Responding to God's Call I. Introduction A. The invention of the caller ID and the answering machine has made it easier for us to determine how to respond to telephone calls B. We can certainly avoid calls 1. a telemarketer? No need to pick up! 2. obnoxious friend or relative? You're "no longer home"! C. We can also, however, choose to pick up when people we wish to speak with call D. What about God's call? 1. do we "pick up the phone" for God? 2. If we do, are we hearing Him? 3. Do we act on His call? E. Regardless, there are multitudes who avoid God's call 1. a great number never "pick up the phone," for whatever reason not desiring to be saved 2. there are also others who "pick up the phone", but find excuses for not acting on God's desire for His children F. Let us spend some time examining Biblical examples of those who avoided God's call, some who picked up God's call, and apply the lessons to our lives II. Those Avoiding God's Call A. While there are many examples of people in the Bible who attempted to avoid God's call, let us focus on two well-known examples: Moses and Jonah B. Moses-- Exodus 3-4:17 1. Moses attempted to use every excuse in the book for not taking up God's call 2. God comes to Moses in the form of the burning bush (3:1-6) 3. God's call: Moses will be sent to Pharaoh to enact God's plan to take the Israelites out of Egypt and place them in Canaan (3:7-10) 4. Moses' First Excuse: Professed humility (3:11) a. Who am I to do such things? b. Does Moses show a truly humble attitude or is he attempting to evade the responsibility? 5. God's First Counter: He will be with Moses, and as a sign, says that they will return to Horeb to serve God (3:12) 6. Moses' Second Excuse: Name of God (3:13) a. Moses' concern is that the elders will ask him the name of the God of their fathers who sent him b. yet in Exodus 6:3 we learn that God had never given His name to the patriarchs 7. God's Second Counter: YHWH, declaration of God's intent, comfort to Moses (3:14-22) 8. Moses' Third Excuse: Disbelief of the people (4:1) a. note that in Exodus 3:18 that God assures Moses that the elders will hear him and that they will go up to Pharaoh b. Yet Moses' excuse shows a lack of belief in His promise! 9. God's Third Counter: 3 Signs (4:2-9) a. God performs signs on Moses' staff and hand to give him empirical evidence of God's power and a testimony to the elders b. All reason for disbelief would be mitigated 10. Moses' Fourth Excuse: Lack of Eloquence (4:10) 11. God's Fourth Counter: God makes the mouth of man (4:11-12). 12. Moses' Fifth and Final Excuse: Just send someone else (4:13)! 13. God's Fifth and Final Counter: God is angry, and Aaron will be your mouthpiece (4:14-17) 14. Moses, probably fearful of God's anger, goes out of Midian and ends up being a great leader of the Israelites C. Jonah-- Jonah 1-4 1. Jonah does not speak with God, making excuses-- he gets up and leaves! 2. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah (1:1) 3. God's call: Go and preach against Nineveh (1:2) 4. Jonah's reaction: he went down to the sea and boarded a boat for Tarshish (Spain) (1:3) 5. God's reaction: He sends a great storm (1:4) 6. Sailors' reaction: Why has this happened? Find out why and fix it (1:5-14) 7. Solution: Jonah is thrown overboard, swallowed by big fish (1:15-17) 8. God's second call: Go preach against Nineveh (3:2) 9. Jonah's reaction: He went to Nineveh and began preaching (3:3-5) 10. Assyrian reaction: repentance (3:6-9) 11. God's reaction to Assyria: mercy and relent (3:10) 12. Jonah's reaction to God: Indignant, prayer for death (4:1-3) 13. God's reaction to Jonah: The plant coming then dying (4:4-7) 14. Jonah's reaction to the plant's death: Indignant, prayer for death (4:8) 15. God's lesson: as Jonah has pitied the plant, God has pitied thousands of souls in Nineveh (4:9-11) 16. Jonah attempts to run away from God's call, having foreseen God’s mercy toward Nineveh and unwilling to go along with a plan of God with which he disagrees 17. In the end, however, we hope that Jonah has learned his lesson D. Let us now look at some more positive examples-- those following God's call III. Those Heeding God's Call A. As with those avoiding God's call, there are numerous examples of those who heeded God's call, but I would like to focus on two NT examples: Jesus and Paul B. Jesus 1. God had an eternal plan in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 3:11) 2. He willingly enacted the plan of His Father, humbling Himself, leading to His exaltation (Philippians 2:5-11) 3. Even when He appealed to His Father in Gethsemane, He completely submitted to His Father's will (Matthew 26:39) 4. He learned obedience, suffered temptation, yet stayed true to His task (Hebrews 4:15, 5:7-8) 5. He completely fulfills the will of His Father (Matthew 5:17-18, John 19:30) C. Paul 1. Paul, beforehand, had persecuted the church (Acts 9:1-2) 2. Christ then appeared to him (Acts 9:3-8) 3. Did Paul, like Moses before him, provide excuses? No. He was immediately converted, being immersed in water, and learned greatly about Jesus the Christ (Acts 9:17-22) 4. Paul became a great apostle and witness for Christ D. How can we apply these examples to our lives? IV. Application A. We have seen two contrasting sets of examples B. Moses came up with all kinds of excuses for avoiding God's call 1. shows concern with his reception by both Israel and Pharaoh 2. daunted by enormity of task C. Yet what does he forget? 