Good evening…
Have you ever said something that was taken the wrong way? Perhaps you said a word that you thought would be clearly understood but somewhere in the translation a different meaning came out? Well, if so, understand that that is one of the problems with the English language. Words can have more than one meaning.
For example, the word “call.” This is the word that I want to share with you this evening. The word “call” can have many different meanings.
You can:
call back – meaning that you are returning a call
call for - as in summoning someone
call off – call off your dog or call off from work
call up - the Marines call people up to service or you can call up someone on the phone
call on - a friend or pay a visit to someone
call into being - as in creation
call into question – this is to raise doubt
You can make a call:
The umpire makes a call behind the plate - you’re out! The kind you use when hunting deer, turkey, or duck. You can make a call in a game due to bad weather. You make a call to predict a pool shot - 8 ball in the corner pocket.
In Philippians 3:14, Paul states his desire and goal. Paul’s statement should be ours as well, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” As Christians and non-Christians, that should be our goal, to answer our calling from God.
Now, as we talk about our calling today I have a demonstration, but I need 5 volunteers:
Okay, you have all been given the calling to become firemen. But, as you work at the firehouse however, there are certain duties and responsibilities that have to be taken care of. So:
You are in charge of washing and waxing the truck…
You are in charge of rolling up the hoses…
You are in charge of cooking…
You are in charge of washing the uniforms…
And you are in charge of sweeping the floors…
So, let’s review, what is your job? (Ask each of them, and have them demonstrate.)
Well, you are all wrong. Your job is that you are a fireman. Yes you have different duties and responsibilities, but you are still a fireman, and your job is to put out fires. As we talk about our calling this evening, remember not to let the duties in life keep you from seeing what your calling, and what your job, really is.
In scripture, many people were called to do something for God. And in each situation, they had to decide to accept the message and do what they had been called to, or they could turn their back on God’s calling and never really achieve all that God had planned for them. The choice was theirs, and today the choice is ours.
We can say yes Lord here I am, or we can go on our own way and never reach for what God has called us to.
What I am challenging you to do today is to be a pioneer and not a settler. Let’s define each of these words. First, the word settler. A settler is one who settles in, or one who is sinking to a lower level. You see, when you settle for something, you are giving up on what you really want and you are lowering your standards. It is like wanting a steak, but settling for a veggie burger.
Have you ever settled for something, only later to regret that decision?
When you settle, you are giving up on a high desire, and you are being satisfied with a lower standard.
Let’s think of some settlers from the Bible. David settled to stay at home and not go and fight like he should have. Had he done what he should have, he would have never been involved with someone else’s wife. Another example would be with Judas. Judas settled to betray Jesus for a price. He settled for less than what he was called to.
Now I am going to challenge you to be a pioneer instead. You see, the pioneer has a dream and never gives up on that dream. Look at Martin Luther King Jr. He said the famous words, “I have a dream…” He had a dream, and he did not settle for less than what he had dreamed of.
I think that Daniel is a great example of being a pioneer from the Bible. In a bit we will read about how he had a dream, and he knew his calling. He chose to follow that calling, no matter what the cost. And because of that, God protected and blessed him.
So, what is it that you feel God is calling you to?
Now, studies have been done to try and answer this question, but what do you think is the most dangerous item in your home? Any suggestions?
Well, as I said, research has been done to help to answer that question, and recent studies show that there are many household dangers. For instance, each year: 460,000 injuries are caused by kitchen knives, 100,000 injuries are caused by power tools, 20 deaths a year are caused by strangulation by drapery cords, and I don’t quite understand this one, but 4,000 people will injure themselves every year on pillows.
Now, I don’t know if there is any right or wrong answer to that question, but I want to propose to you that what you are sitting in right now, is the most dangerous thing in your house. Now these of course aren’t our favorite type of chairs, that would be an “EZ” chair or a “lazy-boy.”
Why do you think the “EZ” chair is the most dangerous object in the house?
Well, we like chairs because they are very comfortable, and we like to be comfortable. And it really doesn’t matter what the chair even looks like as long as it is comfortable. Dad use to have an old chair that he simply refused to get rid of. Bolts were falling out, the handle to recline didn’t work anymore, but none of that mattered. And why? Because that chair was comfortable!
And when we sit in these chars, there is one item that we want to be holding. Any idea what it is?
