About the attitude of the Lord God towards many called and the few chosen ones, and also about the fact that love is extinguished from the belittling of communication. How does God choose people? How to understand that you are God's chosen one

Now I sit in my chair, in which I pray every morning, write a letter to you and think about all those people who support us with prayers and finances. I have just prayed for you, and now I am reflecting on a question that was recently asked to me; it is about this question and about the answer to it that I want to talk to you today.

Recently I was asked, "How does God choose the people through whom He wants to act?" This is an important question, and you should also ask it if you want God to choose you. If you take a close look at God's chosen ones doing something significant, you will understand that God chooses people not at all according to their talents and abilities. If so, there must be another reason that prompts Him to lay His hand on a person in order to activate him in a special way.

WHAT IS THIS CAUSE?

There are several answers to this question. There are certain qualities due to which God chooses people, and you need to know these qualities.

LOYAL, RELIABLE, TRUSTED

One of the answers to this question is given by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 4: 2. He states this so categorically that it seems as though this quality is at the top of God's list of requirements for those who will be chosen to do His work. Here's what he wrote:
I would like to draw your attention to the word "faithful". The Greek word pistos, "faithful," is derived from the Greek pistis, "faith." However, in 1 Corinthians 4: 2 the word pistos does not mean "faith" but "fidelity." It characterizes a person whom God considered faithful, reliable, trustworthy, unshakable.

GOD IS CAREFULLY OBSERVING US

How does God determine whether a person is faithful, reliable, trustworthy, unshakable? Paul answers this question in the same verse: "It is required of stewards that everyone be faithful."

The Greek word eurisko - "to be" - means to find, to discover. It is important to note that the meaning of eurisko implies a discovery made through careful observation.
The meaning of the word eurisko tells us that God is closely watching us, our actions and reactions. He watches how we treat people, how we respond to pressure, whether we have the tenacity to stay on track when there are so many distractions around us to make us disobey God. Before he pats us on the back approvingly and entrusts us with some new important task, He will see how well we have coped with His previous assignment. Is it done as He expected? Did we finish it completely, or did some part of it remain incomplete? And did we do it in such a way as to glorify the name of Jesus?

CHARACTER AND ACTIONS - THAT IS IMPORTANT!

If you were God and were looking for a person through whom you could act in a powerful way, would you not first look at his character and actions to make sure that you can entrust him with an important task? Even the employer closely monitors employees to see which of them deserves a promotion.

BEFORE TRUSTING MORE ...

If you were an employer, then before you promote a person and entrust him with more responsibility, would you not watch him to see if he turns out to be faithful? If people do this when they are looking for a person who can be entrusted with the fulfillment of even important, but still temporary, from the point of view of eternal life, duties, the more God will do this when choosing people to whom He can entrust a mission, the fulfillment of which will affect where people will spend eternity. There is nothing more serious than destiny in eternity - that is why God, before entrusting someone to perform important spiritual affairs, will watch him to see if this person turns out to be faithful.

GOD IS OBSERVING AND ... FOR YOU!

God wants to know if we are faithful, trustworthy, reliable, unshakable. He is not ignorant and has no illusions about us, He carefully observes us and then makes a decision. This means that God is watching over you too. He observes your actions and reactions. He observes how you treat people and how you behave under the pressure of circumstances. He looks to see if you have the tenacity to go forward despite the difficulties.
1 Corinthians 4: 2 leaves no doubt about how important our quality of faithfulness is to God. The word "turned out" strongly indicates that God is watching us over a long period of time to see how we behave in certain circumstances, whether we are faithful, can we be trusted, are we trustworthy, how much we are reliable and unshakable.
Today I would like to ask you a question: "How did God find you?"

GOD WANTS THE FAITHFUL!

Having realized as a result of observing a person that he can be trusted, God, as a rule, soon assigns him a task. The Greek word zeteo used in the above verse - "to be required" - means to seek, to seek, to look very carefully. This word was a legal term for a forensic investigation, and it could also refer to scientific research. It describes an intense, thorough search. The verse can be paraphrased like this: "God conducts a thorough, all-encompassing, thorough search in order to find a steward who turns out to be faithful."

VALUABLE FIND

This means that people with the qualities that God wants to see in them in order to use them in the implementation of His plans are not found at every step. Faithful, dependable, trustworthy, unshakable people are so rare that God has to search carefully and thoroughly to find them. And when, as a result of observing a believer, God comes to the conclusion that he really seeks to do His will, and in the best way, He realizes that he has made a valuable discovery. He found a loyal person on whom he can rely and entrust him with an important task.

A REAL TREASURE!

