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Prepare for Your Future NowBy John O. Reid
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Brethren, when we meet someone, more than casually, we want to find out all about them. It's just something that we do naturally. We automatically put them into specific categories -- they are friendly, they are not friendly, they have a nice appearance, they don't, they are tall, they are short, they're stocky, they are thin. They're serious, they're cheerful, they're studious, they're lighthearted, they are mannered, they are not so mannered. They may be kind, thoughtful, inconsiderate, they're energetic, idle, and so forth. We just tend to do these things automatically.
To further our information, the question eventually gets around to, "What do you do for a living?" If it's a wife and she is in with the girls, they usually say, "What does your husband do for a living?" If your children are in school, they'll say, "What does your dad do for a living?" I sold all vegetable shortenings and oil all my life. In the field I was in, they referred to that as fat. So when they asked my children in school what their dad did for a living, they'd respond, "He sells fat." That always made them wonder!
I can remember my grandmother who was born in the 1850s. To her the identification of a person by his/her last name was extremely important. If they were German, she would say that's a German name; if they were Italian, she'd say that an Italian name. If they were Irish, she'd say, "Oh, those Irish, they are terrible." And I learned later on that I have a lot of Irish blood in me. I didn't know whether I caused that response to come from her or not.
But people do make the categories. Are they blue collar versus white collar? They want to see what they have in common or what they don't have in common. Names in the past were used to identify not only who the person was, but also where he was from, what he was like, and possibly what his occupation was. Names could also picture an event to come. We can take a quick look over at Hosea and get a little bit of this.
Hosea 1:4 (KJV throughout)
The "I will avenge that blood" is generally understood to be put in here for the murders perpetrated by Ahab and Jehu in this place. Though Jehu was carrying out God's word, he left God. So thus the name Jezreel pictured an event to come.And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel.
In verse 9 we readAnd she conceived again, and bare a daughter. And, God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; (So here we have a walking message that simply states, "I will have no more mercy.")
From the 1964 Encyclopedia Britannica concerning names, "They are descriptive of a person's appearance or character. A Blond girl might be call Flavia, which is Latin for yellow, or Blanch which means white in French. As to what the character might be, someone might be know as Honest John or Richard the Lion Hearted, indicating the character of the individual. They might record an incident or an exploit. We use names to identify an event. A girl born during a famine in Celtic might be called Una, meaning famine or auna."Then said God, Call his name Loammi: for ye are not my people, (Again the name indicated something, another message to Judah and Israel.)
Now the name Benoni means my sorrow because he was costing her life, and so that was the name that she gave the child. Now the name Thomas means an unusual event. So now all of you that are named Thomas, you now know that name means an unusual event.And it came to pass, (A baby was being born here.) as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name, Benoni; but his father called him Benjamin.
They also identify an individual by his connection with other people, usually his fathers, Johnson, Robertson. They give individual residence or former residence, Joseph of Arimathea. The name is descriptive. It tells something about person. Names record his occupation, Smith, Weaver, Farmer, Plumber, Taylor, Tanner. All these indicate what the person is about.
Now I don't know what you are known for. Perhaps you are a housewife, a salesman, a mechanic, a carpenter, a plumber. Maybe you're in air conditioning, you're a pilot, a well driller, a gas station attendant, you manage a parking lot, you put things into space. You may be at home, incapacitated, unable to do much of anything and you feel fairly worthless.
Those who know us know us in these circumstances or in these situations. They know our build, our general age, how we dress, our proclivities given to us by God. They know if we are positive or negative, or industrious or lazy, trustworthy, healthy or sickly. They know us this way, because this is exactly what we are. The way we live is how we portray ourselves to others.
It may seem comfortable to us. We've been raised this way. This is what does it. We have been influenced by family, by friends, by town, by the era we are raised in, by the people we work with, by the jobs we have. This has all molded us into what we are today. Because of these influences, we have become what those around us see us as.
It may seem comfortable to be where we are, or we may be uncomfortable with ourselves.
We may be just toughing it out. We may be resigned, be discouraged or losing hope that we'll ever be able to change and become something better. Well, brethren, we've not been called to be complacent or to feel that we have to put up with what we are! I think that is so encouraging.
God doesn't view you as a housewife or a plumber or a salesman. He doesn't view you as you have been in the past. He sees you in a far different way. God views you in a position that will confound the world. And that should be encouraging to us!
So many times we see that we don't have much self worth, and maybe we don't. But God sees that we have tremendous worth. We are going to take a look at that. Please turn over to I Corinthians 1. I'm going to spend a little time on this, because I really want us to understand what God is doing here.
i corinthian 1:26 - 31
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:It says this is the general character of those whom God is calling. There are some mighty and some noble, but very few. They aren't taken from the wise or the rich or the learned or the popular, but from those who are of humble circumstance. God has chosen to show us the plan he has put forth. He does not relay on the leaders of this world or cooperation with them. God wants us to stop and consider our calling. He really does. He wants us to stop and consider that not many wise, by this worlds standards, are called.
