Can God Use You? - Part 1

Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, October thirty-first. According to Ephesians chapter two, believers are created in Christ Jesus for good works. In other words, we're made to serve God. Discover your role in God's plan in today's podcast. Have you ever wondered why God doesn't use you?

Well, that's a good question because you see, He desires to. And oftentimes, people just decide, well, God just isn't going to use me. They never take any effort in not realizing that God desires to use them. And it's our responsibility, listen, it's God's responsibility to tell us how He wants to use us. It's our responsibility to make ourselves available to be used. But the issue is, can God use you?

Because many people are persuaded He cannot. And all I want you to do is to listen in this message to the Word of God. What does God say about this issue? Because there are literally millions of people who sit in church week after week after week. And as far as they're concerned, God's using them by bringing them to church.

That's not being used by God. We come to church to worship and to encourage each other, to listen, to be instructed, to be challenged, to be convicted, to be lifted up in such a way that our life will make a difference. But many people just come and they just sort of satisfy their conscience. They come to church, they hear a message, they listen to the music, they enjoy all this, they give a little money maybe, and then they go home till next week.

Many of them don't even bring a Bible with them. And they call that being used by God. No, that's not being used by God. So I want to make clear what being used by God is. Then I want you to ask yourself the question, in what given day or when is the last time I know that God used me? Can God use me?

And if so, how? So I want you to turn, if you will, to Ephesians chapter two. In Ephesians chapter two, this passage deals with three things.

We just want to deal with the first. And the first one is what we used to be like, how we used to live. And then secondly, what God did in His grace to change us.

And thirdly, what He expects as a result. So look, if you will, in Ephesians chapter two beginning in verse one. And you were dead in trespasses and sins, that means dead to the things of God.

You were dead in trespasses and sins in which you formerly walked, according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the Spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. He says this is the way you used to live, talking to the Christians in Ephesians. Among them, we to all, including Himself, formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath even as the rest.

Then verse four says, but God, something happened. But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive spiritually, together with Christ, by grace you've been saved. And He raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That is, when He saved us, our name's in the Book of Life and we're there. So He says, so that in the ages to come, He'll show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you've been saved through faith, that not of yourselves, He says. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

Notice what He says. He says He created us in Christ, that is, He saved us. He took us from those first few verses in our sinfulness and lust and all the rest.

Under the wrath of God, by His grace He saved us and now, He says, as a result of that, He created us in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Now, I want you to listen very carefully because this is a very serious matter. It's an extremely serious matter that oftentimes people ignore and think that God doesn't make any difference to Him. It's okay.

It's not okay. Very serious that a person lives their life and does not serve God when according to Scripture, we just read it, He saved us for the purpose of good works. So, when you think about that, He created us for the purpose of bringing Himself glory. That's why He created this earth. He didn't have to place this here. He created us not only to bring Him glory, He created you and me in order, listen, to have human beings, not angels, human beings upon whom He could express His awesome unconditional love. So, think about it. He could have saved all of us at some point whenever He did and said, Well, now that you've saved Him, taking you home to heaven.

Well, that would eliminate a lot of problems, wouldn't it? Eliminate valleys and temptations and trial and suffering and hurt and pain and loss and rejection and all the rest. Why did He leave us here? Listen, the Scripture is very clear. For the purpose of good works which He prepared beforehand in order that you and I would walk in them. That is, it would be our lifestyle that the moment you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you become a child of God. He puts us, He wants us to serve Him.

So, think about it for a moment. When He put Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and most folks never think about this, but in the second chapter of Genesis, in case you maybe haven't ever read these verses. In the second chapter, he's giving some instruction to Adam. Here's what he said, Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.

Now, the other word for cultivating and keeping is work. And so, most people say, Well, if I could have just been in the Garden of Eden, I hope heaven's going to be like the Garden of Eden. I hope we're going to be able to walk around and see beautiful birds and beautiful beaches and beautiful mountains and beautiful this and beautiful trees. And it's just going to be fantastic.

Fantastic doing what? Listen, He put Adam and Eve to work. W-O-R-K. He had a work for them to do. Now, that runs against the grain of a lot of people.

I do understand that. He put them to work. To work doing what? Keeping the garden.

And so, when we think about that, think about this. For example, how did He, all through the Scripture, God's using people. He used Noah to build an ark.

He used David to slay Goliath and save Israel. He used Mary and Martha, for example. And you know in the Scripture, the Bible talks about Martha just running. The Bible really says she is running around in circles doing what? Busy in the kitchen because Jesus was there. But how did God use Mary and Martha? The home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus was a place where Jesus could rest and get away and have fellowship with friends. In other words, He wasn't always healing a bunch of folks, asking them a bunch of questions and this, that, and the other. He could rest there. He used them as a haven.

