2 Timothy 2:20-26 Useful for the Mission

Most people settle for building their own kingdom. A monument to themselves and their glory where its all about them. They live for themselves not knowing that their kingdom will crumble and pass away like dust.

But if you want to make your life count for eternity, you don’t live for your own kingdom, you live for an unshakeable Kingdom.

One that will never be conquered or destroyed. An everlasting Kingdom that will never pass away.

That’s the Kingdom of God and living for his Kingdom is the only way to make your life count.

Follow Christ. Make disciples. Worship God. That’s what God call us to live for.

Instead of building our paltry kingdoms that are bound to pass away, God invites us to be a part of building his Kingdom.

So the question is how?

Who does the Lord use to finish the mission? To build his Kingdom and make disciples of all nations?

What does it take to be used by God? To make our lives count for something bigger than ourselves?

To answer that question, Paul gives us an illustration, a picture, in verses 20-21 and then fleshes out that illustration and what in means in verses 22-26.

So let’s look and see who Paul says God uses to carry out the Great Commission.

Vessels

2 Timothy 2:20-21 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.

Paul starts by talking about a great house. What is that house?

Context tells us. Right before this in verse 19, Paul said God’s firm foundation stands.

God’s firm foundation is the gospel.

The good news that even while we were still sinners, God loved us and sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to live a sinless life we failed to live, die the death we deserved to die on the cross under the wrath of God that we deserved, and rose again three days later as a testimony that God accepted His sacrifice on our behalf so that through faith in Jesus, we could be forgiven all our sins and have eternal life.

That’s the foundation. That’s the foundation. And that’s why Jesus Himself is the Cornerstone. The foundation stone. Without Him we have nothing.

Now if that’s the foundation, What’s the house? Its the church. The Church is the household of God and here Paul says it is a great house built by God Himself.

And in this house, in the church there are some vessels for honorable use and some for dishonorable.

Some vessels are gold and silver, others are wood and clay.

Its clear from when Paul says if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, that these vessels are a metaphor for teachers in the church.

Vessels for honorable use, teachers used to further the mission of the Kingdom, are the true teachers of God’s Word. Faithful pastors.

Vessels for dishonorable use, ones not even fit for the Kingdom of God, are the false teachers like Hymenaeus and Philetus who Paul mentions in verse 17.

So vessels for honorable use are clearly then, servants fit and useful for God to further the Great Commission. To make disciples of all nations.

And remember how we want to frame up these sermons that are primarily addressed to pastors.

There is a one to one connection between Timothy and pastors today. But that doesn’t mean mean this passage is irrelevant for you.

Pastors are to be examples to the flock (1 Peter 5:3).

They are called by God to lead His churches. That means what Paul desires for Pastors, he also desires for their churches because the flock will follow the shepherd.

What he wants pastors being and doing, he wants churches being and doing.

So the goal of every pastor, and therefore the goal of every Christian in every church is to serve the Lord as a vessel for honorable use.

To be set apart for the purposes of God’s Kingdom, useful for God’s service, ready to do whatever good work God wants them to do.

In other words, the every Christian should want to finish the mission however, and wherever God has made them useful to preach the gospel and make disciples, and build up the church, the house of the living God.

And to do that, to be useful for the Kingdom, Paul says we need to cleanse ourselves from what is dishonorable.

Well what does that mean?

Again we need to remember the context.

Paul is comparing true teachers and false teachers. Vessels for honorable use, vessels for dishonorable use.

So whatever dishonorable means, it has something to do with the false teachers.

Well what makes false teachers dishonorable? Paul tells us in verses 14-19.

He says that they quarrel about words which we said last week literally means word-fights. They are fighting against the sound words Paul entrusted to Timothy (2 Tim 1:13). They are resisting and questioning the Word of God.

That’s why Paul calls it irreverent babble. Its worldly, godless chatter. Human wisdom. Not God’s self revelation of His love and grace.

They swerve from the truth.

