God is at work

Throughout the early months of 1944, General Eisenhower and his staff were very busy in England, working out of Southwick House in Portsmouth. He was regularly joined by Field Marshall Montgomery, and by a variety of Admirals, Air Commanders, Generals of all sorts, and many others as the Allies made their final preparations for the landing in Normandy.[1]

But during all this time, and during all of these meetings, what did Eisenhower actually do?

During this time he made plans. He gave orders. He told hundreds of thousands, perhaps several million other people what they had to do.

• Hundreds of thousands of American, Canadian, and British troops who would land on the beaches on that first morning.

• Tens of thousands of paratroopers who would land behind the lines.

• Ships of all types and sizes.

• Thousands of transport aircraft, fighters, and bombers.

• And he gave the final order to "go".

But after that, once Eisenhower told everyone else what to do, that was it. He didn't land on the beaches. He didn't jump out of the airplanes. He didn't join in either the naval or aerial bombardments. He didn't even show up in Normandy until several days after the beachhead was secured. He simply planned, organised, and then ordered others to their task while he, initially, stayed back in England.

Over the years, as I have listened to people talking about "the will of God", and knowing and doing the "will of God", there are times when it seems that we think that God is just like Eisenhower. Organising everything and everybody. Giving orders. Sending out the troops. But staying at home.

We often say, or we hear others say, things like:

• God is sending me to Africa, Asia, or somewhere.
• God has called me to go to this place, to that group, or to do this particular task.
• God has told me that I need to go and do this, that, or the other thing.

 As we talk, there are times when it appears as if we think that we are being sent out into the great unknown, the uncharted, the unready all by ourselves, and we hope that God shows up one day and sees the good things that we have accomplished.

There are times where our words, by what we say and by how we say it, there are times where our words give the impression that we think that it is our work, and we think that the work is all up to us, and that if we don't do it then it will never get done. But what did Jesus say in John 4:34:

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.

Whose work did Jesus say it is? Whose work was Jesus seeking to finish? Was it his own work? His own plans? His own ambitions? No!

Jesus said that everything he did, everything that he sought to accomplish, was "the Father's work". They were the things that the Father had planned, the Father had designed, the Father desired, and the Father was accomplishing.

Jesus also said in John 5:17:

My Father is still working, and I also am working.

What Jesus reminds us of is that God is, and always has been, working in the world to accomplish his will, his purposes, and his ways.

My Father is still working.

God “resting on the seventh day”[2] doesn’t mean that God is sitting up there in heaven and telling us what to do. Instead, God was here first. God was working here first. It is his work, and he is accomplishing that work. But as God accomplishes his work, God also speaks to us and invites us to come and join him in the work that he himself is already doing. So when Paul saw a vision of a man from Macedonia saying to him, "come over here and help us",[3] this wasn't God saying to Paul:

You go over and do that work and let's see how good you can do it, and I will join you later if I have the time.

Instead, this invitation was God's way of letting Paul know that God was already at work in Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens, and Corinth, and that God was inviting Paul and his companions to come over and join in the work that God had already started. God was inviting them to join in the work that God was already doing in the hearts and lives of people.

How do I know that God was already at work in Philippi? Because even though there was no synagogue in the city, there were those who gathered together for prayer by the river,[4] and the fact that they were praying was a sign that God was at work in their lives to draw these women to himself.

There was a woman there whose heart God had already prepared to hear and respond to the message of the Gospel.[5] All she needed was for someone to come and tell her, and that "someone" was Paul and his companions. But it was God who was at work, and it was God who invited Paul and his companions to come over to Macedonia and join God in God's work.

When Adoniram Judson went to Burma, when William Carey went to India, when Hudson Taylor went to China, when C. T. Studd went to Africa, when David Brainerd went to the Native Americans, it wasn't as if God was sending these men, and countless others both before and after them, it wasn't as if God was sending these individuals to places where God had never been. Instead, God was already there. God was already working. God was already active in the lives of others, and he then invited Judson, Carey, Taylor, Studd, Brainerd, and countless thousands of others to leave where they were and to come and join in the work that God was already doing.

What did Jesus say in John 6:44a?

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.

What Jesus tells us is that the only way anyone will ever become a follower of Jesus, the only way that anyone will even think about becoming a follower of Jesus, is if God, first of all, does a work in that person's life and draws them to Jesus.

Jesus also said in John 6:65:

For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.

