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When the Spirit Calls, We Go

           There are young people here today who do not remember the days before cell phones, the days before caller ID and voicemail with telemarketers calling every evening during dinner.  In the old days what did it take for you to answer a call?  In the old days the phone rang, and you jumped.  But what does it take now?  I’ve run into folks who prefer not to answer.  They check caller ID or figure, “If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.”  I’ve also come across people who don’t respond to phone calls, only text messages.  But what if it’s your mom calling or your spouse or your kids or your boss?  What if it’s God calling?  What would it take for you to answer his call?

             Have you ever chatted with someone who is struggling with their worth, someone who asks, “Why am I on earth?  What good can I do?”  Has that person ever been staring back at you in the mirror?  All of that is answered by the call from God into his service and our response as illustrated in succinct fashion in today’s second lesson.  Apparently the organizers of the Sunday-by-Sunday themes of the church year felt this business of responding to God’s call is so important that they planned back-to-back Sundays with that theme.  Last Sunday we heard that the Savior’s power leads us to follow him, and today we consider how the Savior’s power convinces us to serve him because, When the Spirit Calls, We Go.

 Following the Footsteps of People Who Were Sent

            In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.  Barnabas sold property and laid the money at the apostles’ feet for distribution.  Nice!  But could it be that there might have been a day or two when he double-clutched, worrying whether he’d have enough dough to survive?  Then there was Simeon called Niger, a black man.  Did he have to put up with ignorant and ungodly racial prejudice?  Lucius was from Cyrene on the north coast of Africa.  How many heard that and thought of the guy from the same town who was pulled out of the crowd to help Jesus carry his cross?  Did the Jews in town treat him with disdain because of that connection?  Manaen was brought up in the house of the guy who killed the babies of Bethlehem, and his foster brother mocked Jesus early Good Friday morning and sent him back to Pilate.  Was Manaen a chip off the old man’s block?  Then there was Saul.  You know his story.  He had been arresting Christians and hauling them off to court for a death sentence.  Yet the Holy Spirit called them into service.  How could that be?  There’s only one way.  Do you sense forgiveness of sins leaping from this Bible account like a jack-in-the-box.  The Holy Spirit calling characters like that into God’s service would be like a candidate for president hiring a campaign spokesperson who had been in prison for armed robbery and murder.  Do you think the media would have a field day with that?  Look whom the Holy Spirit called!  Sinners – Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, Saul, and you and me.

             Barnabas and Saul didn’t jump up one day and say, “We’re going on a mission trip, representing the church in Antioch.  We’re going to go where we want, do what we want, and say what we want!”  No!  They each had their role to play in their personal lives as Christians, communicating the love of the Savior among friends and fellow church members.  But when it came to going out in the name of others, they were sent by God.  Back then it was not unusual for God to tap someone’s shoulder, “I want you.”  But notice that here God set a pattern for how he calls people into representative service today.  God called Barnabas and Saul into service through the church.  The Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”  So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.

             So, we’ve got sinners, called by God through the church.  The last piece – they had work to do, “the work to which I have called them.”  What was that work?  Not building bridges, not installing communication towers, not making up fables but building bridges to people, setting up communication links to people, and telling the truth of God’s love for sinners.

             How does God get that work done today?  He could do it any way he wants.  He is God.  He could grab control of all public and social media and blast the message of his love for sinners in an instant.  He could send a radioactive impulse around the globe to make people into Christians.  He could send legions of angels to appear and proclaim his message like the chorus that appeared to the shepherds of Bethlehem or the two who sat at the entrance to Jesus’ tomb on the first Easter.  But he does not do any of those things.  Instead, he has chosen to use people – sinners talking to sinners – to convict people of their sin and commit people to the Savior.

             This is where we get a sense of worth.  It starts with undeserved love from God just to keep us out of hell.  Then comes the privilege to do “the work.”  By baptism you and I are called by God into his service.  No matter what your role in life as a student or spouse or parent or employer or employee or retiree or neighbor or friend, God has positioned you there.  From his view no role, no vocation, is more important than another.  So, with a smile on your face and joy in your hearts, take up your homework tasks, projects at work, dusting the apartment, doing the laundry, changing the diaper because God has sent you, and when the Spirit calls, we go. 

Following the Footsteps of People Who Went

            Later this week, re-read the spell-binding account of the book of Acts, and pay careful attention to how the early church grew.  We tend to think of the heroic efforts of apostles like Saul, later called Paul, and his co-worker, Barnabas. Yes, they were sent by God through the church, and they went.  But some were sent and went under unusual circumstances.  In fact, the church in Antioch got started because Christians in the Jerusalem area were forced to flee under severe persecution.  They had to give up their homes, their jobs, their familiar routines.  But instead of giving up hope, they went, and wherever they went, they talked to neighbors and new friends about Jesus.  Others joined them in communicating Christ even to non-Jews, and the Bible writer says that a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord (Acts 11:21).