In just a few verses Paul will tell Timothy have nothing to do with these kinds of foolish and ignorant controversies. In other words, cleanse yourself from them.

So what makes the false teachers dishonorable, is that they resist, contradict, and question the Word of God.

They don’t hold fast to it, or honor it as their highest authority.

What we are supposed to cleanse ourselves from, then, is anything in us that resists or contradicts the Word of God as our sole and highest authority.

Whether that’s in what we believe, as in God’s Word defines our faith and how we see the world as opposed to the prevailing winds of the culture.

Or if that’s in how we live. That we submit to God’s Word and not our sinful lusts and passions.

Vessels for honorable use, servants the Lord uses to further His mission to save sinners, are those that have cleansed themselves from everything in them that resists the Word, and hold fast to the Word of God alone as their highest authority.

And then Paul defines what it means to be a vessel for honorable use. And that’s what we are going to look at the rest of this sermon to answer the question: Who does the Lord use to finish the mission?

He says the Lord’s servant is set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, and ready for every good work.

And here’s what’s so cool. Paul goes on in the rest of this passage to flesh out what each of those mean.

What does it mean to be set apart as holy?

What does it mean to be useful to the master of the house?

What does it mean to be ready for every good work?

That’s what Paul tells us in verses 22-26.

Let’s go to point number one, the Lord’s Servant, the people God uses to build His Kingdom, are, first and foremost, holy.

I. The Lord’s Servant is Holy

2 Timothy 2:22 So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

This is Paul’s definition of what it means to be holy. We flee youthful passions, and we pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace from a pure heart.

Flee obviously means run away. Run away as fast as you can. Do whatever it takes to get away from sin. In other words, don’t tolerate it in the slightest.

That’s what youthful passions are.

Youthful in this context doesn’t just mean childish or young. It means immature.

And like children, spiritually immature people don’t know how to control their desires. Their passions. They are driven by them. That’s how you get tantrums or leaping before you look.

And the word Paul uses for passions isn’t just really intense feelings. Its sinful lusts and desires.

Its the same word Paul used in Romans 1:24 where he said God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity.

Or in Galatians 5:24 where he said those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Paul is saying flee those things. Flee those sinful lusts and desires and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace.

It wouldn’t make sense in English, but literally the Greek reads, youthful passions flee; pursue righteousness.

And how Paul wrote that sentence heightens this contrast of fleeing and pursuing.

In repentance, we don’t just keep saying to ourselves, “Don’t sin. Don’t sin. Don’t sin.”

Repentance is turning from something to something else. Its turning around from one direction to go another direction.

One of my old pastors used to say it like this.

If you’re on a diet, you’re not going to last long if you keep thinking “Don’t eat cheeseburgers. Don’t eat cheeseburgers.”

Why? Cause all you’re thinking about is cheeseburgers. How delicious they are. How much you really want to eat them.

Even though you’re on a diet, you’re still a slave to cheeseburgers. Sin’s the same way. If all of your focus and all of your attention is on “Don’t commit that sin,” you’re still a slave to that sin. It’s still dominating your life.

Instead we need to focus all of our passions, energies, and desires on something else. Flee that sin, but then pursue holiness.

To set our minds on things above (Col. 3:2) and instead of consuming our minds with how much we want that sin, its to look to Christ and ask how does he satisfy that need that desire?

How is who Jesus is better than any cheap thrill that sin can offer?

Repentance is replacing the cheeseburger of sin with the glory of Christ and saying He is my desire, my treasure, my aim and I want to live all my life running after Him.

That’s what pursue means. Just like flee is a strong word that means run away as fast as you can, pursue is a strong word that means to chase after someone with the goal of hunting them down.

And that is the kind of zeal, and ferocity God calls us to have in chasing after holiness and spiritual maturity.

So what is spiritual maturity? What is holiness?

Righteousness

First, its righteousness.

Now righteousness for Paul is not what you might originally think. Most of the time we just assume righteousness is another word for holiness. But that’s not exactly true.

