Pastor Cal Lord's Recent Sermons
God is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Ezra 1:1-6 January 6, 2008
For the next four weeks I want to take you on a tour of ancient Palestine. I want to walk back
with you over 500 years before Jesus as born. The Jewish nation was in turmoil. They had been
uprooted and taken from Israel and transplanted in Babylonia.
Life was not all bad, but it was different. The people felt that they had been abandoned by God,
punished for their disobedience. They lost everything. Families were broken apart, homes were
destroyed and Israel, as a nation, as a geographical landmark was left for dead. The armies even
looted temple, the symbol of God’s power, prestige and authority, taking the precious gold and
silver artifacts with them before turning it into rubble.
Fortunately, King Cyrus and his predecessors were very politically correct in their approach to the
Jews and every other nation they overran. To keep the peace they let the people continue to keep
their customs and religions and allowed them to practice them as long as it didn’t interfere with
what the government wanted to do.
And so around 540 BC our story begins as there is a movement afoot among the people of God. He
puts he buzz in their ear that it is time to return and build his temple again. The prophets Zechariah
and Haggai begin to speak of God’s plans for the nation. And Ezra and Nehemiah enter the picture.
I think some of us wander through life as if we are creating something completely of our own
design. Life is an Etch a sketch and we are drawing a nice picture. We don’t consider that there
could be a master artist working on the great canvas of life where we are one tiny component of a
much bigger puzzle.
To think this way robs us of our sense of independence. Yes, we believe in God but we picture
him, in all seriousness, as a caretaker making the rounds and letting the world go on its own merry
way. We live life as if God really doesn’t have an input into what happens.
That is until we read a story like this one in Ezra. We begin to see that God has already seen the
end results of the puzzle and is now putting it together right before our eyes. One hundred and fifty
years before the events in the book of Ezra, Isaiah the prophet looks ahead and declares in Isaiah
44:28:
“who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,"
and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid." '
It is enough to make you scratch your heads and ask how God knew that, as if he was a magician
working a trick before your eyes. How did he know unless he understood the plan before it
unfolded.
The truth is that God does know. He knows the future and he promised he would make it a happy
end for those who trust him. It was true for the Jews in Ezra’s day. Before the people were even
carted away in exile, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who rarely said a good and promising word,
declared this:
"When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious
promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then
you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD,
"and will bring you back from captivity. [a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where
I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I
carried you into exile."
You see one thing we know for sure is this: God is personal and He is faithful. He loves His people.
He speaks His Word to them. He makes them promises. And He keeps His promises.
So, the question isn’t whether or not God’s Word will be fulfilled. The question is how. And that’s
where I tell you the good news. God is an equal opportunity employer. He uses everyone to
accomplish his will.
It is political season again, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, it seems like it is always political season
these days. As soon as one election is over, they start campaigning for the next one.
Something very interesting happened in 1976 that would change the face of American politics.
Jimmy Carter was elected president. Was that a watershed election because he was a Democrat?
No. Was it because he was the governor of a smaller southern state? No. Was it because he was a
peanut farmer with a big smile? No. So why would that election change the face of American
politics to this day? Because Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist and professed to be a born-
again believer. It turns out the reason he won the election was because of the votes of evangelical
Christians.
For the first time in the history of our country, people actually elected a man president because he
was a man of God. Evangelical Christians went to the voting booths because they wanted to
restore a sense of moral values into our government and its affairs. So we elected a Christian to
lead us.
Sorry to say that it didn’t work out the way we hoped. Twenty years later and we still have many
of the same problems in this country. But here is the Good news. God can use anyone to
accomplish his will and they don’t even need to be in the program.
That is what Ezra’s story is all about. King Cyrus was not a man of faith at all. He tolerated the
Jews. But God put it in his head that he should let them return to Israel and he simply let it happen.
Actually, more than letting it happen, he encouraged them and made it possible by providing them
everything they needed.
We often gloss right over this but it is one of the most amazing miracles in the Bible. The truth is
that God has often used world leaders to accomplish his will even though they have no allegiance
to him, no faith, no possible gain in doing anything for God. We like to think if we get our guy or
gal in everything will be better.
