Those God calls . . .

 

When a spirit-filled person finishes preaching the Word of God, the remark that I don’t want to hear is, “He is such a good speaker.”

Those who say it mean well. The sermon spoke to their heart, revealed sin and its remedy, or comforted them in some way yet the Word of God is clear; God  speaks through those whose hearts and mouths are yielded to Him. If someone, even a child, rebukes my sin or shares Jesus with me, God be praised. All glory is due to Him since He uses unqualified people to accomplish His purposes. Such a wonder!

The world’s value system honors people for their abilities, including self-confidence, but “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:17) His value system is so unlike ours.

For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.” (Isaiah 57:15)

All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word. (Isaiah 66:2)

MacArthur begins a look at the men that Jesus selected to be His disciples. We sometimes call them a motley crew for not one had any special qualifications:

The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. (Matthew 10:2–4)

The NT verifies that they were called according to God’s will, not our worldly standards:

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:26–31)

Our society is qualification-conscious with standards for everything from buying a big-ticket item, getting a credit card, or going to college. Employers, even churches, hire people with the highest qualifications. But God does not operate in that way. Rather than list the sins of Adam and Eve, or Lot, or Abraham, or Jacob, Moses, David, Jonah, Elijah, and Paul, I think of my own sins and am grieved and puzzled that God chose me to be His child. Doing remarkable things? Not me; just being a child of God is an incredible honor.

No one is qualified to do God’s work. Everyone sins and falls short. We see the power of God in how He can take anyone into His family and use anyone to accomplish His purposes. He can speak “out of the mouth of babes” and use most ordinary people and events. For instance, years ago my sister wrote a letter to our mother. Mom shared the letter with a visitor who told me decades later that God used that letter to bring her to a powerful and life-changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Who else could have pulled that off? Only God!

In living our lives and doing whatever we do, God is at work. We may not see it or expect Him to use us (my sister didn’t write that letter to change someone’s life) yet He can and He does.

Jesus, so often I’ve prayed telling You what to do, as if I was that wise. The reality is that You are wonderful and good and always a surprise. I’m learning to pray that Your perfect will is done, even in our imperfect world full of imperfect people, including those who are ‘good speakers’ as well as those who stammer and stutter. None of us are capable of being like Jesus without Jesus, and the world thought You were worthy of death. Forgive us for our upside-down values and help us see Your power despite our imperfections, when in fact, You even use them!

MEDITATE today on Luke 6:40: “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” and keep my focus on Jesus.