Life of Paul Part 18 - How to Be Used by God

Good morning, everybody. Hey, it's wonderful to have you guys here.

Thanks so much for coming. How about let's take in a Bible and opening it to Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14.

We're going to be continuing in our study of that great man, the Apostle Paul. And I want to begin with a quote this morning that was written by a young man about an experience he had when he was 17 years old. Let me read the quote.

Then I'll tell you who said it. Well do I remember, he writes, how I poured my soul out before God. I begged God to give me some work to do for him as an outlet of my love and my gratitude. I remember the deep solemnity that came over my soul, assuring me that my offer had been accepted.

At that point, I did not know for what service I had been chosen, but a deep sense that I was no longer my own took possession of me, a feeling which has never since been erased. Now these words were written by a young man named J. Hudson Taylor. And this is a name that every one of us as followers of Jesus Christ need to know.

Hudson Taylor was born in 1832 in England. He was a preacher's kid, the son of a very poor minister. At age 17, he gave his life to Christ. And not long after that, wrote about this experience where he asked God to please use him.

Boy did God use him. He took Hudson Taylor to China, made him the first by faith missionary in the modern era to go to China, mainland China. Hudson Taylor became the founder of the China Inland Mission. And by the time he died in 1902, Hudson Taylor had personally put into motion a massive movement of God in mainland China, the results of which you and I are still feeling today. And whenever you talk about what's happening in China today with Christians, you can trace that back to the life of this young man, Hudson Taylor, and what God used him to do more than a century ago. And it all began with a 17 year old young man who simply came to the Lord and said, Lord, use me.

I want you to use me. Now friends, this is an amazing thing that the living God of the universe is happy to use ordinary people, people like you and me, to advance the work of God on this earth. And this is what we're going to talk about today. We want to talk about how you and I as followers of Christ can see our lives used by God like Hudson Taylor's life was, like the Apostle Paul's life was. And so we're going to look at our passage and we're going to work our way towards this end.

Let's begin a little bit of background. Remember, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas are out on the first missionary journey, and they're just finishing up. They're just getting ready to head for home as we pick up the story.

Chapter 14, look at verse 24, if you would with me. And after going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia. And when they had preached the word in Perga, I love this, even though they're going home, man, they're still preaching. They went down to Atalia.

And we remember that we're in southern Turkey here now. Remember that Paul and Barnabas have gone from Antioch to Iconium to Lystra to Derbe. Well, then they've turned around and gone back from Derbe to Lystra to Iconium to Antioch. And now we read that they worked their way south towards Perga, where they preached, and then to the little port city of Atalia. And the point is that here from Atalia, they want to take a ship back to Antioch in Syria, which is where their hometown was.

And that's what we're going to see happen. Verse 26. And from Atalia, they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work that they had now completed. Here for the first time in more than a year, they're about to come home. This has been a year of being on the move and sleeping on the ground and eating on the run. A year of preaching to strangers and leading people to Christ and then mentoring and nurturing the new sheep that they've led to Christ. This has been a year of living 24-7 under the critical gaze of skeptics, a year of enduring the rage of their opponents, a year in some cases of running for their very lives. And now a year later, here they come and they see for the first time in over 12 months the warm and inviting lights of home. Must have been an incredible feeling.

You know, as many of you know, I just got back from leading a two-week tour to Israel. And I know some of you guys were watching the news every night expecting to see my coffin on the news. It didn't happen. In fact, we never even saw a tank. The only tanks we ever saw is when we came back to the hotel, turned on CNN.

Those are the only tanks we saw. Hey, it was a wonderful trip. The people were fabulous to us. The accommodations, the food was great, the sites we went to, God really spoke to us. We never felt a moment's danger. But I have to tell you, there was no feeling in the world like the feeling of getting off that plane in New York City, seeing that big old American flag with the sign over it, welcome to the United States of America.

