Okay, let’s have another word of prayer.
Lord, we bless You. What a sweet reminder this morning: unto us a Child was born; unto us, a Son was given. Lord, we thank You that we can stand here today because Your beloved Son also gave. He gave Himself so completely, abandoned to the will of His heavenly Father.
Lord, we thank You for so great a salvation. We thank You that, because of that salvation, every provision has been made for us in Christ Jesus. As we come to Your Word, we thank You that we can continue in Your presence.
Lord, cause Your Word to truly work within our lives. It is so easy to hear just words spoken, but unless the work of Your life within us takes that Word and transforms us, that Word falls upon bad soil. We want our hearts this morning—the soil within our lives—to be freely opened unto You, that Your Word could speak into all of our lives and that we would be made captives of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Your precious name we pray. Amen.
I would like for us to turn this morning to 1 Corinthians 1. These Scriptures came to my heart after considering some of the messages that have been shared recently with us: the way the Lord has spoken about warring the good warfare; the call of who are we, why do we gather, and what is our testimony?
As I was considering these messages, these verses out of 1 Corinthians came to my heart. It became very personal to me. It was a personal challenge: we hear many things, but it is kind of like, “So what? Mac, you have heard many messages. So what?” What is the value of hearing these things that have been shared recently? What is the true value of these words spoken within my life?
The Lord was challenging me, and He brought me back to 1 Corinthians 1, beginning in verse 26:
For consider your calling, brethren,
that there were not many wise according to the flesh,
not many mighty, not many noble.
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world
to shame the things that are wise;
God hath chosen the weak things of the world
to shame the things which are strong.
The base things of the world, and the despised,
God hath chosen, things that are not,
that He might nullify the things that are;
that no man should boast before God.
But by His doing ye are in Christ Jesus,
who became unto us wisdom from God,
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption:
that, as it is written,
Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord.
The little phrase that came to my heart from these verses is in verse 26: “Consider your calling.” The Lord just said, “Mac, just stop.” Do we ever really stop? Do I stop and consider the great calling that the Lord has upon our lives?
Now, when we speak of this calling, we are not speaking of our calling to salvation. This was written to believers. Thank the Lord, there is a call to salvation; and as we have responded to that call, the salvation accomplished by our Lord is sure and settled. But after we are saved, the Lord still calls us. He is always calling us unto Himself.
This morning, we are not going to do a word study on calling. Word studies are good and can be helpful, but I am not going to go through the many ways our calling is referred to in Scripture. The Lord simply brought it back to my heart and said, “Mac, have you forgotten your calling? Has your calling grown dim? Is your calling clouded? Have you ever really known it?”
Brothers and sisters, what is our call? What is the calling the Lord has upon us? We have heard this before. We know that the great call is that Christ would be all and in all. It is the Father’s desire that all things would be summed up in Christ.
Even as we see in Revelation 21, what is the focus? It is Christ—Christ being all and in all. That is the Lord’s desire for our lives: that He would be all and in all.
We are very familiar with this phrase. Sometimes familiarity can be a great enemy, because we do not stop and consider. Do we really stop and reflect upon what the Lord has called us to? Do we allow Him to speak in a fresh way, to rekindle it, and to make it clear within our lives? What is this calling? What are we about?
As I was meditating on this, it was interesting to me how Paul used this phrase with those in Corinth. Why did Paul write this to Corinth? What was the condition of Corinth? Corinth was in chaos. They were in great division.
They were saying, “I am of Paul,” “I am of Apollos,” and “I am of Cephas”; and those really spiritual ones said, “I am of Christ.” Paul comes back and says, “Is Christ divided?”
In the midst of that division, in the midst of the fighting over, “I am of this one,” “I favor this,” and “I favor that,” what was the call that the Holy Spirit put forth through Paul to settle the crisis? It was to bring them back to consider their calling.
Stop everything else and reflect upon the calling. As we look throughout Scripture, we see over and over again that in the midst of crisis, the Lord brings us back to our Lord Jesus Christ.
In Revelation, in that time of transition and crisis, the people at the end of the first century were called to focus upon the Lord. In Hebrews, where they had fallen back into much of the religiosity of their Jewish traditions, how were they to be set free? They were to consider Jesus.
