Sermon – It Begins with a Call
Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Mark 1:14-20
Farmville Presbyterian Church
January 21, 2024
– the voice of God leading our ministry
The disciples were idiots. At least that’s what you would have said if you had been one of their family members back in the day when Jesus came around to invite them to leave their livelihood, their families, and any financial security or responsibility and follow him.
Of course, some of you are nicer than I. You would have been more like, “Are you sure, John honey? Your family needs you right now. Your father is getting older and cannot do as much in the boat anymore.” Or, “That is a pretty big decision to make on such a short notice, Simon. Your wife and family are counting on your job to survive. The fish are not just walking out of the water and into the frying pan.”
Seriously, imagine if your son or daughter was a lineman with the power company (a good, blue-collar job) and up on a pole one day fixing an issue, and Jesus walks up and invites them to leave it all behind because he could show them the kind of light that never fails. If your son or daughter had a family to support, you might say something even stronger than what I said before in objection. That is reckless behavior by any standard. Sure, the fishermen were following Jesus. That was different. Following Jesus is more important than any job or responsibility to family. I guess you might say that, but they did not know who Jesus really was then. They didn’t know where the invitation would take them. They didn’t know that we would still be feeling the ripples of their decision today and that this movement would change the world. Jesus was brand new, and their decision had to be unbiased. God did not make them do anything. That had to be their own crazy, free choice.
To their credit, they did make a choice that any of us would be hard-pressed to make. So many people these days struggle to even go to church or share their faith, let alone leave their lives and follow God on the road. Just the idea is enough to make you wonder if there had been Rupert and his brother Humperdinck fishing on the other side of Capernaum on the seashore. When Jesus invited them to follow first, they explained they were right in the middle of a hard fishing day and couldn’t talk right now. They turned Jesus down and did not make the story. There could have been a row of fisherman working the Sea of Galilee that day and all turned Jesus down until he found our four famous fishermen. We just don’t know.
What we do know is that when God speaks, things happen. This is what we have seen the last few weeks between creation and Jesus’ baptism. When Jesus speaks, lives change, too. This is one of the great questions for all people, all children of God. What does God have to say for you? What is the voice of Jesus saying?
Historically, we have heard God differently. We hear God in the Bible, of course. Some like to consider the Bible as God’s literal Word – what the Bible says is what God says, no more, no less. This is a bit tricky since so much of the world today is not referenced in the Bible. It makes the Bible feel less relevant and useful today. Things have changed pretty dramatically in the last two thousand years, so another idea is that we read the Bible today and interpret what God is saying through God’s Spirit. This is probably what most of us do. We read the Bible for meaning and comfort and direction, but if Paul refuses women to speak in church in one passage and Jesus encourages women evangelists to share the gospel in another, it does not matter quite as much. Every passage in the Bible does not necessarily agree with every other passage. It is a collection of human writings seeking to document what is most important about God. It is a telling of God’s story in the world through Jesus given to us by human beings who also had their own ideas about things, and it was written in a world that is completely alien to us. It does not mean it is any less meaningful, but we have to use our brains and our hearts when looking for the Word of God. This is why two faithful Christians can have different opinions on serious issues and both be relying on God’s Word.
Of course, my job is to try to interpret the Bible every week, and that is no easy thing. Frankly, it is a bit terrifying to even claim that role. Thankfully, there is always something new to learn. Also, the longer I do this, the more my understanding changes. Honestly, being here with you makes me hear the Word of God differently than I would somewhere else. And that is something I never realized until working on this message today. You help me hear the voice of Jesus.
But I am not the only one listening. You, also, have ears to hear as Jesus liked to say. That means if you are willing to listen. How is the Spirit speaking to you? How has the Spirit spoken to you in the past? This is not an easy question.
That is what Jonah found. The story of his encounter with God’s voice is downright comical and tragic. At the sound of God, Jonah heads in the other direction to get as far away as possible, not because he’s worried God’s plan won’t work but because it will. He does not want the people from Ninevah to turn in repentance to the Lord and for God to spare them. It is not fair for pagans or outsiders or the unclean or foreigners to receive our blessing, too. That idea resonates in today’s climate. The people of Ninevah, that horrible and terrible and wicked town, turned on a dime at God’s word, and reformed to draw closer to God’s heart. The Word of the Lord worked incredibly easily and Jonah was the reluctant messenger.
It is hard to hear that voice, that call to action, but it is there. I have experienced two profound times of hearing God’s call: one was my actual call to ministry in the fall of 1996 while I was teaching here at Prince Edward Public Schools and the other was to become a chaplain in the National Guard. The first brought me to seminary and ministry and changed my life through some amazing experiences. The other was different. If you have never heard me speak of this call to chaplaincy in the military, it is because it never happened. What I felt as God’s call on a level with that initial call was a complete failure. It led me to some difficult places in faith but made me the person I am today.
The Spirit speaks all the time. The call is with us all the time. Most of the time is not in those huge ways, but the voice of our Lord is still calling us into lifechanging service. Being willing to reach out to someone that you have been avoiding is lifechanging. Being willing to take on or give up a ministry that needs someone new is a life change. Resolving to grow more in your understanding and knowledge faith is lifechanging. Committing to love more like Jesus, no matter what that looks like or where it will take you will change your life.
My big experiences with the call of God and the voice of our Lord really took years of listening. I had been wrestling with a sense of call since I was a child. When the voice finally came, I was ready to respond. I have a feeling it was similar with the fishermen. They had spent years in appreciation of God’s presence. They were deeply spiritual men, and I don’t think that started when Jesus walked up. That’s how they could make the decisions they did. God had prepared them to hear the call for years, maybe their whole lives.
People have been listening here in Farmville for years, as well. Some of our community heard the voice of Jesus invite them to feed our neighbor, and FACES and other food ministries were born. Some of our community heard the call to provide affordable housing in our community, and Habitat was established here. Some of our community needed to provide a future and training for special needs people, and STEPS was born. Some of our community heard the call to provide medical attention to the most at risk, and the Free Clinic happened. Some of our community felt the need to care for our older population, and Piedmont Senior Resources and Meals on Wheels came into being. Some in our community heard the voice to create greater community, and Farmville Cares was born. Ministry after ministry, some religious and some secular, have all come into being because individuals felt the need to act for the good of our neighbor. Just imagine how much good, lifechanging work has been done through willing hands and listening ears. Or in other words, if all of those ministries disappeared, what would our community look like?
Everything that we feel inclined to try or a need to do does not come from the voice of the Spirit. We are also here to help each other listen with more loving, more faithful hearts. That is where the voice of God will lead us. God’s call is right here for us all in a new year, and I am looking forward to how we will listen and how we will grow. To God be the glory. Amen.