Scripture: Genesis 12:1-9; Matthew 9:9
Theme: It’s God – He is Calling You
What does it mean to be called by God? Let’s look at what the Bible says.
INTRO:
Grace and peace this morning from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
This morning I want to talk to you about your call/calling.
Each of us has been given a call or what has been called a calling.
Each of us have been called to follow the LORD JESUS CHRIST.
Each of us have been called to repent of our sins, to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and LORD, to be baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and then live a Spirit-filled Life sharing the Good News with those around us.
Receiving a call from God started all the way back with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. They were called to live a life of holiness; a life in which they would separate themselves from anything evil and cling only to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
They were called to take care of God’s Good Earth. They were called to oversee all of creation and be help mates to one another. They were to love the LORD with all their hearts, minds and souls while loving one another as they loved themselves.
For a time, they did that. They loved God, they loved one another, and they did all they could to take care of the Garden of Eden and creation. They gave the plants and the animals their names. They walked in the cool of the Garden with God.
Life was good. It was what the Jewish people call TOV – very good. Everything was going as it was created to go. Everything was going like a well oil machine and then it didn’t go as it was supposed to go.
Evil, sin and rebellion came into the picture. Adam and Eve listened to the Devil, to the one called Satan, the Deceiver and Liar. Satan lied to them and told them that they didn’t have to listen to God or obey God. He lied to them and told them that they could be a god to themselves.
They chose to believe him and follow Satan’s advice and as a result, everything that had to do with this earth and with humanity changed. No longer were humans pure; with a pure love for God and for one another. Sin had come to reign.
Adam blamed Eve and in return Eve blamed the serpent.
Now, Adam would spend his days working by the sweat of his brow while Eve would bring forth children in pain. She would constantly be tempted to control Adam, trying her best to always fix him or at least control him. He would be tempted to put himself above her and treat her as a second class human.
You would have thought that God would be finished with humans. That He would no longer have anything to do with them. That He would consider the Human Project a complete disaster and that the only thing that could be done was to rid the planet of humanity and the rest of creation.
But that is not what we read about in the Bible.
We read how God went with Adam and Eve as they had to leave the Garden of Eden.
We read how God continually watched and cared for them and their children and their children’s children and so on down to today.
We read how God came in Human Form – In Christ Jesus and died for mankind so that humans could be free from both the penalty and power of sin.
And we read about how God has through the ages of time called people to follow Him. To follow Him into a life of righteousness, adventure and victory.
Our first reading this morning has to do with a man by the name of Abram/Abraham.
Our second reading this morning had to do with a man by the name of Matthew.
Both were called – each a little different but mainly the same.
Our call to follow Jesus – each a little different but mainly the same.
Let’s look at these calls and our calling this morning:
1. We are called out of God’s Mercy and Love.
Neither Abraham, Matthew nor any of us for that matter are called because we have this big bundle of worthiness or holiness in our back pockets. We are like all human beings, fallen and flawed.
“For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23
The truth is we are called because of God’s love and mercy.
2 1-6 It wasn’t so long ago that you were mired in that old stagnant life of sin. You let the world, which doesn’t know the first thing about living, tell you how to live. You filled your lungs with polluted unbelief, and then exhaled disobedience. We all did it, all of us doing what we felt like doing, when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat. It’s a wonder God didn’t lose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us! Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.
7-10 Now God has us where he wants us, with all the time in this world and the next to shower grace and kindness upon us in Christ Jesus. Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It’s God’s gift from start to finish! We don’t play the major role. If we did, we’d probably go around bragging that we’d done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving. He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (Ephesians 2:1-10 - THE MESSAGE)
2. Our call is Simple and Clear – Follow Me.
For Abraham it meant leaving Ur of the Chaldees and following the LORD all the way to the Holy Land. It meant placing everything in God’s hands and depending on God to reveal to him where he was to live and how he was to live.
Matthew’s call we see was a little different. It came while he was busy collecting taxes for the Roman government.
Matthew tells us that Jesus walked by his tax station and invited him to become one of His disciples. Jesus invited Matthew to step away from his job and to begin to follow Him all over Israel sharing the Good News of Salvation.
Now, those around Matthew didn’t see him as a person worthy to follow Jesus. Truth be told, Matthew was seen as a horrible person. He was seen as an unfaithful Jew collaborating with the Romans. He was working for the very people that had not only enslaved God’s people but were stealing from them by over taxing them.
In Jesus’ day, the majority of Jews classified tax collectors alongside murders, thieves, and prostitutes. The Pharisees and scribes would not even accept their charitable gifts.
Abraham’s immediate background had been no better. His parents had worshipped creation. They would hold services in which they would worship the sun, the moon and the stars rather than the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
Now, we do know that Abraham did not agree with his father’s beliefs. There is sound evidence that Abraham had been taught by both Shem and even Noah during his early years to follow the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
Both calls were simple and clear – Follow Me.
Our call is just as simple – Follow Me.
It doesn’t matter how we once believed or what we were doing. It doesn’t matter if we were raised in a home that prayed three times a day or a home that used the name of the LORD continually as a swear word. It doesn’t matter if our homes were littered more with drugs and alcohol than they were pages from the Bible.
None of that matters – what matters is what we did when we heard the call – when we heard Jesus say – Follow Me.
Matthew leaves his tax booth.
Abraham picks up his tents and begins to move towards the Promise Land.