That was awesome. And I'd only been gone two weeks. Imagine what Paul must have felt. He's been gone a year, running for his very life, and finally he gets to come home. But I want you to see how he came home. Look, the Bible says that he was returning, verse 26, from the work that he had now completed. In spite of all of the hardships, all of the opposition, all of the challenges, Paul had refused to give up. Paul had refused to cave in, and now as he came home, he came home mission accomplished.

Well, that's the way to come home, mission accomplished. Well, what did he do when he got back? It says in verse 27 that when he got back, he and Barnabas gathered the whole church together, and they reported all that God had done through them and how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles, and then they stayed there a long time with the disciples. Now, remember, these were the people who had sent Paul out. These were the people who had prayed for Paul for an entire year while he was gone.

And so now that he was back, I mean, it's completely logical. They wanted to know, well, what's going on? What happened out there? Remember, they didn't have Dan Rather in the evening news bringing him up to date on Paul every night.

They didn't have CNN traveling around sending footage back 24-7. So this is the first time they got to hear what in the world is going on. And Paul and Barnabas got them together and reported what great things God had done through them. And let's go back and remind ourselves some of the incredible things God had done through Paul and Barnabas. We began in Cyprus, if you remember, where they traversed the island and led hundreds of people to Christ, including Sergius Paulus, the Roman governor of the island. Then God led them up into central Turkey. And here in Turkey, God gave them power to do miraculous healings. Here in Turkey, God delivered them from hostile lynch mobs.

Here in Turkey, God preserved Paul's life from a brutal stoning. Here in Turkey, God gave them the privilege of leading thousands of people to Christ. Here in Turkey, God allowed them to establish churches in Derby, in Lystra, in Iconium, in Antioch. God gave them the privilege of mentoring believers there. God gave them the privilege of appointing elders for those churches. Folks, by the time Paul and Barnabas headed for home, they left all of central Turkey reeling in their spiritual wake.

There wasn't one person in central Turkey who didn't know Paul and Barnabas had been in town. God used them in an unbelievable way. And the thing I really like about this, the neatest part of all, is that in their report, Paul and Barnabas gave all the credit to God. They didn't report on what great things they had done for God. That isn't what the Bible says.

They reported on what great things God had done through them. Now that's the end of our passage, but it leads us to the most important question. And you all know what that question is, and I've given you two weeks off, so your vocal cords are rested. So this ought to be really loud today. Everybody ready?

One, two, three. So what? Say, so what, Lon? This is great.

I mean, I have deep respect for Paul. I just don't understand what this has to do with my life in the 21st century. Let's see if we can answer that question. Do you guys keep up with the World Series? How many of you guys were really, really glad Arizona won? Raise your hand. How many of you guys were really glad anybody beat the Yankees? Raise your hand.

Yeah, that's where I am. I'll tell you what, man. You know, I had people say to me, well, you know, in light of everything that has happened, don't you think it would be nice if the Yankees won?

No, no, no, no, no, no. And it was a great World Series. I mean, this is one of the most exciting World Series in recent memory. And it just confirmed what I've known my whole life, and that is that baseball is the great American sport. Football is all right. Basketball is okay. Hockey I can never figure out.

But baseball is the great American sport. And if any of you have been to baseball games lately, you've probably heard a song that sometimes they play between innings and sometimes they play at the seventh-inning stretch, and it goes like this. It says, put me in, coach. I'm ready to play. Today, look at me.

I could be center field. And it's a song about a young player who knows he can do it, but he's trying to convince a reluctant coach who's not sure to put him in and give him a chance. And they say, Lon, I know the song. What does this have to do with anything? Well, it does.

And here's why. In over 30 years of walking with Christ and having met lots and lots of people who prayed and asked God to use them, what I've discovered is that many times when we approach this issue of God using us, we really approach it a lot like this player in the song. Many times we see God as a reluctant coach that if we beg him enough and we ask him enough and we plead with him enough, maybe he will relent and agree to put us in the game and give us a chance. And I'm here to tell you this is not at all the biblical worldview of the Bible. This is not at all the perspective that the Bible gives to this thing. Friends, the Bible teaches that God wants to use us. He's not some reluctant coach that we got to beg to use us. In fact, Jesus said, John 15, 16, he said, You did not choose me, but I chose you. And why did I choose you?

