God Wants To Use You!
Joshua 2:1-13
Elmer Towns tells about a member of a motorcycle gang who was converted to Jesus Christ dramatically and the first Sunday he did the only thing he knew he should do and so he went to church. Nobody in the church knew him and he walked down to the second aisle and sat in the seat. And the people stared because he looked the part; big burly, bearded, long hair, black jacket, tattoos.
It came announcement time and the minister got up and made an appeal for nursery workers. He said, “We need someone to work in the nursery.” But no one would volunteer. He asked a second time, “We really need someone to go be with our kids.” But no one would volunteer. And the cyclist prayed, “Lord, I want to do what you want me to do and if you want me to go work in nursery just have the preacher ask a third time.” And a third time the preacher said, “Please we need someone to work in the nursery.” And the cyclist raised his hand, nodded his head and started toward the nursery. And immediately 50 mothers followed volunteering to work in the nursery.
Have you thought about the kinds of people God uses? What kind of person comes to mind when you think of a person God uses? Does a biker covered with tattoos come to mind when you think of people who God uses? Maybe not. Or is it the preacher on public access in a white suit who sits in a big gaudy studio with his weeping wife that God uses? Who does God use?
I will tell you whom God uses? God uses anyone he chooses to use! In fact, God usually chooses to use people, we wouldn’t necessarily choose. God is inclined to use the most unusual people. People we would most likely reject.
Such as Saul of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was an enemy of the first church. He was the equivalent of Osama Bin Laden in the first century. He terrorized and killed Christians. Dave Stone says, “Saul was not the dude you invited to your baptism.” But one day on his way to Damascus, Jesus Christ appeared to Saul and said, “Saul, I have chosen you to preach to the Gentiles.” God chose his arch-enemy, Saul of Tarsus to spread his message.
I’ll tell you another person God used that you and I would’ve ignored. A woman named Rahab! Rahab was a prostitute who lived in the city of Jericho. But God used her, a prostitute, as a part of his providential plan. In fact, the book of Hebrews in the New Testament lists Rahab as a hero of the faith. “By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” (Hebrews 11:31).
Rahab’s story is captured in the second chapter of Joshua in the Old Testament. Let’s look at this story of Rahab and perhaps we will learn some valuable lessons about what kind of people God’s uses. Joshua 2 starting with verse 1.
I. RAHAB’S STORY (EXPOSITION)
Verse 1, “Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go look over the land,” he said, “especially Jericho.” So they went and entered the house of a prostitute name Rahab.”
Joshua sent only two spies into the land this time because I think he remembered what happened when Moses sent 12 spies (Numbers 13:1-14:4). He also sent just two spies so that they could remain discreet and unnoticed. He sent them to Jericho because Jericho was a heavily fortified city and it would take a quality battle plan to capture this city. Joshua did not know at this point how God was going to help him attack the city and so he need strategic information about the city for the upcoming battle just in case he had to fight through conventional means.
The spies entered the city of Jericho and stayed at the house of the prostitute Rahab. The Life Application Bible points out that the spies chose to stay at Rahab’s home because as a prostitute she lived on the edge of society, one stop short of rejection. Her house, built right into the city wall, provided both lodging and sexual favors to travelers. The spies also hid at Rahab’s house perhaps thinking they may be mistaken as some of her customers. A house of prostitution made a perfect place for the spies to check out the land.
If I were one of those spies I would have been truly uncomfortable staying at a house of prostitution. About two years ago a leader in our church and myself attended a conference in Columbus and we had reserved a hotel on the internet and were surprised by how cheap it was. When we got done with the conference that night we drove a few minutes to the hotel and we understood why it was so cheap. In the parking lot of the Motel 8 was a strip bar! I was a little embarrassed staying there and we changed hotels the next night. Usually we don’t think of God leading people into a place of ill-repute but these spies went to Rahab’s brothel.
Despite their attempts to remain hidden it came to the attention of the King of Jericho that Israelite spies were in his midst. Verse 2, “The King of Jericho was told, ‘Look! Some of the Israelites have come here tonight to spy out the land.’ So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, because they have come to spy out the whole land.”