I am sure Matthew’s leaving caused quite a stir.
+Who do I pay my taxes to now?
+Where in the world is he going?
I am sure Abraham’s pulling up stakes caused quite a stir.
+ Are you sure you want to leave?
+Do you know where you are going?
+Do you know what you will be doing?
I think that is one reason why Jesus’ left us the Disciples Prayer:
“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread ….”
Most of us would like to have God give us a detailed plan of what He wants us to do and what He wants to do in our lives.
+Matthew/Abraham you go here and then we will go there and then after that we will go here and here and do this and that.
Our call is a walk of faith. It is a walk where God is in control. It is a walk where we listen and obey.
It is a walk where the LORD promises us that if we follow Him, He will lead us – He will be with us unto the end of the age. He will lead us through the power, presence, and infilling of His Holy Spirit.
We learn that following the LORD can lead us down a lot of different paths, working with all kinds of various people and we may even find ourselves moving, taking on new jobs, and making new friends.
Matthew the Tax Collector became friends with Simon the Fisherman and Simon the Zealot.
Mary Magdalene, the one-time prostitute filled with demons became friends with Nicodemus the highly trusted Pharisee and religious ruler.
Elijah the outdoors man became friends with Elisha the rich farmer.
David the shepherd boy became friends with Jonathan the prince of Israel.
You never know where God is going to take you, who He is going to bring across your path and how those God led relationship will help both you and them.
3. Our Call is Transforming and Empowering
When we are called by the LORD something supernatural happens.
Remember what Jesus said to Nicodemus:
“Jesus answered, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, they cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” – John 3:5-6
Remember what Jesus said to His disciples:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” – John 17:13-14
Remember what the Apostle Paul was inspired to write these words:
I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. – Galatians 5:16
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. – Galatians 5:25
As you hear all those words you can hear the word Spirit being used over and over again.
One of the interesting conversations that is going on all over the world today is about aliens. Are there real aliens on our planet. Is there really anything that is actually supernatural?
Did you know that we in the Church have believed in extraterrestrial being for as long as we have been the Church.
What? Huh?
+Was not Pentecost a supernatural event where the Holy Spirit came and infilled the Early Church? (Acts 2)
+Were there not angels at Jesus’ tomb? (Matthew 28)
+Was it not an angel that opened the prison doors and release the apostles? (Acts 5)
Did not the writer of the book of Hebrews have this to say:
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. – Hebrews 13:2
While we may not believe in little green men or things like we see in Sci-Fiction movies the truth is we do believe in the supernatural – we believe in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in Heaven and in Heavenly Beings. We believe that the Holy Spirit can infill us with His Power and Presence and we believe that there are times that angels have watched over us, revealed things to us and for some have walked alongside of them.
One of the greatest things about accepting Jesus’ call is how it transforms us, empowers us and allows us to experience life on a whole new level.
The Simon that was afraid of the Pharisees and scribes became the Simon Peter that stood up to Caesar and gave his life for his faith.
The John Mark that ran away and whom the Apostle Paul wanted to cast to the side ended up writing the first Gospel and becoming one of the early bishop/leaders in the Church of Alexandria.
All it takes is for a person willing to follow Jesus doing their best to live out a life of obedience and faith.
All it takes is for us to allow God to work with us and in us and through us like He did with Abraham and Matthew:
+Each one answered God’s call with a - Yes
+Each one left behind a life of sin and guilt.
+Each one followed God wherever He led them.
+Each one allowed God’s Holy Spirit to transform them continually throughout their lives.
+Each one made mistakes, took back steps, advanced forward and became the people God had called them to become.
+Each one experienced supernatural changes in their lives and were catalyst of supernatural changes in the lives of others.
+Each one became a blessing to those that they met and still to this day their lives are helping others –
+Abraham as the Father of the Faithful.
+Matthew – His Gospel that shares so much about Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection.
Who knows how God much God has worked through us and will continue to work through us.
Many years ago, there was a series of revival services that seemed to go ho-hum. Not very many converts were made, and it looked like the sleepy little church that sponsored the revival would just stay the sleepy little church.
Everyone thought it had been a waste of time and energy. What they did not know was there was a young lad attending those services whose heart and life had been radically transformed by God. He felt God had called him to follow Him.
From that revival on the little lad did what he could to follow God. Before he laid his head to rest as an old man the Lord had used that little lad to become one of the greatest leaders, evangelists, and teachers in his denomination.
No one saw it coming. No one thought that something would come out of that revival that would advance an entire denomination and transform thousands of lives. After all, it was just a little backwards church, having a somewhat tepid revival with just a little lad willing to make a change.
You never know how God is going to use us as individuals or as a group of followers.
+Whose life will be touched by our prayers?
+Whose life will be touched by our sharing?
+Whose life will be touched by our faithfulness?
+Whose life will be touched by the words of encouragement we share?
This morning, we are all called.
We are all called to simply say Yes to Jesus and Follow Him
Let me challenge all of us this morning to respond to that call, to continue to respond to that call and to finish that call in our lives.
Let me challenge us to allow God to continue to work alongside us to make a difference in our lives, in the lives of our families and in the lives of those around us.
This morning, I would like for us to close by reading an old prayer – it is a prayer that St. Francis of Assisi wrote:
And to seal that prayer with singing that old hymn – Take My Life and Let It Be
Invitation to Holy Communion
