Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, Romans 1:1. That is a salutation; yet it is one of the most conclusive things you can ever see, because it shows the prime relationship upon which we are basing all of our warfare, all of our walk and everything we are. We begin as bond servants of Jesus Christ. We can’t do anything less if we are really going to survive in this walk. Many young people are in a state of confusion. If they have no pride and can acknowledge themselves as failures—then God can meet them. That is the key. As long as there is any trace of pride left in you, you’re struggling for something and you’re nowhere.
Paul also called himself “the chiefest of sinners,” (I Timothy 1:15) because he had persecuted the church of God. I wonder if we really understand the humility in Paul. He put no confidence in the flesh. In II Corinthians 3:5 he said, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves. And in I Corinthians 2:3 he said, And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. He had come to the place where he couldn’t put any confidence in anything he knew or could do on the human level. He knew that every effort would fail unless God was in it.
The greatest deception is being perpetuated by Satan. According to Revelation 12:9 he is the deceiver of the whole world. He hates everything we do that is really done in Christ. But he will inspire people to do zealous, religious works, in the energy of the flesh, initiated in human wisdom, and executed by human planning. They are born of the flesh and—That which is born of the flesh is flesh; John 3:6a. I wonder if we realize how much of what we see in the whole Christian world follows the philosophy, “Let’s take it easy. Everybody try, and God will bring a little good out of it.” It may seem to stand for a long time, but suddenly the air is taken out of it and you see that it is nothing at all. Every man’s works shall be tried. In I Corinthians 3:10–13 Paul emphasized how carefully every man should take heed how he builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; for the day shall declare it .… by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
The foundation of every man’s life is not that he has something of the Holy Spirit to use so that he can do a work. In Samaria when Simon the magician noticed the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of hands, he offered the disciples money for this gift. Peter rebuked him, “Your money perish with you, because I perceive that your heart is not right with God and you are in the gall of bitterness.” (Acts 8:18–23). He wanted to get something of God to use. And the Holy Spirit is not given to us to use. When the Holy Spirit moves it is to possess us and make us the instruments and channels through which He moves. All real victory begins by being a bond servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. We say, “I belong to You. You redeemed me with Your own precious blood. I belong to You with all my heart, with all my soul, my mind and my strength. I’m Yours to command. I’m Yours to direct, Lord. I don’t even belong to myself.”
“To be a Christian, as I understand Christ, means the acceptance of the absolute authority of Jesus in all my life. It means that in everything I am and do—when I eat and drink, when I buy and sell, when I work and play, when I read and think—that I take Jesus as my Master. It means that I enthrone Him as King in my affections; that I subject my friendships to His dominion; that I conduct my business and intellectual and social life under His inspection and direction. It means that my ruling passion—the passion that shall absorb all other interests—shall be to live out my whole life under the sovereignty of Jesus. It means that I put His name above every other name, and obedience to Him above every other obligation. To be a Christian means that I am no more my own man, but Christ’s man. It means the giving of myself away to Him, so that I have no more right or title in myself; so that I have no more claim upon myself, and am no more at my own disposal. To be a Christian means to belong body and soul to Christ, now and evermore, for Him to do with me as He wills. Hence, it means that in being Christ’s man, I am set free from all fear. My joy must be in doing His will—in being His slave; in the confidence that whatever comes to me, when following Him, is His doing. I make Him, in a real sense, responsible for my life. I am responsible for following, He is responsible for leading and keeping. It can be none of my business what happens to me, what I gain or lose, when I follow Him. That is Christ’s business. It is His to command, mine to obey. I am sure He will not waste a fragment of my life if I let Him possess and direct it, while I am sure it will be mainly waste and friction, vain striving and misdirected effort, sickening failure and defeated ambition if I try to direct my own life.
My part as a Christian is not to find out the opinions of men, but to get my eyes fixed on Christ, and keep them there; to let my mind dwell on Him, having a constant mental vision of His character; to make His life the food on which my soul shall live; to make His gospel the text book and authority by which I stand or fall.”
According to our text, three things are very necessary. (1) You have to begin as a bond servant of Jesus Christ recognizing the ownership and Lordship of Christ over your life. (2) Called as an apostle—you are absolutely His to direct and command. There is a unique and specific ministry in His will for each one of us to fulfill, which He will reveal. That is your calling. Some will be called to be apostles, some prophets, others, a servant or handmaiden of the Lord. Whatever function, whatever place, it is still specific and definite, as God says to His bond servants, “This is what I want you to do. This is my calling for you.” (3) Set apart for the gospel of God—there’s a designation for your life that is exclusive. You can’t be scattered on many things; you must concentrate on one thing. Your life must be simplified and focused to do the will of God.
