Good morning and welcome in today. Today we are going to take a look at some scripture from 1st Corinthians chapter 1 but before we do that I wanted to ask you a question.
If you were an employer and doing interviews for a job that you had available, what kind of person would you choose to fill that vacancy? There are many jobs that actually are available out in the world today, many of which demand a formal education, a college degree and even past experience. Unless you possess some of these qualities they do not even want to interview you. A lot of employers demand certain skills that you have to have before they even look at you. They desire a resume of your past work experience and even in some cases private experiences as well. I’m sure a lot of you can relate with this but I want you to think about this today.
The Lord Jesus Christ who is the God of glory, who created the heavens and the Earth, picked out men to minister and preach the gospel who were simple common everyday men, they were fishermen.
They were not pre-trained professional speakers and had no resumes or formal training. They didn’t have doctor of divinity degrees or come from some school or college somewhere were they had been religiously educated. They didn’t have plaques on the walls or diplomas. God picked a group of fishermen to be his disciples and apostles and to eventually lead His church. They were simple ordinary men who God chose out of the world. Remember they were not chosen for their righteousness or goodness. They weren’t picked because they had a good background check, they were not chosen because their were upstanding citizens in the community.
Jesus approached them and said come follow me, and that’s exactly what they did. There were no questions asked. There were no interviews involved just a few simple words, come follow me and Jesus educated them all in the teachings of the gospel.
These men understood the simple fact, more than a lot of people in this world, that they were sinners who were in need of God’s forgiveness and Grace. God chooses the base things of this world.
1 Cor 1:26-29
26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:
29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.
First of all, a calling is defined in the dictionary as a strong urge toward a particular way of life, career or vocation.
Ephesians 4:1 – I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,…..
The Apostle teaches that not many wise men after the flesh are called by God.
The word wise means having or showing experience knowledge and good judgment. Who does God choose to lead the church? They are people who accept the fact that they are sinners who have come short of the glory of God.
Even Peter who the Lord Jesus picked as an Apostle to lead the church admitted the fact that he was a sinful man. On the other hand there were many religious leaders of the day who couldn’t accept that fact about themselves in their own hearts.
Having a degree from a college somewhere and being filled up with fleshy earthly wisdom it’s not required by God. Remember all the wisdom that you could ever attain while here on this Earth is going to be gone and forgotten because the Earth and everything in it is going to be gone. The Apostle taught that everything was going to be dissolved along with all the works that are in it. Any Earthly or fleshy wisdom that you can attain is not a prerequisite to be called by God. That kind of wisdom is completely unimportant to Him.
He says that not many mighty are called by God.
Mighty means having or possessing great power and strength. Many times you might think of it as being a mighty conqueror or somebody who has a lot of abilities. It always reminds me of the story of David and Goliath. God chose a young man with a sling and some stones to overthrow an entire Army.
He also says that not many noble are called by God. A noble is somebody who has high morals or ideals here upon the Earth. Remember there are none righteous no not one. God chooses the foolish things of the world.
A foolish person lacks good sense or judgment. They are unwise.
Imagine running a huge company filled with thousands upon thousands of employees and you desire to pick somebody to manage it. Imagine walking down the back streets and alleys maybe in the middle of night and picking someone to run your company. All that’s required is when you walk by them to tell them come follow me. That’s what the Lord Jesus does for us. He picks the people that to the rest of society appear foolish and weak. They appear ignorant and dumb. Then some people get upset saying why would you choose this person when I have all these experiences and degrees. In the Christian faith this is exactly the reason why he does it. He does it to confound the things which are wise,(in their own eyes)
God chooses the base things of this world. The old definition for this word means vile and worthless. Do you know what the word vile means? It means morally bad and wicked. It is of little worth or value. It is wretchedly bad and sinful. The first step to take if you’re going to begin the Christian life is to accept the fact that we are all sinners who are in the same boat together.
Luke 5:30-32
30 But the scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick.
32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
The Apostle Paul who God used to write a lot of the New Testament that we have today was previously destroying churches. He later explained to the church that he was the chief of sinners. He got forgiven with God and became a Christian. Through God’s grace he helped start many churches later in his life.
God chooses things that are despised in this world. If you despise something or someone you have a very low opinion of them. It means to dislike them intensely or to loathe.
The disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus Christ chose spiritual riches over the wealth of this world. Jesus taught the poor of this world are rich in faith, but they are despised in the eyes of the world.
Prov 14:20 “The poor is hated even of his own neighbour: but the rich hath many friends.”
James 2:6
But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?
Our blessed Lord Jesus was despised while here upon this Earth.
Isaiah 53:3-4
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
The apostles chosen by God were despised by the world
1 Cor 4:9-10
9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
God will choose the lowest things on this Earth, things that are hated by this world to bring to nothing those who seem that they are something.
1 Cor 3:19
.19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
At Judgment Day nobody will be able to glory in God’s presence because it is by God’s grace that we are saved. God takes poor wretched sinners and through his forgiveness and mercy in Christ, transforms them into obedient faithful men.
The world sees them as foolish and ignorant, but the Lord pours His truth inside of their hearts for all the world to see, that God can do a lot with a sinner.
Have you recognized that fact about yourself yet? It’s just a matter of admitting the truth of what we really are.
Let’s think about those things for today and Lord willing we’ll talk to you some more tomorrow till then bye-bye everybody♥️
tlkjbc.wordpress.com
Prog-c812
Teufer Lake King James Bible Church 