1 Corinthains 1:26-29 – God Wants You – Bible study

1Corinthians 1:26-30 God Wants You Jer 5:1 Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man Eze 22:30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge. When I was a youngster, the draft was still in effect. Young men could enlist or could wait and be drafted. There were signs around the city and placards outside of recruitment centers with a picture of Uncle Sam pointing his finger at you and the expression, "Uncle Sam Wants You!" That is the thought behind the message title. God wants you to serve Him, but what kind of person is God looking for? Many people have the idea that God cannot use them. Perhaps they think God only uses spiritual people. (He doesnt.) Perhaps they think God only uses talented people. (He doesnt.) Perhaps they think God only uses smart people. (He doesnt.) Perhaps they think God only uses articulate people. (He doesnt). This morning, lets see what kind of people God uses. I. God is looking for common people. A. I dont know how we could estimate it, but I would say that as many as 75% of the worlds population are the folk from which God tends to draw people. 1. I base that estimate on the Bell Curve. a. The Bell Curve is a graph used to show how people typically measure on any given ability. b. Typically, the curve shows about 50% are average, about 15% are slightly above average, about 15% are slightly below average, and about 10% are exceedingly above average and 10% are exceedingly below average. c. If you take out the two upper categories (the above average and the exceeding above), you are left with 75% from the common range and downward. d. These verses seem to indicate that God draw from the common and downward! 2. If you watch television, you might think everyone is extremely attractive, but most of us are not. That is just the power of a lot of makeup and padding. 3. If you worked on a college campus, you might think most people are extremely smart, but most of us are not. That is just the power of a lot of cramming and cheating. 4. If you look at how some people live, you might think most people are extremely wealthy, but most of us do not. That is just the power of credit and debt. 5. Most people are just common. a. What you need to do is walk through a Walmart. b. Thats where you find people without their makeup and expensive clothing. c. Thats where you will see how people act when they are not trying to impress anyone. d. Its a little bit sad and a whole lot humorous, but at a place like that, you will find common people darting in before and after work and you see them for what they really are. Just common people. e. Thats also where you find the people that God is looking to use. 5. If we could walk with the Bible characters, I believe we would find most of them would fall on the common and downward end of the curve. B. This Bible passage describes the common. 1. \#26\ They are the "not wise." a. \#27\ God calls them the foolish! You know foolish people. We run into them all the time. b. They the ones who have marred their marriages, wasted their youth, and lived a good many years making some awful mistakes. c. People like (1) Noah, who AFTER he got off the ark grew a vineyard and got so drunk that he exposed himself. (2) Or Jacob, a trickster who used deceit on everyone he came into contact with for years. (3) Or Judah, who after his wife died, he unwittingly hired his daughter-in-law as a prostitute. (4) Or Moses who lost his temper and killed a man a crime for which he never did pay. (5) Or Peter who denied the Lord three times. (6) Or Saul of Tarsus who abused his position and inflicted hurt, pain, prison, and death on good people. d. The truth is that a lot of the people that God used would have a criminal record in todays society. e. Not only were they "not wise," they were foolish and even evil, but God uses such people if they will let Him to so 2. \#26\ Most of them are "not noble". That means they were not born with status but had to work for a living. a. Did you know the Apostle Paul was a part-time preacher? (1) Oh, he had an education all right, but who would want to hire a reformed Pharisee? (2) One who no longer believed that salvation was by offering sacrifices, being born a Jew, or by keeping the law? (3) Whatever money and position Paul had, he gave it away and learned the occupation of making tents. (4) That is how he paid for his ministry. b. As far as we know, so were Timothy, Titus, Barnabas, and Silas, and all the rest of Pauls troop. c. There is no indication that any of them had a title or wealth or an appointment. They were just common people! 3. \#27\ They are "the weak" and \#28\ "the base." I am afraid that means that had sin stories of how they had yielded to sin. a. Men like David who committed adultery and Solomon who had 700 wives and 300 concubines. b. Men like Gehazi who ran after Naamans chariot. c. Woman like Rahab the harlot and Mary out of whom seven demons had been cast. C. I am not saying God cannot use a wise person, a person of means and education, a person of obvious talents. 1. God CAN use anyone who is willing to be used. 2. The problem is that most of those dont want to be used by God. They are too busy showing the world how smart they are, how talented they are, how wealthy they are. 3. Indeed, perhaps what Jesus did with the ruler of Luke 18 was not a one-time-only event. Perhaps he told many wealthy, powerful people to go and sell everything they had, give it to the poor, and then come and follow Him. Perhaps that was Jesus method of freeing them from this worlds cares so that they could come and follow Him. But perhaps that mans reaction was not a one-time-only event either. He turned and walked away sorrowful for he had many riches and could not bear to part with them! 4. Indeed, perhaps Jesus told the rich tax collected named Zacchaeus to give his wealth to those who he had over charged. If so, Zacchaeus was the exception to the rule for he offered not only to return what he had wrongfully taken but to restore four times what he had taken. 