Consider Your Calling

that's all about all things are possible with God father nothing is impossible to you the things that I would like to see happen in this service and in the next eight months are impossible for man but not for you which is why we pray so much around here prayer is for us a confession of our helplessness and of your omnipotence and so I ask you to come now again as you so often have and do things that are beyond human possibility like causing us to know that we are loved I ask this in Jesus powerful name Amen this is the last message that I will preach to you before the leave of absence which starts on May 1 and I see it as a continuation of last week's message the point of that message was that God loves you you Bethlehem corporately he loves this church as a body and you Bethlehem a a collection of individual sons and daughters of the Living God he loves you so much that it is so spectacular you do need supernatural help to both understand it and feel it I mean that very very explicitly biblically intentionally without any exaggeration whatsoever you cannot you cannot grasp that is you cannot experience consciously the love of God for you you cannot apart from omnipotent divine supernatural power enabling you to experience it here's a prayer we are by the way in this message going to get to the text unlike last week but this is all rehearsal from last week here's a prayer from Ephesians you look it up just listen carefully chapter 3 verse 18 I praise this Paul now praying for the Ephesians and the way I pray for you for myself for my family I pray that you may have strength to know the love of Christ you can't know it without power that strike you as odd you should give a lot of thought to that why can't I know what it is to be loved without divine power I'll keep reading that prayer I pray that you you may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge the love of God the love of Christ the love of God surpasses the powers of the mind to comprehend and the powers of the human heart to experience it surpasses our fallen capacities to handle with our brain and to experience with our heart it goes beyond what you're able to do which is why Paul is praying and why I pray from myself this way and for you this way may you have strength to comprehend the love of Christ soul strength heart strength mind strength may God give this to us now now in the service now downtown north now Holy Spirit come this is why Paul said in Romans five verse five God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us the love of God pours into you not by any human agency by the Holy Spirit it's a divine thing to know yourself loved by God you're not able to on your own now the question I posed last week was why is it that the Bible reveals the love of God for us including God's making so much of us why is it that he reveals his love for us he's making so much of us in ways that constantly call attention to his own glory why does he do it that way and the answer is this if God didn't do it that way if he didn't love us in a way that constantly called attention back to his glory as the source as the essence as the goal if he didn't do it that way we would be so much more likely to turn the love of God into a subtle means of self exciting we would use his love to make ourselves the deepest foundation of our joy instead of himself God would become the servant of our slavery to self we would take our preciousness to God and make that very preciousness to God our God but I argued god loves us so much we are so precious to him that he will not let that happen we are so precious to God that God in great mercy will not let our preciousness to him become our God we will indeed hear this carefully we will indeed through all eternity and joy being made much of by God that will be a profound ingredient in our joy in God that he makes so much of his sons and in and his daughters but he will work in us such a holiness such a sanctification such a freedom from sin that he will protect us from making that the bottom of our joy the bottom of our joy will always be that he's the kind of God who delights in us the bottom of our joy will always be that he's the kind of God who makes much of the likes of me this grace this grace will be the apex of my joy the apex of my praise forever it will never terminate here it will always go back there from him through him and to him are all things God Himself will be the beginning the middle and the end in his love for me and because he loves you in this spectacular way I argued we have good reason to believe that the next eight months of my absence will be a time of extraordinary blessing on this church personally and corporately so what I want to do in this message is take that a little further and give another textual biblical reason for why you should be confident of that and pray toward that that this love this kind of this way of loving us this way of loving us when add another extension of that from this text that was read to show why it increases our confidence that when I am taken out of the way God's going to show up more okay let's go to first Corinthians chapter 1 verses 26 to 31 now here's the link with last week in this text in these six verses of 26 to 31 at first Corinthians 1 in these six verses Paul describes at least depends on how you invited up for ways that God loves us loves you personally for ways that he loves you and by you let's get this clear now by you I don't mean everybody God doesn't love everybody in the same way the kinds of love that are described here are for those who have been awakened in their heart to see themselves as desperate sinners in need of a savior and Christ crucified has shown for them as the our wisdom and their power and he has become compellingly true and beautiful and attractive valuable and you have received him and he is yours and you are his that's what I'm talking about I hope the rest of you who aren't in that category will be drawn in by this message okay that's lastly things I'm sure not everybody in this room is in that category there's just too many of you and there's lots of people of all different kinds and so my prayer is that those of you inside will feel