God's recruitment agency

God’s recruitment agency.

There is a misconception that Christians are just miles away in just about every aspect of life from those who are non believers. What we fail to realise is that for most people who become followers of Christ. We were all once un-believers and thought and felt exactly like those all around us now who seem to show little or no outward interest in the Christian message. Nothing however is what it seems and no-one is quite as far away as we might first think. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes ‘there is nothing knew under the sun…what has been will be again’. One of the greatest intimidations to the church about sharing our faith is the lie out there that says we are facing a kind of ‘post-modern’ set of values, thinking and lives that are so out of touch with anything to do with the Gospel that to get anyone to know Christ is even harder than ever. I think this is a huge deception. The complexity and technology and information surrounding daily life is I agree vastly different form any other time in history. People however are basically the same and always have been and always will be.
Psalm 107 comments on four kinds of people God brings to himself
V2 ‘let the redeemed of the Lord say so’….. God brings people to himself they do not find him he seeks them out
V4 ‘The wanderer’ - ‘Some wandered in desert waste, finding no way to a city to dwell in; hungry and thirsty….’ We are surrounded by people looking for something to satisfy the cravings for fulfilment, contentment, satisfaction, meaning, fulfilment. Somewhere they can reside ‘a city’ something permanent that makes sense of life. People like this are all around us. God wishes to recruit such as these to himself
V10 ‘The Rebel’ – ‘Some sat in darkness…in affliction…. For they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the most high’. Some people have heard the gospel, perhaps in childhood or through a friend and in spite of knowing how God says to live and his appeals to them for relationship with him Through Christ, they have deliberately chosen their own path against God’s counsel. These are not people who do not know any better. No these are people who have ‘tasted’ the things of God as Hebrews 6 talks of then have chosen to walk away from the clear and known truth. The result is a prison of broken relationships, addictions, emotional torment, fears, phobias, chains that have become patterns of life now unbreakable despite many tried options. Year’s later bitter regret for wasted years often brings on hopeless feelings of despair. God wishes to recruit even those who have spurned him in full knowledge of what they were doing.
V17’ the pleasure seekers’ (Hedonists) ‘Some were fools through their sinful ways’ – We are all actually created to be hedonists. The reality though is that the only pleasure that can fulfil us is pleasure in God and knowing him. Most people want pleasure. Most find even the latest bought gadget fills the gap for hours or perhaps days, and then an upgrade is required to get the buzz back. The next relationship, drug, drink, sexual encounter, achievement, holiday, party. It is foolish to think a limited passing activity or relationship can be the meaning of life. God wishes to recruit those who have looked for such trivia as their hope
V23 ‘The rich and successful businessman’ – ‘Some went down to the sea in ships doing business on the great waters’. Success and making of money whilst not wrong in itself can become a drug and a master instead of a servant. Ecclesiastes again says, what is the point of earning loads of money, building great houses and businesses only to then die and leave it someone who has not even worked for it! God wants to recruit those who have spent their years on making money and creating business. He wants to show them where true riches are.
All of these people are all around us. All of them are prime candidates for God’s recruitment agency. Many of these dear people will find themselves coming to know Christ. God is on the case. This is not a time for Christians to feel intimidated by a Godless society. Rather this is a time to go after the very people who God is looking for. You might even be in one of these categories. You might get a surprise that God is looking and longing to reach you with something better than you ever thought possible.