Sermon notes from Sunday 20 September 2015
1 Corinthians 15 verses 42 – 58
Last Sunday we thought of the soul winners passion. We saw Paul’s passion as he went from city to
city, village to village that others might be saved. We saw his attitude to the very missionary
work he was called to do. As we come to
the close of our mission we can be sure of one thing – the activity of the
devil. He comes with a snigger, snide
remark saying “what have you accomplished in these 2 weeks, not seen a soul
saved.” In answering the devil on that
point we don’t know what has been done.
“Man looketh on the outward appearance but God looketh on the
heart.” The gospel has brought a means
of challenge. Maybe has made people
begin to think of God. We might never
know perhaps if it has brought someone to saving faith in Christ. This is the devil’s tactics. The very point you went and asked someone to
come and they didn’t attend is his ploy in trying to show you it wasn’t worth
it. We can answer the devil we will
never know what has been achieved.
Remember the Jewish company rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under the
leadership of Nehemiah? The old enemy
were sitting up in the hills watching.
They had broken down the walls, burnt the gate, seen the people taken captive. Now Nehemiah comes and rallies the people
together. The work commences and a stone
is laid on another. The enemy sees a
work beginning to commence and they are sarcastic towards it “sure even if a
fox ran against that wall it would fall.”
That handful of people could do so little. “So built we the wall” Nehemiah says. The insignificant group. The mission concludes but God’s work goes
on. “We have the victory through our
Lord Jesus Christ therefore my beloved be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord forasmuch as ye knoweth that your labour is
not in vain in the Lord.”
God’s work as a pattern.
Remember when Nehemiah was building that wall the enemy told him to
stop and talk to them Nehemiah said “I am doing a great work.” Nehemiah said he had God in his mind and in
his heart and that was the only thing that mattered. He wasn’t used to work like this, he was a
cupbearer to the king but here he was out gathering the stones with his
hands. “I am doing a great work, I
cannot come away from this work.” Has
the old devil tried to stop you doing the work God has called you to? The devil is successful at times. God’s work as a pattern. Got to see his hand, to see that pattern fulfilled. Peter asked about John and what would happen
to him. The Lord turned to him and told
him not to worry about John but just follow him. If you get your eyes on the Lord that is the
pattern to follow. Forget about someone
else. We need to have our eyes on the Lord
today. The pattern we have to follow is
Jesus Christ. The apostle writing to the
Hebrews when people had been doing well, following the Lord but then began to
fall away, became lukewarm. The apostle
brings them together. He tells them of
the host of witnesses who have gone on before them. There are those who have gone on before
us. They have won the crown in
heaven. They are telling us to keep on
going in this race. You must look unto
Jesus the author and finisher of the faith who for the cross endured the shame
… for consider him.” When you consider
Christ everything else falls into line.
See Jesus at the age of 12 taken to the temple of God where he meets up
with the learned men of the day, the Pharisees and religious leaders sitting in
the temple. He got so caught up in what
was happening around him he forgot to go home.
Joseph thought Jesus was with Mary and she thought Jesus was with
Joseph. There was confusion so they both
turned and went back into Jerusalem.
When we lose out on Jesus we need to be concerned where we stopped
walking with him. They went back and
found Jesus in the temple. The men of
the temple were taken in with this young child, such knowledge and wisdom,
didn’t know how he understood it all.
Mary and Joseph told Jesus they were so worried. He replied “I must be about my father’s
business.” The challenge for us,
professing the Lord’s name is that we should be about our father’s business. In John 4 at the well in Sychar the disciples
went off to find food to eat. They came
back and found Jesus having spoken to the woman they told him “come and
eat.” He replied “I have meat that ye
know nothing of.” John 4 verse 34 “my
meat is to to do the will of him that sent me.”
The zeal that Jesus had for his father’s business. I look to the Lord again and he fills me with
encouragement. I have finished the work
he has given me to do. Such was the Lord
caught up in the work of his heavenly father.
There was the pattern for it. Are
we looking to the Lord tonight? Do we
see him on the cross of Calvary, with blood running down his back, spat and
cursed on, wounds on his hands and feet?
