GOD IS CALLING YOU

GOD IS CALLING YOU

TEXT: Isaiah 6:1-8; Mt. 4:18-22

1. If you have ever ignored a ringing phone because you knew who it was, sit down.

2. If you have ever picked up the phone and said something stupid because you thought you knew who it was, sit down.

3. If you've ever tried to imitate a bird call, sit down.

4. If you've ever lost your religion over the call of an umpire or referee, sit down.

5. If you've ever fallen or dropped something trying to get to a ringing phone, sit down.

6. If you've ever stayed home from someplace you really wanted to go because you were expecting an important call, sit down.

7. If you've ever sat by the phone waiting for someone to call, sit down.

I took you through that just as a reminder of the different kinds of calls that we hear, and just how important a call can be. We've all experienced one sort of call or another, and the call of God to Isaiah in chapter 6 is one of the more famous ones in Scripture.

Isaiah’s call comes in the form of a vision, where he sees God way up high on a throne and God’s kingly robe is so huge that the hem of it completely fills the temple.  There are all these strange beasts with lots of wings who were attending to God and proclaiming God’s holiness with such power that the temple shook and filled with smoke.  Now, most of us can’t claim to have had such an experience, but for those of us who choose to pay attention to our spiritual lives, we can often point to several "aha" moments on the spiritual journey.

The initial one of those, the one that usually propels us to begin the spiritual walk in the first place, is usually the realization that the existence of God is a very real possibility.  Maybe we hadn't really considered that before, but something happens that makes us say there might actually be a God, in which case I had better pay attention. We might not be sure at that point. We might not know anything about the nature of that God. But God suddenly becomes real enough that we feel compelled to investigate further.

We often move from there to a conviction that there is a God, and unfortunately a lot of people stop their spiritual journey right there. They figure that they've reached the destination of believing in God, they sit down on a bench by the side of the road, and never take another step.  Sometimes they don’t go further because they think that’s all there is and, frankly, it seems a bit dull.  If the first experience of God is more powerful, some might not continue for the same reason Isaiah stops in his tracks.  God seems too overwhelming or scary or holy and it seems like a safer idea to keep God at arm’s length.

After all the shaking and smoking in Isaiah’s vision, he cries out “Woe is me!  I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”  When confronted with the glory of God, the first thing that Isaiah becomes aware of is his own sinfulness…both individually and in the nation to which he belongs.  And he’s scared.  He doesn’t think there’s even a chance for repentance.  When he beholds the full glory of God, his first thought is, “That’s it.  I’m toast.”

Of course he isn’t, and neither are we.  Whether we’re bored or scared, if you have reached the point of a basic belief in God, you that you haven't even left the spiritual driveway yet.  If you'll pull out onto the road for just a minute, I'll tell you about the second "aha" moment in the spiritual journey.

That moment is that the God that you just discovered is calling you, by name-- your phone number, your address, specifically you.  That's the place where I want to focus for this first sermon this morning.  Next week we'll look at the ways that God heals us and equips us when we answer that call, but none of that will matter unless we first realize that God is calling us in the first place.

So for today, the one realization that I want you to take home is, "God is calling me."  It's not that God has put out a general call and I can respond if I please.  It's not that God is calling a pay phone and whoever happens to walk by can answer it.  God is calling you, personally, at home, on your cell.  Isaiah’s vision is not being played in theaters across Israel.  It is only Isaiah who sees, and one of the seraphs with all those wings is touching his lips and no one else’s.

Often when we in the church talk about calling we tend to focus on the work that God calls us to do. In the ordained ministry especially, we are always talking about "my call," which is synonymous with talking about the particular work that I do, my vocation. Even the word "vocation" comes from the Latin word for "call." But calling is only secondarily about work and about vocation.

Calling is not so much about what you do as about who you do it for.  Calling makes no sense without there first being a Caller.  We are first and foremost called to be in relationship with God.  If you want a business and work metaphor, you can say that calling is not about your job title. It's about your employer.  God is the employer who wants to have you on the company team.

God will provide all the training that you need. God will even start you out with a year or two of paid leave if you're having a personal or family crisis that prevents you from starting work right away. You can discuss your actual job duties later. God just wants to make you a lifetime partner in the firm. Guaranteed employment -- if it gets so that you can no longer do the first assignment, there'll be another one that better suits your circumstances. You will never be laid off, fired, or forced to retire. You're being called simply because God thinks you're great, and wants to have you around.

If we make the mistake of equating calling with a specific line of work, we run the risk of a huge loss of purpose and meaning if our circumstances change and we can no longer do that task.  I often say I'm called to preach the Word of God. And it's true that being in the pulpit trying to make God's Word accessible to people is my current job assignment from God.  I have no doubt of that whatsoever.  But it's misleading to say that that is my calling.  My calling is simply to say yes to God for relationship and then, across the course of my life, to do whatever specific tasks God asks me to do at whatever time.

