#The Call to fulfil the Great Commission – Part 1

We have been in our series of the call and we have explored

what it means to be called by God.

And I hope by now it is very clear that before we are called

to something, we are called to. Oh, I like the way you can do

that with the mic. That's good.

Before we are called to something, we are called to.

That's it. You see, what we do is not our

priority. It comes out of flows from who

we are in Christ Jesus and I keep reminded us every every

Sunday. But you see, we battle against a

culture that says what do you do.

We battle against a culture that says you are defined by what you

do. You are defined.

Your identity is rooted in what you do.

But as we read in the scriptures, what we actually

find is that who we are. Our identity is not rooted in

what we do. It's rooted in who we are with,

and that is Jesus. Because if we don't operate out

of a right identity and knowledge that we are sons and

daughters of the Most High, that we are called a royal

priesthood, that we are His, and that no matter what we can do,

we can never be separated from His love.

When we operate out of that place, we operate in an also

different way than we operate out of a place of striving for

identity and what we what we're going to do in the moment is

read again the the scriptures that we've been looking out for

this series, which is when Jesus called the first disciples.

And what is very evident in this as we read it is the

progression. First that Jesus was in the boat

with Simon Peter, first Simon Peter was with Jesus.

And I love that intimacy. I love the fact that Jesus

didn't stand on some high mountain and say, oh, you Simon

Peter, get into your boat. Jesus got into the boat with

him. And that is the the, the, the

pursuit of God, that it out out of his love for us, out of his

desire to be with us. And we see that first.

And then what do we see is we looked at this the past couple

of weeks. It is that called to be separate

from the world and consecrated to him.

And we see that in the story as Jesus.

They push out a little from the multitude.

That is a picture of the separation, that God is calling

us out of the world and to him. And so you've got being with

Jesus, then being like Jesus, which is the holiness.

And then after you've done all of that, then you get to do the

stuff. Even in church circles, we

forget the first two bits, don't we?

We rushed to the doing. We rushed to the doing when we

should rush to the being. And so we over the next three

weeks are going to transition and look at the 10 hallmarks of

the call of God on our lives for the doing bit 10 hallmarks.

And we're going to unpack that together over the next two to

three weeks. But before we do that, why don't

we just revisit this scripture? You can find it in Luke chapter

51 to 11:00. If you're in the room, it will

be on the screen and if you're online, welcome again.

It's great to have you with us. It will be on your device as

well. It is Luke 51 to 11.

On one occasion, while the crowd were pressing in on him, this is

Jesus to hear the word of God. He was standing by the Lake of

Gnessrats, which is also the Sea of Galilee, and he saw two boats

by the lake. But the fishermen had gone out

of them and were washing their Nets.

Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's.

He asked him to put out a little from the land.

You see Jesus gets into the boat with with Simon Peter 1st, and

then whilst they're together they push out from the land,

from the multitude. And he sat down and taught the

people from the boat, and when he had finished speaking, he

said to Simon, put out into the deep and let down your Nets for

a catch. This is to the doing bit.

And Simon answered, Master, we toiled all night and took

nothing. But you know at your word I will

let down the Nets. And then when they had done this

thing, closed a large number of fish, and their Nets were

breaking. They signaled to their partners

in the other boats to come and help them, and they came and

filled both the boats. So they began to sink.

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus's knees,

saying, Depart from me. For I am a sinful man, O Lord.

And we looked last week, didn't we, That it is the revelation of

who God is and his glory. It is the realization of His

magnificence. It is the appreciation of his

goodness and power that causes us to recognize who we are, and

we therefore walk in the holy, healthy fear of the Lord.

And if you miss that, I'd encourage you to get that talk

from last week. For he and all who are with him

were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken.

And so also with James and John, sons of Zebedee, who are

partners with Simon. And and Jesus said to Simon, do

not be afraid. From now on you will be catching

men. And when they had brought their

boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

Thank you for your word, Lord. So we're going to look then.

Actually, before I say that, you know what I love about

scripture, and I'm sure you love it too, is that there is so many

aspects and angles, if you like, in depth to his word.

You know, Charles Spurgeon, the great Victorian preacher, used

to tell his students that you need to soak in the word.

I love that. He likes a nice soak in the

bath. Yeah, me too.

Really. Yeah.

Get some candles. What?

Yeah, I like some candles. Get some bubble bath, whatever

it might be, and soak. And that's what we call to do

with the scriptures. We never soak in the scriptures,

really. We might tap into it, but it's

as you soak into it that it soaks into you and you see the

depth. And Can you believe that in just

that short story, there are 10 hallmarks at least of the call

of God in our lives. And that's what we're going to

uncover. Just some general observations

before we look at these. And I'm going to attempt to do 3

this morning and then we'll see how we go over the next couple

of weeks. First off to say this, this is

not an exhaustive list. Okay this is not an exhaustive

is God the hallmarks of God's calling our lives a myriad, but

I just want to give you 10 that are helpful.