massively loved in fresh new ways and those on the outside would become so jealous and envious that you would be drawn in what we have in these six verses is four ways that he loves us and then a double purpose for why he loves us this particular way so two things four ways that he loves us and a double purpose for why you would love us that way so it's a how question and a why question got it how does he love me why does he love me this way and the answers to those two questions are here in this text so let's take it in reverse order let's go to the purposes first a double purpose for why he loves us in these four ways the first half of the double purpose is verse 29 so that may be so that you know some kind of result of purposes coming so that no human being might boast in the presence of God so the purpose of God in loving us in these ways is so that we will be loved in a way that does not incline us to boast in ourselves in the presence of God that's the purpose of loving us this way so that no human being will put their arms in their suspenders and say what a good boy am I in the presence of God he loves us so much he will not let us ruin the glorious experience of being loved by turning God's love into a reason to boast in ourselves he loves you too much he will not let you ruin the experience of being loved by God he won't let you ruin it by converting it in in our fallen way into an experience of boasting in the presence of God in ourselves he loves you too much he will not let that happen to you he will come at you from every side imaginable to kill that in you so that what second half of the double purpose is found in verse 31 so that as it is written let everyone who boasts boast in the Lord so you see the contrast verse 29 his purpose in loving us this way is so that nobody will boast in the presence of the Lord and and the positive way of saying in verse 31 is so that the one who boasts boast only in the Lord are we to boast in the presence of the Lord all right we're going to brag on God for ever and not ourselves we will not boast in our own doing if we stand in front of a mirror in heaven and like what we see which I suppose we would if there'd be mirrors I don't think they're beating mirrors in heaven just an opinion if we stood there we would say praise God that's what we would say so there is the double purpose in the text for the four ways that I'm now going to show you that he loves you first way so that you won't boast in yourself in his presence or putting it positive positively verse 31 so that you will boast in the oh that this church would be resounding in hallways and small groups and families with boasting in the Lord speak well of the Lord say much about the Lord talk about his deeds I just read this morning in my devotions you have made me glad by your works and I spent about two minutes I suppose just naming them and being glad sitting on the couch just being glad in the works of God name um exalt boast in God forget about your painful self for a moment it just might get well what are the four ways that you are loved in this text I'll name them then we'll look at them number one God chose you he loved you about choosing you number two he called you number three he puts you in Christ number four he made Christ your wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption that's it those are the four ways in this text that God loves you let's take them one at a time number one God loved you by choosing you verse 27 and 28 God chose what is foolish in the world to chain 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 very clear God chose if you are Christ he chose you he leaves some unchosen he chooses others if you are in he chose you in fact if you have to when to the app this word in the Greek for chose is only used one other place outside this text Ephesians 1:4 which was the text we looked at last week God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy blameless before him only that place in Paul does it occur and therefore I take it to mean it shows you he chose you he chose you in verses 27 and 28 meaning from eternity that's why in Romans 11 5 when he uses the noun not the verb he calls it the election of grace meaning that when God stood in eternity and contemplated you he contemplated you as needing saving in Christ I get that from verses 4 through 7 of Ephesians where we are chosen in Christ we don't need to be chosen in Christ if we aren't sinners we need to be chosen in Christ if we need righteousness we need forgiveness and redemption he contemplated he saw all of us as unworthy of being chosen nobody is wronged if their unchosen you are just spectacularly blessed for nothing in yourself this love is absolutely unconditional without any exception so no a Holy Spirit if it doesn't happen right now let it happen later tonight or later this week sooner or later come and pour this being loved from eternity I don't know about you but I was really helped by my sermon last week I've been I've been just sitting around saying he chose me in love he created me in love he sent Jesus in love he died for me in love he keeps me in love he made much of me by sitting me on his throne he made much just been going all through that just preaching to myself I need as much help as anybody so I'm preaching the same sermon number two God loved you by calling you so first he chose you and now secondly God loved you by calling you verse 26 consider your calling brothers that's why I'm asking you to do right now just do some considering right now and the first thing I suppose you'd ask is what's he talking about my job a carpenter nurse teacher homemaker no that's not what he's talking about how you how do you know that's not we talking about well mainly I know because of verses 22 to 24 read this consider consider your calling brothers and sisters consider your calling as I read verses 22 to 24 Jews demand signs Greeks seek wisdom but we preach Christ crucified a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles or Greeks same he's using them interchangeably but to those who are called both Jews and Greeks Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God so we when the called look at Christ crucified