CHOOSING

Dr. Richard J. Henderson May 11, 2003

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Psalm 23
I John 3: 17 - 24
John 10: 11 - 18

Introduction

Jesus talks about choosing. In the scripture we read, he talks about the choices he has to make. He uses the image of a shepherd. When a shepherd is out with his flock and sees danger to his sheep, from a wolf for example, he has choices to make. The hired worker, who doesn't own the sheep, may look out for his own welfare and run for safety, leaving the sheep behind and in danger of their lives. One who cares for the sheep will try to protect them. One who has extraordinary love for them will even risk his own life - and give it - for the ones he loves.

Jesus expresses his extraordinary love for us by saying he is the shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep. We know he tells the truth, because he has given his life for us.

But Jesus makes clear that it is a conscious choice he makes. "No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down," he says. In obedience, Jesus has willingly given his life for us. It is a difficult choice, freely made.

I

God chooses us. The Bible makes it clear that it is not that we choose God as much as God has already chosen us. God chooses us when God creates us. We are God's creation. God loves us like a mother loves the child she has brought into the world.

Christ chooses us when he is willing to come into the world and become one of us. Jesus demonstrates his love for us when he walks the dusty roads of the Middle East teaching us what is of value in life, and what are life's charades. Jesus clinches his love for us when he dies a painful death on a cross. Clearly God - and God in Christ - chooses us.

II

We also have to respond to God's choosing. God has chosen us, but we also have to choose God. God doesn't force anyone. We don't have to accept what God offers; therefore we have to respond to God's choice.

God offers us an invitation; we have to let God know what our response is. God reaches out to us, we have to at least lift an arm to reach out to God.

III

There is a lot of talk these days about how much our ability to choose is limited. We hear a good bit about the ways in which our lives are determined even before we are born.

With the completion of the genome project, about identifying all of the elements of DNA, some are saying we have less choice than ever before. And there seems to be some truth to that. I mean, if both of your parents are under 5' 2" tall, you probably can rule out a career as a professional basketball player.

It's popular to talk about how our parents' behavior affects us. Some say that what our parents did, or didn't do, has determined who we are. "Because my parents were so controlling, I can't be expected to be able to make decisions easily." What we often overlook is how often these limitations come up with opposite results. For example, we say, "Well, you know his father was an alcoholic, so it's no wonder he's an alcoholic too." But we say just as certainly, "Well, you know his father was an alcoholic so it's no wonder he's a teetotaler." The same input justifies opposite results.

IV

The existentialist philosopher, Jean Paul Satre felt that we always have a choice, even if we had a difficult childhood. He saw people deciding all the time, even when they didn't realize they were making important choices. In his book, Being and Nothingness, he talks about how we continually choose who we will become. At one point in the book he is sitting in a cafe looking at the people around him. He looks at the waiter, who is carefully going about his duties as a waiter. He is polite to people, trying to please them and serving them diligently. Sarte says, "That man is trying to be a waiter. He is turning himself into a ...waiter." Now the man wasn't born a waiter. He didn't receive "waiter genes." He is choosing to become a waiter, and a good one.

Then Sarte looks across the room. There a couple talks together warmly. After a while the man reaches across the table and puts his hand on top of the young woman's hand. She doesn't pull her hand away. She doesn't scowl at him. Instead a natural smile spreads across her face. She has made a choice, perhaps even without thinking about it.

Sarte's point is that we are always making choices. And we are always deciding who we will be. None of us is a finished product. We are all moving in one direction or another in our lives, but none of us is completed yet. So we are still deciding who we will be.

Who we will be is decided in the everyday choices we make. Most of them aren't earthshaking decisions, we just decide about them. We don't agonize over these choices, we don't wrestle with most of the choices we make, but all of them lead to the person we will be.

We also become who we are by what we choose not to do. Do we pass up an opportunity? Are we afraid to try something new, so we decide to stick with the familiar? Have you ever really struggled with a difficult choice and wondered what would have happened if you had taken the other option? What if I decided on a different career? What if I took the other job, and we lived in a different city? What if I married the other person? What if we decided not to have any more children?

How would I be different as a person if I made a major decision differently? Remember Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken?" It is that kind of reflection on how life might have been different if the other choice had been made.

Our decisions create who we are; they define what is important to us. Even the little choices we make everyday have an impact on who we are becoming.

Conclusion

We choose to be one of God's faithful people. We make that choice by deciding to do what is Christian. We choose to live by the standard Christ gave us.

Amen.

©Richard J. Henderson 2003