Monday, October 29, 2012

Strength of God thru prayer while on our pIlgrimage

A wonderful reminder of our strength  in God on our pilgrimage and the power of prayer in every situation.  It also gives the secret of usefulness (from Ray Stedman's devotional)

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#inbox/13aaba337b8c6dc5


Read the Scripture: Psalm 84
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage (Psalm 84:5).
Here the secret of usefulness is set forth. Blessed are those whose strength is in you.
Many of you have been Christians for a long time. When you get in difficulties or troubles or pressures, where is your strength? Have you found that your strength is in God, that He is the One who makes a difference?
One Saturday night I came home after a day away from my church responsibilities, and I was very tired. My wife told me some of the things that had been happening, some of the pressures that had come that day from the church and from the family. They were the kind of things I would normally want to lay before the Lord and pray about. But I didn't feel like praying. I was tired, and I wanted to go to bed. I thought to myself, What's the use of praying, anyway? I'm so tired that my prayers wouldn't have any power.
Then it struck me: What a thing to say! What difference does it make how I feel? My reliance isn't upon my prayers but upon God's power. It always bothers me to hear Christians talk about the power of prayer. There isn't any power in prayer. There is power in the God who answers prayer. I was rebuked in my own spirit by the remembrance that it makes no difference how tired I happen to be. So I prayed--very briefly, because the power of prayer doesn't lie in the length of it, either. Charles Spurgeon used to speak of those who had the idea that the power of the ministry lay in the lungs of the preacher. But it doesn't lie there, either. Power lies in the God who is behind prayer. Blessed are those whose strength is in you.
Some time ago I was trying to sell my car. Intending to put an ad in the paper, I read through several car ads to learn how to phrase it. I noticed a phrase that appeared again and again throughout the ads. It said, Power all around. At first I didn't know what that meant, and then I realized it meant power steering, power brakes, automatic transmission, power windows, power seats, and, in the case of a convertible, a power top. Power all around! All this power is designed to take the terrible strain out of driving so that all you need to do is sit there and push little buttons and things will happen. What a tremendous description of the Christian life! Power all around!
Lord, You are the strength of my life. When I am weak and weary, let me turn to You for the power I need.

Life Application: Are we missing the wonder of the divine invasion, which is Christ-in-you? Do we place the full weight of our weakness and weariness on that powerful Resource?

Monday, October 22, 2012

The 5 Biggest Wastes Of My Time When I Was Unemployed

Excellent post found at

http://www.forbes.com/sites/francesbridges/2012/01/18/my-5-biggest-wastes-of-time-when-i-was-unemployed/3/

Frances Bridges
Frances Bridges, Contributor
I write life and career advice for twentysomething women 
--------------------------------------------
I was unemployed for over a year.
It’s why I ended up spending a lot of time on my bathroom floor, and have tile grid marks branded on my backside to prove it. When I graduated, I wish someone sat me down and told me not to do the things I’m telling you not to do. Instead I got the same, generic, common sense advice every graduate gets.
So for the recent college graduates, or for the young and newly laid off, here are the five things that were the biggest wastes of my time when I was unemployed.
1. Filling out a gazillion online applications
Filling out online applications willy nilly is like letting go of your stack of resumes on a windy day, and hoping it flies into the right person’s face.
Online applications eat enormous amounts of time. Unless you know someone at the company who will flag it or personally email it to the right person, your application is more hay in the haystack. Your time is better spent meeting people in your field who can do something with your application than just filing application after application after application with no response.

