Common Men, Uncommon Calling—PT 4 John”

 

MORNING SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/25/2026 10:12 AM

My Worship Time                                Focus: “Common Men, Uncommon Calling—PT 4 John”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                               Reverence: “Luke 6:14 d”

            Message of the verse:  “John”

            In this morning’s SD we will look at the introduction to the forth chapter of the theme “Common Men, Uncommon Calling” series to which John MacArthur gives us insights into the twelve apostles that Jesus had just chosen after a whole night of prayer.  Today we will begin to look at the apostle John as this entire chapter is about him.

            “When God chooses people for His salvation purposes, He does not do so based on human standards.  ‘The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples,’ Moses reminded the children of Israel, ‘for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you, from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt’ (Deut. 7:7-8).  Moses also downplayed his own qualifications for leadership, saying ‘To the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue’’’ (Ex. 4:10; cf. 6:12).  Jeremiah reached in dismay to his call to a prophet (Jer. 1:5), exclaiming, ‘Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth’ (v. 6).

            “No one was more greatly used by God in the spread of the gospel than the apostle Paul (cf. Rom. 15:19; 1 Cor. 15:10).  Yet even he was not chosen because of any human qualifications he possessed.  He regarded himself as ‘the very least of all saints’ (Eph. 3:8), and ‘the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because [he had] persecuted the church of God’ (1 Cor. 15:9).  By his admission Paul had been ‘a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor’ (1 Tim 1:13; cf. Acts 8:3; 22:4-5; 26:9-11; Gal. 1:13; Phil. 3:6), and viewed himself as the foremost of sinners (1 Tim. 1:15).  His opponents contemptuously said of him, ‘His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptable’ (2 Cor. 10:10), since Paul lacked the public persona and polished skills of a Greek orator (cf. 11:6).

            “Paul did have impressive religious qualifications from a human perspective (Acts 26:24; 2 Cor. 11:5, 22-33; Gal. 1:13-14; Phil. 3:4-6).  But the trials he endured taught him the lesson that God’s ‘grace was is sufficient…for power is perfected in weakness’ (2 Cor. 12:9).  In 2 Corinthians 2:16 he asked the rhetorical question, ‘Who is adequate for these things?’ and gave the answer in 3:5: ‘Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God.’  No one is able in his own strength to properly serve almighty God.  As Paul reminded the Corinthians, those whom God calls to salvation and service include ‘not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong’ (1 Cor. 1:26-27).

            “The Twelve, like all believers, were not chosen by the Lord because of any superior spirituality they possessed.  As has been noted in earlier chapters of this volume, they were common men—fishermen, tax collectors, political revolutionaries.  Paul described himself and his fellow apostles as ‘men condemned to death…a spectacle to the world…fools for Christ’s sake…weak…without honor…hungry and thirsty…poorly clothed…roughly treated...homeless…working with [their] own hands…reviled…persecuted…slandered…the scum of the world, the dregs of all things’ (1 Cor. 4:9-13).  The Twelve were also scorned as uneducated and untrained Galileans (Acts 2:7; 4:13).

            “The only explanation for the gospel’s impact is the power of God.  He chooses to put the priceless truth of the glorious gospel in simple, ordinary, clay pots (2 Cor. 4:7) so that all the glory is His.  The world is filled with people too consumed with their own interests, importance, and abilities to be used by God.  But when He chose the men who would be the foundation of the church (Eph. 2:20), God did not choose learned scholars, eloquent orators, or self-righteous religious leaders.  He chose twelve ordinary men, whose lives and ministries would forever change the course of history.

            “Having introduced Peter, Andrew, and James, Luke identified the fourth on his list of the twelve apostles, John.  After examining his background, we will consider the two things that were the consuming passion of John’s life: truth and love.”

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Now as I think about what changes the lives of individuals that God has chosen for His salvation, it seems to me that the Holy Spirit living in a believer, along with the Word of God, and the preaching of His Word are the most important things that causes a person to desire to live for the Lord.  You cannot do it on your own, and if you could then it would not bring glory to the Lord, so again humility is certainly something that a believer must have to be effective in serving the Lord.

My Steps of Faith for today:  Continue to rely on the Lord to get me through what will be the worst thing that I will ever go through, the declining health of my dear wife, and if God does not bring about a miracle to bring her back to health then she will soon go to be with the Lord, wonderful for her, but very difficult for me.

6/25/2026 10:54 AM