Well here is the truth. If God wants to get it done, it doesn’t matter who sits in the seat of power.
(Now this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get out and vote. Our vote may be part of the plan.) But the
good news is that the future doesn’t depend solely on us. God is an equal opportunity employer.
He will use Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Denis Kucineck, Barak Obama, Mike Hukabee, Ron Paul
or anyone else we elect to accomplish his will.
Here is a second truth. God can use you and me to do his will too! A lot of people think that God
only uses the most gifted, the most talented to do his will. That’s not the case. God will use
anyone who is willing to be a channel for his purposes. If you let his spirit work in and through
you, God will make things happen.
Too often we think that we have to have “saint status” for God to even look at us. We think well I
drink a little bit, or I like to have a good time, or I am not an “every Sunday type of Christian,”
whatever that means, so God can’t use me.
The truth is God can use anyone to accomplish his plan. He can use those who oppose his
purposes. The Babylonian people certainly didn’t want to lose the Jews and their slave like labor
but when Cyrus gave the order for the people to return to Israel to build the temple, the people
gave them gifts of gold and silver to take with them to restock the temple. I’m not even sure if
they understood what they were doing. But it happened. The non believers were the ones who
funded the return and the rebuilding.
So think about this, if God is such an equal opportunity employer that he uses non believers to
accomplish his will, imagine what he can do if you and I submit to his will.
Our question should never be, “Is God going to use me?” The proper question is “Are you and I
willing to have God use us and how can we better serve him?
Are we engaged in a life of faith, of spiritual disciple, of obedience? Are we reading his Word and
trying to get to know his plans and purposes? Are we spending time in prayer talking to him? Are
we gathering in worship and fellowship with other believers so that we can be ready to go when he
calls?
We stand on the precipice of a new year. We have been making resolutions and looking for ways
to make this a great year. Well let’s make sure that one of our considerations is that we are ready
and prepared to answer the call of God to be a channel for his blessings and purposes.
Amen
Ezra 1:1-6 January 6, 2008
For the next four weeks I want to take you on a tour of ancient Palestine. I want to walk back
with you over 500 years before Jesus as born. The Jewish nation was in turmoil. They had been
uprooted and taken from Israel and transplanted in Babylonia.
Life was not all bad, but it was different. The people felt that they had been abandoned by God,
punished for their disobedience. They lost everything. Families were broken apart, homes were
destroyed and Israel, as a nation, as a geographical landmark was left for dead. The armies even
looted temple, the symbol of God’s power, prestige and authority, taking the precious gold and
silver artifacts with them before turning it into rubble.
Fortunately, King Cyrus and his predecessors were very politically correct in their approach to the
Jews and every other nation they overran. To keep the peace they let the people continue to keep
their customs and religions and allowed them to practice them as long as it didn’t interfere with
what the government wanted to do.
And so around 540 BC our story begins as there is a movement afoot among the people of God. He
puts he buzz in their ear that it is time to return and build his temple again. The prophets Zechariah
and Haggai begin to speak of God’s plans for the nation. And Ezra and Nehemiah enter the picture.
I think some of us wander through life as if we are creating something completely of our own
design. Life is an Etch a sketch and we are drawing a nice picture. We don’t consider that there
could be a master artist working on the great canvas of life where we are one tiny component of a
much bigger puzzle.
To think this way robs us of our sense of independence. Yes, we believe in God but we picture
him, in all seriousness, as a caretaker making the rounds and letting the world go on its own merry
way. We live life as if God really doesn’t have an input into what happens.
That is until we read a story like this one in Ezra. We begin to see that God has already seen the
end results of the puzzle and is now putting it together right before our eyes. One hundred and fifty
years before the events in the book of Ezra, Isaiah the prophet looks ahead and declares in Isaiah
44:28:
“who says of Cyrus, 'He is my shepherd
and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, "Let it be rebuilt,"
and of the temple, "Let its foundations be laid." '
It is enough to make you scratch your heads and ask how God knew that, as if he was a magician
working a trick before your eyes. How did he know unless he understood the plan before it
unfolded.
