THE SEVEN COVENANTS OF A DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST: PART V
As Christians, we often times say that God calls us to a particular occupation, or God calls us to do a particular thing. Well, what exactly is a call from God? Frederick Buechner, in his book Wishful Thinking, defines it this way: “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger…meet.” Personally, I’ve always believed that a call from God is accompanied by an inner urgency. In other words – try as we might – a call from God is something we feel deep inside that we cannot explain…and that we cannot dismiss.
Each and every minister has his or her own sense of call from God. Mine occurred when I was but 16 years of age. I was a junior in high school and was actually employed by the First Presbyterian Church in Sioux City, Iowa, as a custodian. There were a couple of us teenagers who worked as custodians at the church. We basically babysat doors while the choir practiced, mowed the lawn, and shoveled snow. It wasn’t a terribly taxing occupation. It was just a high school job. I think I made a whopping $1.40 an hour.
One Sunday morning after worship, I was walking up the aisle of the sanctuary and the minister, the Rev. William F. Skinner, was walking down the aisle after greeting the congregation. He said to me, “Brian, have you thought about what you’re going to do with your life after you graduate from high school?” I thought to myself, “That’s all I’ve been thinking about!” I said to him, “Well, I’ll probably go to Iowa State and become an engineer like my dad.” I couldn’t think of anything else. He said to me, “Have you ever thought about becoming a minister?” I quickly replied, “Me? A minister?” I was a skinny, quiet, shy kid in high school. It was something that I truly hadn’t considered…but I told him that I would.
That’s how the seed got planted. I wrestled with the idea – and in my late teens I literally ran from the idea – but I felt an inner urgency that I just could not explain…that I simply could not dismiss. Then Bill Skinner said something to me, that his father had said to him, that really cemented the issue in my mind. He said – and please pardon the sexist language – he said, “Use your talents in the best way that you know how to help better mankind.” I thought that writing and speaking were the things that I did best. What better way to utilize those talents than in the ministry? And the rest, as they say, is history.
That’s how I was called into the ministry. Like I said, each and every minister has his or her own sense of call from God. In the Christian church in general – and in the Presbyterian Church in particular – we say that ministers are called by God to serve. Perhaps the question now is: Does God call people to other occupations as well? Does God call doctors to practice medicine, lawyers to practice law, homemakers to make homes, and engineers to drive trains? That’s what an engineer does, right? Does God call people to occupations other than the ministry? Keep that thought in mind as we move on.
Several weeks ago we began a sermon series entitled, The Seven Covenants of a Disciple of Jesus Christ. I began the first sermon by making the case that Christ’s Great Commission, as recorded in the gospel of Matthew, is the reason for the church’s existence in the first place. The church is called to make disciples. Yet if the church is going to make disciples, then the people who habituate the church must first become disciples themselves. That’s what the seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are all about.
The seven covenants of a disciple of Jesus Christ are as follows: worship regularly; pray daily; study diligently; live faithfully; serve joyously; give generously; and witness boldly. Five weeks ago, we delved a little more deeply into the first covenant: worship regularly. We said in essence that it was Jesus’ custom to worship, and it should be ours, as well. Yet we should come to worship expecting God to speak, to move, and to act. That’s what keeps our faith from being a mile wide and an inch deep.
Four weeks ago, we examined the second covenant: pray daily. There we saw that we are called to share our hurts, our sorrows and our joys with God. God listens to us in compassion and love much like we do when our children come to us. And when we do that…what we discover is that by praying, we learn how to pray.
Two weeks ago, we examined the third covenant: study diligently. We learned that God is responsible for the Scriptures in a revelatory way, and not just in an informational way. The Bible is how God reveals himself to us. It’s something we absolutely, positively, never could have come up with on our own. What’s more, you’ve got to read the textbook if you’re going to take the course.
Last week we examined the fourth covenant of a disciple: live faithfully. We learned about orthopraxis, or, right practice. People pass judgment on Christianity by the way Christians live their lives. It is absolutely imperative that we set a good example.
Today we examine the fifth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ: serve joyously. Each of us is called to ministry. We seek the field of ministry most closely aligned with the call of God on our lives that hauntingly stirs our deepest passion. We begin by engaging in some form of ministry with others. We aspire to create ministries in which we engage others as partners in ministry with us.
The first – and perhaps the most important – statement in the fifth covenant is this: “Each of us is called to ministry.” It’s not just ministers who are called. Each of us is called to ministry. That wasn’t always the belief that Christians held. As Os Guinness wrote in his book The Call, “For most Christians in medieval times, the term call was reserved for priests, monks, and nuns. Everyone else just had work.”
Reformation theologian John Calvin helped to change all that. In 1559, he addressed the notion of vocation or calling in his epic work Institutes of the Christian Religion. He wrote, “Wherefore no man can doubt that this vocation is, in the sight of God, not only sacred and lawful…but the most sacred – and by far the most honorable – of all stations in mortal life.” What is that most sacred and honorable station in life? Is it the ministry? No. Calvin went on to say, and I quote:
With regard to the function of magistrates, the Lord has not only declared that he approves and is pleased with it, but moreover, has strongly recommended it to us by the very honorable titles which he has conferred upon it. When those who bear the office of magistrate are called gods, let no one suppose there is little weight in that appellation. It is therefore intimated that they have a commission from God, that they are invested with divine authority, and in fact represent the person of God, as whose substitutes they in a manner act. Wherefore no man can doubt that civil authority is – in the sight of God, not only sacred and lawful – but the most sacred, and by far the most honorable, of all stations in mortal life.