Look, so that you might go and produce much fruit. One of the chief goals that God has in bringing us into a personal relationship with Christ is then to go on and use us to advance the work of God here on this earth. So God is not a reluctant coach. Don't kid yourself.

In fact, the opposite is true. God is using you and me and every other follower of Jesus Christ to the absolute maximum that he's able. He's using us to the fullest that he can. And the real issue that you and I have to worry about as followers of Christ is not does God want to use us?

That's not the issue. The issue is, are we usable? God is using us to the degree that we make ourselves usable. I love what Vance Habner, the old country preacher once said, he said, and I quote, You do not have to pray, Lord, use me. You get usable and the Lord will wear you out.

And that's true. Now, may I stop for a moment and say, if you're here and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, that there's an important message for you and what we're talking about today. And the message is this, that when a person comes into a relationship with Jesus Christ, suddenly God gives them a higher reason for living, a better purpose for living than just making money and piling up creature comfort. Suddenly, God gives that person an eternal reason for living.

God enables that person to wake up every single day and say, I'm waking up today not to go earn money, not to go buy stuff. I'm waking up so that my life can be used in the service of the living God of the universe, making an eternal difference in people's lives. Man, that's worth getting up for, getting up to make money and climb the ladder. You know what?

After a while, that gets pretty old, man. But waking up to serve the living God. Hey, that's worth getting up for in the morning. And if you're here and you're tired of living for yourself, if you're here and you're tired of pursuing the Madison Avenue merry-go-round, I'm here to tell you some good news. There's a better reason for living that God wants to give you. And as soon as you give your life to Christ and come in relationship with Him, He'll give it to you.

It'll make worth waking up in the morning, something that you'll get excited about, something to think about. But for those of us who are followers of Christ, the question is, how do we become usable? Want God to use your life? I never met a true follower of Christ that didn't want God to use their life.

How do we get usable? Well, there are three principles I want to give you in closing today, and all three of them we're going to see illustrated in the life of Paul. Why did God use Paul the way he did here in the first missionary journey? It was not because God loves Paul more than He loves you. Don't you think that? It was not because Paul was something special that you're not.

Don't you think that? It was because Paul did all three of the things I'm about to tell you, and if you and I will do them, guess what? God will use us too. So let's look at them.

What are they? Number one, if we want to be usable to God, number one, we have to be available, meaning that when God calls on us to do something, we've got to be ready to promptly accept the offer. When God calls, He can't get a busy signal. And this is what the apostle Paul did. I mean, he was living there in Antioch in Syria. He was the associate pastor of that church. Everything was going great for him.

He was as content as a just-fed hound dog lying on the front porch. You understand what I'm saying? He didn't have any desire to go anywhere, but God, Acts chapter 13, appeared to him and said, Paul, read about it.

I've got a job I want you to go do for me. And notice the apostle Paul didn't say, well, Lord, I just moved here a year ago. I just bought a house. If I sell my house now, I'll lose money on it, and I'll never recoup the closing cost.

I mean, why don't you ask somebody who's been around longer, whose house has got some equity in it? Paul didn't say any of that stupid nonsense. Paul said, Lord, what do you need? What do you need? Whatever you need, I'm available.

You just tell me what you need. And every man or woman that God has ever used has had this very same attitude of availability. Listen to Abraham, Genesis 12. And the Lord said to Abraham, leave your country, your people, your father's household, and go to the land I'll show you. Now, look, so Abraham left.