2. Going to “Getting the Gig” events
These are the worst. This is how these events usually go: You register, get a nametag, shell out $20-$45 to eat pretzels, carrots, brie and ranch dressing and hear one keynote speaker or a panel of five people (give or take) discussing what they look for in interns and employees, and what it takes to make it in that particular field. You are in blank conference room in blank hotel or conference center with anywhere from 50-3,000 other people who are also looking for a job, all of whom will be queued up to talk to whoever spoke afterwards.
They’re all hoping the same thing: that they will hit it off so hard with one of the speakers that they will get a contact or a reference from them then somehow through someone get a job. They think they will stand out in the crowd of other recent college graduates with the same degree, the same experience, the same elevator speech, the same the same the same.
Don’t throw your name in the raffle hoping it’s drawn. Create situations where you’re the only name in the bowl.
3. Don’t write a million cover letters
I’m going to let you in on a big secret that parents and college career centers won’t tell you: no one cares about cover letters. I spent hours upon hours crafting cover letters for particular companies, businesses and publications so I would appear to be a natural fit for the position through my cover letter. If you are writing cover letters and borrowing language from the company’s mission statement and do not think EVERY other applicant is doing the exact same thing you are a moron. And have no imagination.
One of the things my boss always says is, “People buy from people,” and no one will be able to sell you better than you sell yourself.
If someone knows you at a prospective employer and is willing to refer you, meet with them in person and ask them to do it. Meeting in person gives you a chance to make an impression even the greatest writer in the universe could not make over email, on the phone and definitely not in a cover letter.
If you don’t know anyone, find someone and contact them. Don’t reach out to only one person- email a million. Be persistent.  Eventually they’re going to respond to the kid who won’t stop emailing them.
I emailed Susannah Breslin before I tracked down where she was speaking. Nothing I wrote in my emails would’ve inspired her to write what she did. Showing up at her show is the best decision I have made so far in my career. Spend your time showing up. Don’t waste it on tailoring cover letters.
4. Applying for Jobs I Didn’t Want
There are a lot of cool jobs out there. There are also a lot of hip, snazzy companies. It’s easy to get hypnotized by the hipness.
Last year I applied for a job at Groupon. I applied for a staff writing position, so I would’ve written the bottom description of Groupon’s coupons, describing the discount, the place and the product in a fun, creative way.
I thought I really wanted that job. It was a somewhat creative writing position, for a thriving company (back then), that would give me a salary and benefits, and I could wear jeans to work. At the time I would’ve given a vital internal organ to get the job. I didn’t get it. When I was despairing over it, a friend said, “Why are you upset? It’s not what you wanted anyway. You want to be a journalist, not a coupon writer.”
Don’t drink the cool company Kool-Aid. The more you lay-off of it, the sooner you will get the job you want.
5. Doubting Myself
There were jobs I didn’t apply to because I didn’t think I could get them; often times it was because I didn’t get the jobs I didn’t really want. At one point I stopped filling out applications all together because I was wallowing in my own unemployment, and doubting whether I was cut out to be a writer.
Awhile back a friend told me, “No one will care about your career as much as you do.” It takes a stupid amount of confidence, courage and nerve to pursue a passion. That’s why it’s so important to know what you want- because when you want something badly enough, you do insane things to get it.
I emailed a stranger asking her for help, then semi-stalked her when she tweeted about performing at a theater where we live. Because I did  I was the subject of a Forbes blog post. That blog post led to my first Forbes blog post, and now I have my own Forbes blog.
You believe in yourself or you don’t. The longer you spend deciding whether or not you’re good at what you want to do, the more time you waste not doing what you want. When not doing what you love is more painful than overcoming the doubt in your ability to do it, you, my brothers and sisters, are marching down the right path. Now, whatever you do, Don’t. Stop. Marching.
Read my Forbes blog. Email me. Follow me on twitter. Read my personal blog.

3 things they don't teach in school

An insightful post found at:

http://www.whatsbestnext.com/2012/10/3-things-they-dont-teach-in-school-that-we-all-pay-dearly-for/

