Faith in the News Christian News
Why does God not call many mighty, strong, rich, and powerful?
He is Glorified
The Apostle Paul tells us that “God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong” (1st Cor 1:27b), so we should “consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth” (1st Cor 1:26). When I look around the church I see the mayor’s not here, neither is the CEO of our local plant, our local state representative is not here, and there’s not a lot of bankers coming to our church either. That doesn’t mean some of these can’t be saved…but God seems to call the weak, the base, the rejected, the despised, the bullied ones, the poor, the powerless, the disenfranchised….people like you and like me. But that’s just the point. When a small body of believer’s can do Gideon-like things with few numbers and those who the world thinks little of, then God is glorified. People won’t say, “Wow, how can they have a prison ministry, a nursing home ministry, and an outreach to the poor and there a very small church.” What they’ll say is, “Wow, look what God did with such a small group who is insignificant in the world’s eyes (but not God’s!). Some people in the Bible were rich, but for the most part, most had little or nothing, but then they had everything…in Christ. If we think we were really something and that’s why God called us, we don’t get it. God doesn’t save us because of who we are but because of Who He is.
So No One Can Glory
In 1st Corinthians 4:7, the Apostle Paul humbles us all as he asks a very convicting rhetorical question: “For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it” (1st Cor 4:7)? What do I have that I didn’t receive from God? I came up with zero. I think we’d all have to. God called us purely out of His love, and then He saved us, but “not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:9). Could you imagine if that were true? Would that keep us humble if we knew we contributed to or made possible our salvation? No, I think it’d have just the opposite effect and make us boast or brag about our good works and how they got us saved. Of course, there is always going to be someone to, “one up” you, like, “Hey, that’s nothing…listen to what I did.” In God’s wisdom, He knew it must be fully a free gift and that’s what grace is…if we add works to it, it’s no longer grace (Gal 3). Let me remind you and myself that “God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1st Cor 1:28), to make sure “that no human being might boast in the presence of God” (1st Cor 1:29) or others. Paul asks, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith” (Rom 3:27).
Humility
Someone, when people own a lot of wealth and possessions, their wealth and possessions begin to own them. It’s as if it’s captured their heart and it has become an idol. They might not burn incense to it, but their fondness of it shows that they worship money more than God and possessions are more important than people. I look around our church and again, I notice that not very many rich people attend here…or really, no one that’s rich attends here. They are only rich in Christ, we can hope. James pleads with the church, asking, “my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him” (James 2:5)? In fact, some of them “have dishonored the poor man” (James 2:6a). The point is that money can fill a person with pride. Yes, even the poor can be full of pride, but when you’re poor, you’re more likely to reach out for God’s help. The rich have their god; it meets their every need, it fulfills their every desire, and it gives them everything they want, not just need. Again, not all rich people are like that, but history has shown that some of the rich have exploited the poor, and James warning is, “you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you” (James 5:1), because “Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten” (James 5:2). Even if a person is poor, they can be very prideful, and God has said, again through James, that God “resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). Without humbling one’s self, God cannot exalt them, but if they humble themselves before God, He will exalt them. Humility has great value to God and He is pleased when He sees us act in humility before Him and before others. That’s why many who are saved are those who are humble….and weak, yes.
Conclusion
If God has called you and saved you, then He must receive all the glory. The only thing we brought were hands full of sin. We had nothing to offer. So God made the first move. He called the weak, He saved by grace, and He will exalt the humble. That day might not be today, but my friend, it is surely coming, and it’s more certain that the rising of the sun.
May God richly bless you,
Pastor Jack Wellman
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