“For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:26-31 ESV)
Questions:
• As followers of Jesus Christ, what is our calling?
• What’s it mean to be “wise according to worldly standards”?
• What is meant by “God chose what is foolish..”
• What means “Because of him you are in Christ Jesus”?
• Define righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
As God’s chosen people we are called of God to belong to Christ, to be saints, to be holy, according to God’s purpose, into fellowship with Jesus Christ, to freedom from sin, for purity and holiness, to God’s own glory and excellence, and out of darkness (sin) into this marvelous light (the gospel, Jesus Christ, holiness and righteousness). And we were predestined of God to be conformed to the likeness of Christ, to suffer for the sake of the gospel, to be holy in all our conduct, and for obedience to Christ.
[Jeremiah 1:1-19; Psalms 139:13-16; Luke 9:23-26; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:6-7; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14,28-29; 1 Corinthians 1:9; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 5:13; Ephesians 1:3-4; Ephesians 4:17-24; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8; 2 Timothy 1:8-9; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 10:26-31; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 1 Peter 2:9; 2 Peter 1:3]
We are also called to proclaim the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness into his wonderful light, and to be the light of the world and the salt of the earth in preserving and in shining the light of the truth of the gospel to the whole world. And we are called to make disciples of Christ of people of all nations, teaching them to obey our Lord’s commandments. And we are to be his witnesses in taking the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth. And we are to minister to one another within the body of Christ in encouraging one another in our walks of faith in obedience to Christ.
[Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20; Jn 4:31-38; Jn 13:13-17; Jn 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:14-18; Acts 26:18; Rom 10:14-15; Rom 12:1-8; Rom 15:14; 1 Co 12:1-31; 1 Co 14:1-5; Gal 6:1; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-27; Eph 6:10-20; Php 2:1-8; Col 1:9; Col 3:12-16; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:13; Heb 10:23-25; Jas 5:19-20; 1 Pet 2:9,21; 1 Jn 2:6]
But God did not call us to be his and to follow him in obedience and to forsake our lives of sin and to be his servants and witnesses in taking the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth because of our own glory and excellence, or because of our own superior knowledge and wisdom. He chose us to be his while we were yet dead in our sins and in moral depravity, and regardless of our status among other humans or how much money we had or how much education we had, or how talented we were, or not, etc.
For when Jesus saves us from our sins, that is a work of God’s grace in our lives which we must agree to and cooperate with fully. But it is God who has the power to transform us and to forgive us and to change us and to make us into the people that he had planned for us to be. He provided the way for us to have salvation, and the work of that change is of the Spirit, but we must participate in that work. He doesn’t just wave a magic wand over us and magically we are just transformed. We still have to do what he says.
I know that in my own life that God did not call me to this ministry he called me to 20 years ago because of anything in me that was of my flesh or because of any knowledge or wisdom that I had. He called me and he chose me because of what he had planned to do in my life and through me. And I am amazed always at what he is doing and has done in and through me that there was no way ever that I would have even thought of this or attempted it nor did I have the skillset for any of it, or very little. So all glory to God!
Now, it is important that we understand what some of these big words mean here so that we know what this is talking about. The righteousness of God is his justice, what meets with his judicial approval (divine approval). And it refers to what is deemed right by the Lord, what is approved in his eyes. And sanctification is the process of being made holy, different from the world, because being transformed to the likeness of Jesus’ character. And redemption is Jesus buying us back for God out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor and serve the Lord with our lives in holy living.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]
All this is the work of God in our lives, but we must cooperate and participate with him in that work of grace. But since it all comes from God, and is not of our own flesh, not of our own doing, not of the will of mankind, but is gifted to us by God, then we have nothing to boast of. All that God does in and through us is his working, and he even empowers us to participate with him in that work, so we can claim none of it as having come from us. And this is why I am consistently giving the glory to God! Praise Jesus!
Oh, to Be Like Thee, Blessed Redeemer
Lyrics by Thomas O. Chisholm, 1897
Music by W. J. Kirkpatrick, 1897
Oh, to be like Thee! blessèd Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Oh, to be like Thee! full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wandering sinner to find.
O to be like Thee! lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer others to save.
O to be like Thee! while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love;
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
Oh, to be like Thee! Oh, to be like Thee,
Blessèd Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrYhiK2nQBg
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