3 Things They Don’t Teach in School that We All Pay Dearly For

The 3 things are:
  1. Personal management: how to get things done and know what the right things are to get done
  2. Career management
  3. Leadership
As a result, most of us need to learn these on our own, on the job. If you really try to figure them out and do them well, it’s a painful process — especially if most of the people you are working with are in the same boat (which, since these things aren’t taught well in school, is usually the case).
There are good seminars and courses and training workshops on each of these areas for those in the workforce, especially if you work at a large corporation. The leadership teaching that is out there is often pretty good, because it emphasizes that leadership is about building people up just as much as making things happen. But even that is less effective without a broad set of foundational knowledge already in place that you can relate it to. If you start learning about leadership, for example, at 28, when you are put in a leadership position in your organization, you are still 14 years behind where you could have been (or 20 years behind). This makes the journey that much harder. Same with learning how to manage your career and manage yourself, even if you encounter the need to learn these much earlier (toward the end of college or shortly after).
I’m not saying that there aren’t excellent leadership opportunities available in the educational system; there are. And, that does a lot of good. (So things aren’t nearly as bad as they could be!) But I’m talking about explicit teaching on what leadership is, how to do it, and so forth, in addition to actual leadership experiences.
This has large costs to us as a society, as so many people end up spinning their wheels trying to figure out what direction to go long-term with their career, trying to figure out how to manage themselves, and learning how to lead that they could have spent actually leading and, in terms of their career management, avoiding some wrong turns.
And it’s not just the education system that has dropped the ball here. Churches have too. Churches are mandated by God to be led well and to develop leaders (that’s the meaning of Isaiah 32:1-8, if you understand it correctly, among other passages). Because of the priesthood of all believers, this means teaching all believers how to lead well, not just those in ministry. Yet, strangely, much of the time the church opposes leadership development because of the notion that it is somehow worldly or unspiritual.
This is a long-term problem. Obviously I have lots of thoughts on how this could be fixed, but this is enough for now.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

The Doctrine of Vocation

Excellent message found at:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/theology-refresh/the-doctrine-of-vocation


©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Why God Wills Work (Sermon)

Excellent sermon found at:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/why-god-wills-work


The most fruitful question that I asked in preparing for this message is: How does a human being differ from a beaver? I was trying to get at the essence of what work is. Because what I want to do this morning is to help us see our work from God's perspective. If we can discover how God conceives of work and why he wills it, then that huge portion of our lives that may seem so separate from religion and faith can be just as God-focused as our more religious acts. To be a Christian means to bring all your life, including your work, into sync with God's revealed will in Scripture. So to help us do that I want to show from Scripture four reasons why God wills work.

To Glorify God and Increase Our Joy

First, God wills work because when we work in reliance on his power and according to his pattern of excellence, his glory is made known and our joy is increased. In Genesis 1:27,28, it says, "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.'" Since our being created in God's image leads directly to our privilege and duty to subdue the earth, I take it that human vocation involves exercising a subordinate lordship over creation by which we shape and control it for good purposes.
God takes man on as his deputy and endows him with God-like rights and capacities to subdue the world—to use it and shape it for good purposes. So if you go all the way back, before the fall of man into sin, there are no negative connotations about work. According toGenesis 2:2, God himself rested from his work of creation. And the capstone of that work was a creature in his own image to carry on the work of ruling and using creation. At the heart of the meaning of work is creativity. If you are God, your work is to create out of nothing. If you are human, your work is to take what God has made and shape it and use it for good purposes.
But here is where the beaver comes in. A beaver subdues his surroundings and shapes a dam for a good purpose—a house. He no doubt enjoys his work; and even the diligence and skill of the beaver reflect the glory of God's wisdom.
All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.
And is glorified in them all. So what is the difference between a human being at work and a beaver at work? Or for that matter, a bee, or a hummingbird? They work hard; they subdue their surroundings and shape them into beautiful structures that serve good purposes. The difference is that humans are morally self-conscious and make choices about their work on the basis of motives which may or may not honor God.
No beaver or bee or hummingbird consciously relies on God. No beaver ponders the divine pattern of order and beauty and makes a moral choice to pursue excellence because God is excellent. No beaver reflects on the purpose of his existence and consciously chooses to glorify his Maker by relying on him. But humans have all these potentials because we are created in God's image. When God commissions us to subdue the earth—to shape it and use it—he doesn't mean, do it like a beaver. He means, do it like a human, a morally self-conscious person who is responsible to choose his proper destiny. When he sends us forth to work in his image, to be sure, our ditches are to be dug straight, our pipefittings are not to leak, our cabinet corners should be flush, our surgical incisions should be clean, our typing sharp and accurate, our meals nutritious and attractive, because God is a God of order and beauty and competence. But cats are clean, and ants are industrious, and spiders produce orderly and beautiful works. Therefore, the essence of our work as humans must be that it is done in conscious reliance on God's power, as a conscious quest of God's pattern of excellence, and in deliberate pursuit of God's glory.
When you work like this—no matter what your vocation is—you can have a sweet sense of peace at the end of the day. I don't think God has created us to be idle. Therefore, those who abandon creative productivity lose the joy of purposeful work. Ecclesiastes 5:12 says, "Sweet is the sleep of a laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the surfeit of the rich will not let him sleep." People who spend their lives mainly in idleness or frivolous leisure are rarely as happy as those who work. Most of the retired people at Bethlehem know this, and so have sought creative, useful, God-honoring ways to stay active and productive in God's kingdom. And we should help each other in this, and with the whole problem of unemployment. It is not first an economic problem. It is first a theological problem. Human beings are created in the image of God and are endowed with traits of their creator that fit them for creative, useful, joyful work. Therefore, extensive idleness (when you have the ability to work) brings down the oppression of guilt and futility.
So the first reason God wills work is that when we work in reliance on his power and according to his pattern of excellence, his glory is made known and our joy is increased.

