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When
God Calls by Charmaine Braatvedt, Ministry Assistant Sunday 25th January, 2004 Between
Christmas and New Year we decided to take my parents to the South
Island on a holiday. As
the plane approached Queenstown Airport, I became somewhat uneasy as I saw
two mountain peaks forming a gateway to the runway.
I hoped the pilot had the correct co-ordinates and instructions to
negotiate this challenging approach. I was most relieved when we landed
safely and I found myself saying a prayer of thanks for the clever people
who had helped him in the control tower. Life
can be a bit like that. I
sometimes feel as though my life is an aircraft and I am the pilot.
I don’t own the plane but I am responsible for it. I’m
not sure of the course or my ability to fly the plane. God is in the control tower and I have to consult him
regularly to know where to go and what to do, especially when there’s
turbulence on my course. Looking
at the bible readings for
today, it struck me that we are being introduced to two men whose
stories function as an inspiration to the Church today as we endeavour to
fly our little planes in the service for Jesus Christ. The first is Jeremiah
and the second is Paul first called Saul. These men lived
700 years apart had very different personalities and were
commissioned to very different tasks for God.
Jeremiah to warn the people of the consequences of sin and Saul
to spread the good news of Jesus Christ to all nations. I’d
like to look at each of these men in turn. Jeremiah
lived in the 7th
century B.C. We read, that the Holy Spirit of God spoke to Jeremiah when
he was a young man of 12 or 13 and revealed to him that he had been
chosen, set apart, appointed, to be a prophet to the nations.
Jeremiah came from a priestly caste and I suppose it is fair to assume
that he and his family might have had his whole career mapped out when
word of the Lord came to him and turned all his plans upside down. Initially,
Jeremiah argued with God, as he pointed to at least one of the
inadequacies or weaknesses he faced, that of his youthfulness, ”I do not
know how to speak, I am only a child”,
and then came the directive which stopped Jeremiah in his tracks
and established God’s authority over Jeremiah’s life: “ You
must go to everyone I send you to, and say whatever I command you”.
These words set him on the path that God wanted him to walk. Now
life is not easy for any of us and sometimes we feel a bit daunted by the
things God calls us to do, like raising our children, But in Jeremiah’s
case, God was showing him a particularly difficult path. Jeremiah had the
challenging job of telling his own people and his own kind, that God was
displeased with them on account of their sinfulness. If
you have ever had to correct a colleague or someone in authority over you,
you will understand something of how difficult it was for Jeremiah to
preach this message of judgement to his people. Yet
in spite of this Jeremiah submitted to God’s purposes for him, because,
he understood a fundamental truth about life. It’s a truth that all
humankind must wrestle with, namely that we are creations and not the
Creator. He says in Chapter 10 “I know O Lord
that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for a man to direct his
steps”. You
see this is how I see it. Using the aviation metaphor, our lives are a bit
like an aeroplane. We are the
pilot and we drive it. But we don’t own the plane. God
is like the control tower. God
sets the destination of our lives, he knows the best course for us to take
to reach that destination and he will provide us with the map if we ask
for it. He tries to contact us, but we cannot hear him if we don’t
switch on the headset. This
is what happens to Jeremiah. He switched on the headset and God gave him
the map, but he also received an assurance from God that gave him security
about following that map: “Do
not be afraid, for I am with you and will rescue you”. This
assurance is repeated throughout the book and we read later in Chapter
29:10: “For
I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future”. As
I have said, Jeremiah’s life and calling was not easy. He is known as
the ‘weeping prophet’. He was called to preach gloom and doom,
he had few friends, he never married and
had no children, he was left for dead in a cistern, reviled and
ridiculed and he was exiled to Egypt where he died. His
personality
wasn’t all that special either. This man Jeremiah whom God chose to use
for this important work, was by nature timid, he had an anguished spirit,
he was self-critical and was
wracked by feelings of inadequacy. But, because he was obedient to the
will of God, God gave him the strength and courage that enabled him to serve God
in a mighty way in spite of the difficulties he encountered. In
1:17- 18 we read that God said to Jeremiah “Get
yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you.
Do not be terrified by them …. Today I have made you a fortified
city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land.”
And
it was true, Jeremiah lived his whole life in fiery pursuit of his divine
vocation preaching against sin especially idolatry and praying for his
people whom he loved so dearly. Jeremiah
was ever conscious of his calling from God and his obedience to that call
meant that no matter what the odds against him were, he spoke the words
God gave him to speak. God’s word burned in him like a fire in his bones
and where you or I might have thrown in the towel, Jeremiah held fast to
the course God had set him on. This
is not to say that God called him once only and that having set his course
he flew a straight and unchanging route. When the pilot flies the plane on
the instructions of control tower there is much consultation, checking and
discussion between pilot and control tower to ensure that the plane
remains on course. Just so with Jeremiah. Countless times we find Jeremiah
back at the drawing board, going back to basics, arguing discussing and
listening to God for new instructions and new directions. To
remain faithful to his calling, to be able to say over and over: “the
word of the Lord came to me”, “this is what the Lord says”,
he would have had to spend much time in prayer, inquiring of God. He would have
had to live out the words: “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen
to you. You will seek me, you
will find me. When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by
you”. I
said that today’s readings introduce us to two men of God who
heard and responded to his call. Jeremiah
was one and Saul was the other. Saul
who later was called Paul in Acts
13:9, started out as one of the great enemies of the early church.
Some time after the stoning of Stephen he embarked on a journey to
Damascus “breathing
out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples”. To all
intents and purposes this was a man who
was lost, lost to Satan and to his evil intents.
