This sermon was presented by Pastor Mike but represents his faith story on becoming a Pastor.

God’s Calling

Isaiah 6:1-13

Fifth Sunday After the Epiphany ~ February 8, 2004

“Today Your Mercy Calls Us” is a fitting hymn for us to sing just before we explore the calling of Isaiah and how God calls us today. Our God is a God of mercy who calls us to be His children and serves Him in His Kingdom.

Whom shall I send? Isaiah hears these words as he just experiences a glimpse of heave. Whom shall I send? And who will go for us? God is calling not only Isaiah but also all His chosen ones to be sent. We are sent by God, called by Him to work in our own unique ways to further God’s kingdom of love and mercy.

And that is what I would like for us to explore today – How is God calling you to a unique service in His work?

You might be thinking, “Who me?” “God is calling me to do His work?” “I am not like Isaiah.” Or maybe you are thinking, “What is God calling me to do?” “I am not sure what my calling in life is and how God plays a role it?” Well I hope I can help you get started on the path to finding your God given calling in life today. I would like us to focus on three points today on how God directs us to our calling in life and to be in His service.

1.       God uses others to extend is call to service. God employs the people we come in contact with to show us His calling for our life. My life is a good example.

When I was in middle school and high school I felt I had my life mapped out. I was going to be an architect or aeronautical engineer. I was either going to design the perfect house or the coolest airplane. I even took several drafting classes in high school and did pretty well in them. This was going to be my life and direction.

Around this time was my confirmation. I grew up with a pastor I highly respected and listened to what he had to say. On my confirmation day he gave all the confirmands a prayer book entitled “My Prayer Book.” Many of you probably have your own copy of this simple book. In it, my pastor wrote these words,

“Dear Michael,

Your confirmation verse, St. Matthew 5:14-16, was especially chosen for you to serve as a constant reminder of whom you are, and of what is your calling in life by your Savior: ‘You are the light of the world!’ As you now stand confirmed in your faith, I am confident that your commitment to Jesus Christ is sincere. I already see the influence of a Christian family, which offers support and example to you. I feel that you, too, will follow the Christian example of your parents in letting ‘your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’”

Typical words you might hear in a message to a confirmand. But it goes on,

“If indeed you begin feeling that your aerospace plans are in ‘outer space’ I encourage you to consider the holy ministry. Someone like you would be a great blessing to Christ’s Church in such an office!”

Wow! Those words have stuck with me to this day. But I was a teenager and being a pastor was not “cool.” So I continued to dream of being an architect or aerospace engineer.

When it came time to graduate from High School and go to college I decided I was going to “please” everyone involved by going to a Christian college with an engineering program. Well, that was my mistake! The engineering program never materialized and I ended up in the Pre-Seminary program to “give it a try.” You see where I am today!

My point is that God uses other people to help us see what He wants us to do. God used my pastor and others to help me along the path to becoming a pastor – and here I am because of them. Listen to the advise of others. It may be a “sign” from God of where He wants you to be and what He wants you to do.

2.       Continue to explore. God doesn’t reveal to us our whole lives in one sitting. He uses time and little or big discoveries along the way to reveal to us our calling. It is a learning process that takes time. We don’t learn everything in a single moment but take a lifetime to gain wisdom and understanding.

But along the way there may be failures. Along the road of discovery we find that there are things we are not good at, things that we fail at. But that is ok. It is all part of the learning process. I have a sheet that I pull out from time to time when I face failure. It is a list of famous people and what was said about them before they were famous. Here are a few examples:

• After Fred Astaire's first screen test, the memo from the testing director of MGM, dated 1933, said, "Can't act! Slightly bald! Can dance a little!" Astaire kept that memo over the fireplace in his Beverly Hills home.
• An expert said of Vince Lombardi: "He possesses minimal football knowledge. Lacks motivation."
• Beethoven handled the violin awkwardly and preferred playing his own compositions instead of improving his technique. His teacher called him hopeless as a composer.
• Walt Disney was fired by a newspaper editor for lack of ideas. Walt Disney also went bankrupt several times before he built Disneyland.
• Albert Einstein did not speak until he was four years old and didn't read until he was seven. His teacher described him as "mentally slow, unsociable and adrift forever in his foolish dreams." He was expelled and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School.[1]

What these individuals have in common is that they knew that life was a discovery process and that sometimes it takes a failure to find out what you are really good at. Life is always a learning process and the same is true for discovering our calling by God.

Maybe you feel you would like to teach. So become a Sunday school teacher or a ChristCare leader. What do you have to lose? If it doesn’t work then you know that that isn’t your calling. Or maybe you feel your good at administration – join a board and try out your skills. Again, what do you have to lose? Each experience is a learning one and each one God will help you discover your calling which ultimately is to use your own unique skills and abilities to share the love of Jesus.

3.       Expect the Unexpected! Finally we need to expect the unexpected when it comes to God’s calling in our life. I don’t think Isaiah was expecting to see heaven unfold before him when he entered the Temple that day. He was probably just caring out his duty. But that day would be remembered by Isaiah as a confirmation of his calling – to be a prophet of God.

That is how God works - in unexpected ways. The Gospel is truly unexpected. We have sinned against God, the Bible is clear on this point. And it is also clear on the consequence of our sin – death. We deserve destruction and death because of our sin. But God in His unexpected love and mercy sent His Son to be our Savior. And even Christ’s life was unexpected. People of God were looking for a Messiah but were not expecting Him to be born in a stable and to suffer and die as He did for us. But in that unexpected way God has brought even greater things to life then we would have expected.

And such is the case in my life. You see I wanted to be an architect or aerospace engineer because it was a job behind a desk with paper and pencil. Not something I would be called on often to speak in front of people. Like I am doing right now. In fact I dreaded speech class. I think I only made it through my speech class in High School because my teacher took pity on me. Now I know I am known for short sermons but when I was in seminary I gave my first sermon in class and was only 3 minutes long! The text for my sermon took half the time just to read it! And yet I stand here today, unexpectedly, giving sermons to you on a regular basis. Wow! God can work in unexpected ways in your life as well.

Expect the unexpected in your calling from God. Know that it is a discovery process that takes a lifetime to fully learn. And know that God places others in your life to help you discover your calling. Be bold and know that the Lord will use you, with all your known and unknown gifts and abilities, to share the love of Jesus with the world.

Hear the call today, “Whom shall I send?” and say with confidence, “Here am I, send me!”

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[1] Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen, Chicken Soup For The Soul, 1993.