As Paul was preparing to go and be with the Lord, and to make that transition in life, what did he say to Timothy? “Remember Jesus.” The answer to every crisis within our lives is to go back, remember that calling, and see a greater revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul says to those in Corinth, “Remember who you were.” As you read these things about being the foolish ones, the weak, and the despised, brothers and sisters, do you find yourself thinking, “I am glad I was not like that”? We have such a high image of ourselves. But that is who we were.
One of the beautiful things about seeing more of the Lord is that we see who we are outside of Him. Thank the Lord that He has not chosen the great things of this world, but the small, the few, and the insignificant to show forth the excellency of Himself.
One of my greatest problems is that I think I am too great. I do not think I am insignificant. I think I have value. I think I have things that I can offer to the Lord in His service. But He brings us back to consider our calling, to consider Jesus, and it puts things back into perspective.
That is the beauty of the table we take every Sunday. The Lord knows us so well. This table has a way of refocusing us, of bringing us back to remember our precious Lord, what He has done for us, who we were, and how far apart from Him we were.
Paul reminds these dear ones in Corinth that it was not by any of their doing, but by His doing that we are in Christ Jesus. By His doing, He has been made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. It is not by our doing.
They were fighting over who was greatest. There were divisions coming in. But the Lord, through this Word, says, “Come back. Remember My calling. Consider this. Come back to the foundation of what this is all about.”
They had left their first love. The characteristic of Corinth was self-love. They had been captured and driven by self-love. How does the Lord readjust these things in our lives? He says, “Consider your calling. Consider My Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn your eyes back upon Him.”
Quit looking at one another. Quit even looking at the blessings of the Lord. It is interesting: they were not divided over bad things. There was Paul, Cephas, Apollos, and Christ. They were good things, so-called good things. But they had left their first love.
As we stop and consider our calling, it is wonderful how Romans 8 speaks of this. Our calling is not a happenstance calling. Our calling is with purpose. The Lord has called us with purpose. He saved us with purpose.
Romans 8 tells us that He has called us according to a purpose. He has a desire upon His heart—not just that we would be saved, but that we would continue to allow Him to work within us.
Most of the verses we read today will be familiar. We can say, “Oh, I know that verse.” But may they be fresh within our lives today. We all love Romans 8:28, particularly the first part:
And we know that God causeth all things to work together for good
to them that love God,
to them that are called according to His purpose.
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained
to be conformed to the image of His Son,
that He might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom He foreordained, them He also called:
and whom He called, them He also justified:
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
We see that we are called according to a purpose. The Lord does not leave us wondering about that purpose. He says plainly that we are to be conformed to the image of His Son.
To be conformed to the image of His Son—what does this mean? It is not merely an outward image of looking like Jesus. It speaks of His inner character and His inner life.
Sometimes we look at the life of Jesus and say, “Oh, I would love to be like Jesus.” Would we really? Do we know that the spiritual life of our Lord Jesus is repulsive to our natural life? The natural life within us is repulsed by the life of our Lord Jesus.
Our natural life says, “We are great.” What does the Lord Jesus say? “I took the form of a babe. I came in humility.” Do we want to live that life of humility, with nowhere to lay our head and no place to call home? It is so contrary to our self-life.
He lived those hidden years. We hate to be hidden. Our self-life wants to manifest itself. We want to be seen. But for most of His time on earth, the Lord Jesus was hidden. We do not know much about those years.
Are we willing to go through that hidden life, where, when the Father calls, He manifests Himself? It is so contrary to our life. Then He came to His own, and His own received Him not. It was a rejected life.
To be conformed to the image of His Son is to speak of a life of humility, a life of being hidden, and a life of rejection. He came to His very own, and they received Him not. Yet, out of love, He continued caring for them and dying for the very ones who rejected Him.
He was misunderstood. One of the hardest things in life for us to endure is being misunderstood. Self wants to justify itself. We want to explain ourselves. We want to prove ourselves.
But look at our Lord Jesus. He shared what He shared. If someone rejected it, did He try to argue and bring them around? He simply shared the truth, declared it, and lived it. They saw His life.
It was a life of being misunderstood. It was a life of loneliness. In the garden of Gethsemane, there was loneliness and crying. We do not like to be lonely. We like to have friends, and we do not like it when our friends do not stand with us.
