Scripture: 1 Tim 3:8-13
My calling-
End of summer 1999 I was listening to a sermon on being a bondservant when God called me to the ministry with the words “Study to show yourself approved, and I will make you a minister to my people”
Many of you have heard my testimony of my calling, but one part I didn’t mention was this-
I spent the next 30 min, and many years after questioning God on the wisdom of choosing me to be a pastor.
After all, I had quite a past, and most of it was very public knowledge-
I was a drunkard- I had wasted my high school years pursing the next bout of intoxication with alcohol and occasionally drugs. IF I had applied myself I could have been an honor roll student but I wasted the gift God had given me for partying
A fornicator. I had the “Oscar” syndrome- my self-worth was tied into how many women I could sleep with. In fact, looking back into my family history there hasn’t been an Oscar who had held a marriage together in 4 generations due to infidelity. Hardly a qualification for the ministry.
A thief- I have a conviction for shoplifting. The only way I could get new shoes or clothes for school was to steal them. Same thing with school supplies or food some days.
A liar- lying used to be reflexive to me. IF anyone questioned me about something I did or said I’d automatically lie about it. Ironically, it was my mom who taught me this at an early age when she had an abusive boyfriend- if you are doing something you shouldn’t be doing, always have a good and believable story ready in case he questions you about it.
These were just a few of the things I brought to God’s attention on why I can’t be called to be a pastor- In my thinking at that time God was calling me to be a spiritual superman when I’m not even a good Clark Kent.
After spending time arguing with God I spoke to my senior pastor at the time. He encouraged me to pursue the call of God reminding me that God does not call the qualified, God qualifies the called.
So we are going to look at the calling of God today, and start with one of the ways people can serve in the Kingdom, and that position is of deacon.
1 Tim 3:8-11
8 In the same way, deacons m are to be worthy of respect, sincere, not indulging in much wine, and not pursuing dishonest gain. 9 They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience. 10 They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11 In the same way, the women are to be worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.
12 A deacon must be faithful to his wife and must manage his children and his household well. 13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus.
Prayer
The first thing I want to say this morning is this, and it’s critical you understand this-
Everyone has a call of God upon their lives.
Yes, even you.
God created you for a purpose. Pew sitting is not a spiritual gift nor a position to aspire to in God’s Kingdom. You were saved to serve in His Kingdom. After accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, this is nothing more important for your eternal soul than finding your place of service in His Kingdom.
When the enemy attacks your mind and heart- it’s for one purpose- to derail you from serving. If he can neutralize your calling, the devil has open and free access to your mind and heart.
I want to share a few points about the idea of service in the Kingdom of God-
I. You’re not Worthy
Never forget that point. It seems counterintuitive to the way the world tells us to think about ourselves. There are way too many feel good preachers out there masquerading as pastors telling people I’m ok, your ok, God loves you and thinks you’re ok while never showing people who they really are.
Who are we? I use the term “We” on purpose because I include myself in this list-
Rebels against the King of the universe
Criminals and violators of the divine law.
Criminality in God’s Kingdom has only one sentence- death and consignment of your eternal soul to hell.
It’s critical for you to always remember that, and to keep that in the back of your mind. Why? Why would we want to focus on such a negative viewpoint about ourselves?
IT keeps you grounded, it keeps you humble, and it keeps you realizing that apart from Jesus working in your life you will accomplish nothing of eternal value.
Where do we learn this from?
The Apostle Paul
IF there was anyone in history that deserved an immediate, violent, and shameful death followed by consignment to the hottest portion of hell it was Saul of Tarsus- His name before meeting Jesus.
Think for a moment about Saul’s qualifications for ministry
Imagine for a moment you are on a pastoral search committee and you are conducting an interview for a candidate named Saul of Tarsus.
HE has the most impressive resume’s by far, so you call him for an interview.
You begin the interview by asking him-
“Can you describe for me what you did at your last ministry job”
I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (Act 26:10-11)
Would the interview end at that point?
When you read Paul’s writings of who he was before Christ, Paul always put it out there- he isn’t worthy of this position.
He freely acknowledges that he was a murderer, a blasphemer and a violent man. He even says he doesn’t even deserve to be called a Christian much less an apostle of Jesus.
But then he sums up that opinion of Himself like this-
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 1 Cor 15:10
And that leads us to our next point
II. Jesus makes you worthy
Remember when I quoted my pastor- God doesn’t call the qualified, HE qualifies the called.
God gets a kick out of using the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God does that to show that He can take molded dirt- that’s you and me, and make it into a vessel that carries HIS divine presence to this world.
Too often we focus on our own shortcomings. Maybe you are like me- you feel like you are a much better sinner than you are a saint, and that past haunts you today. But if you keep focusing on your past, you’ll miss the future God has for you.
That’s where the enemy wants to keep you- focused behind instead of on where God is leading you.
One of the most striking examples in the bible is that of Moses
Moses’ calling
God calls Moses to go back to Egypt and free Israel from slavery. Moses comes up with every excuse he can think of-
I don’t know your name
They won’t believe me
Pharaoh hates me
Too slow of speech
Excuse after Excuse came from Moses, and until God had enough and reminded Moses of a few things-
Then the LORD said to him, “Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak.”
(Exo 4:11-12)
God qualifies the called.
Oswald Chamber sums up this idea beautifully-
The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and disrespectful they are to Him. We say things such as, “Oh, I shouldn’t claim to be sanctified; I’m not a saint.” But to say that before God means, “No, Lord, it is impossible for You to save and sanctify me; there are opportunities I have not had and so many imperfections in my brain and body; no, Lord, it isn’t possible.” That may sound wonderfully humble to others, but before God it is an attitude of defiance.