God called. He didn't get a busy signal with Abraham. He left just the way the Lord told him. Now, friends, we don't know for certain whether Abraham was the very first man God ever asked to go do this, to go become the father of the Jewish people, the forerunner of the Messiah. And oh, by the way, one of the richest men in the ancient Near East, by the time God was done with him, Abraham may have been number 10. He might have been number 50. Who knows how many people God asked first. But the one thing we do know is that Abraham was the first man who was available. And that's why he got the privilege to be used by God the way he did. Hey, how about Isaiah, the prophet? Remember him? Here I am, Lord.

What? Send me. I'm available.

Send me. Well, God sent him, didn't he? And when God called on Hudson Taylor to go to China, he was available. When God called on William Carey, the father of modern missions, to go to India, he was available. When God called on Adoniram Judson to go to Burma, he was available. When God called on Billy Graham to do crusades all over the world, when he called on Mother Teresa to care for the poor children of the world, when he called on Moishe Rosen to start Jews for Jesus, these people were all available. You want to know why God used them?

They were available. And don't kid yourself into thinking that God's not calling people today. He is. Don't think that God is not interested in using people today. He is. The problem is so often when God calls, he gets a busy signal.

He gets a busy signal. I've got a question that I want you to ask yourself if you're a follower of Christ. It's kind of an unsettling question.

Here it is. If I had to stand in front of the church of Antioch, the way Paul did, and if I had to report to them all that God has done through me, if that's what I had to do, would I have anything to say? And if you say, well, Lon, you know, honestly, I'm not sure I'd have a whole lot to say. Then I'll tell you why.

I'll tell you why. It's not that God hadn't been calling you if you're a follower of Christ, and it's not that God doesn't want to use you. God wants to give you and me so much to say that we wouldn't even have enough time to say it. The reason is, friends, apparently when he's been calling, you've been busy.

Busy making money, busy climbing the ladder, busy piling up creature comfort, busy enjoying leisure pursuits, busy improving your golf game, distracted with something or another spiritually, preoccupied with something or another. But whatever it was, you weren't available to take the phone call. The great men and women of God that God used when God called, they picked up the phone and said, hello, whatever you need, God, I'm ready. And that's where you being used by God has to begin being available. Number two, if we want to be used by God, number two, we have to be obedient. See, when it comes to God using us, obedience is a major big deal.

There was a guy in the Old Testament who was a young man with incredible potential for God to use him, but he never reached that potential because he never got this principle straight. His name was Saul, King Saul, the first king of Israel. And if you remember the story in the Old Testament, God sent King Saul to do an unpopular job, a tough job, a nasty job, a human illogical, humanly illogical job of wiping out an entire town and all of the livestock in that town. You know what Saul did? Saul gave God partial obedience.

He preserved some of the prominent people alive, preserved some of the best animals alive, and he justified leaving the animals alive by saying we're going to take them back and we're going to sacrifice them to the Lord as an act of worship. Well, he meets Samuel the prophet on the way home. And Samuel says to him, hey, Saul, did you do what God asked you to do?

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, Samuel, we did it. Samuel says, well, then what is that bleeding of sheep I hear in my ear?

And what is that lowing of oxen I hear in my ear? Now, this is hysterical. See, you don't get it because it's Bible humor, but this is hysterical because the point is if Saul had done what he was supposed to do, there'd be no bad anyway. He'd have killed them all.

There'd be no lowing of oxen. Now, forget it. But anyway, this is hysterical what Samuel says to him. And then Saul says to him, well, Samuel, you've got to understand, we preserved them alive so we could sacrifice them to the Lord. Want to hear what Samuel said? He said 1 Samuel 15. He said, hey, Saul, let me tell you something.

Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? As much as he delights in people obeying his voice, Saul to obey is better than a sacrifice. Saul had this idea that if you had some spiritual sounding reason for disobeying orders, God would just pat you on the head and go, that's okay, don't worry about it.

Not true. As a matter of fact, God removed Saul from being king and stopped using him altogether because he couldn't trust him to do what God told him to do. And, folks, when it comes to us being used by God in the 21st century, the same thing is true that obedience is a major component in being usable. Hey, didn't we see the apostle Paul on the first missionary journey demonstrate this? You say, I don't understand.

