Purpose

Preface: I was instantly excited when this came to me. First because when I am inspired on a subject that seemingly comes out of nowhere I know that the Holy Spirit has something very important that needs to be taught. ( I often pray that God gives me that which He wishes me to write on) this is a topic that I would love to have several learned men in a forum sitting around discussing.

It is a topic of depth and requires much Bible knowledge and comprehension.I hope by the end of this writing I have provided a better understanding of these verses of scripture.

Understanding God's purpose in things is a gift that comes with maturity in our walk of salvation.

Romans 13: 1-2

1 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but from God; the powers that be are ordained by God.

2 Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and those who resist shall receive for themselves damnation.

Something to remember throughout this writing is that God never contradicts Himself, and that obedience to God and His teaching has priority on all laws and demands of men!

Coming to a complete understanding of these verses can be a difficult task, to comprehend the full wisdom here we must first understand that God often uses two methods of placing leaders in positions.

One is what I call direct placement, this is done through a calling and prompting of the Holy Spirit. In this method of placement there will be many doors opened in the path of the called, and in so doing this branch of the vine will become fruitful. A time of growth.

The other method is allowance, God will allow bad leaders to be put in power, this is a time when great lessons and understanding will be gained through tribulations.

(I know this is a difficult thing to grasp and I will attempt in this writing to provide a better understanding of this purpose)

Back to the topic of the call. First I want you to know that God's timing is always perfect, always! Many times in a calling there are long periods of training before the calling, but once called the training can be understood and it becomes seemingly impossible to avoid the calling. (Think Gideon!) I myself was called to teach after a long period of training.

I will add that this calling is and has been the greatest experience of my life, there is nothing that has ever given me greater joy or sense of purpose in my lifetime.

The purpose of men being called by God to act in the service that is their calling is always to benefit God's people through obedient service. You cannot be called to do nothing, “Nothing” is a choice not a calling. From my experience I think it is difficult for some to understand what a calling is and the effect it has upon the one that has been called.

If a man begins to feel a calling there becomes an overwhelming sense to act on the calling. It's something that can’t be denied and it becomes obvious that you can’t do anything else but act within your calling.

A common misconception that is often found in the Christian community is that of an expectation that a called man should act outside of his calling.

Yet still congregation members, the lost, and the entirety of humanity seem to think a called man is called to be a man of many hats. (An old euphemism describing someone that does many things.) I’m going to speak specifically of men called to Preach.

Preachers are often expected to act as the directors of finance, counselors, fulfill the duties of deacons, be Sunday school teachers, be pleasers of people, and youth ministers, along with all other positions within the Church.

Make no mistake people of God, a Preacher is called to PREACH! If we expect our men that have been called to preach to fulfill the duties of other callings we are WRONG!

(Yes if I was presenting this teaching to a live audience I would be yelling) because I want to emphatically present the understanding that the calling to Preach is just that!

Of course because of the knowledge and wisdom that comes with a calling to preach a Pastor has the ability to be of benefit in many areas, but they are not there to fulfill the other duties except that of preaching.

In my experience I’ve come to realize that a congregation cheats itself when it demands their preacher take on the roles or duties that should be attended to by others. Ok y’all pay attention, I don’t claim to have all the answers or all the understanding, but I do have the Biblical model as my guide in teaching this topic.

It is not just other people that fail to grasp a calling, many preachers have fallen into doing much more than they should, generally out of a sense of necessity or an area lacking in the duties needed in the church. These distractions hinder a preacher in his calling.

Often creating busy work that hinders his study time, prayer time, and contemplation of the word.

There are other callings as well as preaching. Some are called to teach, some to be missionaries, some to evangelize, each compelled to a service.

(We are all directed to spread the Gospel of Christ! The Great commission “Go teach, baptize and teach”) this is a direction not a calling.

God placed many good men in positions of power, they can be found throughout the Bible. All to build up His people.

Note; I cannot stress the utmost importance of this fact, We are never to turn from God, cease our prayer or worship, or sin for any reason! God will never ask us to do any of these things and we must never do anything directed by man no matter his position that is contrary to God's word!

God will allow bad people to be placed in positions of power for several reasons. This is an area that requires deep Bible knowledge to comprehend.

