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The Christian’s Call

Isaiah 6: 1 – 13

Rev. Peter R Green, Sunday morning, 29 May, 2005

THIS SERMON has caused me a bit of heart–searching. I truly and sincerely believe in God’s call on the believer, but I keep falling into pre–Reformation attitudes which won’t help you.

  I believe in every–member ministry. I don’t accept that there is a special class of super–Christians who have a superior calling. I want you to find your own ministry and your own place in this world, but I struggle to avoid thinking of the call to Pastoral ministry or to the Mission Field, even when I am trying to encourage you to find a place that fits you.

  I have told you about my own sense of calling to ministry, and you know that the first thing that troubled me was whether God meant full–time service in a local church, or full–time service in the overseas Mission field.

 That was a limited vision. It was what I was conditioned to expect. When our pastors preached about God’s call, it was always pastoral ministry or mission field.

 We must all have a broader vision. Imagine a world where you could not openly be a pastor or a missionary. Imagine a world where Islam or secularism had taken over and suppressed visible Christian ministry. How would you or I function in that world? What if we had no General Superintendents or Bishops or Presidents to authorise our ministries. What would you do then?

 I was reading about ministry recently, and the author said that, although Baptists have a well worked–out theology of every member ministry, it’s the Brethren who have most successfully put it into practice, because the Brethren have no other option. Every member is expected to be in ministry.

 So, as I talk about the call to ministry, I am not recruiting for the Baptist Theological College. I am recruiting for the Kingdom of God. I am asking you to seek and to find the ministry God calls you to.

 Having the mind of Christ means to be in ministry as Jesus was in ministry. He was not an authorised Rabbi. He did not have certificates and degrees. But he was in ministry, and seeking to do God’s will wherever life took him.

 I am not against training. I have three degrees, a diploma and two certificates, and I think it is great to have done that study. Too many preachers still make up for ignorance by speaking loudly. But training doesn’t make ministry. Training is a tool to enhance ministry.

 I had to pull a tree stump once in our yard at Berala, and, with my bare hands, I may have done it in a couple of years. But I dug around the stump with a shovel and a mattock, and I towed it out of the ground with a heavy rope tied to the tow bar of my car. Do you blame me for using tools to do a job like that?

 But today I am not talking about the tools you use. I am talking about finding and doing God’s will in terms of how you best serve God and the people around you.

 We have just read about Isaiah’s call to ministry, but let’s begin with another kind of call altogether.

  Paul and Silas had been preaching, and a demonised girl kept following them around, shouting in a mocking way that they were servants of the Most High God, and everyone should listen to them. Finally, Paul got too irritated and cast the demon out of the girl in Jesus’ name. The girl’s owners made lots of accusations against Paul, and formented a riot, and Paul and Silas were thrown into the Philippi local gaol. The Bible tells the story:

 AC 16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody’s chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”

AC 16:29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

AC 16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptised. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family.

  This gaoler immediately began a ministry, as soon as he was converted. He saw Paul and Silas in need, he tended their wounds, and he fed them.

 Many ministries are just like that. You see a need, you are there, you can do something, so you do it.

  Look around! Do what you can!

  Some time back, in one of those prayer meetings for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, I was struck by the thought that so many country churches are struggling to cope with drought and rural depression. I said, “Couldn’t we list the churches in these areas, and begin writing to and praying for the members? And, if we did it for a church of another denomination, we could build bridges as well.”

 There was a need. and we could have done something about it.

  I was discouraged that no one else seemed to want to take up the idea.

 It strikes me that I saw a need, and perhaps I should have done something about it and invited others to join me.

 There are needs all around us.

  John talks to people he meets, and brings their prayer needs to us. Neci was talking to a neighbour whose little girl was sick, and brought her need to us. Joyce told us about her friend with the cancer.

 Each one tries to minister where there is a need, and then brings it back to the rest of us. That is exactly how it should happen.

 But not all of us minister in the same way.

  When I conduct a funeral, I sometimes quote the author, Frederick Buechner, who said, “A death is the end of a life, but it is not the end of a relationship.”

  I was looking up some information about Buechner on the internet, and I discovered an interesting fact. He is a Presbyteran minister, and the Presbytery he belongs to has recognised him as a novelist for Christ. That’s not the title they give him. But they have seen how his novels minister to those in need, and they support him to write them.

  Could your calling be to write for Christ, or to be an accountant or a cleaner or an architect or a welfare worker for Christ?

 Often the call is seen in the needs we observe.

  That Samaritan coming along the Jericho Road didn’t need a special call from God. He saw a man beaten by robbers and ministered to him. It’s what Jesus wants of us all.

  But for others of us the call comes from someone else, a suggestion or a recommendation.

 A work colleague told me about the needs of another person who works with us.

  It was not appropriate for my friend to try to build too close a relationship with the young man concerned, so my colleague asked me to see what I could do.

