A few years ago I was preaching through 1 Corinthians and one of my messages was titled “The Call to remain where planted”. If I am honest the sermon has been on my mind daily over the last few weeks, in fact, I have not been able to get it off my mind. We all have a plan for our lives, but sometimes it may not be God’s plan for us. It can be challenging to let go of what we’ve mapped out and accept His divine placement. Surrendering to His divine placement is an essential part of our spiritual journey, as it allows us to experience life in more meaningful ways and helps us grow closer to God.

In that message I talked about remaining where God has called you. God, in his infinite wisdom, has set you up in your current social circle and even in your current position. Now, this is not arguing that a person who was a prostitute or an adulterer, or a porn addict before conversion should continue in those roles afterward. The concept that sin is being tolerated or treated lightly in these verses is ludicrous, especially in light of Christ’s remarks to the adulterous woman at the well: “go and sin no more.”

I think what is difficult is when we go through a difficult circumstance in our life especially after we have felt God leading us to a certain place to understand that our place in this world is not just some matter of chance but rather it has been assigned to us by the Lord. In fact, Paul uses this word over and over again it is the word “called” and 1 Corinthians 7:17 he uses it like this “Only let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.” (1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV). The word called is not meaning like a vocation but rather this word calling is the Holy Spirit’s calling on the life of a person to enter into fellowship with Christ. So what Paul is saying here as plainly as I can tell is this “stay in the state you were in when you were converted when you were drawn by God remain in THAT spot. Because that is assigned to you by God. Remain where you are because God in his sovereignty has placed you there socially so stay there. I think on the ministry of Jesus and all of the times that Christ had people stay it is this same principle remember when he healed a demon-possessed man in Mark 5 the man wanted to go with Jesus and Jesus told him to stay back. The idea is that you are called at a particular time in your life in a particular culture and you have been placed there by God to uniquely prepare you for the ministry God has for you.

Now here is the thing I don’t like that. I am sure often you don’t like it either. We don’t like to think that God has planned the things that have come into our lives all for his purpose. We don’t like to think that God has planned things our before the foundations of the world because we want to think that we are somehow in control of everything that goes on. But the truth is that nothing comes into your life that has not first crossed the desk of the ruler of this universe. Now we can say well I don’t like that and that is fine God does not need you to like it but I want you to know I take great comfort in it.

Do you know why? Because it means that God is not taken by surprise with anything that comes into my life. God is not wringing his hands and saying “well I was going to bless Josh but I can’t now because he has ruined it.” It does not work that way. You say well how do you know? Well let me tell you how I know because His word is clear let’s read it Romans 8:28-38

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, (Romans 8:28–38 ESV)

Listen God has planned all things including all things surrounding the circumstances of my salvation and your salvation it does not happen by chance but by God’s plan. God is in control and there is never a time when he is not. That is why I love these words to Victory in Jesus “He sought me and He bought me” I did not seek him he sought me no man seeks him. I was dead in my sin and he breathed new life in me. I was at the bottom of the Ocean unable to take a breath and Jesus dove to the bottom and rescued this dead man. That is the very picture of Lazarus. It is a picture of salvation Lazarus was a dead man there was no mistaking it he was dead, dead and Jesus showed up and called dead Lazarus to life and Lazarus had no choice but to come forth out of the grave. That is us. We are dead, dead and when he calls our name we have no choice but to come forth.

We get confused because we want the Christian life to be a social revolution but it is a spiritual regeneration. Jesus had plenty of opportunity to change where people were socially he spoke with soldiers and poor people. rich people, slaves, taxpayers, and people from all walks of life and he could have said you need to leave this life but he didn’t. Christianity is not about social reform, I am not saying it does not have an effect on society as it most certainly does. However, a relationship with Christ can occur in any society and is not dependent on our social standing. You can be a man, woman, married, single, divorced, widowed, a Jew, a Gentile, a free person, a slave, a democrat, a republican, a libertarian, whatever. You can be in a democracy, an anarchy, or a dictatorship, you can be in China, Japan, Cuba, Iran, or America it does not matter you can be a Christian because it is not societal dependent it is internal. You should be the best Christian that you can be wherever you are no matter your social standing. Christianity is not about revolutionizing society. Now let me be clear as Christians we are to be active in society. We know how we are to treat the poor, the unborn, the widows, the hungry, the naked, and the wounded. As Christians, we have a social responsibility to always seek justice in society, and to speak the truth of God against injustice, and unrighteousness. However, society will never be transformed by a social gospel or social institution but only by the proclamation of the gospel that will lead to changed lives.