Sometimes when we think about being conformed to the image of His Son, we wear rose-colored glasses. But let us look at what the Gospels say. Let us read the Gospels and really see the character and nature of Christ. It is so contrary to self and so contrary to the spirit of this age.
But God has a purpose in calling us unto Himself: that the very life of Christ—the life of humility, the willingness to be misunderstood, the life of walking a lonely path—would be made manifest among the people of God in this hour.
I have found this very convicting. The spiritual life of Christ is not attractive to my natural man. I love myself too much. But praise God, He does not leave us as we are. He has made a way for us to enter in.
The Lord wants us to stop, because we are killing ourselves. I kill my brothers and sisters by living in my natural strength. He says, “Stop. I have a purpose. I want you to be conformed to the image of My Son.”
What is this image? It is an image willing to be crucified, to be spat upon, and to go the way of the cross. Yes, praise God, at the end is glory. He is on the throne. We love the throne. But how did He get there?
He walked upon this earth. He suffered rejection. He was despised, humiliated, and rejected. We want to get to the throne, but we want to take the shortcut. We love shortcuts and ways around. But there is one way to the throne: the way our Lord walked upon this earth. It is the way of the cross.
One of the first steps is to recognize that, in ourselves, this way is not attractive. That is why we have to consider our calling. If we merely look at that life, it is not attractive. But when we receive the calling, we see the joy set before us. We see the Father’s heart and what He desires for His Son.
Then we can go the way of the cross. Then we can walk and allow His life to be formed within us. If we do not see this great calling, there is no incentive, no motivation, and no desire. We will simply live our own lives.
If we are just living our own lives, the enemy can leave us alone because we are not a threat to him. If we are in control of our own lives and doing our own things, the enemy could care less. We are self-defeated.
But let someone turn and desire to walk the path of life to which our Lord Jesus has called us—someone giving themselves to the Lord, forsaking the things of this world, and desiring the self-life to know the reality of being crucified with Christ—and all hell comes against them.
All hell came against our Lord Jesus Christ when He was upon this earth. Are we willing to go through the process of being conformed to His image? In honesty, I have to say that at times I am not willing. That is why I want the Lord to make the calling fresh upon my heart, so that I would be willing.
When we come to those points in life, am I a captive of the Lord, or am I still loving my own life? Would the Lord give me a greater revelation of Himself?
In those times of crisis, the way through is a greater revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we see Him, there is grace to go through.
It is not an outward conforming; it is the working of an inward reality within our lives. Look at our Lord: one who was in utter poverty upon this earth, yet totally content; one who was a friend of sinners, yet totally uncontaminated; one who was tempted in all things, yet did not fall.
Sometimes we can make even the crucifixion beautiful. We talk about the nails in His hands. But do we lose sight of the pain and the agony of what He went through? I am not speaking only of physical suffering, but of the spiritual pain of the very Son of God becoming sin and reconciling us back to our Father.
We did not even want to be reconciled, but He took the initiative and came upon this earth. I am thankful that the Lord was willing to take the initiative to reconcile me back to Himself.
Do we have that initiative when there are ones who are unreconciled, or whom we think are unreconcilable? Do we have that heart? Do I have that heart, to reach out and allow the life of the Lord to bring people back together in Christ?
This is what Paul was writing to those in Corinth. They were fighting: “I am of this,” and “I am of that.” He says, “Remember, One came down upon this earth.” As was shared at the table, He came that we might be one. Christ is not divided.
Praise God for the work of Calvary, which was done to bring us into unity and oneness.
Romans 8 does not stop with our individual calling. It says that He would be the firstborn among many brethren. We have been brought into a family—not merely into individual salvation.
He would be the firstborn among many brethren. How precious it is that He would be willing to call us brothers. We have an elder Brother.
We speak of Him as the Prince of Peace and Wonderful Counselor, but we also have an elder Brother. Do we ever stop and consider that? An elder brother speaks of love and care. We cannot carry that illustration too far in the natural, because there is much abuse there. But the Lord is not like that.
Do we stop and consider our elder Brother, who has gone before us, taken care of us, and watches over us? It is not merely that we have a personal relationship with Him; we have been brought together with many brethren.
Let us turn to 1 Peter 2. Peter develops this matter of calling even more, showing that it is not merely individual but a corporate expression. We have fellowshipped and meditated on this on Friday nights.
