IF GOD HAD A RESUME 1/21/03
1 Peter 4:7-11
All of us at some time have applied for a position. We will submit a resume and hope for the best. They even have places that for a certain fee, they can even make a country boy like myself look a lot better than I really am because of the resume that they would create for you.
In my other job that I have, I have to do some hiring. We place an ad in the local paper and then I swim through the tons of resumes trying to pick out the best candidates for the position. Some of the resumes don’t match the candidates.
The other day I was speaking with my Dad and he was sharing a thought that he had. What would be on Gods resume? Today I want to look at not only what Gods resume would look like, but also if salvation was by works how would our resume look if we were applying for the job of a Christian.
First let me emphasize that I do not believe that we can do anything to earn our salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast”. Our salvation is a gift bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
So let’s begin with God’s Resume.
If God had a resume, I believe it would go something like this.
Experience or time on the job
Revelation 22:13, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
He always was and always will be.
If the job position would say that experience only need to apply then He has been there, done that, and owns the T shirts.
He has overcome temptation.
Hebrews 4:15, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.”
He has all the engineering and building experience one could imagine. Not only is He the builder, but the designer as well. He personally hung the stars and the moons.
What are His qualifications for the job? Some of His other Attributes include.
He is omnipotent, with His unlimited power.
Jeremiah 32:27, Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
The only thing God cannot do is fail.
He is omnipresent; He is everywhere. You never have to worry about Him sleeping on the job. He is loyal; you never have to worry about Him leaving you in a bind.
Hebrews 13:5, Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
He is omniscient knowing all things.
1 John 3:20, For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
When you think no one cares, God knows how you feel.
When you think you are alone, God knows.
He knows our strengths and your weaknesses. He knows your hurts and your fears. He knows your wants and your needs. He knows you, and desires for you to know Him.
The truth of the matter is we serve an awesome God.
2 Samuel 7:22, Wherefore thou art great, O LORD God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
Now before I get to your resume, I’d like to start or my own to you as your pastor. This is what started the subject to start with. My Dads church is now without a pastor and they are accepting resumes. I believe this is a lot of the problems with the Churches today. People are looking for resumes as if credentials had anything to do with Gods plan. Can you imagine what Peter or some of the other disciples resume would look like? It wasn’t to long ago when you were looking for a pastor and you were accepting resumes. Let me give a word of advice for any future pulpit comities of four things to look for and for you to judge me as to how I’m fulfilling my job as your pastor. My Resume.
1. A man with a change. There must be a change for God to use you. Look at Paul. His name was the least of his changes. You see when an encounter with God, you will have a change. 2 Corinthians 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. I was a person of change.
2. A called man. This is where a lot of people get confused. Some people feel that being a preacher is an occupation not a calling. Preachers will travel from church to church. They pay or the opportunities look a little better somewhere else, so off they go. Some people think it is a pretty good occupation. You dress up on Sundays, stand in front of the pulpit, say a few there to’s and wherefores and you get to play golf the rest of the week. The truth of the matter is that becoming a preacher is a calling. We read in the book of Amos 7:14-15, Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah, I was no prophet, neither was I a son of a prophet; but I was a sheepbreeder, and a tender of sycamore fruit: Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel. Amos was called. To become a preacher, you have to be called by God. I was called the very early age of ten. A calling that I ran from for a long time. But without the calling, I would be just going through the motions.
3. A commissioned man. To be a preacher you must understand what your purpose is. It is not to have some kind of power, because without the power of the Holy Spirit working through us we are nothing. We have no authority outside of God. We do not make the rules, we don’t even enforce them, and we are just to teach them. We are commissioned to preach and teach what God has for us to. He is the ventriloquist and we are just the dummies. All Christians have a commission to reach the lost. A pastors main desire should not be how big the church or how much the pay, but rather doing his part to reach the lost.