they don't see something blocked they don't see folly they see power so there are three groups right three groups in those verses number one Jews number to Gentiles number three called that's not quite accurate is it they say a little more carefully there are Jews who are not called Gentiles who are not called and Jews and Gentiles who are called those are the three groups are you with me this is we're considering our calling we're obeying verse 26 there are Jews not called Gentiles not called Jews and Gentiles some of whom are called and then he describes the response of each to the cross Jews yeah stumbling block crucified Messiah never heard of such a thing Gentiles foolishness a dying God silly mythological called power my god what kind of call is that I'll tell you what kind of call it is it's the kind of call that creates what it commands the call gives light the call creates sight the call raises the dead Lazarus come forth he didn't decide to the call raised him from the dead give you a an analogy that could be misleading it helps me just to get your handler because lots of you have never been taught about the call of God the mighty effectual irresistible powerful saving wakening life-giving call of God that saved you you've never been taught about this so you need a little analogy to help you what is he talking about I've never heard anything like this I thought I just believed in Jesus and and suppose somebody is asleep and you want to wake them up what do you do well you bend over they're sound asleep you bend over them and you say wake up and they bolt right up right now what are the dynamics of that moment they were sound asleep and think they were awake did they did they hear the call and say I'll think about that before I wake up and then and then I'll decide if I want to wake up that is a good analogy when God issues a call to your dead heart and says wake up you wake up you did not make yourself a Christian just face it you didn't make yourself a Christian which is why you should feel so incredibly loved in fact if you need a text to say that just go to Ephesians chapter 2 verse 4 where Paul says just as clearly as can be because of his great love it's the only place he uses that phrase in all the New Testament because of his great love he made you alive when you were dead so if you have any spiritual life in you at all you have been greatly loved it's called regenerate regeneration it's called calling you have been called and you are greatly loved in this calling number 3 God loved you by putting you in Christ verse 30 and because of him you are in Christ Jesus that's pretty clear in the original very very literally it would go from him are you in Christ Jesus or of him are you in Christ Jesus because is probably a pretty good translation because of his doing because of his work you are in Christ Jesus so he chose you before the foundation of the world he threw Billy Graham or a preacher or your mom's testimony or reading the Bible or hearing a worship song or however he wanted to do it as far as human agency goes he spoke the word wake up or come or live and you suddenly stopped seeing the cross as folly you stopped seeing the cross as boring you stopped seeing the cross as mythological you stopped seeing the cross as a stumbling block and suddenly it was what you needed and true and you embraced it you embraced it because God woke you up changed your heart and when in that you were united to Christ I beckon when we were talking about the doctrine of regeneration or the new birth I tried to explain how calling regeneration faith union with Christ are simultaneous there are causal connections here but there are temporal gaps in an instant in an instant he wakened you from the dead your eyes now went and what you saw was a glorious Christ and in seeing him as glorious you were a believer you were that's what believer means he is glorious he's Savior he's Lord he's mine that's what it is to see him for what he really is and in that moment you were united to Jesus which means number four God loved you by making Christ your wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption verse 30 and because of him you are in Christ Jesus so God awakened you United you to Christ so that you have a vital you with Jesus you're connected with him like maybe like a vine and a branch who that is Christ became to us are you with me in verse 30 who became to us wisdom from God righteousness and sanctification and redemption so when you unite with Christ all that he is now you are without making you God all the benefits that are in him all the inheritance that is in him all that he ever purchased all the obedience he ever performed all the forgiveness he ever purchased you now have by virtue of of union with him which you feel by faith and God worked sovereignly if there were time it and it's not my focus I would take each one of these wisdom righteousness sanctification and redemption and show you how differently each one Christ is for you but all I want to do here is move to one last observation by saying he has become through God's loving you this way everything for you which is why when I walked in tonight and heard the worship team rehearsing hallelujah all I have is Christ hallelujah Jesus is my life I said to chuck okay I'm doing an audible here I had a hymn picked out for the end bang we're going to do that and now I'm saying that I'm realizing to the two campuses and I don't know if you're going to do it that way so don't worry about it if you don't do it that way not a problem all I have is Christ verse 30 right if I need wisdom he's my wisdom if I'm right if I need righteousness he's my righteousness if I need sanctification redemption you are loved but some of them you are loved Bethlehem you are loved sons and daughters of God because God chose you for himself secondly you are loved because he called you to himself number three you are loved because he United you to Christ and four by making you one with Christ Christ becomes everything you need that's what it is to be loved by God and he did it that way so that no human being would boast in the presence of God and so that we would all boast in the Lord as you can see his most obvious