A Necessary Calling
Memory Verse: 'Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. '
James 3:13
Sermon Sentence: The call of God will always lead us to an action of the gospel being shared.
James 3:13
Sermon Sentence: The call of God will always lead us to an action of the gospel being shared.
Day 1
Read 1 Corinthians 9:1-23
Let me go out on a limb of assumption and not be charged with trying to make a case for something the Bible actually says. I kind of think that Paul would have been a bit of a difficult person to understand face to face. He reads better when you consider his life as a whole and his mission in the long term, than he would have seemed in the moment and just knowing him from one of the many perspectives that you could have known him from. Remember, I am assuming a lot and just trying to play out the stories in my mind. It doesn’t inform or change any of his teaching when I think this.
For instance, imagine knowing Paul only from going to the church in Corinth. You don’t have all of his other books to consider. Paul is a guy that you know of that came around the church for a while. Now he is gone and everyone says he is traveling and starting churches everywhere. But everyone still talks about him and holds him up pretty high. Then, often, the church gets letters from him and they are not ever really easy, great letters. He is a difficult person. But in the latest letter, there is this section that you just read. This reads differently than your experiences. This is a guy that is passionate about what he does and overly confident in what he does. It is the piece that explains all of the language that he uses and the way he talks in the rest of the letters. He loves the Gospel and preaching it! He is not just meddling in everyone’s business, he is invested in their eternity.
There are a lot of people that claim that God “called” them to do something or be something or go somewhere, but when Paul says it, it hits differently when you know his heart and passions.
What do you think it would have been like to know Paul and why do you say that?
What are the arguments that Paul is making about being paid for what he does here in this passage?
When Paul talks about becoming all things to all people, what do you think he is saying and how can this be taken too far?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Let me go out on a limb of assumption and not be charged with trying to make a case for something the Bible actually says. I kind of think that Paul would have been a bit of a difficult person to understand face to face. He reads better when you consider his life as a whole and his mission in the long term, than he would have seemed in the moment and just knowing him from one of the many perspectives that you could have known him from. Remember, I am assuming a lot and just trying to play out the stories in my mind. It doesn’t inform or change any of his teaching when I think this.
For instance, imagine knowing Paul only from going to the church in Corinth. You don’t have all of his other books to consider. Paul is a guy that you know of that came around the church for a while. Now he is gone and everyone says he is traveling and starting churches everywhere. But everyone still talks about him and holds him up pretty high. Then, often, the church gets letters from him and they are not ever really easy, great letters. He is a difficult person. But in the latest letter, there is this section that you just read. This reads differently than your experiences. This is a guy that is passionate about what he does and overly confident in what he does. It is the piece that explains all of the language that he uses and the way he talks in the rest of the letters. He loves the Gospel and preaching it! He is not just meddling in everyone’s business, he is invested in their eternity.
There are a lot of people that claim that God “called” them to do something or be something or go somewhere, but when Paul says it, it hits differently when you know his heart and passions.
What do you think it would have been like to know Paul and why do you say that?
What are the arguments that Paul is making about being paid for what he does here in this passage?
When Paul talks about becoming all things to all people, what do you think he is saying and how can this be taken too far?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 2
Read Acts 9:1-19
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul talked about the “necessity” to preach (as translated in the ESV). He says that he does not preach out of a volunteer position. In other words, he did not sign up for this because there was a need and someone was asked to fill the need. That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to preach. That is not the point that he is making. His point is that unlike others, he was knocked off of a donkey in a supernatural experience that was the beginning of a complete life change and led to him preaching. That is an origin story that you don’t just slowly forget! You are always aware of that experience and can go back to it over and over again, even sitting in prison when you start to question how you got there and if it was worth it.
Have you ever met someone that is overly confident about who they are and what their mission in life is? In my view, I see Paul as a super intense person that was difficult to be around in regular life. This chapter lends a whole lot of context to that idea. No wonder he was so confident in his calling! Wouldn’t you love to know what you are to be doing in life in an obvious way like this? It doesn’t leave a whole lot of questions on the table for sure!
What are some other ways that you know God speaks to people or calls them?
How can you know what is the voice of God and what is the voice of our own or others desires?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
In 1 Corinthians 9, Paul talked about the “necessity” to preach (as translated in the ESV). He says that he does not preach out of a volunteer position. In other words, he did not sign up for this because there was a need and someone was asked to fill the need. That doesn’t mean he didn’t want to preach. That is not the point that he is making. His point is that unlike others, he was knocked off of a donkey in a supernatural experience that was the beginning of a complete life change and led to him preaching. That is an origin story that you don’t just slowly forget! You are always aware of that experience and can go back to it over and over again, even sitting in prison when you start to question how you got there and if it was worth it.
Have you ever met someone that is overly confident about who they are and what their mission in life is? In my view, I see Paul as a super intense person that was difficult to be around in regular life. This chapter lends a whole lot of context to that idea. No wonder he was so confident in his calling! Wouldn’t you love to know what you are to be doing in life in an obvious way like this? It doesn’t leave a whole lot of questions on the table for sure!