4. A compasionate man. In order to be a preacher, you need to have a love for the people. Notice I said the people. Not just those that who are desirable to be around. You should not have any clicks. Some pastor’s will hang around with certain people because they support them and make him fill like he can do no wrong. This is trouble because they have a tendency of remembering who is the one who needs to be worshiped.I’ve heard it said that if you don’t like the smell of sheep, don’t be a shepard. The point being that you will have problems when you become a preacher. And you have to love everone, even the ones who have the tendicy of creating you problems.
I want you to know that I do love each and every person in this church. But sometimes love must be tough and when you love someone and you don’t want to see them get hurt you sometimes have to tell them things that are for their own good, which brings me to my next point. What your resume should look like.
A Christian’s Resume
When you accept Jesus Christ you are enrolling for a job. Accepting Christ means accepting responsibility; The great commission of reaching the lost is one of them. But so many people think their job is to accept Christ and get our get out of jail free card and that is it. You see when you accept Christ you are employed and empowered to do His will. Remember the Lord’s Prayer? Not my will but Yours.
Romans 12:5-6, So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individual members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them;
So my question to you today is what is your gift and how are you using it. If you worked your earthly job the way that you worked your heavenly job, how many of us would still be employed?
My intent is not to condemn, but to allow the Holy Spirit to do the convicting. I am neither the judge nor the jury. I stepped on my own toes as I was preparing this, so now the Holy Spirit has His turn with you as I ask the following questions.
1. If you have accepted a job in the church, do you show up on time or are you consistently late.
2. Do you come to church ready and prepared to do your job?
3. Is your heart in the job that you are doing?
4. Do you spend time daily in prayer for the job God has given you? Seeking His, not yours, wisdom and grace to do that job?
5. Are you seeking God’s will before you commit to man’s will? (Example; will you teach this class? Man’s will) I appreciate it when I ask someone to do something and they say let me pray about it.
You see all Christians have a job to do and God has given us the gift(s) to do that job. As our text said in verse 10, As each man has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
Are you being a good steward of the gift God has given you to do? When you get into heaven will God say, “Well done thy good and faithful servant”? He just wants us to be faithful. He does not want our ability only our availability.
But the truth of the matter is that a lot of people hide their gift in the ground. For the past several months we have asked for volunteers to do several things in this body. We placed it in the bulletin, we announced it in church, we begged, we’ve pleaded; we’ve even drafted a few of you. But there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.
When you are not doing what you are suppose to be doing, then you cause others to do your job causing them not to do their job properly.
The first thing to do is show up. God has given you a job to do, do it.
Show up on time and prepared. Put your heart into it and remember it is God doing it through you, not you doing it. (Vs.11) …”Let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ,”
Resume of the Lost
If you are here today and not a Christian, your resume may read something like this;
God I believe that you should take me for your opening in heaven. I am a good person. I am honest, I do not cheat on my taxes nor do I cheat on my spouse. I go to church and I help the poor. I volunteer my time and money to charity. I am a good parent and a good neighbor. I deserve this because I am a good person.
That reminds me of an illustration that I heard. A man showed up to a funeral and quietly asked the widow if by chance noticed if his name was mentioned in the will. The widow apologized and told the man that she did not remember him and ask him who he was and how he knows her deceased husband. He explained that he did not really know her husband and that he was such a good person, and begin to give a list of the good things that he did, and because that he was such a good person, he figure that someone would remember him in their will. She told him that only family members were remembered in the will. The man didn’t seem to surprised and stated that he had been to many funerals of people he did not know and had the same response.
As silly as that sounds, but it is no more crazier than when other people who are lost expect to be included in Gods will who are not family members.
Luke 13:23-27, Then one said to him, Lord, are there a few who are saved? And he said unto them, Strive to enter through the narrow gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter and will not be able to. When once the master of the house has risen up, and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open for us; and He will answer and say to you, I do not know you, where are you from: Then you will begin to say, We ate and drunk in your presence, and you taught in our streets. But he shall say, I tell you, I do not know you, where you are from; depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.
If you are here today and you do not know Him as your Heavenly Father, today you can become a child of the King.
If you are here today and you are a Christian, but you have buried the gifts that God has blessed you with, then today He is handing you the shovel. You can make things right today.