But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, ‘Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they had come from. At dusk, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know which way they went. Go after them quickly. You may catch up with them.”
Rahab is commended in the Bible as a hero basically because she lied to protect the spies. More than once in the Old Testament, those who lied to protect the lives of innocent people were not held accountable for their lying.
In Exodus 1, we read that the Hebrew midwives Shiphrah and Puah hid the babies from Pharaoh who wanted to kill them. When Pharaoh asked them why so many Hebrew babies had not been killed the midwives lied to him saying that the women are giving birth before we can get there. The Bible says, God blessed the midwives because of their actions.
Rahab lied but she lied to protect the lives of the spies. And the soldiers from Jericho believed her fib. They hurried off on a wild goose chase looking for the spies. When all was clear Rahab said to her visitors. “I know that the Lord has given this land to you and that a great fear has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting with fear because of you.
We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites, whom you completely destroyed.
When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” (Joshua 2:9-11).
Rahab was a prostitute but she knew something about God. She had heard about the miracles of God. Does that surprise you that a prostitute knew about God? She had never met an Israelite but her heart was being melted by God.
Often we as Christians think that God only reveals himself to those inside the church. We think that the only way that people can learn of God and receive salvation is through some kind of Christian church or event. But it is apparent that God reveals himself not only in the church but in the whorehouse, the bar, the nightclub, the track, the restaurant. How arrogant is it of Christians to assume that God only works through “Christian” people or Christian programs!
Mark Miller is a member of our church who received a revelation from God while rehabbing from alcohol at the CAT house in inner city Cincinnati. No Christian ever spoke to him but he believes God touched him in an isolation room down there. From that point on he changed his life around, came to our church, was baptized and now is a ministry leader in our church and has won more than 10 people to Christ! God can show himself to the most unusual people and in the most unusual places. God can reveal himself to anyone he wants even a drunk, even a prostitute.
Rahab this prostitute was beginning a journey with God. And so she said to the spies. “Please swear to me by the Lord that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sign that you will spare the lives of my family and that you will save us from death.” (Joshua 2:12).
And verse 15 says, “She let them down by a scarlet rope through the window, for the house she lived in was part of the city wall.”
II. TWO LESSONS WE CAN LEARN FROM THIS STORY
There are two lessons we can learn from Rahab’s experience. The first is this: GOD CAN USE ANYONE. Rahab teaches us that God can use anyone. Even a prostitute to accomplish his will. That should teach us that we should never rule anyone out and say, “Ah, God is not working in that person’s life because look at what they do or who they are.”
It is sheer arrogance for us to assume that we “non-sinners” have the market on God and that God only works in certain ways and in certain places that we deem acceptable. Apparently God had found his way into a whorehouse in the outskirts of Jericho. In Isaiah 55:8 God says, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways.”
Mark Battelle was a heroine addict, who learned to play Blue’s guitar in the French quarter of New Orleans. An orphan, who spent the days on the streets and the nights in the bars learning to play for audiences. He also learned how to drink and swear and act real tough. Mark covered himself with tattoos pretty much from head to toe. His most distinguishable tattoo is an explicative on his bald head that reads, “F#*&” Disco. But one day someone told Mark about Jesus Christ and he was freed from heroine. When he moved to Cincinnati he entered a church in Over the Rhine and they starred him down. He stayed and offered to use his musical gifts to glorify God but the church ignored his offer, mainly because of his good looks.
Mark finally came to our church at the invitation of a friend and he was astounded that our music minister John asked him to play guitar. When Mark is in town he has a vital ministry in our church and several people have been won to the Lord, because as they said, “If God can use that guy, he can certainly use me.” Now Mark has his flaws, he still struggles with a lot of stuff, but I have clearly seen God use him.