But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation,
a people for God’s own possession,
that ye may show forth the excellencies of Him
who called you out of darkness into His marvellous light:
who in time past were no people,
but now are the people of God:
who had not obtained mercy,
but now have obtained mercy.
We see here the corporate relationships we have within this calling. Our Lord is doing this wonderful work of preparing us to be His eternal companion, training us to rule and reign with Him.
The work of the Lord is so marvelous that we cannot fully describe it. The Holy Spirit uses many ways to express this corporate relationship: the house of God, the family of God, the body of Christ, the church, a nation, a chosen race, and a priesthood.
Each expression shows our relationship with one another. In a house, we are built together. In a body, we are growing together. In a family, we have relationships. In a priesthood, we serve together. In a nation, we are known by His name.
All of these expressions show forth the excellency of Christ—not merely individually, but together—to be a testimony unto Him. He has called us to rule and reign with Him, but He is not merely looking for that in the future. He desires that we would rule in life with Him now.
There was a phrase shared at the Harvey Cedars conference that has stayed with me: “How can we expect to welcome Him in His future kingdom if we do not welcome Him today as King in our lives?”
We all want to welcome Him in the future: “Come, Lord Jesus. We want Your kingdom to come.” But are we willing to welcome Him today as King of our lives? Where is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is where the King is. The kingdom of God is where His kingship is manifest.
He desires that His kingship, His lordship, His mastership—whatever term we use—would be manifest within our lives today, that He could train us. Who is King? Who is Lord in our lives? Who are we living for?
This is why the call to Corinth was necessary. Who were they living for? Were they living to stand up for their own rights? Were they living to justify Peter’s ministry or Apollos’ ministry? Paul says, “No, come back. We are living for Christ.”
His life, His kingship, His lordship, and His very presence are to come forth through a people. We have been called out of darkness into His marvelous light. We have been taken out of the kingdom of darkness and placed in the kingdom of His beloved Son.
We who were not a people are now the people of God. Do we know the privilege of being the people of God? Are we, as the people of God, displaying His character and nature? Are we known as the people of God?
In the book of Acts, people went out and preached Christ. Ones responded, Christ was formed within them, and they were called Christians—not as a name of honor, but as a despised name.
When the believers were dispersed through persecution, some went to Antioch. What did they preach? They preached Christ. They knew their calling. When they preached Christ, what did they receive? They received the church.
There is a little phrase there: “Many were added.” It does not say merely that many were added to the church; it says many were added to the Lord. As we proclaim Christ, more are added to the Lord.
These are more brethren, more within the family of God, more within the house of God, allowing the excellency of His life to come forth.
The Lord is a God of purpose. He has called us to be this corporate expression of His life so that we may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called us. Some translations say, “show forth the excellencies.”
When I read that verse, I asked, “What am I proclaiming? What am I showing forth? Do I show forth myself, or am I showing forth Christ?” He has called us as His people to show forth the excellency of Himself.
Am I merely showing forth my own opinions, desires, and thoughts? Or am I showing forth the excellency of Christ? His call and His life within us are to make us a people known by His name in this hour.
Where are we to do this? Yes, when we are assembled together and remember the Lord at His table, we show forth and proclaim His excellencies. But how about in our daily lives? How about in our neighborhoods, with our families, at work, and at school?
Are we showing forth the excellency of His life? When I am with my clients, I have become more conscious of this question: what life am I showing forth? Am I showing forth Mac, or does somehow the sweet aroma of Christ come forth?
Is there anything attractive within us when we are with our neighbors and families? During the holiday season, many of us have opportunities to be with family. What are we showing forth to them?
I remember in my own life being so spiritual that I was just going to suck it up and endure family times. They were so unspiritual, but I was going to grit my teeth and get through it. What was being shown forth? The strength of Mac’s flesh. It was not the fragrant aroma of Christ.
As we have these opportunities, what are we proclaiming? What is our testimony? What are we speaking? What does our life speak of? I am not speaking merely of our words, but of our very life, character, and nature.
When we are in the grocery store and buy two of something, but the cashier charges us for only one, do we say, “Thank You, Lord, for that provision”? Or do we say, “Excuse me, you made a mistake. You left one out”?
