you know how
G. 2-The Kingdom of Heaven
is like this (God invites people to partake of precious things and many don’t
have time for it so they miss out on it, but there are a few who will value it
and esteem it as precious and they will partake of the rich things of God)