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A YOUNG MAN IN GOD’S PLAN
Saul of Tarsus was a young man in God’s plan. He was a young man called by the Lord according to the Lord’s plan and for the Lord’s purpose. Acts 7:58 tells us that “the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man called Saul.” Then in Galatians 1:14 Paul tells us that he advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in his race. Contemporaries refers to those of Saul’s own age.
MAN— THE CENTER OF GOD’S PLAN
Our God, who is full of wisdom, has a plan, and the entire universe was created according to His purpose, His will, His plan. We must know what God’s eternal plan is. In the next chapter we will see more concerning this. Man’s position, man’s place, in God’s plan is very central. It is absolutely right to say that the Bible is a book full of Christ, yet we can also say that the Bible is a book full of men. Even God Himself became a man (John 1:1, 14). Jesus is the complete God and the perfect man. Even after His resurrection and ascension, He is still a man. Before Stephen was stoned, he said that he saw “the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:56). Stephen saw the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man in the heavens. Man is the center of God’s plan. A bicycle wheel may have a hub with many spokes. The hub and the spokes subsist in the wheel. If the hub, the center, is taken away, the spokes will collapse. In like manner, without man as the center, God’s plan would collapse.
GOD CALLING YOUNG PEOPLE TO TURN THE AGE
We must also see that all the persons who were called by God to carry out His up-to-date move were young men. This does not mean that God would not use an older person or that God does not love the older ones. But the Scriptures reveal that all the persons who were called by God were young ones. You may think that Moses was called by God when he was eighty years old. But you have to realize that Moses had something divine working within him even before he was forty. From his very youth, he had something to do with God. When he was eighty, that was not the first time God came to him. God came to him when he was young (Acts 7:20-29). You may point out that Abraham was seventy-five years old when he was called by God (Gen. 12:1-4). But if you read the Scriptures carefully, you will see that Abraham was seventy-five years old when his father Terah died in Haran (11:32). Acts 7:2 tells us that “the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran.” The first time God called Abraham was while his father was still alive, and the second call came after his father had died. Therefore, the first time God came to Abraham was quite earlier than when he was seventy-five years of age. On the other hand, we have to realize that at Abraham’s time, a man who was seventy-five years old was still quite young. I would not say that God would never call an older person, but the Bible and church history show that most of the time God has a new move with young people.
God calls young people to carry out His move because, generally speaking, young people are not set, settled, or occupied. With an older person everything is usually set. It is rather hard for him to have a change within. Also, everything tends to be settled with an older person. It is not easy for him to move on with the Lord. Also, older people tend to be occupied by many things. God would not call those who are set, settled, and occupied, because whenever He calls a person, that means He has something new to do. He calls someone because He has a desire to turn the age, to do something new and revolutionary.
From the time of creation God has always been going on. He has a plan, and with this plan He has an aim, a goal. In order to reach this goal, He has to go on and on. With every step of the Lord’s going on, there is always something new. With people like Adam, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David there was always a new step of the Lord’s going on. It is hard for God to go on with older ones because they tend to be set, settled, and occupied. It is much easier for God to do something revolutionary with young people, to turn the age from one direction to another direction.
Do you think that God is satisfied with the present situation of Christianity? Do you not think that the present religious system is something too old? Do you not believe that God is waiting for a chance to do something new, to have a change, to have a transfer, to have a turn in the age? The record of the Scriptures shows us many changes. There was a change in history with Noah, with Abraham, with Moses, with David, and with Isaiah. Then there was a great change, a great turn with John the Baptist. Finally the greatest turn, the greatest change, in the history of mankind was brought in by a young man named Jesus when He was thirty years old. Then the Lord proceeded to go on further in His heavenly ministry with the apostles.
Throughout the history of the church we can see how the Lord raised up young men to turn the age. The Lord raised up Martin Luther during the Reformation to bring mankind out of the Dark Ages. This was a transfer in the age. God is always doing something new. He is always going on. Generally speaking, God does not impart something new through the aged persons but always through young persons. Martin Luther was young when he was called and dealt with by the Lord. Zinzendorf was a young man when he was caught by the Lord as was John Nelson Darby, the leader of the Brethren assemblies. John Wesley, Charles Wesley, and George Whitefield were also young men when they were called by the Lord. Missionaries whom the Lord used in church history to gospelize the world, such as Hudson Taylor, William Carey, and David Livingstone, were called by the Lord when they were young.
