January 11, 2026

Isaiah 42:1-9

It’s a great thing to be chosen. I know what it’s like to be chosen, to be selected, to make the cut, to be chosen to be a member of the team. I also know what it’s like to not be chosen, to get cut. To not see my name on the roster of the baseball team. Nothing worse than being told you can’t play anymore. So I went out for track, where everybody made the track team, so I was once again chosen, we all were selected, chosen, everybody made it. It’s a great thing to be chosen. To be chosen brings a spring in the step. Think of a time when you got the job, acceptance letter, the promotion, that brought great rejoicing, didn’t it?

Brian Ruberry of Kensington, Maryland finally had his moment. That 66 year old former public relations assistant had been writing television scripts for 40 years ago, but not one, not one single television script that he wrote over those many, many years not one was ever accepted but that all changed when his script was chosen by Lifetime Network. They purchased it… and a second and a third. He said, “it was a long time in coming but it was finally worth the wait… to be chosen.” It’s a great thing to be chosen isn’t it?

Just look at our gospel reading for today Matthew 3 Jesus has just been baptized in the Jordan and there’s the voice from heaven. God Almighty speaking of Jesus. Think of Jesus as a human being as He says those three statements, “This is My Son, whom I love. With Him I am well pleased.” Can you image how Jesus felt at that moment, chosen by God. Seen something like that before, maybe you have too. That’s my son! That’s my son, we love him, and we are so proud of him. And how do you think that boy feels to hear his parents talk about him that way? Chosen. It’s a wonderful thing.

I believe those moments don’t come often enough. When we get it, oh I’m chosen, I’m set apart, loved by my father. My heavenly Father. I think we know we are chosen and there is joy in that God has chosen us. But doesn’t it happen, that that joy kinda slips away over time. It’s kinda like what can happen in a marriage. You know what it’s like when they are engaged, they are chosen, there’s a spring in their step and twinkle in their eye. Somebody else would take interest and then she would say oh no I’m taken. A few years later that twinkle and spring is gone and she’d say Oh I’m taken alright, taken for granted. I’m taken advantage of. You see that delight in being chosen can dwindle over time. Ah really that’s nothing new. That happened with Israel, with God’s chosen people. It started way back in Genesis 18, there were three men who came to visit Abraham and Sarah, remember? And Abraham and Sarah they were old, they didn’t have any children, they weren’t planning on it because it was impossible for them, humanly speaking. But those visitors said, by this time next year Sarah will have a child. And Sarah hears that and she just laughs, she can’t believe it’s true. That she is God’s chosen to have a child. But later we hear that through Abraham, will come a great and powerful nation. And God says that all people will be blessed through him. For I have chosen you Abraham, God says. But over time, Abraham and God’s children would lose the delight of being chosen. They would eventually be enslaved in Egypt, remember. And if there was any joy, boy it went away. That joy just dwindled to nothing but then God delivered them and they rejoiced again by being chosen by God. But then they wandered in that wilderness and they lost that delight of being chosen again. But then God brought them into the Promised Land and the joy of God’s choice returned. But living in the Promised Land was kinda hard so the joy again dwindled. You see how that goes….God’s choice and life, kinda happens. Does that sound familiar? The same thing happens to you and me.

I think I kinda know why. The joy bandits. You know about those bandits, they ride into your life and they just steal your joy.  They’re everywhere, aren’t they? Have they visited you lately. It can be the drudgery of life. Things just get hard. It’s hard to think I am God’s choice and to delight in that and life is just tough.  It’s a grind. People can be joy bandits. Unfaithfulness and snide comments and gossip and snark and sacrasm just sucking the joy out of our lives. We can be our own joy bandits shooting ourselves in the foot. Those joy bandits are all over the place, they ride in and steal the joy and ride off, even though you are God’s chosen child.  You say I’ve got reason to be miserable, I have all these problems and we expect God to respond, ya know you’ve got a point there. But is that the way the bible talks? No you don’t see that in the bible, you don’t hear anything like that, what you hear over and over again is yes my life is difficult and I have a lot going on and the joy bandits visited me, but, I am still God’s choice. I am God’s chosen child.

What would it be like if we lived our lives knowing that those words from Isaiah describe you and me? My chosen One. Despite the bandits, we are God’s chosen.

Billy lived like that, Billy’s story is told by Tony Campolo. Billy was a camp counselor at a camp and they had a jr. High camp. The kids were mean and that was the case. Billy had cerebral palsy. He stuttered, his walk was stilted, he shuffled and the kids would mimic and laugh. One day Billy was chosen to lead the day’s devotion. And Tony knew why. The kids in his group chosen him to get up in front of the camp and so they could laugh at him. So when it was time for devo, he shuffled in front of the camp and he gave his devotion. Very brief. It was difficult with his stutter and he simply said, “I love Jesus and Jesus loves me.”  That’s it. The entire camp was silent, nobody was laughing. Why? Because Billy knew the importance of those three words, My Chosen One. His whole life had been hard and people were so cruel but he was still God’s child. God’s chosen one and he knew it. And when he was saying those words, if you listen can’t you hear those words from heaven, “That’s My Son. That’s whom I love. With Billy I am well pleased.” The heavenly father loving His chosen child.

And I guess it started with the heavenly Father saying to Jesus, “This is My Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased.” He chose that Jesus would be born, and He chose that He would live, and He chose that He would die. He chose when Jesus cried out, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me.” He chose to be silent. Because then He chose you and He chose me. Because of My Son’s death and forgiveness won at Calvary, you are My son, You are My daughter with you I love, with you I am well pleased. You hear it, you hear it every time we have a baptism at the font. In fact, we just had one two weeks ago (Ryan) and another one coming up (Charlotte Ann next week) around the corner. God coming to His child, God coming to you, My son, My daughter, whom I love, I am pleased to chose you. And don’t you hear it at the rail. You I have chosen. I have chosen to love you. I have chosen to forgive you I have chosen to give grace to you. You are my chosen.

When’s the last time you realized and lived in the delight that you are God’s chosen child? Rejoice in that today, because God in Christ has chosen you. You are chosen. Amen.