Jesus has not called us to be revolutionaries, working tirelessly to change nations or cultures. He has called us to go as His ambassadors, calling sinners to be reconciled to their Savior. And it does not matter if we find them at the far reaches of the globe or next door. It does not matter if they are the poorest of the poor or the most weathly on the planet. If they are lost, we are to be seeking them in order to preach to them the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.

If we examine the New Testament we do not find a diatribe against the evils of the Roman Empire, or a plot being hatched to “Christianize” the government. In fact, history proves that when Constantine did just that the resulting “church of Rome” has grown into the largest cult on the face of the earth, melding false religion, idol worship, and demonic doctrines in order to deceive the world and anathamize the true gospel.

This week we will take a break from our series in Daniel in order to follow up on one of the themes that has run througout our sermons. There are 2 kingdoms at war – the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world. If we are a part of the Kingdom of God we will reign with Christ. We will not be overcome by the world, the flesh, or the devil. And we see from Scripture that in Christ there is not slave or free, Jew or Gentile, or even male or female. We are one with Him and with each other. One Body.

So what are we to do when confronted with the harsh reality that some in the Body of Christ are poor while others are rich? What can we do about ethnic and cultural differences that exist within the Church? In some parts of the world the Church has freedom to meet for worship and to openly and publicly preach the gospel. In other parts of the world the Church lives under constant threat of violence, imprisonment, and persecution if they are so bold as to even own a page of the Scriptures or are so foolish as to meet with other Christians for worship.

This week we will take a look at 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 where Paul tells us about our need for contentment in Christ so that we might live as we are called. He repeats three times that we are to be content. No matter our social status (rich, middle class, poor), our ethnicity (Jew or Gentile), or our marital status (single, married, divorced, widowed) – no matter where we are, God has us where He wants us! And we need to know that the single most important thing for us to do is to keep His Commandments – to obey God’s Word.

Too often we see missions and evangelism as an opportunity to win people to our culture, to export freedom and the American dream, and to make others just like us. But the Kingdom of God is made of of every tribe, tongue, and nation. There will be cultural and societal differences. As long as those differences do not disobey the Word of God then we should not seek to change them!

Therefore, Paul tells us that we do not need to forsake culture, society, or our families in order to follow Christ. We are to live as we are called, where we are called, to the glory of God.

This week’s message it titled, “Calling and Contentment.” From 1 Corinthians 7 we will see how Jesus came to bring Spiritual Regeneration, not Social Revolution. As we celebrate our freedom let us thank God that we are free in Christ – whether Jew or Gentile, Slave or Free, Married or Single. In truth we can only be free by being His blood bought slave!