Over the years, I have worked with a huge number of people, and I know that people you can fully rely on are rare. Most are distracted from completing their assigned task for something else. At first they try to be faithful, but then they are distracted by other miscellaneous things. Almost all pastors can attest that more often than not, people who start a business do not complete it. But when you manage to find a loyal, trustworthy, reliable and unshakable person, you can consider that this is a rare find, a real treasure.
WHAT CAN GOD SAY ABOUT YOUR LOYALTY?

Looking at you, what can God say about your faithfulness? I urge you to do everything possible so that He can easily say: “This man is a real treasure. I can entrust him with the fulfillment of an important assignment. " And don't let Him say, “Not yet,” because you refused to make the necessary changes.

Since God is watching us, we need to look at ourselves from the outside to understand what He sees when he looks at our actions, how we keep our promises, and how obedient to Him and His Word. Will God say that he can trust us, or would it be wise for Him to choose someone else?

THE DOOR TO YOUR CALL

If you want to move to a higher spiritual level - more responsible, but at the same time more interesting and exciting, and it is at this level that God can give a more important task, then do everything possible to be faithful! If God sees your faithfulness, then soon a door will open before you, entering into which you can fulfill what He called you to.

DO YOU HAVE AN ASSIGNMENT RIGHT NOW?

Today I want to ask you:

what commission has God given you? Perhaps this assignment is related to work or relationship, an assignment to solve some personal problems? Can you now name the most important assignment God has given you — the one over which He is most closely watching? If you do not know what actions God expects from you now, ask Him to help you understand what your task is and fulfill it in the best way so that He can entrust you with something more substantial. Resolve firmly and even commit yourself to do everything in your power for God to find you faithful to do His will - to carry out the simple task that He gave you - so that He can then entrust you with a more important task.

GOD IS ALWAYS NEARBY!

God is interested in how you carry out the tasks entrusted to you. He stands next to you to help you, to inspire you and to strengthen you where you are weak, so that you can be faithful and are able to complete His next task with full dedication.

GOD CALLS US TO RISE HIGHER

Do you think God finds you faithful in doing His will, from the simple tasks assigned to you to the important task of fulfilling your calling?
I hope this letter was interesting and useful for you. This letter prompted me to be even more obedient to God and serve Him even better. It became a test for myself, because I always try to do everything that the Lord tells me. Right now, He is calling me to rise higher. I know it. And what is God calling you to? I am convinced that you will be faithful and take on the fulfillment of the tasks given by God with renewed vigor, and do them in the best possible way.

THANK YOU!

Thank you for your prayer and financial support for the ministry of our church. Not a day goes by that Denis and I don't thank God for all of you and pray that He will lift you even higher and give you the best. It is a great honor for us to pray for you and to watch with you how God's will is being carried out in your life.

INTERNET CHURCH

In our Internet church, on the website () you have the opportunity to watch broadcasts of services in real time, "Home Groups Online" on Mondays. The Internet Church is a great opportunity to reach out to as many precious hearts as possible in the ministry. Invite your friends and acquaintances and, if possible, join us yourself.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: And depending on the context. We say about some people "the chosen one of God." It is clear that the Lord Himself somehow singled out him from among others.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: And gave him some special gifts.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Well, for example, it is known that Sergius of Radonezh did not eat from his mother's breast on Wednesdays and Fridays.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: As a baby.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Yes, it is clear that this sign is some kind of special, thereby the Lord singled him out from among other children. Or, for example, the future father John of Kronstadt, when he was a boy, was not very good at his studies, but usually little boys hang out, and he prayed that the Lord would give him reason. And he began to study well after that, that is, he wanted to. It is also not at all often that a certain boy would like to study and begin to pray to God about it.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: But it seems that the Lord initially gives certain special gifts to certain people from childhood and covers their lives, and thereby sets them apart from everyone else. We strive to imitate them in life. But can a person, not possessing these gifts, approach such holiness as they are?

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: But there is a huge number of saints who, neither in childhood, nor in maturity, did not differ in anything so special. And then they achieved extraordinary holiness and gifts. The paths are different.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: But the choice is that the Lord chooses some people according to their qualities? Or is it something else?

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: And everything is the Lord. Well, how can a certain boy or girl be born outside the providence of God Himself? No way.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: “A few are chosen” - it is evident that this phrase from the Gospel is embarrassing.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: This refers to very specific people. This refers to the chosen people of God. Direct analogy with God's chosen people. This refers to the Church of God - New Israel. After all, the Lord calls everyone to unite with the New Israel, with the Church, to enter into the people of God, to become a man taken into the inheritance of God. But people don't respond. This is what I mean.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: Therefore, it is not enough.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Every Christian is a member of God's chosen people, which is called the Church, he has a royal priesthood from God Himself, he has been given the charisma to build his home church, be it a man or a woman, each has his own role in this building.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: It would seem that this is what the Lord gives to a person, and so few people accept it ...

