Genesis 17:1-7 & 15-16 & Mark 8: 31-38
Roger Lynn
March 11, 2018
God says to Abram and Sarai, “Follow me! Leave behind your home and all that is familiar and follow me. I will give you a new family. In fact, I will make you the beginning of a whole new people.” Jesus says to Peter and the others who would become disciples, “Follow me! Leave behind your homes and families and all that is familiar and follow me. I will give you a new family. In fact, I will make you the beginning of a whole new people.” And in one way or another, that same invitation continues to be extended to us today. “Follow me!” Sometimes we hear the invitation as an actual voice in our heads. Sometimes we hear it through the voices of those around us or through the example of their lives. Sometimes it is something we read or an experience in the midst of our living. There are times when the invitation is perceived clear and distinct in a moment. There are times when it only begins to emerge after a lifetime of listening. But regardless of the details, regardless of the timing, at the heart of the Christian faith is the conviction that the God who called Abram and Sarai and the God who spoke through Jesus to call Peter is the same God who continues to call us today.
First it is important to point out that God’s call in each of our lives will be unique and personal. Leaving home and family and setting off for a far country was Abram and Sarai’s call and may not even remotely resemble your call. Leaving behind the boats and nets and fish was Peter’s call and may have very little in common with what God has in mind for your life. Discerning the nature of your call requires careful and deliberate thought and prayer. It is not something which is undertaken lightly and is never achieved with absolute certainty. As far as I know, no one has ever received an affidavit signed by God guaranteeing that the path about to be taken will lead to complete and unqualified success and ultimate fulfillment. We do the best we can.
But doing the best we can requires a good bit of trust, because the paths down which God leads us often seem to take us in unlikely directions, into unfamiliar and even frightening new territory, with no immediate or apparent indication that anything besides disaster is waiting around the next bend. Sometimes, when we seek to be faithful, the only thing standing between us and despair is the thin veil of trust that, appearance-to-the-contrary-notwithstanding, God is still on our side. It is not always easy. As we are reminded over and over again in scripture, God’s ways are not our ways, and God’s timing is not our timing.
Abram was 75 when God first called him and promised that he would become the father of a great nation. An unlikely promise even then. Ten years later it must have seemed even more clear that there must have been a misunderstanding somewhere along the way. If God’s promise is going to have any chance of being fulfilled, then something must be done. And so Abram and Sarai took matters into their own hands. If Sarai couldn’t provide him with children, then Sarai’s slave Hagar would have to do the job instead. And so it was that Abram had a son named Ishmael. But that wasn’t God’s promise. God’s promise was to Abram and Sarai – together, in God’s way and in God’s time. Trust was required. More than a decade later, almost 25 years after the first call, God again reminds Abram and Sarai that the promise still stands, the call is still being extended. And trust is still required. Abram laughs (who can blame him) but eventually faith wins out and God’s call is validated.
Peter gave up everything to follow Jesus. He left behind his boats and his family because he saw something extraordinary in this man who said, “Follow me.” Eventually he even came to understand that Jesus was God’s Messiah – God’s chosen and anointed one sent to save God’s people. And then came that strange day. Jesus began to explain to them what it meant for him to be the Messiah – what it meant to follow where God was leading him. It meant suffering and being rejected and finally it meant dying. Peter not only couldn’t understand but wouldn’t accept this. How could such a path accomplish anything good? Surely Jesus was mistaken. It takes Peter a lot more stops and starts and stumbles along the way before he is able to come to any kind of appreciation for the path down which Jesus had called him to follow. But eventually faith wins out and God’s call is validated.
Who can say what challenges await us on our own paths of faith? But it is almost certain that at some time or other we will find ourselves facing an uncertain future when we become aware that what we understand to be God’s call is leading us in directions which we are very much tempted to question. Surely God doesn’t really want me to go there and do that. I’m not equipped. The cost will be too high. Nothing will be accomplished. There must be another way. And maybe there is. Such questioning is always an appropriate part of the faith process. But maybe the call is genuine and the path is true. And what is required is trust.
When I first became aware of what I have come to understand to be my call to ministry I was in college, not even 20 years old yet. If you could have seen me then, could have seen what God had to work with, you would have understood what an unlikely call it was. I was an awkward, shy teen-ager. The idea of doing something with my life that involved standing in front of a sanctuary full of people on a regular basis and preaching was very much at odds with the available facts at that point in my life. Even in seminary, when I was serving as the week-end pastor of a small church outside of Dallas, the odds didn’t seem very promising. I have looked back over some of the sermons I shared with those good people and I can only shake my head. I remain convinced that there is a special place in heaven reserved for members of congregations who are served by student pastors. Almost thirty seven years later, the verdict is still out. I have certainly not arrived at some kind of perfect response to the call of God in my life. But I am still seeking to follow the unlikely path God seems to be laying out for me. Sometimes I get it right. Lots of times I don’t. Always, what is required is trust along the way.
An email note found it’s way into my inbox. It made me laugh, but it also contains an important element of truth. It has a lot to say about what is involved in the business of trust.
“The next time you feel like God can’t use you, remember the following people: Noah was a drunk...Abraham was too old...Isaac was a daydreamer...Jacob was a liar...Leah was considered ugly...Joseph was abused...Moses couldn’t talk...Gideon was afraid...Sampson had long hair and was a womanizer...Rahab was a prostitute...Jeremiah and Timothy were too young...David had an affair and was a murderer...Elijah was suicidal...Isaiah preached naked...Jonah ran from God...Naomi was a widow...Job went bankrupt...John the Baptist ate bugs...Peter denied Christ...The Disciples fell asleep while praying...Martha worried about everything...Mary Magdelene was demon possessed...The Samaritan Woman was divorced..more than once!...Zaccheus was too small...Paul was too religious...Timothy had an ulcer...and Lazarus was Dead! No More Excuses!!!!”
God does indeed continue to call us. And God is able to see us through the great adventure that will result. The question for us is, will we trust enough to follow? I invite you to join me in the ongoing adventure of discovering what will happen when we do.
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