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Plainly Speaking with Karl J. Forehand Going to Class with Jesus series Why God Calls Us by Karl J. Forehand For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. (Titus 2:11-14) We usually speak of calling in relation to pastors and other clergy; but calling is important to all us. Since we all are supposed to have ministries, then we all must be called. But what does God call us to? In other words, why does calls us. God Calls us: 1. To cleansing The first call of everyone is the call as a sinner – the call to cleansing. God wants to purify us. I have some bad news for you: GOD DOES NOT LIKE YOU! Some of you just lost your dentures. The correlation is similar to young married couples that one day realize they can’t stand each other. Let me put it this way – God has never liked you! Why do I say that? Beause You do not charm God. You sin is not cute to Him. You may fool everyone else with your charm or your charisma. You are not fooling God. You charm does not fake him out. He knows you and doesn’t lie what He sees me. Still not convinced? You also don’t impress God. Your good is not good enough. Don’t make me start quoting Scripture. Do you want it stated stronger? You disgust God! You assume that your attempts to be righteous are somehow impressing Him. God literally hates your sin and he looks at all us (including Billy Graham and the Pope) in the same way – as sinners. He does not like it. Many of us assume that because we are better than someone else, God somehow must like us better. Rest assured, He doesn’t like you at all – but He loves you with all His heart. He wants to wash away that stain that repulses Him. As sinners, we must realize our sinfulness. No one can be led to salvation unless they first understand their sinfulness. After realizing that we are sinners, we must confess it, repent (turn), and ask for God’s forgiveness. The twelve were not impressive to Jesus; but Jesus loved them. He called them to repentance. Eleven of them answered the first call. What else does God call us to? 2. To Closeness The second call is a call to intimacy. The question is not do you possess God, but “Does God possess you?” We immediately recoil at that because we don’t want anyone to control us. It is our own hypocrisy that says we should be able to possess Jesus, but He shouldn’t be able to posses us. What happens to most new Christians? They are excited for a while. They learn a little bit. Then they get on Self-Reliant Boulevard. They may say things like “I can take it from here.” Then they make a turn on Independence Lane, head down Bull-headed Avenue and end up in the cul-de-sac of frustration. That is where most believers stay. They end up mad at God, but they don’t remember how the got there. In Nebraska, I have learned that when I start my car it is good to “let it run a while.” As believers, before we charge out down Self-Reliant boulevard, we must let the engine idle a while and hear Him say, “I love you—you are the apple of my eye—you are the pride of my creation.” Take some time and see His arms outstretched to embrace you. Before you charge down the road, see Him look longingly into your arms. Before you begin the journey, rest in His arms. Last night, at the Bible study, we talked about times when we had felt the intimacy of God. In most cases, we felt God the most when we were the most helpless. We have to learn to be purposefully helpless. We have to be weak, so God can be strong. We have to submit to experience his closeness. The King James adds the word “peculiar.” Although we are peculiar people, the verse should be understood we are considered as people in whom God has a superlative propriety and interest—it should be understood that we are God’s treasure possession. Did you know God treasures you? You are the apple of his eye – you are the pride of His creation. Until you accept that, you will never live the life that God intended for you. - We can learn all the commandments we want, but until we are possessed by Him, we will never have the desire to obey Him. - We will never be able to love others correctly, until we understand intimately how much God loves us. - We will never be able to genuinely serve or know God’s will without understand God in a personal intimate way – until we are possessed by Him. What is the last call? 3. To Christ-likeness Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Verse eleven tells us that we should stiff arm ungodliness and pursue sensibility, righteousness and Godliness. Our purpose is to be “little Christs.” Jesus lived a sinless life do that He could die for us and call us to be: - cleansed of our sin - close to him - Christ-lie in our behavior Most of the twelve went on to pretty significant ministries after Jesus resurrection because they realized the call for cleansing, the call for closeness and the call for Christ-likeness. What is your need today? Karl J. Forehand, 2002 Back to Writing archives Ministry of Plainly Speaking▐ Books by Karl▐ Writing Archives▐ HOME