           And take a look at the reaction of Barnabas and Saul when they were sent.  We don’t hear them making excuses like Moses, “Who am I, that I should go?” (Exodus 3:11), and “What if they do not believe me or listen to me?” (Exodus 4:1), and “I have never been eloquent” (Exodus 4:10) and finally try to get out of it, “Lord, please send someone else” (Exodus 4:13).  They didn’t run the other way like Jonah, “Those people out there are not like us.  They’re icky.”  They didn’t play the humility card like Jeremiah, “I’m too young and inexperienced.”  No!  When sent, they went.  The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went.  That took a remarkable amount of courage.  Where did they get that?  Simple!  From the message they proclaimed – a message they did not have to make up or guess at or fake.  It was not their own.  They proclaimed the word of God.  Yes, the Holy Spirit gets the credit, but he won’t work without the message of God’s love for sinners being proclaimed, and God’s message of love for sinners won’t get proclaimed unless people speak it.

            That’s what adds to our sense of worth.  Not only have you been sent by the Holy Spirit into your role in life, but you have a circle of influence that you may not even realize.  No matter how quiet or shy or introverted you are, people are watching.  They see your attitude at work even when the days are long and hard and overwhelming.  They take note of your honesty, even if it means admitting that you’re in over your head.  They see how you cope with loss and how you treat other people.  Oh, how often we have failed to live up to that high calling!  Thanks be to Jesus who turns his face to us from the heavens and says, “You might feel unworthy, but I corrected all that by offering to the heavenly Father the right attitude, perfect humility, and consistent love and service to him and others.  He has accepted that as though you did it.  I have also erased from the Father’s heavenly whiteboard those days when you fell short of doing the work God called you to do, shirking your role in life as Christian.  So, continue to go with a clear conscience and clean slate, and serve with joy.”  Who wouldn’t jump up to answer that call faster than jumping to answer a phone jingling off the hook?

            As if that’s not enough, God adds another layer to the fun of serving him.  His promise of love needs no added power or boost on our part to make it work.  But amazingly he allows us to use all our resources, including our brainpower, to strategize how we get his message out.  Note that Barnabas and Saul had a target, a direction to go, and a team, taking others along who would be their partners and assistants and one day perhaps take over for them.  The two of them … went down to Seleucia (the seaport) and sailed from there.  When they arrived at Salamis(the main city where most of the people lived), they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John [Mark] was with them as their helper.  God used the brains of humans to form a plan, a strategy.  They went to a real place and with real people.  They were not piping sound into the air of an empty auditorium or a barren farm field.  The good news got personalized.  They went with their plan, their effort, their speaking to people, all of whom were sinners just like Barnabas and Saul and needed that message.  Through the church in Antioch God sent his messengers into the harvest field, and they went.

            You saw Missionary Terry Schultz at work in Haiti in last week’s WELS Connection.  How did he get there?  He and his brother came from lay family who worshiped Jesus every week.  Their parents didn’t pooh-pooh the pastor’s suggestion to study for ministry and counter with, “There’s no money in that.”  Your prayers, your gifts, and your sons and daughters encouraged toward ministry make possible for the message of the most desperately needed gift of all time – Jesus’ forgiving love – to get to people here and around the globe.  God has sent workers into the harvest field through his church, through you, and they went.

            That’s what adds to our sense of worth.  We can go about our planning, our strategizing, and our goals personally, as a congregation, and as a church body with confidence that, while the future surely is in God’s hands, he will use us, and he will bless our efforts.  We don’t have to worry about the numbers.  That’s in his hands.  But we rejoice that we are carrying out his service personally and through those we send.  That’s why, when the Holy Spirit calls, we go!

             In the past, I know that when sent, you went, and that in the future you will still be “going,” that is, carrying out your role of serving God and others personally and together as a church.  How do I know?  It’s obvious to us as pastors.  We have the privilege of teaching God’s love to people who are curious not primarily because we met them but because you brought a friend or recommended that someone check it out.  That’s why I join with the apostle to say, “I thank my God every time I remember you.  In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:3-6).     Amen.

 Preached at Grace Lutheran Church, Milwaukee, WI (www.gracedowntown.org) on January 22, 2012

Services

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Mondays 6:30 pm

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1209 North Broadway Milwaukee, WI 53202 | (414) 271-3006

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