GOD IS CALLING

Introduction

-{Jeremiah 1}

-Now that I have kids in their late teens and early 20’s we’ve had to do a lot of talking and praying about finding careers and finding purpose in life—try to help them find their path. And it’s hard at that age to think of something that you want to do with the rest of your life. I’m old now but I vaguely remember trying to find purpose and figure out where I wanted my life to head.

~I started out going to college for computer science because I liked technology and playing video games, but then after a semester I wasn’t overly happy with chemistry and didn’t really want to take physics, so I figured I’d better find something else. I wanted to major in something practical (something that would get you a job), so I ended up going with criminal justice. I figured that maybe eventually I’d go to law school and become a prosecuting attorney and send bad people to prison. And I worked in the field for a while.

~Well, to make a long story short, here I am, a pastor. As the saying goes, what a long, strange trip it’s been. But I look back and I see the journey that God has taken me on and with hindsight I see what He was doing. But at the time I was completely clueless. But God got me to where He wanted me, and will get me wherever else He wants me to go in life, according to the calling He has on my life.

-And I share that to hopefully be an encouragement to you that maybe even if you don’t have a plan and you can’t seem to find your purpose, God does have a plan and a purpose even if you can’t see it right now. And I’m not talking about merely about jobs and vocations (although that might be the sphere within which God as His purpose for you, and God does have plans for you in those areas). But what I am talking about today is that God has a calling on your life for a kingdom work, and it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can get on board with it. You might be 80 years old wondering if God has a calling on your life, and the answer is a loud, resounding YES.

-We know that Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. But then in verse 10 Paul tells us that we were created for a good work that God prepared beforehand for us to do. In fact, the verse says that we are God’s masterpiece—we are a work of art that God sculpted for something. You are not just a bunch of atoms taking up space. You are a divine masterpiece formed and shaped for a calling specifically created for you by God Himself so that you can be a part of getting the gospel out to the world.

-As we look at the passage today, we see that God called and prepared Jeremiah for a specific kingdom ministry and purpose. And what I hope we get out of the passage today is that God, in His sovereignty, calls each of us to a kingdom purpose and prepares us for that work so that the gospel message of Jesus Christ would advance in the world.

Jeremiah 1:1–10 ESV

1 The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 2 to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, and until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem in the fifth month. 4 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” 9 Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

-I want to discuss today several biblical facts about God’s calling on your life for His kingdom work

1) God placed you in a specific time and place (vv. 1-3)

-vv. 1-3 give us the historical setting for Jeremiah’s calling. Jeremiah was a Jewish priest who ministered in the last days of Judah before and during the captivity to Babylon. You notice that he first began his calling while Josiah was king. Josiah was a very good king who brought a lot of reform. The problem was that the Israelite people externally seemed go along with some of his ideas to honor God, but internally, in their hearts, they were still wicked and idolatrous. Sure, they went to the temple and gave their sacrifices, but then they went home and paid homage to their idols.

-After Josiah died there were sons and a grandson that ruled after him and all of them were wicked and led Judah to follow in the idolatrous footsteps of many of the previous wicked kings. This was the religious and political environment that Jeremiah was thrust into.

-The reason that I point this out is because God chose that exact time and place for Jeremiah to be born and to fulfill his calling. God sovereignly chose the late 7th century BC / early 6th century BC, when all sorts of political and religious mayhem would be occuring, to raise Jeremiah up to fulfill his calling. That’s the way God works. God, who is eternal, who knows the beginning from the end, knows what is needed and who is needed in certain times in history, and He brings certain people into life and calls them for specific purposes to fulfill His kingdom work in those places at those times.

-God didn’t create Jeremiah and call him 100 years before this time period, and God didn’t create Jeremiah and call him 100 years after this time period, God created and called Jeremiah at this particular time for His particular purposes. It was not by coincidence or accident that Jeremiah became the prophet he did when he did. God was not so helpless that as things were falling apart all over the place that He just kind of looked around and grabbed whoever was available at the time and sent him to do the job. God knew within eternity what would go on at this time and knew who He would create and call to do His work.

-God has sovereign control over these things. Consider Jesus Himself. It wasn’t by accident that Jesus came and died and rose when He did. God had been moving all of history to that point. God was behind the scenes preparing things religiously and politically so that just at the right time Jesus would come to live and die and rise and ascend. Paul tells us in Romans 5:6 that Jesus came at the right time to die for the ungodly. God didn’t look at what was going on in the earth and figure EH, I GUESS NOW’S AS GOOD A TIME AS ANY. No, it was the right time because it was the time and place God sovereignly prepared.