That shows forth the excellency of His life—not being a robber or a thief. We have many little ways in life to show forth these excellencies. Are we taking advantage of them? We show forth the excellency by saying, “Not I, but Christ.”
It is not so much by our words, but by our lives lived out. They saw that the believers were Christians in Antioch because they saw a life being lived. This is what we are to proclaim today.
I have been greatly convicted about this in my daily life. Every opportunity I have can be an opportunity to show forth the excellency of His life.
We have plenty of opportunities with our brothers and sisters. Sometimes the way we get along is that we just suck it up and endure that brother or sister. But the Lord wants us to deny ourselves and allow His life—the love of Christ—to come forth within each one of us.
Then we can show forth the excellency of His life in our lives together. This is the testimony of Jesus: His life seen within us.
There is a great battle. In 1 Peter 5, Peter speaks of this battle. Beginning in verse 8:
Be sober, be watchful:
your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion,
walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
whom withstand stedfast in your faith,
knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world.
And the God of all grace, who called you unto His eternal glory in Christ,
after that ye have suffered a little while,
shall Himself perfect, establish, strengthen you.
To Him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Peter tells us to wake up, to be sober, and to be alert. We have an adversary who is prowling around, seeking to devour us. When we are born again, we are born into a battle. There is great warfare going on.
How do we win in this warfare? How do we enter into victory? We stand. Christ has won the victory. Do we know the reality of that?
The adversary is out there prowling, but we thank the Lord that He has won the victory. Peter speaks of the adversary as a roaring lion. But brothers and sisters, to us, the roaring lion is a toothless lion when we are in Christ.
We are kept and protected. But who empowers the lion? We empower the lion. When we listen to him and look at him, we give him power over us. We give the enemy power because we have taken our eyes off Christ.
If we see Christ, we see that He has won the victory. The enemy cannot touch us. He can roar, and the roar may scare us. As a little child going to the zoo, you may have been frightened when an animal roared, even though your mother or father said, “There is nothing it can do to you. There is a big wall between you.”
Still, you were afraid because you had given that animal the right to scare you. You did not recognize the power of the wall that was protecting you.
Brothers and sisters, do we recognize the power of the victory of Christ that protects us from the enemy and from that roaring lion? Too many times in my own life, I have listened to the enemy, empowered the enemy, and given him teeth.
Would the Lord bring us back and allow us to see that the enemy is out there roaring, but to us he is a toothless lion? He has no power over us unless we yield and listen, because our Lord has won the victory.
We are safe and secure. As was read in Romans 8, there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of Christ. There is a place of security in Him—a place of holding to the Lord, of standing, and having done all, standing in His mighty victory.
Does this mean we will never suffer? No. Peter says we go through sufferings. Everyone will suffer. Many of our sufferings are self-imposed. We get ourselves into much trouble, and I know I do.
Many of my own problems are strictly because of self-love. I thought I knew best. I was going to stand up for my rights, this or that. Then I find myself going through suffering because of self.
But Paul wrote in Philippians, “That I may know Him, and the fellowship of His sufferings.” That is a whole different thing. As we consider our calling, there is suffering in this day for Christ.
It is not related to the suffering of Christ on the cross in an atoning sense, but there is the suffering of standing for Christ. We are called into fellowship with Him. That is not popular today.
Are we willing, as we speak of the life of Christ being formed within us and being conformed to His image, to walk the way of sharing in the fellowship of His sufferings? That suffering includes humiliation, rejection, loneliness, and being misunderstood.
One day there will be the glory of the throne. Throughout Scripture, when suffering is mentioned, glory is often nearby. The way the glory of the Lord is expressed comes through suffering. As our Lord suffered, He entered into glory.
As we walk His path, we should not be surprised at suffering. But what is the real battle today? The battle is not fundamentally over us. The battle is over the life of our Lord Jesus Christ expressed among His people.
We are included in the battle because we belong to Him, but the battle is over the life of the Lord Jesus. We see this in Revelation. John was on the isle of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
The battle is over the life of Jesus. The battle is over the Word of God. The battle is over the testimony of Jesus. Are these three separate things? Actually, they are all one Person.
We differentiate them for fellowship, but the life of our Lord Jesus, the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus all describe Him. The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. We beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word of God is our Lord Jesus. The testimony of Jesus speaks of Him. These are not three unrelated things. They describe different aspects of Him.
