Fulfill Your Calling Series

A university football coach went out to practice one Monday with his first and third string quarterbacks out with injuries. The big game was coming up Saturday, and he had to “make do” with his second, fourth, and fifth string quarterbacks.

In the first five minutes of practice, his second-string quarterback (who had become first string) hurt his knee. That elevated the fourth stringer to the first string and put the fifth stringer on the second team.

About ten minutes later, the fourth stringer (who had become first string) hurt his knee. That left the fifth stringer next in line for the first team.

The coach blew the whistle and gathered all the players around him. He took the one remaining quarterback, put his arm around him, and said in a gruff voice, “Son, do you believe in magic?”

The quarterback replied in a half-hearted way, “Well, sorta.”

The coach looked at him, pointed his five fingers at him like a magician and said, “Poof! You are now a first-string quarterback.”

It was true! No magic at all. That was his position, but in practice he had a long way to go.

So it is with those of us, who believe in Jesus Christ. We have a 1st string position on His team, but in practice we have a long way to go, don’t we? And yet, our Coach, the Lord, is committed to getting us there. He is committed to helping us fulfill His calling on our lives, and He will NOT fail.

You say, Phil, What IS His calling on my life? What has God called me to as a believer in Christ? What is the position He is equipping me for? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1, 1 Corinthians 1, where that call is made very clear.

1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes… (ESV)

Paul was called to be an apostle. Paul was called to represent Jesus Christ. The word, “apostle,” means “one who is sent” to represent the one who sent him. Under the direction of God the Father, God the Son sent Paul as His representative, as His agent, as His emissary to the Gentiles.

In a very specific sense, Paul here is establishing his authority to speak on behalf of Christ. He is an “apostle,” one sent from God Himself, with a message from God, to which we all better pay attention. That was Paul’s specific and unique calling.

But in a very general sense, that is your calling as well. To be sure, you are not an apostle, speaking with the authority of Christ. But like an apostle, you must…

FULFILL YOUR CALLING TO GO.

Respond to God’s invitation to represent the Lord before a lost and dying world. Answer His call to go as His emissaries, His ambassadors to people who don’t know him yet.

2 Corinthians 5 says, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:19-20).

Linda Clare of Eugene Oregon, often complained about her long hours working as a childcare provider. She didn’t know what God wanted her to do with her life, but she was sure it must be something other than “just” babysitting.

Then one day, a father came to pick up his toddler. He said to Linda, “You taught Kasey to pray. She says grace at home now, and my wife and I are thinking of attending church.”

God's direction suddenly became clear. Now, when others ask what she does for a living, she smiles and says, “I ‘just’ baby-sit for the Lord” (Linda Clare, Eugene, OR, “Heart to Heart,” Today's Christian Woman)

God may not have sent you to Africa, to Asia, or to Irian Jaya. But He did send you to the place where you work every day. Are you representing Him there? Are you making Him known through your deeds AND your words? Are you working for Him?

One of my professors at seminary, Howard Hendricks, talks about a time when he sat in a plane that was delayed for take off. After a long wait, the passengers became more and more irritated.

Hendricks noticed how gracious one of the flight attendants was as she spoke with them. After the plane finally took off, he told the flight attendant how amazed he was at her poise and self-control, and said he wanted to write a letter of commendation for her to the airline.

The stewardess replied that she didn't work for the airline company, but for Jesus Christ. She said that just before going to work she and her husband prayed together that she would be a good representative of Christ (Lorne Sanny, “The Right Way to Respond to Authority,” Discipleship Journal, March/April 1982).