 The young chap is not easy to relate to, and our paths don‘t always cross, but, when they do, I take tha request seriously, and look for ways to build that relationship.

  When Paul was talking to Titus about ministry, he told him.

2TI 4:1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

  I have never yet met an evangelist who had to be told to do the work of an evangelist. More often, they need to be told, “Here, steady up for a minute!”

  But Paul knew that the ministry in Crete needed more than just a pastor–teacher. He knew that evangelism was needed, so he told Titus to do that kind of work.

 I am very grateful for the rediscovery of spiritual gifts in my lifetime. When I became a Christian, people often talked about our duties as Christians, and about growing in holiness, but no one spoke about the Holy Spirit or spiritual gifts. It was liberating to think that each of us has an individual mix of God–given abilities, formed out of our conversion experience and empowered by the Holy Spirit himself.

  But the downside was that a lot of people began thinking, “I won’t do so and so, because that is not what I am gifted for.”

 Our call into ministry can come from someone else.

 I once saw a cartoon of a minister and his wife going through the calendar, and the wife remarks, “God loves you — and everyone else has a wonderful plan for your life!” Don’t fall into that trap. Don’t let other people set your agenda for you. But also don’t refuse to listen to others, and don‘t miss God‘s voice if he does speak to you through others.

 I was on my way home one evening when I was still in College, and an elderly Koorie man in a shop asked me about my work.

 When I told him, he praised my commitment and said, “Never forget that people like me and my people need people like you to be our advocates. The poor and the outcast need to be heard.” I have ever since had a sense that that was part of my calling from God.

  But sometimes God’s call comes more directly.

  When God first spoke to me about full time ministry, it was the last thing I had on my mind. I was working for an engineering firm and studying Engineering, and I realised that that was not for me. If God had directed me into Architecture or an academic career in languages, I wouldn't have been at all surprised. But when he said, “Full time ministry”, I was flabbergasted. It was neither what I expected nor what I wanted.

  I didn’t hear a voice, but the words formed quite distinctly in my mind.

 After some hesitation, I agreed to obey — as long as what I thought I heard was confirmed by some external confirmation.

 It’s easy to promise obedience if you know that there is no chance of being put to the test.

 I was rather shocked the next Sunday when our pastor told me, “I believe you have pastoral gifts.” and said he wanted me to help him with some of the follow–up of visitors. Here was all the confirmation I didn’t want!

  Isaiah was a lot more willing than I was. God’s call can come to you in a direct way, as it came to Isaiah or to Jeremiah or to so many others throughout history.

 Some hear an audible voice. Some see something that speaks to them. Some experience a combination. Some are drawn to reflect on an experience, and that compels them. In College, we had an American girl taking units towards her degree in the US, and she needed to know whether God was calling her to return to the US or whether she should try to migrate to Australia and minister here. As she sat by the lake and watched ducks, she suddenly understood what God was saying to her, and she chose to obey and return to the US.

 God can speak directly.

  I want to close off with a warning.

  I have spoken about God’s call to minister, and I really don’t want you misunderstanding how this works.

  Sometimes that call gives a permanent direction; but often it is a temporary call.

  I’ve told the story of the Quaker who felt called to preach at a timber workers’ camp in Canada, and how his sermon to an empty dining hut led to the conversion of a man who was listening from outside. Imagine if that Quaker had decided that, from now on, his ministry was to preach in empty dining huts, or to travel from timber workers’ camp to timber workers’ camp, preaching.

  He was sensitive to God’s call, and he was also sensitive to when he had fulfilled that call. After he preached, he went home knowing that he had done what he was called to do. He had discharged his responsibilities, and could move on to the next thing.

  We have taken on board the old idea that the character of a minister is somehow indelible, that, once you are called, you stay called.

  I vaguely knew a pastor who felt his only way out of being stuck in a ministry was to leave the ministry and the church altogether. It was a great loss!

  I think the Quakers have it right, with their emphasis on your “Bundle of Responsibility.” We can’t afford to live in the past, or to waste our lives hanging around for a future ministry. Our calling is to carry out the responsibility we now have.

 My family has a military background, and I think there is a military principle to observe. Stay at your post until you are called away from it, but don’t ever stay once that call to move comes.

  And I add, don’t expect to be a private all your life. There are promotions and repostings for many of us — be ready to do something different when the call comes.

 Finally, and above all, whether the call comes from the situation, whether the call comes from someone else, or whether it is direct from God, let’s obey it — because there is a whole world out there, waiting to see the Lord in action through you and me.

  Now is the time to listen to God’s call on our lives and to obey when he says, ”Whom shall we send?” AMEN

© Peter R. Green 2005. Permission is granted for quotation in full for non-commercial purposes provided that authorship is acknowledged and this copyright notice is displayed with the text. Portions also copyright The Bible, NIV (Zondervan Ltd.)