06.11.23

Scripture Reading - Matthew 9:9-13

This morning we heard the story of two calls. The call to Abram and the call to Matthew. The circumstances were different. The time was different. The words being used were different. The men were different. But God called both of them and some parts of their call are the same. It will be these similarities that we will be looking at.

Both men are regular working men. Abram was a farmer. He worked the land and watched the flocks. Day in and day out. Matthew was a tax collector. Working on behalf of the Roman government collecting taxes, and pocketing the extra. And their call came to them, not because of a special worship service, but as they were about their regular business.

Neither of these men were the children of ministers or missionaries. Most generally with both Abram and Matthew, they would have been following in the footsteps of their fathers because that was how an individual learned a trade, and so Abram’s father had been a farmer and shepherd as had his father before him and his father before him, and Matthew’s father had been a tax collector as well, probably like his father before him.

So these were ordinary regular kinds of guys doing ordinary regular kinds of things when they received an extraordinary invitation. In Abram’s case, his call was to “go”. “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” Go. Matthew’s call was to “Come” or as Jesus says, “Follow Me.” You might argue that the words, “go” and “come” aren’t the same and you would be right. However, the sense of the call is the same and that was, God saying, “trust me”. To Abram the call was to go to a land I will show you. Not to a land he already knew. And Matthew’s call was to “follow” without knowing where his obedience might lead. Both men had to trust that God knew what He was up to.

So two regular men, working, hear a call from God. And there is another similarity between these two but it is most clearly seen in the call to Abram. And it is this: being obedient to the call brings promise. For Abram, the promise was the land to which God would take him and that Abram would be blessed. Not only this, but he would be a blessing. In other words, his life would be blessed and in being blessed, he would bless others.

Now, again, when we look at Matthew, we know that his obedience to the call to follow Christ will lead to blessing. He did not know that at first. He had no promises that we know of. No words like those of Abram, but I can almost guarantee Matthew looking back over his life as it came to a close realized that the best decision he ever made was to leave the taxpayer’s table and follow Christ. That his life had been blessed because he obeyed the call.

Another similarity, although it doesn’t apply to either Abram or Matthew is, they might have said “no.” God’s call is an invitation. Now, let me show you something that I’ve always been troubled by in Genesis. Just prior to this call to Abram in Geneis 12, we have chapter 11. And I want you to listen to verse 31, “Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Harran, they settled there.

I’ve always read this verse with a little bit of wonderment. What if God had originally called Terah. Leave this land and go to the land I will show you. So Terah, Abram’s father packs everything to go but he only gets as far as Harran, and they “settled.” Is it possible that the promises given to Abram were first promised to Terah but because he chose instead to settle, he missed out on the promises.

Now, Abram and Matthew aren’t the only ones who received a call from God and responded yes. Truth is, the Bible is full of people who God invited to participate in His work who in faith responded by saying yes. But my concern this morning is for those of us who may have sensed a call from God and have responded by saying “no.” Or maybe we don’t say “no” we say, “wait”. Maybe we think to ourselves one day. Some day. But what if the call you have received from God is for now, not then.

We have a tendency to tell God, “now just isn’t a good time.” I just finished college, I need to get established. Now we have kids and we can’t pull them away from their friends. I just got a great promotion and can’t afford to go now. Our kids are graduating high school, college, starting new careers, giving us grandchildren. And on and on the list might go as to why we “can't”. And because we say no to the call, because we don’t trust that God can take care of all of these things, we never move into the place of promise.