Callings

Leaders and prophets, kings, who were called specifically by God for different reasons. Even in the New Testament, we read of God calling Mary, for example, and Joseph, Elizabeth and John, again for special service. And then of course, Jesus himself calling the apostles, not only to follow him, but then to go out into the world and do his will. Now some may think that since that time, God no longer calls people like he did in the past, but this is not so. Although the age of miraculous calling is past, you know, when I talk about miraculous calling, I'm talking about the burning bush, for example, where Moses stood, or the vision of Jesus that Saul of Tarsus had.

Even though the miraculous callings no longer are with us, it doesn't mean that God does not call people today. He does. He calls people through his word. When you read the Bible, you find that there are 4 calls revealed in it. And each one of these calls is genuine and divine, as genuine and divine today as it was 2000 or 3000 years ago.

And so tonight, I want to share with you the 4 calls that the Bible makes. The first call is the call to salvation. In Matthew chapter 28, Jesus tells his apostles to, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation, and make disciples of them, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them everything that he had commanded them. And then in Mark chapter 16, he repeats the same idea, different words, but the same idea. He tells them to go and preach the gospel, and those who believe and are baptized will be saved, and those who disbelieve will be condemned.

This is the call to salvation. This is a call made to every single person in the world. It's a call to believe in God and to believe in his divine Son, Jesus Christ. It's a call to accept the sacrifice of Jesus as the payment for our sins. It's a call to express our belief by repenting of those sins and being baptized in His name.

Now, it's not a miraculous call. It's not a spectacular call as far as calls go. And when we hear this call, we usually hear it in a lesson from a preacher, or a Bible class teacher. Or we hear the call as an invitation from our neighbor or a family member or a friend to just come to church. Or we hear it as we read a passage of scripture or a religious pamphlet.

Or we hear it as a pulling of our conscience that urges us to do the right thing and be baptized. How many people sit in this auditorium week after week after week and resist the urge of their conscience, the urge of their heart to come forward and to be buried with Christ in baptism. When they resist that urge, don't they realize that they resist the call of God to be saved? You know, the call to be saved is the most important message we will ever hear from anyone, because it speaks to the condition of our souls for all eternity. Some have asked me, you know, why did I become a preacher?

What was my motivation? Well, I'll tell you, I became a Christian because I sincerely believed Romans chapter 3 and Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 3 verse 23 says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And then in Romans chapter 6 verse 23, Paul says, the wages of sin is death. When you put those 2 scriptures together, what they say is that without Jesus Christ, people will be lost.

People will go to hell forever. And I didn't generalize that when I first read it. I personalized it. It meant me. Me personally.

So I became a Christian, basically, the first reason, because I was afraid of being lost. Not a very high, not a very noble reason, but good enough. Good enough. Fear is a marvelous motivator. But I became a preacher because I believed what Paul said in Romans chapter 120.

In chapter 1, verse 20, Paul said, They are without excuse, referring to the pagans. In other words, ignorance is no excuse. The idea that people were lost, the idea that people were lost and didn't know that they were lost, This idea haunted me. I mean, literally haunted me. I would be taking the bus, in those days didn't have a car or the subway to work, and I'd be sitting there and I'd look at people and say, these people in front of me may not know the condition of their souls.

And they're riding to work and coming home and they don't have a clue. Not a clue. They're going to go home watch TV, you know, go to Florida in the summertime or in the wintertime, and Canada it'd be in the wintertime. Not a clue they're going to live their whole lives without a clue about the salvation of their soul. I decided that somebody had to call them.

And that somebody might as well be me. For 2000 years, and until the end of time, this very first call, the call to be saved, has first been made by the apostles and then their disciples, and since then, by every generation of Christians to this world. The call of the gospel is the first priority of the church and it is the first responsibility of every individual. What will you give in exchange for your soul? What will you give?

What does it all mean? What is your life worth if you haven't saved your soul? It's worth nothing. And so the first call of God is the call to save your soul. The second call is the call to sanctification.

God calls us to sanctification. In 1st Corinthians, chapter 6, verse 11, Paul says, And such were some of you speaking well, I should start beginning in verse 9. He says, Or do you not know that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers shall inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.

But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. And then a little later on in 2nd Timothy, Paul repeats this idea about sanctification. When he says in chapter 2, verse 21, he says, Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, the things that I just talked about, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work. You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to believe. And in believing, we are united to Jesus and saved from the consequences of our sins.

The consequence of our sin is that God will condemn us and send us to hell. That's the consequence of our sin. When we respond to the gospel, we're saved from those consequences. You see, our sins deserve punishment. But Jesus Christ suffers that punishment on the cross, on our behalf.

So we don't have to suffer the consequences of our sins. But you see, being saved from the consequences of our sins does not change the fact that we have a habit of sinning. And the habit of sinning is a well ingrained habit in our hearts, and in our minds, and in our lifestyles. In other words, baptism washes away our sins. Baptism saves us from hell.