God hasn't consulted with the leaders of the world in the setting up of His Church. There are not many after the flesh, or man's way. God sets up his Church according to the Spirit, to what He's doing. He doesn't call the mighty, and He's called very few nobles or families with power. He's called the lowly. Let's see whom He has called. Turn over to I Corinthians 6. It is not a very pretty picture of whom He called.
I Corinthians 6:9 - 11
He says don't you know that those who are unjust with others will not inherit the Kingdom. That is what He said. Be not deceived, don't trust yourselves, don't be deceived by circumstances, don't be fornicators, don't be effeminate, don't live the soft life indulging in soft lifestyles, don't give in to sensual desires, don't give in to homosexuality, stealing, coveting being drunk, reviling others, or extorting money from others. This applies to us , because some of us were this way. He says, "such were some of you." He asks us to stop and consider what we were and stop and consider what you've got now. Consider how special it is.Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind. Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you: but ye are washed (you are changed), but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
Let's take a quick tour here. We want to get a really good look at what we were.
Romans 6:20 - 23
Now we can turn back to I Corinthians 1, verse 26 again.For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. (He could put a preface here and say, "Remember that when you were in the service of sin, you were free from righteousness.") What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (He says that's what you came out of. You were slated for death.) But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life...
I Corinthians 1: 26
Now for reasons known only to God, He called each of us. He can't say I called this man or woman because he/she was wonderful or pretty or whatever. We, who by the world are considered foolish, considered of no position, authority, or power or wealth are called. And here's the reason why. To put to shame, or to drive home to the wise of this world that their worldly wisdom is a stumbling block to them.For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:
Verse 27 - 28
Barnes notes on this,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; 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:
"The language here is a striking instance of Paul's manner of expressing himself with great strength. (Because he meant this in an exceedingly strong way.) He desires to convey in the strongest terms that God had illustrated His plan by choosing the objects of least esteem among men. He'd chosen those of ignoble birth and rank, the base things of the world, but this does not express the full meaning. (You thought you were bad enough already, but you are about to find out some more.) He'd chosen objects of contempt among men, but this was not strong enough to express His idea."I remember that one minister in the early years of the Church said, "We are the cream of the crud." And I think that Paul says that we aren't the cream. Barnes continues,
"But this doesn't express his idea. He adds therefore that He had chosen those things which were absolutely nothing, which had no existence, which could not be supposed to influence Him in His choice."God chose from things which are nothing, are worthless, have not existence, things which were beneath contempt, things which were beneath the notice of men, totally disregarded by this world, and this group has been called to change the world. But He wants us to consider from where we came.
Paul wanted the Corinthians and us to see our position, with all their flaws in contrast to the marvelous future to which we are called. We should take that view.
Verse 29
Verse 30That no flesh should glory in his presence. (that no man, nor class of men could ever boast before Him and say, "See I did it. I made it. I am in God's Kingdom because I'm wonderful.")
He said by the calling of God the Father, you are now in Christ. And Paul wants to make it clear that it wasn't our power, beauty, strength, wealth, or intellect, or any other thing that caused the Father to call us. It was His desire to take us in the state we were in and to give us His Son. And it is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that the price He paid for us, that has given us the future we now have in store.But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
For us who didn't know how to come in out of the rain, how to live life correctly, Jesus Christ was made our wisdom and our righteousness. He is the source of our wisdom. It is by obedience to Him that we are made wise. It is by Jesus Christ that we understand our future, that we will be the sons of God. It is by Jesus Christ that we have God's word. It is by Him that we are in the Church and that we are here today. We owe all this to Jesus Christ.
And the sense of all this is that it is by Jesus Christ we are redeemed, by Him that an atonement was made, by Him that we are pardoned, by Him that we are delivered from sin, from our enemies and by Him that we are delivered from death. Quoting from i corinthian 6 verse 11, we "are washed and sanctified and justified in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ, by the Spirit of God" and by obedience to Him, and all these things that Jesus Christ has done for us.
Now brethren, we see our contrast. The difference is tremendous from what we were to what God is going to do with us! I took considerable time on this, because all of this has been done for us. We can see the contrast of where we were and what our future was, what our destiny was -- that it was death. And now we see what God has done by His calling us. This should produce a response in us -- a wonderful response! It is this response that I'd like to talk about in the remainder of time I have today.
How do Jesus Christ and God the Father feel? We're told in roman 4:17, "God calls those things which are not as though they were." We may see ourselves as plumbers. We may see ourselves at home as being and invalid. We may see ourselves as not being highly educated. We may see ourselves in many negative ways, but that isn't how God sees us.