The 2nd observation is this is that when we come to God's

Kingdom principles, they seem as if they are a paradox.

OK? And we often say, don't we, that

this is God's Kingdom is the upside down Kingdom.

I kind of like that, but I kind of don't.

I'll tell you why I don't like that phrase.

We are in the upside down Kingdom world now as a result of

the full God's Kingdom was never upside down.

It was the right way round. Do you know what I mean?

So that's why when we hear things like, you know, die once

you die to yourself, then you will truly live.

What? That's a bit crazy.

You heard that one. Or those that are last will be

first. That doesn't make sense.

Bless your enemy. Pray for them.

What? And so the principles that we're

going to look at are those kind of really those seemingly

paradoxical principles that the world.

And when I use the phrase the world, I mean the the structures

and the religion of this world that are contrary to God's

truth. It may seem strange to us.

So those are our observations. And with that, we're going to

start on the first one, and it is this pause for dramatic

effect #1. God calls us at the point where

we feel weak and tired. God often calls us at the point

of which we feel weak and tired. What do we read in this story?

Well, Simon and the rest of his buddies were out all night

fishing because that's what professional fishermen did,

because that would be when you get all of the fish, the most

amount of fish you would go out at night.

And in fact, if you were recording the scriptures here in

the story, I read it, he said we toiled all night, toiling is

back breaking work and here they are.

You can just imagine them. Oh, they've just finished their

toiling. I thought, Oh well, we didn't

catch anything. But you know what?

I'm going home to have a shower freshen up, you know, might get

a latte or a Longo or something and just chillax.

So because I am wack toe, wow, I should have been a poet.

That was very impressive. What am I?

And so all of a sudden in this tired, exhausted, toil field

state, Jesus comes along great time in Jesus and says, come on,

let's go. We've got some things to do

essentially. And you can imagine in this

story, she's like, right, let's go into the deep and put your

Nets out. And Simon is like, I am so

tired, please, we toiled all night.

I'm exhausted. The last thing I want to do is

do. Quite frankly, I feel weak.

I don't actually feel like a very good fisherman, quite

frankly, because I didn't catch anything last night.

I feel insecure. I'm just not sure I'm cut out

for this fisherman thing anyway. And you see, what is true in our

lives is often times when Jesus comes to call us to walk in the

Great Commission. The what do I mean by the

Commission? It's the extending His Kingdom

to make Christ known in whatever sphere that you are in.

Wherever God places you, you are cool to make disciples and that

might be that God puts a prompting to go and speak to

that person by the water caller and say, how are you doing?

Can I pray for you that might be to knock on your neighbor's door

and say, you know what? I I know it's been a really

tough time. I've made this cake for you.

I've made dinner for you. These are those doing things

that God will often come to us when we are tired and we're weak

and we're like, oh seriously, you should have seen the last

cake I baked. Lord, it was a terrible and I'm

tired. And we read in the scriptures

that this is a very common way in which God operates.

In fact, I love the The story is in Mark Six.

We haven't got time to look at it now.

We haven't got time. Lock the doors.

I'm preaching for a very long time.

I've decided, so don't let the people out.

No, I'm joking. The the oftentimes when Jesus

will send out the disciples he does so when they've just

they're really tired. In fact the feeding of the the

4000, they had just come back from a ministry trip when God

had sent them out and they come back and Jesus says, let me go

and take you to a place where we can rest and get some food.

And all of a sudden the multitude come and he's like,

right. OK I'm going to speak to these

people and then he turns around to disciple say right, go feed

them And like you joking me, I need some food.

I've just been on a ministry trip.

I'm really tired. Don't ask me to do that stuff.

And what else do we see it? Weakness and tiredness.

When when God said to Moses, go and speak to Pharaoh and what

does Moses say? I'm not good enough.

I have speech issues, I'm tired and I'm weak.

Please send someone else, he said.

How many of you? You don't put your hands up, he

said. Please send someone else.

God. Someone else can knock on that

door when God called Gideon. We know the story of Gideon,

don't we? I mean Gideon was the weakest

member of the smallest clan in the in the least significant

tried doing a job that meant he was hidden from most and yet God

chose him in a place of weakness to go and defeat the

Philistines. What?

That does not make sense. What about David?

Samuel is going to appoint Anoint the next king and he goes

to Jesse, David's father says Right line up your sons can

imagine right the tool down to. No, Not that one.

Not that one. Not that one.