But it does not change our character and our habits. Once we go down into the water, yes, we wash away the sins. But it's the same guy that comes out. The same old habits are there. The same old predisposition to sin comes out of the water.

You see, the Holy Spirit is the one that helps us deal with our habits. In Acts chapter 2, verse 38, Peter says, Repent and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. He doesn't say, Be baptized so that your habits will change. He says, So that your sins will be forgiven. And then he says, And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

You see, the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is what begins the call to sanctification, which is a draw to live a holy and pure life. That is like the life of Jesus Christ. Every time we are confronted with our sins. Every time we become aware of a better way to act. Every time we experience the desire to be more like Christ, we are hearing the call of sanctification.

People don't understand. They react in exactly the opposite way. When their heart shows them how they could be, what Christ is like, how they ought to act, a lot of people get discouraged. And the opposite reaction should be the case. We should realize that the Holy Spirit is calling us, calling us to a higher and nobler and purer way to act.

We shouldn't be discouraged. God isn't beating us up. He's revealing to us what he wants through the Holy Spirit. The word, sanctify, simply means to set apart. It was an Old Testament word that referred to the holy things and the people.

God took certain things and he set them apart and said, alright, from now on, we're going to use these things and this place and these people for special reasons only. He sanctified them. He set them apart. Well, the gospel calls us to turn away from disbelief and embrace Jesus Christ as our Lord. Sanctification is the call to leave the habits and the sins and the attitude of the world, and embrace the character and the concern and the quality of life, demonstrated by Jesus Christ our Lord.

You see, the gospel calls us to be saved by believing in Jesus. And sanctification calls upon us to remain saved by living like Jesus Christ lived. The third call is a call to service. When God calls us, he calls us to serve. In Acts chapter 2 verse 43, we read the story of the very first Christians in Jerusalem.

And it says, And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common. And they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And again, Paul, this time, Paul in Romans chapter 12, repeats not just the idea of what they were doing, but what enabled them to do all these things. In Romans chapter 12, he says, And since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let each exercise them accordingly.

If prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith. If service, in his serving. Or he who teaches, in his teaching. Or he who exhorts, in his exhortation, he who gives with liberality, he who leads with diligence, he who shows mercy with cheerfulness. The old saying is true.

We have been saved to serve. Some people, however, have the wrong idea about service. You see, we don't serve in order to save ourselves. We don't do that. I mean, the cross of Christ has accomplished all of that for us.

We don't serve in order to make ourselves better people. I mean, denying sin and self, that's what makes us better people, not serving. We serve God and God calls us to serve because it is our natural response to his kindness in calling us out of this world. Christ saved me. I want to serve him.

I mean, you, those of you who are married here, those of you who have a significant other, even if you're not married, certainly you have parents. When you love someone, what is the natural desire? Isn't it to serve? I do a lot of marriage counseling and part of that is with couples, young couples that are about to be married. And they're so in love and they're so solicitous of each other during that time.

The door gets opened. Can I get you something? You know, I mean, what do they want to do? They want to serve each other because love finds its highest expression in service. Well, God saves our soul.

We can't save his soul, we can't teach him anything. We can't give him anything, he owns everything. The thing that we can do to express our love in a concrete way is to serve him. We serve because Jesus served, and this is the best way to demonstrate His love towards others. And we serve in order to build the church and provide the resources to maintain the call of God to all nations.

You want to build this church? You want to fill this church? And we have all these building plans that we're going to be sharing with the congregation in a couple of weeks. That's for the building. But if we want to fill the building, it's not by building the building that we're going to fill the building.

It's by serving each other and serving those who come here, that we are going to fill this building. Sanctification. You know, the purifying of our lives? Sanctification is to become like Jesus by avoiding the things that Jesus avoided. Service is to become like Jesus by doing the things that Jesus did.

Today, the call to service is heard, not by a miraculous voice. Wouldn't it be nice if we could hear a voice in the sky that says, you know, Michael, I want you to go, you know, and do this and do that. You know, wouldn't it be nice if it didn't work like that anymore? Today, the call of service is heard. Every time volunteers are called for, you're hearing the voice of God.

Every time the phone rings for help and opportunity to serve the Lord. Every time you see a need and realize that you have the resources to fill the void, God is calling you. Every time you experience the prompting of the Holy Spirit, the encouragement of the brethren, the urge of your own conscience, every time your heart is wanting to cry out, Here I am Lord. Send me. Choose me.

God is calling you. Now the call to service is seen by some as a nuisance, an inconvenience, an expense, something to avoid, something to put off. And when that happens in your life, usually it's because the call to sanctification has been ignored. Sinful Christians, worldly Christians, do not like to serve. One goes with the other.

The more sanctified you are, the more you desire to serve. The more in the world you live, the less you're interested in serving the kingdom of God. For those who have answered the call to sanctification, the call to service is usually the answer to a prayer, not something they feel guilty about if they don't have to do it. And finally, the 4th call is the call to suffering. God calls us to suffer.

