November 26, 2017

A recalibration is making small changes to an instrument so it measures accurately. A spiritual recalibration then is to allow the Holy Spirit to make small changes to our thinking, living, and behavior so that we reveal the Kingdom of Heaven correctly. In this fifth study on renewal and revival, Pastor Eric Ludy discusses our continued need for spiritual recalibration. The reality of the Christian life is not one of arrival but of every increasing growth, transformation, sanctification, holiness, and righteousness as God makes spiritual recalibrations in our lives. If you’ve ever longed for something more in your Christian life, this message will reveal how to receive it.

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sermon notes

RECALIBRATION
(Cambridge English Dictionary):
to make small changes to an instrument so that it measures accurately

SPIRITUAL RECALIBRATION
To allow the Holy Spirit to make small changes to our thinking, living, and behaving so that we reveal the Kingdom of Heaven correctly

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me. And Jesus answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.
Luke 10:38-42

RECALIBRATING MARTHA
• Is it right to prepare the house, to set the table, to serve Jesus well? Yes.
• But, it is MORE right to do what Mary did.

RECALIBRATING ERIC
• I have served as Martha and, many times, in doing that which was “right,” have spurned the “MORE right.”
• There are things I’ve known to do, but have not done them – and today I wish to call that precisely what it is. Sin.
• I have been a diligent soul-teacher, not a diligent soul-winner
• I have forsaken countless people on this earth, being distracted with that which is “right” while excusing myself from that which is “MORE right.”
• I have hindered the work of the Holy Spirit in using me to speak to the lost, by so dutifully speaking to the already saved.
• I have chosen, though it has been unwitting at times, the easier path of “right” instead of the more dangerous path of “MORE right.”
• I need a fresh impetus, a fresh boldness, a fresh vision, a fresh conviction of the exceeding sinfulness of this distraction, and this justification of the “right.”

RECALIBRATING OUR CHURCH
We consistently do that which is right, but I’m not certain we are consistently doing that which is MORE Right.

TODAY’S EXAMPLE

We have been asked by our Lord to “win souls”
• Are we doing it?
• Are we doing it as if we had received a personal commission from the King of
Kings and handed all the resource and all the equipment to pull off this work?
• Are we doing it as if it were our highest priority?
• Are we doing it with excellence, with givenness, with cheer, with energy?
• Are we doing it, even poorly?
• Are we even willing to do it?

OUR KNACK FOR FINDING AN EXCUSE

A certain man gave a great supper and invited many, and sent his servant at supper time to say to those who were invited, Come, for all things are now ready. But they all with one accord began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of ground, and I must go and see it. I ask you to have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to test them. I ask you to have me excused. Still another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come. So that servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and the maimed and the lame and the blind. And the servant said, Master, it is done as you commanded, and still there is room. Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled. For I say to you that none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.
Luke 14:16-24

You have nothing to do but to save souls. Therefore spend and be spent in this work. It is not your business to preach so many times; but to save as many souls as you can; to bring as many sinners as you possibly can to repentance, and with all your power to build them up in that holiness, without which they cannot see the Lord.
John Wesley
Excerpted from The Twelve Rules

DISCIPLESHIP MATTERS
But is there something that must be considered even MORE right?

There are men who feel they have special talents for the edification of believers, and so they give themselves entirely to building up Christians in the Faith. This was where I was side-tracked. I felt that I had special gifts for teaching and speaking to young Christians on the Deeper Life, and so I prepared a number of addresses with the idea of devoting my time to this work, until God mercifully opened my eyes and showed me how far I was astray. There is nothing that will deepen Christian experience, edify believers and build them up in the Faith so rapidly and thoroughly as seeing souls saved. Deep Holy Spirit meetings where the power of God is working mightily in the conviction and Salvation of sinners will do more for Christians than the teaching of years without it. Such was the experience of David Brainerd. In writing of the Indians among whom he labored he says, “Many of these people have gained more doctrinal knowledge of Divine truths since I have first visited them in June last, than could have been instilled into their minds by the most diligent use of proper and instructive means for whole years together, without such a Divine influence.”
Oswald J. Smith

THE MORE RIGHT
The wisdom of God

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise.
Proverbs 11:30

Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
Daniel 12:3

Our own sense of right vs. God’s sense of Right

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, says the LORD.
Isaiah 55:8

There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
Proverbs 14:12

OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

. . . we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
Romans 10:3

GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

. . . Jesus Christ the Righteous.
1 John 2:1b

What Does The MORE Right One Intend to Do with Us?

Then He said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:19

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
1 Corinthians 9:19-23

For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming?
1 Thessalonians 2:19

Let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.
James 5:20

AT THE LAKE OF HARPS
So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch. But Simon answered and said to Him, Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord! For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men. So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.
Luke 5:1-11

Master, We Have Toiled all Night and Caught Nothing

. . . nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net. And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.
Luke 5:5

THE COMMISSION IS CLEAR
It is MORE Right to Obey Him, then to make sacrifices of ministry service and pursue moral excellence

Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD? And Saul said to Samuel, But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal. So Samuel said: Has the LORD as a great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:18-22

Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, Go . . . Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? . . . And (Eric and the Church at Ellerslie) said to (The Holy Spirit), But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me . . . So (The Holy Spirit) said: Has the LORD as a great delight in (your dutiful devotions) and (your moral excellence), as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to (do the thing I consider highest and best) than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:18-22 (Paraphrased)

So, Did He Really Say, Go?
I think He did!

And He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
Mark 16:15

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
Matthew 28:19

Then the master said to the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Luke 14:23

So Jesus said to them again . . . As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.
John 20:21