Jesus calls Philip and Nathanael

The New Revised Standard Version Samuel’s Calling and Prophetic Activity

3 Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the LORD under Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room; 3 the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was. 4 Then the LORD called, “Samuel! Samuel!” and he said, “Here I am!” 5 and ran to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call; lie down again.” So he went and lay down. 6 The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. 8 The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the boy. 9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’ ” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

The New Revised Standard Version Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Me

This year, like every year, in about a month, I will need to drive to Conway for an interview.

They will ask me about ministry and theology.

The memory of my first interview back in America makes me chuckle.

It was about a half a year after getting back from Rome.

I was in Oklahoma for my first district license interview, and I was very nervous.

They broke us up into groups and interviewed us with a group of pastors present.

In my group, there was one lady who was leading the interview while the rest were expected to chime in and ask questions.

They asked me to introduce myself and tell about my background in ministry and education, and so I did.

I noticed that the lady who was leading the interview and was asking questions was squirmy and kept wanting the others to ask questions.

Thankfully one of the pastors was also a former professor and didn’t mind asking questions because he knew me.

The rest were frozen and wide-eyed, only shaking their heads no when asked if they had questions by the leader who acted like she didn’t really want to speak.

The interview was awkward but finally ended.

I felt like I had done something wrong or it hadn’t gone well.

I saw the former professor and asked why it was so awkward.

“Allison,” he said, “They were a bit scared. No one was going to dare quiz you on your theology lest you turn it around and quiz them.”

When I was a kid and a teen, I was notoriously awkward, a painfully shy wallflower who could even be a pushover or a doormat.

The last effect I ever expected to have on anyone as an adult was intimidating.

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter.

There was one question I got, though, that I always get in interviews, and has constantly been asked of me for decades, and I struggle with it.

“Tell us the story of your calling.” people will say.

I struggle because it isn’t so dramatic.

It might have been nice to have had a voice wake me up in the middle of the night or to have Jesus come up to me in the flesh and tell me to follow him.

Mine was an altar when I was around 14. I was called to ministry, but I was convinced it was to missions.

I had a rough summer after my freshman year not knowing what I was supposed to do in ministry.

I’ve always struggled a bit. Should I go into theology and academics. Preach and pastor. Go out onto the mission field.

I have had some good advice over the years when it comes to discerning a call.

“God can’t steer a parked car, so there’s no point sitting around waiting for some grand religious experience. Just get started in a direction and God will lead you.”

Although that conflicted with other advice to wait on God to speak up.

I also think some will get a definitive call to one particular place and way of doing ministry.

Others, perhaps like myself, are simply called to serve and minister wherever they are at the time, and offer up what gifts they have.

I didn’t have a burning bush experience, and when I was younger it gave me anxiety about whether I was actually called or not.

I believe, though, that part of my problem was with my understanding of calling.

Sadly, there are more than one misunderstandings and problems, and not just among those called to be elders in the church.

You

I’m not quite sure when it began.

I’m not quite sure where it came from.

But there has been a misconception of Christianity for a very long time.

It has been an undercurrent in how we have been taught ever since we were first introduced in the church either as children or as adults.

We learn quickly that Christianity is about salvation, and at least what is implied is this salvation is salvation from hell and for heaven.

And then we stop.

You believe.

You pray for salvation.

You go to church.

You study your Bible.

So when you die, you don’t go to hell but get to go to heaven.

And we stop with that.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe in eternity and the final judgement.

I believe heaven and hell are real.

But why did we stop there?

Why did we stop with thinking that Christianity is only about trying to get to heaven after we die?

To be honest, I think some of it might have come from the preaching many of you might have grown up with.

Hell fire and brimstone might have its truth, and I know of some who turned their lives around and served God and helped build the Kingdom in response to it… but it has its limits.

Christianity built on fear of hell will only go so far.

First of all, if sin is rooted in selfishness, then making our faith based on worrying about our own future and selves isn’t really going to help.

It won’t empower us get the focus off of us and onto others.

Christianity that is mostly about being afraid of going to hell will only add to our self-centered nature.

In some instances, it can easily strengthen our sinful nature instead of diminishing it.