In other words, without the work of God, without the enabling power of God being active in a person's life, no one will ever come to Jesus. In fact, without the enabling power of God no one will even think about coming to Jesus. We see this with Lydia where:

The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul.[6]

Notice carefully: “who opened up Lydia’s heart”? Was it Paul? Did Paul’s words persuade her because he was such an excellent preacher?[7]

No! It wasn’t Paul who accomplished the work in Lydia’s heart, it was God who was at work to draw Lydia to himself. What Paul did was to join God in God’s work, so that he could be used by God, in order to accomplish the purposes of God in the hearts of Lydia and others in Philippi.

Therefore, as we share Jesus with others, and as they come to faith in Christ, it isn't our words that do it. It is only because God has already been at work in that person's life, drawing them to faith in Jesus. However, as we share Jesus with them, we join God in the work that God has already been doing in drawing that person to himself. But it is God's work. God's labour, and as we share the Gospel, we become God's "co-workers".

What this shows us is that when the Philippian jailer rushed into the jail, fell at the feet of Paul and Silas and cried out, "what must I do to be saved",[8] this was a sign that God had already been at work in this man's life. It was a sign that God had already been drawing this man to himself. As God worked in this man's life, God so arranged the circumstances as to bring Paul, Silas, and the Jailer together so that Paul and Silas might tell him that he needed to:

Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.[9]

As Paul and Silas spoke with the Jailer, Paul and Silas joined in the work that God was already doing in that man's life. The success of this work wasn't because of Paul and Silas. Instead, it was because God had already begun to work in the Jailer's life, convicting him of sin, drawing him to Jesus, even before he had even heard about Jesus, so that when God brought Paul and Silas his way he might be so overwhelmed with conviction during his circumstances that he bowed before Paul and Silas and said, "what must I do to be saved"?

Paul said in Romans 3:10-11:

There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God.

What Paul does here is to remind us of some important realities about the human condition.

Firstly, none of us start out our lives being right with God. Like Adam and Eve we have disobeyed God, turned from God, and as result we are running away from God and hiding from God. This is why he says that:

there is no one who seeks God.

Left to ourselves, without the activity of God working in our lives, none of us would ever, none of us could ever, come to Jesus. In fact, because “there is no one who seeks God”, without the activity of God in our lives, none of us would even be interested in coming to Jesus.

Because of this, if we are talking to someone and they begin to talk about God, and even if their understanding about God is very poor and, like Apollos, they need to have the way of God explained more clearly,[10] the very fact that they are talking about God, the very fact that they have questions about God, the very fact that they are wondering:

If there is a God what does this mean for my life?

All of this means that God is at work in that person's life to draw that person to Jesus, for if God wasn't at work in their lives they wouldn't be thinking about God, his will, or his ways at all. As Jesus said:

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.[11]

The very fact that God is at work, and the fact that we see that God is at work, may be God's leading, God's instructions, his invitation to us as individuals or as a church to get involved in that work. God's invitation to us to stop what we are doing, and, like Jesus, Paul, and Silas, to do the work that God longs for us to do.

So this week, if someone suddenly begins to talk to us and asking us questions about God and how to know God, what is that a sign of?

That is a sign that God is at work in their lives.

If that happens, what do you think God is saying to us? God is saying:

Drop what you are doing and get involved!

Now we might turn around and say things like:

• No, wait, I have to get the kids to school.
• I have to get the shopping done.
• I have to get to work.

But at that particular moment, which is more important? Our plans for our lives, our God’s invitation to join him in his work of sharing the Good News about Jesus with someone whose life God is at work in?

We see this in the life of Moses beginning in Exodus 3, where we find that Moses is out in the desert looking after his sheep and God speaks to him.[12]

Why did God speak to this shepherd who murdered someone, and then ran away? Firstly, God spoke to Moses because God was about to reveal to Moses the work that God was doing, and second, God was about to invite Moses to join him in accomplishing the work that God was doing. We read in Exodus 3:7-9 where The LORD said:

I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

Notice what God says:

• Moses, this is what is going on.
• This is what I have seen.
• This is what I have heard.
• And this is what I am about to do.
• This is the work that I am already involved in.
• Moses, this is what is going to happen.

But then God says to Moses in Exodus 3:10:

So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.

God had announced to Moses what God was doing, and then God invited Moses to come along and join God in his great work of deliverance.

Did God need Moses in order to deliver the people from Egypt? No, of course not.

• God didn't need Moses to create the world.
• God didn't need Moses to send the flood.
• God didn't need Moses to call Abraham.
• And God didn't need Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt.