Ever since our Lord came upon this earth, the enemy has hated His life. The enemy hates us because we have that life within us. But we need to see the victory we have in Him and how much the Lord wants us, in the midst of this battle, to express His life.
John was on the isle of Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Was John there merely because he had a Bible? I know they did not have Bibles in the form we have them today; I am using a modern expression.
Was John on Patmos simply because he believed what was in a Bible? Was he there because he knew many truths or sound doctrines? No. He was there because the Word of God was living within him.
What had been revealed to him through the Word of God had become reality within his life. That reality was a threat to the enemy.
We can have all the Bibles in the world stacked on our shelves. We can know sound truth and doctrines in our minds. But unless there is a life lived out within us, unless the life of Christ is being expressed within us, we are absolutely no threat to the enemy.
But once we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice and allow the Lord’s life to become real within us, allowing the Word of God to become the living Word within us, then the enemy takes notice.
That is why John was on the isle of Patmos. The Word of God was living within John. It controlled his life and governed his life.
I had to come back to the question: “Mac, when was the last time the Word of God impacted your daily life in a living way? When was the last time you made a decision in daily life based upon the Word of God?”
Whose knowledge am I leaning upon? Who am I? Where is my source of life?
There is a great battle over the Word of God. Some are trying to water it down, and some are trying to add to it. There has been a battle through the ages over the Word of God because it testifies of the life of our Lord Jesus.
Oh, how the enemy hates His Word. The enemy knows the value and power of the Word of God far more than I do—far more than many believers do. Would that the eyes of our hearts be opened, that we would know its value and allow it to work within our lives.
John was also on Patmos because of the testimony of Jesus. Was he there merely because he could teach doctrine about the testimony of Jesus or use the phrase? No. He was there because the testimony of Jesus governed and controlled his life.
He lived so that all he did, and all he did among the brothers and sisters, would testify of Jesus and not of John. We all have a testimony. Who are we testifying of?
I know that in my own life there is too much of Mac’s testimony. I desire to express the testimony of Jesus. As we gather here, we desire to be that testimony, expressing the life of Jesus.
When people look upon us, what are they seeing? Are they really seeing the testimony of Jesus? Do they see the life of Christ?
As we travel in Brazil and other places, there is one battle going on, though it can take different forms. The battle today is over the life of our Lord Jesus being made manifest among the people of God.
It is a battle over the Word of God and over the testimony of Jesus. There are many forms of this battle, but when we get to the root and core issue, that is what it is about. The people of God have been distracted from that.
John was on the isle of Patmos because he was a threat to the enemy and to the spirit of that age. It was not merely that John had the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. The Word of God and the testimony of Jesus had John. They had captured his life.
John was not a prisoner of Rome. John was a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Paul was not a prisoner of Rome. Paul was a prisoner of Christ.
Who are we prisoners of? Thank the Lord, we have been set free from slavery to sin. But who are we prisoners of now? Are we prisoners of Christ, or are we prisoners of self?
This was Corinth’s problem. They were prisoners of self. They were distracted from their calling by self-love, divisions, and fighting. They were fighting over good things.
It is amazing how often the things of God can distract us from the Lord. Remember the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter, James, and John were on the mount with our Lord, and Moses and Elijah appeared.
Peter became distracted by Moses and Elijah. He put them on the same level as the Lord. Finally, the Father intervened and said, “This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.”
The blessings of God can distract us from the Lord just as much as the things of the enemy and this world. Moses was the lawgiver, and through Moses the Lord revealed His heart for a dwelling place, a tabernacle.
Can we become occupied with what the Word says in an academic way? Do we start looking at the house rather than the Lord? Elijah speaks of prophecy, miracles, signs, and wonders. Can we become so occupied with these things that our eyes are taken off the Lord?
In this hour, we need to consider our calling. This was Paul’s answer to those in Corinth. They had been distracted from their calling.
The first part of 1 Corinthians says that they were called as saints, with all who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a calling entrusted to the assembly in Corinth, but they were distracted by many things.
Because they were distracted, sin came in. Lawsuits came in. There was immorality. Brethren were suing one another. They had marriage issues. They were inconsiderate of the weak. There was no love of the brethren.
