Chosen By God

“For many are called but few are chosen.” Matt. 22:14 (NKJV)

Today I want to look at what it means to be chosen by God. This passage from Matthew 22:14 can really mess with one’s head if it is read by itself. You might ask, “How is it possible that God would call someone, and not choose him?”

In reality everyone is called. Everyone on this planet was created with a call of God on his/her life. For some it is a call to full-time ministry. For others it is a call to be a minister in the marketplace. Whatever it may be, we all have been called. So, how is it that we can all be called, but not chosen? The fact is that God wants to choose everyone he has called, but in the end it is up to us. To understand this better, we need to look at the context of this passage.

In Matthew 22 Jesus tells a parable about a king whose son was getting married, and he wanted to throw a huge banquet for him. They sent out invitations to all their friends, but they all made excuses and refused to come. So the king told his servants to go out to the streets and bring people in to the banquet. The bible says the place was filled with all sorts of people “good and bad”. I believe that in that one setting there were rich and poor, criminals and upstanding citizens, homeless and noble.

The thing that distinguished this group of people from the first group that were invited was the fact that they said, “yes” to the invitation. As a result, Jesus said that even though everyone is called, the only way to be chosen is to say, “yes” to the invitation. It’s as if Jesus is saying, “When you say yes, then I will choose you.”

The second part of this is even more disturbing to me. Verse 11 says that the king saw a guest (someone who had been invited) who was not wearing wedding clothes, and as a result he was thrown out of the banquet. This goes a step further. Some people will answer the call, but they just want to be with the “in” crowd. They don’t want to participate; they just want to be with the cool people at the party. Today we would call them “pew warmers”.

Just like the person who refused the invitation that person will not be chosen. Truthfully, according to this passage, that person cannot even enter the Kingdom of God. You see, when we say, “yes” to the call of God, we are agreeing to give ourselves completely to the will of God. We have to make ourselves ready to obey whatever He would ask us to do.

Have you been chosen by God? Do you want to be chosen by God? The ball is in your court. He is waiting for you to answer His call, and be willing to be a full participant in the furthering of His kingdom.