In this age of information and communication, technology is making it possible to communicate on a number of different levels. However, I think that the telephone still seems to be the means of choice for most folks. I view it as a necessary evil, personally.
Let me ask you to raise your hands if you have any of the following telephone devices.
Gone are the days of just simple old operator assisted telephone calls. This story must have happened some time ago but the busy executive happened to here the brand new secretary answer the phone and say "Yes, you are right" and then hang up. A moment later the phone rang and the reply was "yes, ma'am, you are absolutely correct. It surely is." Again the receiver was hung up again with no further conversation . It happened one more time and finally the boss could no longer contain his curiosity and so he asked "who it was who had been calling and was it anything important?" The secretary replied. "I don't know. Some crazy woman with a strange voice kept calling and saying 'It is a long distance from New York.' and I simply agreed with her."
Phones and calling have changed our lives. · You can't drive anywhere anymore without seeing someone driving and talking on their cell phone. · About a year ago, my sister and her husband bought pagers for their kids so that they could be in touch at any time and they (the kids) would know that their parents were trying to get in touch with them. · We had an experience recently where we had received some strange calls and rather than go to an unlisted number (usually not real practical for a pastor) we bought caller ID so we would be able to see who was calling before we answered. We coupled that with a digital 3 box voice mail answering machine.
It seems that the business to be in these days is that of telephone communications, because whether we like it or not, we depend on calls for communication. And we like to know who it is that is calling.
The same is true when we think that God might be calling us. How can we be sure that it is really God. The lectionary texts for the morning give us examples of people who had a hard time recognizing the fact that it was the Lord who was calling them.
It should comfort us to know that we are in Good company when we have a hard time hearing and discerning God's voice and call in our lives.
Samuel, was a very spiritual young man. He had been dedicated at an early age by his mother Hannah who had promised that he would serve God as an apprentice under the High Priest Eli. Daily he went about his duties, performing the routine obligations of a person who served in such a way: helping with the sacrifices, leading in daily prayers, reading the Scriptures and generally living a fairly sheltered and holy life. You recall the situation however. God had Samuel in that place for a special reason. Eli refused to discipline his sons who, in their service had become corrupt and were taking more of the meat that was being offered for sacrifice than they should have. The result was that God's people began to resent and hate the sacrifice itself. As their ministry gradually begins to unravel, Samuel becomes a much more important figure that God is raising up to prophesy against Eli and take over that ministry at Shiloh.
This passage begins by stating that the word of the Lord was rare in those days. It was not a common feature that people should hear the voice of God because they had drifted so far away. Yes, they were going on with their religious practices but those were filled with corruption and people just weren't listening for God. They thought, as vile as they had become, that simply offering sacrifices was enough.
It is no surprise then that one night while he is asleep and hears a voice calling to him, that it did not even occur to him that it may be the Lord calling. And so three times he goes in and wakes up Eli and asks what he wants.
This is really a pretty humorous situation here. Knowing how much people hate to be awakened in the night I am nit sure that God spoke in such a way that Samuel would indeed think it was Eli and therefore go in and pester him.
When a phone rings in the middle of the night it takes a few moments to wake up and comprehend what is happening. The other night, Melissa had lit a candle in her room and when she blew it out, there was a good deal of smoke. The candle happened to be under the smoke detector in her room and so that pleasing alarm sound went off. I awoke immediately and couldn't identify it at first. "Judy, get your alarm." "It's not mine." Oh. And I lay there trying to hit the button on my watch alarm, not really understanding that the noise was too loud and shrill for that. Finally we all were awake enough to figure it out and by the time I got a stool to stand on to disarm it, it had stopped. Then I think we all lay there for the next hour, eyes wide open and heart beating a hundred beats a minute, unable to sleep.
God had not yet revealed his word to Samuel. Samuel had no way of knowing that it was the Lord nor for that matter that the Lord would even call in such a way. Finally after three times, Eli figured out that since it was not him who was calling Samuel, it must have been the Lord.