To Provide for Our Needs

The second reason God wills work is that by working we provide for our legitimate needs.When Adam and Eve sinned, God imposed on the human race a condition of hardship that continually reminds us: things are not all right while there is sin. The Lord said to Adam, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth to you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground" (Genesis 3:17–19). Before the fall, man lived in a garden where God provided his food on trees. All Adam and Eve had to do was pick and eat. That's why the essence of work is not sustenance of life—God gave himself as the sustainer. Adam and Eve were free to use their time in creative pursuits without the anxiety of providing food and clothing.
But when they chose to be self-reliant and rejected God's fatherly guidance and provision, God subjected them to the very thing they chose: self-reliance. From now on, he says, if you eat, it will be because you toil and sweat. They are driven from the garden of ease to the ground of sweat. They exchange fruit trees for wheat fields where thorns and pests and drought and plowing and sowing and reaping and threshing consume their days. The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that in our work we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities. And all this is doubly burdensome because now by this very toil we must keep ourselves alive. "In toil you shall eat of the ground . . . In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread."
But hasn't Christ come to lift the curse (Galatians 3:13)? Doesn't he restore us to our original pre-fallen condition with God? The answer is: Yes, but not all at once. Christ delivered a mortal blow to all evil when he died for sin and rose again. But not every enemy is yet put under his feet. For example, death is part of the curse under which we live. Has Christ's coming lifted the curse of death? Yes, but only partly now. We still die, but the "sting of death," the hopelessness of death, is removed because our sins are forgiven in Christ and he is risen!
So it is with the necessity that we work to provide for our needs. Christ says, "Don't be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, or about your body, what you shall put on . . . Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first his kingdom" (Matthew 6:2532f.). He says, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28). He says, "Know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain" (1 Corinthians 15:58). In other words, God does not want his children to be burdened with the frustration and futility and depressing weariness of work. That much he aims to lift even in this age.
But just as death will be a reality to the end of this age, so will the provision of our needs depend on our gainful employment. The coming of Christ does not mean that we can now return to paradise and pick fruit in someone else's garden. That's the mistake made at Thessalonica. So Paul wrote them and said, "Even when we were with you, we gave you this command: If anyone will not work, let him not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living" (2 Thessalonians 3:10–12). Able-bodied people who choose to live in idleness and eat the fruit of another's sweat are in rebellion against God. (See Luke 10:7.)
God has not completely removed the curse in this age. He has softened it with a promise. The curse says: If you want to eat, you must sweat (Genesis 3:19). The promise says: If you sweat, you shall eat (Proverbs 12:11).
So the second reason God wills work is that by working we provide for our legitimate needs.

To Provide for the Needs of Others

The third reason God wills work is that by working we provide for the needs of those who can't provide for their own. The promise that if you sweat, you shall eat is not absolute. The drought may strike your village in sub-Sahara Africa; thieves may steal what you've earned; disability may cut your earning power. All that is part of the curse which sin brought onto the world. But God in his mercy wills that the work of the able-bodied in prosperous times supply the needs of the helpless, especially in hard times.
Three passages of Scripture make this plain. In 1 Timothy 5:8 Paul speaks to children and grandchildren regarding the aged widows: "If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his own family, he has disowned the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." InActs 20:35 Paul refers to his own manual labor and then says, "In all things I have shown you that by so toiling one must help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Then in Ephesians 4:28 Paul doesn't settle for saying: "Don't steal, work!" He says, "Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his hands, so that he may be able to give to those in need."
So it's plain: the third reason God wills work is that by working we provide for the needs of those who can't provide for their own. Work is a way of love.