Divine order was violated. They abused the Lord’s table. They were unclear about spiritual gifts, and gifts were being abused. They were distracted by doctrinal issues, and Paul had to reaffirm the resurrection. They were even distracted over giving.
What was the core? The core was self-love. Paul’s answer to all of this was, from the beginning, “Consider your calling. Consider Jesus. Come back to the very foundation and have a greater revelation of Jesus Christ.”
As that is set straight, as we see what the Lord has called us unto, then all the other things can be dealt with. But if the foundational issue was not straightened out in Corinth, all the other things would continue.
Praise God, those in Corinth responded, because we have 2 Corinthians. Corinth often gets a bad name because we speak so much of their self-life, but Corinth has a wonderful testimony.
The brethren in Corinth were teachable and correctable. When the Word of God came in, when they were brought back to our Lord Jesus Christ and to consider their calling and the purpose He had for them, they responded.
There was great revelation and teaching given to Ephesus, but we do not really see Ephesus turning around. It appears that Ephesus continued in decline until they left their first love. But praise God for Corinth: they were teachable.
I know in my own heart that I want to be teachable. I want to be able to hear the Word when I am off course, when I miss it because of prejudices, self-knowledge, and things I think are God.
I want someone, in love, to be able to say, “Mac, consider Jesus. Consider your calling. Consider what He has for you. Get refocused.” We fight over little, trivial things and forget the main thing.
How did Paul come among those in Corinth? Let us look at 1 Corinthians 2:
And I, brethren, when I came unto you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom,
proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Paul approached them by determining to know nothing among them but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He brought them back to Christ and to the foot of the cross, allowing the life of Christ to come in.
In 1 Corinthians 1, verses 22 and 23, Paul says:
Seeing that Jews ask for signs,
and Greeks seek after wisdom:
but we preach Christ crucified,
unto Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto Gentiles foolishness;
but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men;
and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Paul brings them back to Christ crucified. The Jews were looking for signs and wonders. The Greeks wanted knowledge and understanding. Christ crucified was a stumbling block to the Jew and foolishness to the Greek.
But this was the Lord’s answer: “Come back. Look upon Christ—Christ and Him crucified.” When He brings us back to the foot of the cross, we see that our Lord made peace and brought us into unity.
It is through the cross that the Lord maintains unity. He made peace through the cross and brought us into that unity. How can we practically allow the calling of God to become real within our lives? By daily allowing the cross to work in us and saying, “Not I, but Christ. Not my will, but Your will be done.”
When we have disagreements with brothers and sisters, we do not go around fighting for our rights. We do not try to prove our way or justify all that we think about this or that. We simply share.
Our Lord Jesus spoke the truth. One of the greatest expressions of love He gave while upon earth is in Matthew 23. He spoke those seven woes to the Pharisees and scribes: “Woe to you, woe to you.”
Do we think that was love? Brothers and sisters, that was a heart of love. He was trying to wake them up. He loved the scribes and Pharisees. These were the people of God upon earth at that time. He came to them.
He loved them enough to challenge them to their face: “Woe to you. Do you not see that you are whitewashed sepulchres? There is no life within you?” But He did not argue with them. He shared and left the Word of God for the Holy Spirit to work in power.
That is how we are to be with people today. We share the Word of God. We do not argue. We allow the Word to do its work.
In 2 Timothy 2, Paul writes to encourage Timothy concerning the Lord’s bondservant. We are all bondservants—those who love the Lord and have given their lives that He would be Master of their lives.
And the Lord’s servant must not strive,
but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing,
in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves;
if peradventure God may give them repentance
unto the knowledge of the truth,
and they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,
having been taken captive by him unto His will.
The Lord’s bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but kind to all, able to teach, and patient when wronged. We will be wronged. Are we patient? We are to correct those in opposition with gentleness, or meekness.
I thank the Lord that, when I was one who needed to escape the snare of the devil, there were people willing to speak a word into my life. They could say, “Mac, you are going off in this way. Mac, this is not right.”
They did not beat me up with it. Sometimes, instead of the Word being used as a sword, we use it as a club. But there are those who share the Word in this spirit, leave it with the Lord, and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us.
This is our testimony. What a precious testimony it is when people gather together in a spirit of unity and testify to the oneness of the Lord.
