The Kind of Person God Uses

Written by Ed Allen
Saturday, 04 December 1999 19:00

What A Difference Christmas Makes

Eugene Peterson was right when he said that "traditional Christian spirituality is not taking bits and pieces of doctrine and putting them to use. It is entering into the life of God that is already in motion." Christian spirituality is not a set of beliefs or a conduct of behavior. It is a relationship with a living, dynamic God. It is being taken up into the activity of God. It is being used by God to accomplish His purposes.

My kids have been asking me recently to take them to see the new James Bond movie. I was reminded of the first time I saw a James Bond movie. I don't remember how old I was, but I remember fantasizing for weeks about being given a secret mission that was only known to me and the highest levels of human government. In this mission I was responsible for carrying out some daring, exciting task that would save the world. That is exactly the kind of mission God invites us to participate in ? daring, exciting, world-changing, breath-taking. You have not really lived until you experience being used by God in the mission of blessing somebody else.

So who does God use in such a way? Is God arbitrary in who He chooses? The Bible's testimony makes it clear that God uses ordinary people to accomplish His purposes. The only prerequisite ability is availability. If we'll just get useable, God will wear us out.

Some of you are saying, "God could never use me." Some of you are saying that because you doubt Him. Some of you are saying that because you doubt yourself. The message for you this morning is: You're wrong. Dead wrong! Not only can God use you, but He wants to use you. He's waiting. He's eager to use you in ways you have not even imagined ? daring, breath-taking ways. But you have to be usable. You have to be the kind of person God can use.

Mary was that kind of person. God didn't choose Mary because of her education. She had none. God did not use her because of her great knowledge of the Bible. Jewish women were not trained in the Torah. God did not use her because of her wealth. She was very poor. God did not use her because of her experience or her maturity. She was only a teenager. So why did God use Mary? One of the striking features of Mary according to the Biblical accounts is her sheer ordinariness.

Let's read the account of the angel speaking to Mary as he tells her she is going to give birth to God's Son. Listen carefully to Mary's response. In her final sentence we will find the kind of spirit God can use. We will hear from someone who is driven by humility, who desires to do God's will; who decides to pay the cost; and who dares to trust God's promise.

LUKE 1:26-38
(26) In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, (27) to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. (28) The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
(29) Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. (30) But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. (31) You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. (32) He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, (33) and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
(34) "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
(35) The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. (36) Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. (37) For nothing is impossible with God."
(38) "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

1. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO DESIRE TO DO HIS WILL above all else.

God used Mary because she had a single-minded desire to do His will. God uses people who desire to do His will above all else. You've got to want to do His will, more than anything else. You've got to say, "I want God's plan for my life." We talk about this all the time here at Gateway that God has a custom plan for you. But it's not automatic. God made you for a purpose but you must cooperate. You must choose to obey. You must choose to follow. Knowing about God does not make you part of His activity any more than knowing about the weather makes you part of a cold front. Being born into a church-going family does not make you part of God activity any more than being in a garage makes you a car. You must chose to cooperate with God's purpose for your life. You could waste your life. You could blow it. You could squander your time and not make it count. It's not automatic. God uses people who desire to do His will. Who say, "God, I really want You first in my life and I want to be what You made me to be."

Don't you think Mary had an awful lot to think about in what the angel told her? What about Joseph, my fianc?? What about my reputation? What exactly is involved in being the mother of the Son of the Most High? And how is this arrangement going to work, after all, I'm a virgin?

But after all the internal arguments, Mary says, "May it be to me as you have said."

And then she wrote a song. Luke records it for us later in this same chapter. In the opening stanza of her song she writes: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." I do not rejoice in great reputation. I do not rejoice in convenience or comfort. Above all else, I rejoice in God, in His ways and in what He is doing. I desire to do His will.

The first key, if God is going to work in your life, if you're going to see His plan happen and if you're going to be what He made you to be is, you must desire it. It's not automatic. You must say with your heart, mind and will, "God, I desire Your will for my life" ? it is a definite act, a definite decision.

