Thoughts from The Bible

Thoughts from the Bible

Wednesday, 20 November 2024 07:09

The individuals God saves
by Sarah Wootten Corinth Missionary Baptist Church

Pretend you’re forming a group of people whose task is to build a house that is on par with the Biltmore Estate. You would need an electrician, plumber, architect, carpenter, landscape designer, stone mason, and many more tradesman. You would choose individuals who have previously proven their worth and who you know can complete the job skillfully. You would never choose me to be your electrician; I have no knowledge of the trade. You would only hire the best experts.
This is how we choose all teams, no matter if it’s for sports, committees, or employees. We want the people who bring the most value to accomplish a goal. When it comes to who God saves, sometimes people think that God must use the same logic. We have a tendency to say, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God saved that Hollywood star? She has such a powerful influence and platform that she could really do a lot of work for God’s kingdom. Not to mention she’s wealthy.” But this isn’t how God chooses those He saves. Really, that mentality is so far from the truth. In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells us that God often chooses the weak of the world who seem to bring no special value for salvation. Paul wrote, “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are,” (1 Corinthians 1:28, ESV).

When it came to choosing the individuals who made up the Corinthian church, God mostly saved people who were not wise according to the world and held no position of power or nobility (1:26). God chose those who were despised, low, weak, and foolish (1:27-28). This is not a group of people that we would choose to make up our churches today. We care far too much about what “value” people bring to the table.

Thankfully, God doesn’t think like we do. In fact, God choosing the most unlikely is nothing new. In Deuteronomy 7, Moses tells the Israelites why God chose them to be His covenant people. It wasn’t because Israel was “more in number … for [Israel was] the fewest of all peoples, (7:7, ESV). Instead, God chose Israel because He loved them. That’s it. It wasn’t based on anything they possessed in themselves. It certainly wasn’t because they were powerful; they were the fewest of all the peoples on the earth. God chose Israel simply because He loved them.

The same is true for many of the well-known Old Testament people. Consider King David. He was the last option out of Jesse’s sons to be chosen as Israel’s king. Even the prophet Samuel thought God would choose Jesse’s oldest son because of his appearance and position in the family. Yet, God told Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him … man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart,” (1 Samuel 16:7, ESV). So seven of Jesse’s sons passed before Samuel, and none of them were chosen. Finally, David came, and although he was the youngest and least likely, David was anointed as the next king over Israel.

This begs the question, does God ever save people of significance according to worldly standards? Of course He does. The Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:27), Lydia (Acts 16:14), and Paul himself (Acts 22:3) could all be described in this way. Paul said that “not many” of Corinthians believers were important in the eyes of the world (1 Corinthians 1:26), not that none of them were. But there is a pattern in the Bible that God often saves those whom the world rejects. Why does God do this?

Paul answers that question in 1 Corinthians 1:29. It’s so that no one “might boast in the presence of God,” (ESV). We are masters at deceiving ourselves. We can say with our mouths that salvation is by grace alone, and yet think in our hearts that we deserve it. It appears that some of this mentality was happening at Corinth. As pride was running rampant and causing division in the church, Paul reminded the congregants that none of them deserve God’s salvation. In fact, according to the world, not many of them would even be the world’s choice for much of anything. But God chose them because He loved them. It wasn’t based on their skills or abilities, but on the basis of His grace. Therefore, they had no reason to boast in themselves. They should worship Him alone.