-But I say all of this for this purpose: I want you to consider this, and for some of you this might be obvious and maybe for others of you this will blow your mind. But listen to me: GOD CHOSE THIS TIME IN HISTORY AND THIS PLACE IN THE WORLD FOR YOU TO LIVE AND SERVE HIM. As Esther in the Bible was told, she was placed where she was FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. You were placed here right now for such a time as this.

-God did not create and call you back in 1776. God did not create and call you in the year 2332. God created you and called you right here and right now. You are here for such a time as this. God created you for you to do kingdom work of some sort right here, right now. There is something that you can contribute to the work of eternity here in the 21st century in Alabama. You are not here by accident or coincidence. This is your God-given time in history for some sort of ministry that will advance the gospel of Jesus Christ. And I want you to know that not only did He place you in this specific time and place...

2) God formed you with a specific task in mind (vv. 4-5)

-to me, vv. 4 & 5 are just amazing because of the intimacy it demonstrates with which God deals with His people. In. v. 5 God first tells us that He is the one that forms us. Yes, we know all the scientific and biological aspects of how babies are born. And yet, within the midst of those biological and scientific functions, God is behind the scenes doing the forming. God formed you just the way you are. Yes, because of the effects of sin and the curse in the world, some of us are formed with what we would call deformities. I mean, if it wasn’t for contacts and glasses I’d be blind as a bat. But that doesn’t take away from the goodness of God. Some of our deformities are what make us unique, and on top of that, God gets the glory when He uses us for our special calling. But I want you to know that our God is so intimate with us that it was He that formed us.

-But what is also so amazing is that not only does God form us, He knows us. This is going to be hard for us to get our head around, but He tells Jeremiah that before Jeremiah was even formed in the womb, God knew him. That word for KNOW doesn’t just mean head knowledge, like He knew that Jeremiah would have brown eyes or that Jeremiah would be 6’ tall or whatever. It again is a term of intimacy—it is a term of experiential knowledge. God knew everything about Jeremiah before he was born. This is part of the mystery of God’s existence in eternity. He relationally, intimately, and experientially knows us in eternity. He knows before we are born what we will be like, what are struggles would be, what our sins would be, what our attitudes would be, what our personalities would be, and would could either say BECAUSE of that knowledge, or maybe IN SPITE OF THAT KNOWLEDGE, He loves us and He calls us to a kingdom work.

-And that leads to the next part where God tells Jeremiah that before he was born God consecrated him. Other translations might say this, but the word means to set apart. Before Jeremiah was born God had already set him apart for the purposes He laid out for Jeremiah. This means a few things. First, Jeremiah was set apart from the world. Jeremiah would not be given over to the ways of a deprived and degenerate world system. Jeremiah would be set apart as holy. But the word in its fullness means that Jeremiah would be set apart for service to the Lord. And then this is further fleshed out as God tells Jeremiah that He appointed Jeremiah to be a prophet. I see these two terms as complimentary. Jeremiah was generally set aside for service to the Lord, and he was specifically appointed to the role of a prophet.

-And here’s the thing, everything that is said about Jeremiah can be said of the Christian. Now, in a sense God forms everybody in the womb. But if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, God formed you in a specific way with His specific purpose in mind. You are you because God made you that way for His purpose. And God knew you before you were even born, and He loved you and set His favor upon you. And God calls you to a ministry or service and has a specific appointment in mind for you.

-But some may struggle with this idea. You might look at this passage and say something to the effect: THAT’S ALL WELL AND GOOD FOR JEREMIAH, BUT JEREMIAH WAS CHOSEN BECAUSE HE WAS SPECIAL {OR SOME OTHER ATTRIBUTE}. But I think your missing the progression. Jeremiah was who Jeremiah was exactly because God formed him that way, knew Him, and specifically set him apart and appointed him. If it wasn’t for all of that, he wouldn’t be the Jeremiah that we know. God formed YOU. God knows YOU. God has set YOU apart for service. And God has appointed YOU to something in His kingdom work to advance the gospel. And it is all unique to YOU.

-The Bible says that we are all part of the chosen priesthood, meaning we are all part of those called to a service. It’s just that each of us have been uniquely formed and appointed. We are all set apart for service, but that service is unique to us. Now, this does not mean that your ministry and task and calling won’t change over time. I believe even your Spirit-given gifts might change over time for the specific situations that God has laid out for you. But it is all God’s doing. God has placed you in this specific time and place to fulfill a specific task. You might not know what that task is yet, but that’s all part of the journey.

-There also may be some of you, like Jeremiah, who might have some objections to this whole concept, so next I want you to know...