We treat God as a means to an end, to the end of escaping suffering.

We look down on the others that we believe are going to hell in a hand basket and smugly feel comfort knowing we aren’t one of them.

We get angry easier at anything or anyone we feel might compromise our escape from hell.

We worry more.

We become more selfish, not less.

I don’t say that to instill more anxiety or fear. That’s counter productive.

I think moving away from this comes in the form of getting out of ourselves.

It comes in the form of… calling.

Calling to something bigger.

Calling to something other.

God

I wonder if Eli fell into the trap of having a self-centered religion.

He probably just entered the family business and turned a blind eye to his corrupt sons.

He had enough priestly training to know how to respond in different situations, but he didn’t recognize prayer and instead thought Hannah showed up to the temple to get drunk.

Maybe people didn’t go to the temple to pray but… do other things.

Between that and his son’s criminal activity, it is like the temple was as much a place of debauchery as it is holiness.

And it took him a while to recognize that God was speaking to Samuel.

The young man Samuel seemed so sleepy, snoozing even in the temple itself, that it took three tries for God’s call to break through to him, getting him to begin listening.

But God still showed up in the temple.

Even with the corruption and the lack of holiness, the rarity of the Spirit moving and speaking, God still showed up and spoke.

God called.

And calling was the first thing God did when He showed up in the flesh.

Before Jesus really got out and started doing ministry, He called others to join him.

We don’t know much about Philip.

He’s one of the less prominent ones, and usually seems out of his depth when he shows up.

This might be why Jesus went out and searched for him to call him.

But the effect was almost instant.

Before Philip could really figure out what Jesus was doing or what it meant to accept this call, he was already running out and calling someone else.

I always appreciated Philip’s response to Nathanael’s question about what good could come from Nazareth.

Sometimes we feel the need to explain or defend Christ when really we just need to encourage others to come and see.

Nathanael did just that, and before he got there, Jesus called him, “And Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

Oh, Jesus is clever.

He is many things, but in this particular thing, He was very clever.

Israel was the name of the nation, of the Israelites, but it was also the name of a man.

Before he was Israel, he was only known as Jacob, a name that means crooked,

and Israel was actually a man in whom there was much deceit.

But God still came and called that crooked man and changed his life...

Once while he was sleeping on a rock as hard as his head, he had a vision.

A vision of a ladder or stairway that went up to heaven and angels went up and down on it.

A vision of this connection between heaven and earth, of God’s reality and ours.

And this connection that Jacob only dreamed about was now standing there in the flesh.

“Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these… Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

The connection between heaven and earth...

the vision of Jacob’s ladder…

the project of God that began in the temple, that quiet place where Samuel slept...

has been established in Christ…

But He didn’t want to do it alone...

Oh you will see greater things, said Jesus...

But not only will they see greater things, they would do greater things…

Christ called them to follow Him so they themselves might partake in this bringing heaven down to earth...

So they might be a part of that ladder connecting heaven and earth as a part of the body of Christ and His mission in the world…

You

You’re called.

You’re not called to just escape hell and wait it out until you get to heaven.

You’re called to be a part of Christ’s mission to bring heaven here on earth.

You’re called to be a part of a ladder.

You’re called to get outside of yourself, out of your own head and insecurities, and love those around you with the love of God.

-Isn’t a to-do list.

-Isn’t just for official ministers.

-Sometimes it is more about a mode of being open to be a part of what God is doing, whatever that is, rather than a specific task.

Even during times when it seems like the word of the Lord is rare…

In dark times of corruption and scandal in the house of God…

In dark times of political and social turmoil like the times of Jesus…

In times like these…

God is still calling.

Don’t ever think that a difficult time means that God isn’t speaking to us and calling us.

More than ever, God’s people should be alert and ready.

Listening to God.

Instead, sadly, we spend more time listening to what the TV says or social media says.

May we learn to listen so we can respond as Samuel: “Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening.”

May we be willing to come and see when God calls us.

For we will see greater things than these…

(Story of Kristen at the ranch?)

We find our own redemption by participating in the redemption of others.

So this week, I would like for you to pray and ask God...

What are you calling me to?