One of the most common questions that I get as a pastor is some form of, "How do I know that God is speaking?"  Unfortunately, the only way to really know God is speaking is by getting to know God personally.  There isn't an automatic caller ID on every message from God.  We know it's God's voice because we have enough experience with God to recognize it.  If I hear a voice in the hall, the only way I know who that voice is, is to go out and look.  If the same voice is in that hall day after day, after several times of going to look, I’ll soon know without looking.  I know when God is speaking to me because I recognize the voice from my experience.

When we are young, either physically or in our faith, and don't have those kinds of experiences with God to draw from, we need to ask others.  Wherever we are on the road, there's always somebody behind us on the road and somebody ahead of us.  No matter what stage we're at, whether we've just pulled out of the driveway or we're cruising down the interstate, we all need help and advice from those further along, and we all need to be available to help those who are not quite as far as we are.

If you haven't heard God's call on your life, it’s not because God isn’t calling.  You just need to learn what the voice sounds like.  Maybe you’re waiting for the phone to ring while God has been sending e-mails.  Maybe the call was sitting in the Bible reading for today, but you didn’t pick it up and read it.  Maybe you’re waiting for something that sounds great and powerful while your two-year old is bringing God’s message to you.

At this point in my Spiritual life I know God’s voice pretty well.  My problems now don’t come because I don’t recognize the voice; they come because I know what the voice is likely to say and I don’t want to hear it.  Isaiah was sure that if God spoke it would be his doom.  But it wasn’t.  God responded to Isaiah’s overweening guilt with a ritual cleansing and the words God spoke were not words of condemnation, but words of forgiveness.  “Your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out,” says the seraph.

And then, it comes.  Once Isaiah is ready to listen, the call is given.  It is not a command, but an offer.  “Whom shall I send,” asks God, “and who will go for us?”  Isaiah steps up to the plate, and God gives him a message for the people…a message that will go on to include predictions of a suffering servant who will blot out the transgressions of Israel, just like the seraph blotted out Isaiah’s sins with a burning coal.

God is calling you by name. Can you hear it? Will you hear it? It's the call that will change your life and perhaps the lives of others.  It won't go away.  If the line is busy, God will call back.  If the phone is busy God will try the door or email.  God is calling you.  Have you ever really answered?  Have you ever finally stopped and said, "Here am I, send me?"  The purpose of your life is waiting to be fulfilled, and God can accomplish it whether you’re 10, 50, or 100 years old.  God wants you on the team.  What will your answer be?  Amen.

Sermon © 2006, Anne Robertson

http://www.annerobertson.com/CBC/GodIsCallingYou.htm

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NATURAL DISASTERS–AN ACT OF GOD?

NATURAL DISASTERS–AN ACT OF GOD?

by James Rafferty  |  March 7, 2012

Someone sent me a recent article by John Piper, Reformed Baptist preacher and best selling author, titled, Fierce Tornados and the Fingers of God. The opening sentence was as terrible to me as the tornados themselves: “Why would God reach down His hand and drag His fierce fingers across rural America killing at least 38 people with 90 tornadoes in 12 states, and leaving some small towns with scarcely a building standing, including churches?”

Do most people just assume that God is behind all natural disasters? Do you? No believer can deny God’s judgments without tossing the Bible. But do all natural disasters lead to God, like “all roads lead to Rome”? Insurance companies seem to think so—based on their famous (or infamous) insurance clause indicating they don’t cover, “acts of God.”

THE DEAD DON’T REPENT

One answer for these questions is found in Christ’s words to believers in the face of a tragedy that killed 18 persons:

“Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:4-5, NKJV).

Christ did not spend time arguing about who was to be blamed for the tragedy. Instead, He reminded His listeners that tragedies are a wakeup call. So should we assume that God sends natural disasters to make us repent of our sin? If that’s the case, we could conclude that everything on planet earth would be just fine without God and His continual efforts to force us to repent.

The apostle Paul was clear when he said,

“Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” (Romans 2:4).

Biblically speaking God’s goodness precedes life-destroying judgments. Dead people don’t repent. Besides, as with this latest tragedy, we often see churches and people who attend them, even innocent babies, struck down along with everyone else. Are these really God’s “fierce fingers?”

THE FINGERS OF SATAN

The reason why innocent babies and even steadfast believers suffer and die is clearly answered in the Bible. The particulars are recorded for our present benefit in the book of Job. This story involved a good man so it could not be said that God was punishing him for some secret sin (though this didn’t stop his religious friends from saying it).