3) God equips and protects you to fulfill His calling (vv. 6-10)

-Beginning in v. 6 Jeremiah begins to make some excuses why he can’t do what it is God called him to do. He says that he doesn’t know how to speak and that he is too young. If you think of these objections within their context, speaking is a pretty important part of being a prophet. A prophet’s job is literally speaking the word of God to the people. If you can’t speak, you can’t fulfill that particular calling. And by saying he is but a youth, he’s saying that he is too young to go out there and confront the people with the Word of God. He is too young to know what he is doing, and he is too young such that the people wouldn’t pay attention to him. Jeremiah is thinking that the people will say WHO’S THIS KID TO TELL US WHAT TO DO?

-But if you want to summarize what he means, he is saying that he is not equipped to fulfill the calling. He’s saying he doesn’t have the talent or know-how to get the job done. Part of it also might be fear. He knows how prophets have always been treated by the people. They are usually shunned, mocked, and often times killed. Jeremiah does not feel that he had been formed and known and set apart and appointed to this task because he feels ill-prepared for the job. Jeremiah’s focus is on himself and how inadequate he is for what God is calling him to do.

-And that’s quite often our problem. We look at ourselves and we see all our sin and our shortcomings and our idiosyncrasies, and we think that there is no way God can use us at all much less for this calling that He has on our lives. But our eyes are in the wrong place. Are we good enough to do whatever God’s calling is? Nope. Are we talented enough to fulfill the task He has for us? Nope. Are we smart enough or strong enough? Nope and nope. But here’s the thing, our fulfillment of our kingdom ministry is not reliant on us other than our willingness to go. If we go, then God will use us as His tool for that task.

-God tells Jeremiah not to give those excuses. He tells Jeremiah that Jeremiah will go where he is told to go and say what he is told to say, and God even says that He will put His own words in Jeremiah’s mouth. God is saying that He will equip Jeremiah for everything that He has for him to do. Jeremiah doesn’t have to wander around wondering where to go and what to do. God will give lead him and empower him and work through him.

-And then to ease his fears, God tells Jeremiah that he doesn’t have to be afraid of the people that he is going to have to face because God will protect and deliver him. Jeremiah is going to have to go out into a hostile world and say some pretty harsh things that are not going to be received very well. v. 10 says that what Jeremiah is going to have to say will rebuke and correct things that shouldn’t be going on, as well as rebuild and replant and get things going the right way. This was no easy task. But, as the cliche goes, since God put him to it God will also seem him through it.

-Do you notice how everything is dependent upon God? It has nothing to do with Jeremiah at all. Jeremiah is the chosen vessel, but God is the one who will work through Jeremiah and protect Jeremiah. Now, that doesn’t mean that everything would go smoothly or there wouldn’t be any trouble. There is this false sense out in the Christian world that as long as you are fulfilling God’s will in your life that everything is going to go nice and smooth and life will be easy. That’s not right; but even so it is still a whole lot better to be in God’s will than out of God’s will. If you’re in God’s will, the world may rise up against you but you have God working for you. If you are out of God’s will, not only will the world be against you, but then you have to contend with God’s discipline.

-Jeremiah went out and fulfilled his calling, and he had to go into hiding, he was put in prison a few times, he was thrown into cisterns a few times, people tried to kill him, someone burned up all the scrolls that he wrote. And yet he fulfilled his calling in spite of all that. And he was able to do it because God equipped him and Jeremiah relied on that. He didn’t try to do things his own way in his own power. God gave him the words, and he did it, and God used him for great kingdom work.

-You maybe have delayed fulfilling your kingdom calling because you have come up with all sorts of excuses and objections on why you can’t do it. Stop looking at yourself and look to the One who formed you, has known you, set you apart, and appointed you. He will equip you to get the job done and He will protect you even through the rough patches you are going through.

Conclusion

-Yes, there are a lot of questions in life. What career should I pursue? Who am I going to marry? Where am I going to live? But have you ever pursued the question, What is God’s calling on my life? If you are a believer, God has a calling on your life to make an eternal impact on this world.

-Some of you might think it might be too late to get in on God’s calling on your life. As long as you have breath it is never too late. Some of you might be discouraged if people aren’t responding to your ministry work. Look, Jeremiah fulfilled his calling for decades, and you know who responded? Nobody. Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet for a reason. All he ever ran into was persecution and strife and trouble. Everyone thought he was completely loony. They tried to shut him up and often tried to kill him. If you only look at the numbers, Jeremiah was a complete failure. Yet, in actuality, he was an utter success because he fulfilled the calling God gave him. God doesn’t call us to the results—the results are completely in God’s side of the court. God calls us to fulfill His purpose and ministry. If we do that, we are exactly where God wants us.

-So, Christian, maybe you need to start that journey, come and pray at the altar. Maybe you are discouraged, find encouragement from God at the altar. Maybe you need clarity. Ask God for it at the altar.

-But maybe you don’t know God’s calling on your life because you don’t know God. The only path to God is through Jesus Christ...