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Well, what to do ... Unfortunately, due to the damaged mind of the divine, a person simply does not distinguish.

Prot. Alexander Berezovsky: That is, there is an inability to appreciate this gift.

Prot. Dimitri Smirnov: Yes, but what makes a child of 10 years old to smoke? He was given health, and he is destroying it. Here are some simple guidelines: don't run across the street, wait for the traffic light. No, he neglects it, and breaks his bones, some die.
...........................................
Answer: Father Dimitry Smirnov

Look, brethren, who you are called: not many are wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God chose the unwise of the world to put the wise to shame, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the mighty; and the ignorant of the world and the humiliated and meaningless was chosen by God in order to abolish the meaningful, so that no flesh would boast before God.
First Epistle to Corinthians 1: 26-29.

The Apostle Paul said that Jesus Christ was despised by both Jews and Gentiles. However, the apostle argued, this was not a stumbling block for him, for what was folly for others, he considered wisdom, and rejoiced that the folly of God was wiser than people and that the weakness of God is more powerful than human strength. But so that none of the Corinthians stumble upon hearing that the world despises Christ, the apostle shows what is the usual way of God's action: He chooses insignificant means to achieve His goals, and thanks to this all the glory belongs to Him. Paul uses the fact of their election and vocation as an argument: “Look, brethren,” he says, “who you are called: not many of you are wise according to the flesh, not many strong, not many noble ...” But the poor, the illiterate, God called insignificant ones to be all in all, so that no flesh could boast before Him. It is clear to anyone who studies Scripture or observes facts that God did not intend to make the gospel fashionable. He did not even think to gather the elite of mankind, He had no plans to make a new people from high-ranking officials. On the contrary, God challenged human greatness, He humiliated human pride and cut the shield of human glory with the sword of His might. “I will overthrow, overthrow, overthrow,” is the motto of the Lord of hosts, and it will sound “until the one to whom belongs” and the kingdom, and power, and glory forever and ever. The doctrine of election, like no other, humbles a person. That is why the apostle Paul remembers him: he wants the Corinthian believers to be content with following the humble, despicable, cross-bearing Savior, for grace has chosen humble and despicable people who cannot be ashamed to follow the One who is so similar to them, who was despicable and diminished among men.

Passing directly to the verses read, we, first, pay attention to the One who made the choice; second, the seemingly strange election; thirdly, on the elect, and after that let us dwell on the reasons that stood behind God's election: "... so that no flesh should boast before God."

I. First, let us rise upward on the wings of thought and think about the One who made the choice.

Some people are saved and some are not; the indisputable fact is that some gain eternal life, and some continue to walk the path of sin until they go to hell. What caused this difference? Why does someone reach heaven? The reason that some die in hell is sin and sin alone; they do not want to repent, they do not want to believe in Christ, they do not want to turn to God and therefore they voluntarily perish, they themselves bring themselves to eternal death. But why are some saved? By whose will they differ from other people? Paul answers this question three times in these verses. He does not say: "man has chosen," but repeats three times: "God chose, God chose, God chose." The grace that is in man, the glory and eternal life that some attain, are gifts of God's choice and are not given out by the will of man.

This will become clear to any sane person, as soon as he turns to the facts. Whenever we meet an election in the Old Testament, we see that it clearly comes from God. You can start from the most ancient times. Angels fell, a multitude of shining spirits, who surrounded the throne of God and sang His praises, were deceived by Satan and sinned. The ancient serpent carried away a third of the heavenly stars, so that they disobey God and were condemned to eternal chains and eternal fire. Man also sinned: Adam and Eve broke the covenant between them and God and ate the fruit from the forbidden tree. Did God condemn them to eternal fire? No, by great mercy He whispered a promise in Eve's ear: "The woman's seed will crush the serpent's head." Some people are saved, but not a single demon is saved. Why? Is the reason in man? Be silent! This is empty boasting to say that a person has determined his fate, God Himself says: "... whom I have mercy, I will have mercy; whom I will pity, I will have pity." Being the sovereign God, the Lord is essentially saying: "I determine and decide that from the human race I will save a huge number of people that no one can count, and they will be vessels of mercy. And the angels who were my servants, and now have become traitors their Lord, they will perish without any hope of deliverance and will be an example of the power of My righteousness and the greatness of My justice. " And it never occurred to anyone to dispute this decision of God. I have never heard of even the most extreme Pelagian protecting the devil. Origen seems to have taught that the universal law of mercy extends to the devil, but hardly anyone today takes this point of view. Here is a prime example of election: some people are saved, and all fallen angels will perish. How can such a difference be explained if not by the will of the Lord? Remembering the mercy that humanity has received, we must say, "God has chosen." We can easily remember examples of how the will of God separated some people from others. During the time of the patriarchs, almost all people were pagans. But a few people, chosen by God, worshiped the true God. The Lord decided to create a special people who would have revelation from God and keep the truth. He chose Abraham as the forefather of this people. Who chose whom: Abraham God or God of Abraham? Did Abraham have anything from birth that made him fit to serve the Most High? Scripture makes it clear that Abraham had nothing like this. On the contrary, he was a wandering, or rather, a dying Aramean, and his family was no different from others, his family, like everyone else, worshiped idols. Nevertheless, he was called from the East, became, by the special will of God, the father of believers. What was there in the Jews that could induce God to bless them with prophets, to teach true worship of God through sacrifices and other rites, while other peoples worshiped gods made of stone and wood? We can only say one thing: God did it. His mercy was directed to the Israelite people and not to anyone else. Think of any example of divine grace in Old Testament times. For example, God showed mercy to David. But did David himself choose the throne, set himself apart from other people, and made himself God's chosen messenger for the Israelites? Perhaps Jesse's youngest son had a clear advantage over his brothers? No, on the contrary, from a human point of view, his brothers were better suited. Even Samuel, seeing Eliab, said: "Surely, this is His anointed one before the Lord!" But God does not look like a man, and He chooses the blond David to be the king of Israel. And you can give other examples, but your memory will allow me not to waste unnecessary words. All the events of the Old Testament show that God does as He pleases, both among the heavenly host and among the inhabitants of the earth. He overthrows, and He raises, He raises the poor from the dust, raises the beggar from the dust, puts him next to the nobles. It is God who chooses, not man. "So mercy does not depend on the one who wills, and not on the laborer, but on God who has mercy."