What do you mean? Hey, God, when he called Paul, Barnabas, and John Mark, did not call them to go out for one week, get discouraged, turn around, and come home. That's what John Mark did, but that isn't what God called him to do. God called him to keep going and finish the job for a year, and Paul and Barnabas kept going. They obeyed God. Yes, it was tough.

Yes, it pressed them out of their comfort zone. Yes, it was risky, but they obeyed God. How much did God use John Mark on the first missionary journey? Zero. How much did he use Paul and Barnabas?

Hey, we just talked about how he used them. What was the difference? Paul and Barnabas obeyed. They did what God told them to do. And this is why God was able to use Abraham and Isaiah and David and Moses and Esther and Deborah and Ruth and Gideon and Billy Graham and Mother Teresa the way he was. There was no magic here.

They simply did what God told them to do. You know, this past September, I began my 22nd year here as pastor of McLean Bible Church. You say, hey, you must have started when you were 18. Oh, God bless you. I love you people.

You all are awesome. No, I wasn't quite 18. But anyway, I want to take kind of how I came here. I was out jogging. We were living in Maryland at the time, and I was out jogging one day. And just as clear as a bell, I know the Lord said to me, Lon, you and Brenda, you're going to McLean Bible Church. Now, McLean Bible Church had not invited us to come yet.

But I came home from jogging. I said to my wife, we need to get some boxes and start packing. We're going to McLean Bible Church. Now, friends, in 1980, McLean Bible Church was a little different than it is today. The former pastor had been fired in a Saturday night massacre.

The church was in a state of anarchy and total disarray. Do you remember the song Fools Rush In Where Angels Fear to Tread? Well, that was me. Yeah, I was a 30-year-old young man, never a pastor to church in my life. But I was sure God wanted me to come here. And I even had a pastor friend who called me one afternoon.

I'll never forget it, over in Maryland. He said, I heard you were thinking about going to McLean Bible Church. I said, that's true. He said, Lon, you must be out of your mind. He said, do you have any idea the problems at that church? He said, that church is like a nuclear fallout zone. That church is a disaster area. He said, I wouldn't touch that church with a 10-foot pole with all the problems it's got.

Well, could I be honest with you and say he didn't know the half of it, not the half of it. But I said to him, you know, I hear what you're saying, and I agree. On the human level, I'm sure it's illogical and looks stupid for me to go over there and do this. But I am convinced God's asking me to do it. And for me not to go over there is disobedience to God.

So whatever's there, I don't know what's there, but whatever's there, I have to do this. Hey, listen, coming to McLean Bible Church involved a lot of risk for us. It hasn't been an easy 21 years. If you think there haven't been times in the last 21 years where I've said to myself, I think it's time for me to leave here, that you're crazy. But I believe God used me here, and I'll tell you why, because I was obedient enough to come, and over 21 years I've been obedient enough to stay. If God said, no, you stay, I said, okay, and I stayed, and I'm glad I stayed. And folks, you know, in your life there are going to be times where you're in the process of God using you and something hard is going to come along, something unpopular is going to come along, something humanly illogical is going to come along that's going to press you out of your comfort zone, and God is not interested in that point with you arguing with Him, debating with Him, or sparring with Him. All He wants you to do is do what He tells you. That's all He wants you to do. Don't be like John Mark. Some of you right now are dealing with areas like this in your life where you know God's asking you to do something, and frankly, you don't really want to do it. Don't be like John Mark. You saw how much God used John Mark. None.

Not at all. Be like the apostle Paul who said, well, I don't really care what the cost is. If God's asking me to do it, I'm going to obey.

Those are the people God uses. Third and finally, not only do we need to be available, not only do we need to be obedient, but third and finally, we need to be tunnels and not walls. You say, what in the world does that mean? It means that when it comes to the credit, the glory, the honor of what God does through our lives, we're not walls. Things hit walls and they stop right there.