What are some other ways that you know God speaks to people or calls them?
How can you know what is the voice of God and what is the voice of our own or others desires?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 3
Read Isaiah 6
Two things I have always believed: God does not call the most skilled person, even in the area of the calling. And God does not call the person that could be the most successful. Now that I have typed that out, maybe that is the same thing? Here is what I mean: when we are looking for the person to accomplish a task, they need to have the skills and the best chance at being successful. This is how we determine who is in the lead. God just calls the person and then makes them able to be skilled for the task. The subtlety of what is being communicated there may seem insignificant , but I do think that it is important.
For Isaiah, he, like Paul, was compelled on a mission for God. He was compelled to go and prophecy to Israel of the things that God would give him. The interesting thing here is that success in that mission was only measured by the faithfulness, not the accomplishment in the people’s response to the message. Notice that God tells him to go not with the end goal of everyone getting the message, but with the end goal of “until there is not a message needed anymore.” In fact, he is told that they will not listen to him. Essentially God has called him to be the messenger to a bunch of people that will not even care or get the message. That feels like a waste. But this is God that is creating the standards and the call, not us.
That is a great lesson to process and work through. Let’s carry that over to the New Testament. We are called to “go and make disciples.” Maybe you hear in that call that success will be measured in the amount of disciples that we make. But that is not the same thing as success that is found in the fact that we are going and we are a part of the making. The goals may seem similar, but they are slightly different. We are not told to make disciples with the result being we actually made this many disciples. We are told to go and make disciples with the reality that we are found going and making for as long as the mission is set before us.
How have you found yourself caught up in the confusion of God’s call to success as illustrated here?
Why is it important that Isaiah was called to go and preach rather than go and make them get it all?
How can you apply this same idea to your life right now?
How does this become your prayer today?
Two things I have always believed: God does not call the most skilled person, even in the area of the calling. And God does not call the person that could be the most successful. Now that I have typed that out, maybe that is the same thing? Here is what I mean: when we are looking for the person to accomplish a task, they need to have the skills and the best chance at being successful. This is how we determine who is in the lead. God just calls the person and then makes them able to be skilled for the task. The subtlety of what is being communicated there may seem insignificant , but I do think that it is important.
For Isaiah, he, like Paul, was compelled on a mission for God. He was compelled to go and prophecy to Israel of the things that God would give him. The interesting thing here is that success in that mission was only measured by the faithfulness, not the accomplishment in the people’s response to the message. Notice that God tells him to go not with the end goal of everyone getting the message, but with the end goal of “until there is not a message needed anymore.” In fact, he is told that they will not listen to him. Essentially God has called him to be the messenger to a bunch of people that will not even care or get the message. That feels like a waste. But this is God that is creating the standards and the call, not us.
That is a great lesson to process and work through. Let’s carry that over to the New Testament. We are called to “go and make disciples.” Maybe you hear in that call that success will be measured in the amount of disciples that we make. But that is not the same thing as success that is found in the fact that we are going and we are a part of the making. The goals may seem similar, but they are slightly different. We are not told to make disciples with the result being we actually made this many disciples. We are told to go and make disciples with the reality that we are found going and making for as long as the mission is set before us.
How have you found yourself caught up in the confusion of God’s call to success as illustrated here?
Why is it important that Isaiah was called to go and preach rather than go and make them get it all?
How can you apply this same idea to your life right now?
How does this become your prayer today?
Day 4
Read 1 Peter 5
When Peter was writing about the position of the pastor, or as he called it, an “elder” in the church, he had some pretty direct thoughts that are worth considering. He referred to himself here as a “fellow elder”, thus making the thing that he is talking about part of his experience and expertise. It is also that whole “pointing one finger out and four more are pointing back” idea. When I read this, I also see the idea of the call to those that are “among you.” In other words, I do not see this as a call to pastor the whole world, the biggest online following, or anything in that vein. It is a local, small idea that is considered here. The pastor is not given an authority that can be lorded over all people and in all things.
It may strike you as strange to consider a pastor that is doing the job because they have to and not because they want to, but the distinction is very much realized in the daily process. Consider the language that is all over this text calling for humility, gentleness, and leadership by example, not pushiness and overbearingness. The work with people will always weigh on you and eventually it feels easier to be louder, more pushy, or even more demanding in your approaches, and this is the very thing that takes the joy out of the work. Think back about Isaiah from yesterday’s reading. When you are trying to get a message out and no one is listening, and therefore you think that you are a failure because they won’t listen, it very much becomes a struggle to do the work and in that depression, you can fall into the trap of doing what you do because you are compelled to, not because you willingly love what it is that God is doing in those around you. It is also easy to fall into the trap of feeling you deserve more than you have and therefore the ministry becomes one geared toward gain and not what it is supposed to be. This anger and personal gain that slides to the front of the heart, loses the power of influence that is needed to compel people toward the message that the corrupted person is not displaying in their own life. Why answer the call to surrender one’s life when the messenger has certainly refused to surrender his own life? These are all the beginnings of the struggles that so many of us have watched happen to church leaders and churches throughout the culture that we are a part of. The pastor would do well to constantly find himself back at the challenges found in 1 Peter 5 week in and week out.
