Jun
19
Written by:
Bob Flynn
6/19/2009 11:35 AM
“The call is not to be taken lightly. For a person to possess knowledge is not enough. He must be sure that he is properly called. Those who operate without a proper call seek no good purpose. God does not bless their labors. They may be good preachers, but they do not edify. Many of the fanatics of our day pronounce words of faith, but they bear no good fruit, because their purpose is to turn men to their perverse opinions. On the other hand, those who have a divine call must suffer a good deal of opposition in order that they may become fortified against the running attacks of the devil and the world.”
Bob Flynn, President/CEO
We have many examples from Scripture where God has clearly called people into His service. On some of these occasions the folks receiving the call resisted and even rebelled. Perhaps the most well remembered was Jonah, whose rebellion won him a no-frills sea cruise in the belly of a fish and probably made him the first submariner.
One of my dear friends on active duty in the Navy was Chaplain Vic Walker. He shared with me that he also rebelled against God’s call upon his life. He was an active duty submariner at the time and actually reenlisted in order to refuse following God. He thought this would make it impossible to follow his calling. Needless to say his self-extended tour of duty was not much fun! Every day that he was on patrol and submerged, he thought about his disobedience. Just like Jonah, he was praying for an early release from his self-inflicted circumstances. But God had him first finish his enlistment and then He reiterated the call. By the time he graduated seminary he was too old to join the chaplain corps. But God opened the door by special dispensation and the rest is history. I promise you that my life and our Navy were very much blessed because of this man’s service!
Sometimes the flesh dies hard! We can turn away from the very path to which we are called and turn to our own ways. The result is we reap the whirlwind of our sin and lose the blessing of God’s fellowship in our lives. The lesson I learned from Chaplain Walker’s story was to swallow hard, then follow God’s calling. I too received the call to go into full-time Christian ministry. This call was diametrically opposed to my own wants and desires to continue in research and development at the Pacific Missile Test Center as a civil servant. But in His mercy, God had brought many into my life to affirm the calling. He also brought Vic Walker into my life to display the cost of disobedience ─ or I too would have been in the belly of a fish!
“So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. But don't just listen to God's word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves” (James 1:21-22 NLT).
Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, expresses the importance of this calling!
“The call is not to be taken lightly. For a person to possess knowledge is not enough. He must be sure that he is properly called. Those who operate without a proper call seek no good purpose. God does not bless their labors. They may be good preachers, but they do not edify. Many of the fanatics of our day pronounce words of faith, but they bear no good fruit, because their purpose is to turn men to their perverse opinions. On the other hand, those who have a divine call must suffer a good deal of opposition in order that they may become fortified against the running attacks of the devil and the world.”
So far we have seen examples of those who have a call from God but did not follow Him, and those who went without a call. I would postulate another possibility as well: those who have a call but have not heard it! Clearly if God does not build the house we labor in vain! (Psalm 127:1 paraphrase mine). However, are we studying the architect’s plans to see how the house is to be built?
A life in military service to our country is a calling in itself. We have a long and proud heritage of Americans who have devoted themselves to this most important calling. Our nation would not be here today if it weren't for the brave men and women who have served us so selflessly throughout our history.
For those of us who call ourselves Christians, there is also a call, a twice call! We are called to make disciples (Matthew 28:18-20) and to reconcile the world unto Christ (2 Corinthians 5) What does this have to do with me? I am not a minister!
“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope He has given to those He called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance” (Ephesians 1:18 NLT)
Dr. John Gill gives us a good sense of this calling with his commentary on this text. He iterates that this is the “effectual calling of the saints; which is not a call to an office, or a call merely by the external ministry of the word; but which is internal, special, powerful, high, and heavenly: and this is the calling of God, of which He is the author.”
No small wonder that the Apostle Paul later on begs us to lead a worthy life! Why else are we here?
“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God” (Ephesians 4:1 NLT).
Every believer has a call! A high and heavenly call from God Himself! It is the Word God has planted in our hearts. Not only a call to follow Him and to serve, but also a call to remain where you are planted!
“Each of you should continue to live in whatever situation the Lord has placed you, and remain as you were when God first called you. This is my rule for all the churches.” (1Corinthians 7:17 NLT)
John Wesley explains it thus:
“But as God hath distributed - The various stations of life, and various relations, to every one, let him take care to discharge his duty therein. The gospel disannuls none of these. And thus I ordain in all the churches - As a point of the highest concern.” John Wesley
How does this affect our military calling?
“‘As the Lord hath allotted to each, as God hath called each, so let him walk’ (so the Greek in the oldest reading); let him walk in the path allotted to him and wherein he was called. The heavenly calling does not set aside our earthly callings.” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown)
My observation through the years has been that many do well at serving within their local church but few do well serving at work. It is as if our “Christian” lives and our “temporal” lives were lived on separate planets. Are we to be witnesses only at church or are we to bloom where we are planted? It is this compartmentalization that overshadows this phenomena. We either belong “all” to God or belong “not at all.” Many tell me that they are too busy to serve God at work as though the very same God that created time was impotent to order their steps and bless the work of their hands. Does not this display the real inner person who has yet to set aside self to become the servant of Christ? What if Christ had clung to His perquisites as the Son of God the way we cling to our careers and possessions? There are no incremental Christians; we are only incrementally deceived or deluded. Perhaps Elisha Hoffman said it best:
You have longed for sweet peace,
And for faith to increase,
And have earnestly, fervently prayed;
But you cannot have rest,
Or be perfectly blest,
Until all on the altar is laid.
Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?
Your heart does the Spirit control?
You can only be blest,
And have peace and sweet rest,
As you yield Him your body and soul.
Would you walk with the Lord,
In the light of His Word,
And have peace and contentment alway?
You must do His sweet will,
To be free from all ill,
On the altar your all you must lay.
O we never can know
What the Lord will bestow
Of the blessings for which we have prayed,
Till our body and soul
He doth fully control,
And our all on the altar is laid.
Who can tell all the love
He will send from above,
And how happy our hearts will be made,
Of the fellowship sweet
We shall share at His feet,
When our all on the altar is laid.
Paul said that God’s light “is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ...and is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So that everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own...that the life of Jesus will be obvious in our dying bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:7,11 NLT)
We are to be illuminated and powered by God so that the world will see and know the difference! This is possible because “our spirits are being renewed every day” (2 Corinthians 4:16 NLT)
What legacy will we leave behind when we leave the military or even leave this world? I do not care whether anyone remembers Bob Flynn. I very much care that those with whom I served after becoming a Christian know and remember the Lord Jesus Christ. “For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 5:10 NLT)
Remember your calling when your body is weak, so that through it you will “be fortified against the running attacks of the devil and the world” as you “suffer a good deal of opposition.” Without Christ active in our lives it is easy to lose heart and quit. Don’t let criticism, pain, and fatigue drive you from your sacred ministry.