1. God will be with him 2. Israel will not be delivered from Egypt and brought into Canaan because of how great Moses is, but because YHWH is God and Redeemer of Israel D. What about us? 1. We have been given daunting tasks 2. Live righteously (Galatians 5:19-23) 3. Shun the world and its evils (1 John 2:15-17) 4. Preach the Gospel (Matthew 28:18-20) 5. Assist the needy (Galatians 6:10) 6. Doing good (James 4:17) E. Yet what shall we not forget? 1. We will not be saved because of how great we are, but because God forgave us of our sins through Christ Jesus (Romans 3) 2. We will not be able to fulfill these daunting tasks on our own; we constantly require the assistance of our God (Hebrews 4:15-16) 3. As Jesus has said, let us consider ourselves but unprofitable servants, doing only that which we should have done (Luke 17:7-10) F. Let us not fall into Moses' trap-- when God calls us to act on His behalf, let us not make excuses and think that the task belongs to-- or ought to belong to-- another G. Jonah avoided God's call out of spite-- he did not want to see Nineveh spared 1. Jonah recognized that God's intent for him to preach was to spur Nineveh to repentance 2. Being of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, he had no love for Assyria 3. He avoided the task set out for him, and maintained anger regarding the task's conclusion, because of his personal hatred for Assyria H. And what of us? 1. The message of the Gospel is for all men (Matthew 28:18-20)! a. this means that despite whatever animosities we may hold for whatever reason, we are not to withhold the Gospel from anyone b. Your next door neighbor and a terrorist in Iraq have the same need to hear the Gospel c. We also cannot pre-judge, assuming that the message will not be heard d. we just need to preach it! 2. We must watch ourselves and keep ourselves from such ungodly attitudes as evinced by Jonah a. Jonah's nationalism caused him to desire the destruction of many thousands of people! b. We are to love all men and desire for all men to be saved (Matthew 5:44-48, 1 Timothy 2:4) c. Even though we might have differences with others on various matters-- race, culture, ethnicity, politics, etc.-- we are to love all and desire for all to come to the truth I. As to our positive examples, the NT commands that Christians imitate both of them (1 Corinthians 11:1-- imitate Paul as he imitates Christ) 1. Our task has been ordained from the beginning (Ephesians 3:11) 2. We ought to fulfill our task without excusing ourselves or running away because of ungodly attitudes! 3. Our conversion must be instantaneous and life-changing, as with Paul in Acts 9 4. We must continue heeding God's call throughout our lives, enduring until the end, as both Christ and Paul did (John 19:30, 2 Timothy 4:7-8) 5. We may have moments of doubt, or lag, but we must continue going and pray to the Father that His will, not our own, be done (Matthew 26:39) V. Conclusion A. We have seen two sets of examples of responding to God's call 1. Moses and Jonah found excuses or ran away when God called them for a particular task 2. Jesus and Paul, both called for their purposes, picked up and did not look back B. All four ended up being God's instruments because of the insistence of God's calling C. Songbook D. God continues to call today 1. If you have never obeyed His calling, consider doing so today. You never have a better chance than the present, and the future is not guaranteed 2. Consider what would have happened to Moses if God's anger toward him did not cool, or if God did not spare Jonah during the storm-- what if you wait too late and the call has ended? 3. Come, obey Him today E. Perhaps you have already once responded to the call, but have become deaf to God's will for you-- open your ears today, and we can help encourage you with prayer F. Or perhaps you are following God's call but need your own time in Gethsemane, praying earnestly to God to help you keep on in His will-- if we can encourage you in any way, please come to the front as we stand and sing