To Build Bridges for the Gospel

Finally, God wills work as a way of building bridges for the gospel. In our work we are usually in the world. We rub shoulders with unbelievers. If we do our work in reliance on God's power, according to his pattern of excellence, and thus for his glory, we will build bridges for the gospel so that people can cross over and be saved. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1112, Paul exhorts the believers "to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands as we charged you; so that you may command the respect of outsiders, and be dependent on nobody." There is a very close connection between the way we do our work and the attitude that unbelievers will have toward the gospel that makes us tick.
In conclusion, God's will in this age is that his people be scattered like salt in all legitimate vocations. As long as we are mentally and physically able, we should work, in reliance on his power, according to his pattern of excellence, and for his glory. In this way God wills for us to provide for our own needs, and beyond this, for the needs of others who can't provide for their own. When we enter our work in this spirit of humble trust in God and love for others, the truth of Christ will be adorned and bridges will be built for the gospel.
©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org

Your Job as Ministry

Excelllent message found at:

http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/sermons/your-job-as-ministry


The main point of my message this morning can be stated as a declaration and as a prayer. As a declaration it would be: How you fulfill the demands of your vocation is an essential part of Christian discipleship. Or to put it another way: How you do your job is a big part of your obedience to Jesus. Stated as a prayer, the main point today is: Father, grant to us all the grace to be conscious of your presence at our work and to obey your commands in all our vocational relationships. I believe this is the word of God for us today, and I would like to unfold it for a few minutes from 1 Corinthians 7:17–24.

Let Everyone Remain Where He Was Called

Before we read it, let's orient ourselves from the preceding context. One of the problems in the church at Corinth was the uncertainty about how faith in Christ should affect the ordinary relationships of human life. For example, in 1 Corinthians 7 the question is raised whether faith in Christ should mean that a husband and wife should abstain from sexual relations. Paul gives a resounding no in verse 3. Another example in verses 12–16 is the question, What should we do if one marriage partner puts his or her faith in Christ but the other doesn't? Should the believer pull out in order to keep pure? Again Paul answers, no. Stay in the relationship you were in when God called you to faith. Faith in Christ as Lord and Savior will never destroy the covenant of marriage which God ordained at creation.
But having said that in verses 12 and 13, the apostle does allow that, if the unbelieving partner deserts the believing partner and wants nothing more to do with the believer, then the believer is not bound forever to the relationship. In other words, coming to faith in Christ does not make a person want to abandon relationships appointed by God, but to sanctify them. With long-suffering and prayer and humble, exemplary conduct, the believing partner longs to win the unbeliever. But it may be, as Jesus predicted in Matthew 10:34ff., that the rebellion and unbelief of the unbelieving spouse will turn Christianity into a sword that severs, instead of a peaceful balm that heals. So the principle that the apostle follows is: stay in your God-ordained relationships; do not seek to abandon them or destroy them. But he allows the exception that if the relationship is abandoned and destroyed apart from your desire or control by the unbelieving partner, then let it be. The innocent believer is not bound to the deserter.
Here begins our text in 1 Corinthians 7:17. Having discussed the principle of staying in the God-ordained relationship of marriage when you become a Christian, Paul now discusses this principle in two other connections. Let's read 1 Corinthians 7:17–24.
Only let everyone lead the life which the Lord has assigned to him, and in which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches. Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. For neither circumcision counts for anything nor uncircumcision, but keeping the commandments of God. Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called. Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity (or: But, even if you can become free, rather use your present condition). For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise, he who was free when called is a slave of Christ. You were bought with a price; do not become slaves of men. So, brethren, in whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God.
The principle that Paul had already taught in relation to marriage is here mentioned clearly three times. Notice verse 17, "Let everyone lead the life which the Lord assigned to him, and in which God has called him." Then verse 20, "Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called." Then verse 24, "So, brethren, in whatever state each of you was called, there let him remain with God." These three statements of Paul's principle divide the text into two parts. It may be helpful to think of these as three pieces of bread in a double-decker sandwich (like a Big Mac). Between the top two pieces are verses 18 and 19 where the principle is applied to the issue of circumcision and uncircumcision. Between the bottom two pieces are verses 21–23 where the principle is applied to slavery and freedom. But before we can understand either of these applications, we need to clarify a key word in the principle itself.

