The chosen vessel becomes the instrument of a divine wisdom which surprises the vessel itself. Sooner or later that chosen vessel is full of one question: "Why did God choose me? Why did He call me to this work? He ought to have chosen anyone but me! I am the most unsuited for this kind of life and this kind of work!" That was true of Moses. When God would send him to Egypt, he said: "Oh, if you can send by anybody, do so, but not by me." When God chose Jeremiah, the latter said: "I cannot speak: for I am a child" (Jeremiah 1:6). A prophet whose one business it was to speak, felt that it was the one thing he could not do. Divine choice is a very extraordinary thing, and it is not always the thing that we would like or would choose that God calls us to. When we are young we have perhaps a great idea of being in the Lord's work, and we leap to it very eagerly as though we can do it, but when we get older we feel more acutely our dependence. It is then that we discover that naturally we are not fit for it, and many of God's chosen vessels have had to be kept in the work by the very power of God itself.
You see, it is God's own sovereignty in His choice, and the point is this: It is not the vessel, but the purpose for which the vessel has been chosen.
What is it that unites us as Christians? Now listen to this: It is not salvation, nor redemption, but it is God's power in salvation an redemption that unites us. It is the common consciousness of all believers that they exist for a purpose and that God has saved them with a great purpose in view. This is a very important thing to remember. We may all be saved, and yet we may all be divided. We may all be redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus and yet remain just individual units. But wee what a uniting power there is in everybody feeling that they are called to a purpose! They are united by one common vision. There are plenty of things to divide the people in the days of Nehemiah, for they all had their natural and personal interests, and the enemy was doing everything he could to divide them, but they were all mastered by one purpose - the building of that wall - and that common vision and purpose defeated the enemy at every turn.
To return to the words of Peter: We do not have to be always all together in one place to be so united. Peter said: "To the elect who are scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia." It is one elect in many places, united because of one consciousness of divine purpose in life.
Well, that has to do with God as the Potter. Whether we understand it or not, God acts in sovereignty when He calls us to Himself.
I believe most strongly that this is the point where the mistake has been made. Election has been made a matter of salvation when it ought to have been made a matter of purpose. We are not predestined to be saved, but are predestined, through salvation, to come to God's purpose. Election has more to do with purpose than with salvation - salvation is only on the way to purpose.
Israel was God's chosen nation, elect among the nations, and was brought out of Egypt by the virtue of precious blood. When Israel failed of the purpose of God in their existence, they defeated all that had gone on before. It was the purpose of their redemption that justified their continuation as God's vessel, and when they lost their purpose they lost their place.
Dear friends, we are "called according to his purpose" (Romans 8:28).
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 26)
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