Not that one. Not that one.

Not that one. Not that one.

Is this it? Anybody else?

Well, you know, there's little David.

He's just sorting out the sheep. He's a shepherd boy.

Bring him over. That's the one.

What? He's the smallest.

He's the weakest. I know I've called him.

And you see, a hallmark of the call of God is often He will

come to us when we feel like David, when we feel like a

Gideon, when we feel like a Moses.

Now, have you ever wondered why that's the case?

I'm glad you said yes. Me too.

Why? Lord?

Listen, if I was God and I say this with great respect, if I

was God, I would pick you when you're in your strongest.

Yeah. How are you feeling?

I'm feeling really great. Fantastic.

Come with me. It looks like you've just been

into the gym. You must be strong.

Come with me. Looks like you've had a really

good night's sleep. Come with me.

But that's not what God does. Why?

I'm glad you asked. I'm going to give you 2 reasons

why God calls us when we are weak.

You're going to love it, #1. God's glory is revealed through

our weakness. God's glory is revealed through

our weakness. God's divine and perfect plan is

to reveal His glory. Did you know that?

And when I say reveal his glory, what I mean is, is that the

fullness of God's magnificence, his goodness, the truth of who

he is, his loving kindness, the the myriad aspects of his holy

nature is revealed and shown to all.

That is what it means when he reveals His glory.

And I know over 30 verses in the Bible which is very specific

that talks about the divine purposes of God are to reveal

his glory. Let's look at some of them.

You're I'm sure you'll know this one.

Psalm 19, One to four, The heavens declare the glory of God

and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.

Whenever you get a an opportunity when the sky is

clear, just look up at those stars.

Look up at those stars and your spirit will hear the declaration

of the glory of God. There is no speech nor are their

words whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all

the earth and their words the end of the world creation.

I mean Jesus when he's going to Jerusalem, said Listen if if

they didn't shout Holy, Holy, holy Hosanna on the highest, the

rocks would have done it because all creation points to the glory

of God. What about this?

Isaiah 43. Six or seven bring my sons from

afar. This is God speaking and my

daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by

my name. Are you ready for this whom I

created for my glory? Excuse me, Lord, I thought you

created me for my own glory. Nope.

But surely you created me so I can live my best life.

Well, you know I want you to be blessed, but that's not why I

created you. There's nothing like realigning

the truth. The God divine plan is to reveal

his glory, to put us in our rightful place as worshippers of

him. Now maybe when I speak to this,

you're thinking, Mark, that sounds like a very narcissistic

God. I mean, let's just say it,

right? What kind of God is that?

That just wants to reveal his glory?

He must be 1 egotistical maniac and that.

I've had conversations with people that have been along

those lines. I want to defer to John Piper, a

quote from him. He's a well known theologian and

pastor. And he says this no matter how

deep we probe into the motives of God, we will never arrive at

a layer which is not love. Shall I say that again, no

matter how deep we probe into the motives of God, we will

never arrive at a layer which is not love.

And so God's motivation, his divine will to reveal his glory

comes out of his nature, which is love.

But the But why is that the case?

There's more to it. Let's drill down into that a

little bit more. Why is it love that he is

revealing his glory? Because we need to understand

the relationship between the glory of God and our deepest

need. And this is where we get into

the crux of it. We need to understand there is a

linkage, a relationship between the revelation of God's glory

and the fulfillment of our deepest need.

To quote John Piper one more time, he says this God's glory

and our happiness at never are never at odds.

His pursuit of His own fame, the revelation of his glory, is a

full commitment to our deepest joy.

Are we? Are we understanding this?

You see, we have been created to feel fulfillment and joy when we

bask in His glory. We have been created to worship

a God who reveals himself to us. And so rather than look at this

as some narcissistic God that's picking us in our weakest

moments so that he can reveal his glory through us, we should

see it through the lens of truth.

Which is this. When he reveals his glory to us

in those moments where our barriers fall down and we

acknowledge our need to him, then we experience joy, and then

we are fulfilled. But you see, the world will tell

you something different. When you're strong, you're

independent. When you can do it on your own,

you don't need anyone else. We haven't been created to be

independent, we've been created to be dependent on God.

And it's when that linkage is broken and we seek a life of

independence that things start breaking in our world.

The moment you go against the manufacturer's manual and start

putting petrol in a car when it's designed to have diesel,

you will see what happens eventually.

Initially, it'll be like, well, this is fine.

I told you car manufacture. It would be fine 30 miles down

the road. Oh, OK, fair point.

And that's like us with Jesus and you know, isn't it?

I don't need you. God.

And the next day, see it's all fine.

Next day it's all fine. Oh, start.

