Many Are Called, Few Are Chosen
For many are called, but few are chosen.
Matthew 22:14
Christ spoke similar words on other occasions, warning and challenging the Jewish listeners to make sure they truly believed in Him — not to just assume they were saved because they were Jewish. And yet we often miss their intended impact on us because we become sidetracked by doctrinal discussions on election, predestination, and determination. These words also speak to us, calling us to examine ourselves to be sure we have personally believed in Christ and in the grace of God through Him.
That Christ’s words were spoken at all reveals the capacity within humans to respond to the call of the Lord, to search our hearts and be sure that our faith is built on more than mere nationalism or ethnic-centrism. Today let me issue the call of Christ again to us all to believe on Him and on Him alone. To seek God through the means of our salvation which He has provided — namely the person and gospel of Jesus Christ. To repent and believe in the grace of God in Christ.
Philippians 3:9: And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness that is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
What did Christ mean by these words? What does it mean to be called and to be chosen? Where do we draw the line between what is the work of God and what is our response? Here is my understanding of what the Bible teaches.
All people of the world have been called to believe in God by virtue of the witness of God in creation itself.
Psalm 19:1–3: The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
And this witness from creation is not limited to the universe and the world around us. The handiwork of God is also seen in human nature, that He has left His marks as Creator in our very hearts. If we will look only at humanity we will see evidence of a Creator.
Romans 1:18–20: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
God had endowed humans with reason, knowledge, conscience, the capacity for moral action, courage, and other attributes that should have directed our hearts to God.
Romans 2:14–15: For when Gentiles, who do not have the law [the “Law of God” is meant here], by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them.
Our thoughts excuse us in that we have a conscience, an inner awareness of right and wrong. Though these are misshaped by sin, “seared as with a hot iron” (1 Tim. 4:2), they do exist within us. Yet we do not obey them, so they accuse us. But all of these marks of the Creator’s hand at work in our existence — in the universe, in the world, and in our own natures — give evidence of His existence and issue a “call” to believe in God.
Many people of the world have heard the gospel of Christ and been called to believe in Jesus of Nazareth. Yet not all have responded in faith. Jesus used the word “chosen” to describe the personal response to the gospel. For whatever else the word means, we cannot escape the understanding that our salvation has more the work of God attached to it than our own work. Of all that has been done for our salvation, the vast and overwhelming majority of it has been done by God independent of us.
He planned our salvation from the creation of the world — Christ is called “the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8). And the Bible says, “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4). The Bible without apology uses words like “chosen” and “predestined” (Rom. 8:30). These words would be inappropriate if our salvation rested more on ourselves than on God. Furthermore, by His Word and by His Spirit, God has sustained the public witness to salvation in Christ throughout the centuries. “How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom. 10:14)
So in all things — from the first plan of our salvation, to the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ — from the sustaining power of the Spirit of His people through the centuries to continue to preach the gospel, to the conviction of the Spirit in our hearts when we heard the gospel, and even to the very act of conversion accomplished by His Spirit, to be “born of the Spirit” (John 3:6) — the work of our salvation rests upon God more than upon us. Our hope rests in Him and in Him alone.
Yet we do have an obligation. Though the mystery may be beyond our minds to grasp in this life, the words of Christ and of the Apostles urge us to respond. “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able” (Luke 13:24). The narrow gate is not the gate of good works, not the gate of self-righteousness or self-sacrifice. It is the gate of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. Through Him and through Him alone we are saved.
This past week in our regular church offering, a nameless person gave a gift to the church in an envelope and on the envelope was written the words “a sacrifice for sin.” I had preached on the importance of being cleansed by the Spirit of God, but the person who responded rejected the gospel of Christ and chose instead his own small act of righteousness to cover his sins. He (or she) thought that by giving a little money to the church that this “sacrifice” could achieve the forgiveness of his sins. That is nothing less than heresy.
What does the scripture teach? “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22), and the phrase “shedding of blood” means the taking of a life. Even if this person had given all of his money, it would have not gained him a single ounce of forgiveness. But even if he gave his own life he would not have erased his sins either. Only by the blood of Christ — meaning only by the death of Christ — is sin dealt with. And only by the resurrection and life of Christ do we live. Only by trusting in Him are we forgiven. “Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