The Bible calls King David, "A man after God's own heart." Why? In one of his songs of worship, David said, "I desire to do Your will, O my God." Just like David, Paul says, "My only goal is to please God." God uses people who desire to do His will above all else. Is that your goal?

One more note: We express this desire, first and foremost, by listening to God. I know for certain my boys are not interested in doing what I want them to do when they're not listening to me. But whenever they are highly motivated to do what I want, they always listen. As we listen to God over time we learn to hear and discern His voice.

One of the reasons God chose Mary is because she had a listening ear. She was tuned into God. Luke 2:19 records an interesting little side note: "Mary quietly treasured up all these thing and pondered them in her heart." You see, Mary was the kind of person who had a habit of thinking about the things God was doing around her. She had a habit of listening to God and God speaks to people who listen.

What do I desire to do most? What do you desire most in life? To get married? To be financially independent, to make a million? To retire? You had better have a greater purpose in your life than any of those or you're going to miss the boat. They're fine -- but they're not the purpose of life.

What do you desire most in life? Jesus told us if we "Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all other things will be added unto you." It starts with a desire.

2. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO ARE DRIVEN TO BE HUMBLE before Him.

The fuel for a genuine desire to do God's will is humility. If I long to be great, then my truest desire is not for God's will. Doing the work of God may be a means to my achieving greatness, but this is not the same as desiring to do God's will.

Mary was humble. Hers was the kind of heart God could use. "May it be to me as you have said," she says to the angel with humble resignation.

I have used the word "driven" in this second point intentionally. Our culture admires drivenness ? but not being driven toward humility. In his book Ordering Your Private World, Gordon MacDonald talks about this. He says: "The twelve men who followed Jesus Christ and ultimately founded His church were a strange group. There is not one of them (with the possible exception of John, whom I find to be likable and non-threatening) I would have picked to lead a movement of the proportions of Christ's mission. No, I would not have picked them. But Jesus called them, and you know the result. Frankly, some of those volunteers who were turned down by Jesus are more my style. They were go-getters; they knew a good thing when they saw it. They seem to have been bursting with enthusiasm. And He turned them down! Why? Perhaps Jesus, with His extraordinary insight, looked into their private worlds and saw danger signs. Perhaps He saw driven men, out to make something of themselves. Maybe the very thing I like about them was the problem: they wanted to control the situation by saying when they would start and where they would go."

The only drivenness God uses is the drive to be humble before him. People who are fueled by this drive understand where they stand before Him. They understand that they cannot be good enough to earn God's favor. They understand that God has forgiven them much. They are blown away that God would use them. They can think of better candidates. God cannot.

Moses was such a person. The Bible says that he was the most humble man of his generation. David was the youngest of many brothers. The one of whom his peers would have expected the least. God uses such people.

Some of you are saying, "Well I certainly believe in God and want to be used by Him, but I'm not very humble." But to believe in God and not to be humble are contradictions in terms. To understand who God really is ? is to be humbled. And yet the knowledge of Him is so satisfying, so breath-taking, so intoxicating we are driven to know more. We are, therefore, driven to a deeper and deeper experience of our own need of Him. Of His all-sufficiency and our need, of His omnipotence and our inadequacy. Of our indebtedness and His wonderful, inexplicable love for us. In other words, we are driven to humility. And in such a state God can use us!

The second phrase of Mary's song runs like this: "For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me ? holy is His name."

Let me make a few additional comments about Mary here.

There are a lot of misconceptions about Mary. Where did these misconceptions come from? Beginning about the middle of the second century, Christians began to venerate martyrs. Their deaths were regularly commemorated in public services and sometimes honored annually. And they were remembered in public prayers ? mostly as examples of how to live. But by the late fourth century, there is clear evidence that in some parts of the church people were praying to the martyrs and thus treating them as special intercessors before God. Let me say clearly, this is not part of the religion of the Bible. This has more to do with the gods and heroes of the popular culture of the time or with Greek and Egyptian pantheon of Gods than it does with the religion of the Bible. Never, for instance, do we see the Old Testament saints honored in such a way.

