Useful to the Master

Useful to The Master

 

In 2 Timothy 2:20-21 Paul writes to Timothy, a young pastor, & he says, “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.”

 

Many times, we as humans focus on the person’s ability or personality or education or experience. God focuses on calling & character. When Jesus chose Matthew to be His follower, He didn’t choose him because he was good at balancing a money ledger. Jesus didn’t choose Peter because he was a great fisherman. Jesus chose them because, in His sovereign will, He saw that they were people who were willing to allow Him to cleanse them so they could be useful to Him, their Master. Jesus did not need their abilities; He needed their availability.

 

So, as followers of Jesus we are to be vessels that are cleansed & usable to the Master, Jesus. Some vessels are wood & clay meaning that they cannot be used for honorable purposes. Some are vessels of gold & silver & they are vessels that can be used for honorable purposes.

 

So, what is the key to being vessels that can be used for honorable purposes? It is what the vessels contain.

 

Colossians 1:27

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

 

We must contain Jesus. In Galatians 2:20 Paul says that he has been crucified with Jesus & it is no longer he the old man who lives, but he lives now by faith in Jesus. When Jesus lives in us, we are usable to Him because it is not us doing but Jesus manifesting Himself in & through us.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about having Jesus living in us so the world can see Him & not us.

 

Ephesians 5:18

And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

 

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit & then they will be His witnesses to the world. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we are empowered to be witnesses for Jesus that He will use to change the world.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about be filled with the Holy Spirit & empowered to be witnesses for Jesus.

 

2 Corinthians 3:4-6

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

 

We must have in us the sufficiency that comes from God. No one called is sufficient to do what God is calling them to do in their own ability & strength. God always calls us to something beyond what we can do. The reason is that we then have to depend on Him & look to Him to be our sufficiency. Everyone God calls He empowers by Him being our sufficiency.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls is about depending on God to be our sufficiency to do what He calls us to do.

 

God created us to be vessels that can be used for honorable purposes that are useful to the Master. He will provide what we need to be that, but we have to choose to do His will.

 

Raise the Roof & Remove the Walls,

Joe