They were fantastic hosts for Him. Then, of course, there's the apostle Paul. He said, I'm a violent aggressor. I've been a violent aggressor against the church, persecuting, killing Christians, trying to get rid of this whole idea. And what did God do? Made him an awesome statesman, made him the greatest missionary the world has ever known. And then there's John the Beloved, the youngest of those apostles. And he's probably in his nineties, they're about banished by the Roman emperor to a little island called Patmos. And what is he doing?

How is he serving? He's receiving the book of the Revelation. It is the will and plan and purpose of God to use every single one of us, no exception. You say, well, now you just don't know me. God's not going to use me.

I'm not finished. So, I want you to listen carefully. It is the plan of God to use every single one of us. You say, well, when does He start using us? It's amazing how God, what does the Bible say? A little child shall what?

Lead them. God even uses little children. God uses, listen, His desire is to use every single one of us.

And now that you and I have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior, we have a command. Listen, it is crystal clear in the Word of God that no Christian has the right to sit and soak and just lap it all up and finally get sick and die and waste their life. It's not the will of God, the plan of God, the purpose of God, and God doesn't tolerate that. And I'm going to show you in a little while why He doesn't. And so, it's His plan. And so, when somebody says, well, this is my life. No, it's not.

All I can do is say, please, no, you can't. You'll either do what the devil pleases or you'll do what God pleases. We forget. Listen, we forget as children of God, the moment we received Him as our Savior, Jesus became our Good Shepherd to guide us and to lead us and to show us the way. And the Holy Spirit came into our life to enable us and to help us in every way to become the persons that God wants us to be. There are millions of people who sit in church week after week after week, or millions of believers who don't even go to church, who are living their life totally, listen, totally as if God did not exist unless some tragedy comes or some sickness comes and all of a sudden they want to call on God.

It is a sin against God and it's a tragedy in the church. Listen, what do you think the unbeliever out there really thinks? Well, those Christians, you know, they go to church and they do this and they do that and, you know, they look around and see there's not a whole lot of difference in our life sometime.

The body of Christ should be an energetic movement of people, filled with the Spirit of God whose lives are counting on their job, where they work, in their home, where they live, among their friends, you name it. Because that's who we are. We were created in Christ Jesus for the purpose of good works, He said, which, listen, He foreordained, He pre-prepared that every single one of us is to serve Him in some fashion with each other every day.

And there's no exception. Somebody says, Well now, you know, I just may be an exception to that, the truth is we're not. Now, the second thing I want you to notice is this, that God has provided for us in such a way as to be able to use us. That is, He's not asked us to do something on our own, in our strength, in our energy, but He has provided so that you and I would be able to serve Him.

For example, He's given to different people, different talents, different skills, different capacities, whatever it might be. And if you'll think about how interdependent we are all upon each other. Suppose there were no automobile mechanics anywhere. What a mess we'd be in. In fact, I'd just be totally lost.

And most people would. And suppose there were no electricians. And we could just go on down the line of all the different what the world thinks is sort of mundane kind of labor. No, every single person's important. Every teacher, every person who works on an assembly line, we're all important in the eyes of God.

Different people have different capacities and skills and abilities and talents and gifts. So listen, whatever He calls you to do, whatever skill He's given you, He intends for you and me to exercise that in a way that is godly, in a way that, listen, in some way impacts the people around us, impacts the people for whom we work and with whom we work. And we're to live, as the apostle Paul said, on our job in such a way that we do it for Jesus' sake. He says, we're to work as unto the Lord. That is, whatever our vocation, whatever our occupation, we're to do that, whoever the boss is, no matter what they do and how they treat us, we're to do that in a way as if we are working for the Lord Himself because we are.

We are serving God wherever He places us. Now, the Scripture says that He has given us different skills and abilities and talents. And I want you to turn to First Peter, if you will, for a moment and look in this fourth chapter because if you happen to be sitting here or you're listening and you're saying, Well, I know that probably fits some people, but not me. I want you to listen to this verse and every word of these two verses because there's nothing unimportant here. Listen to what he says, First Peter chapter four. Look in verse nine, Be hospitable to one another without complaint, as each one has received a special gift, special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Now, watch this. Each one of us has received a gift. When it says special gift, that doesn't mean some exceptional miraculous kind of thing. It means, listen, a gift that is suited to your personality, the person that you are because God is the one who created you.