What Kind of Calling Is in View?

The word that occurs in each statement of the principle and nine times altogether in this paragraph is the word "call." When Paul says in verse 17, "Let everyone lead the life . . . in which God called him," and when he says in verse 24, "In whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God," he is referring to a divine call by which we were drawn to believe in Christ. We often use the word "calling" to refer to our vocation: my calling is to be a homemaker; my calling is to be a salesman; etc. But that is not the way Paul has used it eight out of the nine times it occurs in this paragraph. One time he uses the word "calling" in this vocational sense, namely, in verse 20. Literally the verse says, "Let each one remain in the "calling" (not state) in which he was called." The word "calling" here refers to vocation or station in life. And in this vocation or station in life another calling comes from God. This calling is the Holy Spirit's pull into fellowship with Christ. Very simply the call of God that comes to a person in his vocation is the power of God converting the soul through the gospel.
This is all made clear in 1 Corinthians 1. In chapter 1, verse 9, Paul says, "God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." So all Christians, and only Christians, are called in this sense. This calling from God is different, on the one hand, from our vocational "calling" and, on the other hand, from the general call to repent that goes out to all men. When Jesus said in Matthew 22:14, "Many are called, but few are chosen," he referred to the world-wide call of the gospel which many people hear and reject to their own doom.
But this was not the calling Paul had in mind. The call of God which puts us into believing, loving fellowship with Jesus is a powerful, effective call that draws us to the Son (John 6:44,65). This is seen most clearly in 1 Corinthians 1:2324, where Paul says, "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." The "called" are not all who hear the preaching, but those who receive it as wisdom. We can paraphrase the verses to show the difference between the general call and the effective call: Paul says, "We call everyone to believe in Christ crucified, but many Jews find this call to be a stumbling block, and many Gentiles find this call to be foolishness, but those who are called (that is, powerfully and effectively drawn to Christ) find the gospel call to be the power and wisdom of God."
Therefore, when Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:1720, and 24 that we should remain and live with God in the state in which we were called, he means: Remain in the state you were in when you were converted, when you were drawn by God into believing, loving fellowship with his Son.

The Principle Applied to Jews and Gentiles

Now we need to see how Paul applied this principle in his day, and what it means for us today. In the process, the theological reason for it will emerge also. Paul's first application of the principle is not to vocation, but to circumcision and uncircumcision. He applies it like this: if you were converted as a Gentile, don't try to become a Jew. If you were converted as a Jew, don't try to become a Gentile. That's basically what uncircumcision and circumcision stood for. This has far-reaching cultural implications: if you are black, don't try to become white; if you are white, don't try to become black. If you are Mexican, don't try to become American; if you are American, don't try to become Mexican.
Then Paul gives the theological reason for this admonition. Verse 19 says literally, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God (is everything)." That was about the most offensive thing Paul could say to a Jew: Circumcision is nothing. And if we understand its broad cultural application, it offends all of us. But it's true. Notice how radically different Paul's rationale is for keeping your cultural distinctives than the rationale current in our day. We say, white is beautiful, black is beautiful, red is beautiful, yellow is beautiful; therefore, don't try to switch cultures. Paul says, white is nothing, black is nothing, red is nothing, yellow is nothing, but keeping God's commandments is everything; therefore, don't try to switch cultures. Stay where you are and obey God. Paul is a very unfashionable thinker and, therefore, eternally relevant. He is radically God-oriented. Everything, everything falls before the priority of God.
This is absolutely imperative to grasp lest we create a new legalism. The old legalism said, "You must be circumcised in order to be saved (Acts 15:1). You must be white in order to be approved." The new legalism would say, "You can't be circumcised if you want to be saved. You can't be white if you want to be accepted." We will pervert Paul's teaching and miss his intention if we take the sentence, "Let the uncircumcised not be circumcised" (verse 18), and make it an absolute prohibition of cultural adaptations. Paul is not pronouncing a blanket condemnation upon all those who adopt aspects of other cultures and give up aspects of their own. This is clear from the fact that he had Timothy circumcised (Acts 16:3), and from his own statement that he becomes all things to all men that he might save some (1 Corinthians 9:22).
What Paul was doing was showing that obedience to the commands of God is so much more important than any cultural distinctives, that the mere changing of these distinctives should be of no importance whatever to the Christian. In other words, don't make such a big deal out of whether you are circumcised or not, or whether you are white or black or red or Swedish. But instead make obedience a big deal; make the whole aim of your life to obey the moral law of God. Then and only then may circumcision (as Paul implies in Romans 2:25) and other cultural distinctives become beautiful, in a very secondary and derivative way as expressions of the obedience of faith. In a word, the application of Paul's principle to cultural distinctives is this: Don't fret and don't boast about your present state of cultural distinctives; they are of little importance to God compared to whether you are devoting yourself, soul and mind and body, to obeying his commandments, which are all fulfilled in this: "Love your neighbor as yourself" (Romans 13:8–10Galatians 5:14).

