Series: “Special Services”(Licensing Of John M. Small)
WHO, ME?
Isaiah 6:1-8
Introduction:
After a church service on Sunday morning, a young boy suddenly announced to his mother, "Mom, I’ve decided to become a minister When I grow up."
"That’s okay with us, but what made you decide that?" "Well," said the little boy, "I have to go to church on Sunday anyway, and I figure it will be more fun to stand up and yell, than to sit and listen."
This morning, we have the great privilege of licensing Mikie Small to the ministry. By doing so, we as a church are affirming our recognition of the evidence of his call to ministry.
Isaiah 6:1-7
What To Do When Trouble Comes
This was a sad time for the Nation of Israel because Uzziah was one of the good kings and he had died. I’m sure Isaiah was thinking, “Here we go again, things are going to get bad”. With that in mind, Isaiah makes his first correct decision; he goes to the temple, where the presence of God was.
When trouble comes, go to God.
Once Isaiah is in the right place, He sees 3 very important things: 1) God is on the throne; 2) God is still in charge; and 3) God is the only One worthy of our worship.
When trouble comes, put your confidence in God; not man who can die at any moment.
When we place ourselves in the presence of God we then see how dirty we really are and how desperately we need God’s cleansing. Praise God, through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice for us, we can be washed clean of our sins.
1 John 1:9
When trouble comes, don’t forget who saved you and Who cleanses you from all unrighteousness.
Isaiah 6:8
When The Time Comes
It is interesting that up to this time Isaiah had never heard the call of God. I think many Christians have never felt like they were called to do anything for God because they have never been cleansed. God is not going to use a dirty vessel, I can assure you of that.
Allow God to clean you up, so you can hear the call.
Once you hear the call, then what? As Nike says, “Just do it!” Notice that God did not make Isaiah go, He simply asked a question.
Once you hear the call, you need to accept the call.
Isaiah heard God’s call for the first time and responded to it, as a cleansed individual will do.
When God calls: Listen, accept, and follow!
Conclusion:
As I told Mikie, Tony, and others who have surrendered their lives to vocational ministry- “If there is anything else you can do and be happy, you probably should”. You may be thinking, “Is Shawn trying to talk these young men out of going into vocational ministry?”; but the truth is that the only way they will survive is that they are called to that by God.
Once Mikie made his decision public I told him the same thing I was told about ministry: “There will be times that the only thing you will have left is your call”.
I read a story in the Baptist New Mexican which was written by the editor, John Loudat. I would like to share this with you this morning.
“PASTORS MUST WORK HARD… AND SMART”
Did you hear the one about the surgeon who was sent to a hospital in a war zone? This made-up story (though it certainly could be true) is no joke- it’s deadly serious.
When the doctor arrived at his assignment, he was alarmed to discover that he was the lone physician among more seriously wounded soldiers than he could possibly treat. He wasted no time scrubbing up and getting busy repairing the bodies bloodied by the conflict.
He worked diligently until about noon, but he had only gotten around to a small fraction of those who needed his help. Nevertheless, after stitching up his latest client, he abruptly pulled off his gloves and dismissed his staff, telling them to take the next hour off for lunch. He was back at his post promptly one hour later, but the man who had been next in line for surgery had died.
Moving on to the next soldier, the doctor led his team in treating patient after patient for the next several hours. Still, though, a majority of those who required the expertise only he was qualified to give waited for his attention. But again, he abruptly walked out of the hospital, dismissing his staff until the next morning, and not one but several of the maimed military members slipped into eternity while he slept.
While many would be tempted to accuse the doctor of being uncaring and lacking compassion, the reality was that because of his diligence to take the time to take care of himself and to get the food, rest and time away from the job he needed, he was able to give more people a greater quality of the care they needed. And he was able to carry out his ministry of compassion over a much longer period of time than he would have had he dropped dead from exhaustion, and, because he had been careful to avoid working while impaired by fatigue, he hadn’t failed to remove any medical instruments from his patients before stitching them up or made any other mistakes that could have landed him in court for malpractice.
I don’t see a thing in the world wrong with the so-called “Protestant work ethic,” which applauds hard work. But, as is almost always the case, too much of a good thing can be bad- sometimes really bad, with truly dire consequences. If there is one group of people who need to be reminded of this on a regular basis, it is our pastors.
Some employees have little difficulty walking away from unfinished work at the end of the day (or night, depending on the shift) because it is clearly understood that they don’t have to be at work until a particular time and they may leave at a particular time. Others, however, find themselves in jobs where they are expected to work whatever hours are necessary to get it done and or they are “on call” 24/7. Such is the calling of pastors.
I know there are members of our churches who tend to suspect pastors of taking advantage of the freedom they have to not have to punch a time clock and to work flexible hours. I’ve often said such folks should follow their pastor around for a week and see all he does and all the hours he puts in; but if they did that, their pastor would get done very little of what he needs to get done that week. Trust me, anyone who is familiar with all the demands on pastors today knows that slackers don’t last long in ministry. There’s simply too much to do.
In fact, I have never known a pastor who, after his first day at work, ever saw the bottom of his inbox again. They have to work incredibly hard day after day just to keep their heads above water. And they also have to work incredibly hard day after day to go home at a decent hour, so they’ll also be able to devote the time they must to fulfill their responsibilities to their family, and to get the time away from work and the rest they need if they’re going to be as effective as they can be the next day in their endless ministry.
Several years ago I heard about someone who recommended to pastors that they try to limit themselves to a 40 hour workweek. The reality, the counselor acknowledged, is that the ministers would still seldom, if ever, spend only 40 hours in ministry-related work in any given week. Nevertheless, he said, the harder they would work at limiting their hours, the closer they would come to that which most people recognize as a reasonable portion of the week to spend “at work”.
The only problem with that is a consequence many of you pastors may have a hard time stomaching. Someone in dire need may not be visited by you. In fact, you may not have time to personally share the gospel with someone who has the greatest need of all- a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. But them again, if you try to visit with everyone you know would benefit from such a display of genuine compassion and share Jesus with all the lost people in your church’s prospect list, your family may fall apart and you could lose your ministry or you could drop dead at a young age and years of fruitful ministry for the Lord in this world could be lost forever.
The fact of the matter is, the responsibility God has given the church is a whole lot bigger than any one person can handle alone. That’s why He has given the church pastors “to prepare God’s people for works of service…” (Ephesians 4:12a NIV). There’s not too much for any one church member to do when every church member is doing his or her part.
Until that’s the case, though, it’s still advisable for pastors to work hard… and work smart.