Of this list of sacred people Mary was considered to be chief. She was the highest of all the saints and martyrs. So naturally when people began to pray to their honored heroes, Mary was chief on the list. The ascetics added a new twist somewhere in the 3rd or 4th C. asserting Mary's perpetual virginity. They used this idea to bolster their belief that truly holy people should not marry. For some of them, sex was the original sin, so holy people should refrain from all forms of sex. Again, this has nothing to do with the religion of the Bible. Finally, in the 20th C Mary's bodily assumption was popularized and officially recognized. However, the Bible does not affirm any of these notions. Not once in the Bible does it say we're to worship Mary. Not once does it say she was perfect or sinless. It does not say she was God. It does not say she bodily ascended into heaven. It doesn't say we're to venerate her. In fact, what is special about Mary was her plain ordinariness. God took an ordinary woman and used her in an extraordinary way. That's what makes her special.

Let me add that the Catholic church does not officially sanction either the worship of Mary or Mary's role as a mediator between us and God. Still the Catholic church makes many claims about Mary that the Bible simply does not support. Not only is this wrong and tend toward superstition, but it takes away from Mary's story that which is most remarkable about her. She was just like us. Ordinary in every way ? except perhaps the degree to which she trusted God and took Him at His word and in her humility before Him.

3. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO DECIDE TO PAY THE COST with complete awareness.

There is always a cost in following God's plan for your life. If you were to say to God, "In the year 2000, I will give You more of me. This next year I want to be closer to You. I want to be more in Your will, in Your plan, in Your center." It's going to cost you. It will be exciting and wonderful, but it will cost. You're going to have to give up some stuff. There will always be a cost, there will always be risks and it will always require faith and you're going to have to step out and do some things in the unknown that you're scared to do. You'll have to move out of your comfort zone. God uses people who decide to pay the cost.

God does not want blind obedience. He wants us to be wide-awake and fully aware. Following Jesus does not involve a leap of faith, if by leap of faith you mean a blind jump into an abyss. God does not use people who make such a leap. God uses people who decide to pay the cost with complete awareness.

Jesus is very up front about the cost of following him. He wanted everyone to be aware of the cost and to count it out fully. Jesus said, "No one can be My disciple who doesn't carry his own cross. But don't begin until you count the cost." Jesus said, Don't commit your life until you really considered it.

He even offered illustrations to underscore this point. "Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one coming with twenty thousand?" So should you count the cost of following me.

Mary decided she desired God's will most of all. Mary decided to pay the cost whatever it was. Luke 1:38 " `I am the Lord's servant," she said to the angel, "and I am willing to do whatever He wants. [Have you ever said that to God?] May everything you said come true." Mary said, "God, I'm willing to do whatever You want."

What does "whatever" include? Everything! Mary said I'll do whatever God wants. Does that sound a little risky? You bet it is. You cannot follow God in complete safety. Everything worth doing involves risk and following God is no exception.

Can you imagine what it cost Mary to say "Yes"?

It certainly cost her her reputation. Unwed mothers were ostracized. It cost her future plans. Ideas about a nice normal life shuffling 2.5 kids to soccer ? out the window. Ultimately Mary would pay dearly with a broken heart.

But the joy she experienced, was unimaginable.

That's what Paul meant when he said (Philippians 3:7) "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." Paul understood fully and from first hand experience that there were costs. He also understood that the benefits far outweigh the costs.

What am I willing to give up in order to be used by God? You will have to give up some stuff. God may ask you to give up some habits. He may ask you to give up some relationships, some friendships that are pulling you down instead of building you up. He may ask you to set aside your dreams, your ambitions, your goals, your plans, your finances for what He made you to be. Are you willing to do that?

4. GOD USES PEOPLE WHO DARE TO TRUST HIS PROMISES in spite of their fears.

Faith involves risk. John Wimber used to say "Faith is spelled R-I-S-K." It takes courage to be used by God. Courage doesn't mean you're not afraid. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is moving ahead in spite of your fear. It's facing your fear.

Some of you are facing fear concerning changing some things in your life or your marriage. Some of you are facing financial fears. Some of you are afraid for your kids, you're afraid you'll never get married, you're afraid to move ahead with something you want to do.