Let's look at this issue from a different perspective. If we think about who God is in relation to man, then it becomes clear to us that everything should be determined by His will. God is the king for man. And will the King not act according to his own will? People can create a constitutional monarchy that limits the power of kings, and they are right when they strive for it. But if we could find the perfect person, then absolute monarchy would be the best form of government. In any case, God has absolute authority. He never violates justice, for He is holiness and truth itself, and considers His absolute power to be one of the most beautiful pearls in His crown. "I am the Lord, and there is no other." He does not give an account of His deeds to anyone. He gives one answer to all the questions: "Who are you, man, why are you arguing with God? Will the product say to the one who made it: why did you do me this way? Does the potter have power over clay to make one vessel from the same mixture for honorable use, and the other is for the low one? " God is an absolute monarch, therefore His voice in everything, and even more so in the matter of salvation, is decisive. Let's imagine this situation. Several criminals are imprisoned, and each of them is sentenced to death. Their guilt is the same, so when they are taken to execution in the morning, no one will say that this is unfair. If pardon is possible for some criminals, then who will make the decision, really criminals? Will they be given the right to decide the issue of pardon? For them, the cancellation of the sentence is a great condescension. But suppose they all rejected the pardon and, having heard the offer to be saved, refused to accept the pardon. If in this case the supreme grace prevails over their perverted mind and will and decides to save them anyway, then who will have the final choice? If the choice was left to criminals, then they would all again choose death instead of life, so it makes no sense to leave the last word to them. In addition, it would look very strange if the issue of pardon was decided by the criminals themselves. No, of course, the king will determine who will be pardoned and who will be punished. The fact that God is king and people are criminals requires that salvation be dependent on the will of God. And truly, it is better for us to leave everything to the will of God, and not to our own will, because God is much kinder to us than we are to ourselves, He loves a person more than a person loves himself. God is justice, God is love, justice in all its majesty and love in all its unlimited power. Mercy and truth met and honored each other. And it is very good that the power to save has been placed in the hands of God.

We will now recall a few examples that the Bible uses to describe how salvation takes place, and I think you will understand that the ultimate decision about salvation is left to God's will. Part of the salvation is adoption. God adopts sinners who were children of wrath and makes them members of His family. Who has authority over adoption? Children of anger? Of course not. But all people are by nature the children of anger! Common sense requires that no one other than the parent himself makes the decision to adopt. As a father, I have the right to accept or reject a person applying for adoption. Obviously, no person has the right to demand from me that I adopt him, and cannot declare without my consent that he is my adopted son. I repeat that common sense requires a parent to have the right to decide whether someone is adopted or not. In the same way, God decides Himself who will be His son and who will not.

The church is called the house of God. Who determines the architectural style of this building? Who decides what stones it will be built from? Do stones choose themselves? Had the stone in that corner chosen a place for itself? Or did the one that lies closer to the foundation climbed there on its own? No, the architect arranges the selected materials as he sees fit. Likewise, during the erection of the Church, which is the house of God, the great Builder reserves the right to choose stones and their location in the building.

