A0293_Gods Toolbox
Date: 25th February 2007 (Sunday PM) Ref: A0293
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: God’s Toolbox
Text: & 1 Corinthians 1:26-29
Illust: Had the electrician come around yesterday, to fix a light socket that had burnt out. _ Reminded me of the last time he was out, watched him, install a new light fitting. – What struck me was that what he was doing wasn’t that hard, you just had to know what you are doing that comes obviously from training & experience. The other thing I noticed was that for every situation he encountered, hanging from his tool belt, he had exactly the right tool for the job. – Every good tradesman, has a well stocked trailer or van filled with all of the tools they need to do their work – Want to look at God’s tool-chest
I. The Task
A. The Challenge
i. God has a job that He wants done; We have been saved for a purpose. Jesus has a task that we are to carry out. You simply must let the terror of eternity for those who are without Christ grip your heart.
ii. How can we be cold & heartless over the fate of millions of souls, passing into eternity. – The Great Commission to preach the Gospel to be a witness is not a job description it is a rescue mission.
"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for. - C.H. Spurgeon.
Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (NKJV)
iii. You have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to reach the lost, those destined for hell, eternal damnation. Called to see people saved, see the Gospel have impact in lives in this city, in this nation & yes have global impact. – Jesus expects you to be expending your energies on the task He has set you.
Luke 19:13 So he called ten of his servants, delivered to them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Do business till I come.’ (NKJV)
B. Worthy of the Best
i. Surely such a critical & noble task demands the best that we could give.
Read of a famous Christian teacher who had achieved a Golf round in the low 70’s. Now he was aiming to shoot a round in the 60’s. – Could be tempted to question how he has time to play that much Golf. But his Golf is really an example of how he approaches everything, including his ministry. He puts 110% into what he is doing.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; (NKJV)
ii. Given the nature of the task, the eternal ramifications, the destinies affected, that surely God, the master craftsman would make sure that He chooses the right tools for the job. Then we look around and see that He has chosen us. ~ Us ???
iii. We are the ones that are chosen to give our best, to see the Kingdom of God advance, to see souls saved, to plant churches into other cities & other nations. – Are we the right tools for the job. – Sometimes I don’t feel like the sharpest chisel in God’s toolbox.
II. God’s Tools
A. Foolish & Weak Things
i. Lets look at the tools that God uses. Make you feel a whole lot better about the task that we are appointed to: ~ & vs. 27 – The foolish & the weak. – These are the tools that God chooses, not the charismatic, the super talented, the famous.
ii. No it is you & I – If you are thinking me, I can’t do anything for God, in this church, I choke up when I try to witness, I can’t have any impact in other peoples lives; praise God, your just the person God can & will use.
Psalm 8:2 Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, (NKJV)
“God doesn't call the prepared; He prepares the called” Linda Seaman
iii. In fact God specifically doesn’t call too many of the talented, pride filled. & vs. 26
Isaiah 26:5 For He brings down those who dwell on high, The lofty city; He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He brings it down to the dust. (NKJV)
Matthew 11:25 At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. (NKJV)
B. Base & Despised Things
i. Not only does God use the foolish & the weak He has other tools. & vs. 28a ~ the base & despised. – This word base means ~ ignoble, coward, mean, base, of no family, that is: low born. – i.e. not from any famouse rich family, today we would say ‘a nobody’ – That’s pretty much us.
ii. God scrapes even deeper into His tool box and pulls out the ‘despised thing’ what the world despises, thinks is of no account, scorns & mocks. – Paul was scorned & mocked even by some in the church.
2 Corinthians 10:10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.” (NKJV)
iii. If you are going to do anything for Jesus, the truth is that the world is not going to understand, nor look kindly upon you or what you are doing. You will be despised.
"Nobody believed very much at that time in a man getting up to preach the Gospel unless he had two things-the title of Reverend, and a white tie round his neck. The papers could not understand such a preacher as Mr. Moody, who had neither, and of course they printed column after column against him. But they could not help seeing that he could get more people to his meetings than half a dozen archbishops, and that more were converted than by twenty ordinary ministers. Of course they did not put the right construction on things. They said that Mr. Sankey had come over to sell organs and Mr. Moody to sell his hymn-books." Mr. Studd read the papers day after day, and these things tickled him immensely. One evening he threw the paper down and said, "Well, anyhow, when this man comes to London, I am going to hear him. There must be some good about the man, or he would never be abused so much by the papers."
Luke 6:22-23 22 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man’s sake. 23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. (NKJV)
Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, For so did their fathers to the false prophets. (NKJV)
III. Ex-Nihlo
A. Non- Existent Things
i. The last item in the tool box that we want to look at is the best one. & vs. 28b – The non-existent things. Think how exciting this is, God is not looking at what exists but at what He will cause to exist. Our God is the one who;
Romans 4:17 calls those things which do not exist as though they did; (NKJV)
ii. This is where you enter into the realm of faith. Faith to believe that Jesus Christ is building His church and we are to do all that we can knowing that we are along for the ride, that we are to rest in Him, & to trust in Him – No matter what you see as you look around you.
iii. I am an untypical guy – maybe it stems from my total lack of any real handyman skills. ~ I confess that I always read the manual. – If I don’t having the right tool is not going to matter to me. – Well as Christians the word of God is our manual. In it you will find not only the guidelines for successful living but also find faith to know that you can do what God calls you to. – We can take this land for Jesus Christ.
Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (NKJV)
B. That He May be Glorified
i. There is a reason God has given a task to reach the world with the Gospel & then handed it to us! - & vs. 29 – It is that He would get the glory. God will not share His glory; He & He alone is worthy to be worshipped.
Romans 11:36 For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen. (NKJV)
ii. Your desire should be to say ‘God, I don’t feel that I can do anything for you, but that doesn’t matter, in fact use me God, because I know that when you use me, then you have to get the glory.’
Psalm 115:1 Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of Your truth. (NKJV)
iii. Rejoice that God has chosen you, every person here to be a part of the work He is doing. You are the right tool for the job that God has for you. He is the master craftsman & knows exactly what He is doing in fashioning a masterpiece that will last for all eternity and bring Glory to His name.
2 Corinthians 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. (NKJV)