I’ll give only two examples in this section, but the scriptures have many. Sometimes a bad person is allowed to gain power to show the dedication of a Godly man.

God may also allow a corrupt person to gain power to inflict hard times to remind God's people to turn back to God. God may allow a bad person to acquire power to turn that man and show God’s sovereignty to the people. Great nations were raised and great nations fell throughout the Bible because of the leaders that were in power there.

Take king Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, he called himself the king of kings. It is obvious that this king Nebuchadnezzar was a prideful man with a haughty spirit and that he thought far more of himself than he should.

Proverbs 16:18 pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Not sometimes but always! We may not see it with some but it happens, there are many prideful and haughty people that are suffering in the fires of hell today!

Note; God knows the heart of every man, the good and the evil, every man’s heart!

Nebuchadnezzar’s reign served two purposes, to show the fervent dedication of a Godly man and to show God’s sovereignty over even the highest of earthly men.

Throughout king Nebuchadnezzar’s reign as king of Babylon he was shown several times that God was not only actively protecting those that served the true King but that God had authority over even Nebuchadnezzar's harshest demands.

This earthly king observed there of God's children emerge from the furnace of fire unscathed, and this prideful king was amazed when he had condemned an innocent Daniel to the pit of lions remaining safe and sound through the night.

God would go on to humble this once great earthly king so much in fact that Nebuchadnezzar ended up grazing on his hands and knees in the fields like a cow! God knew Nebuchadnezzar's heart and turned him, and king Nebuchadnezzar returned to his kingdom having realized the sovereignty of God.

Much wisdom had been gained by this king of Babylon he had witnessed how God had protected His own and through Daniel Nebuchadnezzar had reaped benefits from that man of God. The time came when king Nebuchadnezzar passed and the throne of Babylon was passed to his son. Sadly the lessons the father had learned were not passed down to the son.

Now Belshazzar the son of Nebuchadnezzar had been raised in a very affluent lifestyle, we can imagine that this spoiled child was more than likely giving orders to adult servants at a young age and this continued into his adulthood.

Like most children of nobility Belshazzar was probably not really raised but spoiled and tended by servants and I can believe there was not much right and wrong taught in his life because of the power his father wielded over the kingdom. Belshazzar, having not learned from God's works in his fathers kingdom had no understanding of consequence, and therefore had no tendency to limit his selfishness.

Surely this man Belshazzar was also allowed by God to take over the throne and gain power through his lineage. Belshazzar became drunk with power and was determined to prove his dominion over all things.

So it came to pass that Belshazzar ordered a large party and invited many ranking people in his kingdom to attend. It is worth noting that this new king was so prideful not only was he going to do his best to mock God but even defile the traditions of his own kingdom.

During this party Belshazzar ordered the items taken from the temple of God to be brought in so that he and his guest could drink from the goblets  that had been seized. This was done to mock God, a statement to his people that he and he alone was the sovereign ruler of Babylon.

Even that was not enough for this arrogant king, he had invited women to this event which was against the tradition of his fathers reign, and Belshazzar had strong drink served there also which broke the traditions of his kingdom. During the party a disembodied hand appeared and began to write a message on the wall, the message translates in English as “weighed, measured, found lacking, and divided”. 

Belshazzar didn’t know what the Hebrew words meant and no one in the room could translate it, so he sent for his wise men to come and translate it but they could not. Then Belshazzar's mother came and told him to send for Daniel that he had always been able to handle things for his father.

So Belshazzar sent for Daniel and once again God used His man to speak to an earthly king. That very night two warring factions with Babylon attacked the city, Belshazzar was killed and the city was divided between them.

Both Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar God allowed to become men in powerful Nebuchadnezzar for the purpose of showing that dedication to God demonstrated through Daniel and the love God has for His people will prevail and can humble even the greatest of earthly rulers.

Belshazzar was allowed to rule to show the world that His sovereignty prevails above all even the proudest of men.

There are many lessons to be learned through all this, but the one thing I wish to convey is that obedience to God and God's word is far more important than obeying any man no matter his position!

I pray we all have a heart to serve God above all else just as Daniel did!