Listen- You’re not worthy. Jesus is worthy. Cast all of your fear, all our your doubt, all of your unbelief upon him.
Remember who Jesus is, receive faith, hope, and love and He will direct your path.
Your job is to be willing and obedient. If you do that, Jesus takes care of the rest.
Next lets look at
III. What receiving a calling or promotion means in the Kingdom
Warning- it’s the exact opposite of the way the world sees promotion
Very simple- it means you need to die to yourself.
If you would be honest with yourself this morning- you probably have a serious problem with that. We all want our own way, but our way is usually not the Kingdom way.
Two of Three of Jesus’ closest friends were James and John. Among the disciples, they were probably the most openly ambitious. They saw Jesus as Messiah, but had a wrong view of what being the Messiah meant. They though Jesus was ushering in an earthly Kingdom- one that would be the most glorious the world had ever seen, and they were poised to be in the upper echelon of that Kingdom.
They were so sure of this they even got their mother involved. Their mother goes to Jesus and asks Him to make sure that when HE comes into His kingdom, that they get to sit on thrones on either side of him.
Matthew’s version of these events says that “The other disciples were a little indignant when they found out.” You think?
When I was a supervisor at the medical call center we had a new director that was hired. All the supervisors were in a meeting discussing staffing and he asked if there was any way we could run reports that showed when the average high call volumes were. Everyone else was silent and I held up my hand and said, “Yeah you just run this report from the computer program that runs our phone system and it will graph out the call volumes per hour over the last several weeks”.
I had been on the overnight shift for months and sometimes only had 4 other people there, so I had nothing to do other than play with the program and learned out to use it really well. He told me to go and do it and so I came back with several pages of information, and the other supervisors, including those who had been there longer than I was were glaring at me because they thought I was trying to show them up.
This is why I stink at office politics…I’m oblivious to these kinds of things.
That’s what he disciples were doing to James and John- to them it seemed like they were trying to edge them out of a position that should be shared among everyone and not just a few.
Jesus pulls them all aside and gives them a lesson about what the true nature of the Kingdom is-
But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave, even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
(Mat 20:25-28)
Promotion in the Kingdom is not an exaltation. Promotion is nothing to puff your chest out and say, “Look at me”.
One of the tragedies of modern Christianity is this idea that those with a title- pastor, elder, deacon, Sunday school director or whatever are somehow more favored, more spiritual, or more Godly then the average Christian.
That’s like saying that the mailman has better penmanship because he delivers letters. Is that true, of course not! HE is fulfilling a job.
If people who have a title in a church are doing anything right it is this-
Willing, and obedient.
You see- In essence, Spiritual promotion is a death sentence. It’s putting aside your life so that the life of Christ may be developed in others.
And there is no higher calling in the Kingdom than that.
Another reason God calls some to positions in the Kingdom is to-
IV. Serve and Grow
When I was an ALS manager at a rescue station in Lake Geneva, I had a guy that had been there for years. He would always come in late. He’d show up out of uniform, generally unshaved, unshowered, and walk past the ambulances which had not been checked at all and go immediately to the bedroom and go to sleep. We had a standard that from 6a-10p we were out the door for a rescue call within 30 seconds to 1 minute. He was lucky to make it out the door in 3-4 minutes because he had to wake up, go to the bathroom, put his uniform on, walk to the wall map and figure out where he was going, and then finally walk to the ambulance.
It was frustrating to me because the owner wouldn’t let me level consequences because he had been there forever, and “that was just Bill”. The problem is Bill’s example was rubbing off on everyone else.
I was in the office working on my ministerial study’s but couldn’t concentrate because I was so frustrated with the situation so I took it to prayer. I had an answer from God- promote him.
I said God, you don’t promote slackers with no motivation- you promote hard chargers who toe the line and set an example. No answer from God. (God gives answer, and then stays silent until I obey)
So faced with a no win situation I did the only thing I could- promote him to shift manager. This meant that he was responsible for everything that happened in that division during his shift, and if something went wrong- he had to deal with the boss instead of me.
Suddenly his attitude changed. He showed up early, stayed late to make sure there was a smooth shift transition. He showed up showered and in uniform and his average response time went from 3.5 minutes to 45 seconds.
God used this secular situation to teach me a spiritual truth-
Most people who are stagnant in their walk with God are living beneath their calling. God has called them to a higher plain of service then they are currently at in life, and they have resisted, refused, and run away from it. The result is spiritual stagnation.
Jesus gave us a promise- that HE would pour out rivers of living water into His followers. The problem is that sometimes HIS followers want to hoard that water- they say gimme more, gimme more, gimme more, but they take that living water and try to keep it. That living water isn’t meant to be kept, it’s meant to be shared.
Note that Jesus said I’ll give you rivers of living water, not a pool, not a ocean, not a reservoir. A river by definition flows from one point to another. That river is meant to pass through you and is meant to flow into someone else. IF that river just fills an area and has no outlet- that turns into a swamp. Swamps are stinking places of rot and death.
Since Jesus isn’t in the business of producing swamps He won’t continue to feed that river until you become obedient to the call HE has on your life.
So I ask you today- what is God’s call on your life?
I said in the beginning that after salvation, finding God’s call for you is the most spiritually important thing you can do for your life.
I want to give the Holy Spirit time to move this morning so that we can all hear this for ourselves.
Not only does God call, He directs that call into different directions and different seasons.
Prayer