Things are starting to fall apart a bit.

And so here it is. The God is choosing to reveal

his glory through our weakness. That is why.

Well, me to say, well, that wasn't me, that was God.

I'm sure you can recall times in your life right now where God's

called you to do something and you've been weak and you

thought, I can't do this and you've done it and it's been a

blessing to someone. And you said, wow, God, thank

you. You've revealed his glory.

He has revealed his glory through you in that moment.

And I think, I think that this speaks to we talked about the

God is calling us into the deep, away from the splash park and

into the deep waters. I think when we allow ourselves

to surrender, we get to where Moses got to.

Moses has seen God move them out of Egypt.

They had seen the parting of the of the of the Red Sea.

And do you know what Moses asked him?

The thing he wanted he said in the Exodus 3318.

Now show me your glory. Just show me your glory.

I've seen the things you've done, but I want to see your

glory. Can I ask?

And I'm asking myself this first, How often have I just sat

there and said, God, show me your glory, Show me your glory.

Show me your magnificence. Show me your kindness.

Show me your splendor. Show me your awesomeness.

Show me your magnificence. Show me your glory, God, because

that should be the desire of our heart as we respond to the the

waterfall, the deep calling unto deep.

And I want to say this to you, if if you are here in the

spirit, say right. I want you to do this, that and

the other, whatever it might be. And you say, but I am weak.

How can I suggest to you that you're being called in that

moment? That weakness is not an excuse

and it is not a reason to think that.

Surely I can't be hearing God because God would only call me

when I'm strong. That is not the way it works.

Lastly, we're only going to get to one of the hallmarks today,

so we're in for a long few weeks.

Thank you Sally. Why else does he call us when we

are weak? One more reason, we are made

perfect, perfect in our weakness, the apostle Paul says

in two Corinthians 12/9. He says, and this is Paul.

He was complaining to God and said she said, look would you

remove this thorn out of my flesh?

And I, I, I'm, I'm rather happy that we don't know what the

thorn is, because it means that we can apply to all, all of our

lives. We all have thorns.

We all have those things in our lives that say, Lord God, would

you help me? I feel helpless about this

thorn. Thorn.

I feel weak in the face of this thorn.

And what what does God say to Paul?

My grace, Paul is sufficient for you.

For my power is made perfect in your weakness.

And then Paul says, therefore I'm going to boast all more

gladly my weakness. Because when I'm weak I am

strong. And the New Living Translation

puts it this way. My grace is all you need.

My power works best in weakness and grace.

We have a sometimes a wrong view of grace.

We think grace is there to cover up bad living.

Oh well, God's a go to grace, carry on sinning.

But actually grace is there to empower right living.

Grace is an empowerment. In spite of our difficulties to

walk in that which God has called us to, that is His grace.

It's something we receive that we should not receive.

We we we can't do anything for it.

Mercy is what God holds back. Grace is what He gives us.

And why is God's power made perfect and our weakness?

Because when we are weak, our walls of pride and self-reliance

can't stand. Pride is fueled by our natural

strength. Because what what strength does,

it can often inform the lie that I don't need God, I've got this

on my own. That's the subtlety of pride.

But you see, when we are weak, there is a realization that we

need him and his power, that in fact we can't do it on our own.

And it's in that place that God then moves.

I'm sure you all know that scripture, God opposes the

proud, but gives what grace to the what is humility?

It's not a false humility that says I'm lower than the low and

you're amazing. That's false humility.

Humility is recognizing that he is God and we are His.

That's simply humility. And so when we get to that place

of humility, of recognizing that we are weak, blessed are the

poor in spirit. What does that mean?

It doesn't mean that you've got no money in your bank account.

It means that you recognize that you are empty and that you need

the power of Christ in your life.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. You are blessed when you come

humbly to Him and say, I am weak and I need you.

And so God can work through us. Therefore with His power, His

grace, when He calls us in that place of our humility, that

weakness brings. Do you hear that?

And humility is a choice. Humility is a choice that we

walk in. And so as I invite the band up,

I want to just summarize. We often think that we should be

called by God too. Extend his Kingdom to pray for

someone that needs prayer to, to to look after someone's kids

when they're in despair, to be bold and courageous and say no.

I think God says this. We often think that God will

call us to do those things when we are feeling wide awake and

strong and capable. But I think what you've seen by

this story is that the opposite is true.

God will call us in a place of potential despondency, of

questioning our own ability, and a place of tiredness and

weakness. But it is in that place, you

see, that God moves. It is in that place of weakness

that He reveals who He is and His glory.

It is in that place of weakness that his power comes through us.

As we walk in the cool that God has for us.

Let us stand church as I pray. Thank you, Jesus.