I had a strong arm.  But I was a big target.  And it was that which seriously reduced my capital as a teammate.  Elementary school dodgeball was a hotbed of competition and controversy.  No one wanted to waste their pick on an easy target.  And so, I waited.  And I waited.   Until the process of elimination saddled one hapless team with me as their last round draft pick.

I loved school, but recess was not my strong suit.  The Presidential Fitness Test and choosing teams were a definite low ebb in my institutional experience.  The order of selection was predictable.  Tony Fulcher and Roy Daffron were always first.  And I was often, if not always, last.   I sometimes thought that if the teams could have opted out of the process of elimination, they would have when it came to me.  Perhaps you know the angst of choosing teams.

But as with most things in God’s grace-based economy, last things are first things.  And unprofitable ones are chosen ones.  Incapable servants are made competent and do remarkable things.  It is the theme of the Bible that those unworthy and unlikely to ever be chosen are elected by the free grace of God alone and empowered to turn the world upside down. 

The Apostle Paul wrote half the New Testament, planted unknown numbers of churches, was responsible for explosive kingdom expansion and yet he writes.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant.  -2 Corinthians 3:4-6

God chose an entire nation to be His treasured people, yet he reminds them.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you.  -Deuteronomy 7:6-8

It is God who “arranges the members in the body, each one of them, as he [chooses].”  The body of Christ is not a meritocracy based on skill, prominence, or net worth.   Despite what we think, these have no power to expand the kingdom of God.  The New Testament reminds us that “God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.”

Nowhere is this dynamic more on display than in Jesus’ selection of the Twelve in Mark 3.  None of those men applied for the position of apostle or submitted to tryouts, auditions, or examinations.   Jesus made the choices, choosing those whom he desired.  And the list of the Twelve is like a highlighter, underscoring that they were “uneducated, common men,” often very dull, whose only qualification was that they had been with Jesus.

Mark 3:7-19 gives a vivid picture of the crushing demands of following Christ and of God’s grace in choosing and sending us to meet those demands.  This passage unfolds God’s purpose in choosing us, his plan for our calling, and an important portrait of the people God chooses and uses.  

Join us as we examine Mark 3:7-19 and consider purposes, plans, and people of God’s choosing. We meet Sundays at 10:30 am on the square in Pottsville, Arkansas right next to historic Potts’ Inn for worship.  Get directions here or contact us for more info.  Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.