How are we seen by God? What are we called to be by God?
Romans 8:14 - 17
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.Those who submit to God's influence, those who humble themselves before God, who resist being proud, who fight the pulls of the flesh, who control their anger and wrong ambitions, who yield in obedience to the laws of God give evidence, by subduing these things in them, give evidence that they are the sons of God. This is how we tell if we are baptized, by the changes in ourselves. We look back and say I've seen a change.
Verse 15
We haven't been given the attitude of slavery. We have been given God's Spirit that we might not live fearfully, because we've got a wonderful future in front of us. We live in freedom and confidence of what God's doing in us and of where we are going and the opportunity we have. We have a spirit of adoption, a feeling of deep love and appreciation and affection toward God for all that He has done. Because of this, with full realization and understanding of the Father, as it reads, we can call Him Father. If we take a different translation, we can call the Father our Father, The very Father, the very living God of heaven we can call our Father, because He is.For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Verse 16
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:If we obey and we come under God's laws, and do all the things that we need to do, God's Spirit will produce the right effect in us. It will cause us to grow. And His Spirit bears witness with our spirit reflecting obedience and reflecting the fruits of that Spirit. This verifies that we are children of God, that we are adopted into His family.
Verse 17
We will be spirit body. What a wonderful body we are going to have and a wonderful future. We are going to be able to inherit all the things that Jesus Christ possesses. We have a future that is just astounding!And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.
All this is ours if we suffer with Him, and if we stand fast as He did. We must not compromise our calling. What is that calling? His title is King of kings. Have you ever stopped to think, who are the other kings? Well, if you look at the person next to you, you will find out! Revelation 20, please
Revelation 20:4 - 6 (first part)
What else will be coming to us? What will we be doing?And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgement was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (This is you calling.) But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: (See that's your calling, to have part in the first resurrection.)
Revelation 2: 26 - 27
Where will all this take place and what will we be?And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, (and this is endurance again) to him will I give power over the nations: (This is what you are going to be doing. You are going to have power over the nations.) Continue in Verse 27. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I have received of my Father. (You will receive the same type of power that Jesus Christ received to rule.)
Revelations 5:9 - 10
There you have how God sees you. He doesn't see you as the plumber or the person that's down. He sees you as the person who has the wonderful future, as the king and the priest. We will have a duel role of leadership and instruction and teaching and guidance. God doesn't see us as we are now, in the occupations that we are now pursuing. He sees us as what we will be. He called us as the foolish of the world, but He didn't intend us to stay that way. He saw us as what we will be, kings and priests.And they sung a new song, saying Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
If He sees us this way, then I guess the question is, shouldn't we start to see ourselves in a different light? We shouldn't start to focus on all of our flaws and our problems, and feel down. We should start to see ourselves as God sees us. We should start to see ourselves becoming what God already considers us to be. Shouldn't we start to see ourselves as being in training to become kings and priests? The answer is yes, that's exactly how we should start to see ourselves.
The concept shouldn't be strange to any of us in business. We understand we have to pay our dues. My son, Brian, is in air conditioning. I remember the first few years. He was in attics of 150 or 180 degrees in the summertime. He'd be under the house. One day he came out and he was covered with fleas. He had to do all the grunt work. Everybody understands that. Nobody starts at the top. You have to start somewhere at the bottom. And so are we. The journeyman electrician started out as a grunt. The successful businessman started out at the bottom of his profession. As children, we have to grow into adulthood, being trained to make adult decisions. This shouldn't be any surprise.
It shouldn't come as any surprise to us that God is training us now for the reward He has set before us. As Paul said in Philippians 3, He expects us to press. We are to press toward the glorious mark and the high calling of Jesus Christ. We are to become like Him. That's what He expects. If we were hiring for a specific skill, those hiring us would expect us to have that particular skill. If you took your car into a mechanic you expected him to know how to fix it. If he said, "Oh, that's what they look like!" you'd say, "I'm taking my car elsewhere." You'd expect the mechanic to say, "Yes, I understand how it works and I'll fix it for you."
So, for the field that we are going into, we would be expected to know the laws that govern what we'll be doing. And we'll be expected to make decisions based on those laws. We are going to have a lot expected of us, brethren. So today I would like to have us consider at least some of the characteristics that we are going to need.
For the first one, because we are going to be kings, turn over to Deuteronomy 17 please.
Deuteronomy 17:14 - 20
Verse 17When thou art come unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell there in, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me; Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee, thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother. But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the LORD hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. (Now the horses meant that he should not gather great power to himself, a huge army. The king was to depend on God, of course, and not on his army.)
