Call

When Jesus came into the Galilee district, Matthew tells us a prophecy was fulfilled.

“The people living in darkness have seen a great light, and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”

The prophecy is from Isaiah. It referred once to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali living under the threat and oppression of the Assyrian Empire. These tribes of Israeli were looking for a king who would set them free from their fears of captivity and death.

The prophecy became one of hope for Messiah. Maybe Messiah will deliver us all from our fear of death. We all have our own Assyrian oppressions. We all live in a region under the shadow of death.

Our contemporary culture is not immune to real fears of violence and terror, but here in America we are much more sheltered from those terrors than other parts of the world. Here our fear is a general one – no matter how safe, how prosperous, how enjoyable, how healthy my life is, something is lurking in the shadows, waiting for me. That something is the growing awareness that someday my life will stop. And no matter how you look at it, that stopping is a rude one, one we’d rather not think about too much.

So we make ourselves busy with careers and health clubs and vacations and investments. We try to find purpose in our many different priorities. Sometimes those priorities may seem funny to others.

The Quay County Sun once had this classified ad: “Farmer with 160 irrigated acres wants marriage-minded woman with tractor. When replying, please show picture of tractor.”

All of our priorities can get a little skewed if the reference point for our priorities is simply ourselves. After all, the farmer who placed that ad knew exactly what he wanted. . .in a tractor. His priorities seemed normal to him.

Or take the life of Richard Knerr who just passed away a week ago. Do you know who he is? Knerr and his partner, Arthur “Spuds” Melin put their heads together and founded Wham-O products, the company that introduced the world to the Frisbee and the Hula-Hoop. One writer has said that the “Hula-Hoop is still the standard by which all national crazes must be measured.”

For Knerr, coming up with a hoop that you mindlessly swivel around your hips was a good way to prioritize his life. And there are probably worse things that you can give your life to, I guess. To Knerr, this was normal. The hula-hoop craze didn’t seem crazy to him.



But I am still nagged by the question, is it enough to make lots of money or even pursue our personal goals and dreams? For most people “personal fulfillment” is their highest working ideal. It is our reference point. We are own north stars.

But how has that worked out for us?

In 1978 there was a flood in the Texas hill country and a lady needlessly lost her life. Her daughter told reporters, “My mother did not climb the tree with us. She lost her way before we got to the tree. See, she always kept every little bill and slip and stuff. She would not let go of her purse with those papers in it.”

It was revealed that the family was trying to make a chain, holding hands to get through the water. But the mother had her insurance papers all gathered up in her hands and wouldn’t drop those documents. So she just washed away. She trusted the papers more than she did the hands of her family members.

We can try to deny or cheat death with paper work. We can “insure” ourselves for life. But what is that? We buy life insurance but in order to collect you have to die. It’s actually death insurance. We don’t call it that because it’s too depressing.

One of our most popular cereals is called Life. Jerry Seinfeld speculates on the advertising meeting to name that cereal. Someone in the room suggested calling it “crappy oat squares” or “pretty good cereal” but someone else spoke up and said No, this is bigger than all that. This is such a great cereal. This is LIFE! The only place to go from here with cereal names is perhaps, “Almighty God.” But they’ll never make a cereal called Death. You can’t use the D word.


And yet there it is all around us. Death is a helpful reminder that the clock is ticking on the meaning and purpose of our living. I did a funeral service this week. I had never met the deceased. I tried to call those grieving people to hope and a consideration of their purpose and calling in life. Sometimes people will listen in those situations. But we don’t have to wait for the funeral home to find our purpose and calling in life.

C.S. Lewis once said, “Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.”

The key to finding your call in life is to look outside yourself. Look up. Find out what God has in mind for you. God has a lot to say to you if you are willing to listen. Jesus came preaching, which is another way of saying, God came talking.

God tells people that we must turn away from sinful and selfish pursuits and priorities. Repentance is about thinking again and turning around. You go in a new direction with God. Jesus told Peter and Andrew, James and John, leave your nets and come follow me. It may have been possible for those men to have stayed in the fishing business but once they decided to accept Jesus invitation, their lives could never be the same. Their priorities were much different. Their purpose changed. They let go of their old safety nets. Didn’t need them. In fact, those nets would only get in the way of their true calling. Make no mistake, those disciples left everything. They denied themselves.

So do all disciples. And that may not make sense to some people today. That may sound like unnecessary religiosity or posturing. It may just sound foolish to those who are counting their trophies or their pleasures or their money market accounts. What does “denying yourself” have to do with personal fulfillment?

“For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 1.18

You are here this morning, I take it, because Jesus walked into your country. He came to your town. Some light has shined in your life. So now what will you do? What is God calling you to be and do?