You got it, we want a remote in our hands. We don’t want to have to get up to change the channel. A lot of conflict can be caused in the home, all over the remote. And we don’t want to lose that remote either. In fact, they have made a remote now, that if you lose it, all you have to do is clap your hands, and it will start beeping.
Now, my fear about tonight’s lesson, is that some of you will take nothing away other than wondering were you can get one of those remotes I was talking about.
But anyway, we like comfort, we like to take things “EZ.” But what we have to realize is that too much comfort is not a good thing. And listen, the real danger is not what you will do while you are in the chair. No, the real danger are the things that you won’t do while you are in the chair.
What is the price that you pay by staying in the comfort of the chair?
And what prize do you win that way?
What is the price that you pay by taking the risk of the calling?
And what is the prize that you win in that case?
What has been your experience with getting too comfortable in life, and how does that affected the moves that you make?
Well, there was a guy by the name of Larry Walker one time, he had wanted to be an airline pilot, but he couldn’t do it because of his eyesight. So he decided he was going to go up into the sky one time. He got an aluminum lawn chair, and then he attached 45 weather balloons to it and filled them full of helium. He got a plate of sandwiches, a BB Gun, and a 6 pack of light beer, which tells us something about Larry.
And then he tied all of those balloons to that chair, and he planned on hovering 30 feet or so in the air for a while, and then shooting a few balloons and coming down. The problem is, when you get 45 weather balloons full of helium, they don’t stop at 30 feet. They didn’t stop at 100 feet. They didn’t stop at a thousand feet. Larry Walker strapped himself in that chair, tied the balloons to it, and by the time he stopped he was 16 thousand feet in the air. He had entered into the airspace governed by the Los Angeles International Airport.
Air traffic control at LAX kept getting phone calls from pilots, and they all began with the same line, “You’re not going to believe this…”
Larry spent a couple of hours floating around at 16 thousand feet, finally got up enough nerve to shoot out a couple of balloons, eventually began to descend, got tangled up in some power lines, and they had to rescue him.
A guy from the FAA said, “We know that he has violated some aspect of the Federal Aviation Act, as soon as we figure out which part it is, we are going to arrest him.” And they handcuffed Larry Walker and they led him away. As they did, a reporter who was on the scene asked him, “Larry why did you do it?”
And here is what Larry said, “A man can’t just there.”
Now I don’t recommend doing what Larry did, it’s the not the best course of action in the world. But Larry Walker’s got a point, “A man can’t just sit there.”
Now, I think that this chair is not just the most dangerous object in a home, but I believe that it is the most dangerous object when it comes to church too. Churches use to be filled with pews, but increasingly, they are being filled with chairs. Pews are uncomfortable, and so we have moved to chairs, and it’s my guess that it’s only a matter of time before someone comes up with a church that is filled with “EZ” chairs.
But this brings us to a problem. And I will put it in the form of a question. When did God ever call someone to do an “EZ” assignment?
The answer is, “never!” Noah was told to build an arc. It would be tough work, but God would be with him. Abraham was instructed to leave home and begin a new people. It would be a hard job, but again, he would not be alone, God would be with him. And that seems to be the patter all throughout scripture. In fact, Bible scholars have referred to it as the Call Narrative. And it goes like this:
God gives a call:
He interrupts a life and tells them that He has something for them to do.
And it is never easy. It’s always something bigger than they think they can handle.
Then there is a response on the part of the person:
Why are we inclined to say “no” to God when He extends a call to us?
Usually, initial response is fear and doubt.
And because of that initial response, God gives us reassurance:
Don’t be afraid, the single most common command in scripture. And there is
usually a reason with it – for I will be with you, you will not go alone.
And then there is a decision:
Sometimes people say yes to God.
And they have to do that before there is a guarantee.
And then a life gets changed.
The important thing to realize is that when God calls, you will either say yes, or no, but either way, your life will be changed!
Do you understand? You were made for more than life in the chair. You were made for a mission. You were made to answer a calling.
I want to tell you a story about someone who discovered his calling. His name is Johnny The Bagger. He worked in a grocery store, he was 19 years old. And he was at an event one time that a woman named Barbara Glance was speaking at, 3 thousand workers attended this conference.
She told them how every interaction they had with someone was an opportunity to create a memory, to bless somebody, to make a difference in somebody’s life. When she finished she went home, and some time later she got a phone call from this 19 year old young man who said his name was Johnny. He proudly informed her that he had downs syndrome, and he said that he works as a bagger at a grocery store. And after her talk, he said, he wondered what kind of difference could he make, as he is only a bagger.