What is the most sacred and honorable station in mortal life? It’s not the ministry. According to John Calvin, the most sacred and honorable station in mortal life is that of the politician. We need to remember, of course, that Calvin is not speaking of the person holding that office. He is speaking of the office or the calling itself. Regardless of whether the person holding that office is wise or is a fool, it is the office itself that is worthy of honor.
All I’m trying to say is that it’s not just ministers who are called by God. Doctors, lawyers, homemakers and engineers can all be called by God as well. Consider the passage I read from the book of Genesis. God said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.” Was Abraham blessed that he might hoard those blessings unto himself? No, he was blessed that he might become a blessing to others. The same is true of us. We are blessed…to be a blessing.
Perhaps our dalliance into the arena of calling should take both mental aptitude and spiritual giftedness into consideration. Ideally, these factors should be wedded to a strong sense of mission, such that our blessedness might be a blessing to others. Questions that come to mind now are these:
1. What has God called YOU to do in partnership with the community of Christ?
2. How can you fulfill your mission for Christ in the world…based upon what you feel you have the mental aptitude and the spiritual gifts to do?
For Theresa, the defining moment came one night with an unexpected knock at the door. At the time, she was a teacher in a private girls’ school. But when she opened the door that night, she found a dying woman, crumpled up on her doorstep. Theresa took the dying woman from one hospital to another looking for help…but none of the hospitals would accept the woman as a patient. Finally, it was too late. The woman died in her arms.
It was a defining moment. It touched something deep inside her; a well of deep love and deep anger. From that moment on, Theresa was not the same. Her life would be dedicated to making sure that the poor people in her city died with dignity, knowing that they were loved. By the way, that woman named Theresa came to be known as Mother Theresa. She sensed what God was calling her to do, in partnership with the community of Christ. And she fulfilled her mission based upon what she felt she was gifted to do. She felt that she was called by God to make a difference in Jesus’ name, and she dedicated her life to fulfilling that calling.
It’s good to pay attention to such unexpected moments in our lives – moments that I think each of us have now and then – moments that reach deep down into our souls. They can sometimes become the foundation for our own unique ministries. They can sometimes become the foundation to our own call to serve joyously. A call from God does not refer exclusively to an occupation. Sometimes it’s more like a task that needs to be done…a task God thinks you are uniquely qualified to do. As someone once said, “The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger…meet.”
Does that seem a little out of reach to you? Are Mother Theresa’s aspirations perhaps a bit too lofty? Listen, people in this very church have felt called by God to take action in our community as well, and they have done so. That’s how the Fairview/Fairmont low-income housing development got started. That’s how the Meadville Area Free Clinic got started as well. People from this very community of faith felt called by God to accomplish something in Jesus’ name in their own community…and they did so.
I think of a woman from this church who was appalled by the fact that the Meadville high school no longer held baccalaureate services for graduating seniors. So she involved her husband, who is a teacher, she involved the student council, and she involved the Meadville Area Ministerial Association. We’ve been holding baccalaureate services in Meadville for 8 years now and attendance has grown each and every year. That’s what it means to be called by God. That’s what it means to make a difference in Jesus’ name.
I think of another woman from this church who finds it disturbing that so many young people who were raised in the church…do not involve their own children in the life of the church. This kind of thing upsets grandparents to no end. She recently formed a group that’s bit of a spinoff of a group called, Moms in Touch, and calls it, Grandmas in Touch. A group of grandmothers now gets together to pray for their grandchildren. I suspect God listens to “grandma” prayers. That’s what it means to be called by God. That’s what it means to make a difference in Jesus’ name.
Yet one more thing needs to be said. The fifth discipline of a disciple of Jesus Christ is not just to serve. It is, rather: Serve Joyously! That’s why I had Nancy read the story of Cain and Abel a little while ago. Attitude is everything.
As the story goes, Cain and Abel were the sons of Adam and Eve. Cain was a tiller of the ground while Abel was a keeper of sheep. One day they each made an offering to God. Abel brought the best he had to offer – the firstlings of his flock. Cain…Cain pretty much brought what he had left over. God was pleased with Abel’s offering, but he had no regard for Cain’s. Cain was angry about that…and in the end, he slew his brother, Abel. Why was God pleased with Abel’s offering and displeased with that of Cain? I think it comes down to attitude. Abel recognized that God was the source of all that he had and all that he was. Therefore, he offered up to God the best he had to give. Cain thought more of himself and his own efforts than he did of God. Giving – to him – was an afterthought…a burden. Attitude is everything. We are called not just to serve, but to serve joyously.
The fifth covenant of a disciple of Jesus Christ is: Serve Joyously! Each of us is called to ministry. We seek the field of ministry most closely aligned with the call of God on our lives, that hauntingly stirs our deepest passion. We begin by engaging in some form of ministry with others. We aspire to create ministries in which we engage others as partners in ministry with us. Just don’t forget that how you serve is just as important as who you serve. As the Apostle Paul once put it in the second book of Corinthians, “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.” Attitude…is everything. Amen.
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