The Principle Applied to Slaves and Freedmen

Then Paul turns in verses 21–23 to apply his principle to the issue of whether one is a slave or a freedman. The translation problem in verse 21 is really tough. Most modern versions say, "Were you a slave when called? Never mind. But if you can gain your freedom, avail yourself of the opportunity" (RSV). This may be correct, but I find it hard to accept since the principle he is illustrating is expressed in v. 20 as "Everyone should remain in the state in which he was called," and in verse 24 as "In whatever state each was called, there let him remain with God." It seems wholly out of place between these to say, "If you can gain your freedom, do it." Not only that, but this translation does not do justice to all the words in the Greek ("even" and "rather") which come out in the alternative translation: "Were you called as a slave? Don't let that be a care to you; but, even if you can become a freedman, rathermake use of (your present position)." The real contrast, it seems to me, should be expressed as: "Don't let your slavery make you anxious, but instead use it." Use it to obey Christ and thus "adorn the doctrine of our great God and Savior" (Titus 2:10).
I think it is true in the final analysis that this is not an absolute prohibition of accepting freedom, anymore that verse 18 was an absolute prohibition of circumcision. But if you translate it as a command to seek freedom, the true point of the passage is obscured. The point is: when you are called into the fellowship of Christ, you gain a new set of radically Christ-centered priorities; so much so that if you are a slave, it should not cause you to fret. "Were you a slave when called? Never mind." Is yours a menial job? Never mind. Is it a job that is not esteemed as highly as other professions? Never mind. This is the same point he was making with cultural differences like circumcision: Were you uncircumcised? Never mind. Were you circumcised? Never mind.
Paul could have given the very same theological reason for this position as he did in verse 19. He could have said, "For being a slave is nothing, and being a freedman is nothing, but keeping the commands of God is everything." This is true. But Paul deepens our understanding with a new theological reason. The reason a person can say, "Never mind," even though he is a slave, is this: verse 22, "For he who was called in the Lord as a slave is a freedman of the Lord." And the reason the person who is free can say, "Never mind," is similar: "He who was free when called is a slave of Christ." I love to watch Paul put his theology to work like this. He is saying that in the gospel there is an antidote for despair in menial jobs and an antidote for pride in highly esteemed jobs. He looks to the slave who may feel hopeless and says, "In Christ you are a free man. You were bought with a price. Let no man enslave your soul. Rejoice in the Lord and hope in him and you will be freer than all the anxious nobles." Then he looks to the noble free man and says, "Do not become proud, for in Christ you are a slave. There is one who has authority over you, and you must be humble and submissive."
The upshot of this is that whether a person is a slave or a freedman, it ought not be the cause of his despair or his pride. He ought to be able to say, "Never mind." He ought not to boast if he is a doctor or lawyer or executive, and he ought not to be self-pitying or depressed if he has a job that society esteems less highly. "So brethren," Paul concludes in verse 24, "In whatever state each was called, let him remain with God." With God! There's the crucial phrase. What matters in life and in eternal life is staying close to God and enjoying his presence. What matters is not whether our job is high or low in man's eyes. What matters is whether we are being encouraged and humbled by the presence of God.
Putting the two applications of Paul's principle together, the teaching seems to be this: Obeying the commands of God (v. 19) and enjoying his presence (v. 24) are so vastly more important than what your culture or your job is that you should feel no compulsion to change your position. You should not be driven from one by fear or despair, nor allured to the other by wealth or pride. You should be able to say to your position, "Never mind. You are not my life. My life is to obey God and enjoy his presence."

