Seeking God   Jeremiah 29:11 - 14

In Faith Church, the month of September is a time when we talk about discipleship and encourage people to explore and to become disciples. And when we talk about discipleship, we usually think about
Jesus' 12 disciples, and what great and faithful men they must have been. Yet if we study the scriptures to see with whom Jesus surrounded himself, we may not be impressed with the people Jesus chose. I
rediscovered this imaginary letter that I hadn't read in years. Hear it again with me.

To: Jesus, Son of Joseph
Woodcrafter's Carpenter Shop
Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through
our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.


It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would
recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company
loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau;
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated,
ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely,

Jordan Management Consultants

- Tim Hansel, Eating Problems for Breakfast, Word Publishing,
1988, pp. 194-195.

Of course, if we were selecting people based on their abilities and talents and the initial impression they make on us, we might have somebody who looks good and might be able to do the mechanics of the
job, but would we have the best person for Christ? I remember Dr. Ed Zeiders, president of United Theological Seminary telling me a story several years ago when he was our Annual Conference Program Director.
The story took place when he had been a District Superintendent and at a charge conference the people elected as their church treasurer the local banker who was a whiz at keeping their finances straight.
Obviously, this man had all the right credentials and talents for finances.

Only one problem. He didn't go to church and he made it clear that he had no time for church. Ed said to me, "Why would you elect somebody as your church treasurer who had no spiritual faith, who wasn't committed
to Christ?"

When we consider this question and look at Jesus' disciples, the number one criteria for a disciple is, "What is your relationship to Christ?" The answer is not about how perfect your relationship is, but
do you have one? Are you working towards strengthening your relationship to Christ? Are you growing in faith in Christ? A disciple has to have this relationship to Christ; everything else is secondary.

Think about your own discipleship. Each of us is not called into particular opportunities for discipleship because we are experts with great abilities.

When Christ calls us, we are called because of our relationship and growing faith in Christ. God knows what we can become, so God selects us not on who we are now, but on who we can become in the Lord.

Take our scripture lesson this morning. The Jewish people are sinking fast. The have sinned too much and too long; they have abandoned God and their historic faith in God; and they have chosen to continue ignoring God's
pleas to come back home to their Lord. The day of reckoning is coming; punishment will happen; and nothing can now stop the destruction of an invading foreign army from fulfilling God's plan for judgment.

But in the midst of this certainty, God sees not just the sinful nature of the chosen people, God sees the possibilities and a new future. So through God's prophet Jeremiah, God says, "For surely I know
the plans I have for you, says the Lord...to give you a future with hope." The Jewish people may be punished for their sins, but God will provide them with a hopeful future by calling them to once again to be
the nation through whom God would work salvation.

And that's what our work in discipleship in Faith Church is all about. It's helping people to give up their sinful and wicked ways and accept God's salvation through Christ. Because God knows your potentials and your abilities and your spiritual gifts, that if you allow God to use them, if you truly follow Christ, you will find that
hopeful future where all of life will have meaning and purpose, not only for you personally, but also for the world in which you live. You may not look like God's best candidate, but God will make you the person God
needs.

God has a plan for each of us, and that plan begins with the spiritual dimensions of our lives. We are called to be Christ's disciples by seeking God's will and following it. If we commit ourselves to doing that, seeking God's will, God will make of us the disciples that Christ needs, just as God made disciples of emotionally
unstable and temperamental fishermen, of followers without observable leadership abilities, of people who were self-centered or doubting or of questionable loyalties. If God can use these kinds of persons, then God
can easily use us as disciples, because we aren't any better than they were. But Christ made of them great Apostles to carry the Gospel into all the world.

What do you say? Are you ready to let God take hold of your life? Will you enter that relationship with Christ as Lord and Savior, continually reaffirming it, so that God can fulfill divine plans to give you and the world a hopeful future? At the end of your life it doesn't matter what other people may have thought of your abilities earlier in life, it only matters to God that you committed yourself to Christ and let Christ work through you, so that in Christ all the world may receive salvation and eternal life.