5. No, God can use the smart, the wealthy, the powerful. God can use anyone, but perhaps it is only the common who will really consider it. And perhaps, even most of them wont consider it that much either. II. God is looking for caring people. A. Not only does God look for common people. He looks for caring people. B. James, the writer of a New Testament book that bears his name, was good to encourage the Christian to keep their Christianity practical and helpful. James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 2:15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? 1. But James was not the only Bible writer to do that. De 15:7 If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother: 8 But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth. Isa 58:10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: 1Cor 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2. Yet James emphasized the practical so much, that some wonder if James was not advocating a "works" salvation! a. He was not! b. What he was asking is "What good would it do us to have great spiritual faith and not care about people?" c. Could I say thats a good question! B. The Bible tells us that we should look after orphans, take care of the sick and the elderly, visit the prisoners, cloth the naked, feed the hungry, and be nice to the stranger. 1. It has been at least 2,000 years since the most recent of those commands was given but we have not finished them yet. a. Every one of those things needs to be done in this generation as much as in generation of the past. b. And we who believe the Bible are the ones commanded to perform them. 2. But in our world, there are many more things that need to be done. a. There are people who need to be cared for who have been neglected, abandoned, and abused. b. There are those who are addicted and confused in all walks of life. c. Some may be homeless and some may live in mansions, but they need to be helped. They need someone to care. C. All of the power that God gives to us means very little if we do not have a heart that cares for people! III. God is looking for the courageous. A. Then to these characteristics, God looks for courage. Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 2Timothy 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 1Corinthians 16:13 – Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong. 1. Courage makes it possible to stand when you want to flee, to speak when you want to be silent, to love when you ought to hate, to help when it may cost you everything. 2. What is courage? Courage is doing what is right no matter what the costs. a. Daniel was a man of courage before kings: Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and Darius. b. Paul had courage before his religious peers, people, mops, Felix, Festus, and the emperor of Rome. B. On February 14, 2018, at approximately 2:30, Nikolas Cruz entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School and began a shooting rampage which ended in the deaths of 17 people. 1. One of the victims was Peter Wang, 15. 2. He was a member of the JROTC program. 3. While the shooter was walking through the hallways killing people, Peter held a door open helping others get through it safety. 4. For his efforts, healong with two other victimswere awarded the Medal of Heroism by the U.S. Military Academy, better known as West Point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoneman_Douglas_High_School_shooting http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/ article200223414.html http://abcnews.go.com/amp/US/army-awards-medal-heroism-cadets- killed-high-school/story?id=53221807 5. Peter Wang demonstrated selfless courage, being directly responsible for saving many other lives. C. Strange but some people confuse courage with foolishness. 1. There is a difference. 2. The difference is not in the fact that you stand. a. Sometimes standing is foolishness. b. There are times when instead of standing you should flee, when instead of speaking you should be silent, when instead of helping, you should protect what you have. 3. What is the difference in being courageous and being foolish? a. The difference is in what you are standing for. b. It is never foolish to stand for God, to stand for right, to stand for the innocent, to stand for those who cannot stand for themselves. D. God does not need any fools. God is looking for the courageous. IV. God is looking for the clean. 2Ch 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. A. By clean I mean saved and right without God. 1. God will use people who are saved and backslidden or even lost all together. 2. God used Pharaoh of Egypt to bring glory to Himself. 3. God used the pagan kings of Assyria and Babylon to judge Israel. 4. God used the Roman Emperors to disperse the church and the gospel throughout the world. B. But God would prefer to use the clean, the saved, the righteous. 1. This is the greatest want that God has, to save you. 2. How do I know this? Because God gave His Son, Jesus, to die for you on the cross. 3. If you have never trusted Him as your Savior, you need to do so today–right now. It is my prayer that you and I–regardless of where we are today– would surrender to the God who wants to forgive us and use us.