Working With God
Gtcotr/ss020704
Our text today: 2 Timothy 2
Key Scripture: Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
There is a pattern in the bible that shows God choosing some people and using others. God chooses some and uses others.
By this I mean that God calls, prepares and chooses people to work with Him to accomplish His purposes.
People like Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, James & John
While on the other hand, we find the scriptures give account of God using people, often without their knowledge or agreement. They seem pawns in His plan, used to accomplish His purposes. Strangely, they don’t even seem to know it.
Such people as:
Pharaoh, who resisted God but figured right into the will and timing of God.
Laban, who swindled Jacob out of seven years of his life and tricked him into marrying the wrong sister. However, from Leah, not Rachel, came Judah, and from Judah came Jesus.
Judas, who although he betrayed Christ with a kiss, was used by God to accomplish a foretold kingdom purpose.
I do not believe that a person’s fate is sealed without regard to their choices. Jesus suffered and died to give evereyone a choice.
Deuteronomy 30:19 "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
But, even if a person chooses against God, it does not mean that God will leave them alone. He may still decide to use them somewhere else in His Kingdom plan. Maybe as a Judas or a Jezebel.
You might say, “I don’t like that.” “That’s not fair.” “I don’t want to serve a God that always has to have it His way.”
Well, that’s your choice to feel that way … but before you make that your final answer consider this:
* God is love. He gave His only Son to give you a choice. He has earned the right to be respected, appreciated and obeyed.
* And even if that was not so, He has the only game in town. Just who are you going to complain to? People in hell are not going to care to listen to you … You think God is mean? Think again!
And before you decide that a loving God won’t allow people to be sentenced to hell, consider this: What kind of twisted and sick mind would God have to have in order to crucify His only Son to save people from something that was not a real eventuality.
Several years ago I realized that every person will fit somewhere in the plan of God to either make the church stronger or make this world system stronger, for God is determined to bring the two together for one great decisive battle at Armageddon.
Like it or not
Know it or not
Cooperate or not
God will choose you to work with Him or use you to work for Him … and there is nothing anyone can do to escape God’s hand.
The only choice we have is whose side we will serve, I have decided:
Joshua 24:15 ¶ “… as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."
I want to work with God, and not just for Him.
Have you found 2 Timothy yet?
I. Working With God
2 Timothy 2
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
A. In Everyone’s Life
1. Vessels of gold and silver
* Precious, valuable and lasting
* Can be cleaned
* If they are damaged, they can be melted down and re-fashioned into vessels for use
* Vessels of honor
2. Vessels of wood and clay
* Vessels of dishonor
* Easily contaminated
* Destroyed by fire
* If they break, they must be discarded
B. If Anyone Cleanses Himself From The Dishonorable Wares of Life, He Will Be Clean - Useful For The Master - Able To Be Chosen For The Work Of The Master
1. Clean Up Your Life
2. Take Out The Bad & Become Useful To God
II. What’s Bad In My Life?
2 Timothy 2:22 ¶ Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
A. Youthful Lusts = Sins of Pleasure
1. The Fleshly Appetites
2. Selfishness
3. That’s bad
B. Righteousness = Right in God’s Eyes
1. If you are only right in your own eyes
2. If you are not right in God’s eyes - oppose God’s Word
3. Then that’s bad - dishonorable
C. Faith, Love & Peace = The Fruits of The Holy Spirit
1. If instead of the fruits of the spirit we grow works of the flesh: envy, hatred, unforgiveness, anger, drunkenness, jealously
2. That’s bad
D. With those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart
1. Those = Sincere Christian Fellowship
* Koinonia
Community; intimate spiritual relationship; partnership
2. If we have no dominate Christian influences in our lives & hang out with those who lead us further away from God and deeper into sin
3. That’s bad
III. Conclusion
Proverbs 25:4 ¶ Remove impurities from the silver and the silversmith can craft a fine chalice. (The Message)
Matthew 6:24 "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
How:
* Begin right here and right now
> Ask God To Forgive You and Help You
> Identify at least one worldly trait in your life
> Commit to purge yourself of that trait
> Search the bible for a scripture that gives you power over that specific trait and daily apply that scripture to your life.
* Proverbs is a good place to look
> Repeat the process for other dishonorable traits.
* Work with God.
“The only thing Christianity cannot be is moderately important”. CS Lewis