God could quite easily have chosen someone else to do the task. In fact, God could have done it all by himself without involving any human being at all. Instead, however, God gave Moses the opportunity to join him in the work that God was going to do anyway. God was going to deliver the people no matter what, Moses was simply invited to come along to be God's human agent in this deliverance. But whose work was it? Was it Moses’ work? No, it was God’s work. It was something that God was doing, and it is something that God was going to do. Moses was simply invited to come along and join in the work that God was already doing.

But as soon as Moses was invited to join in God’s work, what did Moses do? He made excuses about all the reasons why he couldn’t go. Reasons why he couldn’t join in God’s work - and we can so easily do the same thing.

• I can’t go because.
• I can’t do because.
• I can’t speak because.

We see the same thing in the book of Esther. When Mordecai encourages Esther to go to the king and to plead the cause of the Jewish people, at first Esther doesn’t want to, and she makes all kinds of excuses why she can’t do what Mordecai encourages her to do.[13] But Mordecai said in Esther 4:14:

If you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this?

What Mordecai was saying was that God didn't need Esther. God could have chosen anyone, and he still could if Esther chooses not to get involved. But what God was doing was giving Esther the opportunity to be used by God in the task that God was going to do anyway. In fact, God had so ordered the events of her life, God had brought her to the very position that she was in so that she could be in just the right place, at just the right time, so that she could join God in this work!

Likewise in Exodus 3, God announced that he was going to do something and he gave Moses the opportunity to join God in his work. But who began the work? God did!

Who had been working long before Moses even heard about it? God had been! God had seen and heard it all, and God knew about it all.

Whose work was it to deliver Israel from Egypt? It was God's work! It wasn't Moses' work; it was God's work. Moses was simply being invited to join God, so he could see God in action. So that he could know God better. So he could draw closer to God, grow in his love for God, and his faith in God.

In the same way, it isn't our work in Chidlow or in the area around Chidlow, instead it is God's work in Chidlow, and he has invited us to join him in his work of sharing the Gospel, proclaiming Christ, and winning the lost in this community.

What did Jesus say in John 6:44a:

No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.

Whose task is it to draw people to Jesus? Is it ours? No! It is the Father’s work. But what God has done is he has invited us to join in that work.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.[14]

Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.[15]

God has invited us to join in that work of drawing people to Jesus.

We know that the work of God, the purposes of God, the will of God is that:

[none] perish, but all come to repentance.[16]

And we know that God:

desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.[17]

And even though we know that "no one can come to Jesus unless the Father draws him",[18] we also know that Jesus said in John 12:32:

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.

That is, through Jesus’ death on the cross, Jesus is drawing all humanity to himself. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God is working in the lives of all humanity to seek God, find God, and receive salvation through faith in Jesus. That is God’s work!

Is God at work in Chidlow? Yes, absolutely! Even if people might think that absolutely nothing is happening, God is at work! And we can extend this to an even wider area than just the town itself to include a much broader area, but is God at work in Chidlow? Yes, absolutely!

We must never delude ourselves into thinking that nothing is happening here simply because we don’t see anything happening here, for Jesus said in John 5:17:

My Father is still working, and I also am working.

We may not see it, and we may not conceive of how it could possibly be, but the reality is, God is at work in the hearts and lives of people here. How can I say this? Because:

[God] desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.[19]

And the words of Jesus when he said:

And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.[20]

And every single person in the wider area around Chidlow are included in that “everyone” and they are included in that “all people”.

Is God at work in their lives, even now, to respond to the Gospel? Yes!

Therefore, the question that we each need to ask ourselves today is:

Will I join God in his work, in whatever capacity that God chooses to use me?

Will I become a co-worker with God, for the purposes and will of God in this place?

[1] The sermons in this series are based upon the principles found in Blackaby, Henry Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God (Nashville: LifeWay Press, 1990

[2] Genesis 2:2-3

[3] Acts 16:9

[4] Acts 16:13

[5] Acts 16:14-15

[6] Acts 16:14

[7] Other people most certainly didn’t think much of Paul’s preaching. c/f 2 Corinthians 8:7.

[8] Acts 16:30

[9] Acts 16:31

[10] Acts 18:26

[11] John 6:44

[12] Exodus 3:1-6

[13] Esther 4:11-12

[14] Matthew 28:19-20

[15] Mark 16:15

[16] 2 Peter 3:9

[17] 1 Timothy 2:4

[18] John 6:44

[19] 1 Timothy 2:4

[20] John 12:32