Do we see the work he has done to save your soul? He has done that to adopt you into his
family. Are we out and out for the work
of the father today? The order of the
words in a concordance are – word, work, worker, world. In order to reach the word there is a work to
be done by a worker to get to the world.
The world needs the word of God, the work of God, and the worker of
God. “No man having put his hand to the
plough looking back is fit for the kingdom of God.”
A work that is precious. No other work like it which you could be
involved in that is like this work. This
is the work of the master today. Jesus
likened it to the harvest field. The
harvest is truly plenteous. Lift your
eyes, see the wheat blowing in the beauty of the sun. That harvest is mighty. The labourers are few. Jesus was speaking then more of a practical
harvest. People were coming out of
Samaria and looking to him. People
sidestepped the work of God. Not many in
the fields to work. The work is so
precious. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of
the harvest that he will send forth labourers.”
It is the work of God and he sends forth. Are you listening? Whenever you get down before the God of
heaven to read the word of God are you listening to what God has to say to
you? That he will send forth? Maybe he will send you forth today. The work is so precious. He oversees it, sends forth the workers. Acts 16 God looks on the work in Antioch,
sees them witnessing. God comes and
gathers the people together “separate unto me Paul and Barnabas for the work I
have called them to do.” It is only God
who does the equipping, hiring because it is so precious. In the Old Testament scriptures Nehemiah was
called from the king’s palace to the task of rebuilding the city walls. Nehemiah said “neither told I any man what
God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem.”
God had only told him and him alone.
Have you been obedient to the heavenly vision? Has God placed something in your heart? Mrs Sonia Howell wrote a book entitled “how
patterns formed in the weaving.” One day
she was on a visit to a Russian artist sitting before a canvas. He had an old painting that had hung in a
famous cathedral for many years. He had
been given the task to take it back to the original. As she came into where he was working he
would make little brush strokes here and there.
Had to do this one piece at a time and every piece took hours at a time
to make sure it was the right piece. He
would step back and look at it. Perhaps
there were times he had to remove what he had done and start again. Mrs Howell asked him “is not this fearfully
dull uninteresting work.” The artist
looked at her and said “this is a work for eternity.” Are we doing something that will last for
eternity?
It is a personal work. “Be ye
steadfast … ye know your labour”. Your
labour hasn’t been in vain. This work is
personal. Remember the woman with the 2
mites who went in to the treasury one day?
Think of her earlier in the day before she left for the house of
God. All I have is 2 mites, what good
would that be, might as well stay at home.
Then she started to think of all the princes, the governors who would
come in before and after her, all so well gifted with riches putting in out of
their abundance. It was her own
work. She was putting in her 2
mites. That is all she had to give. The kings and governors wouldn’t even miss
what they gave but she was depending on the God of heaven for breakfast the
next morning. Think of the little boy
with fishes and loaves “what is that among so many.” Jesus told the story of a man who left for a
far country. He gave his servants
talents to look after while he was gone – the first received 5 the second 2 and
the third 1. The first servant with the
five went and doubled it as did the second man but the third man went and hid
the talent until his master returned.
The master was angry with this man and told him he expected him to put
it to good use but you have done nothing with it. Perhaps the man with the one talent looked at
the other 2 men with the 5 and 2 talents and felt insulted. He probably thought what was the point in
going out to do anything with it. This
is a personal work and we must give our all to it.
It is a work that needs perseverance. You can get tired in the work but what does
the verse say “keep at it”. The race is
not over, the cup is not won, there is a reward to be won. That is what kept David Livingstone going in
his prayers and preaching. One day the
villagers found him slumped over his stool with his hands clasped and head
bowed in prayer. He simply slipped
across into the presence of God. We need
to keep at it. There is a prize one day.
Your work is not in vain. Noel Grant the evangelist used to talk about
not becoming lemonade Christians. If you
took a bottle of lemonade and shook it, it fizzed for a while then settled
down. We need to keep at it day by day
praying. Your work will never be in vain
because God is overseeing it. The word
of God will not return unto him vain but will accomplish what he desires.
No comments:
Post a Comment