The truth is that God does know. He knows the future and he promised he would make it a happy
end for those who trust him. It was true for the Jews in Ezra’s day. Before the people were even
carted away in exile, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet who rarely said a good and promising word,
declared this:
"When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious
promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the
LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then
you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and
find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you," declares the LORD,
"and will bring you back from captivity. [a] I will gather you from all the nations and places where
I have banished you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back to the place from which I
carried you into exile."
You see one thing we know for sure is this: God is personal and He is faithful. He loves His people.
He speaks His Word to them. He makes them promises. And He keeps His promises.
So, the question isn’t whether or not God’s Word will be fulfilled. The question is how. And that’s
where I tell you the good news. God is an equal opportunity employer. He uses everyone to
accomplish his will.
It is political season again, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, it seems like it is always political season
these days. As soon as one election is over, they start campaigning for the next one.
Something very interesting happened in 1976 that would change the face of American politics.
Jimmy Carter was elected president. Was that a watershed election because he was a Democrat?
No. Was it because he was the governor of a smaller southern state? No. Was it because he was a
peanut farmer with a big smile? No. So why would that election change the face of American
politics to this day? Because Jimmy Carter was a Southern Baptist and professed to be a born-
again believer. It turns out the reason he won the election was because of the votes of evangelical
Christians.
For the first time in the history of our country, people actually elected a man president because he
was a man of God. Evangelical Christians went to the voting booths because they wanted to
restore a sense of moral values into our government and its affairs. So we elected a Christian to
lead us.
Sorry to say that it didn’t work out the way we hoped. Twenty years later and we still have many
of the same problems in this country. But here is the Good news. God can use anyone to
accomplish his will and they don’t even need to be in the program.
That is what Ezra’s story is all about. King Cyrus was not a man of faith at all. He tolerated the
Jews. But God put it in his head that he should let them return to Israel and he simply let it happen.
Actually, more than letting it happen, he encouraged them and made it possible by providing them
everything they needed.
We often gloss right over this but it is one of the most amazing miracles in the Bible. The truth is
that God has often used world leaders to accomplish his will even though they have no allegiance
to him, no faith, no possible gain in doing anything for God. We like to think if we get our guy or
gal in everything will be better.
Well here is the truth. If God wants to get it done, it doesn’t matter who sits in the seat of power.
(Now this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t get out and vote. Our vote may be part of the plan.) But the
good news is that the future doesn’t depend solely on us. God is an equal opportunity employer.
He will use Mitt Romney, Hillary Clinton, Denis Kucineck, Barak Obama, Mike Hukabee, Ron Paul
or anyone else we elect to accomplish his will.
Here is a second truth. God can use you and me to do his will too! A lot of people think that God
only uses the most gifted, the most talented to do his will. That’s not the case. God will use
anyone who is willing to be a channel for his purposes. If you let his spirit work in and through
you, God will make things happen.
Too often we think that we have to have “saint status” for God to even look at us. We think well I
drink a little bit, or I like to have a good time, or I am not an “every Sunday type of Christian,”
whatever that means, so God can’t use me.
The truth is God can use anyone to accomplish his plan. He can use those who oppose his
purposes. The Babylonian people certainly didn’t want to lose the Jews and their slave like labor
but when Cyrus gave the order for the people to return to Israel to build the temple, the people
gave them gifts of gold and silver to take with them to restock the temple. I’m not even sure if
they understood what they were doing. But it happened. The non believers were the ones who
funded the return and the rebuilding.
So think about this, if God is such an equal opportunity employer that he uses non believers to
accomplish his will, imagine what he can do if you and I submit to his will.
Our question should never be, “Is God going to use me?” The proper question is “Are you and I
willing to have God use us and how can we better serve him?
Are we engaged in a life of faith, of spiritual disciple, of obedience? Are we reading his Word and
trying to get to know his plans and purposes? Are we spending time in prayer talking to him? Are
we gathering in worship and fellowship with other believers so that we can be ready to go when he
calls?
We stand on the precipice of a new year. We have been making resolutions and looking for ways
to make this a great year. Well let’s make sure that one of our considerations is that we are ready
and prepared to answer the call of God to be a channel for his blessings and purposes.
Amen
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