that we should now I said at the beginning this sermon was an extension of last Sunday sermon with a view to adding another reason for why your expectations should be high that when I go away God's going to show up in greater power now we draw attention to what we entirely have overlooked in this text and it is probably among the most important things right namely what kind of people did he choose and how does it function what we have left out so far and will now attend to is an entire emphasis on the fact that God regularly glorifies himself by setting aside human power to magnify his own God regularly glorifies himself by setting aside human wisdom to magnify his own God regularly glorifies himself by setting aside human honor to magnify his own so let's read it verses 26 to 28 consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards and you should be asking why why did he do it that way why didn't you go out and select the hotshots 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 the things that are now here's one way that that relates to our situation whatever natural wisdom or strength or honor that I bring to this pulpit it may at times stand in the way of God's fullest blessing it may be God's design that the blessing he has for this church will reach a much higher level in my absence than in my presence I wrote the star article this week that's our newsletter article and if you read it this will sound familiar and if you haven't I hope you will about Robert Murray Machane Robert Marie McShane a pastor in Dundee Scotland 1839 he left his church for eight months he left at the beginning of April instead of the beginning of May and he came back at the end of November instead of the end of December and I was struck by this so I poked around before he left and while he struggled with whether to leave or not he wrote this I sometimes think that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence often God does not bless us when we are in the midst of our Labor's lest we say my hand and my eloquence have done it he removes us into silence and then pours down a blessing so that there is no room to receive it so that all that seeit cry out it is the Lord after Machane had chosen his substitute namely William burns the son of the pastor a few miles away and kill Sethe Scotland he wrote to Burns the son who's going to preach for him while he was gone I hope this is my all this is me I'm not just dabbling in history here this is all adopted by me I hope you may be a thousand times more blessed among them than I ever was perhaps there may be many souls perhaps there are many souls that would never have been saved under my ministry who may be touched under yours then God has taken this method of bringing you into my place his name is wonderful and the amazing thing is that God answered his prayer in August of 1839 while Machane was very sick they thought he might die he was in Turkey in near the town of Izmir Turkey he was thinking he was dying and desperately praying for revival in his home church of Dundee and revival came to kill Sethe several miles away and then spread in August to Dundee here's what it says two days after the revival came near but came too near by kill Sethe the Spirit began to work in st. Peter's at the time of the prayer meeting in the church in a way similar to kill day after day the people met for prayer and hearing the word and the time of the Apostles seemed to return when the Lord added to the church daily such as were being saved McShane did return in November of 1839 and died in 1843 so it's a little less than four years later at the age of 29 what an impact for a twenty-something I hope that all you 20-somethings dream a dream way bigger than most 20-somethings are dreaming with dinking around with their iPad I ended the star article with this prayer and I will I will close with this prayer so I'm going to read it to you and you keep your eyes open and and think about it you can be praying with your eyes open because you know the word revival is bandied about by a lot of people in a lot of different ways and my prayer is so that you know what I mean when I'm praying for revival in this church this what I'm praying okay it's it's really not complicated at all you just start listing the thing that God is doing all the time in individual lives and you ask that he do it a lot for a lot of people at one time that's all it is Oh Lord as you are often accustomed to do show your great power in my absence when you stop again I do promise to pray for you this prayer or one like it every day all right I am promising to get down on my knees with my open Bible I'll print this out you can print it out as well and pray this or something like it every day for you okay Oh Lord as you are often accustomed to do show your great power in my apps send a remarkable awakening that results in hundreds of people coming to Christ old animosities being removed marriages being reconciled and renewed wayward children coming home long-standing slavery to sin being conquered spiritual dullness being replaced by vibrant joy weak faith being replaced by bold witness disinterest in prayer being replaced by fervent intercession boring Bible reading being replaced by passion for the word disinterest in global missions being replaced by energy for Christ's name among the nations and lukewarm worship being replaced by zeal for the greatness of God's glory Lord when Gideon had thousands of men you said the people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into your hand lest Israel boast over me saying my own hand has saved me you stripped his army to 300 and with that you conquered the peoples of the East who covered the ground like the locusts and whose camels were like the sand of the sea Oh Lord take the mighty 300 of Bethlehem and bless this church beyond anything we have ever dreamed in Jesus name Amen you

Channel: Desiring God

Views: 26,603

Rating: 4.9024391 out of 5

Keywords: Sermon, John Piper, Desiring God, Bethlehem Baptist Church, Christian, Christianity, Church, Bible, Jesus Christ, God, Scripture, the love of god

Id: Cf39u0Uh0-c

Length: 41min 44sec (2504 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 28 2013