On June 15, Pastor Bai Yu'e shared the twelfth sermon in an online series on the church’s revival. She shared how God uses people in the revival of the church.
How does God use people in the church’s revival?
“Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
In this passage, we see the criteria God uses in choosing people. The people God uses are often weak, humble, and not attractive in the eyes of other people. People often choose the wise, rich, strong, and stable person. This is the difference between God and man. When a person feels that he is powerful and useful, he might not be able to be used by God. Only when we feel that we are useless can God begin to use us, because the power of God is made perfect in weakness.
All we who serve God today must cherish our calling from God. There are many people who say they don’t care, who say they don’t have time, are busy with work, and find various excuses. The opportunity is given by God. If you don’t cherish the opportunity, God can replace you with others.
God's concept of using people has also inspired people. Are spiritual leaders willing to use fallen people? Pastor Bai emphasized that we must learn from God when we use people; we should be willing to use those who have made mistakes or fallen short of God’s plan. If a person has been weak, rebelled against the church, but then repented, we should be willing to use them in the church. Whether a person could be used required the concept of revelation, that was, he realized that God wanted to use him with his faith and the revelation from God and then he had spontaneous actions. When we received the work from God, we must be willing to do it, and not care about payment and understand that the reward is not earthly.
We should have the mind of Christ.
How did the Lord win the hearts of his disciples? He did this by demonstrating his life and death to others and setting a good example. All the disciples were called and raised up by the Lord, and eventually all were martyred for the Lord. The disciples trained by Jesus all imitated Him, and ultimately lived and died for others. Today we are to imitate our Lord and be an example to others.
In church ministry today, we have too little power to serve as an example to others. Many pastors are too busy working and they ignore prayer, ignore being with believers, and lack a life of fellowship and love. Today we should imitate our Lord and be an example for the flock of sheep. Only death can bring revival and real transformation to others. Together we died to sin, but we live together with God and live out the example of His service. If we do this then people will closely follow.
How does the mind of Christ become central to our lives? By following the example of Christ and imitating Him we discover how we should live. By following Him we repeat the things we should do. When we make mistakes we repent and we are changed by Him. In this way, we develop the mind of Christ and our lives are shaped by Him. By practicing the presence of Christ in our lives over a long period of time we become imitators of Christ.
In the story of Joseph, we see the example of someone who was not controlled by his own mind, but by his heart. God was with him no matter where he was. Therefore, whether at home, outside his home, or in prison, in the eyes of other his situation was very bad. But the belief that God was with him shaped his life and he was able to overcome many difficulties and sins. So today we needed this same mindset within us so we do not let the environment and our situation control us. Once we have this mindset, the mind of Christ, then we can overcome suffering and sin, and eventually be reused and rewarded by God.
- Translated by Abigail Wu