In John's Gospel, the Apostle records for us the call of Nathaniel. That call is delivered through his brother Philip but confirmed as the Lord's call when Nathaniel approaches and Jesus describes him by saying "Here is a true Israelite in whom there is nothing false."
When Nathaniel asks how Jesus knows him, he answers that before Philip had called him Jesus had seen hum under a fig tree and identified him as one who would be a good disciple. And so he called him - through Philip first - and then directly.
Does God still call people today? If so how? If so, to what? If so how do we know it is indeed God calling.
This is a subject that could be fairly in depth and complicated. I would like to keep it simple today and ask you to focus with me on three main facets of God's call on the believer today.
Both these passages illustrate for us that God chooses and calls us long before we call him. The Psalmist says that before any of his days had come to be the were ordained beforehand. Paul writes to the romans that those whom God predestined, he called and those he called he justified. And those he justified he also glorified.
Jesus told his disciples on one occasion that they had not chosen him but that he had chosen them.
The only way that a person can respond to the marvelous plan of salvation is if God calls them. In theology we name this process "election" and we say that it is unconditional. God has chosen his own from before the foundation of human time and history and has effectually called them to himself.
At times he has used another person. At other times it has been the direct inward prompting of the Holy Spirit. At other times yet, it may be through the instrument of a difficult situation or a personal experience. In any case, God's Spirit is at work to make that call heard in the heart of the elect.
Just like Samuel, it may be difficult to hear that voice and recognize it for we may not have heard it before. It would be nice and certainly much clearer if God would speak to all of us through the burning bush or the dramatic revelation. However, as Frank Tupper says, "Most often' God speaks through the familiar."
God may be calling you today. Using my voice, or the choir or something another person here says to you, you may hear God's voice calling to you. You may not recognize it at first. You may wonder if it is really the Lord calling you.
But it is only God who can call a person to salvation for it is all of God. And so today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the days of Merebah, during Korahs rebellion. But respond. Go and check it out. Take the small steps of faith to explore where that voice may be leading you.
The Bible says that the gifts and call of God are irrevocable. Jesus called his first disciples to drop what they were doing and follow him.
Later he instructed them that if they would truly be his followers they must deny themselves, take up the cross and follow him daily.
God never lets go of you once he has called you. Yes you may let go of him and you may not recognize his voice, but he calls you to a life of dis-cipleship and it is a matter of responding daily.
The Greek word for call is kaleo. The church is the ecclesia or the called out ones. Jesus calls us out from the world to a new life and a daily discipleship. He bids us come and follow him.
Some may say follow your destiny. Others may say follow the example of others. Jesus calls and says follow me.
The Latin word for call is vocar ( we get our word voice and vocal from the same word.) God calls you to a vocation, to a job, to do something for him. Your life's work may be part of that call. Your call in Christ however always involves being and doing something for the kingdom. If you are a boot maker, be the very best boot maker you can be for his glory. Use that as an opportunity to serve Christ.
It is a call to the church - the be a part of his body - and to function in a meaningful capacity by using the gifts and abilities he has given you.
It may be a call to special ministry or lifetime vocational ministry. Right now there are several members of this church family who area wrestling with that sense of call and what it might mean. But they have heard the still small voice of God calling and they are responding
How do we know it is the Lord's voice Just like Samuel's day - the Word of the Lord is rare. But God indeed has already given us his word and through it God confirms his call in our lives. We distinguish God's call from the voices of others by knowing that God will never ask us to do something that is contrary to his revealed will. Further God confirms his call in our lives through that word for it is the primary means He has left us to know him.
Then the Spirit of God bears witness to us.
Finally, it is confirmed through the affirmation of other believers.
On May 21, 1738, John Wesley read a passage from the Bible regarding the precious promises of God and how through them, a person becomes a partaker of the divine nature. That evening, he was at a Bible Study meeting at Aldersgate when someone was reading Luther's account of the changed life.
Wesley says that at that moment his heart was strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ; Christ alone for salvation and assurance was given that he had taken away my sins."