Take an even clearer image. The church is called the bride of Christ. Would any of you want someone to be thrust into his bride against his will? There is not a single person among us who would give up his right to choose a life partner. So will Christ really leave the choice of His bride to the will of chance or to the will of man? No, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Husband of the Church, uses His authority, which belongs to Him by right, and He Himself chooses a bride for Himself.

Moreover, we are members of the body of Christ. David says that "in your book are written all the days (in the English translation" members "- approx. Per.), Appointed for me, when not one of them was yet." The members of every human body have been recorded in the book of God. So is the body of Christ an exception? Will the great divine-human body of Jesus Christ, our Savior, be created at the whim of free will, while other bodies, much less important, are created in accordance with what is written in the book of God? Let's not even assume the possibility of an affirmative answer, which simply indicates a misunderstanding of the image used in Scripture.

It seems to me quite clear that biblical images and examples teach that the choice of man for salvation belongs to God. Doesn't this, dear friends, match your experience? This is exactly what happened to me. Some people may hate the doctrine of election; many foaming at the mouth try to refute the sovereignty of God. But I must admit that this teaching touches the innermost string in my soul, so that it makes me cry, even when nothing else can cause tears. Something inside me says, "He had to choose you, otherwise you would never have chosen Him." I voluntarily lived in sin, I constantly went astray, found pleasure in lawlessness, drank evil like an ox drinks from a stream of water, and now I am saved by grace. How can I dare to attribute salvation to my own choice? Undoubtedly, I chose God voluntarily, but this was only due to the preliminary work that God did in my heart, changing it, for my unchanged heart was not able to choose God. Beloved, don't you notice that even now your thoughts are running away from God? If God's grace were taken from you, what would become of you? Aren't you like a bent bow, the shape of which is held by a bowstring, but if you cut it, the bow will straighten? Isn't that so with you? Wouldn't you immediately return to your old sinful ways if God took away His mighty grace? Then you must understand that if even now, when you are reborn, your tainted nature does not want to make a choice in favor of God, then all the more you could not choose God when you did not have a new nature that would restrain and suppress the sinful nature. My Lord looks you in the eye, O people of God, and says: "You did not choose Me, but I chose you." And we feel how an answer is born in our souls: "Yes, Lord, we did not choose You in our natural sinful state, but You chose us, and may there be eternal honor and praise for Your free and sovereign choice."

II. May God grant us to feel the work of the Holy Spirit while we speak directly about the election itself.

Here the Lord chooses people who will honor the cross of Christ. They will be redeemed with precious blood, and God will make them worthy, in a sense, of the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But look what a strange choice He makes. I read with reverence the words: "... not many of you are wise in the flesh, not many strong, not many noble ..." If a person were given the right to choose, he would choose the wise and noble. "But God chose the unwise of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong; and the ignorant of the world and the humble and meaningless has been chosen by God to abolish the meaningful ..." If a man had chosen, he would have passed by just such people. God made a very, very strange choice. I think that even in heaven, he will be the subject of eternal wonder. And if the Apostle Paul did not reveal to us the reasons for such a choice, then we would simply be lost in conjecture why God with Divine contempt walked past the magnificent royal palaces and chose people of low birth and an insignificant position in society.

This choice is strange in that it is the exact opposite of a choice that a person would make. Man chooses those who are most useful to him, God chooses those for whom He can be most useful. We choose those who can thank us better than others, God often chooses those who most need His blessings. If I choose a friend, then one with whom friendship would be useful to me; and this is the manifestation of human egoism. But God chooses as friends such people to whom He can render the greatest service by His friendship. God and man make choices in very different ways. We choose the best because they deserve it. He chooses the worst because they least deserve it, so that the election should be a manifest act of grace and not the result of human merit. Obviously, God chooses completely differently from man. A person chooses the most beautiful and beautiful, God, on the contrary, seeing the seal of filth on everything that is considered beautiful, does not choose this visible beauty, but stops His choice on those whom even people recognize as ugly, and makes them truly beautiful and beautiful. A strange choice! Is that what man does, oh God?

Note that this choice is also merciful in yours and mine. This choice is gracious even in the way it excludes people. It does not say "not a single wise man", but "not many wise", so that great people are not deprived of the grace of God. The gospel is proclaimed to the nobles, in heaven we will meet those who wore crowns on earth. How blessed is the grace of merciful choice! She gives life to the weak and the unreasonable. One might think that when God said to the king: “No,” He did it so that no one would count on His mercy. After all, we usually say this: "We refused Mr. N, and he is a much more important person than you, so I am all the more compelled to refuse you. You know, the kings asked me for this service and received nothing, so do you really think that will I render this service to you? " But God thinks differently. He walks past the king to reach out to the beggar; He does not look to the noble to do good to a man of low birth; He turns away from philosophers to accept the ignorant. Oh, how strange, how amazing, how incredible! Let us glorify Him for such wonderful grace!