It is hard to find a case from the Scriptures or from church history where God called an older person to do something for Him in a new way. This is because every piece of God’s work is something new. God is always going on, so He always needs a new start with a new nature in a new way and for a new age. Man is so central in God’s plan, yet man must be used by God while he is still young. When you become old, the time for God’s calling, the time for God’s use, mostly is over. I do not mean that the time for God’s salvation is over. Many older persons have been saved by God, but the time for God’s use is mostly over.
KEEPING OURSELVES EMPTY, OPEN, FRESH, NEW, LIVING, AND YOUNG WITH THE LORD
The first young man used by God in the Scriptures was Adam. God did not create an old man. The word old came from the fall. If man had never fallen, he could never be old. If man had never fallen, it would have been possible for him to live many years and not become old. God had no intention to have many old men. God’s intention is to have many young men with every one fresh, new, and living. None of us should be old. To be old means to be set, settled, and occupied. Sometimes some of the saints would refer to me as an old brother. It seems that this is a respect to me, but actually I do not like to hear this. I do not look upon myself as an old brother. I am not set, settled, and occupied. We always need to exercise to be young, to be new, to be renewed, to be fresh, and to be living all day long. It is only when you are young that there is a possibility for God to come in to call you, to choose you, and to use you to do something new. We need to give the Lord the way to go on in His progressive move through us. I hope that you will be a living, fresh, and new channel for the Lord to go on in His own way. This will require you to offer yourself to Him, to cooperate with Him.
When D. L. Moody was a young man, he heard someone say that something wonderful would be worked out on this earth if a man would offer himself fully to God, to be fully possessed and occupied by God. When he heard that word, he immediately responded to it. He gave himself fully to the Lord. That was the secret as to why God could use D. L. Moody so much and why the Lord could go on quite a distance of His way through D. L. Moody. I hope that we would take this fellowship and tell the Lord, “Lord, I thank You that I am still young. I do not want there to be anything set, settled, or occupied with me. I want to be fully open to You for Your new move on this earth. Lord, I give myself to You. Come in and occupy, take, and possess me for Your up-to-date move on this earth.” If we would pray to the Lord in this way, we will be the persons who will turn, who will transfer, the age.
There is always something new to be worked out by God. The Holy Spirit is now working and moving in the hearts of the children of God for the carrying out of His move. He is ready, but He is waiting for some people to cooperate with Him. The situation in today’s religion cannot satisfy God. God wants to do something new. He wants to do something new in life, in knowing Christ, in experiencing Christ, in preaching Christ, in dispensing Christ, and in expressing Christ. The doctrines, the forms, the organization, the rituals, the regulations of organized religion, and the miraculous gifts cannot satisfy God nor can they fulfill His purpose. These are not what God’s heart’s desire is. God wants to do something new. He desires that Christ Himself would be known, realized, experienced, and expressed in a full and living way. If you are occupied with the miraculous gifts or with Bible knowledge, God cannot come in to use you for His up-to-date move. If you are settled into a certain form, organization, or ritual, you cannot be used by the Lord to fulfill His purpose. You have to be new, empty, and open, telling the Lord that you are here for nothing on this earth but for Himself. We need to tell the Lord that we are not here for religion, nor are we focused on teachings, doctrines, or gifts. But we are here one hundred percent for Christ Himself as the living One.
If you would be so fresh, young, and new with the Lord, He would have a way to carry out His new move through you. This is why the Lord said in Luke 18:17, “Truly I say to you, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child shall by no means enter into it.” A little child, not filled with and occupied by old concepts, can easily receive a new thought. Hence, people need to receive the kingdom of God as a new thing, with an unoccupied heart, like a little child. You may be an older brother in years and yet still be young in the spirit because you are not set, settled, or occupied. Whenever we open ourselves absolutely to the Lord, He has a way to dispense something new, fresh, and real of Himself, of His thought and desire, into our being. May the Lord gain a group of people in these days to turn the age for His new move.
If I could help others to be saved and to be raised up to love the Lord, to seek after the Lord, this would make me happy. But I would not really be satisfied until I knew that a good number of saints could be used by the Lord in His hand to turn the age through their life and work. We are not merely fellowshipping concerning salvation or spirituality, but we are dealing with God’s eternal purpose. The young people need to realize that this is their golden time to be used by the Lord. The Lord needs you as a channel through which He can carry out His move. The way for you to grasp this opportunity is to go to the Lord to open and empty yourself. You need to give yourself to Him and allow Him to take you, to possess you. Never have something within your being that is set, settled, or occupied. Keep yourself empty, open, fresh, new, living, and young with the Lord. Then the Lord will be able to go on through you in a marvelous way. We all need to consecrate ourselves once again to the Lord for His eternal purpose.