God says None is righteous, no, not one. Righteousness does not come from us.

Righteousness is something God gives us. You can think of it as a perfect standing against a perfect objective standard.

None is righteous because none of us have perfect standing before God. We are lawbreakers. Sinners.

But through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ God pays for our sin and declares us to be righteous before him through faith in Jesus.

We are upright. Justified. We stand perfect, declared righteous, before the objective standard of God’s Law.

There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

But this is where holy living or obedience comes in. Someone who is unrighteous is a lawbreaker. And they are condemned as a lawbreaker.

A righteous person, on the other hand, is justified through Christ as having perfectly kept the Law.

What that means is that now, because we are declared righteous through faith in him, we live righteously.

We live, as best we can, to keep God’s Law. To obey him. Please him. Glorify him.

So when Paul says pursue righteousness what he is calling us to do is pursue the righteousness God has given us in Christ.

Having been justified, having been declared righteous by work of Christ, we are now called to live out that righteousness in every area of our life.

To live obedient, holy lives that are pleasing to God, because God has declared us holy by the blood of Christ.

Pursuing righteousness is living out the gospel. Its living out all that God has done through Christ on our behalf.

Faith

Next is faith.

Faith is trust in God. A firm belief and confidence in Him and His promises.

So holiness, pursuing faith means to chase after more and more trust in God. More and more absolute, unshakable confidence in Him.

That is how we live our lives. The righteous shall live by faith.

How we walk in spiritual maturity and holiness is by saying I believe God enough to bank my life on it.

That is what we do every time we obey, every time we lay down our life, take up our cross and follow Christ. We are saying I trust him more than anything else.

Love

Third, love.

Holiness can also be defined as Love for God, and Love for neighbor.

And you could even say that love is the mark of a true Christian.

Pursuing love means growing in our love for God and other people.

Laying down our lives to please Him and serve others for their good.

Peace

And finally peace.

Fighting, quarrelsome, lashing out in anger and lacking self control are all unbecoming of a Christian.

James 4:1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Paul says Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

The reason why there is division, and everyone is at war with one another is because they are, ultimately, at war with God.

But Christians aren’t at war with God. We’ve been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ. The God of peace has made peace with us.

And, as His children, we are children of peace.

Holiness requires us to be peacemakers. To show the world the kind peace God wants to make with them through the work of Christ by the peace that now marks our lives.

Jesus said, Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God (Matthew 5:9).

What is holiness? What is spiritual maturity? It is pursuing righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.

And a pure heart, that is key.

If we forget this, we turn holiness on its head and offer nothing to the Lord but filthy rags.

Only Christ can give us a pure heart.

That’s one of the promises of the New Covenant.

God takes out our heart of stone, and gives us a new heart of flesh. One that has His Law written all over it.

You see, we can’t make ourselves holy. No amount of striving or pursuing can ever make us acceptable to God.

God saves us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit whom he poured our on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior (Titus 3:5-6).

Holiness is something God does. It is his work in us. Paul even says as much in verse 21.

Set apart as holy is a passive verb.

That means we aren’t the ones setting ourselves apart as holy, God is.

And let me tell you where this convicts me in my own life.

If God has set us apart as holy, why am I so afraid of it?

Do you ever get that way? Do you ever pray, God will you make me holy? Take away everything that keeps me from you and show me how to live a life that glorifies you and you alone.

Do you pray that and then get scared? What might God do? What might he take away? What might he ask me to give up?

This is hard, and I confess, I am no expert, but why don’t I have the faith that holiness would be worth it no matter the cost?

Do I really love my sin that much that I’m afraid to give it up?

One of the things I’ve been praying about is God make me want holiness. Make me want to pursue it, chase after it.

Make me hate my sin so much, I would do anything to get away from it.

If we are going to flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace we need God’s grace.

When we are tempted, we pursue holiness by running to Christ.

He is our faithful high priest who was tempted in every way as we are, yet never sinned.

