We must remember that Jesus is not talking about church discipline, or
correcting (informing or teaching) others, or making a stand about
Scriptural doctrines.
They have to do with interpersonal contact, and our practical everyday
Christian experience and how we relate to others.
We must remain doctrinally pure, expect everybody else to remain
doctrinally pure, while working very hard on the job God has given us,
never looking around to see what God has given somebody else to do.
God has a job He wants us to do.
This is what He is telling Peter.
When God has a job for us to do, he will tell us in particular, He
doesn’t tell somebody else.
Jeremiah 1:5 - God told Jeremiah He was chosen as a prophet to Israel
before He was born.
It doesn’t make any difference whether you think you are qualified,
or if others think you are qualified, or not qualified - If God has called
you to do a job, you must do it.
How does God tell us He has a job for us to do?
As in this story about Peter, God uses circumstances, but He doesn’t
want us to depend on circumstances.
God wants us to depend on Him and His Word.
God will lay a definite desire on your heart for a doing a particular
thing.
God lays a definite desire on the heart of the lost person to be saved,
and God lays a definite desire on the heart of the saved person for a
particular area of service.
For example: God laid a desire on my heart for pastoring, not
necessarily preaching, or to be a missionary, but to pastor.
When God lays this desire on your heart, it will be for a particular
area of service He has ordained.
There are a lot of people who believe God has called them into the
music ministry.
I remember working at a certain persons house, who explained to me
that God was dealing with him to go into full time gospel singing. He
wanted me to pray for him in this very major decision. I told him I didn’t
believe God was calling him because there was no scripture about any
body in the entire Bible that made their living from singing gospel
songs. He didn’t like that very much. This is the reason today there
is so much flack being raised about singing and recording Christian
songs and everybody wanting to be paid for their worship. There is a
scripture somewhere that talks about God condemning people because they
expect to be paid for every bit of service they do for God. They do not
understand that love is to be the chief motive for God’s service.
I also know people who are very faithful to God using music. Myra
Bilyew, the Dunaways, and Joe and Kathy are only a few of these people.
Don’t worry about what somebody else is doing.
God has called everybody for a particular job.
When God has shown you what your job is, then do it, and don’t spend
a lot of time looking around to see what somebody else is doing.
We need to make our calling and election sure, and we need to obey God
- period.
When we are looking around to see what everybody else is doing, we aren’t
doing what God wants us to do.
Don’t worry that anybody sees what you are doing.
If you are doing that God wants you to do, that ought to be reward
enough.
When you are busy doing what you need to do, you won’t have time to
see what somebody else is doing.
Don’t try to get credit for your good deeds.
Somebody will probably add all your bad deeds to your good deeds, and
decide that you come up short!
If you are really doing things for God, you don’t really care if
people know what you are doing.
You are very glad to be an encouragement to others, but that is a
different thing than receiving the applause of men.