For a long time I have had a misgiving in my heart (for which I am sorry) because something in me has wanted so many things. I’ve desired more education. There are so many things I wanted to study. I wanted to study the stars and I wanted to study the earth. I am entranced with both astronomy and geology. I longed to dig around, find the beautiful things, understand why the seashells are on the tops of our highest mountains and other wonders of geology. I am very interested in photography. I am so interested in learning about so many things, and yet I realize I am determined to know Him and the power of His resurrection. As the days and the months go by, I realize my life has been simplified and focused, because God has set me apart for His gospel. That is what He wants to do with every one of you. Paul stitched a few tents together to make a living. He records that with his own hands he provided for himself and his entire company. He knew how to make money. But he said, I know how to be abased, and I know also how to abound: in everything and in all things have I learned .… both to abound and to be in want. Philippians 4:12. If he didn’t have two coins to rub together it wouldn’t bother him at all; yet he could be loaded and it didn’t bother him either. He had learned how to be simplified and focused without depending on circumstances or feelings.
Christ is bringing a deep thought to us right now: simplify your life, focus it. You can’t do too many things. There isn’t enough time. You’re like the little kid standing at a candy counter, trying to select his favorite piece of candy. He looks it all over—there’s a licorice stick, a jaw-breaker, an all-day sucker, a tootsie roll—and down the counter he goes, thinking, “What will it be?” His eyes are so big, his mouth is watering but he only has one penny. He has to choose one piece of candy. As you stand before the great counter with your one penny, you’ll be wise if you give it to Christ and say, “Spend it as You will, Lord; choose for me what’s best; show me. I want to be your bond servant, I want to be called to whatever specific designation You have for my life. I want to be set apart for it. I want my life simplified. Maybe I’ll be a mechanic on the side to meet expenses. But my big business is going to be doing the will of God. Day and night let my meditation be upon the Lord and what He wants”.
We’re coming into a period of prayer. According to this message if you’re wise, you will be praying, yielded to the Lord. Don’t regard prayer as a lever whereby you can stand back and move the world into position for your desires to come to pass. Prayer is a means by which you bring yourself more completely in accord with the Lord and you believe for His will to come to pass. Also, in these days you should strive to live in accord with this message—as a bond servant with a specific calling and a life that’s focused to do the one thing God calls you to do.
Paul was a man of many talents. But in Philippians 3:13–14 he says, … . this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind.… I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. “Just one thing I do—the will of God”. Does that pay off? Sure it does. The people who are bored and the people who have problems are those who think they have to take periodic vacations from God every few hours. They want to get away from the pressure. I don’t. I want to stay under the pressure; live in it, walk in it. We need to come apart and rest awhile, and that we will do. But I don’t want to lose touch with the Body, with the Lord, with what He’s doing, with the flow of life. I don’t want a vacation from the Lord, or daily coffee breaks from God. I want to be faithful, whether it be by life or by death. Christ shall be magnified in my body—that’s the way Paul expressed it in Philippians 1:20.
Beyond our understanding is this truth I preach to you. Paul said it so simply, a bond servant of Christ Jesus, but you can’t understand that. It would overwhelm your mind if you stopped and thought, “I’m going to be Christ’s servant, His slave; twenty-four hours a day, in every area of my life”. But in your spirit it can become a reality. Beyond your understanding is this specific calling of God. Called as an apostle—I really want to walk in the apostolic ministry more than anything I could ever want or desire. I’d like to have it written in the annals of the Kingdom, “Here was an apostle called by God, who was a failure; but grace abounded in his life.” Sometimes you don’t understand when Paul calls himself the chiefest of sinners, the least of the apostles, unworthy of these things. But you do understand what he did—he labored more abundantly than they all; because someone has to establish in the mind of some of these Jews who still had the feeling that Christianity was an extension of Judaism, that this was the grace of God. He was a persecutor, a murderer, one who had maligned the church. Yet in that position of unworthiness he said he labored more abundantly than they all. (I Corinthians 15:10).
That’s what I’d like to do. In the unworthiness that I know myself to be, I’d like the world to see what could really be done to a man by the grace of God—where God would get the glory. The world has not been challenged for a long time by anything of real faith. It’s time that the challenge comes, because there are going to be sons of God springing forth. Once the first fruits of it are seen it will be seen in the Word. A world is going to reach out to God.