What an encouragement this is to us! Many cannot boast of their ancestry. Many did not receive a good education. We are neither rich nor famous. But how merciful God is! He was pleased to choose just such ignorant, such contemptible, such worthless people as we are.

And so as not to spend all my time this morning thinking about how strange God's choice is, I will note that any Christian who thinks about his election will agree that God made the strangest choice that could be made.

III. Now we turn to the very elect. Paul tells who they are and who they are not. Let us first dwell on the second. Who are the chosen ones not? The Apostle writes: "... not many of you are wise according to the flesh ..." Note that it is not simply said here "not many are wise", but "not many are wise according to the flesh." God chose truly wise people, for He makes all His own wise, and He did not choose "wise according to the flesh." The Greeks call such people philosophers. People who love wisdom, great scientists, mentors, encyclopedists, educated, perceptive, infallible people ... look down on simple, illiterate people with contempt and call them fools, honor them as dust that can be trampled underfoot, but these sages a few chosen by God. Strange, isn't it? But if the first twelve apostles were philosophers or rabbis, people would say, "No wonder the gospel is so powerful: the twelve wisest men in Greece were chosen to proclaim it." But instead, the Lord finds poor fishermen on the seashore (He could not have met more uneducated people) and calls them after Him. Fishermen become apostles, they spread the gospel, and glory rests not on the apostles, but on the gospel. The wisdom of God passed by the wise people.

Note, further the Apostle Paul writes: "... there are not many strong ..." at the same time, illiterate, common people have already passed this gate. Blind wisdom stumbles in darkness and, like the Magi, searches in vain for the baby in Jerusalem, while the poor shepherds immediately go to Bethlehem and find Christ.

Here's another group of greats! Strong people, fearless conquerors, monarchs, their imperial majesties, conquerors, Alexandras, Napoleons - are they not chosen? After all, if a king becomes a Christian, he can force others to accept Christ by the sword. Why not elect him? “No,” says Paul, “... there are not many strong ones ...” And you can easily guess what the reason is. If the strong were elected, people would say: "It is clear why Christianity has become so widespread! The edge of the sword is a strong argument in favor of Christ, and the power of the monarch breaks not only the heart of man." We understand what explains the success of Islam in the first three centuries of its history. People like Ali and Khalifa were ready to destroy entire nations. They rode on horses, swinging scimitars over their heads, fearlessly rushing into battle. It was only when they ran into people like our Richard Coeur de Lion that they cooled down a bit. When the sword meets the sword, then the one who first took it in hand dies. Christ did not choose soldiers. One of his disciples pulled out a sword, but the experiment was unsuccessful, since he could only injure the ear of the slave, and even then Christ healed with a touch. After this incident, Peter no longer entered the battle. So that the success of the Lord's conquests does not depend on strong people, God does not choose them.

After that, Paul says: "... there are not many noble ones ...", meaning people with a famous pedigree, in whose family tree there are princes and kings, in whose veins blue blood flows. "... there are not many noble ones," for they would say about the noble ones that they made the Gospel prestigious: "Is it any wonder that the Gospel spread so much, because Count So-and-so and Duke So-and-so are Christians." But you see that there were very few such people in the early years in the church. The saints who gathered in the catacombs were poor and common people. And it is very noteworthy that among all the inscriptions found in the Roman catacombs, which were made by the first Christians, there is hardly one in which there would be no spelling errors. And this is strong evidence that they were made by poor, illiterate people, who at that time were the defenders of the faith and the true keepers of the grace of God.

So, we talked about who the elect, as a rule, are not: not many wise, not many strong, not many noble. Now let's see who the chosen ones are. And I want you to pay close attention to the words chosen by the apostle. He is not saying that God chose ignorant people. No, he says differently: "... God chose the unwise ...", as if the chosen ones by the Lord by their nature did not deserve to be called people, but were no longer soulless objects; the world treated them with such contempt that they did not say: "Who are these people?", but simply: "What is this?" In the Gospels, Christ is called "This" several times, ie. "This one": "This one we do not know where He is from." Opponents did not even want to call Him a man. They seemed to say: "This, m .., call it an animal or a thing, we do not know ..." whatever. But God chose the "unwise", which is the very embodiment of stupidity.

Further, God also chose "the weak of the world." "And who," said Caesar in the throne room, if he honored this object with his attention at all, "is this King Jesus? A pitiful vagabond hanged on a cross! Who is it preaching him there? wallets put together! Who is this Paul who stands up for Christ so fiercely? An artisan! He makes tents! And who are his followers? A few worthless women who happened to meet him on the riverbank! Paul is a philosopher? What are you talking about? He was ridiculed? on the Hill of Mars. In the Areopagus, the Athenians called him "kinky". Undoubtedly, Caesar considered them worthless people who did not deserve his attention. But God chose "the weak of the world."