In the story of Job, the devil comes strolling into the assembly room of God claiming that this earth belongs to him (makes sense to me considering all the pain on the planet). So God allows an experiment for our benefit. In this “case study” we get to see what happens to evil-hating, God-loving human beings when God is taken out of the picture. Roll Job chapter one:

“So the Lord said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power. . . Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord,” and the next thing you know, Job’s one thousand oxen, five hundred donkeys, and three hundred camels have been stolen, seven thousand sheep have been burned up by the “fire of God,” all but three of Job’s servants have been killed, and all ten of his children are crushed to death by a tornado like natural disaster (Job 1:12, 15, 19).

Not a pretty picture, is it? Did you notice that God was quickly blamed—i.e. “the fire of God” (there’s our insurance clause mentality). Additionally, this “act of God” mentality led believers to blame the victim. Enter Job’s three friends. Religious and theologians in their own right, these three are sure that these calamities proceeded from God on account of some secret sin. But they were wrong, not only about Job, but about God (Job 42:7-8). 
Satan, the author of sin and all its results, had led these men to look upon disease and death as proceeding from God—as punishment arbitrarily inflicted on account of sin. Consequently, in his great affliction, Job had the additional burden of being regarded as a great sinner. The story of Job is a lesson designed to prevent this kind of thinking. The history of Job shows that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy.

SAVE THE PLANET-PEOPLE

Okay, so Job’s story shows us what happens when God is taken out of the picture. Now let’s see what happens when the devil is taken out and God runs the world. Roll Revelation 21:1-4:

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

“Passed away”—that’s a modern term for dead. In God’s world the devil and death will be dead. How sweet is that! Can you imagine a planet with no evil—not a single drop? God can. His plan is written for us in the Bible in hopes that we would catch the vision. This is the final destination of planet earth and God wants you to have a part of it, an eternal part. Presently the earth is breaking down under the curse of sin and Satan (Isaiah 51:6; Revelation 12:12). Our save-the-planet good intentions may be misdirected—if our goal is to make planet earth our savior. There is already a plan in place to save the planet. The greater need is to save the people on the planet—the planet people—us.

GOD WILL DO NOTHING…

In the story of Job, Satan went to heaven to claim his right to destroy people, but in the story of Jesus, God came to earth to claim His right to save people. In the end, no theological answer can compare to the personal presence of “God with us” in all our suffering (Matthew 1:23; 1 Peter 4:1).

“In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence saved them: in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bare them, and carried them all the days of old” (Isaiah 63:9).

All the pain, evil and terror on planet earth break God’s heart. Yet, there are times when God brings judgments to those who are chillingly wicked. These divine judgments are consistently preempted by a warning message. “Surely the Lord God does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7; you may want to read that a couple of times noting that it is an emphatic statement). The proof:

Noah first warned, then God sent a flood.

Angels warned of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Jonah warned Ninevah.

Prophets warned Jerusalem.

And, even now, God is warning the world of the seven last plagues (Revelation 14:6-12).

Apart from these obvious direct judgments, the “prince
of this world,” “the prince of the power of the air,” is ravaging the earth, bringing calamity, destruction and death, as he did to Job, without warning (John 12:31; Ephesians 2:2). The prince of this present world has one goal for us—extermination (1 Peter 5:8).

SOMETIMES DISASTERS ARE SIMPLY NATURAL

In addition, sin has resulted in some major geographical alterations to the planet—meaning that natural disasters are often just that, natural. Coal and oil frequently ignite and burn beneath the surface of the earth. Rocks are heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted. The action of the water upon the lime adds fury to the intense heat and causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery issues. As the fire and water come in contact with ledges of rock and ore, there are heavy explosions underground, like muffled thunder. The air is hot and suffocating. Volcanic eruptions follow; and these, often failing to give sufficient vent to the heated elements, the earth itself is convulsed, the ground heaves and swells like the waves of the sea, great fissures appear, and sometimes cities, villages, and burning mountains are swallowed up. Christ warned that these powerful natural disasters would be more frequent and intense leading up to His second coming and the end of the world (Matthew 24:3, 7-8).

SELFISHNESS CREATES SUFFERING

And let’s not forget the human element and our own tampering with “mother nature.” In fact, most of the suffering on planet earth can be traced to our selfishness. Wars are ignited for monetary gain, animals are fed to satisfy our lust for flesh while millions starve, diseases flourish because cures are unprofitable and technology languishes unless it produces profits. The temple of this world is filled with thieves and robbers and will soon be cleansed by the righteous judgment of a loving Father. No, Christ did not spend time arguing about who was to blame for natural tragedies. In the science of the Bible it’s obvious. The book of Job exposes the devil by hiding the Father. The life of Christ exposes the devil by revealing the Father. In the end, there is one clear and simple statement that sums up the whole business:

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, NASB).

Amen.

http://www.lightbearers.org/natural-disasters-an-act-of-god/

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