But caution is advised here. As
Tolkien once said: “Not
all who wander are lost”. As Saul approached the city of Damascus,
he was suddenly surrounded by a blinding white light.
He staggered and fell to the ground. Then a voice spoke: “Saul,
Saul why do you persecute me?” Trembling and astonished Saul asked
“Who are you Lord? And he must have been deeply shocked to hear a voice
say. ‘I
am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Rise
and go into the city and there you will be told what you must do.” Saul
and Jeremiah were two very different men.
Whereas
Jeremiah was timid and under-confident, Saul was self assured, restless
and energetic. He had exactly the right energy levels to take up the
challenge of travelling from pillar to post, church planting and
evangelising. God certainly
knew what he was doing when he called Saul.
Ananias couldn’t understand it, but God has the bigger picture.
He knew the course that Paul should fly and the destination he could
reach, and when the scales fell off Saul’s eyes he could see that too
and so he allowed himself to be baptized
a follower of Jesus and became the apostle who did more to spread the
Christian religion than anyone up to that point.
He became a leader in establishing a world wide church within 40
years of Jesus death simply because he stopped and listened to God’s
calling and submitted to his will in humble obedience. Their
personalities were different and so was the way they were called.
The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
There is a gentleness in this experience whereas Saul’s calling
was dramatic. A blinding light was what was needed to stop Saul in
his tracks, to get him to see that he was acting in error when he
persecuted the Christians for God. He needed a physical revelation to
understand that God had a new and better plan for how Saul could serve
him. Saul’s calling transformed him from persecutor to preacher. Their
prophetic messages
were also quite different. Jeremiah
was called to preach gloom and doom whereas Saul’s news was upbeat
good news about salvation for all nations through Christ Jesus. Yet
there are some similarities also. ·
Both
men were men of integrity. Like Jeremiah, Saul was a religious man
of high ideals and high moral purpose. ·
On the
other hand, neither of these two men were perfect. Jeremiah was
young and inexperienced. Paul
had an appalling history of persecuting the Christians. Yet God used them.
·
Both
men suffered.
Just like Jeremiah, Saul was in no doubt that obeying God’s will would
not be the easy route. Jews sought to kill him , he had to flee for his
life from Jerusalem, he was thrown into prison, shipwrecked, maligned,
persecuted. The Bible doesn’t record how Saul died, but a 4th
century historian called Eusebius records that Saul was taken to Rome and
beheaded in Nero’s persecution AD 67. ·
Both
men walked closely with God and were Spirit led in their ministries. . Just like Jeremiah, Saul was given a mission by God,
but he frequently had to radio the control tower, he often found he was
off course and had to inquire of God, which way now? ·
Like
Jeremiah, his call was not a one off, but the start of a close
relationship with God which was underpinned by prayer. We read at the end of Colossians “Devote yourselves to prayer,
being watchful and thankful. And
pray for us too, that God may open a door for our message so that we may
proclaim the mystery of Christ for which I am in chains”. What
drove these two men to suffer so much for their calling? What
sustained them as they lived their lives in obedience to the ministry to
which God called them? The
answer lies in Paul’s letters. In!Thes 2:5 he writes: “With the help of
God we dared to tell you his gospel in spite of strong opposition.
For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure
motives, nor are we trying to trick you.
On the contrary we speak as men approved by God to be entrusted
with the Gospel. We are not
trying to please men, but God, who tests our hearts.” The
Gospel is the truth about God and it was in serving
that truth that these two men found a
lasting meaning in their lives. A meaning that
nothing else on earth can bring. They both understood that only God gives our lives a purpose and meaning that holds
good for eternity. Over
the last 3 Sundays Andrew spoke about ways that the Characters in the book
of Ruth got into God’s story i.e .by complaining,
by asking and by taking up responsibilities. I would like to add a 4th
way: that of listening to what God
wants us to do. I
believe each of us is called by God to a ministry that will last the whole
of our lives. It may be doing something new and special or it may be
doing what we are currently doing in a new and special way for God. ·
Not
all of us desires or require a dramatic Damascus Road
experience to hear God’s call on our lives.
Jeremiah
thought he was too young and couldn’t speak very well, Ananias thought
Paul was too wicked, Paul himself felt that he had a thorn in his side
which handicapped him. You
may feel you are too old to be useful, too under-confident or whatever
else..
Remember what Paul recounted to the Corinthians in 2 Cor. 12: 9. God
had said to him “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weaknes”.
Who
is masterminding the journey of your life?
If
you are in the pilot’s seat do you know your flight path? Do
you know where you are headed? If
you believe you are on that flight path already, have you radioed the
control tower lately to check whether you are still on the right course? Perhaps
now is the time to do just that. God
has chosen to work through his people. He
has set you apart for a particular purpose. You
and I have a holy calling. Be
encouraged to dream dreams of what you can do for God in your own personal
way. There
is a story Rabbi Zusya
once told. He said: “In the coming world, the Lord will not
ask me: ‘Why were you not
Moses, or Jeremiah? The Lord will
ask me why were you not Zusya?. You
are special to God and he wants to use you just as you are. Look
again at the sentence for today: “Before
I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you
apart”. Although
the flight path is not always easy or clear, although we can be sure to
experience some turbulence on the way, when we respond to God’s call on
our lives, we will experience the same joy in serving God that enabled
Paul to say “in all things
let us give thanks”, For
in committing ourselves to serving
God, by allowing his purposes to be worked through us, we
are investing for eternity. We are investing our lives with a
divine purpose and direction that will lead us straight to Him.
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