Note that Paul also calls the elect "the ignorant of the world." This means that they did not have a noble family. Their father is nobody and their mother is nothing. Such were the ancient apostles, they were ignorant in this world, but still God chose them.

And, as if that weren't enough, Paul adds that God has chosen "the humiliated." They scoffed at the chosen ones, persecuted them, hunted them, sometimes, not taking them seriously, they treated them with complete indifference: "Is it worth paying attention to them? You are insignificant fools! Do not touch them, leave them alone." But God chose them. Zeros and nonentities. "Oh yes," says the man of the world, "I heard that there is such a group of fanatics." "Yes? And I haven't even heard of them." Says another. "I've never had anything to do with such low-class people." "Do they have a bishop or an infallible pope?" someone asked. "No, sir, there are no such noble people among them, they are all ignorant ignoramuses, so the world rejects them." "But," says God, "I chose them." These are the people that God chooses. And notice that the situation has not changed from the time of the apostle Paul to the present day, for the Bible does not change over time. And in one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, as in the sixty-fourth year, God still chooses the weak and the ignorant, as he always did. God will show the world that those who are mocked, who are called fanatics, madmen and criminals, are His chosen ones, who will still become the head of a whole army of the elect and will win for God the victory on the last day. And we are not ashamed to boast that God chooses the weak and the humble. And we stand next to the despicable people of God in the hope of becoming partakers of His choosing grace.

IV. In conclusion, let's look at the reasons why God chose these people. Paul points us to two reasons - the immediate and the main.

The first, immediate reason is contained in the following words: "... God chose the unwise of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong; and the ignorant of the world and the humble and meaningless was chosen by God to abolish the meaningful ... ".

So, the immediate reason for this seemingly strange election is to put the wise to shame. When a wise man puts a wise man to shame, that is one thing; it is also easy for a wise to put a fool to shame; but when the fool gains the upper hand over the wise, this is truly the finger of God! You remember what happened to the first apostles. The philosopher listened to the Apostle Paul and said: "There is nothing interesting in this! It's just some kind of stupidity! Fables - from beginning to end! We shouldn't waste energy to answer this." Years passed, this philosopher turned gray, and the Christian "heresy" not only did not die, but, like an epidemic, spread quite widely. His daughter turned, even his wife secretly began to go to Christian meetings in the evenings. The philosopher is lost in guessing what is happening. “I,” he says, “have already clearly proved that Christianity is stupidity, but people accept it. that it seemed to me that nothing of Christianity would remain. But it is already in my house. " Sometimes this philosopher, with tears in his eyes, mutters: "I feel in my heart that it has conquered and shamed me. I invented syllogism after syllogism, I defeated miserable Paul, but Paul defeated me. What I considered stupid to shame my wisdom." Several centuries after the death of Christ, the Christian faith spread throughout the civilized world, while paganism, which was supported by all the philosophers of the West and East, fell into decay and became the subject of ridicule. God chose the weak to put the strong to shame. "Oh," exclaimed Caesar, "we will eradicate Christianity, and together with it we will destroy those who defend it!" Different rulers killed Jesus' disciples one by one, but the more they persecuted them, the more they became. Orders were given to the proconsuls to destroy the Christians, but the more they persecuted them, the more they were, until, finally, people themselves began to come to the persecutors with a request to die for Christ. Those in power invented sophisticated tortures, tied believers to wild horses, laid them on red-hot lattices, ripped off the skin from the living, sawed them into pieces, put them on stakes, smeared them with tar, turned them into torches to illuminate Nero's gardens. They were rotted in dungeons, used for shows in amphitheatres, bears choked them to death, lions tore them to pieces, wild bulls lifted them on their horns, but Christianity spread. All the swords of the legionnaires, who defeated the armies of all nations, conquered the invincible Gauls and ferocious Britons, could not withstand the weakness of Christianity, for the weakness of God is stronger than the power of man. If God chose strong people, they would say, "God owes success to us"; if He chose the wise, they would say, "It's all about our wisdom." But when God chooses the unwise and the weak, what can you, a philosopher, say? Didn't God laugh at you? Where are you, spear and sword? Where are you strong ones? God's weakness has crushed you.

Paul also writes that God chose the insignificant in order to abolish the meaningful. Abolishing is even more than shaming. "Meaningful". What was significant in the days of the apostle? Jupiter sat on an exalted throne holding thunder in his hands. Saturn was revered as the father of the gods, Venus rewarded her adherents with lustful pleasures, the beautiful Diana blew her horn. But then Paul appears and says that there is no God but one God and Jesus Christ sent by Him. He talks about "insignificant". The Christian "heresy" was in such contempt that if at that time a catalog of religions of different countries had been compiled, Christianity would not have got into it. But where is Jupiter now? Where is Saturn? Where are Venus and Diana? Their names only exist in thick dictionaries. Who is currently worshiping Ceres during the harvest season? Who offers prayer to Neptune during a storm? They all disappeared! The insignificant has destroyed the meaningful.

