One of the great themes of Deuteronomy is for the people to remember that God picked them of all the nations in the earth to be his chosen – his treasured possession – simply because He wanted to.  We also, in the church are brought near to God for no other reason than He chose us.  We will study for three Sundays how blessed we are to be the chosen people of God.

January 4 - You are chosen (Deut. 7:1ff)

This sermon is God’s command for his people to set themselves apart from the other nations in the land.  This points to God’s desire for his people to be separate from the things and teachings of this world since we have been separated by God’s choosing us.

January 11 - Not because of the good things we’ve done (Deut. 9:1-12)

Though we are the chosen people of God, we in no way earned it.  Moses reminds the people that this choosing was because God wanted to and we should in no way think we somehow deserve it because we are “good people”.

January 18 - In spite of our failures (Deut. 9:13-29)

Not only does Moses remind the people that it wasn’t their good that got God’s favor, but that He chose (and continues to choose) them in spite of their rebellious spirit and blatant disregard for God and his ways.  This is the mystery of God’s love, that while we were still sinners he died for the ungodly.  We are chosen in spite of us.