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 Sunday, January 31, 2010 Sermon: "God is Calling - Are You Listening?" Scripture: Jeremiah 1: 4 - 10 Reverend Larry M. Gerber Computers are reading our minds, but God is reading our souls ... and we should be thankful, not fearful. Consider: We use the search engine on our computer to find out more about swine flu, but we type in "swan flu." "swan flu?" We're talking about an entirely different genus of animals. One flies, and the other rolls in mud. Of course we would not find "swan flu", but the search engine might ask if we meant "swine flu" to help us out. Millions of people searched for the latest on swine flu this past year. Our 24-hour news machines made sure we didn't miss a day without a swine-flu-scare headline. Typos happen to all of us as we fill search boxes with inquiries. Knowing this, search engines use spell-check software to predict what we were actually looking for in the first place. Mark Paskin, a senior engineer with Google, notes that two kinds of misspellings occur on the site: simple typos and conceptual errors. The former is a mistake made for a known word, but the latter happens when people don't know how to spell something in the first place. "Paperview boxing" is a perfect example. This is when the Google spelling correction function really tries to read our minds. Did you mean pay-per-view boxing? "U tube" is common conceptual error. Almost everyone mistyping this phrase is looking for the video site YouTube; they just don't know how to spell it. But a u-tube is actually a U-shaped glass tube used to determine the density of liquids and gases. If your daughter is doing research for chemistry class, she'd have to go to the third page of Google search results to get u-tube information, as opposed to YouTube information. Typos are just mistakes. But these "conceptual errors" are the kind we're looking at in Jeremiah 1. This passage is about God's calling and Jeremiah's response. God is doing the searching -- of Jeremiah's soul. Will you follow me? Will you become who I've made you to be? Will you speak my words? But Jeremiah thinks there's been some sort of conceptual error. "That's not right God. Did you mean ... ?" Google is usually right on when it asks that question, but people rarely are when they ask it of God. For most of us, Jeremiah's interaction is pretty relatable. So what can we learn about God's call and our response? God's call is personal Jeremiah is being called to be a prophet -- a mouthpiece of God. His call is specific to the way God made him (v. 5) and is intended for the situation in which God has placed him (vv. 7, 10). Similarly, God calls each of us to become who he made us to be on behalf of those he has called us to impact. Parker Palmer examines Christian calling and vocation in his classic book Let Your Life Speak. The title is borrowed from an old Quaker adage that captures this two-beat nature of calling: It's about who you are, and it should influence others' lives. God's calling interacts first with how he has wired us. Our gifts. Passions. Talents. But this calling then speaks out to others -- extending kingdom values to people in our circles of influence. In saying that calling is personal, we also mean that it's unique to each of us. We aren't supposed to read Jeremiah's calling and do what he was supposed to do. We're supposed to read it and do what we are supposed to do. We aren't all called to be missionaries to Uganda, mothers to autistic children, servants in children's ministry, sufferers of chronic pain or architects bringing the sacredness of beauty to public spheres. God's call is personal to each of us. So who has he made us to be? And who are we supposed to influence through that? Our response is a process In verse 6, Jeremiah looks a little dense. Did he really just ask God, "Did you mean ... ?" If we heard God speak to us, we'd respond in a second, right? We'd be much more like Isaiah chapter 6 -- won over by God. Contrite, bowed, undone, responsive. Really? How many of us instantaneously respond to all of God's other "calls" from the Scriptures: give generously, pray without ceasing, love your spouse sacrificially, do not be anxious about anything and so on. Oops. Our response to God is more often like Jeremiah's. God: "I've made you a prophet." Jeremiah: "I can't speak well enough. I'm not old enough. I'm not brave enough." Silly God. He must have made some kind of typo. He doesn't know that I don't fit what he's looking for. Jeremiah's story is a lot like Moses' calling in Exodus 3-4. God: "I'm sending you to deliver my people." Moses: "Who am I? Who are you? What if nobody believes me? I can't do it. Please ask someone else." It's a bunch of assumed conceptual errors by God and "did you means?" by Jeremiah and Moses. When we read these accounts, it isn't just their stories. It's our story. Responding to the call of God is often a Jeremiah or Moses process. We balk. We question. We wrestle. We fear. We need clarification. We want things to be easier. We flat-out ignore. We're human, and these responses are common in the process of understanding calling. They're expected in the process of sanctification. They're assumed in the process of growth. Eventually, we just discern, and we act when God calls. But before we get there, we usually duck, deny, downplay, digest, deliberate and develop in responding to the voice of God. It's a maturation process. What was true for Jeremiah and Moses is also true today: God believes in us more than we believe in him. He's patient enough to allow us to get on board with his agenda through process. God's call is a partnership When God calls Jeremiah, he doesn't leave him alone to accomplish that calling. "You shall go to all to whom I send you" (v. 7). "You shall speak whatever I command" (v. 7). "I am with you" (v. 8). "I have put my words in your mouth" (v. 9). God's calling is always the invitation to partner with him in a place where his Spirit is already at work. Paul models this in describing the preaching he was called to do. It wasn't a human effort but a demonstration of the Spirit's power (1 Corinthians 2:4). What was true for Paul is true of real preaching today. And what is true in the pulpit is just as true for the calling of every person in its audience. Whatever God calls people to is the thing he intends to empower them to accomplish. This means we aren't alone in our calling. We aren't solely responsible for the results of what we are called to. We don't claim the credit for those results. We find God at work around us and join him in what he might do through us. That is the partnership of our calling. God's call isn't permanent While our response to God may be a process, it isn't one without an end. Jeremiah spoke the word of God "until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month" (v. 3). God called out to Israel in prophecies. Warnings. Chances. Fresh starts. Guidance. Forbearance. But Israel didn't have forever to respond. God isn't content to be ignored forever. He eventually honors the desires of those who ignore him and lets the consequences fall as they may. We see this throughout the Bible. Israel ignores her prophets, and enemies eventually show up. Jesus told the disciples to shake the dust off their feet and move to the next town if they were ignored. We can ignore God's call, and he'll eventually accept our terms. It may be the call of God to trust Christ for the first time. He may be calling us to leave a pattern of sin, or to live according to God's Kingdom rather than our own. But when God's spirit leads and woos, it isn't forever. Death comes, consequences come, complacency comes. Something or Somebody can cause the invitation of God to expire. So while we need to be careful in discerning God's call in our lives, we also need to be careful not to put off our obedience. Responding to God's call is a temporary window of kingdom opportunity. When we read the calling of Jeremiah, we see our own tendencies. We're likely to balk at partnering with God. We may not see how he has made us. We may have excuses lined up and ready. But God doesn't make conceptual errors in calling us. "Did you mean ... ?" is always gently answered with a "No, I really did mean ... . " We can thank God for grace in our process of discerning him, but we should also jump in and take risks to become who he has made us to be. I close with this thought: The buzzard: If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The Bat: The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. The Bumblebee: a bumble, if dropped into an open top container, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. People; In many ways we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That is the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up. Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up! Live simply, love generously, care deeply, speak kindly and trust in our Creator who loves us. God is calling! Are you listening? Are you living in your doldrums and misfortunes or are you letting your little shine? A simple little Hymn; #585 This little light of mine, I am going to let it shine...let it shine. Sources: Palmer, Parker. Let Your Life Speak. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2000. Thompson, Erin. "How's it spelled? Web search engines unscramble goofs." USA Today, June 16, 2009. usatoday.com/news/education/2009-06-14-misspellings_N.htm. |