Verse 18 - 19Neither shall he multiply wives to himself (make foreign alliances by marrying foreign wives, because they are going to turn his heart away.), that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (At the expense of the people, high taxes causing them to starve, while he gets rich.) This you shall not do. (You can apply this to some of the characteristics that you are going to have.)
Verse 20And it shall be, when he sitteth upon the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write him a copy of this law in the book out of that which is before the priests and the Levites: (The king was expected to know the law.) And it shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life; (Why?) that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them: (The king is supposed to know what God wants and how to administer his kingdom under those laws. Why?)
So this is what a king is to do. Then he can judge righteously as a king or a priest. How could he do that without understanding God's law? This is why we study our Bible. This is why we learn to apply the principles in the Bible to our lives. Learn to make decisions.That his heart not be lifted up above his brethren, (The king is the servant of all and that's what we are going to be. We are going to be serving the people just like God has served us, so faithfully, and with so much patients, and with so much love.) and that he turn not aside from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left: to the end that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children, in the midst of Israel.
Early on, when John formed this Church, He said, "You are to be self-governed." And this rattles so many peoples' cages! Somebody said, "well, we are going to do away with chairs like this, and we are going to put in round tables. The minister will be down on the floor and not above the people. I said, "I think you have the wrong concept. The minister is going to be here so he can see the people, and see their reactions, and so that they can see him. What he meant was that the ministry will teach as God inspires them, and the people will learn to govern themselves accordingly." I had one man leave the Church, because he said, "I want to be told exactly what to do." And the reason he did was that if something went wrong he wanted to be able to blame the ministry.
God expects us to take his word and to put them to practice in our lives and to learn. We are going to make mistakes; you can count on that. But you are going to learn to do things correctly. That's going to help you to be a king and a priest.
Turn over to Psalm 119 please. Let's learn a little bit more about the law here. This is really a wonderful Psalm to pray with.
Psalm 119:97 - 106
What he is saying here is that he has an intense love for God's law. By it's teachings he understands his responsibilities in this life. He is wiser than his enemies -- not because of natural ability, but because God is the perfect Instructor. God. the perfect Instructor and His laws teach me. He has more understanding than his teachers and the ancients, because they understood just the things of men. But we, brethren, have been called to understand the things of God.Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day. Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word. I have not departed from thy judgments: for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words unto my taste! Yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. (Because he is learning the ways of God.)
Because of God's word he walked in the path and was blessed by it. Because of God's word he avoided the ways of the world. Because of God's law he had worked to build godly character. A lot of pain can be avoided by obeying God's word.
Interestingly, right above verse 105, my Bible has the word "NUN". That means candle.
Verses 105 - 106
This is what God wants from us, brethren. God's law produces peace. That's what you are going to want in your kingdom.Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (When you are walking through this dark world, it is good to see where you are going.) I have sworn and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments.
God expects us to understand the laws.Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them (or cause them to stumble).
Here are Adam Clarke's comments on this. "Endeavor so to cultivate and improve your heart and mind that you will not be a reproach to Him who has commissioned you (in this case to be kings and priests) learning to rightly divide the truth, learning to cut straight, rightly and skillfully teaching the word of truth, being able to properly adapt God's words to the circumstances and the needs of the people."Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
I hope that puts some weight on you. It puts some weight on me. This is expected of us. So learn to adapt God's words to the needs of the people of the true government.
There was a lady in the house across the street from where I was being raised in Oakland, California. She had a large pantry. I never got to go into the pantry, but I used to look in there. On the shelves were all kinds of good things. I mean she had canned and bottled things, and she put her cakes in there along with her big containers of cookies. She'd go into the pantry and bring out those good things to me once in a while. For some reason when I read this scripture, I think of that pantry. You may have something else that it reminds you of, but I think of that pantry.Then said he (Jesus Christ) unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
What it is saying here then is that every man that is acquainted with the word of God should bring it forth at the correct time. Bring it out like a householder bringing out of his treasury, or place of deposit, what has been laid up there for when it was needed. As this applies to us, brethren, it means that we are to build up a storehouse of knowledge of God. In that storehouse we are to have new things and old things.
As we are in need of these things, in our responsibility as kings and priests, we are to bring them out to serve others. We are to have our life's experiences. We are to have these experiences of study, and experiences of making mistakes. We are to have the experience of looking back over our lives and saying, "I wish I'd done it differently." Some of you may have wondered, "Have I gone through what I've gone through, because I'm going to have to deal with somebody else that's gone through the same thing? Will I need to be able to encourage them?" The answer is, "Sure. Of course." You're going to say, "I've been there, and you can overcome it."
This is a nice scripture. This is Saul explaining what happened to him.
Acts 26:14 - 18
What he is saying here is that our job will be to instruct the people by opening their eyes, and to remove them from the captAnd when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.
JOR//
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