God Calls a New People

MEMORY VERSE: “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.” —Matthew 18:20

MATTHEW 18:10-20

IT IS true that beginning with the first advent of Jesus God has been calling a “new people.” In the preceding ages God called Abraham, and constituted Abraham’s progeny his people, and he dealt with and blessed them as a nation. (Isa. 51:2; Amos 3:2) However, the calling of God’s new people is not upon a national basis, but is individual, and upon the basis of an obedient response to the Gospel.

It is a call to follow in the footsteps of Jesus, and to lay down one’s life in sacrificial service. (Rom. 12:1) It is a heavenly calling. Paul wrote, “Holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling.” (Heb. 3:1) Paul also calls it a “high calling” He wrote, “This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”—Phil. 3:13,14

These “new people” are being called and prepared to be associated with Jesus in the spiritual phase of his messianic kingdom, to live and reign with him. (II Tim. 2:11,12) They are a very choice and precious people to God, and he cares for them in every way. His holy angels protect and guide them in ways which we are unable to comprehend. Speaking of the angels, Paul wrote, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall he heirs of salvation?”—Heb. 1:14

It is to these ministering angels that Jesus refers in the first verse of our lesson: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones [individuals of God’s ‘new people’]; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” This signifies that our guardian angels are well acquainted with the Heavenly Father, and that they know his will for each of his people, and will assist them in doing that will. Those who seek to injure these “little ones” do so at the risk of losing God’s favor.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep also emphasizes God’s solicitude for his new people. Since those who constitute this new people are being called and prepared to be associated with Jesus in the future work of saving the world in general from sin and death, God is naturally interested in them and desires that they make their calling and election sure as joint-heirs with Jesus in that kingdom which will bring deliverance to mankind in general.

With this thought in mind we could with propriety expand the sphere of the parable, and think of the whole human race as being a “lost sheep” in the family of God. And think of the lengths to which the Heavenly Father has gone in order to redeem and restore the lost race! He sent his beloved Son into the world to die as their Redeemer. He has set aside an entire age in his plan for the selection of a people to work with his Son in the messianic kingdom, even employing his holy angels as guardians over this people to assure their attaining that for which they have been called.

God has also made wonderful arrangements for this new people in their association with one another. When difficulties arise among them, he wants those involved to go directly to each other that an understanding may be reached, and amendment made if such is called for. The final status of possible wrongdoers is not left in the hands of unbelievers, but of the church itself. How this wonderful arrangement should contribute to the peace and spiritual prosperity of God’s people as together they press on to make their calling and election sure.

Our memory verse is a blessed assurance. How good it is to know that when we meet together with our brethren in Christ, in the sweet spirit of fellowship, conscious ever of the blest tie that binds our hearts in Christian love, that the Lord will be in our midst. To this we often add, “And that to bless,” which, while true, is not a part of the text.

QUESTIONS

What is the “new people” which God has been calling since the first advent of Jesus?

To what are they called, and what is the purpose of their calling?

How does God care for this people?

What arrangement has he made for communion together, and with him?

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