In 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 5, Paul says, This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment, so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. And then in 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, verse 11 and 12, again he says, It is a trustworthy statement, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. And if we deny him, he will also deny us. You know, I think most Christians are familiar with the ideas that I've already talked about.

I think most of us are familiar with the idea that we're called to be saved, called to be sanctified. In other words, to grow and mature in the character of Christ. Most of us understand that we are called to serve. But so many are surprised, even angry and depressed, when Christians, or as Christians, they encounter opposition, inconvenience, trials, persecution. What a poor use of our spiritual energy when we see our sufferings as a waste of time.

Some people I go visit people who are ill or talk to people who are having trouble. And their main concern is that God is wasting their time by putting all this suffering in their lives. I wanna get on to doing some other stuff. Some people think that being sick or losing your job or encountering opposition makes you lose your value as a Christian. Paul tells us that suffering, all by itself, regardless of the circumstances, if done in the Spirit of Christ, is worthy of receiving our place in heaven.

Think about that. Now, it's not that we can trade in pain for salvation. I'm not saying that. That's a work and no flesh is justified by work. The point is that suffering in Christ is equal in value to service in Christ or sanctification in Christ.

You see, if what your life is about right now is suffering, if what your life is about right now is struggle, then that is what God has called you to for this moment. We are so geared up in this country to succeed, to produce, to generate, that if all of a sudden we're sick or we're stopped or, you know, the roof caves in on our lives and we can't produce and go ahead, we think we're useless. Well, in the world we may be useless. Because we're not generating income. And we're not as beautiful as we used to be.

And our bodies may not be as strong as they used to be. And the world is ready to get rid of us. But God tells us that our suffering, if accepted in the spirit of Christ, is equal to our service and is worthy of sanctification. Only in the kingdom is this principle real. If suffering is what we've been called to at the moment, then we must respond in faithfulness and obedience, just like when we respond to salvation and sanctification or serve.

We're ready to respond to service, some of us, workaholics. But we're not so good to respond to suffering. Just remember that he is the Lord of suffering. Just like he is the Lord of service. Well, the calls, as you know, come at different times.

And the calls come in different ways. But they all have a few things in common and I'll share those with you and the lesson will be yours. They all have 3 things in common, very quickly. Number 1, they all come from God himself. All the calls are God's calls.

Know that when the preacher calls you to repent and be baptized, or he urges you to be restored, God himself is calling you. Know that when your heart desires to be right with Christ, God himself is calling you. Every time the word, the church, your conscience calls you to come to Christ, you have heard the voice of God calling to salvation. Don't go before God in the end and say, You didn't tell me. I didn't know.

Because every time your heart said, Go. Go. That was God calling you. And you said no to him, not to the preacher, not to the elder, not to the teacher, but to the Lord himself. Secondly, every call, every call is a call for blessing or cursing.

You see, there's a simple division and decision in each one of the calls that I've talked about. Each response will bring blessing or cursing upon you. Salvation or condemnation, spirituality or carnality, growth or death, Peace or turmoil? You can't ignore the cause. You've got to choose.

And failing to choose is choosing to reject. In the end, each person will spend eternity regretting or rejoicing the responses that they have made to each one of the calls that I've mentioned to you tonight. And finally, every single call is urgent. Now the calling may be, at times, gentle, sometimes insistent, sometimes direct, sometimes very dramatic. But it won't always be there.

The call to be saved will stop abruptly when you die or when Jesus comes. The call to sanctification is extinguished as we continue in sin and worldliness. You know, some people get confused thinking that if their conscience doesn't bother them You know, they think, Well, they sin and they're in the world and their conscience is bothering them less and less. They think, Well, that must mean that God doesn't care anymore. And what they don't realize is that when your conscience doesn't bother you when you sin, it means that God no longer controls you.

Satan controls you in that area of your life. The call to service, if ignored, will no longer find our ear. The call to suffering for Christ can be drowned out by our anger and our depression. Each call must be answered now, if we are to receive the blessings attached to each one. And do you know, brothers and sisters, whether it is a call to salvation, or a call to sanctification, or a call to service, or a call to suffering, there is a blessing attached to each one.

And if you refuse those calls, you refuse the blessing attached. Every day, in a variety of ways, God is calling each one of us. The question is, are we listening? Are we responding? Which call are you hearing tonight?

You know, I've told you this before. I never preach to the air. I never preach without purpose. Which call are you hearing tonight? Is the Lord calling you to be saved?

Is that the call? Do you need to come up here and say, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and I am ready to be buried with him in baptism to save my eternal soul? Is that the call? Is the Lord calling you to purify some aspect of your life? And to walk with him more deeply than you ever have before?

Is that the call? Is God calling you to serve him in some way that you never have before? Or with a new attitude, maybe join this congregation and serve with us here? Is God calling your attention to the fact that your suffering is valuable to him? And that you should submit to your suffering and stop fighting it?

And accept it in faith? Whatever way that God is calling you tonight, with the song that we will sing, we encourage you to respond to him as we stand at this time.