Consider the fact that the truth has not changed since Paul's time. The thousand eight hundred and sixty-fourth year will see the repetition of ancient miracles: the meaningful will be abolished by the insignificant. Think back to the days of Wycliffe. Then the wooden crosses in churches were significant. All the inhabitants of Britain worshiped Saint Winifred and Saint Thomas of Canterbury. Here is the Lord Archbishop walking down the street and being worshiped. The Pope is worshiped by thousands, the Virgin Mary is worshiped by all without exception. And what do I see? A lone monk in Lutterworth begins to preach against mendicant monks-beggars, and, preaching against them, he unexpectedly discovers the truth and begins to proclaim Christ as the only way of salvation, claiming that everyone who believes in Him will be saved. At first, this man's efforts looked so ridiculous that he was not even pursued. True, he had to answer to His Eminence, but the courageous man John o "Gaunt came to his aid, who put in a good word for him, and, although Wycliffe was convicted, he was allowed to return to his parish in Lutterworth." Significant! " there was even a need to shed his blood, it had to die by itself! But did it die? Where are your holy crosses today? Where are St. Thomas of Canterbury, where are St. Agnes and St. Winifred? Ask the Puzeites (Puseites - followers of Edward Puse, the leader ritualistic movement in the Anglican Church in the 19th century. - Approx. trans.), because only they still remember them. the grace of God so easily they will not succeed. ”The modern system of English superstitions with its teaching about life-giving baptismal water, confirmation and transmission of grace through bread and wine will be abolished under the influence of the insignificant. buried in Jesus; the belief that there are no priests who are higher than ordinary Christians, that all believers are priests to God, pure truth; the simple truth that water does not oblige the Holy Spirit to revive a person, that external forms and rituals do not have power by themselves without the faith of those who take part in them - all this will abolish, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, that which is significant. We rely on the strength of God. I would not want the soldiers of God to be stronger. If they were stronger, brothers, they would be famous. Let them be weak, let them be few, let them be despised by people. Their small number, poverty, weakness will make the exclamations of greeting and glorification of the eternal Conqueror louder and inspire the song: "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name, give glory, for the sake of Your mercy, for the sake of Your truth."

This is the immediate goal of choosing the unwise, the weak, the insignificant? God wants to put to shame the wise and the strong. But His ultimate goal is different: "... that no flesh should boast before God." I draw your attention to this final thought, and we will close. Paul does not say: "... that no man ..." No, he does not intend to flatter anyone, therefore he says "no flesh." What a word! What a word, I repeat! Solon and Socrates are wise people. God points his finger at them and says, "Flesh." Flesh is sold in meat markets, isn't it? It is torn with the teeth of dogs and eaten by worms. Flesh and nothing more. Here stands Caesar in a regal purple robe, he stands proudly and confidently, a mighty emperor, and the praetorian warriors draw their swords and shout: "Great emperor! Long live the great emperor!" "Flesh," says God and repeats: "Flesh." Here are the soldiers minting a step, hundreds in one row, the mighty legionnaires of Rome. Who can get in their way? "Flesh," Scripture says about them, "flesh." Here are people whose fathers come from the royal family, they can trace a long line of their noble ancestors. "Flesh," says God, "flesh and nothing else." Food for dogs and worms. "... So that no flesh can boast before God." You see that God puts on each of us the seal that you are only flesh, and He chooses the weakest flesh, the most unwise, the poorest flesh, so that all other flesh can see God's contempt for it and His will, so that no flesh did not boast before Him.

Do you reject this teaching? You say you cannot hear about election? I think you want to boast a little to God. God does not see things the way you do, so you need a new heart and the right spirit.

But maybe, on the contrary, today someone will say: "I have nothing to boast of, I will not boast before You, but I will cast myself to dust and say:" Do with me as You please. " Sinner, do you feel that you are flesh, only sinful flesh? Are you so humbled before God that you feel that no matter what He does to you, He will be right? Do you realize that you can only trust in His mercy? If so, then you are one with God, you are reconciled with Him. I see that you are reconciled, for when you agree with God that He must rule, then He agrees with you that you must live. Sinner, touch the scepter of His grace. The crucified Jesus now stands before you and calls you to turn to Him and find life. The fact that you hear the call to convert is a manifestation of grace and a manifestation of the greatest love. You can be converted, and you will have to praise the Lord for it forever. And God bless you, whose name I have sought to magnify today with my feeble words. In the name of Christ. Amen.