A year ago, Mark flew to India, where he felt God was calling him. During this time I received a call from a girl in Buffalo, NY named Kerri. Kerri was a crack addict who found Jesus and is now off crack. You know why, Mark Battelle witnessed to her when he was in New York a few years ago. Kerri says, “Next to Jesus, I owe Mark Battelle my life.”
Do you ever think that God can use a heroine addict for his purposes? If you don’t think so remember Rahab.
We had a stripper who came to our church. The reason she came was because she felt that God was calling her to quit dancing. She had heard his voice in the strip bar she danced at in Newport. Do you think that God can speak to a stripper in a strip bar? If you don’t remember Rahab who knew God in a house of prostitution. Folks, don’t limit who you think God can use. That person who walks into your church that looks down and out or who has a seedy reputation could be the next Rahab. Perhaps that person has been called out of a wicked place and God is working in their life. Don’t judge them.
The second lesson we can learn from Rahab is this: GOD CAN USE YOU. If God could use Rahab, that means he can use you! You may right now think that you are too far away from God or you have done too many sinful things that God can never use a person like you. You think that God only uses saints like Mother Teresa or Billy Graham or Greg McDaniel.
But the truth is that God wants to use Rahab’s as much as he wants to use Billy Graham’s. He wants to use you to accomplish his purpose in this world no matter what you’ve done. God in the business of taking people like you and like me and transforming us into people who can accomplish his purpose in this world. So there is no excuse you can come up with as to why God will not choose to use you. Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit–fruit that will last.” (John 15:16).
Do you know how I know that God can use you? It is because he’s used me. If you only knew who I really was on the inside? If you only knew the struggles I have, the sin I’ve committed this week? I was once a waste of a person, filled with doubts, there was a time when I barely believed in God at all. And if you really knew me for who I am, you would realize -- if God can use Aaron Burgess, he can certainly use me.
Do not let the Devil lie to you and tell you that you are no good and that God cannot work in your life. Don’t let the Devil tell you that you are beyond the will of God. Because the truth is that God specializes in taking the worst of you and using it, not only for your benefit but his. A church sign reads, “I was a waste but God recycled me.”
God took Rahab’s immoral lifestyle and her whorehouse and used it as a place of redemption for his people. I don’t think Rahab could’ve done what she did if she had not been a prostitute. If God can transform a whore and a whorehouse he can certainly transform you! And put you to good use for his kingdom.
Think about all the people God used. God took Moses, a murder, and transformed his rage and hatred and Moses became Israel’s greatest leader. God took Jacob, a thief and a rogue, and transformed his cunning and he became the father of the nation of Israel. God took David, an adulterer, and transformed his passion and he became the greatest of Israel’s kings. God took Simon Peter, a boastful, swearing fisherman, and transformed his pride and he became the preacher of the first church.
I recently read that most expensive coffee bean in the world is called the Kopi Luwak bean which sells for nearly $300 per pound. The Luwak is a rare kind of cat native to Java and Sumatra. The Luwak, this cat, has a very picky appetite. It eats only the choicest, most perfectly matured coffee cherries, which it partially digests. The coffee beans then travel through the animal’s intestinal tract and are evacuated. The hard bean is then collected, roasted and brewed and served as the best coffee in the world! There are only about 5,000 pound of the Kopi Luwak coffee beans available to the world per year. The most expensive coffee in the world carries the name, “Dung Coffee.” Ironically the best coffee in the world is the waste product of a cat.
God can take the worst, nastiest parts of you and use it for good. He took the worst part of Rahab, her profession as a prostitute and somehow used to it in his plan. Just think of how God can use you?
You know what is peculiar about Rahab this prostitute? Is that if you go to Matthew chapter 1 and read the lineage of Jesus you read of Rahab. She was a relative of Jesus Christ. The son of God, came from a family that had a prostitute. Rahab was not only a part of God’s plan in Jericho, she was part of God’s plan to save the world! Many scholars actually believe that the scarlet rope Rahab used to lower the spies out of the city, foretells the redemption of sin through the shedding of Jesus’ blood!
All of this: taught to us by a prostitute. Strange. But isn’t that the type of people God uses.