This is beyond our understanding, how He can take our life and direct it, make it so rich, so full and complete, if twenty-four hours a day are set apart for Him and His Word. The world thinks we’re odd and narrow-minded; we’re not living any more. True, we’re not living like they are, going around frantically trying to be happy getting everything we can to jazz up our life and soup it up. We’re finding the real and supreme happiness as our life is focused on one channel. Just think what a wonderful thing it is that we are in the will of God. All of these truths are beyond our understanding.
The second thing that is almost beyond our understanding is Satan’s deception and plot in the world today. The Word tells us that the whole world lieth under the power of the evil one. I John 5:19. According to Revelation 12:9, he’s the deceiver of the whole world; the people of God as well as those in the world. Satan constantly brings deception by presenting pseudo burdens and misleadings, thereby distracting and making your prayers less effective. He’s hitting against this walk and against you people—anything to distract you and keep you from the one main thing. If Satan had his way, he’d keep this church busy trying to scare every snake out of the bushes, chasing down every lead, and going in every direction—instead of being simplified and focused on the one thing God has given you to do. We know that we’re believing for the liberation of the whole apostolic company in a break-through that will be tremendous. I want you to know what God is trying to say to you right now: unbelievable demonic deception is going to hit everyone of us. But corresponding to it is something else: unlimited grace to attain what God has called us to do. Greater is he that is in us than he that is against us in the world. (I John 4:4). We’ll be aware of the magnitude of satanic assault. But the tremendous flood of power and grace available to us as His bond-servants under the Lordship of Jesus Christ—an invincibility, an irresistible word, a flow of power, of love, of compassion, of grace, of faith—will be beyond any thing that any of us could believe right now. This is because the Lord loves us so much. Although this message sounds very simple, you could meditate on it a long time and realize there’s depth to it. It’s what we are in. This is a “now” message. It’s what God is saying to us. And we’re going to walk in it.
And yet for all of that our hearts start to waver. Can it really be true? Is this really the hour? Can I believe it for myself? As Paul says in the book of Romans, can we also say, “I, Paul or Susan, John or Mary—a bond servant of Christ Jesus”. Can we say, “This is what I am—a bond servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, or a prophet, or an elder, or a minister.” Unworthy as we are, we’re called by God. “I can’t do it!” Don’t say that! You’re a bond servant! Don’t talk back to Him. What He tells you to do, what He says you’re going to be—say, “Yes sir, Lord, that’s what I’m going to be. Away with that pseudo humility, pretending that you feel so unworthy. You don’t feel unworthy—your obnoxious pride keeps you from trying, that’s all. You’re just so afraid you’ll fall flat on your face and everybody will say, “See, you couldn’t do it.” It’s your pride that holds you back. If the Lord says, “You go out and cast that mountain into the sea,” say “Yes sir.” You learn to respond with the conditioned response within you. You are the Lord’s. You belong to Him. What He says you are, you are. Don’t answer back. What He says you can do, you can do. What He promises is attainable; it’s available. We are bond-servants of Christ Jesus. We are called to specific ministry.
People were anointed to intercession here not too long ago. That anointing is still on them; whether they use it or not it is still there, set apart for the gospel of God. In some unique way, everyone of us is set apart for it. You’re not happy unless you are really set apart for something. Even in the natural world that is true. It is said of Einstein that he could never remember his umbrella, his hat or anything. He was so preoccupied with mathematics that that was all he could think of. He concentrated and focused on only one thing. His life was simplified by its very focus. You can’t be entangled with the affairs of this life if you want to please Him who has called you to be a soldier. (II Timothy 2:4) “Lord, I’m ready to join the army but I need my television and my hi-fi and my deep freeze. I’ll load all this on a trailer and pull it with my jeep. Then I’ll go out and fight. Some of those guns look too heavy; I’ll get my own special gun. I better have this radio transmitter too, because I want to carry on my business, and keep in touch with the stock market.” It isn’t going to work. Paul says, “You can’t entangle yourself with the affairs of this life if you want to please Him who called you to be a soldier.” What do you do? You get your pack and your gun and march with the rest of them, and leave everything else behind. And that’s not easy because sometimes you come back and there’s nothing left. You leave loved ones and when you come back they may no longer love you. When these boys go off to war, they know they’re leaving everything behind. In fact that’s why I don’t believe in war. It’s not only the fear of being killed; but the price is too great. It’s something that is unnatural unless you’re doing it for God. Above everything else just open your heart to this one thing—Lord, I have to walk this way and You will give me grace to do it.