And because of that, he is able to help those who are being tempted and give us mercy and grace to help us in our time of need (Hebrews 2:18; 4:16).

It’s like Paul said elsewhere, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Romans 13:14).

The Lord’s servant, the one he will use to advance his Kingdom, must first and foremost be holy for God Himself is holy.

Number 2...

II. The Lord’s Servant is Kind

2 Timothy 2:23-25 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness.

I want you to remember the structure Paul is using here.

He is fleshing out what it means to be a vessel for honorable use in God’s Kingdom.

We just looked at what it means to be set apart as holy. We flee youthful passions and pursue holiness.

And now these verses 23-25, correspond to what it means to be useful to the master of the house.

Who is useful to the Lord? Who is the servant useful to finish the mission? Its the servant who is kind and humble towards the ones they are trying to reach.

Paul tells Timothy have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies, you know that they breed quarrels.

Remember the context. This is all about how Timothy needs to deal with false teachers and those that follow them.

So Paul says, Timothy, when it comes to these false teachers have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.

These are the same thing as quarrels about words and irreverent babble.

Its arguments and debates, bitter contentions that happen because false teachers and those that follow them have swerved from the truth.

They don’t hold God’s Word as the highest authority.

But the servant who is useful to the Lord must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness.

Now we need to stop right there because this verse has been abused in Christianity today.

People read verses like this and think, “Well, this must mean everyone needs to think we are really, really nice. That we need to be so gentle with people that we can never offend them. And if you offend someone, you sinned. You’re in the wrong.”

One little problem with that. Jesus offended people all the time.

And just seven verses before this, Paul called two false teachers out by name. Do you think that didn’t offend them?

Let me be clear. Speaking the truth clearly and with conviction is going to offend people. But that doesn’t mean you’re quarrelsome or unkind.

We live in such a soft egalitarian culture where everyone is just equal, that no one just says what they mean.

Everyone just lies or cloaks what they really think by tossing everything they say into a word salad.

So when you get people who say what they mean, and mean what they say, people’s hears start burning.

People see it as hard or unloving.

But Paul is not saying in this verse, don’t contend for the faith!

He told Timothy in chapter 1, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

And the word Paul used for guard was used by Jesus to talk about defending your house from robbers and fighting them off.

Paul isn’t saying don’t be clear on the Word and refute the false teachers. Don’t defend the faith and show from God’s Word the error of the false teachers and how it doesn’t line up with what God said.

Paul is talking about how we fight off false teaching and arguments that quarrel against the Word of God.

And here’s the principle for us, we are not to be quarrelsome.

That word means to fight severely, struggle, clash. And there’s this idea of a bitter, win at all costs heart in the fight.

We all know quarrelsome when we see it. Someone who can just never walk away. Can never have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies.

They always want to fight.

And here’s the problem if we are quarrelsome about the truth we cannot be useful to the master of the house.

Why? No one will listen to us.

Think about Westboro Baptist Church. That false church that is always holding up signs saying things like God Hates Slurs that refer to Homosexuals.

No one listens to them. They’re quarrelsome. They care more about being right, then helping people see the truth.

I’ll tell you, social media’s the best way to ruin your witness. Eventually, no one’s going to listen to what you have to say.

And remember the context. Paul’s talking about false teachers here. If there were anyone we should be mad at and fight bitterly against, its them. They’re leading people astray.

But Paul says the servant useful to the Lord is kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness.

And I’m not going to lie to you, this is a tight rope we have to walk.

We never compromise on the truth. But we do so in a way that shows the love, mercy, and kindness of God.

The word Gentleness can also be translated as humility, courtesy, considerateness, or meekness, all qualities that marked our Lord Jesus when he dealt sinners. When he deals with us.

And the opposite of gentleness is being brash, haughty, rude, rough, bad tempered, or lashing out in sudden anger.

Well how do we do this? How do we stay committed to the Word, while still trying to teach the gospel and correct any error whether its with false teachers, people deceived by them, or outright enemies of the gospel who reject Christ altogether.

