Sermon – Don’t Silence Your Phone
Genesis 40:9-15; 41:9-13; John 6:4-11
Farmville Presbyterian Church
2/2/25
I hope you have your walking shoes on. Not only has the weather been a little bit better for getting out and taking a stroll or a ride or however you get around, but we are into our second week of this sermon series about taking a journey in faith. It is time to get going. While “work from home” is a real and viable occupation for employment, it is harder to follow Christ if we do not actually go anywhere in the world. It is not impossible, of course, and today with the internet, it is much more possible to share in genuine, Christlike love from the comfort of home, but so much of who we are and what we do as followers of Jesus invites us to get out into the world and to be with others in the work of compassion, forgiveness, reconciliation, and joy. It is in the lives of others that we know love in the fullest ways. Today is that knock at the door, that ring of the doorbell, or that call on the phone to come out.
Who is ready to go?
That is the real question. Thinking about this from a spiritual perspective, this is what we talk about as a call. This is that invitation to step out into faith, to answer God’s voice in the Spirit’s leading. This is that following in the service of Christ and becoming our best selves. This is that hearing God’s voice in lifechanging ways and helping God’s children in the beauty of love. The call is what gets us going to take that first step in a new direction.
The Bible has story after story of people hearing a call to do something for the Lord’s sake. Abraham and Sarah, Moses, David, the prophets, Mary, Jesus’ disciples, Paul, Lydia, Timothy, and so many others show us a picture of responding to God’s call. Sometimes, it is a dream; sometimes, it is someone else speaking; sometimes, it is an answer to prayer; sometimes, it is God’s actual voice. They are big stories, amazing stories. God’s call can change the course of history for the people of God. It is exciting to think that the Spirit of God can speak to the people of God.
The only thing is that I have never been stopped by a burning bush – have you? I have never had an angel show up to give me some important directions, have you? I have never been struck blind on the road to Damascus, have you? Maybe you gather where I am going with this thought. So many people in Scripture seem to have these incredible encounters with God’s call. What about you and me? Is there a call for you? Is there a call for me? Is God still speaking to us today?
You could ask Chuck Colson who was one of President Nixon’s “hatchet man,” involved in the infamous Watergate scandal. After being sentenced to prison, Colson experienced a profound spiritual transformation, and while in prison, he gave his life to Christ and founded Prison Fellowship, one of the world’s largest outreach programs for prisoners, ex-prisoners, and their families. Colson’s ministry has touched the lives of millions.
You could ask Corrie Ten Boom, who with her family during World War II, hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. She and her family were arrested and sent to concentration camps. After losing her father and sister, Corrie was released from the camp and began a ministry focused on forgiveness and reconciliation. God led her to even find forgiveness for her captors, even when she came face to face with one of the former guards who had tormented her in the camp.
C.S. Lewis, renowned author of “The Chronicles of Narnia” series and so many other favorite Christian books, was once a staunch atheist. After years of intellectual struggle and influence from Christian friends like J.R.R. Tolkien, Lewis surrendered his heart to Christ. He went on to become one of the most influential Christian thinkers and apologists of the 20th century. His works, including “Mere Christianity” and “The Problem of Pain,” continue to inspire Christians around the world. That teacher in a college went on to teach the world.
Nicky Cruz was a feared gang leader in New York City, leading a life of violence, crime, and addiction. However, his life took a radical turn when he encountered a street preacher named David Wilkerson, who told him that Jesus loved him. Despite initial resistance, Cruz eventually accepted Christ, and his transformation was nothing short of miraculous. Cruz became a Christian evangelist, traveling the world to share his story and reach out to those who feel lost or trapped in destructive lifestyles.
The call of God is alive and well. People continue to find God’s leading voice bringing them to acts of service that they never would have expected. The voice of Christ has stirred people and given them a sense of belonging and faith that changed their hearts. Still, though, don’t you think you have to be some special person to be called? Don’t you think you have to be some big person in the world? Here’s where we get it completely wrong. Every call has come to a regular person like you and me. Yes, the people who find God’s voice were all, each and every one, just like you and me.
Today’s first passage is a servant of Pharoah who happened to be in jail. He was there when Joseph was and had a dream sent by God. Rather than ignore the dream, he was moved to act on it and find out what it meant. His job after being freed was supposed to be to endorse Joseph to Pharaoh. He did eventually when the time was right. God stirred his heart to tell Pharoah about some guy in prison. That set up Joseph to being freed and eventually being able to bring his entire family, God’s people, to Egypt out of safety. Let me emphasize that point: a servant, someone who just carried Pharoah’s cup, was crucial to this plan. He had to respond to the Spirit’s guiding voice as much as anyone for this story to unfold.
Perhaps my favorite, though, is a kid with a lunch. When he got up that day, the child never would have expected to be remembered for all time as the one who helped feed a multitude. We do not have his name, sadly, but his act of sharing what he had will live in our minds forever. That was a gift to God’s glory that is repeated in all four Gospels – the only miracle to have that honor. It was essential for Jesus to be the one who feeds, and this child literally gave all that he had there to help.
It seems to me that we have gotten away from this idea of God calling us to do things, to follow, to serve, to help, and to go. It is no accident that another word for an occupation or job is vocation. It literally means a calling. There was some notion that your career was a calling, but that was when people did not change jobs every year or two. It also falls for those who feel called to stay home and care for family there. People can be called, all people can be called, to follow in service to Christ in countless ways, but that service will never happen if we do not listen and answer.
God speaks today. That voice can come with inner, private strength or through the voice of others. The church calls people to particular service in the church, and we are grateful for the willingness of our officers to do this formal service. Of course, other service is less formal. It could be just helping out for a project or an event. It could be singing in the choir or helping with worship. Someone needs to work the livestream. Most of our service opportunity, however, is outside these walls. Yes, God speaks today, and we all have a part in God’s work. Even something as simple as sharing a lunch can change lives.
What prompts us to lend a hand, to comfort a stranger or one in need? What moves us to try something in care and compassion that we may have never done? What stirs us to give in ways that we have never before? What leads us to stay in good and faithful and loving work when others might give up? What gives us a desire to grow as a follower of Jesus and a friend of God? This is God’s call. God speaks today, and we always need to listen. That voice, that Spirit, is moving in our midst and everyone from the youngest to the oldest has something to share.
To God be the glory. Amen.