He's the one who gave you the parents that you have. And so, those gifts that we have are those gifts that He's given us. Now listen, each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another. We're to put it to work.

So think about this. You say, I thought we were serving God, not one another. How does God use you and me most of the time? He uses us by using us with other people, helping them in some fashion, pointing them in the right direction.

Think about how many people that a nurse helps or a doctor helps or a good mother helps. In other words, He says, employ it in doing what? In serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

When He says as good stewards, here's what it means. It means I'm responsible to God. In other words, every single one of us is responsible to God for the gifts, the talents, and skills He's given us.

We're responsible. And He says as good stewards of the manifold grace of God, that is, manifold grace means these, all these wonderful expressions of the goodness and love of God He's placed upon us. He says He wants us to utilize all of that for the good of other people.

We're to bear witness, that is, we are to share ourselves, the Spirit of God living within us. We're to make an impact on people. No matter who you are, you say, well, I don't make an impact on anybody. Yes, you do. We all influence somebody, the good or bad.

We impact them either for good or for bad. Now watch this next passage. He says, whoever speaks is to do so as one who's speaking the utterance of God. Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies. God is not going to ask you to do anything He's not going to help you do. He's not going to ask you to do anything you cannot do with His help and guidance and direction. He's never going to ask you to do something that you cannot do with His help and guidance and direction. That wouldn't be God, that'd be inconsistent.

Plus the fact, remember this. He says, and He said the night before He was crucified and talking to His disciples, here's what He said. He says, I'm going to send you another Helper. Listen to this, I'm going to send you a Helper. Why do you think He said I'm going to send you a Helper? Because He knew we needed help.

I'm going to send you another Helper. He'll be in you, with you, and upon you. And He'll be with you forever. That is, when you trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, the Holy Spirit came into your life and my life, first of all, to seal us. He says we've been sealed under the day of redemption. Once you're saved by the grace of God, you are sealed by the Spirit of God indwelling you under the day of redemption, which means until He calls you home.

And He's there not only having sealed you, but as your Helper. And He says when the Spirit comes upon you, you will have power, that is, you'll have divine energy and strength to do whatever God has called you to do. Now, can God be pleased when we, His children, sealed by the Spirit, gifted by talents and skills and all the rest that He gives us, and then gives us these spiritual gifts to enable us to do it in the power of God. Is He pleased when we sit and do nothing, when we don't please Him, but we just want to satisfy ourselves and as long as me, myself and I have what me, myself and I want and are happy and contented, which you'll never be without Christ, then God's not pleased.

So, look what He's done. He says, I have created you to carry out my work on earth. You're to do that by serving one another. So I'm giving you skills and talents and abilities and spiritual gifts. I'm giving you the divine energy that you need to get it done.

I will equip you and help you and I'll be with you every step of the way. When He sent those disciples out, what did He say? He said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He says, I'm going to be with you even to the end of this age. That is, He's going to be with you and with me till the last breath we take on the face of this earth. And you don't want to take the last breath having spent ten, fifteen, twenty years in some retirement situation somewhere where your life hasn't counted for anything but sitting and watching TV and playing dominoes and checkers and cards and all the rest of it and you know what, and then dying and face Jesus.

There are many people who live in that kind of life. It is a sin against God. We don't like to call it sin. It's a sin against God. If I disobey Him, I'm sinning. If I rebel against His will, I'm sinning. And to waste your life and to refuse to serve the living God is a sin against God.

And so many of you are so gifted and so skilled and so talented in so many ways. But you know what you've done? You've employed it for yourself. You're self-centered.

And so, as long as you've got what you want and you have enough of what you want, you're not concerned. God created you for Himself. And now that you've trusted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, you are responsible for putting that to work to serve the living God.

You say, Well, it doesn't work with me because I'm not even a Christian. You're doubly guilty. You're doubly guilty. First of all, you rejected your son. Secondly, you're living in sin by rejecting your son. Thirdly, you're wasting away your life. And number four, he says it's important that the man wants to die and after this the judgment. And he says, Every one of us shall give an account for the life that he's lived, the things that he's done. And you see, people don't want to hear that. Don't have some preacher tell me that God isn't pleased with me because I don't go to church.

No, that's not the issue. The issue is you're living in sin because you refuse to be used by God and invest your life in things that, listen, that are godly and righteous and wise. God is the giver of every single thing that you have.

And he gave it to you to recognize his lordship in your life and to recognize that you're a creative being by Almighty God and that you've been saved and can be saved by the grace of God, that your life will count in the lives of other people as well. Thank you for listening to Can God Use You? If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or In Touch Ministries, stop by intouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of In Touch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.