Mary had all kinds of fears but she never let her fears control her. Remember when the angel explained what was going to happen to Mary? Her initial reaction was shock. The Bible says she was "confused and disturbed." "`Don't be frightened, Mary,' the angel told her, `for God has decided to wonderfully bless you!'"

The Greek word for "confused and disturbed" can also be translated petrified, scared to death. Wouldn't you be a little scared if an angel showed up at your door? She had every reason to be frightened but she didn't let her fears control her. God said, "You're going to be the mother of Jesus Christ." I'm sure all kinds of fears bubbled up in response to that.

These same fears will keep you and I from being used by God.

What's the antidote? We have to dare to trust in God in spite of our fears. You don't have to ignore your fears or to pretend you don't have any. But you have to respond to what God says and not to your fears. Trust God! Don't trust in God's solution ? because you don't know what His solution is yet. But trust in the One who will bring the solution. And He promises a solution is coming!

Mary was a woman of deep faith. She didn't have all the answers but she did know who did and she trusted Him. She knew that no matter how things looked on the surface, God would bring a solution. God specializes in the impossible. He specializes in the insoluable. He is in the business of reversing fortunes.

Listen to the last stanza of Mary's song. "He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever."

Mary was a woman who was not afraid of the supernatural. She wasn't afraid of miracles. Luke 1:34-35, 37 (Living Bible) "Mary asked the angel `But how can I have a baby? I am a virgin.' The angel replied, `The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of God shall overshadow you. For every promise from God shall surely come true.'" God uses people who dare to trust His promises. God did miracles in Mary's life.

Some of us hear this and think, "Why doesn't God ever do miracles in my life?"

Mary had every reason to be worried. She had every reason to doubt, to be skeptical. But as we read Mary's song we find faith, not fretting. Instead of worry, Mary worshiped. Instead of panicking at the unknown, she praised and prayed.

I want to suggest that to you. When you come upon situations where you think you're in over your head. You're following God's will but it's scary. Don't fret ? have faith. Don't worry -- worship. Don't panic -- pray and praise. Anytime you're afraid -- anytime I'm afraid -- it means I've forgotten the promise of God. Claim those promises.

Jesus said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God."

Mary's cousin understood this part of Mary's character. Elizabeth said this to Mary, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

God uses people who desire His will more than anything else in life, who are fueled by humility before Him, who knowingly and resolutely decide to pay the cost and who dare to trust His promises and step out and do it.

If God can take a teenage girl, a poor peasant teenager, with no education and choose her to be the mother of Jesus Christ, don't you think your excuse is pretty puny for why you're not letting God have all your life?

Many of you have enormous spiritual potential that you aren't allowing God to use. Maybe you just don't see it. Maybe you don't believe it, but everybody around you sees it. God has gifted you and talented you; He's given you a sharp mind, and an education. He doesn't mean for you to just use them on yourself. One day you will stand before God and He will say, "What did you do with what I gave you?"

Are you willing to be used by God? To say "God, anytime, anywhere, any place, use me. Whatever it means. If it means putting my agenda, my goals, my dreams, my plans, my financial package all on a line -- go ahead. I cannot stand another day without being in Your will completely."

But it starts with a desire. It's as if I were to hold your head under water until you were gasping for breath and with the last ounce of energy you sprung up against me to force yourself up so you could breathe. That's the kind of desire you've got to have.

I can't go on another day without saying, Jesus Christ, own me completely and make me what You made me to be in the first place. I'm willing to give up whatever it takes to give up to be the person I was designed to be in the first place. Does that scare you? The secret of overcoming the fear of the unknown is by focusing on what you do know. What do we know? We know God loves you, God says you matter to Him, God has your best interest at heart, He cares about you and He knows what will make you happy more than you do. That I know for sure. So I don't have any problems trusting a God I know is like that.

It's Christmas time. Let me ask you a very personal question. What are you going to give Jesus for Christmas? It is His birthday. You've thought about gifts for everybody else. What about the Lord? It's time to say,"God, here I am. All of me -- the good, the bad and the ugly. Take it, break it and make it. You form it and You do whatever You want to with it. I am Yours in 2000."