What trait that is called for in the life of the pastor is the one that you look for the most in a pastor? Why is that?
How have you seen examples of shameful gain displayed in the churches you have been a part of?
Verse 10 is really good stuff. What do you see that it is saying?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
When Peter was writing about the position of the pastor, or as he called it, an “elder” in the church, he had some pretty direct thoughts that are worth considering. He referred to himself here as a “fellow elder”, thus making the thing that he is talking about part of his experience and expertise. It is also that whole “pointing one finger out and four more are pointing back” idea. When I read this, I also see the idea of the call to those that are “among you.” In other words, I do not see this as a call to pastor the whole world, the biggest online following, or anything in that vein. It is a local, small idea that is considered here. The pastor is not given an authority that can be lorded over all people and in all things.
It may strike you as strange to consider a pastor that is doing the job because they have to and not because they want to, but the distinction is very much realized in the daily process. Consider the language that is all over this text calling for humility, gentleness, and leadership by example, not pushiness and overbearingness. The work with people will always weigh on you and eventually it feels easier to be louder, more pushy, or even more demanding in your approaches, and this is the very thing that takes the joy out of the work. Think back about Isaiah from yesterday’s reading. When you are trying to get a message out and no one is listening, and therefore you think that you are a failure because they won’t listen, it very much becomes a struggle to do the work and in that depression, you can fall into the trap of doing what you do because you are compelled to, not because you willingly love what it is that God is doing in those around you. It is also easy to fall into the trap of feeling you deserve more than you have and therefore the ministry becomes one geared toward gain and not what it is supposed to be. This anger and personal gain that slides to the front of the heart, loses the power of influence that is needed to compel people toward the message that the corrupted person is not displaying in their own life. Why answer the call to surrender one’s life when the messenger has certainly refused to surrender his own life? These are all the beginnings of the struggles that so many of us have watched happen to church leaders and churches throughout the culture that we are a part of. The pastor would do well to constantly find himself back at the challenges found in 1 Peter 5 week in and week out.
What trait that is called for in the life of the pastor is the one that you look for the most in a pastor? Why is that?
How have you seen examples of shameful gain displayed in the churches you have been a part of?
Verse 10 is really good stuff. What do you see that it is saying?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
Day 5
Read 1 Samuel 3
This is probably one of my more favorite chapters about God’s calling in the Bible. The setting is wrapped up in subtle words that require you to work through it slowly. This all went down in a dark time. Eli was the priest in charge, but his sons were not panning out to be fit for the work they would inherit. If you don’t know the context, they were corrupt. Add to that the fact that the text tells us that in these days, the word of the Lord was rare. As you read the story and see Samuel’s confusion about what is going on here, you can understand that he is a young man and just doesn’t get it. But then, add to that the extra weight that even those that were in the work of the temple were just not accustomed, or used to the idea of God speaking anything to anyone. So it makes sense that young Samuel didn’t get it at first. He didn’t know who was saying what.
I see this as a picture that I fear. I don’t want to be in a place where we stop hearing from God because we have closed off the channels as a nation or as a church. Especially as a church. The other side of that fear is a generation that is young and able to do the work of the Lord, but just have no clue how to hear from the Lord or find His word. We need to pray for more Samuels. We need to pray that God raises up young people among us to be ready to hear the word of the Lord and share it as much as possible when their time comes. Even those Samuels that are in the homes that have hindered the message and teachings of the Bible. God can still make them hear. Even in those churches that have not been faithful with the gospel and have no future. God can still make the call heard in the darkest of places.
How can we do better at helping the next generation hear the call of God?
What is your part in all of this?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
This is probably one of my more favorite chapters about God’s calling in the Bible. The setting is wrapped up in subtle words that require you to work through it slowly. This all went down in a dark time. Eli was the priest in charge, but his sons were not panning out to be fit for the work they would inherit. If you don’t know the context, they were corrupt. Add to that the fact that the text tells us that in these days, the word of the Lord was rare. As you read the story and see Samuel’s confusion about what is going on here, you can understand that he is a young man and just doesn’t get it. But then, add to that the extra weight that even those that were in the work of the temple were just not accustomed, or used to the idea of God speaking anything to anyone. So it makes sense that young Samuel didn’t get it at first. He didn’t know who was saying what.
I see this as a picture that I fear. I don’t want to be in a place where we stop hearing from God because we have closed off the channels as a nation or as a church. Especially as a church. The other side of that fear is a generation that is young and able to do the work of the Lord, but just have no clue how to hear from the Lord or find His word. We need to pray for more Samuels. We need to pray that God raises up young people among us to be ready to hear the word of the Lord and share it as much as possible when their time comes. Even those Samuels that are in the homes that have hindered the message and teachings of the Bible. God can still make them hear. Even in those churches that have not been faithful with the gospel and have no future. God can still make the call heard in the darkest of places.
How can we do better at helping the next generation hear the call of God?
What is your part in all of this?
How does this become part of your prayer today?
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