And then he though, of one thing he could do. A lot of times people come in and they are discouraged, and he thought that he could give them a great saying to brighten their day. So he began to everyday search for a wonderful saying, maybe something from scripture, something he could give to his shoppers to bring them hope. Then he and his dad would enter it into his computer. 6 times on a screen, and then he would run off 50 pages. And by hand at night he would cut those into 300 copies of his saying.
The next day he would go into the grocery store and have a stack of 300 sayings next to his bags. When he finished bagging someone’s groceries, he would stop, put one copy of his saying into their bag and had it to them and say, “Thanks so much for shopping here today, I put a wonderful saying in your bag, and I hope it helps you have a great day!”
And then, some time later, Barbara Glance got a phone call from the manager of the store and the manager said, “Johnny The Baggers line is becoming so popular that I was doing my rounds not too long ago, and I noticed that his line was 3 times longer than anyone else’s in the store.
We got on the intercom and said that we were opening other lines, so that people could get through quicker. And they wouldn’t leave Johnny’s line. People said that’s alright, we don’t mind waiting. We want to get the saying.”
About a month later, she got another phone call from the manager, this time the manager said, “What Johnny The Bagger is doing is changing the way that everybody is in the store. People in the butcher shop are tying ribbons around their cuts of meat. Our florist, if they have left over flowers are giving them to little girls in the store. People who make the grocery carts are making them with wheels that actually work. The whole store is changing, and you know who the most important guy in the store is? It’s Johnny The Bagger.”
Now here’s the truth about you: in your home, in your neighborhood, where you work, where you go to school, the people that you interact with. Do you know who the most important person is? It’s you, IF you will let God work through you.
Now, just a few things about your mission, or your calling in life.
# 1 It starts where you are, not where you think you should be.
God has you where you are for a reason.
That doesn’t mean that you will always be there.
You may end up someplace else.
But for now, your mission starts where you are!
# 2 It’s not all about you.
It is something that you do to bless someone else.
# 3 It will use both your strengths as well as your weaknesses.
Part of the meaning behind what Johnny The Bagger did is that it was the
challenges that he faced that gave the meaning to what he was doing.
He didn’t have that mission in spite of his challenges, he had that mission because of his challenges.
You see, God never wastes a hurt.
Now, as I said earlier, Daniel stands out as a champion of making wise choices when it comes to answering his calling. Even in the midst of life-threatening challenges, he took the risks to live out his deepest commitments and to follow God’s call at every turn.
In the beginning of the book of Daniel, he is taken and trained in order to be in the service of the King. But there’s only one problem, the food that he is given to eat and drink would cause him to sin against his God. So in Daniel 1:8-14 Daniel makes a strategic move as a way to reclaim his ability to live according to God’s call. Listen to what he does. Daniel 1:8-14 says, “1”
Then, because Daniel was faithful to the calling that he had received from God, check out what God caused to happen. Continuing on, Daniel 1:15-20 goes on to say, “1”
And then, one of the remarkable qualities of Daniel’s character is that he never stopped following God, no matter what the consequences might be. In Daniel 6:1-11 it says, “2”
And finally, we see the result of Daniel’s choices and actions. In Daniel 6:12-23 it says, “2”
Now, from this brief look into the life of Daniel, what can we learn about accepting the call that God gives to us?
Now, before we close this evening, does anyone have anything that they would like to add?
Well, if there is nothing else, Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, told a story about a goose who was wounded and who landed in a barnyard with some chickens. He played with the chickens and ate with the chickens. And after a while that goose thought he really was a chicken. Then one day a flight of geese came over, migrating to their home. They gave out a loud honk up there in the sky, and that goose with the chickens heard it.
Kierkegaard said, “Something stirred within the breast of this goose. Something called him to the skies. He began to flap the wings that he hadn’t used, and he rose a few feet into the air. Then he stopped, and he settled back again into the mud of the barnyard. He heard the cry, but he settled for less.”
You see, when we settle for less than what God is calling us for, it is like settling in the mud, when we could be soaring in the skies. The choice is up to us!
So, my challenge is that you don’t forget your dream or your calling, even when the added responsibilities get in the way. As we close I want to say, that as Christians, our duties, our responsibilities are to be a teacher, a truck driver, a banker, an accountant, a doctor. But our job is to answer our calling from God, whatever that may be.
Let’s Pray!
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