We have differences in our midst. But when our focus is not upon those differences, when our focus is upon the Lord who has loved us and given Himself for us, that is our testimony. That is what He is calling us to.
The way we enter into this is as Paul encouraged those in Corinth: we start at the foot of the cross.
In my own life, many things were not resolved because I was not willing to take the cross. I was waiting. I wanted to be the second person to take the cross. Once the other person denied himself, then I would deny myself—but I was not going to do it first.
We can come up with spiritual reasons, but afterward we look back and see the foolishness of ourselves. Thank the Lord, our Lord Jesus was willing to take the initiative, deny Himself, and go the way of the cross.
Through that, He brought peace and unity and allows us to be that testimony unto Him today.
When we take our place at the foot of the cross, the power of God is released to work in the midst of a crisis or situation. When our Lord Jesus died upon the cross, He released the power of God to defeat the enemy.
One reason the power of God is not released within our lives is that we are still fighting for our rights, fighting for what we think is best, fighting here and there. But as we take our place at the foot of the cross, the power of God is released.
In Romans, the gospel is called the power of God because it takes a sinner and changes that person. But in the midst of crisis, we see the power of God released through those who are willing to take the cross and allow the Lord Jesus to come in.
As we take our rightful place, His power is released to work in the situation. I want to be one willing to take that rightful place, so that the power of God could come into my life and we could see more of Christ.
Paul took his place, knowing nothing but Christ and Him crucified. The power of God came into Corinth. The issues of sin were dealt with. Marriage issues were addressed. Balance was brought concerning spiritual gifts. Many things were corrected.
Paul was willing to lay down his life and make himself vulnerable. If you read 2 Corinthians, Paul was concerned about the effect that letter would have. But praise God, he was willing to take the chance. He was willing to deny himself and his popularity in Corinth.
He did that so the life of Christ could come in and the power of Christ could be released, bringing those dear ones back to the place the Lord had called them.
This calling is not only for the here and now; it prepares us for His kingdom. Let us close with 2 Peter 1.
Peter has shared the wonderful blessings we have received in Christ Jesus, how He has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness. Then, out of that blessing, Peter calls us:
Wherefore, brethren, give the more diligence
to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never stumble:
for thus shall be richly supplied unto you
the entrance into the eternal kingdom
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
How do we make our calling and election sure? By choosing Him and responding to the call. He has provided grace. He has given us everything pertaining to life and godliness.
How do we respond? We respond to the grace He has made available to us. As we respond to the grace of God and allow the working of the cross within our lives, it transforms the theoretical into reality.
It transforms objective truth, teaching, and ideals into a reality within our lives. Praise God, John was willing for this to become real in his life, and it cost him his life. He was a living martyr.
Are we willing to allow the Word of God to be made real within us? It will cost us our life.
In Revelation, it says that they overcame because of the blood of the Lamb, the word of their testimony, and because they loved not their lives even unto death.
The word there for life speaks of our soul-life. It does not necessarily mean only physical life. It is the same word spoken of in the Gospels:
If any man would come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily,
and follow Me.
For whosoever would save his life shall lose it:
and whosoever shall lose his life for My sake,
the same shall save it.
This is the transaction of the cross working within our life, that Christ would be formed within us.
I have recently been convicted of how much theory I have up here. I want more and more of the reality of Christ working and governing my life. I want to stop, and I want us all to stop, and consider our calling.
It is a high calling. Do we value it? Are we careless with it? Are we truly constrained by His love not to live for ourselves, but to live for Him?
I thank the Lord that John was captured and made a captive by our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul was that prisoner. My prayer is that I would not continue to be a captive of my own self-love, but that I would be a captive of our Lord Jesus Christ.
I do not want that merely for myself. I want us together to be captives of our Lord. Let us pray.
Lord, we do thank You. We are a people of calling. We are a people of destiny. We are a people of purpose.
But Lord, tragically, so often it is our own purpose and our own destiny. Would You bring us back to Yourself? Would You give us a greater revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ?
Lord, we want to be willing to come back to the foot of the cross, that that revelation could be made real within our lives, and that we would be those used of You to hasten Your return.
I feel that, in myself, I delay Your return so much. Yet I thank You that You are a merciful God and that You have made every provision in Christ Jesus.
By faith, we want to lay hold of that. In Jesus’ name, amen.