Chosen people in SAGE lectured (5)
I believe the answer is:
elect
'chosen people' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'in sage lectured' is the wordplay.
'in' says the answer is hidden in the clue.
'ELECT' can be found hidden inside 'sage lectured'.
(Other definitions for elect that I've seen before include "Return" , "Preferred" , "Vote to put into power" , "Choose; chosen" , "Vote into office" .)