How do we deal with our family, friends, coworkers who are out of step with God’s Word without being quarrelsome?

The pictures Paul gives are like how a parent deals with a child.

In 1 Thessalonians, Paul used the word kind to describe how a nursing mother deals with her children.

The word correct is used to talk about educating or training a child in the way they should go.

Godly parents do not hammer their children. They correct them. You bet. But how do they do it? Always for their good.

There isn’t a war between dad in son. Dad comes alongside the son to help him.

Its not about being right. Its about helping the child see.

That’s why it says the Lord’s servant patiently endures evil.

Literally that means they bear evil without resentment. Without bitterness.

That when people argue and fight against us, we bear it because we want them to see the truth.

That’s what parents do all the time. Kids throw tantrums, lash out. But what do parents do? We bear it and correct them.

And yes, sometimes that will mean, we need to walk away from the argument.

This will take wisdom. Are you dealing with someone deceived, open to correction, or are you dealing with someone proud who’s made their mind up and has no interest in listening to what the Word has to say.

To not be quarrelsome, there might be times where we need to realize we are only throwing pearls before swine.

Proverbs says this Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.

In other words don’t be quarrelsome.

But then the next immediate verse says Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes (Proverbs 26:4-5).

What does that mean? Is God contradicting himself here?

No. Sometimes, the godly thing to do is leave a fool to himself. Have nothing to do with foolish ignorant controversies.

Using some of the same words from our passage, Paul said in Titus 3:9-11 But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Sometimes you have to realize you’re dealing with a proud person who has no interest in the truth and all you’re doing is wasting your time. Warn them once, then twice, then move on to fertile soil.

But other times, you need to answer the fool. Their wrong, but maybe they are just deceived. Maybe they are willing to hear the truth, and maybe God has put you their to show them.

Here’s the big idea: You can’t lead the world to repentance by being a jerk, even if you’re right.

A jerk is not useful to the master of the house.

Pride says I want to be right. I want to win the argument. I want to win the quarrel. I want to show you just how wrong you are.

Gentleness, kindness, and humility says, I want you to be right with God. I want you to know Christ.

I want you to see the truth, not just hear it.

i will tell you the truth, but I will be patient, gentle, and kind doing it. I’ll do whatever it takes to share with you the good news of Christ, not my theological hammer.

Yes, the Lord’s servant has to be clear and committed to the Word of truth above everything else. That’s non-negotiable. If we lose the gospel we have nothing.

But the Lord’s servant also has to keep the goal of the truth in mind. Its to win people, not arguments.

Its to make disciples. Show them the glory of Christ so that they might believe and be saved.

That doesn’t mean you don’t contend for the truth. And that doesn’t mean you don’t contend for the truth even if it offends somebody.

The gospel is offensive.

It just means we aren’t arrogant jerks who go around spouting off a bunch of truth with no grace.

Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The mission of God takes both.

The goal is to correct our opponents, not beat them.

And if we are always arguing and fighting, crushing people with the very truth God gave to save them, more than likely all we will do is push them farther away from Christ.

Its the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. And just like the Lord’s servant must be holy as he is holy, the Lord’s servant must be kind as he is kind if he wants to be useful in the Kingdom of God.

And that ties directly in to the third thing the Lord’s servant must be if they want to be a vessel for honorable use, if they want to be someone useful for God to make disciples and further the Kingdom.

First the Lord’s servant must be holy. Then they must be kind, not quarrelsome.

And third, they must be Mission Focused.

III. The Lord’s Servant is Mission Focused

2 Timothy 2:25-26 God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

This is what it means to be ready for every good work.

Good works in this context are the works the master of the house wants done, so building the house, building his church, making disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything Jesus commanded us (Matthew 18:18-20).

And being ready means we need to be focused on the big picture. That the mission of God is on the forefront of our minds every time we engage opponents to the gospel.

Here’s the hope. Here’s why we want to be holy, and useful to the master of the house.