What Paul is getting at in 1 Corinthians 7 is that who we are is nothing, and God’s commands are everything, so don’t change anything. Stay where you are planted and be obedient to him until he moves you. Paul is showing that what matters the most is obedience to God’s commands and they are so much more important than the cultural distinctives. In other words, do not make a big stinking deal about the culture, but instead, make a big deal about obedience. Do not run around wringing your hands about the cultural distinctives thinking you must conform to them because they are of little importance to God but what is important is your obedience. What matters the most is the reality behind the ritual. Here is the danger we find ourselves in sometimes we are more committed to the outward appearance than we are to the inward reality. Then we end up having this false standard of spirituality, saying well really spiritual people will do such and such and we base it on what is external as opposed to really spiritual people will follow Christ and simply be obedient to him, therefore, experiencing the joy of Christ and therefore glorifying the father. Because regardless of what we think, it is always about him.

Our social standing or where we are even located is so inconsequential to God. When we follow Christ all of the externals are stripped away it does not matter your social standing it does not matter whether you are a doctor, a lawyer, or a sanitation worker none of it matters. It does not matter whether you are white, black, brown, red, purple etc, none of that matters, there are no class distinctions in Christ. What matter is that we all who are truly followers of Christ are slaves to Christ. You are now a part of the household of Christ. And this is why we can look at our social standing and say never mind it. We are under the Lordship of Christ he is our master we are his slaves and his Lordship over us is all that matters and it relativizes all other social statuses. How is it possible that everything comes into submission to Christ? How is it possible that we are free, but yet we are slaves of Christ?

Because we were bought with the blood of Christ therefore we shall not be slaves to men. The focus is not on us being bought but on the price that we are bought with. to bring us into Christ’s possession. We are saved by the blood of Jesus Christ that was the price that was paid for us. We are redeemed He paid for you with His life. His life was given for your life. Now you are God’s special possession, redeemed from slavery and bondage of sin. Now as his special possession what matters most is staying close to him and bringing him glory so we don’t go around saying poor me, or I am not high society or I am too low on the totem no! Stay close to God and be in His presence giving him glory. Because the temptation is to seek to please men.

How often do we become men-pleasers instead of God Pleasers? How often do we not say something, not do something, or how often do we say or do something only because we know it will please men and not because it will please God. How often do we stop and think in our lives if what we are about to say or do will glorify God or will it glorify someone else? Why would we seek the esteem of men or the praise of men by conforming to what they value the approval of God is your goal and not the esteem of men then you will seek to glorify him no matter the circumstance and no matter where he has placed you. You will not be consumed by your circumstances because you will understand there is a difference between joy and happiness and that happiness is fleeting and circumstantial but Joy is not and can come only when we are satisfied in him and he then is Glorified in us. Because it is in those moments that we realize it is not about us. That we were bought and our obedience to him is what matters.

Sometimes I find myself questioning God. I say things like this “God why did you bring me here to waste eight years of my life? Did I really make any difference? I have nothing to show for coming here. I am lonely. Am I done? Is there ministry for me anymore?” these are just a few things that cross my mind on a consistent basis. All of those things have the same thing in common. They focus on my circumstance and not God. I can live for God no matter where I am at, I can serve him as long as he gives me the opportunity. I do not need my circumstances to change I need to draw close to him. Someone else’s circumstances will always be better or even worse. There will always be a pastor that has not had to walk through what I had to walk through and there will be those who have walked through far worse. I can either glorify God or not no matter my circumstance and so can you. You see our issue is not our circumstances our issue is with God.

However, what is also so great about surrendering to his divine placement is that it is not always absolute. By that I mean this god does sometimes change our circumstances. Tax collectors became preachers, fishermen became missionaries, and slaves have been set free. The Corinthians were questioning what they needed to leave behind when coming to Christ and Paul is responding with you do not need to abandon your job or where you are socially he is showing that God is concerned with being satisfied in him. We need to be satisfied in Christ not in social standing.

One of the hardest things for us to do at times is to trust in God’s sovereignty. We often wonder if we are where we are supposed to be but as long as you are there then it is where you are supposed to be. I am not talking of sin but I am speaking of Job, social standing, living place, etc. You are not where you are by accident the Lord directs your steps, his purposes will be established. His purpose will not be thwarted. You are where you are by God’s divine appointment and our job is to be satisfied in Him until he moves us. May we surrender to his divine placement.