Four Practical Implications

Let me conclude now with some practical implications. First, God is very much more concerned with the way you do the job that you now have than he is with whether you get a new job. We have in this congregation nurses, teachers, carpenters, artists, secretaries, bookkeepers, lawyers, receptionists, accountants, social workers, repairmen of various sorts, engineers, office managers, waitresses, plumbers, salesmen, security guards, doctors, military personnel, counselors, bankers, police officers, decorators, musicians, architects, painters, house cleaners, school administrators, housewives, missionaries, pastors, cabinet makers, and many more. And what we all need to hear is that what lies most on the heart of God is not whether we move from one to the other, but whether in our present work we are enjoying God's promised presence and obeying his commands in the way we do our work.
Second, as we have seen, the command to stay in the calling in which you were when converted is not absolute. It does not condemn all job changes. We know this not only because of the exceptions Paul allowed to his principle here in 1 Corinthians 7 (cf. verse 15), but also because Scripture depicts and approves such changes. There is provision for freeing slaves in the Old Testament, and we are familiar with a tax collector who became a preacher and fishermen who became missionaries. Besides this, we know that there are some jobs in which you could not stay and obey God's commands: e.g., prostitution, numerous forms of indecent and corrupting entertainment, and others in which you may be forced to exploit people.
Paul is not saying that a professional thief or a Corinthian cult prostitute should stay in the calling in which they were called. The question at Corinth was: When we come to Christ, what should we abandon? And Paul's answer is: You don't need to abandon your vocation if you can stay in it with God. His concern is not to condemn job changes, but to teach that you can have fulfillment in Christ whatever your job is. This is a very unfashionable teaching in contemporary western society, because it cuts the nerve of worldly ambition. We need to think long and hard about whether what we communicate to our children about success is biblical or just American. The word of God for all us "success seekers" is this: Take all that ambition and drive that you are pouring into your upward mobility and pour it instead into a spiritual zeal to cultivate an enjoyment of God's presence and obedience to his revealed will in Scripture.
Third, for you younger people who have not entered a profession yet, the implication of our text is this: When you ask yourself the question, "What is God's will for my life?" you should give the resounding answer: "His will is that I maintain close fellowship with him and devote myself to obeying his commandments." God's revealed will for you (the only will you are responsible to obey) is your sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3), not your vocation. Devote yourself to that with all your heart, and take whatever job you want. I have no doubt that, if all our young people are bending every effort to stay close to God and to obey the commands of Scripture, God will distribute them in the world exactly where he wants their influence for him.
Fourth, and finally, this text implies that the job you now have, as long as you are there, is God's assignment to you. Verse 17 says, "Let everyone lead the life which the Lord hasassigned to him." God is sovereign. It is no accident that you are where you are. "A man's mind plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established" (Proverbs 19:21). "The lot is cast in the lap, but the decision is wholly from the Lord" (Proverbs 16:33).
You are where you are by divine assignment, even if you got there by fraud. Your job is your ministerial assignment, just as much as mine is. How you fulfill the demands of that job is just as essential in life as what you do here on Sunday. For many of us that may mean turning over a new leaf tomorrow morning. Let's all pray before we set out to work: "God, go with me today and keep me conscious of your presence. Encourage my heart when I tend to despair, and humble me when I tend to boast. O God, give me the grace to obey your commandments, which I know are all summed up in this, to love my neighbor as myself. Amen."
©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org




©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Used by Permission.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Desiring God.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By John Piper. ©2012 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org