We want to see people get saved.

And remember who Paul is talking about. False teachers!

He wants these false teachers, these enemies of the gospel to be saved. And if that’s true for them, that’s true for everyone outside of Christ.

Here’s what we need to remember. We are not at war with them. We are not at war with lost people and false teachers.

We are at war with principalities and powers, demonic spiritual forces led by Satan who blind their eyes to the truth.

When we have an antagonistic stance towards the lost, we can’t love them. We can’t minister to them.

When they become our enemy we turn into Jonah and say to God, “I don’t want to go to Nineveh.”

Listen to how Paul describes them. He says that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.

Come to their senses literally means to become sober.

Paul’s saying its like their drunk. They have no self control. Their sin has absolutely enslaved them.

In 2 Cor 4:4 Paul says, In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

That’s why he says they are in the snare of the devil, captured by him to do his will.

It’s like Satan is a hunter and he’s caught his prey.

Literally captured means to capture alive. He’s holding the lost, false teachers, and all who follow them as prisoners of war.

Slave labor to do his will.

Here’s what Paul is trying to get at. These false teachers, all these opponents to the gospel are enemies of God and enemies of the gospel, just like we were enemies of God and enemies of the gospel.

They need God’s grace and repentance, just like we needed God’s grace and repentance.

The servant who is ready for every good work in building the Kingdom is the one who sees the world as spiritual warfare.

Who sees people as lost sinners on their way to hell, captured in the snare of the devil.

And the only thing that can free them is the gospel of Jesus.

Jesus said he came to give his life as a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28).

We can get so quarrelsome, so worldly thinking, that we can start seeing people outside of Christ as our enemy. Wretched sinners ignorant of the gospel and that’s why our world is falling apart.

But here’s the big secret: they are just like us. They are sinners in need of God’s grace.

And our hope, our aim, our prayers should be that God would grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth.

I want to highlight two things for you here.

First, Paul says God is the one who grants repentance.

It is God who changes hearts and turns someone around.

No one is saved by any human effort. Whether its ours or theirs.

It is impossible for man to save himself. Every time a sinner puts their faith in Christ, it is a miracle of God’s grace.

And maybe that’s you today. Maybe you’re under conviction right now. Maybe you know you are a slave to your sin. Unrighteous before God, and their is nothing you can do to clean yourself up.

Come to Christ. Believe in him. Let his life be your ransom to pay for your sins and save you from the eternal conscious condemnation under God’s wrath in hell.

Jesus will save you. Put your faith in him. Repent of your sin, and follow Christ.

There is no other way to draw near to God and have eternal life.

The second is this. Paul says God may perhaps grant them repentance.

I think what that means is no one is too far gone. Even the most strident false teacher may perhaps be given repentance.

This gives us great hope to labor urgently, faithfully, and expectantly however God has called us to serve the Great Commission.

Don’t give up. Some of you have children that have walked away from the Lord. Some of you have family members and friends still caught in the snare of the devil.

All is not lost. God may perhaps grant them repentance.

Keep praying for them. Keep witnessing to them. They may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil.

The point is, are we seeking first the Kingdom?

Do we look out at the world and say, “You know? God might grant them repentance. Or them, or them, or them.”

Are we ready to be used by God. Or are we caught up in the grind, marching like ants in a line, not realizing there’s a war going on.

And we are the soldiers, called by God to preach the gospel with gentleness so that perhaps God might show his glory in Christ to someone else and forgive all their sins.

Conclusion

I don’t want any of us to waste our life.

The goal of every Christian is not just to have an easy and contented life where we just waltz into heaven.

Its to be a vessel for honorable use.

Someone useful to God to serve his Kingdom, see people get saved, grow in Christ, to join in the mission so that one day every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of the Father.

Who does the Lord use to finish the mission?

The vessel for honorable use, the Lord’s servant, is holy, kind, and mission focused.

And we can say with Paul 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Related Media

Related Sermons