No, no, no. The credit, the honor, and the glory is not meant to stop with us. It's meant to go right on through us like a good old tunnel and go on to the real source where it belongs, and that's the Lord Jesus Himself. Look at Paul do this. Verse 27, he reported all the Bible says that God had done through him. The Bible doesn't say that Paul reported all that Paul had done. Paul made sure that the spotlight stayed on God, not Paul. And you know, we're going to see in Acts chapter 15, when he goes up to Jerusalem, he's going to go up there and meet with Peter and James and John and all the other big muck-a-mucks in the church up there. And what we're going to see in Acts 15 is when he gets there, he's going to say the very same thing. This is what God did through me. This is not what I did. And the reason this is so important is because of what God says in Isaiah 42.

He says, verse 8, I am the Lord. That is my name, and I will not give my glory. I will not give the credit. I will not give the spotlight to anybody else. It's mine, and I'm going to only use those people who make sure it stays mine.

That's why he loved using Paul, because no matter what he did through Paul, Paul made sure the spotlight stayed on Jesus, not Paul. And folks, that's how we have to be. I tell you, I've learned this lesson.

I've had my knuckles wrapped a few times, and I've learned the lesson. I have people come up and say, you know, you're this and you're this and you're the other thing and you're this and this. And you used to say, yeah, that and a nickel will buy you a cup of coffee.

Now you've got to say, yeah, that and three bucks will buy you Starbucks. You understand what I'm saying? But the point is, it doesn't make any difference. I know better than that.

I know the real truth. This is not about me. God could use other people.

And in fact, I'm so surprised, honestly, that he doesn't to do some of the stuff that he used me to do. But I'm not taking the spotlight. Are you nuts? I'm not going to put my hands on the ark.

Are you crazy? Hey, I've been there and had my hands slapped. And it's no fun. When any spotlight comes, it's not going to me. I'm a tunnel. I want to be a tunnel. Let it go right on through and go to where it really belongs, which is Jesus.

I belong on me. I'm not doing this. This is God's work. And folks, God will always use people who are tunnels, who make sure the spotlight stays on him. You become a wall. Why should God use you and allow you to rob him of the credit that's his? Doesn't make any sense. God doesn't do stupid things.

But you stay a tunnel and you watch. God will rock your socks with what he'll do in your life. So let's summarize. What have we learned? We've learned that if God wants if we want God to use us. Hey, we're not talking some reluctant coach into putting us in the game. God wants to use us if we're usable. And how do we become usable? Number one, we're available. God calls. We pick up the phone. Say hello. What you need?

I'm available. Number two, we're obedient. Doesn't matter how stupid your friends think you are.

If you know God's asking you to do it, you better do it. And number three, we're tunnels. We're not walls. We let the credit and the glory go right on through us, friends, and on to the Lord Jesus. And I love what Vance Habner said. He said, if you and I will live like this, if we'll be usable, God will wear us out. What a wonderful way to go. You know, I mean, what a great way to go to be worn out in the service of God. We got all eternity to rest, friends.

You got all eternity to catch up on your sleep. But this is the time to let God use our lives. And remember, Paul wasn't anything special. William Carey wasn't anything special.

Hudson Taylor wasn't anything special. They were simply men, Mother Teresa, women who said, I'm available. I'll be obedient and I'll be a tunnel. And God took it from there. You want God to use you? Just tell God the same three things and mean it and watch what God does with your life. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for talking to us about real life.

Write down where we live. Lord, for those of us who know you as our personal savior, we want our lives to count for you. And so, God, my prayer is that you would help us take these three principles and make them a real part of our lives. Lord, make us available.

Don't don't let us be so busy that when you call, we're not there to answer. Lord, make us obedient. And Lord, make us people who let the spotlight stay on you, not us. And encourage us today with the knowledge that if we'll just simply do that, you'll use us beyond our wildest dreams. So change our lives because we were here today and we pray this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.