1 Corinthians 15:1-11 I didn’t deserve to be called
“For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle”
1. Paul say I didn’t deserved to be Called
• Paul begins the Epistle by saying, “the Gospel I preached to you was Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He was raised the third day”.
• Then Paul tells us He or Jesus appeared to Peter,B and then to the Twelve. 6 he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. 9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called
2. Probably none of us deserve to be called
• Saint Augustine was called but certainly didn’t deserve it Born in to wealth and privilege, party animal, He was an embarrassment to his upright family, He felt troubled by the emptiness of his life.
• The young man opened the Bible and read these words: “Let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:13-14).
• Years later, the man wrote about how he felt that day: “Instantly, it was as if the light of peace was poured into my heart, and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.” He didn’t deserve the call but He became a Priest and a Bishop.
3. Consider some Others that really never deserved the call
• Father Abraham, God tells him, face-to-face, that his wife will bear a son, yet disbelieves.
• Moses, killed an Egyptian
• Rehab a temple prostitute of a foreign religion, who saves Joshua’s men
• David is a mighty king — and a mighty sinner. He seduces Bathsheba, then has her husband killed so he can marry her.
• Ruth is a widow from a foreign country, a worshiper of other gods. becomes Jesus’ ancestor.
• John the Baptist, the wild man of the wilderness given to outbursts of irrational anger.
• tax collector, Matthew: a man so despised that when Jesus visits his house, the people complain. Jesus has to respond, “I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners” (
4. Certainly Paul, Prophets and disciples never deserved the call
• Paul or Saul Persecuted the Church had Christians killed, woman and children
• The Prophet Isaiah. In the Temple says, . “Woe is me!” “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” I am a huge sinner
• Disciples didn’t deserve the call they are not the movers and shakers, but blue-collar laborers. None of them has had much in the way of education. None of them has ever been to seminary. Yet, these are the ones Jesus invites to join him on a fishing expedition — fishing for the hearts and souls of people.
5. Finally is there anyone who deserves the call? No, but God still Calls despite are un-worthiness.
• Only one requirement to be called is a willingness to submit to God’s call.
• You don’t have to be smart, strong, healthy, or even particularly religious. All you need to do is listen when God calls, and then get up and do what’s needed.
• Theologian David Merrell tells us ,”We’re all unlikely candidates for discipleship, every last one of us. Just look around the typical church sanctuary. There are no super-Christians — only ordinary people, hesitant in faith, sometimes wavering in commitment, oftentimes difficult to live with. As a collective group, we are sinful, hypocritical, stingy, short-tempered, insecure people”.
• God tells those who do not deserve the call “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Why don’t we say as Isaiah says, “Here am I, send me.” And What say you? It’s the Woe is me ones, the sinful ones, the sinful ones God calls. Will you answer the call? Neither you or I deserve the call but God still calls.
